“I wish I could play Little League now. 
I’d be way better than before.”
~ Mitch Hedberg

The word “visualization” is defined as “a technique involving focusing on positive mental images in order to achieve a particular goal.” The practice of visualization has been used in a variety of disciplines through the years. In my childhood, I didn’t know what it was called, but it was something I worked on quite often.

I loved to go to the park or school yard to shoot hoops. If others happened to be there, I might find myself engaged in a pick-up game or two. If I was alone, I had no problem shooting around and imagining myself in game situations taking the final, game-winning shot. 

When it came to baseball, I had to rely on a tennis ball. The backyard of our family home on 38th Avenue in San Francisco was just deep enough for me to stand at one end of the lawn and fire pitches at the wood planks in the back fence. My neighbors would never have tolerated me doing this with a baseball. As the years went on, the green paint around the strike zone became faded from the pounding it took.

If I went to South Sunset Playground, just a couple of blocks from our home, I could throw pitches against the concrete wall which separated the basketball courts from the upper grass field. There were several strike zones painted onto the wall for this very purpose. Generations of kids played “Strikeouts” in this area. I was one of them. Like the option I had with basketball, if other kids were at the park, I might find myself competing in a game of Strikeouts with one of the other kids. If I was alone, no problem. I’d just imagine that there was a batter, and visualize myself in the bottom of the ninth inning with the bases loaded with a one-run lead.

Baseball really wasn’t my sport. I played for a couple of years in elementary school, but I was not one of the better players. When I did get into the game, I was most often sent to right field, where it was hoped I would do as little damage as possible. At the plate, I was so afraid of getting hit by a pitch, I recall only one time when, with my eyes closed, I swung wildly at a pitch and actually connected with it. I got a triple. No one was more surprised than I was. 

One night in the mid-‘60s, my team was playing at Park Merced field near San Francisco State University. The team we were playing seemed to be an equal match for us. As we entered into the final inning, we had a one-run lead. The first batter hit a shot right back at the pitcher, striking him in the neck. I don’t recall the injury as being serious, but he was removed from the game with a runner on first base. Normally, we had two other pitches on our roster, but neither was at the game that night. Coach Groswird put the third baseman in to pitch, and sent me to third base. Eight pitches later, the bases were loaded with no outs.

Coach came back out on the field, called all the infield players together, and asked, “Who want’s to pitch?” Without hesitation, I volunteered. Coach handed me the ball and walked off the field without a word. I guess I realized that this would be my only opportunity to pitch in a real game. I know everyone expected that we would lose the game at that point, so I had nothing to lose.

It was a strange feeling standing on the pitcher’s mound, which really wasn’t a mound at all. I remember being totally unaware of the three base-runners. I just focused on the glove of the catcher and threw the baseball as hard as I could. I wasn’t nervous at all, because I’d been in that game situation hundreds of times in my backyard and at the playground. I didn’t have any “stuff.” I was in fifth grade. All I could do was throw hard, which I did. Nine pitches later, all of which were strikes, the game was over. We’d won!

All I will say is that my pitching career was short-lived. I did pitch one more time, but I faced only three batters and never got an out. But that night at Park Merced field was memorable. Only in my later years did I realize why I was able to finish the game the way I did. I had engaged in the practice of visualization on a regular basis. There was no doubt in my mind that I could do it.

Visualization works!