What's the farthest you played baseball?

[Omar 382]

And how good were you- and what position did you play? I played my first two years in high school, but got cut from the varsity team my junior year. As a lefty, I played first base mostly and the outfield a little- I was OK. Had some really good years as a hitter, and was pretty good with the glove at first. Too bad my arm blowed.

 

[Retroram52]

Freshman year in high school and I played catcher. Was decent but nothing spectacular. Gave it up for wrestling and football.

 

[Omar 382]

What position did you play in football?

 

[Omar 382]

Also, if I get any further/farther backlash from Northeast, I swear I will cut a bitch

 

[Nosferatu]

I played 2nd base, switch hitter, played through 11th grade, I was a pretty good player. I screwed it up when I let a girl, alcohol and drugs take my attention away.

 

[Omar 382]

Kind of like me with drugs and my weight

 

[Retroram52]

I played O-line my Sophomore and Junior years. Played Center. My Senior year, I played Center for half a year and then due to injuries at LB and overload at Center, I moved over to LB to finish the year. I played one year at a small college at LB and then gave it up for powerlifting (competitve) which I have been doing the last 38 years.

 

[mick7-1961]

Played from Little League to Pony League (early version of Babe Ruth in the early 60s).
I played all 9 positions.....I guess I was an average player.....Nothing special...

 

[mick7-1961]

I played 2nd base, switch hitter, played through 11th grade, I was a pretty good player. I screwed it up when I let a girl, alcohol and drugs take my attention away.

Your avatar cracks me up !!!!!!!!!!

 

[northeastphillyguy]

Also, if I get any further/farther backlash from Northeast, I swear I will cut a bitch

Crybaby!

 

[jvett77]

I was a star pitcher for my high school for two years and we one one city championship. Phillies scouts attended several of my games and I was hopeful because I had a nice slow curve. I waited by the phone after graduation and got frustrated because it never rang. Then some problems occurred. I woke up and found it was all a fucken dream.

 

[broncosmitty]

Was up and down between vasity and JV as a freshman. Played outfield for the first time in my life in a varsity game. Wasnt pretty. Stayed up Sophmore year on, I think. Might have played some JV tourneys. I pitched, played third in the first game of double headers when Id pitch the second game. First in the second game of double headers when I pitched the first game. And occasionally the corner outfield spots.(once I learned how to read fly balls, by practicing.) Had a nice year at the plate in 10th grade. An even better one as a junior. Then struck out a ton while swingin' for the fences my senior year. (Guy that hit in front of me bombed 26 or 27 out. He hit well in college also.) Got cut rather quickly at Western Michigan though. Not much demand for righties with lousy curveballs, that think they're power hitters, but aren't.

 

[Manster7588]

Completely sucked at baseball. Never could hit the ball to the left side of 2nd base. Was better than average covering the outfield but I absolutely had to get the cutoff man because that ball wasn't going much further.

 

[Davis_Mike]

I played 2b & SS. I was also a backup pitcher but never had anything special. T-ball to JC. I stopped playing for my high school varsity team during my sophomore season because the coach was a douche who played favorites. He wouldn't play the better players(like me) if we were not juniors or seniors. Or if you weren't from one of the baseball academies he was affiliated with. So I joined track to piss him off for 3 years. I ran hurdles & 400/800 . I was a starting WR on my varsity FB team & played a sparingly on my BB team(what can you do when you are only 5'9"-10"?).

During that time I still played club baseball & played 2 years a local JC after HS till I joined the army.

 

[TheSnowdog]

I played up to 10th grade
I was the Michael Martinez of my team since I stunk at hitting
Pretty good infielder though I guess (2nd baseman)

After high school though I did play 4 seasons of Strat-O-Matic baseball

 

[Cedrique]

Never really played organized baseball. It really wasn't available. I grew up in West Philly where we mostly hung out and played hoops. I was starting to get good at that but the neighborhood went downhill and I got into one little fight and my mom got scared and sent me to live with my aunt and uncle in California. I played some at a private school there, but it wasn't the same. I spent most of my time fucking with my cousin Carlton and jerking off to my cousin Hilary. My uncle was loaded but he let some old banker and his dyke assistant named Hathaway control him so he could never spend any money on cool shit. We ate on the pool table and usually it was something fucked up like squirrel that my grandmother cooked. Eventually I transferred to another school that was ok but all the kids were like 40 years old. One dude, Dylan was pretty cool, but he was kind of a drama queen.
Anyway, long story short, no baseball for me.

 

[(Un)]

T-ball & the outfield... and I hated every second of it. Once I actually had to swing at a pitch I realized how non-athletic I truly was.

To this day I'm not sure how you can get small children to stay focused during a game of baseball. I was a relatively lethargic kid but the lulls between activity were enough to keep my mind anywhere else.

 

[CatsTopPac]

I played all the way through high school, in Tucson, Arizona. I loved every minute of it. I played 1B and some outfield. I am left handed, and growing up, I played every position that a lefty could play. I also caught just a little before high school because I was a hoover vacuum, but then when players started stealing, I had to move because it's just too difficult for lefty catchers to get throws down to 2B with righties at the plate. I played a little 3B and 2B also, but again, for a lefty to try and turn 2 as a 2B, it's tough, and for a lefty at 3B to have to turn is body to throw to first is difficult as well. I never played SS or CF. Every other position, I have played. When I pitched, my four-seam fastball tailed away from righties and was pretty effective, but I had trouble with my curve.

Hitting, I was the consummate contact hitter. I never had much power, but as a lefty with a dominant right eye, I could see pitches very well. I had a great swing and always made contact. I rarely struck out, walked a lot, and in addition to getting hits, I forced errors (especially early in my baseball days), just because I always put the ball in play, and forced the fielders to throw me out. I always had a high OBP.

I played against some great competition. All throughout jr high and high school, I played against JJ Hardy (SS-BAL) and still know a couple of his cousins very well. I played against Ian Kinsler (2B-DET), Scott Hairston (OF-WASH), Brian Anderson (who was an OF for the White Sox when they won it in '05, and a couple of other guys who got drafted of played for solid D1 colleges (ASU, KSU). They all played for CDO which was one of my rivals in HS, and they always had a boatload of talent. a few other players around town also went on to do well in the minors. I also played against a guy names Tom Wilhelmsen who is in the bullpen for SEA. He pitched for Tucson High against us and was solid, but then after I got out of the army and went back to Tucson, he was tending bar at a place called The Hut, on 4th Ave (popular bar district for the Univ of Ariz.). TUrns out he kept getting busted for smoking pot, and he got released. But then he quit, and like in '08 or so, he tried out again, and got picked up. He has been pitching, and doing well ever since. I also played against Chris and Shelley Duncan (sons of former pitching coach for StL, Dave Duncan), although, they were a couple years ahead of me. From my own high school (Marana, one of my buddies from a couple years before played SS for West Point.

In 2012, while finishing up my MA, I coached baseball at my old high school, and it was a blast. I had a bunch of fun getting back on the field and helping some kids with whom I could relate. I only coached one season (and as an assistant), but we won more games that year than in the past 5 years combined (which killed me due to the fact that when I played, we went to state playoffs every year). My claim to fame when I coached is that I called pitches, and the last two games of the season, my pitchers threw two no-hitters (one was a complete game no-hitter, and the other was a combined no-hitter). I can't explain the joy of calling pitches for a no-hitter, even if it was only high school. It felt great, so proud of those kids.

I know you didn't ask for all of that, but I love me some baseball!!

 

[Retroram52]

Hey CatsTopPAc, good to see you on a forum other than discussing politics. Impressive baseball resume.

 

[CatsTopPac]

Thanks RR, likewise in seeing you around. Wish I had gone further, but I broke my foot (right before my first game senior year) sliding into 2B during a base-stealing drill to teach us how to avoid getting picked off at first. Instead of just taking our lead and the committing to 2B with a burst of speed, and peeling off halfway and going back to the back of the line behind 1B to try again, our coach made us go all the way to 2B and slide. The dirt under the bag kept getting more and more dug out and when I slid (about the third time around doing the drill), my spike got caught under the bag and accordioned my foot at around the ankle. My playing days were over. Not that I was projected to do much that year to keep moving forward somewhere, but it would have been nice to get the opportunity to try. Shitty part is that another kid did the same thing and broke his foot about two weeks later, and he was definitely good enough to play in college. He got a football scholarship though.

Yeah man, I mostly peruse the college basketball boards, and the University of Arizona page. I also am a big Dodger fan, so I am on there a lot right now. CBB and MLB are really my only favorite sports, and thankfully, they fall before and after each other on the sports calendar, perfectly. Occasionally, I hit up the AZ DBack page, just because a lot of those guys are also AZ BBall fans, and we go back and forth with some friendly banter about the two baseball teams, and also talk CBB from time to time. I follow AZ Wildcat football because it gets me ready for basketball season. I also hit up the college baseball pages from time to time and follow college baseball too.

You follow the Phils much?