Hero or Goat?

Sometimes life puts us in difficult situations where we worry about ourselves way too much. We worry that we are going to end up as either the Hero or the Goat. But sometimes….sometimes things turn out a lot different than you expect!

 

Last weekend I played in a baseball tournament in Palm Desert. This was the first time our Halo Baseball Club had entered a 55+ and over tournament and I know what you’re thinking, a bunch of old guys with canes hobbling around the bases. But surprisingly, these guys can really play. They were diving in the outfield, sliding headfirst into second and throwing curve balls and sliders with outstanding velocity. One thing for sure, everyone had their competitive juices flowing and nobody wanted to lose.

 

On Sunday, our team was down by four runs and things were looking bad. If we lose, we go home. If we win, we go to the Finals on Monday. Late in the day we made a surge and closed to within one run. We had runners on 1^st and 2^nd and lots of momentum, but there were two outs and guess who coming up. That would be me….and I am not exactly the best hitter on the team. In fact I was hitless in the game so far and yet here I am coming up to bat with the game on the line. The good news was their pitcher was tired, and I had hit the ball hard my last two at bats, so that gave me some confidence. As I walked to the plate I checked my third base coach for signs and all of a sudden I hear the umpire call “Time Out” due to darkness. I dropped my bat in disbelief!

 

But the umpire wasn’t done. Since this game was important, the umpire told all of us that we were to get in our cars and drive 10 miles to Palm Springs Stadium where the lights were on and we would finish the game there. I never heard of anything like that before and nobody else had either.

As I drove to Palm Springs Stadium I kept thinking about the difficult situation I was in. My team was counting on me and I didn’t want to let them down. I knew for sure I was going to either be the Hero or the Goat! But why me? Well, maybe this was going to be my time to shine? Or maybe I would fail as I have so many times in the past? Either way, I was really feeling the pressure of the situation.

So here I am at Palm Springs Stadium, walking up to the plate again with the game on the line. Every muscle in my body was twitching but my mind was focused on the pitcher. I know he’s tired so I’m going to wait for a pitch I can drive. The first pitch was low for a ball. My confidence rose a notch, but that was his last pitch of the game. They pulled him and brought in a new pitcher who was huge and threw extremely hard. As he warmed up I noticed the worried looks on the faces of my teammates. I shook that off and focused on the job at hand. I let his first pitch go by. It was a screaming fastball on the inside part of the plate, strike one. Okay, now I’ve seen his best stuff and for some reason, it didn’t bother me, I just knew for sure I could hit this guy. I relaxed my shoulders and stared out at the pitcher, and in my mind I started saying, “Bring it on, Bro” and my confidence rose again.

All of a sudden the pitcher steps off the mound, turns and throws to second. He picks off the runner and the game is over! The game is over and I’m left standing at the plate with my bat in my hands thinking…. “What just happened?”

Well, what happened was that we lost the game. But what happened afterward was far more important! As we walked off the field I never heard the slightest grumble from a single player on my team. Nobody got down on the player who got picked off second (he was one of our best players anyway) and nobody seemed to be angry about the loss. There were nothing but positive attitudes, firm handshakes and hugs all around. We came to the tournament as a team, we played hard as a team, and we lost as a team. As I looked around, I realized it was never about any one particular guy or one particular at bat. It didn’t have anything at all to do with me or the guy who got picked off at second. It had to do with being part of a team and sharing everything that goes on with that team, be it good or bad. I love my teammates and maybe things didn’t turn out the way I expected....or maybe they did after all!

Matt Shults fires a fastball from the mound for the Halo Baseball Club

I am a member of a team and I rely on that team. I defer to the team and sacrifice for the team because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion. ~ Mia Hamm