baseball

Ted Williams and TriFocals

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pitching-mental-gameI’ve been wearing trifocal glasses for several years, and I’ve learned it’s important to keep them clean. A smudge can cover all three vision fields of a lens which makes focusing a tenuous task.

In most any endeavor you will undertake, your focus will determine much of your success. In the field of sports, one of the most difficult skills to develop is learning to hit a baseball.

Ted Williams was a leftfielder for the Boston Red Sox and played his last game in 1960. He was also the last major leaguer to bat for over .400 in a season. His career average was .344.

In the history of Major League Baseball only 30 players, with a minimum of 3,000 plate appearances, have batted .330 for their careers. Of all the great athletes who have stepped to the plate with bat in hand, only 205 of them ended their careers with a .300 batting average.

The difference between the 205 and the thousands of others is focus. Their focus on the ball and their ability to recognize its spin allowed them to put it into play.

When David kept his life in focus, he did great things for God. You can see the target of his energies in Psalm 34: “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”

David was doing what Paul would later instruct the Colossians to do. He was setting his mind on things above, instead of on earthly things (3:2). This reminds me of Hebrews 12: “. . . lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith . . . “

When we see things through the lens of eternity, our focus is on Jesus. This allows us to see the “spin,” so we don’t get tripped up or ensnared by the things of this world.

Keep Your Eye On The Ball

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Before the advent of the personal computer, summer days were spent at Graham Park, Skelly School, or some other ball diamond.  Those were days when baseball was undisputed as Amercia’s favorite game.

I enjoyed the games of “work up,” homerun derby, or whatever as long as it had a bat and a ball.  The many years I spent coaching my son through his little  league years were time consuming but very enjoyable.

As Papa, I am now watching my granchildren, and my advice to them is the same as it was to my children:  Keep your eye on the ball!  I had to remind a grandson of this a couple of weeks ago when a basketball rebounded off of his eye.  “Carson,” I said, “that is not what I meant when I said keep your eye on the ball.”

Over the years I’ve talked to some of the better hitters about technique.   Almost without fail, they have said the secret to getting consistent hits is vision:  You have to see the ball.

Seeing the ball means focusing on the seams of the ball and recognizing the spin.  Pitches can be identified by recognizing the rotation.  To help explain this, you can see a graph at this link.

One way to learn how to identify the curve ball is to stand behind a batting cage and watch a pitcher throw fastballs.  This may sound strange, but identifying what it isn’t helps you learn to identify what it is.

This is the technique Paul used when he was warning the Christians at Galatia.  They had been given the standard of truth, and Paul said they were to measure the “different” gospel against the pure doctrine.  They were to study and recognize the fastball theology they had been taught, so they would not be led astray by the strange spin of a curveball.

A comment by Joe Garagiola can serve as a thought to keep you thinking:  Nolan Ryan is pitching much better now that he has his curveball straightened out.  Was Joe putting a spin on his words or was he just stating a fact?