Son was recruited as a shortstop. On the first day of fall practice as a freshman he was switched to third base. He really struggled with the change and got very discouraged but fought his way forward. On opening day in the spring he broke his glove hand HBP and missed the rest of the season. But, for fun he started pitching. Pitching, Pitching, Pitching.
So, during fall practice he was converted to RHP! What a big change. I don't know how to be a parent of a RHP. How do you people do it? Opening day in Washington DC, he closed the first game. Struck out the first kid, then a walk and a hit, then two pop outs under pressure. Not a bad first appearance as a college pitcher. He was upset about the walk and the hit. I know what a parent can do about that! Smile and wave and give him a hug and show him that nice line in the scorebook that ends with ERA 0.00. Beats sitting on the bench in a cast all season I told him. Not a bad start - we split two double headers against good teams.
quote:I don't know how to be a parent of a RHP. How do you people do it?
As the parent of 2 of them...I have no useful advice for you. The only thing I know is short periods of terror followed by extreme joy or occasional despair.
After all, no one asked us if we wanted to be a pitcher's dad!!! (Much less, a two pitchers' dad!)
When ya'll figure it out, please send me a PM and let me know! PLEASE.
For one thing, YGD, you only have to worry about every 4th or 5th game if he is a starter. If he is a reliever, you can sit back and enjoy the game/nachos/liquid refreshment until you see him warming up in the bullpen! 
For all these years I've been looking straight ahead to find my son - Now, all of the sudden I keep looking over my shoulder to find him. Other people in the stands must think I'm crazy. Every time someone stands up in the pen I'm like gumby. I even look down there in the second game when he already pitched in the first game! I liked SS a lot better, but I'll get used to it.
quote:Originally posted by like2rake:
Son is a D3 Frosh pitcher on a team that has battled some very tough teams to the wire, but is winless on the season and they are scuffing. Son had three relief outings in close situations, and although he seemed to throw well, made a few mistakes and was giving up runs. Coaches must have seen something they liked though, as they gave him his first start this weekend - against a powerhouse top 10 team that I'm sure expects to go to Appleton.
Well, he had a great outing. 6 2/3 innings of shutout three-hit ball, with a 6-0 lead. That's the stuff we knew he had in him! A two out error extended the 7th inning, then unfortunately his wheels came off a bit - 2 walks, a ground single, a HBP and an infield single and his day was done. The team ended up giving up the lead in the 8th and losing, but wow are we proud!
And we just saw that his effort earned him Honorable Mention Conference Pitcher of the Week!
OK, I'm done braggin' on this one, time to move on to the next outing...
Hey that's great news! Congratulations! Looks like people aready noticed his efforts even in a losing cause.
Congrats to fenway Jr for his W yesterday; and his role as Friday starter!
Yesterday my son hit his first collegiate HR to give his team a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning of the opening conference game. Unfortunately his team lost 4-3 on a walkoff pinch hit HR. Our guys bounced back to win the second game 9-3. Just wish I could have been there but thank God for the computer audio pick up. My wife and I as well as two of his grandparents heard the call of his HR via the computer.
Congrats threebagger on your sons 1st college HR. as tough as it is not being there our family had had fun listening to the games on- line. Some of the visiting schools have great announcers and make the game really interesting and exciting. And when you're listening @ home you can cheer a lot louder!
My son too hit a HR yesterday almost a year to the day that he was injured. Caught a full 6 innings and was happy just to get a hit. He missed most of last season so is just happy to be back.
Keep the college news coming folks- its great to hear about all "our" hsbbweb players.
My son too hit a HR yesterday almost a year to the day that he was injured. Caught a full 6 innings and was happy just to get a hit. He missed most of last season so is just happy to be back.
Keep the college news coming folks- its great to hear about all "our" hsbbweb players.
Thank you, CaBB and congratulations to you and your son on his HR yesterday. I bet it does feel good after the injury and it symbolizes that he is truly back!
quote:Yesterday my son hit his first collegiate HR...
and...
quote:My son too hit a HR yesterday almost a year to the day that he was injured. Caught a full 6 innings...
WOO! HOO! Congrats to both of your sons (and you too
). 
My Florida boy got to pitch 4 innings in the snow today. The good news is we found out he could pitch in 30 degree weather in Ohio. Next week he gets to come home and pitch in Florida. We can't wait!
quote:Goosegg said....Congrats to fenway Jr for his W yesterday; and his role as Friday starter!
Thanks goosegg, you guys are off to a good start as well against good competition and some nice weather. Bring your lucky rabbits foot with you this weekend, and best of luck in SC!
Hey Threebagger! Congrats on your son's HR!
I sent you a link with some shots of your guy in Valdosta.
I sent you a link with some shots of your guy in Valdosta.
Centenary (first year of D3) beat Louisiana Tech (D1) tonight 14-8. Neither team pitched their weekend starters and Centenary put up 16 hits! Big win for this newly D3 program that has 25 new players on this year's roster!
Congrats Cheapseats! I have seen up close some of those beasts! Still the best hitting team I have seen so far this year. Here is their 2-6: 6’2”- 210, 6’0” – 205, 6’3” – 215, 6’0” – 210, 6’2” – 220….Gulp. (Oh and 4 of them are LH)
Sorry but I have to give your son some kudos, not only is he a great pitcher he is becoming a young journalist as well. For those who have not seen it - he does a weekly column (+/-) for his team, “on the bump”. I will never know how he finds the time, but it is one of my weekly reads.
http://www.gocentenary.com/Vie...900&ATCLID=205388776
Sorry but I have to give your son some kudos, not only is he a great pitcher he is becoming a young journalist as well. For those who have not seen it - he does a weekly column (+/-) for his team, “on the bump”. I will never know how he finds the time, but it is one of my weekly reads.
http://www.gocentenary.com/Vie...900&ATCLID=205388776
floridafan,
Thank you so much for the link! It's meeting people like you that make this such a special site! I just saw the picture today at work. By the way I was looking at Tampa's site and your son Eric is really burning hot with the bat! Good luck the rest of the way-- I still hope to meet Tampa again in the Regionals or World Series.
Thank you so much for the link! It's meeting people like you that make this such a special site! I just saw the picture today at work. By the way I was looking at Tampa's site and your son Eric is really burning hot with the bat! Good luck the rest of the way-- I still hope to meet Tampa again in the Regionals or World Series.
quote:he is becoming a young sports journalist
Thank you BOF and FormerObserver, I agree that he is doing a nice job on the blog giving good analysis and detail (although it drives me crazy when there are errors or typos ). You are right BOF, it is hard to find time to write them, he pens them at a time of day that I would call "middle of the night", thank you for following him and noticing, he will be glad to know someone actually reads it besides his mom.
Here is this weeks edition...
"On the Bump" baseball blog
FO - glad to see you stopping by to visit hsbbweb again, you are always a valued contributor!
). You are right BOF, it is hard to find time to write them, he pens them at a time of day that I would call "middle of the night", thank you for following him and noticing, he will be glad to know someone actually reads it besides his mom. Here is this weeks edition...
"On the Bump" baseball blog
FO - glad to see you stopping by to visit hsbbweb again, you are always a valued contributor!
I was able to pull out my Chicago White Sox 2005 World Series DVDs today...man, that makes me want to play.
I'd be absolutely thrilled to see the Chicago Bulls get another title, or the Bears, and watching the Blackhawks win was amazing.
Nothing compares to seeing the Sox win a championship, though. The game just means so much more to me. If the way I composed myself today just watching these DVDs is any indicator, if the White Sox win a World Series any time soon everyone around will get to see me weep openly in joy.
I'd be absolutely thrilled to see the Chicago Bulls get another title, or the Bears, and watching the Blackhawks win was amazing.
Nothing compares to seeing the Sox win a championship, though. The game just means so much more to me. If the way I composed myself today just watching these DVDs is any indicator, if the White Sox win a World Series any time soon everyone around will get to see me weep openly in joy.
Leaving Texas, driving ten and one half hours (that is if I don't run a three hour 20 mile traffic jam at the bridge in Lake Charles LA like the last time) tomorrow to see five Delta State games, three of which are against the only Texas team they play, Abilene Christian, and two against Erie College of Ohio. Can't wait!
Great to hear Threebagger! It was a pleasure seeing your son roam center field in Valdosta! Have a safe trip and enjoy the time with your son!
Thanks floridafan! Just hope the rain holds off!
Hope you had a good weekend Three Bagger! We had our hands full with Grand Canyon State, a very good unranked team! We dropped the first game in extra innings, but managed to win the next two. The second game was in extra innings as well. My son scored from first on a double to right field to tie the game. Then we went on to win with Backstop17's son getting the walk off game winning hit!
University of Tampa is now ranked #1 by all three polls I believe. Hope we can stay there!
University of Tampa is now ranked #1 by all three polls I believe. Hope we can stay there!
Floridafan,
Sounds like you had an exciting weekend of baseball! We too had our hands full against Abilene Christian. I saw one of the polls has us ranked third now so I hope we can continue to play well. Good to see both of your sons doing well.
Sounds like you had an exciting weekend of baseball! We too had our hands full against Abilene Christian. I saw one of the polls has us ranked third now so I hope we can continue to play well. Good to see both of your sons doing well.
Son had his first collegiate start today in his conference tournament in Florida. He got the win and more importantly has the confidence he needs to keep improving.
Congratulations to your son LauraZA!
Nice that he got to throw in this warm Florida weather! Was that the tournament in Auburndale?
Nice that he got to throw in this warm Florida weather! Was that the tournament in Auburndale?
It was the UAA tournament in Sanford. The weather here has been picture perfect. We had the team and all of the families over last night for dinner (80 people) and everyone wanted to stay outside because the weather was great. 
LauraZA, Congratulations to both you and your son on his win in his first collegiate start. I know you are both proud and elated as it is not easy to overcome the "nerves" in that first big assignment. Sounds like he handled it in fine fashion.
I just got back from a week long stay in Mississippi watching my son play five games. Had a couple of thrills as he led off the ninth inning of a tie game with a single, stole second and then scored the winning run in walkoff fashion on a teammate's base hit. The final game he had his first career four hit game to help the team win another. His team is the third ranked team in DII in at least one poll so maybe they'll move up a notch this week.
I did have another great thrill during that last game as I sat and watched a couple of innings with Dave "Boo" Ferris who is the patriarch of Delta State baseball and at 90 years of age still attends most practices and virtually every home ball game. Coach Ferris is a former 25 game winner for the Boston Red Sox in 1946 who also pitched a shutout in the 1946 World Series against the Stan Musial led Cardinals. Can you imagine being able to ask questions about what it was like to be teammates with a young Ted Williams just back from the war, and what it was like to face DiMaggio in his prime. He told me about hooking up in a pitching duel with Bob Feller and how he pitched Stan Musial in that famous World Series.
He explained to me in that melodious syrup smooth Mississippi accent, "You know Ted Williams had great God given ability, but I never saw a player that worked so hard on his hitting. If a pitcher needed extra throwing or was hurt and needed more work, Williams was always getting them to throw extra batting practice. He would hire kids to shag balls. When he hit the ball it sounded like rifle shots going off in that ballpark."
He also said that he didn't really have that much trouble with DiMaggio but a couple of other Yankees stars gave him fits, Tommy Henrich and Charlie "King Kong" Keller.
He also told me that he walked Musial the first time in the 1946 Series but then picked him off second. He joked that he found that that was the best way to get Musial out. Walk him and pick him off if you could. He said Musial hammered a triple off of him deep to right center in the ninth and he ran around the bases about as fast as anyone he had seen. If you check Musial's number of career triples you can see he must have been very fast as he remembered. Ferris then retired Hall Of Famer Enos Slaughter to preserve the shutout. I often like to check the retrosheets when I read or hear about a player's recollections but Coach Ferris was right in every detail of that story even at age 90. He had a wonderful memory for names and events. He told me, " you know, I saw many of Ted Williams greatest feats." What lot of people don't know is that Ferris himself performed some great feats such as opening his rookie season with a record eight straight victories where he defeated every other American league club and posting a 17-2 win/loss record by July 22 before settling with 21 wins as a rookie. The next year he opened the pennant winning 1946 season with 10 straight wins on his way to 25 wins for the season. What a career he was headed for when he blew out his arm at age 25 and was virtually finished at 26. He then went on to coach and scout in the Majors before he went on to build Delta State into a DII powerhouse starting in 1960.
You talk about dieing and going to heaven, between my son getting four hits and raising his batting average to .409 and sitting listening to the stories of a man who saw things in baseball that no longer exist, I couldn't of had a better day. There are few of these men left who played baseball in the 1940's or earlier when teams still traveled on trains and there were just 16 ML teams with vast 20 team farmclubs where you had to fight your way to the top. Their stories are certainly worth listening to if you ever get the chance.
I did have another great thrill during that last game as I sat and watched a couple of innings with Dave "Boo" Ferris who is the patriarch of Delta State baseball and at 90 years of age still attends most practices and virtually every home ball game. Coach Ferris is a former 25 game winner for the Boston Red Sox in 1946 who also pitched a shutout in the 1946 World Series against the Stan Musial led Cardinals. Can you imagine being able to ask questions about what it was like to be teammates with a young Ted Williams just back from the war, and what it was like to face DiMaggio in his prime. He told me about hooking up in a pitching duel with Bob Feller and how he pitched Stan Musial in that famous World Series.
He explained to me in that melodious syrup smooth Mississippi accent, "You know Ted Williams had great God given ability, but I never saw a player that worked so hard on his hitting. If a pitcher needed extra throwing or was hurt and needed more work, Williams was always getting them to throw extra batting practice. He would hire kids to shag balls. When he hit the ball it sounded like rifle shots going off in that ballpark."
He also said that he didn't really have that much trouble with DiMaggio but a couple of other Yankees stars gave him fits, Tommy Henrich and Charlie "King Kong" Keller.
He also told me that he walked Musial the first time in the 1946 Series but then picked him off second. He joked that he found that that was the best way to get Musial out. Walk him and pick him off if you could. He said Musial hammered a triple off of him deep to right center in the ninth and he ran around the bases about as fast as anyone he had seen. If you check Musial's number of career triples you can see he must have been very fast as he remembered. Ferris then retired Hall Of Famer Enos Slaughter to preserve the shutout. I often like to check the retrosheets when I read or hear about a player's recollections but Coach Ferris was right in every detail of that story even at age 90. He had a wonderful memory for names and events. He told me, " you know, I saw many of Ted Williams greatest feats." What lot of people don't know is that Ferris himself performed some great feats such as opening his rookie season with a record eight straight victories where he defeated every other American league club and posting a 17-2 win/loss record by July 22 before settling with 21 wins as a rookie. The next year he opened the pennant winning 1946 season with 10 straight wins on his way to 25 wins for the season. What a career he was headed for when he blew out his arm at age 25 and was virtually finished at 26. He then went on to coach and scout in the Majors before he went on to build Delta State into a DII powerhouse starting in 1960.
You talk about dieing and going to heaven, between my son getting four hits and raising his batting average to .409 and sitting listening to the stories of a man who saw things in baseball that no longer exist, I couldn't of had a better day. There are few of these men left who played baseball in the 1940's or earlier when teams still traveled on trains and there were just 16 ML teams with vast 20 team farmclubs where you had to fight your way to the top. Their stories are certainly worth listening to if you ever get the chance.
Three Bagger,
It sounds like you had a great week yourself! Congrats on your son's great hitting and base running. I have had a fun week meeting all of the other parents and getting to know the boys. We have two games left before he heads back up north. He may relieve on Sunday.
It sounds like you had a great week yourself! Congrats on your son's great hitting and base running. I have had a fun week meeting all of the other parents and getting to know the boys. We have two games left before he heads back up north. He may relieve on Sunday.
UVA at FSU tonight at 8PM on ESPNU
Nice to see college baseball getting some early season play time.
Nice to see college baseball getting some early season play time.
Three Bagger - unbelievably awesome story!
First congrats to your son - that sounds like a wonderful week of college baseball. Secondly, I love the baseball nostalgia stuff from a living legend. Ted Williams was the greatest hitter of all time imho and I love to hear stories like that. Musial was also right there in the discussion of the great hitters.
First congrats to your son - that sounds like a wonderful week of college baseball. Secondly, I love the baseball nostalgia stuff from a living legend. Ted Williams was the greatest hitter of all time imho and I love to hear stories like that. Musial was also right there in the discussion of the great hitters.
Three Bagger;
This was "priceless". They are valuable memories, because of your son playing at a very good baseball school with baseball history, because of the former Coach.
Before I started the Area Code games, I invited the pro scouts to my home for a "barbee". Charlie Silveri, former catcher behind Yogi would entertain the scouts with Ted Williams stories. Of course, Charlie holds a record 8 WS rings and time at bat.
Once when Yogi was late hitting off Bo Ferris, Williams [not known for his defense] in LF shaded to the foul line. Yogi swung and hit a "hard" fly to left field.
Williams makes the catch and next inning while he is hitting - Yogi asks "how did you make that "CATCH"?
WILLIAMS SAID "PROPER THINKING"!
Hope your son's team can play Sonoma State U. this season.
Bob
This was "priceless". They are valuable memories, because of your son playing at a very good baseball school with baseball history, because of the former Coach.
Before I started the Area Code games, I invited the pro scouts to my home for a "barbee". Charlie Silveri, former catcher behind Yogi would entertain the scouts with Ted Williams stories. Of course, Charlie holds a record 8 WS rings and time at bat.
Once when Yogi was late hitting off Bo Ferris, Williams [not known for his defense] in LF shaded to the foul line. Yogi swung and hit a "hard" fly to left field.
Williams makes the catch and next inning while he is hitting - Yogi asks "how did you make that "CATCH"?
WILLIAMS SAID "PROPER THINKING"!
Hope your son's team can play Sonoma State U. this season.
Bob
Congrats fenwaysouth on the nice start for Cornell. What a difference a year makes! Jr looks like he is doing pitching well. What is this 2/2 on stolen bases??? I guess he gets his wheels from mom.....
Was up in Sherman, Texas Sunday to watch the Austin College- Trinity game. BOF's boy looked great at the plate. First at bat, he hit a line drive double that may have hit the bottom of the fence in left center. Final at bat, he ripped another that was caught at the wall on a great play by the left fielder.
Thanks for the kind words LadsDad. You gotta’ do something when Trinity’s 3 starting pitchers are 17-1, go at least 8 innings, and you have a lights out closer. Kinda hard to get on the hill. What do you do? Pull out the bat and take a few hacks. (and of course have a great coach that has some confidence in a freshmen in a very stacked team….the kid he replaced on Sunday is batting 0.368)
PG:If you have not done so already, you should get someone out and check out this Klimesh kid. He is sitting 92-93, tops at 96 and has a nasty slider that he throws for strikes.
PG:If you have not done so already, you should get someone out and check out this Klimesh kid. He is sitting 92-93, tops at 96 and has a nasty slider that he throws for strikes.