April 8, 2014
By CHUCK O’DONNELL
STAFF WRITER
The Record
There’s about 62 feet of real estate between the plate and the backstop at the field where Lyndhurst plays its home baseball games in the town’s recreation complex.
It’s an expanse so great that runners have been known to go from first to third on a passed ball or wild pitch.
Every time Anthony Meeney crouches down behind the plate with runners on base, he’s keenly aware that there’s a lot riding on his ability to keep a sailing fastball or curveball with too much bite from going past him.
“You have to keep [the space] in mind,” he said. “In practice, I take balls in the dirt for about 25 minutes. I have the coaches throw the balls in the dirt so I can practice stopping them.”
