Slumps, Perfectionism, and Lou Gehrig

Slumps, Perfectionism, and Lou Gehrig

The past two weeks I have been traveling around the country and have been fortunate enough to teach hitting to some really amazing athletes. I love camps and clinics and love coaching. I am eagerly always anticipating a moment when something “clicks” for a hitter, a feeling I know many of you coaches and parents share. 

If you don’t know this about me already, I am an avid reader. I often find that my best reading comes while I’m traveling, either on a plane, at an airport, or in an Uber or hotel. My most recent book has been Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday. Holiday has authored some of my favorite works including Ego is the Enemy and The Obstacle is the Way, two books that are in the Book Club section of Mental Training in the RISR app. In reading Discipline is Destiny this week, I came across a story about a young Lou Gehrig that I know all young hitters, especially young softball players, can benefit from. 

When Gehrig had first signed with the Yankees at 20 years old, the press immediately fell in love with him. He was already being called the next Babe Ruth, and ultimately was feeling a lot of pressure to perform. A few weeks later, he was in the minor leagues and suffering in a brutal slump. It was so bad that a coach sent telegrams to the front office reading “Proceed at once to Hartford (where the minor league team was). Gehrig in a bad slump. Talk to him.” 

A scout named Paul Krichell was sent to evaluate just how bad this slump was. After observing poor body language, poor at bats, and poor defense, Krichell and Gehrig had a chat after the game. Krichell discovered in the conversation that Gehrig was a perfectionist. That he expected to get a hit every single time he came to the plate and if he did not, he was a failure. He was making every at bat so much bigger in his mind rather than seeing the bigger picture. Krichell’s response to this is absolutely brilliant. He said, “The most important lesson a young ballplayer can learn is that he can’t be good everyday.” He then went onto explain something I often like to reference, which is that even a .400 hitter gets out (fails) 6 out of 10 times. This conversation proved to be all that Gehrig needed. He hit 18 home runs in the next 7 days, and had 24 homeruns at the end of the season. Isn’t it incredible how much more successful we are when we get the reassurance that imperfection is acceptable? 

Gehrig went on to have one of the most prolific careers professional baseball has ever seen. He went onto hit 493 homeruns, bat .340, record over 2,700 hits and nearly 2,000 RBIs. His WAR (wins above replacement) was a whopping 113.6. For reference, Mike Trout’s career WAR is 82.2. He also held a record of 2,130 consecutive plays played, which wasn’t broken until 56 years later.

Imagine what would have happened if Gehrig never let go of his perfectionism. Imagine the success you could have if you let go of yours.

--Halo