“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”
“You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.”
Babe Ruth
Someone asked Babe Ruth, “What do you think about after striking out?” The Babe’s dynamite reply: “Hitting my next home run!
Just love that Babe brio! With little kids out on the baseball fields in the park and big “kids” powering up in the major leagues, USA Today did a spirited roundup of new books for young readers on America’s favorite pastime that featured this headline: “Major League Baseball is in full swing today, but in bookstores and libraries, baseball is never out of season.” Write on!
Just think of all the ink that’s been spilled about baseball: The stats! The spats! The dramas! The traumas! The Goliaths! The Davids! And yet, there’s still so much more to say. In fact, the USA Today story spotlighted several new books, each with a different angle on the sport. Here’s an amazing stat: From the 1860s to the 1940s, when almost every small town had its own team, 29 of them were made up entirely of brothers! Brothers at Bat tells the true story of the 12 Acerra brothers of Long Branch, NJ (my birthplace!) who formed a team and were coached by their dad.
Another book, Stars in the Shadows re-creates a radio play-by-play of a Negro League All-Star Game on August 26, 1934. One of the stars was Josh Gibson, “the black Babe Ruth,” who hits balls “so hard he punches holes in center-field bleachers,” and whose prowess raised the question: Why not call Babe Ruth “the while Josh Gibson?”
Something to ponder, along with the many lessons that baseball can teach us as writers (see Practice Counts and Game Plan) for some inspiration from two gifted coaches.
One of them, my great friend and mentor, Coach Mike Tully, has just written a brand new book called, The Improvement Factor: How Winners Turn Practice Into Success (for order information, contact him at http://www.totalgameplan.com or just plug in https://www.createspace.com/3784503 on your location bar). I’m looking forward to reading his new guide and sharing some his wonderful advice with you. Write on!
