Justin Gil
Professor Roxane Wilson
BUS 310
28 June 2015 Miscommunication on the Diamond
Baseball is a beautiful game, America’s true pastime. The feelings it evokes in me, can only be compared to waking up on Christmas morning and finding the one perfect gift under the tree that Santa got right. It’s an accumulation of skill, hustle, intelligence, and most importantly fun. That being said baseball is a game of failure. According to baseball-reference.com, through 4860 games last season the average Major League batting average was .251. This means the average Major League hitter gets less than three hits for every ten at-bats he has; the best hitters get three hits every ten at bats. While fielding is not as difficult as hitting, mistakes do happen. For a baseball manager physical errors as a misplayed groundball or a dropped pop fly are tolerable; however, errors caused by miscommunication are viewed as unacceptable. That being said everyone who has played baseball has made an error due to lack of communication. In this essay I am going to analyze a breakdown in communication between a teammate and I that resulted in a base hit. When a pop is hit there are a few things a baseball player should keep in mind. Where is the ball? How to call for the ball? And who has priority of the ball? The first two are fairly simple to answer. No matter where the ball is hit we should always be looking up for the ball. This is where the famous line “keep your eye on the ball” comes into play. The next question we ask ourselves is how we call for the ball. It varies between teams, but usually whoever is calling for the ball is the closest to the ball and loudly states, “Me, Me, Me” or “Ball, Ball, Ball.” Every other nearby fielder that is getting called off should be getting out of that fielders way and reply, “You, You, You” or “Take it, Take it, Take it”, always three times to be sure. The next step and where most communication errors occur is priority, which means if a certain position calls off another position and that first position has pop up priority then the second player is running out of the way. In the outfield the centerfield is seen as the commander. He or she has priority over both the left and center fielders. In the infield the shortstop has priority over all the infielders, but usually only calls off the third and second basemen. The second baseman has priority over the first baseman and the corner infielders (first and third) have priority over the catcher. In the tricky situation where balls are hit in between the infielders and outfielders; the outfielders have priority over the infielders because running forward to a ball is a much easier play than running backwards to catch one. I play first base and am considered fast for the position. While this is a benefit in most situations it causes some uneasiness when a ball is popped up behind me. This is because I am more than capable of making that play, but usually the play should be made by the second baseman or right fielder depending on how high and hard the ball is hit. This is where the problem occurred. In a game, the ball was popped up 35 feet directly behind me. I was running to the ball and not actively listening for any voices. My second baseman who I did not at first hear calling for the ball saw the ball, realized it was his to get, started running over to get it and screamed, “Me, me, me!” It was not until the second “me” that I heard his voice; it took me till the third “me” to decode and fully understand the message he was sending me. When he looked at me I was slowing down, but I failed to return feedback fast enough to let him know I was letting him get the ball, so he also slowed down. This resulted in us both being five feet away from the ball as it dropped in between us, the batter standing on second, and a verbal lashing in the dugout by our coach. In conclusion, baseball is a game with many intricacies and without communication a lot of it would not work. Communication is not only important in baseball, but in every facet of life. While a lack of communication in baseball results into instant negative repercussion, it serves as an instant self-teaching moment that great communication is the key to reducing mistakes.