2015-11-09

Hitting for Average

The best baseball hitters to ever play the game have a batting average between .300 and .400. The average batting average (that’s a lot of averages) for all MLB hitters last year was .254.  That means that the best hitters in the game, today and years past, fail seven (7)  times out of ten (10) at the plate. I guess that’s why the stats extended out to three decimal places. The box scorers must be doing their best to make the numbers bigger, even if it’s in the more minute direction. I mean, can you imagine broadcasters saying, “Now batting is Blah Blah hitting .25; he is doing pretty well this year, up one-hundredth of a point from last year.” Sorry, I digress.

“My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.” - Hank Aaron

Baseball is hard but so can anything be. Life comes with many ups and downs, challenges, poorly dealt hands, and difficult circumstances. Day in and day out can be a grind. You may be hard on yourself for not doing more or discouraged for not being in a good place. I know I was. For a long time, I was disappointed about where I was and where I was going. Some of it had to do with decisions I made and some of it were things out of my control. Fortunately, I realized early on I had to grind it out; I had to persevere if I was to have any chance of shaking off the past and making a new future.

“Baseball is a lot like life. It’s a day-to-day existence, full of ups and downs. You make the most of your opportunities in baseball as you do in life.” - Ernie Harwell

That’s why I am hitting for average. That doesn’t mean that I strive to be average. That means that I strive to grind out each day while understanding that the ebb and flow of life will dictate how far I come as much as the effort I put in. It’s not about being perfect, nobody is. But if I accept that failure will dominate my outcomes, then I will certainly be more appreciative of the victories, for it will take those many failed attempts to ever have a chance to succeed.

“Everyday is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game everyday, and that’s the way baseball is.” - Bob Feller

So go out there and hit for average; you’re now at the level of every player in Major League Baseball. And remember:

“It ain’t over till it’s over.” - Yogi Berra