Gordie Gillespie's Baseball Drill Book I Ntroduction
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Contents BIOGRAPHY 5 EDITORS FORWARD 8 INTRODUCTION 10 PART ONE DEFENSE 17 1 TEAM DEFENSE CONCEPTS 18 2 PITCHER MECHANICS DRILLS 25 3 FIELDER DRILLS BY POSITION 41 3-1 PITCHER FIELDING DRILLS 42 3-2 CATCHER DRILLS 53 3-3 FIRST BASEMAN DRILLS 68 3-4 SECOND BASEMAN DRILLS 76 3-5 SHORTSTOP DRILLS 87 3-6 THIRD BASEMAN DRILLS 90 3-7 OUTFIELD DRILLS 93 4 TEAM DEFENSE DRILLS 106 PART TWO OFFENSE 109 5 OFFENSIVE CONCEPTS 109 5-1 THE MENTAL ASPECTS OF HITTING AND BUNTING 110 5-2 OFFENSIVE QUOTES 114 5-3 HITTING AND BUNTING ABSOLUTES 115 6 OFFENSIVE DRILLS 121 6-1 HITTING AND BUNTING DRILLS 122 6-2 BASERUNNING DRILLS 135 7 TEAM OFFENSE DRILLS 148 KEY TO DIAGRAMS PITCHER CATCHER FIELDER O BATTER 0 RUNNER BATTED BALL , .. ∎ .... ∎ THROWN BALL FLY BALL DIRECTION OF RUNNER WALL NET GORDIE GILLESPIES BASEBALL DRILL BOOK I NTRODUCTION Coaches, what is your baseball philosophy? This is your first and most important decision you make as you start your season. Certainly your philosophy can change from season to season, or in the middle of a season, but a baseball philosophy is a must if you are going to be successful. PITCHING AND DEFENSE I established my baseball philosophy a long time ago, and it really hasn't changed much through the years. Teams win by playing good defense. I also believe that pitching is 75% of good defense, and probably, 75 of the game. Do you realize that in 65% of baseball games the winning team scores more runs in one inning than the opposition scores in the whole game? Defensive philosophy: "prevent the big inning" To prevent the big inning you need a sound pitching philosophy. Warren Spahn, one of the best pitchers in the history of baseball, helped me more than anyone else develop my pitching and defensive philosophy. I once asked Warren who is the toughest hitter he ever faced, and he replied, "Anybody with a bat." Bob Shaw, a superb pitcher in the major leagues for many years, who roomed with Warren Spahn, in describing Warren's pitching ability, said that his control was so outstanding that he "could hit a gnat's ass!" That's some control! I was also told that Lou Brock and Maury Wills were never able to steal a base off the great lefthander. Bob Shaw also said that Warren was one of the greatest fielding pitchers in the history of the game. Spahn's pitching philosophy surely made an impact on me, and in turn, I've tried to impact that philosophy to anyone who has ever pitched for me. "No easing up" "you've got to bear down on every pitch" "never let the weak hitters get on base" I preach these ideas to my pitchers so often that they tell me I sound like a "broken record". But I'm not alone with this philosophy. I read where Chris Evert Lloyd was taught at age four by her dad that every volley in tennis was 11 to be mentally approached as the "game point." What is all this saying? I believe there are several important conclusions. Coaches should emphasize defensive baseball. You win by playing good defense. Pitching is 75% of good defense. To be a good pitcher, you must have good control, be an outstanding fielder, keep runners on first base, and have a tenacious bear down attitude. Can this be taught? Absolutely. Who teaches it? You, the coach! How is it taught? Drill, drill, and drill some more, along with constant reinforcement of a sound baseball philosophy. OFFENSIVE PHILOSOPHY: YOGIS QUOTE Yogi Berra taught us a lot of baseball when he said, "The game is never over until it's over." This certainly can be applied to both offensive and defensive concepts. Defensively, it simply means we battle on every pitch for every out and we never relax until that final out is nestling in someone's glove. Yogi's quote also is the basis for my offensive philosophy. What's your philosophy? Mine is, Offensive philosophy: I never have enough runs! If you believe, Yogi's quote, "It's never over until it's over", then your attitude must be that you are never out of a game. If you are down 10 runs in the 9th inning, your team knows it's going to get 11 runs to win the game. When speaking to coaches throughout the country, I tell them I have never lost a game in over 40 years of coaching, sometimes I merely ran out of innings. This may seem a bit far-fetched, but I want that attitude to prevail throughout our baseball program. Offensive philosophy must include "catch-up" baseball. I believe we have to "take" pitches in certain situations: we've got to load the bases, we've got to get the typing run to the plate, we have to set up our RBI men. Your offensive philosophy must answer loads of questions. Can you bunt the ball? Can you steal the important base? Can you do the little things that make winners out of losers? Absolutely! But you need to practice each skill so they become automatic in the game. THE FINE LINE There is a fine line between winning and losing, and the difference in all sports, not only baseball, is the coach. I repeat, the difference is YOU, the coach! You determine the way your team plays the game and if your team is successful or not. And how you conduct your practice sessions determines how your athletes play in the game. "Lovey-Dovey" baseball philosophy is for people who are going to a picnic and are going to bring a bat and ball for some fun and recreation. 12 Introduction I never use the expressions, "You've got to have fun," or "have fun out there". That's baloney sausage! Fun? What's fun about having a ground ball go through your legs with the bases loaded? What's fun about striking out for the last out with the tying run on 3rd? What's fun about getting hit with an 85 mile an hour fastball? What's the fun of having a runner bowl you over at home plate? What's fun about giving up a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game? What's fun about my coach driving me through drill after drill so I'm so tired I can hardly stand up? Fun is being at the picnic or on a beach with the red and white tablecloth, getting a great tan! "Lovey-Dovey" baseball is like going to that picnic - don't dive for balls, don't score too many runs, don't offend anyone, don't slide head first, don't bunt if your ahead four or more runs. Who made up these rules? It beats me! My idea is to compete, to go all out, all the time! The greatest insult to me and my team is to ease up against me at any time. You'd better keep coming hard, trying to bury me, because I know that we are going to rally and win this game. That philosophy must permeate to all my athletes if we are ever going to become a real team, a championship team. The late Vince Lombardi, one of the greatest football coaches of all time, said that "Losing is worse than death." Educators and parents throughout the country were appalled by Vince's comment. They thought, "This is not what we want our youngsters to think about sport and losing." The problem was that they didn't truly understand what Vince Lombardi meant. He was referring to a team's philosophy, including preparation, effort and pride. You may think you're a team, but you're really not a team until everyone feels that way about losing. A team must love each other, care so much, work so hard, that every volley becomes match point, every hitter becomes the most important hitter, and that every out becomes the most important out. When this becomes our team philosophy, and we lose, then losing becomes "worse than death." It is important that players care, and are part of a team that feel this way about each other and the outcome of the contest. Nothing great would ever be accomplished if we didn't care about the results of our efforts. I've had countless players say to me through the years, "Coach, I hated the practices and all of the hard work that we went through, but I wish I could do it over again, just one more time!" SOME PRACTICAL COMMENTS ON DRILLS Why put all this philosophy in a drill book? Because the attitude of the person who enforces the strong work ethic behind these drills will prove itself in.the playing arena. Drills are the essence of sport. My philosophy of teaching is: teach the whole, break the whole into the essential parts, and then come back to the whole. In baseball, teach the whole concept to the kids, then have great breakdown drills, teach particular parts of game situations, and then come back to the whole, 13 the game itself. The coach must know the proper fundamentals that go into each drill. If something is being taught incorrectly, it's going to take a lot of undoing. Don't stay with one drill for too long a time. Always follow your practice plan and time allotments. If the team is struggling with a drill, move on but make a note and come back to it later.