Everything You Need to Know About Being a Baseball Parent
Why Travel Baseball and Rec Baseball Can’t Coexist
We have this one kid in my younger son’s 12u year who is a total stud. Last year we were in the second round of our travel playoffs and he was pitching a gem. Around the fourth inning, the kid’s father shrugged and he sighed. I was standing next to him along the first baseline…
GameChanger, I Wish I Could Quit You
This last weekend, my wife took our 14u son to his baseball tournament and I had the two younger ones. When faced with this scenario in the past, I followed my son’s games pitch by pitch through the GameChanger App. If I was going somewhere, I would drive (somewhat recklessly) with one eye on GameChanger.…
How to Deal with Bullies in Baseball
My 14u son was playing third last weekend when the puny kid who had recently switched from second to shortstop started barking orders at him. Tuck in your shirt, the kid said, tie your shoes, throw the ball harder to first. My son looked at him funny. “I’m shortstop, captain of the infield,” the…
Are You On the Wrong Baseball Club Team? Maybe.
When I was in college, I read a short story about this guy living alone who’s horribly depressed until he gets the idea that he should move to another state. I’d be so much happier if I was living there, he thinks. Filled with purpose, the guy busies himself with the mechanics of moving. He…
How Much Elbow Pain After Pitching Is Normal?
In his third outing of this young season, my son threw 94 pitches and his team won the game. However, his arm was so sore afterward that he had to be a DH the following day, and he told me that night that swinging the bat had been really painful because of his arm. …
Is It Okay to Complain About Fielding Errors?
Back when my son was 9, he was on a top travel team in our state. He pitched and played outfield, even though he wasn’t an outfielder. The coaches and dads on this team were intense. Every error was a catastrophe. They’d throw up their arms. They’d groan. They’d yell. When my son was in…
Should You Bat a Kid Last as Punishment?
My younger son’s town travel coach is a nice enough white-haired retired guy who has no wife or kids. He might have played baseball in high school, and he might not have. But having him coach our team is a good match in a theoretical sense; it gives this guy something to do, and our…
My Son’s First Baseball Game is This Saturday: Planning Ahead
Okay, the schedule for my son’s first tournament games of the spring season—our first real games of the season—were just released and I was unpleasantly surprised to see that our first game is Saturday at 8am. The good news is that our second game is at 10am Saturday, so we won’t have to wait around…
How to Argue with a Little League Apologist
In my town, more 12-year olds this year are playing lacrosse than baseball: 41 for LAX to 35 for baseball. I come from a generation that adored baseball, and I have a hard time wrapping my head around this fact. It’s as if broccoli had overtaken potato chips in snack food popularity. Yesterday, I…
Is It Morally Wrong to Video Your Kid’s At Bats?
My 14u son had his second scrimmage of the spring. Also cold. This one started at 7:30 under the lights, and like the last one I was forced to trudge back to my car and get the colorful Peruvian blanket because I was freezing. I set up my chair on the foul line way out…
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