Tee Ball Can Take Hitters from Playground to the Pros

Posted on November 18, 2011 by admin

Derek Sanderson Jeter was born on June 26, 1974, in Pequannock, N.J. After spending the early years of his life growing up less than 30 miles away from Yankee Stadium, Derek moved with his family to Kalamazoo, Mich., where he began playing Tee Ball at the age of 5.

One thing many of the top-level ballplayers have in common with Jeter is
that they got their start on a tee-ball field somewhere in small-town America.

Tee Ball is where the future stars of the sport learn baseball basics like how to hit and how to field—essentially grasping the overall fundamentals of the game.

Tee Ball is a sport based on baseball and is intended as an introduction for children to develop baseball skills and have fun.

Babe Ruth often said that a child needed to begin playing baseball no later than age six in order to build a solid skill base for continued lifelong good play.

If a kid doesn’t learn the mechanics of hitting when he’s a pre-teen, then it’s going to be difficult to pick up the ability at age fifteen when other kids are throwing 75-80 mph fastballs.

History of Tee Ball

The name Tee Ball™ is a registered trademark, while T-Ball is the generic name, although many popular sources use Tee Ball as a generic title.

A Tee Ball trademark was registered with the U.S. government by Dayton Hobbs in the early 1970s, but the game’s origins date back to at least the 1940s and ‘50s with several people claiming to be the “father” of the game.

Claude Lewis, director of the Warner Robins (Ga.) Recreation Department, formed a tee ball league in March 1958. Twenty children played the first year. Lewis designed rules for the new game and mailed the rule books out to rec departments all across the country as well as overseas.

The city of Albion, Mich. claims to be the place where the sport of Tee Ball was invented in 1956.

However, the good folks in the town of Starkville, Miss., make a similar claim that Tee Ball was invented there in 1961. According to the Starkville Rotary Club’s website:

“In 1961, when it was apparent that younger children needed some way to participate in the program, Rotarians Dr. Clyde Muse and W. W. Littlejohn devised the game of T-Ball and added it to the summer baseball program.”

Dr. Hobbs has credited the U.S. Navy with spreading the game overseas. U.S. presidents since Ronald Reagan have hosted Tee Ball games on the South Lawn of the White House.

Despite these varying claims about Tee Ball’s formal origins, the practice of hitting a stationary baseball off a post has roots deep in baseball antiquity. In other words, Tee Ball has evolved. Today, products like The Lil Pro Tee Ball Set Display consist of five-piece sets featuring bat, “T” post, home plate tee base and two baseballs.

Kids Playing for Fun

The positions that get the most action in Tee Ball are pitcher and first base, followed by the rest of the infield positions. Catcher is also a special position due to the added gear worn. Thus, it’s important for the coach to ensure all players get chances to play those positions.

In Tee Ball, the pitcher is generally used for defensive purposes only. The ball is placed on an adjustable tee atop the home plate at a suitable height for the batter to strike. In some clubs, adult coaches give the batter an opportunity to try and hit a few pitched balls before going to the tee in the hope that this will further develop batting skills.) Most of the other rules are similar or identical to those of baseball, though the game is played on a smaller field.

In many organizations, score is not kept and rules are designed to maximize participation: an inning is completed once each child has had a turn at bat and all extra players of the defensive team play in the outfield every inning.

In some clubs, an inning is played similar to baseball, which is once the defensive team has made three outs, the team at bat plays defense and the defensive team takes the bat. To encourage the defensive team to try to make plays, there are typically no extra bases on overthrows and runners may not advance after the ball is in possession of an infielder.

But Tees are not just for the youngsters. Older players also hit off tees in order to practice their swing techniques.

So, if you are looking for an edge to improve your hitting performance and you’re training on a Tee, get better results by using The Hitting Jack-It™ System– Swing the System!

Tee-Ball Links

How to Start a T-Ball Team

http://www.ehow.com/how_2125818_start-tball-team.html

T•BALL USA Association

http://www.teeballusa.org/What_is_TBall.asp

The T•BALL USA Association is the national not-for-profit youth sports
organization dedicated to the development of the game of tee ball. It offers a broad variety of programs and services and is the center for information on how to improve existing tee ball programs and establish new ones. Working with national, regional and local youth baseball leagues, civic or community groups, parents and kids, it is the basic source for tee ball advice and assistance.

Helpful-Baseball-Drills.com

http://www.helpful-baseball-drills.com/teeballdrills.html

Teach Your Child How to Play T-Ball

http://www.teachkidshow.com/teach-your-child-how-to-play-t-ball