I had the opportunity recently to hear a former major league pitcher speak at a meeting of the Better Men; an organization designed for a similar purpose as this blog, to assist and support men as they walk down the journey of life. Bob Scanlan, who pitched in the 90’s with the Phillies, Cubs and the Brewers talked a little about his career in Baseball, his current one in broadcasting, as well as some great Baseball stories. More importantly, he emphasized a whole lot about being humble. He made the statement that I really liked and will really resonate well with this audience when he said, “there are two kinds of people, those who are humble and those who are about to be”. Coming from a guy who played on one of the biggest stages, that was refreshing to hear.
But it wasn’t always that way, early on he was like many of the guys we see on the court or the field in the professional ranks, he was full of himself and acted as if the entire world revolves around him. As a result, Scanlan went through some real lows early in his career that caused him to change but his biggest change came when he accepted Jesus Christ into his life as his personal savior. The irony was that even after his experience with God, more bad career news followed; he got cut because he wasn’t living up to the expectations that people had in him…poor performance caused him to hit a new low in his life. What’s interesting though is he didn’t give up. He kept on persevering and slowly, over time he became a better pitcher and eventually got his break in the big leagues and he never looked back…
He told a story about a particular Sunday when he was pitching for the Brewers and he was preparing to face a very powerful hitting Indians lineup that included Albert Bell. As the beginning of the game neared, he knew he was ready and put his game face on… however before the game began, it was a Sunday tradition that local little leaguers would accompany the players to their positions for the national anthem. Scanlan was completely focused on the ensuing game and was not paying attention until he noticed the whole stadium had gone quiet. When he looked around to see why, he realized there was a boy in a wheelchair on his way to his mound and was struggling to get over the baselines where the dirt and grass met. When the little boy finally made it to where Scanlan was standing, he looked up with a huge smile on his face. When their eyes met, tears suddenly welled up in Scanlan’s eyes and he turned away from the child during the anthem so no one would see him cry…
When he went to shake the boy’s hand, he told his parents “your son is a blessing” and they both responded “we know”. Then he proceeded to go out and have one of the worst games of his career by giving up multiple runs in the first inning and he was out of the game by the second. Whatever intensity Scanlan had worked up before the game, had been lost as a result of the encounter with the boy.
After the game, Scanlan was angry. He was mad at the Brewers and Little League for having a day like this that screwed up his focus and caused him to fail. He had worked very hard to prepare for that game and he was gone before he had a chance to know what was happening. He struggled with a poor attitude for almost 2 months until it hit him…on that Sunday, that little boy silenced a crowd of over 30,000 people and even made a major league pitcher cry simply by his efforts just to get to the mound. On that day, he realized that life was not about him focusing hard to throw a baseball and win, it was about how he could touch people and impact them. How many of us get caught up in how great WE are and forget about what’s really important. Think about it, nothing you have ever done for YOURSELF has EVER been life changing for anyone else. Personally, nothing I’ve ever done for me has ever made a difference in this world…it’s only what I have done for other people that changed lives.
Guys, do you remember Scanlan’s earlier statement about being humble? “There are two kinds
of people, those who are humble and those who are about to be…”
Which one are you? My challenge to you today is to work to get focused on what you can do to make an impact on someone else. It is SO EASY to do things for you, WE DO THAT EVERYDAY…but I am asking you to look around and see what you can do for the guy next to you. Then maybe the next time I see you we can say to each other…
“Hey brother, I just wanted to tell you that humility looks very good on you…”
Until next time guys…
Iron Sharpens Iron, Men Strengthen Men 