With some time for time to think and dream with school out for 2 weeks I was thinking as a pitcher who was the best leadoff I ever faced. Kenny V. of AZ ROUGE and second would be Cisco who now plays 60's. I count it a major chore to get Kenny out once a game much less ever more. Cisco's bouncing around and being a great hitter makes himma close second place. I guess if I could put a complete player together it would be leadoff Kenny with Mike Manna's speed 55 CJS Express, (fastest guy I have ever saw run) and Steve Imlays power and positive attitude. What a player that would be. Talk later wife is calling. GI

Willie Rodriquez from Nor Cal.

Caleb Rabinold, Hollis Appraisals. He has bat control, speed and power to all fields.

Billy Cameron, turn two

Ricky Henderson!

Bruce, Gotta agree with you, Caleb is really good leadoff hitter and will take one out if you put that pitch in the wrong place.

But for a pure leadoff hitter, with bat control and speed that consistently gets on base, that routinely turns singles into doubles, I'll take Bill Gay, Florida Classics.

Caleb Rabenold is the best I have ever seen and backs it up with outstanding defense. Granted, I have not seen every lead off hitter but he can carry a team and after playing with him for 6 years he is the best I've seen in the major plus division.

That being said, there are a lot of good ones out there and Webbie just maybe one of the top one or two in 60 ball! Big power, good defense and speed!

Mike Hoffner - Arizona Elite 50 Major. Hands down, Hit or HR........ Also may arguably be the best defensive SS in Sr Softball

Ditto on that Malo, but then again, we are kinda Biased . . . ain't we (LOL) ! ! !

Doug Peterson is the most uncanny & consistent leadoff I have seen. Plus he gives you a very solid SS/2b defense.

Janis Sums gets my vote.

My vote would go to the leadoff hitter for the Seacrest Mavericks (50 major plus). A lefty, he has an uncanny ability to softly loop a ball over the 3rd basemans head into short left field. If you cheat him in he'll rip it right by you or blast it over your head. In the five years my teams have competed against the Mavericks I think we got him out once.
By far he has the most exceptional bat control I've ever seen. And a pretty good glove in the infield as well!!

Dottie Hoskins does a fine job at lead off.

Oh geez stick8, you had to go there regarding Gary Springer. Had a beer with him last night, in So Cal we will never hear the end of this now!! LOL. As a youngin' he played 6 years in the Detroit Tigers farm system. BTW - last two years that team was known as Sommerville Softball. I also remember you as a pretty tough out whenever you batted lead off. Caleb Rabenold is a pretty strong choice as well, played against him in ASA 40's. Watched him score a run in Springfeild, MO '96 against Maroadi's and then climb half way up a backstop to punctuate his effort.

Cheers;
Don Newhard
Nighthawks 55 M+
formerly known as Evolution

Who is Sommerville ? ? ?

Dave Sommerville - Sponsor and was a player before he hurt his shoulder. Good guy.

How about Heidi Winters for lead off?

Audie,
Agree with you, Caleb can definitely also play the defensive side of the ball in multiple positions which distinguishes him from a lot of guys that can just hit. He is a complete player and a competitive one.

Sarah Haman is as good as anybody with the bat or glove.

As a player who has leadoff probably 95% of all games I have ever played in (baseball or softball), I have played against Caleb many times. Caleb is not just the best leadoff hitter, he is the best 2nd hitter or just about any other place you put him on the lineup. Caleb is best hitter I have ever seen under 6 feet; people that disagree probably have never seen Hollis play.

Sorry guys, but I am the best lead off hitter of all time: .950 average, hit for power, run like a deer, and lie like a rug (and this is one of the weirdest threads in a long time).

Rickey Henderson

I've seen lots of great lead off hitters over the past 40+ years. But I remember a bare foot Indian guy, Luke Warmwater. His only real short coming was that he didn't flow as well when it was too hot or too cold.
Happy New Year!
:-)
BW

Danny Luhtalla is the best ever in the northwest. Played against him in the 70's and on the same team with him as a senior and he is as tough of an out as you will ever see. He can also hit for power if he wants but his main goal is to get on base. He was also the best left fielder in this area for many years.

Thanks:

James

Tate22 did I accidently open up a can of worms? lol
I do appreciate and thanks for your compliment!! To be mentioned in the same breath as Caleb is great but I'm not anywhere near that level or Gary's level. They are just so consistent plus they can turn on ball and drive it out whereas I'm just a pooch hitter.
But I did lead off for my teams for a lot of years which I enjoyed immensely. Now I bat last on my team (OKI) so I bring the order around to a great home run hitter which is nice--less running of the bases!! lol
How did your team do in Vegas?

Jennifer Leon can lead off with the best of em'

Jennifer Leon can lead off with the best of em'

O, Rickey Henderson is definitely one of the all time great lead off hitters.
Doesn't he hold the record for the most home runs leading off a game?

I've been taking grief from some guys so I'll change my pick to Mike Langford!

Another vote for Mike Hoffner, Arizona Elite.

I thought I did OK with 12 for 13 in my last tournament until I found out Caleb was 21 for 21. Another vote for Caleb.

Real funny Bruce in Ga!!!!!

Ellie Mumford gets on base with speed and style and is a great lead off hitter.

What's the BIG DEAL?

THE LEAD OFF HITTER ONLY LEADS OFF ONCE OR TWICE A GAME!

The deal is the lead off hitter gets the most at bats from your lineup.

WOW!
That whole extra at bat!!!

Thanks for that wealth of information.

Even if the lead off hitter gets an extra at bat that don't make him the lead off batter of that inning. Just another batter in the line up.

It's my pleasure to help the clueless. That one at bat could win a ball game.

Real funny Bruce in Ga!!!!!

Dbax
So let me get this straight

1) The lead off hitter will lead off an inning more than once during a game MAYBE??

2) The lead off hitter could get to bat 1 more time than the rest of his team MAYBE??

3) That lead off hitter could WIN or LOSE a game MAYBE??

THAT'S A LOT OF MAYBES!!!!

Dbax

WOW AGAIN~~~~

Your last statement could just as easily apply to anybody in the batting order!!!

I'm surprised nobody has picked up on what I think is the most important thing that a leadoff hitter does. He sets the tone for the game for your team in a lot of cases. It is most important if you have just come off a loss. To see your leadoff hitter do something productive to start the next game can lift a whole team.
To even be mentioned here is an honor. I thought Caleb and Billy were two terrific leadoff men that I saw for the first time this year. Outs are rare for them. And GI, I agree Kenny is also very tough.

Webbie, I agree with you on those two. I have not seen the others mentioned. I would like to add that I like Billy C much more when he hit lead off for the NVFORCE team, rather than Turn Two. Thanks Harry

Real funny Bruce in Ga!!!!!

Full Monty and Pull, go ahead and bat your worst hitter leadoff then and see what happens late in the game.

Pete Rose or Ichiro Suzuki

Real funny Bruce in Ga!!!!!

Real funny Bruce in Ga!!!!!

seems to be and echo around here!

Bud Weathers Hendrick,s Sport Mangerment Out of Houston is my choice. If you played on the City fields in Vegas you can play anywhere.

Who will win the speed base running contest at the TOC?

I still feel Mike Manna CJS Express 55 is the fastest guy I have seen run in senior ball. Sad thing is we did not win any tournaments this past year so Mike will not be there. E4 /E6 Is there any chance Doug Peterson who you talked about is same Doug P who played in AZ in the 1980-90.s for Mike McCormick's team? I remember Doug as ashortstop who like to hit ball to right side alot.

GI Thats very possible, Doug played for the Mavericks back before the Mustangs were formed, Doug loves the right side, but can hit it where they "aint", at will. He does play ss & 2b now. I'm not sure about who Doug played for that far back.
Doc Swear or the Wood, would know better then I.
On the issue of the fastest player in Senior ball, I would put Ernie Stucki up against anyone 55 up, unfortunately finding out will have to wait until we qualify for another TOC I guess.

Tate 22 … Don, I played with Caleb on that ASA 40's championship team. We were down by over 10 runs late in the Maroadi's game and some things were being said about having to play the "if" game before this game was over.
That was actually Bill "Soupy" Campbell that climbed the screen , shaking it and screaming, "Rattle rattle here comes the cattle!!" There was a stampede coming and we cam back and won. Ed Rose and I still chuckle about that day and Soupy who was a scrappy fiery infielder.

And for the record, Caleb was selected MVP that weekend. He is one of the best pure hitters to play and one of the classiest.

Conman
Dave Alarcon

Leo Osterday has to be right up there the guy only makes one or two outs a tournement.

HENDERSON

ROSE

SUZUKI




THE REST OF THE ABOVE NAMED


ARE JUST AMATEURS!

Conman/Dave - thanks for the update. Our team, the Sun Devils from Southern CA, finished third in that event. We watched your game, and definitely enjoyed the outcome. Your response to Maroadi's was well deserved. We lost the previous game to them when a game-ending hit was taken away. We were neck and neck with you guys in the undefeated game for about three innings and them boom - it was more than cattle that stampeded us! I remember Caleb, and a 6'6'' lefty at 1B that hit missles. You had a great team.

Cheers and Happy New Year;
Don Newhard

Don .. thanks for the kind words. I remember your team as being extremely spirited and enthusiastic. Obviously Sun Devil
colors if my mind hasn't faded too badly. Our game was very tight and I remember thinking the first team that blinks or makes
a mistake is going to regret it. We got a few lucky breaks and managed to pull it out.
Our first baseman was Dennis Willis who hit several huge home runs that weekend. But we also had another big lefty who was around 6'4 .. the late Eddie Sipe. Sadly Eddie was taken from us a few years ago. He was a powerful hitter and a good man.


Happy New Year,

Conman
Dave Alarcon

Conman, Sorry to hear about Eddie...this is the first that I knew about it. I played with Eddie and Soupie back when I lived in Florida in the 80's. Is Soupie playing senior ball?
thanks,
Murray Williams

Murray,

Yeah it was a shock to hear about Eddie.

I haven't seen Soupie in a few years. He was still as fiery as ever playing senior ball. I will see Ed Rose in a few weeks and I will check on him. If I remember right, you played for Eddie around 1984/85. Back then I played with Sobyco and Instant Landscape.

Didn't you move out to the midwest .. Oklahoma? I think we played against each other at the ASA 1982 A Nationals in Tulsa. Ahh the years start running together. You used to hit the ball real well.

Conman
Dave Alarcon

Dale Smith and Mike Jackson who both were lead off hitters on other teams it the pass. They play for the Edge 60 Major team out of Memphis now. Dale plays short and Mike plays second. Both are .800 hitters are better. Great guys.

Bill Gay....hands down...Speed....Bat control.....800 plus average.

Dave, Yes I played with Ed Rose in the mid 80's through early 90's before I moved to Texas. Tell Ed hello for me when you see him. The Soupie Maroadi's story I heard included some more colorful language in addition to the "Rattle, rattle..."

Still say Mike Hoffner of Arizona Elite

When I played with Northern Ohio Printing in 50 Major last couple years I believe I hit behind one of the best lead off hitters. Ray seemed like it was a automatic double when he came up. Being the 2nd hitter that makes my life easier when you have a guy on 2nd with no outs.

Thanks guys for info. neat to see many express ideas. When I started post month ago did not know what to expect. I do enjoy seeing several AZ players names in list. I have pitched against many of them and I am sure they lit me up.. Just want to say again what a joy it is to share and play softball with all of you. Having just seen a college friend leave this world in past week and spending time with family and friends in Indiana I again realize our time here is short and how important it is to thank those around us that make our life better. look forward to seeing some new best leadoffs this year in 2013. I will be pitcher wearing the bee keeper helmeit. Hugs GI PS Webbie stop laughing I can hear you laughing thinking about my helmets in past.

I hate to do this because his ego is already big enough. Gary Springer, Mavericks then Summerville. Learning to hit, as a Big Time over the line player, he would just drive defenses nuts. Move in, he hits it over your head, stay back and he would dink it over the infield. Infield play back he would slap it and out run the throw.

I am surprised that he could hold a bat after patting himself on the bat so much, his hand had to hurt at some point. Seriously though, he is one of those guys you love to get out because if you do, it could affect the outcome of the game.

I would much rather have him on my team than have him on yours.