What we can Learn from Mark Buehrle’s Behavior and his Perfect Game

Guest Blogger: Inner-Sports

by Garret Kramer

I recently asked a group of baseball players I was speaking with about the so called tradition of not speaking or even looking at a pitcher as the game unfolds and he is pitching a no hitter or perfect game. In actuality, this tradition (or superstition) isn’t really effective as most pitchers ultimately lose their no hitter as the game winds down. So why is this protocol virtually the norm at every level of baseball? Unfortunately, way back when, some player or manager had a thought that leaving a pitcher alone was the key to success in this situation. Or, perhaps a pitcher, back in the day, simply wanted to sit quietly and in turn he threw that perfect game. The problem is however, that once a pitcher, or any player, allows an external circumstance (in this case the desire to throw a perfect game) regulate his behavior, he is headed down the wrong road. In other words, no matter what the situation, the answer you seek lies within you, not in someone else’s definition of how you should think or act.

So let’s look at Mark Buehrle and his behavior between innings. What he did was walk into the clubhouse and sit and talk to the training and equipment staff. As the game wore on he joked and had fun with teammates, both in the clubhouse and in the dugout. He was simply himself and refused to buy into the traditional paradigm practiced throughout baseball. That’s not to say that he didn’t think that maybe he should do what everyone else does in this situation, he very well might have; but Buehrle recognized that these types of thoughts are self created and nothing was forcing him to buy into them. He listened to the wisdom within that told him to “just be yourself.”

To be clear on this subject, understand that if you’re a pitcher and your internal thinking and feelings are telling you that sitting quietly is the path to your peak performance, then by all means listen and act that way. The beauty in Mark Buehrle’s behavior however, is that even though his state of mind was outside of the so called “norm” on this subject, he made the natural decision to go with his own gut. The rest as they say is history!




Garret Kramer is the founder and Managing Partner of Inner-Sports, LLC. Inner-Sports evaluates and then coaches athletes of all ages on the behavioral characteristics that lead to peak performance on and off the field of play. Inner-Sport’s evaluative partner has created the behavioral assessment used at both the National Hockey League and the Major League Lacrosse scouting combines. Inner-Sports and Garret work with Baseball Factory players at select player development events.