This is a picture of my kids and Victor Rodriguez.
"Who is that?" you may ask.
He is currently the assistant batting coach for the Cleveland Guardians, but he played in the majors for the Orioles and the Twins in the 80's.
In fact, Vic and Tito are pretty close..not only playing ball around the same time, but also from their time together in Boston during that magical time when THEIR team ended an 86 year championship drought in 2004.
Someday.
My sister and my brother in law have become good friends with him and his wife, and so we got to spend a little bit of time with him after a game last weekend.
Between hearing about his relationships with Jose Ramirez and David Ortiz, we got some good advice that I wanted to share.
My son struggles at the plate sometimes, so he asked how he could be a better hitter. Makes sense, he is a hitting coach.
Vic paused for a moment, and then said the simplest and most profound thing.
Keep swinging.
I was like "This is why they pay this guy?", but it made sense.
Vic continued to say that baseball is the only sport where you can screw up 7 out of 10 times, and still be considered an excellent hitter. If Donovan Mitchell misses 7 out of 10 shots on the basketball court, he's in a slump. If Watson misses 7 out of 10 passes for the Browns, they're going to Josh Dobbs.
I gotta stop with all the sports references, I'm getting a headache.
Here's my point..
Keep swinging.
Maybe you got 7 rejections out of the 10 resumes you sent out. Maybe your spouse has 7 criticisms and 3 compliments. Maybe you went to the gym 3 times in 10 days.
Keep swinging.
Or, if you're a Dory fan..Just keep swimming.
Because sooner or later, those odds are gonna change. Unless you're one of the 750 or so players in the majors, and hitting .300 gets you a new contract.
Keep swinging.
And maybe those percentages change, and they most likely will. But even if they don't....
Some people thrive on 30 percent, and so should you...Last time I checked, having 30 dollars in the bank versus overdrafting is a good thing.
All my best as you figure out life and the relationships in it.
XOXO Glenn


