OK, it’s baseball season and as a Bostonian that lives with a rabid Red Sox fan (I’m looking at you, Nick Cammarata), this time of year makes me examine our club’s rich history. The red Sox are an amazing story of a team that has built a loyal and supportive fan base despite enduring the almost century long “Curse of the Bambino” that kept us from winning a World Series from 1920 until 2004. There are many names that standout in baseball for their records, but one stands above the rest as a man of character and record in Boston. While “Babe Ruth” might be etched deep into the annals of our baseball history, it is Hall of Famer, Ted Williams, that Bostonians hold most dear. This sentiment was cemented in cement in 1995, when the City of Boston named the first major link of The Big Dig the Ted Williams Tunnel.
What makes “Teddy Ballgame” so endeared to this city? Beyond playing 21 seasons for the Boston Red Sox and being widely considered one the game’s greatest hitters, Williams interrupted his baseball career twice to serve as a Marine Corps pilot during wartime, refusing the comfortable commission offered him as a military baseball ambassador. He began his military career by breaking all the records in reflexes, coordination, and visual-reaction time in his air gunnery combat pilot’s tests. Williams went on to fly 39 combat missions for the Marines, serve as John Glenn’s wingman in Korea and earn an Air Medal for limping his battered plane back to base after a font line air strike mission. If that weren’t enough testament to the man’s athleticism, patriotism and character, consider that after retiring from baseball, he became an avid game fisherman and was later inducted into the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame as well as the Baseball Hall of Fame. Basically, the man is larger than life and a legend.
“The baseball slugger was possibly the most technically proficient American of the 20th Century, as his mastery of three highly different callings demonstrates… Can you think of anybody else who was #1 in America in his main career [hitting a baseball], probably Top 10 in his retirement hobby [fishing], and roughly Top 1000 in his weekend job [fighter pilot]? John Glenn springs to mind as military pilot, astronaut, and Senator, but each new career flowed from the previous one. The same is true for Jimmy Doolittle. Williams’ three careers, in contrast, were uniquely disparate.”
-Steve Sailer
6 Lessons You Can Learn from Ted Williams?
1. Know Your Calling in Life
“If there was ever a man born to be a hitter it was me.”
-Ted Williams
He knew in his heart that baseball was his calling and his skill was in the art of hitting. In fact, Williams knew he had slow feet, evidenced by the fact only one of his career runs was the result of an in-park hit. He knew inherently that he was meant to hit that ball as far and as fast as he possibly could. And more importantly, not only was he meant to do it, but he HAD to do it because he was not a great runner.
There is something inside of each of us that tells us who we are, what we love and what we should do. Find that thing in your life that ignites your passion and pursue it with everything you have. It could be parenthood, music, real estate, writing… whatever it is, if you pursue it, you will be great at it. Following your passion and doing what you were meant to do will make you not just happier but also more successful at what makes you happy. Getting paid to do what you love is a path to a more fulfilled and richer life.
2. Be Passionate About What You Do
“No question about it, baseball [sic] is the greatest game there is!”
-Ted Williams
William’s above all, loved his sport. He revered the game of baseball and studied the art of hitting. He even used to tell other players to never leave their bats on the ground as they absorbed water and made the wood heavier, slowing swing speed. Ted was more than a player but a scientist of the game in every way. What would take a lesser player weeks to recognize as a technical mistake, ted could identify in seconds. He was 100% in the game at all times.
The lesson is simple, once you know your passion, be 100% committed to being the best you can be at it. Study it, absorb yourself in the art and science of it. Learn as much as you can from what is available to you through libraries of books, video and audio on the subject then supplement that with your own experience and research. Be a student of your passion. A natural ability will get you just so far, the study and honing of that natural ability is what will make you great.
3. Study Your Discipline and Don’t Underestimate the Task
“They give you a round ball and a round bat and tell you to hit it square.”
-Ted Williams
Ted Williams never underestimated the game he played. He respected the art of it and understood the improbability of making the kind of connection between 2 round objects to catapult a ball into the stands.
Give your passion respect! Never consider your skill or task simple or yourself a master at it. Recognize the difficulty of being the best at what you love and respect that difficulty. Just because you have passion and natural ability, does not mean you should consider the task easy.
4. Be Lofty in Your Goals
“A man has to have goals – for a day, for a lifetime – and that was mine, to have people say, ‘There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived.’”
-Ted Williams
He set a lofty and improbable goal for himself to be the best there ever was. He knew his calling, understood his natural ability and he set out to be the greatest hitter of all time. He set one goal for himself. One goal that was within his natural ability to achieve. He didn’t say “I will be the greatest baseball player ever” or “I will steal the most bases.” He said, “I will be the greatest hitter ever.” He set a goal for himself that was specific and attainable based on his skill. He knew his limitation of having low feet and never set out to be an overall great player, he set his sights on a lofty but achievable goal for his specific ability. Then, he honed his skill through practice and study to claim his goal.
5. Be Humble About Your Skills and Successes
“I hope somebody hits .400 soon. Then people can start pestering that guy with questions about the last guy to hit .400.”
-Ted Williams
With a tenuous relationship with the press, whom he felt focused far too much on his personal life, Williams often made self-deprecating statements. When he set the record with a .400 batting average, he immediately considered that someone else might achieve it, break his record and take his place. He knew that his fame and record were fleeting and meant to be broken. His ego never undermined his success.
Williams was never conceded about his records and achievements. Always considering his achievements as records that would soon be broken, Ted never rested on his laurels or became over confident in his success. While confident in his skill, he avoided hubris in his accolades and was always respectful and the first to praise his peers for their successes. This made him extremely likeable and approachable.
Learn to respect your achievements, but recognize that it is the skill and passion you have for your work that you should take pride in, not the successes along the way. If you focus on your skill and passion you will never be disappointed in your performance and can allow yourself to be happy your peers’ successes.
6. Be Pragmatic
“Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.”
-Ted Williams
Williams was a pragmatist. Maybe it was that he had survived combat in 2 wars and understood the value of perfection in missions, that he also understood the game he played and loved did not require the perfection that other jobs required. His survival as a pilot was dependent upon his perfect execution of skills and maneuvers, while his success on the ball field had many variables and a level of skill and study improved his success, perfection was an impossibility. Basically, he understood that there were far more difficult jobs out there and never raised himself above the common man by considering his given profession rocket science.
Know where you stand in life. Consider your overall place in the universe and know that there are always people whose lives and jobs are harder than yours. Know that while you can achieve greatness in your given profession or passion, you are not the master of the universe. Be thankful for your successes as they were earned, but he humbled by those successes and the successes of the people around you.
One of the greatest quotes I have ever read about Ted Williams is a quote by Eddie Collins. About Ted Williams’ last game and his last home run, she wrote, “If he’d just tip his cap once, he could be elected Mayor of Boston in five minutes.” It said everything you can say about the man. It said he was great at what he did, humbled by his success and revered by his fans for being the man he was as both an athlete and gentleman. Take that lesson to heart. Follow your passion, devote yourself, be joyful in your success but be humbled by that success.
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