Little League Lessons

Summer was Little league season . In our area we had two groups for kids my age , the majors and the minors . I Played on a minor league team . I was not all that bad . ( pats self on back ) . I was very good at fielding , fast . Hitting was my downside , but I cold bunt and hit through the infield so usually I batted lead off .

I tried all the positions except First base , but most frequently was put in as either shortstop or Catcher .

My dad coached the team for two years . We won our division each year , and I was selected to be on the Minor league all star team twice .

Dad was a great coach for little league , he had this unusual idea that if you came to practice you should be able to play . He was even heretic enough to believe that what was important in the game was learning to play it , enjoy playing , and having fun. Radical.

I really can't recall how many games we played in a week I think we played twice a week . and some of the games were double headers . IN the photo attached to this post my father is the one standing back Left , I am the good looking guy holding the bat on the right hand side and my Brother bob is sitting beside me .

We practiced a lot . Dad was real insistant on teaching us the fundamentals of fielding . I can't Remember the name of the other coach I belive His name was Mr Feller and His son was the other one holding a bat .

As I mentioned Dad would make sure that everyone of the team got a chance to play during a game regardless of the score . Often this would create some heated remarks from the parents in the stands , occasionally my mother would get into it with another parent ..Baseball was a family game .

My friend Lee played in the majors , Often we would se each other at the baseball games . and once a year we got to play at Alpenrose which was the big league venue for Baseball in the West hills .

 

Most of the team members names are gone in my memory . My Brother and I , Jim Miller , Earnie Bartnick  ( deceased ) ,  I will try to recall the others as well .

Our team was Verdermun Oil . Our colors were Dirty grey and Dirty black .