Great One-Line Tips...

[johnlanza]

In another recent thread, I noticed some one-line tips that coaches (myself included) toss out there during the game. Just wondered what others here might add to these classic "helpful tips" that we bring up during the course of a game. Of course I'm being facetious about the helpfulness of some of these tidbits, but if you have some that you actually think work, please share.

These were mentioned in the recent thread:
"Hands to the Ball!"
"Stay in there!"
"Hey! Two eyes!"
"Point 'A' to point 'B'! Come on now!"
"Get baseball ready!"

Some of mine: (7/8 year-olds)
"You gotta call for the ball"
"See the ball. Hit the ball."
"Glove side" (Or "hand side", when re-positioning a fielder)
"Let's get some hits"
My favorite: "Team drinks on me!" (Post-game concession stand drink that is provided by the league)

[jbolt_2000]

For my Farm team (6-8y.o.) I have a couple:
"Eyes up, Hands Down!"
"Jaguars(team name)! Ready Position!"
and some of my favorites:
"Quit playing in the dirt!"
"Quit picking daisies!"
Or to my daughter - "Save the cartwheels for after the game!"

To my Juniors team (13-14 y.o.):
"Get Dirty!"
"Nothing fancy, just pitch how you know how to."
Here's one that I've used for a few years and it is ingrained into my players heads:
"Play H.A.R.D.!"
Some background: Early in the season I explain what each letter means and how it relates to my philosophies in baseball. Then in games they know what I expect:
H - Hustle (hustle on and off the field and in everything you do)
A - Attitude (have a positive attitude no matter what the score how you did in the previous inning)
R - Respect (respect your teammates, the other team, the umpires and the game itself)
D- Determination (be determined to try your best and give 100% no more no less. be determined to win and overcome any adversity that comes your way)

[The Flush]

Now I don't have to prepare for our next practice. I'll just print this thread and yell out these phrases randomly.

Is it better to say nothing than to say these phrases? You feel like you have to say something, but is it counterproductive?

[bbrages]

You feel like you have to say something, but is it counterproductive?

Heh, my favorite "one liners" are the groaners that you seem to hear on every game. When playing in the backyard, I love to tease my sons by saying them in a funny voice:

"Just play catch, Johnny!"
"You gotta catch that, Johnny!" (after an error)
"You gotta make that throw, Johnny!" (after an error)

(my kids are not named Johnny... )

[coach scotty]

Most useful one liner advice for the 10U crowd.

15 minutes till game time "everyone go to the bathroom"

Second best.

"Everyone double knot your shoe strings"

[Kan-Man]

The ones I use the most for our 7-year olds...

"Eyes on the batter"

"Play is to first"

"Think about where you're throwing the ball before it comes to you"

"You're right on it" (in reality, they're no where near it)

"Hit a home run and you're dad will give you 5 bucks" (the kids love this one... the dads do not)

"Robert... Robert... Robert!!!" (Robert never listens)

And my favorite from t-ball...

"One guy!" (shouted as the entire team converges on the ball... seemingly joined by random children from all over the tri-state area)

[Jake Patterson]

Now I don't have to prepare for our next practice. I'll just print this thread and yell out these phrases randomly.

Is it better to say nothing than to say these phrases? You feel like you have to say something, but is it counterproductive?

At some point it becomes counterproductive... If it gets the players focused on the matter at hand then no.. To often though, you can see the "What the hell is he talking about" look on their face.

They are usually parroted by coaches regurgitating the same nonsense they heard as a player. Or they are misusing/abusing cues.
I was

[Jake Patterson]

One of my favorites... (Coach Jake to mini-Jake about 22 years ago)

"Why are you peeing on the butterflies?"

[pb07bp]

Here are some of mine to my 7 year old rec team.

Wake up! (kids sitting on the field playing in the dirt)
Run! (ball was hit 2 seconds ago player still on first base)
Go get the ball! (ball has hit the fence outfielders just standing there)

To the 7 year old travel team.

Two out defense! (This has gotten good results. My kids use to make a lot of errors with two outs. I told them I want them to be most concentrated with two outs and to do anything in their power to record the last out of the inning cause then they can come in and hit.)

Stride when the pitcher releases the ball. (A lot of my kids stride late this helps them get their front foot down in time)

Keep the glove down!

Stay in front of the ball!

Two Hands!

That's about it

[UAME]

Off the top of my head, I hear these on any given night in our 8U league:

Fielders:
"Stay awake, outfield!"
"Gloves out! Down and ready!"
"Expect the baseball!"
"It's coming to you! Get ready!"
"Keep it in front of you!"
"Play's at first!"
"Use the big glove!"
"Get dirty, infield!"
"Stop looking at that train!" (A RR track runs just outside our park's outfield fence. Whenever the whistle blows, you've always got several fielders who turn and look at the RR crossing.)
"If it's hit to you, just step on the bag, Johnny!"
"Keep your glove down!"
"Throw it to his chest!"
"Hit the cut off!"


Batters:
"Get your pitch!"
"Good eye!"
"Now you're ready!"
"You're right on it!"
"Get on top!"
"Quick to the ball!"
"Straighten it out!"
"Stay back!"
"Elbow up!"
"Hands up!"
"Hands back!"
"Eyes up!"
"Turn on it!"
"Stay loose!"
"Watch the ball hit the bat!"
"It just takes one pitch!" or "All you need is one!"
"Run it out!"
"Run all the way through the bag! THROUGH the bag!"
"Get there!"
"Pick up your base coach!"

[Roothog66]

My favorite, as I've mentioned before, is "throw strikes." You just know the kid is out there with the goal of throwing it in the dirt and into the backstop. It's good to remind them every now and then that the object is to throw strikes just in case they forgot.

[danocaster]

My favorite, as I've mentioned before, is "throw strikes." You just know the kid is out there with the goal of throwing it in the dirt and into the backstop. It's good to remind them every now and then that the object is to throw strikes just in case they forgot.

Good one.

After the whole team struggled at the plate against a certain pitcher, the head coach gathers everyone around and says " Guys, YOU'VE GOT TO HIT THE BALL!" ....thank for that nugget of coaching wisdom Captain Obvious.

..and another from the same guy- "Y'all played so bad no one gets the game ball".

On a serious note:
-my son was lunging at the plate and I used the the cue "push back against the front leg"
- to the kids that are looking over the bridge of their nose at the pitcher "binocular vision" or " horse blinders"

[songtitle]

At a HS tourney game last night, I heard a dad yell to their pitcher, "let's get 2" after they had 1 out and nobody was on base. He was "helpful" with every pitch.

[Kan-Man]

One of the dads from my son's team is fond of yelling adjustments while the pitch is in the air. Which is usually followed by the batter turning towards the dad yelling at him as the pitch sails by. The dad is not a coach, by the way, but he is a former fullback for the Jets and is quite imposing so I usually just say, "listen to Johnny's dad, guys." And then, quietly, I tell my own son, "don't listen to Johnny's dad."

I'm thinking of renaming our team The Passive Aggressives.

[Jake Patterson]

"Hey! you gotta catch that ball!"
"Sorry dad! I thought that was the one I was supposed to drop."

[50hawaiianpunch]

Aloha Y'All,
All these one liners brings back a lot of fun memories, my son is now 13 and for the first time since he was 5yrs (t-ball) I'm not his coach.My favorite one liners was
"HAVE FUN"

[coach scotty]

"Stop looking at that train!" (A RR track runs just outside our park's outfield fence. Whenever the whistle blows, you've always got several fielders who turn and look at the RR crossing.)

HAHA we has a 7/8 coach pitch game on a field right next to an airport that does sky diving. During our game they had about 50 skydivers all just above the field. The other manager, the umpire and myself all agreed to take a 20 minute "distraction delay" before one of our kids got hurt because none of them could stop looking up at the skydivers.

[The Flush]

While only in my first year as a coach I have probably said most of these one-liners already. However, I think my most frequent ones are "Good job!", "Nice try!", "Way to hustle!" and "We'll get it next time."

[dhellett]

"Don't drop your shoulder."
"Get your foot down early."
"Elbow up."
"Stay closed."
"Think the other way."
"Sit fastball, adjust to off-speed."
"Get a good jump."
"Get your hands extended."
I hear these at my college games.

My personal favorite from one of our starting pitcher's dad, "Run it up there, chief!"

[bballdad175]

The only one that I have ever yelled that changed the outcome was "two steps to your left" and the ball went 3 steps to the right instead.

I asked my team once if they even knew what I meant when I said "keep your nose on the ball" and it was comical to hear their answers. So I stopped using that one. Now anything I yell to them from the 3rd base box has been explained previously.

But mostly I just say stuff like "hey - you're not that tall! you only get one of those!" Or, when they back out on the slowest knuckle ball I have ever seen "that wouldn't even hurt!"

Every now and then they'll take one on the noggin and as they are jogging to first (if it's one of those where they jog to first), they get a "hey that's using your head!"

I did tell my kids this year that the first player to steal second on a base-on-balls get's a candy bar of their choice from the snack bar. They have all fought to do that and we've taken at least 4 free bases this season. I told them that the first person gets the candy bar and everyone else gets a starburst. Amazing what a little candy does for the motivation.

[Jesse]

I use a few:

To a kid chasing bad pitches: “Don’t give him that! Make him pitch to you!”
To a pitcher who’s close to the strike zone: “Looks good, just straighten it out (or raise it up/get it down) a little!” or simply “Good pitch!”
To a shortstop that was caught off guard (not paying attention) and booted the ball: “Hey guys, there’s a ballgame going on here!”
Sometimes, in a clutch situation: “I need a hitter!” or “Let’s be a hitter, Johnny!” or “It’s up to you now!”
Sometimes, to my catcher: “Good decision.” I don’t say the implied part (bad throw).

I heard one from an opposing coach the other day that I liked. To his pitcher, with nobody on: “Just you and the batter, Johnny.”

I don’t know if they’re effective or not but saying them makes me feel all coach-y inside.

[hitnpeas]

While coaching our Coach Pitch team I've told our hitters: "Smash one back at the pitcher"

CF playing on the fence: "Come in, our game is in Texas not Oklahoma!!"

Pitcher throws a nice pitch yet it's called a ball...."Hit the same spot"

Weak hit by batter in our men's adult softball game: "Does your husband play ball too?"

BIG SWING and a MISS: "Hey blue, did he go?"

[HOOAH]

Now here's some one liners

http://www.heckledepot.com/

[azmatsfan]

One useless tip I've caught myself saying during games:

"Just throw strikes." (As if he's trying to throw the ball in the dirt.)

That's good coaching right there.

[pb07bp]

Coaching a travel team I once yelled out "are you scared of the ball?"

After the players jumped out of the way of a ground ball.

The player yelled back " Yes, haven't I made it clear already"