Speaking of amateur umps, we had a game once where our home plate ump left mid-game b/c his ex wife or girlfriend texted him and said she wanted to make up so he went to go bang her and the infield ump called balls and strikes from behind the pitcher. lol. This was winter league so it was more informal and we all liked the 2 umps (they called every game) so nobody cared too much. Mostly it was just funny.

Hit two doubles and threw a scoreless inning with no hits, dotted a guy in the back on accident. Baseball's back son!

EDIT: Since I am the 2nd hardest thrower on the team - we have a new guy who was a D1 backup QB with crazy arm strength, he hasn't played baseball since he was 13 but is surprisingly good - I also pitch in relief. Which means I strike out a bunch of people in 7 run losses. Oh well. At least I get to pitch and hit. I prefer to just browse Facebook and DH but unfortunately I am probably our best defensive 3b given my arm strength and propensity to not **** up ground balls, so I gotta play there sometimes.

Dude playing against us took 3 straight strikes today in his team's last at bat. Gets rung up and then goes off on the ump and gets tossed. Who watches three go by and then bitches? Swing the bat.

Guy thinks he's Carlos Beltran over here

Lol

some dude hit a 2 run TATER off me yesterday, goddamn it was a bomb

however i am hitting .800 so there's not much to complain about

Lost our game last Sunday when our SS bounces a terrible throw to first in the bottom on the last inning. 1B can't handle it, allowing the 2 tying runs to score. Absolutely routine play. Lost in extras on a wild pitch. Fun stuff.

At least you got to meet Brooks Conrad. Or was it Chuck Knoblauch?

Leading my league in hitting at the 11 game mark (20 game regular season). Batting approximately .685/.760/.860 or something like that. Went 3-for-3 tonight, 3 line drives, 1 double that splashed off the fence. Only took me nine years but I figured out how to swing a bat.

Wait, what? When did you first play baseball and how old are you now?

Edit -- he said in a not condescending, but drunk, tone

And I mean the 9 years part not the figuring out what we all want to figure out part

Oh, been playing since I was in tee-ball like everyone else. Been playing stupid adult league ball out here for 8-9 years (I think 8 actually). Never knew how to swing a bat, really. I mean I could swing one, hit .300ish, limited power, didn't strike out much, but zero actual coaching that was helpful.

I made pretty big strides about six years ago using Dr. Yeager's advice (now ISObaseball) as well as picking up things here or there, but the breakthrough was hitting off a HitTrax and other cool tech at the hitting place next door as well as reading Bobby Tewksbary's info (tewk****ting.com, he threw to Donaldson in the HR Derby).

At age 32 I feel confident I could finally hit above .180 in D-III baseball. A little late.

Is that Bob Tewksberry, former Cardinal who threw like 68mph but never walked anyone?

I can't imagine hitting .685. I think the best I ever hit in Little League was .658. And my dad/coach is a scorekeeping nit so he wasn't like those other dads on my team who told their kids they went 3-for-4 with "2 homers" when they went 0-4 with 3 multiple base errors.

Time to play in a tougher league

He is not. Though they met at the HR Derby finally and Bobby got to tell him of all the confusion. Bobby is a ex-D1 guy who played some indy ball who runs a hitting consulting business now, and a friend.

There is obviously a lot of luck going on in the .685 hitting business. But I have been hitting a large % of line drives (which is also partially luck of course) and my balls in play that go for errors are accurately recorded (only one so far). I am a pretty big stickler on the scorebook. I hate people who cheat their stats on errors on both sides of the ball. It's adult baseball, just own up to the errors.

Even though I questioned it, I think for anyone else I would have just outright disbelieved that someone could teach themselves baseball in their late teens or early 20s.

Yeah, I don't know if that's possible. I mean I was a very not-good player while younger. But even still I had a lot of experience tracking baseballs and swinging bats and such even though I did it poorly. All that experience just gave me an idea of what to do with a bat.

I'm exaggerating when I say I taught myself how to play baseball from age 23-32 but I basically did. Also understanding the game at a much higher level than I had previous, which goes without saying given my current profession.

damn wish i hadn't found this thread.
I played pretty seriously up thru HS (would've played college ball in DII but broke my neck senior year of HS n have plate n screws in my neck) and would love to play again but damn I'm out of shape.

tho I've also been thinking of trying to get back into shape so I can join an adult hockey league (played that seriously as well) so maybe I'll finally stop dreaming about it and actually do it.

anyone play in greater LA area?

I pitched n played SS but few years back when I played in a softball league I played CF for 1st time ever and absolutely loved it.

Heh, Kyle, I was trying to make a multifaceted but clumsy compliment about your business.

Do it. You won't regret it. Huge leg up living in LA w good weather. Pain in the butt trying to practice in winter here in Portland.

Find a cage and some people to play catch with.

Inspiration for kids everywhere...



Unreal stuff.

Ec woulda plunked that kid no doubt

Seriously?

UPDATE

i struck out for the first time this season, goddamnit. was hoping to go the year without punching out. did it in 2013 over like 66 PA. last year I struck out twice.

now hitting .636/.742/.864. no bombs. 5 doubles in 22 AB. (31 PA, 9 walks)

a left-handed woman pitched against us in our last game and she was throwing pretty good. probably like low-mid 70s, lots of strikes with a good hook. unfortunately my team has like 5 guys who played bad D3/JC ball and 74-76 MPH is perfect hitting speed for us. i crushed a double off the fence vs her. she was too much in the middle of the plate but honestly a LHP throwing 73-76 in a beer league usually will be successful, regardless of gender. it was awesome to watch; my friend coaches the canadian women's baseball team and they got silver (i think) at the pan-am games. i hope it's a thing that gets more traction.

also threw 5 innings, no runs, punched out 4. pretty sure i have a torn labrum though, to go with partial tears of my rotator cuff. gotta rehab that this offseason. one day i'll get surgery on it. i ruined it while younger and have been staving this off for 10+ years. hoping to make it to 40 before i do it. (i'm 32 now)

She needs a changeup

Cool thread. Playing baseball is absolutely my favorite thing in the world. I'm 28 now, haven't played a live baseball game in ten years, I really miss it.

My top career highlight came as a sophomore in high school. Our JV field had the exact dimensions of US Cellular Field from left field to center. Which as a White Sox fan I really enjoyed. The situation was, we were down 6-2 in the bottom of the 3rd, I was on deck, and I don't remember if the hitter in front of me walked or what, but he loaded the bases. The assistant coach told me he'd give me $20 if I tied the game up. First pitch, I lined a shot right at the 3rd base coach. Took the 2nd pitch for a ball, and the 3rd pitch was hung belt high, and I drove it into the mobile homes beyond the left field wall.

I'm sure I had a ridiculous endorphin rush (I was insanely obsessed with HRs throughout my childhood) because I felt like I floated around the bases. As I was about to reenter the dugout, the coach was standing there, handing me a $20 bill. The whole thing felt surreal, if I could relive one five minute block of my life, that would be it.