In my recent articles, I've noted Matthew Syed's descriptions (in his book Bounce) of the way in which champion athletes adopt an almost irrational confidence in the inevitability of their success on the playing field. As I read Syed's accounts of the ways in which athletes mentally prepare themselves for matches, I was immediately reminded of a story concerning one of the greatest baseball players of all time, Ted Williams.
In his 1970 book Ball Four (one of the best and most influential baseball books of all time), ex-pitcher Jim Bouton describes an anecdote related by a teammate who had played with Williams on the Boston Red Sox. (Note: Since this is a family blog, I've cleaned up some of the language.)
"In the bullpen tonight, Jim Pagliaroni was telling us how Ted Williams ... would psyche himself up for a game during batting practice, usually early practice before the fans or reporters got there."
"He'd go into the [batting] cage, wave his bat at the pitcher and start screaming at the top of his voice, 'My name is Ted Williams and I'm the greatest hitter in baseball!'"
"He'd swing and hit a line drive."
"Then he'd say, 'Here comes Jim Bunning! Jim Bunning and that puny little slider of his!'"
Wham!
"He doesn't really think he's gonna get me out with that junk!"
Blam!
"I'm Ted Williams!"
Sock!
Williams - or "Teddy Ballgame," as he used to refer to himself - was a two-time American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) winner who led the league in batting six times. He had a career batting average of .344, with 521 home runs, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. He is the last player in Major League Baseball to bat over .400 in a single season (.406 in 1941).
Hmm ... well, maybe in his case, his confidence wasn't so irrational after all!
No comments:
Post a Comment