Softball has been a passion in my live since my boyhood. When I was in my early 20s, it was life!
I have played on all sorts of teams, winners and losers. While there is an intrinsic joy in the playing of the game itself, don’t let anyone tell you that it doesn’t matter if you win or lose. If it doesn’t matter, then you should do jigsaw puzzles or something else. Winning is more fun. There is no question about it. However, if you don’t win, you should be able to put it all in perspective.
In my prime, I played right field. When I was young, it seemed to be the field where the poorest outfielder played. Early on in my playing days, my coach mentioned that the right fielder should have the best arm. He explained that he had to make long throws to third base and home plate. From that point on, I looked upon myself as the one with the best arm. I eventually developed into having one of the best arms in the world. I’m not exaggerating, because the world championship team in 1972 was in my league.
Also, for many years, I batted second. Since our first batter, Marty, was a good hitter, my job was often to bunt him over to second where a single would score him. I was so fast that I often was not put out at first. That was my role.
Unfortunately, Marty left our team. I was bumped up to the lead-off batter, a role I had never done.
We had a new coach that year, Don. I don’t know why, but he thought of me as a key cog on the team. Nobody had ever thought of me in that way. My role had been to advance somebody else.
In his pre-game talk, Don would say things like, “Now, John is going to get on base, he’s going to steal second and somebody is going to knock him in.” The first time he said this, I was in shock. How did he know I was going to do that? That was putting a lot of pressure on me. It made me feel pretty good that he had that much confidence in me.
Wouldn’t you know it? That’s exactly what happened. I got on, stole second and somebody got a hit allowing me to score.
All it took was somebody planting the seed in my brain, a seed that I should have been planting myself. Once I visualized it happening, it usually did.
A great baseball player was asked how many times he expected to get a hit in a game. His answer was, “Every time.”
If you expect something good to happen, it seems to increase the chance of it occurring. Or as one person once put it:
If you have the mind to conceive it,
And the heart to believe it,
Then you can achieve it.
In too many of us, it is the second line that is usually the problem.
I have played on all sorts of teams, winners and losers. While there is an intrinsic joy in the playing of the game itself, don’t let anyone tell you that it doesn’t matter if you win or lose. If it doesn’t matter, then you should do jigsaw puzzles or something else. Winning is more fun. There is no question about it. However, if you don’t win, you should be able to put it all in perspective.
In my prime, I played right field. When I was young, it seemed to be the field where the poorest outfielder played. Early on in my playing days, my coach mentioned that the right fielder should have the best arm. He explained that he had to make long throws to third base and home plate. From that point on, I looked upon myself as the one with the best arm. I eventually developed into having one of the best arms in the world. I’m not exaggerating, because the world championship team in 1972 was in my league.
Also, for many years, I batted second. Since our first batter, Marty, was a good hitter, my job was often to bunt him over to second where a single would score him. I was so fast that I often was not put out at first. That was my role.
Unfortunately, Marty left our team. I was bumped up to the lead-off batter, a role I had never done.
We had a new coach that year, Don. I don’t know why, but he thought of me as a key cog on the team. Nobody had ever thought of me in that way. My role had been to advance somebody else.
In his pre-game talk, Don would say things like, “Now, John is going to get on base, he’s going to steal second and somebody is going to knock him in.” The first time he said this, I was in shock. How did he know I was going to do that? That was putting a lot of pressure on me. It made me feel pretty good that he had that much confidence in me.
Wouldn’t you know it? That’s exactly what happened. I got on, stole second and somebody got a hit allowing me to score.
All it took was somebody planting the seed in my brain, a seed that I should have been planting myself. Once I visualized it happening, it usually did.
A great baseball player was asked how many times he expected to get a hit in a game. His answer was, “Every time.”
If you expect something good to happen, it seems to increase the chance of it occurring. Or as one person once put it:
If you have the mind to conceive it,
And the heart to believe it,
Then you can achieve it.
In too many of us, it is the second line that is usually the problem.
1 comment:
I remember growing up in Tulsa and Owasso, Oklahoma and playing "little league" baseball. While I wasn't a very good player, I always enjoyed watching baseball as a kid, and later as an adult.
A lot of people would tell me that baseball was boring. I said, "Oh no! It's the anticipation that makes the game exciting! Especially when the batter drives one across the wall at center field and runs in a triple play!" How could anybody call baseball boring?
Growing up in Tulsa, before going overseas, we could catch the Tulsa Drillers baseball team. They were a minor farm league for the Texas Rangers in the late 90's, and still play. It's exhilirating to hear the National Anthem at the games.
Want to see some rougher action while in Tulsa? Go watch the Tulsa Oilers hockey team. Go there to watch hockey and end up seeing a fight... usually.
But not as fulfilling as baseball.
I loved slow pitch softball, too. Just not as much as baseball.
Ernest O'Dell
The Blanco Republic
http://blancorepublic.wordpress.com/
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