Many thanks to David DeNotaris for inspiring today’s message. David offers a daily motivational hotline, called “Do You Have a Minute?” It’s at (206) 888-8121, and earlier this week it contained this quote: “No one ever built a monument to a critic.”

What’s the difference between a critic and a coach? A critic is someone who points out what’s wrong without offering a solution. Dale Carnegie quoted Benjamin Franklin, who said, ““Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain — and most do.”

Carnegie wrote the classic self-help book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” The very first point he makes is that no one — not even convicted criminals — likes to be criticized.

So the coach’s job is a delicate one. The coach must encourage while also correcting flaws.

Monument Park in Yankee Stadium pays homage to at least three managers: Miller Huggins, Casey Stengel and Billy Martin. Not one of the those three achieved much fame as a player. All earned their chief recognition as a manager.

Huggins managed great Yankee teams in the 1920s. He deserves credit for surviving Babe Ruth, who liked the night life and didn’t like being told what to do.

As it turns out, Huggins and Ruth are both enshrined in Monument Park — not because they criticized, but because they did things.

As Franklin said, “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.”