· Baseball has a special place in America’s history.
· And Babe Ruth epitomizes the best of baseball.
I was born 2 years after Ruth’s passing, yet his larger-than-life legacy helped color my youthful impressions of baseball. Mickey Mantle’s New York Yankee’s team loomed large during my formative years, but those players were first and always compared to the Babe. He never quit ‘swinging for the bleachers’, a term synonymous with giving your best effort to everything you do. It’s a mindset as much as a talent, and people who have that are considered special. They’re the kind of people (players, employees, friends) you want on your team (or around you), the ones you want to be around. If they’re on your team, you’re especially loyal to that group – it’s a badge of honor not easily broken. That’s the allure of sports – as a game, and as a metaphor for life and work. You want to be around people who never give up; they make you want to never give up. In baseball, the measure of success is % of hits – and nobody ever got a hit every time they were up to bat – the best ever was 400 out of 1000. But that didn’t matter – the best (like the Babe), never gave up trying to get another hit. Don’t be afraid to step up to the proverbial plate and give it your all every time. That’s the best you can be today.
George Herman "Babe" Ruth (1895 – 1948): American professional baseball player from 1914 through 1935 and is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time.
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