It is and always will be THE great American past time. At least it will be for this old baller! So many of my life's lessons were learned between the white chalk lines of a baseball diamond.
There were ample lessons in teamwork. But hardball is a game that also requires an honest individual introspection. It's full of slumps if you play the game for more than a season or two.
Just like loss is a part of every life, you're going to lose if you play baseball. Losing (in life as it is in baseball) presents us with only two real choices.
Sink or swim.
101 Miles Per Hour Won't Help
You could be 'Wild Thing' up on the mound, throwing the fastball with enough force to knock down barn doors. It won't matter if that's all you got.
Don't get me wrong. Having a skill like throwing an exceptional fastball will work for a while. Once a player reaches even the highschool level, the heater won't be enough.
Batters from the opposing team will start timing your pitches as they wait for their at bat in the on deck circle. By the time they come up to bat, that fastball won't be a surprise.
This is how pitchers hurt their neck.
Keeping Your Opponent On Their Toes
The change up is a scary pitch for a pitcher to throw at first. It goes against all reason to throw a super slow pitch to a battery you know can knock the cover off the baseball.
But as believing would have it, the pitcher who learns to throw the change will never go back to a one pitch arsenal. They'll also have the opportunity to advance to the next level.
The Curveball Or The Slider
This is a mistake many a pitcher will make. They get good at snapping a twist on the baseball to give it that curve. But they forget that changing speeds is more important than making the baseball dance.
One of the reasons the knuckleball can be so effective is it's hircky jerky motion. But mainly, it travels around 45 - 50 mph. That's a big difference in speed from a 101 mph fastball!
Curveballs are the same as fastballs when it comes to changing speeds. A slider is just a Curveball thrown fast. A true curve travels slow and ends up in the dirt where it's poses little threat from the batter.
It Might Be Good To Change Things Up
In life, blogging, or wherever we apply our energies, I think the change-up can also work wonders. Though we aren't all trying to throw a baseball past a competing batter, the change-up still applies.
Sometimes we need to slow down and take time to smell the flowers. Other times I've found my pace just isn't cutting it. I needed to move faster.
Like pitching, life seems to require good timing. Go fast all the time and it's easy to crash and burn. Move in constant slow motion and you won't accomplish very much.
Thanks for reading and as always...
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