I completely agree that there is a distinction between the different levels of play. As you go up, the players are more and more competitive. This is why I like how the "main guy" of a team is called a coach at lower levels and a manager at the higher levels. In the higher levels, his job is less about teaching the game and more about being the "invisible hand" that directs everyone's self-interest to the good of the team, allowing the team to overachieve.
infielddad hit it on the head...a big part of a team winning attitude (and overachieving) is the players setting high standards for themselves and holding eachother accountable to those standards. In my opinion that is where the true TEAM part of baseball comes in. He is right that it starts on day one with everyone giving everything they have during "hell week" in the fall. Every player has confidence in his teamates that they can carry their weight and contribute. That his how players earn their teammates' respect. That is how you get that magic Fresno State feeling that lifts everyone's performance.
And he is right that the leadership sets the tone for the rest of the team. A good leader (captain of the team) shows the freshmen what it takes to be a successful player in the program--in the weightroom, in the classroom, in the social scene, and of course on the field. A good leader (now I'm talking more about coaches) is always there to give extra bp or fungos to make his players better. From a distance (I'm not in the clubhouse) it doesn't look like Bonds was a good leader. Somehow I just can't see Bonds in the weight room with his teamates urging them to get that one last rep, or going out with his teamates after a big win. If the rest of the Pirates/Giants looked to him as a leader in the clubhouse, perhaps that is why his teams didn't win.