New Diamond Nation Magazine

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IN THIS ISSUE: THE DIAMOND NATION STORY PAGE 8 SOMERSET PATRIOTS A YEAR IN REVIEW PAGE 14 WORLD CUP SOFTBALL SUCCESSFUL SUMMER FOR TEAM USA PAGE 34 ANTHONY RANAUDO LSU’s STAR PITCHER PAGE 20

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Diamond Nation Magazine: The Premier Issue

Transcript of New Diamond Nation Magazine

Page 1: New Diamond Nation Magazine

IN THIS ISSUE:

THEDIAMONDNATIONSTORYPAGE 8

SOMERSETPATRIOTSA YEAR IN REVIEWPAGE 14

WORLD CUPSOFTBALLSUCCESSFUL SUMMERFOR TEAM USAPAGE 34

ANTHONYRANAUDOLSU’s STAR PITCHERPAGE 20

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DIAMOND NATION MAGAZINEFLEMINGTON, NJ 08822

PUBLISHERERIC CITRON

CREATIVE DIRECTIONISLAND COAST PRODUCTIONS

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTASHLEY CITRON

PRINTINGHAIG GRAPHICS

TO ADVERTISE CALL908.455.1613

CONTENTSDIAMOND NATIONM A G A Z I N E

Diamond Nation Magazine is de-signed as a resource guide for thebaseball community. Its intent is topresent all types of businesses thatcater to families. When you purchaseor utilize a product or service that yousaw within the pages of DNM letthem know you found it in DiamondNation Magazine. Thank You!In order to provide the Diamond Na-tion Magazine free to consumers thatadvertisements and this publicationare paid for by the advertisers. Unlessspecially noted, no services, ideas,columns or concepts in Diamond Na-tion Magazine are endorsed by thepublisher. Diamond Nation Maga-zine reserves the unrestricted right torefuse, edit or otherwise alter any ad-vertisement submitted for publication.All information in the magazine iscopyrighted, including the text, thelogo and the layout. All the content ofthe magazine or the website www.diamondnation.com may not becopied or distributed without the writ-ten consent of the publisher. The pub-lisher of the publication does notwarrant or make any representationsconcerning the accuracy or reliabilityof the information contained herein.For information about having Dia-mond Nation Magazine distributed inyour location or to advertise or submita story contact 908-455-1613.

8 DIAMOND NATIONThe Pride of New Jersey

12 MLB SCOUTINGQ&A With Pat Shortt

14 THE SOMERSET PATRIOTSSeason In Review

17 SPARKY LYLESomerset Patriot Manager

20 PLAYER PROFILELSU Star Pitcher Anthony Ranaudo

22 REFLECTIONS OF A FATHERDoug Finch Speaks About Jennie

26 HOW TO PRACTICESt. John’s Univ. Coach Ed Blankmeyer

29 BATTING TEE STATIONS

30 SOFTBALLJennie Finch Softball Academy

34 WORLD CUP SOFTBALL

38 MENTAL TOUGHNESS

40 THE ROLE OF A BASEBALL PARENT

42 JUST LIKE ANY OTHER KIDJordan Deitch - Determined Athlete

44 SILVER LININGThe Josh Hamilton Story

50 RAZOR SHINES

52 DN BAT BUYERS GUIDE

58 RUNNING BASESSteve Ditrolio

60 DNM BOOK CLUBGood Reads for 2009

64 HALL OF FAME NEWS1969 New York Mets

66 HALL OF FAME NEWSHonus Wagner

70 SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHYSponsored By Sigma Lenses

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ell it took some time but the premier issue of Diamond NationMagazine is now in print. We are very excited to bring this high

quality magazine to all the Baseball and Softball fans in New Jerseyand the surrounding areas. As with any new endeavor there weresome challenges to overcome, but what you have in your hands is acollaborative effort of many people. As the months move ahead youcan look forward to Diamond Nation Magazine covering manyinteresting people, places and things that make being a fan of thesetwo great sports such a thrill.

Diamond Nation Magazine is a product of Diamond Nation, America’spremier Baseball/Softball complex located in Flemington, NJ. DiamondNation is also home to the Jack Cust Baseball Academy and theJennie Finch Softball Academy.

As a publisher I am very excited to be able to work with both Jackand Jennie and the rest of the staff. Being able to draw on these twogreat athletes and their experiences will provide our readers withinsights into the worlds of both baseball and softball.

As part of the premier of Diamond Nation Magazine we have launchedour new website diamondnationmagazine.com. Our websiteis designed to enhance and compliment our magazine and allows usto provide our readers with up-to-date information and articles as theybecome available to the baseball and softball community.

On a personal note I would like to thank Jack Cust and Keith Dilgardfor the opportunity to be involved and publish this new magazine.Lastly, I would like to thank my family who has sacrificed a lot to allowme to be involved in this exciting project.

For up to the minute information visit our website atwww.diamondnationmagazine.com.

Yours in Baseball and Softball

Eric CitronPublisher

Eric Citron

W

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When my Dad and I opened theJack Cust Baseball Academy in1997, we had a vision of help-ing develop baseball locallyand throughout the state of NewJersey. The academy was asmall 5,000 square foot indoorfacility that players could workout in during the winter monthsand learn hitting from myself,my father, and my brothers. Noteveryone was as fortunate asI was to have a great hittingcoach like my father who devel-oped a program to help mereach my goals and potential.There were a lot of talentedathletes, but a lack of facilitiesfor players to hone their skillson a year round basis.For over a decade now, we

have dedicated ourselves to providing individual programs that ensure theproper development, education, evaluation, competition, and exposure that isrequired to achieve your goals and dreams, and learn life lessons through thegreat game of baseball.Welcome to a new era of baseball. Diamond Nation is here!Dream Big – Train Smart – Play Hard!

I am extremely excited to be-come a part of Diamond Nation.It’s always been a dream ofmine to have my own softballacademy. Softball has alwaysbeen my passion and an enor-mous part of my life. It is a gamethat has taught me countless lifelessons and has given me somany friends and memories thatwill last forever.Our vision is to take softball inthe Northeast to another levelthrough the proper player devel-opment, education, evaluation,competition, and exposure thatonly we know how to produce.Our training programs andcurriculum will be the sameteaching methods that we useat the Olympic level.

The facilities that Diamond Nation provides includes the outdoor complex, thedome, and the indoor academy which allow us to run all levels of tournamentsincluding national championships and college recruiting events. We will bringyou new and exciting camps, leagues and travel teams as well as many of myfellow Olympians as guest instructors.Growing up on the west coast, we never had to worry about getting enoughsoftball in. Now you don’t either. Dream & Believe!

From Jack Cust

From Jennie Finch

DIAMOND NATION

GRAN

DO

PEN

ING

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The concept began more than 20 years agoas a diamond in the rough. Now it sparklesas Diamond Nation, the country’s largest turfbaseball-softball complex in America.

Its roots are actually a collection of stonesand pebbles, a dusty spot of ground in whichJack Cust’s three sons were introduced to amakeshift batting cage in a local warehouse.As they took turns taking swings in the net-ting, foul tips would kick up tiny rocks thatwould bounce off their bodies.

Batting cage sites would bounce to a fewother creative locations - including the base-ment of a hair salon – until the father, a for-mer baseball player at Seton Hall University,invested in a small 5,000 sq.ft indoor facilityjust off Route 31 in Flemington, NJ.

The Jack Cust Baseball Academy wasfounded in 1997, and in 2000 HealthQuest

Park expanded the indoorbatting area into a regula-tion Astro-Turf baseball field– with lights - as well as apair of Little League fields.

The crown jewel was theconstruction of a dome,providing HealthQuest Parkwith the largest amateursports dome in America.

But that was just the begin-ning.

A beautiful 35-acre layout,just around the corner fromHealthQuest Park, opened

this summer. Six playing fields, 12 indoorand outdoor batting cages, and 28 bullpenshighlight the facility. The main building onthe complex also includes a retail shop, par-ents’ lounge, reception area, six televisions,offices, a conference room and restrooms.

Prior to the opening of the complex was theannouncement in early spring that the JackCust Baseball Academy had formed analliance with the Jennie Finch SoftballAcademy.

The two academies together make DiamondNation, perhaps the most unique combina-tion of the two sports in the United States.

Cust and Finch. If those names sound famil-iar, they should. Cust, 30, has been the lead-ing homerun hitter for the Oakland A’s for thepast three seasons. Finch, 29, is consideredby most as the best female softball player in

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the world. She has a gold and silver medalfrom the past two Olympics, holds anNCAA record 60 consecutive victories, andwas a two-time National Player of the Yearwhen she played at the University ofArizona.

She and her husband Casey also have a fu-ture baseball player Ace. And, interestinglyenough, Cust and his wife Jen have a futuresoftball player, Ava.

“This is truly a dream ofmine, to have my own acad-emy, to have maybe a Jen-nie Finch Little League andfor it to have a home here onthe East coast,’’ she re-marked at Spring press con-ference in Flemington, N.J.“One of my favorite sightson an airplane is lookingdown at a baseball field,and now you usually see asoftball field next to it.

“It automatically gives mechills, because 10-15-20years ago that softball fieldwasn’t there. Our moms, ourgrandmothers, our aunts,

they didn’t have the opportunities we have.’’Nor have the many baseball and softballplayers had the opportunities to practice 12months a year, as little Jennie did when shewas growing up in Southern California. Inthe Northeast, off-season workouts have forthe most part consisted of little more thanpitch and catch in school gymnasiums, orfielding grounders in grandma’s basement.

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Finally, Jack Cust and his dad did somethingabout leveling the playing field with youngball players who forever had a weather ad-vantage in the south and west. Now, kids inthe northeast have an opportunity to learnand improve year-round.

“I really felt the kids in the Northeast werebeing shortchanged, andwe wanted to do every-thing we could to helpthem. Years ago therewere not many kidsgetting into Division I andgetting drafted. Now,’’said the founder/owner,“every year we get abouteight kids drafted fromour baseball teams andabout 40 Division I schol-arships. So we’ve come along way.’’

Softball players can now go further, asDiamond Nation will play a part in theiracceleration on all levels, with the potentialto obtain college scholarships.

An experienced staff of former professionaland collegiate ball players is the backbone

of Diamond Nation. Their expertise andguidance is critical to the development of ouryoung athletes. To that end, the new facilitiesare designed to be flexible and handle up to10 games or practices simultaneously. Eachfield has it’s own backstop, dugouts, bullpensand scoreboards.In addition, a centrally located building

contains a state-of-artscout tower/press box forpro scouts and collegerecruiters. A walk-arounddeck provides the abilityto view four games simul-taneously. The scoutingtower sits atop a full serv-ice concession stand. Allfields are wired to providefuture web casting ofgames.

The two academies offer individual instruc-tion as well as travel teams, and league com-petition, from t-ball right on up to collegeage. The Diamond Jacks represent the JackCust Baseball Academy and the Finch Acesrepresent the Jennie Finch Softball Academy.

The complex also hosts high school gamesthroughout the year and New Jersey colleges

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also use the indoor facility during the winter.Diamond Nation prides itself with a trainingcurriculum that is comprehensive and dealswith specific physical, mechanical andmental techniques. Its mission is to provideeducation, evaluation, development, compe-tition, and exposure for its young athletesunder the supervision, experiences, knowl-edge and direction of an outstanding staff.

The result is to advance the level of play ineach of the students, while teaching lifelessons through sports that help shape theminto productive members of society.

“We combine great staff, great facilities andgreat programs in order to help studentsthroughout the Northeast to get the most outof our academies, Cust Sr. said.

His son will never forget his opportunities ofbeing an exception to most kids in this areaduring the cold and rainy seasons.

“Dad always gave me a place to hit,’’ Custsaid. “I remember growing up, we would hitin the basement of one of his office buildings.It might have been a makeshift cage, but thatdidn’t matter. He would pump up themachine to about 95 (miles-an-hour) and I’dhit with a little Thunder stick.

“He’s the reason I’m where I am, and we’retrying to do the same thing with the youngbaseball players and now the young softball

players – to give them the best opportunityto be the best they can be.’’

Looking back on the history of the Jack CustBaseball Academy there have been hun-dreds of success stories both on the profes-sional and collegiate levels. Some of ourmost recent notable players include: BillyRowell, drafted 1st round by the Orioles(Bishop Eustace,H.S.) Jason Knapp, Drafted2nd round by the Phillies (N.Hunterdon,H.S.) and Anthony Ranaudo, L.S.U, NationalChampions and projected first round pick in2010 (St. Rose, H.S.). There are literallyhundreds more that have received collegescholarships.

With the completion of Diamond Nation thepossibilities are endless and the dreams ofcountless athletes are more possible thenever before.

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By Brett Mauser

Although the summer’s over with, Pat Shortt’s jobisn’t finished. The Northeast Scouting Supervisor forthe Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau hasAAU games to cover, fall ball, and much more. Inhis 19 seasons as a scout, he has seen hundreds ofplayers at the prep and collegiate level who havegone on to be drafted and dozens who havereached the major leagues, from Brooklyn and St.John’s product Rich Aurilia to right-handed starterCarl Pavano. He took a moment to sit down to dis-cuss the curious stage that is summer baseball.

BPM: What do you look for most from players in thesummer?PS: One of the things I look for is stick-to-itiveness,not just out in the Hamptons, in the Kaiser Divisionor the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League but every-where.It happens all over where players don’t realize thepurpose of going and don’t look at it as a seriousendeavor. I can’t prove it, but too many players findreasons for leaving before their commitment is com-pleted. Some come up with phantom injuries, phan-tom summer school courses, dates they have to beback even though school doesn’t start for anothertwo weeks … If you go out and play professionalbaseball, it takes a serious commitment. You’re liv-ing in small towns, you’re traveling in buses, you’renot on a meal plan, and you have to fend for your-self as far as your dietary needs. Commitment does-n’t stand out but a lack of commitment does. It givesus the indication of a potential issue – if things aren’tgoing as well as they want them to, is a kid goingto quit? [Summer baseball] is a serious commitment.It’s a game, it’s fun, but at the same time it can begrueling. Commitment isn’t a tool but it’s an intan-gible, a big intangible.

BPM: Talk about the difference between swingingaluminum and wood bats.PS: The wooden bat is a great equalizer. One ofthe big things between using a aluminum batagainst a wooden bat is you don’t have to hit theball square dead-center with the aluminum. Me-chanically, you don’t have to finish your swing asstrongly either. Players aren’t used to that until theystart swinging the wood long enough. They realizethey have to make some minor adjustments. Froman offensive standpoint, it’s a big difference.

BPM: How about from a defensive and pitching per-spective?

PS: Defensively, I look for range, first-step quickness,arm strength and good hands of course. For pitch-ers, I’m looking to see if they can demonstrate theability to locate the pitchers in their repertoire. Thedefinition of control is the ability to put the ballwithin the strike zone more often than not. The def-inition of command is the ability to put the ball inthat square where you want more often than not,and location is a result of command. I also look forraw arm strength, the ability to spin a breaking ball,throw a change-up with some deception.

BPM: What is the role of summer baseball in thescouting world today?PS: Summer baseball is really used as a method ofwetting your whistle, to see if someone shows a fewtools and makes you want to go back and see themin the fall. The fall is the same thing – you’re look-ing to find players that you want to gout and see inthe spring, especially those that are draft eligible inthe upcoming spring.

BPM: How much do you take into account players’fatigue from the spring collegiate season?PS: I definitely do, especially with pitchers. I takefatigue more seriously in the fall because they’veplayed all spring, all summer and then in the fall. Es-pecially with pitchers, you see velocities go down.

BPM: What’s the best case you can think of wheresomeone dramatically raised his draft stock over thecourse of a summer?PS: Billy Wagner in Cape Cod. He went to a littleDivision III school called Ferrum College in Virginiaand here’s this 5-foot-9 lefty that somehow gets outon one of those teams out there and was lights out.He went from being an unknown guy to a big-timeknown guy.

BPM: What is the process you use once you identifya player that you or someone might be interestedin?PS: If I see a player that I feel possesses enough abil-ity to warrant 30 teams following him – and it does-n’t matter when it is – I write a follow report. In thespring, I write a selectable report on a player thatis draft eligible in June, whether it’s a high schoolkid or a draft eligible college player. The selectablereports are for kids teams should seriously considerfor the draft to put in their organization. They’re themost important reports I write.

Brett Mauser is the director of communications forHamptons Collegiate Baseball. He can be reachedat [email protected].

MLB SCOUTINGQ&A WITH PAT SHORTT: NORTHEAST SCOUTING SUPERVISOR

FOR MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

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The Somerset Patriots opened the 2009 sea-son at home in the newly named TD Bank Ball-park on Thursday, April 23rd with festivitiesto recognize the 2008 championship squad.The pre-game ceremony honored the previousyear’s Atlantic League Championship teamwith a video recap that concluded withcatcher Travis Anderson’s walk off solo homerun in the bottom of the ninth inning to leadthe Patriots to a 3-1 series win over the

Camden Riversharks. The team then receivedtheir championship rings and watched as the2008 Championship Flag was raised in cen-ter field to join the ones commemorating thePatriots’ 2001, 2003, and 2005 Champi-onship Seasons.

The Patriots would pick up right where theyleft off, dominating the first half of the 2009season to clinch the Freedom Division FirstHalf title and a playoff berth. Somerset lockedup the Half Title on July 1st with seven gamesremaining in the half and finished 43-27, ninegames in first place over the Newark Bears.

The Half Title was Somerset’s Atlantic Leaguerecord tenth since the team began play in1998 and it will be the Patriots’ league recordeighth appearance in the playoffs during thatspan. In the Patriots previous seven appear-ances, the team has made the ChampionshipSeries and won it four times.Led offensively by reigning Atlantic LeagueMVP Josh Pressley, All-Star second basemanMatt Hagen, and the return of perennial All-

SEASON IN REVIEW...SEASON IN REVIEW...SEASON IN REVIEW...SEASON IN REVIEW...

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Star third baseman Jeff Nettles, Somersetmowed through opponents to one of the besthalves in league history. Center fielder SeanSmith added a spark on the bases and theconsistent play of Teuris Olivares and ElliottAyala made the line up a difficult one to getthrough from top to bottom.

Patriots pitchers were among the league lead-ers throughout the season, led by ace Jim Ma-grane, who entered the All-Star Break 8-0with a 2.48 ERA. Somerset’s bullpen washighlighted by closers Travis Minix and BretPrinz, who were each among the league lead-ers in saves with double digits when they held

the role. Strong years from local favoriteCasey Cahill and Ryan Basner helped solidifythe bullpen as one of the best in the league.

During the second half, the Patriots reachedanother milestone, winning the franchise’s800th game on July 21st to be the first leagueteam to achieve the mark, passing the Bridge-port Bluefish as the winningest franchise.

Starting pitcher Brian Adams added to his Pa-triots legacy during the 2009 season. Adamswas named the 2007 Atlantic League Pitcherof the Year in a season when he set a fran-chise record for 15 wins and went an un-precedented 11-0 at TD Bank Ballpark. In2008, Adams once again led the team inwins with 11 and entered the 2009 seasonjust nine wins shy of the Patriots career winsrecord of 35 set by left-hander Justin Jensen,who played for the team during parts of fiveseasons. Adams tied Jensen at 35 wins andstood alone at 36 wins with a 3-0 shutoutagainst the Lancaster Barnstormers onAugust 4th.

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Off the field, the Patriots continued the team’ssuccess. The Patriots set a new Atlantic Leaguesingle game attendance record with 8,537fans on Friday, July 3rd. The game was billedas Break The Attendance Record Night, wherethe Patriots were aiming to break the fran-chise’s single game record of 8,062 set backon July 3, 2006 or the ballpark’s record of8,290 set at the 2008 Atlantic League All-StarGame held at TD Bank Ballpark on Wednes-day, July 16th. The night exceeded all expec-tations and allowed the Patriots to welcome acrowd above the Lancaster Barnstormers’league mark of 8,485 on their Opening Dayof their 2008 season.

The Patriots continued to rank among the topdrawing minor league teams with between5,200-5,400 fans during the season despiteseveral rainy days during the summer.

The Patriots once again excelled at being astrong presence in the community, starting withthe creation of the team’s non-profit arm, theSomerset Patriots Children’s Education andSportsmanship Foundation to raise money forprograms supported by the organization.

At every game, the Patriots provide non-profitorganizations with the chance to raise aware-ness for their causes and raise money for theircharities. Some of the highlights include Breast

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Cancer Awareness Day on Mother’s Dayto raise money for the Steeplechase CancerCenter at Somerset Medical Center and aweekend devoted to Operation ShoeboxNew Jersey, an organization that sends carepackages to our troops serving in the MiddleEast.

With all the success the Patriots have had onand off the field throughout their history, thegoal for the entire organization is to remainchampions. The Patriots strive for their fifth At-lantic League Championship with the start ofthe Freedom Division Series at TD Bank Ball-

park on Thursday, September 24th at 7:05pm. Somerset then hosts Game Two of theseries at home on Friday, September 25th at7:05 pm before playing the remainder of thegames on the road.

Should the Patriots advance to the AtlanticLeague Championship Series, then the Patri-ots will host Game One at TD Bank Ballparkon Thursday, October 1st and Game Two onFriday, October 2nd. Both games are sched-uled for 7:05 pm. The Championship Serieswould then continue on the road for theremaining three games if necessary.

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By D.P. Benjamin

If Sparky Lyle wasn’t looking for a good deal ona truck, the Somerset Patriots might have nevermade a good deal on a manager.

Lyle was making a good living asa public speaker, working withMickey Mantle at the ClaridgeCasino Hotel in Atlantic City,making appearances at golftournaments and attending base-ball card shows. After all, whowouldn’t want to be around a for-mer Cy Young Award winner andguy with a few World Seriesrings?

But he still needed a truck.

And that’s when his buddy, thelate John Vukovich, a former team-mate with the PhiladelphiaPhillies, told him about a friend of his who owneda dealership in Hunterdon County. So up theywent to Flemington Car and Truck Country, wherein the fall of 1996 Lyle met the dealership’s chair-man: Steve Kalafer.

Lyle returned to South Jersey with a burgundy Ford150 truck, and soon after Kalafer asked Vukovichif he thought Lyle would be interested in managinghis new independent Atlantic League team he hadpurchased.

In January of 1997 the Patriots announced Lyle astheir first manager for the start of the 1998season.

“Eleven years later, here I am,’’ Lyle said recentlyfrom his office at TD Bank Ballpark, five hours be-fore the Patriots were to play a Friday night game

against Camden. He had just carried a sandwichin from the pre-game spread in the clubhouse,turkey and cheese on white bread, with a squirt ofhoney.

Lyle, an outgoing and engaging guy from westernPennsylvania, has the appearanceof the baritone in a barbershopquartet, what with the legendaryturned up mustache. You wouldnever guess he had been one ofmajor league baseball’s bestrelief pitchers.

And if you ran into him at the bar-bershop, neither would you guesshe is one of the most successfulmanagers in professional baseball.

But here he is, looking for his fifthleague championship.

“I never gave managing athought,’’ Lyle said, “but talking with Steve, Istarted to think that this was the perfect venue. Iliked his reasoning, and I always thought it was ashame that so many players didn’t have a place toplay when they were released.

“It was a great chance to get my feet wet, and Imade a lot of mistakes early. But I’ve never beenafraid to fail. The only person I had to answer towas myself. And the critics,’’ he said with asmile...“And critics are not a big deal with me.Winning is the bottom line, and that’s all I think ofand all I want to do.’’

Lyle does more than that, and his commitment tothe Patriots is not lost on the team’s owner.

“One of the most important aspects of Sparkybeing the manager of the Somerset Patriots,’’

FORMER MAJOR LEAGUE GREAT IN HIS ELEVENTH YEAR AND GOING STRONG!

SOMERSET MGR.SPARKY LYLE

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Kalafer said, “is his deep commitment to the Som-erset-Hunterdon-Middlesex communities at large,and all of the interactions he has with the youth ofthe area, and all the charitable participation thathe’s involved in.’’

Lyle manages his teams in somewhat unconven-tional manners.

For starters, his two coaches played for him withthe Patriots. When he hired Brett Jodie as pitch-ing coach he basically told him he was completelyin charge of the staff and Lyle would not interfere.When he hired batting coach Kevin Dattola hetold him to get to know the guys, and onceaccomplished to simply run the offense.

“I figure three heads are better than one,’’ Lylesaid. “I give them a lot of responsibility. I’m not in-terested in walking back and forth to the moundfor conversations during the game. I mean, I makedecisions: the batting order, who to pinch-hit for,should we hit and run, bunt a guy over. I want tobe like a good umpire. A good umpire is whenyou don’t even notice he’s there.

“I don’t have an ego; all we’re here to do is putnumbers in the win column. Any decision I make isabout what’s best for the 25 guys on the roster. IfI do that all the time, I can’t be wrong.’’

He wasn’t wrong many times in the big leagues.He won a World Series ring with the Phillies andtwo with the Yankees. His Major League careerbegan with the Red Sox, for whom he playedwhen they won the American League pennant in1967.

Lyle, who turned 65 this summer, pitched 16 yearsin the big leagues. He earned 238 saves, won 99games, struck out 873 batters and had a careerERA of 2.88. He walked off the mound 27 yearsago this month, as a member of the ChicagoWhite Sox.

”I left on my own terms,’’ Lyle said of his pitchingcareer. ”I have no regrets.’’

Neither do the Patriots.

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PLAYER PROFILELSU’s STAR PITCHER ANTHONY RANAUDO

DIAMOND JACK ALUMNI LEADS LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITYTO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

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By D.P. Benjamin

Anthony Ranaudo began to realize five yearsago that he might actually be able to playmajor league baseball some day. It was thesummer after his sophomore year at St. RoseHigh School in Belmar, New Jersey. But it was-n’t because he had tossed consecutive no-hit-ters that spring, and itwasn’t because hepitched his team to astate championship.

It was because of JackCust Baseball Academy.

“If not for them,’’ hesaid from campus ear-lier this month, “I would-n’t be where I am today.And that’s just thetruth.’’

Where he is today isdown in Baton Rouge,Louisiana. He is a juniorat LSU, playing base-ball for the Tigers. Lastseason he led his teamwith a 12-3 record,won four games in theNCAA tournament andwas the winning pitcher in LSU’s victory overTexas for the national championship.

He finished his sophomore year with a 3.04ERA, striking out 159, walking 50. At 6-foot-7,230 pounds, he has a curve ball andchangeup to go with a fastball that a year agowas clocked as high as 96. His confidence andaggressive approach in challenging hitters areat an all-time high. According to Jack Cust “We are very proud of Anthony’s accomplish-ments both on the field, especially pitching LSUinto the National Championship. I look forwardto 2010 draft were he is projected to be a firstround pick”.

“They offered me a spot on the Diamond

Jacks,’’ said Ranaudo, who turned 20 on Sept.9. “I also went for individual lessons, andmade a big jump after that. I knew if I kept myhead on straight, kept working hard and doingthe right things that I’d be up there and proba-bly have an opportunity to play.’’

He played two to three games on weekendsand also made the tripfrom home in Jacksonto Flemington a coupleof times during theweek. The followingsummer he was onthe Jack Cust BaseballAcademy Super 17Squad, where hetraveled south to takepart in tournaments.

“There’s no way Iwould have gotten theexposure the way I did,no way scouts wouldhave known me theway they did, there’sno way collegecoaches would knowme the way they didwithout Keith (Dilgard)and Mr. Cust’s help;without everybody’s

help there. Just working hard and working withthose guys encouraged my development andmade me into a good pitcher.’’

Ranaudo is now taking part in six weeks of fallpractice, balancing that with school while ma-joring in Sports Marketing. He shut down overthe summer after a college season in which hethrew 125 innings. He spent about five weeksin New Jersey, mostly hanging out with hisniece and nephew at his sister’s beach house inBelmar.

“I’m a big family guy, and a big reason I’mhere is because of them. Everyone in my fam-ily has supported me and is real proud of me,and that’s really something that gives me a

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little motivationand stability.’’

He’ll now besupporting hisbuddies on thefootball teamin their questfor a nationalchampionship.Winning a na-tional title re-mains a feelinghe still can’tdescribe.

“In the championship game, for me, it was agrind. I didn’t have my best stuff whatsoever,’’he said. “”I was fatigued more than I can evendescribe, but I had to go out there and give myteam a quality start. I knew the bats would hit,because Texas was thin on pitching too. Thoseguys were going through the same stuff as us.I went one inning at a time and pushed throughthe best I could.’’

LSU won the game 11-4, with Ranaudo lasting5.1 innings. He allowed all four runs, walkedfour and gave up eight hits.

“By no means isthat good, butit was goodenough becauseour offense tooka lot of pressureoff because theywere swingingthe bats thatday,’’ he said. “Ithink we playedour best ball allyear in Omaha.There was somuch pressureto get there, thatwhen we got toOmaha it was like we played like we could,and it was a lot of fun. It was just us playingbaseball.’’

Anthony Ranaudo with Jack Cust

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On the final weekend of February lastwinter, Jennie Finch was on the campus of St.John’s University doing a softball clinic. Abreak in her schedule allowed her to take inthe St. John’s-Rutgers women’s basketballgame that Saturday afternoon. During thefirst half of the game she blended in with thecrowd at Alumni Hall.

At halftime she was the event.

Young girls created a line in the bleachers aslong as the basketball court, each waiting toget an autograph or the chance to say hello.Security guards had to disappoint some ofthe kids, because the second half was aboutto begin.Although Jennie resides in Arizona, hername is known world-wide. Autograph seek-ers have approached her as a two-timeNational Honda Award Softball Player of theYear at the University of Arizona, at the past

two Olympics, at Dia-mond Nation, at St.John’s – wherever shegoes.

The reason is simple.She is arguably the mostrecognized and one ofthe best all-around playerin the history of women’ssoftball.

“There can’t be a highercompliment for a parentthan to find out or realizethat one of your childrencan be idolized or be arole model, or be lookedup to in such a positiveway,’’ her father Doug

Finch says. “That’s what we as parents aremost proud of.’’

He and his wife Beverly are the parents oftwo sons as well. Shane, 39, works for aCalifornia hospital as a product developer.Landon, 34, is an instructional technologyspecialist for a school district in ColoradoSprings.

Their younger sister just turned 29 this month.She is married to pro baseball player CaseyDaigle, and the mother of their three-year-oldson, Ace Shane Daigle.

Her history as a softball player is unmatched.

In college she was a three-time All-America,following a freshman season in which shewon 24 games, batted .353, and wasthen named Most Outstanding Player inthe NCAA Region 2 tournament. As a

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REFLECTIONS OFA FATHER

DOUG FINCH SPEAKS ABOUT HIS DAUGHTER JENNIE

By D.P. Benjamin

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sophomore she was29-2 and hit 16home runs. As ajunior in 2001 shewent 32-0 withan ERA of 0.54.The Wildcats wonthe NCAA cham-pionship and shewas voted MVPof the tournament.Her winning streakcontinued into hersenior year, and herNCAA-record 60

straight victories still stands. She finished hercollege career with 119 wins and struck outmore than 1,000 batters.

Her college accomplishments should nothave been a surprise, considering she cameout of La Mirada High School in the suburbsof Southern California with a four-year ERAof 0.15. She threw six perfect games, 13no-hitters and struck out 784.

And as one might guess, that too was no sur-prise after what she did in Amateur SoftballAssociation tournaments as a youngster. Atage 12 she led her team to the ASA 14-and-under national championship. At age 11 shepitched her team to a fourth-place finish inthe ASA 12-and-under nationals. And, as a10-year-old, after slipping and hurting herknee, she wore an air cast as she pitched herteam to second place in the West Coast ASA10-and-unders.

“Her mother started taking her to tumblingclasses, but by the time she was five she wasplaying t-ball,’’ her dad says. “From there itwas the coaches pitching to the kids, and thenext step was the child who could pitch theball and reach home plate. She was thetallest, so, “Jennie, you’re the pitcher.’ Wehad been to all of her games, and by thetime she was 10 people were telling us,“Your kid has potential. Your kid has talent.’’

Eventually that talent led her to pitching andplaying first base for the U.S. Olympic team.She was on the gold medal team at the 2004Games in Athens, then part of the silvermedal squad in 2008 at Beijing.

Her interest in the game started by attendingDodgers games in Los Angeles, along with

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her two brothers. And, trying and often fail-ing to obtain players’ autographs would laterimpact her on the other side of those quests.

“She knows that girls look up to her, and she’smade a choice in her life to always try anddo what’s right,’’ the father says. “All herchoices are based on living on that narrowroad. I don’t think there are too many rolemodels out there, and not a lot who say, ‘Iwant to be a role model.’ And she’s veryproud to take that role.

“She remembers wanting an autograph sobad like that,’’ he adds. “So she stays to theend signing, unless there’s a time limit or acutoff. Otherwise, she’ll be the last onesigning. She’s totally from the heart, totallygenuine.’’

©2005 PHOTOSPORT.COM

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© 2009 Wilmington Trust Corporation

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Playing catch with your son is one thing,coaching his youth baseball team is quite an-other. Coaching organized baseball includesorganizing practice, which includes knowinghow to practice as well as what to practice.

Ed Blankmeyer knows this as well as anyone.He has coached St. John’s University the past14 years and won 470 games. Prior to coach-ing in Queens, N.Y., he was an associate headcoach at Seton Hall, the school at which heplayed college baseball.

At St. John’s he won two Big East regular sea-son titles and one conference tournamentchampionship, and took the Red Storm to fourNCAA regionals. Just two years ago he wasnamed Big East Coach of the Year – for thethird time – as well as Northeast Region Coachof the Year. He’s had more than 40 of hisplayers sign pro contracts

“This outline is for a person looking to volun-teer, who’s looking to get involved, and try andgive them an understanding of what to do as acoach; what to do if you’re organizing,and how to be a better prepared coach’’Blankmeyer says. “It’s like me trying to fix acar. I don’t know how to do that, but maybewith some instruction and guidance I’d havean idea of how to do it.’’

The initial planning involves knowing howmuch time you have available to practice, whatexactly you want to accomplish, the equipmentyou need, where you can practice, and safety.Skills that need to be covered: throwing, catch-

ing, fielding ground balls, fielding fly balls,running form, base running, bunting, hitting,pitching, position play mechanics, and work-ing as a team. Coach Blankmeyer covers it all.

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HOW TOPRACTICE

ST. JOHNS UNIVERSITY HEAD COACH TALKS ABOUT INSTRUCTING TODAY’S YOUTH

By D.P. Benjamin

Page 27: New Diamond Nation Magazine

There are hundreds of drills for each skill butthe key to successfully practicing these skills isby going from “part to whole.” The way inwhich to do this is in progressive steps. Starteach set of drills with the most basic action andwork your way up to full development.

For example, throwing drills should range froma seated position isolating only the arm move-ment to a complete throw using all parts of thebody. Some of these drills include (in succes-sion): seated throw, knee with rotation throw,stand up rotation throw, arm tracking to powerposition, basic step and throw, crow hop, andlong toss.

Again, with the same concept in mind comesBlankmeyer’s catching drills. Using a smallglove begin by catching balls above the waistwith the player’s palm up and below the waistwith the palm down. After this, move on tobackhands, forehands, reactioncatches, and eventually throw-ing-side catches for fast glove tohand transfer.

Fielding ground balls works inthe same fashion. Start withbasic stance/position drills andthen move to catch and funnel,fielding through the ball, andangle plays such as backhandsand slow-rollers.

Fly ball tips include catching theball above the eyes and awayfrom the head, catching with twohands, catching with one handon the run, and throwing foot-work.

Base running drills should covergetting out of the box, taggingup, ground ball response, two-out response, multiple runner sit-uations. Bunting practice cancover using the bat in the top ofthe zone, use of knees and set-ting an angle. Hitting starts withthe basic stance, striding, swing-

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ing and follow through. Kids can hit off a tee,take cuts from side tosses, focus on “dry’’swings and of course take part with routinebatting practice. Pitching drills should accentthe proper stance on the rubber, rocking togain balance, arm swing, striding to power, therelease and follow-through.

Team drills include position fielding, pop flycommunication and fungo drills. Inter-squadgames can be fun, and fun, Blankmeyer said, isone element that should always be incorpo-rated into practice.

“From an instructional standpoint, this reallyisn’t being taught,’’ Blankmeyer says regardingproper practice routines. “I don’t care if you area high school kid, a college kid or in LittleLeague. There are going to be components youneed to work on, and if you can break downthe teaching skills, the kid will be taught prop-erly and become more mechanically sound.’’

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Batting Tees are for babies... you know, TeeBall Players and any other serious player whowants to maximize his or her potential and seehow far they can go in this way-too-complicated game of hitting a round objectwith a rounded implement.

Recent Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn re-ally did describe his off-season hitting workoutsas (and I paraphrase) nothing but tee work untilJanuary of each year.... and remember, he wasat spring training a month later in February!

Here's An Important Bottom Line in Building aSuccessful Hitter:You must hit a lot off a batting tee!You must hit a lot in a soft toss station!You must hit a lot in front toss drills!(15 to 35 ft)!You will take plenty of live batting practice...It's the fun part!

Why? Think About AlwaysHaving A Building Block Ap-proach:Batting Tee Stations teachthe repeatable mechanicswithout the need for ALSOtracking a moving ball.

Soft Toss & Flip Stationsbuild more repeatable me-chanics but then adds thebasics & confidence of track-ing a moving object from itsshorter distance. It buildsconfidence, strength andwhen done in parallel sta-tions, can get an entire teamthe amount of swings that players really need toprogress and improve.

Short Toss Stations (where a coach sits behinda screen from 15 or so feet in front of a hitterand tosses underhand from the side of thescreen to replicate the approximate angle of a

pitched ball)... this adds more realism for thehitter and increases the difficulty while allow-ing the player to "see" where the batted ball istravelling).Front Toss (coach stands behind an L Screenand tosses average speed pitches to particularspots). This, again increases the degree of dif-ficulty while creating game-like conditions.

Live Hitting is probably the most fun for playersand coaches alike but just as kids progressfrom a tricycle to a bicycle with training wheelsbefore flying down hills on a full size bike...thesteps along the way are so very important.

You may never forget how to ride a bike butbecause of the huge degree of difficulty in con-sistently hitting a moving round ball with arounded stick... bad habits creep in almost un-noticed and we must stay with the basics as

long as we play this game!

You will be best able to max-imize going into a battingcage or take live battingpractice from "official pitch-ing distances" and carrythese great habits and theconfidence these lessons willbuild…right into your gamesand entire seasons too.

Shortcuts - There are none ifyou want to stay in thegame. There just comes atime when even the betterathletes will face bettertrained players and pre-vious successes give way to

mediocrity and perhaps failure when.

Summary: Make these simple stations part ofyour routine and that of your entire team too!If they are good enough for High School, Col-lege and Pro Players… they should serve youwell too!

HOT TO USE BATTING STATIONS TO BUILD BASEBALL HITTERS

BATTING TEESTATIONS

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July 24th, 2009 rang in a newera for softball in the Northeastregion. Diamond Nation and theJennie Finch Softball Academyheld their first softball tournamentat the brand new state-of-the-artcomplex in Flemington, NJ.Over 400 young athletes, repre-senting 28 teams, hailing from 6states competed in the weekendlong Jennie Finch ASA OpenEastern Qualifier.

14U, 16U, and 18U Teams trav-eled to the largest turf softballcomplex in America where up to10 games can be played simulta-neously for a chance to qualify forASA Eastern Nationals and tomeet Jennie Finch. Many of thegirls had just watched Jennie on

television taking the Gold Medalat the KFC World Cup of Softballand were thrilled at the opportu-nity to meet, arguably, the mostfamous softball player in theworld and to most their rolemodel.

Role model is a term that Jenniedoesn’t take lightly. Games werehalted at 12:45 to allow Jennie tospeak to the mass of softball play-ers, coaches, family members,and fans. The teams were as-sembled for the talk ( to see avideo of Jennie’s talk go towww.diamondantionmagazine.com)on the premiere softball field atDiamond Nation, as Jennie ad-dressed the crowd from homeplate. She was greeted with thun-

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derous applause and videos and picturesbeing snapped by amateur photographersand the softball players’ cell phones.

Finch’s words were informal and engag-ing. She connected with the girls over theperils of the softball tan lines, crazy dadsand coaches, and their passion and de-votion to the sport they love. Finch knowsthe sacrifice of weekends during thesummer being spent on the softball fieldinstead of the beach, school dances beingmissed, and the grind of school andhome work and practice. But she, as wellas the softball players in the tournament,wouldn’t have it any other way.

Jennie Finch played ASA softball herentire youth. Her teams have taken homeNational Championships at 12U, 14U,and 18U Gold. Also in attendance at thetournament were NJ ASA State Commis-sioner- Leo Spirito, Junior Olympic Com-missioner- Pat Spirito, and Umpire-in-Chief-James Peters. All were excited about the

possibilities of the new facility and theJennie Finch Softball Academy.

Some of the girls in attendance are on apath to chase the same dream that Jenniehas achieved. The New Jersey Breakers –Houston 18U Gold used the tournamentas a warm up to ASA Gold Nationals inOklahoma City, OK. Joe Salvatore’s teamis sending players to softball powerhouses such as Cal State Fullerton, Uni-versity of Virginia, Georgetown University,University of Maryland, Nebraska andother fine institutions of higher learning.The Ken Fry’s EC Elite 18U Gold team aresending players to UMass, Bucknell, Hof-stra, Rutgers, Fordham and Princeton justto name a few.

The winners of the tournament were:14U age group:The Staten Island Panthers

16U age group: Top Gun

18U: NJ Breakers-Houston

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Compiled from NFCA and USASoftball Sources

Team USA proved its dominance on the in-ternational stage once again, winning all

four events it entered in the summer of2009. The American teams, which gave33 different players the opportunity for in-ternational experience, went 35-1 duringmore than a month of competition.

The one loss was to Canada in the firstgame of the medal round at the Pan AmQualifier in Maracay, Venezuela. Canadahad been knocking on USA’s door all sum-mer, almost defeating the Americans in thefinals at Canada Cup, as Team USA cameback in the bottom of the seventh to take a3-2 victory. Australia and Japan also chal-lenged, with close games in the finals at theWorld Cup (3-1 win over Australia) andJapan Cup (2-0 victory against Japan).

“There was good competition this summerin all the events, and it was a big challengesince it put us in tough situations and wehad to respond,” USA National Team HeadCoach Jay Miller said. “I waspleased in how we faced thosechallenges, and was especiallyhappy with the way our veteranplayers really stepped up andtook charge, helping out theyoung players who were havingtheir first experience wearingthe USA Jersey.”

Team USA again will face theworld’s top competition nextsummer when USA Softballhosts the International SoftballFederation’s XII Women’s WorldChampionship July 16-26 inOklahoma City. “Our goal is

always to get better, both as a team and in-dividually,” Miller said. ”We’re looking for-ward to the world championships nextsummer and improving our team as awhole.”

The following briefly recaps the summercompetition; for full stories, please visit us-asoftball.com.

Canada Cup – Surrey, B.C. (July 3-12)

With Canada just two outs away from beat-ing the U.S. on their home soil, a sac fly byKaitlin Cochran and a walk-off single byJennie Finch that plated Caitlin Lowe gaveTeam USA the run it needed take a 3-2 de-cision over Canada in the championshipgame.

Cat Osterman earned the win for the U.S.,allowing no earned runs with 14 strike-outs.“It didn’t start out as the best night but (Lau-ren) Lappin and I worked well together inkeeping the Canada hitters off-balance.We got in a groove and wanted to keep usin the game and keep the damage to a min-imum when runners did get on. The teamdid a great job of staying in the game andfighting back,” said Osterman. “This is agreat building block for our team as thenew kids were tested and it was good forthem to see some tough international com-petition.”

The USA went 12-0 in the competition, withtwo wins each over The Netherlands andVenezuela, three wins over Australia andfour wins against Canada. The USA alsodefeated the California Gold Rush.Natasha Watley received the MVP and of-fensive awards, Lappin won the SuzyBrazney Award for most outstandingcatcher while Osterman was named the LoriSippel Award winner for most outstandingpitcher.

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L WORLD CUP Finch & Co. Cup Runneth Over.Successful Summer for Team USA

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World Cup – Oklahoma City, Okla. (July 16-20)

Team USA secured its third World Cup title with a 3-1decision over Australia in front of 4,737 fans at theASA Hall of Fame Complex. The KFC World Cup ofSoftball presented by Six Flags was a success withover 20,000 fans attending the five-day event with thefinal standings as follows: United States (gold), Aus-tralia (silver), Canada (bronze), Japan (fourth), Nether-lands (fifth) and Italy (sixth).

Monica Abbott made that start in the championshipgame, recording seven of the first nine outs via thestrikeout. Abbott allowed a hit in the third, by ClareWarwick, but two strikeouts swinging left a runnerstranded. Australian starting pitcher Justine Smethurstdid her part in circle allowing only one USA runner toreach, Alissa Haber off a single, through two innings.Lauren Lappin came through when it really mattered,launching a home run over right field to lead off thethird inning and begin a scoring drive that saw theUSA score three runs. Overall, the USA went 6-0 inthe competition.

Japan Cup – Sendai, Japan (July 31-August 2)

It was the Jennie Finch show in Sendai, Japan, as the6-1 right-hander pitched and hit her way to the goldmedal at the 2009 Japan Cup. Defeating the Japan-ese 2-0 in front of 2,600 fans, the USA took home thehardware for the fifth time in the six-year history of theevent.

Finch, who doubled to drive in the game’s only tworuns in the first inning, had a no-hitter going until thetop of the seventh before leadoff batter Rei Nishiyamahit a change-up for a single. Finch got the next threebatters to clinch the win and earn Most Valuable Playerhonors. “I wasn’t focused on the no-hitter,” Finch said.“I was just trying to execute one pitch at a time and getouts, trying to keep the hitters off-balance and use allthe pitches I have. Lauren Lappin called a great gamefor me behind the plate, and it was really a lot of fun.”

The USA went 4-0 in the competition, defeating Japantwice, and Australia and Chinese Taipei one timeeach.

Pan Am Qualifier – Maracay, Venezuela(July 31-August 8)

The final out came via a strikeout by Monica Abbott asthe USA Softball Pan American Qualifier team de-feated Canada, 3-1, to win the gold at the Pan Amer-ican Qualifier in Maracay, Venezuela. It was a teamfull of heart that had to battle back with two victorieson the final day after suffering an early loss in medalround play to Canada.

“We lost early and had to come back and battlethrough extra games to get to the championship game,so it made it that much sweeter. This team todayshowed a lot of heart. The younger players to USASoftball really stepped up and the older ones weregreat leaders”, said Abbott. “Overall Venezuela puton a great event and the fans were amazing everygame coming out in support. Also on qualifying here,we know we will be back in 2011 to fight for the worldchampionship on our home soil in Oklahoma City.”

After knocking off the home team Venezuela 2-0, theU.S. faced a familiar foe in Canada for the champi-onship game. Despite leaving seven runners on base,

the United States came through when it counted, withAbbott allowing only one earned run – a home run inthe third by Melanie Matthews. The U.S. had alreadyscored in the second after Langenfeld took the firstpitch of her at bat for a single to left field and waseventually driven in on a sac fly by Maggie Viefhous.

The tie was short-lived as the U.S. took the lead back2-1 in the bottom of the third with Tammy Williamsscoring on a double to right field by Langenfeld.Williams singled to shortstop to get on base. It lookedlike more runs would go up as the bases were loaded,but two consecutive outs left three stranded. An insur-ance run went up in the fourth when the U.S. faced anew Canadian pitcher, Jenna Caira. A Williams sin-gle to centerfield scored Vicky Galindo who had sin-gled up the middle. That was all the U.S. needed asAbbott was phenomenal in the circle with eight strike-outs, allowing just three hits.

Langenfeld received the tournament honor for best hit-ter while Caitlin Lowe made the all-tournament teamfor the outfield. The USA went 13-1 to close out the2009 international competition.

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DIAMOND NATION, FLEMINGTON, NJ

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WWW.DIAMONDNATIONMAGAZINE.COM

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By Mike Posey

The concept of understanding mental toughnessis evasive for many. Over the years, I have hadthe opportunity to coach many players and onething I can tell you without reservation is thebest players were mentally tough. It’s a hardconcept to explain until you see it, but it’s ob-vious when you see a player that has it.

To clarify my point, not all ofthe best athletes have it. Notevery big league player ismentally tough and there areplenty that never make it tothe big leagues that havegreat mental toughness. It’snot about ability, I’vecoached many great athletesthat didn’t have a clue aboutbeing mentally tough andwould fold under pressure.They could perform wellwhen there was nothing onthe line, but when the gamewas in balance, or the com-petition was tough, they usu-ally failed.

On the other hand, I’ve wit-nessed many players withaverage skills, but mentallytough, perform in ways noone thought they could per-form. A clutch hit, a keybunt, a great defensive playthat stopped a rally, mentallytough players get the jobdone. In fact, the greater the pressure, the bet-ter they perform.

One thing I’ve come to understand with expe-rience is that mental toughness is not an inbornDNA trait, but rather one that is developed over

time and exposure to adverse conditions.Preparation in mental toughness begins with ex-periences at a young age. Parents can play akey role to begin the process of training mentaltoughness, but they need help along the way. Adisciplined educational system with high ex-pectations and good classroom rules, alongwith tough, but fair coaches (or mentors inother activities) with a positive mind set, is es-sential to developing a child mentally and

building their self confi-dence, whether they are anathlete are not.

This is one of the many rea-sons why it’s important for allchildren to be involved inbalanced organized extracurricular activities at ayoung age: Karate, gymnas-tics, ballet, music, scouts,children and youth activitiesat church, or youth sportswill play a part in beginningto instill the discipline andstructure that is needed to de-velop mentally. Notice I saidbegin to play a part. It takestime and preparation.

Mental development is alsoa reason that athletes needto be involved in a propertraining program by the timethey are 14 or 15 years old.A training program not onlyhelps to build power,strength, and agility, but is

important in developing mentally. Playersshould be accountable to a mentor (trainer,coach, etc…) as well as the camaraderie andpressure of a small peer group, even if it’s onlyone or two others.

WHAT IS MENTAL TOUGHNESS AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR ATHLETES?

MENTALTOUGHNESS

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If a player is involved in a training programearlier than 14 or 15, it should be for the pur-pose of agility and speed training, along withteaching the proper techniques in strength con-ditioning without weights. Before any trainingprogram is started, please consult your child’sphysician during their annual physical, as thedevelopment of each child is unique.

DEFINITION of MENTAL TOUGHNESSBeing mentally tough is having the psychologi-cal edge that allows one to perform at peakmaximum effort and efficiency during the de-mands that are placed on them during training,practice, or competition. Specifically, when thedemands are greatest or the conditions becomeadverse.

Whenever the demands are the greatestis when the characteristics of mental tri-umph are the most evident. Some ofthe many characteristics that areevident include:

SELF-CONFIDENCESELF-MOTIVATIONFOCUSCONCENTRATIONCOMPOSURECALMNESSPOISESELF- CONTROLPOSITIVE ENERGYDETERMINATIONPERSISTENCELEADERSHIPPlease note, this doesn’t mean that the outcomeis always a win, in many cases these attributescan show up the most during a loss, especiallya close loss to a tough opponent or during ad-verse conditions. But over time and with carefultraining the mental toughness of skilled playerscomes to light in championship games.

DEVELOPMENTTo have mental toughness one must practice at-tributes that lead to mental toughness. I wishthere were a formula to follow, but there is not.It takes time and patience under the right lead-ership to develop mental toughness. Parents,educators, coaches, and other mentors must besystematically involved in the training process.Also, it takes failure and the ability to bounceback. Many people develop mental toughnessthrough the experience of failure. Good

parents do not want their children to fail and Iunderstand that. But today, too many blameothers for the failure. Parents are quick toblame the teacher for problems in class or acoach when the child is not excelling in an ac-tivity. Mental toughness can not be developedproperly when blaming others. In fact, the op-posite is the case.Here are a some examples of those thatworked through failure to develop mentaltoughness and succeed:

“Every strikeout got me closer to my nexthomerun”. Babe RuthBabe Ruth grew up in an orphanage. Duringhis playing career he struck out a record 1330times on his way to hitting 714 career

homeruns.

“…..Failure makes me try harder thenext time”- Michael Jordan.Jordan was only 5’ 7” when he en-tered high school. Because of hisspeed and athleticism (and an olderbrother named Larry that thecoaches knew well) he was invitedto try out for the varsity, but didn’tmake it. He was placed on the JVteam where he routinely scored 25- 30 points a game. By his junioryear, he was 6’4” and made thevarsity team. By then, he not onlyhad the skill to play, but the driveand determination to be successful,while demanding the same from histeammates. (Michael's older brother

Larry played a big role in helping withhim develop mental toughness on the

court.)

Edmund Hillary failed three times before finallybeing the first to climb Mt. Everest.

Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Steve Allen (hisMicrosoft co-founder) failed at their firstbusiness, Traf-O-Matic, which was developedto analyze traffic patterns.

Walt Disney’s first animation business in the1920’s failed after only one month, forcing himto take a job from another company at thattime.

Ten Free Tips on How to Develop MentalToughness in Your Players atwww.expert-baseball-tips.com/mentaltoughness

Article Source:http://www.youthbaseballinfo.com

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Mike Raymond is the Director of BaseballOperations at Diamond Nation and is the HeadBaseball coach at Hunterdon Central RegionalHigh School. His teams at Central have won 15championships including back to back Group IVState Championships in 2008 and 2009. In2009, they went 29-1 and finished the year asthe #1 ranked team in the state. He was per-sonally selected the New Jersey Coach of theYear for 2009 by the National Federation ofHigh School Coaches.Mike RaymondHunterdon Central Regional High SchoolHealth and Physical Education DepartmentHead Baseball Coach (908) 782-5727 ext. 8552

“My son is better than that kid but his father isa board member.”“That guy only coaches to make sure his sonplays all the time.”“Why put this kid in to pitch, he is terrible.”“That kid should not have even made the team,let alone be a starter.”

If you have not uttered one of these phrases to yourhusband, your wife, your friend, or possibly evenyour son’s coach, you are in the minority of today’sLittle League parents. In today’s society when thepressures on the baseball field pale in comparisonto the pressures often put on by parents and peers,I find it essential to keep the goal of amateur ath-letics in perspective and to reinforce the role ofparents in amateur sports.Participation in amateur athletics provides childrenwith the opportunity to have fun while learningvaluable life lessons through the competition ofsport. Some of these lessons may come in victorywhile others may come from a poor individualperformance or a loss. To me, any loss or poorperformance is not bad as long as you learn some-

thing from it. This is where the role of the parentplays an integral part of a young athletes learningexperience.As parents we all want our children to experiencethe highest level of success their sport has to offerand will do everything in our power to give theman advantage. Some parents pay for private les-sons and elite travel teams, others spend their hardearned money on strength and speed training, andmany provide all of the above in the hope thattheir child will become the next Derek Jeter, RyanHoward, or Johan Santana. While all of thesethings will undoubtedly make your child a betterplayer, it can not guarantee that they will not ex-perience failure. To be honest, it’s just the oppo-site. Better players must challenge themselves toface a higher level competition but should under-stand that this competition will drastically increasesthe chance they will experience a slump, make anerror in a key part of a game, or give up the win-ning run in a big game. It is through these toughtimes that good players learn and become great.Parents can help this process along by following afew simple rules.

1. Understand that failure is part of the game. Thefirst step to helping your son understand this pointis to make sure you understand it yourself. Do notlet a good game or performance get you too highor excited. Try to maintain an even keel aftergames regardless of the outcome or performance.

2. Don’t focus on the end result. Help your son un-derstand success is not measured solely by statis-tics but more importantly by improvement.Everyone’s goal should be to improve in at leastone area of the game every time you take the fieldwhether it is a game or practice. While winningin competitive sports is the ultimate goal, it is theproduct of daily improvement.

3. Acknowledge the little things. While slumps dooccur in baseball, there are two things that neverslump – hustle and sportsmanship. Remind yourson there are many ways to help a team and let

BE KIND - TREAT OTHERS AS YOU WISH TO BE TREATED

THE ROLE OF THEBASEBALL PARENT

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him know that it makes you proud to see him run-ning on and off the field or cheering up a team-mate in between innings after an error orstrikeout. The best teams usually have the bestteammates.

4. Promote good character and sportsmanship.Regardless of the situation, everyone fromcoaches, to parents, to players must exhibit thehighest level of character in order to keep the in-tegrity of this great sport intact. This includes notcheating to gain an advantage, supporting team-mates and players and cheering for everyoneeven if they are competing for the same position.If parents and coaches model this type of behav-ior both around the field and at home, it will leadto children who learn and understand these valu-able life skills at a young age.

5. Remember it is called the “Game of Baseball.”When the game is not fun to play anymore, mostplayers will call it quits. It is sometimes difficult toremain positive during the tough times so parentsneed to often remind their children of this. It isthe lessons your child learns during these toughtimes that will make him stronger and teach them

valuable coping tools they will need in their every-day life.Now, let’s get back to those phrases at the be-ginning of this article. I have heard them oftenbut must say, “Who cares.” As time goes by, noone will care how much playing time little Jonnyhad or that he was the best player on his nineyear old All-Star team. What does matter is thatevery year he plays this game, he grows as aplayer and as a person. If this growth is com-bined with a lot of hard work, good teaching, apassion for the sport and some luck, your son willhopefully have a great high school career andpossibly play in college. Anything after that is agreat goal but totally a bonus.

The dream of becoming a major league baseballplayer is the goal of many kids but the reality ismost will not reach that goal. But, the thing thatmakes all the sacrifice and energy worth it is thefriendships, the memories, and the life skills theyattain during their endless hours on the practicefield and during games. No one can predictwhat the future holds for any individual, but Ipromise you, the future will be much easier todeal with if you follow these simple rules.

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With so many negative stories in the news thesedays regarding athletes, it’s nice to be able tobring you a story about a player who personifiesguts and determination.

Jordan Deitch is not unlike your average 13 yearold athlete, he plays football, basketball andpitches for his travel team. The thing that is mostremarkable about Jordon is he was born with just1 finger on each hand. By the time Jordan was8 years old he had already experienced 5different operations to give partial use of hishands. Through all types of reconstructivesurgery the doctors were able to give him apinky, thumb and index finger on his left hand(which he can’t bend) his right hand they hadto unfist.

This is not a story about a young man who ishandicapped, because to meet Jordan youwould never know it. This is a story about triumphand determination. Jordan started playing t-ball

when he was 5with a customglove his dadbought for himover the internet.He continued hislove of sports notonly playing foot-ball, basketballand baseball butplaying them at ahigh level.

I had the goodfortune to meetand watch Jor-dan play base-ball recently at

Baseball Heavenwhere he is thestarting pitcher forthe 13yr. Long Is-land Inferno travelteam.

When you watchJordan pitch youwould never knowhe has a handicap.His ball has tremen-dous movement onit, which makes itvery hard to hitaccording to op-posing batters. Lastseason he sported a3.00 ERA and aver-aged more than 1strike out per game.

His pitching abilityis only surpassed byhis hitting. This kidcan hit with any ofhis teammates. He is currently batting .333.I have to admit I don’t know how he does it.

Overall his father tells me Jordan is just like anyother 13 year old kid, he has great grades, is apain in the butt, and his friends love him.

We can all take a lesson from Jordan in the wayhe approaches life, he exemplifies guts anddesire. I don’t know how far Jordan will goin baseball, but in my book he already is anALL STAR.

PROFILE IN GUTS AND DETERMINATION

ByEric Citron

JUST LIKE ANYOTHER KID

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FAITH AND A BASEBALL RAT HELPED HAMILTON BACK TO STARDOM

SILVER LININGBy Joel Poiley/Baseballamerica.com

CLEARWATER, FLA.—As Roy Silver watched the laserbeam of a line drive rise from just above his head atthe pitcher's mound to its landing about 500 feetaway beyond the center-field wall, he had no doubtthat Josh Hamilton still had the ability to play in themajor leagues.

It was Hamilton's mental state Silver was concernedwith. During those dark days in early 2006, whenbaseball had given up on the thrice-suspended formerphenom, Silver reached out to Hamilton at his lowestebb, offering him one last shot at redemption.

The amazing story of Hamilton'sdescent from uber-prospect intothe abyss of cocaine addictionand alcohol abuse, and his sub-sequent revival, has become thestuff of baseball legend. Less wellknown is where it all began, in anempty ballpark in Clearwater.

Silver, 46, runs a baseball acad-emy called The Winning Inning atJack Russell Stadium, where thePhillies trained from 1955-2003.His baseball pedigree is vast,having played, managed andcoached in the Cardinals organi-zation for 14 years. He alsoserved as a manager in theFlorida State League for the Rayswhen they were born in 1998-99. It was there he met Hamilton,when the then-Devil Rays made him the first pick inthe 1999 draft.

But 2006 was light years removed from that brightbeginning, and Silver reached out to Hamilton whenhe seemed finally to have reached rock bottom,offering him one last shot at redemption. Hamiltonarrived about two weeks later, and Silver put him upin the converted Phillies executive offices in a 10-by-12-foot room with an air mattress. The arrangementwas rent-free, and Silver provided all of Hamilton'sfood. In return, Hamilton would have to earn his keep,doing everything from cleaning toilets to pullingweeds to dragging the infield. His reward in the af-ternoon was time in the batting cage.

"He wasn't allowed to leave," Silver said. "His truckwas behind a locked gate at night. He lived hereunder our rules. He could leave any time he wantedand go back to North Carolina. But as long as hewas here he did what we said.

"If he didn't get up some mornings to work, he lostprivileges just like you would discipline your child.Money, his keys, everything was under our jurisdic-tion. And he wanted it that way."

Hamilton, who by that time had drained most of his$3.96 million signing bonus on his addictions, saidhe was impressed with Silver's faith-based philosophyand motto: "Developing players from the inside out."

And he felt it would be the rightplace to attempt his comeback inearnest.

"Roy was offering me whatamounted to a stay at a ball-player's halfway house, and rightaway it sounded like the perfectopportunity for me," Hamilton saidin his book, "Beyond Belief, Find-ing the strength to come back."

Hamilton is the most high-profilecase, but Silver has helped count-less kids in the Tampa Bay area, in-cluding Nationals pitchingprospect Tyler Clippard. Clipparddrew considerable attention enter-ing his senior year at Mitchell Highin nearby Trinity, in 2003. But adrunken-driving arrest early in the

baseball season almost derailed his budding careeruntil his father brought him to Silver.

"My world came tumbling down because baseballwas my life," Clippard said. "I was like a lost puppyand Roy led me in the right direction. I got a headstart on professional baseball my senior year in highschool because I go to this guy who teaches me thingsI'm still using today as far as mechanics. And hemade a bunch of calls to scouts on my behalf.

"And the most important thing, outside of the base-ball knowledge that he has, is that he gets you to lookbeyond what's happened to you and gets you to lookat the bigger picture. Him getting me to look at those

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things at 18 had a huge impact on me beingsuccessful after I was drafted."

Clippard was drafted in the ninth round by the Yan-kees and reached the big leagues in 2007. He's cur-rently pitching in relief for the Nationals' Triple-Aaffiliate in Syracuse. He wasn't surprised Silver notonly reached out to Hamilton, but also helped himfind his way.

"Roy's a genuine individual who does things becausehe wants to, not because he expects anything inreturn," said Clippard, 24.

Randy Holland, Silver's partner in The Winning In-ning, said Silver has been helping young men whoneed a second chance for years, often with littlecompensation.

"Roy's a big-hearted guy whodoesn't seek the recognition,"Holland said. "Roy's heart, andmine, is for these young men togrow up to be responsible peo-ple down the road—fathers,husbands, leaders in their com-munity—and they have a greatexperience playing baseball.The Josh Hamiltons are few andfar between. Ninety-five percentof the kids that we see herearen't going to play profes-sional baseball, and Roy wantsthem to go on and do somethingpositive with their life."

Undeniable Skills

Silver said when Hamilton cameto Clearwater, he obviouslywasn't in playing shape, only months off his last drugbinge. But the baseball skills were undeniable, evenhidden beneath years of rust and neglect.

"His skin color was off, and he had just put his weightback on while he was living with his grandmother,but it wasn't a healthy-looking weight," Silver said."He didn't look like an athlete."

None of that mattered when Hamilton stepped intothe batting cage for the first time, though.

"The first ball he hit sounded like a shotgun," Silver re-called, smiling. "Even though visually he wasn't Josh,he was still Josh. When that ball hit the back screen,he was excited. It put a lot of joy in his heart."

Hamilton was drug-tested three times a week byMajor League Baseball while living with Silver, apractice that's still part of his major league routine.The main goal, Silver said, was to help Hamilton

become a responsible father and reunite with his wifeand daughters.

"Getting his life back together was more important,by far, than baseball," Silver said. "I've been arounda lot of first-rounders, and when someone throws alot of money at you and you're 18, it changes you—most of the time in a negative way because it's notnormal and you don't always fit in socially with olderteammates.

"Josh made some bad choices. He's been publicabout that. And he knew when he came here thescholarship was over. This was a second chance; butalso a last chance. And he wanted it bad enough thathe made it happen."

Hamilton, who went through eight attempts at rehab,said Silver and Holland kept an eye on him, yet

were also able to give him hisspace, which he appreciated.

"Roy and Randy ran after-schoolcamps and other group activi-ties for kids in the area. It waspart of their mission, using base-ball as their ministry," Hamiltonsaid. "This became one of myfavorite things about the place.Being around the little kidsreignited my love for baseballand made me realize why I hadto give myself another chance toget back into the game."

After several months with Silver,Hamilton attempted to hook onwith an independent leagueteam, but MLB wouldn't allow it.Upon reviewing his case, and

hearing from doctors that being around baseballmight speed his recovery, MLB did allow Hamilton towork out with Rays minor leaguers in June 2006. Bythe end of the month he was allowed to participate inminor league games and was assigned to short-sea-son Hudson Valley.

The rest is history. At the 2006 Winter Meetings, theCubs picked Hamilton in the major league Rule 5draft and sold him to the Reds. After a scintillatingspring training, he completed his miraculous ascentto the majors when he made the Reds' Opening Dayroster a little more than a year after Silver took him in.The Reds traded him to the Rangers before the 2008season, when he made the American League all-starteam and took the baseball world by storm in theHome Run Derby. He hit 28 home runs in the openinground, breaking Bobby Abreu's record of 24 set in2005, though he eventually finished second in thefinal to Justin Morneau.

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"I thought it was a little soon, honestly," Silver said ofHamilton's return to the pro game. "But that specialnatural ability was always there, he just had to tapinto it. He's in a class by himself. The only other guyscouts will put in that class is A-Rod. Older scouts willcompare him to Mantle. No one else is close.

"Josh is the type of athlete that could've played wide-out or tight end in football, point guard in basketball;he threw 97 mph lefthanded off the mound. Hands,feet, coordination; he had it all."

Just as important, Silver found Hamilton a willingstudent and good listener as he worked on hismental recovery.

"We just had to iron out a couple minor mechanicalthings he might've picked up in high school, but he'svery easy to coach," Silver said. "We were maybe amonth or so into it and I said, 'I feel like I've run outof things to say.' And he said, 'I want you to keeptalking to me about base-ball, the Bible; I want toget back into God'sword.' "

Silver doesn't push hisfaith on people, but reli-gion has been a big partof his life since his minorleague days. He runsBaseball Chapel servicesfor the Blue Jays andPhillies on Sundays duringspring training, then per-forms the same service for their Florida State Leagueclubs during the regular season.

He was glad to reach out to Hamilton.

"He's a good kid, easy to like," Silver said. "The orig-inal bond was baseball, but I had gone down asimilar road as Josh at one point in my life and hecould see a model that was living a productive life.

"It's a privilege to play in the major leagues, and itwas important for Josh to realize that and beaccountable for his actions. As long as Josh staysconnected to God he's going to be fine."

Holland, a certified athletic trainer who worked 18seasons in the Blue Jays organization, said Silver hasa unique ability to connect with kids and get them toconfront their problems.

"There's nobody better in baseball in the mental partof the game than Roy Silver," Holland said. "He canpull out things from kids, either in a group or one onone, about baseball, life, whatever it is to get them tofocus on being a better person and player."

Silver's baseball mentor and close friend was GeorgeKissell, the longtime Cardinals coach, manager, scoutand field instructor who died last year at age 88.Signed by Branch Rickey in 1940, Kissell wasemployed by the Cardinals until his death, the longestaffiliation with one club in baseball.

Silver got to know Kissell during his tenure withthe Cardinals, was with Kissell when he died, andpresided at his memorial at Al Lang Stadium inSt. Petersburg.

"He was my baseball father," Silver said. "He tooktime for all the little guys. He hung with the big guys,but he was more comfortable being around the littleguys.

"I learned balance from George. Earl Weaver andSparky Anderson both wanted him on their staffs. Buthe was loyal to the Cardinals and his family, that'swhy he remained in Florida all those years. He's a

big reason I started TheWinning Inning, because itwas a way to stay close tomy family but still beinvolved in baseball."

Silver has also lived a richlife in the game, eventhough he's unknown tomany in the sport.

A recent highlight for Silverwas throwing batting prac-tice for Team USA as they

prepped in Clearwater this spring for the WorldBaseball Classic. He also served as a bullpen catcherduring the team's training and said it was educa-tional.

"From a scouting standpoint it kept my eye sharp asto what major league pitches do—the slider, thebreaking ball, the fastball—and the mental approachthose guys took," said Silver, who also helps coordi-nate Yankees fantasy camps. "And I got to watch thehitters during BP and how they approach certainsituations."

Silver and Hamilton remain close, communicating byphone and e-mail and seeing each other when theRangers play in Tampa. Silver does not want creditfor Hamilton's recovery; he's just glad to have helpedhim and many other youngsters like him get back ontheir feet.

"It's a neat story and I was happy to be a part of it,but it was just the right time, part of God's plan,"Silver said. "Had he come here a year or two earlierit would've been a different story because he hadn'thit rock bottom yet."

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Anthony Razor Shines (born July 18, 1956 inDurham, North Carolina) is currently the third-basecoach for the New York Mets. Shines is also a re-tired baseball player who played first base for theMontreal Expos for four seasons, from 1983-1985and 1987. He had a significant career in theminor leagues, where he spent parts of sixteen sea-sons. He spent the majority of nine seasons withthe Indianapolis Indians, and he became a locallegend and fan favorite within the city of Indi-anapolis. His minor league career also includedstops in Memphis with the Memphis Chicks, in theMexican League and in the Pittsburgh Pirates or-ganization with the Buffalo Bisons. He later be-came a minor league manager, where hemanaged the Birmingham Barons of the SouthernLeague and the Clearwater Threshers of theFlorida State League.

On May 16, 2006, the Indians honored Shines,who was managing the visiting Charlotte Knights,with a "Razor Shines Night". This kind of honor,for a player of an opposing team, is quite rare inminor league baseball. Shines kept his residencein Indianapolis dur-ing his playingyears and for a fewyears afterwards.After retirement, hebegan his coachingcareer there ata local baseballacademy and atBishop ChatardHigh School.

In four Major League seasons he played in 68games and had 81 at bats, 15 hits, one double,five RBI, one stolen base, five walks, a .185 bat-ting average, .239 on-base percentage, .198 slug-ging percentage, 16 total bases and one sacrificefly. He also pitched an inning in a blowout loss tothe Philadelphia Phillies in 1985.

Shines has over 500 wins as a minor leaguemanager.

In 2007, he wasback in the MajorLeagues coaching atthird base for theChicago White Sox.On December 12,2007, Shines wasnamed manager ofthe Phillies single-AClearwater Threshersteam. He managedthe Threshers to a64-76 record in2008.

On October 23,2008, it was an-nounced that Shineswould replace LuisAguayo as the thirdbase coach for theNew York Mets.

In my mind RazorShines is what baseball is all about. He is upbeat,talkative and fun to be around. I was covering theMets vs. Tampa game and had the chance tospend about 15 minutes talking to him on the fieldbefore the game and this is a guy who loves base-ball and loves to talk about it! I can honestly say heis one of the nicest people you want to meet andhis pure love of this game comes through withevery word.

I might have missed his love affair with the fanshad I not been sitting in the photo box – each andevery time Razor walks out to the third base coach-ing box he carries with him a ball, Then the ritualbegins: he walks over to the photo box, looks intothe stands and studies all of the young fans shout-ing to him, he carefully picks one fan out, points tohim/her and then tosses the ball to their waitinghand and makes their day. He does this everyinning, and it’s quite a ritual he has developed.

The man with the great name – welcome toNew York – we are glad to have you on our team!

THE MAN WITH THE GREAT NAME – NEW YORK METS THIRD BASE COACH:

By Eric Citron

RAZORSHINES

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FLEET AFOOT

RUN

NIN

GRUNNING BASES

Sixty yards. That’s it. Sixty yards standbetween you leading off second baseand you crossing the plate. It’s sixtyyards going first to third on a base hit.

Sixty yards. That’s it. Sixty yards standbetween you leading off second baseand you crossing the plate. It’s sixty yardsgoing first to third on a base hit.

It’s a important number, 60. Why? Be-cause baseball is effectively a two-basegame. It’s how baseball coaches meas-ure speed—two bags at a time. Butsometimes, beyond straight-line trackspeed, it’s speed on the base paths thatcan make the difference in a bang-bangplay. It could all happen in the blink of60 yards.

When you think about it, running thebases should be simple. And at its core,it is just that: The ball is hit, you run asquickly as you can to the next base. Ifonly life between the lines were so easy.

Base running has become a lost tool inthe modern-day game. Perhaps it’s thatmost young players do not understandthat team offense stops not at the plate,but continues when you reach base. It’s askill set so easily overlooked, yet one thatcan so easily be improved. Often it boilsdown to desire that separates qualitybase runners from the pack. Desire thatspells the balance between first andthird, safe or out. Work hard enough,and your base running can change thedynamic of a game by creating havocfor the defense and opposing pitchers.

A player should take pride in his baserunning ability. Unlike at the plate or inthe field, when he’s running the bases, heis in total control of his own success. He

will decide how aggressive to be, howhard he will run, and how smart he willplay each situation.

In other sports, say football or basketball,when you’re on the offensive, you’re con-stantly moving. Baseball’s different. It’s aslow moving game, one of patience. It’seasy to become complacent and idle.That’s where the smart base runnerstrikes. He will be looking to advance onevery pitch. Like a fielder setting himselfon every pitch to receive the baseballshould it be hit in his direction, a baserunner should have an up-tempo ap-proach and should know what to do inevery situation after a pitch is thrown. Forexample, if a ball is hit to the left side,the base runner will take a different ap-proach versus when a ball it hit to theright side. He runs differently with oneout versus two, one strike versus two.He’s plugged into the flow of every sec-ond of the action and should run thebases with the same urgency.

As a coach, I try to emphasize severalkey points to my players during theseason:

1) You don’t always need to be a thief.Stealing bases is a great way to createpressure and advance runners without aswing of the bat. The threat of the steal,however, can be just as important as thesteal itself. A player with an ability tosteal impacts the game without evenbreaking for second. A pitcher maychange his delivery to prepare for thethreat of a steal attempt. Pitch selectiontoo; he may elect to throw more fastballsversus curves. He may lose focus, fol-lowing the runner with his mind insteadof focus squarely on the batter. The threatof a stolen base also forces infielders to

Steve DiTrolio is currently the Instructor andCoach for Diamond Nation. He is the HeadBaseball Coach for Wardlaw-Hartridge Prep2007-2009, and was the Assistant Coachand Recruiting Coordinator for BloomfieldCollege 2004-2006. Steve DiTrolio

BASERUNNING

HAS BECOMEA LOST TOOL.

A PLAYERSHOULD TAKEPRIDE IN HIS

BASERUNNING

ABILITY.

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move position. They often give up ground to defendthe steal, thus creating bigger holes for the hitter.

2) Be a student of the game.A good base runner will study their surroundings:How deep are the fences? What surface is thegame being played on? How much foul territory sur-rounds the field? A good baseball player will sit inthe dugout and study a pitcher’s tendencies. As I tellmy players, you should always be looking to gainan advantage, be it at the plate, in the field or onthe bases. By studying a pitcher’s tendencies, youmay find, for example, that he always throws anoff-speed pitch in certain counts. Or perhaps hedrifts towards the plate before he lifts his front foot.By studying, you’ll be armed with pivotal knowl-edge that will help improve your chances ofadvancing successfully on the base paths.

3) Your secondary lead should not have secondaryimportance.As much as the threat of a steal can create pressureand generate offense, it’s still a gamble. This gam-ble looms even larger for runners on teams withouta ton of speed. As mentioned earlier, one of the

most overlooked skills among young players is theability to go first to third. The “two-base game”looms large, because you can generate runs withoutrisking outs. A base runner’s secondary lead is thefoundation to get in better position to go from firstto third, or to score from second base.

4) As baseball players, we must not forget our over-all objective—scoring runs.Good base running does not—nor will it ever—command the same attention and accolades as hit-ting home runs. But it can create the same result:scoring runs. Although base running can often be-come an afterthought to observers of the game, itshould never live as a postscript within your overallgame. You should always hustle and look to createpressure. You should always anticipate the nextplay. You must understand game situations.

If you work on all of these tools, and if you treatrunning the bases with the importance it requires,you will develop an aspect of your overall gamethat will set you apart. It will make you a much bet-ter overall player, and it will help prepare you forthe next level.

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Yogi Berra: Eternal Yankee(Hard Cover)By Alan BarraPublisher: WW. Norton & Co.Available Amazon.com $27.95

In the introduction to his latest ef-fort, Barra (The Last Coach: ALife of Paul Bear Bryant) saysthat one of his goals was to cre-ate the first comprehensive workwritten about Yogi Berra, thegreatest ballplayer never tohave had a serious biography.The result is not only compre-hensive but also incredibly en-gaging, as Barra narrates thelife of one of the most eccentricballplayers of the 20th century.Starting with his modest Italianupbringing in St. Louis, Mo.,Berra quickly took a liking towhat his father called a bum’sgame. And after a short career

in the navy, heparlayed histalents into oneof the mostdecorated ath-letic careers inhistory, lead-ing the NewYork Yankeesto 10 World

Series championships and win-ning three MVPs. Each of Berra’sbaseball highlights is meticu-lously described, as are his stintsas a manager for both the Yan-kees and crosstown Mets, his re-lationships with men like CaseyStengel, Mickey Mantle andGeorge Steinbrenner, and hisability to create some of the mostfamous catch phrases of ourtime, Yogiisms, as they’re called.Barra’s love of the catcher withthe similar name is evidentthroughout this deserving biog-raphy of Yogi. (Mar.) Copyright© Reed Business Information, adivision of Reed Elsevier Inc. Allrights reserved.

The Complete GameBy Ron Darling with DanielPaisner$24.95Published by Alfred A. KnopfAvailable: Amazon.com

This is a wonderful book that de-tails both the highlights and low-lights of Ron Darling’s career

both as apitcher and abroadcaster.He tells won-derful stories,often self-dep-recating, abouthow differentmanagers han-dled his tough

situations and devotes an entirechapter to the famous collegegame in 1981 between Yale(Darling) and St. Johns (FrankViola) where Darling pitched 11innings of no-hit ball but lost inthe 12th. Great detail abouthow Darling would pitch differ-ent batters in different situations.This book is almost impossible toput down. A great read!

The Rocket That Fell To EarthBy Jeff PearlmanPublisher Harper$26.95Available at Amazon.com

He was supposed to be the nextNolan Ryan: Roger Clemens,the fearless, hard-nosed Texanwith a 98-mph fastball and apropensity to throw at the headsof opposing hitters. Yet shortlyafter his arrival in the majorleagues in 1984, it became ap-parent that the Ryan compar-isons were simply unfair—RogerClemens was significantly better.Over 24 seasons, the Rocketwould go on to win 354 games,an unprecedented seven CyYoung Awards and two WorldSeries trophies. In 1986 he set

the major league record with 20strikeouts in a nine-inning game,then matched it a decade later.He would be routinely praisedfor representing the game in ajust and righteous manner—aliving, breathing example of thepower of determination andhard work. “Roger Clemens,” ateammate once said, “is anAmerican hero.” But the statisticsand hoopla obscure a far darkerstory. Along with myriad playoffchokes, womanizing (includinga 10-year affair with then-teenage country singer MindyMcCready), a violent streak(most famously triggered by for-mer Mets star Mike Piazza) andhis use of steroids and humangrowth hormones, Clemens hasspent years trying to hide hisdarkest secret—a family tragedyinvolving drugs and, ultimately,death. The author of the NewYork Times bestsellers Boys WillBe Boys and The Bad GuysWon!, Jeff Pearlman conductednearly 500 interviews withClemens’ family, friends andteammates to present a portraitthat goes beyond the familiarnewspaper stories and maga-

zine profiles.Reconstructingthe pitcher’slife—from hischildhood inOhio to col-lege ball inTexas and onto the moundsof FenwayPark and Yan-

kee Stadium—Pearlman revealsthe real Roger Clemens: aflawed and troubled man whoserage for baseball immortalitytook him to superhuman heightsbut ultimately brought him crash-ing to earth.

DNM BOOK CLUBGOOD READS FOR 2009 FROM DIAMOND NATION MAGAZINE

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Forever BlueBy Michael D’Antonio$25.95 HardcoverPublished by RiverheadAvailable: Amazon.com

Although Wal-ter O’Malleyhas been deadfor nearly 30years, D’Anto-nio’s latestwork is per-haps the mostmet iculous lydetailed and

comprehensive account to dateof the former owner of theBrooklyn and Los AngelesDodgers. Through research inO’Malley’s letters, documentsand myriad interviews withthose close to him, D’Antonio(Tin Cup Dreams) presents awell-rounded portrayal of one ofthe most polarizing figures inbaseball history: one New Yorkwriter referred to O’Malley asone of the three worst human be-ings who ever lived, while a LosAngeles journalist describedO’Malley as a man who didmore for baseball than any com-missioner. D’Antonio paints thewhole picture, starting withO’Malley’s early days as alawyer who originally beganworking with the club in a trou-bleshooting capacity, to takingtotal control of ownership in1950. During O’Malley’s tenurewith the Dodgers, the team hadsome of its most famous mo-ments in history—the debut ofJackie Robinson, the club’s firstWorld Series title in 1955 and,of course, the team’s infamousmove to Los Angeles. D’Antonioexplores everything—O’Mal-ley’s business dealings, hispersonal relationships withRobinson and Branch Rickey, theon-the-field fortunes of theDodgers. With D’Antonio’saccess to O’Malley’s most per-sonal documents, even baseballhistorians will find something tolearn. (Mar.) Copyright © ReedBusiness Information, a divisionof Reed Elsevier Inc. All rightsreserved.

Becoming MannyBy Jean Rhodes & ShawnBoburg$25.00Published by ScribnerAvailable: Amazon.com

Authorized by the future Hall ofFamer himself, and written by aclinical psychologist and anaward - winning investigativejournalist, Becoming Manny isthe incredible story behind oneof the greatest baseball sluggersof all time. Manny Ramirezranks seventeenth in careerhome runs and eighth in career

slugging per-centage — theonly playersabove him onboth lists areBarry Bonds,Jimmie Foxx,& Babe Ruth.B e c o m i n gManny brings

an unusually thoughtful analysisto the territory of sports biogra-phy, examining Manny’s lifethrough the lens of larger issuessuch as mentoring and immigra-tion, while also telling the storyof a great career. Manny hasperplexed the baseball world foryears now with his amazing hit-ting and his unique approach tolife and to the game. Incrediblyfocused at the plate yet carefreeeverywhere else, Manny hasbecome a constant topic ofdiscussion on national sportsradio and television, on sportswebsites, and in print. Withunprecedented access, JeanRhodes and Shawn Boburghave uncovered fascinating sto-ries and family photos spanningManny’s early years to the pres-ent. This is an authorized insidelook at the roots, development,and career of an individualand player on his way from theDominican Republic and Wash-ington Heights to the Hall ofFame.

Straw: FINDING MYOWN WAYBy Daryl Strawberry$26.99 HardcoverPublished by EccoAvailable: Amazon.com

Former baseball slugger DarrylStrawberry, whose achieve-ments on the field were oftenovershadowed by his strugglesoff the field, recounts the highs,the lows, and the lessons ofhope and survival he learnedalong the way. The youngest sonof Henry and Ruby Strawberry,Darryl grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Los An-geles, where he channeled hisenergy into baseball and bas-ketball. The New York Metsdrafted him in 1980, and hewon the National League Rookieof the Year Award in 1983.Strawberry became the first Na-tional League player voted to theAll-Star Game in each of his firstfour full seasons. Throughout theeighties and nineties, however,Strawberry faced many per-sonal challenges, including druguse, tax evasion, solicitation,and allegations of domesticviolence. His seasons with

the Dodgers,Giants, andYankees wereinterrupted bysuspensions,visits to rehab,and treatmentfor colon can-cer. But in2006, Straw-

berry’s life changed coursedramatically. With his wife,Tracy, he devoted himself to hischurch and to his work with chil-dren and adults affected byautism and other developmentaldisorders. For the first time, inhis own words, Darryl Straw-berry delivers his inspirationalnarrative — the extraordinarystory of his life.

2009 GOOD READS

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Seaver, 1969 Mets won as a team.Amazin’s celebrate 40th anniversary ofWorld Championship

By Craig MuderNational Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – It might be thegreatest team accomplishment in a gamebuilt on team play. And the 1969 MiracleMets certainly became one of the most cel-ebrated teams in baseball history – thanks toa collection of players whose sum wasgreater than their parts.

But at the center of that team stood a super-star of the highest magnitude, a pitcher whobecame the definition of a Hall of Famer.

George Thomas Seaver was the veryembodiment of his team. And as the Metscelebrate the 40th anniversary of their1969 World Championship, the contribu-tions of Seaver to that title are more evidentthan ever.

“We knew we had the potential for a prettygood pitching staff going into the season,”Seaver said. “I don’t think anyone had anyidea what was going to happen, though.”

What happened were 100 regular-seasonvictories, the National League East title anda sweep of the Atlanta Braves in the first-ever National League Championship Series.Seaver went 25-7 in the regular-season witha sparkling 2.21 ERA. He was laterrewarded with the National League CyYoung Award and a second-place finish inthe NL MVP voting.

Only one other Mets pitcher, Jerry Koos-man, won more than 13 games that year –due in part to an offense that produced noplayers with more than 76 RBIs, just threeplayers with at least 100 hits and totaled anon-base percentage of only .309. But underthe direction of manager Gil Hodges – andwith Seaver pitching every fifth day – theMets stormed down the stretch and throughNLCS.

HALL OFFAME NEWS

The Mets’ 1969 World Series programplayed on the team’s quick rise, winning100 games and making the Fall Classic inthe franchise’s eith season after posting theworst record in modern history by losing120 games their first season in 1962.

Credit: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, NY

New York Mets

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“Gil Hodges changed everything when hebecame the manager,” Seaver said. “That’swhen we became a team.”

But to complete the miracle, the Mets had todefeat the Baltimore Orioles – who won109 games and were just two seasons re-moved from a World Series title.

In Game 1, the unthinkable happened.Seaver, who had lost just seven of his 32 de-cisions during the regular season, allowedfour earned runs in five innings and wassaddled with the loss. Surely, this would de-rail the Mets.

But this team would not allow it.

Koosman and Ron Taylor combined for atwo-hitter in Game 2, and Gary Gentry andNolan Ryan – the only other future Hall ofFamer in the Mets’ lineup that year – shutout the Orioles in Game 3. That set thestage for Seaver, who allowed just one runin 10 innings in Game 4 – a game thatended when the Orioles misplayed J.C.Martin’s bunt, allowing Rod Gaspar to scorefrom second base.

The next day, Oct. 16, Koosman pitched acomplete-game five-hitter to give the Metstheir improbable title.Seaver pitched 17 more seasons, winningtwo more Cy Youngs with the Mets beforebeing traded to the Reds during the 1977season. He finished his career in 1986 with311 wins and a 2.86 ERA.

In 1992, Seaver garnered 98.84 percent ofthe Baseball Writers’ Association of Amer-ica Hall of Fame vote – the best percentageever.

“It was an honor to have so many peoplethink you were deserving of the Hall ofFame,” Seaver said. “You don’t think aboutthat when you’re playing. You’re thinkingabout winning. In 1969, that’s what we did.”

Members of the National Baseball Hall ofFame and Museum receive free admission

to the Museum, as well as access to exclu-sive programs, such as the Voices of theGame Series. Additionally, members receivea subscription to the Hall of Fame's bi-monthly magazine, Memories and Dreams,the 2009 Hall of Fame yearbook and a10% discount and free shipping on retailpurchases. For information on becoming amember, please visit baseballhall.org or call607-547-0397.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame andMuseum is open seven days a week yearround, with the exception of Thanksgiving,Christmas and New Year’s Day. FromMemorial Day through Labor Day, theMuseum is open from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m.seven days a week. The Museum observesoff-season hours of 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. fromthe day after Labor Day until Memorial DayWeekend. Ticket prices are $16.50 foradults (13 and over), $11 for seniors (65and over) and for those holding currentmemberships in the VFW, Disabled Ameri-can Veterans, American Legion and AMVetsorganizations, and $6 for juniors (ages7-12). Members are always admitted freeof charge and there is no charge forchildren 6 years of age or younger. Formore information, visit our Web site atbaseballhall.org or call 888-HALL-OF-FAME(888-425-5633) or 607-547-7200.

The 1969 Miracle Mets beat a favoredBaltimore Orioles team in the World Series,providing not only the franchise’s firstWorld Championship, but its first-everwinning season.Credit: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, NY

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COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – It may be fitting that theman who is known as the greatest shortstop of all-time is immortalized on the greatest baseball cardof all-time.

A single card, called the T206 Honus Wagnerwhich features the legendary Pirates shortstop,changed the baseball card industry forever. InSeptember 2007, the most famous version of thatcard, the Gretzky T206 Honus Wagner, sold for$2.8 million. With the auction’s closing, the evo-lution of baseball cards was complete, going fromcigarette packs, to chewing gum for kids to glossypackaging.

In their earlier days and innocence, they were putinto bike spokes and swapped without a thoughtabout their value. Now they are auctioned, andlocked away behind plastic and glass to preservetheir condition.

Most historians trace the roots of baseball tradingcards to the 1880s. Cards depicting baseballwere around earlier than that, but mass-produc-tion and distribution didn’t start until two decadesafter the start of the Civil War. What is believed tobe the earliest known card was produced some-time between 1800 and 1830 and features an il-lustration of boys playing an early version of thegame with a caption that says “Boys delight withball to play.”

The industry almost died when the American To-bacco Company gained a virtual monopoly on to-bacco products in the 1900s, but by 1909 theyhad competition and started including a singlecard with each pack of 10 cigarettes. ATC’s firstseries of cards, the “White Borders,” producedfrom 1909 to 1911 became known in the card in-dustry as the T206 series, for the catalog desig-nation assigned by Jefferson Burdick in his bookThe American Card Catalog.

HALL OFFAME NEWS

The T206 series features over 520 cards depictingplayers from the National League and the Ameri-can League, including 70 Hall of Famers like TyCobb, Cy Young, Walter Johnson and – of course– Wagner. Its closest competitor is the 1911 T205“Gold Border” set which has only 209 cards. TheT206 collection became known as “The Monster”and the Wagner card became the Holy Grail.

All of the T206 cards are illustrated with white-bor-dered lithographs, many of which are portraits –including Wagner’s – taken by one of the morenotable baseball photographers of the era, CarlHorner. Some players are featured in more thanone pose, like Cobb who appears on four differ-ent cards. Their backs feature 16 different ciga-rette brands which lead to much more than 520combinations.

Michael O’Keefe and Teri Thompson wrote in theirbook The Card that the T206’s vary in size. Thishas lead to many allegations that they’ve been al-tered to increase their value, but the cards are typ-ically 1 7/16 by 2 5/8 inches. Estimates are thatas many as 370 million cards were produced be-

The T206HonusWagner, ofwhich lessthan 60copies areknown toexist, is themostexpensivebaseball cardin the world,sellinf for$2.8 millionin 2007.

Credit: NationalBaseball Hall ofFame Library,Cooperstown, NY

Wagner card still popular at age 100.Baseball’s most famous trading card thrillscollectors.By Trevor HayesNational Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Honus Wagner

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tween 1909 and 1911, but most were probablydiscarded by consumers more interested in ciga-rettes. Scot Reader, author of Inside T206:A Collector’s Guide to the Classic Baseball CardSet, speculates 1.6 million may remain.

The series also includes a few other cards whoserarity has frustrated collectors. They range fromthe Eddie Plank card whose reason for scarcity isclouded; the Sherry Magee card, whose initialcard was produced with his name spelled“Magie”; cards for Bill O’Hara and Ray Demmitt,who were traded after the 1909 season and hada few cards produced with their new teams; and“Slow Joe” Doyle who appears with two differentcaps on his card. One version features “N.Y.” toidentify him as a New York Highlander, but an-other version reads “N.Y. Nat’l.” Reader believesthe error was caused by the factory confusing“Slow Joe” with “Laughing Larry” Doyle of theNew York Giants.

But Wagner is the coveted card of the series, theMona Lisa. There were probably less than 200produced and it is estimated that there are only50 to 100 in existence – including two at the Base-ball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. The rea-son for their scarcity isn’t completely clear. Onereason is that the Wagner printing plate brokeearly into production, a likely scenario for thePlank card, but an unlikely cause for the rarity ofthe Wagner card due to the popularity of twoother reasons.

One version of the story is that Wagner didn’twant his image used because on a card thatwould help sell cigarettes. The other reasoning isthat he wasn’t paid for the use of his image. Wag-ner was at the top of the game when the T206series came out. His Pittsburgh Pirates won theWorld Series in 1909, beating Cobb’s DetroitTigers. Wagner batted .333 during the Series. Hislikeness appeared on a number of consumer prod-ucts ranging from chewing gum to beer, analgesicbalm and even gunpowder. Some companies

paid him for his image, but Wagner never ex-pressed a lot of interest in endorsements, whichweren’t a big money-making venture for playersat the time.

According to the Oct. 12, 1912 issue of TheSporting News, when the American TobaccoCompany hired John Gruber to get Wagner’s per-mission for use of his image on the cards, Wagnertold him no, writing he “did not care to have hispicture in a package of cigarettes” and threatenedlegal action.

Wagner’s image had appeared on cigarette trad-ing cards before and his face had been on cigarboxes in both Pittsburgh and Louisville. He hadeven appeared in a newspaper ad for Murad cig-arettes with a caption that read “A hit every time,”during the 1909 World Series.

The Flying Dutchman was a known as a tough ne-gotiator and was shrewd with his money. He an-nounced his retirement at age 33 in 1907, whichhelped win him a 100 percent raise in salary forthe following season. Though he didn’t quit thegame until 1917, he always said he was sincereabout the 1907 retirement.

A counter argument to Wagner’s attempt for moremoney can be found in The Sporting News arti-cle. It reported that Wagner wrote a check to Gru-ber for $10, a large sum at the time and theamount Gruber would have been paid if he’d got-ten Wagner’s permission. Gruber, however, nevercashed the check, but framed it, which is one ofthe first known instances of check collecting insports memorabilia.

It is also true that Wagner chewed tobacco andenjoyed cigars, but he may have also been sin-cere about not wanting to endorse cigarettes. In

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1900, they were illegal in 14 states and lookedupon both as low-class and a health risk. His man-ager, Fred Clarke, and Pirates owner Barney Drey-fuss – both future Hall of Famers – hated cigarettesenough to pass over signing future Hall of FamerTris Speaker because he smoked.

By 1909, Wagner was such a force in westernPennsylvania that politicians wanted his endorse-ment. He was building a reputation as a star anda beloved figure in the eyes of children too. Hewould often let children slip in the gate as he en-tered the stadium, so they could see games forfree.

“He loved children,” his granddaughter LeslieBlair said in The Card. “He wanted to teach kidsgood sportsmanship. When it came time for thatcard to come out, it wasn’t that he wasn’t paid.He didn’t want kids to have to buy tobacco to gethis card.”

Whatever the true reason, production wasstopped. By 1933, The American Card Catalogestimated the T206 Wagner at $50, the most ex-pensive card in the world at that time. The mostsuccessful version of the card became known asthe Gretzky T206 Honus Wagner. The Gretzkycard, which is a mint condition printing with aPiedmont cigarette ad on the back, surfaced in1985. It was sold by a man named Alan Ray tomemorabilia dealer Bill Mastro for $25,000. Thecard’s origin is shrouded in mystery. Ray said in2001 that he got it from a relative and Mastro hassaid he purchased it from a printer – not Ray.There has even been speculation that it was cutfrom an original printer sheet during the 1985deal.

Mastro sold the card in 1987 to Jim Copeland for$110,000. This transaction revitalized the indus-try. Copeland sold his entire 873-piece card col-lection through Sotheby’s auction house, includinga 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle which sold for$49,500. Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzkybought the Wagner card for $451,000, whichwas almost four-times the pre-auction estimate.With the purchase, the card became known as theGretzky T206.

Since then, the card has continued to escalate invalue. In 2000 it was sold for $1.265 million oneBay. By 2007, it had more than doubled againwith the record $2.8 million price. Only the Hallof Fame’s T206 Wagners, one of which is on dis-play, may be more widely known than the Gret-zky card. The Hall of Fame will hold a celebrationin 2009 honoring the card’s 100th anniversary.For more information, visit www.baseballhall.org.

Members of the National Baseball Hall of Fameand Museum receive free admission to the Mu-seum, as well as access to exclusive programs,such as the Voices of the Game Series. Addition-ally, members receive a subscription to the Hallof Fame's bi-monthly magazine, Memories andDreams, the 2009 Hall of Fame yearbookand a 10% discount and free shipping on retailpurchases. For information on becoming amember, please visit baseballhall.org or call607-547-0397.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum isopen seven days a week year round, with the ex-ception of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’sDay. From Memorial Day through Labor Day, theMuseum is open from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. sevendays a week. The Museum observes off-seasonhours of 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. from the day afterLabor Day until Memorial Day Weekend. Ticketprices are $16.50 for adults (13 and over), $11 forseniors (65 and over) and for those holding currentmemberships in the VFW, Disabled American Vet-erans, American Legion and AMVets organizations,and $6 for juniors (ages 7-12). Members are al-ways admitted free of charge and there is nocharge for children 6 years of age or younger. Formore information, visit our Web site at baseball-hall.org or call 888-HALL-OF-FAME (888-425-5633)or 607-547-7200.

Honus Wagner was one of the five originalmembers of the Hall of Fame after being inductedin 1936.Credit: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, NY

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Page 70: New Diamond Nation Magazine

Sports have universal appeal, and are a natural subjectfor photography at all levels. A child’s baseball gameand a big league match-up share many of the same char-acteristics that photographers seek in order to make greatimages - drama, involvement, excitement, suspense,action and interest.

The professional sports photographer has numerous ad-vantages over the average picture-taker, not the least ofwhich is equipment selection. Most photographers whomake their living from shooting sports use expensive, top-of-the-line 35 mm SLR cameras equipped with fast, super-long telephoto lenses that bring them close to the action.They are generally able to shoot from field level, ringsideor wherever the best camera angles can be found. Theyare practiced in their techniques, experienced with theirequipment and have in-depth knowledge of the sport andits players.

You may think you’ll never capture images that can com-pare with those the pros get, but you can. If you wish to

get serious aboutsports photogra-phy, an importantaccessory is afast, medium tele-photo lens or afast, quality zoomlens that rangesfrom around 80mm to 200 mmor more. Suchlenses will bring

you close enough to sports action to take many a goodpicture, particularly at smaller, local events where youcan position yourself nearest to the play .

Two fantastic Lenses you should look into are the Sigma70-200mm 2.8. This will be your go to lens for every-thing from team portraits to action stopping base stealing.This lens can be purchased for around $1,000. I wouldhighly recommend this lens.

The Next lens you should consider if you have the budgetis the 300mm 2.8. This baby is a thing a beauty, you feellike a Sports Illustrated sideline photographer. You willneed a monopod to support the weight, but the photosyou will get will be well worth the effort. Now this is a

what is called a “Prime” lens, so no zoom you will haveto use your feet to get closer or move further away. It’s notcheap around $3,500 atany good camera store.

Visit Sigma’s website atwww.sigmaphoto.com forall the details.

KNOW THE SPORTThe photographer who un-derstands the game andhas knowledge of individ-ual players' styles will findit easier to anticipate theaction and will know whereto be positioned for goodphotographic opportuni-ties. Effective camera an-gles will not only include key elements in the composition,but will be chosen for lighting that works to youradvantage.

INDOOR SPORTSWouldn't it be great if all sporting events took placeoutdoors under balmy skies with just the right light foraction stopping photography? Wishful thinking.

Sports activities that occur in enclosed arenas, gymnasi-ums, aquatic centers, etc. place an additional challengeon the photographer. Lighting is generally dimmer, andhas different characteristics than sunshine. Shutter speedsmust remain fast to stop action, requiring faster film orlarger apertures, which means sacrificing depth of field.Although shallow depth of field is often desired whenshooting an individual participant in order to separatethe player from a busy background. Electronic flash maybe a solution, although the distance from flash unit tosports action is often too great to affect exposure.

Most of all have fun. Please send us your best photos sowe can share them with the baseball community.

Send your photos to: [email protected]

SPONSORED BY SIGMA LENSES

By Eric Citron

SPORTSPHOTOGRAPHYINTRODUCTION TO

www.sigmaphoto.com

FOR ADVERTISING CALL: 908.455.1613 .ON LINE: WWW.DIAMONDNATIONMAGAZINE.COM70

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