Sports in a new way

            I never thought that baseball was a game of math and science. Being a pitcher myself, and knowing nothing about “mechanics”, I thought baseball was a finesse game-a game of understanding how to do something within yourself. I had to work on my swing individually and perfect my motion alone, on the mound. A lack of coaching, maybe, but it could have also been a lack of research. Now that I found a book lying around my house, I’ve seen the game in a completely new way.

            The Physics of Baseball by Robert K. Adair has been the book I’ve been reading recently. It’s sophisticated and contains difficult terms to comprehend, but as an athlete, it helps. This book talks about trajectories, angle measures for optimal pitching, throwing, hitting, etc., and even variables which affect the game even more than you may think. Just some wind could mess up a pitcher’s game. I thought it was annoying, but I didn’t know that it messed with the flight pattern of each pitch. The ball is too heavy right? Wrong. The book even talks about how bat speed affects the distance of which the ball is hit. For example, you can’t hit a ball over 450 feet if you don’t have the bat speed of 77 mph.

            This book has taught me tons about the sport of baseball. I can conclude that the game takes a mix of both in order to succeed, but you can get by with only having one. If you don’t know about the optimal bat angle to hit a ball far, but your swing works for you, that’s fine. As for the math whizzes who aren’t the jocks, but wish to play on a team, I highly suggest this book-you can take it word for word and do very well too. Lastly, I strongly suggest people who take their game as seriously as I try to, to take a look at this book. I will never look at the game of baseball the same way again.

Too smart for school?

            I recently picked up the December issue of the Rolling Stone magazine. Having the interest of reading who this magazine touted as being the 100 greatest guitarists of all time (which I didn’t completely agree with) on the cover, I didn’t know what I was in for. The real headline that caught my eye was “What happens to a kid who’s too smart for school?” The person’s name is Santiago Gonzalez. Santiago’s IQ scores are off the charts. He’s so intellectually gifted that one test told him he’s on the level of a student who’s going into their third year of graduate school. Did I mention, he’s 11.

            I have mixed feelings about this situation. If you can excel in college at 13 years old, I say go for it. This kid, in fact, feels the need to be challenged and to learn. Only a college education could get the job done. This may be great, but there are some downsides to it also. As a child, you should do well in school, but you should also have a life, and have friends. Maybe even play some games, play in the park, play a sport. Santiago doesn’t have any of this. All he has is his superb mind. In a way, he’s wasting his childhood. Being in college at such a young age means he isn’t interacting with people his own age at all. I feel bad for him, it must be a lonely place, but that’s what happens when you’re a prodigy-your mind isn’t thinking like other people your age. He even has to sensor what he says around kids his own age, and even some adults because he knows how it puts them off. This is just sad to think of the level to which he doesn’t fit in. Is this what it’s like to be a prodigy? Because if it is, I’m happy that I’m not one. It would be cool to be so elite at something, not even having it be your environment, but if I’d have to deal with all the other baggage it comes with, I’d give it up in a heartbeat.

Reading Response-Baseball's Great Moments

                        On October 4^th, 1955 the Brooklyn Dodgers won the World Series, finally. They had met 5 times before in the World Series, the Yankees had won all five. This year things would be different and “mothers holding babies would be dancing in the streets of Brooklyn” (pg 60 of Baseball’s Great Moments by Joseph Reichler and Jack Clary). Game seven of this series had twists and turns and in the end it all comes down to a combination of luck and skill that I think defines baseball and life; to be good at something you have to practice endlessly and when you’ve reached your peak, you had better hope you are on the right side of luck in the big moment.

            Dodger’s pitcher, Johnny Podres, was a young 23 yr old lefty who during the regular season was a mediocre 9-10. He had not shown himself to be an all star and gave no signs that he would be the hero of the World Series. It seems that sometimes the most unlikely person is the one who comes through when you need it most; on the field and in real life. He won game 3 and game 7, shutting out the favored Yankees 2-0. This game was won on his arm but so many things have to go right for you to win a baseball game, just like in life, there are a lot of moving parts. Every player on that field is skillful and successful, but to be a winner, luck has to be on your side. A player moves a few feet out of position and makes a diving catch he never could make before he moved. Runners get overly aggressive, it IS game 7, and find themselves out on the base path, a perfect relay from the outfield. Star players going hitless. So many variables on the field, so many variables in life.