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Angie Mc
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| Posted: Feb 13 2009 at 12:12pm | IP Logged
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Any other baseball moms out there? As we head into the spring, I thought it would be fun to share our joys and what we're learning along the way. All moms of t-ball players to MLB players are invited  . I thought we could start by describing our situation and what we hope to gain from our time spent with baseball.
Aiden started playing Little League baseball upon our arrival to AZ five years ago. He was the one who brought baseball to this family! Currently, he is on his second club ball team (the first was short-lived this fall - a really weird experience and story that I will skip for now). His team is a 13U AA team which is under the AAA and Majors. They hope to work their way up and after 3 tournaments they are ranked 28 out of 42. Aiden is a strong athlete, started off as a catcher (which he still plays) but is now mainly a pitcher and is learning how to play short stop. He loves the game and is a real student of it. He follows pro and college baseball and studies the history of the game. He takes pitching and hitting lessons as well.
Because of Aiden, Ian was recruited recently onto a new 10U AA team. He loves it! Ian has played along with his brother in the backyard all these years and played Little League for 4 years. Ian is fast and nimble so he makes a great 2nd baseman and short stop. He's also currently working on pitching. He doesn't take any formal lessons but does cage time at an indoor batting cage.
Why do we do this? We love the game! The boys work hard to finish their work at home so that they can play and I see them maturing through their efforts. I enjoy driving, watching, cheering for, listening to, and talking with them about baseball. I, too, follow major league baseball, am a Diamondback and Red Sox fan, and appreciate the history and elegance of the game. I'm grateful for the people we meet through baseball, too, and love the down time - mother nurture - I receive. (Well, I could live without all the driving  .)
What's your story?
ETA: Don't have a child playing ball but YOU love baseball, please join in this conversation!
Love,
__________________
Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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Betsy
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| Posted: Feb 13 2009 at 1:02pm | IP Logged
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Angie,
What a fun topic!
We are HUGE baseball fans. I was "recruited" to the sport by my dh...as I hated baseball when we got married.
We love college and minor leagues teams...and have followed them incessantly where ever we have lived. One of our tradition was going to Good Friday Services and then to Purdue to watch the Baseball game...ahh, the good ol' days!!
As for my boys playing, we skipped T-Ball, and went straight to machine pitch. Both of my oldest boys were on the same team this fall. It was so much fun watching them. However, most of the fun we have with baseball is when my dh takes them to the batting cages or plays with them in the back yard. Our boys have been doing that since they have been 3. During the week the boys (who got up EXTREMELY early) were bugging me by 5:30-6 to throw them some pitches. I never make it out there before 7 but I have thrown my fair share of pitches! They are too good now and I am scared to be close to them when they bat! But, we have another 3yo waiting in the wings!
BTW...did I mention that I love living somewhere that has spring and fall ball!!!
Well, enough of the ramblings. I hope to here about more baseball moms!
Betsy
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Lori
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Well, my DH was a high school/college/minor league player, so baseball is "berry berry big" in this house! Our oldest only played a couple of years of Little League, but our next 3 boys will likely play as long as they can. We homeschool, but our state allows homeschoolers to participate in afterschool sports, so we'll see how that goes, someday!
DH coaches the boys' teams often, but also likes them to get a feel for other styles of coaching every now and then. For now, our 6 and 7 yr olds can play on the same team (machine pitch this year), which will cut down on driving time to too many different practices/games. Next year...who knows!
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LisaR
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We are a baseball loving family, but it's not our "only" sport. I have to admit I have a love/hate relationship with the lllooonnnggg games, coming off of soccer games, wrestling matches, even football!
Our Thomas is ambidexterous and is a lefty pitcher. He bats either way and loves the power to psyche the pitcher out!!
My older two were/are catchers!
We'll have Dominic in coach - pitched this year- we skip T ball as well.
My oldest Joe is still toying with the idea of trying out for high school ball. He played from age 6-14, but in his last year (after 8th grade) he was on a very competitive team (feeder for the Catholic High School) and also was going through a huge awkward stage- growing 6 inches! and two shoe sizes in a matter of months, without putting on the weight, and his batting suffered and he got discouraged.
Then he decided to try football (you always need more bodies for football!) and ended up doing really well, gaining 35 lb, and wrestled in the winter.
He's hit the ball around with some players and can knock it over the fence easily!
however, this would make him a 3 sport kid and we think this might be a bit too much.
Just tonight at dinner we were discussing the possibility of Paul being a bat boy for the day games of the Peoria Chiefs. We are casual friends with the owners (a Cub farm team) and our oldest Joe goes to school and is close friends with their daughter.
It might be the perfect job for a newly 13 year old! and only 4 miles from home!
So, we talk baseball alot, and it really is such a social game!! I do like the relaxing feeling (if I can let myself go!) of hanging out at the fields for a double header, or two kids games back to back. My younger kids have had all sorts of adventures too! getting lost in the creek, getting into someone else's car in the parking lot (it looked like ours) begging money from stragers at the concession stand etc.
I've done alot of homeschool planning/talking with friends at games!
sigh, well, this turned into a 9 inning post.
tomorrow morning is registration for all my kids!!
play ball!!
PS my dh is always an assistant coach (because of work he can't be the head coach) and usually partners up with a dad who has 7!!! boys and 2 girls. This dad lives and breathes baseball, all of his sons are very good, and most importantly, he is by far the best coach ever!!
__________________
Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
Paul 14
Thomas 11
Dominic 8
Maria Gianna 5
Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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Sarah
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Huge baseball fans here!
Ds 12 and ds 10 play both little league and for a rural team. We go to the batting cages nearly every day since we live next to a nice one. This year the boys are selling eggs from our chickens to pay for the batting cages.
Ds 7 has an exceptional gift for baseball and plays little league too. but all my boys are good. The oldest was a little league all star several years ago. So proud of him and all of them.
He also plays fall baseball.
We watch games on MLB.com and follow the pros. The boys' uncle is a personal friend of Mike Sweeney so they got to ride in Mike's car and he took them out to dinner, got them Yankees tickets when A-rod's hit his 50th home run of the year. Then this same uncle played golf with Jeff Zupan and so got a hat autographed for the kids. They just love that kind of stuff.
We are so looking forward for the season to start.
I just really enjoy it. I get on a routine with the games and packing everyone up every day.
Signups are this week! Woo hoo!
Fun topic.
__________________
Six boys ages 16, 14, 11, 7, 5, 2 and one girl age 9
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Betsy
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LisaR wrote:
Just tonight at dinner we were discussing the possibility of Paul being a bat boy for the day games of the Peoria Chiefs. We are casual friends with the owners (a Cub farm team) and our oldest Joe goes to school and is close friends with their daughter.
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Lisa, what an awesome opportunity!!!! I am *trying* not to be jealous!!
Betsy
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Angie Mc
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| Posted: Feb 14 2009 at 10:46am | IP Logged
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Lori wrote:
| Well, my DH was a high school/college/minor league player, so baseball is "berry berry big" in this house! |
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Lori, who was your dh with? That is so neat! My dh played college tennis then moved onto triathlons. Once Aiden started playing bball, I learned that my dh played Little League. The things I still don't know about my dh .
Sarah wrote:
We watch games on MLB.com and follow the pros. The boys' uncle is a personal friend of Mike Sweeney so they got to ride in Mike's car and he took them out to dinner, got them Yankees tickets when A-rod's hit his 50th home run of the year. Then this same uncle played golf with Jeff Zupan and so got a hat autographed for the kids. They just love that kind of stuff.
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Mike Sweeney! I am not even trying not to be jealous . Mike Sweeney is one of our favorite players. We got to "know him" through the Champions of Faith series. (Jeff is also featured - -what a guy!) In the first DVD, in the scene where Mike is at Mass, he's at St. Tim's, a local parish. We also got to watch him up close at an A's spring training game last season. We cheered like groupies! So...we're practically related . Looks like he'll play one more year with the Mariners.
Thanks, all. This is fun! I know that there are more baseball moms out there (full or parttime encouraged to join!) so I hope you'll chime in too.
Love,
__________________
Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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Lori
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Angie...my dh played at UCLA in college, and then for the Expos, Mets, Angels, Giants, Marlins and the Yankees (I don't THINK I'm leaving any out...LOL) He was one of the most traded minor leaguers who wasn't a pitcher! He suffered a career ending injury to his achilles about 11 years ago. It was hard at first, but he loves his work now, and loves coaching the kids.
We should meet up for some Cactus League Spring Training!
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MaryM
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Angie Mc wrote:
| This is fun! I know that there are more baseball moms out there (full or parttime encouraged to join!) so I hope you'll chime in too. |
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I know I'm one of the ones Angie is waiting for  . Angie and I have a little friendly rivalry going about the Colorado Rockies vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks. I haven't jumped into the thread yet because I think it will be a long post and I haven't had the time to sit and contemplate my baseball-centered life and what it has/is teaching me.
Today has been crazy and as soon as I finish dinner I have to run to the hospital to help a friend with a newborn who is having trouble breastfeeding. So it looks like I'm not going to really be able to post until after the board opens back up tomorrow night. (Much of my life is centered on the 3 B's - books, baseball and breastfeeding! )
Suffice to say, I am a veteran baseball mom, going into my 16 season (year), I think. With baseball family history, too - brothers and dh played through high school.
This is going to be a fun thread, Angie. So consider me "on deck" I'll be up to "bat" later.
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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vmalott
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| Posted: Feb 17 2009 at 11:43am | IP Logged
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Angie and I have been conversing privately on being baseball moms, so I'm glad she started this thread!
Our oldest son, John, is going into his 8th season of baseball, and his 4th as a select/elite/travel player. With him we skipped t-ball and started right in with Little League coach pitch at age 6. The next two boys, Connor (7) and Drew (6) have played t-ball for two years and are now moving up to coach pitch. They play on the same team and my dh is their coach.
John played with the same team for four years: two years of Little League, then the team switched over to Knothole for two years, which has different rules than LL (they can lead off, run to first on dropped 3rd strike, etc.). He pitched and played shortstop. He also has played fall ball since his second season.
In 2006 he made the move to select baseball (AABC) and has been playing for the same team since then. He started out as a shortstop, but has since proved himself as a stellar center fielder. His crowning moment was last year's CABA 11U World Series, where he received the Gold Glove award when his team came in runner-up in the series. Can you tell I'm a proud mama??? He is also developing as a pitcher and takes lessons with former Reds pitcher, Mo Sanford. John would love to play college baseball and will likely play for our local district in high school while continuing summer ball with the same team. Our district recently introduced a partial enrollment option for homeschooled residents, so we will be looking at that as an option.
Drew, our 6yo, shows a great deal of promise too. The club that John plays ball for has teams all the way from the 8U level through 18U, so he will likely play for the club once Connor decides he'd rather not play (he's on the fence right now).
Living in a major league baseball city is wonderful because we have access to a great deal of resources. I mentioned that John takes lessons from a former major leaguer. The facility where he trains has other former major and minor league players and other high caliber instructors (Pete Rose, Jr., Bill Doran, Sr., Brian Conley (minors), Mo Sanford) and they offer many camps where Reds players instruct and interact with the kids (Drew and Connor had a camp last year with Ryan Freel, who was with the Reds).
Aside from the kids, my husband is very involved in the Southwest Ohio League here in Cincinnati. He has been a league coordinator for various age levels. He's coordinating the 12U level this year. He also has become very skilled at coordinating tournaments for our son's team, drawing competition not only from the surrounding area, but also from 11 different states! His goal is to get the team to a point, through these tournaments, that they will be fully funded or nearly so, so that player fees will be diminished significantly. He wishes he could do this for a living, since he's good at it and it's something he's very passionate about. He has gotten to know so many people in the world of baseball. I can only hope these connections will benefit our boys somewhere down the line.
On top of all that, we have a 10yodd who is in her second year of softball. She just started last spring and was on a lousy team. She had the good fortune to get with a good team and a great coach for the fall and her natural abilities had a chance to develop! Sadly, she wasn't able to play with this team for the spring because she doesn't live in the right school district (they make exceptions for fall ball). She has enjoyed going to softball camps and got to meet USA Olympic champions, Crystl Bustos and Jenny Finch!
Needless to say, our spring is going to be busy, but fun! I can hardly wait. Oh, and John decided he will be going through umpire training at the facility where the little boys play. He hopes to make a little money calling some of the younger Little League games.
Valerie
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Valerie
Mom to Julia ('94), John ('96), Lizzy ('98), Connor ('01), Drew ('02), Cate ('04), Aidan ('08) and three saints in heaven
Seven Times the Fun
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Barbara C.
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My husband is a huge sports fan in general (he turned down an opportunity to work for ESPN), but baseball is his true love...maybe even ahead of me. We can not hardly plan any vacation unless it includes a sporting event, preferably baseball. So when he had the chance to work and live in Chicago, he couldn't pass it up.
Me, stone me now, I don't really like to watch baseball. I played tee-ball and softball, and I enjoyed playing when the coaches would let me have fun and not make me feel bad for not being very good. Even though, I don't really enjoy the game I have learned a lot and been to a lot of ball parks.
I enjoy watching my husband and daughters bond through the game, though. My oldest started tee-ball last year and earned the nickname "Rocket Arm" from the coaches. She is looking forward to the start of a new season in a few months, and to her Daddy becoming an assistant coach on the team. Next year and year after, she'll be in coach pitch "tee-ball" before moving to a softball league. (Although, technically the baseball league is open to girls.)
She has her own baseball card collection. She and her daddy have spent hours going over the statistics on the back. She knows the logo for every team, and many of the key players. When she won't let me read her anything, she and her daddy would read non-fiction baseball books together. She's learning her geography because they taped little logos for each team on our U.S. map at each appropriate city.
My husband plays a baseball simulation game using dice called A.P.B.A. When she was four, we made a simple version that we called "Mascot A.P.B.A.". For her sixth birthday she requested a real set of her own. They've played that together a few times.
She also enjoys going to games. She went to her first Cubs game (since she was a baby) last year and took a tour of Wrigley Field. She's looking forward to doing that this summer again as well. And usually we go up to the very family-friendly Miller Park to see the Brewers play and the Sausages race two or three times a year. Every night she sleeps with her Racing Churrizo doll.
My second daughter is just now starting to learn the finer points of hitting and catching. In Summer 2010 she'll be eligible for the pre-tee ball program. That will probably be the first summer that she makes it to Wrigley as well since the bathroom situation there isn't the best for potty-trainers. Every night she sleeps with her "Cutie-Pie Bear" whose Brewers shirt finally fell apart. I didn't want to get anymore stuffed animals, but it was love at first sight with Cutie-Pie Bear.
So, here I am stuck in a baseball family, whether I want to be or not. The tee-ball really did afford us our first opportunity to forge bonds in the community in a way that gymnastics never has. Probably something to do with seeing the same people three times a week for 10+ weeks. Now if I could just get my husband to stop having batting practice in our living room before something gets broken, even if they're using foam bats and balls. 
__________________
Barbara
Mom to "spirited" dd(9), "spunky" dd (6), "sincere" dd (3), "sweet" dd (2), and baby girl #5 born 8/1/12!!
Box of Chocolates
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Betsy
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I saw Mike Sweeney on Life on the Rock a few years back. It was wonderful to see a practicing Catholic Baseball player!!
Are there any others that you know of??
Betsy
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Angie Mc
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| Posted: Feb 17 2009 at 1:12pm | IP Logged
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Thanks so much for joining in, everyone! I'll find time later to day to catch up reading here but I can answer this quickly...
Betsy wrote:
I saw Mike Sweeney on Life on the Rock a few years back. It was wonderful to see a practicing Catholic Baseball player!!
Are there any others that you know of??
Betsy |
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Oh yes! Here's a link to a past topic on Champions of Faith.
Love,
__________________
Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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LisaR
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Paul has established an email correspondance with the President of our local team. (A team for Cubs)Please pray that he get the job, or at least a consideration for the future!!
__________________
Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
Paul 14
Thomas 11
Dominic 8
Maria Gianna 5
Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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Angie Mc
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LisaR wrote:
Paul has established an email correspondance with the President of our local team. (A team for Cubs)Please pray that he get the job, or at least a consideration for the future!!
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Great! Praying and...when will you find out?
Love,
__________________
Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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Angie Mc
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| Posted: March 04 2009 at 11:27am | IP Logged
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I shared a baseball mom story here.
Love,
__________________
Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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Mackfam
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I'm a new baseball mommy...and lovin' it! I love how baseball makes little boys come alive!
__________________
Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Betsy
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| Posted: March 07 2009 at 8:07am | IP Logged
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Who's Tempted to get this?
Betsy
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Angie Mc
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| Posted: March 07 2009 at 9:45am | IP Logged
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Mackfam wrote:
| I'm a new baseball mommy...and lovin' it! I love how baseball makes little boys come alive! |
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Jennifer, the joy and determination are amazing! Welcome to the baseball mommy club . I didn't grow up with baseball. Watching my first ds at age 3 play with a stick and ball and run in a circle on our rural property, made me say to my dh, "I think he's playing baseball, but he's never seen it, weird!" Now I'm convinced that there is a baseball gene and my boys have it . My boys brought me to the game and watching them love it has made a big impact on me. Then eventually I chose the game for myself  .
BETSY!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope to find the money in my budget today for this must have item ...I wish I was kidding .
Love,
__________________
Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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Betsy
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Angie Mc wrote:
| Now I'm convinced that there is a baseball gene and my boys have it . |
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I am convinced there is a baseball gene AND a hockey gene. My boy have mimicked both at very young ages with out having the benefit of seeing the sports played.
I would almost go as far as saying that you can't really understand men unless you understand baseball and hockey.
Betsy
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Topic: Baseball Moms Unite!
