RLL Archived Articles

The Life Lessons Taught By Baseball

Level Cross is fortunate to have renowned local attorney, baseball aficionado and all-around philosopher Steve Schmidly involved with our ball program. Steve coaches baseball at Randleman Middle School and T-Ball at LC. He gave a quick talk at our Fall Ball trophy party, but few could hear him in the packed Community Center, so the board asked Steve for his notes so we could post them here, on the web page. We're thankful he obliged.

The words below are the purest and most concise distillation of the benefits of playing baseball, and the reasons we devote so much of our time to teaching baseball to the kids in this community. Baseball really is a sport that stays with you for life.

THE LIFE LESSONS TAUGHT BY BASEBALL by Stephen S. Schmidly

As I thought about how to discuss with you the importance of baseball and why I believe it is the greatest game around, I first had to reflect on my time with the game. For fifty-five (55) years I have loved this game as a player, a fan and a Coach.

For the past twenty years I have coached-- from the Bronco League, to the Pony League, to 16 and Under; to 18 and Under; to 19 and Under; to Middle School Baseball; then Starter T-Ball and finally Coach Pitch T-Ball. Throughout that time I have reflected on why this game is so important to the kids that play it and why they love it—what do they learn and how do those kids benefit from learning this game

I would like to share with you why I believe this game—baseball—is the greatest game a child can play and why I wanted my children, and want my grandchildren, to play this game. The life lessons that are taught by baseball include:

1. Self Discipline—the self discipline to work hard every day; to only swing at strikes; as a pitcher, to throw strikes; to practice hard; to concentrate on the game and how to play it correctly—we all want our children to be disciplined and baseball demands it;

2. Baseball teaches a work ethic—the ethic that everyday you have to do the drills that make you better; the T-drills and Soft toss hitting drills; taking extra grounders and working on long toss to build arm strength; working on throwing strikes as a pitcher—we want our kids to work hard and try to improve in all they do and baseball teaches that work ethic;

3. Baseball teaches persistence; over-coming failure and always looking forward to your next opportunity—I tell the players I coach to think about this—you work hard and finally get to the major leagues and in a 10 year career, you fail 70% of the time—where do you end up? In the Hall of Fame as a career .300 hitter. Baseball teaches you that you have to put failure behind you, you have to look forward to your next chance; you have to believe that even though you may have failed at the last at bat or on the last play, that the next at bat or play will be better. Those attitudes and the ability to approach all of life’s challenges with those attitudes will serve our kids well in everything they do in their lives;

4. Baseball teaches kids to put the team before themselves— the team, not the individual player, with the most runs wins—you learn that to be successful you have to put the team first, ahead of your individual accomplishments--a sacrifice bunt; hitting behind a runner; realizing that each player has a role and the team will only be successful if each player accepts the responsibility to do his part; you learn that while you as an individual may have scored 5 runs and knocked in 6 runs, but if no one else on your team scores a run, and if the other team scores 12 runs, your team loses;

5. Baseball teaches kids to pay attention to details—it never fails, the team that does the little things well usually wins the game—the team that does not make errors, that gets down bunts, that takes the extra base when running; that advances a runner to third base with less than two outs—that team will usually win. Baseball teaches kids to expect the unexpected and to be ready for it—the ball always seems to find its way to the one player who is not paying attention—let your concentration slip, and lo and behold, the next thing you know the ball is hit to you. Baseball teaches kids to be alert, expect anything, and do all the little things right—skills that will serve our children well in whatever they do;

6. Baseball teaches kids to never give up—unlike almost all other team sports, baseball does not have a clock—the game is over only when you make the last out and as long as you have one out left you have a chance. You never quit; you always compete until your last out—we all want our kids to be competitive and never to quit or give up, and baseball teaches those skills;

7. Baseball teaches humility-it is a humbling sport—everyone goes through bad streaks—a streak of 0 for 20 at the plate; a pitcher who can’t seem to throw a strike; when things are going good for you as a player or coach, you better stay humble because that tough streak can be just around the corner, just like life;

So, if you want your child to be a self-disciplined, hard-working, competitive, persistent, humble child; who pays attention to details, who never quits or gives up, who can overcome adversity, and who puts the good of the team ahead of their self interest, then have your child play and learn the life lessons of baseball. All those skills and attitudes are the skills and attitudes that employers want in their employees; that college administrators want in their students and that our country wants in its citizens. Baseball is a uniquely American sport—it is and always will be our national pastime—not just because its baseball, but because it embodies and teaches the American spirit.

- posted January 2nd at 11:35 PM by Geof Brooks