In order for a ballplayer to have a successful career, it is important to remember all the exterior factors that go into that success.
Multiple World Series champion Curt Schilling stated that “baseball is not a game you can achieve individually.”
The game requires minimum of 18 ballplayers, one umpire and eighteen parents, grandparents or caretakers who made the trek to the ballpark.
If you take those simple numbers and times it by a thousand, then you will have 37,000 people who have affected and allowed you to play this game from the time you were six until college.
So many people invest so much time into this game that it can never be looked at as an individual game.
This game must be played for those other players on your team. This game must be played for the parents who have sacrificed so much with the hope that you can find success in this game.
We owe it to ourselves to play this game for all of them and never for ourselves and our own purposes. Play the game for your teammates. Play this game for your family. Play this game to challenge your opponent. Play this game for the past ballplayers who have made so much progress and allowed us to play this great game.
Baseball is truly a team sport that demands individual achievement. But we cannot get lost in our own achievement because so many people have given us the opportunity to play the game.
Respect your opponent always. By them showing up and putting on the uniform, they are giving you the opportunity to play the game.
Make sure you take time to appreciate of these factors and hopefully you can be outwardly thankful for all of them.
Until next Time