One of the great things about baseball is how lessons get passed down from one generation of players to the next.
Former Dodgers catcher Mike Scioscia told me in 2016 about advice he once got from Hall of Fame Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella:
“You never pace yourself during a baseball game,” Campanella told Scioscia. “You pace yourself after the game.”
“It’s a lesson I still talk to our players about,” then-Angels manager Scioscia said. “You play every out, every pitch as hard as you can on a baseball field. And if you’re exhausted, great. Then go and get your rest and relax. But never pace yourself in the game because you think the game is too taxing. You need to go after it hard the whole time.”
Campanella was a three-time MVP for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950’s. His career was cut short after a car accident left him paralyzed and wheelchair bound for the final 35 years of his life.
“This man was in a wheelchair for so long and never complained one day, never even (said) anything about being disabled,” Scioscia said. “He was out there on the field, instructing and working with us on every aspect of the game.”
“It’s a gift when you meet special people and Roy Campanella had the biggest influence (on me), no doubt.”
Now, remember that Scioscia managed a young Mike Trout. And it’s plain to see that Trout embodies the ideas Campanella taught Scioscia. Over 70 years of baseball history connected right there.
The game may have changed in all that time, but the manner in which the best ones play it seems pretty similar.