At Bat
Each day is definitely like a baseball at-bat.
Sports are very mentally based. It is true that one must have the physical ability to play, but I believe that physicality is not as important as I used to think.
Look at guys like David Eckstein, Ivan Rodriguez, ICHIRO! All small in stature but definitely threats. All told that they couldn't make it because they were too small (I actually I don't know about all but definitely Eckstein). I remember when I was told I was too small. I remember when they told my brother that he couldn't play because he had never been on a baseball team before his senior year. Luckily he was allowed to try out, but that was worth nothing since the coaches already knew who they were going to pick. I heard that this happened to another guy we play with recently.
I slowly got off subject. I watched my brother make error after error on Sunday. I saw another guy get a strike out over and over again. Both players are much better than they showed. My bro rarely makes an error and that guy rarely misses a ball. It made me think about how often people get in good or bad streaks. I think about a guy like Luke Scott and see how he hit so great in spring training but seems like he is about to be the odd man out (when Berkman comes back) now that he has made it to the majors. I'm sure people have said it a billion times, but it is so hard to remember...dont think about your last at-bat, don't think about your next. I think that so many slumps are the product of a detiorating mentality.
I know that every time I come up to bat, I think about how I'm going to try to be just as good as I was in my last at-bat. Or I'm going to try to hit it to the opposite field this time as compared to last at-bat. Or I'm going to try to hit a single this time unlike my last at-bat. Simply put, we hold our past successes and failures in too high a regard. Every at-bat should have a life of its own, each at-bat should be an individual in a way. Maybe a batter should even consider each swing as seperate...only giving a small amount of periphery attention to their position in the count.
Don't get me wrong, history is very important. History allows us to avoid future mistakes, but pondering our success and failures is simply stupid. We should approach every day like this. We should take our losses in stride, possibly think about why they happened, remember to avoid the mistake and forget that you ever failed in the first place. Every day, every at-bat can hold incredible life. What good is it if we are thinking about our last at-bat if we can't savor the moment when the ball cracks off the bat right now?
There was never a curse in Boston, just a bunch of guys thinking about nearly a century worth of mistakes.
Sports are very mentally based. It is true that one must have the physical ability to play, but I believe that physicality is not as important as I used to think.
Look at guys like David Eckstein, Ivan Rodriguez, ICHIRO! All small in stature but definitely threats. All told that they couldn't make it because they were too small (I actually I don't know about all but definitely Eckstein). I remember when I was told I was too small. I remember when they told my brother that he couldn't play because he had never been on a baseball team before his senior year. Luckily he was allowed to try out, but that was worth nothing since the coaches already knew who they were going to pick. I heard that this happened to another guy we play with recently.
I slowly got off subject. I watched my brother make error after error on Sunday. I saw another guy get a strike out over and over again. Both players are much better than they showed. My bro rarely makes an error and that guy rarely misses a ball. It made me think about how often people get in good or bad streaks. I think about a guy like Luke Scott and see how he hit so great in spring training but seems like he is about to be the odd man out (when Berkman comes back) now that he has made it to the majors. I'm sure people have said it a billion times, but it is so hard to remember...dont think about your last at-bat, don't think about your next. I think that so many slumps are the product of a detiorating mentality.
I know that every time I come up to bat, I think about how I'm going to try to be just as good as I was in my last at-bat. Or I'm going to try to hit it to the opposite field this time as compared to last at-bat. Or I'm going to try to hit a single this time unlike my last at-bat. Simply put, we hold our past successes and failures in too high a regard. Every at-bat should have a life of its own, each at-bat should be an individual in a way. Maybe a batter should even consider each swing as seperate...only giving a small amount of periphery attention to their position in the count.
Don't get me wrong, history is very important. History allows us to avoid future mistakes, but pondering our success and failures is simply stupid. We should approach every day like this. We should take our losses in stride, possibly think about why they happened, remember to avoid the mistake and forget that you ever failed in the first place. Every day, every at-bat can hold incredible life. What good is it if we are thinking about our last at-bat if we can't savor the moment when the ball cracks off the bat right now?
There was never a curse in Boston, just a bunch of guys thinking about nearly a century worth of mistakes.
posted by Michael | 9:00 AM
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