Vol.1 No.1 | 1st Quarter 2005

It has been a long time in the making. Baseball101.com was a brainchild of mine in 1998. For the past 6 years, I have continued to nurture and develop this concept into what you see today. I wanted to ensure that only the best instructional materials were developed and collected for the site. Additionally, I wanted to harness the multimedia capability of the internet to provide many new and different tools to teach the game of baseball. And I am not done. Baseball101.com will continue to evolve over time as new content is added and current content revised. This is why I feel that Baseball101.com is a good alternative to printed material, which can become dated. In one, convenient place, you have an ever increasing repository of baseball instructional materials enhanced by the addition of videos clips, photographs, illustrations and animations.

I want to hear from you. If you have any feedback, new ideas, things we are doing well (or not so well), please feel free to shoot me an email at jblackwell@baseball101.com. I hope you will tell your friends about us, as well. We offer a very lucrative affiliate program which pays $10 per new subscription for registered partners. For more information about the affiliate program, click on affiliates in the top menu bar or click here.

The purpose of this newsletter is to highlight some of the high-value content contained within the site. So sit back and enjoy.

Sincerely,

Jeff Blackwell
President
Baseball101.com

Seems like next season is years away after you play that last game, but all too often, the next thing you know, it is time to start the season and you have done nothing to make yourself a better ballplayer. The off-season is a valuable time between your seasons to rest and repair from injury, focus on fundamentals and become stronger both mentally and physically. So how do you go about doing that?

• Take time to heal from any nagging injuries. By not taking the appropriate time to heal, you will simply drag last years injury into next season.
• Follow a good off-season weight and conditioning program. Some sample off-season conditioning programs for both pitchers and position players can be found in the Training Room under Conditioning
• Focus on the weak areas of your games. If it is hitting curveballs, spend extra time in BP hitting curveballs. While it may be fun to mash fastballs, that will not make you a better player. Remember, good ballplayers focus on things they are good at, great ballplayers focus on things they are not good at.
• Rest your mind. It is hard to keep the competitive edge all year long.

I know many players who play games all year long. While game experience is important, they never take the time to rest and improve their games. What will attract select teams, scouts and colleges are your tools, your fundamental approach to the game, not the number of games you play each season. So be smart, don't let another off-season slip you by.

Check out the Playbook in the Coaches corner. We have added 46 plays complete with instructions on every position along with a great Flash animation showing the live action. The animation can be stopped, stepped through and viewed over and over until the play is understood from every perspective.

New and Updated Content

Remember, new and updated content is being added regularly to the site. Look for the new icon and the updated icon to see the new content.

Comments/Questions?

We would love to hear from you. Just send us your feedback to jblackwell@baseball101.com

Baseball 101 is a quarterly publication by www.baseball101.com. No material may be copied or re-used without express written consent of baseball101.com. You are receiving this email as part of the benefits of your subscription to basebal101.com. If you no longer wish to receive this email, click here to send us an email. Make sure you include un-subscribe in the subject line. Or you can reach us at: Baseball101.com, 5305 Coachman Court, Plano, TX 75023