What is your most memorable playing/coaching moment?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Moises David Lee Atkinson on May 3, 2010 at 3:20pm

I have many as a Little Leaguer, Pony and High Schooler as well as Coaching/Managing my son for the last 9 yrs.
The two that I remember most was when I was 12 playing against my best friend and against my big brother's team that he Coached for ---- I hit a shot to right center that would have easily cleared the fence, until my best friend (playing center) charged over to fence, jumped and caught the ball. Only Home Run I would have ever had !!!
2) Playing Pony as a 13 yr old and going into the expansion draft, after I had already been drafted to the number one team in the league. Now I was on a team of screwoffs and 1/2 the kids could care less if we won or not.
We were playing my former team and I was pitching that day. For whatever reason every pitch I threw that day was working and I finished the game with a no hitter !!! As I was walking off the mound, I looked at my old Manager who had a big smile on his face and then he just shook his head and said "great game" and "we could have used you this season" ........................ I did not play Pony the next season; but changed to American Legion ball and led our team in hitting.
Randy from Oceanside, CA

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dion Chamar Owens on May 3, 2010 at 3:40pm

Pitching in the MSBL/MABL World Series. I pitched a combined 7&2/3 innings and I pitch against two teams. I shut down one of those teams(by the way that same team that I shut down, actually ended up winning the world series) and I officially gave up just 2 runs to the world series runner up. Now that particular team actually scored more runs on us, but they were scored due to errors in the outfield. But I was able to prove that the SLOWER the pitches are, the more difficulty the batters had at taking me over the fence, in fact, the batters that I faced didn't even take me to the warning track, let alone over the fence. What really sealed the deal for my theory was that when they did hit it in the air, the ball most of the time barely made it past second base. So for anybody who still think that a pitcher with slow pitches can't go pro, this story is proof of the opposite.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lloyd from the CHI on May 3, 2010 at 3:55pm

I think you will like this, our team was playing in a tournament and we were down by a run. The assistant coach and myself (really it was more Dave) set up a steal from third I was always coaching 3rd as I would push the players to maximize their lead and to start their advance with the pitcher windup.
We had a RH batter at the plate, Dave was on 1st and our base runner on third. The batter got the sign and he held his swing then stepped back to obstruct the catchers view down the 3rd base line.
When the runner took off the pitcher and 3rd baseman started yelling to the catcher but he couldn't see anything so before he knew it the runner was safe at home.
That was 1st year bantam ball and I had just seen it happen in MLB last year, really sweet to watch, frustrating for the opposing coach.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by M. C. James on May 3, 2010 at 4:28pm

Well, shockingly it was an accident.

Whilst playing baseball for a private religious bias school ( I really shouldn't have been there, now that I realize) we were at an away game being coached by negligent unexperienced coaches, I recall one being a green carder, a boyfriend of a student and I think a latin police cop,... now thinking back, I'm like dude, that was not a police athletic league sanctioned event... my brred and bloodline breeds champions... seriously,

anyhoo, I'm at the plate batting and swung, hitting the ball a few feet in front of me as if it was a bunt... not with the bat, BUT my KNUCKLE! This happening around the age of 13. Imagine a kid that age, upper cutting a baseball with their knuckle...

yup! IT DID hurt!

My body/hand went into "shock" for about 4-5 seconds. whilst all eyes on me, I recall people were screaming "RUN" whilst I look at my hand, shaking uncontrollably by itself.... after it stopped, I dropped the bat then ran... obviously thrown out but now thinking back, the catcher/umpire should have seen something that looked funny.

The worst is that I had suffered a severe ulnar nerve injury (knocked out of place at the elbow) requiring an ulnar nerve transposition, with only one surgeon south of Orlando, Fla able to do this, might this be the reason why it wasn't diagnosed/discovered until 2005... 12 years later?

As you could imagine, there were issues at at times. I could not even cross a street without going into shock... so I got fed up and looked back over my adolescent life and sports injuries, since I knew something wasn't right and then personally requested to see a nerve specialist since figuring out this must be the culprit.

I actually went to the hospital for x-rays back then whilst in the 7th or 8th grade since the hand was swollen, and nope, no broken bones... but why didn't the so-called medical bests, the conglomerate of medical minds @ Mercy Hospital in Miami didn't check for nerve/soft tissue damage goes unknown.

... up to now, this is likely my most memorable... and uncomfortable

FYI, the ulnar nerve is the nerve within to the "funny bone"... and that was and is no laughing matter.

I recall reading about mentioning in their thread on here stating the "superstitions in using other peoples bats" so believe me, I have quarrels and superstitions galore!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mike Greene on May 3, 2010 at 5:26pm

As a 23 year veteran of the coaching ranks, I must say that my proudest moment came last Wed. night. I have coached from tee ball to college age, but this group of players is something special. They are my middle school guys and just completed an undefeated school season at 18-0 and won our district's championship last Wed. night.

Let me give you a little background and set this up for you. We played a wood bat pre-season tournament before the season and won 3 games by a combined score of 39-15 (with 12 of those runs allowed scoring when our 3B was pitching to see what he had). The 12 regular season games were won by a unreal 162-24 margin. The day of the 1st round playoff game, our starting catcher goes down with a dislocated knee cap. He was also our #1 hitter and #2 pitcher. The playoffs started and we won both 1st & 2nd round games setting us up as the home team for the championship game. The district's head AD came to our 2nd round game (Mon. night) and after the game told our players and coaches that we would play the championship at our school on Wed. night. On Tues. morning I receive a call telling me that suddenly the game would be played at a local high school instead of our school. After doing a little digging, I find out that a local Varsity coach had a son on the team we were playing and HE didn't think they could beat us on our field because of our power hitters and he "helped" the head AD find a larger field for us to play on. It just so happened that it was the largest field in the district. I am sure it was his goal to reduce the power factor our team held.

Now that you have the set up, here comes the pride factor! My guys, understanding the reason behind the change in venue, spent Tues. night working on bunting, hit & runs and changing the type of team they were. When the game started on Wed., my players were nervous for the first time all year. The other team jumped up 5-0 in the top of the 2nd. They weren't hitting the ball hard, they were just dinking into the holes. In the bottom of the 2nd, our guys started bunting when the infield was back and dinking when they would come in to cover bunts. They score 5 runs by bunting, stealing and dinking! As they became more comfortable they started ripping the ball again and cruised to the district championship and an undefeated season.

My pride comes from these guys working hard, adjusting the type of team they were in less than 24 hours and putting the politics of sports aside and showing everyone how good they are, both as players and as young men. Even with all the politics involved in this game, they shook the other teams' hands as if they were best friends, congratulating every single player and coach on getting to this game. Of course after the game I lost my beard on a bet with them and bought dinner at the local steak house! It's a game I'll never forget. No matter how many tournaments, trophies and championships I have been a part of, this one tops the cake!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dave Vaccaro on May 3, 2010 at 8:16pm

Mine has got to be coaching the 1996 American Legion World Series Champions. It was held out in Roseburg Oregon that year and we beat Gonzales, Louisianna. Ben Sheets pitched against us that day. Something I will never forget. We beat Sheets 6-3.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Michael on May 6, 2010 at 12:13am

I was asked to coach a 14u fall select team. The only place we could find was a 16u league. Well, I was informed how great the team was and it showed from their stats. Well, the parents really did not expect much from them because we were playing older kids some on their HS varsity teams. Now, you know as a player or coach you always expect to win. I had been getting into some non traditional baseball coaching and was eager to put them in to practice. I completely changed the batting order which was not too hot with some parents because their boy was not hitting where he did last year. Our pitching philosophy changed with an emphasis on the fastball as our only pitch.
Well...........how did we do?
We finished in second place with a chance to win the league in the last game of the season. It was the top two teams playing with each other (we were one of them of course). We came up short on our end, but it was a great season and chest swelled in each kid as they saw how well they could not only compete but win against bigger, faster, stronger, and experienced kids. That was a proud moment of coaching for me.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jeff Wise on July 14, 2010 at 11:15am

Wow! I have way too many memorable moments in baseball. I've been blessed to be on good teams my whole life. I played on a 13 year old state championship team, won a state title in Connie Mack in 1992 and played on very good playoff teams all throughout high school.

I guess one great moment happened in 1992 when I hit two grand slams in one week. One was out to center field and the other to right field. Here's the funny part of the story. It was the first game of the playoffs and the other team could only field nine players. I hit the grand slam and the right fielder ran into the fence which opened a cut near his eye. This put the game at 10-0 after five innings. They didn't have any other players so the game was called. Or maybe it was because of a 10 run rule.

Ok, not funny for that guy but it was a great day!

▶ Reply to This

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 7
• 8
• 9
• Next ›
• Page