BLACK & TAN

Hello Baseball Fans,

It is likely that we have all heard of Chicago Cubs shortstop Javier Baez. If you haven’t, tune in to a Cubs game and enjoy the show. He hits the long ball with the best of them, swings hard from both sides of the plate, and at times even strikeouts a bunch. But he may be best known for his glove work. The quick tags on stolen base attempts. Handling with ease the most difficult short-hopped throws or batted balls to make impossible plays a reality in the way of outs. The strong arm making throws from many different angles. His reputation is legendary to the point of having ‘El Mago’ a.k.a. The Magician as his nickname.

Thanks to players like him and the many sportscasters (or bloggers, haha) that have carried on and on in describing his skills and the plays he brings to the game, we here at VFTD became intrigued a while back. About what? Well, the fact that many softball and baseball players of all sizes and ages play the game in a fashion unlike Javy Baez. And we’re not referring to the skill set differential. One may take it for granted, but unless you’re ambidextrous or all mixed up like Javy (and yours truly), you play the glorious game with the mitt on your off-hand. Javy is left-handed, but learned to play defense right-handed, which of course means his glove is on his left hand and he developed his right arm for throwing the ball.

Anyone who has played even a single game of catch in their lives can only know the game of catch by how they play it. If you’re righthanded, you throw with your strong side (right) and catch with the off side (left). Many likely never put a second’s worth of thought as to the other way around. But we here at the VFTD can’t imagine what it’s like to play catch with your off hand doing the glove work while your natural go-to arm does the throwing. It seems strange and almost impossible to not have that fine control hand (your writing hand one could say) as the one possessing and directing the cowhide leather (glove) toward obtaining the horsehide leather (ball; outdated reference but sounded cool. Baseballs haven’t been made with horsehide since the 1970s). This scenario is often used to help explain the worldly defensive skills of the aforementioned Javy Baez.

And one particular Masked Man grew up playing behind the dish with his fine-control left hand donning the leather while his right arm turned into the strong arm for throwing. It was great being able to learn how to block pitches in the dirt and following the path of breaking balls skidding from the dirt to the opposite direction of their pitching rotation. That is why they give you those famous ‘tools’ of chest protector, shin guards, cup (CRTITICAL), and of course the mask. But you always start and should finish with the mitt. It is all about the leather. Getting into proper position to block pitches is, of course, step one. But there must be a commitment to somehow scooping or snagging the ball with the mitt. Watching and complementing other catchers from the opposite dugout for nice work on blocked pitches was always the courteous way to play. A tribute to the trade. But blocking pitches alone simply is not good enough. The end goal must be to ‘catch’ even the nastiest of pitches gone filthy. You’re the catcher. So catch it!

And that is where having the fine control hand don the leather provides an advantage. We were not looking to merely block the ball in the dirt and try to prevent a bad bounce off the ‘tools’ so that we could watch a baserunner advance for practically free. We want to cradle it in the leather to guarantee baserunners are kept at bay. Then, maybe we even catch the sleepy or foolish baserunner leaning too far off the base and snap a throw to the bag and get a free out!! Have a fun and lonely jog back to the dugout pal!! And if that is the third out of the inning, well, you’ve just incited a ‘fight’ at your team’s bat rack because there is hardly a bigger provider of momentum than that. Everyone runs into the dugout and wants to hit! (And they likely ‘pat’, i.e. hit, you on top of the catcher’s helmet too.) LET’S GO!

So what does all this mean? ‘Big deal’, you say. You played the game in that ‘all-mixed up’ fashion like Javy does. So, now what? Well, there was and is only one thing to do. And that is to play the game of catch in a traditional fashion. That’s right, we’re working on playing catch left-handed now. The fine-control left hand/arm is doing the throwing now while the stronger right arm tries to manipulate the gripping (closing) and positioning of the mitt. And there would be no better way for a catcher to do this with than with a first-basemen’s mitt! And pictured below, that is where ole ‘Black & Tan’ comes into play. Our new secret weapon of choice. She’s a beauty!

Over the years, there has been some infrequent dabbling of throwing baseballs with the opposite hand. And to date, with a purpose (a daring description) of sorts now, playing catch in the yard with my wife and young kids and dad with the opposite hand has been a ton of fun and eye-opening. Even though the left hand directed the mitt for years and years with ease, it is mechanical or robotic now in picking the ball out of ‘Black & Tan’ and its fingers searching for the seams and rotating the ball with thought. All that strength and dexterity of snapping the mitt shut is now focused on gripping the ball and knowing when to release it as the new ‘young’ throwing arm whips in a downwardly direction. And the mighty right arm, to have at one time been referred to by a few players as the ‘don’t run on the gun’, is now in charge of getting out in front of the body to stop and contain the ball. And the right hand is not yet the strongest hand for closing the mitt, especially a new one. It is a different dexterity with its own flexibility.

Playing catch is the way to work on these new skills for new tools. And some solo work must be done as well. It’s late. It’s dark out. Everyone else has either gone to sleep or at least wants to. How do we further repetitions to enhance our project of catching and throwing in the opposite manner? Grab the ball and ‘Black & Tan’ and go all old school and completely kid-like by watching a game and pounding the ball into the new mitt while seated safely in a brown leather chair, of course!! You play catch by yourself. You pop the glove a few good times, but some of them miss, which is ok, and it keeps the noise level down. The popping of a glove late at night is even louder than normal since no one else is awake to distort it among other sounds. Repetition and repeat.

Your arm probably tires to a small degree at some point. And it may be too loud. But we can still work on transferring the ball from the glove. Grabbing the ball from the pocket and positioning the index and middle fingers perpendicular to the seams. Letting your fingers press further on to the seams after correctly acquiring the ball. Work on the grip by using your thumb and rotating your wrist ever so slightly to flick the ball underneath your index and middle fingers as it rests largely on your ring finger. Flick, flick, flick. The ball spins and spins and spins. Repeat and repetition. Flick, flick, flick…..

Later Baseball Fans.