Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Throwing Out the First Pitch - Update
Quincy - QMan - Coulter and I took a couple of baseballs to the Lake Forest field and spent about 45 minutes in the blazing sun while re-discovered throwing a baseball. (QMan is a member of the state champion Lake Forest golf team and noted that many of my pitches resembled a soft sand shot around the green)
Throwing a baseball properly is not like riding a bicycle. If you don't throw it for a while - think 30 years - it doesn't just return as before. The ball sailed left, it dipped - unplanned - sailed over QMan's head, veered right and headed for the backstop. And it made all those moves randomly.
I thought that if all else failed I could simply throw a lollipop into the catcher. First you have to find the release point to throw it and get it high enough to reach the plate.
Best advice I've received so far is from a friend, Bill Kettlewell, who simply said, "aim for the catcher's chest". It works - when you get it there.
After Quincy nearly wore himself out retreating again and again to the fence, I finally found a bit of a groove and began to get the ball between his shins and his neck and within 5 feet of either side of the plate. Good enough for me to be sure.
But I need work and lots of it. I did get a bit of anxiety diluting news yesterday when I found out the first pitch is actually thrown well before the game starts. Game starts at 7:05, first pitch is thrown between 5 and 5:30. It explains why I can never remember seeing a first pitch other than at an All-Star or World Series game.
I've promised free beer to QMan's dad, John, if he'll catch me this afternoon. He accepted.
Throwing a baseball properly is not like riding a bicycle. If you don't throw it for a while - think 30 years - it doesn't just return as before. The ball sailed left, it dipped - unplanned - sailed over QMan's head, veered right and headed for the backstop. And it made all those moves randomly.
I thought that if all else failed I could simply throw a lollipop into the catcher. First you have to find the release point to throw it and get it high enough to reach the plate.
Best advice I've received so far is from a friend, Bill Kettlewell, who simply said, "aim for the catcher's chest". It works - when you get it there.
After Quincy nearly wore himself out retreating again and again to the fence, I finally found a bit of a groove and began to get the ball between his shins and his neck and within 5 feet of either side of the plate. Good enough for me to be sure.
But I need work and lots of it. I did get a bit of anxiety diluting news yesterday when I found out the first pitch is actually thrown well before the game starts. Game starts at 7:05, first pitch is thrown between 5 and 5:30. It explains why I can never remember seeing a first pitch other than at an All-Star or World Series game.
I've promised free beer to QMan's dad, John, if he'll catch me this afternoon. He accepted.
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