I’ve Had the “Yips” and Sadly There Is No Vaccine
Updated: Dec 20, 2024
Baseball spring training is underway and the "Boys of Summer" are getting tuned up for another season. It won't be long until ballparks are filled with throngs of cheering fans rooting for their favorite teams and players. This time of year is one full of hope and promise. Yet it is also a time for putting in the work and practicing the fundamentals. And nothing is more fundamental to the game than the act of throwing a baseball.
The inability to perform one of the most basic, fundamental acts that a player has to perform on a baseball diamond is known as the "yips" by people in the know. A player, sometimes at the highest levels of the game, suddenly, inexplicably becomes incapable of accurately throwing or pitching the baseball. Keep in mind that this is an action that the player has performed repetitively since childhood. It can be truly painful to witness. And it is particularly difficult for the unfortunate player stricken with such a maledy. As someone that has experienced the "yips" I feel confident in making that statement.
I imagine that I am perhaps more sympathetic than most about the “yips.” I experienced a case of them late in my playing “career” as an adult amateur player. Having grown up playing outfield, I have a relatively long arm motion on throws. An elbow/arm injury in my 20s robbed me of some of my already modest arm strength/power/velocity. As someone that has served as a starting catcher and as a backup catcher, I have had to focus on getting rid of the ball quickly on throws to the bases to compensate for a less powerful throwing arm.
Playing for a very competitive men's baseball team with championship aspirations in the Triangle region of North Carolina, I was innocently critiqued by a teammate to shorten up my throwing motion in the bullpen just prior to catching in a game. Considering my high-strung nature and my tendency to sometimes overthink things, it shouldn’t have been surprising that I would experience the “yips.”
The resulting train wreck or meltdown wasn't pretty. It was as though the biological software that had served me so well throughout my many years as a baseball player was thoroughly corrupted. My throws were no longer reflexive, but rather halting, jerky, and mechanical. A player experiencing the "yips" is quite visible and opposing teams and players are not at all reluctant to exploit the situation. From a competitive standpoint, it makes the player experiencing the condition a liability. A player is liable to be pulled from games, lose his starting position, or be moved to another position.
Dr. Crowley is correct (see quote above). Knowing the origin of the “yips” is hardly the cure. I knew the origin of my particular case and how my emotional and psychological makeup almost certainly contributed to it. But knowing why and knowing how to fix it were two different things. I struggled and the game that I loved became less a pleasure and more of a chore and an exercise in futility.
My teammates tried to reassure me. The manager encouraged me to relax after pointing out that I was playing "tight." Another teammate assured me that they still loved me. I battled the "yips" throughout that season and into the next season.
I eventually hung up my spikes the following season after my team won a league championship with another teammate taking over the reins as the manager. I have more or less regained my ability to throw in a fluid and relaxed manner, but I haven’t returned to the diamond in a competitive setting. I actually broke the tip of my ring finger on my throwing hand (an open fracture that dislodged the fingernail) by inadvertently striking it against a doorway while moving through the house and practicing the throwing motion. I only intended to take a season off from playing competitively. Sadly, I never made it back to the diamond. Perhaps I will someday soon join or form a senior baseball team. Or perhaps I will just attempt to arrange a pickup game at the local baseball diamond. I miss playing. Hopefully me and the "yips" are though with one another. ⚾️🙂
If you are interested in learning more about the "yips" and about far more accomplished baseball players that have experienced the "yips," check out the articles via the links below. In any case, when you see a baseball player effortlessly making an impressive throw or pitch, just remember that you are witnessing a display of athleticism that some have inexplicably lost the ability to perform, at least temporarily.
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