Ruth

In a previous entry, I have confessed that I have little skill or expertise at most sports, but also acknowledged that sports and sporting terms permeate our society.

Decades ago, I encountered a piece of trivia that struck me as profound and relevant to many areas of life. At that time (records fall, so this has probably changed by now), the legendary baseball player Babe Ruth held the records both for hitting the most "home runs" AND for "striking out" the most times. In my limited perspective on baseball, that made him simultaneously the most and least successful baseball player in terms of his batting.

I can keep mentioning that I know little about baseball, but I suspect there is a relationship between the two records. By striving (and often succeeding!) to hit "home runs", he may have decreased his overall likelihood of connecting with the ball at all. A different player might have been content to strive less for power but more for accuracy, connecting with the ball more often but not hitting it as far.

There is a game or device called "Shoot the Moon", consisting of a wooden framework enclosing two pivoting metal rods which support a metal ball. By starting with the two rods close together, and then carefully pulling them apart, the object of the game is to make the ball seem to travel UP the inclined rods. Actually, the ball is traveling downward as it slides between the two rods. My family received this game for Christmas long ago, and we practiced and practiced, eventually achieving a certain amount of skill. For most people, success at the game requires risk-taking -- you must pull the rods far enough apart that the ball moves fast, and acquires momentum. This increases the danger that the ball will completely slide between the rods and fall. If you play it safe, and keep the rods relatively close together, the ball will not slip between the rods, but it also will not travel very far up the incline. The result is the same as the Babe Ruth phenomenon. Increasing your chance at getting the ball to travel all the way to the top of the incline (a "home run") also increases your chance that the ball will fall between the rods (a "strike out").

This basic principle of "swinging for the bleachers" applies to many areas of life. Sometimes, striving for great success simultaneously increases your chances of failure, and sometimes the ONLY way to achieve success is to place yourself in a high-risk position. One of the challenges of life is knowing WHEN this applies, and when taking risks is simply foolish.

Truth is complicated.