What Level Player Were YOU? Be Honest...

I was so good that the high school baseball coach suggested I hook up with our brand spanking new high school tennis team. As they say......the rest is history.

Good all around ball player and I loved the game, but baseball ended when LL was done at age 12. Pitched and played 3B. I grew up near a small town in Texas and in those days boys were expected to be working by then (1975).

At times (sporadically) there was a PONY league team and as I recall it was for ages 13-17. However, the coach had a reputation for stopping at a bar or dance hall when returning from out of town games, leaving the boys outside and going in for a pop or two. My parents made the wise decision.

My thought is that I could have played some kind of college ball, but definitely not D1.

Got cut from my JC team at the age of 16. Played rookie (semi-pro) ball for Angels through age 17. Went in the service and took up tennis because there was nowhere to play baseball. Played JC and D1 tennis but was never more than a D2/D3 talent. Probably would've been D2/D3 in baseball once I was old enough but who knows?

Me? Ha, I can still hit a wiffle ball, but I switched to lacrosse in 9th grade.

I don't think it was possible for me to be as good as I thought I was.

Poor! I had some physical ability but never really "got it" at a young age and as such lost interest (includes most sports I attempted). Would not have made most high school teams.

I'm a really good bowler.

I don't lose too many balls and no matter how bad I throw it, it always comes back....

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
I don't think it was possible for me to be as good as I thought I was.

Same here, but I took up

There were a lot more girls around.....
(I never told my son this of course)

Played through High School and had reconstructive surgery on my rotator cuff a week after graduation. Full upper-body cast for 6 months, 6 more months of rehab... never did get my mojo back. Thank god for my academics. The rest is history.

Does softball count? I played D3 softball and the coach put me in the starting lineup all 4 years (mostly 3B/LF), but D3 women's sports were not quite as competitive back then (1978-1981) as they are now!

Julie

I was decent until the eye doc told my parents I needed corrective lenses, and they refused to let me try the newfangled contact lenses. Wearing gold-rimmed glasses playing baseball just robbed me of all my good juju. Plus I had acne and braces.

I could've played some level of college ball, but chose to attempt a walk-on at a school that was WAAAAAY over my head.....and even though I had finally wangled my way into contacts, I hung 'em up.

I could always hit.....won the coaches' home run derby at a Far East tournament last year. But the devastating glint off of those gold-rimmed glasses, braces, and pale Michigan skin really affected my glovework.

Speaking of glove work, when I was about 10 years out of college I played a little co-ed softball. They put me at 1B, and since I was the only female in the infield (I think the rules said they had to play at least 1 woman in the IF), the opposing men would sometimes try to aim line drives or ground balls in my direction.

Scary! Those hits came at me a LOT faster than I ever remember in college. I honestly didn't know sometimes whether to try to make the play, or get out of the way - even though it was a softball! Gave me even more respect for baseball players and the reaction times they must have, especially pitchers fielding come-backers.

Julie

I grew up in a time (not that long ago) when there were no youth sports for girls. Eventually, I got to play a few years of slow pitch softball in a community league. My claim to fame was hitting an actual over the fence home run in my first at bat.

Went to an all-girls high school, which had a basketball team, a track team, and a tennis team. A bunch of us went to the principal to try to get a softball team, but there wasn't enough money to hire a coach.

It does my heart good to see all of the athletic opportunities available for young women. My old high school now has all of the main stream sports, plus crew (yes, high school crew).

While I may have not contributed directly to my son's athletic prowess, I like to think that he got his competitive spirit from me.

When I was 17-18 years old, I thought my $%&* didn't stink. I played baseball in a high school program that was very successful in our area. We won our league every year, and I had a very good senior year as a pitcher, and was voted All County and MVP of our league. Looking back, I thought I was the man, but ultimately my poor grades kept me from attending a four year college. I played JC ball in So Cal, and quickly learned that everyone was All League in HS on my JC team...I wasn't special. In fact, I had to work my buns off to receive innings on the mound. After two years, I had the option of attending William Penn in Iowa with my JC roommate. I was required to take two summer courses to be eligible to transfer. I chose not to attend, instead I took a summer job with a company, and I'm currently with them to this day. My buddy lasted one year in Iowa and moved back to California to start his career in Law Enforcement, and he remains in that capacity today...that was over 24 years ago, time flies!

Excellent question.

Mediocre.

Every year I reflect, the better I was! For sure, I was the best LL player in my District.

When I want to get my son laughing, I pull out the old scrapbook my mom put together, tell him how good I was and let him read the newspaper clippings.

He was shocked that they recapped LL, Babe Ruth and Legion games, in the local papers, "in the olden days!"

I was a good HS player who focused on football and basketball. So that is why my legs are shot. My wife was a D2 scholarship sprinter with uncles who were all state in basketball and football. One played for the Cowboys. Many played in college.

My son looks just like his momma and her 6'5"+ uncles, dad and brothers. But I still claim he got his hand eye coordination from me.

quote:

My son looks just like his momma and her 6'5"+ uncles, dad and brothers. But I still claim he got his hand eye coordination from me.

Don't worry, it probably won't hurt him in the long run....

GO CATS!

My head was BIGGER then my heart.

My son looks just like his momma and her 6'5"+ uncles, dad and brothers. But I still claim he got his hand eye coordination from me.


"Don't worry, it probably won't hurt him in the long run...."

Dammit Hawk! I just had to explain to my boss why I was laughing at work!

I "WAS" Charlie Brown. Hanging around the school yard with 3-4 buddies at 10 throwing BP and wham Liner right on the point of my nose busted it all up. Two surgeries latter in life to fix sinus problems and was deathly afraid of a baseball for the rest of my adolesence.

Tried to go back as a freshman in HS and fell down in the box when the old marine coach tossed a duece up there. So I joined the hoops team and had a pretty good run there.

Couldn't throw from the outfield beyond the cutoff man. Could field a little. Could hit good enough to get on base. Left handed. I was, what else, a number two first baseman in college for two years.

I was an outstanding RHP/C/1B/OF/2B who ran track because I couldn't get time in baseball doing more than pitching mop up.

HS baseball player, average D3 s****r player. I love how s****r gets iggied on this site like it isn't a real sport.

So bad at softball that my church league actually gave me the bushel basket award for my skills in RF.

Dated a pretty good high school player for a while and I had always loved the game. The best part of our relationship was that he taught me how to keep score because he earned $15 doing it for the little league games and that was our pizza money for the night.

The other team parents now all find it hysterical that I still keep a book at every game and that I'm the one who taught my husband, not the other way around!

I agree with PG!

In college, I was an average D1 player (MIF/3B) on a very good team - 3 year starter. Made it to Regionals (before Super Regionals). Got a few hits. Made a few errors. Had a blast.

Too small and too slow for pro ball.

Biggerpapi, I'm glad you started this thread, because it has got me thinking about the role my participation in sports has played in my life.

As I mentioned, I was a mediocre player talent-wise. However, I continued to play softball into my 30s. The last few years I pitched in a men's slow pitch league. I liked being on a team with men, and I liked competing against men.

I liked getting an out after being down in a count. I learned to fail, to win, to lose. I learned to not be intimidated by the macho dude who decided he was going to (try to) hit it out of the park.

Fast forward to today. I am a CEO in a male dominated industry. All of my staff memebers are men. A lot like the old softball days. I didn't make that connection until this thread.

I was pretty good player in high school and an adequate NAIA player. The thing that amazes me is how much better I'm getting as I get older. I would say in another 10 years I might be that guy who was robbed of a chance to play pro ball by somebody along the way.

The lawsuits against Little League were going on when I was young enough to play ball. My brother's coach said that if I was a year younger (the age for playing at my brother's level), he would have fought to get me on his team after I hit the ball over the left fielder's head during one of their practices. He did let me warm up his pitchers during games and participate in some of the practices.

I did play in a Girl's baseball league (6th and 7th grade) for a couple years as a pitcher and catcher. I was on the All Star team both years. Unfortunately, there was no place to go after that and softball wasn't quite the sport it is now although I did walk onto the high school JV softball team my junior year after not playing any ball for almost four years.

I did manage to play D3 tennis which is why I value the experience of playing a sport in college. I wasn't great, but I did get to play all four years.

Funny thing in our family. I'm the one who still plays catch with my son when he does some long toss. I bought catcher's gear when I started taking pitches in the shins and I have perfected by throw and duck motion from behind the L-Screen. Someday, I hope to coach a Little League team with my son. My husband is not really the athletic type.

Any other Moms who got a chance to play baseball?

I was a mediocre D3 pitcher and possibly decent D1 middle IF. gonna be long-winded but numerous morals to the story so maybe some of you younger people can learn something. was all region P and middle IF in high school. from a rural area that played the smallest classification in the state so not facing the stiffest competition and did not want to travel anywhere in the summer as I liked playing with my buddies. My HS coach was a stud at a small D1 and really wanted me to go there, but it was located in what I thought was the big city and even though I never set foot on the campus, I decided I didn't like it. A D2 worried the **** out of me but I didn't like the school or the coach, so never really considered them. I convinced myself that I really loved a D3 school and coach close to home and wanted to pitch, though what I really loved was a sweetheart from home who had a year left in HS. So very early on that's where I decided to go and ruled everything else out.

The first two schools did not want me to pitch, but that's what I wanted to do. I did not have much of a fastball, mainly since 12 yrs old I relied on locating, changing speeds, but mostly throwing curveballs, sliders, slurves, some sort of screwgie thing, and any other slop I could come up with.

So freshman year was pretty good for me. then over the summer the sweetheart dumped me. then about November of soph year I can't break a window pane with my fastball. no pain, just no life so ended up mopping up and throwing bp for 3 years. then visited that D1 I mentioned earlier and thought it was the best campus on the planet. on top of that, old HS teammate who made the team as a walk-on at big ACC school calls me freshman yr after making team and before he says Hi he says 'dude, you could play here.'

Only played one year of HS ball...football was more my game.
Then picked it up again at age 29. Played against and with ex HS, college and several ex pros for 11 years and competed. Age is the great equalizer.

So cool to see moms posting. Great stories. AntzMom was a decent softball player, back in the day. She still puts the mitt, on once in a while, for a catch. She can throw a football, too.

I'm telling you memories baby, really cool to read everyones post and how it shaped them in someway. My story is great player in high school threw 4 no hitters, won a AAU state championship went to play for junior olympic team, was recruited by some big time d1's didn't qualify with ncaa standards becuase grades were a second thought, there were talks of me being drafted (didn't happen), played baseball and football at 2 pretty good d2 schools, was a mediocre player in college, got into partying and girls, it was great but terrible, went on after college played some independent ball as a firstbaseman. Some people would say i overcame the odds with my parental background, some people would call me a waste, but all in all, if i had to do it again, i would change somethings, but wouldn't change the outcome for anything.

I was aself taught baseballer. No history of anyone in my family playing ball or being over-atheletic. I played football, basketball and baseball freshman yr. I wnated to ply Def End and coach wanted me to play tighy end...no way I was going over the middle..LOL. Stuck with baseball. We had only Varsity baseball, did not play 1 inning of my freshman yr, too much of a clown. Broke our catchers nose my JR yr throwing knuckle balls, ended up becoming a catcher, as well as pitcher/3b. I was drafted out of HS, as a Catcher, listed as an outfielder in the draft. Chose to go to a JC...to better my draft position. I was clueless my SR yr about prepping for college's and had no parental support. Had a great year as a freshman yr at JC. Played in the Cape Cod league the following summer. came back my second yr at JC and became a 5 postion utility player. My coach had changed philosophy while I was gone over the summer and fell in love with a lot of big money families from north of where I was playing. Grades took a dive and a combination of lack of effort on my part and no effort on my coaches part pretty much ended there. Attended a pro tryout, got invited to a spring camp, but then blew out my knee...turned out wrestling a moving car is not so good.

Played a lot of upper level softball and mens baseball leagues. Just played in a league two falls ago in a 40 over division, and still play softball at the hot corner. Was a 4/5 tool player, never really fast.

Forunate enough to have 3 sons, who play baseball, oldest is the 2014. Coach all 3 of them. Arm is still above avg and in great shape and long toss at least 3 days a week. It was a true turning point,feelings of depression and elation, when my oldest overtook me in arm strength last year.

I am trying to hook on to a local highschool program as a JV coach. My journey has allowed me to guide my sons thru trial and error. I am never sad at "what could have been", especially after playing with some HOF'ers that I played with in the Cape, and very thankful for experiences that I endured so that I can help not only my son's, but the his teeam mates as well.

Sorry for the long post

Pretty good HS player was the ace of pitching staff and hit third in lineup. Average D1 player in college pitcher only.

Major tomboy growing up. Had a brother that gave me 2 choices - get beat up or play sports with him. Pick-up football in front of the school was my favorite. Played 4 yrs tennis at the University of Florida - go Gators!!! Team ranked 4th in nation my senior year. Seems like a lifetime ago. If I had to choose between playing myself and watching my kids play - not even close - watching my kids!! Lots of wonderful memories.

Could throw out all kinds of legitimate reasons, and give some excuses why, but I was an average NAIA OF at best.

The Charlie Brown picture I posted was supposed to be a joke, but it really is pretty accurate.

My love for the game far outreached my ability. I was probably an average or below average player. Played one year in high school.

I'm 43 years old and I vividly remember hitting a double my 8 year old year. Would have been a triple if I hadn't rounded first too wide and run into the grass behind the second baseman.

I vividly remember catching a towering fly ball at second base to help my team with the city championship when I was 10.

My one and only pitching appearance came in Colt league (what's that, 14 or 15?) I only threw one strike and that's because the ball went behind the batter's head and hit his bat for a foul ball.

My one and only HS memory was getting thrown out of my first ever game after bowling the catcher at home plate.

But my love for this awesome game has never waned. I played a little softball and even a couple years in the Men's Adult Baseball League. But my true joy in life is watching and coaching my boys.

Maybe this picture will more accurately portray by ability:

NAIA.. good player on an average team. Which means I would have been an average player on a good team. Most fun I ever had.