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Magic the Gathering Guide for Keeping Costs Low While Still Having Fun
Magic the Gathering is a very popular collectible card game. Kids and adults who seriously pursue this game will stretch their minds and have loads of fun. However . . . Magic the Gathering can be very...
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More Fun is More Effective in Youth Baseball
My son really enjoyed the year I managed his 9-10-year old baseball team. When I asked him what he liked so much, he said that I was good at organizing. But that’s not what this post is about. He...
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Great Gifts for Kids Who Love Baseball
My son loves baseball and will be entering the 11 to 12-year-old Bronco division of PONY baseball in 2016. I’ve seen a lot of baseball gifts come and go over the years. Here’s a gift guide aimed at...
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The Grinch who Changed to the Twenty Sixteen WordPress Theme
I’m the Grinch who grumbles about every WordPress theme. Except one. After years of resisting change, I finally switched FilterJoe to a modern, responsive theme: Twenty Sixteen—the new default theme...
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Best AA Batteries and Chargers: 2016 Update
1 AAA and 2 AAA batteries in Fujitsu’s excellent budget charger Over the past 5 years, I’ve written many articles about pre-charged, low self-discharge AA and AAA rechargeable NiMH batteries. Such...
View ArticleWhy Subscribe to FilterJoe?
FilterJoe is easier to subscribe to than ever. If you’ve enjoyed any of my posts about baseball, batteries, or other topics, please subscribe via Email or RSS, or follow me on Twitter, using the links...
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Is Your Kid’s Bat too Heavy? Here’s How to Tell
Whether you are a parent or a coach, by far the easiest way to improve a kid’s real game hitting results is to switch to a lighter and/or smaller bat. Of course, that only works if you first determine...
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Axe Bat Origin 2016 Review: A sub $100 bat for youth baseball that is awesome
When an average hitter picks up a new bat and immediately starts hitting far more line drives than he ever has before, you know he’s holding a winner in his hands. The Origin Axe is that bat. Origin...
View ArticleOur Youth Baseball League is Great! Here’s Why . . .
I hear so many stories and read so many accounts of recreational youth baseball leagues with unhappy parents and significant issues. With every new story, I appreciate my son’s local rec league even...
View ArticleKey Youth Baseball Decisions for Parents: Money, Time, and Beyond
The financial costs of youth baseball can easily spiral out of control, so I’ve been itching to write about it. A single season of recreational league fees, equipment, clothes, fundraisers, and other...
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Can You Teach Hustle in Youth Baseball? Yes!
Hustle. We’ve all seen that player who hustles, always running top speed to first base, going all out to catch far away fly balls, diving for grounders, backing up, doing their best to catch poor...
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Dominion Review: Great Game for Busy Families
All my life I’ve loved board and card games. I’m therefore often asked for recommendations. My busy sister Anita (owner/operator of The Flying Squirrel Bakery Café), recently asked: Can you recommend a...
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Stone Age Review: A Great Family Game that is not Primitive
Imagine you are the leader of a Stone Age tribe. To survive and prosper, your tribe must hunt for food, develop agriculture, gather resources, make and use tools, construct buildings, raise children,...
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Best 5 Strategy Board Games for Families
The typical U.S. family has a deck of cards and a few games in the closet. Most have heard of few, if any, of the best family games to come out in recent years. This is too bad, because quite a few of...
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Preparing for 100,000 Page Views per Month
Once every year or so, I get obsessed with making improvements to my site. Last year it was modernizing and customizing my WordPress theme. This time, it’s: Better hosting (more reliable, much faster)...
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What Does Drop Mean for Youth Baseball Bats?
Drop -12.5 prominently displayed on Louisville Slugger bat Bat drop is printed weight, in ounces, minus printed length, in inches. For example, a bat labeled 13.5 ounces and 26 inches has a bat drop of...
View ArticleYouth Baseball Stats Part 4: Moving to a Bigger Field Changes Everything
The stats that matter most for youth baseball change as kids age. You’ll want to first read Part 3 of the youth baseball stats series if you want to get the most out of Part 4: Part 1: It’s Hard – how...
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Air Cleaners and Beyond: Lessons from a Decade of Filtering Air
I could be called the “First Lady of Filtering” and not just because I’m married to FilterJoe. As someone with allergies, asthma, and chemical sensitivities, filtering the air helps keeps me healthy...
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New USABat Standard Coming in 2018 for Youth Baseball Bats
In January 2018, many youth baseball players will need to buy a new bat with the USABat standard. Here are the details, starting with facts, moving on to advice, and ending with opinions about this...
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One Player’s Journey from Little League to College Baseball (The Beginning)
Making it onto a college baseball program and staying with it for all 4 years is not easy. Playing high school baseball also has its challenges. Want to know what it takes? I’ve been curious myself...
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