Ask Doug: What Does It Take?
Baseball Factory
December 21, 2009
ByDoug Glanville
Doug Glanville is working with the Baseball Factory and Team One Baseball as a Special Consultant. He will be writing articles and looking for your questions and feedback. If you have a question for Doug, please email him at askdoug@baseballfactory.com
Q: What does it take to play professional baseball? I''ve seen the odds of making it, and they aren’t very good, but I want to know. I have a deep love for the game and all the hard work that I put in every day, to me it’s a fun thing to do, it’s better than doing anything else. I hit with a wood bat in the offseason to build bat strength and speed which has helped out a lot. I’m just curious as to what the makeup [of] a professional baseball player is, like what does he possess mentally and physically.
A: Answering the question about "what it takes" to make it to the top of anything is a slippery one. Sure we know that dedication, hard work, and passion are a big part of it, but a lot of other factors come into play. I look at my path to the major leagues and I recognize that I needed a lot of support from people other than my own willpower. I had coaches and advocates that looked out for me or fought to help me get an opportunity. When Cubs CF Brian McRae sprained his ankle, Jim Riggleman made sure I was the guy to play every day until he recovered. When I was buried in Triple-A, I had Tom Gamboa fight to get me a job in Puerto Rico to gain more experience. Without these doors, I couldn''t say how things would have turned out.
You may not be able to plan for this type of support, but you can be ready. And that has to do with preparation, working hard, finding ways to improve so that when the door opens, you know exactly what to do with it.
Talent for something is very important, but it is not the end all, you have to have a lot more, and when you maximize all you can be, even if you don''t end up in Wrigley Field, you have to believe that this is success. Success is a lot more about how you take the ride and what you learn from it for the rest of your life than it is about the destination, because once you reach a destination, the competitive spirit in all intense athletes, just tell us to find the next one.
Republished from the Baseball Factory
