Saturday was an incredible day for a baseball fan, and especially for a New York Yankees fan like me.
That sunny, hot summer day will be forever remembered as the day the first Yankee reached 3,000 career hits in the game we call “America’s Past Time.” Now, the Yankees are known for winning. They own 27 World Series titles, far more than any other team in history. And they count the greatest baseball players of all time as their players and leaders: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson, Phil Rizzuto, Bill Dickey, Elston Howard… the list goes on and on. Despite some wicked records from some of the greatest hitters of all time, no Yankee had hit the pinnacle of 3000 hits.
Until Saturday, July 9, 2011.
That’s the day long-time Yankee shortstop, Derek Jeter, connected with an off-speed pitch from the Tampa Ray’s pitcher David Price and sent it over the fence in left field. Not just a hit! A homerun!
For long-time Yankees fans, like myself, it wasn’t really a surprise that it happened. But it was no less satisfying. It was the culmination of a career we’ve watched for 17 years. Unlike many athletes in this free agency/rapidly moving society of ours, Jeter has played his entire career for one team.
Now, weight loss. How do the two connect?
Here’s my facebook post: Congratulations to Derek Jeter on his 3000th hit as a New York Yankee! His career is about the drive for excellence and talent, but I admire his consistency for 17 years!
And, if you’ve heard me give a speech or presentation on permanent weight loss, you know I stress one thing above all others. Consistency.
That’s the magic word, and let’s face it, it’s magic in just about any endeavor in life.
Jeter does have talent. His abilities are in-born, or God-given. We don’t get any choice about the natural talents we possess in life.
And he had drive. One of the things that impresses me the most about him is the way he sets goals. Here was a kid who didn’t just say he was going to play in the major leagues — a good enough goal for practically any little leaguer! No, Jeter decided at the age of 8 he was going to play in the major leagues AND he was going to play shortstop for the New York Yankees. No just any team… the Yankees, his team.
To me, it’s damned impressive he made that happen.
But 3000 hits never happened to any Yankee before Saturday. Many greats fall short of that milestone. To accomplish that feat, he needed to stay healthy, be lucky, have focus AND be one of the most consistent players in the history of the game. in order to build that consistency, he had to be able to deal with anything that got in his way: errors, hitting droughts, negative press, negative fans, injuries…
What he said at the post-game press conference might have come from a coach: “You’re going to have good days, good weeks and good years. And you’re going to have bad days, bad weeks and bad years. I have a short memory. You have to have a short memory. I can’t change anything that happened up until this point. I just have to keep moving forward.”
Just about anybody can get a hit and it’s pretty common to lose weight.
But permanent weight loss is like 3000 hits. You have to stay in the game, no matter what, for the bigger reward.
