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Rating: 
Summary: A Must Read for New Coaches and Old
Review: I bought "Bean's About Baseball" because I had heard it mentioned on an infosports.net discussion board. I have coached highschool, Little League, and adult baseball so I beleive that I know something about the game but I also know there is always something to learn. I read the book hoping to learn something I did not know and with the thought that I would get another coach's perspective on the game. If one reads this book, it must be done the first time from cover to cover. If you "skim" the book, you may very well come away thinking it is terse and sexist. However, early on the author explains why the book was written in this way and those aspects drft into the background. The book is full of tips and drills while it helps identify and explain common mistakes made by young players. From my perspective in having some knowledge of the game, the book was a great review. I even took away some new thoughts and ideas for my practices and certain players. That is the wonderful thing about this game, like Earl Weaver used to say: "It's what you learn after you know it all that really counts". Bean's About Baseball covers only the basics. Basics that managers and players have to go back and reveiw through their entire "careers". If you are expereinced, the book will be valuable as a review and you may learn a little something new. Another coach's perspective can often be valuable. If you are a new coach, this book is an excellent starting point. Take an evening to read the book (about 120 pages) and go back to it as you need it. After you read it, you will know the basics of hitting, pitching, and fielding. When you know the "how to" basics, you have to convey that to your players and this book helps there also. Good coaches know the game and can teach it. This book will get you closer to being a good coach. I have given my copy to one of the first year managers in my league that sought me out to ask about practices and drills for young players. I do not expect to see that copy again. Like many books on youth baseball, readers of this book will need to make value judgements on certain aspects as they relate to the local league rules and philosophies. I will be recomending to our local board of directors that this book be given to each manager as part of their packet for next spring. I will further recommend that a companion sheet accompany the book to elimnate conflicts between it and our local rules and philosophies. Like many lagues, ours has many well meaning coaching volunteers that do not really know youth baseball and how to teach it to kids. If my proposal is adopted, "Bean's About Baseball" will be a primer to next year's coaching clinic. I would strongly recommend it for new coaches and old. Just my thoughts, Splitter
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for New Coaches and Old
Review: I bought "Bean's About Baseball" because I had heard it mentioned on an infosports.net discussion board. I have coached highschool, Little League, and adult baseball so I beleive that I know something about the game but I also know there is always something to learn. I read the book hoping to learn something I did not know and with the thought that I would get another coach's perspective on the game. If one reads this book, it must be done the first time from cover to cover. If you "skim" the book, you may very well come away thinking it is terse and sexist. However, early on the author explains why the book was written in this way and those aspects drft into the background. The book is full of tips and drills while it helps identify and explain common mistakes made by young players. From my perspective in having some knowledge of the game, the book was a great review. I even took away some new thoughts and ideas for my practices and certain players. That is the wonderful thing about this game, like Earl Weaver used to say: "It's what you learn after you know it all that really counts". Bean's About Baseball covers only the basics. Basics that managers and players have to go back and reveiw through their entire "careers". If you are expereinced, the book will be valuable as a review and you may learn a little something new. Another coach's perspective can often be valuable. If you are a new coach, this book is an excellent starting point. Take an evening to read the book (about 120 pages) and go back to it as you need it. After you read it, you will know the basics of hitting, pitching, and fielding. When you know the "how to" basics, you have to convey that to your players and this book helps there also. Good coaches know the game and can teach it. This book will get you closer to being a good coach. I have given my copy to one of the first year managers in my league that sought me out to ask about practices and drills for young players. I do not expect to see that copy again. Like many books on youth baseball, readers of this book will need to make value judgements on certain aspects as they relate to the local league rules and philosophies. I will be recomending to our local board of directors that this book be given to each manager as part of their packet for next spring. I will further recommend that a companion sheet accompany the book to elimnate conflicts between it and our local rules and philosophies. Like many lagues, ours has many well meaning coaching volunteers that do not really know youth baseball and how to teach it to kids. If my proposal is adopted, "Bean's About Baseball" will be a primer to next year's coaching clinic. I would strongly recommend it for new coaches and old. Just my thoughts, Splitter
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: I was at first reluctant to write a review about this book, it is wiser not to let your opposition know what you know, and easier to pretend that the performance of your team is the product of your own coaching greatness. However, to say nothing about this book does the author a great injustice, I have not read any other author who has dared to put so much information in a book about youth baseball as he has. After two seasons of implementing his techniques I can honestly say it works. After a dismal first season as coach I was hell bent on improving my own performance as a coach. I read many books on coaching kids baseball before this book found me, it's funny how sometimes the cheapest and most unattractive book turns out to be the one you most cherish.
How many coaching books, for example, teach you great batting basics, and I am not talking about the old "see the ball hit the ball" coaching mantra. This book is full of proper baseball techniques, like how to grip the bat, how to swing the bat, where the hands should be at the start, where the hands should be at the end. This book covers all the basics of the game. It provides you with the tools to create a very solid base from which you can easily build a strong and effective team (or player). More than anything else this is where our team improved the most. From a team full of nothing, to kids who believed in their ability, simply because they knew how to do the little things correctly. The book has great chapters on fielding, base running, and throwing. It also covers the battery, a topic conveniently omitted by other books. The book is full of great verbal anchors and is written in an energetic style.
My advice, read the book, apply the proper techniques, then work on your teams own style and let the kids express their own individual talents. 'nough said.
Rating:
Summary: Just what I needed
Review: My wife bought this book several years ago at a homeschooling convention. My sons have not had an interest in baseball until recently. I blew the dust off the book, read it cover to cover, then "coached" two of my sons, ages 9 and 12. With just a few practices, they have gone from knowing zippo to looking like they have played for years. I refer to the book frequently for techniques and drills. I am giving copies of it as a gift to the coaches of their baseball league.
Rating:
Summary: Just what I needed
Review: My wife bought this book several years ago at a homeschooling convention. My sons have not had an interest in baseball until recently. I blew the dust off the book, read it cover to cover, then "coached" two of my sons, ages 9 and 12. With just a few practices, they have gone from knowing zippo to looking like they have played for years. I refer to the book frequently for techniques and drills. I am giving copies of it as a gift to the coaches of their baseball league.
Rating:
Summary: Just what I needed
Review: My wife bought this book several years ago at a homeschooling convention. My sons have not had an interest in baseball until recently. I blew the dust off the book, read it cover to cover, then "coached" two of my sons, ages 9 and 12. With just a few practices, they have gone from knowing zippo to looking like they have played for years. I refer to the book frequently for techniques and drills. I am giving copies of it as a gift to the coaches of their baseball league.
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