Brent Mayne

Upcoming Speaking engagements

Just a quick entry today as I’m all over the place lately trying to become a business man. Gotta go to the bank to set up new account, go to the lawyer to sign papers for incorporation, go to Radio Shack to get some equipment so I can start to offer podcasting for you all, need to make about a billion phone calls, write this blog, be a dad, be a husband, be a human being on the roads…you get the picture. Brenty busy. 

Anyway, there’s a couple things coming up that I’d like to notify you about.  Maybe you can mark it in your calendar and come out to hear me speak. It’s free and I’ll be at…

NITRO BASEBALL on  Sunday October 5th, at 5:00 the address and contact info is:    7412 Count Cir.             Huntington Beach, CA 92647   phil@nitrobaseball.org                                                                                              

LIFELETICS on Sunday October 19th, at 10am the address and contact info is:       16702 Burke Lane             Huntington Beach, CA 92647      (714) 843-1989        team@lifeletics.com                                                                                                          

I hope to see you out there. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite old pictures….enjoy.

Fresno St.

I know this is really late, but it just keeps coming up. My father, Mike, came out of retirement last year and helped coach the Fresno State baseball team. If you missed the college world series, you missed some good TV. It was high drama and almost worthy of someone making a movie about it. The Fresno team overcame long odds, injuries, and being on the road for over a month to win the whole thing and capture the hearts of all those who witnessed their run. As an added bonus to the Mayne family, my son got to be their batboy and kind of mascot. He missed a lot of school last year because he flew up to Fresno so much (alone) to attend games and be with his grandparents. He got a great baseball education and made some great friends with the Fresno players. Then he got to go to the regionals and then the world series. It was all perfect.

So now, anytime I do a lesson or cross paths with fans or baseball people they ask about my dad and son. It’s amazing how much that team and their story touched people. I got a call from my dad this morning and he said the team is going to Washington DC to do the whole meet the prez thing. How cool. And what a great bonding thing for a grandpa and his grandson.

Books I like

Here are some of the best books I’ve ever read and why….kind of like one of those “celebrity playlists” they have on itunes, except without the celebrity.

1. My grandpa’s favorite player, my dad’s favorite player…this book was handed down to me from them, and I read it for the first time when I was around 8 or 9.  This book opened my eyes as to what it took to be at the top.  Talk about obsession and work ethic!….I love this book and highly recommend it to any aspiring player.

2. The best hitting book ever by the greatest, most opinionated hitter ever.

3. The greatest Western ever, maybe my favorite book ever. Monte is one of the great characters in writing.

4. Pretty deep but pretty good. Appeals to my traveling nature.

5. What a writer, not sure if these books are healthy or not but I liked them.

6. Just a weird book that I think is really cool.  A great read about the Aborigine people.  Can they really do all that stuff???

7. Interesting take on life from a very interesting man…don’t know why its sideways.

8. For a little perspective…I certainly don’t understand all of it, but me likes it.

9.  A few great summertime books in the mix…

10. A great one about being alone…

11.  One that had a big influence on my mental approach as an athlete.

12. Saving the best for last….what can I say about this one?  Probably the single greatest book ever written on the subject of baseball. The author was a decent ball player, but an OUTSTANDING writer. This book has it all.  It will make you laugh, make you cry, and when you finish you will look up into the heavens and thank God for being alive. Trust me on this one. Get a copy for every room in your house.

Found em!

Its alright, no need to panic. The search is over. I finally found the elusive and rarely photographed sandlot game! They were gathered on a school yard in the early afternoon. I snuck up from behind and nabbed a few images before anyone knew what happened. I know what you’re thinking, “how did HE get so lucky to photograph such an event?” All I can say is it was just amazing timing and luck. I guess I was just in the right place at the right time. Here they are….

I’m gonna get these in the hands of the right people so that they can take their proper place amongst the most famous of rare photos. In my opinion, it belongs right up there with Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster….enjoy.

Tale of 2 blocks

Here are a couple examples of blocking techniques that I saw this past week.  One worked, one didn’t. First let’s briefly analyze the one that worked and find out why. 

.                           The first thing to notice in this sequence is (of course) the posture. Look how perpendicular the back is… especially when compared to the catcher in the sequence below. Next, pay attention to how efficient this receiver is with his knees. They go from point A to point B without any wasted movement.  From his squat, they go directly to the ground. Because he’s so quick, he even has time to get a little bit of an angle on the breaking ball in the dirt, thus squaring his chest to the direction of the bounce. His glove is covering the five hole pretty well. Maybe most importantly, all of this movement has stopped by the time he and the ball connect. This allows him to turn into a human pillow and ensures that the ricochet is minimal (last frame, ball ends up right at home plate).

Now let’s take a look at the block that was ineffective…

                       First thing I don’t dig about this sequence is the receiver’s squat. His back is parallel to the ground and in a position that doesn’t look athletic. In the second frame you can see by the downward movement of his hands that he’s recognized in plenty of time that the ball is going to be in the dirt. The compromised position of his body negates all of his good early recognition though, as you can see in the third and fourth frames. In order for him to get his knees down, he needs to waste precious moments by unweighting his parallel back off of his legs. This up-to-go-down movement is inefficient and ultimately results in a ricochet that just about goes into the dugout. He should be completely down and movement free by the fourth frame or the fifth at the latest.  As it is, he doesn’t get into the proper blocking form until the seventh frame. This is way too late as he and the ball connected at frame five.

Just remember, to be a consistent blocker of balls in the dirt, you need a good setup, good anticipation, you need to be efficient and quick with your movements, and all forward movement outside of exhaling and “receiving” the bounce (turning into a human pillow) should be done by the time you and the ball meet. Good luck soldier.