Loving Baseball Pt. 1: How to Love Baseball

When you look around at your teammates, are you sure that each one of them is there because they love baseball? The answer is probably yes! Most of them started playing the same way you did: their parents wanted them to play multiple sports and signed them up for tee ball or Little League. They continued to play because they loved the game as much as the game loved them. However, as years passed some teammates stopped playing. Not because they stopped loving the game, but because they didn’t love the game enough.

Teammates stop playing baseball for many reasons. They might love another sport, hobby or activity that ends up trumping their desire to play baseball entirely. Or they might totally fall out of love with the game and just remove themselves from baseball. These two reasons are driven by the realization that there are better options for them outside of baseball. This is completely fine. Looking back on my own experience, very few of my Little League teammates ended up quitting  for those two reasons. However, the most devastating reason people stop playing is because their love for the game doesn’t mature with the challenges the game presents as you get older.

Baseball loves everybody unconditionally. It wants to provide opportunities for you to continue playing for a long time. But, in order to reciprocate that love, you have to give more and more. If you compare the junior varsity to the varsity level in high school, there’s no doubt that kids on both teams love baseball. But you can tell the difference in the type of love that is given by the players that succeed.

Like any relationship (because loving baseball is a relationship), you have to put in extra time with an intent to grow the love. So how do you do that?

You show your love by having intent when you are throwing, hitting, fielding or working on any skill. By having a plan and focus when you are putting in extra work, as opposed to just taking reps for the sake of taking reps. You show your love by working out and getting stronger, both in-season but especially in the off-season. You show your love by spending more time around the game, whether it be pre/post practice reps, watching baseball or studying the game. Give yourself as many options as possible to get better each day, even if you don’t have access to a field.

 Do not be the guy that is “happy to be there.” That guy only shows up to practices and games. That guy will throw or hit every now and then. That guy will only think about baseball when it’s on the calendar. That guy will only love the game when it is convenient.

The guy that is just “happy to be there” will only get as far as his natural talent will get him. There are guys like that at the high school and even college level, and they may have loved the game enough to get there. However, once you accept that complacent mentality and choose to stop working to grow your love, you really miss out on what the game can give you.

If you strive to play college baseball and beyond, you have to love the game more than your teammates, friends and opponents. As your career advances, you’ll run into others that love the game just as much as you do and want to take everything that the game will give them. In order to succeed, you have to challenge yourself to continue showing and improving that love until you can’t anymore. If you continue to love the game the way it loves you, it will reward you as long as you wish to play and well after you hang up the cleats. It will reward you with a lifetime of love, memories and friendships that wouldn’t have been possible without baseball.

So, ask yourself, how much do you love baseball?