A not-so-boring job

Sporting News, The, June 26, 2000 by Stan McNeal

The first base coach stands a few feet from the bag, one of the best spots in a ballpark for watching the game. He tosses the occasional foul ball into the stands. He yells "Go for two!" and "Back!" at the appropriate times. The job seems pretty easy.

Yes, Cardinals first base coach Dave McKay has heard the saying, "This guy is as boring as a first base coach."

But he doesn't think his job is boring. McKay, who has been coaching first base since 1989, has a book and a stopwatch to prove it. In the book, he has detailed information on every pitcher the Cardinals have faced. McKay will watch game tape and record his findings. In this age of specialization, everyone is after the slightest edge. If McKay knows when a baserunner might have an extra tenth of a second to reach second, he has done his job.

McKay has been using a stopwatch since he started coaching first base. He says the average time for a righthander to get the ball home after he commits to the pitch is 1.3 seconds. A lefthander can take longer because he is facing first and can keep the baserunner off-balance. Average time for a catcher to get the ball out of his mitt and to second is 2 seconds. That gives a baserunner 3.3 seconds to have a reasonable chance of stealing second.

McKay says it's more difficult to steal today than it used to be, mainly because many managers have taken over the responsibility of holding runners close. A manager will signal through the catcher to tell a pitcher when to throw home, when to throw to first, when to step off, even when to stand on the mound and hold the ball a second or two longer than usual. In theory, this allows the pitcher to focus on the hitter.

In reality, it makes the job of a first base coach a little more difficult than it appears.