Your baseball playing days growing up?

[BINGLEBOP]

I played baseball from the age of 9-16, I was also in Martial Arts from 7-18, earned my Black Belt in March of 1999.

What branch of martial arts did you get your black belt in boomboom? I was in tae kwon do for over ten years and after I finally stopped getting injured, I got my black belt. I wanted to branch out into different styles, but I never did it, at least not yet.

[BINGLEBOP]

I used to do that. Bobby Tolan and Joe Morgan were two of my favorite stances.

Juan Gonzalez was my favorite player when I was growing up, so I emulated his stance. Needless to say, it worked 100 times better for him.

[RedsoxRockies]

I copy Ortiz and Helton sort of in my stance. I used to have one that resembled Sheffield

[dannymac910]

I have a Manny type of stance.

[OregonDuck1989]

My stance I never really copied anyone. Idk. I just kind of went up there and worked it out on my own. I guess I really look kind of like Lowell's stance mostly.

I just liked defense. I was sad to graduate high school cause it meant no more running the first bag.

[Keppinger]

I played little league starting at 10 and playing until 14. Made the all star team a couple of times. I remember that I batted fourth always and the guy who always batted third had fantastic 14 yr old seasons. We played 10 games, our team winning all ten. I made outs in my first 2 at bats of the season and did not get out again for the rest of the season. The #3 hitter only made 3 outs all season. We both batted over .900 for the year.

Made the local high school team my freshman year...then promptly broke my ankle playing football with my friends in the front yard when I was tackled on a sidewalk. This was before the first game of the season. Made the high school team my junior year again and after the first 2 games of the season when I was 1/1 with a double and an RBI as a pinch hitter I broke my other ankle in gym glass when I came down from a jump shot and landed on a guys foot.

Baseball Memories...
1)Hit a line drive off my brother's forehead once. He was pitching, I was batting. Thought I killed him. He went down in a heap. He turned out to be fine.

2)Went to college with Jon Rauch who pitches for the diamond backs. Had a couple of classes with him. He had a license plate on his Jeep that said "LURCH", that was his nickname. Someone stole it one day and we spent the entire day driving around campus looking for the license plate and trying to think of suspects. Never found it. Haven't talked to him since he got drafted and left school early.

[RedsoxRockies]

I played little league starting at 10 and playing until 14. Made the all star team a couple of times. I remember that I batted fourth always and the guy who always batted third had fantastic 14 yr old seasons. We played 10 games, our team winning all ten. I made outs in my first 2 at bats of the season and did not get out again for the rest of the season. The #3 hitter only made 3 outs all season. We both batted over .900 for the year.

Made the local high school team my freshman year...then promptly broke my ankle playing football with my friends in the front yard when I was tackled on a sidewalk. This was before the first game of the season. Made the high school team my junior year again and after the first 2 games of the season when I was 1/1 with a double and an RBI as a pinch hitter I broke my other ankle in gym glass when I came down from a jump shot and landed on a guys foot.

Baseball Memories...
1)Hit a line drive off my brother's forehead once. He was pitching, I was batting. Thought I killed him. He went down in a heap. He turned out to be fine.

2)Went to college with Jon Rauch who pitches for the diamond backs. Had a couple of classes with him. He had a license plate on his Jeep that said "LURCH", that was his nickname. Someone stole it one day and we spent the entire day driving around campus looking for the license plate and trying to think of suspects. Never found it. Haven't talked to him since he got drafted and left school early.

You should call him up

[rockiesfan4ever]

I didn't really copy my stance from anyone, but it looks a lot like Tulo's.

[boomboom]

What branch of martial arts did you get your black belt in boomboom? I was in tae kwon do for over ten years and after I finally stopped getting injured, I got my black belt. I wanted to branch out into different styles, but I never did it, at least not yet.

www.truemartialarts.com

I went to the overlake school/formerly Bellevue.

I studied Chung Moo Kwon, and Modern Arnis. I have a provisional Blackbelt in Modern Arnis, and 1st Degree Blackbelt in Chung Moo Kwon.

As you see with the "Kwon", it is a Korean Martial Arts very similar to Tae Kwon Do. Chung Moo Kwon as well as Tae Kwon Do and Tang Soo Do are hard styles, and Modern Arnis is a soft style.

My Instructor died in 2001 at the age of 55 from a heart attack. I stopped training right before than because of a lot of stupid excuses. Long live Thomas Zoppi.

I trained from June of 1990-May of 2001, I believe he past away in the summer of 01'

I haven't trained in about 7 years now, and would love to get back into it. Not for the Training part but for the Mental side of Martial Arts.

There are too many belt factories out there, so I have to pick and choose. True Martial Arts Overlake was the first school, and they split apart to become two different schools, as David Barrett is now running TMA Overlake.

[ElTiburon026]

I miss playing baseball lol. I played little league every year since I was 4 years old, and my dad started teaching me to play from the time I could walk. My dad was an infielder and catcher in high school and was apparently scouted by a few clubs, but ended up giving a baseball career to take care of me and my mom. Both of my dads brothers also played baseball: one of them, Al was given a tryout with the Blue Jays in the 90's and the other, Gary, pitched for the University of Alabama from 1997-1999 (I think). Gary and I have always been pretty close, and he used to share baseball stories with me all the time. When he went away to college, we talked on the phone almost every day. He was like my big brother. Gary has played against Pat Burrell and Lance Berkman in college. For a while, Gary was close with Mo Vaughn's younger brother (whose name escapes me at the moment), and I actually once met Mo myself. A second cousin of mine, Angel Echevarria, has played both in the majors and in Japan. I guess you could say baseball runs in the family. In addition, I'm also pretty friendly with a couple of pro players who live in my home city, but I don't really brag about it cuz it's nobody significant.

Playing baseball was the best. I was always a pretty good hitter, and as I got older, I developed into a pretty good power hitter. My best positions were right field, third base and catcher, with catcher being my stronger point. I used to stand at the plate like Ken Griffey, Jr., because other than my uncle, Ken was my FAVORITE baseball player lol. There was nobody better than the Kid! But my baseball "career" went down the drain in my freshman year of high school when I snapped my ankle in football practice. I was never the same, and five years later, I haven't played since. I'd give anything to get back into the game, and I'm sure I can still play, but I've always had my doubts since I got injured. Right now I'm attending community college, and when I transfer to a four-year college, I might try out for their baseball team if they have one.

[Red Sox Fan 734]

As for hitting, I make contact, I almost never strike out, and I foul anything not right down the middle off. That makes for long at bats, lots of walks and when I hit it fair, its usually a good linedrive off a pitch right down the pipe.

Lol I always do that. In my league there is a pitch count limit so if the other team has a good pitcher I will just go up there and foul off 5-10 pitches. I thought I was the only 1 who fouled off pitches that weren't right down the pipe.

[RedsoxRockies]

I miss playing baseball lol. I played little league every year since I was 4 years old, and my dad started teaching me to play from the time I could walk. My dad was an infielder and catcher in high school and was apparently scouted by a few clubs, but ended up giving a baseball career to take care of me and my mom. Both of my dads brothers also played baseball: one of them, Al was given a tryout with the Blue Jays in the 90's and the other, Gary, pitched for the University of Alabama from 1997-1999 (I think). Gary and I have always been pretty close, and he used to share baseball stories with me all the time. When he went away to college, we talked on the phone almost every day. He was like my big brother. Gary has played against Pat Burrell and Lance Berkman in college. For a while, Gary was close with Mo Vaughn's younger brother (whose name escapes me at the moment), and I actually once met Mo myself. A second cousin of mine, Angel Echevarria, has played both in the majors and in Japan. I guess you could say baseball runs in the family. In addition, I'm also pretty friendly with a couple of pro players who live in my home city, but I don't really brag about it cuz it's nobody significant.

Playing baseball was the best. I was always a pretty good hitter, and as I got older, I developed into a pretty good power hitter. My best positions were right field, third base and catcher, with catcher being my stronger point. I used to stand at the plate like Ken Griffey, Jr., because other than my uncle, Ken was my FAVORITE baseball player lol. There was nobody better than the Kid! But my baseball "career" went down the drain in my freshman year of high school when I snapped my ankle in football practice. I was never the same, and five years later, I haven't played since. I'd give anything to get back into the game, and I'm sure I can still play, but I've always had my doubts since I got injured. Right now I'm attending community college, and when I transfer to a four-year college, I might try out for their baseball team if they have one.

Mo Vaughns brother was Greg Vaughn

[RickD]

Did you break the thumb?

I ruptured a thigh muscle chugging around second on my way to an easy inside-the-park homer.

Yeah I did...hurt to know end....totally a bonehead play. I was playing 3rd at the time, this short, I mean really short fella came to bat....he'd been hitting towards first most of the game and didn't show too much power. I was kind of relaxed....discounting the guy....he hit's a rocket straight towards me. I lifted my glove, missed by a hair and it nailed my other hand right in the crook of the thumb.

[HoustonGM]

Mo Vaughns brother was Greg Vaughn

They're cousins, actually, not brothers.

[RedsoxRockies]

They're cousins, actually, not brothers.

Oh lol, I knew that! That is where Baseball Reference comes in handy....