Hall of Fame
The Secret of Feedback
One day Hall of Fame baseball player Ted Williams watched a teammate return to the dugout after striking out.
“Tell me,” Williams said. “When you swung and missed that ball, did your bat go over the ball or under it?”
“What difference does it make,” the teammate wanted to know. “Either way, I struck out.”
It makes all [...]
The First Men to See Barry Larkin
Getting drafted by a pro team guarantees nothing. History is filled with people who are picked high but who never live up to their potential. No one can ever say that about Barry Larkin. If anything, he went beyond expectations. Taken as the fourth overall pick in the 1985 draft, Larkin has landed in the [...]
Mariano Rivera in Person
It’s a scene played out all over the country — and even outside the country — during baseball’s off-season.
Big-league players make appearances, either for money, as a favor or out of a sense of gratitude.
Whatever the reason, you never know what effect these visits can have. It’s like a stone thrown into a pond. No [...]
A Wish for 2012
Years ago, there was a young musician in the Bay Area who made a living giving banjo lessons. Each of his students came on a certain day of the week.
One evening, however, the teacher was waiting and waiting for someone to show up for a lesson. No one did. This puzzled the teacher, who couldn’t [...]
Why People Succeed/Fail
No subject interests me as much as how and why people improve.
Just now on TV, hockey expert Stan Fischler did a piece on “Diamonds in the Rough,” a look at the top five players who reached the National Hockey League despite not being drafted.
Each player represents a story that is hard to believe. NHL teams [...]
The Nine Most Important Words in Leadership
When you look at what Albert Pujols has accomplished in the big leagues — things no player has ever done — you wonder how teams could have passed over him on draft day.
Yet it happened. Through 12 rounds of the 1999 draft, every single franchise looked at Pujols and decided there was someone better to [...]
The Day Duke Snider Broke a Heart
Duke Snider’s recent passing brought some memories from New York Post columnist Peter Vecsey.
Snider, a Hall of Famer who died last month at age 84, was playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers when Vecsey, then in seventh or eighth grade, went to a game.
You can read the details here, but the short version is that Vecsey [...]
Sparky Anderson’s Secret
Sparky Anderson, who managed three World Series champions in a Hall of Fame career, has died. The secret to his success?
”He understood people better than anyone I ever met. His players loved him, he loved his players, and he loved the game of baseball,” said Pete Rose, one of the stars who flourished under Anderson.
Many [...]
Circumstances and You
Have you heard the commercial that begins, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing?”
I’m not even sure what the commercial is selling (probably clothing), but it reminds me of what they say in Juneau, Alaska, where it rains an average of 220 days per year. “You never cancel anything because of [...]
What Big-Leaguers Talk About All the Time
This year’s baseball Hall of Fame ballot is on its way to the voters. No matter who gets voted in — if anyone — you can be sure he passed the test of consistency.
No one gets in on a fluke. One or two great seasons aren’t enough. To even be eligible, a player must have [...]
