Hitting a Baseball: Paradoxes; and Ted Williams

8/7/2019 Hitting a Baseball: Paradoxes; and Ted Williams

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Hitting a Baseball: Paradoxes; and Ted Williams

Excerpts from Raising a Hitt er , by Todd W. Skipton



Hitting a pitched baseball is considered perhaps the most difficult task in sports. Most baseballplayers choose to hit for a high average, or opt to be a power hitter. A great hitter acknowledgesno limits and embraces the paradox of being both a contact hitter and a slugger. “The greatesthitter ever,” Ted Williams, devoted his life to the task. Learn what it takes to be the best in theworld, in these chapter excerpts from Raising a Hitter by Todd W. Skipton. Available athttp://raising-a-man.org.

Paradoxes

“The end of your game depends entirely upon your beginning.” David Lee Roth, entertainer and

singer.

A definition of paradox is “the union of total opposites, whether in idea, meaning, or execution; insuch a way that the farther apart or more different the idea or meaning or execution appears, themore it correlates to and becomes aligned with its opposite.”

For a paradox, the statement “and each is true” is more factual than “only one is true.” A perfectexample is traversing the bases. The batter begins at home plate and runs to first base. He isfarther from home plate than when he started and he is closer. He reaches second base: he isboth farther from and closer to home plate. He reaches third base: he is both farther from and

closer to home plate. On the journey from third base to home plate, the final step before arrivalputs him both the farthest from and the closest to home plate. Every step farther away meansone step closer – baseball (and life) is not just a straight-line continuum in which the nextdestination is farthest from the starting point, it is an inter-connected loop along which every stepputs you farther and closer to your destination.

A significant paradox in terms of being a hitter is the relationship between hitting for averageversus hitting for power. In other words, “hit the ball” compared to “hit the ball hard.” The greathitter finds a way to do both. The great hitter hits the ball often and compiles a high batting

average and he hits the ball hard and accumulates many extra-base hits. It is not a mutuallyexclusive relationship – if a hitter trains for and prepares for simultaneous excellence in eachfacet.

The greatest hitters find a way to hit the ball often and often hit the ball hard.



George Herman “Babe” Ruth Jr. (1895-1948), Hall of Fame; Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees,and Boston Braves. Ruth hit the ball and hit the ball hard.

Stanley Frank “Stan” Musial, Hall of Fame; St. Louis Cardinals. Musial hit the ball and hit the ballhard.

Ted Williams hit the ball and hit the ball hard.

James Emory “Jimmie” Foxx (1907-1967), Hall of Fame; primarily Philadelphia Athletics andBoston Red Sox. Foxx hit the ball and hit the ball hard.

Henry Louis “Lou” Gehrig (1903-1941), Hall of Fame; New York Yankees. Gehrig hit the ball and

hit the ball hard.

Jose Alberto Pujols Alcantara “Albert Pujols,” Dominican Republican All-Star and certain Hall of Famer upon retirement; St. Louis Cardinals. Pujols hits the ball and hits the ball hard.

There have been others. The point is, if they can hit the ball and hit the ball hard, so can you.Never focus exclusive attention on a single facet to the detriment of the other. Focus equitableand total attention on each, and allow for a variance if one attribute lags. If your ability to hit withpower is temporarily diminished, spend additional time on the drills that enhance power. If your

ability to hit for average is temporarily diminished, spend additional time on the drills thatenhance contact.

It is a constant, ongoing balancing act to keep the paradox in flow. Think of a construction leveltool, a device that measures a perfect horizontal line along an axis similar in relationship to ateeter-totter. If one end dips, the other end must adjust in order to bring the recalcitrant lineback to balance. The metaphorical fulcrum is the drill you select to enhance the contact or thepower aspect, for a temporary time, in order to maximize the most of each and restore them tobalance.

Another paradox, mentioned in the preceding section entitled “Purpose” (page 5), is that a hittermay hit the ball and hit it hard, yet record an out. A great hitter realizes that his mission is to seethe ball and hit the ball and hit the ball hard. If he accomplishes all 3 portions, he is a success. Agreat hitter acknowledges that a great or fortunate defensive play is out of his control. Focus onlyon what you control: your execution, and your attitude. Recognize that success is not alwaysrewarded, and persevere anyway. Baseball is a game of relative failure; become accustomed to



disappointment and despair and frustration without allowing them to impair your game. Alwaysrevert to task: see the ball, hit the ball, and hit the ball hard. Let go of the outcome and focus onthe process.

This mindset illumines another paradox. A hitter is intense without being tense. Tension is asmuch a mental affliction as a physical condition, so again the state of equilibrium and harmonyand balance is in play. A hitter is able to focus his mind with rigorous intent without suffering theproverbial “paralysis by analysis” that “freezes” his brain or impairs his relaxed physical executionof the task of hitting. “When you’re hitting well, you’re not really thinking too much,” said DaleBryan Murphy, an All-Star and 2-time National League Most Valuable Player with the AtlantaBraves. At the same time, Hall of Famer Calvin Edwin “Cal” Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Oriolessaid, “The most difficult aspect of baseball is concentration.” A hitter finds the proper balance and

is aware that constant adjustment is necessary. “Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought,” said French philosopher Henri-Louis Bergson (1859-1941). You must be able to doboth.

Your body and your mind each has to be involved – sometimes executing a proper swing is morea physical task and sometimes it is more of a mental task. Said Hall of Famer Joe Leonard Morganof (primarily) the Houston Colt .45s/Astros and the Cincinnati Reds, “You can take all the battingpractice in the world; practice hitting all you want; and sometimes it just comes down to forcing yourself, no matter what, to hit the ball. The great ones find a way to hit the ball.”

Hall of Fame basketball player and coach William Felton “Bill” Russell (not the slap-hitting LosAngeles Dodgers shortstop and manager Bill Russell) said, “Nothing {exists} outside the lines.” To a hitter, nothing exists but the ball, his bat, and his swing. Eliminate anything else fromconsideration during a pitch. See ball, hit ball, hit ball hard.

“I never worry about action, but only about inaction. Difficulties mastered are opportunities won,” said Leonard Spencer “Winston” Churchill (1874-1965), British soldier, statesman, and PrimeMinister. This is the final paradox for our purpose: every out a hitter makes increases his odds of

getting his next hit. If a hitter takes action in the form of a well-executed swing and records anout, he is that much closer to getting a hit the next at-bat. A great hitter is encouraged ratherthan discouraged by the so-called “failure” of an out because he knows that, just like roundingthe bases always gets him a step closer to home plate, every at-bat gets him a step closer to ahit. Master the difficulty of remaining unfazed by an out, and you will become a hitter!



“You ought to run the hardest when you feel the worst.” Joseph Paul “Joe” DiMaggio (1914-1999),Hall of Fame; New York Yankees.

“In my climbing, I am going practically with my feet and my body in a place like the top of Everest (he climbed Mt. Everest, at an elevation of 29,035 feet, without the use of oxygen tanks)– but this is only the outside world. In the same moment, I climb my inner mountain.” ReinholdMessner, Italian mountaineer and explorer.

The Kid

“The emerging picture is that 10,000 hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery

associated with being a world-class expert – in anything … no one has yet found a case in whichtrue world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this longto assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.” Daniel Levitin, neurologist.

When Ted Williams was approximately 6-years-old he made a commitment. He loved baseball,and he loved to swing a baseball bat. He decided that he wanted to be known as “The GreatestHitter Who Ever Lived.” He wanted to walk down a street, or walk into a room, and have peoplepoint at him and say “there goes the greatest hitter ever.” He made his choice, and he devotedhis life to its achievement.

Many fans, historians, and peers agree: Williams achieved his goal.

Your ambition may not be as lofty or as far-reaching or as grand as his. That is fine. To each hisown. No matter your aim, the type of dedicated practice drills and the ways of approaching thecraft of hitting work the same for you as they did for Williams and many other great hitters.

Williams studied and practiced and thought about hitting every minute of every day, or so itseemed. A childhood friend said, “His whole life was hitting the ball. He always had that bat in his

hand … And when he made his mind up to do something, he was going to do it….” Otherchildhood friends from his San Diego neighborhood recall that “The Kid” swung a bat hour afterhour every day of the year. He was known to swing until blood from broken blisters dripped downhis hands to his wrists; he never stopped. In grade school he used his lunch money to payclassmates – he needed them to pitch batting practice to him and shag baseballs for him. By allestimates, he swung a bat an average of 1000 times per day, minimum, for the 15 or so years



leading up to his major league debut. His high school coach said, “He had one thought in mindand he always followed it.” See ball, hit ball, hit ball hard.

Williams said, “I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from being the hitter I hope to be. Lookingback … it was pretty near storybook devotion.” Even after he turned professional, Williams wouldsearch out neighborhood sandlots and pay kids to pitch and field for him, long after even his mostdedicated teammates had gone home for the evening. Williams hit baseballs until the coverdisintegrated; he hit with bats until they splintered and were worn away to nubs. If all else failed,he rolled up newspaper and swung that. He awoke in the middle of the night and swung his bat, just to make certain he was still in his groove. “It was the center of my heart, hitting a baseball. Certainly no one ever worked harder at it,” hesaid. Those who met him sensed an inner drive that was palpable in its intensity – an unseen,compelling tsunami force of rage and motivation building up steam under the calm outer facade.Sometimes, the inner energy boiled over and leaked out in rude behavior and crass displays.However, when his bubbling inner cauldron of desire was heated to a proper, fever pitch andpoured with care into the pursuit of being “the greatest hitter,” the results were spectacular.

Williams took everything involved with hitting to its maximum. During his big-league career hevisited the Hillerich and Bradsby Co. bat factory in Louisville, Kentucky each fall in order to pickout the specific pieces of wood selected for his bats. He oversaw the entire construction of hisLouisville Slugger bats and provided precise instructions of how to engineer and fabricate each

bat. He left extravagant monetary tips to those who made his bats; for Williams, these craftsmanwere to bats as Michelangelo de Lodovico Buonarotti Simoni (1475-1564; Italian engineer, painterand sculptor) was to clay. They weren’t making a bat, they were creating hits!

5 years after Williams retired he visited the Red Sox during spring training. He was razzed bysome of the younger players, who had never seen him hit, when he told them he hadn’t picked upa bat since he left the game. “Get in there, old man” and “show us if you’ve still got anything” and “try not to embarrass yourself” were some of the more gentle insults. Williams was dressedin street clothes and dress shoes. He walked to the plate. “Just try to throw the ball over the

plate,” he said to the pitcher, a top prospect in the organization. The pitcher threw his bestpitches – he couldn’t afford to get shown up by an ex-ballplayer nearing 50-years-old. Williamstook no warm-up swings and stepped into the batter’s box. He hammered each of the first 3pitches to right field. Every blast hit the outfield fence on the fly, or sailed far over. Then hehammered 3 balls to left field. Every blast hit the outfield fence on the fly, or sailed far over.Then he hammered 3 balls to center field. Every blast hit the outfield fence on the fly, or sailed



far over. Williams dropped the bat and walked away. No one who witnessed the display everdoubted him again. He was a hitter!

Several years later, Williams was a coach. During spring training he used a fungo bat, a long and

skinny style of bat made especially for hitting ground balls and fly balls to fielders during practice.A common practice was to put tape on the barrel of the fungo bat to prevent the wood fromcracking. Fellow coach Robert Pershing “Bobby” Doerr wrapped white athletic tape around theupper 18 inches of his bat barrel, and at the end of spring training the entire swath was dirty andmarked and scuffed from balls that were hit along the entire expanse. Williams put tape aroundonly a 2 inch wide section of his bat barrel. At the end of spring training, the only dirt and scuff-marks visible were within that small area. Williams compared the hitting surface of his bat withthe bat of Doerr. “Bobby, that’s the difference between a .400 hitter and a .200 hitter,” Williamssaid with a smile. Doerr was a Hall of Fame infielder with the Boston Red Sox and had a lifetimebatting average of .288, so he was a hitter. Just not as great a hitter as Williams. Few, if any,were. “Ted Williams is baseball…,” said actor and singer Francis Albert “Frank” Sinatra (1915-1998) a fellow icon also known for his prodigious work ethic.

Author, poet, and critic John Hoyer Updike (1932-2009) said of writer John William Cheever(1912-1982): “He was one of those rare persons who heighten your sense of humanpossibilities.” Use the devotion and ultimate success of “The Kid” as similar inspiration in yourquest to become a hitter. Heighten your sense of possibility and achieve your maximum, just like

Williams!

“I’ve always believed that the desire must come from within, not as a result of being driven bycoaches or parents.” Dawn Fraser, Australian Olympic gold medal swimmer.

“The secret of success is constancy of purpose.” Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), British PrimeMinister and statesman.

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Hitting a Baseball: Paradoxes; and Ted Williams