INTRODUCTION
Since World War II, there has been a tremendous change in the makeup and direction of "kid baseball", as it is called.
Adults, showing an unprecedented interest in the activity, have initiated and developed programs in thousands of towns across the United States programs that provide wholesome recreation for millions of youngsters and are often a source of pride and joy to the community in which they exist.
The young player of today is smartly uniformed and fully equipped. He plays on a miniature Big League diamond ruled by uniformed umpires. He often plays before large crowds and occasionally gets his name in a newspaper.
The professional recreation people say all this represents a commendable contrast to the pre-war kid baseballer who did most of his playing in a vacant lot, or cow pasture, with a ball that was more friction tape than ball.
They add, however, that the diamond programs have mushroomed so rapidly that baseball "education" the teaching of individual and team play has, unwittingly to be sure, dragged behind.
Many leaders, of course, have had wide baseball experience and are well-equipped to teach the game.
But many thousands who have eagerly rushed in to handle this vast new army of youngsters, are relatively inexperienced and seeking aid.
Then, too, there are others father, uncles and brothers of players who would like to help out, but hesitate to do so because of an admitted lack of knowledge about baseball.
Since there has been a dearth of written material about the subject, it has been the objective of the writer to produce a manual that will provide player, manager, fan and father-coach with the kind of useful, practical information that can be applied to amateur baseball, especially to those programs for 8 to 18 year-olds.
Most of the book is devoted to individual and team play with these two major groupings broken down and presented in logical fashion and also in the order of importance.
For example, the three major skills batting, running and throwing are given first. The specialized skills, such as pitching and catching, follow. Team play, of course, is divided in
two parts offense and defense.
The reader will find diagrams and sketches supplementing the words that describe the more important and complicated parts of play.
He will also discover that the text is sprinkled with many of the colorful phrases used by the professionals, such as "throw wild to the glove side", "stand on your big toes", and "show the button".
The pros have used these expressions for years because they so aptly describe important points about diamond play.
It should be pointed out that the fundamentals of base-ball batting, fielding, throwing, running the bases are as basic for the Little Leaguer as they are for the professional playing in the Big Leagues.
As a result, there is something in the following text for every baseball enthusiast.
