Go Big or Go Home
In keeping with the theme of my favorite sport I borrowed the “.406” from one of my favorite players growing up as a kid, Theodore Samuel “Ted” Williams.
If you are a baseball fan you know that Ted played in the American League in the days when they played genuine baseball. You know like the National League does today. If you are a real fan you also know that Ted was the last player to bat over .400 in the last 75+ years!
If you are a really big baseball fan you will know the circumstances behind how he achieved this great milestone. You will also know that when you do a Google search on “Ted Williams” there is no shortage of articles and stats on “The Splendid Splinter”.
You see on the last day of the season Ted was batting .39955. All he needed to do on that Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia was sit on the bench. His .39955 average would be rounded up to .400 and all would be good with the baseball gods.
HOWEVER, all would have not been good for Ted. You see Ted would always know that .39955 was not .400. The Sporting News quoted that Ted had declared, “I want to have more than my toenails on the line.” So without any fanfare (from Ted) he played both games of a double header that day, went 6-for-8 and ended up with a .40570 average. Which by the way, he had no problem rounding up to .406!
No matter where you are in the endless metaphors of business and baseball I’m here to help you get your toes over the line!
*Some Perspective:
1941 was Ted’s 3rd year of his 19 seasons in baseball
AND he finished second to Joe DiMaggio in the Most Valuable Player voting.
AND Bob Feller finished right behind Ted after having a 25 and 13 season with a 3.15 ERA.
AND (I promise this is the last one) starting in 1943 served three years in the US Navy and US Marine Corps during World War II.