The Art of Striking Out

During his major league career Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs, but he struck out 1,330 times. Ruth is known as one of the greatest hitters of all time despite having struck out 1,330 times. The “Babe” knew something about baseball that made him one of the best. I think that is what led him to say, “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” This is something that coaches and dad’s and mom’s need to teach their sons and daughters when they begin learning how to play baseball or softball. Striking out is a disappointing reality of the game. Everyone will swing and miss that ball three times and then take a seat on the bench. While sitting on that bench the player should grasp something just as important as any of the fielding or batting fundamentals he will ever learn. There is an art to striking out and if learned it will help a player be much better at his game. 

How to strike out is a lesson that all of us need to learn even if we don’t play baseball. You and I are going to strike out in life. We are going to make mistakes. We made mistakes when we were in school. We didn’t make a hundred on every test. We make mistakes raising our children, and we make mistakes in our marriages, at our work, in our relationships, and in our spiritual lives. We have found ourselves sitting on the bench wondering what happened. 

When we are on the bench after striking out we need to remember what Babe Ruth said, “Never let striking out get in the way.” Never sit on that bench feeling sorry for yourself. Don’t get angry and blame someone else for your mistake. Don't sit there whining or think about giving up. Remember you are still in the game. God didn’t make you so that you could  ride the bench all of your life. God is forgiving. He has a great plan for you.  If you are a Christian he wants you to know that you are more than a conqueror. In other words God wants you to know that you are a winner even though you have struck out many, many times. 

I found the plaque you see in the picture below many years ago. Whenever we have moved to a new house I hang these frames featuring some of my favorite baseball cards on my den wall and place the Babe’s wise words above them. These are old baseball cards of players from the 1950’s and 1960’s. Many of these players were very good hitters—Yogi Berra, Ted Williams, Orlando Cepeda, and others that aren’t in the pictur , like Willie Mays and Stan Musial. I have about 75 player cards under this plaque. Every single one of them struck out many times. What do you think they did when they went back to the bench and sat down?