My career unfortunately takes me away during my kids Little League season. My wife is great at sending me videos of their at bats and of them pitching along with inning by inning text updates. It’s not the real thing, in person experience, but it’s what we do.

Both my kids are decent little players and usually have a good game. Zachary, my younger Dude is still shy on the phone and doesn’t really give me much info about his game. When I ask him questions, the answer is almost always, “Good”. Cracks me up every time.

My older Dude, Christopher, has some talent. We talk after every game when he is in the car on their way home. I make it a point to always ask him how his team did. Who had a good game? Who pitched well? Who got the good hits? Who made good plays in the field? Then after that’s all said and done I will let him talk about himself just a little.

My children will be brought up being considerate of others and I believe baseball can be a great way to teach them this lesson. It’s important to me that they naturally recognize others and their efforts. Too often I see, and hear, players who all they seem to want to talk about is themselves. At my level, we call this a “Me Guy”. Trust me, this is a reputation, and label, you don’t want to have. This type of attitude can be traced back to one place, how they were brought up. These kids grow up in a house where all the parents do is tell them how great they are. I understand how as a parent we are proud of them and their accomplishments, but sit back and think about what type of person do you want your Dude to grow up and be.

My Dudes WILL NOT be “Me Guys”.

Chris Gissell (168 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.

It’s gotta be around 90% of ball players, HS/College/Pro players that utilize social media on a daily basis. Obviously I am active on both Facebook and Twitter myself. I rarely use my personal accounts, but am active on our Baseball Dudes business page on Facebook and our @BaseballDudes48 Twitter account.

Every year, professional players are given a lecture from the big league media staff about how careful they need to be. Players at this level learn early in their career that not only are the representing themselves, they are also representing Major League Baseball and the organization which they are playing for. These days the media uses social media to learn inside info quickly and learn personal things about specific players.

As for learning inside info quickly, let me explain this. Every year, we hear a story about a player, who was moved up or down, tweet about it before the other player, whoever is being moved from the other team, has been told they are being moved. You wouldn’t think this would be a big deal but often the move isn’t an obvious move and can send a panic through a clubhouse. It can disrupt that team for that nights game.

As for the media using social media to learn more about players, there is a fine line that players have to walk here. Social media is a great way for players to stay connected to their family/friends and even fans. The following that many pro players have on twitter can be very impressive but they have to be careful. As you saw last year with that college football player. That could happen to anybody who uses social media the wrong way. When you get to the college/pro levels of this game, it is crazy how some people out there will try and try to get into your life. More times than not, these are good people but you honestly never know.

Players also need to realize who looks at what they put out there. I’m talking about teammates, coaches, upper management and I’m sure even owners of teams. Just like in life when talking to someone, you should always think twice about what you are about to say. Especially when it’s out there for everyone to see. The simplest comments can ruin a reputation. Be smart boys!

Chris Gissell (168 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.

As a ball player, you are expected to be at the top of your game everyday. This is an expectation that the people watching the game have. But anybody who has played this game for an extended period of time knows that this just doesn’t happen.

There are many different factors that lead to a ball player not feeling 100% everyday. To name a few: didn’t sleep well, playing with a mild injury, off the field distraction. Keep in mind that none of these are excuses. You will have good days and bad days but don’t be an excuse maker. If you grow up being this type of person, it will make things tough.

I have seen it time and time again. Players out on the field are low in energy. Too often when you get to the bottom of the tiredness it comes out that the players nutrition is not what it needs to be. You are an athlete. Your goal is to be one of the best in the world. If this is the case for you, then your diet needs to be like the best. Fuel your body with what it needs to play at the highest level it can. Poor nutrition will cause your energy to fade quicker in a game than it should.

Educate yourself about what it takes nutritionally to be the best you can be.

Chris Gissell (168 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.

We have had a request to explain some popular baseball sayings that you might hear on the filed or on TV. Here you go:

“That was a bullet”
-A hard hit ball, usually a line drive.

“Can of corn”
-A fly ball that is high and right to a fielder.

“Bleeder”
-A short pop up that drops in front of the outfielder and behind the infielder.

“Thumber”
-A pitcher that does not throw hard.

“Swing Man”
-A pitcher that has the ability to do well as a starter and reliever.

“The 26th man”
-In the MLB, teams are only allowed 25 players on their active roster. There is always a guys who is good enough and deserves to be on the team, but there in no room. Thus, he is the 26th man.

“Coming in hot”
-You might hear this in a couple different situations. Maybe when a pitcher is throwing hard and maybe when a hitter makes good contact right at someone, a hard hit ball.

Chris Gissell (168 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.

I was talking with a student a couple weeks ago, who is a sophomore in HS, about his season last year. He had a rough time during school ball but had a much better summer. After more talk, it came out that he felt that he deserved more playing time during school ball and didn’t take it well. He then took more of a leadership role during summer ball where he had much better results.

The second you have the attitude or mindset that you deserve this or that, you are done. You HAVE to be able to handle adversity in this game the right way. Whether things are going good or bad, you have to stay positive if you want to produce. Do what you need to do to be the best you can be and let your talent speak for itself.

The moral of the story, the mind is a powerful thing. This kid had the same level of ability during school ball as he did during summer ball, but his mental state took him down. To be one of the best in this game, you HAVE to be mentally tough.

Chris Gissell (168 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.

Sports are an amazing thing.  They give us plenty of joy, always a good workout and for those that sports are a part of their life, they teach us life lessons.  In my opinion baseball is the toughest sport both physically and mentally. 

Physically, in baseball there are so many moving parts.  No matter what it is you are doing on the field, pitching-hitting-fielding-running-sliding-catching, all the moving parts of your body have to be in the right position at the right time to do it properly.  This is something that most people in the world just can’t do. The hand/eye coordination alone is so tough, yet it is just a small piece of what goes into being a solid baseball player.  Baseball is also a sport of repetition.  It is always a topic of discussion with my students and their parents.  If a player wants to be the best they can be, it takes a relentless work ethic. Professional players, and the best amateur players, will work on their game everyday.  Out of all the students I have, only a handful are dedicated enough to work on it everyday.  And believe me, it shows.  With the truly dedicated ones, there is progress made every single session. 

Now for the mental aspect of this game.  No other sport (again, in my opinion) comes close in comparison.  Baseball is a game of failure.  Think about it, to be a good hitter, you will fail 7 out of 10 times. To be a good pitcher the big leagues, you can allow 4.5 runs every nine innings and still make millions of dollars.  To be the best player on the field, there are life lessons to be learned that unfortunately most people never learn in their life.  To name a few; work ethic, dedication, self discipline, leadership, how to deal with adversity, how to deal with success, attitude, durability, accountability, how to be selfless and what it means to be a part of a team.  I could go on and on but I think you get my point.  So many tangibles go into being a great baseball player and that is why only .003% of little league (those who start in tee ball) baseball players will play in the big leagues someday.  

Without baseball, and the lessons it has taught me, I would not be the person-husband-father I am today.  The life lessons it has taught me, and still teaching me, are priceless.  I live a full and blessed life thanks to baseball and the mental toughness it has given me. 

Chris Gissell (168 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.

One of the best experiences in my baseball career so far.  Japan is a beautiful country and we would love to visit it again someday.  

First, let me talk briefly about how I was offered this opportunity.  There are many players in the minor leagues who are very good players but just aren’t sticking in the major leagues.  Many get chance after chance in the bigs but can’t get the job done.  Then there are many, like myself, that have had good minor league careers but just aren’t in the right place at the right time.  I was fortunate in 2004 to get my one chance but was not impressive at all.  

Japanese teams look for players who are considered 4A players.  Great AAA players who can’t seem to stick at the major league level.  For those who have been given the chance to play in Japan, including myself, it is a true blessing.  I know for me personally, if this didn’t happen to me, it very well might have felt like my playing days were all for nothing.  Playing in Japan is a life changing opportunity for every player who gets the chance.  If you pay attention to the game over there, you will see some big names pop up every once in a while.  For example, Brad Penny, signed to play for the Softbank Hawks a couple years ago.  

To go to a foreign country like Japan, you have to be open minded.  You have to respect their way of life.  If you go over there with the attitude that the way we do things in America is the only way, well then, you might as well turn around and head back home because it will never work.  We loved Asian food before we went over there, so the food part was very easy.  The accommodations though, was another story.  Our apartment had 6′ doorways which took me a whole season to get used to.  I had a permanent scab on the crown of my head from hitting it on almost every door jam.  We were not provided a car so we had to walk and take the train everywhere.  Not a big deal except for that our apartment was a 10-15 minute walk to the station, then I would spend 40-45 minutes on the train where I had to transfer twice and then once I made it to the field, there was another 5-10 minute walk to get to the clubhouse.  Now if I  had to do this for a little while, it would have been tolerable but doing it almost everyday, rain or shine, hot or cold, it started to ware pretty quickly.  

The game of baseball, is baseball where ever you go.  Once you step between the white lines, it’s on!  Although there are a few differences in the style over there.  For example, we call the count balls and then strikes where they call strikes then balls so instead of a full count being, 3-2 it’s 2-3.  Took a while to get used to that.  They have cheerleaders and would stop the game after the 5th inning for about 10 minutes to fix the whole field, the cheerleaders would put on a show and most of they players would go take a smoke break.  I never got used to this and would always start running out onto the field for the 6th but would have to stop and walk back.  Talk about a momentum killer!!  Very rarely will you see a game over there under 3 hours.

The fans are by far the best fans I have ever been around.  In the two years I was there, I NEVER once heard a boo, not once!!  Each team also had a cheering section who had a chant/song for every player.  When a player hit a homerun, the cheering section would chant their name until they tipped their hat.  

Like I said, my family and I are truly blessed to have had this opportunity.  We will always have great memories of our time over there and look forward to the time when we can visit there again.  

Chris Gissell (168 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.