Baseball and softball are head games.
They are all about mental strength, fortitude and rhythm.
There isn’t the constant action of basketball or even football where athletes can play their way into or out of a slump. Baseball moves in jerky stop and start motion like a CD playing with scratch marks. A batter comes to the plate and swings away knowing that it will be a while before he will get up there again. There will be time to think and time to stew.
God forbid if that batter goes down swinging, slicing up a big hunk of air and winding himself up in a knot because then he is banished to the bench where he needs to wait for a chance to redeem himself. Hopefully that batter will be able to get back out onto the field for defense and make a solid catch or a good throw, and get his mind back to the right spot to compete. If not, then it will be a rough night.
Baseball and softball players are nervous creatures.
They chew seeds compulsively, they chatter amongst themselves on the diamond, pounding their mits with their fists to pass the time and chant little words strung together.
“Swing batter, swing batter.”
“One more, one more.”
They look for things to pass the time between action. Those moments when a batter is taking time at the plate and they are in the outfield and are set to stand at attention for action that might never come are crucial.
For many in today’s world, that is baseball’s biggest cross to bear—a lack of consistent action in an American society that has a tiny attention span.
That is however its biggest asset as well. People are drawn to innings, runs and outs because it does not come cheap. Like the affections of a cat it takes time for appreciation of the game to come. However, with time, I challenge anyone to say they can’t at least appreciate it. Baseball and softball are too alike to life to not be appealing. In baseball the action comes in truck-loads or not at all.
The same could be said about life.
So baseball and softball players cling to little things to string them along until the next big thing.
Chewing seeds, making idle chat is the same as following a TV show or repainting the bathroom. They are not crucial things, and they are not what it is all about, but they get you on the way there, they accent the real thing. In life you are defined by how well you can take advantage of the opportunities presented to you.
In baseball and softball it is the same—you need to be ready for when the ball comes flying at you, even though it might never happen.
You need mental strength, fortitude and rhythm.
Baseball and softball are head games.
The love you give comes back in the end.
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