Dirk Hayhurst

I do baseball lessons in my down time. It’s what you do when you’re a former baseball player and you’re bored, and you’re tired of watching kids do it wrong. I see a bad delivery on a kid and it irritates me like crooked picture frame. Working with young baseball padawans also lets me stay around the game in a capacity I enjoy. I like to teach and instruct. Folks tell me I should become a little league coach, but… uh… I can’t stand the parents. The kids are fine, they’re easy, they do what you tell them. The parents on the other hand… well, sometimes they can’t get past themselves long enough to let their kids be kids. (more...)

Ken Rosenthal recently wrote a very even-handed piece over on Fox Sports about Ozzie Guillen’s comments regarding Fidel Castro. Rosenthal’s piece ultimately called for the Marlins to suspend Guillen as a way setting a precedent that such unedited comments—which Ozzie is renowned for—will not be tolerated. The piece turned out to be as polarizing as the person it was written about. Fans came out in droves to slam Rosenthal for being to “PC”, or sensitive. Some even said that they could care less about what Ozzie says, regardless of content, as long as he brings a winning team to the field. That irritated me greatly. (more...)

(Here is my latest advice to a college kid going through a rough patch. Hope it helps anyone else going through rough time as well. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.)   Hey Dirk, My name is Harry Doyle, I am a Freshman Pitcher for the Mel’s Barber College. I am a huge fan of your books. I am going through a bit of a hard time. I started the season off first out of the pen and got some mid week starts. I started vs Rick’s Tattoo Shop University and had a great outing and our coach told me I won the Sunday spot but turns out that was all a lie and it shook me a bit. Ever since then, I have appeared in probably 3 innings and let up around 10 runs. I know it happens, I know its baseball, but all of my confidence is gone. I know that you have been in difficult situations in your career and have overcome them. Tonight vs Arnolds Piercing U. I pitched 1/3 of an inning and found a way to allow 2 runs. Any help would be appreciated. As I said, I started from first out of the pen and now I am the very last one. I literally felt that I had it all made, I was being sent to the Cape, I beat out high draft picks (I am an undrafted kid from Guam) so I felt that I was on top of the world. After the game today, our coach, in front of our team called a "mother-fucking pussy" and told me I should have just gone to a real school. I don’t want to rant and complain to you, but I just know that you are someone I respect and can you've been in my shoes at some point. (more...)

Here are a few observations I took from yesterday's Jays/Indians marathon opener. There is always a lot of speculation around the beginning of the year. Fans tend to look at the opening day game results and extract some kind of foreshadowing from it, as if it will set the tone for the rest of the season. It's contagious. In fact, in the Indian's press box, I couldn't believe how many times I heard the words "this could be our year!" from Indians press who had covered the team for several seasons now. Not that there is anything wrong with being positive, but five innings is hardly a good indicator of what kind of team the Indians, or the Jays for that matter, are going to be in August. (more...)

So I’m not playing ball right now, and I’m fine with that. I don’t miss it. Maybe I will later when the scent of fresh cut grass and hot dogs and Latin player pre game cologne catches my nose again, but I doubt it. Don’t ask me what’s next. What I do know, I can’t talk to you about, and what I don’t know isn’t worth waxing philosophic over. I’ll just say that I expect Matt Moore to pitch the hell out of it this year and Bobby V to be fired by August 1st. Beyond that, I don’t even know what I’ll have for dinner tomorrow. (more...)

I received an email from a college pitcher the other day. He was recovering from surgery, unsure if things were going to work out in favor of triumphant on field return. Understandably, this had shaken him. He felt he would be robbed of a life long dream, especially since he felt he had more to give the game. The following is my response:   Dear Young Padawan,   (more...)

I'll be the first to admit to you that Hudson Ohio is not as beautiful as Italy, but it's got it's attractive features, especially come spring time. (more...)

Here are some shots from my time in Italy. I was sad it was cut short, but I did get a few good visuals. Allow me to share a few with you here. (more...)

I’m all packed and ready to go… and this time, I have a plane ticket. I think it’s pretty safe to say that I don’t know what I’m getting myself into. I don’t speak a lick of Italian. I don’t have any friends waiting for me. I don’t even know much about the Italian league other than it’s in Italy, my manager—nick-named the “Panther”— is allergic to umpires, and the team has high expectations for an American pitcher with big league time under his belt. That last part makes me a little nervous. I hope they don’t expect me to get off the plane and start striking people out like some video game cheat code. I need these next two weeks to get up to full game speed. I’ve been doing my best to get ready here at home, but there is only so much a player can do in a cold weather state when all his potential catch partners are playing college ball, or in spring training. (more...)

While training with the Kent State University baseball team the other day, I struck up a conversation with one of the players about what it’s like to play in the professional ranks. These kinds of conversations are interesting because the candor of the player always seems to possess this dreamy quality, like I’ve been somewhere over the rainbow where Blue Jays sing, and have come back to confirm there is a giant talking lion handing out shoe endorsements. Unfortunately for them, my candor has this buzz kill element to it. Not because I’m trying to crush anyone’s dreams, but because the pro ranks are a reality to me, not a fantasy. It’s tough to talk dreamy about something when you’ve seen what’s behind the curtains, where they pile up all the lion poop. (more...)