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Online now: 2 members: TABLE SETTER 11, kotonk; 40 anonymousDetails for ChiPrimeMarty
Real name:
Martin Lolich
Location:
Downers Grove, IL
Division:
Men's 60
Messages posted by ChiPrimeMarty »Message board home »Start a new discussion
| Oct. 21, 2014 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: 1-1 count? Playing Devil's advocate OZ40 asked: "Why shouldn't the batter,(trying to help his or her team), be afforded the choice of pitch selection?" The batter is afforded that choice whether the count starts at 1-1 or 0-0. You have the choice to swing or not swing, and that is based on the hitter's judgment of the pitch. This is already such a hitter's game with a strike mat (eliminates a big variable of what is or isn't a strike), senior bats that turn warning-track outs into homers, and senior defenders who aren't as fast as they used to be. On top of all that you want extra opportunities to wait for a big fat meatball to hit? I like the 1-1 count because that's what I've been playing in all my local leagues for decades, because I think it's a more competitive dynamic between pitcher & hitter which makes the game better, because there is too much downtime for all the other defenders watching batters take pitches, and also because the 1-1 count reduces the number of time-shortened games. All the other ways to speed up the game are separate issues that may or may not be acted upon regardless of whether the 1-1 count is adopted for the Senior game (which I've played for 8 years now). I understand that hitters want every opportunity to swing at the perfect pitch with the hottest bat, and that's why we still have extra pitches in Senior slowpitch softball. But that doesn't make it good for the game. |
| Oct. 18, 2014 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: Teams looking for players Discussion: Chicago Prime 55s Stankus, I've been with Chicago Prime for 8 years and on the 55's the last 3. I'm not the manager and I don't know of any current teammate moving to NC. A middle infielder from our 2013 team moved to NC last winter, but he was not with us in Raleigh this year. Email me at martylolich@comcast.net if you want more info. |
| April 17, 2014 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: Bats Discussion: 2015 Combat Dirty G3 Reload I ordered a 26.5oz Dirty G3 Reload, and it arrived today. Haven't had a chance to hit it yet, but it swings considerably lighter than my 27oz ASA Wanted. |
| April 9, 2014 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: Bats Discussion: 2015 Combat Dirty G3 Reload Mark, What weights have you swung with the Wanted and Dirty, and how do they compare? For example, does the Wanted swing heavier than the Dirty at the same weight? Thanks, Marty |
| April 8, 2014 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: Bats Discussion: 2015 Combat Dirty G3 Reload I need a new senior bat, and the 2015 Dirty is on my short list. I'm trying to gauge which weight would be best for me. I swing a Combat Wanted 27oz for my ASA leagues. It's very end-loaded and just a tad heavy for me, but nevertheless is my gamer. The 2015 Dirty is .5oz end loaded, and the weights are listed as 25.5, 26.5, 27.5 or 28.5. I'm leaning towards the 26.5, but before I shell out $199 I'm hoping for some feedback from somebody who's swung both the Wanted and the Dirty. |
| Jan. 15, 2014 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: Bats Discussion: GSC Bat - Status I bought the original White Veteran from Bill Gately, then he offered the 2011 GBA model for $99 to those who bought his first bat. I sent him the $99 in September 2010, but never received the bat. The new GSC owners promised to make good and they've been good at returning calls & emails, but the date for delivery keeps receding like the hairline of some senior softball players I know. I sent them an email 2 weeks ago and received this prompt response: We just shipped one of the last components from California to South Carolina to help us get to a light production schedule. That will take a few weeks to put in place and then we should be able to begin/resume our light production schedule. Please check back in a few weeks to see how we are coming along. We look forward to you having a bat in your hands very soon. |
| May 23, 2013 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: Catcher's verbal interference At Milwaukee this last weekend the opposing catcher yelled FOUL on a drive hit down the line. Our batter & baserunner on 1st heard that call come from the direction of the umpire and stopped running on what turned out to be a fair ball, advancing only to 1st & 2nd when they otherwise would have made it to 2nd & 3rd. We complained that should have been ruled verbal interference, but the umpire said there had to be "intent" on the part of the catcher. I said it's impossible to read a player's mind and the ump said that proves his point, but I take the opposite meaning. If a baserunner physically gets in the way of a defensive player fielding a grounder, is it interference only if the baserunner did it on purpose? |
| April 19, 2013 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: The Stutter Step Guys who grew up in Chicago playing 16 inch softball are more likely to walk the batters box. There used to be no arc limit, and with the big old wooden bats it helped to start out farther back and step forward into optimal position to put everything you had into the swing. |
| March 16, 2013 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: Bats Discussion: Gods Sports Company FACTS surf88, I thank you for your post I paid Bill Gately for a 2011 GBA on Sept 13 2010, but have yet to receive a bat. I have received repeated assurances from Steve and Chip they'll send me a bat, but actual delivery always seems around a future corner. I think it's extremely presumptuous for a commercial enterprise to name themselves "God's" Sports Company; to me it sounds more like a hook to attract cusomers on faith than a reason to trust the proprietors. Although I haven't met you, your post gives me some reassurance that, eventually, I'll have an actual bat in my hands from them. Considering the history and the degree of skepticism, if there really is a factory it seems suspicious they have no evidence of it on their web site. When I talked to Steve last year he said the delay in delivery was due to the sheer volume of orders for their senior bat. I found that very hard to believe, given how little support for it I've encountered in this forum and among senior players I know. |
| Feb. 12, 2013 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Here's my question on RATINGS SSUSA Staff, you NOTED: This also includes players who were on the changed team's roster(s) during tournament play that resulted in the rating increase. Those players were responsible for the team's performance and related rating increase, and they carry the new rating as well. Some AAA teams were moved up even though they didn't win any national tournaments, so does the application of the rule stated above apply to all players on the roster during that season? You're probably aware that not every player on a AAA team that got bumped to major is a major player. He may have had a limited role and limited playing time mostly during seeding rounds or to give the starters some rest. How does a non-impact player get his personal rating changed when he leaves a team that got bumped to major? |
| Jan. 3, 2013 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Out after 3 Home Runs Which rule is more advantageous to an AAA team with several power hitters? a) Unlimited home runs, with walks after the 3rd homer. b) After homer #3, every fair ball hit over the fence is an out. If home run walks help power teams win more games and tournaments, isn't that more likely to get power teams moved up to Major? |
| Dec. 9, 2012 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: AAA Home Run Outs "Learn to hit the other way, hit the gaps, learn to aim" And that's exactly what AAA teams with power do when home runs are outs. They hit fewer over-the-fence shots in 2011 than 2012 when excess homers were walks -- but they still had just as many players with the power to do it. So even though a AAA team has the capability to hit 6+ homers per game, they stay at AAA because they're not hitting the ball over the fence due to a restrictive rule. Seems to me the rule is hiding power-hitting AAA teams rather than exposing them and forcing them up to major. Unless, of course, they're not regularly winning games by large margins and they're not winning big tournaments attended by top AAA competition. Shouldn't those criteria be the real measure of a team's competitive level? If a AAA team has several power hitters but several marginal players as well and they're not all that good defensively, they're not going to dominate other AAA teams regardless of the home run rule. But I'm hearing arguments that they should be a Major team solely on the basis of number of homers per game. I'm not describing my team; Im talking about 50 & 55 AAA in general. Rarely in 2012 did my team hit a home run walk. Personally I rarely hit a ball over the fence, so it's no fun whatsoever for a player with average power when that rare dinger is an out. I don't like home runs being outs, period. (kinda obvious, eh?) Get rid of the juiced bats, or let the players swing away and let their team's win/loss record sort out AAA from Major. If home run power and home run walks win games & national tournaments, those teams will move up. If there are too few teams in the M & M+ divisions, then figure out a way to achieve optimal competitve balance by moving the top M teams to M+ and the top AAA teams to M. Restructure if necessary. But the proliferation of AAA home run walks in 2012 didn't expose AAA teams that should be Major under the current structure as much as it exposed how ridiculous these bats are. |
| Dec. 8, 2012 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: AAA Home Run Outs I'm a 55AAA player, and I don't like any of the rule changes. The one rule I really wanted is the 1-1 pitch count, which all my park district leagues have used for decades. This is slowpitch softball, tilted heavily towards hitting (especially with senior bats). The 0-0 count gives the hitter more cushion to avoid the 2-strike pitch and wait on that fat one over the middle. Standing around waiting for the batter to swing is the least intersting part of action on the field, and is a factor in games shortened to fewer innings. 70 foot bases ... don't we run far enough playing 5+ games in a weekend? This rule doesn't particularly bother me; I'm OK with 70' bases if it's the standard at fields for all age groups, but what's driving this change for seniors ... has the ratio of foot speed to arm strength changed, or are longer bases intended to put infielders a little further out of harm's way from senior bats? Excess AAA home runs as outs is the rule change that prompted me to start this thread (the other thread had gotten very long). Senior bats enable me to hit an occasional home run, but I've always been opposed -- partly because of increased risk of injury to players with slower reflexes; partly because it's very costly replacing these very breakable bats; and because I think these juiced bats are detrimental to our sport, tilting the balance even more to the offense. But that's a different debate. I accept that U2's, Reebok Legends, et al are here to stay in the senior game (for the forseeable future). For the majority of players, the pleasure of hitting lasers and monster shots outweighs the other concerns. Which brings me to the point. Why penalize hitters for usng the approved equipment as intended? AAA teams are hitting more than 3 homers per game because this capability is very common for softball players in their 50's. A typical AAA lineup of 12 hitters will have 4 who can put it out with regularity and 4 more with enough power to do it occasionally. Those 8 players combined will have about 30 at-bats per game, but they can't cut loose 9 out of 10 times. Yeah, I know, you can swing as hard as you want as long as you don't elevate that line drive, but something's wrong when you have to focus on not hitting the ball too far. Supposedly, what's wrong is that AAA teams hitting in excess of 3 per game really should be in the Major division. But if so many AAA teams hit dingers for walks in 2012, maybe that's a measure of power with juiced bats at the AAA level rather than a measure of how many teams in AAA should really be Major. A normally strong healthy softball player in his 50's can hit the ball 300+ with a U2 but that doesn't necessarily make him a major player, and half a dozen of these players don't automatically make a team competitive at the major level. Defense and pitching still are major factors in winning games, and a team with a high on base percentage & good defense will often beat a team with a handful of sluggers. The biggest difference between AAA & Major is usually consistency throughout the lineup, with fewer marginal players. The number of home runs per game should not be the primary guideline for assessing the competetive level of a team. SSUSA already has other more telling criteria for moving a team up to the next level -- the average margin of victory in runs per game (a measure of both offense & defense) and winning national tournaments in a highly competitive field. Home run outs are apparently intended to frustrate strong hitters to the extent they'll want their team to move up to Major, but being consistently overmatched at tournaments is even less fun. By all means let's find the right competitive balance, but home run outs in my opinion is not the way to do it. If a team consistently wins games by hitting home run walks there is already a system for moving them up -- average margin of victory and winning national tournaments. |
| Nov. 26, 2012 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Pitching screen Dan, our 50's & 55's teams both use the pitchsafe net TT linked to. Call Rick K; I think the 50's might have an extra. |
| Sept. 8, 2012 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Hypocrisy Good post, JGogo. With the slower reflexes & speed of senior players these bats are dangerous, and if anything they detract from the game. I see more shots over the fence in Senior ball than I ever did in 30 years of park district leagues. The balance between offense & defense has been tipped a long way towards offense. But SSUSA wouldn't allow senior bats if the majority of players didn't want them. Hitting the ball harder & farther than when you were in your 20's & 30's has a big appeal to a lot of players even though (or perhaps because) it takes less skill to get a hit. Money definitely plays a part in this. SSUSA and other organizations are businesses that make business decisions. We shouldn't be looking to them, we should be looking to oursleves on this issue. We should also look to our teammates who have a hard time affording all the expenses of traveling to tournaments -- PLUS shelling out cash every year for bats that break. I use senior bats because the opposing team uses them, but I would definitely vote to ban them from our game. |
| Sept. 2, 2012 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Hypocrisy Alan, just to be clear: My intent is not to post "unfactual information" ... my intent is to get the facts straight. Perhaps you or Mike can talk to Corky and provide him with the facts, because he has the ear of a lot of players at tournaments. |
| Sept. 2, 2012 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Hypocrisy Alan, At the Northern Championships in Lansing last weekend Corky was there with his truck and a variety of bats for sale including Combats ... but no Ambush. When I asked him why not, he said the Ambush was manufactured identical to the Centenarian and that all it had was a different paint job and a very successful marketing campaign to sell it as a new product. I'm not saying who's right and who's wrong here ... I'm just repeating what was told to me by an individual whom many Senior players regard as an authority on bats. If Corky is merely misinformed, there should be a way to provide him with the facts. If someone is deliberately lying, that would be an inexcusable betrayal of trust with Senior player customers. I'm not trying to stir up a hornet's nest here; I'm hoping it's a misunderstanding that will be resolved amicably. |
| Aug. 23, 2012 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: Bats Discussion: gsc bat latest web site update I sent Steve an email on July 31 asking about the bat promised to me, and have not received a reply. I bought the original white Veteran shortly after it came out, then took Gately up on his $99 offer for the 2011 GBA. I paid for that bat in September 2010 and have yet to receive that or the new Core bat Steve said would be ready in May of this year. I've talked to Steve a few times on the phone and he sounds like a stand-up guy with a fairly detailed story about production delays caused by difficulty in hiring/keeping employees, but with so many people looking for jobs these days that story sounds a little thin. Even thinner is the explanation that the thousands of bats he says have already been ordered are delaying the delivery of bats to everyone. Based on the skepticism of Senior players in this forum, I find it hard to believe more than a handful (if any) would place an order without seeing an actual bat first (not just pictures in a web site). If they really are going to produce and sell bats, you'd think they would be communicating regularly with concrete details and realistic expectations. This is no way to do business. Despite naming the venture God's Sports Company (which I find a bit presumptuous) I have strong doubts this on the level. I just can't figure out why Steve would bother keeping up the ruse for so long. |
| Aug. 8, 2012 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Open or Closed stance.. Some of us who grew up in Chicago playing hi-arc 16" softball move both feet after the pitch is released to get in better position relative to the location of the ball in the hitting zone. That approach was more necessary for hitting a 16" ball dropping almost straight down behind the plate than in 12", but old habits and muscle memory die hard. My stance at the beginning of the swing is pretty closed and not really different than batters who don't "run up" at the ball (as my approach has sometimes been called) but after iitially struggling to hit barely legal flat pitches at the front of the mat I learned to move my starting point forward to where my lead foot is just behind the front of the mat. I still like to start on the outside edge of the batters box and move towards the plate to hit that outside pitch to opposite field. |
| May 30, 2012 ChiPrimeMarty | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Talking Trash Anybody ever hear of a 6-tool player? 1) Hits for Average 2) Hits for Power 3) Fielding/Catches the Ball 4) Strong Arm/Accurate Throws 5) Foot Speed/Runs the Bases 6) Trash Talk/Runs his Mouth |
