Why We Need Inspiration

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As baseball season is ending, I’m happily aware that the Cleveland Guardians are in the Central Division Playoffs of the American League. Some pundits say they have a great chance to go all the way to the World Series. I’m very hopeful for that. If they do get that far, chances are they will face the Los Angeles Dodgers and what a challenge that will be. We have excellent pitching and a stellar relief system. We have Jose Ramirez who only missed becoming part of the 40/40 Club because of a game cancellation due to rain – the last game of the season thus denying Ramirez of his season’s achievement of 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases. But he did have 41 steals and 39 doubles leaving him one short of being just the second player with 40 homers, 40 doubles, and 40 steals in one season! “Hey, I’ll do it next year,” he said with cheerful anticipation. We also have Steven Kwan, the versatile outfielder who started his career as an amazing hitter surprising himself as well as he leapt into the majors only two years ago. We have remarkable team players, and our first-year manager Stephen Vogt is a class act. 

But Los Angeles has Shohei Ohtani, a god who has appeared from Mount Olympus, the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in one season. In a recent game against Miami, Ohtani hit three home runs and drove in 10 runs. I have read that sports writers have called that game the greatest single game in the greatest single season in Major League Baseball’s 121-year history! 

And, to top it off, he is a pitcher!! He doesn’t play in every game! Not since Babe Ruth, one writer put it, has such a great pitcher been also a great hitter and a great base runner.

We can learn something from this says Brad Stulberg, a writer who studies transformative practices to success. Something in outstanding athletes gives inspiration to the rest of us. We may not be able to achieve the feats they achieve, but we can aspire to do more than we do. We can aspire to go beyond our accepted limits. Stulberg says, “we feel good when we channel our innate drive for progress into pursuing our own goals, whether it’s starting a business, writing a book, or running a marathon.” Stulberg cites psychologists Richard Ryan and Edward Deci who developed what they call, self-determination theory. Self-determination can be traced back to the effort one exerts in a challenge; this effort is “one of the core needs for humans to flourish.” 

Self-determination also “explains why we are attracted to greatness in others and feel invigorated when we try it ourselves. It is most satisfying when it is connected to something larger than ourselves, like a team, a tradition, or a lineage.” I remember reading that President Richard Nixon once said that to be happy one has to be dedicated to something larger than oneself. Ryan and Deci say the same thing. 

When someone does something extraordinarily well, says Stulberg, “it can serve to connect us to our potential for greatness in ways both large and small.” That’s what we can learn from amazing athletes. It’s probably why we should teach the young the reasons to stand in awe of the achievements of such persons. They didn’t get to their goals only by dreaming; they got there through extremely hard work and discipline, but it brought the best out of them as it can of us.

Reflection

Working hard and creatively on a team and with an effort to make a viable community of that team is a major part of self-determination. No one can be great doing it all alone. Reflect on the early Christian community, the tireless preaching and working to new converts. Each community, whether it is of faith, society or sports, needs people who can and will excel by honing personal skills, by constantly practicing those skills and by eliciting the advice and work of teammates to reach a common goal. If that effort is relentless in its drive, it will succeed, and the community will be stronger and more committed to its goals. 

Jose Ramirez is not discouraged that he literally missed the outstanding apex of the 40/40 Club all because of a rained-out game. He didn’t see himself as cheated. He definitely would have won the accolade had he played that game. That makes him a champion in my book. He will lace his shoes up next summer; he will practice his hitting game. But he will be one year older, perhaps a little slower, maybe a tiny bit less powerful with his swing. We’ll see. But  he’ll be there; he has insisted on a Cleveland contract even though he could have taken more money to go elsewhere.

And maybe – oh, please dear Lord – let the stars be in alignment and your favor on our Guardians to bring them to the World Series and win it!!!

For this week, think about how God is calling you to develop more self-determination and go out of your comfort zone to develop some of the talents and interests you have kept inside all these years. How can you resolve to be more self-determined?

Quotes are taken from “Watch Ohtani and Learn” by Brad Stulberg, New York Times, Sunday, September 29, 2024, p. 11.