Seals: practice parents needed for next week

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

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

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

HGRA Baseball Schedules are now online.

HGRA Rookie League Diamonds 2007

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.