Big League Egos (unfounded)

Rick,

Good observation. In most professions I find the most successful usually more willing, time permitting, to "give back" than the "wannabe's"

RickStep:

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Originally posted by RickStep:

From shooting Prospect and Showcase (*note, not a promotion here... Just a thought.

Duly noted...thanks.

Still...where can I get a copy?

This kind of reminds me of local bureaucrats....

Little men given a little power thinking they are big men

I think this applies to people in general. I'm in the banking/lending business, and it is interesting to correlate your comments with the clients we provide financing for. The most affluent, and especially the long term well to do, are generally the easy to deal with, while those who've recently found success or even worse, those who've recently come into a lot of money that wasn't "earned", can be some of the most difficult to deal with. At the other end of the spectrum, the "average Joe's" and those just getting by are mostly a great pleasure to serve, as they are very straighforward and appreciative of good service.

I think "Big Leagueing" occurs in many walks of life, not just professional sports.

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The surprising thing though is that every time this has happened, it's been a small time guy or a guy that just got promoted to head coach at a small school (not to take anything away from small schools with limited budgets). Whereas the coaches from the big powerhouse programs and the successful pro players and coaches are generally very receptive, want to see what's going on, respectful, etc.

Wow!!! I think this is way over the top based on what I have experienced and what I have seen. Know a number of college coaches, most at the DIII level, some DI and others NAIA. They are the best, most honest, genuine and sharing group you can ever imagine. If they can help a kid, they go out of their way to do so.
Same is true with the players I have encountered in minor league baseball. They are autographing for kids before games, after games, answering parents questions, working with the media, etc. Most will never make it to the "Bigs" but they do a marvelous job of marketing their game and sharing their time. Personally, I find the proposition offered to suggest a correlation to be either very offensive or based on such a small population size to not be worthy of such conclusion.

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infielddad - Wow!!! I think this is way over the top based on what I have experienced and what I have seen. Know a number of college coaches, most at the DIII level, some DI and others NAIA. They are the best, most honest, genuine and sharing group you can ever imagine. If they can help a kid, they go out of their way to do so.
Same is true with the players I have encountered in minor league baseball. They are autographing for kids before games, after games, answering parents questions, working with the media, etc. Most will never make it to the "Bigs" but they do a marvelous job of marketing their game and sharing their time. Personally, I find the proposition offered to suggest a correlation to be either very offensive or based on such a small population size to not be worthy of such conclusion.

This is not just a baseball thing. It happens in most every field. I think most will admit it even happens right here on this message board.

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06catcherdad - I think "Big Leagueing" occurs in many walks of life, not just professional sports.

06catcherdad, IMO you are correct!

Rick, did not say everyone "bigleagued" him, but mentioned only 5 or 6 out of the hundreds he has talked to (Not what I would call "way over the top"). In his case they turned out to be "small" rather than "big" people. No matter where they coach or play, big or small, I would consider them "small" as well.

Saying there are a few "bad" ones makes sense. Only I've run into a few that I would consider "bad" who are not small timers at all.

Saying they're ALL the best, most honest and sharing group just can't be true. I know you mentioned just the "ones you know". Is it possible there are some you don't know that Rick has run across?

I bet everyone here has been "big leagued" at some point. It's not enjoyable, even if the person is a real "Big Leaguer"!

InfieldDad, I do agree with your opinion of coaches and minor league players as a whole. Most are the best of people, but there are some exceptions.

Rick,

There are a ton of great people in baseball at all levels - and some really rotten ones too. Just like every other industry.

Just keep doing what you do with class and respect - and you will be very successful IMO.

Good luck - your stuff looks great!

PGStaff, I think you have the right view on this. You can be "big leagued" but big leaguers and by nobodies who want to act like "big leaguers."
I took offense to the effort to classify between successful coaches at major programs and those at lesser programs or newer to the coaching situation. Since the coaches I know are all with smaller progams and many are new coaches, maybe the post hit at a personal level.
Take a look at the contrast between the Rooney family who own the Steelers and Dan Snyder/Jerry Jones types. Each own professional teams. One is known for the generosity in the community(until the seat allocations for Heinz field came out ) and two are known for their love of power, visibility and money. IMO, it is way over the top to categorize the way this thread started. Some people who are very successful are extremely generous and others are...Dan Snyder types. Some who are more in the middle of the pack are "big league" wanna bees but most are generous and sincere.

And then again we only know what we read about most so called "egos"--- some of those we think are the worst are in many cases the best behind the scenes when it comes to generosity and giving.

Being in the construction business, I've had the opportunity to do some work on some professional athlete's homes thru the years.

Most of them were absolutely the best customers you could ask for. In fact, one of them became a beer drinking buddy.

Now their wives on the other hand.......don't get me started.

There were the exceptions, Larry Brown (Cowboy DB that won the MVP in a super bowl) was a arse. He thought since he won the MVP, he was God's gift. Funny how that worked out for him....

But I've met most of the Cowboys from the 90's Super Bowl era, and most were very nice. One of the nicest football players that I ever met was Nate Newton, the one that just got out of Prison. Nice guy, bad decision maker.

My son had the privlidge a couple of summers ago to play for Mike Marshall of Dodger fame....no, not Dr. Marshall, the other one. You know, the one that caused the riot at Candlestick for flipping off the Giants bench. One of the nicest guys you'd ever meet. Gave of his time to these 15 yo boys, and on days we had rain delays, he would sit in the dugout and tell stories from when he played in the minors and the bigs.

How cool is it to be a 15 year old boy and hear about Kurt Gibson's game winning home run, from a guy that was there in the dugout? (actually, I was jealous that my son heard the story and not me, as I still remember sitting in disbelief when Gibson hit that home run)

My son played with Steve Buechelle's son last summer, and Steve is an example of an overall great guy. On an out of town trip, a bunch of us sat around a picnic table drinking adult beverages as he told stories from Stanford (he was John Elway's roomate in college), to the Rangers, the Pirates (Playing with the killer B's) and the Cubs. I have never laughed so hard in my life at some of his stories....and being a baseball junkie, I was like a kid in a candy store.

All of these guys love talking about thier passion, and I believe that they love giving thier time to fuel others to have the same passion as they do.

Hey InfieldDad,

I didn't mean to offend in any way. I was only speaking from experience and I was not classifying all DIII or small school coaches as egomaniacs or the like.

I was simply saying that in my experience, the guys you think might big league you haven't, and the ones you would never think would, have. That's all

Rick

RickStep,
Thanks for the response. Like I said, I probably took it too personally. Get real protective especially of those DIII guys.

Rick...

I understand what you are trying to say, I think, but I am not sure why. When I first read your post the perception I got was that you were painting small college coaches with a very broad brush, and generalizing in a very negative way. Hopefully my perception was wrong.

I know hundreds of small college coaches, having been one myself for a long time, as well as hundreds of Division I guys.

My perception has always been that the men in college baseball, at all levels, are among the most genuine people I have ever known.

Grateful,

My intent wasn't to paint a picture of any type of coach, only to communicate my personal experience from doing these movies - and how it's definitely different than I would have anticipated. Maybe I put out a different idea than I intended...didn't intend to target any persons or groups, but to give an account of what I've seen.

Rick

Okay Rick......so my initial perception of what you said is correct......your experience brings you to the conclusion that baseball coaches who are not "the successful" guys "assume the movie is soooo far beneath them". It appears that you are the one doing the assuming here. I would suggest not trying to read their minds (ever try to do that with your wife or girlfriend and read incorrectly?); it doesn't work.

I hope you have an opportunity to actually get to know some of these small school or newly appointed head coaches. I am willing to bet you will realize that your generalization was a little too quick.

I think Rick was simply relating his experiences and his surprise at who he was more often big-leagued by.
As a young reporter I covered a Superbowl team's training camp and 2 mlb teams for a game each. I was amazed as I found the "stars" and a couple hall of famers very approachable and genuienely nice to me. At the time, I'm a pimply faced kid from a station they've never heard of.
I was equally amazed as I was "big-leagued" by a number of .140 hitters and guys who were on the waiver-wires shortly thereafter. It takes no more time to be respectful to someone than it does to be an arrogant, disrespectful guy.
I knew there would be good & difficult guys but was surprised overall at who some of each were.

Just to clear the air!

I'm pretty old yet not so wise! But I do know when some one is "big Leaguing" it.

I have been around real Big Leaguers who Big League it.

Have been around high school kids who Big League it!

Have been around Major College Coaches who Big League it.

Have been around Small College and Juco Coaches who Big League it!

Have been around High School Coaches who Big League it!

Have been around Youth Coaches who Big League it!

Have been around umpires who Big League it!

Have even been around Parents who Big League it!

It's always been, by far, the exception rather than the rule in every single group. It usually doesn't appear to happen quite as much at the top!

So IMO no one should label any of those "groups" as inferior (but for sure there are some ****heads that belong to most every group)

And... no one should label any of those "groups" as the very most, caring, nice, perfect, people who ever set foot on earth! (but for sure there are some who truly are in most every group)

There is no perfect group of anything. There are some bad apples in every group! Surely everyone who has been around a bit has that figured out. Except maybe for those who are doing the "Big Leaguing".

Regarding TR's comment that some that appear to be the worst in public are often the most generous behind the scenes one guy comes to mind (love or hate him).... George Steinbrenner!

Itsagreatgame.....

And nobody knows him!
The Mr. Steinbrenner jabs are really just alot of people taking shots at the Yankees...

If people knew him, and they knew all the good he does....the George nonsense would stop.

Really. I'm not addressing you but everyone willing to comment on this man without ever having dealt with him firsthand. Thank you for noting that people dont know what goes on behind the scene.

I for one love George Steinbrenner!

I can understand why some people might hate him. But... He's helped so many people, when most others would have hung them out to dry.

He's definitely one of a kind! Love him or hate him, they broke the mold!

its, I'm glad you brought his name up.

Chilly---

Thank you for making me see the light (YUK)! I KNOW BETTER now...WRITE IT DOWN!

I just wrote more explaination but then decided to erase it because I have a feeling that anything I write here is only going to fan the fire...which I don't really understand. I was related an experience. And I definitely did NOT draw any conclusions...anything I said that might be close to a conclusion was qualified (on purpose) with a "maybe" as to avoid making a blanket statement. I'm not so foolish as to think that there aren't guys coaching small programs that aren't better than guys coaching big well known programs. And I really don't see how my reply sparked further argument. I really think you're accusing an innocent man here. If I did offend, I apologize.

Rick, the baseballWebTV.com site looks nice, good job.

By the way, I got a good bite today and the fish is hooked.

This topic reminds me of school. The coke dealers thinking they are on top of the world, the straight A student talking nicely to everyone in the whole school. Big leaguing happens in every situation in every part of the world.

Rick,
Everone seems to agree that Big Leagueing is not confined to baseball. I find it interesting that you had more difficulty with the coaches at smaller schools or ones who were recently promoted, and that the experienced coaches at the larger schools with higher-profile programs were cooperative, respectful and interested. Perhaps we can surmise as to why they run the prestigious programs and why the others are at small schools. Big Leagueing as a practice tells you a lot about the individual. Remember that massive arrogance and a condesecending approach to others are character flaws.

By the way. the site looks very impressive.

I sure agree with PG on his overall comments about groups, but one group he identified stands out, if only because it is as fascinating to me as it is unusual. What is the deal with some high school kid Big Leaguing an adult? I've only run into this a few times with high school athletes, and at first couldn't believe it was happening. Then, I thought about the kid's dad, and in each example it was a case of the apple not falling far from the tree. Bizarre to see a teenager do that!

right on dad1228 and Rick. Not sure how this morphed into what it did. A simple observation of a specific experience and no generalizations about any group.

denisr400.....I guess we saw different things.....I saw a generalization about lesser known college coaches big leaguing......you didn't.

This isn't the only time that different people see the same thing differently.

I am not offended, Rick, and I am not criticizing the innocent......I am just noting what I perceive as a generalization about coaches from small/lesser known programs. My guess is that you don't know many of them, because if you did, then you wouldn't have a negative view of them.

This doesn't bother me, it's just what I see.

Speaking of kids big-leaguing adults, my uncle works at a lab and he has this little toy challenge, where you have to balance about 10 nails on one little wooden peg without any nail falling off. My uncle says he has is for the teens he hires who think they can do anything. No teen has figured out the puzzle, and after a while, the teens start begging him to show him how to do it.