David Wells pitched a perfect game.
David Wells.
If you know baseball, you realize how improbable that was.
I don’t know the man personally so I can only relate to you how it is described in the press.
Fat. Like to have a good time. Bombastic. All-Star. Bad boy.
You’ll notice that few of these descriptions indicate someone who likes to follow the rules.
If memory serves me right, the night before he pitched a perfect game, he was out drinking. A lot. My memory could be wrong but I think it’s right.
Today, he coaches high school baseball. Maybe his career could have been a little bit longer had he done things differently. But he knows what the right thing is to do and tries to pass on.
In an article about him, the writer observed him talking to his team.
“The head coach looks at his boys, his boys look back at him, and right here along the third baseline, another afternoon of teaching begins. In yesterday’s loss, Wells saw some letup and tentativeness that he is not happy with. Twenty-one outs, he tells the boys. You’ve got to go hard for every one of them. If you are tired, he implores, wait until after practice, or after the game, and then go home, make yourself a nice little bath and relax.”
He knows what the right thing is to do but chose not to do it very often over the course of his 21-year career.
What’s most interesting and the story is that the players on his high school team all want to know what is going to have a party at their house for them. They never ask him what’s going to make them better.
What was the last time you asked what is going to make you better? Are you just trying to get by and do just enough or are you still striving for excellence?
Recently, I referred to the Hall of Fame speech of Brandy Halliday, wife of Roy Halliday, who died piloting a plane while high.
“Sometimes, imperfect people do perfect things,” she said at his induction at the Hall of Fame. He was always known as a hard worker, striving to get better.
Striving to get better.
So many people these days have stopped doing that. Sometimes, it’s because they don’t think it makes a difference. They forget it makes a difference to themselves.
David Wells pitched a perfect game.
Just reading that one sentence about what is high school kids don’t ask and his awareness of it tells me exactly why he pitched a perfect game.
Ⓒ The Big Game Hunter, Inc., Asheville, NC 2020
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1900 episodes, and is a 
member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
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