HOME RUN HITTERS STRIKE OUT A LOT!

 

 

I used to be the biggest baseball fan in the world when I was a little kid. I mean we would practice twice a week and I would get up early in the morning on Saturdays and play baseball. I was in 2 different leagues. After my games on Saturdays, my father and I would go to baseball card shows and I would spend hours looking at baseball cards. After the baseball card shows, we would come home and I would hang out with my father and we would watch baseball for the rest of the night. My whole life was baseball baseball baseball. I knew all of the players and I knew their statistics and everything. One of my favorite players maybe of all time was Reggie Jackson. I missed a lot of years while he was playing because I wasn't old enough. But I read and heard all kinds of stories about him when he played with the Yankees. Reggie Jackson was the ma. I'm talking Being 14× All-Star. 5 World Championships , MVPs, Silver Slugger Awards, Home Run Leader etc. He was such an extraordinary clutch player that the guys nickname was "Mr. October"  (For those who might not follow baseball the world series which is the championship series for Major League Baseball takes place in October). Reggie Jackson would always come through for his team in a major way during the World Series. 1977 World Series against the Dodgers Reggie Jackson hits three-home-runs off of three pitches clinching Game Six. I mean this guy was the man. An absolute hero.

What's interesting is that if you were to look up Reggie Jackson's statistics, you would quickly find the number of home runs he hit, his batting average, RBIs (Runs Batted In), On base percentage etc. But one detail that isn't so often publicized is that for as many home runs as Reggie Jackson hit, as many games as he saved with his clutch home runs, as many time he was named MVP (Most Valuable Player), As many times as we was named an All-Star and while he hit 563 career home runs, at the same time Reggie Jackson leads the Major League Baseball Association with all time career strikeouts. Mr. October, the man who was known for saving games and winning world series championships voted MVP because of how great of a hitter he was, also struck out more times than any player in baseball history. In fact some of the greatest hitters in history's names are on the all time career strike out list. Players who have established themselves as some of the best hitters in history, names like Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Jose Canseco, Ken Griffey, Barry Bonds etc. All the names that we associate with Home Runs and everyone we know for their tremendous batting skills, have struck out more than everybody in order to get there.

I guess my point is that if there is ANYTHING that you want to be known for or something you are looking to achieve, If you have a business idea that you are looking to launch or a business that you are trying to start and things don't seem to be taking off the way you would have liked or hoped or expected. If you are in a sales position and sales don't seem to be closing the way you'd like, If its a new job you are trying to succeed in and maybe it seems you are off to a slow start, if it is a new skill you are trying to acquire or develop to develop a career as a barber, writer, actor etc, If you are searching for a job and it seems like you just aren't having any luck. Just remember that some of the GREATEST hitters, rappers, poets, barbers, authors, mechanics, actors etc had to strike out several times along the way in order to become the GREATEST. Most have had more failures than successes. Most have had more "Strikeouts" than "Home runs". One thing that they all have in common is that they had the nerve the gumption, the drive, the desire to stand in the batters box and take a swing. More importantly, after they swung and missed they kept swinging again and again and again. They got in the batters box determined to knock the ball out of the park and they did not stop swinging until they did so.

I say all of  this that to say that if you want to be an award winning actor, if you want a successful business or ministry, if you want to be a successful poet, author, auto mechanic, rapper, singer, dancer, athlete, entrepreneur, salesperson etc. GET IN THE BATTERS BOX AND START SWINGING. KNOW THAT FAILURE IS A PART OF THE PROCESS AND YOU WILL SUCCEED WITH ANOTHER BLOW! DO NOT GIVE UP ON YOURSELF OR YOUR DREAM! ITS RIGHT THERE! JUST KEEP GOING! BIG HOME RUN HITTERS STRIKE OUT A LOT!

I HAVE LEARNED THAT...

FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION, IT IS AN ABSOLUTE NECESSITY!

My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.
-Hank Aaron


Remember that .....

"Success is failure turned inside out-
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt-
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things seem worse that YOU MUST NOT QUIT."

KEEP SWINGING AND THE WORLD IS YOURS!

PEACE!