When a batter steps into the box with an 0-2 count, there is an approach that goes along with his rhythm. He doesn’t want to guess nor does he want to be unprepared so he must walk that fine line between both. Any misstep, either way, can lead to a host of failures ranging from a strikeout, a fly out, a weak grounder or a host of appearance-ending outs.
But the hope each great hitter continues to feel stems from the idea that, despite the count on the scoreboard and how poor the odds are in his favor with every passing strike, there still is an immediate chance for redemption, a chance to succeed in fulfilling the at-bat’s productive need. Whether it is a base hit, a gapper, a homer, a sacrifice fly, a ball out of the zone, or even a foul tip, there are still countless ways to extend his appearance during this individual at-bat.
In essence, there are just as many ways to stay alive as there are to punch out.
Life is no different. We are faced with at-bats on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. Every major hurdle in life is an at-bat and we have a selective amount of pitches to adjust to them and react. Some of us are aggressive, chasing that first pitch with reckless abandon. Others are passive, looking for that perfect pitch that may or may not come over the course of the at-bat, sometimes taking a walk and deferring to the hitter behind them in the batting order as a means of success.
No one specific way is correct but it takes a solid mental approach to allow each individual to have the most perceived success in the midst of both the triumphs and failures. Failure is never fatal and success is never final as life spins through the hourglass. In the scope of a game, there are two or three more at-bats to go and in a season, there are hundreds on the horizon.
It’s the lesson from each at-bat that builds who we are.
Life throws so many differing pitches at us that we tend to get lost in the moment and forget the scope of the season. Like an immature batter who kicks dirt and swears to himself for missing a single pitch he perceived as his best opportunity, we always get lost in the jungle of our existence too easily.
Pitchers make mistakes too, and when they do, it only takes one swing to even the score, leave the yard or produce something special. If you’re caught up in the previous missed pitch, your focus will not be optimal and you may not get max-effort on your next pitch, a disservice to your overall approach. Life doesn’t use a batting tee and no pitch is ever the perfect pitch — it’s just that some are more hittable than others. Hell, some people are bad-ball hitters in life, making a rotten pitch a game-winner.
In the end, the scope and size of this ballgame we all live in is so expansive and wide that we can’t spend too much time laboring over the near misses or the great successes. A wise coach once told me that to stay sane as a coach, you can never get too high or too low because the emotional roller coaster is so jerky and unknown, it can wear you into oblivion. He told me to celebrate the major milestones (the titles, come-from-behind victories, etc) but remember that the next season always begins moment the previous one ends. Every at-bat can be approached the same way, and that doesn’t even take the defensive aspect (defending for your “pitcher,” or others) of the game into consideration. None of us are DHs in life, so our fielding skills must also be disconnected from our failures or successes at the plate.
The best batters are the contact hitters who “battle.” They fight off every pitch, even when they are in a hole or down in the count, until they find a pitch that will suffice to get the job done. They are the two-strike hitter you want at the plate when the game is on the line and the intestinal fortitude that governs them allows their mind’s eye to see every pitch out of the hand before making that split-second decision to swing out of their shoes or to chop it foul for another pitch in the at-bat.
Life is a series of at-bats and those who find the most peace, serenity and enjoyment in life, are those who battle and fight every pitch off or leave every ball outside of the zone alone before getting that perfect hack at that near-perfect pitch in their own personal circumstances. You can be a contact hitter, or a strikeout king, as it is your life, but the Hall of Fame is reserved for players who hit for average, as you’ll rarely see a .270 hitter’s bust on the wall. In the end, the choice is up to you.
