“With temperatures this week in Dayton plunging beneath double digits only two weeks before our first game is to begin, I was left with few alternatives for action in coping with the cold. First to come to mind was the option of just driving south until it became warmer. I conjectured that if I stepped out of my back door and jumped into the “virility” that is my 1988 Mazda cab plus truck I could be in soothingly mild Florida in about 12 hours. This idea had to be abandoned however as I realized that there was no way that my 1988 truck could get me to the Sunshine state as when running it now sounds like the “wailing and gnashing of teeth” mentioned in the Bible. Stuck back at square one and now shivering as my Mississippian infielder roommate Matty informed me that the “bone chill” factor was now below zero, I was getting desperate for an idea of how best to respond to this arctic cold.”

“In a Eureka moment rivaling any that Einstein ever had, I then did what any normal college baseball player does when he is uncomfortable, bored, mad, frustrated, lonely, procrastinating, or cold. I went to our gym and hit off the tee to soothe my discomfort. Now after reading this, there is little doubt you are confused as to how there is any connection between being cold and hitting a baseball off of a tee. This confusion is precisely my point in writing this article.”

“In “AFew Good Men” (aka “You can’t handle the truth” movie) Tom Cruise plays a lawyer who, at a critical juncture of the movie, screams to his associates “where is my bat? I think better with my bat!” I say Amen to Mr. Cruise for I do indeed handle things better when I have a bat in my hand and a ball on the tee. Working off of a tee is my stress reliever. It is what I do when I’m upset, need to relax, or just think. Some people sleep or eat, my mom cleans, but as for me, I go and hit in a lonely fieldhouse. I have a psychiatrist and it just happens to be a rubber tube with a ball resting on top and a piece of wood in my hands.”

“Hitting is something that requires complete focus and attention. The precise movement and accuracy needed to strike a ball perfectly even when it is standing still requires concentration and relaxation that cannot be distracted (for those of you who golf you understand where I am coming from). Consequently, when I need some time to gear down or relax, hitting transforms my mind away from whatever is occupying my attention to the simple act of a bat striking a ball.”

“When I am hitting, I am as much exercising my mind as I am working out the muscles that move the bat. Hitting is an extremely cerebral thing. There are times when my swing feels so exemplary that I cannot fathom the fact that I might not hit this next pitch perfectly. Yet, in the same context, when my swing feels incorrect looking out towards the infield I feel as though I have to hit the ball a mile to get a base hit. My muscles and my body often feel identical in these two cases but the difference is present in my thoughts. As such, I know that if I can get myself to think correctly, I can often perform much better. Practicing off the tee then is a mental exercise to me. I am not as much practicing how to get my bat in the correct position as I am practicing how to get my mind in the right place as to allow my muscles, through muscle memory, to place the bat in the correct spot in the hitting zone. With every swing off of the tee, I think something different pre-swing (that short time right before you swing). I then hit the ball and judging from the flight of the ball I know what adjustments I have to make in my thought.”

“For example, if the ball spins sideways like a curveball and slices, I know that my hips have come off the ball too early (I started to twist before I hit the ball and as such the ball slid off the end of my bat). This observation then tells me that pre-swing I must think a bit differently and make an adjustment. Making the adjustment is both the joy and bane of hitting. To modify a different thought process is needed. For example, in the above case, I would tune my swing by telling myself to relax my front elbow and hope that this tweaking of thought would correct the deficiency. Then swinging and hitting another ball, I once again observe the flight of the ball seeing if the improvement has been made. Some days this adjustment might take one swing while other days it takes a myriad. The key is to get to the point that there is a “zone” type focus where your mind can become completely blank and your muscles just know how to hit. Getting to this point is what makes baseball so much fun. This iterative process of swinging, observing, thinking and adjusting is what I love about the game.”

“This is the part of the game that is therapeutic to me as well. The concentration it takes to make these adjustments relaxes me much like a crossword puzzle relaxes some people. I love to just hit to take my mind off that test or that project for just a little while. It refreshes me and oftentimes serves as an ideal study break or just a break from everything in general. With all this in mind, I think Hank Aaron might have said it better in a couple of sentences than I have in multiple paragraphs, “My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.” Yes, Mr. Aaron, a lot of times swinging with all its soothing thought and concentration is the only thing you have to do. Well maybe swing and pray that Dayton will thaw out sometime in the near future before we have to play our first home game in six inches of snow.”