Things have been going well for me lately – so well that I cheerfully announced to my husband that I was “batting a thousand”.
Then I stopped to consider what I had just said.
I’m not much of a baseball fan, but I know a few things: when my husband is watching baseball on TV, if all three of those little diamonds are lit up and someone is batting, it’s not a good time to start a discussion. Also, when a batting average flashes on the screen, it’s in the form of a decimal. (Math!)
According to ESPN.com, a website I never had the need to go to until today, the highest batting average last year was 0.341. So apparently this Adrian Gonzalez guy metaphorically batted a thousand by actually batting three hundred and forty one thousandths. (The “th” at the end is how we know it’s a decimal.)
A batting average is calculated by taking the number of times you hit the ball, and dividing by the number of at-bats (since that was the number of times you had the chance to hit the ball). So if you hit every single time you were at bat, you would have a batting average of 1.000. So when you say “I’m batting a thousand”, you really should be saying “I’m batting a one point zero zero zero” or just “I’m batting a one.” But I guess that doesn’t sound as impressive.
It’s interesting to reiterate that the highest batting average last year was 0.341, which means that Mr. Gonzalez (who I’m sure is a wonderful player) hit the ball about once for every three at-bats. Which means two for every three at-bats he didn’t*. And he has the highest batting average!
So next time you have a rough day at work or in life, maybe made a mistake or two, just remember, no one really bats a one (or a thousand, if you insist). The important thing is to get up there and swing.
*Note: my husband launched into a detailed explanation about how the batting average is affected by walks and how hitting the ball is not the same as being credited with a hit, but I can’t summarize it nicely for you because I was snoring.
LOL! So we only have to “hit the ball” a third of the time, metaphorically speaking, to achieve greatness — I like that!
It’s an interesting note on just how incredibly difficult it is to hit a baseball moving at 95 miles an hour. I haven’t done the math myself, but I understand that the batter doesn’t physically have time to see the ball and judge it’s path before he starts his swing- it’s moving too fast.
Stopping by because I saw this cartoon and thought of you!