We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Bonus: Change is often rejuvenating, invigorating, fun….and necessary. – Lynn Povich
Christian Book Reviews, Self Improvement, Positivity
by Joi 4 Comments
After I hit a home run I had a habit of running the bases with my head down. I figured the pitcher already felt bad enough without me showing him up rounding the bases. – Mickey Mantle
If there’s a better illustration of character, than the quote above gives, I’d love to see it. In an era where most athletes love nothing more than gloating and showboating, Mickey Mantle could teach everyone a thing or two (or a gazillion) about what it really means to have character as well as talent. After all, the talent will fade eventually whereas character never has to go anywhere.
As we lead up to Baseball season (I’m as big a baseball fan as you’ll ever find – whether it’s my St. Louis Cardinals or any random team, if there’s a baseball game on tv or the radio, you’ll know where to find me), I thought it’d be fun to look at a different baseball player each week and learn a little more about them. I’ve pulled out some fantastic quotes and stories from some of these men and I know you’ll enjoy them, whether you’re a baseball fan or not. (If you aren’t a baseball fan, please don’t tell me. I… I… don’t want to see you like that.)
Mickey Mantle was born in 1931 in Spavinaw, Oklahoma – a small town put on the map by the baseball giant. Mickey’s parents were Elvin Charles Mantle and Lovell Mantle. Mickey’s dad, a huge baseball fan, named his son after Mickey Cochrane, a Hall of Fame catcher for the, then, Philadelphia Athletics.
Mickey Mantle always spoke very highly and lovingly of his father, calling him the bravest man he ever knew. “No boy ever loved his father more,” he said. Tragically, his father died of cancer in 1952 at the ridiculously young age of 39. To compound the tragedy, he died just as his son’s amazing career was just getting started.
“A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide.” – Mickey Mantle
Mickey Mantle was called up to the majors on April 7, 1951. How’s this for high praise? – Joe DiMaggio, in his final season, called Mantle, “the greatest prospect I can remember.”
After a bit of a slump, Mantle was sent down to the Yankees’ top farm team, the Kansas City Blues. Possibly due to frustrations and putting too much pressure on himself, Mickey struggled and became so overwhelmed that he was ready to throw in the proverbial towel. He even called his father one day and told him, “I don’t think I can play baseball anymore.” Like any good father would, his dad drove up to Kansas City that very day. When he arrived, Mickey remembered that he said, “I thought I raised a man. I see I raised a coward instead. You can come back to Oklahoma and work the mines with me.”
The mines never saw the younger Mantle.
Mickey immediately broke out of his slump and after 40 games, he was called back to New York. For good.
The great number 7 was retired by the New York Yankees in Mickey Mantle’s honor and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974, as soon as he was eligible.
“I hated to bat against (Don) Drysdale. After he hit you he’d come around, look at the bruise on your arm and say, ‘Do you want me to sign it?'” – Mickey Mantle
Unfortunately, even great baseball players have their demons and Mickey’s was alcoholism. He sought treatment and got the upper hand on the demon. Sportscaster Pat Summerall was one of the main people who urged him to go to The Betty Ford Clinic.
Mickey Mantle spoke with great, deep-seeded remorse and heartache about his alcoholism in a 1994 Sports Illustrated story. He said that he was telling the same old stories, and realizing how much of them involved himself and others being drunk, and he decided they weren’t funny anymore.
“It was all I lived for, to play baseball.” – Mickey Mantle
He acknowledged that alcohol had caused him to often be hurtful or neglectful to his family, friends, and fans, and that he wanted to make things right.
Mickey Mantle became a born-again Christian thanks, in part, to his former teammate Bobby Richardson, an ordained Baptist minister who shared his faith with him.
Mickey died in Dallas on August 13, 1995. During the first Yankee home game after his death, Eddie Layton played “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” on the organ because Mickey had once told him it was his favorite song.
In his eulogy, sportscaster Bob Costas described Mickey Mantle as “a fragile hero to whom we had an emotional attachment so strong and lasting that it defied logic.” He added: “In the last year of his life, Mickey Mantle, always so hard on himself, finally came to accept and appreciate the distinction between a role model and a hero. The first, he often was not. The second, he always will be. And, in the end, people got it.”
“Somebody once asked me if I ever went up to the plate trying to hit a home run. I said, ‘Sure, every time.'” – Mickey Mantle
See Also: Quotes by Mickey Mantle
The game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds, and words return to us sooner or later with astounding accuracy. – Anonymous
Image Credit: Plus Magazine Living Mathematics (Bless them, they’re trying to make sense of math….)
by Joi 3 Comments
Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves. – U Thant
I’ve been thinking about respect lately. Not necessarily having respect for yourself and definitely not demanding respect from others. I’ve been thinking about respecting others and the blatant lack of this practice these days. I’m not a Pollyanna – I know we’ll all disagree with one another from time to time. I know there are some people who we’ll disagree with more often than we agree with them. Seriously, there are some individuals that I think would say grass was orange just to stir up a debate.
But this isn’t about the other person, is it? Respecting others begins in our own hearts and minds. If we consistently show a lack of respect toward others, the problem isn’t with them as much as it’s with us.
As you may know, I’m from the south – a fact that I’m very proud of… just as I’d be very proud to be from Minnesota or Iowa if my birth certificate boasted these states instead of Kentucky. I think that being from the south often gives one a different view of the world. Maybe it’s the way we’re raised and the way our ancestors were raised, I don’t know. Anyway, where I come from….
The list goes on, but these are simply things I grew up with. I suspect that many of you did as well – whether you’re from the north, south, east, or west.
Back to respect.
I am astounded lately at the number of people in the media, on blogs, in books, on television, and so on who show so much disrespect toward our Presidents – Whether it’s President Obama or recent Presidents Carter, Clinton, Bush Sr. or Bush Jr. I miss the day when people respected the office and the men in the office, whether they agreed with everything they stood for or not.
Yesterday, I was reading a really good (make that really, really, really good) book by an author who came across as highly intelligent, witty, and very gifted. Then, out of the blue, this author referred to one of our recent presidents as a “fool.” I re-read the passage again, to make sure I hadn’t taken it wrong. This wasn’t even a political book for crying out loud.
A President. In print. A fool. Not cool.
Men are respectable only as they respect. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Again, I know I have different opinions than many people (including this author) and I have an incredibly idealistic view of the world. I know that, I own it as surely as I own my obsession with chocolate. I admit, I don’t even care for the comedians who mock President Obama or Sarah Palin. I know that’s going too far on my part, but there you have it. I also didn’t like a particular magazine cover that displayed Mrs. Palin in shorts (looking like she’d been working on a farm), with a headline asking what we were going to do about her. Where’s the respect in that? You may not agree with everything she or President Obama do or say, but a level of respect isn’t so much to ask for.
After all, when we show respect to others it reflects directly upon us and the level of respect we command. Do you respect disrespectful people? Neither do I.
Something else, while I’m on a roll. I hate the unprofessional manner that a lot of people are doing business online. To use your blog, forum, social media, or whatever platform to attack another person’s integrity, work, ethics, popularity, or even hairstyle (don’t know where that one came from to be honest) just isn’t cool. You know what it’s like? When one adult “calls out” another adult on their own turf, it’s like a 13 year old girl running down another 13 year old girl on her own MySpace. It’s her turf, she can say whatever she wants about the other girl – vent, baby, vent! What’s more, she can have her own friends respond and say, “You’re so right! I don’t like her either!”
But you can’t expect all 13 year old girls to have the maturity to take up disagreements and disputes face to face, without an audience.
Kids call names and try to create a “pick sides” atmosphere. Adults don’t. Adults shouldn’t.
Again, a lot of it comes down to our buzz word of the day: R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Now I guess you found out what it means to me…
What does it mean to you?
Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners. – Laurence Sterne
Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity. – St. Augustine
The second half of a man’s life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half. – Feodor Dostoevski
The best way to break a bad habit is to drop it. – Leo Aikma
New habits make new horizons. – Grenville Kleiser
Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time. – Mark Twain
Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables. – Spanish Proverb
More Quotes About Habits
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