Average Age MLB Games

MLB reports the average age of the supporters/fans has risen to 55 years. They are thinking to change some rules to attract a younger audience and speed up the game (read less boring...).  But what about the average age of those that play the game?

Derek Jeter is busy with his 20th and final season at age 40. 

I am no Yankee fan, Duh, stating the obvious! But this icon will always have my respect, for being the great sportsman that he is!

Dè Flanegin (Hoofddorp Pioniers) is retiring after 23 (Twenty-three!) seasons at age 42... This guy

ended his last game playing all positions possible.

 

Nothing but respect for these guys, but... Is this a trend or did I just pick 2 guys too good to retire? Just imaging that age is nothing but a number. What would the diamond look like???

Something like this???

Oil me up!

Since the ending of last Baseball season, my elbow is hurting; I throw an average of 250 balls per training (4 to 5 trainings a week) as BP. Afterwards I always have a soar elbow, what you might know as a Golf-elbow... The pain is on the inside of the elbow, in contrary to the Tennis-elbow (which is on the outside).

The only workable solution I found so far, is to put myself on the DL-list for a couple of days. But who will be throwing BP then??? The worst solution is getting a Tommy John surgery, but that means I cannot use my arm for 9 up to 12 months...

Last week I threw some balls again, right away pain in my elbow! My wife made a mix of 3 Young Living oils (Pan-Away, Peppermint & Valor added some Almond-oil) to rub on. The pain went away rather quick and after 3 day the pain was gone completely!!!

Me happy, the pain is gone & I can throw some more balls!!!

Anybody got a clone-machine?

Okay... Both kids have a game on Sunday... At about the same time... At two different locations... And there is just one of me!

Since I am trainer/coach for both teams, this is one of the down-sides to having both kids play. And I am not even talking about my own games...

Kid #2 will be playing @ Sparks Haarlem, which is relatively close-by; game is max hour and a half.
Kid #1 will be playing @ Flying Petrels Purmered, which is a bit further away; his game will be max 2 hours.

So now I got a dilemma... How do I split myself in two?

I know! There is always a solution, but I made a commitment to these kids at the start of this season, and now I already have to let down ('cause that's how it feels to me) one of the teams!

The solution is now as follows: my wife will bring Kid #2 to his game (someone will be replacing me - so they got a coach), while I will be hitching a ride to the game of Kid #1. Since the game of Kid #1 will start later and eventually end later, my wife will join us as soon as Kid #2 has finished his game...

ANYWAYZ! To leave you with a subject of lighter matter... Kid #1 has made the selection of the Little League regional team of Kennemerland to play for the Dutch National Championship!!!

Thrift shopping

Sometimes I join my wife for some Thrift shopping. I generally come back with a vinyl record or 2, but last weeks hunt was a beauty!

I found this here cap for €1... Check out the MLB shop for the regular retail price!

Just a quick rinse and Ed's got a brand new cap!

PS. Guess what just popped up in my mailbox? An mail from my wife to go thifting this weekend at the IJ-hallen in Amsterdam-Noord...

RCH Aspiranten 1 Back On Track

Yesterdays game was a good one!

The guys were really bummed out about the `unnecessary´ loss against Amsterdam Pirates. Still thinking about it makes me wanna re-play that game! And I am not the only one thinking that...

But 'nuff said. Back to present time: yesterday's opponent was Hoofddorp Pioniers 2. The team was ready to leave the loss of 2 weeks ago be and look forwards. Several guys were late as they also had a game with Aspiranten 2, but the complete team would start this game.

The first inning they got 1 runner batted in, we got 2. Second inning they got another runner in, we got none... Third inning THEY got none and we got 6 runners batted in! Taking a big lead, of which they never recovered from. The fourth as well as the final (fifth) inning they didn't get any more runners batted in, leaving their total runs to just 2. We got another hit and a couple of fly balls in the fourth inning that kept our runs total 8 to win the game.

With this win, we are back on track: going with 3 games 2 wins 1 loss. Still keeping up with the competition!

Time for the weekend...

THANK GOD IT'S WEEKEND!

How was your weekend?

How was your weekend?

Mine was great! FINALLY we got to play our first games, although it be practice games!

Son #2 had his first game with his U13 team 2nd division. He was my starting pitcher. Ever since he got glasses last year his performance on the "mount" has improved. Hence my starting pitcher. 

I am one of those coaches that does not care for the outcome of a game other than the kids must have learned something from that game and they need to have fun. Don't get me wrong: Winning is great, but not at all costs...

On this U13 team I have 2 pitchers and found out Saturday that 2 is not enough! So I had to put 2 kids on the mount that never pitched a ball before, but they are the bigger kids, so they needed to be an example to the rest of the team. Hopefully their effort is good enough for the others to give pitching a try as well. Fingers crossed! The team played great against Odiz Frogs, I have no idea what the score was... 

Son #1 had his first game with his new U16 team 1st division. He was the starting catcher, has been that for years. Strong arm, not afraid of the ball, just lacking some confidence, but that is probably part of puberty. With the move to 1st division he became the smallest team member, where he used to be one of the bigger guys on his previous team. 

With this guy's team we do care for the result, but like I said before: Not at all costs. Today's game was the first real tryout of the team. We only had 9 player (1 was a bit under the weather, but he was there), so we had to make due... Although. We had 4 great innings against Kinheim: 18 against 9!

Like I said: Mine was great!

New Bruise's

No, I do not mean the new Springsteen album!

At this weekend's training I was the designated front tosser at the hitting station...
Yes, that's right! I still keep forgetting how hard these guys are throwing & in my case: HITTING!

1 in the knee, 1 in the mid-section and 1 on the biceps...

Hence the bruises.

1 More time: A-Rod

What might have happened if A-Rod misinterpreted his drug of choice:

PET in stead of PED...

Ladies & Gentlemen! The Baseball School is in session!!!

Here's a little sum up of the weekend.
Yesterday we went to the Hockeyteam of Amsterdam: 
Amstel Tigers. 

 Just me, the kids and a couple of baseball friends! We spend a lot of money there:
1. € 0.30 parking
2. € 0 entrance fee
3. € 5 coffee & beer
4. € 3 French fries


Today the baseball holidays are done! FINALLY the indoor sessions of RCH Pinguins started around 9:30 with 27 overly enthusiast kids (7-12), 18 eager adolescents (12-15) and later on the guys of 16-21 that are gonna try to claim 1 of 4 spots in the Rookie League for 2015!

Happy Dad... Happy Kids!!!

 

I love New York, but...

I hate Yankees!

So no, I do not have any consideration for them losing A-Rod over the entire season. You got to learn to live with your mistakes...

Anyone interested in buying a 40 year old, overpriced, loud mouth for season 2015 through 2017??? I guest A-Rod has played his last game in New York, AL and probably MLB. I cannot imagine any other team wants to burn their rep on a stained player. At least I wouldn't...

With A-Rod being off the payroll, Yankees can start thinking of getting someone on board like Tanaka... You all know that RHP from Japan. Or maybe another 3rd base player... Or moving another pain-in-da-butt SS over to play 3rd base and get a replacement for him or 2nd base...

So now who's laughing??? Damn those Yanks.

How to survive without Baseball...

What's a baseball fan supposed to do during the months when stadiums look like this? (Getty Images)

Read the complete story HERE!

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

All of the Netherlands (and volunteers in Dutch soccer in particular) are shocked as a referee was attacked, during a soccer match. Attacked by several players of the opposing team... During the attack the referee was kicked while down, so severely that he died of the consequences a day later.
This referee was only helping out his kid's team by volunteering...

So people, let's all show our volunteers some respect!!!

Let's not make this a regular sight around our sport-fields!!!