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Aluminum baseball bats are Usually preferred to wooden bats due to their light weight and high power (note: pro players are allowed to use wood bats only). Lighter bats are usually preferable to heavier bats as they allow the hitter to create sufficient speed to put some “oomph” into it (although there are restrictions about bat weights at most levels). Additionally, aluminum bats can supply more “pop” of the baseball off the bat, and are much more stable (therefore cost effective) than wooden bats. Bats today are becoming increasingly high tech and costly

College baseball bats are more high-tech than the bats that the pros use. The pros, you see, are behind the times with their baseball bats. Their wood relics have been out of style for years. Wood makes for baseball bats that are heavier, less long lasting, and less functional than their counterparts made from aluminum.

Today’s best baseball bats are to be found in the college ranks. They’re made of military grade aluminum provided by corporations like Alcoa and Kaiser. And these companies keep working on this aircraft aluminum to make it stronger, thinner, lighter, and more stable.

These aluminum alloys go by their corporate trade names or numbers, and customarily by brand names too. You can sometimes find that the same trade name is marketed by different bat makers by unlike brand names.

If you want to see if your college baseball bats are made from one of these advanced alloys, simply look at the bat. Customarily, manufacturers are so proud of the fact that they’ll advertise it in big bold letters on the bat. Then again, if you’re bat is -11 or lighter, it is required by law not to state what kind of alloy is used in its assembly. In any case, these lighter bats probably do not contain the stronger newer alloys. To make weight, the producer possibly used a lighter alloy for the thinner walls of the bat.

If you want to be able to know accurately what is in your college baseball bats, look for the grade number on them. For instance, a grade number of 7046 means that the bat is fabricated with standard aircraft aluminum, a material fit for many budget bats.

The grade 7050 means the aluminum alloy contains an amount of copper, which makes it one-third stronger than 7046. Other numbers and grades, of course, designate other alloy blends and dissimilar strengths.

Baseball bats are measured using their length to weight ratio, a negative number that represents how many ounces a bat weighs compared to it’s length in inches. For example, a 32 inch bat that weighs 28 ounces is a - 4. The largest ratio is in the range of -12 (for little league bats), while college and high school bats are restricted to a - 3. These restrictions are for safety reasons - a college or high school player swinging a very light bat (- 4 +) would simply have too much power and could pose a danger to other players on the field. Make sure to check the regulations of your league before buying a baseball bat!

About the Author

William Smith lives in Florida with his wife and three cats. William writes frequently on many subjects that may be of interest to all. Discover all the joys and secrets of baseball at Baseball’s Holy Grail

Baseball Fielding Drills: Bucket Ball
By: Dave Cole

Bucket Ball

Bucket Ball is a fun fielding drill that not only gives the kids
a lot of practice catching ground balls, but also keeps them
interested and motivated.

Choose two captains, then let them pick up sides from your team.

You’ll need two empty 5 gallon buckets or two milk crates.

Place one bucket on the ground a couple of feet down the first
base line from home plate, and the other down the third base
line.

One group of kids goes to first base, the other to third base.

Rules are:

* You must catch the ball before you can throw it back.
* The ball must be thrown in the bucket on 2 to 4 hops.
* No throwing directly into the bucket on the fly.
* No bowling, or rolling the ball on the ground to the bucket.
* First team to get 5 in a bucket wins the first round.
* Then groups switch bases for the second round.
* No running in to throw, the throw is made from first or third
base.

We sometimes have it so the person with the most thrown in the
bucket gets to hit first in practice. You can think up other
ways of rewarding the most catches or throws.

It’s a bit harder to get the balls in the bucket than you might
imagine. The kids have a lot of fun cheering each other on and
they learn focus on catching the ball and throwing at a target.

It goes a lot faster if you have two coaches hitting the balls.

In about 15 minutes each kid can get a lot of grounders and no
one gets bored standing around because this is a fast moving
game.

About the author:
Dave Cole
Copyright

You can have more really cool baseball drills and info about
all aspects of the Great Game of Baseball, plus other sports,
by visiting our site:

http://ponyball.net/baseball-drills-strategy.html

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The early part of the Twentieth Century saw the rise of an age that has come to be known as the Dead Ball Era of baseball. The Dead Ball Era reportably spanned the Progressive Reform Age leading up to the Roaring Twenties, which ran from 1900 to 1919. During this time, professional and semi-professional ball clubs relied heavily on defense and pitching, and scoring was at a premium.

Pitchers dominated the pace of the games, and several legendary pitchers established their lasting legacy during this period. Some of the most notable were Cy Young, Walter Johnson and Grover Cleveland Alexander. In part, these fellows and several others were responsible for a lack of offensive production during this period, but there were other reasons as well.

“Dead Ball” also describes the baseball’s actual condition, especially in the latter stages of the games after it had been manipulated, defaced and altered, which was standard practice at that time. Baseballs were considered expensive, and at three dollars each, generally only one ball was used per game. The hardness and aerodynamics of the ball were poor by modern standards and thus the sphere was detrimental to a hitter’s success.

In general terms, even though the ball was “dead” by most accounts, it actually did not provide a huge advantage to either offense or defense. The ball could not be hit for great distance, but the poor condition of the ball decreased the speed while increasing the movement of the pitch, thus making it somewhat easier for the hitters to make contact. Hit balls did not generate the tremendous speed off the bat as in today’s game. This benefited the defenders in the field. Balls were only replaced if they were hit into the stands and lost. There were not many long-ball hitters and “short game” strategy was common, although some sources say that strategy as a whole was lacking in the Dead Ball Era, which may have further added to a lack of offensive production.

The “foul-strike” rule was installed in 1901 in the National League and 1903 in the American, whereas hitters were charged with their first two strikes on foul balls. The new rule benefited pitchers and cause offensive output to decline further. It also remained legal to throw “spit balls”, and although illegal, defacing the ball in some way was a very common practice. Consequently, as you might expect with these conditions, hitting a soft, wet, and usually defaced ball resulted in may singles and fewer doubles, triples and homers.

Dividing pitching responsibility among a larger bullpen also became trendy, as did the sacrifice bunt. Both of these strategies had a detrimental effect as well on a hitter’s overall performance. Strangely, there were some legendary record setting hitters from this era, most notably, Ty Cobb. Hailing from Georgia, his nickname was the “Georgia Peach,” Cobb was best known for his pinpoint hitting accuracy and his never-say-die stubborn character. He set the record for career batting average at .366 and for runs scored with 2,245; both marks still stand to this day. He also finished his career first in hits; this record stood until the mid-1980s when Pete Rose broke the record. In 1936, Ty Cobb became the very first inductee of baseball’s Hall of Fame, earning 222 out of 226 votes.

During the “Dead Ball Era”, managers relied on defensive strategy much more than offensive strategy. It was said, “you could shake a tree and find a bat, but finding a glove was a whole different matter.” Offensive skills were not highly sought after by managers. The focus was on defense. Some critics argue that “dead” baseballs probably were not the cause of low scoring, given there was no change in the ball’s construction between the high scoring 1890s and the low scoring 1900s. The 1894 season saw the highest offensive totals in runs scored ever recorded in the National League. The construction of the ball was changed in 1911 in an attempt to make the ball livelier and to increase scoring. The balls were corked for the first time. And yet, the Dead ball Era continued for another eight years-until 1919.

In 1908, an incident occurred in the National League that has come to be widely known as the “Merkle Incident.” It occurred during a regular season meeting between the Giants and the Cubs, In a tie game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, runners on first and third, a single hit by Al Bridwell apparently won the game for the Giants as the runner scored from third. However, Fred Merkle was on first and ran to the clubhouse instead of advancing to second base, partly because the fans were mobbing the field at the Polo Grounds and partly because it was not entirely customary in that era to run out game winning hits. The Cubs’ second baseman, Johnny Evers later claimed to have alertly retrieved the ball and tagged second base. By a strict interpretation of the rules, Merkle was forced out at second, and the game winning run nullified. Because of the pandemonium on the field, none of the umpires saw Evers make the play. Since an official protest was registered, the League ordered the game replayed at the end of the season only if it was necessary. It turned out that it was necessary when the Cubs and Giants ended the regular season tied for first place. The Cubs won the replayed game and then went on to win the League pennant and then the World Series. The Chicago Cubs have not won a World Series since.

Even though it wasn’t brought to the media’s and public’s attention until 1920, no article on the Dead Ball Era would be complete without mentioning The White Sox of 1919, or as they have become widely known: the “Black Sox”. Many of the White Sox players felt they were underpaid. This was in light of a new trend where owners in both leagues offered the best players much higher salaries than they had been previously paid. At the same time, White Sox Owner Charlie Comiskey felt cutting costs was the best response to a poor showing by his team in 1918. As a result, a conspiracy ensued by eight of the starting White Sox players to throw the World Series.

Many observers of the series suspected this was the case and a long running controversy eventually led to a Grand Jury investigation. Eddie Cicotte was the first to come forward and admit his part in the conspiracy, followed by “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. All eight of the “Black Sox” were suspended from baseball. Even though there was no law against conspiring to throw baseball games, and all 8 players were eventually acquitted, they were all ruled permanently ineligible.

About the Author

This article was written by FR Penn sponsored by http://www.stubhub.com. If you’re looking for baseball tickets to see your favorite team live in action, look no further than Stubhub.com where fans buy and sell the hottest sports tickets. Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a link back to http://www.stubhub.com.

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Baseball In January? I must be loco. ? Here it is January 2. What am I thinking about? Baseball, and specifically my glove.

Hey, I used to do that when I was a kid. That’s one habit I cannot seem to break. I have not tried very hard to snap that habit. ? I can see my glove in my minds eye in the garage on top of a heap of my daughter’s softball gear. Her glove, her batting gloves, and some softballs are all in the milk crate in my garage. ? I remember as a kid I would always find time to think baseball in January. I would find my glove to make sure that it still has the fit I liked. Hey I had not played in three months. Maybe the glove some how got disfigured by the by by well whatever. I had to do some oiling of my glove. Hey I had to take care of the mitt. I had to get back into the swing of things. And the swing of things meant baseball.?

I had to go and find my bat. Did it still feel right to me? I think I will take a few practice swings. Nice and easy. As I checked out my wrists I started getting a warm glow. How many days ’till the season starts? I can’t wait. ? Now it was time to pick up the baseball. Get that grip in my hand. Get the feel. I would take a few slow motion tosses without throwing the ball. Just limbering up the arm a bit. This is when I used to think I was a pitcher and make believe I was throwing one to Yogi or Elston Howard. ?This felt great. I would never throw the ball. I was inside the house.

Except for this one time when I was going through my motions. It wasn’t so bad. I learned how to plaster a wall that winter.

About the Author

Aron Wallad has been a baseball lover for over 45 years. You will love his honesty and his passion.. You will be touched by the heartwarming stories. The unusual statistics will amaze you and the quotes will make you laugh…

Go here right now to join his ezine http://www.baseballsprideandjoy.com/index.php?tag=goart

Contact Aron - The Baseball Networking Guy at aron@baseballsprideandjoy.com

Being a baseball coach can be very rewarding. It is a big responsibility, though. You are basically the ?leader? of your team, and how you act will directly affect how the assistant coaches and the players act. There are some tips you can follow to make yourself a better baseball coach.
These tips are:

1. Give everyone on your baseball team a responsibility. Make each and every person on the team feel if they don?t do something, it won?t get done! Any accomplishments made by a member of the team are shared by the whole team. (It is important to give recognition to individuals, though.)

2. Help everyone on your baseball team make good, informed decisions. As the baseball coach, you need to guide and teach the players to make the good decisions you want them to make. Don?t bully the baseball team to do what you want them to do, just encourage them to do what is best.

3. Always treat your baseball team like they are winners! If your baseball players feel like winners, they will be more likely to win.

4. Let everyone on your baseball team know you care. Be interested in every individual baseball player. Encourage them and show them your support. Look at your behavior around your baseball team and evaluate it carefully.

5. Help your baseball team understand the meaning of playing with good sportsmanship! Good sportsmanship is just as important as winning. Make sure your baseball players understand the meaning of fair play from the moment you become their baseball coach.

6. Make sure you motivate and reward your baseball team players. Just knowing the basic skills and strategies of baseball won?t necessarily make you a very good baseball coach. Being a baseball coach is truly more than just teaching these things. A really good coach can motivate a baseball team to do its best! Good baseball coaches understand and can empathize with the players? feelings of joy, anger, anxiety, frustration, and pride.

7. Don?t make your baseball practices boring or repetitious. Shake up practices by playing games and teaching new techniques and plays. Since only 9 players can play at a time, make sure to keep the rest of the baseball team feeling useful by having them keep score or charting pitching and offence. Make sure to keep each baseball player feeling they have an important role in winning.

8. Make sure you have a plan for your baseball team. Just like a teacher needs to plan for the school year, a baseball coach needs a plan for the season. Having no plan is a sure road to failure.

9. Give your baseball team enough time to review things they have learned. Whether at the end of a practice or the end of a game, give your players time to review what has been learned and what could be improved upon. Keep the review as positive in tone as possible.

10. Make sure you communicate with your baseball team. If you cannot get across to your baseball team what you want, how will they know what to do?

About the Author: Sintilia Miecevole, host of http://www.reelbaseball.com provides you with baseball information from games, cards and equipment to teams, gloves, pictures and more. Be sure to visit http://www.reelbaseball.com for the latest news.

The “fantasy” in fantasy baseball stands for what a team would be like with a collection of stars gathered together, not for an alternate universe where value has no relation to reality. Fantasy baseball is all about capturing players’ performance on the field and translating it into a competition. To capture the offensive and defensive sides of play, both hitters’ and pitchers’ statistics are monitored. Runs, RBIs, battting average, home runs and stolen bases comprise the typical hitting categories, while ERA, strikeouts, wins, WHIP (walks and hits allowed per inning pitched), and saves are the usual pitching categories. At first glance these categories (noted as the traditional 5×5 categories) seem fair enough.

The first two pitchers most commonly drafted are Johann Santana and Randy Johnson. It is hard to argue that these two are not the premier pitchers in baseball. The batters most commonly drafted in the top three are Albert Pujols, Carlos Beltran, and A-Rod. Here again are guys with high name recognition, and great stats, and all in the upswing of their careers. But here is where the traditional 5×5 goes off track.

By far the best current hitter in baseball, steroids controversy notwithstanding, is Barry Bonds. Historically, one could point to Joe DiMaggio, Ty Cobb, or Ted Williams, but presently, there is no argument. Bonds makes the greatest impact in the game. Last year he reached base over 60 percent of the time, thanks to both his high walk rate and .362 batting average. The next closest in on-base percentage was Todd Helton at a mere 47 percent. Before you think, “big deal - that’s a difference of 13 percent,” know that a similar 13 percent reduction from Helton’s number would give you Mark Grudelzniak, or Miguel Cairo. Quite a difference. And that doesn’t even bring in Barry’s slugging percentage, which is also incredible. The man hit 45 homers in 373 at-bats last year!

What Bonds has been doing to the game is historic in every sense of the word. That his accomplishments have not translated into fantasy sports strips any claim of realism. In a normal 5×5 league, Bonds is usually drafted late in the first round or early in the second. Yahoo has him ranked as number 12. Number 12 for a man who is arguably one of the best hitters ever, and who, as a hitter, dominates the game on a day-to-day basis.

The steals category should also be rethought. In a traditional 5×5 league, the number of steal attempts a player successfully converts gives him his value. This leads to fairly obvious cases of a player being valued much higher in fantasy terms then in real life, even if you do subscribe to the belief that the number of steals a player gets is in fact as telling as his batting average in determining his overall value. For example, Player A steals 20 bases in 40 attempts, as his coach believes strongly in the run. Player B steals only 18 bases, but out of 20 attempts, for a stellar success percentage. Player B obviously helps his team more, and had a more positive impact on the field, but the owner of player A is the more successful fantasy owner.

Why does it matter? So what if fantasy baseball is detached from the reality of baseball? That’s why it is called fantasy, right? And everyone hates Bonds anyway. Unfortunately, the vastly divergent criteria used by the fantasy sports world and the real world to evaluate players drives a wedge between the hobby and mainstream sports fandom. Fantasy players become more geeky as the hobby (some would rather call it an obsession) drives itself away from real baseball. The 5×5 system demands that participants learn a new set of rules, and each new rule drives the hobby further away from acceptance and relevance. Bonds is not the best player in baseball. He’s actually the twelfth. Alex Sanchez of the Detroit Tigers, a prominent starter on many fantasy teams last year with his 19 stolen bases, was cut from the Tigers this spring. The list goes on, but the point is, fantasy baseball is a reflection of baseball, and derives its legitimacy (if it has any) from its place as an extension of a real-life activity. Fine, a traditional 5×5 player argues, “then why was 5×5 created with these stats to begin with?”

The answer is simple. Fantasy baseball didn’t start with the computer age. People actually went through box scores to accumulate the data necessary to play fantasy sports. Imagine the effort taken after each and every game, scanning newspapers, adding hits, then dividing by the total at bats, noting the stolen bases for each and every player on your team. That would take a lot of work. It’s obvious why the traditional 5×5 stats were chosen. They were in fact the stats given by the box scores!

Thanks to computers, we are no longer limited by the constraints of newspaper box scores and division on scratch paper. Yahoo! alone offers 54 total categories with which to customize your league. This gives you the power to organize your league in whatever way you believe players in real baseball are really valued.

The most popular version of this is the SABR (”saber”) leagues. The popular categories are: runs, RBIs, OBP (on base percentage) and slugging percentage for hitting, and wins, saves, ERA, and WHIP for pitching. This doesn’t even begin to touch the value of a team’s defense, but since there is no objective or standard way to measure defense, that problem has not been effectively tackled yet. The home team’s scorer gives out errors, while defensive range is difficult to pin down as a measurable statistic game to game. It may be some time before Torii Hunter’s spectacular home run-saving catch is a part of fantasy baseball, but undoubtedly the statisticians will come up with some method.

However you plan to do it meanwhile, if Bonds isn’t the clear first pick in your draft, then your league is long on the fantasy, short on the baseball.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I love what prominent baseball people have to say about the great ballplayers. They seem to eloquently capture what we are thinking.

I love what prominent baseball people have to say about the great ballplayers. They seem to eloquently capture what we are thinking.

“It was his solemn duty to catch a ball that wasn’t in the stands.” - Monte Irvin (Newark Eagles OF, May 6, 1981), on Willie Mays

“Maybe they should see if his body is corked.” - Howard ‘Hojo’ Johnson (NY Mets), on Bo Jackson, from Sports Illustrated, October 19, 1986

“When he took BP everybody would kind of stop what they were doing and watch.” - Jim Kaat, former pitcher, on Mickey Mantle

“I played with him for nine years and marveled at how hard he hit and how fast he ran. How can anyone ever forget the catch he made on Gil Hodges’ line drive to save Don Larsen’s perfect game?” - Tony Kubek, former shortstop, on Mickey Mantle

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” - Jackie Robinson

“Having Willie Stargell on your ball club is like having a diamond ring on your finger.”
Chuck Tanner

“Ted Williams was the greatest hitter I ever saw, but (Joe) DiMaggio was the greatest all around player.”
Bob Feller

“No one hit home runs the way Babe (Ruth) did. They were something special. They were like homing pigeons. The ball would leave the bat, pause briefly, suddenly gain its bearings, then take off for the stands.” Lefty Gomez

“When Neil Armstong first set foot on the moon, he and all the space scientists were puzzled by an unidentifiable white object. I knew immediately what it was. That was a home run ball hit off me in 1933 by Jimmie Foxx.”
Lefty Gomez

“Every time Johnny Bench throws, everybody in baseball drools.” - Harry Dalton

“He (Babe Ruth) hits a ball harder and further than any man I ever saw.” - Bill Dickey
“He (Lou Gehrig) just went out and did his job every day.”
Bill Dickey

“He gets better every year, that’s what’s remarkable about him. Some guys are good and stay good. Some guys are good and get better. He reminds me of Kareem. Hubie Brown said that Kareem worked at the beginning of every season to improve some facet of his game. It’s that way with the best, whatever the profession. That’s the way this kid is.”
Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes - Talking about Derek Jeter

“I think he was one of the greatest third basemen of all time. He had one of the sweetest swings I ever saw.” - Teammate Johnny Logan on Eddie Mathews

“How good was Stan Musial? He was good enough to take your breath away.” - (1989)
Vin Scully
“When he (Maury Wills) runs, it’s all downhill.” Vin Scully

Seeing what these writers, ballplayers and managers has to say about these players lights up the page for me. I can visualize these players on the field hitting home runs, running with arms outstretched to catch a ball or throwing out a would be base runner trying to steal a base.

This is my baseball memorabilia.

About the Author: Aron Wallad has been a baseball lover for over 45 years. What do you like about baseball? Do you love inspiring quotes, unusual statistics or heartwarming baseball stories? If you love baseball you will love this ezine.http://www.baseballsprideandjoy.com/index.php?tag=isnareTo contact Aron - aron@baseballsprideandjoy.com

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I’ve never been the overly paranoid type that always thinks that someone is out to get me. But recent news concerning the U.S. Government’s desire to find out what people like you and I search for on the Internet makes me a bit uneasy. Compound that with the fact that the government endorsed eavesdropping on civilian communication systems following September 11th without probable cause.

Last summer the Federal Government subpoenaed the search records of at least the two largest search engines, Google and Yahoo. Yahoo complied with the subpoena and handed over the records. But Google refused.

As a result of Google’s non-compliance, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has asked a Federal Judge in San Jose, California to force Google’s hand.

The way I figure, if I don’t do anything that warrants the attention of law enforcement, I won’t be a target of their investigation. But, I’m sure that if an overzealous investigator looked hard enough at some of the thousands of keywords that I have entered into search engines over the last several years, they might interpret that differently.

I’ve heard of way too many stories people getting caught up in government witch-hunts. And, I don’t want to be one of those people.

So what is the Average Joe or Jane like you and I to do to ensure that we don’t unintentionally become a target? How do we know what search terms might send up “red flags” to the U.S. Government?

The World Privacy Forum has several recommendations of how to protect yourself when using a search engine. The main tip that they give is to never search for terms that can easily be associated back to you. For instance, don’t do a keyword search on your name with your social security number. But that’s common sense. At least it should be.

I would add that certain keywords might send up some red flags. Doing searches on Al Queda, explosives, and popular tourists locations all in the same sitting probably wouldn’t be wise.

Another tip the World Privacy Forum gives is to consider using an anonymizing tool or proxy server. Every computer connected to the Internet has a virtual and unique “address”. When you search for something on the Internet, whatever it is that you are seaching for can easily be traced back to your computer’s address. Anonymizing tools and proxy servers serve as a buffer between your computer and the Internet. They help mask your keyword searches from being traced back to your computer’s address.

The World Privacy Forum did suggest a few specific anonymizing tools and proxy servers. But I disagree with their recommendations. Their recommendations were all freeware and free services.

I steer clear of both and rarely recommend anything that is “free”. You get what you pay for. And your privacy is worth the money. All too often freeware is riddled with spyware and adware. In the end, most freeware does more harm than good.

If you are going to use an anonymizing service, buck up and pay for it. anonymizer.com has a very reasonable service for only $29.99 a year.

I also strongly suggest an industrial strength computer wiper. Just because you delete a file with the use of your “delete” button on your keyboard or your trash bin on your desktop, doesn’t mean that it’s gone. In layman’s terms, it is just puts on your hard drive in a place where you can’t see it. But a savvy law enforcement agent or even a hacker knows exactly how and where to go on your computer to access it.

I use and recommend a product by Robin Hood Software called Evidence Eliminator. It’s the only product that can completely eliminate all the stuff on your computer that you no longer want on your computer. Although it’s not free, it is a lot cheaper than hiring a lawyer to help you explain to the government about your Internet search habits.

Come to www.delete4good.com for more information about Proxify and Evidence Eliminator.

About the Author

J. Barbour is a consultant for Weinman-Skaggs Consulting in Miami, FL. http://www.delete4good.com

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Baseball, the greatest pastime of America. It’s such a part of many Americans’ lives: little children pitch and bat in the Little League while their parents proudly look on. The same intensity can be felt by baseball players in the Big Leagues. They feel pressure not only from public scrutiny, but also from making sure that they take every step possible to avoid injury or sickness, because time away from the field means less money and more chances of being replaced by someone younger and stronger. Baseball sunglasses are part of a player’s arsenal of protective bodywear and accessories for staying in the game.

Many baseball games are played at night, but about just as many are played outdoors in broad daylight, too. This is when baseball sunglasses are indispensable. Without such sports sunglasses, trying to catch a ball - especially one that is hit up high - is very difficult indeed. Staring straight up into the sun while trying to ascertain the ball’s location and speed of descent can strain the eyes and increase the chance that the ball will be missed. It is partly for this reason that baseball players wear sunglasses - to enhance their playing performance. Many baseball sunglasses come with lenses that are optimized to eliminate glare and enhance vision, especially on sunny days. Baseball players prefer wearing so-called amber sunglasses on such days, even though the lenses aren’t really amber. More often than not, they are either brown or gray.

There are also baseball sunglasses that are suitable for games played at night, but the tint of the lenses need to be considered very carefully. It is best to use clear lenses that have an anti-reflective coating to offset or absorb the glare of bright stadium lights. Baseball players sometimes use sunglasses with yellow lenses for indoor games, but experts warn that such colored lenses can compromise visual discernment and can affect reaction times.

Another aspect of the importance of sports eyewear is their ability to shield players from serious injury. In fact, figures from the National Society to Prevent Blindness show that thousands of injuries were caused directly or indirectly by playing baseball. Many of the injuries were inflicted on players’ eyes when the ball would hit them there. A baseball that has been pitched or batted can travel at very fast speeds, and the injuries they can cause have the potential to be very serious indeed. For this reason, it is recommended that baseball players choose sports sunglasses with polycarbonate lenses, which are able to withstand the impact of a baseball and are virtually shatterproof. Having a lightweight but durable frame is just as important. Polycarbon frames are likewise resistant to breaking and are suitable for baseball players. Some baseball sunglasses have a shield design where the entire front of the frame is a polycarbon lens while the temples are another material. What’s good about this type of design is that the lens can be changed to suit the daylight condition of a particular game.

Players who need prescription sports sunglasses or goggles need not worry. Many brands now offer customized eyewear to fit any prescription. There are even models where the user can change the lenses to fit lighting conditions while maintaining lens prescription. Rudy Project is one such brand that offers prescription sunglasses.

There are many other baseball sunglasses brands in the marketplace, the vast majority of which offer the high quality and stylistic design that athletes want and need. Some brands use their own proprietary technology in their sports sunglasses. For instance, Oakley incorporates its Polaric Ellipsoid technology in its lenses to ensure purity of vision, one that is not hampered by distortions. Akadema is another popular brand whose shades offer 100% ultraviolet radiation protection and shatter-proof frames and lenses. Kaenon, Nike, Bolle - these and many more grace the faces of baseball players and other athletes, both in the professional and non-professional leagues.

Baseball sunglasses are part of the whole package that contributes to how a pitcher pitches, a batter bats, or a catcher catches. They can enhance playing performance and play a major role in protecting players from eye injuries caused by either sunlight or an errant ball. On top of all that, they can make a player look cool, too! This proves that baseball sunglasses are not only useful and functional, but that they are attractive pieces of sports eyewear as well.

About the Author

Sunglassology.com provides you with information on baseball sunglasses, where to buy, which are crap and which are slick. From prescription sunglasses to baseball sunglasses. http://www.sunglassology.com/

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I’ve never been the overly paranoid type that always thinks that someone is out to get me. But recent news concerning the U.S. Government’s desire to find out what people like you and I search for on the Internet makes me a bit uneasy. Compound that with the fact that the government endorsed eavesdropping on civilian communication systems following September 11th without probable cause.

Last summer the Federal Government subpoenaed the search records of at least the two largest search engines, Google and Yahoo. Yahoo complied with the subpoena and handed over the records. But Google refused.

As a result of Google’s non-compliance, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has asked a Federal Judge in San Jose, California to force Google’s hand.

The way I figure, if I don’t do anything that warrants the attention of law enforcement, I won’t be a target of their investigation. But, I’m sure that if an overzealous investigator looked hard enough at some of the thousands of keywords that I have entered into search engines over the last several years, they might interpret that differently.

I’ve heard of way too many stories people getting caught up in government witch-hunts. And, I don’t want to be one of those people.

So what is the Average Joe or Jane like you and I to do to ensure that we don’t unintentionally become a target? How do we know what search terms might send up “red flags” to the U.S. Government?

The World Privacy Forum has several recommendations of how to protect yourself when using a search engine. The main tip that they give is to never search for terms that can easily be associated back to you. For instance, don’t do a keyword search on your name with your social security number. But that’s common sense. At least it should be.

I would add that certain keywords might send up some red flags. Doing searches on Al Queda, explosives, and popular tourists locations all in the same sitting probably wouldn’t be wise.

Another tip the World Privacy Forum gives is to consider using an anonymizing tool or proxy server. Every computer connected to the Internet has a virtual and unique “address”. When you search for something on the Internet, whatever it is that you are seaching for can easily be traced back to your computer’s address. Anonymizing tools and proxy servers serve as a buffer between your computer and the Internet. They help mask your keyword searches from being traced back to your computer’s address.

The World Privacy Forum did suggest a few specific anonymizing tools and proxy servers. But I disagree with their recommendations. Their recommendations were all freeware and free services.

I steer clear of both and rarely recommend anything that is “free”. You get what you pay for. And your privacy is worth the money. All too often freeware is riddled with spyware and adware. In the end, most freeware does more harm than good.

If you are going to use an anonymizing service, buck up and pay for it. anonymizer.com has a very reasonable service for only $29.99 a year.

I also strongly suggest an industrial strength computer wiper. Just because you delete a file with the use of your “delete” button on your keyboard or your trash bin on your desktop, doesn’t mean that it’s gone. In layman’s terms, it is just puts on your hard drive in a place where you can’t see it. But a savvy law enforcement agent or even a hacker knows exactly how and where to go on your computer to access it.

I use and recommend a product by Robin Hood Software called Evidence Eliminator. It’s the only product that can completely eliminate all the stuff on your computer that you no longer want on your computer. Although it’s not free, it is a lot cheaper than hiring a lawyer to help you explain to the government about your Internet search habits.

Come to www.delete4good.com for more information about Proxify and Evidence Eliminator.

About the Author

J. Barbour is a consultant for Weinman-Skaggs Consulting in Miami, FL. http://www.delete4good.com