Proving Yogi Right

October 1

Yogi Berra once said, “You can’t think and hit at the same time.”

Today, I tried to prove Yogi wrong.

We played an intersquad scrimmage in practice today and I wanted to be conscious of what I was thinking at the plate during my at-bats. That was my first mistake. If it’s true that you can’t think and hit at the same time, then you definitely can’t think about what you’re thinking and hit at the same time.

I walked up to the plate for my first at bat expecting a fastball. Look for a fastball up, I told myself. What did I get? First pitch: slider down and away. Okay, I thought, now he’s definitely coming with a fastball with this next pitch. I guessed right. The pitcher came with a fastball but for some reason I couldn’t pull the trigger. My mind and body weren’t working in sync. Now I’m in a hole, I thought. With two strikes I spread my feet and choked up on the bat. Think fastball, I thought, and adjust to the curve. The pitcher threw an inside curve and I pulled it on the ground to the second baseman for the ground out.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so stubborn, but how often do you have the chance to prove a hall of famer wrong? So, for one more at bat I wanted to go up there conscious about what I was thinking at the plate. Of course, once again, I worked myself into a hole. I stepped out of the batter’s box. This time I wasn’t going to think at the plate. Don’t think, I told myself, just adjust this time. Clear your head. I dug in, spread my feet and choked up on the bat. The pitcher threw an inside fastball and I sent the outfielders chasing after the ball in the right-center field gap. You win Yogi, I thought to myself as I stood on second with a double. You were right.