The Great Life: The Wisdom of Tony Gwynn
 |
| Baseball Hall of Famer, Tony Gwynn |
We typically don’t think of baseball players as sources of life changing wisdom. But, since I love baseball as much as I do, and since I watch it every chance I get, I was bound to get a life changing piece of wisdom from it.
Some time during the 2004 or 2005 season, I was watching a Yankees’ game and Tony Gwynn was commentating it for ESPN. Yankees’ third baseman, Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez was up to bat. Doing his part to add “color commentary” to the game, Tony Gwynn said, “Alex Rodriguez is a great hitter. What makes a great hitter different from a good hitter is how quickly they can pull themselves out of a hitting slump. Great hitters will work on their hitting mechanics and figure out what is wrong quicker than a good hitter. Everyone is going to go into a hitting slump, but you don’t notice it as much with great hitters as you to with other hitters. So a great hitter will hit for a much higher average than a good hitter.” (I liberally paraphrased since all I have is from my memory!)
Tony Gwynn
Tony Gwynn would know what made a great hitter. Out of the 17,289 players (as of 09.04.10 (answer.com)), Tony Gwynn was eighteenth all time with base hits. In fact, in 2007, Anthony Keith Gwynn, aka Tony Gwynn, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Because of his hitting, Tony Gwynn had the seventh highest voting total. He was 13 votes shy of a unanimous vote in in his first year of eligibility . Tony Gwynn knows what makes a great hitter.
The Wisdom
What made Tony Gwynn’s color commentary so profound was how I could apply it to my life. There are days when I don’t feel great, days when my confidence is low, or I had an unexpected and unpleasant happening. Applying the theory of Tony Gwynn, the difference between a great life and a good life is how quickly I can pull myself out of a slump. He said slumps happen to everyone. That would include you and me. Its the amount of time a person spends in it that makes the difference between a good life and a great life. A great life is all in our own hands.
Each day I try to find the win in every situation. How do you pull yourself out of a slump? Do you feel as if you're living the "great life"?
Some time during the 2004 or 2005 season, I was watching a Yankees’ game and Tony Gwynn was commentating it for ESPN. Yankees’ third baseman, Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez was up to bat. Doing his part to add “color commentary” to the game, Tony Gwynn said, “Alex Rodriguez is a great hitter. What makes a great hitter different from a good hitter is how quickly they can pull themselves out of a hitting slump. Great hitters will work on their hitting mechanics and figure out what is wrong quicker than a good hitter. Everyone is going to go into a hitting slump, but you don’t notice it as much with great hitters as you to with other hitters. So a great hitter will hit for a much higher average than a good hitter.” (I liberally paraphrased since all I have is from my memory!)
Tony GwynnTony Gwynn would know what made a great hitter. Out of the 17,289 players (as of 09.04.10 (answer.com)), Tony Gwynn was eighteenth all time with base hits. In fact, in 2007, Anthony Keith Gwynn, aka Tony Gwynn, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Because of his hitting, Tony Gwynn had the seventh highest voting total. He was 13 votes shy of a unanimous vote in in his first year of eligibility . Tony Gwynn knows what makes a great hitter.
The Wisdom
What made Tony Gwynn’s color commentary so profound was how I could apply it to my life. There are days when I don’t feel great, days when my confidence is low, or I had an unexpected and unpleasant happening. Applying the theory of Tony Gwynn, the difference between a great life and a good life is how quickly I can pull myself out of a slump. He said slumps happen to everyone. That would include you and me. Its the amount of time a person spends in it that makes the difference between a good life and a great life. A great life is all in our own hands.
Each day I try to find the win in every situation. How do you pull yourself out of a slump? Do you feel as if you're living the "great life"?
