It's been said that baseball is life...
It contains struggles, hard work, competition, rewards, bad calls, great teammates & hopefully great coaches, plus last inning wins and last inning dissappointments.
I will tell you that the greatest game a boy can play is baseball.
Not the only game, and some might argue not the most exciting game, but it is, nonetheless, the world's greatest game.
WHY?
Because, it is a game where it takes more individual small pieces and parts to achieve success than most other games.
It is a game that contains what has been called, "the most difficult single task in all of sport," that of striking a round ball with a round bat.
Though I have learned not to focus on the negative, baseball has been called a game of failure. A game where failing 7 out of 10 times places you among the hitting elite... the .300 hitter. Where in the Big Leagues a great team might win 100 games in a season, but where they also lose 62 in that same season. The best baseball teams seldom go undefeated.
It's a game where kids from all sides of the tracks become teammates. And teammates become friends over a long season complete with a roller coaster of emotions.
And maybe, and most to the point, is that 80% of the success that players & coaches achieve is squarely the result of what he does above the shoulders... with his mind!
ALLOW AND WILL YOURSELF TO SUCCEED AND NOT FAIL.... JUST LIKE LIFE!
It is a game where a good boy has the greatest chance of becoming a good and confident man... because of these life experiences.
There are worse ways for a boy to spend his time!
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Read the following article...IT IS BASEBALL...IT IS LIFE... It is called:
DO IT ANYWAY
I call it...How Mother Teresa Learned to Hit .400 -Coach JP
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
. . . Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
. . . Be kind anyway.
If you're successful, you'll win some false friends and true enemies;
. . . Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
. . . Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
. . . Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
. . . Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
. . . Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
. . . Give the world the best you have anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
. . . It was never between you and them anyway.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta
PS: If only she could hit the curve ball.
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All Major Leaguers are taught the concept of finding a good pitch to drive, but Barry Bonds doesn't foul it off or pop it up. That has made Barry Bonds the great hitter he became in his mid and late 30's!
The American League began in 1901 with eight teams, none of which included the New York Yankees. In fact, the Yankees actually began as the original Baltimore Orioles. The American League's original eight, in order of their finish:
Baseball has a colorful past, but the team logos of the present lack the pizzazz of the designs of yesteryear. Above are old logos from the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia A's, and Detroit Tigers.