Here are 20+ Baseball Quotes For Life. I hope you enjoy them. More importantly, I hope you do something with them.
Character vs Talent
The game of baseball is full of players who have skill sets we can aspire to yet may not serve as the best role models. Maybe more so in the past, than now.
But it's a great lesson in the powers of objectivity. It's also a great lesson in learning about integrity.
Be who you say you are. Even at the big league level, there have been players who project one life while living another. You don’t need to cast judgment to understand this truth and you can still learn from bad examples. Emulate their talent and skill while learning what not to do when it comes to character and integrity.
Learning what not to do is just as effective as learning what to do.
Mediocrity & Excellence
Skill sets that last, take work. Incredible amounts of focus and energy. Anyone who thinks differently knows nothing about the timeline that exists between mediocrity and excellence.
Not one ballplayer came out of the womb a big leaguer. Blood, sweat & swings. Putting in the reps. It's the only way.
Hitting Is Prediction
Hitting is less about reacting and more about prediction. When hitting a baseball, we’re not swinging at where the ball is coming out of the pitcher’s hand, we’re swinging at where we predict the ball will be at the point of contact.
Baseball is About Loving Adversity
Runners on base. Be the hitter who drives them in. A pitch is left over the heart of the plate. Be the hitter who makes the pitcher pay. Down by one, runners are in scoring position and behind in the count. Be the hitter who loves adversity, rises to the occasion, and is tough with two strikes.
Mental Toughness & Integrity Will Guarantee Success
My promise to you is this. If you can build your powers of mental toughness and integrity, you will have a great baseball career. Not saying you’ll become a big leaguer, but you will max out your potential which will support you for the rest of your life.
Mental toughness is the willingness to believe that your current state of failure and struggle in baseball can and will change with a continual dedicated effort to the process and the craft.
It’s about still pushing forward with courage even when you’re not getting the results you want.
It’s about being and staying confident even while 0-4 or making an error in a key moment in the ball game.
Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one’s watching. It’s going the extra mile, getting your ass in the batting cage, and doing the extra work without someone having to push you. Mental toughness and integrity. Don’t sleep on the powers of these two virtues.
Build Leverage To Hit The Ball Further
A good swing starts from the ground up. We build leverage by getting our hands loaded away from our body so our hips/core can pull our hands through the zone, balanced & under control with intent to do damage. The more aggressive the swing, the more accurate your hand-eye coordination will be.
Play your game To Stand Out On the Ball Field
As a hitter sometimes a good strategy is rejecting everything you’ve learned long enough to finally start thinking for yourself.
When you question everything, you create space to play YOUR game the way only YOU can play it.
Doesn’t mean you become uncoachable. It doesn’t mean you stop asking questions. It just means that you realize that at the end of the day, no one is stepping into the batter's box with you. You can't keep your hitting coach in your back pocket. So you better learn how to compete and play with instinct.
Keep it Simple
Simplicity is more powerful than empires. we want to have the perfect launch angle. More exit-velo. Better looking swing mechanics. All that is great, but it matters less if your approach & compete level stinks.
Keep it simple. Beat the pitcher.
Simplicity is more powerful than empires.
Break The Rules
If you can’t solve a problem, sometimes it’s because you’re playing by the rules. Sometimes we fall short of our abilities as a hitter because we're trying to hit like someone else or apply the cookie-cutter mechanics of a micro-managing coach.
Don't get me wrong, modeling other players is valuable. Being coachable is also valuable. But sometimes, you gotta just say "yes, sir" to coaching, and then trust your gut and do your thing when it's time to execute.
Don't be afraid to go against conventions to find your swing.
If all hitters followed the rules, there would be no Ichiro Suzuki, Gary Sheffield, Kevin Youkilis, Jeff Bagwell, etc. Some swings you can't teach, but the mentality and mindset can be embodied.
Perform & Execute
Remember: at the highest level of the game, the players in the lineup are there not because of their physical makeup and god-given ability.
Rather it's because of their ability to perform and execute consistently. Wanna be great? Be good consistently. Perform & execute.
Take 100% Ownership
Take complete ownership of everything that happens on the ball field. I've never met a ballplayer who thrived by transferring blame.
Never Let Them See You Pout
Let them see you struggle, compete, contribute, fail, adjust, get beat, overcome, fall short, improve, and most of all, let them see your passion!
But for the love of god, never ever let them see you pout.
You Don't Have To Be Purfekt
Practice will never make you perfect, and that's a good thing. where would the fun be in that?
It's when we strive and fall short that we build the resolve relegated for the mentally tough. Perfect is a bad word. it's a trap. a corner you paint yourself into if you're not careful.
It's when we're not perfect, but trust our abilities that we thrive while others only survive. Instead of perfect mechanics, prioritize your approach and mindset. On the path towards mastery, except that you will fail, fall short, and look/feel stupid.
Give yourself permission to not be purfekt.
Character is fate
Show me how a player trains when no one is watching. I'll show you their future.
Show me a player's friends or social circle. I'll show you their future.
Show me how a player acts when underachieving at the plate. I'll show you their future.
Show me a player's character. I'll show you their future.
Character is fate.
Good Mistakes vs Bad Mistakes
There are good mistakes, and there are bad mistakes.
Good mistake:
Swinging with intent but rolling over a hard ground ball on a 2-0 fastball you just missed.
Bad mistake:
Getting jammed on a 2-0 fastball down the middle because you weren't geared up and ready to hit.
Good mistake:
Making the second out at 3rd by trying to stretch a double into a triple so that you can be on third with less than two outs.
Bad mistake:
Making the last out at 3rd because you were trying to stretch a double into a triple.
Good mistake:
Getting picked off at first on a 2-2 count when the pitcher has an average pick-off move. hey it happens.
Bad mistake:
Getting picked off at first in a 2-0 count when the pitcher has an average pick-off move. should never happen.
The list goes on and hopefully, you get the drift.
There's a difference between a mental error and a good gamble.
Learn the difference.
Play the game smart.
Play the game well.
How To Stop Doubting Yourself
Why do you doubt yourself on the baseball field?
what it is you're trying to do isn't anything revolutionary.
catch the ball. Throw the ball. Hit the ball. Run fast.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
The swing is the most natural movement in sports if we just let it be.
Once the game starts, let's let go of our obsession with mechanics, performance, and outcome.
Let's stop doing the things that take the athleticism out of our hitting and throwing mechanics.
When the ump yells "play ball", be free.
It's time to shine, have fun, and let loose.
You have two choices.
Playing tight because you're trying to achieve perfect mechanics and a good outcome?
Playing loose because you're in "process" and just having fun?
No brainer right?
Let's go get after it today.
One Pitch
Sometimes, you might only get one good pitch to hit.
One good pitch to handle that you can put a quality aggressive swing on.
One.
If you miss it, it’s gone.
If you take it, tough.
If you’re too late or too early, too bad.
We have to be geared up and ready for that one pitch.
It’s a mentality. It’s an intention.
It starts with our ability to compete.
Assuming the next pitch is going to be a strike.
Swinging not just to make contact but to swing with intent to do damage.
When you get your pitch, make the pitcher pay big time.
Desire
No ballplayer came out of the womb a big-league hitter...
You're no different. you will have to put in the work.
Your desire for being an elite hitter must outweigh your desire for comfort and certainty.
The two do not go hand-in-hand.
Calm Is Contagious.
When you pout, cuss, kick dirt and throw your helmet, you're sending a message to your opponents & teammates.
That you've been beaten.
That doesn't mean you don't show a little emotion.
Anger is like fire, it can cook your food and keep you warm, and it can also burn your house down if you let it out of control.
You can be angry and calm at the same time.
When your teammates see this, they'll also rise to the occasion.
calm is contagious.
Hope Is Not a Strategy
When you watch big-league players on T.V. and you see effortless effort, athletic ability, poise & instinct And you also dream of playing at that level, it begs to question - are you punching the daily ticket to making that a reality?
Elite players that get the most out of their abilities do the following:
- identify weaknesses they need to work on
- set a course of action
- execute the action
- make ZERO excuses
- know that with patience, progress will come
Players who fall short of their abilities do the following:
- work only on strengths, and ignore their weaknesses
- put off work for another day
- cut corners
- makes excuses
- hope that success or opportunities come on their own
Luck happens when opportunity meets preparation.
Hope is not a strategy.
Try The Opposite
Victor Frankl used a therapy approach called paradoxical intention. he would ask his patients to engage in the behavior related to their fear or trauma to demonstrate that on some level, they at least have some partial control over their challenges.
For example, if a client suffered from insomnia, he would ask his patients to try to stay awake or to not sleep.
this is a "paradoxical intention". in a way, it's about addressing performance anxiety and the attachment we have to the outcome.
What does this have to do with baseball?
well - much of a hitter's anxiety and pressure comes from wanting to get a hit, and then losing confidence when they don't.
so instead. do the opposite.
try to line out 3 or 4 times in your next game.
feel the freedom of hitting to have fun, instead of hitting to get a hit.
Baseball Is An Opportunity
I wanna be an elite hitter, but I have to take extra batting practice and swing until my hands bleed.
I wanna achieve peak performance, but I have to deal with constant failure and hold myself accountable.
I wanna play in college, but I have to kill it in the classroom and develop and refine a good reputation.
I wanna be one of the best players in my region, but I have to be honest about my weaknesses and then address them.
for you ballplayers who are unclear if the juice is worth the squeeze, just replace "I have to" with "I get to" and then see how that feels.
Baseball is an opportunity when you realize that the challenges are also privileges.
No One Said It Would Be Easy
The 5 am wake-up calls and gym time before college classes.
The long bus rides home after a weekend of away games, getting back early Monday morning at 6 am with class at 8 am.
The 0-4s with four strikeouts.
The 0-15 funks at the plate.
Injuries.
Distractions, on and off the field.
Dead arms.
Getting benched.
Getting slept on.Tthe pressure of high expectations from coaches.
The frustration of low expectations from coaches or worse, from yourself.
The chances to be the hero in the late innings that you missed.
The chest-high fastballs that you took that you'll never get back.
No one said it would be easy.
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