2013 Cape Cod Baseball League Season: The New Challenges of Summer Baseball

Thru my almost 40 years of coaching, I have certainly learned thru working with student-athletes I have the wonderful opportunity to help others reach their Dreams & Goals. I try to stress "Self-Motivation; Hard Work on a Daily basis; TEAM always comes 1st; and begin each day asking What CAN I DO to help OTHERS today." As coaches, head or assistants, we must plan each day to reach out and help student-athletes, during the school year or summer baseball, and encourage the athletes to embrace these CORE principles or similar principles from other coaches. In the 2013 Cape Cod Baseball League Season, our coaching staff had to focus and then re-focus more than ever to try and ensure we accomplished these tasks. The turnover of players in summer baseball has increased dramatically. This is due to the lack of a following thru with a commitment made to an organization like the Cotuit Kettleers. Too many student-athletes, with consent from their parents, are allowing their children to opt out of that commitment at different stages during the summer. Many times the excuses to leave are based on nothing but the athlete wanting to go home and be lazy. This has made seeing consistent success both for the individual player and the team in summer baseball, on and off the field, a much larger and more difficult challenge now than 10-15 years ago. Coaches must build a TEAM that cares greatly about one another. But, if players are constantly leaving that becomes much more difficult to accomplish. Players should arrive immediately after completion of their spring season and stay til the final pitch of the summer season. But, due to this new youth travel ball mentality, that is show up and display my skills a few days for scouts then shut it down, coaches now have greater challenges. In the summer of 2013 our team had too much turnover. However, the young men who hung in there, finished the daily work to be done to polish their skills, stayed with their commitment, cared about one another, and came together as a TEAM, reaped the reward of a Cape Cod League Championship! The coaching staff is thankful for those young men and hope this was another step in reaching their dreams and goals.

Cotuit Kettleers, 2013 Cape Cod League Champions

Danny Diekroeger, infielder Stanford University, said it so well at the completion of the championship game of the Cape Cod League that "Work, Works!" Danny developed this phrase after our coaching staff spent the summer encouraging our players to improve their work habits, be more detailed when they are practicing, and don't be afraid to get dirty when practicing. It will lead to excellence! Athletes will improve areas of their game with hard-nosed detailed work. The Cotuit Kettleers players made plays (offensively, defensively, and with pitches off the mound) that were executed because those opportunities had been practiced over and over. Danny's statement made me realize the TEAM had bought in thru-out the summer that "Work, Works!" I was so blessed to teach and coach such a hard-nosed group of baseball players who loved to practice and then execute in tough game situations. I say "Thank You" to each Kettleer player in the summer of 2013. You are "Champions" on and off the field.

Stolen Bases in opening Game in Cape League

The Cotuit Kettleers had a wonderful crowd on opening day at beautiful Lowell Park and won vs. Orleans 4-2. The Orleans team are always so well coached by Kelly Nicholson so very enjoyable to play the Firebirds.

We were able to pull a “pre-set” double steal that helped us go ahead. With men on 1^st and 3^rd, left handed pitcher on the mound, the runner on 1^st base took off on 1^st movement by the pitcher, the runner on 3^rd base casually takes steps down the line to see if the LH pitcher will pick behind the runner leaving 1^st base. The pitcher did throw behind the runner at 1^st base and the runner at 3^rd read the ball (what I call “white out”) out of the 1^st baseman’s hand throwing to the SS at 2B and began his run toward home.  The runner at 1^st continued a straight steal into 2^nd base, did not stop half way, which is the best way to draw a throw from the 1^st baseman. As the runner slid into 2^nd base safely the runner from third was 2/3 of the way home and did not even draw a throw from the SS as he crossed home plate.

It is always fun to work on base stealing each day in practice and figure out different ways to move runners up a base and possibly score a run. I encourage coaches to practice base stealing as often as they give their team batting practice.

Opening Dayin the Cape Cod Collegiate Summer League

It is June 12, 2013 and Opening Day in the Cape Cod Collegiate Summer League. The sun is shining bright on Cotuit Bay this morning and the grass smells of the Best Amateur Baseball in the world getting ready to start. Our coaching staff is busy getting beautiful Elizabeth Lowell Park ready. The greens mower is on the infield placing those crisscrossed stripes of green, like a putting surface in golf, that players and fans like to see. The college players, who have come from all over the country to the cape for the summer, will enjoy a "Norman Rockwellish" baseball atmosphere here in Cotuit. Fans kind of come out of the woods from every angle to this lovely setting to watch the Kettleers take on the Orleans Firebirds at 5pm. The games are streamed at www.kettleers.org and home games begin at 5pm until August 1st then 4:30pm in August. Offensive players will be at the park at 10am for an extra round of Batting Practice so gotta head to the park on my bike this morning. Most everyone can walk or ride, don't have to drive to the park in this quaint community. See you at a Ball game soon on the cape.

Baserunning

Coming in the fall of 2013, I will have a new book coming that will cover base running, base stealing, and strength and conditioning exercises that help baseball players improve in those areas. Saturday June 1st, my publisher Human Kinetics, sent a photographer to Cotuit, MA. And over 100 pictures were taken with six different athletes helping show different leads and techniques. I always learn more about teaching these areas in a more concise and hopefully improved way each time I step on the field. I hope this new book "Baserunning" will be beneficial to many coaches and athletes as my 1st book "You Can't Steal 2nd Base and Keep Your Foot on First" has been for the past three years. Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout will be on the cover and Cleveland Indians Manager Terry Francona will write the Foreword. I hope many of you who have purchased my teaching videos and book will have tremendous interest in this new and expanded version of my teaching techniques about the almost lost art of running and stealing bases.

Sports Banquet, Regents School, Austin TX

Memorial Day: Monday, May 27^th, 2013

I had the wonderful pleasure of speaking at the “Regents School” in Austin, Tx. On May 11, 2013. There were 500 people present celebrating 14 sports team at the spring sports banquet.

Mr. Jim Ross, former professional baseball teammate of mine in Billings, Montana (1972), and we were playing for the Kansas City Royals minor league affiliate, ask if I would come to Austin to speak at the Regents School where his son and daughter attend. After I agreed to speak, I received news that one of my former UNC-Chapel Hill student/athletes, Chris Knepp, was a teacher at the school. Chris played on the USA college baseball team in 1975, went on to receive his law degree and practiced law, was a member of the United States Baseball Olympic Committee, but chose about 2005 to stop practicing law and become a high school teacher.

It was terrific to see Jim and Chris again after so many years. Jim hosted me in his home and was wonderful to get to know his beautiful family. Jim and his family will be visiting Cape Cod this summer July 6-13 and I look forward to hosting them and enjoying Cotuit Kettleers Baseball at the what ESPN's David Albright dubbed the Real Field of Dreams in Cotuit, Elizabeth Lowell Park.

My topics for the evening were “Caring about others first each day; Being an Unselfish Teammate; and Finishing Strong what we start!” I shared about Dr. Randy Pausch (The Last Lecture) and how Dr. Pausch had a terminal illness but gave his “Last Lecture” at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh just months before he died and encouraged everyone to do things “Right, Cherish each day, and finish strong!”

I talked about the movies “Radio and Rudy” and how each of us can be that “One” caring and positive friend that may be the key to helping improve another person’s life. In the movie “Radio” Coach Jones cared about a young man who was a slow learner but just needed help and encouragement. Coach Jones and his family loved “Radio” and helped him have a much improved life through their friendship, encouragement, and involvement with the local football team. In the movie “Rudy” there were two friends in Rudy’s life, on in high school and one at college, that made a tremendous difference in him trying to go to college and eventually graduating and playing football at Notre Dame.

Finally, I showed a short video of athletes who had overcome adversity/injury to go on and accomplish more than anyone imagined they could do. They “Finished Strong!”

I hope we will all awaken each day and ask “Who can we help today?” We will not only improve someone else’s life but we will improve our own lives and lay our heads down each evening and say “It has been a good day.”

2013 Spring Training

Professional Baseball and Base Stealing: Let’s go back to 2012 Play-offs with the Tigers playing the Giants in the World Series. Detroits bats went quiet in the series when Home Runs were not coming off there bats and they just could not score. The same was true in the play-offs for the Yankees in the play-offs. There bats went quiet and they did not have the over-all team speed to manufacture runs. The Tigers stole 59 bases (26th in MLB) during the 162 game regular season and the S F Giants, who won the 2012 World Series, stole 118 bases (9th) during the regular season. The Giants had twice as many stolen bases which gave them a big edge in speed and the ability to manufacture runs. This is exactly what happened during the World Series in 2012. The Giants used their speed well and swept the Giants 4 games in a row. Now, I am waiting and watching to see how many teams are emphasizing base stealing during 2013 spring training. Always exciting when a few teams each year decide to run more and swing for the fences less so the team can be more consistent from game to game. “Speed Never Rests!” Coach Mike Roberts