There’s nothing much more tranquil than the smell of freshly mowed grass, the sounds of the crowd at the ball park and a bright blue, cloudless sky surrounding a blazing white sun.

That is unless you’re playing right field and the sun has just crested the top of the buildings which has you staring directly into a blinding white light when the flight of the baseball passes in front of it.

Just like there’s no crying in baseball, there’s no Sun time out. Being an outfielder you’re well aware there’s no player close enough to help you should you lose the ball in the sun’s glare and it’s a sickening feeling searching for it not knowing if it’s going to hit you right in the head when it comes down.

You’re going to have to deal with it, but how is the question. You have seen the black tape or grease players wear on their upper cheeks directly below the eyes. You assume that’s there to reflect the sun’s glare and that’s the purpose, although it doesn’t work. But…if you want to look cool, go ahead and put it on, but don’t depend on it helping.

Wearing sunglasses is the next logical answer of handling sun blindness, but the problem with this is the lenses must be so dark in order to be effective, you lose the baseball in the darkness. That’s probably why you see so many $200 Oakley sunglasses being worn on the brim of players hats instead of actually being worn.

In all fairness to sunglasses, when you don’t need them they’re too dark to wear, and when you do suddenly need them, you’re so busy trying to locate the ball you forget you’re wearing them on the brim of your cap. You probably couldn’t use them if you did remember where they were, as it’d be like walking into a store from the sunny parking lot, you’re blinded either way.

One way to defeat sun blindness is estimate where the ball is located. You saw the ball come off the bat and know if the ball was rising or falling and in what direction before losing it in the sun.

Using that knowledge turn sideways, you’re no longer looking directly into the sun, but towards center field or the right field foul line. Put your bare hand up in front of the sun blocking it from the corner of your eye. At this point you are facing at an angle towards the ball, and blocking the sun out of your eyes with your bare hand.

If you guessed right, you should be within running distance to track the ball down and catch it.

Another effective method for blocking the sun is to utilize your glove as a shield. You can use the same method of approaching the fly ball at an angle, using the gloved hand instead of the bare hand, or if you’ve regained sight of the ball use your glove to help shield your eyes.

There’s two methods of performing this. While holding your glove up at shoulder height, move the glove back and forth in front of the sun with slight movements of your wrist. By doing this the eye does not have time to focus and refocus from glaring light to less light, allowing the eye to remain focused on the ball.

The other method is to look through the webbing of your glove. Most outfielders gloves are large with a webbed pocket. The weave of the leather forming the pocket usually allows you to peer through it, seeing the ball but reducing the glare of the sun.

When using your glove to eliminate sun blindness, always use two hands to catch the ball.

Author Bio: http://www.Learn-Youth-Baseball-Coaching.com Jim is a former minor league baseball player and reknown little league baseball coach in the Midwest. His website is full of excellent tips, drills, instructions and advise on baseball.

Category: Sports
Keywords: Baseball, Hitting, Baseball hitting Tips, Hitting Drills, catching, outfield, infield, sun blindness