Chicks dig the long ball

A homer is a homer is a homer - regardless of where, when, and how.


While they all look the same in the book, in all fairness ive seen hundreds of balls get caught at Glenn HS or SouthWest Guilford HS or East Forsyth HS (all fairly big parks) that sail out with ease at a "crackerbox" like West Forsyth
(300 Ft all around) or Randelman (290 to RF and RC.) The scouts can tell if you've got power and can hit a baseball when they watch you play, homeruns are great and can help get your name out there, but the numbers alone don't get you signed.

 

Why Are There More HR's?

While we are analyzing home runs, how about home runs hit with the assistance of stolen signs? Stealing signs is part of the game right? Or is there an ethical limit on how signs can be stolen?

· A team can sometimes pick the signs from the opposing third base coach to his batter or base-runner.
· Some teams can get them from the opposing coach in the dugout as he relays the pitches to the catcher.
· Or sometimes a base runner on second base can give location and the type of pitch from second base to the hitter at the plate.

All of these are historically part of our grand old game. All of these take place on the field in the framework of the game.

However, what if a parent decides to enter the fray? Let’s say a parent always sits or stands in dead center field using a high powered camera with a long range zoom attached to a tripod? Doesn't the possibility exist that signs given by the catcher to the pitcher could be viewed through the camera and relayed to the hitter by a simple body movement such as hands behind the back or even sitting down or standing up.

Any good high school hitter that knows what pitch is coming would be able to hit more home runs. This would especially be true for an inning lead-off hitter that never has a runner on second base so the pitcher and catcher use the "simple signs". You know, one is a fastball two is a curve.

I am not pointing any fingers but this type of scenario may be helping to add to the high home run totals we are seeing this year from some teams. It is a more likely scenario than steroids or tightly laced baseballs from the Dominican.

Is it ethical? Is the interference of a parent part of the game?

I don't think so...

 

sure a homer is a homer but when you play at a park that has a 290 foot power alley and routine fly balls become home runs how can you compare the #'s put up vs teams which play in much larger parks. baseball is a sport where there is no uniform field size for outfield fences. stolen signs imo aren't much different than a hitter guessing right. sure you can steal them but you have to relay them and if you're wrong even one time you may as well not steal any signs at all

 

I guess pitching wins out over hitting as Ragsdale has only hit two homers all season (neither at home) and Ragsdae does play in a pretty big park so that probably does have something to do with it.

 

Homeruns

There is no doubt that playing in a smaller park can lead to more homeruns. And there are some hitters that feast off of poor pitching and rarely have success off of good pitching. That is one reason that HS stats are just for fun and really can not be compared across the board. Some kids have inflated stats because they play in a weak conference and or against weak non conf competition. And who is keeping the stats and how do they score hits errors etc. For the record our field is 320' down the lines 370' in the alleys and 385' to center. Its takes a pretty good poke to take it out of our place. I dont have to see a kids stats to know wether or not he can hit . I can watch a kid at the plate a couple of times and it is obvious who can hit and who can not hit. Alot of times you can tell just by the way they walk up to the plate and approach their ab. One thing for sure no College coach is going to offer a kid based on his HS stats. His stats might get someones attention if they are outstanding and may get him a look by someone. But he is going to have to (show) what he can do not look good on paper alone.

 

Stealing signs

The two most common ways signs are stolen are the first base coach or third base coach getting them from the catcher. Or the signs stolen from the coach sending them in. Several times we have over the years had the signs early on in a game. We choose to not relay anything to our players. The last thing I feel you should be doing is yelling a players number such as (Come on 21) for fastball or (Come on Kid) for off speed as the batter is trying to concentrate on hitting the ball. Plus if your wrong one time and you will be , then the hitters will be guessing half heartedly and how can you hit like that? I would rather just hit. Several times we have had opposing coaches give clues to their batters while they are in the box trying to hit and I have never seen it be successull for them. As far as baserunners at second relaying location and pitch this has happened several times against us. We just change up our signals and set up a little later on the pitch. Its just part of the game and no big deal actually. If a kids succes or a teams success against us depends on them getting the signs while in the box from a coach or a baserunner then we are in pretty good shape that day. Our catchers call their own game anyway so there are no signs to steal from the dugout. And our catchers are taught to hide the signs very well. It the least of our worries on game day I can tell you that. Real hitters want to be left alone at the box and just hit. Guys looking for an edge otherwise Im not too worried about to tell you the truth.

 

Meanwhile, back on topic

Coach 27, could I ask what team are you with?, obviously,
some board members already know. Sounds like your boys have some serious pop, especially those underclassmen. That's impressive! Your field dimensions sound almost identical to ours at ACR.

East of Raleigh..didn't follow high school baseball that closely in the wooden bat days, but I'm sure some of you did..would be interesting to hear some totals from that era. Metal sure makes a difference.

I'd still like to hear from other teams on their HR totals, also maybe all-time team and individual HR records.

 

Home Runs

I played HS ball at Southern Durham in the late 70's. It was all wood in those days. And the wood in those days was nothing compared to the wood kids swing today in showcase ball or wood bat leagues. The coach would come up on the first day of practice with an old green army type tote bag and dump them on the ground. Everyone would get 2 bats to start out with. The handles were REAL big , almost as big as the barrell. We would take sandpaper and work on the handles untill we got them like we liked them. The only problem with this is if you got them too thin they would break pretty easily. My senior year we hit 4 as a team. We were pretty good. I remember two hit against us the entire season. Another thing is kids today are stronger and work at the game much harder than we did as a whole. No one played baseball in the off season other than a local rec league in the summer or legion ball. There was no fall ball or off season baseball training. Almost everyone that played baseball played football and alot played basketball. Im sure if we played with wood today in HS the HR totals would be down from what they are. But I am also sure that there would still be alot more bombs today with wood than there was when I played with wood. To answer your question I coach at South Granville High School in the Mid State 3-A conference.

 

Not positive, but I think West Stanly has 23 homers on the year. Some local criticizers give the kids some flack because West's home field is only 315 down the lines, 350 in center, and 374 to the deepest gap....but the thing they don't realize is 3/4 of their homeruns have come on the road.

I think Luke Little, late 90's graduate of West, and baseball coach at one of the Brunswick County schools now, is 2nd on NC's all-time homer list with 41?

 

COACH 27, just to clarify; you said it was all wood when you played in the late 70's. I played HS baseball (in NC) from 1974-1977. I think it was my freshman year that the first aluminum bats were allowed. We had a mixture of wood & aluminum in the "green army tote bag", mostly wood with maybe 2 or 3 aluminum's. I remember this being a transition period from wood to aluminum. Some guys were die-hards & preferred to stay with the wood, while others took on to the "ping" of the metal. And of course some did both , & back & forth.
I definitely remember that my brother played in the all-wood era and his last year was '71.

You mentioned the wood bats with the large , fat handles. They were probably either a Nellie Fox or Jackie Robinson signatures. Good bats for slicing balls to the opposite field!!

The teams I played on I recall maybe 4-5 HR's per season as a team, now sometimes you see that many homers hit in one game. You're right about more & better training opportunites now for the kids, and highly competitive play even down to the youth ages. I just wonder about burn-out??