How life is like baseball

While watching the Cubs game yesterday, I realized that I may not understand all the nuances of baseball but I do know that the batter either hits or misses the ball. I did a little research and discovered that the phrase hit or miss was first recorded in the 1600s, well before baseball. My next step was the dictionary where I found three slightly different meanings for hit-or-miss from three sources. Merriam-Webster says, “marked by lack of forethought or plan.” The free dictionary says, “haphazardly, random,” and dictionary.com says, “as likely to be unsuccessful as successful.” It then lists the wonderful words “slipshod, lackadaisical and slapdash” as synonyms. 

We’ve all learned that, even with a great deal of forethought and planning, outcomes can be hit or miss. Think of all the Plan B’s you’ve had to resort to due to weather, cancelled flights, or someone’s whimsy. We’ve seen artists’ whose works may seem haphazard but not slipshod or those authors whose writing, in my opinion, became slapdash to cash in on their sudden popularity. And my own weekly writing can be hit or miss from either or both the reader’s and my perspective.

On a daily basis we don’t think about our whole lives being hit or miss. That’s too scary a thought. But, it’s true. Like the baseball players, we practice, hone our skills, work within a team while understanding our role, fine-tune our plans, negotiate our contract. Then we get rained out, scheduled for a double-header, are told to bunt when we think we can hit that grand slam. The manager can strategize against the opposition, but then it’s all hit or miss, and not just hitting the ball.  I didn’t start off thinking about life being like baseball, but, I guess it’s all hit or miss.

Marilyn