Training tomorrow's baseball stars in White Center

Bill Stubbs is a force to be reckoned with in baseball training

Bill Stubbs, the “Stubby” of Stubby’s Infield Camps, doesn’t advertise—but word still gets around.

Some consider him to be the best infield instructor in the Pacific Northwest. Many of his campers have won college baseball scholarships, and about a hundred have played professionally. Former Seattle Mariners infielder Jeff Cirillo trained with him during the off-seasons, and Jay Buhner’s son is a current camper.

Stubbs has been running camps in the Seattle area for twenty-five years, the last three in White Center. He takes the show on the road throughout the summer and winter—this year’s locations include North Carolina and California. His camps have such a good reputation that kids travel across the country to attend them. This summer’s White Center session included boys from Oklahoma and Michigan.

Earlier in his career, Stubbs coached championship baseball teams at Edmonds Community College. He also served as a talent scout with the Cleveland Indians and the Los Angeles Dodgers. He spends the spring and fall as an associate infield and hitting coach with Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. Many graduates of his camps have helped Lewis-Clark win sixteen NAIA World Series Championships under Head Coach Ed Cheff, one of Stubbs’s most enthusiastic endorsers.

Stubbs’s website (www.stubbysinfieldcamps.com) asks, “How can one little camp produce so many infielders that go on to play professional baseball?” Specialization is part of his secret—he only teaches fielding, and he only covers infield positions. He also limits enrollment to twenty-five campers per session.

By relying on word of mouth, Stubbs attracts boys who are serious about baseball, and not just looking for summer amusement. “It’s not babysitting,” he says about his method. “We don’t have water slides.” His instruction focuses on repetitive drills instead of games. He is honest with kids (and their parents) when evaluating progress. If a new camper simply isn’t a good fit, Stubbs sends him home.

Despite the praise from coaches and successful players, Stubbs remains modest. He notes that his camps are only a starting point. Any camper hoping to play college or professional baseball will need to continue improving the skills he learned at camp.

At age 67, Stubbs still has the energy of a much younger man. “All I’ve ever done is baseball,” he says, chuckling. “I wouldn’t even know how to work.” This year, seven of his former campers were drafted by professional teams, and he remains busy training tomorrow’s top prospects.