Thursday, November 19, 2015
Monday, November 2, 2015
Korean baseball player eats it with face-first slide -
Korean baseball player eats it with face-first slide --
Sliding head-first is a risky move. Just ask Bryce Harper, who tore a ligament in his
thumb doing it. Usually you don't have to worry about scraping up your face,
but Hwang Jae-gyun of the Korea Baseball Organization wasn't so lucky. Hwang slid
so aggressively into third base he ended up dragging his face along the dirt. And to
add insult to injury, he was called out on the play. Maybe he would have been safe had
his face not provided all that extra friction.
Ouch. Here's what Hwang's face looked like in the aftermath (via MyKBO).
It's too bad Hwang will probably only be known in America for this terrible slide. He's
actually a pretty good player, batting .329 so far this year. He just needs to work on
his baserunning.
Sliding head-first is a risky move. Just ask Bryce Harper, who tore a ligament in his
thumb doing it. Usually you don't have to worry about scraping up your face,
but Hwang Jae-gyun of the Korea Baseball Organization wasn't so lucky. Hwang slid
so aggressively into third base he ended up dragging his face along the dirt. And to
add insult to injury, he was called out on the play. Maybe he would have been safe had
his face not provided all that extra friction.
Ouch. Here's what Hwang's face looked like in the aftermath (via MyKBO).
It's too bad Hwang will probably only be known in America for this terrible slide. He's
actually a pretty good player, batting .329 so far this year. He just needs to work on
his baserunning.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
What Lou Gehrig and Ryan Freel May Have Had in Common?
What Lou Gehrig and Ryan Freel May Have
Had in Common?
Al Figone, Ph.D.
& Judy Karren, MLS-Factfinderrseacher.com
I wish we could
look at Lou Gehrig’s brain and spinal cord.
I wish we could look after other athletes
who’ve died and had
ALS in the past. There’s a lot we need to
know. He did have three
or four
concussions that landed him in the hospital
stated
Dr. Ann McKee, Associate Professor of Neurology and Pathology at Boston
University (BU) School of Medicine. She and her colleagues discovered an abnormal
amount of the proteins Tau and TDP-43 in the brain and spinal cord of
two former NFL football players and one boxer who were diagnosed with ALS (i.e.
Ametrial Lateral Sclerosis), commonly
known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
McKee
and other Neuropathologists are quick to note that there were distinctions
between what she uncovered and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathology (CTE). The
types of TDP-43 and Tau proteins had
not been previously observed in brains of ALS patients, cognitive deterioration
was similar to CTE, whereas in ALS, cognitive function remains intact, and the
onset of ALS was later than previously reported in other patients. ALS is
characterized by the breakdown of the myelin sheath that lines the motor
neurons in the brain and spinal cord leading to a complete loss of muscle
function before death. The myelin sheath is similar to the lining of an
electricity wire and is essential for conduction. McKee named this new brain
disease: Chronic Traumatic Encephalomyelopathology
(CTEM). The study may have unlocked a hint about the Iron Horse’s disease 71
years after he had delivered a chilling speech on July 4, 1939:
“Fans, for
the past two weeks have been reading about a
bad break I
got,” said Gehrig, who during his career played
2130 consecutive
games and still today holds the record for
the most
grand slams. “Yet today I consider myself the luckiest
man on the
face of this earth.”
The
study involving the two football players and boxer has spiked a debate between
Neuropathologists on one side that point out their efforts in connecting brain
trauma to ALS-like symptoms, are similar to a battle connecting smoking to lung
disease. Opponents contend the evidence does not support that analogy.
Both groups
agree that repeated blows to the head, such as those sustained during an
athlete’s career can result in brain damage.
Ryan
Freel was not the first major leaguer to take his own life. But, the
circumstances surrounding the former Tallahassee Junior College standout’s
suicide were. Freel 36, was found in his Jacksonville, (FL) residence on
December 22, 2012:
“I don’t know how many
times he would talk about sliding
into second or third
base and blacking out or seeing stars.”
stated Freel’s former
wife Christie Moore Freel. “I know
a lot of people say they weren’t
shocked by it, but I really
was. I really thought at some point, the answer to all of
this would come along for him. It
just never did. I’m
very hopeful. We certainly believe there is some
sort of connection (i.e. to concussions).
Freel’s step-father Clark Vargas believed his step-son
sustained at least 10 concussions in baseball and his ex-wife shared the story
of a Venezuelan winter league game in which Freel had to be hospitalized for a
concussion after running through a fence. After one of his last concussions in
MLB, Freel reported he stayed in bed for five days, was unable to read very
much, and driving made him sick and dizzy. The family has donated his brain to
the BU Center for the study of CTE.
An undersized player by MLB
standards, Freel was a player who played the game with a hell-bent for leather
attitude----a super utility player with an above average walk rate, who stole 143 bases, and hit .269 in eight MLB
seasons. “I don’t have the size and the power, but have the heart. Anybody can
have that,” he’d tell youngsters who aspired to become MLB players.
Brain Roberts knew something was wrong after sliding head
first into first base against the Red Sox in May 2011. There was no collision
with a knee or other body part of the defensive player covering first. The two-time
All-Star got up and his head began pounding and his vision was blurred. Roberts
looked across the diamond and did not recognize any signs from the third base
coach. “I think that was the scariest part,” Roberts said,” I knew something
was wrong.” He’d suffered a concussion from the whiplash effect of the slide.
The second in about seven months. Two days later he was placed on the disabled
list (DL). He did not return to the
Orioles until June 13, 2012, more than year after the injury. He had also
concussed himself in September 2010, just five games before the end of the
season. He slammed his bat against his helmet with a blow that didn’t appear
excessive in force after a strikeout. During
the off-season, he experienced several months of headaches and dizziness that
eventually went away.
The brain’s anatomy explains how a blow to the head may
cause a concussion resulting in many outcomes, several of them serious. The
brain floats in cerebral spinal fluid that is commonly called the blood
brain barrier. When the head stops abruptly, the brain continues and reverberates
back. The skull stops, but the brain continues forward for one centimeter, then
back. Any outside padding on the head will not change the acceleration/deceleration
processes, or g-forces. (i.e., pilots will pass out at five or six g-s over
time, but in sports, a player may receive 60-90
g-s in a millisecond). Many of the head injuries are rotational such as
when a head contacts the knee of an infielder covering a base or from the
whiplash action of the head. Fibers inside the brain are sheared. (e.g. fibers
in the brain are needed for communication between cells, transport of blood
carrying nutrients, and for many other functions).
Roberts’s rehabilitation was crafted and supervised by
sport- related concussion expert, Dr. Mickey Collins at the University of
Pittsburgh Medical Center. His message
to Roberts was simple: “You will get better and you will play again, as long as
things are managed properly.” Collins’ mentor Brian Lovell, created the ImPACT
test, the gold standard for concussion testing in 2013. After almost 20 years of researching
sports-related concussions, Collins and his colleagues have found that it takes
longer for young athletes to recover from concussions, and become prone to more
concussions if not managed properly. Roberts had returned to play before his
first concussion healed.
Collins’s work has involved identifying the parts of the
brain affected by a concussion. Roberts’s
type indicated he’d suffered damage in the vestibular system, that part of the
brain located in the brain stem that processes sensory cues, turning them into
eye movements, balance, and motion. According to Collins, a former baseball
player at the University of Southern Maine, “A vestibular concussion involves a
high-functioning system most of us take for granted, the part of the brain that
allows a person to move his or her eyes, take in visual information, and
channel it into appropriate bodily movement.”
Concussions experienced by Roberts, trigger release of
materials from brain cells, including potassium and causing the absorption of
calcium. The changes constrict blood vessels and interfere with transmission
between cells and explain the reasons Roberts could not drive or walk through a
store with a shopping cart without experiencing extreme confusion, dizziness,
and disorientation.
Over the next few months, Roberts’s rehabilitation began
with following a pen back and forth with his eyes to moving his head side to
side focusing on a distant object. By June 2011, he was engaged in simple
baseball drills designed to re-establish the neural pathways that control
vestibular functioning while gradually reducing symptoms like dizziness or
blurred vision. After he was diagnosed concussion-free, the hard-working Oriole
had passed his final test by appearing in MLB again in June 2012.
Also known is that some MLB organizations disallow their
minor league players to slide head first. Yet, when they these same players
enter the major leagues, they are allowed to slide as they choose. The problem
with this practice is that millions of youngsters emulate the play of their
“heroes,” many of whom don’t slide correctly and safely.
Iron Man Lou Gehrig’s last words were: “So I close in
saying that I might have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live
for.” Hopefully any baseball player, who unsafely projects his head like a
missile into an object or opponent, will not echo the words of the Iron
Man.
Reducing
Distractions and Training Concentration in Youth League Baseball Players
Al Figone, Ph.D.
Al Figone, Ph.D.
Baseball
execution is a motor skill that requires precise coordination by the nervous system
(brain and spinal cord) and muscles. These skills must be remembered by a complex
process mislabeled muscle memory. The memory is in the brain rather than the
muscles. Players can improve this memory process by adopting certain mental
strategies that repeatedly reinforce the impulses sent from the brain to the
muscles and the ones returned to the brain from the muscles as feedback.
In competition, 0.04% of the time is active
or requires an adequate level of concentration.
In a two and a half hour game (i.e.9000 seconds), about six minutes
(i.e.360 seconds) require a hard focus or concentration by all
players, except the pitcher and catcher. A critical aspect of coaching is
to reduce distractions and train the mind to concentrate similar to reading for
comprehension. Distractions occur overwhelmingly between pitches before players
engage in some form of physical execution: hitting, bunting, base running, base
stealing, team offense, catching and pitching, infield and outfield play, and
team offense.
Causes of distractions are as varied as
each player’s personality. Nature of outcomes such as a strikeout, error in
fielding, or picked off a base are some examples of events that may interfere
with future performance when they inhibit activating concentration when needed.
Less than positive outcomes are inevitable, what matters is how players react
to them.
Concentration
Applied to Hitting.
Lack of hitting success is a typical
frustration in baseball. Imagine not succeeding at a task seven out of ten
times. In baseball, a consistent success ratio or batting average of .300 is
the benchmark used to label players as “good hitters.” Consider a scenario
where a player strikes out swinging with R’s in scoring position, repeatedly
misses inside fastballs, and 35% of hit balls are pop flies or fly ball outs.
The probability of becoming a paralysis by analysis hitter (PBAH)
by this player is high. Before, during, and after at-bats, unchecked
self-thoughts perpetuate the continuation of inaccurate and self-defeating
thoughts. An effective and suggested corrective process follows in the next
section and includes training concentration combined with
technical execution practiced perfectly over time.
Successful
hitters are disciplined in terms of not swinging at balls out of the strike
zone and pitches labeled as STR-balls (a pitch that may be a strike or ball).
They create favorable hitter’s counts of:
1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 2-1, 3-1, 1-1 and 3-2.
Mental and technical changes in baseball
will not occur when general terms are given such as: “swing at strikes,” “put
the ball in play,” and “good swing” because they contain nonapplicable content.
What’s critical is that players understand the application of selected mental
aspects of baseball. Baseball execution at its core is a motor skill. “Motor”
infers that the skill by its nature requires precise coordination by the
nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and muscles. The higher the level, the
more consistently executed are specific baseball skills such as pitching and
hitting and the converse takes place at the lower levels or less consistent
performance. The reasons for the above are complex and attributable to the more
precise coordination and development of the nervous system and specific muscles
required at the highest levels of the game.
Players can assist the memory process by
adopting mental strategies that facilitate the coordination of the brain and
muscles. In hitting, fear of striking out and losing the one-on-one battle with
the pitcher by not scoring a R in scoring position can adversely affect level
of relaxation needed for the quick activation. Tense muscles react slower to
impulses from the brain.
An
appropriate relaxation level for hitting a line drive is achieved with a clear
mind combined with efficient breathing. If one faces a wild pitcher who throws
the ball 95 M.P.H. or one who throws soft, but with pinpoint control, what was
the primary difference? Most of us would respond by saying “fear of injury.” A
normal protective mechanism that is part is part of our survival instincts.
Hence, players need to learn how to successfully achieve an optimal relaxed
state when batting. One such method is to repeatedly say before, during, and
after the at bat: See the ball!
Repeating, this simple axiom can produce a clear mind. Also, deep,
rhythmic breathing needs to be practiced and mastered between pitches.
Technically, this means while at bat,
maintain a relaxed or soft focus by looking at the
pitcher’s cap until the pitcher begins to windup or stretch, and then change to
a hard
focus that automatically triggers concentration.
Seeing the ball at the release point
initiates the swing mechanics the ball will arrive to the contact point in less
0.50 of a second. The ball is followed all the way to the catcher’s glove if
not swung at... Between pitches, repetition of see the ball is the only
necessary self-talk. Repeating the above thought is designed to ignore
less than positive negative thoughts and external elements such as: spectators’
noise, umpire calls, or weather conditions. The goal in the above process is to
eliminate thoughts that are interfering with concentration. Teaching players
and practicing what to see is also a vital part of successful performance.
Strike zone discipline is also achieved
by going to bat with a sequential predetermined mental strategy and designed
readiness to hit sweet spot pitches when delivered. A suggested
strategy follows:
1.
Up to
two strikes, “any ball above the waist let it go.”
2.
A
pitcher will throw on average of “two sweet spot pitches at least twice every
at bat.” Be ready to rip on any pitch!
3.
Up to
two strikes, look for “sweet spot” pitches, if not seen, take the pitch.
4.
With one
strike expand the “sweet spot” a little--allow flexibility here as a little
has different connotations for each player.
5.
With two
strikes, any pitch in the strike zone is ripped by not choking up, just
putting the ball in play, etc. A line drive or groundball is the goal. Strike
zone expansion is the only change.
Adopting
individual variations of the above strategies to achieve hitter’s counts is
encouraged. The“proof of the pudding” is success percentage in achieving counts
favorable to batters. If an individual strategy does not result in attaining
deep or hitter’s counts, then it’s time to adopt the five-step strategy
identified above. Forcing a thought process may cause tension, but lack of
batting success will create even more tension.
The next step is to set up drills to gradually reduce and ultimately
eliminate any dysfunctional hitting thought processes. They include:
1.
The
showing of Pete Rose’s style in taking a pitch visually to reinforce tracking.
2.
As P’s
and C’s bullpen workout, practice tracking as in a game situation. Assists the
catchers, pitcher and batters.
3.
To
eliminate the tendency to miss a specific type or location of pitches, set up
stations for all hitters in BP with different machines delivering selected
pitches at different locations (i.e. fastballs in and out and up and down).
4.
To
develop RBI confidence, set a drill during BP where batters execute with R’s in
different scoring situations. Include pitchers who can throw game conditions
strikes 80% of the time, to different locations, and include selected
counts.
5.
Film
steps #2-#4.
6.
Objectively
assess hitting by utilizing a computer spreadsheet-based evaluative system.
7.
Film
practice and game hitting and compare results.
Concentration Applied to Fielding A
Groundball
Reaction
time is considered to be an inherited and trainable trait involving the eyes,
the brain in processing information from the eyes for decision-making, and the
nerves transmitting the brain’s signals to the muscles needed to execute the
most efficient first move in moving to a groundball. How can a coach assist a
player in decreasing reaction time in moving to a ball? Simply fungoing a lot of groundballs to
infielders will not assist in improvement. How many times have you seen an
infielder miss a groundball to his side by a step? And, if his first movements
are replayed, more than likely a number of incorrect movements may have been
executed that made him a step slow to the ball, one of the drawbacks of
fungoing groundballs in isolation or non-competitive-like conditions.
Combining
appropriate mental and technical drills may decrease reaction time with
repetitive practicing the correct first movements for a groundball to an
infielder’s sides. The mental processing leading to quicker first step
movements include picking up a pitched ball 10’ feet in front of HP and
following the ball into the contact point. The next step is to read the
horizontal angle of the bat which determines to what part of the field the ball
will be hit. A RHB, whose bat contacts the ball at about 45 degrees in front of
the hip nearest the plate, will hit a ball from 2B and to the right of that
base (left side of field). A ball contacted approximately four inches in front
the hip furthest from HP will direct the ball from 2B and the left of 2B (right
side of field).. Any in-between contact points from the above two points will
put the ball in play between the two points.
The Mental Aspects of
Baseball: Necessary Concentration
“Baseball is impossible without psychology:
impossible to play, and impossible to appreciate fully as a fan,” stated Mike
Stadler, author of The Psychology of Baseball, psychologist, and
University of Missouri professor. “Watch any game and most of what you see is
thinking. Most other sports apply specific amounts of psychology to improve
performance, but baseball is different because it gives players a lot more time
to think before each action,” continued Stadler. “Some of the major leaguers’
extraordinary abilities to coordinate physical and mental processes include:
faster reaction times, focus, and high visual acuity,” according to Stadler. “A
player has to be one of out of two million that possesses the total package of
physical and psychological skills to succeed at the highest levels of the
game,” he concluded.
The Psychology of Baseball
includes a significant amount of researched material, including several
interviews with successful major leaguers and others who were drafted in the
same rounds as those players who reached the majors, but for a variety of
mental and physical reasons did not reach the highest level of competition.
Stadler’s findings also have important implications for the future training of
players’ mental thought processes as they relate to performance in all levels
of the game.
Hence,
specific mental adjustments must be mastered by players at all levels of the
game as they progress to each higher level. Consider a batter who hits 8 out 10
balls hard to all parts of the field in 12 at-bats, but only 2 fall in safely
with runners in scoring position. He has a meaningless batting average of .200,
including 3 RBIs, 1 stolen base, and 2 successful hit and runs; four outs that
advanced runners 90 feet; and 7 at bats involving long counts and two bases on
balls. But his team won three consecutive games. For this play, the batting
average reveals almost nothing about a player’s offensive and defensive
contributions to the team’s success. The point: Constructive interpretation of the
above events will motivate. Demotivation will occur if the focus is only on BA.
For
players at the lowest levels in the developmental stage of hitting,
self-confidence can be taught to redefine hitting success that should become
stronger as they move to the higher levels of competition. Major leaguers have
undoubtedly mastered successful adjustments to events perhaps mislabeled as
failures, such as a strikeout with no outs in the sixth inning and nobody on
base in a tied game; or a strikeout with one out in the ninth inning with
runners on second and third, and the batter’s
team behind by two runs. The implications related to a player’s self-confidence in each situation
are numerous, but clearly the end result has to be the constructive
self-interpretation of each event, allowing the mind to quickly become ready
for the next pitch, at-bat, or game.
Successful
coaches and players repeatedly need to work on improvement. Success is normally
follows and is easier to adjust to than failure. Stated differently, we feel
better after success in a highly valued task as opposed to failure, especially
if we work as hard as possible to master the task. Realistic goals established
at the lower levels can lead to realistic self-confidence in specific aspects
of baseball that should become stronger in small increments as a player moves
to higher levels.
Often,
external sources such as parents, friends and others can assist this process by
praising effort and not judging outcomes. In turn, the process will develop the
inner drive or intrinsic motivation that leads a youngster to practicing and
playing the game for enjoyment. This is in contrast to a long-term goal, like
playing in the majors, which often produces negative consequences such as
indifference to academics. Feedback designed to improve leads to a series of
improvements that become efficient motor patterns.
Teamwork: Training Concentration
Teamwork involves the interpersonal
interactions that occur between teammates on and off the field. Few motivators
surpass the respect one receives from his peers when a task such as driving in
a run or advancing a man 90’ is accomplished.
Inherent in this process is unselfishness and that
characteristic is the mark of a winning player
But, offensive and defensive
performances in baseball are measured individually such as E.R.A. and fielding
percentage. Team statistics are also available and provide another objective
measure. One measure does not include statistics used by agents when
negotiating contracts for players that show ways a player’s team play has been
instrumental in a team’s success. Coaches are encouraged to establish their own
team statistics that are based on multiple performances on offense and defense
that are instrumental to success.
An example is a catcher who’s
studied the opposing batters, knows his pitcher’s idiosyncrasies, and calls
pitches that produce a lot of outs. And, his receiving skills create confidence
in the pitcher throwing a few balls in the dirt because missing low is better
than missing high? Or, who spends time in the bullpen with pitchers as both
complete specific drills. A team’s
awareness of a catcher’s contribution to the game’s outcome can be shared with
the rest of the team by posting a score that illustrate his
overall contribution to team’s success.
Players can
wrongly interpret Labels. In a talent-rich
program, sitting a player is assumed to be a motivator when in reality most of
what the player needed was a precise understanding of which aspect of
performance needed improvement. Attending only to a player’s physical execution
is in essence ignoring mental processes and reinforcing incorrect habits. And,
the longer the habit is repeated, the longer and more resistant to change the
process becomes. Ask anyone who’s attempted to stop smoking. Apply mental approaches
that economize explanation or reduce explanations. See more and talk less. A
last example of this axiom is presented next.
Conventional wisdom in baseball
used to be that “mental errors are excusable, but physical ones are not.” Most
errors are the result of inattention to some mental aspect of execution. The
ball was not seen into the glove, the pitcher was told to throw strikes with a
four run lead instead of pitching the way he did when the game was tied; hence
walks the bases loaded. Or, a batter with a runner on third is reminded to put
the ball in the air to score the runner. Instead, the swing changes from what
he’s repeatedly practiced (i.e. hit
the ball hard) and pops up. All situations where mental thoughts
interfered with effortless performance.
Patience is a behavior to master.
One did not learn to walk in a day, week, or month. Be patient, but stay with
the mental program without letting it get in the way of enjoying the game. Use
available online assessments provided for each skill executed for obtaining a
comprehensive and systematic progress of hard work. Successful adjustments leads to more self-confidence
that less than positive outcomes will be viewed as challenges to master. Fun in
baseball is synonymous with hard work and success.
Fortunately
for today’s players and coaches, technology has advanced at almost light speed
quickness in all areas that relate to baseball—and to our lives as well.
Youngsters today as young as five are increasingly using technology for a
variety of reasons. Similarly, coaches today are increasingly challenged by
computer-literate players in year-round youth league programs that focus
primarily on playing and less on mental and technical improvement, which
encourages many dysfunctional and injury-related executions, such as reacting
to an inside pitch and headfirst sliding. The results of these trends have
redefined the roles of coaches in schools and other settings that require
changes by dedicated coaches at all levels of the game.
Successful
coaches in baseball have already begun the necessary transitions by creatively
adopting programs that address the mental and technical needs of players at all
levels of the sport. Psychological or mental improvement programs proliferate,
and technology-based products increase as this article is written. Two of
today’s challenges for coaches are the control of training for players who use
outside sources, even traveling in some cases to foreign countries, and the
application of video technology to remove the guesswork when comparing
successful and unsuccessful mental and technical execution.
The
“traveling team mentality” ignores the fact that science has trumped the
conventional wisdom of playing a lot of games to learn the game. Science-based
off-season programs today include academic counseling and tracking of diploma
or degree process, psychological services, functional strength training, conditioning,
development of healthy nutritional practices, skill-specific drills, vision
training, and the use of video analysis. When to begin each of these processes
with youth league is a science-based decision.
Today,
the need to receive external coaching is greater than ever regardless of the
level of competition. Well-taught, self-confident, self-coached baseball
players recognize their analytical limitations and seek out expert assistance
before a slump kicks in. They know that preventing a slump is hard work, but
working through one is even harder, as well as emotionally exhausting. Seeking
science-based knowledge and applying the most
updated technology will mark the nature of successful baseball coaching in the
very near future.
References
Journals
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Figone, A. 1991. Teaching the Mental Aspects of
Baseball: A Coach and Players’ Handbook. New York: McGraw-Hill.
------See More
and Talk Less: Teaching and Applying the Mental Aspects of Baseball. A Handbook
for Players, Coaches, and Parents. Charleston, SC.: Createspace
Gallwey, T. M. 1974. The Inner Game of Tennis. Rev. ed., 1997. New York: Random House.
Garrido, A. 2011.Life Is Yours to Win: Lessons
Forged from the Purpose, Passion, and Magic of Baseball. New York:
Simon & Schuster.
Gola, M. 2008. Baseball’s
Sixth Tool: Playing the Mental Game to
Get the Competitive Edge. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hanson, T., and K. Ravizza. 1998. Heads-Up
Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hernandez, K. 1994. Pure Baseball: Pitch by Pitch
for the Advanced Fan. New York: Harper-Collins..
House, T., and D. Thorburn. 2009. Arm
Action, Path, and the Perfect Pitch: Building a Million Dollar
Arm. Monterey, CA: Coaches Choice.
House, T., G. Heil, and S. Johnson. 2006. The Art & Science of Pitching.
Monterey, CA: Coaches Choice.
Ickes, C. S. 2010. Mental Toughness: Getting the
Edge. Ashland, OH: IRC Holdings.
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the Pitcher’s Mound. Orlando, FL: Harcourt.
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Inside the Mental Game of the Major League Player. New York: Gotham Press.
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Hitting World. The Mental Game of Hitting, by Brian Cain. http://www.hittingworld.com/.
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Count: 3982
The Utley Take Me Out Of The Game Slide: The Dark Side Of Major League Baseball
The Utley Take Out Of The Game Slide: The Dark Side of Major League
Baseball.
Al Figone
Folsom, CA
October 20, 2015
Major League Baseball (MLB) and other levels
of the game since their inception have experienced “dark years” when the purity
of the game was overtaken by externally-driven economic and social forces. For
MLB, it was the insidiousness of the owners’ “winking an eye” at the gambling
menace since the beginning of the National League in 1876 that led to the 1919
Black Sox Scandal.[1] In the
latter part of the 20th century, Performance enhancing drugs (PEDS) besmirched
the accomplishments of potential Hall of Famers [i.e. Bonds, Clemens, Palmeiro].[2] In
2015, it’s the take out slide to
prevent a double play that has become the latest threat to the game’s
integrity.
Assuredly, the
billion dollar advertising industry that sustains television and its attendant
businesses has brought wealth to the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL beyond anyone’s wildest
predictions. But, how does the TV industry ask MLB to protect its most valuable
commodity or players’ skills from fundamentally unsafe technical executions?
Football has finally accepted that any form of brain trauma can cause permanent
brain disease and implemented rules prohibiting specific blows to the head.
Overuse and improper pitching mechanics have created an epidemic of Tommy John
surgeries [replacement of the ulnar ligament in elbow]. And, the medical
community has invested significant money to research and develop ways to
prevent million dollar arms from blowing out because of unsound mechanics.[3] Following
the Scott Cousins head first slide into Buster Posey in 2011, MLB, initiated a
rule that protects catchers from unnecessary types of collision [Cousins chose
to level Posey in front of home instead of sliding to the foul side of the
plate].[4]
Anyone observing the
Chase Utley take out slide on October 10th which broke the fibula
bone in Ruben Tejada’s right leg had to be stunned by the sheer possibility of
a catastrophic injury. Most perplexing was the virtual lack of criticism by MLB
baseball players, executives, managers, or anyone financially associated with
the sport about the propriety of the slide? Take out slides have been prevalent
and expected in baseball since before the 20th century.[5] The
slide was invented to injure African-Americans playing a middle infield
position before institutionalized racism excluded the few blacks in the NL from
the game in 1900. Contrary to the myth that Ty Cobb used the slide exclusively,
the slide including the fadeaway [a bent-leg designed to avoid a tag], was used
sparingly by Cobb but remained popular because of its efficiency in quickly
reaching a base or home, ease in learning and mastery, and teaching of Detroit
scout and sliding guru Bernie DeViveiros beginning in the 1950’s.[6] Frank Robinson was known as a vicious take
out slider, but he did so by combining speed, size, and the bent-leg slide.
And, few infielders or baserunners were injured during the slide’s execution
until its virtual disappearance in the latter part of the 20th
century. [7]
In the absence of
teaching a correct bent-leg pop up and fadeaway and hook slides at the youth
levels and popularized by all-time MLB leader in base stealing Ricky Henderson,
the head first gained popularity at all levels of the game. However, versions
of the feet first slide were employed by the second all- time stolen base
leader Lou Brock, Maury Wills (4th), and Joe Morgan (8th).[8]
Clearly, with the exception of Henderson who possessed thick and muscular legs,
a low center of gravity when running, and would reach full stride in less than
four steps after takeoff, Brock, Wills, and Morgan relied almost exclusively on
studying pitcher’s moves to home or first, variation in their lead techniques,
and a technically sound take off.[9]
Although sliding is a key element in pilfering bases, it’s the work completed
before the slide that is most important in stealing bases.
Old and new timers
labeled the Utley [take me out of the ball game] slide as playing the
old-fashioned way: hard-nosed, aggressive. by the book, team-first, and taking
one for the team.[10] Kansas City’s Hal McRae developed a
reputation as a no-holds barred take out slider with slides ranging from
shoulder contact to leg whips popularly executed in the junk sport of
wrestling. To stem the possibility of seriously injuring an infielder, MLB
initiated the [McRae or “neighborhood rule”] shortly after Royals’ outfielder
took out the Yankees’ Willie Randolph in the 1977 ALCS.[11]
Interpreted, baserunners on a sure force play would be called out if a
fielder’s foot was close enough to the bag so the ball would be released sooner
to complete a double play. The baserunner was also disallowed to intentionally
contact the fielder unless he could reasonably reach a base with any part of
his body and had slid on the ground before contacting the fielder.[12]
[insert Utley October 10, 2015 slide here]
The McRae rule did
not move managers, coaches and players at the professional of amateur levels to
safely teach and apply the safest methods of sliding into bases or home. In
fact, because of baserunner’s employing the head first in stealing, executing a
feet first slide take out or slide at home became a dilemma for players who had
never learned a correct bent-leg or hook slide during their formative years in
the game.[13] Hence,
the double leg whip towards third from a player’s left side or rightfield from
the right side, contacts the pivotperson’s stride leg anywhere from the ankles
to the knees and has become a weapon of
choice for many players in
preventing a double play. A number of
serious injuries have been recorded when baserunners have whipped their legs
from third base side of the bag [Yankees’ Nick Swisher breaking Tsuyoshi
Nishioka’s fibula in 2011], rightfield side of second [ Tejada-Utley], and
lunging over the bag towards left-center [Cardinals’ Matt Holliday injuring the
Giants’ Marco Scutaro’s left knee in the 2012 NLCS].[14]
[insert photo of double leg whip slide here]
The
overwhelming vocal support of the whip leg take out slide in the majors is
puzzling considering it can injure the slider and defensive player. Consider
the comments of Giants’ broadcast crew member and analyst Mike Krukow in the
aftermath of the Holliday slide:
Low barrel rolls [are acceptable]. When
A-Rod took out Jeff Kent and
sprained Kent’s right knee in 1998,
he [low] barreled him. On TV that
night, Kuip [Duane Kuiper a 12 year
MLB second baseman] and I said
[that’s a legit play]. After the
game, Kent was pissed about it. He said
that was a horseshit slide. No, it’s
not. Basically, a low barrel roll—
anything within arm distance of the
bag--is acceptable.[15]
The failure of MLB
to elevate the status of properly researching, applying, and implementing the
proper method of sliding to the same level of teaching pitching mechanics and
care of the arm (i.e. pitch counts, specializations [long, middle, and short
reliever, set-up, closer, etc.]) can be observed at all levels of professional
and collegiate baseball [16]
In systematically observing sliding at selected professional and amateur levels
since 201l, this author reported:
The
most efficient sliding has been recorded at the junior college, four-year
college,
and minor league levels. In comparison, the slides at the major league
and
amateur levels from the high school to the lower levels of youth league
have
been the least efficient.[17]
Particularly troubling is that millions of
people including individuals playing amateur baseball at all ages are viewing
the most skilled baseball players in the world wrongly executing a skill that
can unnecessarily ruin a career in a heartbeat because of a catastrophic
injury.[18]
Although amateur
baseball has implemented a number of stringent rules to avoid serious sliding
injuries, the National Federation of High School baseball rule states in part: A
legal slide in high school may be [head
or feet first].[19]
Combine this rule with the confusion of amateur coaches and players which is exacerbated
when they observe [no holds barred take out slides] at second, home, or on a
force play, and baseball in America has created a recipe for disaster involving amateur and professional players
sliding. Regardless of what a national, regional, or local rules’ book suggests,
the precepts don’t supersede federal or state statutes that recognize the
inherent risk of baseball or softball sliding.[20] And,
do not immunize a coach’s or other sports training personnel’s from legal
liability for unnecessarily increasing the inherent risk of executing a
baseball or softball slide.[21]Let’s
allow MLB or amateur baseball rules and not the courts determine the legality of
a double whip leg or barrel roll side
End Notes
[1] Eliot
Asinof. Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and
the 1919 World Series. Chicago: Holt, Rinehart, and
Winston, 1963,
Sean Devaney, The Original Curse: Did The Cubs Throw The 1918 World Series To
Babe
Ruth’s Red Sox And Incite The Black Sox
Scandal. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.
[2] Jordan
Kobritz. “Piling On Clemons,” Jordan
Kobritz Article Archives, 7 January 2009.
cat
id=68:Jordan-kobritz&Itemid-156.
[3] John
Pinkman. “Youth Baseball Pitching: Teaching Proper Mechanics Critical.” Moms Team, ND,
[4] Tyler
Kepner. “Buster Posey’s Injury Sharpens Debate On Collisions.” 1 June 2011, New York Times.
http:www.nytomes.com2011/06/02/sports/basecall/buster-posey-injury-sharpens-debate-on-
collisions.html? _r=0.
[5] Jules
Tygiel, Past Time: Baseball As History.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2000,
Edward J. Rielley.
Baseball: An Encyclopedia of Popular
Culture. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000.
[6] Mike
Stone and Art Regner. The Great Book of
Detroit Sports Lists. Amazon Digital Services: Running Press.
2006.
[7] Russsell
Roberts, Stolen: A History of Base
Stealing. Jefferson, NC.: McFarland,
1999
[8] Ibid, Baseball
Refereence.Com. Career Leaders & Records for Stolen Bases
Philadelphia: Sports
Reference. LLC,
2000-2015
[9] Mike
Roberts with Tim Bishop. Baserunning:
Leads-Steals-Sliding-and More. Champaign, IL.: Human
Kinetics, 2014
[10] “MLB
Suspends Dodgers’ Chase Utley After Slide Into Mets’ Tejada.” CBS New York, 11 October 2015.
http://new
york.cbslocal.com2015/10/11/dodgers-utley-mets-slider, Jason Turbow. “Sanity
vs. Reality on the
Basepaths: Time to Embrace the New School.” The Baseball Codes. 12 October 2015.
http://the
baseballcodes.com/category/slide-properly.
[11] Scott
Chiusano. “Take me out of the ballgame: the most brutal take our slides in
baseball.” New York Daily
News, 12 October 2015.
http:www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/ballgame-baseball-brutal-takeouts-
Article-1.2394014.
[12] Stuart
Miller. “Safety Sometimes Prevails Over Accuracy in Calling the First Out of a
Double Play.” New
York Times, 3
May 2014.
out-of-a-double-play.html?_r=0.
[13] Jerry
Crasnick. “Craig Biggio argues against rules change in wake of Ruben Tejada injury.”
ESPN.com, ND.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2015/story/_/id/13863565/craig-biggio-argues-rules-change-wake-ruben-
Tejada-chase-utley-collision.
[14] Turbow.
“Holliday’s Had It: Calls Out Cain for ‘Less Than Tough’ Retaliation.” The Baseball Codes, 12
November
2012. http:thebaseballcodes.com.category/slide-properly.
[15] Quoted in Turbow, “Slide Baby Slide: Holliday
Hammers Home Controversy in Game 2.” The
Baseball
Codes, 17 October, 2012.
[16] Al Figone. See More And Talk: Teaching The Mental Aspects Of Baseball: A Handbook
For Coaches,
Players, and Parents. Charleston, SC.:
Createspace, 2013
[17] Al
Figone. An Observational Study Of Sliding Techniques at Major League, College,
and High School Level
in Baseball: 2011-2015, Unpublished Paper, 10 October 2015
in Baseball: 2011-2015, Unpublished Paper, 10 October 2015
Note: For this study, efficiency was
defined as: speed from launch of slide to
base or home contact,
overall safeness of slide, and technical correctness of slide.
[18] Kriste
Ackert, Peter Botte, Roger Robin. “New York Yankees Nick Swisher apologizes to
Twins’ Tsuyoshi
Nishioka for
breaking his leg on slide.” NY Daily News,
8 April 2011.
nishioka-beaaking-leg-slide-article-1.111348.
[19] B. Elliott Hopkins. 2015 NFHS Baseball Rule Changes. Indianapolis, IN.: National Federation of State High
School Associations, 10 July 2015.
School Associations, 10 July 2015.
[20] Eric F.
Quandt, JD, Mathew J. Millen, JD. And John S. Black, JD. “Legal Liability in
Covering Athletic
Events.” Sports Health, 2009, Jan; 1 (1):
84-90.
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