There’s a lot of talk these days about how we form our kiddos in sports. If our kiddos get trophies just for going on the field, what are we teaching them?
But we shouldn’t give our kiddos trophies just for trying. Life is full of loss and failure. Sports are a great, low-stakes venue to learn these lessons. And we don’t have to play sports to learn the lessons. Those of us who are fans can learn, too.
I think some of the best teachers of losing are baseball coaches. Baseball coaches are some of the best losers around.
Recently, the Pirates lost a game. Big surprise, right? In fact the Pirates have lost more games than they have won for 20 seasons in a row! (Maybe someone should re-make Major League with the Pirates?) To put that in perspective, that’s the longest streak in major league history. More damning, the Yankees have had a losing record only 21 times since 1903!* But this year things are different. The Pirates guaranteed a winning record a few weeks back. Even more shocking, the Pirates are going to the playoffs!
After this particular loss, their coach made one of those classic baseball coaching statements––ironic in light of this history: “The Pirates live for tomorrow.” “Yeah, right,” I thought. “For 20 years the Pirates have been living for ‘tomorrow.’”
But unlike football, where every game is a big deal, baseball expects loss. In almost every aspect of the game, baseball players fail. Right now the Red Sox have the best record in baseball––yet they’ve only won 60% of their games. If an NFL team only won 60% of the time, they might not make the playoffs. If a college football team won 60% of their games, they’d play UTEP before 47 people in the New Mexico Bowl. And what quarterback would have a job if he completed 11 of 33 passes each week? Yet getting a hit 30% of the time is successful in baseball.
Losing and failing is part of baseball. And because the Majors offer a grueling season of 162 games, these baseball coaches know how to lose.
“The Pirates live for tomorrow.” It’s something I learned while riding the pine during high school ball: We can’t change the loss. If we dwell on it, we’ll probably lose tomorrow, too. The only thing we can control is the next pitch, the next swing, the next play. And this has a flip side. Baseball players can’t celebrate a win, either. (Unless, of course it’s the championship game.) Today’s victory means nothing in tomorrow’s game.
“The Pirates live for tomorrow.” Which is to say something that won’t surprise anyone: the Pirates know how to lose. But the Pirates, by way of knowing how to lose well, have made the turn. They’ve changed the culture of baseball in Pittsburgh. They’ve started winning. And that is an important life skill for any of us. Let’s just hope that we don’t lose quite as much as the Pirates.
*Note how difficult it is for me to write a sentence with the word “Yankees” in it without also including another word.
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