Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
| Messages 1 - 31 of total 31 in this topic |
bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 7, 2007 - 12:16am PT
|
I was wondering how many climbers have played baseball at some time? or still do?
The spontaneous concentration required in baseball (crux moments) seems similar to that required in climbing (crux moments).
My son just got the baseball itch so I've been doing a little pitching and batting. We both went to the cages the other day - I had a blast in the 50mph cage.
We also used to have those Ranger vs. Camp Four soft ball games. Bridwell at shortstop, Kauk at second. Largo always pointing to the meadows before he spanked it out there. Fred East catching...weird stuff.
,Tyrus at bat...
|
|
Shack
Big Wall climber
Reno NV
|
|
Russ is as good as you'll see without paying.........(his words not mine)
Hahahaha!
You still playing Russ?
|
|
Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
We played up here. The ball was frozen solid, and it sure hurt when you got hit. Running the bases is quite slow in snowshoes, although being chased by a polar bear helped. No problem with slides - the problem was stopping. And it got kind of hard to distinguish between the home and away teams - everyone wore parkas, mitts and mukluks. But a good time was had by all - later we went curling.
This, and being concussed by soccer balls, may explain an aversion to team sports. Though I later discovered, somewhat to my surprise, that I was moderately decent at some athletic activities.
(Ok, I'm just joking. But I would have thought baseball was definitely a summer activity in Mammoth.)
Good luck to Tyrus, and may there be many happy games in his future!
|
|
nita
climber
chica from chico
|
|
Was knott Cochran in the minor leagues?
|
|
bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 7, 2007 - 12:31am PT
|
I remember me, Russ and Largo goin' down to Palm Springs for batting practice - Largo and Russ could slap that puppy over the fence on a frequent bassis. I never could - I'm was more of a line drive hitter (by default I think).
Chuck Chocrane and Fred East were both ex-pro. We had some wicked 'burnout' sessions in C4...damn. Largo and Fish were burnin' too.
|
|
nick d
Trad climber
nm
|
|
What kind of climbing shoes is Tyrus wearing? We always wore cleats, I guess times they are a changing.
|
|
Mimi
climber
|
|
Yep, thems were the daze, Russ. Even got clocked in the orbit warming up with Kauk. Classic windowshade, on my back. I saw stars and Ron was one of em when I came to. He thought I was looking but I was glancing over at the game that was about to end before ours. At least I didn't get a shiner although my schnoz is still a little crooked.
|
|
bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 7, 2007 - 12:38am PT
|
Do they still have Ranger vs. Camp 4 softball games?
What ever happened to the big trophy each year?
Does Ken have those records?
Post 'em if you got 'em!
|
|
WBraun
climber
|
|
No more Ranger against the climber ball games John. They have teams now.
The games are mixed now. Rangers and climbers on the same team against other teams like Curry employees and NPS employees on the same teams.
Then there was the game Camp 4 climbers against Universal Studios when we had bench clearing brawl back in time.
Double header.
Universal Studios bought all the beer and food and we played double header. We won 1st game. Second game we are ahead by one run in the last inning and we are all fuked up on beer.
The batter hits a wicked liner to center field and I'm seeing 3 balls coming at me at once. True to form I scoop the triple bouncer while Pettigrew is screaming at me from shortstop to relay it to him to home.
The batter is rounding the bases for the wining run.
Not gonna happen. I huck the m'ofukin ball with all my might towards what looked like home plate. Pettigrew intercepted it and threw home
The tag was good! Glen Paul ran to home plate and screamed "You're out stupid M'ofuker".
The benches cleared and the rumble was on.
Yep them were the days ..........
|
|
Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
BITD, there were a lot of expatriate English climbers living in Calgary. A lively scene, with the Calgary Mountain Club and all. They had an annual soccer game, and an annual hockey game. You can imagine the rest.
|
|
Mimi
climber
|
|
Thanks WB. I may not recover from that one.
The Chapman charging Bridwell on the mound story is another Hall of Famer.
|
|
bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 7, 2007 - 01:41am PT
|
Chapman charged Bridwell?
|
|
Mimi
climber
|
|
I'm still laughing from this story on the Finger Lickin - TR thread Ed Hartouni started.
"Actually Werner...
Forgive me owisevalleyman, but your memory is foggy.
Chappy and I cleaned Great Moments in Baseball and got shut down on our first effort to climb it. We left a nut, a #6 stopper I think, at our high point and planned to get more fit and return. We made the mistake of showing our find to Bridwell one day shortly afterward on our way to Arch. A few days later Bridwell walked up to me in the morning as I was pickin my guitar and asked me how many new routes Chappy and I had done that season. It was six or seven, good ones too. Then he asked me what I was doin that day. Didn't know I told him, and he split.
That afternoon was the climber/ranger baseball game. I was out in the field and I see Chappy striding with great determination from the direction of camp, and directly toward Bridwell. I think the Bird was on the mound. Then in front of everybody Mark starts yellin at him about how he stole our route. I thought he was gonna start swingin.
Turns out Mark had returned to camp to find our #6 stopper at the picnic table with Bachar. Mark got all pissed off and Bachar told him he got it off a cool new route Bridwell had taken him to that day. Bridwell couldn't follow his lead.
For a few weeks before that for some reason Bullwinkle had been repeatedly tellin me "You gotta name one of your new climbs Great Moments in Baseball!"
"Why?" I would always ask. "Why not?" he would always say.
Bachar named it Pinky Paralysis. It's a great splitter finger crack, one of the Valley's best." The Warbler
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
The West
|
|
Some great moment's, for sure..
|
|
troutboy
Trad climber
Newark, DE
|
|
>I was wondering how many climbers have played baseball at some time? or still do?
I played from the time I was five through high school, college, and some adult rec type leagues after that. I was better at baseball than anything else in my life (way better than climbing ;-) ), but at 5'7" and 135 pounds (dripping wet)I was really way too undersized to go any further than Div III.
Baseball was all we did, all day in summer and after school until dark when the weather was decent, sometimes just 2 or 3 kids playing home run derby, strike-out, or a modified game where we had to switch hit. I loved baseball (and the Cincinnati Reds) more than anything as a kid and still liked it a lot as an adult.
Then, the greedy bastards had to go on strike not once, but twice. Have not been to a major league game since.
Enough of memory lane. But thanks for making me think back John.
Tim S
|
|
eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
|
|
I played Little League, Pony League and Freshman High School. Switched over to swimming and water polo from football, basketball, and baseball beginning my Sophomore year. My childhod was all about sports.
|
|
bob d'antonio
Trad climber
Taos, NM
|
|
Started at 6 years old in Philly (PAL) and didn't stop till second year of college. American Legion was the most fun. Still a great game.
|
|
ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
|
|
My favorite game. Nice swing from tyrus, good arm extension, head down, oh and lock out the front leg will give better power on contact. Hey John next time I come up there, if Tyrus is still into it I can bring a schit load of baseballs I got laying in a bucket, probably >than 100 balls. What would be funnier than schit would be to have a game these days with all the 50+ year olds haggin around a field with arms as dead as dicks! Do you have the Funk blowing during the cage sessions, if yer boy needs live BP give me a ring a ling ding, I'll bring some heat under his chin. Give a call when you got the killer rotator cuff tendinitis from throwin', I'll come treat you!
Peace
ps taught him to adjust his cup yet? Not a respectable baseball player till ya got that one down.
|
|
WanderlustMD
Trad climber
Lanham MD
|
|
I played minor, little leauge but quit when I got to be around 13. Still play with the family on occasion, but obviously it's not remotely serious.
Bachar, that's a good point you made about points of concentration vs. crux sequences. Interesting...
|
|
Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
|
|
eKat, you got a Wally Moon autograph? The Dodgers are playing a game at the Colosseum next year. One more chance for a Moon shot!
Wally Moon: number nine in your program, number one in your heart...
|
|
TwistedCrank
climber
Caution: Filling may be hot.
|
|
I was a kid in Chicago in 1969. We had vacant lot baseball games all day every day all summer. Games were often called on account of darkness. I had dreams of taking over at third base for the Cubbies when Ron Santo retired. There weren't batting cages or plastic helmets or aluminum bats or batting gloves or participant tropheys back then. Just a bunch of sun-baked boys with their Woolworth gloves smacking a filthy and well-beaten knot of leather around.
The Cubs were on their way to greatness that summer. Ernie Banks, Glenn Beckert, Don Kessinger, Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Randy Hundley, Fergie Jenkins, Ken Holtzman, Leo Durocher at the helm - those boys owned the National League. All was right in universe.
Then September came, the Cubs started losing and the Miracle Mets started winning. Winning hard. It was over.
That kind of thing hits a kid hard. I'm still realing from it almost 40 years later.
That's the gods truth.
|
|
Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
|
|
Played baseball then softball for around 20 years.
As a kid, I inherted my dad's mitt, which looked like Charley Brown's (an old square-ish Mickey Mantle model, still have it). All the other kids had Bobby Bonds mitts, modern lookin', and dad has me playin' with the old school number, sayin' it works just fine. Little League Syndrome to the max. Kinda ruined it for me upon occasion.
Never had a super speedy fast ball, but, learned to toss an ok knuckle ball and screw ball. Too much arm time in other sports (track, weight lifting for football) wrecked the throwing arm a tad back then, though. Sometimes wish I'd have stuck with it just a tad more, and the other stuff a tad less.
Eventually, league play ate too much into outdoor sports. Miss it sometimes, though. Can't watch it much.
Bet a batting cage would be a huge embarrassment...not to mention the blisters... Still fun to toss the ball around, though. Thinkin' about it conjures up some memories...
-Brian in SLC
|
|
LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
|
|
oh man, would love to see what Ken has archived re the Camp 4 games! scanners anyone?
|
|
bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 7, 2007 - 11:41am PT
|
Where's the Climber - Ranger Trophy with all the inscriptions? does it still exist?
Ron - cool, thanks for the offer. These damn baseballs are effing expensive - we only got nine so far.
Wanderlust - I hadn't hit a ball in decades. You got to be relaxed but ready. Too much tension and it don't come out right. Way mental - reminds me of free solo mindset.
"Hitting is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical" - Yogi Berra
( I'm not sure that quote is accurate).
Festus - Man Russ used to be pretty suave looking - what happened?
Seriously, Russ has a very nice swing (good golf swing too).
Mimi - I remember that day. Chapman saw that nut on the table and I thought he was gonna explode. Me and Mike Graham had no idea Bridwell snaked your guys route. It was pretty suspicious when I got to the fixed nut on the second pitch however. Bridwell said he didn't know nuthin' about it!
|
|
The Wolf
Trad climber
East SF Bay Area
|
|
I started climbing at 15 and also played baseball. I still climb and still play baseball. Albiet a 45+ Senior Mens league. We have a lot of ex pros and college players (I played college and semi-pro)who can't always take the extra base but can still HIT!!
My kids are now climbing and playing baseball and I agree the concentration and ability to keep your emotions in check are similar.
One thing I did a was try some auto racing, to me that was closer to climbing. TOTAL CONCENTRATION and pushing hard at the edge of your ability and comfort level.
Wolf
|
|
James
climber
A tent in the redwoods
|
|
I sat in left field for two years picking four leaf clovers, and hoping that our pitcher, an enormous twelve year old with a cannon right arm, struck out the batters and didn't let one get lobbed to my neck of the woods. Never turned into much of a baseball star. Even at the age of ten, my coach, a big Mexican man with a starched baseball cap, told me I sucked. "You throw like a girl," he said every time I shot-putted the ball from outfield to second base.
Three or four years ago, I umpired a couple of the softball games behind the school in the Valley as part of my job with DNC's Employee Recreation. Steve, a Emplyee Rec cohort, stood behind the catcher and made all the official calls while I stood on the third base foul line, telling people when it popped over. I f*#ked up quite a few calls ; I stared at the Misty Wall too much.
|
|
WanderlustMD
Trad climber
Lanham MD
|
|
"I hadn't hit a ball in decades. You got to be relaxed but ready. Too much tension and it don't come out right. Way mental - reminds me of free solo mindset."
Yeah, I can see the connection you are making, though I don't solo enough offer any intelligent comment on that part of the relationship. But I do find that anytime I start to think about what I'm doing in an overly consious sense (especially as I'm doing it), I usually foul something up. The biggest challenge seems to be emptying the mind and being aware but not so aware as to prevent physical instinct and muscle memory from taking over.
|
|
hashbro
Trad climber
Not in Southern California
|
|
Hey Bachar, I clearly recall at least two rangers vs climbers games in the Valley which were super-fun and also seemed to reduce tensions between the two "adversaries."
Speaking of baseball, it was right around one of those games that I took a dangerous, sawmi-belted and pre-cam 35' footer on "Great Moments in Baseball". I ended up hanging off the two fixed pins with my belayer after pulling all my gear. I believe I had a few words for you and your well known love for baseball as I spund around and around under the roof....
Thanks dude.
|
|
Matt
Trad climber
primordial soup
|
|
BEAT LA
|
|
Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
|
|
|
Nov 10, 2007 - 01:08pm PT
|
Largo was playing high school ball when we started climbing.I never saw him play a game, but I know he had a great arm. I remember a time at Hidden Valley campground, sitting around with Richard and John one evening , desperately seeking entertainment. We start throwing rocks at various targets and it’s clear Largo is far better than Richard and me, both in accuracy and power.
John , a la Babe Ruth, points to the crag we are next to, maybe Blob Rock or one near it, and says,
“ I bet I can throw a rock over that.”
Richard immediately responds, “No way, there is no possible way you could do that.”
I’m with Richard. It’s hard to judge the distance, but we’re not talking about a campground boulder, were talking about a large, geologic formation.
“Not possible, John, you’re dreaming.”
Largo picks out a nice round rock that fits snugly in his hand and tosses it up and down a few times.. He runs a short ways and heaves it with impressive force. Richard and I watch intently, as the rock, like a cannon shot, heads towards the formation. I’m thinking it has to start falling now, but it doesn’t, it just keeps on going and going, up, up and over the entire crag!
Richard and I are speechless and just shake our heads, as John starts chuckling.
I know this sounds like a Paul Bunyon tale, but John’s athletic feats in those days often seemed larger than life.
|
|
| Messages 1 - 31 of total 31 in this topic |
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!