Baseball Equipment

Video Transcript

" Hi I’m Ben and I’m going to discuss some of the equipment used in baseball. First of all, obviously we have a baseball, probably the most important piece of equipment in playing the game. Next to that would be the glove; and this glove you can see is not very big. It’s pretty average, from this is the heel and this is the tip, in here is a pocket so it’s not a very big glove. So a glove like this would be used by third basemen, the second basemen, shortstops may use a little bit bigger glove and first basemen use a completely different glove than this. It’s a lot longer, it’s shaped a lot differently so they have a lot better chance, a lot bigger pocket because a lot of times they’re having to catch balls that have hit the dirt and are high and so it is just an advantage for first basemen to have a longer and bigger glove than say a second baseman, a third baseman, even a shortstop. And catcher’s will have a catcher’s mitt, I don’t have one here unfortunately to show you but I’m sure many of you have seen what a catcher’s mitt looks like. It has about three or four times the padding in thickness in certain parts of this glove because a ball coming from the pitcher can come at between eighty and ninety miles per hour or a little bit more so it is really important to have definitely more padding right here so your hand doesn’t get hurt. Outfielders will have gloves similar to this; maybe a few inches longer just so they have an advantage when they have to run back and jump and dive they will have a little bit longer glove so that they have better opportunities on those plays. This right here next to a ball is second probably most important piece of equipment is the bat and this is an aluminum bat, obviously. So this is the kind of bat that they will use in little league; in high school and college. Once you start playing professionally you are switched to wooden bats and the difference between wooden bats and aluminum bats is pretty significant. Aluminum bats have a little more power, this is where you are going to want to hit the ball, from this spot right here to about this spot right here. This is going to be the sweet spot right here. And so metal bats have more what they call “pop” that wooden bats do. The last thing I am going to talk about here, well actually not the last thing but the next to last thing are batting gloves; and these are optional. A lot of players like to wear them because they give you a certain amount of grip and maybe when you start to play and its hot and your hands get sweaty your grip may be compromised a little bit on the bat. So it just makes it easier to hold and in turn gives you a little bit better results with a batting glove. The last thing I want to talk about are very important and you always want to use them to be safe are helmets; when you are hitting. Again, I don’t have one here with me but many of you have seen what batting helmets look like. They are a hard cell top with a little bit of a bill and it’s all hard plastic and a protective covering over the ears. Very important to wear helmets; you never want, it’s rare to be hit in the head as a player, as a hitter but unfortunately it does happen and so you want to be protected. "