Coming to Grips With the Yips

When I was a sophomore in high school, I tried out for the school baseball team.

The first day of tryouts could not have gone better…

Day 2 went a little different…

It was raining at the start, so we were told to warm up by tossing in the gym.

We were packed so tight, it made me feel claustrophobic.

The extreme nearness to everybody, combined with being in an enclosed space, started messing with my mind.

Tossing in the gym triggered some kind of short-circuit in my brain.

All of a sudden, I could not throw a ball to my target.

My friend who I was tossing with thought I was messing with him.

It was scary and frustrating.

I had no idea what was going on with myself.

Eventually it stopped raining and we headed outside.

I was with the outfielder group. We took turns catching fly balls and throwing it back in to the cut-off man. I was catching the balls fine, but my throws kept sailing way over the cut-off man’s glove.

After my fourth misfire, the coach snapped.

I felt nauseous.

I felt helpless.

How could I suddenly not do something that I’ve been easily doing most of my life?

It didn’t make sense.

The next day, after school, my friends on the street formed an emergency task force to try to help me overcome my throwing issue.

We gathered in my front yard and they watched me throw uncontrollably and offered up their advice.

We tossed and tossed, but nothing we tried worked.

I was broken and could not be fixed.

It was time to leave for the next tryout and I still couldn’t throw straight.

Too fearful that I’d humiliate myself again, I decided to pull the plug and not go to the tryout.

What started out so promising, quickly came to a frustrating end.

That strange phenomenon that I was experiencing is known as the “yips”.

Dr. Bhrett McCabe, a sports psychologist, defines the yips as: a display of panic attacks in a motor movement in the sport.

To me, the yips are a disconnection between your mind and your body, where your mind no longer trusts your body to do something on its own (even though your body knows how to do it). It’s an invasion on your muscle memory.

When I first experienced the yips back in 1996, I never heard of it happening to anybody else (it did happen, I just wasn’t aware of it).

Then in 2000, Chuck Knoblauch, second baseman for the New York Yankees, got the throwing yips. After playing gold glove defense for many years, suddenly he could not accurately throw a ball to first base. His yip conundrum was all over SportsCenter.

Seeing somebody else with the issue was a revelation to me.

Chuck even had a play that season where he threw it wildly into the stands and hit sportscaster Keith Olbermann’s mom in the face. Ouch! (Don’t worry, she was okay)

Knoblauch, on the other hand, was not okay. His throwing struggles ultimately led to his career ending prematurely.

That same year, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Rick Ankiel, was also cursed with the yips. Ankiel was a young stud pitcher who was having a great season. Then, in the third inning of a playoff game, he abruptly lost his control. He had 4 walks and 5 wild pitches in that inning before being removed.

Ankiel described his yips as losing your ability to do something that you’ve done your whole life without the explanation of why. He referred to his yips as The Thing and The Monster.

Ankiel was going to retire due to his yips, but eventually fought back and returned to the majors as an outfielder. Even though I was a Cincinnati Reds fan, I rooted for Ankiel to succeed since we shared the same affliction.

I didn’t totally quit baseball after my tryout disaster. I continued to play knothole for 2 more seasons and also played in an adult softball league for many years (my throwing yips carried over to softball… my brain just thought it was a big baseball and I couldn’t fool it).

My yips would usually only show up during warm-up tossing. I figured out certain strategies to help manage it. Some days were better than others.

I have learned to accept that the baseball yips will always be a part of me and my gym experience will forever reside in the back of my mind. Life goes on.

Maybe some day I’ll have a get-together with all of the former major leaguers and other baseball players who were burdened by the yips. We’ll share our experiences, swap yip tips, and have a catch.

Until next time,
Patrick

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