Best Advice??

To all of you players (and former players) out there ...

What was the best baseball advice you've ever received???

 

No Excuses

NCBBallFan -

The best I ever received: "Never make excuses."

In my opinion, too many guys blame something/someone for their own mistakes.

Example: If you miss a foul ball pop up, don't blame it on the sun. Just admit you screwed up.

 

Hustle where ever you go, because you never know who is watching and what there doing at the field.

"Give 110%!"

 

Purely from a recruiting perspective:

Fortunately, a successful, Division 1 coach pulled us aside early in the recruiting process and said:

"Above ALL else, first determine those schools that would be a good fit for you for all reasons other than baseball. Then, and ONLY then, decide which baseball programs are of interest within THAT group of schools. That way, if something happens once you're there that dramatically changes the baseball picture (i.e. injury, coaching change, loss of interest, whatever), you're at a place you'd want to be, anyway."

"That could save you a LOT of heartache if something does happen. Even if it doesn't, you ought to be happier than somewhere else that didn't fit well except for baseball"

 

My freshmen year, I was working out at On Deck just Coach Shildt and I and after the workout he told me this:
"If you are going to be a leader, you cannot ever let up. You have to give it your all everyday in practice, in every workout on your own and on every pitch of every game. Along with that, dont be afraid to be a prick when someone or something is holding the team down. If someone is slacking. pick them up in whatever way necessary, whether it is with a few words or checking them against a wall."
-Here is why. He then went on to say, "Say you are walking in the mall and you pass one of your teammates and two of their friends... What would you rather them say to his two friends after you walk by? Hey there is Up and In and he is a nice guy, but he slacks off here and there or Hey, that is Up and In he can be a real prick sometimes on the field, but man do I respect the guy, he gets after it."

I apologize for one of the words in the context, but if you play baseball you better get used to it, and also I couldnt think of a word at the moment that could get point across the same way.

I hope that this story and advice helps as much as it did me, it may not be THE best advice that I have ever had, but it comes from a man of whom I have a huge amount of respect for and it is something that I will never forget and will forwver attempt to follow.

 

From a player's perspective-

1- Do it right every time.

2- You never know who's watching.

These have been said before but I feel they're worth repeating.

From a parent's perspective, this came from Terry Brewer. You go to your son's game and maybe he goes 2 for 3, has a put-out or two and plays fairly well. But as parents, we want our kids to do well so we remind him of the one at bat where he didn't get a hit and what we think he could have done to turn the out into a hit. The point Terry was trying to make to me was, when your son plays well, he knows it and when he screws up, he knows that also. He doesn't need to be reminded of his shortcomings after every game. So when the game is over, maybe we should let him ride home with Mom every once in a while.

I thought I had been pretty good about not dwelling on the negative but after thinking about this for a while I realized Terry was right. So from then on, if my son was riding home from the game with me I was very careful not to even talk about the game until we got home. If he brought up something from the game before we got home I responded with a short answer just to keep from getting into a long breakdown of the game until we got home and had time to unwind. This "cooling off period" was more for my benefit than my son's.

 

Give 110% at all times. You never know who is watching or who someone else knows.

 

Play the game the game the right way for yourself and for your team. Dont play for the scouts and the spectators. Give it 110% because your passion for the game drives you too, and that is the way the game is supposed to be played.

"A champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion...when no one else is looking."
-UNC Baseball 2004

 

You only lose if you quit!

 

Play the game because YOU want to play it and with the passion that you did back when you were 12 in all-stars.

I hate hearing a kid who repeatedly says over the course of a season "Ah man I really don't feel like playing today" while he's dragging "tail" feeling sorry for himself that it's "taking up too much of my time".

I've met and heard of alot of kids, who could easily play college ball somewhere, say that they just don't want that big of a commitment in college and that they've lost the passion they once had. IMHO I can't fault a kid who's being honest about what he wants to do. It hurts the kid and the program if he's not in to baseball anymore playing without a love and desire for the game.

Another piece of advice (a close #2 to the above) is to be an even keel type ballplayer. Never get too caught up in things when your doing great or stinking it up. Whatever happend last AB, groundball, or whatever is what it is. Don't hug yourself to suffocation and don't beat yourself into the ground.

Just my