The other day I was covering an American Legion baseball game and something kept going through my mind as I watched and worked. Lou Brock did not wear oven mitts and neither did Ricky Henderson.
Yet base runner after base runner at this game put on sliding gloves that looked like my wife’s oven mitts once the player arrived at first base. I remember Brock sliding on a thin carpet-like turf on top of the concrete at Busch Stadium. Things I am sure were not a whole lot better for Mr. Henderson, who years later bested my baseball hero for the stolen base title. In my memories the Major Leaguers held batting gloves as they made their way around the diamond.
While the changes in equipment are to be expected and eventually accepted, it reminded me of a grumpy old man rant I had a few days earlier. In fact it is a rant I have often had, more so now after my cancer diagnosis.
It is simply this— give it your best shot, every day. No matter your job, your sport, your task or your lot in life.
Don’t just shuffle through. My perspective has changed a great deal in recent years, not just because of the cancer (which the battle continues but the numbers are good and things are going in the right direction. Thanks to all for the well wishes and prayers).
My perspective changed with the birth of grandkids into my life and with the illness diagnosis for friends and relatives as well the unfortunate deaths of two friends recently.
All this is not lost on me as I am fortunate to continue to be able to sit in the grandstands or on my portable stool along the sidelines of events and go clickety, clickety, click with my camera to cover a variety of sports. And I am going to continue to clickety click as long as I can. I guarantee I will give it my best each and every time I show up. All I ask of the competition on the field, pitch, track, court, course is that you do the same.
Not just for me.
Do it for your parents and relatives who have helped you along the way. Do it for the paying public who put down their hard earned money to get in the door to watch you. And do it for yourself. All the time you have spent training and practicing, remember your playing days, like our lives, have a limit. So don’t just show up. Do your best, no matter the score, that is all anyone can ask of you.
And you fans remember this applies to you, too. Enjoy the game and yes you can boo or cheer, but keep it respectful and within reason. This also applies to you readers, when you go to your job do your best and if the job/career you are in isn’t letting you reach your potential or fulfilling your dreams, move on. Easier said than done in some cases I know, but try to find something you enjoy doing or want to do.
If you are fortunate like I am, doing something you love as your career, they say you never really work a day in your life. But just because that may be the case, I still have to do the best I can to capture good images every inning, every quarter, every half, every contest.
My personal perspective is there is no phoning it in, unless of course you work as a telemarketer or receptionist.
