3 major sports, GOAT.......

[basedog]

Oh I have to chew Aleve and heat and ice it but I get right back out there lol.

Since you Coached Travel Ball, what is your take with kids and development as players with Travel Coaches, Coll?ge Coaches and individual trainers? I'm hearing now College Coaches aren't so much in developing are training kids as much as Travel Coaches and of course Professional Baseball. Oh I'm sure their many good college coaches, just curious your take?

Btw, I love the story about you pitching, when I was Coaching many times I would "demonstrate fundamentals of basketball". I use to travel all over the country during the summer and Coach at camps. One thing I learned a long time ago from some coaches, never demonstrate are teach a skill unless it's a proper form.

[smootness]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ArDKjEr_EE

I mentioned in an earlier post Galarraga was my personal favorite player ever. Here's a video of him in the Florida Marlins stadium hitting arguably the furthest homerun ever. MLB initially ruled it was 585ft but later changed it to less than Mantle's 565ft homerun. Personally I believe the change was made to keep Mantle in the record books but who knows. All I know is watching that video it's easy to tell it's one of the furthest homeruns ever hit.

Edit: https://www.mlb.com/cut4/andres-gala...ami-c281243076 It was estimated initially at 579ft.

529 is almost certainly more accurate for that HR. What is true, though, is that Mantle's likely didn't go 565. It is almost impossible for a person to hit a ball that far.

[Commercecomet24]

Since you Coached Travel Ball, what is your take with kids and development as players with Travel Coaches, Coll?ge Coaches and individual trainers? I'm hearing now College Coaches aren't so much in developing are training kids as much as Travel Coaches and of course Professional Baseball. Oh I'm sure their many good college coaches, just curious your take?

Btw, I love the story about you pitching, when I was Coaching many times I would "demonstrate fundamentals of basketball". I use to travel all over the country during the summer and Coach at camps. One thing I learned a long time ago from some coaches, never demonstrate are teach a skill unless it's a proper form.

Good question. Travel ball has become more and more about developing players. In the early days a lot of it was just daddys wanting to put a team together so their kid could play SS, Pitch and bat 4th lol, but that's changed over the years. There's a lot of really good coaches in travel ball now(still a few idiots) but it's a whole lot better.

I think thats becoming more and more the case. Heck even at the HS level coaches are becoming more dependent on travel ball for development of their players. Half the kids on the West Jones State Championship team from last year were my players, Hattiesburg high team championship team from the year before had 5 of my kids on it, Oak Grove has a bunch. I did it for 20+ years and won a lot of games and a couple of national titles. When I first started most of the teams in travel were daddys who wanted their kids to play SS, pitch and bat 4th but that's all changed and the level of coaching and play has dramatically increased(their are still some idiots but not as many). Also in the higher levels of high school ball here in Mississippi the coaching is getting better and better(which I'm glad to see), there's a lot of good ones out there now. IMO the overall product in baseball is becoming better and better because you're getting better coaching and development of kids when they're younger(i.e. travel ball,etc.), high school coaching is becoming better and therefore college coaches are getting more polished kids in their programs. Also the access to quality personal training is a tremendous asset now. Heck when I was growing up these kind of things didn't exist, all we had was coach billy bob telling us to keep that back shoulder up and squash the bug lol, even at the high school level training was in the dark ages compared to now. I played at Meridian which was the largest school in the state then and we had more facilities and training available to us but still the average travel ball player now is getting more training than we got then. I'm proud to say baseball has come a long way overall but especially in Mississippi and the MSU baseball program was a huge part of that. Sorry for rambling but I could talk on this all day!

[Commercecomet24]

529 is almost certainly more accurate for that HR. What is true, though, is that Mantle's likely didn't go 565. It is almost impossible for a person to hit a ball that far.

No it's not. I did it once with an aluminum bat and a golf ball lol!

[shoeless joe]

Good question. Travel ball has become more and more about developing players. In the early days a lot of it was just daddys wanting to put a team together so their kid could play SS, Pitch and bat 4th lol, but that's changed over the years. There's a lot of really good coaches in travel ball now(still a few idiots) but it's a whole lot better.

I think thats becoming more and more the case. Heck even at the HS level coaches are becoming more dependent on travel ball for development of their players. Half the kids on the West Jones State Championship team from last year were my players, Hattiesburg high team championship team from the year before had 5 of my kids on it, Oak Grove has a bunch. I did it for 20+ years and won a lot of games and a couple of national titles. When I first started most of the teams in travel were daddys who wanted their kids to play SS, pitch and bat 4th but that's all changed and the level of coaching and play has dramatically increased(their are still some idiots but not as many). Also in the higher levels of high school ball here in Mississippi the coaching is getting better and better(which I'm glad to see), there's a lot of good ones out there now. IMO the overall product in baseball is becoming better and better because you're getting better coaching and development of kids when they're younger(i.e. travel ball,etc.), high school coaching is becoming better and therefore college coaches are getting more polished kids in their programs. Also the access to quality personal training is a tremendous asset now. Heck when I was growing up these kind of things didn't exist, all we had was coach billy bob telling us to keep that back shoulder up and squash the bug lol, even at the high school level training was in the dark ages compared to now. I played at Meridian which was the largest school in the state then and we had more facilities and training available to us but still the average travel ball player now is getting more training than we got then. I'm proud to say baseball has come a long way overall but especially in Mississippi and the MSU baseball program was a huge part of that. Sorry for rambling but I could talk on this all day!

Man...I’m going to have to disagree to an extent. Maybe I just haven’t been around the travel ball programs that you have. I’m sure there are good ones, and I can’t argue that overall it’s better than it used to be...and it was absolutely awful about 15 yrs ago.

[Commercecomet24]

Man...I’m going to have to disagree to an extent. Maybe I just haven’t been around the travel ball programs that you have. I’m sure there are good ones, and I can’t argue that overall it’s better than it used to be...and it was absolutely awful about 15 yrs ago.

When I first got into 20+ years ago it was dreadful, but league/rec ball was even worse. Times have changed for the better and it's still evolving. Now I will say we only sought out tournaments with the best/most elite teams so that's the reason for my assessment.

Yeah there's still some bad ones just like with anything else(and i've seen them) but compared to where it was it's like night and day. And may be you've been around some of those lol, and the bad ones can definitely leave a bad taste in your mouth, but programs like the one I used to run, East Coast, SBG, TPL as well as a bunch of others are first rate and produce well developed players.

ETA I could have taken my 13 and 14 year olds and beat a bunch of hs teams.

[Lord McBuckethead]

The Montana/Brady, Ruth/Bonds thing is sort of like Jim Brown and guys like Emmitt Smith.

I'm pretty sure as a player Brown was better. But by his choice he didn't play for a long time even though he could have. Smith has the better numbers. As does Walter Payton who I believe was also better than Smith too.

And I'll say Sandy Koufax had the best stuff I have ever seen on film. But he only had a six year peak and retired at 30.

One of my favorite games I ever watched was Kerry Wood's 20k game. dude was straight dealing for all 27 outs. I am not sure who the best pitcher of all time is, but Kerry's 20k game was damn dominate. If I had to list the top 10 pitchers I have seen pitch as far as total career I would include these guys....

Randy Johnson
Verlander
Maddox
Clemmens
Curt Schilling
Nolan Ryan
Rivera
Pedro Martinez
roy Holliday
Kerry Wood

All pretty much dominated their entire careers until injury or age stopped them.

[Commercecomet24]

One of my favorite games I ever watched was Kerry Wood's 20k game. dude was straight dealing for all 27 outs. I am not sure who the best pitcher of all time is, but Kerry's 20k game was damn dominate. If I had to list the top 10 pitchers I have seen pitch as far as total career I would include these guys....

Randy Johnson
Verlander
Maddox
Clemmens
Curt Schilling
Nolan Ryan
Rivera
Pedro Martinez
roy Holliday
Kerry Wood

All pretty much dominated their entire careers until injury or age stopped them.

I remember that game. Kid had a ton of talent. He was filthy. Another one of those "what could've been" stories.

[basedog]

Good question. Travel ball has become more and more about developing players. In the early days a lot of it was just daddys wanting to put a team together so their kid could play SS, Pitch and bat 4th lol, but that's changed over the years. There's a lot of really good coaches in travel ball now(still a few idiots) but it's a whole lot better.

I think thats becoming more and more the case. Heck even at the HS level coaches are becoming more dependent on travel ball for development of their players. Half the kids on the West Jones State Championship team from last year were my players, Hattiesburg high team championship team from the year before had 5 of my kids on it, Oak Grove has a bunch. I did it for 20+ years and won a lot of games and a couple of national titles. When I first started most of the teams in travel were daddys who wanted their kids to play SS, pitch and bat 4th but that's all changed and the level of coaching and play has dramatically increased(their are still some idiots but not as many). Also in the higher levels of high school ball here in Mississippi the coaching is getting better and better(which I'm glad to see), there's a lot of good ones out there now. IMO the overall product in baseball is becoming better and better because you're getting better coaching and development of kids when they're younger(i.e. travel ball,etc.), high school coaching is becoming better and therefore college coaches are getting more polished kids in their programs. Also the access to quality personal training is a tremendous asset now. Heck when I was growing up these kind of things didn't exist, all we had was coach billy bob telling us to keep that back shoulder up and squash the bug lol, even at the high school level training was in the dark ages compared to now. I played at Meridian which was the largest school in the state then and we had more facilities and training available to us but still the average travel ball player now is getting more training than we got then. I'm proud to say baseball has come a long way overall but especially in Mississippi and the MSU baseball program was a huge part of that. Sorry for rambling but I could talk on this all day!

Good post CC. So many players now days have personal trainers and "training technique" Coaches and at a young age. Seems to be a lot of jealous parents now days. Travel Ball is a very competitive game also. Plus all these Sporting Equipment Companies sponsoring events and handing out things such as shoes, hats, shirts, gloves and bats.

Btw I see where we have 4 or 5 Baseball players leaving, but in realty it's gonna be more and more in every sport.

[Commercecomet24]

Good post CC. So many players now days have personal trainers and "training technique" Coaches and at a young age. Seems to be a lot of jealous parents now days. Travel Ball is a very competitive game also. Plus all these Sporting Equipment Companies sponsoring events and handing out things such as shoes, hats, shirts, gloves and bats.

Btw I see where we have 4 or 5 Baseball players leaving, but in realty it's gonna be more and more in every sport.

Thanks, man, JMHO. Yeah and I don't recommend personal trainers for the young at all. Wait until they at least hit puberty, kids aren't even semi developed until then. I know you've seen it to where the scrawny little kid in 7th-8th grade turns into a 6'4" 230 pound monster by graduation and then the kid who was the biggest and strongest at those ages and who just overpowered everyone for years stops growing and developing and gets passed by. And you're right about it being highly competitive.

[basedog]

Thanks, man, JMHO. Yeah and I don't recommend personal trainers for the young at all. Wait until they at least hit puberty, kids aren't even semi developed until then. I know you've seen it to where the scrawny little kid in 7th-8th grade turns into a 6'4" 230 pound monster by graduation and then the kid who was the biggest and strongest at those ages and who just overpowered everyone for years stops growing and developing and gets passed by. And you're right about it being highly competitive.

Your comments about scrawny kids reminded me of Dennis Rodman who grew a foot after High School I believe.

[Commercecomet24]

Your comments about scrawny kids reminded me of Dennis Rodman who grew a foot after High School I believe.

Yeah he did and it happens a lot. There was a kid that went to West and I used to coach him in baseball. at 14 he was about 5'6", when he graduated last year he was 6'3" and over 200 pounds and playing football at unm. I've seen it more than once, unfortunately for me I never hit that "growth spurt" everyone talked about lol.

[shoeless joe]

One of my favorite games I ever watched was Kerry Wood's 20k game. dude was straight dealing for all 27 outs. I am not sure who the best pitcher of all time is, but Kerry's 20k game was damn dominate. If I had to list the top 10 pitchers I have seen pitch as far as total career I would include these guys....

Randy Johnson
Verlander
Maddox
Clemmens
Curt Schilling
Nolan Ryan
Rivera
Pedro Martinez
roy Holliday
Kerry Wood

All pretty much dominated their entire careers until injury or age stopped them.

For me Clemens isn’t on the list. IMO he benefited more from steroids than any other player.