How Steve Sax overcame the Yips
hammer1
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https://www.ozy.com/flashback/the-big-leaguer-who-forgot-how-to-throw/41527/
Spoiler Alert:
If you don't want to read the article here is the summary:
And sure enough, it got worse. Even the most mundane throws to first base became erratic projectiles that landed in the bleachers above the first base dugout. Opposing fans began wearing batting helmets and taunting Sax with bedsheets adorned with bullseye targets
"Steve went to the hospital mid-funk to visit his father John Sax after he’d suffered his fifth heart attack. Steve talked about his throwing difficulties with his father, a tough, taciturn man who had grown up during the Depression and whom the younger Sax considered invincible. According to Sax, his father told him, “One day you are going to wake up and this problem is going to be gone,” confessing that he had suffered the exact same problem in high school, but his confidence had eventually returned and he overcame it.
Six hours later John Sax died. It was the last conversation his struggling son had with him. But buoyed by his father’s words, Sax persevered, slowly regaining his confidence over time. Baseball became fun again. The taunting fans disappeared. Sax didn’t make a single error in the last 36 games of the season. By the time he retired in 1994, he was a five-time All-Star with 444 career stolen bases and two World Series rings.
Two years after his retirement, Sax’s mom, who had known his dad since the fifth grade, told him the truth: His father never had a throwing problem.
“He lied. He didn’t want to see me fail, so he lied,” Sax recalled a few years ago to The Arizona Republic. “He bailed me out on his death bed. And it changed my life.”_
Comments
I only read your summary- thank you for posting it.
That is an incredible story. First off, the yips are a crazy thing. It is wild to watch an athlete, who you know is skilled beyond belief, unable to do something they used to be able to do perfectly. Secondly, what his Dad did was amazing. And, in a way, risky. If he had found out the truth while still playing, his yips may have returned. But his Dad took a chance, knowing that he needed to lie to his son.
This reminded me that Dale Murphy had the yips when he was a catcher. I was at Atlanta Fulton Co. Stadium one day watching early infield/outfield practice. A coach brought Murphy out to throw to an infielder at 2nd base. Almost all of Murphs throws went wild into centerfield. Soon after they moved him to the outfield and as they say the rest is history.