Personal Narrative: How To Play A Playing Swing Ball

“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run”(Babe Ruth). I was wondering how much baseball really affected my life and the choices I make. The answer is a lot, and it still continues to leave a mark on this life I love. Over the many years of my involvement in the game I have learned that life is full of ups and downs. Baseball teaches people to bounce back from negatives, this I believe.

It was a hot summer day in Hammond, Louisiana and I was pouring down sweat like I had just jumped in a pool. The game was just about to begin, me and my team was eagle eyeing the bomb squad. It was so quiet that you could hear your own sweat hitting the bench. The umpire broke up everyone’s concentration by saying, “play ball”! The defense had ran out on the field and I started rolling ground balls from 2nd to short-stop to third base. They had all made good throws back to me and then I threw the ball into the dug-out because the game had begun.

The sport of baseball revolves around the pitcher throwing the ball, and the batter hitting it to a designated spot. The throwing of the ball involves many physical concepts. There is force applied to the ball, and it flies through the air with a certain velocity, and there

Baseball is a very enjoyable sport. In baseball there are many different ways a play can happen. The ball can be hit anywhere. You must know what to do when the ball is

Also making sure you have a good grip on the baseball and placing your fingers on the “horseshoe” with both index fingers being perpendicular to one another

Do you want to be able to beat everyone at the next home run derby? Ok you may not go to any home run derbies or be in softball, but learning to swing a bat correctly can give you an upper hand and give you something to teach other people. When you are a parent and your kid wants to learn the sport of softball or baseball you will be able to teach them the perfect fundamentals in swinging a bat. There is a lot more to swinging a bat than what most people think. When you think about swinging a bat do you think about your feet, your head, your hands, or your hips? I don’t think most people do. Well these hitting fundamentals will teach you how to have the perfect swing and these four easy stages will help you to teach others and if you want to hit the farthest.

After drills and skills in the field, the players hit the batting cages for some swings. Nolan said that each player got between 10-15 swings before moving on to the next guy.

Lights blaring into my eyes, the crack of the bat, the shouting of the overly-devoted parents, the salty aroma arising off of the freshly roasted peanuts, all came together to create the overwhelming presence of a little league baseball game. This was a place where I spent most of my time on week day afternoons, in the spring, watching my brother succeed at America’s pastime. He was really quite good at this sport called baseball; he had just been granted the position of starting pitcher for the team. Sometimes things that have occurred in my life, and stuff I have received, that I may not have necessarily deserve, can be taken for granted. However, after what was about to take place my eyes are given a new perspective.

This particular Sunday, we had already played four other games. We were nearing the end of our fifth, the championship game, and I was almost up to bat. I slipped my gloves on, black with white lightning stripes, giving me a sense of power. The player up to bat sadly strikes out, giving us our second out as the game is tied. The ump looks at me motions for me to approach the plate. I stepped out of the practice circle and took a few practice swings. Lift, step, plant, twist, bring the bat around, follow through, slap. Lift, step, plant, twist, bring the bat around, follow through, slap. Over and over, the same swing I’ve spent countless hours perfecting back at our practice academy in Olathe.

We were in the streets of the neighborhood, Ann Elizabeth to be exact. We had just began to play a game of baseball with my brothers new metal bat. Mom had already left for work and my dad was getting ready to leave as well. He was running sort of late. My brother and I were about to start the game, we check around us to make sure no one was near us to play a safe game. We saw our little sister and brother at the front doors neighbor's house playing with their daughter last time we checked. As my brother threw the baseball, I was getting ready to swing then bam! Before I knew it the bat had already crashed into my little brother's head. Let me remind you that this was a metal bat. A metal bat had ran cross my little brother's head. I was so terrified. My little brother was only 4 at that time. I did not know what to do. I held him in my arms. He was still conscious. I was holding my hand over his open wound. He bled a lot. My other brother had ran to let my dad know. My dad came rushing outside,

As my Varsity baseball team suits up for practice we whip out our “Easton Mako Bats” and our “Evo-Shield arm sleeves.” Everyone prepares for the season as we break in our new 200-dollar gloves. As I Un-zip my “Demarani Bat Bag” I search for the stick of eye black that seems to add spice to my game as I smother it under my eye, to “reflect the sun” of course. Our accessories become a part of our game, and we begin to value them more than the game itself.

I step out of the batters box to gather myself. I take a couple of check swings. I tell myself now you are ready. I Step back into the batter’s box and prepare myself for the next pitch. In my mind, I am thing if he pitches a fast ball I am going to swing for the heavens. The pitcher throws a fast ball. I can see the ball moving towards me as if it was moving in slow motion. My eyes zoom in on the ball like a pair of binoculars. I swing it is a hit into the outfield over the centerfielders head. I run with

Hitting a baseball is one of the hardest things about playing the sport. What makes hitting a baseball hard is that when hitting you never know what the pitcher is going to throw. Most of the time you can guess what a pitcher is going to throw. Usually if it’s a 0-0 count you’ll more than likely get a two or four-seam fast ball.

I was getting very nervous, because all three of us were hitless today. Okay, we need base runners, and we need them now. Don’t try to do too much, just get a hit. I thought. The first pitch was a fastball right down the middle of the plate, a perfect pitch to hit. My eyes got big, and my mind said swing, but before I could react, the ball was past me.

When swinging the club back to the ball in the downswing try driving the leading edge of the club into ground 12 inches behind the ball, (you can’t actually drive in the ground, because the arch of the swing won’t allow it). What it will do is cause a steeper trajectory into the ball, catching the ball first and then taking a proper divot in front of the ball.