Don't let the title fool you - people aren't naked at the games. Well, except maybe in 1997 when we played the Oasis strip club team, whose women all had really short shorts on. Anyway, the thing is that I was in a terrible hitting slump on my newest team, the one I had the most need to prove myself to. I was pretty much an automatic out for a 3-game period. After the third bad game, I (coincidentally) decided that I wanted baseball/softball pants. Now usually, most people wear shorts or maybe sweatpants - this is recreational league after all. A few players wear real pants, generally because they make sliding a lot easier and less painful. I don't slide much, so for me it was an attire thing. They look cool. They feel cool. In cold weather, they help insulate. But the #1 reason I like them: they intimidate pitchers. When a batter comes up to the plate wearing pants (instead of shorts or sweats) that tells the opposing team that this is someone to be reckoned with. I used to make that known with my body language and batting stance, but now I've incorporated the pants into the mind game. At the time of this writing, in 7 games with pants, I've gone 20-25 with 6 doubles and 2 triples. More importantly, I've really started hitting the ball on that one team (6 hits in 7 at-bats) and I am now earning the respect I was losing before.
I'm not entirely delusional. It may not actually be the pants. But it's sure fun to think so!