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Sharpen Your Catchers Accuracy
Drill Objective
This accuracy throwing drill is designed to improve the catchers accuracy when throwing down a runner to 1st, 2nd, or 3rd base.

Drill Setup
If you have 4 catchers, place a catcher at each base and behind home plate. If not, place as many catchers as you have on each base and fill in any infield player at the remaining base.

Drill Instructions
The catcher behind the plate should throw to any base. The catcher placed at that base should then throw to another base, then the ball should be thrown back to the catcher behind the plate. Have the catchers behind the plate rotate after 10 throws to each base (30 throws)

Drill Variations
Have catcher simulate getting up after the pitch to make the throw.
Have the coach toss ball behind catcher to simulate overthrown pitch

Drill Coach Points
Good accuracy allowing an easy tag on 2nd and 3rd base.

Sportsmanship seems to have gotten lost along the way. Winning, succeeding or advancing have become the curse of sport. The lesson parents seem to be teaching today is that winning, not fun, is the goal. But how can we instill the values of sportsmanship? Here are a few tips:

- Show by your actions and words every day, that you value sportsmanship. Set a good example. Actions speak louder than words.
- Expect and demand that everyone involved follows all the rules, including fans and parents. If they don’t they should not be allowed to participate. Leagues and teams should communicate the importance of sportsmanship to all participants on a regular basis, not just the beginning of the season.
- Have team discussions about sportsmanship throughout the season. Use this as a time to relate sportsmanship.
- Never tolerate violent behavior in practice or in competition.
- There should be clear and immediate penalties for unsportsmanlike actions, no matter what the surrounding circumstances are or how important a game is to a season. This applies to both athletes and parents.

Don’t you just hate it when your sweat stains your cap and you just don’t know how to get it off? Here’s a tip on how to get it off:
•Dissolve two aspirins in one-half cup of water and then pour the mixture directly onto the stains, allowing it to soak in for at least two hours. Add a few drops of Woolite, agitate with a toothbrush, and then rinse with clear water.
•Make a paste of baking soda and water, apply to the stains with a toothbrush, and then add a teaspoon of white vinegar and continue to agitate with the toothbrush. Rinse with clear water.
•Wet the sweat stains with cold water, and then apply meat tenderizer liberally and work it into the stain. Rinse with clear water.
•Combine one-half cup of ammonia with one-half cup of water and pour the mixture over the stains, agitate with your fingers or a toothbrush, and then rinse with clear water.
•Combine equal amounts of pure lemon juice and water, and pour over the stains and allow to sit for at least a few hours. Rinse with clear water.
•Dissolve one-quarter cup of table salt in one-eighth cup of warm water. Allow the liquid to cool and then apply to the stains with a toothbrush. Rinse with clear water.

Many are concerned about stress placed on youth sport participants. Is there really stress in youth sports? Of course there is! Not only do the athletes experience stress, but so do the coaches, the parents, the officials, and the administrators. But before we conclude that this is negative, ask first: What is stress? Stress is produced when someone feels that their physical and/or psychological well-being is threatened. They perceive that they may be harmed in some way.

Is stress negative? What do you think? According to study, not necessarily. This type of stress is positive and is referred to as Eustress. Many of you may now be thinking, how can there be pleasant or pleasurable stress. Competitive sports activities are a source of both eustress and distress, as are any types of competitive activity. We might argue, for example, that the video game industry exists to provide a source of eustress! The enjoyment of competition is reported by young athletes as one of the top three reasons for which they participate in youth sports.

Have you bought new glove lately? I bet your hand has been aching in it. Well, it’s part of it. That’s why it’s a good thing to break-in your new glove before using it in a game. Here are some tips that you can do to mold it to your own hands comfort. You have to be perfectly one with it to be in your best!
Rather than buying from a sporting goods store, save a dollar and use regular shaving cream that’s not gel. Use it all the time to condition gloves. Cheaper and works better. Beat the glove every which way but be careful not to injure your hand. Throw the ball into the glove repeatedly and as hard as possible.
Breaking in your new glove may take some time, so be patient with the process. Easiest and most ideal way to break-in a new glove is by using it rather than getting store bought foam. Everything else is cheating that process and can harm your glove, it takes a week or two, but your glove will last much longer.

Melvin said that he wanted 2 pitchers for 2010. Melvin got his guys. He already has Randy Wolf and on Wednesday, left-hander Doug Davis has come to terms on a one-year contract with an option to extend to 2011. The deal guarantees Davis $5.25 million and could pay up to $12.75 million if the option is exercised and Davis reaches all of his non-awards-related incentives.
The contract won’t be official until Davis passes a physical. And until that final step is complete, Melvin said he could not confirm that a deal was in place.
“We don’t have anything finalized yet,” Melvin said Wednesday afternoon, “but I guess we’re getting close.”
The Brewers are getting a pitcher with a track record of durability. Davis has made at least 33 starts and pitched at least 190 innings in five of the past six seasons. The Brewers are getting a pitcher with a track record of durability. Davis has made at least 33 starts and pitched at least 190 innings in five of the past six seasons.

In SanFrancisco, second day of baseball’s Winter Meetings last month, Giants general manager Brian Sabean made it clear that there are no chances that the club would keep catcher Bengie Molina.

“That ship has sailed. That’s not going to be a fallback position for us,” said Sabean, as if saying that star prospect Buster Posey was already prepared to move up to the Major Leagues.

But then, Tuesday proved that contract talks have a way of changing dramatically overnight as the Giants welcomed back Molina. Molina agreed to a one-year, $4.5 million contract.

When Molina’s three-year, $16 million deal with the Giants ended last season, it was expected that he would seek a multiyear contract somewhere else. The Giants were unwilling to meet Molina’s demands for another multiyear deal — not only for economic reasons, but also because they sensed that Posey was ready for full-time catching duties.

A source with direct contact spilled the beans. Hernandez agreed to the deal but the length of time is still unknown. It was said that it would be for a five or six year deal. It all happened the day before clubs and players exchange salary figures for arbitration. The 23-year-old would have been in line for a large payday after making $3.8 million in his first year of arbitration last year.
Felix Hernandez was first spotted by Luis Fuenmayor, a part-time Mariners scout who saw him pitching at age 14 in a tournament near Maracaibo, Venezuela. After graduating from high school, Hernández finally agreed to his first professional contract. Mariners director of international operations Bob Engle signed Hernández as a nondrafted free agent on July 4, 2002. Hernández received a large signing bonus of $710,000, although he said the Mariners were not the highest bidder.
During the 2009 season, Hernandez set career highs in almost every category including wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, and earned run average. Hernandez finished the season 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA and 217 K’s and in somewhat strong contention for the AL Cy Young Award. Felix ended up finishing second in the AL Cy Young Award behind Zack Greinke.

Mark McGwire played his major league career with the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals. For his career, McGwire averaged a home run once every 10.61 at bats, the lowest at bats per home run ratio in baseball history.
In January 17, 2010, McGwire was welcomed like a hero as he made his first appearance as the Cardinals hitting coach. He admitted to have used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career but during the conference, he stated strongly his discouragement to follow his path. “I’ve learned a lot.” said McGwire.
The crowd waited so eagerly as McGwire appeared from the right door of the stage. Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” was played is full blast as everyone applauded to his old at-bat music as if he just went out on the field about to make his first bat again.
“It’s awesome to be back,” he said before taking questions. “Visiting the [new] ballpark was phenomenal, first time I’ve seen it. It’s going to be a joy to go to the ballpark every day to work. Most importantly I’m just glad they got [construction on Interstate 64] finished. That’s the only reason why I’m coming back, is because they finally fixed it. I told my wife as soon as they fixed it maybe I’ll get lucky and get hired.”

Carlos Beltran, the Mets’ center fielder will be missing the entire spring training as well as their opening game as he underwent surgery on his right knee. The prognosis is he will only be able to resume with baseball related activities after 12 weeks. And it seems that his ballclub was not aware of him undergoing surgery. Last season he only got to play in 81 games, his lowest since his major league debut with the Kansas City Royals, because of on-going problems with the knee. But there had been no indication of renewed problems with Beltran as he even made a public appearance in Manhattan and said that he hasn’t experienced any pain in his knee, even his ballclub didn’t release any kind of statement about Beltran having any recurring injury. That’s why him undergoing an arthroscopic clean out of the arthritic area of his knee came as a surprise to everyone but Beltran.