HGRA Baseball Saint Paul

HGRA Red Devils Pitching Videos 2011

2011-07-03T10:17:00.000-05:00

BeeHawks win final game over the Buckeyes 7-5

2009-07-25T14:48:00.005-05:00

Four Redhawks joined six Bees to form the powerhouse BeeHawks!

In a tight exciting game we defeated the cross-town rival Buckeyes 7-5. The Bucks pulled close at the end, but Jane Gephart pulled out the save.

In the first and last BeeHawks game we had (left to right) Tim, Jane, Jake, Joe, Alec, Asher (with bat), Jesper (joined us Thursday!), Ben, Aidan and David (who somehow missed our 4th inning picture, click the picture for full sized version.

A special thanks goes to our 'Hawks who allowed us to play a very fun game.

The Bees coaches had decided ahead of the game that it would be fair to advance to the final consolation game even if we won since we had so few remaining Bees. So, despite a triumphant performance, this was our final game of the 2009 season.

Fall Ball is in September, don't forget to register on the official hgra.org site!

Many thanks to all who contributed to a great season from Coaches Marty, Paul and John. A special thanks to our official scorekeeper and unofficial assistant coach Dan Taylor and to Commissioner Dennis Merley for getting us to this final game.

Update: I've uploaded team images to private site and sent out the page link in a private email. If you need the link, just email jfaughnan@gmail.com

Game saturday

2009-07-24T13:30:00.002-05:00

We're going to make a go at the playoff game Saturday. We have 6 players and Commissioner Dennis is hunting down 3 more.

See you there!

Update: I'm working on the rotation. If we have six players we can still play, though we'd technically forfeit I'm sure we can get a game. We'd have Ben play roving outfield depending on his call on pitcher and batter, and we'd play 3 deep infielders with positions depending on base positions. I'm expecting we'll probably have 8 though with two additions.

Bees get 8 runs, Saturday game 11am at Homecroft East

2009-07-23T21:14:00.005-05:00

We hit well tonight! We also pitched well -- but man, the Seals can hit. They are the hittingest team we've seen.

Tonight was we had eight hard core Bees in attendance and we were joined for the Major League debut of Jesper Selverda. Jesper did very well!

Of the original Bees team we had Jimmy, Wiley, Collin, Oscar, Aidan, Tim, Asher and Will. Liam and Jesper filled out our numbers.

We really appreciated Tim and Wiley who pitched well against some big bats. Aidan was a great catcher too and made a big foul ball catch.

A Saturday game would be at 11am at Homecroft East. For that game we would have Tim, Aidan, Asher, Jesper, David and Ben and we'd need 3 additions from the three teams that are eliminated in the 8:30 am games. Commissioner Dennis is determining if that's really feasible. I'll update this page and contact everyone by email as soon as we know more.

It's been a challenging season for the Bees, but I think it's also been a lot of fun for all who played.

Don't forget -- Fall Ball is coming (see prior post and main site)

Bees games Thursday and Saturday – we have a plan (and Fall Ball!)

2009-07-22T13:53:00.002-05:00

We had a terrific scrimmage and team party yesterday. I’m happy to say that my ankle is recovering from my son Tim’s 100mph fastball.

After the scrimmage we were concerned about having enough players for Thursday and Saturday.

It’s still close and I’m working on getting confirmation from one family, but I think we’ll be good for our big Thursday game. Jesper Selverda will be coming up from the Minors to help us out. We will have opportunities for pitchers!

If we lose on Thursday we play 11am on Saturday and Commissioner Merley will find players for us from the teams lose earlier in the day.

If we win on Thursday we’ll be scrambling to find players for Saturday morning and Commissioner Merley will help us with that.

The player positions web page has the latest summary of who we think will be available on each day.

So we expect to have some fun opportunities for our Bees players on Thursday and Saturday. On Saturday Free Davanni's pizza and drinks will be available for lunch, courtesy of HGRA Baseball.

I think we can be considered underdogs, so everyone should aim to have fun and not worry about making mistakes. In other words, swing and go for the ball!

Lastly, we’re staring Fall Ball in September, registration is online after 7/23:

... HGRA Fall Baseball is on deck. The league is open to anyone with a date of birth between 9-1-96 and 8-31-00. We start on Sept. 13, at 1:00 and will play every Sunday at that time until the weather stops us. If we get enough players, a team might get to play a double header or two.
There are no practices - just games on Sundays. All games are at the Homecroft School fields on Edgcumbe and Sheridan Rd.
Starting Thursday, July 23, you can register online for Fall Ball. Just follow the directions listed on our home page. Then show up at Homecroft on Sept. 13 at 1:00 ready to play...

Weather clearing out for tonight

2009-07-21T17:22:00.002-05:00

We had some severe weather in the Roseville area at about 5pm, but it's clearing out.

I think we'll be good for our scrimmage and party, but do bring warm clothing (long sleeved shirts, a rain jacket) and be ready to get muddy (a towel might be a good idea too!).

john

Update 6:20pm: Weather is moving from NW to SE and looks decent on the sat maps and the eyeballs in the NW. So Tim and I will be there with the ice cream treats! We'll move 1st base, it's pretty wet.

HGRA 2009 Major League Tournament and practice reminder

2009-07-19T23:42:00.002-05:00

The HGRA web site how has the official bracket.

We finished tied with Buckeyes, Bees and Mustangs with a 2/7 record - officially 7th place.

We play the 2nd place Seals Thursday at 6:30pm at Highland Senior High.

We might yet surprise the Seals, but if we don't then we'll play Saturday 7/25 11am at Homecroft East (see the brackets for what happens if we win!). If we win that game we play again at 1:15pm. We expect to have pizza and drinks for the 11:30 - 12:30 time frame on Saturday, and a portable bathroom will be available.

Again, see the brackets for the official story, I'll bring a printed version to our practice/party.

Tuesday 7/21 is our practice/party. It starts at 7pm (usual time) at Aldine. We'll have treats for all. Parents and adult supporters please bring your gloves to play!

End of season party and Family-Player game pitchers

2009-07-17T10:50:00.002-05:00

John will be away next week, so he won't be able to pitch for us Thursday and Saturday.

So we're going to rotate our pitchers quite a bit during our scrimmage Tuesday, giving our relief pitchers some starting experience.

Fielding, Pitching - great. Hitting, not so much.

2009-07-16T20:40:00.002-05:00

We had very good pitching (John esp) tonight, and excellent fielding (Tim's glove was hot), but it wasn't our night to hit. The Grays, on the other hand, were hitting well.

Tuesday practice is our team party. Coach Paul will bring beverages, coach John will bring ice cream sandwiches, and coach Marty will bring something solid. For the Bees v. Parents scrimmage the big team will bat 'opposites'.

Thur is our first playoff game. Check the official web site for location, we'll also have that information at practice. We play our final games Saturday morning (25th).

Equipment drop-off procedure (July 26)

2009-07-15T10:36:00.002-05:00

From Dennis, the procedure for dropping off our equipment after our playoff games Saturday

Since every team plays at least one game in the tournament on Saturday, July 26, you should just bring your equipment to the fence where you enter the west Homecroft field (by the cul-de-sac) when you are through playing on that day.

The losing team at Highland should drive their gear to the drop off point.

Please take a few moments to empty the bags of any old line-up cards, water bottles or other garbage that might have collected, and try to dump the dirt out if possible.

Also, when returning the equipment, please point out any defective items.

If your last game is rained out, please deliver your equipment to me at the Hillcrest Rec Center storage area between 6:30-7:00. Just walk down the service drive and look to your left for an open door in the corner.

Pitching clinic is still running

2009-07-13T09:16:00.002-05:00

It often wraps up around this time of year, but there will be a clinic today (Monday 7/13).

Bees lance Hawks 13-9

2009-07-09T22:17:00.001-05:00

The Bees are moving up.

Last week we lost a squeaker with the 3rd place Spiders. Tonight we decisively beat the Redhawks who were previously tied for 2nd place.

We are competitive with any team in the HGRA Majors. That means on any night we will put up a good fight and we can certainly win.

We did well just about everywhere. I'm impressed with Oscar's fielding readiness and his keen attitude. Tim did very well catching, hitting and pitching -- he saved the game for us in the 5th, allowing only 1 run and making the game ending out on a hard bounce and a smooth toss to Ben.

Ben excelled at pitching, fielding and hitting. Matthew played his very first game in the Majors and was one of our best fielders -- and had a lovely double.

We all did well at bat - nice hit Lucas!

The Hawks and we were equally matched at bat. They were stronger in the field. We won because we had strong pitching performances from John, Ben and Tim.

When we're at full strength we have a large number of pitchers. That will really make a difference in our championship games when most teams run out of pitchers. If we keep our numbers up we may surprise several teams over the next two weeks. I know we shocked the Hawks tonight.

New players, Team party 7/21, Fall Ball, Playoffs

2009-07-07T23:16:00.007-05:00

We have two new players moving up from the Minors - Liam Morrisey and Matthew Goldade. Both are excellent ball players. Liam will be away Thursday but Matthew will be on duty. Sophie has decided to retire from baseball - she had a lot going on this summer.

I've done part of the rotation for our Thur game. Even with our two additions we only expect 11 players. We know Aidan, David, Jimmy and Liam will be away. If you will be late for the game or will miss it please let coach john know (jfaughnan@gmail.com). Please try to arrive around 6pm.

Oscar will bring treats Thursday. There's a glitch on one of the web site schedules, but the schedule on this site is correct (see above).

Our 7/21 practice will be a team party. Parents, family and friends vs. the Bees. Coaches will bring treats. Usual time and place - Aldine field, 7pm.

We have two regular season games left, then the playoffs. The official web site front page has information on the playoffs and on Fall ball.

End of season Family/Friends vs. Bees scrimmage – July 21 Aldine Field 7:00pm

2009-07-06T09:46:00.001-05:00

We have to move things around a bit due to schedule conflicts.

Our end of season party will be at our last practice. We’ll start with a scrimmage between Family/Friends and Bees. This will be an unofficial event in place of the practice.

Coaches will bring treats for after the scrimmage.

Coach Paul is putting things together!

HGRA All Stars 2009 - Red Team pictures

2009-06-28T23:36:00.001-05:00

From our team at noon we had Wylie, Ben, and Tim on the Red team (colors got switched!).

They all did well, but Wylie in particular pitched very well. His last inning was a quick 3 up and 3 down!

We have a few pictures, including a team picture. Click below for the album.

HGRA Share

Bees 8, the other team 9, All Start Game info, Practice next week, end-season party tentatively July 30.

2009-06-27T18:49:00.001-05:00

We looked good at our last game. Good hitting, some nice catches, and very good pitching. I really appreciate Ben Taylor stepping up; he’d been reluctant to pitch until now. With Ben, John, Lucas, Wiley, Aidan and Tim all pitching we’ve got people to go to and we can manage away times.

We were playing a very strong team, and they really didn’t expect any problems. We surprised them! It really could have gone either way.

This Sunday is the All Star game at Highland Senior Softball field. I’ve published the roster.

Commissioner Dennis wrote:

HGRA Baseball's 9th annual All Star Event is scheduled for Sunday, June 28. We play two games - one at 12:30 and one at 3:00…

If you are on the Red or the Blue team on the roster, you play at 12:30 and should plan to arrive at our regular Highland Senior Softball field no later than 12:00.

If you are on the Purple or Gold team, you play at 3:00 and should plan to arrive no later than 2:30.

More detailed instructions on what to wear, etc. have been mailed to your home - basically, wear your regular uniform pants, socks and cap, and the all star jersey we will give you can either be worn over or instead of your regular shirt.

Please note that these rosters are final and cannot be altered.

As always, there will be contests and games between innings for siblings and family members, and prizes this year include tickets to the Saints game on July 11, so please try to make this a family event. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide concessions this year.

Let us know ASAP if you have any questions, or if your plans have changed. Otherwise, we will see you on Sunday for this always entertaining and exciting event!

I’m helping with the 12:30 pm Blue team including Wiley, Tim and Ben. Marty is helping with the Purple Team with Collin, Lucas and David.

Be sure to bring fluids and shade!

Coach John will be at practice this Tuesday (yay). Marty is going to be teaching a unit on player positions. Our players are ready now to start thinking about what they ought to do when the ball is hit – including what to do when it’s NOT hit to them.

THERE’s NO GAME JULY 2.

We’re getting to the end of the season; we wrap up on July 25th! We’ve tentatively scheduled a team party on July 30th from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm. John is still checking with Paul and Marty on availability July 21 from 7pm to 8:30 at Aldine field.

At the end of season party Coaches will bring treats. We’ll have a Parents vs. Bees scrimmage so you might want to start practicing now.

The Commissioner chirping

2009-06-25T16:46:00.002-05:00

Commissioner Dennis "tweeting" from http://twitter.com/HGRACommish.

I've added the feed to the lower left of this page. You can follow from twitter or add a feed to any feed reader (ex. Google Reader, OS X Mail.app, Outlook 2007, Safari, Firefox etc) using: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/48475110.rss

(I think you can add it to a Facebook page too, but I haven't done that myself.)

Grand Slam outing: what we learned, Parent-Player game

2009-06-20T13:52:00.007-05:00

I was very pleased with how the Bees Grand Slam outing went. We had Tim, Oscar, Wiley, Aaron and David turn out, pretty good given vacations and the weekend day.

Everyone improved significantly after about 2-3 tokens ($5 for 3). Most were getting a bit sore or tired after 6-9 tokens, so $10 to $15 is a good amount to budget per batter. If possible bring a familiar bat, though they had a good range of bat weights and sizes.

It's a great way to learn foot position, bat size/weight, and especially standing distance from the plate. I also recommend it for all parents. I learned I had to stand much further from the plate than I'd imagined, and that it's easy at these speeds to swing too soon. I think some of our players are too close to the plate.

We focused on not pulling or falling backwards, on hip rotation, on a steady bat and hand position. I learned that for this kind of practice batting gloves are a big help and wooden bats are much easier on the hands. When I practiced I even used a heavy softball bat to give my hands a rest.

There are two speeds that are relevant to us, either 30 or 45 mph. (55 mph is too fast for most). In our league most pitchers are closer to 30, it's rare to have someone throwing above 40 mph. We used the slowest speed 30 mph to work on form, and the higher speed after a player is doing well at 30 mph. Unfortunately the height adjustment on the 45 mph ball was a bit high for shorter players.

For our next practice I want to work with selected players on soft toss drills that isolate the hips and help players who tend to fall back from the ball. Please note too that on the left of this page there's a link to the St. Paul city batting cages.

We also discussed the annual Parent - Player game. There' s a proposal to hold it on the first Thursday after the season end at 7 pm. We'd need to reserve a field. Please send thoughts to jfaughnan@gmail.com.

Bees 10, Buckeyes 7

2009-06-18T22:29:00.005-05:00

We and the Buckeyes have now each one a single game. They are our natural rivals; we are evenly matched and both teams have a competitive but friendly attitude.

It was an exhausting game to coach! We were even, then ahead, then we fell several runs behind, then we caught up and pulled ahead in the 5th inning. It was very tough on pitchers for both teams. John pitched marvelously and Lucas did a great job finishing the last inning. A very big thank you to Wiley and Tim for filling in at pitching.

In addition to taking on a big pitching challenge Wiley drove in the winning runs with a near Grand Slam in the 5th inning. What a hit. He also had a great catch early in the game, so it was a bit of a Wiley fest.

A number of our players did very well. Tim caught for 3 innings and Collin for two -- very tiring positions but neither complained. Tim pitched a strong 1st inning but had a sore arm in the 2nd. David Shanahan had a great hit, and Oscar and Lucas did well at bat and in the field. All our players did really well. I was particularly glad to see everyone taking good swings at the ball.

A special thanks to Luke Shanahan for recording our outs and score.

Max Celandar is heading away for the rest of the summer. He was to play tonight but fell ill at the last moment. We'll miss him, I wish he could have been there for our win. Ben is away at camp but will return next week. Will and Sophie were also absent.

A number of players arrived late today and two players were missing without notice. These are tough times for a lot of families -- people are either working two jobs or are looking for work. There's also a fair bit of illness going around. Even so we do need to find ways to work on the late arrivals and the unannounced absences. It's not fair to the players who show up, it's not fair to the other team, and it's kind of hard on the coaches too.

Saturday is our outing to Grand Slam. Coach Marty can't make it and I think Paul will be away, so Coach John will be solo. I'm not going to be watching or supervising anyone but my own son, so please do come along with your player. I will be at the batting cages working with the player at bat, but I can only watch one at a time. As noted previously everyone has to buy their own batting cage tokens, lunch, etc. It is a fun spot so I hope to see some Bees on Saturday am.

I will be away for next Tues practice (business travel) but Marty will be there and we expect Coach Paul to be back. We really appreciate parents who come and help out.

Grand Slam outing for HGRA Bees (not official)

2009-06-18T16:19:00.001-05:00

Our optional and unofficial Grand Slam outing is Sat June 20th to Grand Slam Burnsville: http://www.grandslammn.com/.

There’s no car pool and each player has to have their own money including lunch money. Each player needs a responsible adult – the coaches are there to have fun and give batting tips. Coaches will hang out by the batting cages.

Coach John and Marty will be there around 10:30 am on Saturday.

Here’s the calendar entry: Calendar entry: Grand Slam outing for HGRA Bees (not official).

Hope to see some Bees!

Bees All Stars

2009-06-18T16:12:00.001-05:00

Here's the list of Bees All Stars ....

Collin Marrone
Ben Taylor
Wiley Roemer
Tim Faughnan
David Shanahan

Practice called due to weather

2009-06-16T17:44:00.001-05:00

It's too wet and unpredictable tonight, especially with storms moving in

All Star game - please email me your status

2009-06-14T17:50:00.005-05:00

We need to fill our our All Star Game roster this week. I've added a column to our usual player roster listing who's attending the Game and who can't make it and who's (according to the HGRA) isn't eligible.

Players are randomly assigned to teams and coaches and play at either 12:30 or 3:30. The games are a lot of fun!

Please check the player roster and, if you see a ? in the column please let me know. I'd like to get this to the Commissioner by Wed.

Thanks!

Seven players absent - but we still played (swine flu?)

2009-06-11T21:05:00.000-05:00

We had seven players absent and we were up against one of the better teams -- but we still played and did our best.

Our pitchers did well, but we were missing some of better fielders and hitters. I won't bother repeating the score!

Oscar has an injured knee and Will had a conflict. Wylie, Ben, Jimmy, Aaron, Aidan are all out with fever. One player is now being treated for Swine Flu, so it's something to ask about if fever, sore muscles and cough persist. H1N1 (swine) flu is fairly common in Minnesota but it's not a severe flu (though it's not fun to have any influenza). The MN Dept of Health has a very good set of recommendations that everyone should at least review.

For our next practice we'll continue to develop our pitchers and hitting and we're going to target our outfielders for special drills. We're getting special pitching coaches to come in and work with our pitchers.

Saturday June 20th is our unofficial trip to Grand Slam. Please review the All Star Game information and let us know if your player can attend.

Thank you to all the people who notified us of absences today. Of all the coaches I'm best able to check email during the day so please always copy jfaughnan@gmail.com. Everyone did send a notice, though the volume was so high I missed Aidan's illness notice!

Thur Jun 11 game, All Star Game, unofficial outing to Grand Slam 6/20

2009-06-09T23:07:00.002-05:00

The rotation is up for Thur game vs. the Bandits at Highland Senior High field. It’s likely to change. At this time we don’t know of any absences, but Oscar hurt his knee and could miss. If everyone shows we have 15 players, so there’s lots of bench time to distribute. Catchers spend less time on the bench; thanks Wylie for helping catch. All else being equal players who miss practice without advanced notice will also pick up some extra bench time but I do try to distribute it evenly.

Note our batting order is relatively fixed.

Today Lucas, Jimmy and William missed practice. If anyone will miss the game Thursday please email john at jfaughnan@gmail.com or phone 651-336-5548. Lucas is bringing treats on Thursday.

We’re doing well with hitting, so this practice we focused on fielding and pitching. We currently have two regular pitchers (John and Tim) and 3-5 others who are willing to step up when called. Max is keen to give it a go. Pitching is tough, we sure appreciate those who take the mound for the team. We hope to develop some more regular pitchers so that if someone’s having a bad day we can move things around. Pitching clinic is Monday and we appreciate those who have attended. We have asked Commissioner Dennis to send us one of his pitching coaches for next practice.

The All Star game is scheduled for Sunday June 28th, all payers born before [removed date, it's wrong] are eligible. There’s usually a 12:30 and a 3:00 game, players are assigned to teams at random and are notified of their team a week or so ahead. Dennis must receive confirmation by June 19th. We’ve handed information sheets to the players.

For the Bees we have Collin, Tim, Lucas, Jimmy, David, Ben, Wiley and Oscar as eligible.

On June 20th we’re going to do an unofficial pay-your-own-way team outing to Grand Slam in Burnsville. Players are invited to wear their team jerseys. This isn’t official HGRA, it’s just for fun. We will have coaches at the batting cages. We’ll see if Coach Marty can hit the high speed pitches!

Bees v. Mustangs

2009-06-03T22:28:00.001-05:00

The rotation for tomorrow's game is online. We expect to have 14 players. Max Celander is away but Aaron is off the disabled list.

We've done well our past two games, so we'll take it one inning at a time and enjoy ourselves.

We're at Riverside Park 1, see the official web site for directions. It's the park near 7th and Lexington.

Asher will bring the treats tomorrow -- thanks Asher!

Expo school is having their end-of-year "fun run" starting at 5:30 tomorrow -- later than past years. Coach John and Tim will aim to be at the game for 6:10 pm.

HGRA Majors Bees vs Seals game

2009-05-27T21:53:00.001-05:00

Rotation has been updated for our game – Bees vs. Seals Highland Senior High Thur May 28 (I corrected a mistake on my unofficial blog calendar). The game starts at 6:30, but please arrive around 6:00 pm.

The rotation now has a brief of explanation on how positions are assigned

1. Pitchers can do 3-6 outs, they must be consecutive outs

2. No more than twice in any position except catcher

3. Catchers get to play more innings (because it's a demanding position)

We distribute bench time as evenly as possible, but it’s rare to have a completely even distribution. Anyone willing to catch will always get extra time, so if someone wants less bench time catching is a good option!

Coach John will be away for this Thursday game and for next Tuesday practice. We know Jimmy and Aaron will miss this game and that Ben may have a sore ankle (though he moved well in practice!).

If there are any other known absences, or late arrivals, please email BOTH coach John (jfaughnan@gmail.com) and coach Paul (pbmeekin@gmail.com).

Asher and one other player left a glove behind, we think Asher might have taken Aidan’s glove by accident. We’ll bring them in our equipment bag.

Ben Taylor is bringing our treats tomorrow.

It may be cold and wet. We recommend a t-shirt, then a long sleeved shirt, then our uniform top on cooler days with a backup rain/wind jacket.

We’ve now had several practices and two games, so this is a good time to pick up early feedback. Please email or pass on ideas, suggestions, etc. Especially let us know if your player is feeling stressed, worried, unhappy, etc.

I’m sorry I’ll miss the game, the Bees have been improving quickly!

Very good game two vs. the Grays

2009-05-21T22:08:00.005-05:00

I was happy with our 6-4 game. I'd have preferred a victor, but we continue to show very good improvement and our team stayed in the game. Most of all, we were hitting well and running well. We could easily have won; our two teams were a good match.

Our pitchers did very well. We are going to work with their teammates to make sure pitchers feel appreciated. It's a touch job!

Special thanks to Luke (Shanahan?) for doing our player tracking and scoring.

At our Tuesday practice we'll continue to work at hitting and grounders and we'll do some basic review on fly balls. We're also going to be working with our team to encourage their pitchers.

For all games we work to balance bench time, but there's one exception. Our catchers get extra playing time if they want it. Catching's a tough position and few want to do it, so it has some perks.

Rotation up for 5/21 game

2009-05-20T23:29:00.001-05:00

The rotation for our 5/21 game is available for review.

I'm sure it will change, even before the game starts!

We did fine in our first game

2009-05-14T21:08:00.004-05:00

Well, technically we lost, but I felt pretty good.

At our last bats we told the players to just swing and have fun -- at that point we couldn't win given the 10 batter rule. Turns out, we can really hit when we swing!

Everyone did better after the second inning. We have several good and promising pitchers; that's really going to help. We now have two solid catchers (thank you Aidan and Tim); Aidan had never caught before but did great. When Collin is fitted with new gear we'll have 3 catchers.

I was happy to see several players in long sleeves (David, Sophie and ?). They looked a lot more comfortable than most of the team when the sun went down. May and June can be cold.

At our next practice we'll drill on grounders and throwing to first, relays from the outfield, and player position. For position we'll try this (hopefully fun) drill ...

9 players start at home
each runs to a position.
out of position players do a push up.

This should be a good Bees year.

PS. One of the Redhawks is new to HGRA but will probably be promoted to the post-Majors league. Yes, he's the guy who it two home runs and struck us out so quickly. So next time we play the Redhawks things will be closer!

Rule clarification (for coaches)

2009-05-14T09:32:00.003-05:00

This is for us coaches. The rules on the HGRA site need a minor update. Here's the official rule on pitching ...

No pitcher may pitch more than two innings or six outs per game. The innings or outs must be consecutive. For example, getting the third out in one actual inning and the first two outs in the next actual inning is considered to be one “inning pitched.” No player may play more than two innings at any one defensive position, except catcher if no other player wishes to catch. Adults are not permitted on the field. Each team plays three (3) outfielders.

Game Thursday - how to dress, lost and found, time, notices for late players

2009-05-12T21:04:00.007-05:00

We picked up a red jacket and a water bottle after practice. John will bring them to the game on Thursday.

Please arrive around 6:00 to 6:10 pm for the 6:30 game.

Please let John (jfaughnan@gmail.com) know if your player will be late for the game. We're generally good with this as long as we know ahead of time. My apologies for misplacing prior notices.

We play Bees vs. Redhawks 6:30 pm at Riverside 1 - by the school building, parking is on Albion Ave on the NE side of the field. The official HGRA site has directions:

Riverside Park - East on Grand to Lexington, South on Lexington to W. 7th (Fort Road). Park is on east side of Lexington.

Positions are available online, but they do change.

It may be cold. A good way to dress for cold this time of year is layers such as:

a t-shirt base
a long sleeved shirt
an optional thin windbreaker
uniform on top

Depending on weather and what gear you have the windbreaker may go on top. Please dress your player as best you can. I know my son won't go along with the above list but your child may be more agreeable. I will have a solid windbreaker for Tim. Players who are not adequately dressed may be sent home. I played one may game last year where some players had chattering teeth and I don't want to do that again. Hypothermia can happen on a cold wet night.

We are short catchers. To encourage more to volunteer to catch anyone catching gets to play extra innings, and non-catchers get more bench time -- at least until we have more catchers!

The Bees name comes from the "... Burlington Bees, affiliate of the KC Royals. Hall of Famers Paul Molitor and Billy Williams (Chicago Cubs) played for them." We'll ask the players at the game who knows this.

There's a bug on the HGRA web site; it's not showing game schedules correctly when you go to your personal page. There's a public Posted Schedule page on front page of the baseball site. I'd link to it but I'm not sure that the site content is "linkable".

Schedule correction: flip a coin for home and visiting teams

2009-05-12T17:02:00.002-05:00

The HGRA game scheduler was supposed to randomly assign us to be home and visiting team status, but it didn't work.

So Commissioner Dennis has asked that we go back to flipping a coin at the start of games.

Practice tonight and weather

2009-05-05T12:53:00.003-05:00

Stormy weather, but unless there's a lightning issue we'll have practice tonight. Be sure to wear a cap and a rain jacket.

Coach Marty won't be able to attend tonight so it would be good to get extra help.

Coach clinic Thursday, Pitching Clinic Monday

2009-04-28T23:48:00.000-05:00

There's a coach clinic Thurs:

HGRA Baseball Clinic will be held this Thursday, April 30, from 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. at the new Macalester College Fieldhouse on snelling Ave. Enter from the west side of the building - I will be there to direct you to the clinic.

And a pitching clinic for all players Monday 6:30 pm at Expo.

The Bees for 2009

2009-04-23T21:31:00.003-05:00

We're the Bees this year, and Paul Meekin joins Marty and I on the coaches bench. HGRA has a new web site, we're still learning how it will work.

The site and most links are reasonably current. The calendar (Google, so shareable!) has been updated based on our practice and game schedules.

Our practices are Tuesdays at 7pm and games are Thursdays at 6:30pm. The first game is May 14th.

Our first practice is Tuesday April 28 at Aldine Park, 1717 Iglehart Ave, St Paul, MN 55104.

Our blog is at http://hgrabaseball.blogspot.com. Please also read our Welcome to the Bees page.

The links on the left side include our calendar; an agenda version is also shown. If you use electronic calendaring you can subscribe to the calendar using this link; if you use Google Calendar the button beneath the agenda view will add the calendar to your Google account.

See you at the practice!

Coach Marty Marrone
Coach John Faughnan 651-336-5548 or jfaughnan@gmail.com.
Coach Paul Meekin

Rice and Arlington Batting Cages

2008-10-09T16:45:00.003-05:00

Tim and I have visited the recently refurbished City of St. Paul, MN Rice and Arlington Batting Cages, see also www.rabattingcages.com. The address is 1500 Rice Street, Saint Paul 55117, Phone (651) 558-2255.

Hours are on the web site, 12-8 Mon-Thur and 12-8 Fri (varies). Sat is 10-6 and Sun 11:30-5:30. There's abundant parking.

There are four cages, adjustable from 40 to 70 mph. One is softball-only, the others can be softball or baseball. One cage can be reserved for $22/30 min or $43 for an hour; you need to reserve over 24 hrs in advance. Cage reservation is suited to groups.

Other cages are open to all. The lines can be very long at peak times, but things are quiet from 12-4. In my limited experience you don't want to arrive after 6:30 pm.

Tokens cost $7 for 5, $1 apiece with a St Paul School photo ID (Jan-Jun). You can get a bit of a discount with a 22 round card.

Bandits - winners of the endurance award!

2008-07-27T18:49:00.005-05:00

Wow, that was one heck of a long hard set of games!

Through roasting heat, through a well deserved victory and a tough game, we kept on playing ...

I'm proud to have been an HGRA 2008 Bandit (click Sue Peterson's team picture to go to our album):

HGRA Bandits 2008

Among the memorable performances in our long hot games were Michael's great on base average, great pitching in game 1, big runs from Chris and Make, an RBI from Eli and Mike, a Chris grand slam, great defensive plays, Luke and Mac throwing stealers out.

In addition to our album Sue has one too, I'm going to put 'em together soon. You can download the full res image there or order prints from either album.

In the player picture Sue took we have:

Front row: Joey, Tim, John, Charlie, Eli, Mac
Back row: John, Gregg, Ezra, Neil, Michael, Chris, Luke MT, Colin, Miles, Luke P, Marty and Ryan

If anyone has additional photos to share please point me to a photo site, email them to me at jfaughnan@spamcop.net, or (often easiest) mail a CD to:

1660 Stanford Ave
Saint Paul, MN 55105

If I get more photos I'll send out an updated notice, they'll go to the same Picasa album as today's.

A good day to play

2008-07-26T09:54:00.003-05:00

It's the last day of Bandits 2008, many thanks to the players and parents who made this a great season and especially to our parent scorekeepers.

We had some excellent plays in our last game. Joey, Michael, Chris and Mac had excellent hits. Luke MT was a wiz as catcher, combining with Neil for some picture perfect plays. Chris pitched superbly, and Tim had a good start before he hurt his arm.

Sue Peterson has sent me her team pictures. They look great! I'll have them up this weekend and will send an email with links.

Today's rotation is available. We're at Homecroft east for 11am, and if we win same place at 1pm. Sunscreen, fluids and lunch are a good idea. Coach John and Gregg are bringing snacks, Mac might have some too.

HGRA 2008 Majors Tournament: standings and games

2008-07-22T14:01:00.004-05:00

We’ve got our games and standings for the 2008 Majors.

HGRA 2008 Majors Tournament (final): has the schedule and fields
Final standings: We tied with 3 teams for fourth place, but based on our win/loss we were set as 6th place.

If I’m reading the tournament schedule correctly, this Thursday we play the Bees at 6:30 pm Riverside 1 (see schedule for field location). We beat the Bees 16-10 on June 26th, when Luke MT was disabled.

Here's my interpreation of how things play out for the Bandits, but check the tournament link for the official summary: I'll ask Marty, Peter and Gregg to confirm I have this right:

We play Thur and either ...

Win -> Play 8:30 am at Homecroft East then either
Win -> Play 1:30 pm at Homecroft West (Championship)
Lose -> Play 11:00 am at Homecroft West (3rd place)
Lose -> Play 11:00 am at Homecroft East
Win -> Play 1:00 pm at Homecroft East (Consolation champion)
Lose -> Enjoy extra treats!

So if we win Thur we will have two games on Saturday. If we lose on Thur we may have 1 or 2 games on Saturday.

We were good, Spiders were better

2008-07-17T20:55:00.003-05:00

We played well tonight, especially on defense and pitching. Our one problem is we couldn't hit the Spiders pitchers. The final score was 6-1.

We saw several great plays at first and pitching from Colin, Neil, Chris and Tim. Colin had an unassisted double play! Ezra stole two bases and got our one run. Special thanks to Michael for coming in to get the last out.

We also discovered we weren't following HGRA rules correctly ...

HGRA BaseBall Rules

...No pitcher may pitch more than two innings per game. The pitched innings must be consecutive. No player may play more than two innings at any one defensive position, except catcher if no other player wishes to catch...

The pitcher innings rule is a bit odd, as we've also been told by the Commissioner that it's not two innings, it's six consecutive outs. The Spiders were ok with that though, the problem is we had Colin on 1st four times.

The rule isn't hard to follow really, so we'll stick to it next time.

Tuesday is our Bandits-family game. We know Luke will miss the Tuesday practice; Ezra will be at practice but will miss the Thursday game. Please let us know of other absences.

Sue Peterson took a team picture, I'll post a scan once I get a copy. Thanks Sue!

Last regular season game, parents practice, treats and more

2008-07-17T07:17:00.005-05:00

It's the last game of the regular season tonight. Next Thursday's game is a playoff game, then Saturday 7/26 is a our last day (see note on playoffs). It may be stormy today, but there's a good chance it will clear by this evening.

We're tied with about four teams for third at the moment. The Spiders are a strong team, but with Luke MT back in the lineup we have new firepower. We may surprise them.

We'll be distributing our strongest hitters throughout the lineup, so the batting order will change.

If anyone can't attend tonight please email me or phone me at 651-336-5548 so we can correct the rotation. Joey O'Connor is bringing treats tonight.

Next Tuesday's practice will be parents vs. Bandits. Grandparents welcome too. The non-Bandits will bat with Bandit bats and will hit on their non-preferred side (ex. righties bat left).

I think Luke MT, Michael and Tim have not yet brought snacks. Let me know if this isn't right. We can cover the Saturday games.

We're going to try to get a team picture in uniform before the 7/26 game. I did do an informal picture before the last practice (Charlie was not there). I'll do another informal picture at next practice.

Let's hope for clear skies tonight!

HGRA Major League 2008 - Tournament and Standings

2008-07-14T20:33:00.005-05:00

Our indefatigable commissioner has published the HGRA Majors 2008 Tournament brackets and League Standings:

The Bandits and the Buckeyes both have a 4-4 record, so I'd say we're tied for fourth place ahead of the Seals, Redhawks and Greys. We're competitive with the Bees who are 5 and 3. The Mustangs are undefeated, and the Spiders are 6 and 1.

My goal is to finish at least in the middle and retain our players, so we're doing pretty good by my standards.

The Tournament starts on Thursday 7/24. The next game is Saturday 7/26 at 8:30 am.

There other potential game times (depending on outcomes) on Saturday 7/26 are:

11:00 am: For 3rd place and for pre-consolation champion game
1:00 pm: Consolation champion.
1:30 pm: Champions.

So it can be a long day. Don't forget water and snacks and/or lunch.

Commissioner Merley also wrote:

Note that the Mustangs clinch 1st via the tie breaker (head to head) and the Spiders get 2nd...

... In the case of rain this Thursday, the tournament seedings will be based on current standings regardless of make-up games that are played, if any. Teams should not lose a seeding spot just because they couldn't get a make-up game scheduled.

... remind your kids of the following three critical fielding issues:

1. When fielding a grounder at first, run through the bag (don't stop unless absolutely necessary). [In other words, don't block 1st base!]

2. When awaiting a throw at home or any other base, do not stand in front of the base. A fielder may never "block the base" until they have the ball in their glove.

3. Runners must be allowed to round the base. Fielders awaiting a possible throw must not take a position beside or behind a base that will impede the ordinary path of the base runner.

I'll see everyone at practice tomorrow!

Bandits 3, Redhawks 0

2008-07-10T20:48:00.000-05:00

While I was away, the Bandits got a lot better.

Really, great play from both teams.

Ezra wins the sportsmanship award as well as doing a good job getting on base. Luke and Neil combined for a great out on a steal. Win sealing base hit from Joey. Tim did a great job pitching, especially shutting down the Redhawks in the bottom of the 6th. Excellent defensive play from everybody, including great positional sense. I was especially impressed to see everyone looking alert and in the ready position.

I was happy to see good swings, any of them might have connected for big hits.

Weather tonight: 8/10/08 - DRESS WARMLY

2008-07-10T12:23:00.001-05:00

Looks stormy as of noon, forecase is "Variable clouds with strong thunderstorms, especially early. Storms may produce large hail and strong winds.".I'll update the blog if we get a cancellation from the commissioner and will send an email notice.I know it's July, but wet and windy can be cold. I recommend a windbreaker and a long sleeved shirt option for everyone. Players will wear their jersey over a windbreaker.Update: looks good at 5pm

Coach John is back, catch up, snacks, positions, etc

2008-07-08T23:11:00.002-05:00

Tim and I are back and catching up. I've heard some great stories about Bandit play and I was impressed with the gloves at practice today.

Coach Marty tells me players are now more settled in positions. I've added them to the Position spreadsheet. If anyone would like to play a position other than what I have listed please email me at jfaughnan@spamcop.net. I got the list quickly from Coach Marty and I'm sure it's not complete. Marty and Gregg tell me Luke, Chris and Mac have been strong in center field.

I'll work on the rotation for next game, we only have 3 games left, and one is a playoff! We are a good team and I am looking forward to our playoffs. Remember 7/24 is a playoff game and Sat 7/26 is the Majors Tournament, so try to be around.

Ezra's family is bring a snack tomorrow.

If anyone will miss the game this Thursday please let me know so I can adjust the schedule. It's hard to do that at the last minute.

Gregg and Marty will both miss this Thursday's game. I'm hoping Peter will be able to help out again and I have a score-keeper book I need to rememer to get to him. Steve Warner promised to help out too so I think we'll be ok.

See everyone at the game!

Coach John

Bandits beat Greys 12-7

2008-06-19T22:40:00.002-05:00

From coach Gregg: Our Bandits get a taste of victory tonight--we played some much improved defense against the 0-5 Greys....

We were 12-1 in the bottom of the 5th- Michael pitched one inning and gave up only one run. So, we were 12-2 in the bottom of the 6th- Luke P. closed that inning and gave up 5 more. But, in the end we had enough, final: 12-7. The boys were happy.

Luke MT can pitch now (he did not pitch tonight). He cannot bat, but the umpire allowed him to play defense. Neil has a sore elbow, so we gave him lighter duty and he didn't pitch tonight either.

Peter ran the bench tonight and kept score, too. Thanks Peter. And, Joe (Joey's Dad) was happy to coach third base...

Bandits snack schedule update and coach John away

2008-06-13T21:54:00.000-05:00

Google Docs - HGRA Majors Bandits 2008 has player positions and snack schedules. I think we have complete snack coverage.

Tim and I will be away through July 2nd and I think Marty is away for a week too. John's Dad, Peter, will be helping out, but we'll need help at practices!

Luke MT is healing and may be able to bat soon, it will be good to have him back.

Gregg and Marty are working on scheduling our make up game, could be in place of our next practice (they will have details soon).

We will be thinking of the Bandits as we travel!

Directions to Riverside 1 field (tonight)

2008-06-12T16:32:00.002-05:00

I've discovered the HGRA web site doesn't have directions to Riverside One field.

5 – Riverside 1 – (Lexington and W. 7th, by the school bulding.)

You can see it on Google maps.

When I go south down Lexington, I turn left on Albion Ave (just before Lex meets 7th) then look to park. I think there's school parking we can use.

There are two fields seen in the sat map, I don't know which we use. The north one looks bigger.

HGRA All Star Game - Sunday June 22nd - RSVP by 6/13

2008-06-10T00:35:00.002-05:00

The All Star Game is 12 days away. We have to give Commissioner Dennis our player list by the 14th at the latest.

Eligible bandits include:

Miles Austin
Michael Brauns
Neil Gaworski
Joey Oconnor
Luke Peterson
McKinley Skinner

Collin Marrone (will play)
Tim Faughnan (will be away)

Please email coach John at jfaughnan@spamcop.net and let us know if your Bandit can play.

Here's some more information ...

all star 08

HGRA’s major league all star game is scheduled for Sunday, June 22. Here are the important details:

All Major Leaguers with birthdates before 8-31-97 are eligible. This is our way of rewarding the kids who stay with the league.

We generally play two games – one at 12:30 and one at 3:00. Players are assigned to the teams at random. We will notify them of which game they are in during the week leading up to the game.

The games are loads of fun – we give the kids all-star shirts, have an announcer and sound system, play games and contests between innings and have a concession stand.

The game will be played at the Highland Senior High softball field that we regularly use.

Thanks for helping get us this information!

Update: Our All Star Bandits will be

Miles Austin
Michael Brauns
Neil Gaworski
Joey Oconnor
Colin Marrone

NO GAME today - absences, rotations and snacks

2008-06-05T09:10:00.006-05:00

Update 5:45 pm

Game is off for today. Marty is phoning and Emily sent out an email. Very stormy!

For the next game if anyone won't be attending please let us know so we can revise rotations.

We're going to try a different rotation pattern. We'll have one player with a strong glove in the outfield (LF or CF depending on corresponding infielder) and we'll rotate less confident gloves into 3rd base and 2nd base.

We'll probably double up on snacks next game!

Practice tonight – dress warmly! Also, notice of site updates

2008-06-03T17:40:00.001-05:00

Tonight’s practice seems like a milder version of our game

Saint Paul Weather Forecasts on Yahoo! Weather

Tonight: Cloudy with a few showers. Low near 55F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.

We all know now (I’ve learned my lesson) to have rain jackets, two layers of shirt (long sleeved and short sleeved), etc. A pair of lightweight cotton/wool gloves and/or batting gloves can help too.

I doubt we’ll cancel practice but if we do I’ll update here and send email.

I was asked about getting email notifications when this page changes. The service we’re using for this blog (Google’s Blogger) doesn’t provide email notification of changes. Instead it handles notifications through a “feed” which is consumed by a “feed reader”.

Feed readers are newer tools, mostly used by geeks like me. There are services that will send you email whenever a page changes. I’ve used www.changedetection.com/monitor.html. If you give them the address of http://hgrabaseball.blogspot.com/ and your email you’ll get emailed with every change to this page, including new or revised articles.

In terms of feed readers, I use bloglines as my personal feed reader, Google Reader is also popular. These are web-based “feed readers”.

In addition to these web based solutions, the latest version of OS X Mail.app (10.5.3) will handle feed changes as though they were email; Outlook 2007 will do this as well. Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2, and Safari 3 will all track feeds and notify users of changes. IE does the nicest job of this set. See the application help files for more information.

For major things, like a game or practice cancellation, I do send out an email to every Bandit address I know of.

Lessons from a forgetable game - this is Minnesota

2008-05-29T21:04:00.001-05:00

Only one coach was properly dressed tonight, and he had to surrender his jacket to the cause (His son, however, wasn't dressed properly!).

Most of our players were so cold they were playing less than their best. It's hard to play ball when you're shivering.

We're going to forget everything about this game -- except that players and coaches need to dress for the weather.
I've added a new paragraph to our orientation handout:

Welcome to the Bandits (Team 5)

...Weather: This is Minnesota. We've had near freezing rain at the end of May and boiling heat in June. Water for hot days is essential. On cold days wear layers beneath the jersey. One layer can be a rain jacket with hood, another good combination is T-shirt, long-sleeved shirt/turtleneck, and then jersey...

Phew.

Also, please be sure caps have names in them.

Next week, we're back to practice and we play ball again. Let us speak no more of whatever team we played against tonight!

Bandits news: game, coaches away, etc

2008-05-28T12:37:00.001-05:00

A few sundry Bandits announcements

Please let John (jfaughnan@spamcop.net) know of anyone besides Luke MT who won't play tomorrow -# 4 – Highland Senior High north softball field (Snelling & Montreal)
Chris Kelley is bringing snacks tomorrow. (See the position and snack schedule.)
Please be at the game field by 6:10 pm.
Coach John Faughnan will be away from June 17 to July 2nd. Marty is away @ June 21. So we're recruiting backup coaches to fill in. John can help with creating the rotation schedule (hardest part of the job!) while traveling. Please let us know of your vacation plans if possible so we can adjust rotations. (See Bandits Calendar for known absences.)
We'll be looking for parent volunteers to help keep score during the game and to record noteworthy plays so we can mention them during our post-game huddle.
We're looking for used (i.e. affordable) pitching machines and hitting aides (es. Joe Mauer hitting thingie). If you see a good option on Craigslist or know of one please email John.
We're going to work on an outing to a fun spot with a pitching machine. More later ...

Game Two: An honorable defeat

2008-05-22T21:51:00.005-05:00

It was an honorable defeat!

After falling behind 7-0 after the 3rd inning we battled back to a final 8-7 count. Eli had a great hit at the bottom of the ninth, but the Spiders fielded it too well for us. It was a good game for Eli, with nice contact and good fielding action.

We coaches were very happy to see players swinging! Sure, it's best to swing at strikes, but good things happen when players swing. We got good hits off some definite balls!

We had routinely great fielding from our pitchers (Mac, Neil, Chris), 2nd (Neil, Mac) and 1st (Chris, Collin, Luke). Collin had our first single man double play of the season.

We had good success with bat control by assigning one player each inning to be 'guardian of the bats'. We also had improved bench control by asking 2-3 players individually to be good examples for their teammates. We'll continue both measures.

Next game we're going to ask a parent volunteer to track special plays and hits, so we can mention them at a post-game huddle. It's hard for us to keep track of them. Thank you to our parent volunteers who verified the score and coached 1st base, and to Neil's Dad for snacks. Thanks also to parents who gave us advanced notice that their players would be away.

Advanced notice is everything. One of our most time consuming tasks is preparing batting order and fielding positions; advance notice makes that time pay off.

As per a prior post we've updated the HGRA Majors Bandits 2008 Positions document (see link on left side of page). I still need jersey numbers for Luke MT, John Akimoto and Michael Brauns as they were absent today. I've put treat dates on the document so you can see when you're do. I'll try to fill in more dates by email and at practice. Take a look and send me your choices!

See everyone on Tuesday, have a safe and fun holiday weekend.

Luke MT is on disabled list - but will be helping the team

2008-05-22T16:37:00.000-05:00

Luke MT jammed his finger on a football, and suffered a relatively minor finger fracture.

Problem is, this sort of fracture requires surgery to get the best long term results.

Luke had his surgery May 22, and will be on the disabled list for four weeks.

He'll be helping at practice though with soft toss, drills, and helping teach some of our players. He'll also be keeping score at games, tracking outs, managing the bats, coaching 3rd base, and other key game tasks.

He'll be able to hit in about four weeks and field in 5-6 weeks.

Bandits links - calendar, player names and positions, etc.

2008-05-22T13:48:00.001-05:00

I've reorganized the links on the left side of this page. Here's what they are at this time with some explanation.

Google calendar HGRA Bandits: This is a Bandits only calendar. It will show when players will be absent, our practices, details on special events, etc. If you click on this link you'll see a web view of the calendar. [1]

HGRA baseball official site: The official HGRA baseball site.

HGRA Major League 2008 Calendar (PDF): The official HGRA Calendar (PDF)

Player Positions: Player names, numbers and positions. Sometimes this will be nonsensical. For example, right now there's no relationship between the players and the positions listed, we're just working on today's rotation. You can print this and bring it to practices, but know that rotations change pretty dynamically. We will add some info on players to help with cheering and following the team.

Welcome to the 2008 Bandits!: The general orientation document for new people.

There are some technical sorts among this year's Bandits -- and even among their parents! For their benefit, some footnotes.

[1] The icon at bottom right of the web page will add this calendar to your Gmail account so you can overlay it with your other Google Calendars.

[1] Ok, so you're really hard core. This link will support import of the ICS data into your .Mac calendar or other iCal compliant calendar.

[1] Even more cutting edge? Here's the feed link so you get notified of calendar changes in your feed reader.

[1] Ok, so you're ready for the 21st century. If you'd like to be able to directly enter times your player will miss practice or games please email me and I'll add you as an editor. You'll need a Gmail account.

Player roster - interest?

2008-05-21T22:30:00.001-05:00

Sue asked:

HGRA Baseball Saint Paul: Big thanks to the parents who helped out at practice

...wondering if we could get a list of the roster names and numbers...

I'll put something together, but probably not until next week. The list the coaches use just needs a few edits.

I don't like to put information about minors on the public net, especially with phone numbers, but I'm fine with printing something to distribute on paper or emailing a PDF to players/family. That's a common practice on sports teams. I'll just ask if there are any objections once I have one to circulate.

Big thanks to the parents who helped out at practice

2008-05-21T08:06:00.001-05:00

Thanks guys (happened to be all guys).

It was a terrific to have your help at practice. Please, keep helping out!

For everyone who'd like to keep warm during practice or a game, or help make this a good season for your child, we really welcome helpers.

HGRA teams always have a very wide range of ability, maturity and confidence, especially in this age range.

Even if your ball skills are similar to mine (pretty low, though I'm improving with practice) you can give one-on-one personal attention to a player who's restless or anxious. Anyone who can walk quickly can help cover open outfield positions or get the ball to a batting coach/parent.

Some players will benefit from a break to do some soft toss (minimal coaching skills required). Others can field grounders -- where an erratic throwing arm can be a feature.

So if you ever played organized ball -- you can help with the main group. Otherwise you can help with everyone!

Practice stretches and warm-ups

2008-05-20T16:23:00.003-05:00

We're going to start adding more of a formal warm-up and stretches to our practices. We need to keep things light as our players will get bored pretty quickly.

Here's what I think we'll go with to start:

Our current slow toss warm-up for arms and upper body.
Hamstring, back stretches (see below)
Slow base walk/running (coach sets the pace) for one to two circuits. (May need to work them up to this!)
Faster base run for one circuit.
Practice.

I came across two web sites I thought were interesting (most of the sites target older players of course):

Top 3 Baseball Stretches to Improve Performance and Reduce Injury
Baseball Stretching Exercises (too many for our gang, but a good list)

From these I selected this set of stretches to start with. We'll start with 2-3 20 second holds for each and work up a bit depending on how rowdy the gang is. (They are more flexible to begin with than most teen players.)

a. Lying Knee Roll-over Stretch: While lying on your back, bend your knees and let them fall to one side. Keep your arms out to the side and let your back and hips rotate with your knees.

b. Elbow-out Rotator Stretch: Stand with your hand behind the middle of your back and your elbow pointing out. Reach over with your other hand and gently pull your elbow forward.

c. Calf Muscle Stretch: Stand a few feet from the fence and put both your hands on it at shoulder level. Step back with your right leg, keeping it straight, while the left knee bends. With both heels on the floor, lean forward by bending your left knee until you feel a stretch in your calf.

d. Groin Stretch: Sit on the ground with the soles of your feet together. While holding your toes, lean your upper body forward, bending from the hips.

HGRA BaseBall Schedule Updated

2008-05-17T22:28:00.000-05:00

HGRA BaseBall Schedules now links to the new, updated schedule.

Game 1: Bandits 16, Redhawks 5

2008-05-17T09:46:00.000-05:00

An exciting game and a happy one for the Bandits!

Bandits notices: practice, uniforms, game schedule changes, volunteers needed, etc

2008-05-12T10:48:00.004-05:00

Practice this Tuesday May 13 will be at 7pm to 8:30pm Aldine field. That will be our regular time going forward. We'll hand out uniforms.
Coach John F will miss the Thur game. We will need two parent volunteers -- one to keep score and one to help manage the bench and coach 1st base. Please let Marty or John know if you can help.
The HGRA game schedule is being updated. After this week future Groveland games will shift to Riverside 1. I'll send out a notice when the website schedule is updated. I'll try to remember to bring a copy of the new schedule to our practice.
I'm still missing a couple of email addresses. Joey and Miles I think. I'll review at practice.
Eli Warner's family are going to bring treats for the 5/15/08 game. I'm going to try to sign up more treat families on Tuesday.
We ask everyone to show up 20-30 minutes prior to the game (sorry, I earlier wrote 40 minutes, that's a bit extreme). Our first game vs. the Redhawks is the Homecroft Elementary East Field (Edgecume and Sheridan).
Please bring water to the game for your player. (I have trouble remembering this for my son!).

Groveland Field games may move to Riverside 1 after 1st game

2008-05-07T21:38:00.003-05:00

No changes until after the first game, but we may lose the Thursday (game day) Groveland field to Landmark League practices. If that happens there will be updated schedules on the web site; Groveland games would go to "Riverside 1".

Optional Thursday 6:30 pm practice and Future Tues practice times.

2008-05-07T21:01:00.000-05:00

Two news items:

We'll have an optional practice Thursday May 8th at 6:30 pm at the Highland Senior High field (Snelling and Montreal)
Our Tuesday practice at Aldine will now run from 7 pm to 8:30 pm. Another team is on the field until 7 pm, so we were bumped.

John Faughnan

Looking at the weather (Practice, Tuesday 5/6)

2008-05-06T14:29:00.004-05:00

Update 5/6/08 3:15pm: weather is improving so we'll decide around 5:30 pm or so.
Update: 5:45pm. Looks fine, so we'll practice.

Welcome to the Bandits (handout)

2008-05-05T23:12:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Bandits (Team 5) - Google Docs is a two page orientation handout.

We'll distribute it at our next practice.

Also, the pitching clinic will be at 6:30 Monday, not the originally announced time of 7:00 pm.

Bill Mauer: Throwing drills

2008-05-04T17:22:00.004-05:00

Bill reviews throwing drills

6-10 feet apart, elbow in glove
Point elbow and toss
Point, proper throw
Use the legs -- heel click

Bill Mauer: when is the bat too heavy?

2008-05-03T21:27:00.004-05:00

If you can straight arm the bat for 30 seconds, you can use it.

HGRA web site: Schedule and coaches manual

2008-05-03T19:49:00.002-05:00

HGRA's web site is quite well maintained. It's easy to find even if you forget "http://hgra.org", just google on hgra baseball.

It has several important references

HGRA BaseBall Coaches Manual: An excellent guide to teaching baseball
Directions to the fields
Schedules: we're the Majors
The Rules

A few things to note from the rules (Majors):

Maximum 6 innings, but no inning can start after 8:15pm
Maximum 10 batters. The 10th batter can't strike out, if there are too many pitches the umpire can ask the batting teams coach to pitch.
No lead offs.
Max 2 steals per inning, no stealing home, no steals on an overthrow.
If a player scheduled to catch the next inning gets on base, the player making the previous out may be inserted as a pinch runner.
Each team must designate an official scorer. This person (a fan or coach) must verify the score at the end of each half inning with the official scorer of the opposing team.

We use the infield fly rule. This rule exists to stop the 3rd baseman or shortstop from intentionally dropping a fly ball and then getting an easy double play due to a force on 3rd. It's a judgment call by the umpire, it would be poor form for a coach to request the call be made. They can make the call when

there's less than two out
there's a force out situation on 3rd base.

If the umpire invokes the rule then the batter is out, just as if the fly ball had been caught. Runners play as they would for a caught fly ball.

Pitching clinic - Monday 6:30 pm

2008-05-03T19:36:00.003-05:00

The HGRA pitching clinic resumes this year Monday, May 5th, 6:30 pm (not, as originally announced, 7pm) at the softball field behind Expo Elementary School. The clinic last one hour.

The clinic is taught by veteran coaches and high school pitchers. Even players who aren't going out to pitch will learn to throw correctly, and catchers can practice their trade as well.

We're often looking for parents to catch. If you're interested bring your glove. There's no protective gear, so don't try to catch anything tricky -- let it go.

Bill Mauer: fielding the fly ball

2008-04-29T23:41:00.008-05:00

How to move to the right, the left, and to the ball straight overhead.

Bill Mauer Coaching videos: Batting Drill 1

2008-04-25T19:05:00.006-05:00

This drill teaches hitters to go straight to the ball, and not to loop around. The goal is to swing quickly and make early contact.

HGRA Seals - thanks for the season

2007-07-28T14:59:00.000-05:00

Thanks Seals, parents and Mike and Marty for a great season. Tim loved it and so did I. It was a real pleasure getting to know all of our players and I was proud of how we played today.

It was a terribly close game today. A bounce here or there and we'd have won it. Everyone played bravely and well. Danny and Luiz have extra special memories, but everyone played better than ever before and nobody criticized a teammate doing their best.

We'll miss Melanie, Tommy and Calvin as they graduate from the HGRA majors. Thank you guys. I hope to see all the rest of the team next year, either with Tim and I or playing well against us. I'll email everyone with notification of Penguin ball in the Fall as well.

Enjoy your Augusts, and thanks for all the snacks!

john

HGRA Baseball Seals - End of the 2007 season

2007-07-27T21:49:00.000-05:00

The Seals played our best game of the season on Thursday, but the Greys were the better team that night. They may contend for the championship. I was glad our team hung together, and played well up to the last out.

Saturday we play at 11am against the Mustangs at 11:00 am at Homecroft Elementary East Field. If we win we'll play a 2nd game, also at Homecroft, at 1:30 pm on the same field. There's not much time between games, so players may need lunch and lots of fluids. Coach Mike tells me there may be pizza before the 2nd game but I think a backup lunch is probably wise.

I have Brendan as off and Nate as uncertain. Nate is down for snacks, so if he can't make it we may need to ask someone to make a snack run during the game.

We're playing with the rotation again. We're going to try Tim pitching in the 3rd, depending on how he does we'll have either him or Tommy pitch the 4th. Tommy will pitch two innings, so either the 5th and 6th or 4th and 5th. We are going to try to get our best pitchers on either end of the game as we expect this one may be close. We're also going to try to strengthen the field in the third inning to help Tim out. Melanie is still hurt so we'll try to rest her a bit in the 1st game. Austin also has a sore ankle, so we'll try to keep him down to catching only twice and SS once. Luiz is healthy but does best on SS, so we're moving Tommy back to 2B.

As always, our rotation is here.

HGRA Majors 2007 Thursday's game

2007-07-23T23:02:00.000-05:00

Based on our finish (tied for fourth with two other teams), we have been seeded 6th and will play the Greys for a third time next Thursday July 26th. We will play at the Saint Paul Academy upper softball field (corner of Niles and Davern) at 6:30pm on 7/26 (as always, plan on having the kids there at 6:10pm).

If your child can’t attend a game, please notify myself, Marty or Jon, as the lineup for the each game is made in advance.

As usual, we request that players arrive 30 to 15 minutes before the game to warm-up. Here's the rest of Mike Vento's recent summary:

First Play-off Game
Thursday, 7/26 6:30pm Seals vs. Greys at SPA (Niles and Davern)

If we win on Thursday our schedule is as follows on Saturday (we will play two games on Saturday)
Saturday, 7/28 8:30am vs. Spiders or Mustangs at Homecroft Elementary East Field
If we beat the Spiders/Mustangs we will play for the championship on Saturday, 7/28 1:30pm at Homecroft Elementary West Field
If we lose to the Spiders/Mustangs we will play for the third place Saturday, 7/28 11:00am at Homecroft Elementary West Field
If we lose on Thursday our schedule is as follows on Saturday (we may play two games on Saturday)
Saturday, 7/28 11:00am vs. Spiders or Mustangs at Homecroft Elementary East Field
If we beat the Spiders/Mustangs we will play for the consolation championship on Saturday, 7/28 1:30pm at Homecroft Elementary East Field
If we lose to the Spiders/Mustangs our season is over.

We will provide print outs of the schedule at the conclusion of practice next Tuesday evening 7/24 at Aldine Park (7:00pm practice)

HGRA Majors 2007 Tournament Brackets - July 26th and Sat July 28th.

2007-07-13T11:28:00.000-05:00

(corrected 7/16/07 w/ Mike Vento's help)

The tournament brackets are available for the upcoming majors tournament (click on link to see them). Regardless if we win or lose on Thursday 7/26 we will play on Saturday 7/28.

Here are the possible scenarios and game times where we could be slotted (sites TBD)

If we win on Thursday 7/26, we would play two games for certain on Saturday 7/28

Game time – 8:30 am on Saturday
and either:
Third Place Game – 11:00 am (if we lose on Saturday morning)
or
Championship - 1:30pm (if we win on Saturday morning)

If we lose on Thursday 7/26, there is a consolation bracket where we could possibly play two games

Game time – 8:30am or 11am (winners play for the consolation championship)
Consolation championship – 1:30pm

We’ll know more about whom we’ll play and where after our game this Thursday against the Greys.

Seals 12, Buckeyes 11

2007-07-12T21:01:00.000-05:00

The Seals and the Buckeyes both played their hearts tonight, and neither team gave up. In the end the Seals won by one, despite missing 3 of our best players and despite Melanie playing injured. Tommy had a great game, but every player had an exceptionally good game and they all have something special to be proud of. Danny's bare handed catch and Brendan's fielding were particularly memorable, but really there was something special for everyone in every position.

I'm very glad we won (we deserved it), but I'm most happy with seeing all of our players swinging, hitting, fielding, keeping their spirits up and setting new personal bests.

No HGRA stuff Mon 7/2 through Thur 7/5

2007-07-01T23:23:00.000-05:00

There's no Seals practice Tues and no game on Thur. I believe there's no Mon pitching clinic either. See everyone next week!
john

Seals v. Bandits - Thursday game at Highland Senior High

2007-06-12T21:04:00.000-05:00

We have a draft rotation and batting order up for this next game: Positions - HGRA Majors Seals 2007. If you will be late or absent please contact John by email (jfaughnan@spamcop.net) or by cell - 651-336-5548.

We've asked players to come early so we can spend some time warming up and doing some batting practice. It's getting hot, so don't forget the ice water. Austin will be bringing treats.

Everyone did very well at practice today, it's great to see the players improving.

2007 HGRA Major League All Star Game: Players born before 8/31/96

2007-06-05T21:46:00.000-05:00

The 2007 Major League All Star Game will take place Sun June 24. Players born before 8/31/96 are eligible, this includes Calvin, Tommy and Melanie this year. We'll need a commitment to play by Saturday June 16th.

Here's how it works:

Game will be at Highland Senior High School (field we usually use).
Players are randomly assigned to either a 12:30 or 3:00 pm game. Game time will be announced during the week before the game.
Players get all-star shirts, there's an announcer and sound system and there are games and concessions available between innings.

Coach Mike Vento will attend for the Seals, unfortunately both Marty and John will be out of town that weekend.

Seals: getting ready for our next game

2007-05-31T21:54:00.000-05:00

Another great Seals game though I think all the players tonight were feeling the distractions of the busy end-of-school schedule. The usual suspects had some very nice hits tonight, but it was good to see others joining in too. Practice helps.

Also tonight Coach Mike distributed some Seals baseball cards he made up for our team. Each player has a pack of their own cards and one of every other card. Mike wins Coach of the Week this week!

We have seven potential pitchers -- that's almost unheard of. We'll be rotating candidates around so newer pitchers get more confidence. We also have two established catchers and one up and coming candidate. We're continuing to work on hitting and base running. Our practices run officially for one hour, but coaches will usually stay later to work with anyone who's interested. Pitching clinics are Monday nights, 7pm, at the Expo School field -- highly recommended.

Anyone who wants to catch can also attend the pitching clinics to practice catching. (Full protective gear is required, so make arrangements with coaches to have that ahead of time.)

I've done a very preliminary revision of HGRA Majors Seals 2007 batting order and positions. We moved Tommy to 3rd in the order to take better advantage of his hitting skills. There's a link on the left side of this page that will take you to this. Send comments, requests, feedback, etc to jfaughnan@spamcop.net.

Post-game and positions for Game 3 (Homecroft)

2007-05-24T21:41:00.000-05:00

That was unnaturally cold. I watched 'The Day After Tomorrow' on a late flight @2 am Thursday and I was having flashbacks during the game.

We played a very strong team to a draw. Great effort and spirit from everyone. We did have to explain to players that Little League rules mean that sometimes players play the same position twice or may sit out two innings in a row. We construct our rotation around pitchers and catchers, and pitchers have to pitch two consecutive innings.

We're working on the rotation for the next game. If everyone shows up then two players sit out three innings, I picked the unlucky players based on who played the most today. So if someone sits out 3 times the next game, they should only sit out 2 times the game after.

The draft rotation is here: HGRA Majors Seals positions 2007. Please email jfaughnan@spamcop.net (or Marty, etc) if you'll be away on 5/31 or if you see an error or injustice. We'll try to sort it out in advance.

I'd like to hand out the rotation at our next practice so everyone knows where they'll be ahead of time. The batting order should not change and that's on the schedule too.

Update 5/31/07: We have an abundance of pitchers now, so we're rotating 7 pitchers through six innings. This makes the schedule easier.

Seals 2007 - positions, batting order, game on tonight

2007-05-24T18:01:00.000-05:00

I've made our rotation and batting order available for everyone.

Click here for the Majors Seals 2007 current batting order and position plan

I'll update it weekly. Let me know of preferred positions.

The weather is clearing so the game should be on tonight.

HGRA Major League Standings 2007

2007-05-18T16:51:00.000-05:00

HGRA Major League Standings 2007

The Seals come-from-behind victory gets top billing!

Games this week: reminders for Seals and Diamonds

2007-05-15T21:33:00.000-05:00

Reminders for games this week:

HGRA Baseball Schedules are online
HGRA is very keen on shirts being tucked in. Look good.
Bring water. Please.
Write your name on your glove, inside of your cap, and your bat if you bring one.
Seals please come before 6:15 pm so we can get your pictures.
Don't turn your back on the batter.
Don't throw your bat.
Don't throw the ball at a player who's not looking at you.

Coaches: a note from Dennis Merley

2007-05-15T13:38:00.000-05:00

This coaches note went out today:

1. The field we use at Highland Senior is the one that is tucked into the corner of Snelling and Montreal. Of the two softball fields, it is the one to the north.

2. The field we use for games at Homecroft is the west field, which is the interior field. It is the one at the end of the cul-de-sac, not the one that borders the street.

3. Minor League teams play 10 kids in the field. Please rotate them as evenly as you can.

4. Minor and Rookie teams should consider having a coach, parent or older sibling standing behind the catcher to retrieve balls that get by. It will really speed up the game. Have that person stand at the backstop.

5. All leagues (except t-ball) - know who is going to catch the next inning and get the gear on them while your team is still batting so that they are ready to go - this will speed the game up a lot!

6. If there are any cap or uniform issues, let us know. Some parents have tried going to local suppliers to ask them to give them smaller or larger shirts. Since they don't have the HGRA artwork, and since it is an infringment on our trademark, we are the ones who should take care of this.

So it appears we can get replacement cap or uniforms if there's a big sizing issue.

Seals treat schedule

2007-05-12T19:05:00.000-05:00

We could use one more Seals volunteer for 7/28, but coaches will do that one if need be. Here's the schedule, Bryan is up first!

Bryan Visneski 5/17/2007
Calvin Carlson 5/24/2007
Luiz Rebello 5/31/2007
Elijah Gjerdingen 6/7/2007
Austin Shepard 6/14/2007
Melanie Luikart 6/21/2007
Kevin Yetter 6/28/2007
Brendan Conway 7/12/2007
Tommy Joyce 7/19/2007

Diamonds: treat schedule and numbers

2007-05-12T16:06:00.000-05:00

Here's the Diamonds treat schedule. Henry is up first!

Henry Bogie 5/16/2007 690-1835
Charlie Peterson 5/23/2007 690-9910
Richard John 5/30/2007 699-5046
Mario Giorgini 6/6/2007 690-3847
Konrad Bostrom 6/13/2007 698-0210
Thomas Bricher 6/20/2007 699-9078
Ian Tuma 6/27/2007 698-1638
Owen McCready 7/11/2007 646-3084
Ben Faughnan 7/18/2007 699-0920
Charlie Pythian 7/28/2007 698-2724

Charlie took over Randy's slot. All of the slots are now filled.

Seals: pitching clinic and extra 1/2 hour for next practice

2007-05-10T20:40:00.000-05:00

The head coach (Marty) asked me to pass on two items:

the Pitching clinic Mondays 7pm Expo School softball field for Major and Minor league players is excellent. Click the link for details. All kids can benefit from the expert instruction, not just would-be pitchers. Learn what the pros teach, and watch some excellent ball players in action.
next Tuesday's practice will run an extra half-hour so we can prepare for the game. We can't start a half-hour early because there's a team ahead of us. We think this will be a one-time extension, we know it's late for some players (like my son Tim!)

I also would like to thank Sean and James, who were moved by my courageous display of awful throwing and have volunteered to help out at practice when they're available. The HGRA parents guide suggests five coaches for a practice, so there's room for at least two more. Some of our players would benefit from practice with a patient adult, even if the adult has even fewer ball skills than me.

Seals: practice parents needed for next week

2007-05-08T20:58:00.000-05:00

We had a great Seals practice tonight, but, in case you can't tell, we're a bit short of hurlers. Mike has a healing finger, Marty has a bum shoulder, and John throws about as well as he did thirty years ago.

We're looking for 2-3 more parents to help with practices. You may think you're not much of a ball player, but we think you can throw better than John.

Uniforms will be distributed at the next practice. Please bring water, we had some thirsty players today.

The coaches may be ailing, but the Seals are looking good. Great attitudes and great attention from every player.

We'll be back at Aldine in a week, so there's time for you to find your old glove ...

Major League Seals: Practice Tuesday 7pm Aldine, Team name, Parents stuff

2007-05-07T22:41:00.000-05:00

Reminder to all HGRA Major Leagues Seals families: Tuesday practices moved to Aldine. Follow the link for directions and a map.

Also, there will be a test on our team name:

Seals: San Francisco Seals, 1903 - 1957 of the Pacific Coast League. The DiMaggio brothers all played there.

Lastly, some excerpts from our hgra parental guide to the majors

At least 5 adults are needed for a quality, stations-oriented practice. You don’t have to be an expert to throw grounders, toss pop-ups or catch pitchers.

Games: All Major League games are on Thursday evenings at various fields in the neighborhood. Game time is 6:30 pm... Please arrive at games 15-30 minutes early for proper warm-up.

League rules require an adult contact for each child at each game and practice.

Game Rules: Little League rules apply. However - no bunting, no balks and only 2 steals per inning (not home).

Everybody on the team is in the batting order but only 10 batters bat during an inning. If the 10th batter puts the ball in play, they run the bases until tagged out or until a “force” play is made at the plate.

If after a fair number of pitches the 10th batter is not out, the umpire may order the batting team’s coach to pitch.

Other thing you can do to help:
Supervise the players on the bench and announce the batting order for the kids during the games;
Coach first or third base;
Full uniforms - caps, shirt, pants and socks - are required for games. Players without proper attire may be asked not to participate in the game (we can let the socks go but they look so much better);
Bring a jug of water and paper cups on hot, humid days - those who forgot will appreciate you;
Sign up for one night of post-game treats. They are a tradition in HGRA. Your coach or a volunteer will usually set up a schedule. Juice boxes, soda pop, cookies, rice krispie treats or popsicles are a few suggestions. Bring enough so brothers and sisters can have some too.
Important baseball rules to remember: In real baseball, plays occur that require application of specific rules.
Here are some of the particular rules that frequently come up that you might not know:
Infield fly - runners on 1st and 2nd, or bases full, less than two outs - a fly ball to the infield is an automatic out for the batter. This removes all force outs and runners may advance at their peril.
Batted ball hits the plate - this is a fair ball if it bounces into fair territory
Pitched ball hits batter’s hands on the bat - if the player swung, it is a foul strike. If the player did not swing, the batter gets first base.

HGRA Diamonds: Snack and email

2007-05-06T19:42:00.000-05:00

Thanks to a helpful parent volunteer we have email for all but Charlie Pythian, Zachary Sain, and Joe Boyle. All but the last game have snacks.

I'll be helping with the snack schedule.
--
john

HGRA Baseball Schedules Online

2007-05-06T19:39:00.000-05:00

HGRA Baseball Schedules are now online.

HGRA Rookie League Diamonds 2007

2007-05-02T14:43:00.000-05:00

Practices for the HGRA Rookie League Diamonds 2007 are at Groveland Park Field 3 every Saturday at 2pm starting May 5th. Games are Wed 6:30pm starting May 16th. Schedules are not yet online. Coach Randy Kachmarzinski is calling around.

Major League Seals 2007 - pictures and names

2007-05-01T22:53:00.000-05:00

The 2007 seals - pictures to help coaches learn names ...

HGRA Seals 2007 - Team pictures

Tuesday Groveland practices moved to Aldine

2007-04-30T12:45:00.000-05:00

The Major League Seals and other teams practicing

Groveland has decided to use their fields on Tues evening. We can use the field on 5/1/07, after that we have relocate.

Teams that had Tues pm practice there may use the field at Aldine Park, which is located on Aldine Ave. (between Snelling and Fairview), one block north of Marshall. The field is in rough shape but Dennis has asked the city to clean it up a bit.

Here's a link to a map.

--
John Faughnan (assist coach)
651-336-5548
jfaughnan@spamcop.net

Pitching clinic Mondays 7pm Expo School softball field

2007-04-30T12:41:00.000-05:00

The Pitching clinic is Mondays, 7pm at the softball field behind Expo school. The first clinic is 4/30/07. This clinic is for minor or major league players.

Here's the notice from our web site:

Any Minor or Major Leaguer can drop by the Carondelet softball field (next to Expo School) at 7:00 on Monday nights for an hour of free pitching instruction. If your child wants to learn to pitch or improve their skills, let our high school and college pitchers from our Penguin Baseball program work with them.

--
John Faughnan (assist coach)
651-336-5548
jfaughnan@spamcop.net

HGRA Parent Guidelines: The Minor leagues

2007-04-26T00:25:00.000-05:00

The HGRA Schedule page includes a link to the Minor League Parent Guidelines (pdf). It's a one page document and it's very well done.

The key section is a list of how parents can help:

• Supervise the players on the bench and announce the batting order for the kids during the games;
• Coach first or third base;
• Create & distribute a team roster with names, numbers, parents’ names, treat schedule, etc.;
• Bring a jug of water and paper cups on hot days - those who forgot will appreciate you;
• Keep a first aid kit (or at least some bandaids) in the car, just in case someone skins a knee;
• Sign up for one night of post-game treats. They are a tradition in HGRA. Your coach or a volunteer will
usually set up a schedule. Juice boxes, cookies, cookies or popsicles are a few suggestions. Bring enough
so brothers and sisters can have some too;
• Write your child’s name on your child’s cap and glove. This will help you get them back when they are
left behind and picked up by a parent, coach or visitor;
• Remember that we are all trying our best - if your child has not batted first yet, or played 1st base, it is
probably just an oversight. A quick, friendly word to the coach is all that is needed.

Indelible laundry markers work best for writing names on gear and caps.

2007 Season: notes from the commissioner

2007-04-25T21:46:00.000-05:00

Commissioner Dennis Merley sent some notes out to the coaches. Here are excerpts of interest to everyone:

3. Groveland 3 is the field on the west side of Groveland Elementary that borders Sargent Ave. Groveland 4 is the field on the west side of the school on the corner of Cleveland and St. Clair. Other fields - Highland Senior is the softball field on the corner of Snelling and Montreal, Hillcrest is the field in the Northwest corner by the parking lot, Homecroft is the east field that borders Edgcumbe Road. If you have questions about these fields, let me know.

7. If you are looking for coaching guidance, I recommend "Coaching Youth Baseball the Ripken Way". It's a well-written guide to teaching skills and running practices, and it seperates everything by age groups. The age groups more or less correspond to what we do so the suggestions should be pretty applicable. It's available for $11.00 on Amazon. ..