c/p from my H&F log:

Had a baseball game today. Went 0-3 with an RBI. Stupid wood bat games to start the year. Anyway, we had five pitchers combine for a one-hitter through the full nine innings. We won 7-0 and it would have been a ridiculous blowout if we were hitting with metal. Jesus, our team is good.

I hit like .250 last year, but took 6 weeks off for a trip to Asia which crushed me.

Hopefully I get back over .400.

My arm is properly ****ed so I am going to avoid pitching at all costs, but sometimes I have to.

Also, one of the guys on my team is hitting .490 in D3 and just lost his 32 game hit streak, which is 16th longest in NCAA history. Pretty cool.

Oh, and my team is going for our 3rd straight championship.

man I want to get back to playing hardball.... oh and MAN am I out of shape..lol

Prolly should start to look around to see what's in the area again.

Good luck this year.

What league/age group?

18+ Twin Cities Men's Adult Baseball League.

Had our first two legit games of the season today. 2-0, 14-4 and 10-0. Our two stud pitchers gave up a total of one earned run...I felt kinda bad for the other team, especially the older guys who had absolutely no chance to hit either of these guys' fastballs

I batted five times, one infield single, two walks, reached on an error and struck out looking. The strike out was kinda bull****...I got hosed on a check swing at 3-1 and took a 3-2 breaking ball inside. It wasn't a strike but it was probably too close to take. My eye is my best attribute as a hitter but it actually kinda ****s me in this league b/c the umpiring is so hit and miss

pretty solid in the field, one error that was on a tough play. this is my first year where I'm playing mostly 3B and I like it for the most part. My arm feels better than it has since I don't remember when

one of our guys attempted to steal third (foul ball) when we were up 9-0...he was roundly booed by both sides

we hit four bombs total as a team, doubling our total from last season lol

I've been thinking about joining a league nearby, but had little idea of what to expect. When I played my last game of organized baseball at 16, I was throwing 80 consistently and topping out at 84-85. It has been 14 years and although I've been warming my arm up recently, I have no idea where I'm at. Would it be reasonable to think I could get most of that velocity back if I trained well?

Had practice today. First of the season for me, and our first games are next week. Most of the other guys have been practicing/playing in the Metrodome/playing some spring games, but I was overwhelmed with school.

I'm hoping for a bounce-back season. Exhibit:

2008 (summer, and fall): Pitched 23 innings, 23 strike outs, 4 walks. Hit .398 with 15 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run and 20 RBI.

2009 (spring and summer): Pitched 30 innings, 12 strike outs, 14 walks. Hit .211 with 2 doubles, 1 home run and 4 RBI.

Oh ya, my rotator cuff is ****ed in half (hence 2009!). Surgery scheduled for October. So instead of SS/P, hitting 3/4, I'm looking to play 1B/2B/DH, and hopefully hit 3/4/5/6. I've been doing a lot of PT and strengthening exercises, plus I'm obviously not pitching this year, so I hope my shoulder holds and I can actually swing the bat with some authority. We shall see.

Anyway, fielder groundballs for the first time since fall. That **** is kind of hard when it's been a while! Felt good at the plate though.

Good luck everyone! Playing baseball= the nuts

I'll post a larger update in a bit, but **** this is frustrating. One of our JUCO pitchers went 9ip 0er (3 unearned runs) 4h 12k 2bb and we lost 3-0. We scatted 12 hits and 5 walks. Infuriating. I went 1-for-2 with a double, bringing my season line up to 3-for-10 with 2 doubles, 1 HR, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts. Also 5ip 4er.

you old men playing beisbol and softball are ****ing nuts

We had Game 3 on Sunday. Lost 13-11. I started and went 3.1. Was up to 60 pitches starting the 4th and was feeling a bit gassed. Mechanics went to crap in the 4th and I started leaving the ball up and giving up some hits. Final line: 3.1, 4R, 3ER, 8H, 1K, 1BB. Not as many Ks as I usually get but they were a good hitting team. Still have K'ed 12 and walked only 1 on the season.

After I left our reliever gave up the lead but we remained tied until the 6th (play 7). Then they loaded the bases in bottom 6 and our RF dropped a routine fly ball with 2 outs allowing all 3 runs to score. Hooray adult baseball.

At the plate I had an RBI single and K'ed twice. Still striking out way more than I want to but have managed to get a few hits as well.

Thanks.

Are you and lippy in the same league?

We went 1-1 today. Got mercy ruled in the first game and did the same to them in the second. I had one error and was 0-3. I wouldn't even call myself a baseball player anymore, I don't know what happened. I haven't squared up a baseball in over a month.

anyhow, our first stud was a little bit injured for game one and had nothing off speed, so he took some punishment. our league sucks, but they will tee off on a fast ball if that's all you're throwing, even if it's 85mph Second game our pitcher dominated and we won 10-0. He's given up 0 earned runs in 11 innings now, he's dirty

Rained out today and no games next week due to Memorial Day. Too long with no baseball.

My current quick stats through a few games:

Hitting: .375/.474/.688
Pitching: 10 IP, 6.30 ERA, 6 walks : 4 strikeouts

Double header last week.

Been to one practice this far, so in the first game I DH'd and batted 8th

First AB: 6-3
Second AB: Should have been a double...it's in the book as an E-7, but the dude ran a long way into the gap, on the track, and the ball was in and out of his glove as he tried to make a running catch at 75% speed. Who gives an E-7 on that in a fun league like this? Raise the team BA! Scored a run.
Third AB: Most insane AB ever. 3 pitch strike out against a guy throwing mid-80s. First pitch I take a curve. Second pitch I'm way out in front of a changeup. Third pitch is a half swing/half jump away from a nasty slider that left me unable to describe the pitch to my teammates. Yikes!

Second game I started at 2B and hit 5th.

First AB: Hard single to center
Second AB: Lame swinging strike out
Third AB: Fielders choice.

I saw the ball really well for having one practice before this, and before that the last live baseball I saw was September '09.

In the field I caught a few pop-ups (one nice running one down the line), turned a DP, and caught a guy stealing second base.

Was hitting the ball really well yesterday- hitting the ball out to all fields- really wish we had games this weekend!

0/3 today, 2ks and grounded into a double play. also had a throwing error at third. definitely hurting my team right now :/

Current stats:

Hitting: .364/.462/.636, 4 singles, 3 doubles, 1 HR, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts
Pitching: 12 innings, 6.75 ERA, 9 walks, 5 strikeouts, 12 hits

Shouldn't have thrown an inning yesterday where I gave up three walks. I was tired and hadn't eaten anything and threw an inning in relief earlier in the day. No excuses though. Still a huge mistake. Would like to finish at 1:1 k/bb by the end of the year, but that hinges on me developing more than a mid-70's two-seam fastball and mid-60's changeup.

Changed my batting stance and grip on the bat (I grip it all the way down on the knob with my left hand now). It's a change I've been meaning to make ever since I gained modest amounts of strength (455 squat, 500 deadlift). Should work well. Absolutely demolished a ball about ~380 feet to dead center at a park with the fences set at 410+ in CF and 280 in LF/RF. Excellent field selection by me.

That's one wacky ass field.

I'm not currently playing hardball but last Monday some friends and I had a "homerun derby". I was throwing from the mound and on the first pitch to my friend he lined a ball back up the box that drilled me in the left ankle. The ball ended up in foul territory by first base. I was in pain but thought it was just a bad bruise, so I threw 1 more pitch but it hurt when I landed on my left foot so I sat out. Looked at my ankle and within a minute the welt was so big it looked like the damn ball was half-lodged in there. Maybe I'll post a pic later - it's pretty gross. Shades of purple and yellow not often seen on a living person lol.

Lost 2 more games today. Our team isn't very good, and our player/coach has never played organized baseball before starting playing 5-10 years ago or whatever, so he never had proper instruction. He calls plays at the worst possible times, has stupid batting orders, and since he does not know the fundamentals, he doesn't stress them- hence we lost 3 guys on the bases in one game. Sweet.

Anyway, first game I don't start, pinch hit, and strike out. **** me, I strike out too much. We lose 3-2 when the manager/coach lets a ball go under his legs in the bottom of the 7th in a tie game (to lose the game). Awesome.

Second game I start at second base and bat 4th. Pretty amazing to go from bench to cleanup (that would be one example of awesome lineup skills!). We lost 8-6. Went 2/4 with an RBI double. Pretty big wind coming in from left and I hit it and said "get the **** out" under my breath because I haven't been hitting well yet and it felt so good to make solid contact so I start making my way around the bases...and it doesn't quite have the distance I thought it did so I hustle to second base with a double. Lame. I also strike out once, since that is what I do all of a sudden.

I really like my teammates as people (4th year on the team) but dislike playing with them because they aren't very good and make so many mistakes because they just don't know how to play baseball. But with a bum shoulder I don't really have a lot of options since I'm pretty limited in where I can play until I can throw with some authority again.

Mutherf'in rain out again this week. No game since May 16. Sucks bigtime.

Missed this the first time around.

I also did not play organized ball from age 16 until a couple years ago. I am 40.

Everyone is certainly different but I am able to still throw hard. Don't know numbers but the top 2 or 3 velocity wise in my 38+ league. As people said elsewhere in this thread though, throwing hard is only small part of the battle. You need to be able to stay in the strike zone most importantly. And have some secondary stuff so people can't just sit on your hard stuff.

Are you gonna give it a go?

Hey guys.

I just graduated college and am moving into the working world. I miss playing baseball and am trying to get into an adult league. What's the best way for me to try and get into it? I played in HS so I'm not awful. Unfortunately not many of my friends that played with me in HS are my age so they're all not graduated yet.

I would start by going to the MSBL web site. About halfway down the page on the left is a link saying "Find a League" with a dropdown to choose your state. Can just email the commish of a league near you and ask him how to get involved.

I found my league on Craigslist. It is a bit late in the spring for ads about tryouts and stuff but worth looking in the Activities area to see if anyone is advertising that their team needs players.

Find a batting cage and go there and look for flyers or ask the people running it about local adult leagues. They will very likely know about them.