Baseball

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Mind Gym : An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence

by Gary Mack from McGraw-Hill

Drawing on his work with some of the top teams in professional sports, noted sport psychology consultant Gary Mack shares with you the same techniques and exercises he uses to help elite athletes build mental "muscle." These 40 accessible lessons and inspirational anecdotes will help you gain the "head edge" over the competition.

Coaching Youth Baseball the Ripken Way

by Cal Ripken Jr. from Human Kinetics

Coaching young players, developing their skills, and cultivating a love for the sport may be the most rewarding experience baseball can offer. Cal and Bill Ripken understand this like few others.

From their father, Cal Sr., a legend in the Baltimore Orioles organization for 37 years, they learned to play the game the right way. Those lessons, paired with their combined 33 years of big league experience, helped develop the Ripken Way, a method of teaching the game through simple instruction, solid explanations, encouragement, and a positive atmosphere. In Coaching Youth Baseball the Ripken Way, Cal and Bill share this approach to coaching and development.

Whether you’re teaching your children at home, managing the local travel team, or working with high school-level players, Coaching Youth Baseball the Ripken Way will help you make a difference both on and off the field, with these features:

• More than 50 drills covering defense, hitting, pitching, and baserunning
• Age-specific practice plans for players ranging from 4 to 15+
• Strategies for setting goals and reasonable expectations for your players and team
• Advice on communicating with parents, players, and staff
• Methods for creating a positive and fun environment in which kids can learn the skills and strategies of the game

Bill Ripken was once voted by his peers as one of the big league players most likely to become a manager. Cal Ripken, Jr., known as baseball’s Iron Man, is a member of the game’s All-Century Team and a future Hall of Famer. Together, they are proof positive that the Ripken Way is the right way to teach the game of baseball.

Science of Hitting

by Ted Williams from Fireside

As a boy, all Ted Williams wanted was to be the best hitter there ever was. Through his storied tenure with the Red Sox, he pretty much got his wish. He not only hit, he knew how to hit; there was no keener, more devoted, more articulate student of the art. The Science of Hitting is his comprehensive book of wisdom and anecdote, a baseball bible that offers clear, concise, well-illustrated, fundamental information on how to hit a baseball and, just as important, how to think about hitting a baseball. Williams's first commandment is "Get a good pitch to hit," and, in one of baseball's most dramatic teaching tools--a photograph that divides his strike zone into 77 baseballs, seven wide by 11 high--Williams projects what he would hit at each pitch location, from .230 on the low-outside strike to .400 in what he called his "happy zone," the heart of the plate belt high. In 1941, that happy zone was obviously ecstatic; Williams hit .406 that year, the last to break the magic .400 barrier.

Ted Williams is our greatest living expert on how to hit a baseball -- the last baseball player to hit .400 in the major leagues. Williams's career hitting statistics will stand forever as a monument to his complete mastery of the single most difficult thing to do in sport: .344 lifetime batting average, 521 home runs, 1839 RBI and 2654 hits.

The Science of Hitting has reigned as the classic handbook on hitting since being published in 1971 -- and now it's even better! Ted's hitting advice has been updated, and exciting new color graphics and photos have been added to enhance your reading pleasure. The Gallery of Great Hitters has been expanded to include Ted's choices for the best hitters of the '70s and '80s: look inside to see who made the cut!

You'll still find all of Ted's great advice on how to improve your turn at bat and become the best hitter possible. Learn:

* How to think like a pitcher and guess the pitch
* The three cardinal rules for developing a smooth line-drive swing
* The secrets of hip and wrist action
* Pitch selection
* Bunting
* Hitting the opposite way

And much more!

Whether you play the game or simply enjoy reading about it, you'll find The Science of Hitting an unforgettable addition to your sports library.

Youth Baseball Drills

by Marty Schupak from Human Kinetics

Use Youth Baseball Drills to develop players’ understanding, skills, and love for the game. The activities presented will help you make each practice more educational and fun.

This handy coaching tool contains a variety of both tried-and-true and innovative drills that build on and reinforce your technique and tactic instruction of 7- to 12-year-olds. Drills are easily located by topic in the seven chapters, and they progress in difficulty so that you can choose the most appropriate ones for your players’ abilities in each facet of the game. And, because attention spans are short at those ages, each drill is designed to maximize the number of players involved on the field.

Helpful tips throughout the book make on-field practice, organization, and time management much easier. Youth Baseball Drills is your guide to fun, productive practices so that your players get the best possible experience playing the sport.

Coaching Tee Ball : The Baffled Parent's Guide

by H. W. Broido from International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press

Each spring, Tee-ball introduces millions of boys and girls to "America's pastime" --and introduces their parents to the joys (and nightmares) of coaching first-time players. Filled with expert advice and tips on creating order from chaos, Coaching Tee-Ball is the solution to every baffled parent's predicament, offering the new coach a total approach to keeping kids involved, motivated, and having fun.

Coach's Guide to Game-Winning Softball Drills: Developing the Essential Skills in Every Player

by Michele Smith from International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press

“Mastering these drills will arm your players with one of the biggest intangibles necessary to perform well--confidence.”
--Michele Smith

Two-time Olympic gold medalist and Hall of Fame pitcher Michele Smith throws one right down the middle with this big collection of more than 250 skill-building drills developed especially for coaches of fast-pitch recreation league, travel ball, and high school softball players, ages eight to eighteen.

Straight from the Michele Smith Gold Camps and Clinics, these drills are designed to give you all the tools you need to teach the entire range of offensive and defensive softball skills. With Michele's expert guidance and instruction, you'll coach your players to:

• Master the mechanics of footwork for fielding with hustle
• Swing for the fences and hit the fastest pitches
• Catch the ball proactively and throw it quickly and accurately to its target
• Defend the infield and outfield with speed and confidence
• Run the bases swiftly and strategically
• Refine fast-pitch skills so they can windmill like Michele
• And much more

Making Little League Baseball® More Fun for Kids: 30 Games and Drills Guaranteed to Improve Skills and Attitudes

by Randy Voorhees from McGraw-Hill

In Making Little League Baseball® More Fun for Kids, long time baseball coach Randy Voorhees arms coaches with dozens of innovative, easy-to-perform games and drills guaranteed to dramatically increase the fun quotient of their practices while building the skills, confidence, motivation, and sheer love of the sport Little Leaguers need to win games. Designed to involve all team members in practice, these "games within the game" cover all fundamentals in the categories of hitting, pitching, fielding, and baserunning.

The Baseball Drill Book

by American Baseball Coaches Association from Human Kinetics

Get more out of each practice! The Baseball Drill Book presents 198 activities to sharpen every aspect of player and team performance.

The American Baseball Coaches Association enlisted 17 top baseball coaches to create the best and most complete collection of baseball drills in print. Bob Bennett, Ed Cheff, Gordie Gillespie, Gene Stephenson, Ray Tanner, and a dozen more coaching greats cover all the bases:

· Conditioning and warm-up
· Throwing and catching
· Base running and sliding
· Hitting and bunting
· Pitching
· Fielding
· Offensive and defensive tactics

Additional chapters explain how to incorporate drills in practice sessions and simulate game situations. The Baseball Drill Book provides the essential links between initial skill learning, mastery, and winning performance on the diamond.

Play Baseball the Ripken Way: The Complete Illustrated Guide to the Fundamentals

by Cal Ripken Jr. from Ballantine Books

Every year, hundreds of thousands of children play “Cal Ripken Baseball” in the largest division of Babe Ruth League, Inc. Play Baseball the Ripken Way is the ultimate guide to playing the game, by one of the sport’s living legends.

Baseball is America’s national pastime, but that doesn’t mean we’re all born naturals. Kids of all ages (and their parents) are eager to improve specific skills, and now they can learn from one of the most respected baseball families in history. Cal and Bill Ripken have written a thoroughly illustrated instructional book that clearly explains proper baseball fundamentals—hitting, fielding, baserunning, pitching, and much more.

Based on the teachings of the late Cal Ripken, Sr., a player, coach, manager, and scout in the Baltimore Orioles system for thirty-seven years, Play Baseball the Ripken Way shows players just what they need to do to be their best while maintaining a sense of fun and accomplishment with every new lesson. The Ripken Way consists of the following principles:

*Keep It Simple: Teaching that is too complicated is difficult to remember and can result in frustration.

*Explain Why: A teacher who cannot explain why is not truly teaching. Lessons that make sense will stick with players.

*Celebrate the Individual: No two players are alike, so why treat them as if they are?

*Make It Fun: The game gets serious enough quickly enough on its own. Drills and instruction should be structured so that players can enjoy themselves while learning.

The book also includes tips for parents and coaches, practice workouts, and drills for players of every level.


From the Hardcover edition.

The Mental ABC's of Pitching: A Handbook for Performance Enhancement

by H.A. Dorfman from Diamond Communications

Pitching at every level, from Little League to Major League, requires much more than good mechanics. Baseball, especially pitching, is a mental game of strategy, confidence, and performance. Here from an eminent sports psychologist and the co-author of the classic book, The Mental Game of Baseball, is a clear and insightful guide to the art of pitching.

A handbook written as an easy-to-use, A-to-Z reference, Dorfmans latest book addresses the problems ever pitcher can face before, during, and after competitionand the strategies for solving these problems. From concise discussions on topics ranging from Adjustments to Zeros, The Mental ABCs of Pitching: A Handbook for Performance Enhancement is the perfect companion to The Mental Game of Baseball and a must resource for every pitcherand not a bad idea for hitters who want to learn more about the mental moves on the mound.