The Way of Baseball: Finding Stillness at 95 mph

by Shawn Green

By midseason ’98, my connection to the pitcher began to make its way beyond BP and into actual games. I was no longer battling against a pitcher who was trying to get me out. I’d step into the box and, through my rhythmic routines, become aware of my body. Released of the mind’s interference, my awareness (as unselfconscious as a predator striking its prey) was now free to connect to the pitcher. By the time the ball left his hand, I was fully alert in the moment, so that the pitcher was now my partner in hitting rather than my opponent. Since there was no identifying with myself, what was left? Nothing, no one, only a single action, hitting. During my increasingly frequent hot streaks, I became the act of hitting rather than a person who was hitting. In the absence of any weighty sense of self, I’d step into the batter’s box much lighter. Sometimes, I’d step out between pitches to revisit my mind. “Check the signs. What’s the count? What’s the game situation?” But as soon as my spikes returned to their toeholds, my mind would dissipate. My body would move through its routine, extending my awareness out to the pitcher. I’d feel my fingers wiggling around the bat handle and my body subtly rocking, but I’d be completely out there, at once anchored to my body and locked on the pitcher.