Baseball And Baseball Gloves

Keep your baseball gloves looking new and in great shape

2008-12-29T01:19:00.000-08:00

Baseball gloves can last very long if care are taken of. Knowing some baseball glove care tips on how to keep your baseball gloves looking new and in great shape. Season gloves are always easy to wear and plays compare a branded new gloves. As brand new gloves are very dry and stiff. Use conditioners which can be brought from the sports shops and paste it on lanolin based instead of oils as oils will make your wet and heavy and harder to play in the field. Besides oils can clog the pores in the leather and this will eventually weaken the leather and make it spoil faster. If it is a new one condition it more often.

Before the play and once a while if left not in play inspect the gloves lacing and tighten any loose runs. After play clean it and rub it with some condition after two or three games to make the gloves soft. when playing in a muddy area always remember after the games wash the mud away and wash then leave it out in the sun to dry. Playing in hot weather conditioner after the games. Not in play store the baseball gloves in a place away from direct sun.

Tips of how to care our baseball gloves

2008-07-17T03:05:00.000-07:00

Knowing some tips of how to care our baseball gloves is an advantage as seasons gloves are easily to play and wear when playing or catching the ball. if gloves is left to long under the hot sun or in a very hot area as the leathers of the baseball gloves then to break and tear that will cost you to get a new one if you wanted to played baseball again. If care is taken of it will last you many years to come and even you can pass it to your kids when they have grown up. Branded new gloves are not so nice to play as the gloves are usually dry and stiff.

When the gloves is not in play, place it it in a cool area and use a kind of oil that can be purchase from sports shops and rub it on the leather and the edges. Do not used other kinds of oils as it will make your baseball gloves worse. Inspect the gloves lacing and loosen or the tighten.

During playing when the baseball get muddy or wet, The first place get the mud our and dry the gloves and after that apply conditioner to the gloves. Always keep the laces snug and if the laces is broken fixed it right away.

Ways to season you new baseball glove

2008-05-08T21:44:00.000-07:00

Baseball is one of the American favorite sports and was played very long time ago before the first baseball gloves was invented in the early 1870, with the motive of protecting our palms when catching the balls. Before most players has to catch the ball with its bare hand results in bruised to their palms. The first baseball gloves was made of leather that was sewn together by hands from scraps of leathers. Today baseball gloves are made of high quality leather with many design and size that fixed properly to ones players hands and the position their are playing.

All new baseball gloves are stiff and need to be rub with a kinds of oil to made the baseball gloves season. When the baseball is not in used it must be wrap up in a towel and kept away from hot sun. The best ways to season the baseball gloves is to wear and play often when catching the ball with your baseball gloves. The most popular baseball gloves comes from Rawing, Nike and Mizuno. Many new players would prefer to buy second hand baseball gloves as there are already season and the cost is much cheaper.

ways to soften your baseball gloves

2008-03-02T23:35:00.000-08:00

When buying a new baseball gloves is always the same problem as it don't fit perfectly at the beginning and the leather tend to be harder or stiff, making it difficult to grab or get a proper grip. Using your base ball gloves more frequently will make the leather soften. Most baseball will used products such as Vaseline milk oil, oils, lotion or even soap to soften the baseball gloves.

Rub your baseball gloves more often, if its new one with apply a small amount of oil on the leather gloves and it with soft cloth and then left it dry in a dry area. Never soak your baseball gloves in water as the gloves will get damage faster.

Ways to soften the baseball gloves

2007-11-22T19:34:00.000-08:00

When you brought a new pairs of baseball gloves, its mostly don't fit very well as a old pairs as old pairs are well seasons. New baseball gloves are always tend to be stiff making it hard for a proper grips as well as grab the ball. To soften the baseball gloves in a better ways is to wear it regularly when catching the ball with your hand to make the new gloves more seasons.

Others ways to soften the baseball gloves is to put some oils or lotion or even soap and rub the leather as to soften the gloves but there are plenty of baseball glove oils that help soften and break in baseball gloves. Popular ones include Rawlings Glovolium and Easton Glove oil. Remmember when not in used, stored it in a cool dry place away from hot sun. The present design of baseball gloves comes with anti-microbail treatment to keep bacteria away. Players will mostly sweat inside the glove when playing too long.

Play baseball gloves that suit to play position

2007-09-18T01:39:00.000-07:00

Most glove designers will design the glove today to suit to the player play and even with anti-microbial treatments to prevent bacteria at bay as players will mostly sweat inside the glove and are make of leather. Wear your baseball gloves all the times to make the gloves more seasons when playing if you change a new gloves. After play rub your gloves with some oil and never put direct on th e hot sun.

Choose your baseball gloves to your playing position and the size of the mitt to sue your position of play. Baseball comes in many design if you are not sure of the size of the baseball gloves it is best to ask your senior or your coach if you are a beginning. Besides every gloves had an open and close web as this style of web also depend on your field position you choose to play.

A baseball glove and its uses

2007-07-18T02:12:00.000-07:00

A baseball glove is make of leather and allows the baseball players to catch the ball in his hands. It is wears to assit the players in catching the ball hit by a batter or thrown by his teammate. Most baseball gloves are worn on the non dominant hand leaving the other hand free for throwing the balls to others players. The baseball gloves are wear, like the right handed players will wear their gloves on the left hand and vise versa.

The size of the gloves are described by its pattern and its has extra padding shape that helps to catch a fastball hit by the batter. Pattern of its gloves and its used. Pitcher's gloves usually have a closed, opaque webbing to allow them to conceal their grip on the ball. Outfield gloves are usually quite long, to help with both catching fly balls on the run or in a dive. Infielder's gloves other than the first baseman's tend to be smaller, to allow the fielders to easily remove the ball from their glove to make a quick throw to a base.

Choosing baseball glove dependent upon your field position

2007-06-22T22:51:00.000-07:00

Choosing an appropriate baseball glove is dependent upon the field position you are playing, the size of your hands and see it is comforatable fix when catching the balls and the level you are playing the pocket depth and webbing. There are many types of brands in the markets, such as Rawlings, Louisvile Slugger, Franklin and Wilson and most of this brands are excellent design to fit your playing.

Every baseball gloves has either an open web or a close web. This style of web depend on your field position you choose to play. The close web are often used by pitcher to hide the ball in the batter and mostly used when prefer more support when catching. The open web helps players, especially middle infielders, get the ball out of the pocket quicker to make throws to bases. While youth baseball glove are made for young youth with smaller design that give them more control of the ball.

care for baseball gloves

2007-05-10T02:51:00.000-07:00

Having the best baseball gloves in your hand, Nike baseball gloves comes with finger lining thats keeps your hand cool and dry. How long you are with a game of baseball or how hard you run to you catch the ball you will feel the dryness of your hand. Nike baseball glove also gives you the comfort in your hand when playing.

Buying a best baseball gloves like Nike is one things but to care for the gloves is another thungs. If your baseball gloves are not in use, store it in a cool dry place as to avoid breaking of the leather as heat can affect the leather. Oiling your gloves a few times in a seasons. After a game of baseball let your baseball gloves to be dry in a cool place and also dry the gloves with dry towels.

Caring for your baseball gloves

2007-04-05T02:17:00.000-07:00

Glove manufacturers today have designed baseball glove so they’re ready to play with. Even the modern baseball are design with anti-microbial treatments as to keep bacteria at bay as players will mostly sweat inside the glove. Most baseball glove are made of leather instead of stiff.

In order to have a nice pairs of baseball gloves you have to wear and play it reguraly to get the glove more season. Care should be taken of as you masy rub it some glove oil to make it more tender and last longer, never place it on a hot sun.

Ways of caring your baseball glove

2007-02-24T02:49:00.000-08:00

Baseball gloves come in a variety of sizes and also are geared to fit both the position you play and the level of your game. Keep in mind when you decide which style, size, features and materials best suit your game when buying a bassball gloves. Choose the gloves thats best help field your position. Determining the size mitt you buy is the position you play in the field. Today's gloves have different features built-in to help your game and to suit your ability.

Wear your gloves as often as you can when catching the ball with your hand as to make the new glove more seasons when in play because new gloves are mostly uncomfortable to play at the start. Treated leather also reduces the care needed for the glove and helps the glove keep its shape. When not in used store in a cool dry place another ways to care for your baseball gloves.

Baseball gloves care

2007-01-29T22:10:00.000-08:00

There are many ways in which we can protect our baseball gloves. One best ways to look after our baseball gloves is to wrap it in the towel when not in used. Try not to place your baseball gloves in a hot place where the gloves will easily get torn. Oils your baseball gloveswill help to tenders the leather but it cannot be done more three times a year as oiling done more times will tend to break the leather down.

Wear your gloves as often as you can when catching the ball with your hand as to make the new glove more seasonswhen in play because new gloves are mostly uncomfortable to play at the start.

Cheap baseball gloves for startter

2006-11-14T21:27:00.000-08:00

Baseball gloves can be very expensive to some beginners who wanted to play baseball.
For a startter, get cheaper gloves as their are available at many retail stores which offer a good discount and are of best quality. Internet is also one of the best place to hunt for discount baseball gloves.

Another best ways to find discount or cheap baseball gloves is by looking for outdated or discontinued models. There are numbers of stores will have their clearance sales which offer a great discount for their outdated models. Ebay is one of the best place to look for a discount bassball gloves where you can get the best bargained and deals as it is the biggest online marketplace and has alot of sellers.

Getting the best baseball gloves

2006-10-18T00:18:00.000-07:00

Nike is probably best known for its athletic shoes and other lines of athletic clothing. The company, however, has recently begun to manufacture its own line of baseball gloves. The Nike baseball glove has been gaining tremendous popularity in recent years. Nike baseball gloves are just the latest product put out by the sporting goods and clothing giant. Nike has long been known for its sneakers, Perhaps the best feature of Nike baseball gloves is the dry finger liner inside each glove which helps to keep fingers cool and reduce perspiration during play.

Perhaps the best-known and respected One thing you definitely can do for your glove is to store it in a cool, dry place when you’re not using it.is manufactured by Rawlings. Rawlings baseball gloves have been a favorite of amateurs and professionals for over eight years. They are most admired for their comfort and safety features as well as the range of prices.

One thing you definitely can do for your glove is to store it in a cool, dry place when you’re not using it.

Buying baseball glove-know what position you field

2006-09-26T22:39:00.000-07:00

If you're interested about buying baseball glove, know what position you wanted to play and the right size thats fit your hand and also gets information and ideals from the bassball players.

Baseball gloves come in a variety of sizes and also are geared to fit both the position you play and the level of your game. Keep in mind when you decide which style, size, features and materials best suit your game when buying a bassball gloves. Choose the gloves thats best help field your position. Determining the size mitt you buy is the position you play in the field. Today's gloves have different features built-in to help your game and to suit your ability.

Leather is treated and softened with chemicals for faster break-in and increased durability
Treated leather also reduces the care needed for the glove and helps the glove keep its shape

Youth models are smaller to help kids maintain control, avoid the urge to buy a bigger glove for your kids and stick to their age and size. Its also benefit the beginners from the added control that they get from smaller gloves

selecting a baseball gloves

2006-09-17T21:44:00.000-07:00

There are gloves that will give many seasons of satisfactory service and a good glove does not have to be expensive. The more expensive gloves do tend to use better and often heavier.

Select a glove for the position you will be playing most often. A baseball glove should feel fairly snug when adjusted. Check to make sure the baseball glove adjusts to your hand. Allow room for batting glove. The batting glove will absorb most of the sweat from your hands, thus protecting the lining of your glove. Change the batting glove when it gets wet or rotted.
The leather should be fairly sturdy. A stiffer glove will have to be broken in, but once done, the baseball glove will be serviceable for many seasons. Higher quality baseball gloves and mitts are usually distinguished by higher grade leather, better construction and better design. These work together to produce a glove or mitt that is durable and helps the ball into and out of the pocket. The highest quality gloves are usually made of heavy leather that will need some time to break-in and typically do not have palm pads or Velcro adjustments.

Hopefully the sections above have contributed to your understanding of baseball glove. Share your new understanding about baseball glove with others.

baseball glove : Discount Baseball Gloves

2006-09-10T23:22:00.000-07:00

Baseball gloves can be pricey additions to the game. For beginners, cheaper gloves available at discount retail stores are probably the best. For those who wish to advance their game, or for those who already play pro-or-semi-pro baseball, they certainly want the higher- end models. For anyone who wants to buy a baseball glove, it is usually the case that they want discount baseball gloves.

You can find discount baseball gloves in a variety of places. The Internet is certainly one of the best avenues to find discount baseball gloves. With the growing worldwide marketplace, there is, without a doubt, no shortage of discount baseball glove suppliers. A simple Internet search for "discount baseball gloves" will produce more results than you can sift through in a day.

One of the best ways to find discount baseball gloves is by looking for outdated or discontinued models. Many stores will have regular clearance sales to eliminate excess or overstocked merchandise as well. You will likely find excellent deals on baseball gloves by being at the right place at the right time. You can also email companies to ask about any upcoming specials or sales; most will be happy to tell you.

Another wonderful tool in finding discount baseball gloves is Ebay. Ebay is the largest online marketplace with millions of users and hundreds of thousands of sellers. Sporting goods is one of the most popular categories, by far. You can find great deals on baseball gloves, even custom baseball gloves, on the Ebay Web site. If you find a really great seller with really great deals, you can expect to save 50% and sometimes more on high quality baseball gloves. A little research can certainly yield tremendous savings.

If you’re just starting out in your baseball career it is probably best to look for discounted or used baseball gloves. Doing so will allow you to get a feel for what style and size fits you best and save you the time of breaking in a brand new glove.

Copyright 2005 e-BaseballGloves.com

baseball glove : history of baseball gloves

2006-09-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

Baseball has long been praised as America's favorite pastime. Baseball gloves have been used for nearly as long as the baseball game has existed are a very integral part of the sport.

The first baseball gloves were used in the 1870s and are very different from the baseball gloves we use today. Prior to the late 1800's, the sport of baseball was much more rugged than what we are accustomed to today; players were expected to catch or knock the ball with no protection. One can only imagine the injuries sustained from this practice.

Early baseball gloves were fairly simple as compared to today's standards. The basic idea was to create a glove that would pad and protect the players' hands and provide a cushion for catching the ball. Surprisingly, the first gloves were designed so the player could knock the ball to the ground and not necessarily catch it. History's first baseball gloves were made from pieces of leather sewn together to fit over a player's hand. Not nearly as padded, thick or advanced style-wise, early baseball gloves are on display at many sport and baseball museums across the country.

The first players to use baseball gloves were often taunted and teased as being "too soft" or "sissies" because they did not want to catch the ball with their bare hands. It is difficult to understand the resistance and fun-poking of the late 19th century since baseball gloves are a standard item used in modern games. Eventually, however, the use of baseball gloves became more accepted and a safety standard in the sport.

The history of baseball gloves is a colorful one with many advances in comfort and safety. The evolution of baseball gloves has helped to shape the game and many cannot imagine the sport without them.

baseball glove : Taming The Gloves

2006-09-04T04:19:00.000-07:00

You can just imagine the pain and injury that a player can get when he plays without the baseball gloves. Bruised palms, in could be the least that a player has to worry. And yet the first baseball gloves appeared only in the 1870’s. Before that baseball players has to catch the ball with bare hands, something that we can not imagine today. When baseball gloves started to appear it was made from scraps of leather that were sewn together.

The first baseball gloves were not even designed to catch the ball but to cushion the player’s hand by knocking the baseball glove to the ground. During the late 1800’s players using baseball gloves were teased as sissies and other names that were embarrassing to the players. Eventually, sense prevailed. Baseball gloves have become an integral part of the game aside from being necessary safety equipment.

Baseball is one of Americas most loved sport. If someone wants to play, it is necessary to wear a baseball gloves and that means buying a new one.

When new, baseball gloves are stiff and you have to break in the baseball glove for you to have a good game with it.

One effective way of breaking in a new baseball glove is to wrap it in a towel when not in use. The best way however is to wear it as often as you can and catch ball with it. It will be uncomfortable at the start, as you would feel that the glove does not fit your hand but continues breaking in will soften it up. Oils made specifically for baseball gloves are also available to speed up the process. Take caution though in oiling a baseball glove, as too much of it, even when recommended by the oil maker, will tend to break the leather down. Ideal application of oil in the baseball gloves should not be more than three times a year. As you use the baseball glove however, it will eventually start to feel comfortable like an extension of your hand.

Through the years, many companies have started to manufacture baseball gloves that they come today in a wide variety and materials to select from. Depending on its quality, brand, fit and style baseball gloves are priced as low as $10 or as high as $250 for custom made fits.

The more popular manufacturers of baseball gloves are Rawlings, Nike, Mizuno and Nokona.

For players starting out in baseball buying brand new gloves that are good can be a little steep. If you want a glove that is good, second hand gloves can be a good option and the Internet can show you where. The Internet has, in a very short span of years, become a virtual shopping venue. If you want to try it out, try Ebay or type the keywords “discount baseball gloves” and you will be surprised at what you will find. Searching the Internet for baseball gloves can yield you results several times over than going from store to store. There are good sellers on the net where you can buy your baseball gloves at 50% less than its brand new counterpart.

Another good option is to find sporting goods store that are on clearance sale. Good discount can be had with these stores if you are willing to settle for gloves that are good if not the latest.

By Robert Thatcher

baseball glove : Baseball And Summertime Fun

2006-09-04T04:12:00.000-07:00

If a kid is an average run of the mill summertime and school is out, run about youngster, in sneakers kicking an empty can along the sidewalk? What's he to do?

He is a little short and not really fast so the basketball league has no uniform for him. Football is for tough as nails hard hitting grind you into the ground heroes. Golf is for the boys with plenty of jingle in their pockets. Soccer coach pays no attention to chubby slow participants.

The boys over on Lake street are playing those ruffians of Oak street this afternoon down at the ole ball diamond. Jim who lives on Lake street told me his mom was making him go to piano lessons and his team would be short a player.

Well, at least I have my baseball glove a really keen Rawlings Mickey Mantle model dad got me. I'll go down and hang around and maybe Dickie who lives on Meadow Lane but plays with Lake street might want me to fill in for Jim. I think Dickie is the captain for Lake street and he seems to be an Okay guy.

Boy did Dickie seem glad to see me and immediately asked would I play right field for Lake street? Would I! you bet your boots, I just knew Dickie was a straight up ball playing leader happy for me to play.

Little did I know that right field is where all the novice beginners were stuck to do the least harm. As luck would be on my side through out the game not a single ball came my way in right field. The most thrilling thing in my life happened in the third inning.

That big ole Bill Miller was pitching for Oak street and none of my teammates had hit the ball out of the infield. I remember we already had two outs when it was my turn. It just felt natural standing there in the batters box. I had watched a lot of baseball on television and I wanted to mimic my favorite player.

Stan "The Man" Musial with the St.Louis Cardinals had a most unusual stance at the plate. I wanted to keep my eyes fully focused on Bill so I did not twist and look over my shoulder. Stan did cock and raise his front foot so sure as punch this is what I did too.

You know in baseball kidding and ribbing if a player pulls off a really amazing feat the old saying goes, "Even a blind hog will find an acorn some time." Bill grooved a hard fast ball and I simply took that cocked leg stride and whamo right on the button.

I had never felt anything in my life that gave me a bigger thrill as I watched that ball clear the left field fence. I watched it standing at home plate with Dickie down in the first base coaching box screaming to high heaven, "run."

Where else could a kid receive such a thrill ? Without the right stuff of speed, height, heavy muscles or proven athleticism would not even get a chance at other sports.

By Wiley Channell

baseball glove : Fix Your Own Glove (2)

2006-08-24T22:51:00.000-07:00

About two months ago at one of my son's tournaments the third baseman's glove broke, right in the web. As you already know, tournaments have lots of games so these guys don't want to lose a glove for a week while also paying to get it repaired. Anyway, I took the glove and fixed it in between two games. I just went back into the hotel room, turned on The Weather Channel and restrung the lower part of the web. It took about fifteen minutes and the glove looked great. It lasted the rest of the season with no problems.

Now, if he had sent the glove away to get repaired, a fix like this would probably cost him anywhere from $15.00 to $35.00. This would be higher if he wanted the glove back sooner. He would also probably lose the glove for a week. If he got the glove back and didn't like the results, he'd probably just live with it. It wouldn't be worth sending it back out again.

If his mom, dad or someone else repaired it, (in this case I did it) the lacing required for this would cost anywhere from $2.00 to $5.00. He'd only lose the glove for about fifteen or twenty minutes...no real downtime! Any more adjustments would probably be done by whoever fixed it.

If more laces are broken, it gets more expensive. Whole glove relacing is around $50.00. You also have shipping to pay on top of that. Plus, you'll lose your glove for a week. It really is a huge benefit to know how to do most, if not all of the lacing repairs yourself. If you have young kids playing ball and you see a good number of years ahead of you, or you are a coach, learning how to do general restoration, conditioning and relacing of gloves is a great thing.

I'm not saying glove repair places are bad. They're great! Most do good work and will save your glove for more years to come. I've even recently come across a site on the Internet that offers a really good deal, with one to two day turnaround. Of course, if they had 75 gloves come in, that's a tough guarantee. Basically, you just have to decide on your time and money budget. For nearly all of the gloves I have repaired overnight or in ten or fifteen minutes, time was the big concern for the kids and parents, not the money. They wanted their gloves for the next day.

So if you have the time, find a few old baseball gloves or buy a couple at a yard sale and just try to restring them. It's really not that hard. And most of the breaks are very similar, especially with today's baseball gloves. Once you do two or three, you'll be on your way to being a "Doctor" yourself. You'll be able to do glove repairs in one inning and the kid will be able to use the glove that same game! That's the cool part. You make a lot of kids and parents happy.

There is also another part of having this skill. You can make a little money for yourself doing this. In fact, you don't have to be a coach or even have a kid playing. Once word gets out that there is someone locally that can repair a glove overnight or in a day, people will find you. Believe me.

They found me…and still find me throughout the summer five years after I figured I'd just repair this one glove for a young softball player.

by Chico Reese

baseball glove : Fix Your Own Glove (1)

2006-08-24T22:46:00.000-07:00

As I sat there watching the pitcher and infielders warm up in between innings, out of the corner of my eye I noticed one of the coaches just outside the dugout trying to get someone's attention. When I realized it was my attention he was trying to get, I gave a nod. He then barked out, "Got another one!" and proceeded to throw a fielder's glove at me. I caught it, gave it a quick inspection and knew what I'd being doing a little later that evening.

Well that's how it has gone the last four or five years now when I'm in the dugout or around local baseball or softball fields. I've repaired gloves for a number of players and hence I've been labeled as "The Doctor". Word has gotten out over the years and I've fixed many gloves for small kids, big kids, adults, you name it. I never realized how much people liked their gloves and I also never realized that people didn't fix their own gloves when they broke, even the simplest repairs.

That's how this all started for me. One day I repaired an older Wilson A2000 from the late 70's or early 80's. It was being used by a younger girl playing softball. It was her dad's glove in college. It needed a lot of lace work but was in surprisingly good shape other than that. It looked great when I was done.

Since then, I've repaired gloves for a lot of kids. Never charged anything, which was probably a small mistake. I was just glad to get the glove back to them the next day or so. I didn't think much about until I was looking around on the Internet about a year ago and saw what repairing baseball gloves costs both in money and time. Only then did it occur to me how much money I saved kids and parents and more importantly, the glove was lost for one game at the most.

This is what I'm getting at. If you have young kids active in baseball/softball or are a member of a team or teams yourself, you should really look into trying to repair a few gloves yourself, in your spare time. Believe me, it will come in handy more times than you think and you can save yourself and other people some money.

Let me define what I mean by baseball glove repair. I don't mean repairing major tears in the leather and the little runs of stitching in the glove. That stuff requires more tools, leather and time. I'm talking about repairing the most common types of lacing breaks that occur throughout a season and just relacing these breaks or retightening lace runs to keep the glove in its original shape and form.

By Chico Reese

baseball glove : Movie to be shown at Stumptown Park

2006-08-16T01:25:00.000-07:00

The final Saturday Night Live event of the summer in Matthews will be on, um, Friday with the showing of the PG-rated movie "Nanny McPhee." Friday's program will be at Stumptown Park on South Trade Street in downtown Matthews. The movie begins about 8:30 p.m.Vendors will sell food and drinks. Pets are not permitted.

Demos and music at farmers market

Bruce Moffett, the chef and owner of Barrington's restaurant in Charlotte, will give a cooking demonstration Saturday at the Matthews Community Farmers Market.

Customers can watch his technique, sample his recipes and get new ideas on how to cook with fresh summer produce.

Also Saturday, Carol and Pat Raedy will provide old-time string band music on the fiddle and guitar, and Jim Williams of Charlotte will demonstrate bookbinding.

All events begin at 8:30 a.m.

All produce at the market is grown within 50 miles of Matthews and sold by the farmer who grew it. Details: www.matthewsfarmersmarket.com.

Carolina Wildcats baseball tryouts

Carolina Wildcats U-11 fall baseball tryouts will be 2 p.m. Saturday at Grand Slam USA, 10715 Independence Pointe Parkway, Matthews. Sign-ups are open to children 11 and younger. Bring sneakers (no cleats, as play is indoors) and a baseball glove, bat and helmet.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/states/north_carolina/counties/mecklenburg/15283440.htm

baseball glove : maker burns in Nocona

2006-08-16T01:19:00.000-07:00

NOCONA, Texas — A North Texas athletic products company burned on Tuesday, putting about 80 people out of work in the small town of Nocona.

The fire destroyed the Nocona Athletic Goods Company, which is known for its Nokona brand baseball gloves.

Mayor Paul Gibbs said the loss isn't just financial—but historical and personal.

The company's Web site says the firm—which also makes baseball bats and protective gear for football players—has been in business since the 1930s.

Nocona is located 75 miles northwest of Fort Worth.

© 2006 WFAA-TV

baseball glove : Buying a Discount Baseball Glove

2006-08-09T02:04:00.000-07:00

baseball glove : A Look at Baseball Batting Gloves

2006-08-09T01:58:00.000-07:00

The first baseball gloves to hit the field were created sometime in the late 1800s. These gloves were simplistic compared to today’s models. Early gloves were usually made of thin pieces of leather and were precursors to the advanced baseball gloves of today. An item that was not generally used, even during the time of the first baseball glove, was the baseball batting glove.

Every baseball glove manufacturer in the United States produces baseball batting gloves. You can find them at online retailers, online auction sites, at sports stores and even at discount retailers. Baseball batting gloves are not nearly as costly as traditional baseball gloves. One can usually purchase a pair of gloves for between $10 and $20 at most stores.

The player that is up-to-bat can benefit tremendously from a good pair of baseball batting gloves. These gloves can help to increase the quality of their grip; maintaining a tight and controlled grip is essential to successful hits. Any professional, or non-professional for that matter, will tell you that even the slightest slip or variation in grip can cost the team greatly.

Just as baseball-batting gloves provide protection against slips due to a bad grip or perspiration on the hands, they also serve as a protection device. Batters need to protect their hands when sliding into a base. Baseball-batting gloves serve at least two purposes: to maintain a good grip and to protect the player's hands when sliding.

Some glove manufacturers also have a version of the baseball batting glove available that fits underneath the standard baseball glove. Other players choose to wear the baseball batting glove underneath the traditional glove to add additional comfort. They find that wearing this glove beneath the other will provide a better fit and additional protection against the sting of catching the ball.

By Jason Gluckman

baseball glove : What You Need To Know About Baseball Gloves

2006-08-03T00:41:00.000-07:00

Baseball gloves have been around for years. The first baseball glove was worn on the field by Al Spalding and others in 1876. In 1920 the first Rawlings baseball glove with a natural pocket was worn on the baseball field.

Baseball gloves have evolved a lot since those times. Did you know that Bill Mazeroski dug an outhouse to come up with the money to buy his first baseball glove? Brooks Robinson kept his glove fingers stiff with tongue depressors. There are many stories about players and their baseball gloves.

Baseball gloves are still an important part of the game and it’s crucial that you find the right one for you. Consider the price, you can find baseball gloves for $15 all the way up to $200 or more. If you plan to use the glove for a long time it might be a good idea to pay a little more and get a good quality glove. If you are buying the glove for a younger player who will need to change baseball gloves as they grow you might want to think about a less expensive baseball glove.

When choosing baseball gloves the feel is important. If it doesn’t feel good you will not be able to play at your peak performance.

You can buy baseball gloves in many different sizes for all ages, positions and games. Baseball gloves as measured by their "pattern size". Youth baseball gloves range from 8" to about 12" and adults are usually in the 12" to 13" range.

Baseball gloves are available according to positions: Catchers, first base, infield and outfield. There are also different types of webs and backs.

There are many brands and hundreds of models to choose from when buying baseball gloves. Players often have their own personal favorites. You can even have a handcrafted, personalized glove made.

Baseball gloves have a history and are still an important part of the equipment when playing today.

By Ken Austin

baseball glove : The 411 on Nike Baseball Gloves

2006-08-03T00:35:00.000-07:00

Nike baseball gloves are just the latest product put out by the sporting goods and clothing giant. Nike has long been known for its sneakers, its specialty sport cleats, it workout gear, its hats, and its sports equipment. Only recently, however, Nike has endeavored to apply its unique take on sports to the world of baseball gloves.

The result is a bat that in recent years has gained in reputation and popularity. Their gloves comes in two different styles, Pro Gold and SDR. Pro Gold is the higher end product, which sells for usually over one hundred dollars. SDR gloves, on the other hand, price in the range of 60 to 100 dollars.

Both Nike baseball gloves come with special features like the "dri-fit" finger lining. This unique lining is meant to keep your hand cool and dry no matter how hard you run to catch that fly ball, or how many times the batters smack a grounder your way at shortstop. Another feature on both models of gloves is the special tanning process that Nike implements. Nike claims the tanning process makes their gloves ready to be used on the field right off the shelf or out of the shipping package. In other words, you don’t have to worry about long breaking in processes with these gloves.

Still, if you’re investing good money on these good gloves, you will want to take care of them. Caring for your Nike baseball gloves properly can make the difference between a glove that falls apart in a couple seasons, and one that can span years. Your first best bet on care instructions is to check with Nike to see exactly what they recommend to protect the special tanned leather and finger lining.

One thing you definitely can do for your glove is to store it in a cool, dry place when you’re not using it. Heat can affect the leather, as can excess moisture. This makes the trunk of your car the last place you should toss your glove after the game. First, dry it down with a towel and let it air dry somewhere. Consider oiling your glove a couple times each season. Make sure the laces are tight. And then save the glove somewhere dry and cool like your basement.

by Mike Long

baseball glove : How The West Is Won or The Lazy Man's Way To A Championship

2006-07-31T20:35:00.000-07:00

I’m a Chicago White Sox fan, despite the fact that I’ve spent most of my years living on the Left Coast.

To me, the Sox are a real team, in the same way Chicago is a real town.

Anyway, in this day and age, the Central Division of the American League is where the action is, with Detroit and my Sox leading all of major league ball in winning percentages.

Both teams are in the high.600’s, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Contrast these winners with the also-rans in the Western Division of the National League, where a day or two ago, three teams shared first place, with a winning percentage that just topped .500.

Last year, if I recall correctly, San Diego, the ultimate division winner, was about to achieve that perch with an overall record of LESS THAN .500, until Providence stepped in and gave that team of near losers, a rock bottom, barely respectable win-loss record by season’s end.

The Padres were made short work of in the post-season, which was only fair, given their ineptitude.

But it hit me that if you have a bundle of dough, and you want to pursue the lazy man’s way to a championship, you must make sure to buy a team in this low grade division.

Coincidentally, the Western Division of the American League is also populated with low-percentage winners, as well. Right this second, Oakland is in first, with a .524 winning percentage.

So, if you want to break into baseball ownership, forget about vying for the Yankees, Boston, or Atlanta, almost perennial post-season participants. You can save a few hundred million by investing in a Western Division team, and even in a bad year, your team will come in first or second.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the best-selling author of 12 books, over 700 articles, and the creator of numerous audio and video training programs, including "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant-a favorite among salespeople and entrepreneurs. For information about booking Gary to speak at your next sales, customer service or management meeting, conference or convention, please address your inquiry to: gary@customersatisfaction.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Gary_S._Goodman

baseball glove : The Value of Custom Baseball Gloves

2006-07-31T20:32:00.000-07:00

Baseball gloves have advanced tremendously over the years. From the original game played with the bare hands to the advanced models of today, baseball gloves have as rich a history as the game itself.

The first gloves developed were not accepted easily since many players thought negatively of those using them. Today's players, however, accept baseball gloves as a necessary and standard part of the game. Modern baseball gloves come in a variety of sizes, comforts, accessories and price ranges.

For the more serious baseball enthusiast, custom baseball gloves are all the rage. Today's baseball gloves can be customized for a particular fit, color, type of leather, and more. Since pricing can range from $100, on the low end, to more than $400 for high-end custom made baseball gloves, most beginning players do not find them necessary. For semi-professional or professional baseball players, however, most will say that they would not go back to generic gloves.

Different companies will obviously offer different custom baseball gloves to choose from. Some companies specialize in material types and others will specialize in matching the player with a glove with the perfect fit. Some baseball glove manufacturers also offer custom baseball gloves that are designed for catchers, infielders and outfielders. Those earning a living playing baseball or those who are very serious players will likely benefit from purchasing a custom baseball glove.

Most every major supplier of American baseball gloves will offer customizable options. When shopping for the right glove, you can begin by reviewing the company or companies' Web sites to see what they have to offer. Keep in mind that the custom baseball gloves offered will be quite a bit pricier than “generic” models available at sport and discount stores. From reading reviews and comments on custom baseball gloves, those who use them are not likely to revert back to standard gloves. You can expect to spend several hundred dollars on a custom glove, but the glove is designed with you in mind and can meet and exceed your highest expectations.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Gluckman

baseball glove : baseball gloves for repair

2006-07-29T02:34:00.000-07:00

In the mid 1970s, while I was still a sandalmaker, people began bringing their baseball gloves into my shop for repair. Since then I have repaired and reconditioned thousands of gloves, at my shop and at baseball and softball tournaments throughout northern California and Nevada. My customers range from children to old-timers, and they all enjoy the game of baseball/softball and have a favorite glove that they love enough to want to repair.

I've had the opportunity to talk to glove manufacturers, players, leather suppliers, and other glove repairers. I've learned a lot, about gloves and about people.

Here are some of the things I've learned.

Fran Fleet
The Sandalady / Glove Repair
Cotati, California
www.sandalady.com

baseball glove : A Brief History of the Baseball Glove

2006-07-27T02:06:00.000-07:00

baseball glove : Better Youth Baseball Gloves

2006-07-27T02:02:00.000-07:00

A good ball glove can have a big effect on youth’s enjoyment of playing baseball and even about whether baseball is a worthwhile sport for them to participate in. Kids could be playing many other sports, and in fact, participation in basketball and soccer is growing fast in the US. There’s no better summer sport or pastime than baseball though. It has a rich American tradition that other sports don’t possess and that’s an important part of your own child’s sports experience.

Baseball is a game that is dependent on equipment though, and if the equipment is poor quality or in doesn’t suit the kids using them, it can dampen their enthusiasm for little league baseball. It’s important to buy youth baseball gloves for your child, not small adult baseball gloves which will discourage your youngster.

They had poor equipment back in the old days, including rotted out or horribly stiff leather gloves. Some would actually throw the glove down and try to catch with their bare hands. It may not be that bad today, but in visiting your local sporting goods store, you’ve probably wondered about the quality of the gloves on the store shelves. Some are weird shapes and feel uncomfortable and the selection is many times limited.

The Good Old Days

Have you ever wondered whether baseball glove manufacturers are producing better ball gloves now than in decades past? Well, if you happen to have an old baseball glove still around and compare it to modern youth baseball gloves, you’ll notice a big difference. Those old gloves didn’t make catching and fielding easy for infielders, outfielders and especially catchers. You actually had to have some outstanding athletic skills and knowledge of catching to make a catch. In those days, you used both hands to catch a ball because you had to.

That’s not to say these new gloves are suited to the ball player that’s using them. These kids range in physical size greatly, and play different positions. The child that has a new, well-fitted glove is going to catch the ball better and play with a lot more confidence.

Young ball players with their metal bats are hitting the ball hard, so infielders and outfielders need good gloves just to catch them, let alone throw the runner out at first. We shouldn’t just assume that any glove would do for our child. Each youngster has their own level of coordination and confidence, along with their own style and preferences, and fortunately, there are so many types and styles of gloves available now, that you should be able to find one they like. You don’t see kids get hurt often but it does happen and it will happen more often with the child that feels uncomfortable with the baseball equipment they’re using.

Bad Bounces

Last week, while watching a youth baseball game (11 year olds) a batter hit a ball hard up the middle, fortunately missing the pitcher. The ball hit the side of the mound and bounced up to hit the base umpire in the shoulder. She was hurt and lay on the ground several minutes before getting up. That highlighted well, the speed the balls are reaching and that the young infielder playing with awkward baseball glove is going to playing with fear. Yes, some fear is good, as it keeps them sharp and makes the game exciting, but too much fear and they’re going to get discouraged.

Many of the kids on these teams have gloves that are too small, and overwhelmingly, you see their reluctance to catch well-hit grounders. They generally wave at it going by them and sigh in relief that it wasn’t hit right at them. One youngster in the outfield ran to make a diving catch only to have the ball pop out of his glove. They used to see that if your glove touched a ball, you should have caught it and it is an error for you. When a ball is in your glove, it should stay in there. In this kid’s case, the ball was clearly in his glove and yet it popped out. The reason for that is that the glove didn’t fit his hand and the web wouldn’t close tightly.

He walked dejectedly back to centerfield, his position, and cursed at himself for dropping it. It was like a scene out of a Charlie Brown episode. If he’d hung onto that ball, he would have been walking on clouds and be the pride of the team. I don’t have to tell you how important peer pressure is with kids these days and when kids never catch the ball, it can deflate the team and even the crowd of parents watching the game. Sometimes, it’s downright torture to watch a ball game if the kids can’t catch or throw properly.

Young pitchers too, can have trouble throwing strikes, and after walking batter after batter, you can sense disappointment. The glove on the pitcher’s hand acts as a counterbalance when throwing and if it doesn’t feel comfortable for him, you may be in for a long inning.

A fair number of kids come from homes that can’t afford a new glove every year and they may not be able to afford baseball shoes. If there’s one piece of equipment you need to focus on for youth baseball players, it has to be the glove. Your child is out there standing for half of the game, with this glove on their hand. If it’s uncomfortable, and doesn’t fit, that has to take some of the enjoyment out of it.

There’s a mind-boggling array of youth baseball brands out there to choose from Rawling, Mizuno, Wilson, Spalding, Rawlings, Nokona, Akadema, Kelly, Nike, Louisville, SSK and more. The problem with many of these big brand names is not only the inflated prices associated with these brands, it’s the weight and stiffness of the gloves. The materials and the stitching are sewn well enough. They aren’t designed with kids in mind who after all, don’t have time to break the glove in. Within one year, they will have likely outgrown the glove, so what’s the point of buying a glove like that? The glove ends up unused in a closet or on the garage floor becoming a nuisance object.

Kidsportsinc.com offers a good selection of baseball, soccer, basketball, golf, boxing and football equipment for kids. The Web site is all about low to mid-priced sporting goods and it’s the kind of equipment kids love. There are lots of fun sports games too. You’ll find kidsportsinc.com’s selection of youth baseball gloves and youth baseball equipment is outstanding. Speedy delivery and an outstanding reputation make kidsportsinc.com the place to buy children and youth’s baseball gloves.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_D._White

baseball glove : How to Break in a Baseball Glove

2006-07-25T00:55:00.000-07:00

Baseball gloves are available in almost every size, color and material known to man. Traditional gloves are made from leather or faux-leather and more recently from buffalo and kangaroo hides. No matter what the material, baseball gloves need to be broken in. Players find that by using various methods to break the glove in, they will get a better fit and therefore play a better game.

Different players will certainly have different methods and ways to show you how to break in a baseball glove. You can expect that for each method, another will be said to work better. Methods for breaking in a baseball glove can be viewed as a personal preference and will need to be tweaked for the individual. To summarize, there are two basic goals in breaking in a glove: to soften the glove and to create a pocket. The best method for breaking in a glove, however, is simply to use it as much as possible.

You can use a multitude of methods to soften the leather. If you want to learn how to break in a baseball glove, this is the best way to start. You can use shaving cream, petroleum jelly, saddle soap or a leather softener made for baseball gloves. Most baseball glove manufacturers offer a leather softener for their products. These usually work very well but some players have their own tried-and-true methods. Experts suggest that you be very conservative in your use of creams or jellies; more is certainly not better in the case of softening leather.

The best method by far for creating a pocket is simply using the glove. The more wear and play time your glove has seen, a better pocket will form. There are, however, other methods to speed up this process and make your glove more comfortable quicker. The most popular method in creating a pocket is to put a baseball inside the glove and then tie it up with string. You can even find products that will help the baseball glove stay closed to form the pocket. By using this method, along with a lot of playing, you will find that a pocket has formed inside the glove before you know it.

Baseball Gloves Info provides detailed information about custom and discount baseball gloves, as well as baseball batting gloves, baseball glove reviews, and advice on how to break in baseball gloves. Baseball Gloves Info is the sister site of Baseball Bats Web.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Gluckman

baseball glove : A Review of Popular Baseball Gloves

2006-07-25T00:53:00.000-07:00

When shopping for a new baseball glove, one has many brands, styles and fits to choose from. Companies make many gloves from various materials that can cost as little as $10 or as much as $250 for a custom made glove. The following is a brief review of companies that offer some of the best gloves on the market.

Rawlings Baseball Gloves

Perhaps the best-known and respected baseball glove is manufactured by Rawlings. Rawlings baseball gloves have been a favorite of amateurs and professionals for over eight years. They are most admired for their comfort and safety features as well as the range of prices. You can purchase the most expensive line of gloves for $300 or so, but Rawlings baseball gloves also come in cheaper versions, sometimes for $10 or less.

Nike Baseball Gloves

Nike is probably best known for its athletic shoes and other lines of athletic clothing. The company, however, has recently begun to manufacture its own line of baseball gloves. The Nike baseball glove has been gaining tremendous popularity in recent years. The most popular baseball gloves by Nike are the "Pro Gold" and "SDR" lines. The Pro Gold gloves are top of the line and usually retail for $100 or more, while the SDR baseball gloves start at around $60. Perhaps the best feature of Nike baseball gloves is the ""dry finger"" liner inside each glove which helps to keep fingers cool and reduce perspiration during play.

Mizuno Baseball Gloves

Mizuno baseball gloves are another popular brand in America. They are even more popular for Asian baseball players. This company offers at least 11 different styles of gloves, with a wide price range. The ""Pro Limited"" series can cost up to $250, but Mizuno baseball gloves are also available in cheaper models for around $20.

Nokona Baseball Gloves

Most baseball glove experts will agree that Nokona offers the best and highest quality gloves available to consumers. These are American-made gloves from Texas and the company has been manufacturing them since the early 20th century. The least expensive line of Nokona baseball gloves usually starts at around $125 and higher-end gloves can cost much more. In addition to leather baseball gloves, Nokona also offers gloves made from buffalo and kangaroo hides.

Baseball Gloves Info provides detailed information about custom and discount baseball gloves, as well as baseball batting gloves, baseball glove reviews, and advice on how to break in baseball gloves. Baseball Gloves Info is the sister site of Baseball Bats Web.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Gluckman

baseball glove : In 1911, Spalding describes his first introduction to the baseball glove:

2006-07-19T02:21:00.000-07:00

The first glove I ever saw on the hand of a ball player in a game was worn by Charles C. Waite, in Boston, in 1875. He had come from New Haven and was playing at first base. The glove worn by him was of flesh color, with a large, round opening in the back. Now, I had for a good while felt the need of some sort of hand protection for myself. In those days clubs did not carry an extra carload of pitchers, as now. For several years I had pitched in every game played by the Boston team, and had developed severe bruises on the inside of my left hand. When it is recalled that every ball pitched had to be returned,and that every swift one coming my way, from infielders, outfielders or hot from the bat, must be caught or stopped, some idea may be gained of the punishment received.

Therefore, I asked Waite about his glove. He confessed that he was a bit ashamed to wear it, but had it on to save his hand. He also admitted that he had chosen a color as inconspicuous as possible, because he didn't care to attract attention. He added that the opening on the back was for purpose of ventilation.

Meanwhile my own hand continued to take its medicine with utmost regularity, occasionally being bored with a warm twister that hurt excruciatingly. Still, it was not until 1877 that I overcame my scruples against joining the 'kid-glove aristocracy' by donning a glove. When I did at last decide to do so, I did not select a flesh-colored glove, but got a black one, and cut out as much of the back as possible to let the air in.

Happily, in my case, the presence of a glove did not call out the ridicule that had greeted Waite. I had been playing so long and had become so well known that the innovation seemed rather to evoke sympathy than hilarity. I found that the glove, thin as it was, helped considerably, and inserted one pad after another until a good deal of relief was afforded. If anyone wore a padded glove before this date I do not know it. The 'pillow mitt' was a later innovation."

Copyright © Ibis Communications, Inc.

baseball glove : The Baseball Glove Comes to Baseball, 1875

2006-07-19T02:12:00.000-07:00

baseball glove : Glove Buying Tips

2006-07-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

A good glove does not have to be expensive. There are gloves that will give many seasons of satisfactory service for under $75. You can pay more, but more money does not necessarily mean a better, more serviceable glove. There are expensive gloves ($100-$200+) which may last one or two seasons, and there are inexpensive baseball gloves that can last for ten years or more with routine maintenance.

The more expensive gloves do tend to use better (often heavier) leather than less expensive gloves. All things being equal, with careful maintenance, the higher quality glove should last longer. The question is "is the more expensive glove worth the price"?

Size
Select a glove for the position you will be playing most often. Use the chart at the top of this page as a general guideline for determining glove size. A glove should feel fairly snug when adjusted. Check to make sure the glove adjusts to your hand. Allow room for batting glove if you wear one. Except for pitchers, most players should wear a batting glove inside their fielders glove. The batting glove will absorb most of the sweat from your hands, thus protecting the lining of your glove. Change the batting glove when it gets wet or rotted.

Quality
The leather should be fairly sturdy. A stiffer glove will have to be broken in, but once done, the glove will be serviceable for many seasons. The softer "pre-broken" gloves feel great, but many of them wear out very quickly and may be difficult or impossible to repair. The leather in the pre-broken gloves is usually thinner and therefore weaker than that in a sturdier glove. The thinner, softer leathers tend to show signs of stress at the lacing holes in the web and fingers after a few months of continuous play.

Baseball Corner 2006© Copyright

baseball glove : Glove Buying Information

2006-07-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

How to Measure Baseball Gloves
Fielders gloves and first base mitts are measured by starting at the top of the index finger of the glove down the finger along the inside of the pocket and then out to the heal of the glove.

A flexible tape measure has to be used, not a stiff ruler. Measure from the highest point on the glove (normally the index finger). Lay the tape measure across the palm of the glove, so that it folds across and into the indenture, down to the heel of the glove.

Professional baseball has a 12 inch maximum height for a glove, although this rule has not been strictly enforced.

Glove Quality
Higher quality baseball gloves and mitts are usually distinguished by higher grade leather, better construction and better design. These work together to produce a glove or mitt that is durable and helps the ball into and out of the pocket. The highest quality gloves are usually made of heavy leather that will need some time to break-in and typically do not have palm pads or Velcro adjustments.

Break-In
Most manufacturers agree that a glove oil or leather conditioner cream should be used as long as it does not contain silicon. Most manufacturers recommend not using anything that requires a microwave or an oven.

Gloves vs Mitts
The main difference between baseball gloves and mitts is that gloves have fingers and mitts don't. Mitts tend to do a better job of controlling balls that don't hit in the pocket and can aid scooping ground balls and short hops. First base and Catcher are the only positions allowed to use mitts.

Female Gloves
Baseball gloves and mitts that are specified as women's or female are usually designed with narrower finger stalls and smaller wrist openings to provide a better fit.

Youth Gloves
Youth baseball gloves and mitts typically are designed to be easy to break-in and will sometimes have a notch in the heel to help the glove break-in correctly. These gloves are usually designed with smaller finger and wrist openings to better fit smaller hands, and often have oversized pockets to aid youngsters learning how to catch.

First Base Mitts
Most first base mitts are designed for baseball use and are 12 to 12 1/2 inches. First base mitts have a thin but stiff pad that runs around the circumference of the mitt and little or no padding in the palm or finger area. Larger baseball first base mitts can be effectively used by softball players. Some manufactures will make softball specific first base mitts. These are usually 13 inches or larger and are not very common. Many softball first basemen use a 13 to 14 inch softball outfield glove at first base.

Catchers Mitts
Baseball catcher's mitts usually have a very thick pad around the circumference of the mitt and thick padding in the palm and finger area and a small pocket. Softball catcher's mitts are similar to baseball catcher's mitts except the with less padding and a much larger pocket.

Open vs Closed Web
For most positions, an open web vs a closed web is a matter of personal preference. Open web gloves tend to trap the ball a little better than closed web gloves. Closed web gloves tend to get the ball out of the pocket a little quicker. First and Third base players tend to prefer open web gloves. Middle infielders tend to want closed web gloves to help get the ball out of the glove quickly. Pitchers usually want closed web gloves so they can hide the ball easier.

Conventional Back vs Closed Back
Conventional (open) vs closed back is mainly a matter of style and personal preference. Conventional back gloves tend to be a little lighter and can fit a bit tighter in the wrist. Some closed back gloves have straps with Velcro that allow you to adjust how tight or loose the glove fits.

Baseball Corner 2006© Copyright

baseball glove : Manny Mota: Approaching the Plate

2006-07-12T01:54:00.000-07:00

Concentration, rhythm, and purpose are some of the most important aspects to hitting, according to legendary Dodgers outfielder Manny Mota. "Hitters should take short strides and use quick hands," he said. "Taking a short stride actually helps your hands be quicker. It keeps your swing compact and under control."
The most valuable advice that I can give a young hitter is to think about hitting the ball up the middle. If you think about hitting up the middle, you can adjust to hit the ball wherever it is pitched. If you go to the plate hoping to pull the ball and hit a home run, you will have trouble hitting an outside pitch. Your front side will have already opened up and you will not be able to drive an outside pitch.
Concentration at the plate is critical, and positive thinking helps. You have to walk up to the plate saying to yourself, "I'm going to hit the ball".
You have to have balance in everything that you do in baseball, especially in hitting. Your body is going to move, but you must keep your head still. The only way to do that is to have good balance.
A hitter needs rhythm. Try to watch the pitcher's hand and keep your eye on the ball.
Be aggressive at the plate, but also remain loose and relaxed. If you let your arms get too tight, you will lose the advantage of having good wrist action, as well as your power.
If you find yourself in a slump, try to concentrate on defense and possibly save the game with a good play. Slumping hitters should remember that it does not always take a home run to help the team.
You should have a purpose to each swing in batting practice. In your first round of batting practice you might concentrate on hitting every pitch to the opposite field. In the next round, try to make sure that you are swinging down on the ball. Prepare yourself for game situations, or the practice will not be as helpful as it could be.

Baseball Corner 2006© Copyright/Legal Notice

baseball glove : Wall Ball Hitting Drill

2006-07-12T01:49:00.000-07:00

This drill is actually a hitting game that allows players to build skills, learn to perform under pressure, identify strikes, and develop a line drive swing.

Teams of 2 or 3 players compete against other teams. The first team to score 11 runs wins. The drill can be used indoors or outdoors. The games requires a wall, curtain, or sections of fence. The rules are outlined before competition begins. The wall or fence should have a "top line" that represents the top of the scoring zone. Any ball that hits the wall, curtain, or fence above that line is an "out". To score, the batter must hit a line drive that hits the scoring zone without touching the ground. The batter that hits a ground ball keeps the inning alive. He does not score, but he also does not make an out. Each player gets only one swing per bat. He is either going to hit a score, hit a ground ball or make an out. Any ball that is caught by the defense before it touches the wall or ground is an out. All pop ups, foul balls, and missed swings are counted as outs. Bats are not allowed to touch the ground. Batters must stay alert and jump in to bat as soon as the other batter swings. Each team gets 3 outs per at bat. Defensive players are allowed to "knock down" balls to prevent scoring. Any ball that hits the "scoring zone" without touching the ground is a score. The defense must learn to react quickly and catch the ball or knock it down.

This drill is best done in a tournament format. Reward the winning team in some way. This is a great drill for indoor hitting. Players get to take a lot of swings. The competition becomes fierce. It will build a competitive fire in your timid players, and teach players to be aggressive. Make sure to use foam or wiffle baseballs.

Baseball Corner 2006© Copyright/Legal Notice.

baseball glove : ROUTINE MAINTENANCE

2006-07-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

I call this a tune-up. This should probably be done at least once a season just so you can check the condition of the glove. I offer it as a service, for a (small) price, but you can easily do it yourself, and it might even be a bonding experience. A tune-up involves tightening the laces in the fingers and web; retying any loose knots (square knots, please!); and cleaning, conditioning and shaping the glove. Worn or damaged laces are easy to spot when a tune-up is performed. Another problem which can be observed during a tune-up is a blow out at the crotch of the index finger. This is a common occurrence because the glove manufacturers/designers have lowered the finger crotches in gloves, which puts seams right where the ball impacts the glove. This constant battering results in seams bursting and then, if not repaired, a torn palm.

If you find torn seams, split leather, or broken laces, be sure to have them repaired as quickly as possible. Playing with a damaged glove can damage the glove further and cause personal injuries and even errors.

Copyright © 2000–2004 The Sandalady.

baseball glove : CARING FOR YOUR GLOVE

2006-07-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

The most important part of caring for your glove is to recognize that leather will deteriorate if subjected to repeated exposure to moisture and heat (i.e., the sweat from your hand and the warmth of the interior of the trunk of your car). Saliva will also result in damaged leather, so DON'T SPIT IN YOUR GLOVE. It's a pretty good idea to keep your glove away from the dog, too.

Leaving your glove out in the weather will ruin it, as will putting it away wet from perspiration. Always wear a batting glove under your baseball glove (unless you are a baseball pitcher); this absorbs the sweat from your hand. When your batting glove gets wet, change it. This will add years to the lining of your glove.

When your glove gets wet, dry it with a towel or soft cloth, and leave it exposed to room air for a few hours until the lining is dry. After it dries, use a little Glove Stuff® to moisten the leather. When you put your glove away, it's best to put a softball in the pocket and wrap with a wide "magic" rubber band.

I'm often asked whether frequent oiling is good for gloves. After years of repairing gloves, I say no. This does not mean no care is necessary. My experience has shown me that in glove care, as with most other things, moderation is best. When you do lubricate your glove, it's important to choose the right stuff. I recommend Glove Stuff®.

Copyright © 2000–2004 The Sandalady.

baseball glove : BREAKING IN YOUR GLOVE

2006-07-04T23:58:00.000-07:00

Once you've chosen your glove, if it is not a "pre-broken" model, you will have to break it in. A good glove is like a good friend— it takes a while to develop a good relationship. But with gloves and friends alike, the time and effort will be well rewarded.

Most gloves are designed with built-in hinges which allow the glove to be opened and closed easily. The most common hinge is located at the base of the little finger pad, about 3/4"–1 1/2" away from the heel pad. Normally, there is no pad in the hinge area; this allows the glove to open and close with minor resistance. The glove should close just like your hand at rest with the fingers folding at their hinge where they join to the palm.

Some players prefer to break a glove so that the little finger and thumb tips come together. There are a few glove models designed to accomodate this break. These gloves usually have a series of vertical laces securing the heel pad. These laces allow the glove to fold across the heel. It is possible to break down the thick heel pad on the former glove type, but it is preferrable to buy a glove designed to break to your specs than to try to modify the break angle.

I always clamp my jaw and shudder when a player tells me of the best way to break-in a glove. I have heard the most bizzare methods imaginable. Well, maybe not, but I have heard a lot of weird ones, and I've seen and repaired the results of many of these "best-ways." (Please do not send me your method.) I've relaced many gloves in my shop that have had bacon-crisp laces as a result of being oiled and put in the oven. This is how food is cooked—not how to treat leather designed and manufactured to function as a tool! I've seen gloves that have been saturated in a bucket of used motor oil. This will make the leather more pliable, and heavy, and floppy and pretty much useless. There are gloves that have been coated with linseed oil. Linseed oil is made for use on rigid items, such as wood, to seal the surface and protect against moisture. When used on leather it seals the surface and causes it to become brittle and crack.

Not all oils are created equal. Just because the label indicates oil, does not mean it is good for use on leather. Olive oil and other cooking oils will go rancid on the shelf as well as in your glove. Gloves that have had these oils used on them tend to have mushy leather. The laces break easily. The leather stretches and tears easily.

Soaking is a popular method used for breaking-in a glove. Whether the soaking is done in water or oil, the leather, laces, and pad are subject to damage. There is a constant quest to develop ways to break-in gloves instantly. Many of these procedures involve the use of household appliances, such as conventional ovens, microwave ovens, washers, dryers and hair dryers, none of which should have anything to do with leather ball gloves.

I read an article in a major sports magazine that quoted a professional ball player, who described pouring hot coffee with cream into the pocket of his glove. I don't remember if he used sugar, too, but why not?

One other thing. Some players think that pummeling a new glove is the way to a quick break. Yes, it is. It is basically the same as using the glove for many games, only much rougher. I believe the glove will be better served, and will serve better, if this extra abuse is avoided. If you just catch balls to form the glove, you are training the glove and getting your timing down at the same time. Better for you. Better for the glove.

When I break-in a glove, or mitt, I use a product that I've developed after years of trying almost every leather conditioning product on the market and some that weren't. Glove Stuff® is a cleaner and conditioner that contains lanolin, to soften and moisturize the leather so that spitting in your glove—a disgusting practice, and damaging to the leather—is unnecessary. Glove Stuff® loosens even caked on dirt and grime, which can then be wiped off with a soft towel. It will not leave your glove greasy or oily. It does not attract dirt. Glove Stuff® will not make your glove heavy or floppy. It will not promote cracking or deterioration of the leather. Buy a lot. Give it as gifts!

I apply a small amount of Glove Stuff® in the triangular area shown. I rub it into the leather until most of it has been absorbed, then wipe off the excess with a soft towel. Next, I fold the glove at the hinge and excercise that area until I feel it relax a bit. I then fold the glove and squeeze the fold with my hand so that a crease can be formed along the triangle line from the index finger side to the hinge. After setting this crease, I re-fold the glove and form a similar crease from the thumb side of the triangle to the hinge. The final step is to re-fold the glove so a crease can be formed from the center of the web crotch to the hinge. When finished with these steps you should be able to see three distinct creases fanning out from the hinge to the web crotch. After completing these steps (about 20 minutes) put the glove on your hand and close it a few times. You should be able to feel a difference in the way the glove responds. The more you repeat these excercises, the more responsive your glove will be. I may reapply some Glove Stuff® in a few days, but it is not necessary to use it in excess. I do not apply it to any other areas on a new glove. New leather should be clean and moist from the factory.

Now I did have one customer who told me his best method for break-in and, after preparing myself for the worst, was delighted to find it made excellent sense. It's fast, too. He conditions a new glove then goes to the batting cages (at an off-peak hour, please, there will be fewer distractions and less chance of injury). He buys a bucket o' balls to catch, not to bat. He says that after one session the glove is game ready. Makes sense to me. Try it.

Copyright © 2000–2004 The Sandalady.

baseball glove : BUYING YOUR GLOVE

2006-07-04T23:51:00.000-07:00

A good glove does not have to be expensive. There are gloves that will give many seasons of satisfactory service for under $50. You can pay more, but more money does not necessarily mean a better, more serviceable glove. There are expensive ($90-$200+) gloves which may last one or two seasons, and there are inexpensive gloves ($35-$60) that can last for ten years or more with routine maintenance.

Select a glove for the position you will be playing more often.

Outfield —larger glove
Infield (except first base)—small to medium
First base, softball —first baseman's mitt or outfielder's
First base, hardball—first baseman's mitt
Catcher, softball—softball catcher's mitt, first baseman's mitt or outfielder's glove
Catcher, hardball—catcher's mitt
Check for fit; a glove should feel fairly snug when adjusted. Check to make sure the glove adjusts to your hand. Allow for batting glove if you wear one and, except for hardball pitchers, you should wear one inside your glove. The batting glove will absorb most of the sweat from your hands, thus protecting the lining of your glove. Change the batting glove when it gets wet or rotted.

Feel the leather. It should be fairly sturdy to sturdy. Sure, a stiffer glove will have to be broken in but once done, the glove will be serviceable for many seasons. The softer "pre-broken" gloves feel great, but most of them wear out very quickly and may be difficult or impossible to repair. The leather in these gloves is usually thinner and therefore weaker than that in a sturdier glove. The thinner, softer leathers tend to show signs of stress at the lacing holes in the web and fingers after a few months of continuous play. These softer gloves often have thin laces which cannot withstand the rigors of continuous hard play and will break after a few games. If these laces are replaced with a more substantial lace, this new lace can result in stretched or torn lacing holes because of the softer/thinner leather in the glove body.

Beware of gloves that are marked with such nebulous terms as "specially treated leather" or "all leather palm". These descriptions may mean tissue-thin leather bonded to a fabric backing (a sort of leather veneer). Obviously this leather is not going to give years of service to the serious ball player. The "veneer" glove presents the same repair problems as the "pre-broken" glove; the body material is too flimsy for permanent repairs to be possible.

"All leather palm" means just that. The palm of the glove is leather. The rest of the glove is usually not.

Beware of plastic gloves - it is getting more and more difficult to readily distinguish between plastic and leather. Leather gloves will have "Genuine Leather" stamped on them; plastic gloves will not (but genuine leather can also include the leather veneers).

When plastic tears, it is seldom repairable. Plastic gloves for kids are not recommended because they are almost impossible to break in. Oiling plastic does not soften it. Plastic gloves are not necessarily cheaper, especially if you have to buy a new one next season.

A good used glove should also be considered. These can be picked up at garage sales, thrift stores, and sports stores that specialize in used equipment. There are also several sites on the web where used gloves can be bought. The advantages of buying a good used glove include:

Solid leather
Already broken in.

Copyright © 2000–2004 The Sandalady.

baseball glove : Community thanked in baseball glove collection

2006-07-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

I'd like to thank the community of Sharon for donating baseball gloves to "Mitts Across the Miles."

I collected 330 gloves which will be donated to the town of El Mamon in the Dominican Republic. The gloves will be mailed out this week and will be distributed through the Lindos Suenos program this July.

A special thanks to Ellen Bender, Bob Sondheim, SYBSA and Eric Wolff, Lou Steinberg, and Sue Melaugh for helping me organize the drive and collect the gloves.

Thanks also to RBI baseball academy in Foxboro which displayed collection boxes. Many gloves were donated through RBI academy.

Most donations were a single glove or two, which demonstrates how many people took the time and effort to make a contribution. I especially appreciated finding gloves at my front door from anonymous donors. I know the kids in the Dominican Republic will be very grateful to the people in Sharon for their generosity.

Matthew Tung

Sharon resident

baseball glove : Long-lost baseball glove returns

2006-07-02T09:21:00.000-07:00

A man found his brother’s boyhood baseball glove at a flea market — 42 years after it disappeared.

Patrick Reynolds’ name and pre-area code phone number were still legible on the left-hander’s mitt, which his brother, Jeff, plucked from a barrel of used sports equipment. Jeff Reynolds paid $5 for the glove last week and returned it to his brother.

“He thought maybe I’d had the glove all these years,” quipped Jeff Reynolds, 47, a telephone service technician.

Actually, Patrick Reynolds always thought his father had given the glove away to needy children. His father had been drafted by the old St. Louis Browns and, after serving in the military during World War II, played recreational ball and mentored young players until about age 65.

“He was always collecting old gloves and relacing them and giving them to kids who needed them,” said Reynolds, a 57-year-old senior county parks landscape architect from Lomita. “I figure he found mine at home and donated it to somebody to use.”

The swap meet, at Alpine Village, is close to where the brothers grew up. They figure the glove remained in the neighborhood the whole time.

Reynolds said he will display his old glove on a shelf.

“All my grandkids are right-handed, so they can't use it,” he said.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

baseball glove : Baseball-glove chair exhibit on display

2006-06-27T22:24:00.000-07:00

Just one look, and you can tell that a lot of thought went into these unique gloves. All of them were designed by local school children and various local groups, as a way to show what baseball means to them. Dozens of kids took part.

Mary Rentz said, "A teacher has told us that all three of her art classes or all of the kids in this troop, or group participated in realizing the design and that's quite a challenge to coordinate."
A group of volunteers that make up the group "Art of the Game" coordinated the project. The artists and baseball enthusiasts are hoping to commemorate Pittsfield's baseball heritage.

Phil Massery, president of 1st Home Plate Corps., said the concept of the program is unique one.

"Athletes and baseball fans working together hand-in-hand with artists," Massery said. "It's kind of a unique marriage, because they usually don't mix."

Project leaders said they're hoping to transform Pittsfield's downtown streets into a baseball-themed playground. Brian Johnson, the "Art of the Game" Co-Chair, said has the city has opportunity to distinguish itself.

"Pittsfields got the distinction of the title, the birthplace," Johnson said. "Pittsfield needs to do something with it, and I think they can transcend from this and be a plus for baseball as well."

Massert added, "This is kind of a lanching pad for what's called the '1st Home Plate Project,' because in 1791 the first homeplate in history was right here in the center of Pittsfield. That's a big deal, isn't it? It's a big deal!"

These gloves will be on display until the end of the summer, but you can grab one of your own at an auction being held at Hancock Shaker Village on September 16th .

By: Web Staff

baseball glove : Baseball Facts You May Not Have Known

2006-06-27T22:14:00.000-07:00

What is the difference between baseball and softball?

Baseball is team sport where a player on one team attempts to throw a hard, fist- sized ball past a player on the other team, who attempts to hit the baseball with smooth, tapered, cylindrical stick called bat.

A team scores only when batting, by advancing past a series of four markers called bases arranged at the corners.

Softball is a variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Despite its name, the ball used is not necessarily soft, but it is larger than a baseball and it may have a softer outer layer. The rules of this game vary somewhat from those of baseball.

* What are baseballs made of?

Generally, the core of the ball is made of rubber, cork or a mixture of the two and sometimes, layered. Its constriction varies. Around these are various linear materials that include twin and yarn. Sometimes wool is also used.

A leather cover is used put on in two pieces and is stitched together using 108 stitches of waxed red cotton thread.

* What are bats made of?

Usually, baseball bats are made of wood. Most wooden bats are made from ash wood. Other woods used for making baseball bats are hickory, maple and bamboo.

For professional baseball, only wooden bats are permitted. They are not allowed to be corked or bat that is filled with a light substance such as cork which reduces the weight without costing greatly in hitting power.

For amateur baseball, both wood and metal alloy bats are permitted.

* What are the different kinds of baseball mitts?

In the beginning of baseball, the players did not wear baseball mitts and gloves. They played baseball bare-handed. However, during the evolution of the game, mitts were used and in time, were very important safety equipment in baseball.
Today, there are already different kinds of baseball mitts. These are the catcher's mitt, baseman's mitt and fielder's mitt.

The catcher's mitt is big, round and padded. The baseman's mitt is longer than the other kinds of mitts especially when compared to the fielder's mitt.
The fielder's mitt has two types, the infielder's mitt and the outfielder's mitt. The infielder's mitt is smaller than the outfielder's mitt.

* How far apart are the bases?

The baseball bases, along with the home plate, should form a perfect diamond. According to the rules, the distance between each base, starting from the home plate to the first base, from first base to the second base etc., should be less than eighty-nine feet. However, for little league, it should be fifty-nine feet.

* How far is it from the pitcher's mound to home plate?

The distance of the pitcher's mound from the home plate is fifty-nine feet, or eighteen meters, with eighteen feet in diameter. This is according to the regulation from the Major League baseball.

The pitcher's mound is the raised section in the of the baseball field or in the middle of the diamond, to be exact. It is where the pitcher stands when throwing the pitch.

by Bob Hanneck

baseball glove : Red Sox Greats

2006-06-25T00:25:00.000-07:00

It's no wonder the Boston Red Sox wear red and white. While red symbolizes passion and excitement and white symbolizes the "good guy" who wins in the end as well as angels, it's the Red Sox greats such as Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski that make us believe there really are "angels in the outfield." The true pride American League baseball is represented by some of the best players in the nation.The history of baseball changed with the added excellence of Carlton Fisk,
Wade Boggs, Cy Young, Luis Aparicio, Dennis Eckersley, Roger Clemens,
Fred Lynn, Nomar Garciaparra, and Pedro Martinez. Even a die-hard Yankees
fan like me must admit the extraordinary accomplishments of some of the
finest players to have ever dug their cleats into Fenway Park¡¯s turf. Let¡¯s take a
closer look into the historical realm of the greatest players to wear the official
jersey of blood, sweat, and tears. It is necessary to pay homage to one of the
best teams in American baseball.

First up is not only quite possibly the best hitter in baseball history, but also a
remarkable U.S. Marine and fisherman, is Ted Williams, left fielder. This
retired number 9 jersey wearing power hitter was nicknamed "The Splendid
Splinter," "The Kid," "Teddy Ballgame" and "The Thumper." Since 1930, no
one could hit .400 until 1941 when Williams first did. Now, no slugger yet has
been able to hit over .400 again since Williams. Missing four seasons due to
his U.S. Marine commitment, Williams¡¯ batting average probably would have
been even higher. The 521 home run hitter wrote six books about fishing and
baseball, one named, The Science of Hitting; appropriately titled since
Williams believed in practicing the art of batting.

by H.A.Brempell

baseball glove : Tips For Improving Your Baseball Game

2006-06-25T00:19:00.000-07:00

Because baseball is game of skill, the top athlete isn't always the better baseball player, especially if he or she doesn't possess the multitude of skills that can help them become a complete player. Baseball is a game of throwing, fielding, pitching, catching, base running, and hitting. To improve all of these areas, you must practice using drills. However, practices can be fast, jumping from one drill to another. As a player, you must always focus on getting the most out of every drill session. Don't just "go through the motions" as you will develop bad habits. Don't just go through the drills to get as many opportunities as you can. You have to focus on getting quality out of your drills. Focus on getting top form with as many opportunities you get while in practice. The following information will provide you some tips to keep in mind while you drill that will help you improve your game

Tip 1: Throwing the ball

Grip the ball with your index finger and middle along the long seams of the baseball with your thumb underneath to give support. When you throw square up your shoulders with your target, move towards the target and throw with a ¾ arm action. Remember to follow through.

Tip 2: Fielding the ball

Make sure you have good balance by having your feet spread and get down. You don't want the ball to go between your legs. Always have your glove in front so you can block the ball and see it go into the glove. Bring the ball up to your midsection and throw.

Tip 3: Catching Fly Balls

If you're in the outfield and want to be striding towards your target, you want to be behind the ball. First, you can see the ball and secondly, you can quickly get into your stride to throw to your target. Furthermore, catch the ball above your shoulder with a bend in your elbow. That will help cushion the catch.

Tip 4: Batting Stance

Generally, you want a parallel stance with your feet shoulder width apart. Your toes should be pointed inward slightly. This will help your balance. Look at the pitcher with your head level.

Tip 5: Pitching

Focus on consistent strikes with good mechanics. This will reduce the changes or arm injury. Don't throw each pitch with the same speed. Keep the batter confused and their timing off. Learn to locate the ball inside, outside, up and down. Learn to get late movement in your pitches.

Tip 6: Base running

You always want to run in a manner to give yourself the best chance for top speed. For instance, if running more than one base, time your steps so you hit the base with your right foot as you get less arc and can keep a more consistent stride losing less speed towards the next base.

Although these tips are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to skills for playing baseball, they will help in your effort in becoming the complete baseball player.

by Robert Michael

baseball glove : How to Break In a Leather Baseball Glove

2006-06-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

Many baseball players will tell you that leather fielding gloves and mitts need a lot of tender loving care. Try the following for a great start in your relationship with your glove.

Steps:
1. Use your glove often. Playing catch is the best way to break in a new baseball glove.

2. Rub the pocket linings of the glove with linseed oil, saddle soap or shaving cream.

3. Let the glove dry on its own if it gets wet - placing it near a heat source or using a hair dryer will cause the leather to crack.

4. Place a baseball in the glove's pocket when the glove is not in use, and wrap a rubber band tightly around the glove; this will gradually give it a catching shape.

© 1999-2006 eHow, Inc. How things get done

baseball glove : Baseball Trade Review

2006-06-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

The Carlos Beltran sweepstakes are over and the Houston Astros are the winners. After spending the offseason recruiting Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, the Astros have found themselves mired back in the pack of a tough NL Central division race.

Beltran brings a flashy glove to center field and some excitement and run production to the top of the lineup. Of course, players like him don't come without a cost. Houston sent away closer Octavio Dotel and catcher-of-the-future John Buck.

The added wild-card is that Beltran's contract expires at the end of this season. Should the Astros fail to reach the playoffs and also lose their new star center fielder to free agency, this deal could haunt them in the future.

Kansas City, Beltran's former team, sent Dotel on to Oakland in exchange for two prospects, third baseman Mark Teahan and pitcher Mike Wood. The Royals had decided they wouldn't be able to match Beltran's asking price this offseason and picked up the best value they thought they could get. Oftentimes these deals turn out very favorable for the team willing to trade current talent for high-potential minor leaguers.

The Oakland Athletics jumped in to make this a 3-way deal and filled a big need by picking up a consistent closer. Arthur Rhodes had excelled with other teams in a setup role but hasn't fared well closing out games for the A's. Nothing is more frustrating to a starter than to pitch hard through seven or eight innings in a close game only to see a win slip away in the ninth. Oakland boasts one of the best rotations in baseball and a solidified bullpen should help them overtake Texas and maybe even make a run in the playoffs.

This trade will be seen as a success or failure for both Houston and Oakland by the end of the 2004 season. For Kansas City, however, it could be a few years before anyone knows how their 3 new players will pan out. All three teams did well in accomplishing something that made sense for their situation.

by Dustin Smiley

baseball glove : We Are Going to Cooperstown

2006-06-11T01:58:00.000-07:00

I just had to see these pictures. I was compelled. to walk down this aisle.

The first picture as I entered the area was of Babe Ruth. His bat was over his shoulder. His face was wrought with age. He looked a little old, heavy and a little overweight. As I stared at the picture I got very sad. I could see that his career was about to end.

Next painting was of Lou Gehrig. A smiling Lou Gehrig. I felt so happy just to be in the presence of one of my all time heroes. Even if it was just a picture.

Then there was one of Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams standing on the dugout steps Their bodies were angled toward each other. I enjoyed the joy they seemed to have just being there. Ready to play another game.

There were other paintings one of Jackie Robinson, another of Ty Cobb

and another of Honus Wagner that I loved.

Upon gazing toward the end of the row of paintings I saw a glass case with what looked like a tan baseball glove inside. This seemed very weird in that all the players that were depicted in the paintings were from an era when dark brown gloves were used. . I felt confused. This mitt did not seem to belong here. I just had to see whose glove this was.

I could not believe my eyes. It was not a glove. It was a sculpture of a glove. Perfect in size. Detailed so exact that the grayish colored seams were complete in length width and color. The depth of this piece was ideal What this sculptor had captured amazed me. I thought about the time he invested in creating this piece. About how much this person must have loved baseball that he took the time to mold a piece equipment. I visualized he sitting in his workroom playing with clay to make this piece real.

I called my wife to come see this incredible piece. We both were moved. I even cried.

I was given a glimpse of one of the greatest pieces of art I had ever seen. I have been to major museums and have seen painting by Van Gough, Picasso, and Dahli ..I have seen the Thinker by Rodin.

I have never been moved like I was by the glove.

Whenever I think of the Hall of Fame my mind jumps to the glove. I do not know if this piece is there any more. It did have a price tag of $8500 when I was there so it may have been moved.

But if you get the chance to see the glove I suggest you take a look.

© 2006 Hotlib.com - All Rights reserved

baseball glove : Santa Is A Great Leader

2006-06-11T01:50:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine trying to manage a few hundred giddy elves who are shut in year round and spend their off hours drinking spiked hot chocolate and doing who knows what with fairy dust? It would be enough to drive even the best of entrepreneurs to hide out at the North Pole. Somehow Santa manages the task without pulling his whiskers out. I expect he has a management system that promotes from within. The hard working elves get into management. The slackers are stuck cleaning up after the reindeer.

Santa Perfected "Just In Time" Manufacturing

Santa heads up one of the largest, most diverse manufacturing operations in the world. His product lines range from rag dolls to toy trains to rocking horses to baseball gloves for the little kids, to iPods and cellphones and diamond rings for us big kids. Santa's factory runs year round, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week and never, ever suffers from cost overrun or production shut downs. Santa perfected the "just in time" method of production that is used by many of the world's largest manufacturers today.

Santa Pioneered Global Product Distribution

Santa is the king of single channel distribution. How else could he deliver millions of presents to good little girls and boys all around the world on a single night? Santa's distribution process is a closely-guarded secret (elves and reindeer are required to sign iron-clad nondisclosure agreements), but I expect it involves a highly detailed logistics plan and the best CRM software on the planet. You never hear about Santa calling up a kid and telling them a present is backordered until July.

Santa's Delivery & Tracking Systems Are Second To None

If you think FedEx is number one at tracking packages think again. Santa's track record is spotless. He has never, ever missed a single delivery or left a box sitting on the porch in the rain. Every package is delivered in perfect shape, right under the tree.

Santa Wrote The Book On Customer Satisfaction

Santa proudly boasts a 100% perfect customer satisfaction rating. You never hear about class action lawsuits and Better Business Bureau complaints against St. NIck. Santa makes sure that his customers are happy and if they aren't, he'll come back next year to make things right. If JD Power could find him, I'm sure they would give Santa their Christmas Customer Satisfaction Award.

Santa Claus Is Watching You

Not everyone believes that Santa is the perfect entrepreneur. There are those kids who complain that Santa never brings what they ask for, but we grown ups know that Santa brings the gift that is deserved, not necessarily the gift that is asked for.

Here's a little Christmas tip from your Uncle Tim, boys and girls, ladies and gents: If you get a lump of coal in your stocking this year it's because you were bad and that's what you deserved.

It was not because Santa dropped the ball.

Merry Christmas everybody!

by Tim Knox

baseball glove : I Can't Wait ! We Are Going to Cooperstown.

2006-05-31T21:37:00.000-07:00

My heart soared. We were going to take another trip to The Baseball Hall of Fame. One of my favorite places on earth.

Just like the first trip to Upstate New York. I wanted to see the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Honus Wagner, Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb and Yogi Berra. one more time.

What I saw that day has stayed with me at the depths of my being, to this very day.

As we walked into the building in the spring of 1999 I was greeted by two giant size replicas of two great hitters Ted Williams and Babe Ruth. I loved seeing the Babe again. "My friend Babe Ruth. Hello. Hey Ted, you look pretty good."

I remember saying.

I found it very interesting that I and most people (if you stood under seven foot five inches) would have to look up to see these two sculptured figures.

My wife and I strolled through the museum looking, at the artifacts. We adored the old gloves, spikes, balls, bats and uniforms that were encased in their glass display bins. These items brought me back to a time and place before television, radar guns and luxury boxes. I was getting very nostalgic.

We soon entered the wing that housed the Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire artifacts. This Home Run Wing was abundant with Sosa and McGwire memorabilia. This was like being in a home run baseball fantasy park. There were posters of both men. There were posters of each man's list of home runs.. When they hit them and what pitcher they hit their home run off. There were bats they used in games and balls they hit over the fences Amazing. Never have two major league men hit so many home runs in one year.

Upon leaving that wing I could not help but feel overwhelmed by the slugging feats of these two huge men. One a Cub and one a Cardinal.

We continued to stroll through the hall until we came up to a narrow wing that I did not remember from my previous visit. I looked down the left side of the corridor and saw a group of pictures. Hanging from wires, these colorful paintings were displayed at my eye level

Perfect for me.

I just had to see these pictures. I was compelled. to walk down this aisle.

The first picture as I entered the area was of Babe Ruth. His bat was over his shoulder. His face was wrought with age. He looked a little old, heavy and a little overweight. As I stared at the picture I got very sad. I could see that his career was about to end.

Next painting was of Lou Gehrig. A smiling Lou Gehrig. I felt so happy just to be in the presence of one of my all time heroes. Even if it was just a picture.

Then there was one of Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams standing on the dugout steps Their bodies were angled toward each other. I enjoyed the joy they seemed to have just being there. Ready to play another game.

There were other paintings one of Jackie Robinson, another of Ty Cobb

and another of Honus Wagner that I loved.

Upon gazing toward the end of the row of paintings I saw a glass case with what looked like a tan baseball glove inside. This seemed very weird in that all the players that were depicted in the paintings were from an era when dark brown gloves were used. . I felt confused. This mitt did not seem to belong here. I just had to see whose glove this was.

I could not believe my eyes. It was not a glove. It was a sculpture of a glove. Perfect in size. Detailed so exact that the grayish colored seams were complete in length width and color. The depth of this piece was ideal What this sculptor had captured amazed me. I thought about the time he invested in creating this piece. About how much this person must have loved baseball that he took the time to mold a piece equipment. I visualized he sitting in his workroom playing with clay to make this piece real.

I called my wife to come see this incredible piece. We both were moved. I even cried.

I was given a glimpse of one of the greatest pieces of art I had ever seen. I have been to major museums and have seen painting by Van Gough, Picasso, and Dahli ..I have seen the Thinker by Rodin.

I have never been moved like I was by the glove.

Whenever I think of the Hall of Fame my mind jumps to the glove. I do not know if this piece is there any more. It did have a price tag of $8500 when I was there so it may have been moved.

But if you get the chance to see the glove I suggest you take a look.

by Aron Wallad

baseball glove : Coaching Sports For All The Right Reasons

2006-05-31T21:34:00.000-07:00

It was during a March evening in 2002 that I received word that my grandfather was dying. I drove the four and a half hours to Ironwood, Michigan in a snowstorm to say goodbye. I was able to see my grandpa and he was able to recognize me and acknowledge that I was there.

The next morning, he was gone. The doctors said that they were not sure how he had survived for so long. He had many health conditions and a lot of pain that he hadn't really shown on the outside. Yet, he had visited my grandmother every day in the nursing home where she had moved just a few months before. The staff marveled at the fact that my grandpa could even make it up the stairs each day. But, he did it. He was always there to help someone else.

I stayed in the town where my grandfather had been born, lived and now passed on. The funeral was scheduled for just a couple of days later. I thought a lot about my grandfather during this time. He had inspired me to be an athlete and coach. I remember him showing me the pictures and ribbons that he had won as a hurdler in track and field. But his real love was baseball. He was a great first baseman who played for a while with the Union City Greyhounds farm team and even had a try out for the St. Louis Cardinals. Rumor has it that he left baseball to come back for my grandmother. He continued to play ball in his home town. When times were tough and jobs were scarce, my grandfather was offered a job at the mine... if he would also play on the company's baseball team.

Two days passed and the preparations for the funeral were made. I spent a lot of the time at my aunt's house with the rest of my family. Late in the morning, there was a knock on the door. An older gentleman stood outside and carried a small object under one arm. My aunt answered the door and had a short conversation with the man. He then handed her the object, said goodbye and walked off.

My aunt entered the room looking sad but strangely happy at the same time. In her hands, she cradled a baseball glove. It was old and battered and some of the laces were missing but you could still see the words US ARMY branded into the leather. My aunt set the glove on the table and filled the rest of us in on what had just happened.

"This was Dad's glove from the Army," she said. "Remember that when he got back from the war, he helped to start the first little league here in town. That man was a member of Dad's first team. His family didn't have much money and he couldn't afford to buy a baseball glove. Dad gave him his so that he could play like the rest of the boys."

The man had gone on to say that he had never forgotten my grandfather's generosity. He had kept and cherished the glove for over 45 years. He had seen my grandpa's obituary in the newspaper and had wanted to return the glove to the family and let us know what a great coach, and man, my grandfather had been.

The glove was put on display at my grandpa's funeral. And, of course, the minister's sermon contained many allusions to sports and frequent quotes from A Field of Dreams. All this made me ever so proud of my grandfather who enjoyed coaching and passing on his love of athletics to the youth in his town. It also made me remember why I chose to be a coach.

How many times have you wondered, "Why do people coach? Why do they give up their time and energy for little or no money, sometimes even less respect and the opportunity to be targeted by parents and fans alike?"

That cold and snowy March day, I was reminded of the answers to those questions. We coach to touch the youth. To instill values into young people that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. We coach to make a difference and to show the right way to play, work and live. We coach so that, even 45 years can pass without a man forgetting his coach and the impact that he had made on a young boy's life.

Copyright, Tim Kauppinen, 2005

baseball glove : baseball playoffs

2006-05-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

THIELLS — More than almost any other game, baseball is predicated on team play.

To actually see a single player turn a game into his showcase is rare, unlike a 30-point scorer in basketball or a 200-yard rusher in football. Even the most dominant pitchers need help from the bats and gloves behind them.

North Rockland's Mike Mergenthaler did his best to prove the thinking untrue. Did he benefit from good defense and a game-winning RBI single from his teammate? Of course, but it was Mergenthaler, as a pitcher and as a hitter, who did much of the damage yesterday as the sixth-seeded Red Raiders beat No. 11 Mahopac 3-2 in the opening round of the Class AA playoffs.

Mergenthaler, a junior lefty, allowed just three hits and two runs in 6 1/3 innings and had an RBI double and an RBI triple. That effort led North Rockland (16-9) into tomorrow's quarterfinals at home against No. 19 Mamaroneck at noon.

Leadoff hitter Pat Furey started both of the Red Raiders' scoring rallies with singles up the middle. Each time, Furey moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Dan Scanlon, which set up No. 3 hitter Mergenthaler with a runner in scoring position.

It first happened in the third inning when Mergenthaler ripped an outside fastball just beyond the glove of Indians first baseman Chris Brady for a run-scoring double. Then, in the fifth, Mergenthaler crushed a fastball into deep right to give his team a 2-0 lead.

"He's our (No.) 3 hitter," Red Raiders coach Tom Lynch said of Mergenthaler. "That's what we expect him to do."

One batter after Mergenthaler's RBI triple, Ray Gregg's bloop single scored him with what proved to be the winning run. To maintain that lead, however, Mergenthaler needed to pitch out of jams in the third, fourth and sixth innings.

Mergenthaler has recently refined his mechanics and said it's boosted his confidence, tight spot or otherwise.

"I knew I was going to pitch really well today," he said.

The only Mahopac hitter to strike against Mergenthaler before the seventh was catcher Myckie Lugbauer, who had two hits in three at-bats to that point.

Mergenthaler said he made a concerted effort to retire the batters in front of Lugbauer — the Indians' powerful No. 3 hitter — in order to limit his RBI situations.

"I really focused on their (Nos.) 9-1-2 batters and tried to get them out," he said.

In the seventh, Mergenthaler put two men on and was lifted for reliever Nick Dowen. Dowen recorded a ground out, but then Lugbauer lined the first pitch he saw for a two-run single. Yet Dowen survived, snaring a comebacker from the next batter, Brady, to end the game.

Mahopac coach Frank Moloney, whose team was the runner-up last season, thought his team squandered runs early that cost it the game.

"We left eight guys on base, so we had our opportunities too," he said. "They executed and we didn't. That's the bottom line."

By JOSH THOMSON

baseball glove : D-II coaches

2006-05-28T22:53:00.000-07:00

Eight-year-old William Royal was asked what he learned during Saturday's annual American Baseball Coaches Association Youth Clinic.

Instead of answering, he showed off his new moves as an outfielder.

"He told me to set my feet and lean to the ball when I pick it up," he said as he leaned over near the ground, holding his glove down. "Like this."

A lot of "like this" was going on at Edward Thompson Park on Saturday. Coaches and players from all eight teams in this year's NCAA Division II Baseball Championship participated in the clinic.

"It's been a lot of fun," Ashland sophomore catcher Chase Beatty said. "It's been good to see all of these kids out here working hard. It's hot out here but they seem to be enjoying it. I think I am getting something out of it, too."

More than 350 youth ranging in age from 6 to 17 participated. Each was given a chance to work at a particular position in the field, work on bunting and take a few swings in the batting cages.

They also were given a short lecture on life and how it pertains to the game of baseball.

"I gave them the see-and-learn, feel-and-learn, listen-and-learn and believe in yourself speech," Emporia State coach Bob Fornelli said. "We talked about the dangers of drugs and alcohol and how they can derail you in your journey through life.

"You get your degree and you have an opportunity to help yourself financially and playing baseball is a great chance to do that."

Lewis University and ABCA president Irish O'Reilly have been a part of the clinic since its inception in the mid-1980s. He says he still gets goose bumps when he watches the D-II players working with the kids.

"Baseball is like an on-going love affair," he said. "You teach a young boy or girl to play baseball, and they develop a love for it and they will want to teach other kids.

"Older coaches like me learn things, too. We all have different ways of teaching, and we can pick up a point or two. It's a constant learning of the game."

Franklin Pierce senior pitcher Mike Farrell said he was intrigued by the attention the players gave as they were instructed.

"You could tell most of them were really taking it in," he said. "I didn't get the chance to come to this when I was a freshman, but I heard the players talk about it. It was a great experience."

The event was held at Thompson Park for the first time. Ed Card of the City of Montgomery Parks and Recreation Department said the new home attracted about 120 more participants than last year.

"I think it helped," he said. "Once the word gets out, I believe the number will increase."

By Graham Dunn

baseball glove : Another Memorial Day Video

2006-05-28T22:39:00.000-07:00

Some readers may have forgotten about this. Some may not have been alive at the time. However, thirty years ago this past April, as America was in the process of celebrating its bicentennial, Chicago Cubs centerfielder Rick Monday, a former Marine Corps Reservist, made one of the greatest plays in baseball history…but it didn’t involve a ball, a bat, or a glove.

As protestors were trying to set fire to an American flag in the centerfield of Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, Monday darted by, grabbed Old Glory, and saved her from a disturbing fate in front of a huge Chavez Ravine crowd.

According to Inside Baseball: “This moment and the symbol it represented – freedom, history and those who have lost their lives in battle to save Old Glory – had countless Americans talking; from politicians in Washington, D.C. and throughout the country to military veterans to everyday people. It was ranked as one of the top 100 classic moments in baseball history by the National Baseball Hall of Fame committee and third on Sporting News’ list as the most ‘unusual’ moment to occur on a major league baseball field.”

This marvelous video (hat tip to reader Airforce_5_0) is a four-minute tribute to the event, including video footage, and interviews with Monday as well as then Dodger third-base coach Tommy Lasorda. Enjoy.

Posted by Noel Sheppard

baseball glove : Rangers batter A's with rally

2006-05-26T01:45:00.000-07:00

The Texas Rangers won a game the old-fashioned way Thursday. They pounded the ball.

Proving no deficit is too large once the offense starts connecting, the Rangers fell behind by seven runs before they started clubbing homers on the way to an 8-7 win over division rival Oakland. It was capped by Phil Nevin's two-out homer in the ninth, making it the Rangers' fourth walk-off win of the year.

But before Nevin's homer, there had been a grand slam by Rod Barajas to get the Rangers back into the game, a pair of home runs by rookie Ian Kinsler in his first game back from a dislocated left thumb and the first homer in three weeks by Mark Teixeira.

And then there was Nevin's homer, which ended an 0-for-17 slump that has seen him go from cleanup hitter to bench player.

"The power just has not been there for us this year," said Barajas, who also made a fantastic lunging tag on Adam Melhuse to end the eighth inning. "I'm not going to say we rely on the home run, but it sure is nice when we can do it."

Said Teixeira: "Tonight we got a taste of what our offense is capable of."

It tastes like beer. That's what Nevin was soaked in after hitting the game-winner off Huston Street.

He stood at home plate, urging it over the center-field wall, then slammed his helmet to the ground as he approached home plate. He was mobbed by the whole team at home plate, then showered with beer upon entering the clubhouse. Mark DeRosa had been doused in the same spot when he beat Baltimore with a homer three weeks ago.

"A new tradition," Nevin cracked.

Nevin also cracked a smile for the first time in weeks. He had been benched and replaced by Jason Botts as the DH on Tuesday as his average for May fell to .145. He got a start Thursday only because the Rangers were facing lefty Brad Halsey, but Halsey was long gone when the game was decided.

Manager Buck Showalter decided to stick with Nevin after the A's started trotting right-handed relievers to the mound. Nevin grounded to third in the seventh to extend his hitless streak to 17 at-bats, then trashed the dugout.

"Sometimes you need a spark," he said. "I was pretty frustrated. Sometimes that can be a good release. On the other side of it, that home run, that was probably the most positive emotion I've ever displayed on a baseball field. The last few days have been difficult." So was the comeback. The Rangers fell in a troubling 7-0 hole after five innings. Most troubling was that there are similarities between Kevin Millwood's two rough home starts this season. Both have come when the game-time temperature was at least 90 degrees.

Thoroughly soaked in sweat, he was done after five innings. He slammed his glove against a bench as he stalked through the dugout on the way to the clubhouse.

At least he had a cool, comfortable location from which to watch the comeback. It was quite a thing to watch.

BY EVAN GRANT

baseball glove : Breaking News in Japan

2006-05-26T01:37:00.000-07:00

It was the top of the late night news the Friday it happened; then lead of the Saturday evening news magazine show; and finally it ushered in the Sunday mid-morning Infotainment/Wide shows. A Japanese baseball player, chasing down a short pop fly in an American stadium, slid into the ball. As it entered his glove, his left forearm was forcibly pushed at an impossible angle in the opposite direction. The result was pretty grisly fare, but worthy of repeated replay because it was Japanese slugger, Hideki Matsui, an integral part of the New York Yankees. And, in one gruesome twist of gristle and bone, Matsui was also possessor of an American battle-conferred broken arm. In so doing, Matsui became the first American-based Japanese player to be struck down by a major injury in the decade that ReDot sandlotters have been going to American shores to catch and throw and hit and spit.

Back on Japanese TV, show after show replayed Matsui's painful sequence without surcease, leaving one to wonder: "how many times can one human-being break the same bone in the same appendage?" Aside from that, the message was more of the same; in almost every case, the narrative frame was: how was this development playing in the States? For manager Joe Torre, sitting wearily behind a phalanx of microphones in his office, it was a major loss. There wasn't a replacement player of Matsui's caliber to be found, he mused; certainly not on the Yankee bench. For team captain, Derrick Jeter, it was a blow: Matsui was the kind of player who could be counted on to produce every day, dinged up or not. For longtime clubhouse leader, Bernie Williams, this was no small turn of events: there wasn't a steadier player among the Yankee's all-star studded crew.

The assessment did not stop with clubhouse personnel. The fan in the street weighed in with opinions like: "This is tough. Matsui is one of our best players. I hope he can get well soon and return to the line-up as fast as possible." Even a booster for Yankee arch-rival, Boston, solicitously observed: "That's a shame, I'm a Sox fan, but Matsui's a good guy. Wish him well." A CBS newscast was replayed — on numerous stations — showing a sports anchor peering out at his American audience and intoning: "Tough news for Yankees fans. Hideki Matsui has broken his left arm and will be out for a number of months."

by tjm Holden

baseball glove : How to select the right youth baseball glove for your child

2006-05-24T22:28:00.000-07:00

The design of youth baseball gloves is done with the child’s hand eye coordination and physical skills in mind. The physical skill of an adult means adult gloves can be made differently depending on the nature of the position they play, and with more webbing to allow them to snare baseballs a little more easily.
Youth baseball leagues are up and running across North America, and around the globe. The game is very popular in Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, the Caribbean, and in South America. Millions of kids look forward to playing on their local teams. It’s a chance to meet new friends, travel to other parks or cities, and to be on a ball team. It’s the camaraderie that makes playing baseball a fun event.

The practicing however is often a different matter, especially catching baseballs. In what is a pretty easygoing sport, kids have to catch baseballs moving along a good clip. They’ll have to learn catching skills, such as fielding balls that will bounce along with ground unpredictably or line drives that move toward them at a high speed. They may be kids, but some can hit the ball very well. For the kid that doesn’t know how to catch properly or doesn’t have a very good glove, there are few more angst-ridden activities than catching baseballs.

Leather baseball gloves have been around a long time. If you’ve been to the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame, you may have seen some unusual looking antique gloves and wondered how they could have caught a baseball with them. For those of us old timers who have been around long enough to actually use some of those antique gloves, we can tell you that it was not easy. They were stiff, heavy, clumsy, and tough to manipulate with your hand when they were new, and it wasn’t long before they wore out to a limp clump of hide that often let the ball fly right through it. Catching was an art, and stinging fingers and bruised shins were all part of the experience of playing youth baseball.

Youth Baseball Gloves

With those stiff or floppy youth baseball gloves, you’d wonder why kids didn’t give up on the game. Well, truth is, many youths wouldn’t play baseball or gave up for that very reason. They didn’t want to have any part of trying to catch a hot, bobbling grounder on uneven ground. Kids are the same way today. If it’s too unpleasant to use the equipment and play the game the way it is meant to be played, then they might think, "why bother?"

New Baseball Gloves and New Materials

Glove manufacturers today have designed them so they’re ready to play with. Instead of stiff, thick cowhide leather composing the whole glove, modern kids ball gloves are made of numerous materials including pigskin. Cowhide may be used where it is needed most, but these gloves are designed for comfort and performance. They almost feel like they can catch the ball themselves.

The design of youth baseball gloves is done with the child’s hand eye coordination and physical skills in mind. The physical skill of an adult means adult gloves can be made differently depending on the nature of the position they play, and with more webbing to allow them to snare baseballs a little more easily. A child’s finger dexterity and strength aren’t fully developed, so they’re not going to be able to use a glove with the skill of an older youth or adult ball player. There are gloves for young tots, something that couldn’t be done decades ago.

Additional helpful features of today’s youth baseball gloves, such as anti-microbial treatments, which keep bacteria at bay. It’s hot in the summer and your child’s hand will sweat inside the glove.

Franklin Sports Gloves

With the physiology and coordination of youth ball players in mind, Franklin Sports has designed a wide range of quality youth baseball gloves. Their leather ball gloves range in size and styles but all are designed for comfort in how they fit the child’s hand and how the leather is stitched. The result is an outstanding ball glove that will feel like a natural extension of the child’s arm. On models for older youths, the gloves are all leather with deep pockets and lengths up to 12.5 inches. That’s plenty of glove for making tough catches.

With a Franklin baseball glove, your child won’t have the same frustration or soreness from learning new baseball skills. Perhaps they’ll avoid the stinging fingers, summer sweat that sees smelly bacteria forming inside the glove, and bruised shins that take some of the fun out of playing. A good glove won’t rid your child of those embarrassing moments when they miss a catch, but it will increase their comfort level. They’ll be able to relax and they’ll be more confident that they can learn their fielding skills.

Kidsports carries Franklin Sports line of youth baseball equipment including gloves, batting gloves, pitching machines and T-Ball equipment. You can buy youth baseball gloves online at http://www.kidsportsinc.com. It’s the best way to find the right glove at the right price for busy parents. Visit them today.

By Scott White

baseball glove : Baseball gloves recalled

2006-05-24T22:24:00.000-07:00

About 12,800 Mizuno ?Gamer? baseball gloves, manufactured by Mizuno USA Inc., are being recalled because the gloves may contain aspergillus mold.

The mold could cause health problems or other infections in people. The recall includes all Mizuno ?Gamer? baseball gloves.

The gloves have the word ?Gamer? printed on the palm of the gloves. The gloves were sold at sporting goods stores nationwide from July 2005 through October 2005 for about $80.

Consumers should stop using the gloves and contact Mizuno for information on how to receive a free replacement baseball glove.

Posted by Susan Lillard-Roberts

baseball glove: Tennessee's Summitt Reaches $1 Million Mark in Salary

2006-05-24T00:39:00.000-07:00

Pat Summitt is the newest millionaire coach.

University of Tennessee officials said Monday they raised Summitt's salary to $1.125 million for next season and added six years to extend her contract through the 2011-12 season.

The 53-year-old Summitt leads all Division I basketball coaches - men's and women's - with 913 career wins. She will be starting her 33rd season with the Lady Vols this fall.

Her salary was $824,500 last season.

"Not only is Coach Summitt the winningest coach in college basketball, but she is a tremendous ambassador for our university and our state," school president John Petersen said. "I am proud that she will continue to represent the university for many years to come."

Summitt's base salary will increase from $300,000 to $325,000. She will get $350,000 for radio and television commitments, $300,000 for endorsements and $150,000 as a public relations fee.

Over six years, the salary package will increase each year and average $1.3 million a year. The contract calls for Summitt to be paid $1.5 million in the final year.

She is the second-highest paid coach at Tennessee behind football coach Phillip Fulmer, who makes $2.05 million annually. Men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl got a raise earlier this year to $1.1 million from $800,000.

© 2006 CSTV Networks, Inc.

baseball glove : Griffey turns tide with bat and glove

2006-05-24T00:34:00.000-07:00

CINCINNATI -- He reintroduced himself to the crowd last night in Great American Ball Park, not that anyone in his hometown really ever had forgotten him.
Ken Griffey Jr. seized one moment with his glove and another with his bat to remind Reds fans why he remains an elite player despite the injuries that have dogged him the past six seasons. The two plays combined to turn the momentum of the game in Cincinnati's 7-3 victory.

With the Reds trailing the Milwaukee Brewers 3-1 in the fifth inning, Griffey crashed into the wall in right center to take an extra-base hit away from Geoff Jenkins. Reds starting pitcher Elizardo Ramirez waited at first base to greet Griffey on his way back to the dugout.

In the bottom of the inning, Griffey stepped to the plate with two runners on base and lined a three-run homer into the seats in right. Jenkins, the Milwaukee right fielder, never turned to see where the ball landed.

The home run started the Reds on the way to victory and put them in position to sweep the three-game series if they can win tonight behind Brandon Claussen. Since he returned from a monthlong stay on the disabled list on May 11, Griffey has flashed his All-Star form enough to have hit three three-run homers and a grand slam. He added a sacrifice fly in the win last night and suddenly has 25 RBI, six behind team leader Adam Dunn, who has played in 26 more games.

“Junior is definitely one of the best hitters in baseball,” Reds manager Jerry Narron said. “I've said it, and all our staff has said it, he's going to still lead our club in RBI after missing a month. He's one of the best players in the game.”

Ramirez (2-3) smiled when asked what he wanted to tell Griffey after he robbed Jenkins.

“I just said, 'Nice play, thank you very much,' ” Ramirez said. “It was an unbelievable play. For me, I thought it was a home run, you know? I saw Junior catch the ball and I think, 'Oh my God.' I had to say nice play. It's fun to watch him play.”

Griffey, who declined comment after the game, got the Reds going against Dana Eveland (0-1) with a first-inning double. Rich Aurilia followed with a run-scoring single. Milwaukee grabbed the lead on a three-run double by Prince Fielder in the third. Griffey took it back with the 542nd homer of his career.

“His presence, you cannot put a price on it in the batting order,” Narron said. “You know you're going to get an outstanding at-bat. The big thing for us is if we can get guys on base in front of him where they have to pitch to him. We know we're going to get a good at-bat from him. Everything is just amazing how good a player he is after sitting for a month.”

Aurilia thought the Reds played well without Griffey. His return adds richness to the mix.

“He's going to affect a lineup the way (Barry) Bonds does or (Albert) Pujols does,” Aurilia said. “I'm just fortunate to be able to hit behind him. We're glad he's back. He's been playing some good defense for us and has hit some clutch home runs.

“It's sad, but that's what people expect from him. It's probably not fair to expect that all the time, but that's what people do. This is not an easy thing to do. It's not like we can expect it every time. But when it happens, it's not much of a surprise to us.”

By Jim Massie

baseball glove; Treatment and Care

2006-05-22T21:22:00.000-07:00

Many types of treatments and care have been suggested over the years for baseball and softball gloves. Some of these are safe and some, unfortunately, may damage glove leather.

Our company has for decades used and recommended that one of the best and safest leather cleaners and conditioners is untreated petroleum jelly. Professional glove repairmen and leather specialists agree that this is one of the best applications, both for cleaning and conditioning glove leather.

Our recommendation for the use of petroleum jelly is simple. During the break-in period, treat your new glove with a light application, working it into the leather. This will reduce the stiffness of the new leather and facilitate a faster and more comfortable break-in procedure. Also, at the end of the season, take a generous amount of petroleum jelly and thoroughly cover the outside and inside of the glove. Don’t ignore the laces or hard-to-get-to areas, both inside and outside the glove. Then take a clean rag and wipe off excess to remove grit and grime. This will also remove and help neutralize much of the salt and acid buildup inside the glove caused by perspiration, a chief problem to the leather lining, usually made of softer leather

Copyright 2005/2006

baseball glove : Roy Hobbs Baseball Series

2006-05-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

Roy Hobbs is all about true baseball. The genuine article, the crack of the bat, the feel of broken in leather. When you could smell the grass from the stands. Each of the Roy Hobbs products brings back the glory days of Americas favorite pastime and manufactured to the highest standards of quality. Play with the products created for the best there ever was. Roy Hobbs gloves are hand cut and hand rubbed with glove oils to soften and fortify the fine leather. The Roy Hobbs glove series offer the feel of a glove that you have played with for years. The gloves are manufactured with their exclusive Game Worm Leather allowing for no break-in time and a classic feel not found in many of today’s mass produced gloves. The soul of the game lives on in Roy Hobbs.
baseball glove
©2000-2006 - BallGloveWarehouse.com All rights reserved

baseball glove: Baseball Glove Care

2006-05-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

Properly caring for your baseball glove can make a huge difference in the lifespan of your glove. We recommend checking with the manufacturer of your glove to see what they recommend.

Keep your baseball glove in a cool, dry place when it is not in use. Do not leave your glove where the heat could affect the leather (the trunk of your car).
If your glove gets wet, dry it with a towel and let it air-dry. Do not put it in the oven or near a heater as it may dry out the leather.
Do not over oil your baseball glove! A few time each season is plenty.
Keep the laces tight.

From Nokona: "We do not recommend neatsfoot oil, linseed oil or silicon-type spray as these tend to close the pores of the leather, causing it to dry, harden, and become heavy over an extended period of time and through repeated use. Petroleum jelly keeps the pores open and in effect, keeps the leather “alive” while providing a softening condition. There are other cleaners and conditioners that are safe, especially those scientifically developed for glove leather."

Baseballgloves.com - Hoboken, NJ

Copyright 2004

Baseball glove: Akadema Pro Baseball Gloves

2006-05-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

You simply cannot find better quality in any Major League Brand Glove no matter what you pay. The leather, lacing, fit, pattern & quick break-in is equivalent to any $200+ glove. Made for pro & college players, Akadema baseball gloves are now available for all players. Models for all positions. Built better, lasts longer!
Finally, a pro-line of softball gloves especially built for the larger softball. Comfortable feel, easy break-in, & a Pro look! This is the last brand of softball gloves you will ever buy!

http://www.baseballtips.com/gloves.html

Baseball glove: Spalding is a Chicago based sporting goods company.

2006-05-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

Started by A.G. Spalding in 1876, it manufactures goods for many sports, including Baseball, Softball, Volleyball, Football, Golf, and most well known, basketball. Spalding is the leader in basketball, and their basketballs sell much better than their other goods. Their premium ball is the official ball of the NBA, which is probably one of the main reasons for their immense success. They have a very high quality line of indoor/outdoor balls and their consumers have learned to accept this.

Spalding is also a leader in technology. Most of their technological advancements are also in the basketball industry. They are notable for developing the first basketball. In 2001 they released their Infusion technology, which features a built in micro pump which allows you to add air as you will without a pump or needle. Spalding furthered their Infusion technology in 2003, when Spaliding started manufacturing basketballs with Infusion technology so that you could release air as well. The Infusion3 came out in 2005, which is a dual action micro pump that works twice as fast as its predecesors. In late 2005 Spalding also came out with the NEVERFLAT technology, which guarantees that it will keep the same consistent bounce for at least one year. This eliminates the need for a pump and needle, at least for the first year. Spalding uses Nitroflate molecules to seal in the air and to prevent it from leaking out like other traditional basketballs do.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

baseball glove : Baseball glove:

2006-05-21T21:21:00.000-07:00

A baseball glove or mitt is a large leather glove that baseball players on the defending team are allowed to wear to assist them in catching and fielding balls hit by a batter.

Some say the first player to use a baseball glove was Doug Allison, a catcher for the Cincinnati Red Stockings, in 1870, due to an injured left hand. The first documented story of glove use however concerns Charles Waitt, a St. Louis outfielder-first baseman who in 1875 donned a pair of flesh-colored gloves. While glove usage was not accepted by all players at first, being considered "sissy" by many, it slowly caught on as more and more players began using different forms of gloves. Many early baseball gloves were simple leather gloves with the fingertips cut off, supposedly to allow for the same control of a bare hand, but with extra padding. The adoption of the baseball glove by baseball star Albert Spalding when he began playing first base influenced more infielders to begin using gloves. By the mid 1890s, it was the norm for players to wear gloves in the field.

Since their beginnings, baseball gloves have grown. While catching in baseball had always been two handed, eventually, gloves grew to a size that made it easier to catch the ball in the webbing of the glove, and use the off-hand to keep it from falling out.

Now, gloves have taken on many shapes and sizes:

Catcher's mitts have extra padding and a hinged, claw-like shape that helps them to catch 90+ mile per hour fastballs, and provide a good target for pitchers to throw at. If required to catch a knuckleball, a catcher will typically use an even larger mitt.
Pitcher's gloves usually have a closed webbing to allow them to get a grip on the ball without tipping their pitches
First basemen's mitts are generally very long and wide to help them with scooping badly thrown balls from infielders. These mitts lack individual fingers.
Outfield gloves are usually quite long, to help with both catching fly balls on the run or on a dive and so they do not have to bend down as far to field a ground ball, so they can return it to the infield.
Infield baseball gloves other than the first basemens' tend to be smaller, to allow the players to easily fish the ball out of the dirt with their glove to make a quick throw to first base.

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Baseball glove: The Baseball Glove Comes to Baseball, 1875

2006-05-20T06:44:00.000-07:00

Baseball developed before the Civil War but did not achieve professional status until the 1870s. The Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first professional team in 1869. However, their life was brief and the team went bankrupt within a year of its founding. In 1871 the National Association of Professional Baseball Players was formed and at its peak, consisted of thirteen teams. Unfortunately it too was plagued by financial difficulties and was abandoned in 1875.The following year saw the formation of the National League of Professional Baseball Players (soon shortened to the National League). In 1884 the rival American League was founded and the era of modern professional baseball was begun.

In these early days of baseball, players were expected to take the field without benefit of protective equipment such as a baseball glove or catcher's mask. The pain of the sport was to be endured without complaint. Any effort to mollify the rigors of the game was looked upon as a sissified attempt to demean the sport.

"He confessed that he was a bit ashamed to wear it..."

A.G. Spalding began playing baseball in the 1860s. He joined the Boston Red Stockings in 1871 and moved to the Chicago White Stockings (today's Cubs) in 1876. Spalding was the premier pitcher of his day until the physical strain of continuous pitching took its toll and ruined his throwing arm. He founded a sporting goods company initially specializing in baseball equipment and soon branching out to supplying equipment for all types of sports. He never lost touch with baseball and served as president of the Chicago team and one of baseball's most successful promoters. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in its first year.

In 1911, Spalding wrote of his experiences in early baseball and describes his first introduction to the baseball glove:

"The first glove I ever saw on the hand of a ball player in a game was worn by Charles C. Waite, in Boston, in 1875. He had come from New Haven and was playing at first base. The glove worn by him was of flesh color, with a large, round opening in the back. Now, I had for a good while felt the need of some sort of hand protection for myself. In those days clubs did not carry an extra carload of pitchers, as now. For several years I had pitched in every game played by the Boston team, and had developed severe bruises on the inside of my left hand. When it is recalled that every ball pitched had to be returned and that every swift one coming my way, from infielders, outfielders or hot from the bat, must be caught or stopped, some idea may be gained of the punishment received.

Therefore, I asked Waite about his glove. He confessed that he was a bit ashamed to wear it, but had it on to save his hand. He also admitted that he had chosen a color as inconspicuous as possible, because he didn't care to attract attention. He added that the opening on the back was for purpose of ventilation.

Meanwhile my own hand continued to take its medicine with utmost regularity, occasionally being bored with a warm twister that hurt excruciatingly. Still, it was not until 1877 that I overcame my scruples against joining the 'kid-glove aristocracy' by donning a glove. When I did at last decide to do so, I did not select a flesh-colored glove, but got a black one, and cut out as much of the back as possible to let the air in.

Happily, in my case, the presence of a glove did not call out the ridicule that had greeted Waite. I had been playing so long and had become so well known that the innovation seemed rather to evoke sympathy than hilarity. I found that the glove, thin as it was, helped considerably, and inserted one pad after another until a good deal of relief was afforded. If anyone wore a padded glove before this date I do not know it. The 'pillow mitt' was a later innovation."

Copyright © Ibis Communications, Inc.

Baseball glove: Easton Professional Series

2006-05-20T06:40:00.000-07:00

This Easton Professional Series glove is hand crafted and is made by the experts. This glove is made from lightweight professional grade dry-tanned USA steer hide. The USA tanned genuine rawhide lace, leather binding, and welting allows for the ultimate in shape retention, flexibility and fast break-in. This glove also offers patent-pending Hyperlite foam wool padding. The Hyperlite construction of the glove reduces the chance of injury because it disperses the impact and energy of the ball. The back of the hand is lined with Bio-Dri moisture management material for improved comfort. The Deerskin finger stalls help to provide maximum finger support and control to improve performance. This is the game day model used by many professional Major League Baseball players. All of the Easton Professional K-Pro Series gloves provide unbeatable comfort and appearance with the patent-pending Ideal Fit System and stylish Easton and Diamond E embroidered logos. This glove also comes with a fleece-lined, Rip Stop nylon bag to store the glove for increased durability and life of the leather. Free Shipping.

Features:

11.50 Inch Infield Model
Glove Comes with Fleece-Lined Rip Stop Nylon Bag
Double X "I" Web with Ideal Fit Open Back
Lightweight , Ultra High Strength KEVLAR Backing
USA Tanned Pro Grade Genuine Rawhide Lace
Lightweight Professional Grade USA Steer Hide
Patent-Pending Hyperlite Foam/Wool Padding
Patent-Pending Ideal Fit System
USA Tanned Leather Binding and Welting
USA Tanned Butter Smooth Cowhide Lining
USA Tanned Deerskin Fingerstalls
Free Shipping
Bio-Dri Moisture Management System
Stylish Easton and Diamond E Embroidered Logos
2x2 Lacing to Prevent Blow Outs and Relacing

Baseball glove

©2000-2006 - BallGloveWarehouse.com All rights reserved

Baseball glove: Roy Hobbs Baseball Series: 1150

2006-05-20T06:35:00.000-07:00

Roy Hobbs is all about true baseball. The genuine article, the crack of the bat, the feel of broken in leather. When you could smell the grass from the stands. Each of the Roy Hobbs products brings back the glory days of Americas favorite pastime and manufactured to the highest standards of quality. Play with the products created for the best there ever was. Roy Hobbs gloves are hand cut and hand rubbed with glove oils to soften and fortify the fine leather. The Roy Hobbs glove series offer the feel of a glove that you have played with for years. The gloves are manufactured with their exclusive Game Worm Leather allowing for no break-in time and a classic feel not found in many of today’s mass produced gloves. The soul of the game lives on in Roy Hobbs. Free Shipping.

Features:

Open Back
Ideal for Middle Infielders
H-Web
Free Shipping
Exclusive Game Worn Leather
Shallow Pocket for Quick Ball Transfer
Hand Cut Leather
Hand Rubbed with Glove Oil
Minimal Break-In Time
Strong Classic Leather Smell
11.50 Inch Model

Baseball glove

©2000-2006 - BallGloveWarehouse.com All rights reserved

Soup-Sweet-Potato & Peanut Stew

2006-05-18T01:58:00.000-07:00

A tasty vegetarian dish with tomatoes, warm spices, and a touch of peanut butter. Microwaving the sweet potatoes helps you finish in a flash.

Serving: Yields: 8 cups or 4 main-dish servings
Total Time: 30 minutes

3 medium sweet potatoes (about 12 ounces each), well scrubbed and each cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed with garlic press
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 cans (15 to 19 ounces each) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) vegetable broth (1 3/4 cups)
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

1. Place potatoes in 2 1/2-quart microwave-safe dish. Cover dish and microwave on High about 8 minutes or until fork-tender.
2. Meanwhile, in 5- to 6-quart saucepot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic, cumin, salt, cinnamon, and crushed red pepper, and cook 30 seconds, stirring. Stir in beans, broth, tomatoes, and peanut butter until blended; heat to boiling and cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low; add sweet potatoes to bean mixture and simmer 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in cilantro.

Each serving: About 585 calories, 22 g protein, 92 g carbohydrate, 16 g total fat (2 g saturated), 18 g fiber, 0 mg cholesterol, 1,725 mg sodium.

©1995-2006 iVillage. All Rights Reserved.

How To Connect Your PC to Your Home Stereo or Home Theater

2006-05-14T22:45:00.000-07:00

How about connecting your PC to your home stereo or even to your home theater in order to get a better audio for your games, videos and audio files? In this tutorial we will show you how to make this connection using regular analog connection and also digital connection (both coaxial and optical, also known as SPDIF).

The first thing you need to check is what kind of connection both your PC and receiver support. You can hook your PC to your stereo or home theater system using three kinds of connection:

Analog connection: This is the standard connection all PCs have. If your PC and your sound system don’t have digital connection, this is the connection you will use.
Digital connection (coaxial): Use a single RCA-RCA cable. Because it is digital, no noise is produced. Not all PCs have this kind of connection.
Digital connection (optical): Uses a fiber optic cable. This is the best connection available. Not all PCs have this kind of connection.
To discover what kind of connections your PC supports, take a look on its back and compare it to Figure 1. As we mentioned, all PCs have analog audio output. This output is green and labeled line out or speaker out. Digital outputs are optional.

Coaxial digital audio output uses a female RCA connector (usually yellow or orange) and labeled “SPDIF Out” or “Digital Out” or similar. Pay attention because some video cards have also a yellow RCA output that is used by composite video output. Since this video output is available on the video card, it is found besides the video output connector (15-pin female blue connector), on the same metallic plate. As you can see on Figure 1, the yellow female connector is located on a different metallic plate from the video card, so it is digital audio output, not composite video output.

By the way, the other two connectors found on the same I/O bracket where the digital outputs are located on Figure 1 (one is orange and the other is blue) are the center/subwoofer and rear outputs, which are used by analog surround PC speakers. These outputs are not used to connect your PC to your home stereo or home theater system.

Optical digital audio output is the easiest one to find, as it uses a very unique connector, which is black and squared, as you can see on Figure 1.

Some high-end motherboards have on-board digital audio outputs, so in this case the location of the digital audio connectors won’t be on an I/O bracket like the example we are giving on Figure 1, but soldered to the motherboard and next to the keyboard connector.

Author: Gabriel Torres

Home cinema

2006-05-11T01:42:00.000-07:00

Home cinema, also called home theater, seeks to reproduce cinema quality video and audio in the home. The video aspect usually involves a large-screen and/or high definition television or a projection system with movie screen to project the image on. Quality audio reproduction is usually achieved with a high fidelity surround sound system.

Technically, a home cinema could be as basic as a simple arrangement of a television, VCR, and a set of speakers. It is therefore difficult to specify exactly what distinguishes a "home cinema" from a "television and stereo". Most people in the consumer electronics industry would agree that a "home theater" is really the integration of a relatively high-quality video source with multi-channel electronics and speakers. Even if households have the system set up for home cinema it is common only to use the speakers integrated within the television rather than to play the sound through the surround sound system. This is because surround sound loses its impact with material which is not recorded in a way suitable for surround sound. Films, drama and sport tend to be optimised for surround sound whereas news and daytime TV provide no particular advantage.
History
[edit]
1950s and 1960s home movies

A home theater with video projector mounted in a box on the ceiling.In the 1950s, home movies became popular in the United States and elsewhere as Kodak 8 mm film (Pathé 9.5 mm in France) and camera and projector equipment became affordable. Projected with a small, portable movie projector onto a portable screen, often without sound, this system became the first practical home theater. They were generally used to show home movies of family travels and celebrations but also doubled as a means of showing private stag films. Dedicated home cinemas were called screening rooms at the time and were outfitted with 16 mm or even 35 mm projectors for showing commercial films. These were found almost exclusively in the homes of the very wealthy, especially those in the movie industry.

Portable home cinemas improved over time with color film, Kodak Super 8 mm film film cartridges, and monaural sound but remained awkward and somewhat expensive. The rise of home video in the late 1970s almost completely killed the consumer market for 8 mm film cameras and projectors, as VCRs connected to ordinary televisions provided a simpler and more flexible substitute.
1980s home cinema
The development of multi-channel audio systems and laserdisc in the 1980s created a new paradigm for home cinema. The first public demonstration of this integration occurred in 1982 at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, Illinois. Peter Tribeman of NAD (USA) organized and presented a demonstration made possible by the collaborative effort of several companies who contributed their technologies to demonstrate what a home cinema would "look and sound" like.

Over the course of three days, retailers, manufacturers, and members of the consumer electronics press were exposed to the first "home like" experience of combining a high quality video source with multi-channel sound. That one demonstration is credited with being the impetus for developing what is now a multi-billion dollar business.

[edit]
1990s home cinema
In the late 1990s, the development of DVD, 5-channel audio, and high-quality video projectors that provide a cinema experience at a price that rivals a big-screen HDTVs sparked a new wave of home cinema interest.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Table Games

2006-05-08T23:43:00.000-07:00

Want a game that moves quickly and gives you many ways to bet? Then Roulette is for you!

In Roulette, you can bet straight up, which means your bet is on any of the 38 single numbers which include 0 and 00. Also, you can place combination bets-bets divided over a combination of adjoining numbers. Look at the Roulette Table in the diagram. Here you see letters that represent the various types of bets in the game of double zero Roulette.

For instance, if you place an "A" type bet (see table 1 below), it could be on the number shown, or any number on the table. Or, perhaps you want to place an "H" type bet. You can place it on the line adjoining 13 (as shown) which pays on 13, 14, and 15. Or, you could place an "H" type bet on the line adjoining 31, where it pays on 31, 32, and 33.

Caution: Where you place your chip or chips on the Roulette Table, it is very important because this determines your bet. Use our diagram as your guide. It is the player's responsibility for proper placement. Now for the game. The Dealer spins the Roulette Wheel in one direction and a small white ball in the opposite direction. Bets may be placed on the Roulette Table until the Dealer announces "no more bets."

When the ball comes to rest, the Dealer calls out the winning number and places a marker on it. First the table is cleared of losing wagers and then all winners are paid.
During this time, please don't touch the table. Wait until the Dealer announces, "place your bets," to put chips down.

One last thing. When you place an even money bet-on 1-18, 19-36, Odd, Even, Red or Black-and the ball comes to rest on 0 or 00, you surrender half your bet.

If you're wondering how your bet is kept separate from everyone else's, it is because different color chips are used. The value of a stack of colored chips is determined by the player when purchasing a stack or stacks of chips. The value of a stack of colored chips is indicated by a numerical markers button placed on top of a chip of that color. (20 indicates $20 per stack, 100 indicates $100 per stack, etc.) These chips must be redeemed before you leave that particular table.

The Trump TAJ Mahal will also offer a European style single "0" Roulette wheel. On a single zero roulette wheel the entire wager on red, black, odd, even, 1-18 and 19-36 is lost should the ball land on zero.

Copyright © 2006 Trump Taj Mahal 1000 Boardwalk at Virginia Avenue

We love... Thai food

2006-05-04T21:01:00.000-07:00

Very few countries can produce dishes which match the sheer slap-around-the-chops factor of tucking into your first Thai nosh.

Indian food is certainly a contender for the title of most exotic takeaway, and Mexican cuisine is also capable of giving a savage mugging to one's tastebuds, (not to mention the digestive system).

But it would seem the new kid on the exotic food block can do all this and more.

For as well as possessing the type of spiciness that can satisfy even the most hardcore of numb-tongued chilli enthusiasts, Thai food is one of the most fragrant and delicious.

It manages without the oodles of cream, clarified butter and general goop which, while being the staple of any good curry, can also leave most of us incapacitated for sometime after a meal.

Instead lemongrass and coriander, as well as basil and lime, are the type of taste and smell sensations which blitz the palate of anyone enjoying a helping of the Asian food.

Simply put it has all of the flavour with much fewer calories.

Many diet books will advise the tactic of replacing stodge with intense flavours to make a healthy meal more satisfying.

And even after enjoying a couple of courses at the local Thai restaurant, it is not necessary to spend the rest of the evening rubbing one's distended belly and moaning about feeling full.

Indeed, as long as long as one has not gone overboard with lager - an ideal accompaniment to Thai cuisine - there is every chance of carrying on after a nice satisfying meal as if nothing has happened.

According to experts, Thai cuisine is successful because of its balance of five basic flavours - hot (spicy), sour, sweet, salty and bitter.

One of the most important ingredients is nam pla, a very aromatic and strong-tasting fish sauce - utterly horribly if tasted or smelled on its own, but superb when added in the right amounts.

Rice is a also a major component of Thai cuisine.

Sweet-smelling jasmine rice is indigenous to Thailand, and rice dishes are often accompanied by highly aromatic curries and stir-fries, which usually contain large quantities of the chillies, lime juice and lemongrass making the food so distinctive.

A typical Thai meal tends to be many dishes served concurrently rather than a traditional main course served after starters.

Don't be scared. Try cooking some spicy prawn soup yourself

Ingredients, (for 2 servings)
Five-seven prawns, 120g straw mushrooms, one-two lemongrass stalks, three-four kaffir lime leaves, one tbs roasted chilli paste, two tbs fish sauce, three tbs lime juice, three-four fresh chillies, four cups water.

Coriander leaves, red chillies and kaffir lime leaves for garnishing.

Process:
Clean and de-vein the prawns. Cut lengthwise down the centre, but not all the way through.

Rinse mushrooms and trim off base. Dry well, and cut in half.

Bring water to boil. Add lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves; then add the prawns and mushrooms. Cook for 3-5 minutes.

Remove from heat, season with roasted chilli paste, fish sauce, lime juice, and chillies.

Garnish with red chillies, kaffir lime leaves and coriander leaves.

Note : Coconut milk can be added to enrich creamy flavour.

Sam Burson, Western Mail

Fishing Report

2006-05-04T01:59:00.000-07:00

Water conditions: Choppy. Gulf Shores Marina reports sheepshead are hitting out from the beach and ling are running. Spanish and king mackerel making an appearance.

Water conditions: 65 degrees; light stain. Bass: Waterfront Grocery reports that using soft plastics, spinnerbaits and Rat-L-Traps are getting action in 4 feet or less. Crappie: Use minnows and jigs in 6 feet. Bream: Good catches reported using crickets and Keystone minnows.

Inland

Water conditions: 59 degrees; clear. Bass: Spotted bass hitting on plastic worms and crankbaits. Bream: Nice shellcrackers being caught on red worms. Fish on the bottom. Striped bass: Around the S-curve in deeper water. Try shad or large minnows. Note: The first tournament at Inland Marina is Friday 7 p.m. to midnight, then every Friday throughout the summer. Tuesday night tournaments begin April 18, then every other Tuesday from 7-11:30 p.m.

Logan Martin

Water conditions: 64 degrees; light stain. Riverside Marina reports water level is 3-to-4 feet below full pool. Bass: Some large bass have been caught early in the day using Ole Nellie coldslaw-colored skirts with gold blades. Later, try glass purple Sunfire, or glass Shad Rap in shallow water. Crappie: Chartreuse jigs and minnows landing some nice fish in 4-6 feet around structure. Catfish: Cut shad and nightcrawlers on bottom of channel working best.

Lake Purdy

Water conditions: Mid-60s; clear. Bass: Spotted bass abundant on the banks in deeper water. Carolina-rigged mini-lizard with 1 or 1/0 hook works best. Crappie: Running in shallow water of the main lake. Use a bobber and Tuffie minnows in 12-18 inches. Catfish: Slow. Night fishing best on nightcrawlers and rooster livers.

Smith Lake

Water conditions: 58 degrees; clear. Bass: Speegle's Marina reports good catches using plastic worms and jigs. Crappie: Biting fair on small minnows. Some being caught on Red Fins. For generation schedules or lake levels for any Alabama Power lake, call 1-800-525-3711. Fishing reports compiled by News staff writer Mary Jane Kuehner.

© 2006 The Birmingham News. All rights reserved.

You've got to find what you love

2006-04-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

STANFORD UNIVERSITY | Stanford Report, June 14, 2005

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs,
CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios,
delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from
one of the finest universities in the world. I never
graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest
I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to
tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big
deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but
then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so
before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a
young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to
put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I
should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was
all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his
wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the
last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents,
who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the
night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want
him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later
found out that my mother had never graduated from college
and that my father had never graduated from high school.
She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only
relented a few months later when my parents promised that I
would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose
a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all
of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my
college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value
in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and
no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And
here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved
their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that
it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time,
but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever
made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the
required classes that didn't interest me, and begin
dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I
slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke
bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would
walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one
good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it.
And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity
and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me
give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best
calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the
campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was
beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out
and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to
take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned
about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the
amount of space between different letter combinations,
about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful,
historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't
capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application
in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the
first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we
designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer
with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on
that single course in college, the Mac would have never had
multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And
since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no
personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped
out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy
class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful
typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to
connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But
it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can
only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust
that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have
to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma,
whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has
made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky – I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz
and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We
worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the
two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over
4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation -
the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30.
And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company
you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I
thought was very talented to run the company with me, and
for the first year or so things went well. But then our
visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we
had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors
sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out.
What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone,
and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt
that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs
down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed
to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to
apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public
failure, and I even thought about running away from the
valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me – I still
loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not
changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still
in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired
from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened
to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by
the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about
everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative
periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT,
another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an
amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to
create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy
Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in
the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought
NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed
at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And
Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I
hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting
medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life
hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm
convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I
loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And
that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.
Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and
the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you
believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is
to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep
looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart,
you'll know when you find it. And, like any great
relationship, it just gets better and better as the years
roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If
you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll
most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and
since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the
mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the
last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to
do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too
many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important
tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices
in life. Because almost everything – all external
expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or
failure - these things just fall away in the face of death,
leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you
are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap
of thinking you have something to lose. You are already
naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan
at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my
pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The
doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer
that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no
longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go
home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code
for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids
everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell
them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything
is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for
your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I
had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat,
through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle
into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was
sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they
viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started
crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of
pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the
surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope
its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived
through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more
certainty than when death was a useful but purely
intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven
don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the
destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And
that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the
single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent.
It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now
the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will
gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be
so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone
else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living
with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the
noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart
and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly
want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called
The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my
generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand
not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life
with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before
personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all
made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It
was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before
Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with
neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole
Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they
put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your
age. On the back cover of their final issue was a
photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you
might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so
adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay
Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that
for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish
that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much

===========================================

So who's saying that you cannot be successful because of
your current situation? Everything happens for a reason.

Did you know that Paul Counsel is a financially broke man
at the age of 40? He was just a potter and yet, he became a
multi-millionaire in 3 years and 8 months. Read his book,
The Infinite Wealth.

Warmest regards,

Patric Chan
CEO, eSuccessMastery.com

motivation

success tips

2006-04-19T01:32:00.000-07:00

success tips