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silveradept[This is part of a series exploring the Baseball Tarot.]
A squeeze play in baseball is a thing that combines the worst potential consequences of a steal and a bunt, and also their best possibilities. With a runner on third base, the batter is instructed to lay down a bunt so that the runner from third can attempt to score while the batter attempts to get to first. Because of the presence of the runner and their attempt to take the plate, the bunt has to be exquisite and placed well away from any fielder so as to give the runner enough time to get home. Squeezes are attempted rarely, and succeed rarely.
There are two forms of squeeze plays. The safety squeeze demands that the pitch thrown be a strike, or the bunt is pulled and the player waits for a better pitch, and the runner on third doesn't break for the plate until the bunt has hit the ground, ensuring that they will not be part of a double play due to a fielder cleanly catching the bunt before it hits the ground and throwing back over to third. This delays the squeeze for some amount of time, making it more difficult to achieve.
The significantly more reckless cousin of the safety squeeze is the suicide squeeze. It earns that moniker because this squeeze is on, no matter what. As soon as the pitcher commits to the pitch, the runner on third breaks for the plate. Regardless of how well-delivered the pitch is, where it is, and what kind of pitch it is, the batter must lay it down as a bunt or risk having the runner tagged out at home. A bad bunt will result in two outs, instead of one, or a foul ball that negates the squeeze attempt in the first place and puts the defense on alert as to what might be possible on the next pitch. To attempt a squeeze, one must put aside good sense in favor of desperate tactical decisions.
To attempt the squeeze is to do something incredibly memorable. Whether it fails or succeeds, someone will be talking about it on the highlight reel show. It is an incredibly bold action with a low payoff rate, but when it works, it works REALLY well.
So what is it doing here with the card that represents Learning New Ways of Action? The squeeze is one of the last things someone learns how to execute, because of the extreme rarity of actually being called for. And because it basically requires two players to abandon just about everything they know to be able to make it work successfully. How else are you going to learn new things?
We're near the end of the journey that started with The Rookie, the character that represents the state of Beginner's Mind, a player that was unattached to anything, and thus could learn everything. But more importantly, he could forget everything she had previously learned. There's a scene in the movie The Forbidden Kingdom where the character playing the role of Tripitika, the T'ang Priest, is detailing all the moves they are hoping to see from the Kung Fu masters, moves seen in Kung Fu movies. The Monkey character, played by Jackie Chan, is pouring tea while this litany is being recited, and continues to pour tea past the point where the cup is full. The pain of the hot tea overflowing onto his hand is what breaks the recitation. The T'ang Priest complains about the tea, and Monkey remarks that his mind is like the cup - overflowing with supposed knowledge, which prevents him from actually learning Kung Fu.
The Coach of Bats is the hitting coach, who has to work with both mechanical errors in the swing (or bunt technique), mental errors in seeing the right pitch to hit, and those cursed things that can be categorized as "the yips". The yips are mental blocks that affect technique - they often result from thinking too hard about the swing or the mechanics, or trying to overcorrect something that the hitting coach has said needs to be changed. The yips get beaten with success at the plate. Success at the plate happens when someone forgets the details and the specific thing getting in their way and goes back to a nice, easy, corrected swing. Learning new ways of action requires forgetting the old ways, but also not stressing too much about the new ways and their details.
Because if you did stress about the details of a suicide squeeze, you'd never attempt one, including at the crucial point in the game where one needs to happen.
A squeeze play in baseball is a thing that combines the worst potential consequences of a steal and a bunt, and also their best possibilities. With a runner on third base, the batter is instructed to lay down a bunt so that the runner from third can attempt to score while the batter attempts to get to first. Because of the presence of the runner and their attempt to take the plate, the bunt has to be exquisite and placed well away from any fielder so as to give the runner enough time to get home. Squeezes are attempted rarely, and succeed rarely.
There are two forms of squeeze plays. The safety squeeze demands that the pitch thrown be a strike, or the bunt is pulled and the player waits for a better pitch, and the runner on third doesn't break for the plate until the bunt has hit the ground, ensuring that they will not be part of a double play due to a fielder cleanly catching the bunt before it hits the ground and throwing back over to third. This delays the squeeze for some amount of time, making it more difficult to achieve.
The significantly more reckless cousin of the safety squeeze is the suicide squeeze. It earns that moniker because this squeeze is on, no matter what. As soon as the pitcher commits to the pitch, the runner on third breaks for the plate. Regardless of how well-delivered the pitch is, where it is, and what kind of pitch it is, the batter must lay it down as a bunt or risk having the runner tagged out at home. A bad bunt will result in two outs, instead of one, or a foul ball that negates the squeeze attempt in the first place and puts the defense on alert as to what might be possible on the next pitch. To attempt a squeeze, one must put aside good sense in favor of desperate tactical decisions.
To attempt the squeeze is to do something incredibly memorable. Whether it fails or succeeds, someone will be talking about it on the highlight reel show. It is an incredibly bold action with a low payoff rate, but when it works, it works REALLY well.
So what is it doing here with the card that represents Learning New Ways of Action? The squeeze is one of the last things someone learns how to execute, because of the extreme rarity of actually being called for. And because it basically requires two players to abandon just about everything they know to be able to make it work successfully. How else are you going to learn new things?
We're near the end of the journey that started with The Rookie, the character that represents the state of Beginner's Mind, a player that was unattached to anything, and thus could learn everything. But more importantly, he could forget everything she had previously learned. There's a scene in the movie The Forbidden Kingdom where the character playing the role of Tripitika, the T'ang Priest, is detailing all the moves they are hoping to see from the Kung Fu masters, moves seen in Kung Fu movies. The Monkey character, played by Jackie Chan, is pouring tea while this litany is being recited, and continues to pour tea past the point where the cup is full. The pain of the hot tea overflowing onto his hand is what breaks the recitation. The T'ang Priest complains about the tea, and Monkey remarks that his mind is like the cup - overflowing with supposed knowledge, which prevents him from actually learning Kung Fu.
The Coach of Bats is the hitting coach, who has to work with both mechanical errors in the swing (or bunt technique), mental errors in seeing the right pitch to hit, and those cursed things that can be categorized as "the yips". The yips are mental blocks that affect technique - they often result from thinking too hard about the swing or the mechanics, or trying to overcorrect something that the hitting coach has said needs to be changed. The yips get beaten with success at the plate. Success at the plate happens when someone forgets the details and the specific thing getting in their way and goes back to a nice, easy, corrected swing. Learning new ways of action requires forgetting the old ways, but also not stressing too much about the new ways and their details.
Because if you did stress about the details of a suicide squeeze, you'd never attempt one, including at the crucial point in the game where one needs to happen.
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