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Thursday, October 8 Eagles Fly to Dublin! The Eagles flew down to Dublin for a tournament this past Sunday. We had a great time! The Little League team lost two close matches, 2-0 and 3-1 but played extremely well! Josh and Dylan did a great job with pitching but we just couldn't manufacture the necessary runs. Our Cadet Team fared better. Colin Powers pitched well in both games (only 3 inning games due to problems with the organising of the umpires.) The first game was lost 7-1, mainly on errors and the second game was won 6-2. Tom Craig scored the go ahead run. Dale Lerwell did a great job as catcher and the coaches were proud of all the players, some playing for their first time in a match. Thanks to our drivers Brett, Eddie and Jackie and to Coaches Anne and Rory!
Thursday, October 8 Grownups Against the Kids Match and End of Year Party Y'all Come! 10th October, Saturday- Grownups against the Kids match and End of Year Barbecue and Awards Party. 3:00pm Grownups against the Kids Match at Flowerfield. 5:00pm. Barbecue and party for all ages at the Powers' house. Bring your baseball cards if you want to trade! Food, fun prizes and awards! Thursday, August 13 First Baseball Field in Northern Ireland! Very serious discussions are taking place within the club - coaches, volunteers and the kids about the possibility of building our own baseball field! We have some ideas, plans (an architect who is assisting us) and strategies but they're at a very early stage. We're beginning to discuss sites and funding. We're looking for volunteers and contributions of land use and money. Please let us know if you can help support us! Thursday, August 13 Eagles Receive Donation from Mars Refuel Fund PORTSTEWART EAGLES BASEBALL TEAM BENEFITS FROM THE MARS REFUEL DRINK FUND
Portstewart Eagles Baseball Team is celebrating after receiving a £500 donation from the MARS Refuel Drink Fund. The team has been up and running for eleven years and has more than 50 members which train on a weekly basis. Being the only baseball team in the Northern Ireland it costs a lot of money to travel to and from matches. Karen McCartney, fundraiser at Portstewart Eagles Baseball Team says: “Our aim is to get boys and girls aged 6-17 years old off the streets and involved in a different kind of sport. “The kind donation from the MARS Refuel Drink Fund will help dramatically towards purchasing equipment including gloves and a pitching machine helping the team to play longer. The donation will also be a huge help in providing transport so the team can compete in a sport which they love.” The MARS Refuel Drink Fund aims to help sports clubs and individuals to play sport for longer. Further information can be found at www.marsrefuel.com. Friday, July 31 August Break We're taking a brief break from baseball the first week in August. Our schedule will start back on Tuesday the 11th with the young kids, 6:30-7:30, Wednesday the 12th (10-13 year olds) 6:30-7:45 and Thursday the 13th (13 and above) 6:30-8:00. Our Sunday match for 10 and above resumes on August 16th from 1:30-3:30. See you then! Monday, July 27 Wonderful, Wild Trip to London for All-Ireland Teams! The rain stayed away from the fields in London this weekend and both the cadet and little league players played some hard and challenging baseball with some very experienced teams. We'll tip our hats to our opponents as they outplayed us in the matches. But both our teams scored runs, stole bases and made some great fielding plays. Playing for the little league teams were Josh, (outfield and pitcher) Matthew (3rd base) and Ronin (pitcher and catcher). Both of our teams didn't win any of their matches but they did score some runs and made some great fielding plays. The last little league match was a close one but was interrupted when an Icarus-like cadet player fell from a tree causing an ambulance and then a helicopter ambulance to visit! First time I'd ever seen a helicopter land on a baseball field! After the dust cleared (literally and metaphorically) it turned out that the injured player was in not too bad a shape and was later seen hobbling through Luton airport with others in an attempt to catch his flight, which he missed. The Cadets played a superb Bracknall Team who had won their division and were extremely experienced and talented. The cadets lost the first match 10-1 but came on strong under the pitching of Colin Powers in the second match. Dale Lerwill performed well as his catcher, while utility players Dylan and Daniel Coyles played first, third, shortstop and right field. Dylan stole home on a wild pitch. We had quite a few stolen bases by all of our players, Daniel walked 6 times but Colin managed our only hit. We lost in a 13-8 marathon.Almost everyone of our group has made it home safely except for this author and two of our players, to be named later, who missed their flights and had to stay an extra day. This report comes from Gatwick airport outside of Starbucks.Thanks to baseball Ireland for arranging all of this and thanks especially to the teams and coaches at Bracknall, Hertfordshire and Horsham. We appreciate your generosity and sportsmanship. Photos soon! Sunday, July 19 Events in July and August Our regular schedule of baseball practice will take place the weeks of Monday July 20th and July 27th but not the week of Monday August 3rd There will be no game on Sunday the 26th. Check back here for Sundays after that! Seven of our players are heading over to London, as part of two Irish National Teams, the weekend of the 24th-26th of July to play matches against various London area teams. The players are (under 16) Daniel Coyles, Dylan Coyles, Dale Lerwill, and Colin Powers and (under 13) Matthew Campbell, Ronan Hammond and Josh McCartney. Good luck boys we're proud of you! Let's root for them and the Irish teams.
Sunday, July 19 Recent Events Today we had 9 kids show up to watch Sandlot 3 and to play a little hotbox afterwards! Even Coach Gene and Coach Nhamo enjoyed the film! This past week Coach kerry and Coach Gene put on a summer course for 6-9 year olds for the Coleraine Borough Council. We had 6 great whippersnappers show up and boy we're they impressive! Last week Colin, Dylan, Daniel and Dale travelled down to Dublin to take part in a 4 day baseball camp led by Coaches Alper Bozkurt and P.J. Fox. Wow it was a brilliant camp! The instruction was great and our boys acquired some very advanced baseball knowledge and skills. Now they have to show us what they've learned by putting it into practice! The first week in July Alper Bozkurt was with us here in Portstewart. He , along with Colin, built a portable pitcher's mound and he put on some great training for 15 of our players, especially honing the skills of our pitchers and catchers. You can see photos of Alper, Colin, Ronan and our new mound at the Baseball Europe web site, under Development. Saturday, June 27 Portstewart Eagles Win 2 Games in Cavan! What a great day of baseball we had down in County Cavan!Our Little League players squeaked out a close victory against a great County Cavan team! The final score was 10-9. Josh McCartney was pitcher and Ronan Hammond was catcher and both did a great job in this nail biter victory! Our Peter Campbell hit a three run homer! We had lots of hits and plenty of stolen bases by everyone. Scott and Jenna Gamble, our dynamic duo, completed a beautiful double play and almost a triple play!Well done to our other players: Rory Magowan, Conal Hammond, Constatine Arnscheidt, Jack Horsburgh and Matthew Campbell! And well done to the Cavan Comets who played incredibly well coming back from a 9-0 deficit to almost take the game!Our cadet players had a somewhat easier time coasting to an 18-9 win. Colin Powers and Dale Lerwill put in yeoman jobs as pitchers and catchers. Hits by Matthew Campbell, Peter Campbell, Dale Lerwill, Dylan Coyles and two doubles by Colin Powers spearheaded the offense along with BB (walks) and stolen bases from Jenna Gamble, Daniel Coyles, Constantine Arnscheidt and Ronan Hammond! Our hats off and our thanks to the Cavan comets for hosting the games! We were very excited to see, and waved to, the crowds we saw on the highway waving flags and honking horns until we realised they were attending the Ulster Semi-final Gaelic Football match between Cavan and Antrim. If they only knew that a few baseball matches were taking place down the road I’m sure they would have headed there instead! We should also, at this point, congratulate the Antrim team for their minor victory as well! Thanks also to our drivers and coaches, Anne and Brett Campbell. We couldn’t have done it without you! Tuesday, June 23 28 Kids Show Up for Tuesday Night Class! Wow! We never turn anyone away who wants to learn and have fun but tonight we almost ran out of gloves and balls as we were flooded with kids! Thanks to our older kids, Matt, Dale, Colin and Coach Hannah who chipped in admirably. What a great enthusiastic group of boys and girls came to practice tonight! We warmed up, gave practical lessons in throwing and catching, played a match and finished it off with a game of hot box. Thanks to all the kids who showed up,. We hope you'll be back! Please see our initial plans for summer. More things will be posted here on the website so keep checking back. Tuesday, June 23 Upcoming Plans for Summer Summer Baseball We do have baseball in the summer time but our summer schedule is always a bit wonky due to matches and holidays! The best place to check our schedule is to return to this website where we will try to keep things updated. Our next Tuesday practice will be: 14 July at our regular time. Our next Wednesday practices will be: 24 June, 1st July, and 15th July Our next Thursday practices will be: 25 June, 2nd July and 16th July.
Dates in later July and August will be posted here as soon as we have them. On the 27th of June we’re taking a team of 10-12 year olds and 13-16 year olds down to Cavan to play matches against the Cavan Comets. Go Eagles!On Monday the 29th of June we’re having Alper Bozkurt, the coach of the Turkish National Baseball Team with us to share his baseball talent, skills and wisdom. He's a great coach and individual. For ages 12 and above we'll have a session from 1-4pm. From 6:30-8:00pm we'll have a session just for pitchers and catchers ages 11 and above. On Tuesday June 30th we're having Alper primarily coach kids ages 13 and above from 1-4pm and for ages 9 and above we’ll have a session from 6:30-7:45pm.
Please contribute a few pounds for each session so we can cover his costs. Thanks!
Saturday afternoon at the Movies: July 18th 2-5 pm. Film: The Sandlot: Heading Home (Sandlot 3) ages: 9 and over at Gene’s house. Monday, June 22 Latest News!
Wow! We’ve been busy! And have plenty more to come! Pitcher’s and Catcher’s workshop We had a good turnout for our pitchers and catchers workshop!Our newest pitchers watched a Little League Video on how to pitch and we watched a tape of some of the greatest pitchers ever. Then we practiced pitching from both the windup and the stretch positions. We had some really enthusiastic players giving their best. Well done to Conall, Ronan H, Scott, Jenna, Constatine, Ronan E and Josh. We look forward to some great pitching from y’all. Saturday Afternoon at the Movies 9 kids showed up for our movie Everyone’s Hero. We all agreed it was a great film. We also watched some clips of greatest plays and biggest mistakes (bloopers). Even major league baseball players make them so we shouldn’t feel bad when we do. Just dust ourselves off and get back in the game! We also watched that funny clip of “Who’s on First?” by Abbot and Costello. And of course we traded baseball cards, got some new ones and had plenty of crisps and juice. We finished it off with a game of hot box. Thanks to everyone who came! Dale Lerwill makes All Ireland 13-16 year olds)Team! We were thrilled to get an email notifying us that Dale had made the All Ireland Team. Well done Dale! Trip to Greystones Thanks so much to Drew Hammond for driving the 7 seater minivan down to Greystones. We had to turn away some folks because we could only get the seven seater van this time. Gene followed in his car with four other players for the four hour trip. We were fine until we hit Bray and then we got really lost! But we finally made it there and found a really nice baseball field which had been designed and built by Wicklow County Council. A novel approach, it was built on the inside of a running track. Maybe we can get our own baseball field up here in the Coleraine Borough some day! (Hint hint!)Our first match was a league game against the Clondalkin Cardinals and unfortunately we lost 10-7. But we had some great pitching and some great plays in the field. (We also could make our own bloopers tape!). Some people got their first hits ever and first stolen bases! We want to concentrate on what we did well and there was so much of that! Anyway, we tip our hat to the Cardinals and congratulations to all our players.The second match, a friendly, we also lost to the Kerry Green Sox. I think I lost track of that score but we managed four runs and we’ll leave it at that! There was a new way of stealing bases that was legal but nobody had done before in our league and it took us by surprise. But we’ll be prepared next time! We always learn so much in these competitions! So well done Green Sox. We’ll get you next time! Again, there were some great plays by everyone and lets hold on to those memories because every single person did something well in the match! County Cavan Here We Come! This Saturday we’re heading down to County Cavan to meet with our rivals down there. Both the Little League team 10-12 year olds and the Cadets 13-16 year olds are going! It should be great fun. We’ve made some great friends with the Comets and it will be terrible to have to beat them again! Ha ha!We’re in the process of trying to line up the vans and cars again for this one. We’re figuring on over 20 kids and hopefully 5 or 6 parents. At least with Cavan we’ll have a later start that last Saturday! Coach Alper Bozkurt to return to Portstewart! Thanks to Baseball Ireland and Major League Baseball MLB we’ll have Alper back with us again this year! Alper is the coach of the Turkish National Team and is a talented and inspiring coach who’s great with kids. He joined us for a few days last year. He’ll be running training on June 29th and 30th and we’ll get notices out this week. Every year MLB hires a few peripatetic coaches to travel around and teach baseball. Thanks to Baseball Ireland we’ll get him for a few days. All we have to do is pay for his transportation, meals and accommodate him, which we are happy to do! What a great bargain! Baseball Academy for the All Ireland Team From July 7th until the 10th Dale, Colin, Daniel and Dylan will be attending camp in Dublin. Congratulations to them! Fundraising Thanks to ASDA and Coach Karen for arranging for us to collect money and sell quiz sheets outside of ASDA a few days ago. All our trips and uniforms and equipment cost us money so we need every penny we can get! Thank you ASDA shoppers! All Ireland Team goes to England! The All Ireland team is planning on going to London for a weekend of matches on the 24th of July! Congratulations to dale, Colin, Dylan and Daniel! We are all Volunteers! Please remember that we are all volunteers! Every penny we raise goes into the fund for our kids. So please help us out when you can! We have some great supporters and volunteers and of course some great kids! It’s all worth it!
Sunday, May 31 Upcoming Events! Pitchers and Catcher’s Workshop Saturday 6th June 2pm-5pm at Gene’s house. (ages 9 and above) Saturday Afternoon at the MoviesCome watch movies, baseball bloopers, eat snacks and trade baseball cards! Parents welcome too!Saturday June 13th 2-5pm, Film: Everyone’s Hero, ages: 6-10 mainly.
July 18th 2-5 pm. Film: The Sandlot: Heading Home (Sandlot 3) ages: 10 and over
Our Little League Team Opens Season with a Win! Our Eagles Little League team opened up the season with a win against the Cavan Comets. It was a close match but the Eagles triumphed 7-6. It was a great day with blue skies, sunshine, sunburns and great baseball! Well done to all the players and thanks to the Cavan Comets for driving the three hours up to play against us. Next match will be down in Greystones on June 20th and Cavan on June 27th!
Cadet Players Cruise to Win Season Opener The Cadets put in a strong performance with a 8-1 win against the Cavan Comets. This was a polished performance with strong pitching, bases stolen, hits, bunts and great fielding. It was a beautiful Irish day with blue skies and sunshine. Thanks to all the parents and supporters who attended and a special thanks to the Cavan Comets for travelling up to play. Next match will be against the Cavan Comets in Cavan on June 27th. Sunday, May 31 Three Portstewart Eagles Make All - Ireland Team After recent tryouts in Dublin three of our players were chosen for the All Ireland Cadet Baseball Team. This is the team for 13-16 year olds. The players are Colin Powers, Daniel Coyles and Dylan Coyles. Well done guys! They will attend a baseball camp in Dublin in early July and then will travel to England for matches in late July. The Eagles were very successful in the tryouts. Only one other team in Ireland, Greystones, managed to have more players (4) chosen for the team. Sunday, May 31 Tuesday Night Players!
Season's Underway!!!
Here's a couple of photos of our Wednesday and Thursday teams. These are our core players from last year and they are really good! Their ranks will swell after the Easter holidays! Photos of our Tuesday group will be coming soon! We want to thanks Baseball Ireland, MLB and Pitch In for Baseball for some sorely needed supplies. Also, we want to thank Jerry Donathan who found us on the web all the way from California USA and has contributed. The kids and coaches all thank you for the support! Some other news! We hope to have some matches in mid May in Monaghan and might go to Cork at the end of May for a tournament. On May 10th we hope to have 5 of our players travel to Dublin for tryouts for the all Ireland 13-16 year old team. New uniforms are on the way! Our first real baseball uniforms! Coach Hannah Powers will be returning to us in the middle of May. Watch out! Tuesday, March 10 Baseball's Starting Soon! 2009 Season! Great News! We're starting back on Tuesday March 31st! We're back at Flowerfield Park. 6-9 year olds: Tuesdays, 6:30-7:30 10-12 year olds: Wednesdays, 6:30-7:45 13 and above: Thursdays, 6:30-7:45 Everyone is welcome! For more information contact any of our coaches or Coach Gene at 028 708 35085 Can't wait to see you there!
Tuesday, February 10 Level 2 Baseball Coaching Course Completed Colin Powers and Gene Powers both completed the Level 2 coaching course run by Baseball Ireland on the 7th and 8th of Fenruary 2009. The course was run by Tom Gillispie., a consultant for MLB International. 19 Coaches from around the island of Ireland completed the course. We're hoping to get Tom to come to Portstewart since so many of our coaches were interested but couldn't attend on these particular dates. It was a great course and Gene and Colin are now filled with ideas to help make the practices better! Watch out!
Wow! What a great time we had when the Majestics, our sister team from England, came over to visit us for 4 days of baseball and friendship building. They stayed at the scout hall, visited the Giant's Causeway, Carrick-a-rede rope bridge and Dunluce Castle among other places. We had a few barbecues and oh we also had a few baseball matches! The Eagles won the first two matches but the Majestics, on the back of great fielding, pitching, and of course a grand slam home run didn't hurt- won the last, the rubber game. Great sportsmanship was shown by both teams and we sure hope to be able to maintain a lasting relationship with the gentlemen players from Rudheath. Thanks so much guys for travelling all the way over here to play us! Monday, July 28 Portstewart Eagles Players Selected for All Ireland National Team! Congratulations go out to Sheyar Aykol, Matthew Campbell and Dylan Coyles for being selected to be part of the national 10-12 year old team which will be participating in the Little League European Tournament in Kutno Poland! These guys have worked very hard over the last number of years and we're pleased as punch that they were chosen for this honour. We know that they will do their best for the Ireland team and as representatives of the Portstewart Eagles! Go guys!!! Monday, July 28 Portstewart Eagles Get Visits From Professional Coaches. In June and July our players were thrilled to receive visits from two professional coaches, Alper Bozkurt, a Major League Baseball Envoy coach and currently coach of the Turkey National Team and Pat Ahearne, a former pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. Talk about baseball skills, these guys knew everything! Pat taught us some basic baseball skills, some creative and fun drills and worked extensively with our pitchers. Alper helped hone our catching and fielding skills and impressed us with his discipline and love of the game. We had about 30 kids turn out for the various sessions. These coaches were so inspiring and we hope to have them back again some day. Thanks pat and alper! Sunday, July 13 Summer 2008 Schedule When is baseball on?This is a familiar question this time of year! So here’s the answer:July 6th through the 12th is a regular week. July 13th we’ll have our usual Sunday match from 1:30-3:30. No baseball the rest of the week. Coach Hannah leaves us to go and live in Los Angeles! Boo Hoo! July 20th we’ll have a Sunday match. No baseball the rest of the week. July 27th-August 2nd - possible Wednesday match. No baseball any other time that week.. August 3rd – August 9th Sunday the 3rd game; Monday the 4th practice 10-13 year olds: 6:30pm-8pm August 5-9 we will have the Rudheath Majestics visiting us! And hopefully a team from Cavan! We are hoping to have matches on August 6th and 7th for our 10-12 year olds. August 10th we resume our regular schedule. Upcoming events: Dates to be determined Saturday afternoon at the movies Parents/Guardians against the kids baseball match Match against the Cavan Comets in August- 12-14 year olds Mike “King” Kelly tournament in Dublin End of year party. Coach Gene and Coach Rory will also be running baseball courses for Coleraine Borough July 14th to the 17th and the 21st to the 24th. If you have any questions please contact any of our wonderful coaches! Coaches Ann, Patricia, Karen and Nhamo. Thursday, June 5 Pitching and Catchers Workshop June 7th 3-5:30 at the Powers' house. Hi Everyone! Just to let you know that the Pitcher's and Catchers workshop will be held Saturday the 10th of June from 3-5:30 pm. No cost involved for this. Our target ages are from 10-13. Thursday, June 5 Baseball Tournament in Dublin 28th June Coach Karen has already booked the minibus and she's raring to go! We're hoping to take about 14, 10-12 year olds down for the match (es). The coaches will be handing out forms as soon as possible. Let them know if you're interested. Thursday, June 5 Rory and Colin Powers make all-Ireland cadet (13-16 year olds) team! Rory and Colin Powers were successful in their tryouts for the all Ireland cadet Team. They will be travelling to London for matches the weekend of June 20th. Well done boys! Monday, February 11 2008! Our tenth year of youth baseball in Northern ireland! 2008 Welcome back for another season! We'll be starting back on the 7th of April in Portrush, 6:30-7:45 at Parker Avenue playing fields. Ages 7+ Tuesday April 8th at Flowerfield park from 6:30-7:30 we have practice for our 7-10 year olds. Wednesdays, starting on the 9th, we'll have two groups, the 10-12 year olds and the 13 years and above group. Time will run from 6:30-7;45. We are hoping to have more tournaments this year for our 13 and above players and are setting our sights for Poland in July for our 10-12 year olds. This is the annual Little League International European tournament that is held in Kutno. The dates are July 31st to August 8th. It is a fantastic experience! We hope to start fundraising soon for this project. Please support us! We're hoping our registration cost (£15) will remain the same this year. Registration forms can be obtained from Coach gene at 708 35085. Monday, October 8 Season Ends with Parents/Adults against the Kids Match and Barbecue and Awards Party I've not been too good with updating the site this year and for that I apologise. But we have been busy and I hope to fill in the gaps at a later time. Adults Against the Kids Annual Match For the second year in a row the kids defeated the adults in a close match at Flowerfield, winning 4-3. The parents had fought back bravely having the bases loaded in their final at bat. A short hopper to the pitcher was fielded cleanly and the pitcher raced home tagging the base just seconds before the frustrated parent breathlessly crossed the plate. We had a great turnout of 18 kids and 15 adults. Hopefully, photos will be posted soon. More later! Monday, June 4 Pitching Workshop and Baseball Movie!!!
9 June 2007 (For our 9-14 year olds who want to learn to pitch or work on their skills). Well watch a video on pitching skills and practice techniques. Come to the Powers house from 3:00-5:30. Saturday Afternoon at the Movies!!! Come and watch a baseball bloopers film and the really funny movie: It Happens Every Spring. Bring your baseball cards to trade! £1 donation for snacks and drinks, please. Parents are welcome! June 16th 2-5:30 PM at the Powers house. Please RSVP by June 13th. Coach Gene Sunday, April 29 Northern Ireland Youth Baseball Begins Again! We are off to a great start this year! Attendence has been at record levels! We have been averaging a total of 70-75 players a week. Wednesday night alone, our 10-12 year old group has been up to 28! Our first tournament of the year is in Dublin on the 12th of May. We are hoping to field two teams, 10-12 and 13-16, despite it being the weekend here in Portstewart of the Northwest 200. Its baseball time!! Hip Hip Hooray! Are you ready? I sure am! If you are returning for another season, Welcome Back! If you are interested in joining heres some brief background on us. The Portstewart Eagles are a group of kids (ages 7-18), coaches and volunteers who feel passionate about the game of baseball and the opportunities it affords young people. Since our inception in 1998 we have introduced hundreds of boys and girls to the game of baseball. We see it as an opportunity for kids from any religious or ethnic background to play and work together through teamwork, discipline, respect and good sportsmanship. We see each young person as a unique individual and work hard to enhance their confidence, skills and self esteem. (The kids help the coaches and volunteers learn humility!) We have participated in tournaments in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Poland. AND, we are the current holders of the Mike King Kelly Baseball Trophy having won it in Dublin in Autumn 2006!!! We continue to build up our other team, the Portrush Mustangs who are named after our sister team, the Virginia Mustangs. Visit our website for more information and photos! Our season runs from April until the end of June. We usually have a last minute schedule organized for July and early August (because of holidays, tournaments, and visits from coaches in America). We continue around mid August and end with our end of year party at the end of September. Heres our plan for the coming year! Put this up on your bulletin board! Players may join at any time during the season. 2007 EventsDublin Youth Baseball Tournament- 12 May: 9-12 year olds and 13-16 year olds. Training for new coaches and volunteers Matches between the Portrush Mustangs and the Portstewart Eagles Schedule of Training: Portstewart Eagles- Flowerfield Park, Starting Tuesday April 16th Rookie: Ages 6-9 Tuesdays 6:30-7:30 Bronc Ages 10-13 Wednesdays 6:30-7:45 Pony: Ages 13-17 Thursdays 6:30-7:45 Portrush Mustangs- Parker Avenue, Starting Monday April 15th Ages 7-14 Mondays 6:30-7:45 Sundays: All ages. A regular baseball match! Its an open game for both Mustangs and Eagles players: 1:30-3:30 Flowerfield Park
Just to remind you that the club operates a child protection policy and the child protection officer is Frances Bell. Registration Fee For the sixth year in a row the fee will remain £15 per child. The fee for any additional children is £10 each. This fee goes towards insurance, registration with Baseball softball UK and equipment upgrading/replacement. A registration form must be completed. A weekly fee of £1 per session will be in effect. A registration form is attached. For new folks, feel free to try it for a few weeks before making up your mind!
Hopefully, you have seen examples of your childs enjoyment of the game. We have been fortunate this year to have the assistance of a number of parents. Thank you parents! I want to especially thank our other coaches: Karen McCartney, Karen Magowan, Anne Campbell and Catriona OMeara. In case you havent noticed Im not getting any younger! As Im in my early 50s I cant keep up this pace forever. I have decided that I will step down as manager at the end of this year. I will continue to help with coaching, if possible. But, if we really want to keep baseball going in the Triangle area were going to need additional support. You, parents, relatives, guardians, can decide upon your type and level of involvement but Im asking for you to consider helping out the club in some way. (Your kids will be so proud!). Volunteers dont have to help at the baseball practices, or every week or do complicated things. As with any club we have a variety of areas within which we need assistance. Contact me if you think you can help! Or just walk up to me at practice! Dont worry if you dont know anything about baseball! If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. Coach Gene Play Ball!
Portstewart Eagles win first All-Ireland Youth Tournament, the Mike "King" Kelly Trophy! Photos will be posted soon but we're so excited that we had to write! The Eagles made the 3 1/2 hour trip down to Dublin for this first annual tournament. The tournament was spoiled somewhat by rain but the Eagles prevailed in the last two games against a very talented Kerry Green Sox Team, winning 12-2, and 8-4. We salute the Kerry players! Everyone made some great plays but we would like to single out the efforts of Dale Lerwill, Peter McCully, Colin Powers and Luke McAuley. Other players who we are really proud of were: Dario Lozano Thornton, Michael Bell, Calum McAuley, Sheyar Akyol, Dylan Coyles, Matthew and Peter Campbell, Joshua McCartney, Ben Smyth, Robbie Craig, John Boyle, Rory MaGowan and our Captain and first base coach Rory Powers. Thanks also to our drivers and fan club: Peter Bell, Brett and Anne Campbell,and Karen McCartney! Wednesday, August 16 The Emerald Diamond- a Documentary About Baseball in Ireland The Emerald Diamond A documentary about baseball in Ireland By John Fitzgerald. Here's just a few reviews: The new york times New York Post National Public Radio Run! Do not walk! Run to this website: http://www.irishbaseballmovie.com/ for information about this film. It is a wonderful and exciting overview of the development of baseball in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Baseball fans anywhere will love the movie and will be surprised at how baseball has developed here and impressed with the dedication of the Irish players. Imagine where you live trying to start up a sport which no one has seen or played before. Sure there were a few expats from the USA and Cuba but for the most part they had to start from scratch. One thing that struck me in the film was a comment by one of the players that in no Irish team sport do they actually throw a ball. I hadn't thought about that but it's true! Now a slight exception to that is can be found in Northern Ireland in the game of Rounders which is often played as a school activity. Now it has one dangerous rule difference that has caused me big problems! In Rounders you're allowed to throw the ball at the runner! After a few players were hit by hard baseballs I finally managed to break them of this habit. But I have to be vigilant whenever a new kid wants to try out baseball! Back to the film. It follows the Irish national team as they develop in the late 1990's up to 2005 and shows actual game footage from their European Championship appearances. Some of it isn't pretty: There's a 28-4 loss in one of their first championship games. But overall this is a heart warming film which shows the courage and development of the players and especially their love of the game! I won't tell you how the film turns out but I will tell you that on August 5th 2006 the Irish national team won the silver medal in the European Championship losing the gold to Croatia. (Yes they play baseball in Croatia too and don't even get me started on Slovakia and Belgium!). The film also shows how the team worked over a number of years to develop the first baseball diamond to be built in Ireland (and how the players have to maintain it themselves!). It shows some Belfast players and, for us, most importantly, it shows some of the development of the youth programme. Unfortunately, we aren't in it "live", through no fault of the producers-they didn't know about us while they were filming, but they did include in the film a newspaper photograph about the Portstewart team and a picture of some of our players! The caption says: "Portstewart kids on the base-ball! Local children shun Beckham and co for Babe Ruth as baseball goes big!" I hope we can find a way to have the film shown in Northern Ireland. I have four final points: One: This is a great film and I suggest you visit the website and order a copy before they're gone. Tw Check out the possibility of having the film shown in your area. Three: Support the development of baseball in Ireland. Either through the film's website or baseball Ireland's website: http://www.baseballireland.com/ Four: Support the development of baseball especially in Northern Ireland. You can do that through our website or the Belfast Northstars cite, once it's up and running again. We really need major support! While there are two baseball diamonds now in the Republic of Ireland there are still no diamonds or even dedicated fields for adult and youth teams here in Northern Ireland. We have to find a field, book it and set everything up ourselves (and take it all down and clean up when we're finished). In our case we can't even book the field! If someone's there first, well we have to negotiate with and around them! It is our hope to develop a diamond here in the Coleraine area and also to help support the development of a pitch, oops, diamond in Belfast. I'm just one person but I have a suggestion for the name of a field. And I'll discuss that in my next entry.
First Parent/Guardian versus the Kids Game! Braving a soft Irish rain and cool temperatures 11 parents and 17 kids came together for our first adults versus kids match! And what a game it was! The kids took off to an early lead racking up 9 runs in the first inning. They looked unstoppable. The adults couldn't handle the pitching of Colin and Dale who early on kept them to only two runs. In the later innings (when some of the adults began to hit off the tee!) the parents began to score runs with abandon. The kids would not go down without a fight however! The adults tightened up their defense (finally beginning to understand the rules!) and with great plays limited the kids to only 2 additional runs. In the final inning the adults stormed back to amass a total of 10 runs. But with some great plays by the kids the final score was 11-10, kids win! Yes,everyone was wet but spirits were soaring! Thanks to all the adults who came out to the match! And well done kids! See the album for photos! 
Take me out to the ball game by The kidsMonday, June 26 Summer 2006 Summer Plans: Upcoming Events! Dear Kids and Parents/Guardians! Tuesday the 27th of June 8:15pm. Adult Volunteers Meeting. Please come to the Powers house to find out how you can help our team. No commitments will be forced on you! Refreshments provided. Saturday the 8th of July. Parents/Guardians against the Kids Baseball Match! No baseball knowledge or experience necessary! Were just here to have fun! Flowerfield Park, Portstewart, 1:30 4:30pm. SUMMER PLANS HAVE CHANGED Current baseball schedule will continue as is until Sunday July 16th. Baseball Training will be held (Coca Cola Summer scheme): 17 July - 20 July 24 July 27 July Sunday Baseball Matches: Sunday July 16th July 23rd No baseball: July 28th August 20th Normal Season schedule resumes on Monday the 21st of August Please Note: I am trying to arrange for some extra training workshops this summer to be given by Major League Baseball Official Coaches from the USA! Visit our website weekly for more information!
Sam Dempster, MLB Envoy, shares his knowledge and experience with the Portstewart Eagles Sam Dempster, a MLB envoy coach, ran a training session for us and these ballplayers really appreciated him sharing his knowledge and skills with us! Thanks Sam!
May 2006 - U16 Trip to Dublin 10 Eagles players made the trip down to Dublin to play against the U16 teams of the Greystones Mariners and the Cork Druids. Once again, we missed the rain and had some blue skies and sunshine. It was a great day as our players were getting hits, stealing bases and scoring runs. Unfortunately, we didn't score enough! A superior Greystones team beat us 10-1 in the first match and Cork beat us in the second, 11-6. Regardless, we had a great time and only wish we had a baseball field in Northern Ireland! Saturday, May 27 Upcoming Events Upcoming Events! Saturday the 10th of June. Pitching Workshop. (For our 10-13 year olds who want to learn to pitch or work on their skills). Well watch a video on pitching skills and practice techniques. Come to the Powers house from 3:30-5:30. PLEASE RSVP BY 8 JUNE Saturday the 17st of June. Movie: The Sandlot Kids (For our 10-13+ year olds, parents are welcome too!) Come to the Powers house from 1:30-4:00 for a movie, baseball bloopers, Abbot and Costellos Whos on First?, cokes and snacks! Bring your baseball cards to trade. £1 donation would be appreciated. Wednesday the 20st of June 8:15pm. Adult Volunteers Meeting. Please come to the Powers house to find out how you can help our team on or off the field. No one made it to the last meeting! No commitments will be forced on you! Refreshments provided. Saturday the 24th of June. Movie: Rookie of the Year (for any 7-10 year olds, parents are welcome too!) Come to the Powers house from 1:30-4:00 for a movie, baseball bloopers, cokes and snacks! Bring your baseball cards to trade! £1 donation would be appreciated. Saturday the 8th of July. Parents/Guardians Against the Kids Baseball Match! Just for fun! Flowerfield Park 1:30-3:30. Upcoming: Matches between the Eagles and Mustangs Trip to Dublin for 10-13 year olds to play baseball matches (August/September) Major League Baseball (from USA) Coach/ Umpire to provide the kids with extra training. This time from an expert! Annual end of year barbecue and awards party 16 September We hope you and your children are enjoying your baseball! Coach Gene Sunday, April 9 First Sunday Match called on account of SNOW! All our sessions were well attended this week! It was great to see old friends, to meet new ones and to feel the slap of the ball in the glove again. Unfortunately our first Sunday match was cancelled because of snow and rain! We'll have regular training this week but no Sunday match as it will be Easter. Sunday, April 9 Play ball in 2006! Hip Hip Hooray! Its time for baseball! Are you ready? I sure am! Heres our plan for the coming year! Put this up on your bulletin board! Players may join at any time during the season. 2006 Events Training for new coaches and volunteers Matches between the Portrush Mustangs and the Portstewart Eagles More introductory classes in baseball through the Coleraine Borough Council Match for 13-15 year olds with the Greystone Mariners on May 20th. Schedule of Training: Beginning Monday April 3rd Ending Thursday 29th June July: No training, 2 courses with the Coleraine Borough Council Training resumes August 1st and will run until October Portstewart Eagles- Flowerfield Park, Starting Tuesday April 4th Rookie: Ages 6-9 Tuesdays 6:30-7:30 Bronco: Ages 10-13 Wednesdays 6:30-7:45 Pony: Ages 13-17 Thursdays 6:30-7:45 Portrush Mustangs- Parker Avenue, Starting Monday April 3rd Ages 7-14 Mondays 6:30-7:45 (The sessions at Parker Avenue are limited until more coaching help is obtained.) Sundays: All ages. A regular baseball match! Its an open game for both Mustangs and Eagles players: 1:30-3:30 Flowerfield Park Child Protection Policy Just to remind you that the club operates a child protection policy and the child protection officer is Frances Bell. Registration Fee For the fifth year in a row the fee will remain £15 per child. The fee for any additional children is £10 each. This fee goes towards insurance, registration with Baseball softball UK and equipment upgrading/replacement. A registration form must be completed. A weekly fee of £1 per session will be in effect. A registration form is attached. A Personal Note I think baseball is a very worthwhile alternative to some of the sporting activities currently available. We are not overly competitive. Every kid gets a chance to bat and play in the field. Our goal is to build up the child or young persons confidence, self- esteem and ability. Hopefully you have seen this in your childs enjoyment of the game. The Portstewart Eagles, with the help of a few dedicated volunteers, have been running since 1998. In case you havent noticed Im not getting any younger! As Im in my early 50s I cant keep up this pace forever. This could be my last year. If we really want to keep baseball going in the Triangle area Im going to need additional support. You, parents, relatives, guardians, can decide upon your type and level of involvement but Im asking for you to consider helping out the club in some way. (Your kids will be so proud!). On Tuesday April 18th at 8pm there will be a meeting of interested volunteers at the Powers house. (708 35085). Volunteers dont have to help every week or do complicated things. Some of the assistance you can provide is simply just showing up and saying: Wait, Okay, your turn now. Please contact me if you think you can help! Or just walk up to me at practice! Dont worry if you dont know anything about baseball! There are a whole lot of other activities with which a club needs help. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. Coach Gene Powers (708 35085) Play Ball!
Hats off to the Virginia Mustangs! In early July the Powers family went over to visit members and fans of the Virginia Mustangs, our sister team. We were met with a warm greeting and gracious hospitality! We went to 2 Mustangs practices and a barbecue and pool party. In one of he practices the Eagles received some great coaching advice from the Mustangs coaches and Greg Ritchie from the Chicago White Sox organisation. In no time at all we felt like we were part of the Mustang family! Thanks to Dave, Marion and David Dilegge for putting us up and getting us where we needed to go. Thanks to the Coach Sullivan and his family and to the Brooks for their hospitality and thanks to all the Mustang players, coaches and fans for such a warm welcome. We really had a wonderful and memorable time. We sure hope the Mustangs will visit Ireland and Northern Ireland someday and experience the land of 100,000 welcomes! For more photos go to the Mustangs website: http://www.virginiamustangs.org/ and then to Mustang Photo Album Scroll down to Mustangs-Spring Summer 2005 Monday, June 20 Inagural Match Between the Portstewart Eagles and the Portrush Mustangs!
first ever matches for the Portrush Mustangs. The Mustangs took on a more experienced Eagles team but both teams played brilliantly. The Eagles won the first game by the score of 7-1 and also won the second by the score of 5-3. Both teams showed great sportsmanship. See the album page for more photos. Friday, June 10 Baseball Matches in June! Mini Blitz at Flowerfield! On June 18th U13 Matches will take place between the Eagles East, Eagles West and the Mustangs. Players should arrive no later than 1. Matches will commence at 1:30 We encourage parents, relatives, younger players and friends to come along. (Bring chairs!) Portrush Pirates (Portrush Primary School) to tackle the Millstrand Sluggers ( Millstrand Integrated Primary). 21 June starting at 2pm at Portrush Primary. Last year's game was won by the Sluggers. This year the Pirates have been coming on strong and have lots of return players who have sharpened their skills. Parents/Guardians and relatives are welcome to come along and watch the match. News for May and June! Dear Kids and Parents/Guardians! We hope you are enjoying baseball this year. Here are some things we have planned for the coming months. Saturday the 14th of May. Pitching Workshop. (for our 10-12 year olds who want to learn to pitch). Well watch a video on pitching skills and practice techniques. Come to the Powers house from 3:30-5. Places limited so RSVP as soon as possible. Saturday the 21st of May. Movie: The Natural (for our 13+ year olds) Come to the Powers house at 7:30pm. We should finish by around 10pm. Cokes (American for soft drinks), and snacks. £1 donation would be appreciated. Tuesday the 24th and Wednesday 25th of May (evening). Coach Training Parents/Guardians please consider going on this beginners course and learning about baseball so you can help us. Wednesday the 1st of June 8:15pm. Adult Volunteers Meeting. Please come to the Powers house to find out how you can help our team. No commitments will be forced on you! Refreshments provided. Saturday the 4th of June. Movie: The Sandlot Kids (for any 7-9 year olds, parents too!) Come to the Powers house from 1:30-4:00 for a movie, baseball bloopers, cokes and snacks! £1 donation would be appreciated. Saturday the 11th of June. Movie: Rookie of the Year (for any 10-12 year olds, parents too!) Come to our house from 1:30-4:30 for a movie, baseball bloopers, Whos on first?, cokes and snacks and baseball card trading. £1 donation would be appreciated. Saturday the 18th of June. Baseball Matches at Flowerfield. I hope to divide our 10-13 year olds into three teams and have matches starting at 1pm. We hope our other players and families will attend (bring your chairs) and cheer on the players! More information will be provided at a later date. Sunday the 26th of June will be our last baseball session. Our regular schedule of baseball will resume on Sunday the 31st of July. Wednesday, April 13 24 Rookies Turn Out for this Year's First Session! We were stunned by the turnout for our first session with the Eagle's Rookies. These are our 6-9 year olds. Thanks to Coach Pearl and Coach Hannah we had these kids throwing and catching in no time. A rousing game of hot box finished the evening and we ended up with some tired but happy players! Tuesday, April 12 Portrush Primary is ready to Play Ball! An eager group of 24 kids showed up for the first after school session at Portrush Primary! We have a few veteran players from last year who are returning but the new recruits amazingly picked up some of the basic skills quickly! We are going to have some fun this year! After all, it is baseball! Monday, April 11 Portrush Mustangs Kick Off Season! 14 kids showed up today for our first meeting of the Mustangs! A few spaces remain until we close our number at 20. The kids were excited and the coaches were impressed with their abilities. They may give the Eagles a run for their money this year! Go Mustangs!
35 kids turn out for baseball camp! We had a big turnout for our baseball mini-camp on, this is no joke, Friday April 1st. We had to turn away many applicants because we couldn't handle any more than that number. Many of the kids who participated were fired up about baseball by the end of their experience. It looks like the Eagles and the Mustangs will be having some new recruits! Thanks go out to Coach's Kerry, Hannah, Sean and helpers Rory and Colin who did a great job! Wednesday, March 9 3 Primary Schools Say "Yes" to Baseball in 2005 Baseball will start on April 12th for Millstrand Integrated and Portrush Primary. We want to welcome aboard Portstewart Primary to the baseball family! The starting date has yet to be agreed, but we'll keep you posted. We're looking for one more school in the area and we have our feelers out! Roll on April! Sunday, January 23 Batters Up! Spring Season begins 11 April! Spring Season will be kicking off on April 11th! Here's the schedule so far: Thank you Grigsby's! The Eagles want to say thanks to the Grigsby's of Hershey Pennsylvania and Jacksonville Florida who visited us in November and brought us a bag of 17 new baseballs! Thanks Emily, Sam, Kevin, Martha and Mary Ann. These will really come in handy when we start back in the spring! End of Year Party a Big Hit!
Oh and we ate alot. And I mean alot! Though we aren't having training anymore until Spring time we will still attempt our Sunday games as long as we can endure the Irish weather!
Friday, October 22 Virginia Mustangs and Portstewart Eagles in News Article Lucia Anderson of the Free Lance-Star newspaper in Fredicksburg Virginia, USA, has written a nice article about the sister team relationship between the Virginia Mustangs and the Eagles. Here it is! Team is covering all the bases Stafford County AAU baseball team helps youngsters in Northern Ireland develop a team there. By LUCIA ANDERSON Date published: 10/22/2004 Stafford AAU helps out Irish players When Irish youngsters go out to play ball, they're heading for the soccer pitch, not the baseball diamond. So when Dave Dilegge of Stafford County ran across a Web site for a youth baseball team in Northern Ireland, he was intrigued. "I'm a rabid baseball fan," said Dilegge, a former Little League and AAU coach. Now he acts as Webmaster for the Virginia Mustangs, an AAU team based in Stafford County. His son, David, plays second base and shortstop for the team. Wanting to know more about baseball in such an unlikely spot, Dilegge e-mailed the Eagles' coach, Gene Powers. "I was impressed with his enthusiasm," Dilegge said, "what he was doing to promote baseball." Powers grew up in the United States, and played baseball here as a child. "I wanted my kids to know the same joy of playing baseball that I had experienced when I was growing up," Powers wrote in an e-mail. Three of his children, 15-year-old Hannah, 13-year-old Rory and 11-year-old Colin, are playing on his team, along with 35 to 40 other boys and girls ranging in age from 6 to 16. Powers said the original players were friends or classmates of his children. Then children playing in the park where the Eagles practice would linger and get invited to play. "Once the kids play the game, many are hooked," Powers wrote. "I don't know what it is about [baseball], there's just something inside you that springs to life when you hear that one word, 'baseball,'" Hannah Powers said in an e-mail. "Maybe it's the thrill when you hit a double and a run scores. Or when you catch a fly ball, and you hear the voices of your team cheering around you. You just feel this one different emotion inside you, that no other sport can cover." But finding equipment is always a problem, Powers said. "Gloves usually come in two sizes: too big or too small. Both are too expensive for starters. Balls are virtually nonexistent." He has gone on eBay to get equipment, he said. Finding other teams to play is also a problem. "Currently, as far as I know, we are the only youth team playing in Northern Ireland," Powers wrote. "Our nearest competitors are literally in another country, the Republic of Ireland, a 31/2-hour drive away. Mostly we mainly divide up our team and play a game ourselves every Sunday." Inspired by the sister-city program, Dilegge suggested the Mustangs adopt the Eagles as a sister team. The Stafford boys thought the sister-team idea was a good one, and so did the Eagles. "It teaches our kids more than baseball," Dilegge said. The Virginia boys decided that they could help their Irish counterparts by sending them some equipment. "As my son got older he would outgrow his equipment," said Jim Sullivan, the Mustangs' head manager. His 12-year-old son, Jake, plays first base and pitches for the Mustangs. "Everybody [on the team] had the same situation." In addition, Sullivan said, he had some found gloves left on the field from time to time without a clue as to whose they were. So this spring the Mustangs collected 13 bats, 16 new baseballs, a dozen gloves, catcher's gear, a couple of batting helmets, two pairs of cleats, 18 equipment bags and some glove-conditioning oil, and sent it off to Ireland. "It cost us $250 in postal fees," Dilegge said. "The parents chipped in." All together, it was almost enough gear to equip both the Eagles and a new team forming in neighboring Portrush. As a token of their appreciation, the Portrush team has taken the name "Mustangs" in honor of the Virginia team. Powers is grateful for the support provided by the Virginia team. "Not only have they provided equipment, they have also provided moral support to us as we have developed," Powers wrote. To reach LUCIA ANDERSON: 540/374-5405 landerson@freelancestar.com Date published: 10/22/2004 http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2004/102004/10222004/1543197 Loads of fun for the Eagles! The Eagles had a great trip down to Dublin for the Dublin Blitz! 22 kids attended and for most it was their first time on a real baseball field. It was also the first real game for most of the kids. The competition was tough for the 12 and under and they lost their first two games. The third game was a close one but our opponents, the Kerry Green Socks squeezed by in a 6-5 win. The final game was with the Clondalkin Black Sox and the Eagles won 4-3! The older kids, 13-16 year olds, had a very tough challenge from the Greystones Mariners. The Mariners play in league competition down south and so their skills were sharpened. Our Eagles played great but lost both matches. There was no sadness on the day however as every player carried with them a new memory of some accomplishment they had made. For many it was just being in their first game on a real baseball pitch. For others it was a nice catch they made, a runner they threw out, a run they scored, a stolen base, a hit, or an opponent they struck out. It was a great day and we thank the Mariners for hosting the event. Thanks to Coach Pearl Dooley and Coach Sarah Powers for managing the older kids game. We also thank the many parents who drove that long distance (7 hours round trip) and who screamed and rooted for us! But thanks especially to all the players! You did a great job! Eagles to tackle Mariners and Green Sox! It's offical! On the 25th of September the Eagles will travel down to the Dublin area to face the Greystones Mariners and the Kerry Green Sox. We'll be fielding two teams; a 10-12 year old group and a 13-16 year old gang. The kids are thrilled! We'll keep you posted! Go Eagles!!! More Baseball Equipment Arrives! Thanks to the kindness of a USA organisation, Children of Ireland, and their great supporters two boxes of baseball equipment arrived this week. As you can see from the photo we have enough for another team! Thank you so much for your kindness! Another contribution! Many thanks to Sister Felicitas Powers from Savannah Georgia for her financial contribution to our team! We plan to use this money to purchase some Easton Soft Baseballs. I'm sure all the kids who have been accidentally banged by the harder balls send their thanks too! First Youth Baseball Sessions 16 great boys and girls completed a 4 evening introductory course in baseball. We all had a whale of a time and look forward to some of these kids joining the Eagles or the Mustangs. Visitors Bring Baseball Supplies! Bill Kerrigan and his son Sam, from California, dropped by to join us for our 18th of July Sunday match. The duo showed us how they play and train in California and graciously dropped off a box of baseballs for us. Thanks Bill and Sam! Baseball Equipment arrives from the Virginia Mustangs Two huge boxes of baseball equipment arrived from our sister team the Virginia Mustangs! The equipment will be used to help us establish a new team in nearby Portrush, the Portrush Mustangs, named in honour of our sister team. Thanks to the Mustangs and all their supporters! Summer 2004 Hi! As we head into the summer holidays here are the headlines: The Virginia Mustangs, our sister team, have donated us a huge shipment of baseball equipment from the USA! Gloves, bats, balls, shoes, catchers's equipmet etc, which will help us and will help start a new team in Portrush, the Portrush Mustangs, named in honour of our sister team. Please visit the Mustangs Guestbook online to thank them for this great contribution! You can find a link to them on this site. The Virginia Mustangs are currently in a tournament in Cooperstown, New York, at the Baseball Hall of Fame. You can keep up with their success on their website. Forget about the Boston Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Pirates and instead root for the Mustangs! July is always a difficult month here for baseball as so many of us head away for holidays. Coach Gene will be in the USA for two weeks early in July and then will be coaching, along with one of our senior players, Kerry Gottschalk, in the Coleraine Summer Recreation Programme the last two weeks of July. Because of the above schedule: Regular sessions will be cancelled during the month of July only, Sunday sessions will continue on 18 July and 25 July. In August we will resume our Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday schedule. Thursday nights have not been well supported by the 13 year olds and above and so this session is being cancelled. Older kids can phone me to discuss options we have for them. In place of that session we will be starting a new session in Portrush with the Portrush Mustangs, commencing on August 5th, 6:30-8:00. The venue is yet to be determined. This session will be for the 9-13 age group. If you are interested in joining this team, or in an extra day of practice in Portrush (free for registered Eagles players) please phone Coach Gene to register. As mentioned earlier Coach Gene is going to the USA (on July 4th). If you have any baseball equipment requests please phone him at 70 835085. Have a great Summer! Portrush Pirates meet the Millstrand Sluggers These are the faces of kids who love baseball! The rain disappeared, the dark clouds parted and sunshine graced the green fields of Portrush Primary for the first match between the Pirates and the Sluggers. Some amazing hits and catches made the match an exciting one. Both teams should feel rightfully proud of their performance. In the end the result went to Millstrand as they managed 22 runs to Portrush's 11. Thanks to Mandy O'Neil and James Dooley, the coaches, and to Portrush Primary for hosting the event. Sunday Baseball Match 18 people showed up for our Sunday Game today. It poured twice during the match but it didn't dampen these spirits!
The top photo appeared in the Coleraine Leader(25 May 2004) That's the Mayor of Coleraine in the foreground. All the kids in the background are our baseball players celebrating the launch of the summer sports programme! The other photo shows a close-up of the kids that attended the ceremony. They are from Millstrand Integrated,Portrush Primary and Dominican.Don't they look like they enjoy baseball?!
Our Wednesday Night Crowd! We had around 20 kids tonight (19 May)for our Wednesday night practice. Some ducked down for the photo! What a great group!All of them excited about baseball! Baseball comes to Portrush Primary School! 22 eager boys and girls from Portrush Primary turned out for their first experience with baseball! The free course is being run by the Portsewart Eagles,in conjunction with the Coleraine Borough Council, in an effort to expand the introduction of baseball to the area. It was great session with the kids which they seemed to enjoy! Classes will continue every thursday during the remainder of school term. Baseball a hit at Millstrand Integrated School! The clouds broke and sunny skies prevailed as baseball returned to Millstrand School.18 boys and girls, some returning from last year's course, turned out for the first session. It's great to see kids enjoying the great sport of baseball! The course is free and is run by the Portstewart Eagles in conjunction with the Coleraine Borough Council. Visitor Brings New Baseballs Matt Sweitzer, a visitor and baseball lover from Rome Georgia, dropped by with 9 new soft practice balls for us. Just in time for our season which has just commenced! Thanks Matt!
All our returning players are invited, on a first come-first serve basis, to view the hilarious, classic baseball film: It Happens Every Spring. The film will be shown at the Powers' home at 3pm on Sunday the 28th of March. Contact Coach Gene if you'd like to come. Regular baseball season will begin on April 6th. Schedule is as follows: Rookie: ages 6-9 Tuesday's 6:30-7:30 Bronco: ages 10-13 Wednesday's 6:30-7:45 Pony: ages 13-16 Thursday's 6:30-7:45 PLEASE SEE COACH GENE FOR 2004 REGISTRATION FORMS Good News! Three coaches from the Eagles met in January with the local Coleraine Borough Council sports development officer and the council has agreed to help support the development of baseball in the area! We will be presenting 6 week after school classes in two schools in Portrush in order to introduce the kids to the sport. Also, two week long sessions are planned for the summer time to hopefully captivate the interest of young people in this great sport! We also plan to have a few "Come and Try It" sessions at local community centres. With any luck we'll get another team going this year! As is pretty much the case worldwide the coaches are donating their time and receive no financial rewards for their work. So any help you can give us towards equipment will be greatly appreciated!
We were very surprised to see Santa show up today lugging a baseball bat and donning a Portstewart Eagles cap! After visiting some of the kids at Millstrand Integrated School in Portsrush he regaled us with his batting and pitching prowess. Who would have ever taken Santa for a pitcher? Merry Christmas Santa! And Merry Christmas to all you fans of baseball!
Good news! Coach Gene has met the requirements to be a Professional Licensed Coach according to BaseballSoftballUK. They are the sponsoring organisation for Baseball and Softball in the UK, including Northern Ireland. (See our Links section) Receiving their backing should enable Gene and others to facilitate the expansion of baseball here in Northern Ireland, and especially in the Triangle area(Portstewart, Portrush and Coleraine). Irish News Article on Baseball in Northern Ireland Here's what the Irish News wrote on the 27th of October 2003. Baseball fever spreads to north. By Simon Doyle "Baseball World Series fever spread to Northern Ireland yesterday as two teams took part in an exhibition to raise the profile of the sport. While the Florida Marlins were celebrating their victory over the New York Yankees in the US, the Portstewart Eagles and Lisburn Red Sox took to the field in Lisburn. Little League baseball is played by almost three million children worldwide and there are leagues throughout Europe. A Little League Championship is due to start in the north in April next year. The Portstewart Eagles, who have to date been the north's sole representatives in Little League Ireland, must travel to Clondalkin in Dublin for league games where Ireland's only custom-built baseball facility is situated. However, with the creation of a league made up of teams from Lisburn, Holywood, Coleraine and Portrush next year, Belfast based campaign group Fastball is working to help secure a permanent baseball field in the north. Lisburn Red Sox coach Jim Cowher said such a facility would help to promote the sport further. "If we had a dedicated area it would be a great help and would build the league. It would also give the players a place to call their own." he said. Mr. Cower said more than 30 children were now involved in the Lisburn team. Portstewart coach Gene Powers said Little League baseball was an opportunity to bring children from all communities together in a spirit of fun, respect, and good sportsmanship. "The game has great potential and it is drawing children in from some of the more standard sports," he said. "The biggest area we are drawing from are kids with whom other sports have failed to captivate their interests." Mr. Powers' son Rory was one of those who represented the Ireland Little League team in a competition in Poland earlier this year. "I was proud to play for Ireland. This is a fun game and it is getting bigger." he said. Professional Baseball Players from Ireland? In the history of professional baseball in the USA, as far as we have been able to research, there have been 39 baseball players who have been born in Ireland. The last one was Joe "Fire" Cleary, from Dublin, who played one game for the Washington Senators in 1945. Apparently the fire went out. Irish (Henry Cooke) McIlveen, who played with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Highlanders for three seasons (1906-1909)is the only player we know of who was born in Northern Ireland. It seems to me that Ireland is due to produce another star! Help us if you can! Eagles and Red Sox Split Doubleheader The Eagles and Red Sox met on a glorious Autumn day for a doubleheader in Lisburn, N. Ireland. The Eagles, behind strong pitching by Stephen Dooley, Aaron Mullan and Rory Powers, managed to lead the Eagles to a 15-5 win in the first match. The whole team should be congratulated on the victory but we'd like to salute a few players who were simply amazing: Hannah was brilliant at short stop, Stephen at first, and Ryan made an incredible catch while pedalling backwards in left field. Luke, as catcher, caught the ball, blocked the plate and tagged the runner coming home. Callum made a great play at 3rd for an out. Peter managed a great slide at home beating out the throw to score a run. Laura played a strong second base. Forgive me if I left your name out this time as the individual accomplishments are too many to note for now. In the second game the Eagles scrambled back to tie the score 12-12 but the Red Sox scored the winning run at the bottom of the inning. We want to thank the Red Sox for hosting the event, for the mid day barbecue and for their kind hospitality. We'll look forward to a rematch in the spring! American Visitors Support the Eagles! Thanks to Arnie and Sue Seyden from Tybee Island, Georgia who visited us this week bearing gifts of baseballs! Our balls were getting pretty grubby and we now have 2 dozen new Wilson Little League and Worth RIF balls. These balls can't be purchased anywhere in N. Ireland and so this was a wonderful gift to us! If you're visiting Ireland why not fill part of a suitcase for us?! We're hoping to start 2 new teams in the area and we'll appreciate any baseball equipment you can send our way! Thanks again Arnie and Sue! Eagles to visit Red Sox The Lisburn Red Sox have kindly invited the Eagles down for two doubleheaders on Sunday October 26th. We're hoping to have 20 Eagles travelling down for the games. One doubleheader will feature the 9 and under age group and the other will see our 10-13 year olds facing the Red Sox. We'll keep you posted! Fall Brawl a Success! We were blessed with terrific weather and a great crowd of over 60 people as the Lisburn Red Sox joined us for the first N. Ireland Little League baseball tournament (As far as we know!)The Moy team was unable to join us for the day.The Lisburn team is a brand new team and they played with great courage and skill for their first ever game. They travelled 1 1/2 hours to attend the tournament and were well supported by their parents and coaches. Thanks also to the two players from Hollywood who joined us for the day. Our hats off to them! A barbecue was held to welcome all the players and parents. The Eagles won the first match 19-1 and the second match 12-5. The coaches were very happy with the performance of all the Eagles players. Special mention goes to Fearghus Butler who drove in the winning run in game two and started the rally. Pitchers for the matches were Rory Powers, Stephen Dooley, Colin Powers and Kerry Gottschalk. Catchers were Luke McCauley and Peter McCully. We want to extend our appreciation to the Red Sox for travelling such a distance to the tournament. Thanks to all the Eagles coaches: Mark Morrison, James Dooley and Danny Coyles for their help. Special thanks for the barbecue go to: Yvonne and Tony Butler Frances and Peter Bell Clare Morrison Sarah Powers Sharon McCallum James Dooley Faith Blair (I hope I didn't leave anyone out!) N.B photos of the day will be placed in the album site. Eager Eagles A big crowd of over 30 kids turned out for practice and all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Why not, after all it is baseball! Fall Brawl Baseball On Saturday the 13th of September the Moy Muddogs and the Lisburn Redsox will be joining us for a day of baseball and barbecue!We hope to be joined by other players from Hollywood (No! Not USA!)and County Antrim. As far as we know this will be the first N. Ireland little league tournament that has been held. We're looking forward to a great day!
4 Players from the Eagles travelled down to Lisburn to meet players of the newly formed Red Sox at one of their recent training sessions. The photo shows an Eagles player presenting a new catcher's mitt to the Lisburn catcher. Good luck Red Sox! Virginia Mustangs and Portstewart Eagles Sister Teams! The Virginia Mustangs of Stafford Virginia USA and the Portstewart Eagles of Northern Ireland are now sister teams! This is a great honour for us! Please read our agreed statement below. The Virginia Mustangs & The Portstewart Eagles: Sister Teams "The Sister Cities program is an important resource to the negotiations of governments in letting the people themselves give expression of their common desire for friendship, good will and cooperation for a better world for all." - Dwight David Eisenhower For many of the same reasons that President "Ike" Eisenhower endorsed the Sister Cities program in the 1950's, the Virginia Mustangs of Stafford, Virginia, USA; and the Portstewart Eagles, of Portstewart, Northern Ireland have formed a Sister Team relationship. The goals of the Mustangs' and Eagles' Sister Team program are summarized as follows: · Create opportunities for our baseball players in Northern Ireland and Virginia to learn and experience other cultures through long-term relationships. · Create an atmosphere that builds on our common passion for baseball to stimulate an open exchange of baseball news, tips, strategies and just plain 'baseball talk' between players, coaches and parents from both sides of the 'Pond'. · Enable the Eagles' to benefit from a relationship with a team based in a country where baseball is the national pastime and where our youth have played the game for years - often since the toddler stage. · Enable the Mustangs' to benefit from a relationship with a team based in a country where baseball is an oddity, but whose members have baseball 'heart' and the 'right stuff' to succeed against all odds. · Foster a relationship that could one day lead to team and family visits for games, scrimmages, or just plain socializing; both in Virginia and Northern Ireland. A statement from the Virginia Mustangs: "The Virginia Mustangs are very excited about the Sister Team relationship with the Portstewart Eagles and are proud to be associated with an organization that is fully dedicated to a sport that plays 'second-fiddle' in a nation where soccer is king. Baseball fields, instruction, and sporting goods stores that sell baseball equipment are a rarity. There are no AAU or USSSA leagues that build off little league baseball. No travel teams, no real tournaments. The vast majority of the players have never seen a minor, major, or any other league (for that matter) game. Yet the Eagles' persist, coach Gene Powers and two Eagles' players were selected to represent the All-Ireland team in the European Regional Playoffs of the Little League World Series in Kutno, Poland. While they did not get past that round, they returned to Northern Ireland more determined than ever to take Irish baseball to the 'next level'." Go to our link page to visit the Mustangs! Ireland's first ever little league world series attempt! Coach Gene has been selected to coach Ireland's first entry into the Little League World Series Competition! He will be coaching the 11 and 12 year olds in Kutno Poland! Well done Gene! Two players from the Portstewart Eagles have made the all-Ireland team: Rory Powers and Laura Morrison. Well done!
This was Ireland's first little league entry into the European Regional Tournament in Kutno Poland. The competition was tremendous and while we didn't win any of the four competition games we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. In a friendly match, however, we did tie Belarus in a 7-7 nailbiter! (Coach Gene was the nail biter!)The winners in our division were: Russia, Netherlands and South Africa. We tied for last place with Belarus. We learned alot through the experience and hope to be back next year! Help ! We need your help! It's not easy running a baseball team in Northern Ireland!Our team has been up and running for 4 years now. Currently, we have 16 boys and girls in T ball (age 6-9), 27 boys and girls playing in the 9 and above age group (our oldest is 16) and 23 kids taking it at as an after school class. The vast majority of these kids have never seen a baseball match of any kind! We think baseball provides a great opportunity in Northern Ireland to bring kids and parents, from any religious and ethnic background, together in a spirit of fun, respect and good sportsmanship. All our kids, regardless of their ability, get to play and our goal is to help build self esteem and self confidence while learning and enjoying the great game of baseball. At present we receive no government money and rely totally on donations. All of our coaches are volunteers. One coach of ours travels to the USA each year and brings back a few gloves, balls and bats each time. This last trip the catcher's mask and the baseball bats required a little explaining to the custom's officer. Our other equipment comes from EBAY auctions on the internet as there is rarely any suitable gear at the local shops. Also, while there are thousands of soccer fields here in Northern Ireland there are no baseball diamonds (fields). It is our dream to someday have one here in Portstewart!It is also our dream to create two new teams in the nearby towns of Coleraine and Portrush. So far, except for an annual trip to Dublin to play teams from the Republic of Ireland, we only get to play against ourselves. While assuring us of always having a winning season it can get boring for the kids! As you will read below in the sections written by our kids we are thrilled to have two kids selected to play on the All Ireland Ages 10-12 Little League Team. They will be travelling to Poland to play other countries in the European leg of the Little League World Series Competition. Which brings us to our final point! Or, as they say in the movie "The Quiet Man", without further eloquence... we need help! We have an ON LINE donation mechanism set up here which is now working. We can also handle donations by cheque in Pounds Sterling, Euros and American dollars. Every bit of it will go to the Team. We'd also love any used or new baseball equipment but we know the shipping costs can be atrocious. If you're coming to Northern Ireland maybe you could bring a spare suitcase?! We need spare equipment to replace our broken gear and to help outfit other teams, to help them get started. We also want to buy a portable backstop so the base balls the catcher misses don't roll halfway across the park and into where the other kids in the park are playing soccer. If you live in the area we are always looking for parents to help us. NO EXPERIENCE OR KNOWLEDGE OF BASEBALL REQUIRED! If you are trying to start a team in Northern Ireland we will help with free equipment, videos and training from our coaches (3 of us). Please help us if you can. Thanks! For further information, or to make a donation please contact: Gene Powers Portstewart Eagles Little League 13 Burnside Mews Portstewart County Londonderry Northern Ireland BT55 7BH We will try to acknowledge all donations on this web site! Thank You to our contributors! Just a hearty thanks to our contributors thus far! Jeff Stafford of Acworth, Georgia Denise Powers of Rome, Georgia Eugene Powers of West Palm Beach, Florida Thanks from all the kids and coaches in Portstewart, Northern Ireland! Tuesday, March 7 You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. ~Jim Bouton, Ball Four, 1970 If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave Barry People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer. ~Ted Williams I'm convinced that every boy, in his heart, would rather steal second base than an automobile. ~Tom Clark A good cigar is like a beautiful chick with a great body who also knows the American League box scores. ~M*A*S*H, Klinger, "Bug-Out," 1976 A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz. ~Humphrey Bogart You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too. ~Roy Campanella No game in the world is as tidy and dramatically neat as baseball, with cause and effect, crime and punishment, motive and result, so cleanly defined. ~Paul Gallico There are three things in my life which I really love: God, my family, and baseball. The only problem - once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit. ~Al Gallagher, 1971 A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings. ~Earl Wilson Baseball was made for kids, and grown-ups only screw it up. ~Bob Lemon What is both surprising and delightful is that spectators are allowed, and even expected, to join in the vocal part of the game.... There is no reason why the field should not try to put the batsman off his stroke at the critical moment by neatly timed disparagements of his wife's fidelity and his mother's respectability. ~George Bernard Shaw I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us. ~Walt Whitman Baseball is a fun game. It beats working for a living. ~Phil Linz When they start the game, they don't yell, "Work ball." They say, "Play ball." ~Willie Stargell, 1981 Baseball is the only major sport that appears backwards in a mirror. ~George Carlin, Brain Droppings, 1997 Back then, my idol was Bugs Bunny, because I saw a cartoon of him playing ball - you know, the one where he plays every position himself with nobody else on the field but him? Now that I think of it, Bugs is still my idol. You have to love a ballplayer like that. ~Nomar Garciaparra I don't want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it. ~Rogers Hornsby When you're in a slump, it's almost as if you look out at the field and it's one big glove. ~Vance Law With those who don't give a damn about baseball, I can only sympathize. I do not resent them. I am even willing to concede that many of them are physically clean, good to their mothers and in favor of world peace. But while the game is on, I can't think of anything to say to them. ~Art Hill That's baseball, and it's my game. Y' know, you take your worries to the game, and you leave 'em there. You yell like crazy for your guys. It's good for your lungs, gives you a lift, and nobody calls the cops. Pretty girls, lots of 'em. ~Humphrey Bogart When we played softball, I'd steal second base, feel guilty and go back. ~Woody Allen Baseball is a game where a curve is an optical illusion, a screwball can be a pitch or a person, stealing is legal and you can spit anywhere you like except in the umpire's eye or on the ball. ~Jim Murray Baseball is the only sport I know that when you're on offense, the other team controls the ball. ~Ken Harrelson, Sports Illustrated, 6 September 1976 Good pitching will beat good hitting any time, and vice versa. ~Bob Veale, 1966 Every hitter likes fastballs, just like everybody likes ice cream. But you don't like it when someone's stuffing it into you by the gallon. That's what it feels like when Nolan Ryan's thrown balls by you. ~Reggie Jackson Strikeouts are boring - besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls. More democratic. ~From the movie Bull Durham Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field? ~Jim Bouton, 1988 Nolan Ryan is pitching much better now that he has his curve ball straightened out. ~Joe Garagiola I don't care how long you've been around, you'll never see it all. ~Bob Lemon, 1977 It's hard to win a pennant, but it's harder losing one. ~Chuck Tanner Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things. ~Robert Frost Monday, June 19 Baseball expressions Ace A team's best starting pitcher. Alley The section of the outfield between the outfielders. Also known as the "gap". Around the horn A double play going from third base to second to first. At 'em ball A ball hit right at a defensive player. Away A pitch out of the reach of a batter. Also a team retired in its half of an inning. Also the visiting team. Backdoor slider A pitch that appears to be out of the strike zone, but then breaks back over the plate. Bags The bases, also known as 'sacks' and 'bases'. Bail To dive out of the way of an incoming pitch. Baltimore chop A ground ball that hits in front of home plate (or off of it) and takes a large hop over an infielder's head. Bandbox A small ballpark that favours hitters. Bang-bang play A play in which the base runner hits the bag a split-second before the ball arrives or vice-versa. Bases drunk Bases loaded. Basket catch When a fielder catches a ball with his glove near belt level. Battery The pitcher and the catcher. Bazooka Strong throwing arm. "He's got a bazooka." Bean To hit a batter with an incoming pitch. Beanball A pitch that is intentionally thrown at the batter. Bleachers The cheapest seats in a ballpark, usually not covered by an upper deck, so when the sun shines on these seats they 'bleach' in colour. Bloop A fly ball that lands in between the infielders and outfielders. See also 'texas leaguer'. Breaking ball An off-speed pitch that curves. Bronx cheer When the crowd boos. Brushback A pitch intentionally thrown close to a batter to intimidate or misdirect. Bush Also "bush league". An amateur play or behaviour. Called game A game suspended or ended by an Umpire. Cannon A strong arm. Also referred to as a 'rifle'. Can of corn An easy catch by a fielder. Catch napping To surprise a less than alert runner with the result that he is picked off or suddenly caught between bases. Caught looking When a batter is called out on strikes without swinging. Cellar Last place. Also 'basement'. Cheese Refers to a good fastball. Also 'good cheese', 'gas', 'heat', or 'heater. Chin music A pitch that is high and inside, delivered to clear a batter away from the inside of the plate. Circus catch An outstanding catch by a fielder. Cut To take a forceful swing at a pitch; usually refers to swinging and missing. Cutter A cut fastball, similar to a slider (one with a late break to it). Cycle When a batter hits a single, double, triple, and home run in the same game. Deuce The curveball, usually signalled from a catcher to a pitcher by holding down two fingers. Dinger Home run. See more nicknames below. Dish Home plate. Donut A circular shaped weight that slides over the barrel of a bat. The weight is used when a player is loosening up in the on deck circle. Drop off the table When a pitched ball (e.g., a curveball) breaks extremely sharply. Dying quail A weak fly ball that lands just past the infield, appearing to "die". Fan To strike out swinging; a reference to the breeze felt from the swing of the bat. Fence buster A heavy hitter. Fireman A team's closer or late-inning relief pitcher. Also known as 'stopper'. Free pass Base on balls. Freeze To catch a batter looking for a pitch other than what the pitcher just threw. Typically, pitchers will freeze batters with a nasty curveball when the batter is expecting a fastball. Friendly confines Descriptive of many home ballparks, but most often used to describe Wrigley Field. Frozen rope A hard line drive. Fungo A ball hit to a fielder during practice. Hit by a coach with a 'fungo bat', which is longer and thinner than a regular bat. Gap See 'alley'. A ball hit here is called a 'gapper' Glass arm A sore throwing or pitching arm. Golden Sombrero A batter who strikes out four times in the same game is said to wear golden sombrero. Goose egg A zero on the scoreboard. Gopher ball A pitch destined to be hit for a home run; one that will "go for" a run. Green light A signal from a coach to a hitter that gives the hitter the opportunity to hit the next good pitch, or a signal to a runner that gives the runner the authority to decide when to attempt a steal. Guess hitter Batter who tries to anticipate or out-guess the pitcher based on the situation at hand. Heat A good fastball. Also a heater High and tight High, or above the strike zone, and close to the batter, used to describe the location of pitches. Hill Pitchers mound. Hit 'em where they ain't'' Rallying cry for batters through the decades since 1897, when Wee Willie Keeler hit .432. Asked how a man of his size could put together such an average, Keeler responded: "Simple. I keep my eyes clear and I hit 'em where they ain't.'' Hitting for the cycle Hit a single, double, triple and home run in the same game, not necessarily in that order. Homer You can guess this one. Hot corner The third base fielding position, so called because many batted balls arrive very quickly to the position. Hot stove league Term for the gab, gossip and debate that takes place during the winter months when baseball is idle. Hurler A pitcher. Inside out To hit the ball to the opposite field. A right-hander hitting to right field, for instance. In the dirt Used to describe a pitch that doesn't make it to the catcher without hitting the ground. If a batter swings at this pitch, he is either blind or in a huge slump. Iron glove Sloppy fielding; prone to errors. K A strikeout. A reverse K means to strikeout without swinging. Leather Refers to how good a player plays defensively or handles the glove. Ex: "He flashed some leather on that play." Lollipop A soft pitch or weak throw. Meatball An easy pitch to hit, usually right down the middle of the plate. Mendoza line A batting average of around .200. Batters hitting below .200 are colloquially said to be below the Mendoza line. Nail down As in "nail down a victory." Refers to a relief pitcher finishing off the game. Nasty stuff A good array of effective pitches. On the screws When a batter hits the ball hard. Also 'on the button'. Outside corner Over the edge of home plate away from the batter, used to describe the location of pitches. Painting the black When a pitcher throws the ball over the edge of the plate. Pancake An old worn-out baseball glove with little padding. Pancake glove A round padded glove without a web, used for teaching infielders to use the palm of the mitt and both hands to field ground balls. Payoff Any pitch made on a 3 balls, 2 strikes count. Pea A ball travelling at high speed, either batted or thrown. Picasso A control pitcher; one who paints the black. Pick A good defensive play by an infielder on a ground ball or thrown ball (usually by the first baseman). Also a shortened version of 'pick-off'. Pickle A rundown. Platter Home plate. Play by the book To play in accord with the conventional wisdom of the game. Pop fly A ball hit very high that is caught in the infield or short outfield. Position player A non-pitcher. Pow wow A meeting on the playing field, usually involving several players and a coach who has come on to the field to talk strategy. Punch-and-Judy Said of a hitter who tends to hit well-placed but weakly-hit balls for singles. Punch-out A strikeout Put out A statistic credited to a fielder who is directly responsible for a batter or base runner being out, either by tagging the runner or stepping on a base for a force out. Rain check If a game is called due to rain or other weather conditions, tickets are issued for a make-up game Retouch The act of a base runner returning to a base and touching it as required by the rules. Rhubarb A ruckus with the umpires; confusion; a fight between players. Ribbie Another way of saying RBI. Ride the pine To sit on the bench and not play Right down Broadway A pitch that is delivered in the middle of the strike zone. Room service Term describing a pitch or batted ball that comes right to a defensive player. Rope A hard line drive hit by the batter. Also frozen rope. Rubber game The deciding game of a series. Rundown When a base-runner gets caught between bases by the fielders. Safety squeeze A squeeze play in which the runner on third waits for the batter to lay down a successful bunt before breaking for home. Contrast this with the suicide squeeze. Seeing eye single A soft ground ball that finds its way between infielders for a base hit. Setup man A relief pitcher who is consistently used immediately before the closer. Shoestring catch A running or diving catch where a fielder gets to the ball just before it hits the ground. Sinker A fast pitch that breaks downward as it reaches the plate. Skillet A baseball mitt when worn by a poor fielder. Slap hitter A hitter who will hit the ball to all sides of the playing field with about the same frequency. Also a 'spray hitter'. Slice foul When a fly ball or line drive starts out over fair territory, and then curves into foul territory due to aerodynamic force caused by spinning of the ball, imparted by the bat. Slider A pitch that appears to the batter as a fastball until it reaches the plate, then it breaks sharply on a level plane. The ball is held similarly to the curve ball, but the wrist is kept straight, like a fastball, and broken downward. Snow cone A ball caught in the tip of the glove. Southpaw A left-handed pitcher. Spit ball An illegal pitch. A foreign substance (most commonly spit or grease) is applied to the ball causing it to react in an unpredictable manner. Spoil a pitch To foul off an otherwise hittable pitch. Suicide squeeze A play in which a runner on third breaks toward home on the pitch and the batter's responsibility is to bunt the ball allowing the run to score. Also 'squeeze play'. Table setter Batter whose job is to get on base for other hitters to drive him in. Usually a leadoff or No. 2 hitter. Tape-measure blast An extremely long home run. Texas Leaguer A poorly hit ball that loops meekly over the infield and lands for a hit. Toe the rubber To set up on the pitcher's mound. Tools of ignorance The catcher's paraphernalia: shin guards, chest protector, helmet, mask and glove. Trencher A utility player. Twin killing Double play. Uncle Charlie Curveball Utility player A player who can play many different positions. Walkoff home run A game-ending home run. The walkoff derives from the fact that the victims of such a hit will often walk off the field, seemingly in disgust or despair. Warning track power The ability of a batter with enough strength to hit a ball to the warning track, but not enough to hit a home run. Wheelhouse A hitters power zone. Wheels A ballplayer's legs. Whiff A strikeout. Whitewash To shut out a team. Worm burner Batted ball that moves across the ground hard and fast. Yakker Curveball Some more homerun terms. NOTE: Some terms may be preceded by adjectives such as huge, nasty, titanic, immaculate, supreme, gigantic, ugly, phat, meteoric, sloppy etc. HOME RUNS Home run -- Homer -- Long ball -- 4-bagger -- Round-tripper -- Circuit clout -- The big fly -- The big tomato (grand slam) -- Gettysburg Address (grand slam) -- Salami (grand slam) -- Slap -- Bomb -- Dinger -- Dong -- Crack -- Cracker -- Tater -- Whack -- Slam -- Blast -- Clout -- Jack -- Knock -- Swat -- Pat -- Wallop -- Shot -- Belt -- Jolt -- Sock -- Clock -- Spank -- Cookie -- Smash -- Yack -- Donk -- Poke -- Bonk -- Bolt -- Cork -- Fatty -- Grenade -- Moonball -- Moonshot -- Baseball expressions used in everyday speech. the breaks -- luck and good fortune bush or bush league -- amateurish, unprofessional, or inferior. The term was originally a slang reference to minor league baseball with the implication that something was not ready for wide exposure and competition. can of corn -- an easy accomplishment curveball -- a surprise. The curveball is a pitch in baseball designed to fool the batter by dropping unexpectedly. drop the ball -- to fail in one's responsibilities. A reference to fielding, when catching a fly ball is expected to be easy. foot in the bucket -- to act timidly hit and run -- anything that strikes quickly and then abruptly departs. This originally refers to a play in which a base runner starts to advance to the next base when the ball is pitched (similar to a stolen base), with the batter instructed to try to hit the ball (to prevent the runner being thrown out). left field -- unusual, unexpected, or irrational Lou Gehrig's disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), named after the famed New York Yankee who had the disease offbase -- out of line, working on faulty assumptions. In baserunning, being offbase is a mistake that could lead to a runner being put out. out in left field -- odd, out of it, space-case out of left field -- an argument or claim that appears difficult to imagine without prior knowledge rain check -- in the event of cancellation, an invitation that may be renewed at a later date. Baseball games are cancelled for rain, but must be rescheduled. rhubarb -- a noisy or heated argument "Say it ain't so, Joe!" -- an expression of disbelief. A reference to the Black Sox scandal of 1919. screwball -- eccentric, zany, or crazy. The screwball is a pitch that is intended to behave erratically -- it "breaks" in the opposite direction a curveball would break. (This pitch has a bad effect on the arm and is not often used.) Its most famous users were both New York Giants--Carl Hubbell and Christy Mathewson (who called it the "fadeaway" pitch.) southpaw -- a left-handed person. To avoid the sun shining into the eyes of a batter during the afternoon, every ballfield was built with center field aligned due east of home plate. Thus, a right-handed pitcher's throwing hand would point north when he stood facing the batter; accordingly, a left-hander was called a "southpaw". step up to the plate -- to rise to an occasion in life. Refers to taking a turn at bat. strike out -- to fail completely three strikes and your out -- to many mistakes, your finished walk -- an acquittal given to a defendant whole new ball game -- a new start Thanks again to the Greystone Mariners for the above! |
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