Let’s Play Baseball!
by Borden Davis,
YOU’RE GOING TO PLAY BASEBALL, SON. Play to win. Don’t cry to win. Don’t hope to win. Don’t pray to win. I’m sure the other team knows how to pray. Hope, tears, or prayers never stopped a fast ground ball.
Winning feels great, but winning is not the goal. Trying to win is the goal. Not letting yourself or the team down is the goal. Wins will come and go just like the losses, but the principles you learn will last forever. The trophies you win will sit on a shelf and gather some dust, but the opinion of yourself will sit in your heart, just as you put it there.
You’re going to learn about games . . . and life. Happiness and heartbreak will all come about. You might sit on the bench and watch, or go all the way. You might be a star or just part of a team. Do your share, not just during the game, but before. You prepare!
Forget about luck. Luck is when opportunity meets preparation. Funny thing about luck, the harder you work, the luckier you’ll get. Maybe sometimes you’ll think you deserve a break, or a coach doesn’t give you credit. Well, life is like that. A person who is good at making excuses usually isn’t good at anything else. All I can say is hang in there!
I didn’t mean to be so serious, Son, but guess that just shows how important the principles of sports can be in molding your life. Right now, I can’t go out on that field with you and someday I won’t be with you in life. You’re on your own.
And Son, have fun; but remember, fun comes in many forms. If you want plain old ha! ha! fun, go to the park, get a pick-up team together. Catch the ball, drop the ball, laugh, and throw it around; there’s nothing wrong with if that if that’s what you want. But do you want the fun of challenge, like waiting in the field for a hard fly ball so you can run like hell and try? Or the fun of confidence; not false ego that you build up; but confidence when you stand in the batter’s box waiting to rip that ball like you did in the batting cage? Take the fun of pride, that feeling you get because you practiced and used self-discipline to accomplish something, and you’re doing it. If that’s the kind of fun you want, then play organized sports and learn principles that will last a lifetime.
And for the moment, if you can’t do if great things, do small things in a great way. Someday a split second of opportunity will come, and by doing small things in a great way now.. when that moment comes. second of great opportunity . . . habit will succeed if your will fails. that split
Don’t worry about the game. Worry is thinking about an event that may never take place, like crying when you ride your bicycle… before you fall off.
Games are a series of successes and failures. If you learn by your failures, they become assets. The resistance you feel now will be the push in the future. Like the muscle in your arm, if it had no resistance, it would have no strength. Your body will be in the same position climbing a mountain or crawling on the ground. Don’t be fooled by the situation, just think about your direction. The power of concentration, steady and straight, is the sign of a superior athlete. All learning and skill depend on . . . concentration!!
And don’t go through the game asking. Play by giving. The “i” comes second in the word receive, first in believe and achieve. No great goal will ever be carried out without meeting and overcoming endless obstacles that will test your ability, courage, and … endurance of your belief.
Don’t settle for average, that’s the top of the worst and the bottom of the best. To be extraordinary depends on how much extra you put into the ordinary.
I can hear people yelling, PLAY BALL! Lay it on, Son. and you’re all alone, remember this little prayer,
Dear Lord, I played a game that was fair.
I had courage to strive and to dare
I gave my best effort with my honor held high.
I respected the winners as they went by.
Now, give me the desire, Lord. . . that is so rare,
To go back home … and prepare.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
This was a letter written to a son by a father who wanted his son to understand the true meaning of playing baseball and winning at the game of life.
As of the date of this publication, Borden Davis is 91 years old. Borden wrote this for his son, Mark, almost 50 years ago. It’s been published in many major league team publications.
You may be wondering how this advice was taken by his son. Well, Mark ended up playing professional ball and won almost every award possible, and during his first year, he was only two strikeouts shy of doubling the record set many years before.
Mark passed away almost 10 years ago this article has a special meaning to Mr. Davis.
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