News from the Field: Bill Laskey
Former SF Giants Pitcher, Bill Laskey, is the Middle School Girls Softball Coach. He pitched for San Francisco from 1982-86 and ended his Major League Baseball career with the Cleveland Indians in 1988.
In the 1990s, Bill’s young daughter was eager to play softball in Burlingame and Bill immediately became involved. Under his leadership, Burlingame Girls Softball grew from 80-400 players in four years. Bill helped to build and outfit the field with used scoreboards from AT&T Park. The players improved quickly and, in just a few years, the club fielded an all-star team that would eventually be ranked 11th in the country.
From there, Bill continued to coach girls’ softball and built programs virtually from scratch at Aragon High School, Palo Alto High School and Foothill College. Crystal snagged Bill at a good moment when he was in-between coaching gigs.
“People ask me why I always coach girls. I like to joke that, ‘girls will listen and boys know it all already.’ The truth is I would love to coach boys’ baseball down the road, but it’s been a lot of fun working with girls all these years.”
Bill’s goals for our girls? Most of the girls are new to the sport and some are afraid of the ball. “We’re building skills, getting comfortable and having fun. At the end of the first few weeks of practice, I definitely saw better hitting and ball handling.” Luckily, Bill has a natural affinity for teaching and loves to “figure out how to impart my knowledge in a positive and effective way. It’s rewarding when you see a player get what you’re saying, adjust their game and improve.”
When he’s not teaching 26 Crystal middle school the fundamentals, you can see Bill as a Giants pre- and post-game analyst for Comcast Bay Area. He also co-hosts a call-in radio show on KNBR with former Oakland As/SF Giants pitcher, Vida Blue (Saturdays during baseball season).
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From there, Bill continued to coach girls’ softball and built programs virtually from scratch at Aragon High School, Palo Alto High School and Foothill College. Crystal snagged Bill at a good moment when he was in-between coaching gigs.
“People ask me why I always coach girls. I like to joke that, ‘girls will listen and boys know it all already.’ The truth is I would love to coach boys’ baseball down the road, but it’s been a lot of fun working with girls all these years.”
Bill’s goals for our girls? Most of the girls are new to the sport and some are afraid of the ball. “We’re building skills, getting comfortable and having fun. At the end of the first few weeks of practice, I definitely saw better hitting and ball handling.” Luckily, Bill has a natural affinity for teaching and loves to “figure out how to impart my knowledge in a positive and effective way. It’s rewarding when you see a player get what you’re saying, adjust their game and improve.”
When he’s not teaching 26 Crystal middle school the fundamentals, you can see Bill as a Giants pre- and post-game analyst for Comcast Bay Area. He also co-hosts a call-in radio show on KNBR with former Oakland As/SF Giants pitcher, Vida Blue (Saturdays during baseball season).