Swing For The Fences

Ciaran really lays into one

Declan makes solid contact

Went to the batting cages today with Declan. I was hoping that this post would be way more me talking about being proud of myself for being able to do something that I used to be relatively decent at. Turns out, and this might surprise nobody, but hitting a baseball is absolutely a perishable skill.

We started the day off by looking at the pitch speeds of the machines, going down the line from 40 mph, 50 mph, 65 mph and 80 mph. I actually said to Declan that we would eventually get to 80, but we should start at 65 to build up confidence. Of the first fifteen balls, I’m pretty sure I made solid contact with two of them. 

To back it up, I played baseball. I played it in college and I had hopes of playing it further. But I couldn’t hit a ball that was traveling at 80 percent of an actual competitively pitched baseball. So much for a confidence boost right? 

To make it worse, Declan went first. He, apparently, had no issues finding his swing. Made solid contact with damn near every ball, looked good doing it, etc. I went through the normal thoughts of, “Shit. This is gonna be embarrassing…it’s not that bad, I went to the gym before this so I’m a little tired…maybe it won’t be that bad…” 

At first, it was embarrassing, I had gone to the gym but I wasn’t tired enough to justify any dip in non-existent performance, and it absolutely was that bad. 

I made all kinds of excuses to begin with, before I even knew I would suck at it. Granted, I did shortly thereafter suck at it, but I can’t imagine my attitude helped. Before I go further, I owe it to Declan to mention that it’s not like he was not a good baseball player too. He clearly had skills to begin with and he earned the swings he was getting. 

And it was Declan who kinda reset me. Because as hard as I’m being on myself, all he’s being is positive. He took pictures that definitely made me look WAY better than I was. He laughed, he talked about whiffing on his swings, he made it fun. In short, it was exactly what I needed to remind myself that going to the batting cages as a thirty year old adult is not that serious, and even if I missed every one, being in the sun and swinging a baseball bat with your best friend was what’s important. 

Not that it matters, but I eventually found my swing. Then I tried out Jarren Duran’s locked fingers-style golf grip on the bat. Just for fun.  

Anyways, attitude means a lot, and I think perspective might mean more. Is baseball a big part of me? Definitely, probably to an awkward degree for most people. But does my ability, or lack thereof, to do baseball-stuff matter to the point that it should dominate what became one of the most fun times I’d had in a long time? Never.  

I need to work on my perspective. Because I’m sure with a better sense of perspective comes patience, calm and all the other things that remind me of meditation. Don’t get me wrong, meditation might be helpful too, I’ve just never tried it. But I dunno, maybe I should. Not to keep it too Red Sox heavy, but the first basemen for the Sox, Tristan Casas, has done yoga in the outfield prior to games. So maybe I should co-opt that before I take batting practice. 

I really didn’t anticipate this being a mental-health adjacent post, but here we are. Sometimes I think I’ve got a good, developing handle on it, and then I get reminded of things I can work on. Which I guess that's just life. 

Anywho, I should do a shout-out to the Supplement Superstore in KCMO that supplied the badass shirt that I immediately cut the sleeves off of and wore to the cages. I love that place so much because every time I’m in there, they don’t make it awkward. I really don’t know too much about specific protein this or monohydrate that. And for a place that obviously thrives on supplying that kinda stuff, they’re great at not making me feel like I’m unwelcome. I appreciate that probably more than anything with fitness and the whole process honestly. 

I think it’ll be next week that I start my 7-day stretch of rowing for the Conqueror Challenge of the Giant’s Causeway. I’m gonna structure that as one post, but break it down into seven “days” and see how that goes. So I’m looking forward to that! 

- T a L