Baseball & Life

One of my boys' favorite humans, BJ, spoke in Church on Sunday.

BJ likes baseball.

I like baseball.

Guaranteed I listened to every word of his talk.

Baseball was spoken of throughout.

I was happy.

BJ talked about how he used to do batting practice for hours on end, day after day.

Swinging.

Choking up.

Hand/eye coordination exercises.

I grew up watching these very same things take place in our garage.

My dad would set up drills for his players.

They would do the same ones for hours and hours, day after day.

Hitting off the tee.

Hitting a ball that was hung from the rafters.

Grip.

Hand/eye coordination.

Stance work.

Leg work.

Hip work.

Hand placement.

Studying pitchers.

Day after day after day.

BJ talked about how everyone wants to hit 10 out of 10 pitches.

Goals!

However, to be considered an ELITE ball player... an ELITE, top of the field, all-star batter, you need to hit an average of 3 out of 10 pitches into the field of play.

THIRTY PERCENT.

Thirty percent is considered money!

In fact, thirty percent as a batting average will get you paid millions of dollars.

Money!

30%.

What is happening the other 70% of the time?

Well, you might be swinging and missing.

You might be making contact with the ball, but someone in the field catches the fly ball or throws you out on base. 

You might be standing in the box, not swinging at the strikes.

You might be taking ball after ball, walking to first base.

You might even be getting hit with the pitches.

A lot goes on at home plate.

The pitcher is playing mind games with you.

The catcher is assisting the pitcher in ways I never understood.

The other seven people in the field have ONE goal - to get you out.

You are all alone at home plate, with the entire defense focused completely on making sure you fail to get on base.

Yes, the third base coach is tell you what to do at home plate.

The manager and hitting coach of studied the pitcher's best pitches, their tendencies and have passed that along to you.

The umpire is there to rule "fairly" on whether or not the pitcher is hitting his pitches.

But in the end - it's all on you and you alone.

And 30% is considered really, really good!

Life:

We have managers and coaches and judges (umpires).

We have fans in the stands (even if it's just one out 40,000) who are rooting for us.

We have teammates in the dugout who are wearing their rally caps and hollering encouragement to you.

We have game film (experiences, lessons).

We have the ability to practice our swing and our stance and our grip and even our trainers.

We have the opportunity every day to learn new skills, better skills and to practice what we have down.

But we also have people in the field who are determined to make sure we fail.

We have people in the stands rooting against our rise.

We have people judging us inaccurately and unfairly.

We have about 70% of our swings that we miss.

SEVENTY PERCENT.

But we get back up there inning after inning and we keep swinging.

We wipe the dirt off of our butts and we keep running the bases.

We keep practicing the things that we know have helped us and bettered us and made us stronger.

We listen for that one person in the stands who is rooting for us and we tune out all the rest.

We keep going.

Because in the end, 30% is pretty good.