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Forgotten First (Dear Insulted)
by Dave
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
I have received my first bona fide Girls-Softball.com complaint e-mail last night. Complaining e-mails are par for the course for anyone who runs web sites. I assure you, dear visitors, that I have had my share of these over the years but all have related to other sites I own and operate. I have not received purely negative feedback on this site in the few years it has been online. I have received plenty in which persons have respectfully disagreed with me and I encourage that. There is plenty of room for disagreement in this sport and I have often been the beneficiary in these exchanges. But this particular e-mail struck a chord because perhaps the young lady who wrote it is correct. Here it is:
"Insulted" writes in to complain:
"Dear Sir,
Your softball website has insulted me multiple times. I am a first basemen on my softball team and what you say about first basemen is not at all helpful or flattering. I have been looking up ways to improve my fielding and batting, I saw your website and was deeply disappointed by the rude, stereotyped way you made people in this position seem. I have been playing this position for the past 3 years, NOT because I am "not the fleetest nor most graceful of foot." No I was placed in this position for the first time because I am one of the tallest people on the team. If you have ever actually watched a game of girls softball you will notice the first basemen is often the person who can stretch and jump the farthest to catch the ball. From this I have found that your site is uncharacteristically biased ... Thank you for your time."
Dear Insulted:
I am deeply sorry if I said unflattering things about first basemen and insulted you. It was never my intent to denigrate any particular position on the softball field. I truly believe that absolutely every girl who steps out onto the field to play defense or who otherwise participates in a fastpitch game is very valuable indeed. It is entirely possible that my bias towards the middle of the field (pitchers, catchers, shortstops and centerfielders) would lead you to believe I have forsaken other positions or viewed them in a disparaging fashion. I write this blog rather impulsively and do not try to demonstrate balance along the way. I rarely read my older postings and, as my attitudes undergo more or less of an evolution, I often forget to correct past errors. Also, because this is purely a hobby, I do not have time to go back and check the things I have said about one position or another. I won't do that now but I do feel morally obligated to at least address my rational feelings about first basemen in general and correct what I believe I may have said which caused you to write this e-mail.
First of all, there is no way on God's green Earth that I feel first base is a position which should be filled by a non-athlete. I do think that in early age group ball (mostly recreational), sometimes inexperienced coaches who perhaps do not know the game very well place unathletic girls at first. Any travel (and above) coach will tell you that first is a key position. The person filling that slot must intuitively understand the goings on of the game and know immediately what to do with the ball. She must defense against bunts so she must be alert and agile. She must have a good throwing arm as the demands placed on her by softball action are far greater than those on her baseball brethren. She is often the captain of the infield or otherwise instructs others on where to make plays. And she must be able to handle the normal burdens of a first baseman on ordinary infield grounders.
I had the extreme pleasure of having one very talented first baseman on a 12U travel team I coached. The girl was one of the best pure athletes on our team that year. She had a great throwing arm and made more plays than just about anyone. Unfortunately, she also liked to pitch. So at least once each tournament day, I had to find someone else to play the position. That experience was one of my bigger nightmares. I think just about everyone on the team tried it for a couple innings but nobody was nearly as successful.
We started with the oldest, biggest kids but nothing worked. One girl was tall enough and agile enough to cover bunts but her throwing arm was so erratic, we had to move her. Another girl could play the position of receiver at first quite well but she wasn't mobile enough to defense bunts. Another was mobile enough and had an excellent arm but too short to make a decent target at the base. Others had their particular weakness and, in almost every case, that weakness caused us dearly.
The truth is first base is almost as important as any other position on the field. A properly run defense goes through first so much that having anything but a real athlete there is a mistake. I have watched numerous ASA Gold teams run the play with a runner on third in which the first baseman comes down the line to catch the throw, tags the runner, spins and throws home. This is one of my favorite defensive plays though I don't believe I have mentioned it before. The girl playing first has to have the agility of a shortstop, the arm of a catcher, and the instincts of the best sort of player in order to pull it off. I suppose that is why I have not seen any but the very best teams attempt the play.
In addition to the athleticism needed to play first for advanced plays, there are also many unique aspects to the position which I have not ever before addressed on this blog. The first baseman in softball generally plays at or in front of the bag unlike her baseball counterpart. That's because softball is a speed game in which small ball aspects are more prevalent. The softball first baseman must deal with bunting and slapping to a far greater degree. She places herself almost as close as the third baseman and as a result, often has to make "hot corner" plays which require incredibly quick reactions. But even when she doesn't, when balls are hit to other infielders, her job is more difficult than a baseball 1B is.
When there is a grounder to another infielder or, heaven help us, a dropped third strike, the first baseman has to cover the bag properly. While this may seem a minor task, if she's playing in, the footwork is rather difficult. Not only that, she must accomplish it often with her back turned to the player making the throw. That's easy to visualize when we're talking about a dropped third and there appears to be plenty of time to get back before the runner since she has a 40 foot or more head start, but finding the bag, making the catch on what is often a difficult throw from behind the oncoming runner's back, having to do this without allowing other runners, particularly from third, to advance is enormous pressure, not to mention an athletically speaking difficult chore. Change the scenario to an infielder making a play on a grounder and what you have is a situation in which the fielder is not going to wait for the 1B to turn around and face her before letting the ball loose. As I said, it isn't easy, the footwork is difficult and the stresses are enormous.
Long before I went behind the plate, I was an infielder. I stayed away from short but played the 3 other positions. I hated first because, although I could catch fine, I did not know the footwork then and still don't have a command of it today - that's why you'll never find me handing out much advice on playing first. Second was not my favorite position either and most often I played third because I had the arm for it. I have to tell you that, as a first baseman, I learned greater appreciation for the position of 1B than perhaps any other position. In rec ball, I played with OK first basemen but nothing to write home about. In all-stars, we had some very good first basemen. Whereas in rec, I was tense about making throws to first, I felt that in all-stars, having all these great first basemen made me a better third basemen. I was absolutely confident that the guy on the receiving end was going to catch even my most erratic throws.
As an adult who watches a lot of professional baseball and amateur softball, I have learned even greater appreciation for the 1B. That's because I have had occasion to watch mediocre and even bad 1Bs numerous times. You can tell when you've got a bad 1B in the field because the infielders all take too much time to make their throws and they all tense up on run of the mill plays. You may get away with that in baseball but you can't do that in fastpitch where just about every play is bang bang.
In conclusion, I apologize to "insulted" and every other girl who plays and loves the position of first base, if I have given you too little credit or attention, if I have in any way insulted your playing abilities. It was not my intent to do so. Any such result must come from my lack of knowledge (though not appreciation) of the position. You might even say the position intimidates me more than any other. I assure you I do have appreciation for first basemen. I assure you that if I have hinted that unathletic kids often play the position, it was always my intent to say I thought that was a bad idea. I hope I will be forgiven by first basemen throughout the world.Labels: defense
Permanent Link: Forgotten First (Dear Insulted)
 
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