This article describes a psychological skills training program developed for the Houston Astros’ minor league player development program. It represents a mode of consultation that includes the training and supervising of an appropriate professional within the organization who delivers the actual training to the athletes. The goal is to provide a quality and continuity of services that would be difficult to accomplish using the traditional outside consultant model. Issues and problems that arose in the implementation of the program are discussed, and data derived from an evaluation of the program are presented.
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An Organizational Empowerment Approach to Consultation in Professional Baseball
Ronald E. Smith and Jim Johnson
Strategic Operations in Baseball: “Maximizing the Window”
William Cialone and Brianna L. Newland
Jalen Burkes, assistant to the General Manager of the New York Mets, sat on the back porch with his father, Big Joe, debating the use of data in sports and how it has changed the game of baseball. Getting heated Big Joe exclaimed, “the game is changing and it’s causing friction from people all over
Comparison of Kinematic and Temporal Parameters between Different Pitch Velocity Groups
Tomoyuki Matsuo, Rafael F. Escamilla, Glenn S. Fleisig, Steven W. Barrentine, and James R. Andrews
This study investigated differences in kinematic and temporal parameters between two velocity groups of baseball pitchers. Data were collected from 127 healthy college and professional baseball pitchers. Those who threw faster than 1 SD above the sample mean (>38.0 m/s) were assigned to the high velocity group (n = 29), and those who threw slower than 1 SD below the sample mean (<34.2 m/s) were assigned to the low velocity group (n = 23). Twelve kinematic parameters and 9 temporal parameters were measured and analyzed. The pattern of lead knee movement was also investigated. Maximum shoulder external rotation, forward trunk tilt at the instant of ball release, and lead knee extension angular velocity at the instant of ball release were significantly greater in the high velocity group. Maximum lead knee flexion angular velocity was significantly greater in the low velocity group. Seventy percent of the high velocity group showed knee extension during the approach to ball release, whereas the low velocity group showed a variety of knee movement patterns involving less knee extension and more knee flexion. The greater shoulder external rotation in the high velocity group produced an increased range of motion during the acceleration phase.
The Kinetics of Swinging a Baseball Bat
Joseph J. Crisco, Nikolas J. Osvalds, and Michael J. Rainbow
Swinging a baseball bat to hit a ball is a complex task requiring exquisite timing and strength in both the upper and lower body to be successful. 1 At ball impact, the bat is approximately horizontal and reaches its maximum speed prior to ball impact. Increasing a batter’s maximum bat swing speed
An Innovative Approach to Increasing Youth Sport Participation: The Case of Baseball5™
Kerri Bodin, Georgia Teare, Jordan T. Bakhsh, and Marijke Taks
Alex has always been passionate about baseball and sport participation. Growing up, they spent hours on the baseball diamond playing catch with friends and fielding ground balls with their older siblings. When Alex was looking for a job after completing their undergraduate degree in Sport
What Gramsci Can Tell Sport Communication Scholars About How Civic Leaders Sell Sports to Their Communities: A Look at the Braves’ Move to Atlanta
Bill Anderson
Antonio Gramsci argued that ruling classes stayed in power as much through cultural hegemony as through economic hegemony or brute force. Gramsci maintained that the dominant class established and maintained this cultural hegemony through negotiation and persuasion. Gramsci’s theory offers much to sport communication scholars who try to ascertain why certain communities (especially their civic leaders) build stadiums to attract major-league sports teams and events despite mounting economic evidence that these ventures often fail to yield the financial benefits touted by their advocates. This paper uses Gramsci’s theory to examine how the civic leaders of Atlanta enticed the populace and sporting press to use public funds to build a new sports stadium in the mid-1960s. Atlanta’s leaders used the sports stadium not only to lure a Major League Baseball team to the city but also to persuade the city’s populace that this move made the metropolis “big league.”
Public Perceptions of Steroid Use in Sport: Contextualizing Communication Efforts
Amy B. Becker and Dietram A. Scheufele
Recently, the controversy surrounding the use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs by Olympic and professional athletes has captured the media spotlight, in part as a response to the very public and pervasive steroids scandal plaguing Major League Baseball (MLB). This article examines trends in Americans’ attitudes toward the use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs in Olympic and professional sport as a way to better understand the messaging challenges that policy makers, players, managers, coaches, and publicists face when trying to influence the media agenda. As the poll data presented suggest, Americans feel that the incidence of performanceenhancing- drug use in professional sport is significant, especially in MLB. Furthermore, Americans suggest that the leadership of various professional sports is not doing enough to combat the use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs by top competitors.
Unrealistic Expectations and Future Status Coercion in Minor League Baseball Players’ Future-Oriented Labor
Christopher M. McLeod, Nola Agha, N. David Pifer, and Tarlan Chahardovali
Minor league baseball is the athlete development system for Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, which operates in the United States and the Dominican Republic. Minor league baseball players enter the system hoping to reach MLB, but they must play in and generate revenues for minor league franchises
Baseball and Culture: A Case-Study Examination of the Korean Baseball Organization Documentary Full Count
Kevin Hull and Minhee Choi
networks, had no live events to broadcast. What was once a full daily schedule of sporting events was suddenly bare. In order to fill the void, ESPN turned to a baseball league on the other side of the world. While North America’s Major League Baseball (MLB) was shut down, leaders of South Korea’s Korean
Baseball-Specific Conditioning
Matthew R. Rhea and Derek Bunker
Baseball demands speed, power, and quickness. To perform at a high level, and avoid injuries that are common among baseball players, an evaluation of current trends in strength and conditioning practices is helpful. Based on the demands of the sport and the injury risks, qualified strength and conditioning professionals can develop effective baseball-specific conditioning programs. This commentary briefly covers historical aspects of baseball conditioning, recent injury trends, current practices among elite baseball professionals, and provides suggestions for future improvements in training.
