Major League Baseball

Baseball: A Game Built Around Coping With Failure

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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“About the only problem with success is that it does not teach you how to deal with failure.” – Tommy Lasorda

Unlike baseball, even the poorest foul shooters in the NBA typically make 60% of their free throws. And even the worst field goal kicker makes 90% of his field goal attempts. At the same time a third string quarterback can complete 50% of his passing attempts. But in baseball, the best hitters, the ones who make it to Cooperstown, walk back to the dugout having failed seven out of every ten times they bat in this unforgiving game we call baseball.

And that’s when they’re going good and ball coming towards them from the pitcher looks as big as a beachball. Because things can turn around on a dime and a hitter can go into one of those mysterious “slumps” when it’s not uncommon for that same Hall Of Fame bound hitter to fail 90% of the time and for weeks at a time. Until suddenly, one summer morning he shows up at the ballpark and is amazed that he’s still in the lineup and goes 3-4 with two home runs and 4 RBI. And all he can say to reporters after the game is, “I don’t know, it’s baseball”.

 The Pitcher Who “Loses” His Fastball

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Or take the case of a pitcher who (and we hear this so often) suddenly “loses” his fastball. What do you mean you lost it. You had it, so where did it go? Can you please find it because we need you to start tomorrow…..

But that pitcher is lost in the world of “It’s baseball”. And he’ll tell you that he’s perfectly healthy, because that’s the first thing that comes to mind when something like this happens. But he’ll say something like, “I just lost the feel for the pitch”. He’s not lying. He’s failing and he knows it. And he also knows that he’d better find that “feel” or he’s history.

Stress and failure go together in baseball. And if you can’t cope with either or even both at the same time, then maybe you’d better find another occupation, because baseball isn’t for you.

In Baseball, What Are You When You Struggle

Yankees manager Joe Girardi put it this way, “What are you when you struggle? That’s what these guys have to find out.” But maybe it was Yogi Berra who really hit the nail on the head when he issued one of his famous Yogisms that just happens to be true, “Baseball is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical.”

And I don’t know about you, but every so often I wonder just what kind of problems a baseball player who is making a boatload of money while attracting the adoring attention of fans wherever he goes possibly have. And then I remember how difficult this game is to play, even from my childhood. And to carry that up to the next series of levels……I don’t know…..maybe I’d switch to the NBA where I can miss seven out every ten free throw attempts attempts and still be an All Star………but then again give me the challenge of baseball……..

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