BLOOM [Sports] Batting for the Kids Coach Pulliam is putting his experience as a big league veteran to use in teaching young players to swing a bat, to have proper mental attitudes, and to live positive lives. April 2007

Andrea Stuart

Harvey Pulliam is teaching young players lessons about ballplaying and life on the Delta Dawgs baseball team. Alexander Joe Cartwright conceived of the modern baseball field in 1845. He and the original members of the New York Knickerbockers Baseball Club also formulated the first official rules of the American game that year, which were derived from the rules of the game called rounders that was played in Great Britain and Ireland. Of course, by the time Harvey Pulliam arrived on the baseball scene baseball had already become affectionately known as "the American past-time."

Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Harvey Pulliam became a regular observer of his older brother as he played baseball. Harvey was not yet old enough to play on a league when he swinging a bat himself. At seven years of age he began taking batting lessons from his mother, who acted as his pitcher in those early years.

His mom did everything she could to make sure he Harvey could participate with others in sports. She couldn't have predicted that Harvey's love for the sport would develop into a full fledged passion; he and his bat became nearly inseparable.

"As a kid people used to ask me, 'Do you go anywhere without your bat?'" Harvey recalled. "And the answer was no, not really. I took it everywhere. I remember at family gatherings I would go to another room and continue training myself through fantasy, imagining the announcer say, 'Harvey's up to bat in the 5th….' as I got into stance."

Children today have access to a variety of organizations and programs to assist them with their techniques and help build their talents. When Harvey was a child baseball practice consisted of hitting the ball down a San Francisco streeet, which often resulted in a long chase to retrieve balls that got away.

"It definitely kept me on my toes," he chuckled.

A Baseball Career is Born

When Harvey turned eight years old he joined his first Little League team.

As with many of his peers, Harvey's love for baseball grew stronger over the years. By the time he was 18 years old he had played on McAtee High School's baseball team for four years. It was then that he was discovered by the Kansas City Royals and drafted to play on their Minor League team.

Seeing this as the opportunity of a lifetime, Harvey quickly packed his things and headed to Sarasota, Florida to play Minor League baseball with the Royals. The temperature at the time in Florida was 90 degrees Fahrenheit with humidity levels high enough that people could take steam baths on their front porch. Harvey was dismayed by the weather that was so unlike the moderate Bay Area conditions he was accustomed to.

Throughout his baseball career Harvey traveled all over the country expanding his horizons. As a Minor League baseball player he played all over the country from Sarasota, Florida to Appleton, Wisconsin. He finally made it to Major League baseball in 1991. Although Harvey described playing in the Major Leagues as a lot of fun, he said it was a very rocky road.

"The biggest adjustment came from playing with guys that I knew were equal or better than me. It was a real wake up call," Harvey stated.

"Reality set in that this was a business. This was not a hobby anymore. You had to perform the best you could at all times because there were guys waiting in the wings for an opportunity to take your spot."

The pressure to perform often sparked a lot of positive energy and helped him play well, but it also took some of the fun out of the experience for him.

Harvey appreciated the fact that the Major League had double the fans of Minor Leagues. He was exhilarated by the roar of the crowd and no one could dispute that staying in first class hotels and eating great food were great perk.

However, Harvey was constantly reminded of the pressures created by the expectations that everyone had of him.

Working with Youth

When his career in the majors was over, Harvey continued to play baseball. He began exploring different avenues of the sport and in 1998 and 1999 played in Japan in the Pacific League for the Orix BlueWave. He was able to take his family with him, which he said was a wonderful benefit.

Harvey explained with enthusiasm in his voice, "This was the best experience. Being in another country really opened my eyes." During his professional baseball career Harvey had been offered a coaching job with various pro teams. He always felt he wanted to teach and knew he could do it well. However, he knew that his family responsibilities would make it too difficult to just pick up and leave as the job would require.

So, after Harvey left Major League Baseball he began working at a regular job. However, after a while, he couldn't help but feel that something was missing from his life.

One day Harvey was sitting in a church service and had an epiphany. He realized that he had a talent that he wasn't using; he was letting it go to waste.

"I knew that as a decent hitter I could teach kids how to find their talent," Harvey added.

In 2005 Harvey was introduced to the Delta Dawgs, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides children from Contra Costa County with opportunities to participate in tournament baseball throughout most of California.

Established in 2004, the Delta Dawgs became a traveling competitive team that teaches kids to have fun playing baseball while also instilling the young players with high work ethics.

The primary emphasis in the Delta Dawgs is to enjoy the game, achieve academic excellence, and to experience personal rewards from working hard to reach their potential.

Harvey instantly became interested in becoming a part of this new organization and shortly after he was introduced to the club's President, John Zamora, he began coaching for them.

Unfortunately, shortly after joining the Delta Dawgs Havey tore his rotator cuff. He used the experience as an opportunity to learn new coaching techniques by coaching other coaches on how to teach his hitting techniques to the children.

Harvey did this by giving vocal instruction to the coaches who then carried out the hands on instruction.

Psychology of Baseball

Harvey places a powerful emphasis on mental strength. In fact, he claims that a player can't overemphasize the mental aspect of the game.

In addition to technique and conditioning, players must build up a mental defense against the barrage of criticism that they will inevitably encounter so that it won't affect their performance.

Harvey says that players must learn not to take criticism too much to heart, but instead to harness energy from it in order to build their mental powerhouses.

Harvey's coaching technique is effective not just because he is helping to build confidence in his young students but because he is able to accurately pinpoint problems a child might be having with his approach.

Harvey has had a number of children come to him with insecurities concerning their talents. They have asked questions regarding criticisms from other coaches who advised them to change their entire batting styles.

More times than not, Harvey has found during a child's evaluation that the problem was only a small thing such as hand placement. Harvey says effective coaching is about keeping it simple for the kids so that techniques will not become overcomplicated and confusing.

"Many coaches make it harder than it really is," Harvey explained. "You can watch hitting videos and instructions for kids but ultimately they just put too much pressure on the young players."

Harvey has found that many of his students have improved far beyond his expectations and theirs, proving that they could beat their obstacles.

He says that the best rewards come from the knowledge that he is helping young players to reach objectives that might have been impossilbe without his assistance.

"Most of all," Harvey said, "I am grateful for the parents who work with me to help make their kid's dreams come true." Harvey is continually amazed by the fact that he is able to teach a technique that he developed himself to kids that share with him his passion for excellence.

True Success

The relationship between the Delta Dawgs and Harvey Pulliam is mutually beneficial. They share similar goals for the children and have married their ideas and techniques. In fact, just last year Harvey helped one of the worst teams in the AAA division become one of the best.

Havey attributes his success as a coach partially to the fact that many of his students are so young (as young as eight years old) and that they are so raw you can mold them from the beginning.

Harvey is not quick to dismiss his own successes in baseball as part of his success as a coach. He admits there is a bit of psychology that goes into his coaching and it stems from his previous career.

"The kids listen to me because I'm a Major Leaguer. Their own dads could have been telling them the same thing for weeks or months, but they listen to me because I've been there," Harvey said.

"My favorite thing about being their coach is watching them grow and gain success because when they are successful I am successful."

Harvey maintains that his ultimate goal as a coach is to provide children with the fundamentals of baseball and to get them into the right mind set so that they are not only prepared to play baseball in high school, college, or the Major Leagues, but so that the kids can receive college scholarships, which will get them the education Harvey feels is necessary in life.

Education is something he reinforces throughout all of his training.

Harvey also has the reputation of instilling in the kids is the notion that each player must respect their parents first and foremost.

"They must be an animal on the field. But they have to let it all go when they leave the field," he continued.

The kids are taught not only the rudiments of baseball, but they the fundamentals of life.

In their preparations for learning how to deal with the harsh reality of pro baseball, they constantly learn skill sets that will serve them well into their adult lives both on and off the field.

To learn more about the Delta Dawgs, check www.deltadawgsbaseball.com.