“Oh, no, it’s totally real,” Dad said as he started to laugh and walked away.
The reporter turned to the camera.
“I think we’ll have to leave it to our viewers to decide if this is a hoax or not.”
You could hear the cameraman laughing, and the reporter smirked. It must have been a slow news day if they were goofing off on fluff pieces like that.
◊◊◊
Lunch was chaos. Cassidy had to threaten me because I was on my last nerve with Alan and his questions. “Yes, I auditioned to be in Star Wars … Yes, I did get to shoot a blaster … No, I didn’t see any Wookiees … No, I can’t use ‘The Force’; I tried out for Han Solo, and he’s not a Jedi … I know what my dad said, and like I told him, that’s not how ‘The Force’ works … It’s all done with CGI. No one can use ‘The Force’ … Yes, it was fun … No, I can’t get you a role in the movie … No, I don’t have Harrison Ford’s phone number.”
◊◊◊
At baseball practice, Coach Haskins showed me how to steal a base while Coach Herndon taught the pitchers the proper way to pitch out of the stretch.
“At first, I want you to go each time the pitcher releases the ball, to get used to breaking at the right time. We’re going to try two different running techniques. I don’t think either is better than the other. We’ll figure out which one works best for you,” Coach Haskins said.
“How will we do that?” I asked.
“We’ll time you and see which gets you to second base the fastest.”
“Usually, I just smile.”
Coach wasn’t impressed with my witty comment and made me run five laps around the field to ‘adjust my attitude.’ While I ran, he worked with some of the other players on base-stealing. When I came back, he made me wait my turn as he coached Brock.
“The two techniques to start your run are the directional step and the crossover. Let’s try the directional step first. Now watch how I have my feet,” Coach said and showed how he had his feet planted just a little wider than shoulder-width. “With the directional step, there’s typically a little hesitation step on the lead leg. That’s to turn your foot so the toe’s pointed to the base you want to steal.”
Coach demonstrated picking up his foot and turning it before he began his run.
“What the directional step does is allow you to shift weight towards the edge of your base of support so you can gain momentum quickly. It is added movement, but it can help create a better mechanical advantage for you to get up to speed faster.”
He had Brock try five runs to second so he felt comfortable doing it. He then timed him for the next five.
“The second is the crossover. You dig in the foot closest to the direction you want to go and then use that lead leg to push off while your trailing leg crosses the lead leg.”
Brock did this several times until he felt good, and then Coach timed him.
“If you’re facing a pitcher who has a weak move to first, what you can do is cheat your lead foot back a bit. That also applies if you have a catcher with a weak arm,” Coach said and then demonstrated.
His lead foot was now a couple of inches further back from his front foot.
“What this does is open your hips more, and there’s less body weight in your way as you turn and run,” Coach explained.
Brock tried it with both techniques, and it did help his time by a little. Brock was faster with the crossover move.
Then it was my turn. Coach had me do both, and my times were surprisingly identical.
“Can I try something?” I asked.
“Tell me what you want to try.”
“In my speed training, I do a drill where I begin with my knee on the ground, my back foot planted, and I’m parallel to the line of scrimmage. What I do is use my planted foot to lift and push myself towards the line. In essence, it’s the same thing as the directional step, except I don’t have that hesitation,” I explained.
“Show me.”
The drill taught you how to change direction with speed. If you thought about it, that was what base-stealing was. You faced home plate and had to turn to run down the baseline. I pushed off my back foot, and instead of doing the directional step to get my body going in the right direction, I took a full step towards second. I’ll admit that if I hadn’t run the speed drill thousands of times, it would have felt awkward compared to the directional step method.
Coach timed me, and I was faster doing it that way. I’d found that placing my front leg slightly behind helped. Then Coach showed me I could turn the toe of my lead leg slightly towards second base to open my hips even more, making it easier to run. What slowed you down was that you had to twist your body ninety degrees to run down the baseline. If I cheated and only had to turn seventy degrees, it cut a fraction of a second off my time. Every bit helped.
The only downside to this was if the pitcher had a good move to first, your lead foot suddenly became your back foot. Then you didn’t have the power to push off as you would with your feet squared up.
“Stealing bases isn’t necessarily about speed, it’s about being smart. Let’s talk about where you want to start out. First, you don’t want to be even with the bag. Instead, I want you to start at the back,” Coach said.
He put his foot against the bag and then moved it back so the toe touched the back corner.
“This is in case they try to pick you off. We train the first baseman to block the bag with his foot. Plus, if you’re further back, he has a longer reach to tag you.”
He had me try it, and I could see what he meant when he acted like a first baseman. It gave me a clear path back to the bag instead of possibly hitting his foot or ankle if I dove back.
“Now when you go to take your lead, I want you to shuffle your feet. Never cross them over to get to your spot, because a good pitcher will pick that moment to throw to first,” Coach said as he demonstrated.
“You want to get a three- or three-and-a-half-step lead, depending on the pitcher and how good his pickoff move is. Once you’re in place, check to make sure you’re still in line with the back edge of both first and second base. You don’t want to be too far forward or back. A straight line is your fastest in either direction.
“When you get in your leadoff stance, your weight should be fifty-fifty on each leg, because you don’t know which direction you’re going,” Coach said.
He had me practice getting into position. When he was happy, he brought in Johan and Justin to catch and pitch. Jim played first, and Brock took second. Coach Herndon talked to the defenders about how to hold me on first, while Coach Haskins coached me on how to steal.
“Watch Justin, and when he begins his move towards home, you need to be off. If you wait until you see the ball’s out of his hand, it’ll be too late.”
Everyone knew I was going, so Justin threw to first the first five times. I think they just wanted to see me eat dirt. I was glad I had my new sliding glove that protected my fingers. It looked like a flipper, but it protected my fingers and kept my thumb in against my hand. I could see myself diving for the bag and my thumb catching the edge of the bag and snapping off.
Coach Haskins stopped play so he could give me a tip.
“Watch the heels of his feet. If the one on the pitching rubber lifts, he’s coming to first. If his lead-foot heel moves, he’s going to home.”
“So my focus is on his front foot,” I said.
“If he lifts it, you go.”
With my new information, I stole second on Justin four straight times. Coach Herndon stepped over to talk to him and gave me an evil grin. Something was up. On the next pitch, I took off, and instead of it being an easy steal, it was a bang-bang play. Coach Herndon called me out, which I felt was bull.
When I got back to first, Coach Haskins pulled me aside to watch what Justin had done.
“I want David to see what you did,” Coach called out.