“Give it your best and
forget the rest” Mel Swavely
October has a way of making me feel glad to be alive. The World Series in part can be thanked for
that because so often the games I watch leave me feeling inspired not to give
up. Baseball to me is like a story nine
chapters long that builds to an exciting conclusion right before your very eyes.
Then, more times than not, it surprises you with an ending you didn’t see
coming.
My best example of how baseball can inspire you not to
give up happened some twenty five years ago late one very special October
evening in Los Angeles, California. The
impossible happened on one magical night, when one man underestimated another.
Here is the long story short of the 1988 World Series. The Oakland A’s came into the Series as
prohibitive favorites to win easily. Led
by ingenious manager Tony La Russa and a well-rounded team that had won over
one hundred games and full of confidence.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were the underdogs no one expected to make the
big dance and few expected them to even be a challenge to the mighty A’s The Dodgers were led by spunky manager Tommy
Lasorda, outfielder Kirk Gibson and ace pitcher Orel Hershiser. Besides that, frankly they just were over matched.
Kirk Gibson had his reasons for wanting to do well
as a Dodger coming into the season, seeing this was his first year as a Dodger. Unfortunately, the state of Michigan he had
grown up in had turned on him and his family when left the Detroit Tigers via
free agency. Regardless the thirty one
year old slugger brought a winning attitude to a team that hadn’t had a winning
season in over two years and helped them win their division. Then as a result of his tenacious playing
style during the National League Championship he was able to propel his team to
victory over the heavily favored Mets and on to a Series berth. Regretfully in the process he had pulled his hamstring
in one leg and twisted his knee on the other.
Already behind the eight ball the Dodgers were faced
with a dilemma that Bob Costas so aptly described on the pregame show of the
first contest. “First item of business: Kirk Gibson will not play tonight.” True to those words for the first eight innings
of the game Gibson stayed in the Dodgers’ clubhouse as he writhed in pain that
even injections could not alleviate.
Then as he lay on a trainer’s table with a bag of ice on each leg, it
happened. As the game played on the
clubhouse TV Vin Scully, longtime Los Angeles Dodger announcer did the unthinkable-
he angered Gibson. Scully said this, “If you’re in the ballpark with binoculars,
your first thought would be, late in the game- Is Kirk Gibson in the Dodgers’
dugout? The answer would appear to be
no.”
Inspired to try the unthinkable, Gibson would get up
and take a few painful practice swings off a batting tee. Then he
sent the clubhouse boy to tell his coach, Tommy Lasorda, that he thought he
could pinch hit. What happened next is baseball lore. The Dodger trailed the A’s 4 to 3 in the ninth
inning with a runner on and two out as Gibby came to the plate. Not only was He faced with excruciating pain
each time he walked or swung, but he was facing major league baseball’s finest
relief pitcher, Dennis Eckersley. The
A’s closer had just exorcised some of his own demons a few years prior by
pulling his life back together after beating his alcohol addiction. Needless to say Eck was steeled to finish the
job and put Gibson and the Dodgers out of their misery.
Gibson later was
awarded the MVP for the 1998 season for his work during the regular season, but
one swing would define his career best.
Eckersley started Kirk off with fastballs so as to blow Gibson away.
However, the hobbled hero feebly fouled off several pitches eventually working
the count to 3-2. Then
just before the eighth pitch Gibson called time. What he did then was recall
what longtime Dodger scout, Mel Didier, told Gibson before the game. Didier told him that if he faced Eckersley in
the ninth inning and the count goes 3 and 2, “Partner,
as sure as I’m breathing he’ll throw you a backdoor slider.”
Swinging without
using his legs and flat footed, Gibson hit a backdoor slider that Eckersley served up
in an effort to fool his overmatched opponent.
However, Kirk hit the ball square and willed it over the right field
fence for a game winning homerun. On the highlight reel you can even see the
red glow of car’s brake lights stopping so they can hurry and get back into the
stadium.
Who can forget Kirk Gibson fist pumping as he hobbled
around the bases on two badly injured legs after he had just single handedly
won the first game of the 1988 World Series.
He had just hit a backdoor slider into the seats in Dodger Stadium that
was the fulcrum for the Dodgers upset of the mighty Oakland A’s. As fate would
have it his dramatic pinch hit home run would be his only at bat of the Series.
This story reminds me of a time someone gave me a
chance to prove myself and help me not want to give up. Sometimes, an act of kindness
can be remembered in one’s life like a game winning home run.
For instance, in my third year of playing fast pitch
softball in my church league I was struggling to see any playing team, hopelessly
stuck on the bench. During this very
frustrating year a guy named Chip, who I had grown up with, did me a
solid. With the game almost over and my
team up by double digits the coach was emptying the bench and putting in the
reserves. Even then I did not hear my name
called and began to feel foolish.
Just then Chip told the coach to let me play for
him. I don’t remember what I did with
the opportunity or if I even struck out.
Just to get the chance to run on the field and be part of the team, if
only for a brief moment, did my soul well.
I have never forgotten that feeling of exhilaration that someone thought
I was worth his spot.
Six years later, I became a coach and I think
subconsciously felt I needed to do for others what had been done for me. I just wanted to give anyone and everyone who
wanted to play a chance to be part of a team.
Team first, me last, everyone wins.
May both stories serve as a pleasant reminder that
we should never give up. Maybe the best
part of any story is not whether you succeed and win the game, but at least you got
the chance to make a difference. When
you don’t give up, you cannot fail.
“Better to take a
swing at the impossible and miss, than just sit on your butt talking about what
might have been."
Swavel
No comments:
Post a Comment