Baseball Can Be Good Medicine
Spring is here. High school baseball players, college players and town
teams are about to start their seasons and the major leaguers begin playing
next week.
There has been a lot of controversy and bad press surrounding
America’s pastime of late.
Some fans are upset about the steroid use. Others are angry about
the high price of tickets. And some people are incensed over the off field
antics among some of these highly paid athletes.
But for many, baseball is a passion. They associate the game with
nice weather, hot dogs, cold beer and with fun outings with their family and
their friends.
Some fans love all the statistics and numbers which surround
the game. Batting averages, earned run averages, pitch counts, on base
percentages seem to fascinate people who love to apply mathematics
to sports.
Others seem to enjoy the strategies and complex decisions that
managers need to make in almost every game. When do you take the pitcher
out? When do you use the hit and run? When is the right time to steal?
Who is the best pitcher to bring in to face a particular hitter? Others love watching great hitters and great pitchers compete against
one another. They can get lost and really escape as they observe this
kind of battle.
Given the state of the economy, there is certainly a need for a good
diversion, some fun and some recreation.
One of my patients who has some health problems and who recently
lost his job of thirty years is an avid baseball fan. Understandably, he
has been quite overwhelmed and quite stress out of late.
Several weeks ago, he told me he knows he will be feeling better in
early April. When I asked him why he explained that the start of the
baseball season always puts him in a good mood. He said, “It slows
everything down for me. It relieves stress and I know that good weather is
on its way after opening day. When a great hitter comes up to bat,
everything seems to stop. There is a sense of quiet and peace within me as
I watch his at bat. For me baseball is very good therapy.”
Jay P. Granat, Ph.D. is a Psychotherapist in River Edge, NJ. He is the founder of www.stayinthezone.com
He is also the author of 101 Ways To Break Out Of A Hitting Slump
https://stayinthezone.com/baseball.htm
