what position did you play?

I never made the cut for baseball in HS.

I did play football (no cuts) for a couple of years. I was listed as 3rd string defensive end. I did manage to get into a few games when the team had a sizable lead.

My parents came to every game and were pleased as punched when I did go in for a play or two. If you talked to them you would have thought I was MVP of the Super Bowl.

Summers I was a pitcher, SS, 3B and Catcher. HS I was and outfielder. I didn't want to be. However, coach sent me out to right field and I was hacked off. Remember the RF LL stigma? Well, RF at my HS is the sun field and no one would battle that sun at 4 in the afternoon to catch a ball. So, before I fielded a ball during tryouts my junior year, he sent me out there and hit a ball or two. That was it. I did play 2B my last game of HS. During the summers all those years I was the top pitcher in my town and started every All Star game. Says a lot about the other pitchers.

Water boy! I was a starter too.

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It doesn't surprise me that you were a starter...



After all, you got started quite young!



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Gotwood, LOL!!!!!

I was a SS, good glove, no bat (or as I prefer to remember it, ALMOST no bat - I did hit ONE home run). I told my kid he was a better player than I ever was by the time he was 13, and I meant it.

I did want him to consider one thing, though, which I still think is important. Kids like me often had to work WAY harder than more talented kids, and when I look around, several of the coaches in my area are guys "like me" (I use quotation marks because, yeah, they were actually better than I was but they were still less good relative to the better players enough to make my point). I really think the best coaches often come from players who had to really struggle to figure out how to succeed in this game. I always want my son (and all kids like him, to whom the game comes easily) to remember that they can learn from coaches and teammates who were (or are) never the kind of players they are...and I think while that is not unique to baseball it is more common in baseball than other sports. I could be wrong.

I'll leave it at that and see what others think....

I broke my father's heart. He was a HS baseball coach, and brought me up as a lefty batting catcher.

When I entered high school I had fallen in love with golf (which he also taught me, and which I played from the right side.) I played golf in HS and college.

I made it up to him. His grandson is a lefty batting catcher who is far more talented than I ever was.

Three weeks ago I took my Dad to Texas to watch my son and his team play against the Longhorns.

I think I have made my Dad forget whatever disappointment I may caused by playing golf rather than baseball.

In LL I was one of the smaller players in league but by was considered the best player. As a lefty I pitched and played shortstop (yes, lefty shortstop).

When we went to the big field in Babe Ruth, at age 13-15, puberty (or lack of it in my case), caught up and the others became bigger, stronger and passed me up. I struggled in high school and ended up hurting my arm. Graduated at 17 but a short 18Mos. later fully matured and gained 30lbs and 6 inches! Man, wish my parents had held me back. Anyway, discovered by an Air Force General playing in a base softball league and he recruited me to play for his command fast pitch team. Spent one great year traveling Europe playing FP Softball against all the services teams. It was a blast as I had figured out by then that I should have always been hitting lefty (lefty thrower) instead of right-handed in my youth.

When I show my son the clippings of those youthful days I remember being much better than I was!

I played LL and reck ball the in school I played bench, gard,tackle that is anyone trying to get water. I did play gared and tackle in HS football and played some 2th base and out field. I did a lot of bull rideing when I was a kid also. I won 4 in world back in 1982. That back when I could move with out snapping and popping.

AMAZING RESPONSES----really amazing

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"That back when I could move with out snapping and popping."

So, if I understand correctly, day-to-day you may be any one of these guys depending on the sound that was bucked off your body...right?





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Some really good posts. So I'll add mine, probably not as good as others! I played LL, babe Ruth or pony league, and American legion. I pitched (rhp), played third, first, outfield. From age 13 on up I pitched a lot more than playing other positions. Had a pretty good fastball I guess. Catchers always told me the ball seemed to rise. These days I believe that is called "late life" or pop on the ball. Put that with a good change up and had some great times. Could not master a good curve, had a pitch that would break 12 to 6, but nothing special. Personal best, 16 strikeouts in one game.

3rd base and batted 4th. It was a small pond.

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"It was a small pond."

Where I grew up there were lots and lots of these little ponds...



I started out as water boy, but as you can see I worked hard and clenched that coveted Dippin' Dots® position.



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LL - 3b, had a gun for the small field
HS JV - coach decided my gun was best utilized in the OF
HS V - end, guard, and tackle, sat on the end of the bench, guarded the water, and tackled anyone that tried to get any...honestly, my coach was a brownie hound and I kept my nose out of there so between that an Mono my Sr. season I got limited PT.
Post HS Serious Softball - outfield, 3b
Post Kids Semi-Serious Softball - 2b & SS
Post 40 Softball - Pitcher, and I've struck out more guys in a couple seasons than I've seen in total playing for 20+ years; it isn't rocket science to learn an umps strike zone and a batters weak spot after once through the order and use it to your advantage...once struck out 3 guys in a game which is unheard of, good times!
Retired at 42, to be a coach!

Track and cross-country. I was 5'10" 145 lbs. when I graduated in 1984. The kid is 6'4" 195 lbs. as a 2013.

Deep Right field, usually behind the fence.

Seriously, until I tore up my shoulder (playing basketball of all things-I was 5'5 at 15) I played occasional middle infield. I could field, could never hit and my arm strength was fair. Someone came up with the wild idea to try me out as a catcher, I have no idea why. I was lousy at all of them. After the shoulder dislocation I could barely throw 120 feet so I stuck with golf, something I was much better at anyway.

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You should have learned how to whirl Wklink. It worked for me. Being able to whirl was the only reason I saw any playing time. Tap dancing alone just wasn't cutting it with coach, so I had to step up my game.

I played WD some of the time, maybe 40% or so. Yeah...WD40®. A Whirling Dervish was I...roving the outfield, mowing the grass. I whirled with such a downright rabid dervishness our coach had to put me in a different position every few innings. The problem was I'd just flat out wear the turf right off. The only way to save the field was to bench me, but that drove everyone in the dugout crazy. It raised heck with their eyes and allergies with the dust, sunflower shells, and all.

I was pretty good out there...made a lot of circus catches as you can imagine. I worked it like a real mad scientist. You know, centripetal force, as measured in an outfielder, is totally underrated. In later years, as my weight crept upward, I believe gravitational pull played an increasing role in my success.



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quote:

Originally posted by Clemson896:
Catcher.....for 10 years.....LOL (8-18).....knees, hands, and teeth to prove it!

SS in LL thru 9th, CF in 10th

Realized I would NEVER play varsity

11th- college THE mile and 2 mile in track. I could always run fast, it was hitting that little white ball that gave me fits.

quote:

Originally posted by chefmike7777:
SS in LL thru 9th, CF in 10th

Realized I would NEVER play varsity

11th- college THE mile and 2 mile in track. I could always run fast, it was hitting that little white ball that gave me fits.

Ran like a deer, but hit like one too?

Back in the day when dinosaurs roamed the earth I enjoyed my time as a LHP through HS, and LHP/LF in summer leagues.

When my arm reached the point where I could no longer throw a ball more than 50' without tremendous pain (after HS), I took up the gentle and gentlemanly game of Rugby in college. Played Lock & Loose-Head Prop for the next 15 years until my body told me it was time to stop. Truth be told, that was well after my body had told me to stop, but when was the last time a Forward ever listened to anybody? Ruck On!

Now I just enjoy whenever I have a chance to Coach kids in either of the games I love so much.

Pitcher (softball). Scorekeeper and sometimes pitch charter for varsity baseball team.

What can i say. I've always had a thing for baseball and baseball players.

Also ran track.

quote:

Originally posted by gotwood4sale:
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You should have learned how to whirl Wklink. It worked for me. Being able to whirl was the only reason I saw any playing time. Tap dancing alone just wasn't cutting it with coach, so I had to step up my game.

I played WD some of the time, maybe 40% or so. Yeah...WD40®. A Whirling Dervish was I...roving the outfield, mowing the grass. I whirled with such a downright rabid dervishness our coach had to put me in a different position every few innings. The problem was I'd just flat out wear the turf right off. The only way to save the field was to bench me, but that drove everyone in the dugout crazy. It raised heck with their eyes and allergies with the dust, sunflower shells, and all.

I was pretty good out there...made a lot of circus catches as you can imagine. I worked it like a real mad scientist. You know, centripetal force, as measured in an outfielder, is totally underrated. In later years, as my weight crept upward, I believe gravitational pull played an increasing role in my success.



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I was a much better golfer anyway. We were 3A Illinois State Champs the couple of years that I played for them, albeit I wasn't the strongest golfer on the team. Most of my problems was with my 10 cent head.

If I could have controlled my temper at 16 years of age I might have gotten pretty good at the game. My old joke was that I had more iron in orbit than NASA. Coach got sick of my antics and pretty much told me my senior year that if I didn't calm down I would not be allowed to play.

My response of course was to quit and get a job. I doubt I would have ever been 'that good' to go to the next level golfing but I could have been a much better player, better teammate and certainly could have been much less of an a**hole in general. I try to help my kid not be the same jerk I was in school. So far it has worked; he is smarter, better looking and a much better athlete than I ever was. Plus he is a really nice kid. I think he got that from his mother though.

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Judging by the way you throw iron around you may very well be interested in this.

I've had a bad temper at times, but not much lately. All of my whirling probably loosened a few wires...for the better!

So you were from here and moved to the Pacific Northwest and I was from there and moved to Illinois. Wanna' trade?

Illinois ranks near the bottom in almost every critical measure. What a mess the politicians have made. But hey...we keep reelecting them! A state representative who was arrested last week on federal bribery charges actually won his primary bid with nearly 80% of the vote.

Does all of that bring back memories?

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"Ruck On!"

Now I know what that sign I saw along the interstate was about: " ruckers Welcome!"



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Prior to High School Played S.S., Pitcher, CF.
High School Pitcher, CF
College Pitcher, Corner OF.
After College 1B,3B,OF

Centerfield normally, but right field when I was the new guy.