Coach Rich responds to a viewer comment about how the hips lead the hands, and not the other way in the hands leading the hips.
Sunday, February 26, 2023
Thursday, February 23, 2023
Types of Home Runs : Inside The Park
An inside-the-park home run occurs when a batter hits the ball into play and is able to circle the bases before the fielders can put him out. Unlike with an outside-the-park home run, the batter-runner and all preceding runners are liable to be put out by the defensive team at any time while running the bases. This can only happen if the ball does not leave the ballfield.
In the early days of baseball, outfields were much more spacious, reducing the likelihood of an over-the-fence home run, while increasing the likelihood of an inside-the-park home run, as a ball getting past an outfielder had more distance that it could roll before a fielder could track it down.
Modern outfields are much less spacious and more uniformly designed than in the game's early days. Therefore, inside-the-park home runs are now rare. They usually occur when a fast runner hits the ball deep into the outfield and the ball bounces in an unexpected direction away from the nearest outfielder (e.g., off a divot in the field or off the outfield wall), the nearest outfielder is injured on the play and cannot get to the ball, or an outfielder misjudges the flight of the ball in a way that he cannot quickly recover from the mistake (e.g., by diving and missing). The speed of the runner is crucial as even triples are relatively rare in most modern ballparks.
If any defensive play on an inside-the-park home run is labeled an error by the official scorer, a home run is not scored. Instead, it is scored as a single, double, or triple, and the batter-runner and any applicable preceding runners are said to have taken all additional bases on error. All runs scored on such a play, however, still count.
An example of an unexpected bounce occurred during the 2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at AT&T Park in San Francisco on July 10, 2007. Ichiro Suzuki of the American League team hit a fly ball that caromed off the right-center field wall in the opposite direction from where National League right fielder Ken Griffey Jr. was expecting it to go. By the time the ball was relayed, Ichiro had already crossed the plate standing up. This was the first inside-the-park home run in All-Star Game history, and led to Suzuki being named the game's Most Valuable Player.
Read more, here.
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Monday, February 20, 2023
Types of Home Runs : Out of the Park
If a batted ball hits the foul pole (orange pole on the right), the ball is fair and a home run is awarded to the batter.
In modern times a home run is most often scored when the ball is hit over the outfield wall between the foul poles (in fair territory) before it touches the ground (in flight), and without being caught or deflected back onto the field by a fielder. A batted ball is also a home run if it touches either a foul pole or its attached screen before touching the ground, as the foul poles are by definition in fair territory. Additionally, many major-league ballparks have ground rules stating that a batted ball in flight that strikes a specified location or fixed object is a home run; this usually applies to objects that are beyond the outfield wall but are located such that it may be difficult for the umpire to judge.
In professional baseball, a batted ball that goes over the outfield wall after touching the ground (i.e. a ball that bounces over the outfield wall) becomes an automatic double. This is colloquially referred to as a "ground rule double" even though it is uniform across all of Major League Baseball, per MLB rules 5.05(a)(6) through 5.05(a)(9).
A fielder is allowed to reach over the wall to try to catch the ball as long as his feet are on or over the field during the attempt, and if the fielder successfully catches the ball while it is in flight the batter is out, even if the ball had already passed the vertical plane of the wall. However, since the fielder is not part of the field, a ball that bounces off a fielder (including his glove) and over the wall without touching the ground is still a home run. A fielder may not deliberately throw his glove, cap, or any other equipment or apparel to stop or deflect a fair ball, and an umpire may award a home run to the batter if a fielder does so on a ball that, in the umpire's judgment, would have otherwise been a home run (this is rare in modern professional baseball).
A home run accomplished in any of the above manners is an automatic home run. The ball is dead, even if it rebounds back onto the field (e.g., from striking a foul pole), and the batter and any preceding runners cannot be put out at any time while running the bases. However, if one or more runners fail to touch a base or one runner passes another before reaching home plate, that runner or runners can be called out on appeal, though in the case of not touching a base a runner can go back and touch it if doing so will not cause them to be passed by another preceding runner and they have not yet touched the next base (or home plate in the case of missing third base). This stipulation is in Approved Ruling (2) of Rule 7.10(b).
Read more, here.
(707) 290-9731
777-D Elmira Road
Vacaville, CA 95687
Website
Friday, February 17, 2023
Why Are The Pros Better! - Coach Rich Explains Path To Success
Coach Rich explains why the pros are better. Practice and determination goes a long way regardless of your current level.
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
Saturday, February 11, 2023
The Home Run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is usually achieved by hitting the ball over the outfield fence between the foul poles (or hitting either foul pole) without the ball touching the field. Far less common is the "inside-the-park" home run where the batter reaches home safely while the baseball is in play on the field.
When a home run is scored, the batter is credited with a hit and a run scored, and a run batted in (RBI) for each runner that scores, including himself. Likewise, the pitcher is recorded as having given up a hit and a run, with additional runs charged for each runner that scores other than the batter.
Home runs are among the most popular aspects of baseball and, as a result, prolific home run hitters are usually the most popular among fans and consequently the highest paid by teams—hence the old saying, "Home run hitters drive Cadillacs, and singles hitters drive Fords" (coined, circa 1948, by veteran pitcher Fritz Ostermueller, by way of mentoring his young teammate, Ralph Kiner).
Nicknames for a home run include "homer", "round tripper", "four-bagger", "big fly", "dinger", "long ball", "jack", "shot"/"moon shot", "bomb", and "blast", while a player hitting a home run may be said to have "gone deep" or "gone yard".
Read more, here.
(707) 290-9731
777-D Elmira Road
Vacaville, CA 95687
Website
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Having The Right Approach - Low Risk/High Probability Equals High Reward...
Coach Rich talks about your strategy on approaching your at bat. Using your swing and hitting strengths to your advantage for high reward hitting.
Sunday, February 5, 2023
Famous Baseballs
There are several historic instances of people catching, or attempting to catch, baseballs tied to MLB milestones:
- The ball that Mark McGwire hit for his 70th home run of the 1998 baseball season, then setting a new record, was sold by a fan to Todd McFarlane for US$3.2 million at auction.
- Larry Ellison, not to be confused with the software entrepreneur of the same name, famously retrieved both Barry Bonds' 660th and 661st home runs.
- Barry Bonds' 73rd home run of the 2001 season. It was the last home run of his historic, record breaking season where he broke Mark McGwire's single season home run record. Ownership of the ball generated controversy and litigation resulted between the two people who claimed to have caught it. The story was made into a documentary, Up for Grabs. It was sold in auction to Todd McFarlane for $450,000.
- Barry Bonds' record-breaking 756th home run, beating Hank Aaron's record, caught by a New York Mets fan in 2007. It was later sold at an online auction for more than $750,000 to Marc EckÅ, a New York fashion designer.
- Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit, a home run, was caught by a New York Yankees fan who gave the ball back to the Yankees and was rewarded with about $70,000 worth of gifts and memorabilia.
- Roger Maris' 61st single-season home run was caught barehanded by a truck driver. The ball was sold at the price of $5,000.
Other famous baseballs:
- Babe Ruth's home run in the 1933 MLB All-Star Game sold for over $800,000. It was also signed by him.
- Hank Aaron's 755th home run ball sold for $650,000 at auction in 1999. The ball was kept in a safe deposit box for 23 years after groundskeeper Richard Arndt was fired from the Milwaukee Brewers for not returning the ball, even though he had attempted to the previous day.
- A baseball signed by both Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe (who were married for less than a year) in 1961 during spring training in Florida sold for $191,200 at auction.
- The ball that rolled between Bill Buckner's legs (and cost Boston extra innings) during the 1986 World Series sold for $418,250 at auction.
- Steve Bartman interfered with a play while attempting to catch a foul ball, causing the Chicago Cubs not to get an out in "The Inning" during the 2003 NLCS. The loose ball was snatched up by a Chicago lawyer and sold at an auction in December 2003. Grant DePorter purchased it for $113,824.16 on behalf of Harry Caray's Restaurant Group. On February 26, 2004, it was publicly exploded in a procedure designed by Cubs fan and Academy Award winning special effects expert Michael Lantieri. In 2005, the remains of the ball were used by the restaurant in a pasta sauce. While no part of the ball itself was in the sauce, the ball was boiled in water, beer, vodka, and herbs and the steam captured, condensed, and added to the final concoction.
Read more, here.
(707) 290-9731
777-D Elmira Road
Vacaville, CA 95687
Website
Thursday, February 2, 2023
More Than One Baseball?
There are different types of baseballs used.
Baseball or Hard baseball – Ordinary baseball which is used in Major League Baseball, in Japan is used in high school baseball and above for (hardball) baseball, referred to as hardball or baseball
Rubber baseball aka Nanshiki – Used for rubberball baseball usually played prior to high school in Japan; sometimes referred to as Japanese rubber baseball
Soft (compression) baseball – Used for batting practice and fielding training or softball baseball which can be safely played indoors, usually made from polyurethane (PU) material
Read more, here.
(707) 290-9731
777-D Elmira Road
Vacaville, CA 95687
Website
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