Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Memory in Baseball
In the game of baseball it is very easy to get frustrated because of the insurmountable amounts of times a person fails in proportion to the amount of times they succeed. It is said that being forgetful, or having a short term memory is necessary in being able to be successful. After a game you may be stuck thinking of how poorly you looked at the plate during the game. You may have struck out three times, hit a seeing eye single and another bloop single and you feel like you had the worse game of your life. This is usually short term memory and as time passes, you begin to realize that you went two for five, a batting average that is very difficult to achieve and over the course of history only a few athletes have been able to achieve it. As days pass, and you play more games, you begin to realize that earlier in the week you had a two hit game and you forget how you got on base the two times. The better players are the ones that are able to forget more quickly their mistakes and shortcomings. This relates to class today because it is like studying for tests. If you study for something first, then another test after it, you will retain the information from what you study second better than what you studied first. This is like baseball as if you have a bad day one day, you forget about that day after your next game.
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I agree that forgetting is sometimes a useful tool for success. Forgetting insignificant information helps a subject remember imperative information, such as in your baseball analogy. The games that were played poorly were not imperative information to store in an individual's memory. However, a player should probably retain the information that caused him to make the mistakes he had and that way the player can improve for a later game.
ReplyDeleteForgetting is not always a bad thing, especially when it comes to sports. Growing up as a hockey player, my father always told me I thought too much and that I was the only person in my own way. Often times, especially if it was early in a game, I would get upset with myself after a bad play. Even though everyone would always simply say shake it off you have the rest of the game, I would continue to think of that play. This never worked out well as it often got in the way of my performance. Many times this one bad play could snow ball and it would end up being a bad game. In reality, all I had to do was put this bad play behind me, forget about it, and continue to play. However, after the games, it would be important to see my mistakes so I could try to fix them and not let them reoccur. For goaltenders, it is often said a good goalie is one with a short memory. After allowing a bad goal, you want your goalie to forget about it and play well the rest of the game.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the idea that forgetting certain events, especially in sports is very beneficial. This issue not only relates to baseball but is a very big issue in ice hockey, especially with goalies. When a goalie lets in a bad goal it is crucial for them to be able to forget about it and move on. When a goalie lets the memory of a bad goal linger in their mind, they fail to play to their full potential. When the goalie is able to successfully put the memory of the bad goal behind them, they will more than likely be able to play effectively and prevent any more "bad" goals.
ReplyDeleteI agree very much with Nick's post because when playing a sport you can not get too high or too low on yourself. Forgetting about a bad at bat at the plate or a bad throw is a good thing because you need to move on to the next play or next pitch. At the same time you should not forget everything because you should be able to learn from your mistakes and get better.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Steve. I think you should use it is a basis for learning. Try to improve on what you did wrong to make yourself a better player. I also use my frustrations to make myself angry and get pumped up. When I am in the state of mind, that is when I play the best. Failure is not an option at that point. I play to the best of my ability because I am so upset that I feel like i have to make up for my mistake, and prove everyone wrong.
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