Junior Big Leaguers (1950s)

[Music] score is out and thousands of children leave classrooms behind heading in happy abandon for the playgrounds of the nation nowadays in the United States country schools as well as City Schools maintain private playgrounds for their importance in the overall educational plan has been given full recognition the favorite game of these boys living in Bronxville a New York suburban community is baseball and here they are mascot and ready to begin one of their afternoon games the two rival teams are called the Cyclones and the tornadoes the two captains match to see which team will bat first the tornadoes win and so the Cyclones take their places in the field from the very first inning the Cyclones are on the spot the tornadoes displaying Superior batting power are able to bring in the first run of the game the plate the Cyclones find themselves in is nothing new day after day when it bat they just don't seem to be able to connect properly and when Fielding they seem to muff even the easy catches with the result that their adversaries consistently get the best of the bargain so with 8 and a half of the nine regulation Innings out of the way the score stands at 31 to2 you know in whose favor the Cyclones just can't seem to bring in those runs and without runs you can't win baseball games they started losing in the first half of the first inning and now with two men out all hope is lost for the tornadoes are just one out away from winning the old ball game the Cyclones could conceivably win the game however with a series of hits but with the weakest hitter of the team at bat it doesn't seem likely this player has never connected when under pressure and in spite of all his good intentions today is no exception to that rule strike three and the man is out and so the Cyclones lose the ball game just another in a long series of defeats what this team needs is to master the fundamentals of the game and it may be that the catcher has the solution to the problem he lives near a former retired Major League player the catcher is sure they can get some valuable pointers from him they all go over to see him once there a,1 questions pop in the minds of the young players or here is a chance to improve their game after all this major leager has played with all the famous Professionals of the game the retired ball player listens to the history of the Cyclones but not to all nine of the players talking at once the captain of the team speaks for all and makes arrangements with the Oldtimer for a training session the following afternoon from their new trainer the Cyclones learn that the defensive game is based on the close coordination of the seven fielders without such the work of the pitcher which consists in detaining the opposing batter before he can reach first base is made more difficult the pitcher and catcher form what is called the battery and here again coordination must be perfect for example the pitcher should at all times maintain proper position prior to throwing the ball so his opponent on first base won't be able to anticipate the throw and steal second base proper placement and con Conant watchfulness immobilize the opposing player on first base this in turn helps the catcher prevent opposing players from stealing bases the catcher can also help the pitcher with signals and by offering a good Target for the pitched ball without the closest cooperation between pitcher and catcher not even a major league team could hope to win ball games first base is defended by the first baseman who is one of the four infielders a top-notch first baseman must specialize in catching all kinds of throws from the players protecting the other bases and in order to do this he must be able to quickly assume positions to the right and left of first base since not all throws are perfect at second base the short stop and the second baseman have roughly the same responsibilities these two players are told what a double play consists of they were always surprised when such plays didn't pan out well and now they know the reason why in other words a well thrown and quickly thrown ball enables the second player to make the play to First in plenty of time here the two boys are playing like professionals putting one Runner out between first and second as well as putting out the hitter at first Third Base like first is defended by a baseman the big problem of the third baseman is coping with grounders NE must learn to use both hands in making catches an alert third baseman can nearly always anticipate a butt by employing the right technique he can throw his opponent out and finally we have the outfielders one in left field one in center field and one in right field these are positions of great responsibility they must learn the proper way in which to handle fly balls making a quick throw to whatever base runners are advancing upon a baseman goes for the ball as soon as the batter hits it and tries to get it to First in time to make the put out so we come to the championship game of the school seated there in the bleachers are the families of the various players belonging to the two teams the Cyclones and the tornadoes we're in the ninth and last inning of this exciting ball game and the Cyclones are playing like the good team they are with their newly gained base all know how they're a tough team to beat today for nine innings they fought tooth and nail with the tornadoes for the lead but their best hasn't been quite good enough they must produce more runs otherwise it will be the same old [Applause] story and so we come to the last half of the ninth inning the last chance for victory the score is 21-9 the Cyclones must get three more runs to win the game it's not too encouraging a situation either because coming up to bat are three of the team's weakest hitters the leadoff man gets a hit into the Outfield the ball passes between the short stop and the second basem and he's safe on First with a player on first the grandstand senses a run even the smallest fry realizes the Cyclones have a chance to win it's a thrilling moment the second player up gets a hit and the runner on first advances to Second the opposition falls into an error and the runner from first to second decides to go on to third he makes it just in time the Cyclones now have a man on first another on Third and no outs the next batter is very sure of himself and he gets a hit this brings in the runner on third scoring for the Cyclones as things now stand the Cyclones have a run a man on First and a man on second and no outs the next batter gets a signal from the bench for a sacrifice [Applause] play on the very first throw he Taps the ball which Falls almost on top of Home Plate this play enables his team to occupy second and third bases although the hitter is put out on the sacrifice this play puts the Cyclones in a favorable position to get additional runs and it puts the opposition on the [Applause] spot the next batter gets special instructions from the trainer all is ready and the Pitcher makes the throw it's call [Applause] strike what is he waiting for doesn't he know there are two Runners on bases he still has two more chances however here is the throw and the batter gets a hit the runner on third comes in to tie the game and the runner on second reaches home plate to give the Cyclones the run that wins the game and so the Cyclones with the secrets of baseball that the retired major leager taught them have managed to get three runs in the closing inning of the game defeating their Rivals by the score of 22-21 and so the Cyclones are the new baseball champions of Bronxville [Music] [Applause]