Conquering Fear in the Batter's Box

Dorothy Thompson once said, "Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live." As far as anyone knows Thompson was not a baseball enthusiast. She made her mark as the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany in 1934 and is considered by many to be the "First Lady of American Journalism."

So what does a quote that drew inspiration during the Great Depression and World War II have to do with baseball? Everything if you ask the team at MaxBP! Although with due respect to Thompson, we're going to replace one word in the citation - "Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to HIT."

Countless at-bats around the globe, from Little League to the Major Leagues, are lost before a hitter sets foot in the batter's box. If a batter suspects they will fail, they are absolutely right. If they believe they will succeed, they have a fighting chance.

Consider that a .300 hitter in the Major Leagues is deemed an All-Star. The same could be said for a .400 average in college and .500 in high school. No matter how you shake it, a hitter must become accustomed to failing the majority of the time. The sooner a ballplayer becomes comfortable with this notion, the better off they'll be.

After all, the greatest remedy for fear is preparation. The more time a hitter spends working on their craft, developing that muscle memory, the more prepared they will feel and the less anxiety they will experience. So slip on one of those No Fearshirts from the '90s, get to work with your MaxBP and play the game with newfound serenity and confidence.