Better than pop?

I was a gritty, determined ballplayer with a modicum of talent. I finished my baseball career after my senior year...as it should be.

My oldest has more ability in his elbow than I have coursing through my veins. He also has a competitive edge and grittiness that I love. He is a junior in HS and has led his 5A high school team in hitting all the way through.

He will soar where I just dreamed of...and I will watch while on the ground and wipe away the tears of pride...

Originally posted by Bum:
So Bum, Jr. has exceeded anything I ever achieved in baseball. Good for him.




How about you dads out there? How far did you go in baseball?

HA! I played until about seventh or eighth grade and the only reason I lasted that long was that I was the only one crazy enough to get behind the plate to catch our fireball pitcher.

Is your kid better than you ever were?

A bit.


What was the difference?

His mom?

Got cut 10th grade year...never played again.

Son is now a soph playing college ball.

The difference...being able to transfer my love and passion to the game for him...and his work ethic that I never had. Coaching, too...he had much better coaching than I had.

Is my 14 year old better than I was? Without a doubt. Heck, my 10 year old is better than I EVER was!

Athletic ability in my family apparently has skipped a generation...or two.

What's the difference? Above all, God given talent. Secondly, my boys have tons more opportunity than I did. I loved baseball back then just as much as I do now, but my parents (who liked baseball) had education and hard work as a higher priority. Baseball was just a game.

I'm not saying either of us is right or wrong, just different.

I played basketball...never a baseball player.

My 12 yo is better than I ever was, especially as a hitter. My 10 yo will be soon, if not already. That is why I became a golfer9pretty good in hs and college0 and a basketball player.
the difference? Time and information. My dad was a county sheriff, and was not around alot. Even though I am now divorced, I spend a lot of time throwing and hitting with them. There is so much more info on hwo to do things properly, I was able to learn enough to teach them correctly-I hope.

Tycho-I live in Denton Co, and me and the boys would like to come watch your son play someday.

I couldn't throw a baseball through a plate glass window.....................

Eldest

Speed - He is faster - maybe not as quick first couple steps though
Strength - no contest - he wins
Hitting - no contest - he wins
Fielding - close - I think I had the better arm

Youngest

Speed - same as above
Strength - I think its close - but not for much longer
Hitting - close - but he wins
Fielding - no contest - he wins - and he has the best arm of any of us.

The youngest son became the better pitcher of the men at our house (now pitching in college). Dad’s best offer was to pitch for Ole Miss but couldn’t accept it because he was majoring in music (time conflict with practice). Now a very successful D-1 college band director. Doesn’t fit the typical mold in his field; but gets along great with athletics because he played all the sports in HS.

What he did for the boys was to train them on proper mechanics very early. I think it was special to have a Dad that was very athletic.

quote:

I was 16 when I quit baseball (and discovered girls). We didn't have showcases and travel teams but I was a raw talent

Same here. I had speed, range, some power and was a good hitter for average. made LL allstars every time, but got caught up in the girls at 16. I vowed that I would not let that happen to my son. I didnt have to. He is a baller (ball player) Wife and I practically lived at the softball fields (slow pitch) and he was there as a kid all the time. So he was raised with a glove, bat, and ball in his hand and is a natural. Has not slowed down since. This year senior in HS, next year College.

It's hard to make comparisons. Dad grew up in Wisconsin, where BB was not prominent, and excelled in competitive cycling and middle-distance running. Son has not ridden a bike since age 10 or 12 and runs only because he has to, not because he wants to!

Bum,

Like you and your son, my guy and I liked the long toss. We began it long before we knew it was a good developmental tool. We maybe always tried to throw farther and farther. By the time infidel_jr was turning 9 he was nearly throwing the length of the nearby traffic circle where we used to live. I think I was bouncing it to him then.

I hit one onto Mrs. Robinson's roof once...nearly cleared her TV antenna...must've been at least a 150' shot!

When I was a kid, we all had the big-league dream. There were a few guys in my age group whose dads had played in the minors, and some of them reached that point, too, though none made the bigs. In comparison to today, I just don't think we had a clue about what was really required to get to that level. We played football in the fall, basketball in the winter, baseball in the spring. Summer was time to get a job! (Kids today don't understand what a REAL recession is about. Beginning when I got my first work permit in 1976, I had to find jobs and bust my buns at them -- as did everyone else I knew at that time.) We just weren't really focused on the goal they way we should've been if we really wanted to "make it".

I loved the game, but to be honest my abilities were modest. I made the cut for my college team -- a Division I program with no scholarship money at all -- but rarely played. And we were doormats in those days. I joke that my baseball career proves that the Peter Principle applies in baseball, too.

I don't know how or why, but my son fell out of the womb not just dreaming of playing big-time baseball, but single-mindedly focused on finding out what he needed to do to get there, then doing it. I never worked at baseball the way he has worked at baseball the past 9 years. He has gifts I didn't have -- size and strength in particular -- but the gift of that drive separates him from me, or from anyone else I remember from my youth for that matter.

But let's face it. My son's HS team (AAA state champs last year) would have mopped up the field with my college team. And don't even get me started on his travel team, which was a collection of flat-out studs if ever I saw one. These kids are simply better trained, more experienced and more focused now than we were 25-30 years ago. His HS team had kids get cut, or riding the bench, who would've started for my HS team and been the big stars.

Is my son better than his dad was? I have to laugh! Not even close.

I played football, basketball and baseball in high school and baseball in college. My son is a high school freshman. I see a kid I believe has more physical tools than I had growing up. Maybe it comes from his mother. She was a better athlete than I was. He's supposed to be two or three inches taller than me. The potential is there.

But I see conflicts. When I was a kid each sport had a season. Now it's not the case. My son plays s****r, basketball and baseball. He has two coaches tugging at him to play their sport in the summer. The baseball coach knows baseball is #1. It's also very demanding to be playing the sport in season and train for the next one at the same time. From a baseball standpoint he would be better served not playing basketball and focusing on baseball training instead of doing it when he can fit it in. But he loves basketball.

I doubt he'll stop playing three sports since his sister did it (volleyball, track, softball) and made it to college softball. But the competition for boys and college sports is much more competitive.

I graduated HS at 16 and didn't get a lot of playing time my senior season. I was able to catch on with a rookie ball team (roughly equivalent to the current scout ball teams although we did get pro players at times) when the slightly senile old guy running it mistook me for a legit prospect from our school with the same first name. I still had the dream at that point. Then they sent two of the Lacheman brothers to take a look at the pitchers. The first pen I threw for them I tried to pitch well. They showed no interest at all. The red headed kid next to me who was throwing hard with no control did get their interest. The next week I just threw as hard as I could and they showed some mild interest at most. My guess is I was throwing high 70s or 80 at that point.

My son is 2.5" taller, 20 lbs heavier and quite a bit stronger than I was then. He's lost a lot of development time to injuries so I might have been a better pitcher at that point but he's got way more upside than I ever had.

It is hard to compare because nobody had guns to use on us back then.

No question, son is much better than I ever was. He's bigger by 6", and has benefited from all of the information available to players via books and the internet that wasn't so easy to get when I was a kid. Son also benefits from having a Dad who loves baseball. Son is a much better hitter than I was and has a stronger arm. I think sometime this summer I gave up pretending I could keep up with him on the field. Maybe it was after getting hit (again) with a laser hit during BP I realized that I was just outmatched.

I also have 3 7 year old daughters who want to play baseball/softball. Now that I know how to coach, they are way ahead of where their brother was at that age.

quote:

Originally posted by Nitric_Acid:
I also have 3 7 year old daughters who want to play baseball/softball. Now that I know how to coach, they are way ahead of where their brother was at that age.

I didn't think the point of this thread was to make everyone else envious, but you succeeded.

You lucky guy! I was only blessed with twin daughters.

quote:

Originally posted by handyrandy:
My 12 yo is better than I ever was, especially as a hitter. My 10 yo will be soon, if not already. That is why I became a golfer9pretty good in hs and college0 and a basketball player.
the difference? Time and information. My dad was a county sheriff, and was not around alot. Even though I am now divorced, I spend a lot of time throwing and hitting with them. There is so much more info on hwo to do things properly, I was able to learn enough to teach them correctly-I hope.

Tycho-I live in Denton Co, and me and the boys would like to come watch your son play someday.

hr,

You have a PM.

Do you really want us to admit that we were not as good as our kids?

My son's head would swell to watermelon size if I ever told him that.

quote:

My son's head would swell to watermelon size if I ever told him that.

My boys had a different reaction....

Midlo Dad, funny you mention 1976. I was cut my freshman and sophomore years of HS. The reason given was that I was, "just too **** mean." I was not a nice person. Junior year, the Varsity Coach kept me on the recommendation of my PE Teacher. Started both my Jr. and Sr. years and led my team in hitting both years. I actually had a plaque with my name on it in the enterance to the gym for years. Glove = terrible. Hustle, desire, eat nails etc. ... nickname in HS was Cannonball. In one game, I broke a SS's leg and a 2Bs arm. Off to college where I was very average. In 1976, my Dad lost his job during that recession Midlo Dad mentioned. I had to drop out of college and go to work midnights as a welder to help my family. To be honest, I was a terrible athlete who wanted to win worse than most.

My DD is a chip off of the old block with the exception that she is kind-hearted. She is not a great athlete. She loves to play and would rather play than do anything else. She's 14 playing 16U. She can HIT! Did I mention SHE CAN HIT! She will, in the end, be better than I was. She's already a better person.

My son is a much better baseball player than me. Way better. That and video games. I'm better than him at everything else. No matter what it is he loses. I'm talking golf, bowling, roller skating, skateboarding, pool, bumper pool, ping-pong, air hockey, noc hockey, foosball, frisbee, boomerang, yo-yo, chess, checkers, backgammon, monopoly and pretty much anything else he challenges me to.

It makes me realize that by growing up in the pre-video age, in many ways I had a much more interesting childhood than he did.

CoachB25,

She's already a better person. That may be true, but is she as good a welder?



.................You go Coach!..............



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And by the way...that shortstop Vinnie with the broken leg and that second baseman Andy with the broken arm...they both report that the spot welds you gave them to fix them up are still holding!



...............................Vinnie..................................................Andy.....................


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And of course you'll always be the master when it comes to this...




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Great Topic and Great Posts.

I was a better baseball player than my oldest son. We both had Fathers that loved the game and taught it to their children. I was faster, quicker and could hit from the left side better than him [we were both switch hitters]. He had the better arm and could hit from the right side better than me. His best position was right field [he specialized in diving catches and throwing runners from third to home out on fly balls to right field] and my best position was 2B *I specialized in range to first base and turning 6-4-3 double plays]. After his last year of American Legion ball at age 19, he has not played the game since. I played baseball in the service and played semi-pro ball till I was nearing 30. He was much better at basketball and golf than I was or am but I was better at football.

As for my youngest, he is better at baseball than I was at his age in almost every standard measured skill "needed" to play the game. He is faster than I ever was, probably a bit quicker, hits with more power and bat speed and has a slightly better arm. We are probably equal as far as our ability to get on base [he holds his high school's record for most career walks and the top two season records for walks], reading the ball off the bat and getting to it, ability to steal and run bases and understanding the situation and what needs to be accomplished. I was a better right handed hitter than he is [he gave up trying to switch hit his senior year in high school] and, unlike him, I read everything I could about baseball and how to play it when I was younger. Pretty much everything he knows about the game he learned from me or his coaches. He does not work on the game in his off non-practice time like I did. He was selected as West Virginia AA first team all-state infield his senior year in high school and all I ever received was All Kanawha County second team infield my junior year. He is a college freshman atending West Virginia State University on a full academic ride and will probably be red-shirted this year. I attended West Virginia University and made the freshman baseball team but did not stick it out and chose to be on the debate team. I was given a tuition waiver my last 3 years as a result of my debating.

TW344

Definitely better than pop.

quote:

Originally posted by TW344:
I was given a tuition waiver my last 3 years as a result of my debating.
TW344

Don't argue with this guy. He's a pro.

This site is full of parents with talented kids and I think it would be rare to find a talented player of our generation who could match up with a talented kid of todays generation (otherwise, why are we here?) Better training, better coaching, more opportunities and more focused players are the norm of this generation.

I had a very strong loose arm and could pitch as a high school and college player but, despite a love for the game, never really understood the dedication it took to progress and play at a high level. I think the kids who don't get weeded out and continue to play at a high level on the high school travel circuit today have an intuitive feel for the work ethic that is required; which is the one indispensible quality for success. I would like to think that my son has those qualities that I didn't at his age.

Dad only played as far as rec ball but Mom on the other hand.....

My sons will be way better at ball than anyone in our family but I always tease that I did play in college (softball) and if they are really good they will have a better ERA.

I am very proud of my sons and am amazed almost daily at how hard they work and how they take their work ethic far beyond the ball field.

I didn't go far in baseball - lot of talent but no help at all. My son has a lot of talent but he has recieved lots of help and guidance - starting with his spirit. The rest just fell in place.

The differance between me and my son is NO comparison. Worlds difference in baseball ability. He has my athletic genes and his Mother's Christ like commitment. If it wasn't true, I wouldn't say it " He is Blessed".

To God Be the Glory