When You Played (Are Still Playing) Baseball..

[JoeRudi26]

What position?

Were you a power hitter?

Contact hitter?

Decent Glove?

How many HR's did you hit?

Did you make the All-Star team?

[laroquece]

What position? CATCHER / FIRST BASE

Were you a power hitter? YES

Contact hitter? AS A POWER HITTER I STRIKE OUT A LOT (JUST LIKE ADAM DUNN HEHE)

Decent Glove? THE BEST CATCHER IN MY LEAGUE

How many HR's did you hit? 15

Did you make the All-Star team? YES

I stop playing because a broke my Kneecap in a collision at the plate, hey thats ok cause the guy was out to close the inning

[JoeRudi26]

I played up until I was 15 years old, when I discovered the guitar, I got stupid and left the game.

What position? Since I'm left handed, I played 1B, outfield, and pitched. 1B was by far my favorite position. I didn't have a strong arm, but very accurate.

Were you a power hitter? Somewhat. I once homered from both sides of the plate when I was 14, but only hit 6 HR's in my young "career". More of a contact hitter.

Contact hitter? Yes.

Decent Glove? Especially in the outfield. I could run anything down and wasn't afraid to get dirty.

How many HR's did you hit? 6

Did you make the All-Star team? Every year I played

[kjuggs]

I always wanted to be a catcher, especially when I was a teenager (20+ years ago), but being left-handed essentially killed that dream. I've always ended up playing OF or 2B, with a little bit of P at times. I was never all that good anyway- I always felt like I was more of a Gene Mauch or Earl Weaver- one of those that knew the game a heck of a lot better than they could play. I never understood why it makes a difference at C, but here's a great article for us lefties.

http://members.tripod.com/bb_catchers/catchers/catchleft.htm

[JoeRudi26]

I always wanted to be a catcher, especially when I was a teenager (20+ years ago), but being left-handed essentially killed that dream. I've always ended up playing OF or 2B, with a little bit of P at times. I was never all that good anyway- I always felt like I was more of a Gene Mauch or Earl Weaver- one of those that knew the game a heck of a lot better than they could play. I never understood why it makes a difference at C, but here's a great article for us lefties.

http://members.tripod.com/bb_catchers/catchers/catchleft.htm

I actually caught one game. Borrowed a glove from another player in the league. I was lost.

[gotribematt]

Define Play lolI was on the team but didn't really play much in high school.

I played 1b when I did play

My friends called me the strike out king. Not only did I strike out it was the same way. Foul off the 1st 2 pitches then swing and miss at pitch 3

I hit 1 home run in 4 years never made a allstar team or anything clearly

[seanzarelli]

I played from the age of 5 until the age of 14 when I couldn't make the high school team because the coach really was "Mr. Baseball" and I didn't have the talent nor skills (I really think it's because I dressed differently [band shirts, camo shorts, torn jeans] and he didn't like it because I did show out in tryouts better than some of the other kids that made the team). And being in South Carolina, my only other real option was a church league, which I said, "Hell no," too.

Here is the coaches profile: http://www.furmanpaladins.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/delgado_dave00.html

What position? - Main positions: LF/RF/1B, Secondary Positions: 3B, C [Ages 5-9]

Contact hitter? - Definitely a contact hitter. I was known for lacing the ball into the gaps and being a doubles machine and didn't strike out a lot.

Decent Glove? - Yessirie buddy! I didn't gain the nickname of "White Griffey" for my bat nor swing, but rather for my glove! Happened after one game where I robbed two homeruns and prevented a 3rd by being able to swat the ball down at the last minute.

How many HR's did you hit? - In my total career, 4, one of them being an inside the parker. My first was during our playoff run in the deciding game that we eventually lost.

Did you make the All-Star team? - I made it 2 times. The first time [Age 9], I couldn't participate because my dad was an a-hole at the time and wanted his visitation rights with me for the Summer. The second time [Age 12], I told him I was going to participate because it was going to be one of the many rounds of qualifying to play in the Little League World Series. We got our asses handed to us in those playoffs, going 1-2.

Best team you were on? - Yes I made this category up, but, it's because I was proud of this team. It was my age 11 year, and we went 24-1 during the regular season, our only loss being a 13 inning extra innings game. This was also the team where we made the county playoffs and lost in the deciding game.

I am currently losing some weight and will be hitting the batting cages again now that its getting warmer out. There is a 30 & over hardball rec league here in Fort Worth that I am going to try out for next year.

[JoeRudi26]

I played from the age of 5 until the age of 14 when I couldn't make the high school team because the coach really was "Mr. Baseball" and I didn't have the talent nor skills (I really think it's because I dressed differently [band shirts, camo shorts, torn jeans] and he didn't like it because I did show out in tryouts better than some of the other kids that made the team). And being in South Carolina, my only other real option was a church league, which I said, "Hell no," too.

Here is the coaches profile: http://www.furmanpaladins.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/delgado_dave00.html

What position? - Main positions: LF/RF/1B, Secondary Positions: 3B, C [Ages 5-9]

Contact hitter? - Definitely a contact hitter. I was known for lacing the ball into the gaps and being a doubles machine and didn't strike out a lot.

Decent Glove? - Yessirie buddy! I didn't gain the nickname of "White Griffey" for my bat nor swing, but rather for my glove! Happened after one game where I robbed two homeruns and prevented a 3rd by being able to swat the ball down at the last minute.

How many HR's did you hit? - In my total career, 4, one of them being an inside the parker. My first was during our playoff run in the deciding game that we eventually lost.

Did you make the All-Star team? - I made it 2 times. The first time [Age 9], I couldn't participate because my dad was an a-hole at the time and wanted his visitation rights with me for the Summer. The second time [Age 12], I told him I was going to participate because it was going to be one of the many rounds of qualifying to play in the Little League World Series. We got our asses handed to us in those playoffs, going 1-2.

Best team you were on? - Yes I made this category up, but, it's because I was proud of this team. It was my age 11 year, and we went 24-1 during the regular season, our only loss being a 13 inning extra innings game. This was also the team where we made the county playoffs and lost in the deciding game.

I am currently losing some weight and will be hitting the batting cages again now that its getting warmer out. There is a 30 & over hardball rec league here in Fort Worth that I am going to try out for next year.

Awesome post, Sean.

[JoeRudi26]

I hit an inside the park homerun off a guy that eventually went on to play for IU basketball. That bastard was big and threw 80 mph hour at the time. Lasered it down the right field line (was batting right handed), and eventually scored.

AHA!

[JoeRudi26]

lol, here is he. I went to school in Lawrenceville (Indians), Illinois. He was a superstar in every sport. Even though I couldn't get around on the pitch, I got lucky and put it deep in the right field corner. Luckily, I had some speed.

Best night of my young life. He now coaches the Evansville Aces in Div 1 basketball.

[zzcoolj21]

What position: C, 3B

Are you a power hitter? I have power opposite field for some reason. Really need to work on pulling inside and low, that gets me a lot.

Are you a contact hitter? I think i'm pretty balanced for my age.

Decent glove? Better arm then glove but yea.

How many HR's have you hit? None. I got DH'd for a lot last year which is weird because I lead the team in avg. my coach doesn't play freshman, much less start them varsity.

Did you make the All-Star team? well, I played 13-14 for the first time since I was 12 to give me something to do waiting for real summer ball to start. I think I hit somewhere in the .700 range and led the county in r.b.i's. little league is pathetic. never made an all star team in little league because I left to play travel ball when I was 11. its not fair having a high school varsity player on a 13-14 team. I only gave up like 5 stolen bases and a lot of them were just our middle infielders not having experience. so yea, didn't letter though for high school. my coach doesn't letter freshman.

Edited February 24, 2014 by zzcoolj21

[Jaxen]

Position: Corner infield, Mike Schmidt was my favorite player growing up so I assumed I could be a 3B. I needed the foul line as a security blanket. Put me up the middle and I was lost.

Power hitter? Hell no, strictly gap power and my high school coach (in my 1 year of JV) bunted me A LOT. I was the #2 hitter in a small-ball program.

Contact hitter? Barely. Don't know what I hit in my one Little League season but I was 4-for-22 (me < Mendoza) for the JV team with a lot of bunts. But one of the hits was a 2-out, 2-run double in a game we led 1-0 to that point that we would win 3-2.

Home runs? Yep, 2 of them. Both in company-league softball. One was an inside the park job that I victimized a poor SOB in RF. The other ... to this day I don't know how it got over the fence. I think it got on a bus.

Decent glove? Lots of range. The throw? Well I used to short-arm it to first on a line. Fundamentally un-sound but the coach didn't care, it got to the 1B and I had no future so screw it.

Did you make the All-Star team? This is a joke, right?

Claim to fame: Guy from my school went on to be a replacement player in the '95 strike 4 years later for the Royals. I was a JR on the JV. He was a SOPH on the varsity. To start the year we'd have an in-school scrimmage, varsity vs. JV, during 6th & 7th period the rest of the school could come see. He comes up and I know he's a pull hitter. I'm at 3B and shade toward the line. Sure enough he hits a hot grounder where I thought so figure "I'll make this look pretty." I set the feet .... I pop the glove ...

... the ball's in left field ...

[SESbb30]

What position?

Pitcher/ Left fied/Right Field. Catcher until the end of 8th grade. Yes a left handed catcher.

Were you a power pitcher?

Never threw "hard", more of a move it around pound the zone, and rely on movement kinda guy. Actually never threw a breaking ball/ offspeed pitch until my sohpomore year in HS. still managed to have a sub 2 era until HS.

Were you a power hitter?

HELL NO LOL

Contact hitter?

yes, call me the left handed jeter, always flipped the ball to left/ left center.

Decent Glove?

yes, not a ton of range, but when i was there to make a play i almost always made it.

How many HR's did you hit?

3 inside the park, one of which hit off the fence in 8th grade.

Did you make the All-Star team?

just once, in 8th grade summer league as a catcher and pitcher, interesting combo huh.

[JoeRudi26]

Position: Corner infield, Mike Schmidt was my favorite player growing up so I assumed I could be a 3B. I needed the foul line as a security blanket. Put me up the middle and I was lost.

Power hitter? Hell no, strictly gap power and my high school coach (in my 1 year of JV) bunted me A LOT. I was the #2 hitter in a small-ball program.

Contact hitter? Barely. Don't know what I hit in my one Little League season but I was 4-for-22 (me < Mendoza) for the JV team with a lot of bunts. But one of the hits was a 2-out, 2-run double in a game we led 1-0 to that point that we would win 3-2.

Home runs? Yep, 2 of them. Both in company-league softball. One was an inside the park job that I victimized a poor SOB in RF. The other ... to this day I don't know how it got over the fence. I think it got on a bus.

Decent glove? Lots of range. The throw? Well I used to short-arm it to first on a line. Fundamentally un-sound but the coach didn't care, it got to the 1B and I had no future so screw it.

Did you make the All-Star team? This is a joke, right?

Claim to fame: Guy from my school went on to be a replacement player in the '95 strike 4 years later for the Royals. I was a JR on the JV. He was a SOPH on the varsity. To start the year we'd have an in-school scrimmage, varsity vs. JV, during 6th & 7th period the rest of the school could come see. He comes up and I know he's a pull hitter. I'm at 3B and shade toward the line. Sure enough he hits a hot grounder where I thought so figure "I'll make this look pretty." I set the feet .... I pop the glove ...

... the ball's in left field ...

Great post, Ken. Love reading this stuff.

[JoeRudi26]

Like I said, I pitched too. Never really liked it, but I suppose they threw me in there because I had decent control. Never a power pitcher, but I could get it over the plate.

I will NEVER forget getting slaughtered on a fastball down the middle by a guy named Danny Swan. I was 14 and was playing in Pony League. There was a lake about 50 yards behind the homerun fence, and I'll never forget seeing the ball make the splash.

Bastard.

[JoeRudi26]

I only hit 6 homeruns when I played, but here is my longest, lol. Can't believe I found that the field still exists on Google Earth. Apparently it does.

It was a 12-13 year old All-Star Game, I had an 0-2 count, and was dumbfounded how I missed the first two pitches. I stepped out of the box on the third pitch, and then got one a bit high and inside...

And BAM!

I got it all. I'll never forget the sound of that "tink", the ball coming off the aluminum bat, and seeing that ball so high over the left field fence. I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, it was just pure contact. As I said, I was never a power hitter. This was in deep Southwest Texas, and none of the guys on the other team could speak English, they were of Hispanic decent. But I got handshakes from them at every base.

I will never forget that moment.

[DeadShot]

Since Y4L told me to browse this topic, I did and I came across this thread which was rather interesting. I decided to post something so here you go........

What position? First baseman

Were you a power hitter? Yeah I was. Second best power hitter in the team. Besides I was 14 at that time and the best was 15..... So

Contact hitter? I hit for decent contact. My coach has this weird philosophy that we must always put the ball on the ground and try not to hit it over fielders. Whatever.

Decent Glove? Yeah. I had decent range and a really strong arm. I wanted to try out for SS but my coach didn't allow. Probably because he wanted people who were smaller and more agile to play there. I was a big kid at that time.

How many HR's did you hit? 15-20?

Did you make the All-Star team? Yeah I did. A couple of times in fact.

[Yankee4Life]

You are going to find that Joe Rudi started a lot of interesting threads. Happy hunting!

[ENCBase13]

Position: HS: 3B/SS/C/P

Summer Teams: 3B/Left Bench haha

Decent Glove: HS Team: Yes

Summer Teams: Glove considered below average

HR's: HS (6 in 4 years) 4 of them came senior year with 3 coming in one game against Snowden HS to finish off the season . Best thing is 2 of them were grand slams! On top of that I stole 3 bases that game and one of them was home plate due to the catcher literally throwing a pop up to the pitcher every single time. My HR's were all inside the park HR's. I was never considered a power bat. My thing was contact. Struck out only 8 times in 4 years of HS ball and I can still remember the teams I did it against.

All-Star Team: http://www.maxpreps.com/news/4jt-p34VEd6OEwAcxJTdpg/massachusetts-all-league-baseball-teams.htm

Jose Delvillar - Boston City - Charlestown High School

Only link I could find. But, I got to play at Fenway for this All-Star game and also got to play at Harvard's Baseball Stadium as well for an All-Star game.

Have literally been playing baseball my entire life since I was a kid. I mean, I am Dominican. It's in my blood lol. Have also had the opportunity to play ball with two guys who were drafted pretty much since I was little. One of them is my cousin Nelfi Zapata (Mets) the other is a friend of mine who just got drafted by the Orioles Jamill Moquette. After a broken femur and two torn MCL's (don't have an MCL any longer) I gave up sports. Football and Indoor Track were my other sports and surprisingly playing Football is how all of my injuries occurred.

[DeadShot]

You are going to find that Joe Rudi started a lot of interesting threads. Happy hunting!

Thanks!

[DeadShot]

Position: HS: 3B/SS/C/P

Summer Teams: 3B/Left Bench haha

Decent Glove: HS Team: Yes

Summer Teams: Glove considered below average

HR's: HS (6 in 4 years) 4 of them came senior year with 3 coming in one game against Snowden HS to finish off the season . Best thing is 2 of them were grand slams! On top of that I stole 3 bases that game and one of them was home plate due to the catcher literally throwing a pop up to the pitcher every single time. My HR's were all inside the park HR's. I was never considered a power bat. My thing was contact. Struck out only 8 times in 4 years of HS ball and I can still remember the teams I did it against.

All-Star Team: http://www.maxpreps.com/news/4jt-p34VEd6OEwAcxJTdpg/massachusetts-all-league-baseball-teams.htm

Jose Delvillar - Boston City - Charlestown High School

Only link I could find. But, I got to play at Fenway for this All-Star game and also got to play at Harvard's Baseball Stadium as well for an All-Star game.

Have literally been playing baseball my entire life since I was a kid. I mean, I am Dominican. It's in my blood lol. Have also had the opportunity to play ball with two guys who were drafted pretty much since I was little. One of them is my cousin Nelfi Zapata (Mets) the other is a friend of mine who just got drafted by the Orioles Jamill Moquette. After a broken femur and two torn MCL's (don't have an MCL any longer) I gave up sports. Football and Indoor Track were my other sports and surprisingly playing Football is how all of my injuries occurred.

Seems like me posting in this thread got it revived.

[DaSteelerz]

Position: Catcher, Pitcher

Power hitter? Nah, not that great of a hitter really.

Contact hitter? Eh, sure.

Home runs? A few inside the park, but one over the fence.

Decent glove? Yeah, I loved blocking the plate and stopping wild pitches.

Did you make the All-Star team? Yeah, All State 3 years pitcher, 4 catcher.

Claim to fame: Threw 78 mph at 14 with a curve in the arsenal & used to throw kids out from the stance often. Had a few scouts tell me they've never seen it in my age group.

[MrDudleyDoWright]

What position? I played Second Base. As a Puerto Rican male, that's mandatory haha

Were you a power hitter? Oh, hell no. I had warning track power.

Contact hitter? Yes. A lot of base hits, walks, doubles. I was a Billy Beane type of player.

Decent Glove? Yes. I can say I was a Wizard. Someone take that nickname already?

How many HR's did you hit? One and a half in seven years. It was an inside the park home run. The half was a ball that hit off an electric pole. If the pole wasn't in the way, I'd have two.

Did you make the All-Star team? I did but I got removed. The captain of this all-star traveling team and good buddy of mine had told me the coaches needed a reserve infielder and my name was suggested. Only to be usurped by the coaches fat, non-talented son, who was a catcher afraid to catch the ball. Fun times.

All of this occurred in my town (Perth Amboy) baseball league when I was a teenager. Played there from 2003-2007. I was on one team throughout that whole run. Same group of guys usually year in and year out. We were the "Cardinals"

We won two championships. I had a big hand in one of those championships, when in a final game before the championship game, I hit a two run double late in the 6th inning against this pitcher for the "Yankees." He tipped his pitches. Blatantly. I had always owned this kid when I faced him. He would lick his fingers twice and shake his glove when he threw a changeup and he would always put it down the middle. Lets just say I pounced on it.

I tried out for my high school baseball team and was rejected all three times due to the fact that in my town, you need to know someone to get ahead instead of actual talent. I could hit better than most of those dopes on that team, hence why they went 1-11 at one point. My baseball career pretty much came to a halt there. I do want to join some local leagues next spring though because I have this fiery passion to play the game.