Customer Reviews

Play Better Baseball : Winning Techniques and Strategies for Coaches and Players

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you are doing Little Leauge this is the one book you must get, the pitching information in this book has moved my team to first place with the development of four pitchers that have two and three pitchs that work great. Pitching is the key to winning games at the Minor and major levels. My fielders are doing great with the fielding drills in this book. This book has me and my team I am sure it can help yours.

Cluck shows his expertise as he teaches players and coaches how to succeed in baseball. The best thing about this book is that it can help players of all ages and positions: pitchers, catchers, infielders, and outfielders. For players and coaches at all levels, this is a very helpful guide to the greatest game on the planet.

and especially for coaches of younger players. This book reviews lots of fundamentals and is written in a pretty straight-forward, easy to read manner. It is not for the college level player, but anyone below that will find at least 1 pearl here worth remembering.

I saw this book mentioned in my favorite column in the l.a. times sports section. I thought i would check it out and it is awesome. I had heard about the San Diego School of Baseball, but i never had the chance to attend and now i feel i have a second chance. This book is excellent for anyone interested in playing, coaching or even just watching the game.

A must read for all Coaches. Bob covers all the aspects of instruction, most appealing are the chapeters on hitting and pitching mechanics and the fielding diagrams. Even though you may have been invloved with baseball for years, you will find information that will help your team.

My nephew was having trouble keeping up with the league he was in. After a few weeks reading and working with this lifesaving book he is amuch better player, most of all his self esteem! Now he is such a HAPPY GUY! Now our whole league is using this as their Bible for the game Thank you

I will mainly direct my comments on the batting section (an area I am most knowledgeable), although I did see some odd advice in the pitching section also.

I have many baseball instructional books and would in general recommend to be VERY cautious when all the pictures in the book are staged, 'posed' pictures (as opposed to high speed pictures taken of actual swings). Staged pictures rarely match reality- why not use actual swing shots?? Probably because reality does not match the coach's teachings! That's what this book has- staged (wrong) pictures.

In the hitting section Cluck states such gems as "the barrel of the bat should remain above the hands at all times" when describing a swing. This is NOT how a batter swings- as a picture at contact of any good hitter would show. The bat always points down- hands ABOVE the barrel. He then states that "...videotape or tape might be very helpful to show the hitter the importance of this concept." I wish the AUTHOR had checked some videotape!

Later he says when trying to cure a certain batting problem that "it will never be eliminated". Wow- that is really optimistic, especially when dealing with kids! Of course maybe the swing can't be fixed because you are trying to follow this author's advice.....

Some graphics (page 172) are deceptive- the pitch is shown traveling perfectly horizontal, when in fact a ball angles down at several degrees as is comes down from the mound. This is an important distinction when you are trying to learn a proper (planar) swing path that matches the path of the incoming pitch.

Sorry to go on like this, but I can't help it!

Go to page 167- I would much rather have my son swing like the "bad swing" picture, than the "good swing" picture beside it. He advocates a straight to the ball, downward swing that will result in groundouts and poor bat speed. He tells a batter to use an 'inside out' swing, but does not explain how to do this, or what such a swing looks like at contact.

From experience I have heard many of his theories, and, not knowing any better, used them with my son when he was young. After a few years I realized they did not work and luckily bought Ted Williams book, that started me on the right path. He now is 12 years old and is the # 1 player in his league, and he never would have been that if I followed this book's teachings!

This book, even in the oldest version, covers all the basics for every player position as well as just about any situation you would confront during a game. No tricks, just solid information. I have purchased about two dozen of these for coaches and players who glanced through the book and simply had to have a copy of their own. I've bought other baseball coaching books, but they stay on the shelf. This book is especially good if you're coaching for the first time or have been away from the game for a few years.

I HAVE READ A DOZEN INSTRUCTIONAL BOOKS ON THE GAME OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, AND THIS ONE ALONG WITH MR.CLUCK'S OTHER BOOKS, WAS A SURE PERFECT GAME. I AM A PROUD OWNER OF A BOOK HE WROTE ON BASERUNNING. I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO DISCOVER THIS ONE AND SUGGEST THAT IT SHOULD BE DISPLAYED ON YOUR BOOKSHELF NEXT TO YOUR COPY OF HOW TO HIT/HOW TO PITCH.