Player Profile

From the Author

I do not pretend to be a “know it all” of baseball. This book is just my opinion on how to approach this great game, not only from a coach’s standpoint but as a player, as well as a spectator.

A large share of my baseball knowledge stems from playing the game at an early age and continuing to the point when the natural “weeding out” process prevented me from progressing to a higher level. My baseball-playing career terminated two years after capturing an NCAA National Championship at the University of Arizona under Jerry Kindall (Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins) in 1976. It was under the guidance of Kindall that my understanding of the fundamentals for the game became whole. He was simply a fabulous teacher of the game.

My introduction to the fundamentals of the game and the lion’s share of my coaching style came from a man, who I believe was put on earth by God for the sole purpose of coaching youth baseball. A man whose major league pitching career with the Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates was cut short by an arm injury. It was this brief career that I later determined to be so instrumental in opening up young eyes and ears when he would speak. He was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame on March 1, 2001, primarily for his contribution to Colorado Youth Baseball as a coach. I feel blessed to have played under this man and equally as blessed to have called him my friend. This man was Don Carlsen, my father, and to whom I dedicate this book.