A Field of Dreamers

My Baseball People

MY BASEBALL PEOPLE

Lots of people tell us our family has been lucky in our efforts of college baseball recruitment. Today, two of our three sons have been successfully recruited to play the Game of baseball in College: One of them even plays professional baseball today.

Us? Lucky?

Although I truly-believe many who say this do so with only the best of intentions, I still cringe a little because their interpretation of luck is very different from mine.

Most people say that being lucky suggests you have something happen to you that you never expected. You didn't have to work for whatever it was – it just fell into your lap.

From my earliest memories as a child, my parents always told me that the Luck you receive is what you make of it - so work hard - and one day, you'll be a lucky man!

I recently saw a sign on the outfield wall of a baseball stadium in Taipei. At the time, my oldest son was playing with the USA Baseball national team, and I was watching the game on the Internet. As the camera panned the outfield, it moved across a phrase on the wall that read: "The Harder you work, the Luckier you get."

That's what the word Luck means to me: Luck is the opportunity your hard work creates: It's the sum total of all the hard work you put into your efforts.

I think about this lately, and wonder if that's the reason why we've been successful in helping our sons become recruited - while so many other players and their families have not. Maybe the interpretation of what "Luck" really is has everything to do with the recruiting outcome!

Maybe some players and families think recruitment just happens: One day - out of the blue, a son receives an offer of a baseball scholarship – and just like that – he becomes recruited to play college baseball. The family celebrates their son's good fortune, and his parents exclaim: "We never saw that coming...."

That's not how you get recruited....

Maybe other families with the same interpretation of luck treat baseball showcase events much like a gambling trip to Vegas: They look at the showcase event as their ticket to recruitment - and do nothing else to improve their odds:

-The player doesn't prepare his game for a higher level of play.

-The player remains of the opinion he will only play division 1 baseball in college.

-The player never considers how his grades influence his recruitment opportunities.

-The player never-once considers sending a letter of introduction to the recruiting coach's at the schools he's considering.

He and his family pay the fee; walk into the casino; head straight for the Craps table; and go all-in on 7-Red – and "hope they get lucky."

That's not how you get recruited either....

A friend of mine from my newspaper days recently made a comment to me when I told him about my book - and why I wanted to write it. I think he captured the essence of it all, when he said, "Every time I go to a Major League baseball game, I always wonder about the story behind every player. They are all so different; but in some ways the same. Even the guys who never get in the game -- they and their families have put in so much work to make it all happen. And have lived the dream.

Amen brother (Tony Benjamin).

That's what so many people miss when they approach college baseball recruitment: For the majority of players who are eventually recruited – you have to put the work in.