“The beautiful thing about this game is that you never know who’s watching and all it takes is for one person to like you to give you a shot.” - Steve Springer
You Never Know Who’s Watching.
After achieving some success as a sports executive, the Los Angeles Dodgers executive, Branch Rickey would next venture to do the impossible.
He would create a series of events to institute the dismantling of the color barrier that existed in Major League Baseball. At the time, it was one of the longest unwritten rules existing in the sport since the early 1800s. Black players were not allowed to play with white players.
In his first attempt, Branch began his secret campaign by partnering with Gus Greenlee. A fellow successful black businessman who had fostered relationships with other baseball players in the Negro Leagues after organizing the annual East-West Classic, an all-star baseball game in Chicago at Comiskey Park, between the best performing Negro league players each year.
It became the highlight of the Negro League season. Together they would launch the United States League as a way to scout black players without arousing suspicion. With an established database of scouting reports, they could begin vetting black players which would create a new team in the league. The Brooklyn Brown Dodgers.
All of this was part of a plan to find the “right man” to break baseball’s color barrier. There were many talented players that Branch predicted would do well in Major League Baseball, but it wasn’t just talent he was looking for. The player would also need to embody a particular type of character.
Someone with an immense amount of self-restraint, and poise.
This prospect would need to be able to withstand immense amounts of racial abuse while performing against the best baseball players in the world. If they failed, they would be proving the racists right.
To many, black players did not belong in Major League Baseball.
The systemic discrimination within the game of baseball was in part perpetuated by club owners who were representing the values and biases of the everyday white American at the time.
Branch had only shot at this. The candidate would have to be the perfect fit.
The plan didn't work.
Out of all the talented players who would probably have performed well in Major League Baseball, they were unable to find one that best exemplified the type of poise and temperance they were looking for.
The players were too young. Most of them had barely started adulthood.
They needed someone with the physical prowess of a young athlete in his prime, but also with the maturity of a seasoned adult. Not being able to find anyone in the United States League, Branch Rickey resorted to the Negro Leagues.
He had heard of a man who playing for the Kansas City Monarchs. A military veteran who had the reputation and character he was looking for. His name was Jackie Robinson.
In their first meeting, which would become a famous three-hour encounter, Branch’s primary agenda was to make sure Jackie understood what was being asked of him. He would have to prepare Jackie for what was in store for any colored player who dared changing the rules of a segregated society.
He would be standing alone on the field with the country watching. The road would be rough, and even dangerous. The amount of hate would be widespread. He and his family would receive death threats. Harassments will seemingly come from everywhere. There would be moments where he will want to quit. Mosty importantly, few will be willing to support him.
Jackie would have to draw inspiration from wherever he could.
Most importantly, he would have to find a way to not let the environmental stressors like the incessant racial slurs and taunts, even from teammates, negatively effect his performance on the field.
If he didn't produce, it would serve as proof that he, and players that looked like him, did not belong.
Branch had one rule for Ricky. He must not retaliate. He would have to showcase the restraint to not fight back. At all costs, he must not show a temper. If he did, it would indicate that the pressure and mocking was getting to him, and the bigotry would only intensify, searching for his breaking point.
More than anything, they wanted to see him fail. It seemed that self-restraint was going to be the only way to survive an already grueling baseball season schedule.
For Branch, and many black Americans, failure was not an option. In many ways, he was playing the game of baseball with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
He would go on to be the first player to break the color barrier, establishing one of the most important milestones during the Civil Rights movement.
As a symbol of equality, Jackie would perform beyond expectations, winning the first-ever Rookie of the Year award while becoming the league batting champion and competing in the World Series during his first full season.
Jackie Robinson wasn’t the best ballplayer in the Negro Leagues, and herein lies the essence of his legacy. Tough he was talented, he wasn’t chosen because of his elite ability to hit, catch, and throw a baseball. In fact, many players in the Negro Leagues were confused by Branche’s choice. Some were envious.
Other black players like Satchel Paige, had the pin-point accuracy and charisma that attracted fans to the ballpark. Josh Gibson was arguably the most dominant offensive player in the history of black baseball up to that point.
It had seemed these two were the player’s choice. Skill-wise, their abilities matched or even transcended the skills of any elite player competing in Major League baseball at the time. But it was Jackie’s inner game that Branch Rickey saw as the most important characteristic needed in order to open the door for other players in the Negro Leagues.
It was a mixture of his talent and ability, with an inner quality.
What We Can Learn
We can see this in our own domain. When we look around us, occasionally we see those who seemingly got to where they are not because of their talent, but because of their charisma or who they know.
It is almost as if they have found some loophole. In all, it seems as if they are just lucky.
We can judge them, seeing their fortune as unearned, but we may be overlooking a few hidden strengths. There is almost always a hidden trait responsible for outward success.
If we look closely, we can see it. Maybe it’s their ability to promote themselves without coming off as desperate. Or their uncanny ability to disarm the right people, building rapport with those who are willing to take a chance on them.
Perhaps it was their commitment to creating work, even if most of it falls on deaf ears until the right person sees the potential. In each of these cases, talent isn’t the main factor. It’s the network they were able to build, and how they were able to present themselves.
In a sense, they took a chance and risked failure and judgment. Being able to do so, surely is a skill worth cultivating.
To assume that your strong points should be enough, that you’re owed a seat at the table because of your talent alone is foolish.
Refined skills are a prerequisite, which is why it comes a dime a dozen. People also want to work with those they can trust. They want to help those who seem to be on an earlier part of the same path. Despite what some may say, most successful people want to help others succeed. This is why our ability to see ourselves through the eyes of others is such a premium skill set.
To thrive, we must cultivate our own powers of self-awareness.
The opportunities that appear in baseball resemble the opportunity cycles of life. At first, favorable moments come slowly and then suddenly seemingly all at once.
One day we find ourselves on the bench, watching the game being played, and the next moment, the coach calls our name, and suddenly it’s our time to perform. In life, there are moments that present great opportunities that if missed, will never return.
We must be ready. It almost always begins with the mindset we take with us as we navigate throughout the day. We don’t have to be extraordinarily talented to make an impact.
Yes, talent is essential. To think that we can get anywhere with just hard work, charisma, appearance or intangibles alone would be supremely naive. Jackie Robinson was the “right man” not only because of his character, rather, he had a mastery of the fundamentals of his craft, but he was also able to combine multiple strengths to become undeniable in a culture that mostly wanted to see him fail.
One “Yes” transcends a million “Noes”
The beauty of this is simple. To succeed, sometimes all it takes is for one person to see potential in you or your work for your life to change forever.
We can increase the chances of finding people who can open doors for us by having the skills and characteristics that grab the right people’s attention; an impossible task without a body of work.
In other words, we must practice consistently, and then find a way to contribute what we have learned to society.
In order for someone to believe in us, it's important that we learn to build an undying belief in ourselves first.
Pursue Work That’s Beyond You
We can draw motivation from the impact our work can have. Simulating how what we do today, will change the course of history is a powerful incentive. Especially when the contribution is positive. We see how others will benefit, and it aligns with our primal drive of creating social connections, contributions, and a sense of significance.
Pursuing work that goes beyond you, in a sense achieves a form of immortality. Perhaps this is what the first artists were instinctually striving to do. The simplistic cave paintings told stories, expressing their life experience. Showing that they had once existed and that somehow they mattered.
Like Jackie Robinson helping to defend the rights of black citizens or the laborers who built the Pyramids of Giza, you will need a level of commitment to work that transcends generations. It’s possible that you may never get the opportunity to enjoy the completed fruition of your work, and that is the source of your power.
When your work stops being about you, it transforms into an idea.
A solution to a painful problem. A symbol of inspiration.
Something unstoppable.
Bend Without Breaking
There will always be counter-forces that work to hinder our goals. Any habit change, skill learned or maladaptive coping mechanics reversed, will consist of backslides.
We will fall off the horse. We will plateau. It will seem as if there has been no progress. We too will want to quit. Feeling the weight of negative emotions, the energy must go somewhere. It’s in these moments, we must learn to bend.
By being flexible, we can adapt. We bend by expanding our room for error. We’re not making excuses, rather we’re acknowledging the fact that we are not machines. We are only human.
To error is to be human, and now we have given ourselves permission to continue regardless of the outcome.
What does not destroy us, makes us stronger. Like the branches of a tree, holding the weight of falling snow, it bends slowly, and just enough for the snow to eventually slide off its leaves, allowing the branch to extend back up again. It bends without breaking.
This is how the tree stays strong.
Adapting to the winter months, nothing will stop it from blooming back to life the following Spring.
Follow Us
Powered By: Applied Vision Baseball
Sharpen your timing. Perfect your timing. Train your vision game. Join for $1
Powered By: Strobe Glasses
Improve your confidence. Slow the game down...
...grab a pair of Reflex Strobe Glasses, and improve your baseball vision.
