Game 162

How can you not be romantic about baseball? It is an odd game with odd rules and very odd means in measuring a man. And all the oddities boil down to a single concept – timing. You can scatter 1,000 hits over the course of a player’s uneventful career while a single hit could make heroes of men. Baseball is all about timing and life isn’t too far off.

Baseball players have learned to be appreciative of timing and the opportunities that are borne from it. Unlike basketball you cannot just pass the ball to your star player where you are down by 1 with a few seconds left in the 4th quarter. Much closer to a lottery, you have 27 outs and whoever is up to bat after the 26th out is made will be your hero or your footnote.

In September 28, 2011, baseball had its proudest moment. It was the last day of the season and teams were playing game 162 of 162. Two teams were tied with the same record, both fighting for the last playoff slot. One team, the Red Sox, went against the worst team in the division and the other, the Rays, against the best. A YouTube clip can be found on the coverage of both games. The Red Sox ahead in their game and the Rays falling behind in theirs. What happened next simply put became baseball lore. It was a combination of timing and effortless storytelling, but its most key component was the opportunity and the men that saw it and took it.

100 men when given the chance may run into a burning building to save the child still left inside, but we must only give credit to the man that was passing by when it happened. We must be judged for our actions but more importantly, we must be judged for the opportunities we have that we can act on. Unlike actions, opportunities are not given equally. Some people will always have more opportunities to show others the person they truly are. I have seen people blessed with opportunities disguised as troubles fail to do anything with it but just be.

Baseball has tried to teach me to respect the moment, the timing, and the opportunity. Not everyone will get the chance to show the world the kind of person they are. Proclaiming it instead will never have the same effect. The coulda-shoulda-wouldas will never compare to the one that did. Silverstein will always hold true.

All of this though is not just a burden but also a relief. We must only rise to the occasion when it happens. We are not required to be all that we can be in every waking moment in our lives. The truth is that we are a mess of contradictions. Our character will falter at cracks of times in our life. But that is fine because we only need to do the right thing when we are asked to. I can hate the world and the vermin that infests it all I want only changing the moment somebody might need help that I can give.

Do good when we you are physically and mentally capable of doing so. That is the cardinal rule and it is fool proof. You can float through life doing nothing else but this and it will be fine. It will be more than enough.