Playing to your strengths

Baseball is a game of concentration, patience and focus over a long period of time. 162 games in a season, 3 hour games every night with a rare day off, fielding and hitting for 9 innings, sitting in the bullpen waiting for the call, batting practice, stretching, spring training, plane rides, multiple levels in the minor leagues, bus rides, 4 plate appearances per game, multiple pitches during a plate appearance, running the bases, tracking the ball, pitcher verses batter, studying every batter in different situations, and deciding to swing or not. Baseball is a game of nuances, which raises the question, how can a person with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) be a professional player? 

Surprisingly, baseball plays to the strengths of someone with ADHD. A person with ADHD tends to hyperfocus on an activity or small details. With all of the subtleties of baseball, it leads to success because the player and game are always moving. Outfielders stand in a new spot depending on the pitch, hitter, count, score or inning. The shortstop moves on the outfield grass or in for a double play. The infielders bend their knees and their glove is up ready for a bounding ball or line drive. A pitcher stares down the hitter and catcher, looking for the sign. The one focus is the ball, therefore, creating no other distractions. 

Baseball is a game of routine. Routine also plays to the strengths of ADHD because it provides structure. Baseball, in it’s simplest terms, is structured with 9 innings, 3 outs per inning, 3 strikes, 4 balls, ball-strike counts, and played every day with 3 or 4 game series. This allows a player to develop a routine, and with ADHD, structure leads to better results. With every pitch, there is the possibility for consequences, positive or negative. These consequences, provide natural structure for the game and therefore, help a player with ADHD. 

Baseball is an “outlet” for extra energy. Sports plays to the strengths of ADHD because the person focuses more afterwards. Running the bases, running out of the dugout at the beginning of the inning, running to the dugout at the end, tracking down a fly ball, walking up to the plate and pre-game jogging helps the player focus before and during the game. 

Concentration plays to the strength because of the hyperfocus tendency, as I mentioned above. Also, by hyperfocusing, the player with ADHD can tune out the crowd noise. With hyperfocus, the player becomes involved, and in a way, obsessive, with one task, such as hitting the ball.

Baseball is a slow game, but a player with ADHD can be successful, and the fans wouldn’t even know that he is diagnosed with it. Major League Baseball legalized Adderall and Ritalin for players with ADHD. Are Adderall and Ritalin different then using “performance enhancing drugs?” Is the use of these medications different then the rampant amphetamine use in the late 1960s/early 1970s? 

Quote: “No matter what I talk about, I always get back to baseball.” - Connie Mack