Once thought to be unbreakable, Ruth's record was under siege in the summer of '61. The quality of major league pitching had been diluted by expansion that year, while eight more games had been added to the traditional 154 games season. The Babe's record was a prime target to fall.

Maris was a quiet, moody, farm boy who grew up in Fargo, North Dakota. He had spent the first seven years of his career in the smaller baseball markets of Cleveland and Kansas City. A newcomer to New York, Maris was immediately uneasy and restless in his new big city surroundings. And Maris was viewed with susicion because he wasn't a "true Yankee."

As spring turned to summer that year, Maris was knocking the cover off the ball. Soon the overzealous media began projecting the possibility of breaking Ruth's record. With each home run came more and more questions.

"Can you break Ruth's record." "How does it feel knowing that you will probably surpass the great Babe Ruth?" "If you break the record do you feel that puts you in the same company with the Babe?" Maris had a very difficult time responding to the media. "How do I know. I don't want to be Babe Ruth," he blurted out on several occasions.

As the summer wore on, Maris continued to hit home runs at an alarming rate. As the pressure increased, Maris' hair began to fall out in clumps. His pre-game ritual consisted of smoking cigarette after cigarette, while drinking gallons of black coffee. All the while, he spoke to virtually no one. Maris paced the locker room. "If I sat in front of my locker, my stomach turned to knots," he said.

The media hounded him..."if the recod is to be broken, it should be done by someone with greater baseball stature and greater color and public appeal...Maris is colorless. He is not more than a good big-league player...He is average in the field and often surly...There just isn't anything deeply heroic about the man."

On September 26th, the 158th game of the season, Maris tied the Babe's record. Maris went homerless in the next three games. In the final game of the season, in his second at bat, in the fourth inning against Boston's Tracy Stallard, Maris lifted a 2-0 fastball at the knees into the right field bleachers. He had done it. The single season home run record was his.

Because the baseball season was eight games longer for the first time, then baseball commissioner Ford Frick decided to place an asterisk beside Maris' name in the record books. Thus, Ruth's record was semi-preserved.

Athletic Principle

What seems like a long drawn out story, the season of '61 for Roger Maris, was a perfect example of paying a price and competing under pressure. The pressure of the legend of Babe Ruth, the media, the commissioner, and the fans of New York paid a heavy toll on Roger Maris. When Maris should have been on the top of the world for his accomplishments, he was miserable and empty.

Basically there are two types of pressure that an athlete will face. The first type of pressure is the kind which you have control over. This type of pressure is usually the pressure that comes because you have failed to train and prepare properly. It shows up when you are out of shape - whether it be your cardiovascular system, your flexibility, your strength, your weight, or your mental state of mind. It is not being in the optimal combative state.

This type of pressure also shows up in your preparation for competition. This usually happens going into a battle without a plan or without a strategy. It is going into a tough competition without doing your homework on your opponent. All of this typle of pressure is totally avoidable. The real problem is that you created this mess by not being disciplined to detail.

Another type of pressure is the kind that is unavoidable. It is beyond the realm of your control. This kind of pressure usually comes from outside sources. It is the pressure to live up to someone else's expectations. This is the kind of pressure you must learn to face, because there is nothing you can do to prevent it.

The most important issue to consider as an athlete and as a coach about pressure is how are you going to deal with it. It is there. It just won't go away. You can't run, you can't hide, you can't pretend it is not there; you must face it.

Basketball Hall of Fame Coach John Wooden of UCLA said,

So how then can you deal with pressure effectively?

God's Performance Principle

There are several principles found in God's Word that will help you cope with the stressors you face as an athlete or as a coach.

The first performance principle is to look at God's promises. Whatever you are up against, there is no greater source of comfort, hope and relief than in God's Word.

Memorize some passages that you find helpful in your stituation. Here are some of Brandon Slay's favorite verses for competition.

"When I am afraid, I will trust you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?" (Psalm 56:3-4)

"The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied." (Proverbs 13:4)

"All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to proverty." (Proverbs 14:23)

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him." (Jeremiah 17:7)

"Do you not know that in a race all the runnes run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." (1 Corinthians 10:31)

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13)

Resting in the Lord is taking worries, stresses, pressure - all the things that are weighing you down - and giving them to Him.

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

Keep your eyes on Jesus, not the pressures of life. Focus your all on pleasing Him. The pressures will come, they will always be there, but they will not distract you if you keep your eyes on Him.