If you're coaching a little league baseball team you don't need to get too complicated when giving pitch signs. Matter of fact, the simpler the better. You may even be able to get away with throwing down one sign with a runner on second.

By chance, if you see the runner on second base relaying signs to a hitter, you then have a bunch of options. I always liked to go with an indicator that tells the pitcher to throw whatever sign is given after the indicator. Or you can simplify things by just going with the third or second sign. This is probably a better idea for younger players.

To hear some more on the art of catcher and pitcher communication, listen to this audio lesson on sign calling.

What I often find are coaches who stray from the standard defensive coverages to accommodate the younger ballplayer. In other words, coaches don't seem to feel that their players are old enough to run a bunt defense or cut off as a high school or college team would run it.

I truly believe 10 to 12 year old ballplayers can execute any standard bunt coverage, just as teams have been defending bunts for decades.

Will it take them longer to get it right? Absolutely. However, that does not mean they won't get it right. It takes patience and repetitions.

Remember, the youth of today can figure out how to surf the web on a smart phone or play a complex video game like Madden 2010 (which seems to use about 20 buttons to operate). They can do tasks on the computer that many adults would be lost trying to perform. Don't underestimate a 10 year old shortstop and think that he can't get to 3rd base in time on a rotation bunt defense.

In my opinion, youth baseball coaches should try and teach cut offs, bunts, and other defensive situations just as they are taught in high school(let's say 90% of the time). Coaches should not let the age of their players deter them from preparing each and every player for the next level.

I've been working with little league baseball players since I was 15 and you don't need to tell me how frustrating it can be to practice something over and over again only to have it forgotten come game time. Nevertheless, coaches need to persevere teach players the correct way to play the game; it will only make them better ballplayers in the long run.

Well, I had the opportunity to get my golf swing checked out the other day, ironically enough, from a former baseball opponent of mine.

I knew the golf and baseball swing were somewhat similar but not nearly as much as Mark, former ballplayer and current PGA instructor showed me.

One thing my golf swing lacked was the proper use of my legs or lower half to be more general.

Just as with hitting, the legs and hip rotation is so important in golf. As an upper body golfer, I not only lose some distance but also consistency as well.

If you want to be a slap hitter, then throw the barrel at the ball and stay short with your swing.

If you want to drive the baseball, then you must use the legs and explode the hips.

**** What about muscle memory ****

Mark told me that the golf experts believe that in order to correct a swing flaw in golf, you'll need to hit about 3000 balls.

I believe it!

I bet I threw 5000 balls against the painted strike zone on our brick wall while I was growing up. And as I jokingly tell my daughter, "I can still crawl out of bed and throw a baseball through a donut hole."

It's all muscle memory.

If you have a son or daughter, or coach a team; emphasize to the kids that it takes thousands of repetitions to be a great hitter or pitcher.

In golf or baseball, greatness does not happen overnight.

As the Major League players enter the 2010 spring training weeks, many local baseball programs are also starting to get under way.

One thing the pros understand at their age is the importance of developing a strong foundation of flexibility and endurance before the long season begins. Unfortunately, this aspect of the game along with proper warm up techniques is often overlooked in our youth programs. Sometimes we're so anxious to get out on the field and throw the ball around that we limit the players to a quick 5 minute warm up before practice. That is not enough.

I believe it is important to emphasis proper warm up techniques, conditioning, and flexibility programs in the youth programs. Last summer I noticed during our baseball camps, I noticed that even I was in better shape and much more flexible then the average 12 year old. How is this possible?

So coaches, let's whip these kids into shape, increase their flexibility, and provide an adequate dynamic warm up routine for them. It will pay off immensely in the long run for not only the individual player, but for the success of your team as well.

The Play Ball Conditioning Department has over 20 dynamic warm up and training lessons for coaches to use as a guide.

It's a shame, that the great sport of baseball has been tarnished by this "steroid era". Just when you think the talk of juicing is starting to erode away, it rears its ugly head yet again.

Again we hear the way-to-late apology from another record breaker and the theme is that steroids weren't used to enhance performance but more to maintain performance, or to recover from potential career ending injuries. Is this an excuse or truly the reasoning behind most steroid users?

I must have been clueless in the early nineties, because I never saw steroid use or did it even cross my mind in my pitching days at the University of Pittsburgh. Maybe it wasn't anywhere in college baseball at that time, since that was likely the beginning of the MLB steroid era.

Now almost 20 years and 3 shoulder surgeries later, I still can't decide if I would have made the same dumb decisions the players of MLB have made. Especially since I only had about 2 years of a 90+ fastball before shoulder injuries dramatically reduced my velocity. I can say one thing, I totally understand how these guys could have made this choice.

Many players only have baseball and nothing else to fall back on. Imagine if your whole life can be altered simply by casually taking a performance enhancing drug, whether for recovery or to get stronger. It could mean millions of dollars for a player and his family. Or maybe it simply means reaching the dream of playing professional baseball.

Sure McGwire's apology is a few year too late, but I believe players like McGwire and Andy Pettite are truly embarrassed by their actions and regret that they ever went down that road of no return.

Nothing really surprises me anymore with MLB players, as long as I don't Griffey Junior spattered all over the front pages. If that story ever makes headlines, then Major League Baseball has would have finally struck out.

If you're a baseball coach or parent don't allow your players to be inactive in the winter months; get them off those video games. If they don't play a winter sport such as basketball or wrestling, then get them into some sort of conditioning program.

At Play Ball Academy, we follow the strength and conditioning teachings of Velocity Sports Performance to help us guide baseball coaches and parents all over the world to condition their players safely and effectively. Though members of our staff are well experienced in baseball conditioning due to the high level baseball that we achieved, but sometimes it's best to step aside and let the experts take over. This is why we joined forces with Velocity Sports Performance.

So whether you want to seek out personal training or educate yourself on the proper techniques, it is imperative that all baseball players take their off season training seriously. Just remember, good baseball players are a dime a dozen, if a ballplayer becomes lazy, slow, and out of shape, there is always someone waiting to take their place.

In 2009, however, I believe they are back as a group of role players and team players. But you may be thinking they still have the big payroll and guys like Alex Rodriguez and C.C. Sabathia. This is true, but there is a new attitude in the Bronx; one of play hard, have fun, be relaxed, and the wins will come.

Make sure you watch the playoffs this October and see how these Yankee players sacrifice their at bats to move a runner, work the count to increase the pitch count, congratulate each other after getting a bunt down, and simply play the game the way it was meant to be played.

These really aren't skills that are taught, but rather a mindset; being unselfish and unaware of personal statistics.

Again, watch the postseason closely to pick up the little details that the Yankees and the other great MLB teams do and try to project that style of play onto your players. You'll be surprised at what a group of players with a common goal in mind, can accomplish.

Since the game was the blowout, we had time to check out the new cathedral.

My first impression of the stadium was that it is massive. The main concourse is huge and very bright with the skylight ceiling and an enormous large video screen at one end. The outfield, however, is more confined and congested. I personally, was disappointed in how they laid out the configuration in the outfield.

The stadium is much cleaner then the original house that Ruth built and there are an unbelievable amount of concession stands, selling anything you could possibly want to eat.

Of course, with New York comes crazy price tags. Including:

- $30 to park in a very suspicious garage. - $10 beer (approximately 20 ounces) - $7.50 cheeseburger - $15.00 cheesesteak (USDA Prime Beef Variety) - $5.00 soda

Luckily, my friend got us free tickets from his workplace or I would have needed to take out a loan for the game.

I really think the Yankees should be ashamed of themselves for screwing fans the way they do; and I'm saying that as a longtime Yankee fan. A family of four would easily spend $400 to go see a game at the new Taj Mahal of baseball parks.

The park is nice, clean, and comfortable, but it just doesn't have that same mystique like the original. I would always get a chill when I stepped through the corridor to see the grass where baseball legends once roamed.

I didn't get that feeling yesterday.

Possibly it was the bad taste lingering in my mouth from the $50 already spent just to get to the stadium and park my car, or maybe the stadium just needs to grow on Yankee fans.

Who knows, maybe in 30 years when I take my grandchildren to the house that Jeter built, they'll get that same chill that I once experienced.