Batting Cages

I haven’t held a baseball bat in years. I have’t swung a bat in probably 15 years…tonight I went to the batting cages. They have a small arcade next to one of the movie theatres, and they have batting cages and indoor basketball goals (the ones where you can adjust the height to dunk on them.)

So, we went to the batting cages. We had just eaten dinner and I had the idea that batting might be fun. Maybe it’s because the only game I’ve been playing lately on my PSP is MLB 06: The Show (a baseball game, of course.)

They had 16 balls for a dollar. At first I didn’t even see that and only saw the half hour price which was $12.50 and 15 mins for 6 bucks. I picked a bat (they all seemed way too short, but maybe my memory of bat sizes isn’t all too great!) Got one of the small helmets that make you look completely stupid (them’s the rules), and I got up to bat. They had 2 softball cages- one slow pitch and one fast pitch…they had baseball at the following speeds: 35 mph, 45 mph, 5 mph, and 80 mph.) I decided I’d go for 35, since it’s been so long, and I don’t like the idea of round heavy objects flying at my face at fast speeds.

I came up to the box, and I was scared…35 mph can’t be that fast, I was thinking, but still- I have no real idea how fast it truly is…again- heavy objects, fast speeds, my face right there in the way. So, I realized 35 mph is completely slow…so I get closer to the plate. I’ve got both hands together, gripping the bat, not choking up on the thing at all- this is going to be a breeze. Just a matter of how hard I’ll hit them.

Yeah right. Who knew when you swung your arm around, your entire body would want to move forward toward the pitching machine, one leg would go forward, and the worst part- I had no idea the top knuckle bone on my thumb would drive into my right wrist (I bat right handed) everytime I swung the bat. That stuff hurt like a mother and I couldn’t take it…I couldn’t hit a thing either. It’s a slow pitch at 35 mph, but it’s still not easy to just go up there after 15 years and spot the ball well enough to hit it. Swing and a miss…swing and a miss. Luckily, I’ve got 16 balls coming instead of 3 strikes.

I couldn’t for the life of me tell what I was doing wrong- was I thinking it was coming a bit faster and swinging too early over the top or was I too late and behind the ball a bit maybe swinging below it. I have a feeling the pitching machine isn’t throwing perfect or even near perfect strikes as it is. Not that I probably would have hit any better with a perfect strike zone pitch every time. I had to move my hands apart, as the whole bone into bone thing with the thumb and wrist wasn’t all that much fun. So, I have my hands spread apart, and now the pain is in my left hand in the fingers- everytime I swing, the grip makes my fingers tingle. And I’m not even hitting the ball! Just the stress of swinging your wrist around as fast as you can while trying to keep a steady grip on the bat is enough to cause some major pain to the ol’ fingers.

In the end, I did hit a number of them…I did 3 sets of 16 balls. I didn’t hit a single one in the last set, as sad as that sounds. I had a light bat and a heavy bat- the light bat was easier to work with for sure, but I think the light weight made the fingers tingle- I think that’s when I had that problem…not sure why the weight would make all that much difference in your fingers.

It was fun, but it was painful (my wrist still hurts if I push on it.) I think I’ll stick to baseball on the PSP. It seems like such a cinch on the game, and you just automatically think it will be a simple issue of swinging the bat and hitting. Of course, that’s not the case at all, and it’s just not the walk in the park you thought it would be. Funny thing- a major league fastball is up in the 90 mph range, sometimes hitting 100 or more. That’s nearly 3 times as fast as what I was hitting. Some girl at the other end was smacking every single 80 mph ball coming at her, and the girl next to me had a half hour (I think) on the fast pitch softball cage and she was hitting most of them. I couldn’t even bunt the ball at 35 mph (trust me, I tried several times…you think bunting would at least be a breeze!)

Like I said- I think I’ll stick mainly to the PSP baseball. If I can only figure out what I was doing wrong to make my thumb hit my wrist like it did…