Baseball Positions Need to Fit Like a Glove When I was a Little League baseball player, I used to wonder what

it would be li ke to play a position other than first base. I suppose at that age and in that s port, it is only natural to wonder about the various baseball positions and what they're all about, so I asked my coach if I could try out different places duri ng practice, and he agreed. The first position I was moved to was shortstop. While I loved to play there bec ause there was so much action, being a bigger kid, I did not have the kind of ra nge to cover the amount of ground that some of my smaller and quicker teammates did, so I quickly abandoned that idea. I next moved to catcher, and I quickly discovered that, while some baseball posi tions were more difficult than others, playing catcher was the hardest of all. H aving to call the pitches, enduring foul balls smacking into your face mask, and running after every wild pitch and at the Little League level, there are many o f them I was completely exhausted. I tried playing in the outfield, but once again my lack of speed became an issue , and I had difficulty judging the distance on fly balls, which led to many emba rrassing scenes. My next stop was pitcher, where I was actually pretty good. I threw the ball har d and good aim, but the problem there was that when I pitched, one of our pitche rs was moved to first base, and he did not have nearly as good a glove as I had. My coach had always told me that baseball positions were very particular things. While some positions could be played almost interchangeably, he told me, many w ere more suited to a certain body type, or level of strength, speed or stamina. He explained to me that first base was a good position for me because I was a bi g guy with a good glove. He added that he did not want me to get too tired out i n the field because he needed my stick. I don't how much of that was just to placate me, but I did bat cleanup for our t eam, and it did make me feel good to hear him praise my batting. Now that I have my own son and have had the opportunity to coach a Little League team of my own, I understand even better what my coach was saying about basebal l positions. I have kids on my team who have asked to pitch or catch or play som e other position that they really have no business playing. I usually just take a moment and remember my youth and my own experiences with t he various baseball positions and decide to let them go and give them a try.