Something that makes baseball so unique is the vast amount of failure that is involved. In fact, it is just as much a part of the national pastime as the peanuts and cracker jacks. You have a round bat, hitting a moving round ball, with only 4/10 of a second to make up your mind to swing or not, as well as 8 players out in the field waiting to get you out. If one connects with the ball and finds green grass and not another player just 3 out of 10 times then he is considered very sucessful. But logistics reveal that even if a hitter does everything perfectly he will still get out at times. Due to the nature of the 'lucky' breaks that a player gets when a batted ball becomes a hit, it creates an entire plethora of weird superstitions to keep the 'baseball gods' in your favor.
On my team there have been guys who haven't washed their jock strap for 2/3 of the season, worn different colored socks than the rest of the team under their pants, used the same torn batting gloves, not shaved if things are going well, and others who have eaten Reece's Pieces, pizza, or a Red Bull before every game. Certain pitchers on our team will walk around the mound a certain way before they pitch and another kneels down and sniffs the grass behind the mound to get ready. These are just some of the many weird tactics that fill every baseball team in every league dating even back to high school. Personally, I don't believe in superstition, but I do believe in routine. Call it what you want, but I do many things the exact same way every day. I keep my locker in the same order, I use certain cleats and batting gloves for warm ups and different ones for the game, I run to center field before each game and push the wall before slapping it four time, and then when I get ready to hit I always rub the pine tar stick on my bat before doing the exact same warm up every time I am in the on deck circle, and I never step on the white chalk lines. Do I believe that any of these things will get me more hits, heavens no, but you will find me doing all the above every game in fear of breaking my routine. Or do I really believe in the 'baseball gods' deep in my subconscious and I'm only kidding myself when I say I don't? Who knows, but I did grow a mustache once, played well and thus kept it for almost a month.
The one other thing that I find with many baseball players, is that God is thrown into the superstitions. All you have to do is turn on the T.V. and see players point to the sky after hitting a home run, striking out a batter, and winning a game. I am all for honoring the Lord with our success, but the only problem I have is that when was the last time you saw a player point to the sky after striking out, making an error, or giving up a home run? Do we really want to honor the Lord, or do we want to get what He can give us in terms of success on the field? Just some thoughts, but truth be told baseball is so mental that players will do anything to be confident...anything!
So, next time you watch a baseball game look a little closer and see what you can find as far as 'routines' of certain players. Seriously, where else in life does one believe they will be successful because of eating a certain type of candy before going to work?
On my team there have been guys who haven't washed their jock strap for 2/3 of the season, worn different colored socks than the rest of the team under their pants, used the same torn batting gloves, not shaved if things are going well, and others who have eaten Reece's Pieces, pizza, or a Red Bull before every game. Certain pitchers on our team will walk around the mound a certain way before they pitch and another kneels down and sniffs the grass behind the mound to get ready. These are just some of the many weird tactics that fill every baseball team in every league dating even back to high school. Personally, I don't believe in superstition, but I do believe in routine. Call it what you want, but I do many things the exact same way every day. I keep my locker in the same order, I use certain cleats and batting gloves for warm ups and different ones for the game, I run to center field before each game and push the wall before slapping it four time, and then when I get ready to hit I always rub the pine tar stick on my bat before doing the exact same warm up every time I am in the on deck circle, and I never step on the white chalk lines. Do I believe that any of these things will get me more hits, heavens no, but you will find me doing all the above every game in fear of breaking my routine. Or do I really believe in the 'baseball gods' deep in my subconscious and I'm only kidding myself when I say I don't? Who knows, but I did grow a mustache once, played well and thus kept it for almost a month.
The one other thing that I find with many baseball players, is that God is thrown into the superstitions. All you have to do is turn on the T.V. and see players point to the sky after hitting a home run, striking out a batter, and winning a game. I am all for honoring the Lord with our success, but the only problem I have is that when was the last time you saw a player point to the sky after striking out, making an error, or giving up a home run? Do we really want to honor the Lord, or do we want to get what He can give us in terms of success on the field? Just some thoughts, but truth be told baseball is so mental that players will do anything to be confident...anything!
So, next time you watch a baseball game look a little closer and see what you can find as far as 'routines' of certain players. Seriously, where else in life does one believe they will be successful because of eating a certain type of candy before going to work?
2 comments:
LOVE the paragraph about God being thrown into the superstitions--and when YOU get called up one day, I'll be watching you--whether you strike out or swing for the fences......i know you will honor your Creator!!!! keep these blogs coming, parker!
Parker,
I would love to see you with a stache! I think you should grow one for when you come down in a few weeks! Hope you are doing well. Thanks for the loons shirts for the boys! Rollins loves wearing his, and I am sure Christian loves it too, even though he can't quite verbalize it yet!
Post a Comment