What I've Learned From Baseball by Coach John Peter
The game of baseball is infinitely more complex than most give it credit for. Most that I have learned about baseball is common sense.but each lesson took someone with more common sense than I to point it out. This week's thoughts are based on the great team-style of play of the 2002 World Champion Anaheim Angels and their great coaching staff.
For Hitters
The batting average is the 'Satan' of hitters!
Why?.because you cannot control getting a hit. You can only control hitting the ball somewhere hard.and the more hard hit balls, the higher your batting average will be at the end of the season.and that's when you should look at your numbers! I learned this from Steve Springer, author of one of my favorite tools; an audio CD called Quality at Bats...the mental side of hitting!
For Pitchers
You can't live forever nibbling on the corners.
Pitching aggressively is the ultimate sign of a pitcher with potential and/or one who will experience continual success
(and sometimes Barry Bonds takes you downtown too).
For Coaches
Develop and play for the big inning.
Why. because in 65% of all wins, the winning team scores more in one inning than the losing team scores during the entire game! You just can't count on scoring in every inning....see game 6 when the Angels were down by 5 runs and trailing the series by 3 games to 2!
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Featured Article
Pitching Burnout in Baseball by Marty Schupak
At one time or another, a pitcher can have a tired or stale arm. In youth baseball, pitchers are even more susceptible. Loosening up and having a pitch count helps to alleviate the stress placed on the arm throughout the long baseball season.
Read the full article
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Baseball's Believe It or Not
Champions at Last: Hail to the Halos
After 41 seasons the Angels found themselves 41 games out of first place. Their 42nd season brought them within four games of first place, yet the Angels franchise managed to capture their first World Championship. No expansion team had waited longer to claim their first Series triumph.
The title run was the team's fourth trip to the playoffs, where they were ousted in the ALCS in 1979, 1982, & 1986. After beginning play as the Los Angeles Angels in 1961, the team moved to Anaheim and became known as the California Angels in 1966. The Angels christened Anaheim Stadium on April 9, 1966 with an exhibition game against the San Francisco Giants and Willie Mays hit the ballpark's first home run.
Fast forward to 2002 and the franchise had changed ownership (from Gene Autry to Disney), stadium name and capacity (renamed Edison Field in 1998 with 64,593 seats downsized to 45,050), and came to be known as the Anaheim Angles. After rebounding from a franchise-worst 6-14 start, the Angels became only the fourth team ever, and first since 1912, to win the World Series without any players on their roster with World Series experience.
And just as they had in the past, San Francisco become the footnote to another milestone in Angels franchise history. After all, it was just two years earlier that the "Rally Monkey" had been born during a summer interleague meeting between the two teams.
Now the monkey rests solely on the back of the Texas Rangers, who entered the American League 42 years ago with the Angels and have yet to win a championship. The Rangers franchise actually began as the second incarceration of the Washington Senators (1961-71) before baseball left our nation's capital for good. The home of baseball's longest 0-for-franchise drought now resides exclusively in Arlington, Texas.
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The E-Zine Link: High School Baseball Web
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For players, coaches, parents, and fans of high school baseball. Includes college recruiting information for high school baseball players, which shows scholastic year by year break down of what to be doing, and when to do it, to help a player achieve the goal of playing at the "next level."
Over 1,000 high school baseball team web sites, timelines and schedules, camps, message boards, and instructional articles can all be found at hsbaseballweb.com, the best source of information for high school baseball on the internet.
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Baseball Quotes, Wit & Wisdom
When he hit it, I knew that it was my ball. But I had to catch it and it seemed like the hardest catch of my life. I said to myself, 'Two hands, just like your dad taught you.'
Darin Erstad on catching the final out in Game 7
Grantland Rice, the great sportswriter once said, 'It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game.' Well Grantland Rice can go to hell as far as I'm concerned.
Gene Autry
What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs.
Harry Caray
People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.
Rogers Hornsby
You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.
Jim Bouton in Ball Four
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Your Turn - Submit an Article, Drill, or Comment
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Got an article or drill you want to share? Maybe there is something that you would like to see added to this newsletter. What product or information would you like us to add to the Baseball Tips.com website? Please fill out the form below and press "submit comments." Thanks - Coach JP.
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Instructors Section
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We are beginning a FREE resource for players and coaches who are interested in personal instruction in all aspects of baseball and softball.
National in scope, any instructor can simply add their credentials and specialties to our database, which can be viewed by all visitors of Baseballtips.com. A partial example follows:
| Type of Instruction | Location | Instructor Info | Rate |
| Coaching Fundamentals, Hitting | Atlanta, GA | Coach John Peter
770-487-9798 | $50/hour |
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