Sunday Sermon: Carpe Diem

"The home run is not hit, it is pitched."

So said the esteemed philosopher and power hitter, Prince Fielder. Mr. Fielder is no ivory tower academician, he is a feared power hitter in Major League Baseball known for his athleticism, strength and intensity. But , according to Mr. Fielder, before he can bring his considerable skills to the athletic moment, the circumstances, i.e. the pitched ball, must be right.

Thus Mr. Fielder modestly sees the home run as an event dependent upon multiple factors and places the batter at the end of a series of evolving circumstances. The batter does not create the event, he completes it. But the philosopher does not imply the batter has no responsibility in some paean to postmodernism. What is crucial is what is not said. Every pitch is not a home run pitch and cannot be made one. But the home run pitch is always a home run pitch and it is the batter's responsibility to make it so. His success will depend upon his eye, his recognition, his training and practice, his strength and coordination, his mental preparation and his focus. The home run pitch will be completed depending upon the quality of the batter.

So the pitcher assesses the moment, what he knows of the batter's strengths and weaknesses and tendencies, what he has shown the batter, the pitcher's own strengths and weaknesses, training, scouting and planning, the count and what to stay away from. Then he winds and--with his strength and coordination--delivers the pitch which rockets towards the plate It is now the batter's time, his time to complete what the pitcher has put in motion..

In a fraction of a second the batter seizes the moment and becomes a hitter. Or not.