Mistakes
Big brother pitching to little brother
My kids love baseball. I love watching them play, and watching MLB games with them. I didn’t play any sports as a kid, and never expected baseball to become such a big part of my life, but I really love it. It makes me think about so many things, like how we learn, how we perform and show up mentally, how we manage setbacks, and what it means to be successful. Baseball games are long, and one win or loss is the culmination of so many factors. And games can also come down to crucial, high-stakes moments. My Saturday games really got me going this week. What we can learn from baseball about high-stakes moments and how to handle mistakes?
On Saturday morning I went to my sons’ baseball game. This is fall ball for our town team, so the kids have a wide range of experience and the goals are to have fun, practice, and learn. There was a moment in the game where the other team was really struggling with their pitching. They loaded the bases and their pitcher walked in a batter. So we should have had another run. But the score didn’t change, and it went from one out to two outs. What happened? There were many confused parents on the sidelines. The kid on our team who walked in didn’t touch home plate, he jumped over it! The umpire called him out. After the game he said he had never in his many years of umpiring seen that happen. We can speculate that the kid didn’t realize you actually have to touch all the bases? Even when a run seems given you have to follow through and tag home.
On Saturday evening the Guardians were playing the Rangers, trying to clinch a spot in the playoffs. At the bottom of the 9th inning the game was tied, and the Guardians were hoping to walk it off. They had runners on 1st and 3rd, with two outs. The Rangers decided to walk the next batter to load the bases. So, bases loaded, trying to get the last out, the pitcher hit the batter! Apparently it was the first time in his MLB career that he hit a batter. And yet, that’s what happened, a hit-by-pitch walk off, the Guardians clinched a spot in the playoffs.
So what do we take from these stories? As someone who is often worried I’ve done something wrong (even when I haven’t!) I am most interested in how these players feel. Was my sons’ teammate embarrassed? Is he beating himself up? Probably not, as the game didn’t matter, but I think enough people were shocked by what he did that at least he learned that you always touch home plate. How does the major league pitcher feel? Will he be haunted by this bad inning? He gets paid a lot of money to throw strikes and not hit batters. But I guess if you make it this far in professional baseball you have learned how to let things go and move on to the next game, the next pitch. But man, that would be so hard.
My sons help me understand that games are not won and lost on these moments, even though it may seem that way. There are so many other plays and circumstances, a big web of factors happening in the game. Apparently this is how players learn to manage their errors and move on. If we think about our own academic and professional lives, there are also so many factors and circumstances that build up to a career. You can have setbacks and embarrassing moments and still finish your dissertation. You can have a long track record of strong work, make a misstep in an interview, and not get the job. And in that case, you never know exactly what happened. As we see in baseball, there are no guarantees.
We are not defined by one mistake or one moment where we could have done better, but all the moments, positive and negative, add up over time. It’s a long game of trying and failing, learning, and growing. How do you handle your mistakes? I would love to hear about your professional journey and the skills you want to build to move forward. Don’t hesitate to reach out.
