Quote Originally Posted by Commercecomet24 View Post
Me, you and so many others grew up learning the same way. Baseball is a long season and games are long. Those fundamental things may seem trite but over the course of a season(or game), those things can be the difference between winning and also ran!

Think about this too. How many reps did we get playing sandlot baseball with our buddies? Kids don't do this anymore. We literally got thousands of reps just playing in the backyard and that's how you learn the game. Those reps you learn what can work and what won't work!
We devised a 2 v 2 baseball game with ghost runners that we played in the street. Defense 2 played pitcher and outfield; offense 2 batted and caught. Batted balls had to land between the curbs to be "fair" hits. We played that game endlessly.
My Dad also grew up going to Savannah and playing "half-rubber" and taught us - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-rubber.
Learned a lot about pitching and hitting using a broom stick to hit a rubber ball cut in half.

From the time school let out in June, my typical day was - street ball from 9 - 3; swim for a bit to cool of and rest; eat then go to the park for a 6:30 or 7:30 game; play the game then get picked up by another team who was missing a player and play another game; play "cup-ball", pickle, or pepper until they turned the lights off at 10:00. Go home. Get up next day and do it again. This lasted until All-Stars started in mid-July. If I didn't make All-Stars, I was down in Statesboro for Georgia Southern Baseball Camp for at least a 1 week session, 2 some years if my parents could afford it. And Coach Stallings at GS was a hard-nosed old school guy, so all you did at that camp was fundamental drills and scrimmage. I hated it when school started back.