When I played Little League, Babe Ruth and high school baseball, my coaches always said when catching a fly ball, “Use two hands for beginners”. So, I always used both hands – one to catch the ball and the other to secure it in the glove. Today I watch in amazement as major league fielders poke their glove hand in the air to catch the ball. Not over their eyes and head but off to the side.
Last night I saw a right fielder for the Dodgers stick his glove out to the side and the ball popped out of his glove ultimately costing the Dodgers 2 runs.
Sometimes, if you are running and extending your glove to reach the ball, you have to use one hand, but then the other hand should come up immediately to the secure the ball. You also see today’s major leaguers slide all over the place to catch seemingly routine fly balls, and the announcers go nuts, as if they were a high wire trapeze act. The average 14-year-old could make the same catch without all the fanfare.
Willy Mays was perhaps the first outfielder to stray from tradition with his famous basket catches, but I concur with my old coaches, use two hands if you can.
I am also reminded of an outfielder named Jimmy Piersall for the Boston Red Sox. It was said that while other outfielders sprinted to make the catch, Piersall didn’t have to. He was always there ahead of the ball, anticipating the hit. Piersall was considered by many as the greatest defensive centerfielder ever – and he used two hands to catch the ball.
