Show IN FIELDING GROUND BALLS ACT QUICKLY player should come up on his toes toes and be ready to start on every pitched ball by CARL CAHL LUNDGREN baseball coach university 0 of illinois I 1 believe players should observe all lac dundam fundamentals dentals in fielding ground balls that Is they should start fim get square in front ot of all ba balls ils that they can keep their body low whiten the ball go into their hands use their feet properly and make every erfort effort to catch the ball on a long bound or on a pickup on every pitched dball ball fielders should come up off their heels and onto their toes ready to start ELS as fast as they can run in a direction that will put them in front of the ball usually a player should be able to tell on which side ot of him the ball will be hit before the batter hits by tile the sa swing ing of the bat fin and d the position of the pitched ball relative to the batter oftentimes it if you will watch infielders you yon will observe that man will leap forward and to one side or the other and often take a full step even though the ball la Is not hit this means a fast start in fielding the ball it if it Is hit and the ability to cover much more territory it also means that they may slow up when they come to the point where they can call take the ball on a long bound or a pickup it if it Is hit bit down the infield with ordinary speed and not to the limits of their fielding area in other words they can play the ball and not allow the ball to play them you should get square la in front ot of all balls if possible in order to reach as far as possible to either side it if the ball bounds badly to one side an the last bound before catching it and also to use your body and feet to keep the ba ball 11 in front of you in case it cannot be played with your hands many assists are made over balls that drop in front of you that have hare been stopped by body and feet one of 0 the fundamentals of all baseball Is to keep the ball in front of you there are balls at the limits of your fielding area that you yon can play only with your hands because you cannot get your body in front of them also slow hit balls that you roust must go in as fast as you can and take in any way that they come to you in order to get the putout butout also long bounding that you yon can play on the side it if order to be in a better position to throw but on ordinary ground balls it should be easy to understand that it if you play them on the side and they bound a little farther to that side than you expected you will kill be unable to knock ithem the M down and play them they will go to the outfield possibly between them and if it Is an outfielder playing the ball it seems an extra base hit keep your body low no player was kept too long on ground balls but many have hai re been unable to keep low enough many balls hive have been too low for a player to reach when ben he could have had his body lower and reached them with ease it Is much easier to raise up for a ball than to stoop lower A player should practice until it becomes second nature to him start fast to get in front of the ball and when you have it played bring the heels of both feet together or very close together the feet should point out at an angle of 45 degrees head low body nearly horizontal and knees bending outward hands bands pointing downward and fairly close to your feet allow hands to be carried back by the ball do not fight the ball by reaching out for it when you have mastered this position you will find that you will take it on all hard hit and bad bounding balls on which you will be able to malic make plays that would often get away from you otherwise probably the most essential thing in fielding a ball Is to watch it until you have it so watch it go into your hands because it has been bounding straight most of the way to you Is no reason to expect it wont bound crookedly on the last bound nor can you expect to move your hands and catch it it if you do not see it when it bounds crookedly learn to judge the speed of based base runners and to time your fielding and throwing accordingly it if you hava hav time play the ball safely but if you have to hurry be able to judge hoo fast you must make the play mak blake all alk plays that are possible with tac t w 6 hands anonich includes bunted and slow hit balls some of the battel you may have to play with one hand avoid throwing underhand wilen when possible to do so it Is not as accurate especially on long throws harder to handle hard on the arm and not necessary nearly so 90 often as thought in some cases it Is absolutely nee necessary ea but as a usual thing it Is better to throw halt half over the shoulder or at least over the wrist |