The first baseman must dance!

It might sound a bit ridiculous that I taught my first basemen "the dance". Allow me to explain. In little league and in youth baseball programs, the first baseman was the slow or heavyset kid who could hit enough that he needed to be in the lineup. He did what his coach expected by running to the bag and planting his throwing side foot on the first base bag. All was fine as long as the throw from the infield was within the box to which he could easily reach. When a throw was a little errant, he could easily get all tied up resulting in a ball getting by and a runner standing on second. Often, the fielder who made the throw would get scolded a little rather than the first baseman even when it was not that bad a throw! The first baseman "dance" saves a lot of outs and extra bases!

Coaching points for first base position:

1) Day one, teach footwork! Have your first baseman stand with his left heel a few inches off the bag on the home plate side and the right heel a few inches off the bag on the second base side. The player should now be positioned with the inside corner of the bag between his heels. This should be his "get to" point on every ground ball. Demand that he stand in a solid, ready position giving a good target to the infielder making the throw. Never stretch before the ball is thrown! Now demonstrate how to move the feet to the bag if the throw requires a stretch to the left ( drop right foot to bag and step left to stretch), a stretch forward ( touch bag with throwing side foot and stretch glove arm), and a stretch to the right (drop right heel to bag and cross over left foot to stretch). Generally it is natural for the player to touch the base with his throwing side foot, but some throws require a simple shift, not a full stretch. In other words, the cross over full stretch is not needed on every throw away from glove hand, so, the first baseman can simply touch the bag with his glove side foot for a short stretch. This is "the dance" that I wanted my first basemen to use.  Start simple with them. At the "get to" position, just underhand them some throws having them move their feet. Next have them move to the "get to" position from their fielding position then a throw. They will catch on fast to the footwork and will see a great improvement in the ability to stretch smoothly in any direction.

2) Establish the semicircle! Have your first baseman take a full stretch down the first base line and mark the ground with his glove, then repeating, have him take stretches to the right until he reaches the right field line. This semicircle forms the cylinder for his reach and you must insist that any throw crossing the semicircle line on the ground be caught! This will eliminate a player trying to play a short hop on a throw that could have been caught in the air.

3) The feet positions for holding the runner should be about mid- bag on the inside. Anything comfortable that does not tie up movement if a throw comes from the pitcher, and, allows the first baseman to take a step, then a bounce to get to a good defensive position as the ball goes to the plate. Teach a downward sweep type tag.

4) Work your first basemen on making a throw to a pitcher covering first base. He should field the ball and tag the base himself whenever possible. If he has to throw to the pitcher, have him make a short step toward the running pitcher and deliver the ball underhanded with sternness to the pitcher's chest, preferably well before the pitcher reaches first to tag. Also work them on making overhand throws to the running pitcher when the distance between them is to great for the underhand throw.

5) Without scaring them to death, teach your first basemen to take charge with a runners in scoring position. Explain that the team is counting on them to make the first call as to what bag to throw to on cut offs from the outfield. Standard cut off position is roughly two thirds of the way between the base line and home plate. The catcher should help line him up if necessary. Holding up both arms like goal posts gives the thrower a good target. If the throw is far away from this target on either side, the first baseman should cut it off, listening to the catcher as to where to throw. Sometimes on a good throw the first baseman can fake cutting off to hold a runner. He should be the cutoff man on the infield on all balls fielded from the left field gap to the right field line. On a base hit to direct left field, the third baseman is the cutoff.

These are just 5 of the many coaching points dealing with the position of first base...there are pick off plays, how to play behind a runner, throwing to second base to initiate a double play, checking runners touching bags, and on, and on. You can see that a first baseman needs to be a heady, dependable player. I hope this will help some young coach somewhere. Teach 'em the dance!

Wax Lips and Candy Cigarettes

At the tender age of five I attended my first Halloween carnival at the little country school. Weeks earlier, my first grade teacher, Mrs Harmon, explained to us that my class  would be competing against the second, third, and fourth grade classes to see which class could raise the most money for the school. Each class was to select a boy and a girl to represent them in a pageant on carnival night for the titles of "Prince" and "Princess". Representatives of the class that raised the most money were to be crowned. For junior high the titles were "Duke" and "Duchess" and for high school "King" and "Queen".

In those days you could buy two bottles of chocolate (or white) milk for a nickel. The milk came in small glass bottles with a paper tab-like lid..I still remember how good they were. This would be about the only spending money most of us had and that wasn't every day! Many times I shared a bottle with a buddy or they with me, but, during the Halloween season our milk money was spent on things like wax lips and candy cigarettes. Our teachers would order boxes of novelty candies for us to buy and sell before, during, and after school. At a penny each, we thought we were really getting a bargain. Made of red wax, the lips would be worn by each kid for a while, then chewed like gum until all sweetness was gone. How cool did we look with a candy cigarette sticking out of our mouths...just like dad! As the days passed by leading up to the carnival, we hawked all sorts of penny candies, home made brownies and rice crispy treats, grab bags, and of course, raffle tickets on some super-wonderful prize that would be drawn for and given away that night. It was very exciting for us to compete with the other grades and we were so proud of the amount of money that we had worked so hard to raise. Would it be enough for our class to win?

Finally the night of the carnival arrived. The little school that housed grades one through twelve would be jam packed with a mass of humanity. Everyone in our school community would be there along with many visitors from surrounding schools and the small towns. In every room, desks and tables would be moved and stacked in one corner in order to make room for the class's booth. Doors and windows were decorated and the rooms were transformed into haunted houses or game rooms. Prizes and confections had been provided and collected during the week prior to the carnival and word always got out as to which class had the best prizes to give away. In the latter years, a dunking booth would be set up on the school yard. This was always a big draw as all the kids wanted the pleasure of dunking their principal, their teacher, or their coach. Yep!...this ol coach put in his time!

After taking their children around to see what each class was doing with their rooms, the adults would drift to the school's auditorium to sit and visit with each other or to participate in the PTA cake walk held on the stage. Mr. Dale would always command the only microphone and he would give the name of the lady who baked the cake while holding it up for all to see. After the allotted time, cakes that had not been won in the cake walk would be simply auctioned off. Mr Dale could make one of those cakes sound so scrumptious that people just had to buy it whether they wanted it or not!

Once the allotted time was up, the rooms were  closed and all money was counted. While this took place, all the raffle items were drawn for in the auditorium. Sometimes a local country band would perform a few songs to fill in time or the people would simply sit and wait. There was no hurry. People enjoyed each other's company.

Once the money was counted, the candidates for Prince and Princess took the stage. It was not uncommon for the "Princess" of the couple to be head and shoulders taller than her "Prince", but, it didn't matter for they were dressed with the finest little suits and dresses of the day reminiscent of the band performance in "The Music Man". Parents were so proud of their prince or princess. The height problem could easily be solved during the picture taking session with a box for the shorter Prince to stand upon.

I don't remember my class winning until we were seniors in high school (seniors always had an advantage it seems). Other classes ahead or behind us had superior numbers and therefore had more avenues to raise money (that's my story and I'm stickin to it!). The amounts of money raised for the school varied from year to year until the last carnival before the school was consolidated. Somewhere around $12,000 was raised at the final carnival as I recall. This was a tremendous amount for a small rural school with an enrollment around 250 students grades 1-12.

I attended the carnivals as a student and helped put them on as a teacher over a period of about 40 years. It was a grand time each year. Romances budded or wilted, pecking orders were established or changed, old friendships were renewed, children wore themselves out, and a great sense of pride filled the hearts of everyone involved.  Ahhh....the memories of good times together!