Marriage is like Baseball...

For our anniversary, we sent Kellie off to band camp in Ferdinand, IN and Roy & I celebrated by taking Neil to an Otters game. Now, it might not sound like the most "romantic" way to celebrate, there are many similarities between marriage and baseball. I hope you enjoy this article I found that discusses this very topic!

Baseball And Marriage

Peter Griffith
Daily Herald May 15, 1982

Baseball and marriage have much in common. Both are a team effort. You can't play baseball by yourself. You need others and have to get along with them. Marriage needs a partner. If marriage reaches a point where getting along is not possible, the marriage is over.

You strike out in marriage if you don't communicate or listen. If you want to connect and make a hit with your partner adhere to rules of communication. Don't talk to your spouse from the other end of the house or from another room. Walls absorb or muffle sounds. Speak out your spouse's name first. This sends the message that you want to talk with them, not with others in the house. If you don't speak their name at the beginning of a sentence, for all they know, you could be talking to the cat. Talk WITH, not AT your partner. Share ideas, rather than give commands. Giving criticism or directions which aren't wanted, is as effective as swinging at a wild pitch.

Always touch base. Baseball games have been lost because a runner missed touching a base. Touching base is important in marriage. Give affection and attention, in small, consistent doses. There's no point in saving all your affection and attention for the end of day, perhaps hoping to get to "home base" if you fail to provide support, compliments and gentleness during the rest of the day.

Every inning in baseball is a new beginning. The score from the previous innings remain, but things start again with the bases clear.

Marriage constantly needs new beginnings. Scores from past innings may be around but as opposed to baseball, they aren't to be counted. In healthy marriages old scores aren't carried forward. They may be remembered for a while, since we are human, but old scores can't be carried into the present. The key for doing this is forgiveness, the base on which a marriage is built, and lasts.

Marriage may be like a baseball game in many ways, but it must be played quite differently. The stakes and rewards in marriage are also much more important in your life, despite how much you may like baseball.