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The oven mitts post prompted me to look up information on sliding I've been meaning to do. Lets start with my personal bias. As a kid I always tried to be the cool kid. I was the first to have white cleats when it was considered hot dog. Pete Rose went hands first. I’m going to give it a shot. After a few attempts I decided I didn't like infield dirt in my mouth and abrasions on my chest. One time I jocked myself. I had the same problem back in 1970 most players have now. They slide hands first incorrectly.

When I became a coach I started looking at it from an injury standpoint. But starting with 13u (post LL, not legal in LL) my son wanted to be cool and slide hands first. It’s hard to tell a team not to do what you're own kid is doing. I told the players I prefer feet first and can teach them three different slides. They all wanted to go hands first. My son switched to feet first going into home after getting a face full of catcher’s equipment. 

The link provides a lot of the information I discovered in one place. Only one study says hands first is faster ... if the runner slides properly and most don't. To me the bigger issue is which way has more injuries that harm baseball players ability to perform.

One thing that drives me nuts is watching MLBers go hands first and be safe until they fly right by the base and get tagged out. I never saw anyone going feet first go by the base.

http://www.baseballnews.com/ol...g_more_dangerous.htm

 

** The dream is free. Work ethic sold separately. **

Last edited by RJM
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SultanofSwat posted:

Sliding head first is MUCH faster IF your hand hits the bag at impact.  This is dangerous,except at home.

It is MUCH slower IF your hand hits well before the bag, and you create friction, and begin braking.

One analysis I saw said runners arrive .02 seconds (five inches) earlier going in hands first. The analysis added most runners don't slide hands first properly negating the advantage.

A head first slide is to avoid contact / tags.  If there is contact / tag on a head first slide then you did it wrong.  Case in point eating shin guards at a play at the plate.  Feet first is about protecting yourself from contact but you can still avoid contact / tags with it.  Overall I tell my guys to avoid head first slides but we talk about why / when to go head first.

Just saw Kepler from the Twins get called out because he slid feet first improperly, so improper sliding doesn't just happen with head first slides. 

 In the old days, you'd be crazy to slide headfirst at the plate, IMO, because the collisions were quite robust. I used to love it.

   We can all rant about how they should be sliding feet first, and catching a fly ball with two hands, but the bottom line is that most base stealers are sliding headfirst into second these days. It appears to be here to stay. Rickey Henderson is the guy that I remember making it popular.

I prefer feet first but it might make sense to teach correct head first too. This is like the parents who are against sex education in school because they fear it encourages kids to have sex in high school (as if they don't get the idea from media and the internet...), the kids see the head first slide in tv and at some point will try it.

So better teach it correctly rather than letting them do it wrong on their own.

I prefer feet first and teach feet first although many players use head first.  Lost my best athlete in the second game of the season because he went head first into home and had a bad collision with the catcher.  He is an aggressive player and created the contact at the plate when he saw there was going to be a tight play.  The catcher got the worst end of the impact (he shouldn't have been standing on the line) but my player (also catcher) got the worst of the long term damage, which was a broken wrist.  Had he gone feet first with a hook slide he probably would have avoided the contact and been safe at home and we probably would have won twice the games we did this season...just say'n.

Almost every player on my 13u to 16u teams went head first. After 13u all were good athletes headed for some level of college ball. One kid tried head first and didn't like it. One kid I told was going to hurt himself if he kept going head first. He was a big, rugged kid. The first time he went head first it registered at Cal Tech (from the east coast).

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