STRIKE IOR HIT?
One of the most tense moments anyone can meet with is to be found in the rather calm game of baseball.
You are at bat and the ball is. at that very moment. In flight from the pitcher's hand to an area more or less above the home plate. It is moving toward you are as much as ninety some miles per hour and you are watching it intently. Will it continue straight? Or, will it drop just a few inches near the end of its flight? Maybe it will curve slightly away from you or in toward you - nearer to you and you must judge when it is at the exact point before you can activate the bat swinging eagerly above our shoulder. In a fraction of a second you must evaluate its position, decide what it is might do, and signal that portion of your brain which tells arm and shoulder muscles when to start the decent of the bat so that the ash wood bat and the baseball cover collide – each in transit – and you hear the firm, full sound of it all and know you have made a hit.
Tn that same second, the focus changes and you must estimate the ball's path. Is it low? Is it high – a pop up into the very hand of the fielder standing there awaiting its arrival? It could be an ankle-buster, a bounder, or even crazy skidder, a roller or a foul ball. Then, there is always that chance that it could be a homer far up in the stands. Having decide which it is, one runs for first... fast.
And all of this quick thinking is called for again and again in baseball. It is not a one time action and it happens each and every time any member of the team comes to bat; not to a few specialized individuals in one repetitive position. It happens every time a player comes to bat at least three times
This is i one reason I have long hoped that baseball would become better established in our high schools for both girls and boys. To me this is the quality which makes baseball a favorite training sport. In addition to good, healthful muscular movements, it teaches a person to think fast, with accuracy and attention to minute details or one suffers the consequences.
The next time you have the opportunity to watch a baseball game on TV , purposely try to let your brain go along with that of the players in this situation at bat. Compete with them if you can keep up such a pace of detailed concentration. You will find to be demanding.
Support local baseball among young people in your area, Give them a chance to become quick-thinkers while playing a game,
A.L.M. April 11, 2004 [c472wds]
