Baseball: The Sport That Mirrors Real Life

Every spring the “Boys of Summer” celebrate the “Great American Pastime.”

As I watched the Padres and Dodgers duke it out today, I was struck by the similarity between baseball and the way our society works.

Perhaps that’s why, as other sports gain in popularity, baseball still retains its popularity and historic significance after 100 plus years.

It reflects each of us and how we live our lives. “It’s as American as “mom and apple pie.”

One of the most famous baseball comedy bits of all time is, “Who’s On First” by the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.

Baseball and life

Baseball, like life, has no clock. No time limit or “sudden death” overtime.

You know there is an end to the game, but never exactly when… just like life.

You might be way behind in the score, given a death sentence, but can rally and come back to survive another inning or even win in the end.

In baseball, like life, we often fight the hardest in the last inning of the game.

Balls and Strikes

In baseball, like life, you get multiple chances to succeed.

During nine innings you should get four at bats, and you get four balls and three strikes and whole bunch of foul balls.

I think it’s interesting that if you fail to hit safely 70% of the time you can end up in the hall of fame.

As in life, we often have many more failures than successes. But in baseball, like life, it’s those failures that make us better and stronger to be a better competitor the next day.

Individuals and Teams

In baseball, like life, you can excel individually, and you can also excel as part of a team.

Tinker to Evers to Chance was a famous double play trio of Chicago Cubs infielders.

Shortstop Joe Tinker, second baseman Johnny Evers, and first baseman Frank Chance turned their first double play in 1902 and became immortalized in poem.

Signing a big client in life is akin to hitting one out of the park and winning the big game…