Tom Seaver

This is a great quote from The Franchise, and I think it says a few things about the life of an artist, too.

"A victory used to give me pleasure, and then a well-pitched inning, and now I get great satisfaction from just one or two pitches a game. I get in a situation where I have to apply everything I know, mentally and physically, on just one pitch. It all comes down to this pitch. I have to think what I should do and then make my body do it. That is a beautiful point to reach for an athlete. A light goes on in your head and you realize that everything you’ve done in your life has been for this moment. Things you’ve been building for years, things you never knew you were building, are right there to be used. Suddenly, you’re the most confident person in the world. You sense you can achieve perfection for just this moment."

"....right there to be used."  Love it. Sounds like he was reading Joseph Campbell.  I saw the quote on Patrick Flood's excellent blog about the Mets.  

There was something I learned from years of straightforward landscape and still life painting: that I didn't think about finishing a painting, I thought more about getting it to the point where I could see how to finish it, and going from there.


Anyway, almost time for a new season to start. It's a formidable mix of pros and cons this year in Flushing. Can't wait for real baseball to start.  Let's go Mets.