Baseball: How To Play The Game: The Official Playing & Coaching Manual of Major League Baseball [Amazon] by Pete Williams. As spring training has just got underway, we’re reminded that its time to start thinking about little league too (like how I made that jump?!). In all seriousness there are books that are just designed to look super pretty and gather dust on a coffee table, this isnt one of those books. This books puts the best of the best Major League Baseball players right into an educational break out of drills, tips, advice and coaching. From every aspect of this game there is a superstar right there giving you basic advice, talking about tips and highlighting key points for playing that position.
The comprehensive guide has fully illustrated with action photos of MLB stars illustrating key points and drills for each defensive position, this book also includes special tips from MLB players on batting, base running, the rules of the game, and coaching. This will be an indispensable resource for anyone who wants to coach or play the game.
It really covers it all: Batting, Pitching, Base running and sliding, Specific drills for playing all defensive positions, Coaching and rules, Offensive and defensive strategy. Partial list of Big League tips on How to Play the Game: Tony Gwynn (hitting), Sammy Sosa (judging fly balls), Bernie Williams (playing the outfield), Mark Grace (approach to hitting), Alex Rodriguez (fielding ground balls), Jeff Bagwell (hitting), Roberto Alomar (fielding ground balls), Jaret Wright (pitching mechanics), Edgar Renteria (how to play SS), John Lackey (improving your pitching), Carlos Delgado (mastering 1B), Rocco Baldelli (basic approach at plate), Cristian Guzman (fielding ground balls), Danny Kolb (good approach on the mound), Dontrelle Willis (pitching strategies), Torii Hunter (playing the outfield), Jason Marquis (pitching with control), Chone Figgins (sliding), Orlando Cabrera (improving your game), Gary Bennett (becoming a better catcher), Ervin Santana (pitching under pressure), Mark Teixeira (playing 1B), Ryan Howard (hitting), Joey Gathright (playing the OF), Troy Tulowitzki (succeeding at the plate), Joel Zumaya (pitching with poise), Josh Johnson (pitching with confidence).
How to win it… Contest ends 11:59pm EST. February 25nd, 2011.
You must comment telling us who would you want to learn from? please include some method for us to contact you in the comment (twitter or email)
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You will have 24 hours to reply before we pick another winner!
Disclaimer: Thanks to Universe Publishing for the prize for this raffle. It’s also limited to the USA too.
I had the great pleasure of doing a quick interview with Amy Tara Koch, the author of Bump It Up, trend reporter to NBC, contributer to SELF, New York Times, People’s Mom and Baby, Travel & Leisure, and many others – yah she’s totally an expert on all things style and travel.
Admittedly the first line about I’m following you is awkward but its about Twitter – lol…
We went over some basics of traveling with expecting a baby, traveling with kids of all ages, and tips for what to bring on the plane.
Of course the age old question how do you defuse the angry mob on the plane when your baby/kid just wont stop crying.
Well I could write out all the questions and answers but that would take all the fun out of watching the video.
Once you’re kids get old enough to say they want to walk more… instead of getting into the stroller you start to look for options for them standing while you’re pushing like a roller board, but this is the a great option that allows you to not only push them along but also unhook the freerider to put it into stroller mode.
I really like how this video shows the dad skateboarding while the kiddo is using the freerider.
The best burgers in New York City in my opinion are Shake Shack – its as if god himself opened it and declared it AWESOME! While I didnt steal this recipe from Shake Shack – I’m told by many this is as close as your going to get it without waiting on an hour and half line on a day like today! I did however lift this recipe from American’s test kitchen (so blame them if its not 100% and shake shack you can blame them too if everyone starts cooking this at home!)
Makes 4 burgers
Sirloin steak tips are also labeled “flap meat” by some butchers. Flank steak can be used in its place. This recipe yields juicy medium to medium-well burgers. It’s important to use very soft buns. If doubling the recipe, process the meat in three batches in step 2. Because the cooked burgers do not hold well, fry four burgers and serve them immediately before frying more. Or, cook them in two pans. Extra patties can be frozen for up to 2 weeks. Stack the patties, separated by parchment, and wrap them in three layers of plastic wrap. Thaw burgers in a single layer on a baking sheet at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking.
Ingredients
10 ounces sirloin steak tips , cut into 1-inch chunks (see note)
6 ounces beef short ribs (boneless), cut into 1-inch chunks
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 hamburger buns , soft (see note)
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
4 slices American cheese
Thinly sliced onion
1 recipe Classic Burger Sauce (see related Serve With recipe)
Instructions
Place beef chunks on baking sheet in single layer, leaving 1/2 inch of space around each chunk. Freeze meat until very firm and starting to harden around edges but still pliable, 15 to 25 minutes.
Place half of meat in food processor and pulse until meat is coarsely ground, 10 to 15 one-second pulses, stopping and redistributing meat around bowl as necessary to ensure beef is evenly ground. Transfer meat to baking sheet, overturning bowl and without directly touching meat. Repeat grinding with remaining meat. Spread meat over sheet and inspect carefully, discarding any long strands of gristle or large chunks of hard meat or fat.
Gently separate ground meat into 4 equal mounds. Without picking meat up, with your fingers gently shape each mound into loose patty 1/2 inch thick and 4 inches in diameter, leaving edges and surface ragged. Season top of each patty with salt and pepper. Using spatula, flip patties and season other side. Refrigerate while toasting buns.
Melt 1/2 tablespoon butter in heavy-bottomed 12-inch skillet over medium heat until foaming. Add bun tops, cut-side down, and toast until light golden brown, about 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining butter and bun bottoms. Set buns aside and wipe out skillet with paper towels.
Return skillet to high heat; add oil and heat until just smoking. Using spatula, transfer burgers to skillet and cook without moving for 3 minutes. Using spatula, flip burgers over and cook for 1 minute. Top each patty with slice of cheese and continue to cook until cheese is melted, about 1 minute longer.
Transfer patties to bun bottoms and top with onion. Spread 2 teaspoons of burger sauce on each bun top. Cover burgers and serve immediately.
Technique
Better Beef for a Better Burger
Chuck is the usual choice for burgers. For the best flavor and tender juicy texture, we opted for two better cuts of beef: sirloin steak tips (right), which contribute big meaty taste, and well-marbled boneless short ribs (left), which lend the fat that keeps the burgers juicy. For best results, buy ribs with at least as much fat as the rib in the photos…
Sirloin Steak Tips
Boneless Short Ribs
Keys to Loosely Packed Patties
FREEZE Chill meat in freezer, separating cubes by at least 1/2 inch, until firm but still pliable, 15 to 25 minutes. Pulse meat in food processor.
SPREAD AND DIVIDE Spread chopped meat over baking sheet and remove any large chunks or stringy connective tissue. Gently separate meat into 4 piles.
SHAPE Without lifting or compressing, gently form meat into thin patties with rough edges and textured surface.
FREEZE
SPREAD AND DIVIDE
SHAPE
Getting the Perfect Grind
Underprocessed meat will lead to gristly bits in the finished burgers and patties that don’t hold together. Overprocessed meat becomes rubbery and dense as it cooks. Perfectly ground meat contains pieces that are fine enough to ensure tenderness but coarse enough that the patty will stay loose.
Ground to Perfection
Underprocessed
Overprocessed
If you want full details here is the video that it was pinched from… along with the old-time fries
One thing that we’ve made progress on in this world is going green. It’s the buzz terms of the last five years. You’ve heard it from Oprah to the nightly news and unless you’ve got a kid or a pet most likely you’re still cleaning your house/apartment with harsh stuff – and believe sometimes that’s the only thing that will get the job done – but nowadays there is other options…. We’ve been using a combo of bother Dapple and Seven Generation products in our home since Kiddo was born.
A little while ago during Spring Cleaning my wife was stressed with childcare, work, and everything else she does and we decided to call in the heavy hitters at Keep Your Home Clean [Link] – they’ve like the green clean crew. Between the website, facebook page, and twitter feeds they’re not only selling a service (which by the way is great) but they’re also putting out there resources and tips of how to bring green cleaning into your own home.
Living in the city is awesome for many things but finding quality help sometimes is tough. Marzena the owner of Keep Your Home Clean and I were introduced on twitter and we had been having a dialog about what we do around the house to keep it clean and really it was about kid friendly clean. I know my wife had put some efforts into being kid friendly but I wasnt sure just how much until we had the Keep Your Home Clean team come in and do a once over before a visit from my mother in law. The team cleaned house literally – it was spotless and well worth the money. We’ve used the service since that first time as well.
Comfort that Marc was able to play right away after a room was done instead of waiting for fumes or other things to clear out was so great (since we have very little room for him to play in normally its hard to stay out of rooms). Because we really thought the job they did was fantastic I’m offering one lucky MANHATTAN resident a chance to win an 8 hour blog with Keep your home clean.
How to win it… Contest ends 11:59pm EST. July 18, 2010.
You must comment telling us your favorite tip for cleaning green, please include some method for us to contact you in the comment (twitter or email)
