FungoMan Baseball Blog

74 years ago to the day, on May 30 1935, Babe Ruth struck out, injured his knee, and left the game. He announced his retirement two days later. Kind of a sad note to end one of the most legendary athletic careers.

What should be noted: Five days before his final strikeout, on May 25, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Ruth went 4-for-4, drove in 6 runs and hit 3 home runs against the Pirates. The Babe's final home run cleared the roof at the old Forbes Field—making Ruth the first player to accomplish that feat. 

What can we learn from the Great Bambino's final game strikeout?

We've got innovative practice ideas for you this week! Coach Ryan Kinnan with Irving MacArthur High School blew up our Twitter feed in March with some incredible practice principles. He recently celebrated 100 wins this year, and we'd like to celebrate his achievements by sharing some of his practice tactics. Check out his practice stations and how he keeps everyone on drill and on point. 

Snag some of these ideas and make them your own! 

Improving as a hitter isn't limited to the number of at bats you personally have in the game for one simple reason: Hitting is as much or more of a mental game as it is physical. Young hitters often feel like their only opportunity to get better lies when they are in the batter's box. Hitters develop into great, seasoned hitters by making every team member's at bats part of their own personal development.

You were once the best player on your team, but now you've leveled up. With a higher talent pool, you've got to win your starting spot.

Obviously, coaches expect players to develop their skills and physicality to earn their positions. However, other qualities can set players apart from the rest. If a player can master these five habits, he'll be well on his way to becoming the smartest player in the dugout—and win his spot on the roster.

"FungoMan? Oh yeah, it's on my wish list," said one too many baseball coach. We've got good news for such coaches. Today we're sharing the Lindale ISD success story in winning a grant for the local high school's baseball program—for a FungoMan.

Most of us would agree that we need to waste less food, but don't know how to fix the problem. 11 million children in the U.S. suffer from food insecurity, and the WakWay Foundation led by Don Wakamatsu, Rangers Bench Coach addresses this need head on. 

The manipulation of limited space, time, matter, and energy are up for your designation at the start of practice. We all know that limitation is the mother of creativity. These coaches have some ideas that are multiplying their effectiveness in practice.

In this article, we have six real practice examples of coaches taking the leap to make their practices meet the demands of competitive play. You should definitely consider nabbing one of these for your next practice session.

It's been several weeks since Mariano Rivera's historic election into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Some of the controversy surrounding his 425 ballot nomination raised a few questions in the baseball community: Was he worthy? Of all the previous Hall of Famers, did he deserve the first unanimous vote?

I'd like to put forward these questions instead: When someone honors a player, what's our first instinct? Do we quickly acknowledge his achievement or poke holes in his career? In the context of life, the answers of these questions tell us something about ourselves. 

Is there anything more exciting to a coach than a well-executed practice? Well, maybe a championship win, but you get it. We're obsessed with practice: how to practice better, how to develop skill, how to master plays.

Harding University has taken the cake when it comes to practicing effectively. We're giving you an inside peek of the kind of practice session we geek out over.

Dear Coach,

As you begin to feel the mantle of leadership with the upcoming season, I'd like to encourage you. This time of year coaches are preparing their rosters, training sessions, strategy, and budgets. Along with all the logistics that go along with coaching, I'd like to offer some intentions to consider as an empowered coach in this game.