How do you get out of slumps?
- Michael Edmondson
- Jun 6, 2019
- 2 min read
Today is June 6 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “How do you get out of your slumps?”
For baseball players like Hank Aaron a lack of hitting over an extended period of time is called a slump. Aaron’s motto was “always keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.”
Aaron used that ‘keep swinging’ approach from childhood all throughout his life.
Aaron grew up in a poor family that could not afford baseball equipment, so he practiced by hitting bottle caps with sticks.
He would create his own bats and balls out of materials he found on the streets. His high school did not offer organized baseball so he played outfield and third base for the Mobile Black Bears.
At age 15 Aaron had his first tryout with a MLB franchise, the Brooklyn Dodgers but failed to make the team.
Two years later baseball scout Ed Scott signed Aaron to a minor league contract to play for the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League.
His success with the Clowns generated offers from the New York Giants and the Boston Braves.
He accepted the Braves offer since they were going to pay him $50 more a month. Facing racism during his early playing days for the Clowns and even for the Braves, Aaron’s keep swinging approach allowed him to pursue his dream of playing professional baseball amidst such overt racism.
He would eventually go on and play in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 23 seasons from 1954 to 1976.
He played 21 seasons for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and 2 seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers. Aaron held the MLB record for career home runs for 33 years, and he still holds several MLB offensive records. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked Aaron fifth on its "100 Greatest Baseball Players" list.
Aaron had an effective strategy for getting himself out of slumps. Do you?
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