Baseball: What can it teach you about life?

I visited with one of my coaching clients this week, and I found out that he is a huge baseball fan. I am too! I played the game for a long time, and I coached it for over twenty years. I spent a long time building businesses and merging them, and now I am coaching businesses and CEO's. It got me thinking about baseball and how it relates to business and to life.

Baseball starts with a plastic ball, a plastic bat and a backyard that seems like Fenway Park. You don’t know the rules, you just know that the sound of the bat hitting the ball makes you smile. Hearing the echo of the glove popping as a catch is made adds to the excitement.

Then there is T-ball and the shirts that hang down to your knees. You run the wrong way on the bases, and no one cares. You run all the way around being tagged out several times and it doesn’t bother you. You are just out there with others enjoying the game. No one knows who won or lost, in fact both teams think they won at the end of the game.

As you grow, so does the game. Lights get brighter and failure happens more often. Baseball is a metaphor for life—it's about showing up. You lose seven out of every ten times to the plate. You learn that the key is to stay humble when you win and stand tall when you don’t. But the most important part is that you just keep showing up!

Baseball is more than a game. It is about showing up in life and trying again, and even on your worst day there is always another at bat. Both of my sons played college baseball. They learned the game at a very high level. I believe that the game made them better men, better professionals, better husbands and better fathers. They learned to show up when the going gets tough, how to persevere through a slump and how to lift others up around them.

Now, I am on the other side of the fence with my grandsons. I see it—the same spark I had, the same spark my sons had—only this time it is different. This time it means even more; it's about the lessons. It is the honor of sharing life with them; passing down the lessons, the love and the memories. It is pride when they make contact for the very first time and then learn how to repeat it.

Baseball is much more than a game—it is a metaphor for life. We learn how to keep showing up, how to repeat the successes and how to deal with the failures.

I coached tournament baseball teams for over twenty years. I loved teaching the game. I loved experiencing the game with them and watching them develop their understanding of the game and life. Many life lessons can be taught when coaching baseball.

One of the life lessons that I taught them was this: Surround yourself with people that push you to do better. To be a better person. No drama or negativity. Just higher goals and higher motivation. Good times and positive energy. No jealousy or hate. Simply bringing out the best in each other.

I also taught them when to leave things unsaid. When the person is not ready to receive feedback. When it won’t make a difference. When it can hurt someone unnecessarily. When there is an alternative. When it goes against the boundaries that person has set. When it will make things worse. When speaking is motivated by revenge.

Every one of my players grew up to be outstanding young men. Successful men who treat others with respect. They keep showing up in life—for their family, their friends and others.

I also sent emails weekly to every team member about the importance of having God in their lives. Most families were completely comfortable with this. Only two requested not to be on the list, which was completely acceptable. It was not a requirement. As I explained to them, I believe in God. Not because someone raised me to. Not because a church told me to. But because I have actually felt Him show up in my life. I have seen His hands in things that I can’t explain. And nothing is ever going to shake that for me. I have seen Him show up in the lives of the young men that I coached.

And I am looking forward to seeing how He shows up in the lives of my grandchildren as they experience the game and learn the lessons of baseball.