I attended a great baseball seminar yesterday, that had six excellent speakers who came to talk about what it takes to make it, long term, in baseball. In great contrast to most seminars that have a cost to attend, often substantial, this seminar was FREE. Imagine getting to spend a few hours listening to the following group of speakers talking about baseball.
Kyle Yamashiro, who is a physical therapist that works with many pro baseball players in the Oakland A's organization, as well as an NCAA D1 athletic department. He talked about athletic training/conditioning, injury prevention and some pitcher specific issues.
Ryan Matthews, who is a young minor leaguer that just was added to the Colorado Rockies 40 man roster. He came to talk about his experience as a player from a small high school who is moving along, and what challenges he's overcome to get where he is.
Leon Lee, a former pro player who had a very successful career as a star in the Japan Major Leagues, and who has been a coach, manager and scout for MLB clubs since his retirement from playing.
Rick Schu, the Arizona Diamondbacks hitting coach.
Jerry Manuel, the New York Mets manager.
Dusty Baker, the Cincinnatti Reds manager.
These men of character came together and gave their afternoon to talk to aspiring high school aged players, because they felt it important to give back. They talked about the qualities that successful players tend to possess, as well as the things that trip up so many players and prematurely end their playing days. One of the reasons that these gentlemen came to speak was that nobody was trying to make a profit off of the seminar, even though people would have paid to hear them speak. They gave of their time to help others, when they didn't need to do it. Between them, the pros have more than 140 combined years of pro baseball experience, and four manager of the year awards between Jerry Manuel and Dusty Baker. None of them had a prepared script, they just came and talked from the heart about what mattered to them.
One thing I heard mentioned several times was 'the need to give back'. I wish more people would take this approach and do things for others without always having to turn it into a commercial business opportunity. If yesterday's seminar was a pay to attend event, most (all?) of the speakers would not have participated. There is a lesson there for people, and it goes beyond what they talked about with the audience.
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