This is from the Discussion section after I’ve presented each player’s individual story…

Motivation is seen as the foundation upon which all other mental aspects depend. This is because motivation was the force that moved them to participate in baseball, and the loss of it precipitated their retirement. It is not possible to conclude, however, that motivation to play baseball and specifically to hit necessarily came first chronologically. That is, that their motivation to play led to their confidence, preparation, concentration, and game strategy. Rather, any of the five aspects could have come “first.”

The methods employed in this study did not attempt to determine such a relationship. In fact, my belief is that each element influenced each other continuously and
that it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to tease out the primacy of one mental aspect over another.

This view is in agreement with the concept of mutual simultaneous shaping espoused by the naturalistic researcher (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

The initial motivation to play baseball for all of them seems to have been an internal factor, a love of playing.

In particular, they had a love of hitting. This love manifested itself in spending a lot of time swinging a bat. Each of them, either in the interview or their book, told of playing various forms of baseball for hour upon hour in their youth.

Both Oliva and Aaron mentioned hitting bottlecaps, while Yastrzemski spoke of spending countless hours alone swinging at a wide variety of objects. Carew opens his book saying “I love hitting. I always have” (Carew et. al, 1986, p. 1). I would say that this love of hitting was the cornerstone for the mental aspects of hitting for the participants in this study.

They may, however, have loved it for different reasons. Exactly what they loved about it was not discussed in the interviews.

A second internal element to their motivation was having a dream of someday playing in the major leagues and of being a star. Yastrzemski imagined being a big leaguer while doing his “gimmicks” when growing up, while Carew laid in bed dreaming of playing in Yankee stadium.

Musial pictured himself hitting big league pitching when in his middle teens, while Aaron aspired to the image of Jackie Robinson, and Oliva set his sights on becoming another Al Kaline. Both Oliva and Aaron said they were motivated by their desire to be the best. “I wanted to be to be one of the best players that ever played the game” said Aaron.

Pride was discussed by both Oliva and Carew as key motivators, and was also implied by the others. Pride is of great significance in this age of lucrative, long term contracts. Without considerable internal motivation, it could be easy to withhold the amount of effort necessary to maximize performance, particularly in the area of preparation.

Another key internal motivator was that hitting was fun. Oliva spoke of it being a game that is played, and that play was fun. Seeing baseball as fun also made the “hard work” that they mentioned less hard. Carew seemed to be speaking for the group when he said “I think we all know the fun that we get out of being able to hit. So we want to make it more fun for ourselves.

The more we worked at it the easier it became and the funner it was for us.” I got the impression they also enjoyed talking about it.

While the internal motivators dominated the hitters’ initial participation and doubtless continued to influence them throughout their careers, a variety of external factors also entered into things as their career progressed. Aaron and Musial adjusted their hitting styles slightly to hit more home runs and gain the external, primarily financial and attentional, benefits of being a home run hitter.

Musial said “Ralph Kiner came up in the late forties and started to hit home runs, more than anyone else, and pretty soon he was getting more money than anyone else. Well, that got me thinking…” Although it was not discussed in the interview, Aaron’s book makes it clear that much of his motivation in his final years was the desire to put him in a position to help blacks gain their rightful place in society.

In the end, it was the loss of motivation that precipitated their retirement. Yastrzemski was hitting .320 in his final year until the Red Sox dropped out of the pennant race. Without the possibility of winning a pennant, he lost his motivation to compete and with it went his ability to concentrate.

Aaron was still productive the year he broke the home run record, but without that motivator, he found his interest in playing disappeared. (Both Oliva and Carew left baseball before they wanted to. Oliva’s legs simply gave out and the Angels and Carew were not able to agree on a contract.)

In sum, motivation is viewed as the foundation of the mental aspects of hitting because it determined whether or not the hitters played baseball and it was the driving force behind their attention to the other mental aspects of hitting.

The primary motivators were internal, such as the love of hitting, pride, and fun, but external factors also played an important role in their hitting.

Get my #1 Baseball Success Secret — HERE

That is, players typically don’t play to their potential.

Why is that?

Here’s a model you might find useful in understanding this…

Click here for more info and a free video with the #1 Success Secret.

I mean REALLY succeed?

That’s a question I’ve been asking for the past 18 years and I’ve made a good life by practicing and teaching what I’ve learned along the way.

I’ve never been more excited about what I am about to offer the baseball world than I am today and after this quick announcement, I’ll tell you why.

————————

Mark Your Calendar

————————

On Monday, September 14th from noon to 4pm Eastern time I’ll be broadcasting live the first ever “Success-athon”
online TV show.

No, I won’t be taking pledges, but I will be taking questions!

I’ve received over 383 questions from you and although I can’t promise I’ll cover them all in 4 hours, I’ll try.

Tune in by going to www.BaseballSuccessSecrets.com and entering your name and email address.

You’ll also immediately receive:

* My write up of my interview with Hank Aaron (a copy of which is in the Baseball Hall of Fame);

* My interview with AL Home Run leader Carlos Pena on how the Rays went from worst to first last year;

* A recording of my teleseminar “The Two Plaguing Baseball… and How to Cure Them,” in which I explain how the we’ve been robbing our players and ourselves of our potential for both results and enjoyment…and what one simple shift we can make to fix the problem;

*and a transcript of a powerful interview with Tony Robbins on how to succeed at anything.

Get all that here for no charge:
www.BaseballSuccessSecrets.com

————————–

New Program Launch: Tuesday Sept 15

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All this is in preparation for my new program, “The Baseball Success Secrets Coaching Program.”

On Tuesday next week you’ll be able to get “7 Success Secrets of Baseball’s All-time Best,” the one CD where I reveal everything I can about what I’ve learned studying and coaching baseball’s all-time best.

I’m on a mission to help baseball players, coaches and parents perform great, have more fun, and learn life success skills.

This program will bring together everything I’ve learned the past 19 years studying and coaching and practicing and put it’s it in a format that compels you to succeed.

I’ll tell you more in the next couple of days, but right now I’d like you to go get the hours of gratis success instruction at: www.BaseballSuccessSecrets.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Tom
Tom Hanson, Ph.D.

p.s. What did you notice so far about your own energy since my email a couple of days ago? Do you feel like your energy is expanding or contracting?

Consistently notice that and you’ll elevate your game markedly.

p.p.s. The place to go now is www.BaseballSuccessSecrets.com

Please forward this email to your list of friends who are interested in baseball success.

Thank you.

The way I view baseball has evolved over the years.

First I focused on the physical aspects — mechanics,
technique.

Then I focused on the mental aspects — confidence, focus,
belief.

Then I saw the “whole” — that there are many aspects to
the game: technical, physical conditioning, mental,
emotional, and strategic, and they all are important
elements to the “whole” of baseball performance.

One thing I learned interviewing Hank Aaron and Rod Carew
and Tommy John and Nolan Ryan and Stan Musial and others is
that you need to keep things simple.

Simple wins.

So my “helping players and coaches and parents have more
fun, perform great, and learn life success skills” game got
raised when I was able to simplify all the elements of the
“whole” to one thing….

Energy.

Viewing baseball looking through the “lens” of energy has
more than doubled my ability to help players, coaches and
parents get what they desire.

I’ll be teaching you more about that in the next week.

But for now…

—————————————

Here’s What to Notice the Next Couple of Days…

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There are several great “energy” distinctions that can help
you as a player, coach or parent.

But I’ll just share one quickie today: Expanding vs.
Contracting.

Which do you think leads to best performance?

Yes, expanding. When your energy is “expanding” you are
free, you are trusting, you are relaxed, you are big, you
are light, you are confident.

When your energy is “contracting” you are tight, small,
fearful, sad, bummed out, angry.

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Try it Right Now

—————————————

As you read this, CONTRACT. Cave that chest in, tighten up,
curl up, head down.

Hold that and notice how you feel.

Once you feel contracted, EXPAND. Lift your chest, inflate,
head up, and look up and smile.

Hold that and notice how you feel.

NOTICE: For the next couple of days look for this
distinction. Notice whether YOU are expanding or
contracting in any given moment.

Notice others. Are they expanding or contracting

You can hear it in players’ quotes in the newspaper and see
it on TV.

—————————————

Are You Ready to Expand?

—————————————

I’m expanding myself in baseball and next week Tuesday I’m
launching my new program “7 Success Secrets of Baseball’s
All-time Best” along with my new coaching program “Baseball
Success Secrets.”

Whether you coach, play or parent it will expand your
possibilities and dramatically increase your personal power.

(Power = ability to produce desired results)

Look for more great stuff in the next few days as I leak
power-getting information in preparation for the launch.

Expanding,

Dr. Tom
Tom Hanson, Ph.D.

p.s. SPECIAL REQUEST I’m looking for help spreading the
word on the benefits of “whole” training.

If you have benefited from my work, including my online
programs, 1-1 coaching, or Heads-Up Baseball, please click
here:

p.p.s. If you know a number of people and would like to be
compensated for spreading the word on my new program, http://www.7baseballsecrets.com/jv.html