Baseball Playbook for Youth, High School, and College Players and Coaches (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781499309010)

Growing up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula in a little town called Quinnesec and playing baseball had its drawbacks. The UP has a limited baseball season in the spring/summer and some high school baseball. This put me at a disadvantage from the start and not many players pursue college baseball because no college in Upper Michigan has a team. So with no baseball option after high school in 1978 at age 17, I enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard. After being honorably discharged in the spring of 1982, I found one option to play college baseball at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. It was a longshot. The coach never seen me play, I had not played in 4 years, it was July and school started in August. Well, after an 8 hour drive and a long workout the coach gave me a chance. I have to thank my first college baseball coach, Jon Gambee, who gambled on me and I will be forever grateful. Jon not only gave me a scholarship to play at KVCC, but drove me 1200 miles in December of 1981 to the Florida Professional Baseball School, currently called the Doyle Baseball Academy, in Winter Haven, Florida, where I met the Doyle brothers. The 3 brothers, Brian, Blake and Denny, all played professional baseball but more importantly all played middle infield positions. I learned more in one week than I learned the previous 21 years. At this camp is where I also met the head coach of Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, Coach Steve Hamilton. Mr. Hamilton is a former major league pitcher and Detroit Tiger's pitching coach. As my luck continued, Morehead's second baseman had been drafted after my sophomore season at KVCC and Mr. Hamilton offered me a scholarship to play my remaining 2 years of college baseball at Division I, Morehead State University. Upon completion of my playing days at Morehead in 1987, Mr. Hamilton offered me a graduate assistant coaching position which I accepted and that started my baseball coaching career. I have coached high school 10 years in Michigan, 2 years at Alcona and 8 years at Holt. I have conducted baseball camps for players 5-18 years old during those years and continued to develop the best teaching techniques, drills, and a baseball playbook to help players and coaches. As I start my 28 year of teaching high school Geometry, I wanted to provide this instructional baseball playbook to players and coaches who may have the desire to improve their skills needed to compete in the great game of baseball.