“Why I quit baseball”

Immediate reaction PT is that our son and many he played with in college and MILB never think through this until the end.

I will temper that in one way: posted on our son’s lockers and every baseball bag, etc was the following:

”Success happens when 1000 hours of preparation meets one moment of opportunity.”
With our grandson, our son is very precise in messaging that what is most important is the process.
This is a great potential thread!

@PTWood That was an honest and introspective look into what drives some ballplayers. I don’t know what the ratio of ballplayers fit into that category, but I hope it’s not the majority.

I asked a friend years ago (when Trev first started in select baseball) what was the best part of his 20 years playing the game (t-ball to A ball). He said that he still misses the connection with teammates and coaches and the stupid stuff they did, said and experienced together. That there's still a hole and a longing in his heart because he knows that he will never know that type of connection again. He was 50 at the time.

I’m hoping that most ballplayers and my son feel like my friend than have had Matt’s experience.

This is in my photography about, and I hope my kids feel this way about life in general: Better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today... Not always achieved, but the joy is certainly in the journey!

@JucoDad posted:

He said that he still misses the connection with teammates and coaches and the stupid stuff they did, said and experienced together. That there's still a hole and a longing in his heart because he knows that he will never know that type of connection again. He was 50 at the time.

This true I know many 50 yr old guys who feel the same, some who are still playing because of it. IMO this is about relationships and the apparent lack of ability to develop them in other ways. It sounds like something Pete Rose would say.

Join a group, club, golf, start a business whatever...there are unlimited ways to create a connection, to live life with a hole in your heart because of the lack baseball is just immature IMO.

@infielddad and @JucoDad I definitely saw it as a reminder to help our boys tap into the joy, the journey, the process and the team. My kid was the absolute best HS basketball teammate because  he didn't care about playing time or starting or ppg or shooting %. He came off the bench, grabbed some rebounds, threw down some dunks and just had fun. In his super quiet way, he was the spark for the team and the guys loved playing with him.

I do think a little bit of what Antonelli described happened to him with baseball his HS senior year because draft vs. college was a constant conversation. We tried not to add to the pressure but it was ever-present. The school even did a video series on him (they started it without talking to us so by the time we knew about it we felt like there wasn't a gracious way to stop it...we just tried to temper it). In the end, I believe it all got to him. Every at bat had personal significance instead of it just being an at bat or a chance to help the team. It magnified everything, good and especially bad. This year, he loved being hidden away and just allowed to play. We saw him smiling and having fun again. He played 2-on-2 basketball with the hitting coach during conditioning camp. He laid down bunts and stole bases almost for the hell of it. He played free. I know his whole pro journey won't be like that but I do think listening to that video was a really good reminder NOT to get too caught up in the hype, in your own numbers any given day, and what you're "supposed" to be doing. James learned it the hard way his senior year by trying to be what every one expected and not himself. He learned this year to completely wipe away what happened at the plate when you switch your helmet for your hat and to completely wipe away when happened in the field when you switch you hat for your helmet. He learned that people are going to think what they want to think about you no matter what you do so you might as well be yourself. 

I'd love for us to think, as parents, how we can support our kids to keep the healthy mindset that helps them enjoy sports to the fullest for as long as their journey may be. And believe me, this isn't a kumbaya thing. He works his butt off. He's serious about his game. So tempering intensity, professionalism and hard work with perspective and plain old fun...

I believe any athlete who plays four years of high school sports and possibly a college sport never forgets the camaraderie. When I get together with friends/former high school (football, basketball, baseball) and college (baseball) teammates we don’t talk about the glory moments. We joke about the things we did to each other in the locker room and at practice.

The only in competition conversation almost fifty years later is reminding a high school football teammate about tripping over the ten yard line while running for a touchdown. In high school you’re down. You can’t get up and run. I get reminded of a (then) future Notre Dame and NFL tight end using me a doormat on a sweep. I was a 6’ 180 corner in high school. He was 6’5” 240 and real angry we beat them in the state championship the year before.

Guys are good at digging up dark moments and getting a laugh from it. It’s why we laugh when someone takes a shot in the groin.

Baseball changed for me when I first heard about scout interest. If I had a less than .300 game (1-4) in high school I felt like I failed even if we won. I didn’t show it. But I felt it inside. It was a shock to go from a dominating high school player to a “cast of thousands” starter in college. I had a successful college career. But I could have been replaced without much fanfare or notice. It’s humbling and a wake up call to get drafted in a round so late the organization doesn’t make contact for several days. The round was so insignificant it stopped existing several years ago. It was one of the “if we need more single A roster filler players” rounds.

Fortunately I was smart enough to realize I was a high draft pick of a major corporation and took the job. It was the front door to everything that went right professionally in my life.

Sometimes I look at how it went for me and how I may have translated it to my son. My son was more athletically gifted than I. I sometimes wonder if he could have gone further with baseball if he didn’t see baseball as secondary to education. I’m not downplaying education. It has served him well. He had a quality college baseball career. But who knows what would have happened had he viewed baseball and education equally. But, there were the injuries.

For so many players, including myself, there comes that time when  you realize that no matter how hard to try, you simply don't have "it."  I stopped playing at 22 years of age.  I played in a semi-pro league, whatever that means, and was one of the best in the league.  I was the guy who arrived early, left late, and was the dirtiest-looking player leaving the diamond.  I had countless "scouts" talk to me.  The league I played in had several players signed in the time I played in it.  At the same time, I was beginning to play slowpitch softball.  It was local at first and what most would call "beer league."  Then, I got noticed by some of the top teams in my metro area and then, I played on a national travel team.  By then, baseball was in the rearview mirror.  Thank goodness I was able to move into coaching this great game.  I still keep myself involved.  That saying about gripping the baseball when the reality was that it was baseball gripping us is so true!

I transitioned into coaching at the Babe Ruth Baseball level. It was right after college ball. Travel didn’t exist yet. Coaching all stars was the closest thing to travel. Talk about a difficult age group 13-15) for a transition into coaching.

I spent hours in front of the mirror figuring out how to teach what I did as a player. I knew what to do. Until analyzing it in front of the mirror I didn’t know how I did it and how to teach it.

Count me in the immature column.