“I want to be like Mike”

This past week we all were able to celebrate with the Los Angeles Dodgers as they won the 2020 baseball World Series right here in Arlington, Texas. I was happy for them as a team, but I am excited for a member of their pitching staff, #22 Clayton Keshaw. He is a great left-handed pitcher who many think will be a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee, and this was his first World Series victory.
As I watched the games of the World Series, the thought occurred to me that of all the games that I have been watching, I have never seen the best Baseball player of our time ever play a game. I know that for most of my readers, we can collectively say that we have never seen him play a complete game. The player I am speaking of is Mike Trout.
Mike plays for the Los Angeles Angels Baseball team. When I say he is the best baseball player of our time, this is what I mean. Mike was in the first round of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. He was unanimously named Rookie of the Year in 2012.
Mike is viewed by many as one of the most outstanding young players in the history of baseball. As well as one of the best current players in all of MLB. His list of personal achievements is not only long and illustrious, but these achievements are in some very distinguished rarefied air. These are just a few of his highlights and awards:
– 8 times selected as an All-Star
– 3-time American League MVP (and finished second four times),
– American League Rookie of the Year
– 7-time Silver Slugger Award
– 2-time American League Hank Aaron Award
– Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award
– American League RBI leader
– American League stolen base leader
– Member of the 30-30 Club
– And he hit for the cycle on May 21, 2013.
For four years, he led the American League in the categories of Times on Base and the number of runs scored. In 2019 he led all major league Baseball players in career slugging percentage, on-base percentage, and stolen base percentage.
To top-it-off and add to this stellar career, Mike Trout went on to sign, in 2019, a 12 year $426 million contract which, at the time, was the richest contract in the history of North American sports and professional sports in general. That is, over the next 12 years, Mike Trout will make about $36 million per year.

I am telling you all of this so I can say that there is a player that is one of the greatest of all times, yet not many baseball fans will ever see him play a game. Oh, we may see some of his highlights during a sports show, and we may see him make an appearance in one of his many All-Star games, but he plays in obscurity.
Mike is the best player that most will never see. Mike Trout, while on the field, runs faster, swings harder, hits further and catches more fly balls than any other player in the game, yet few fans will ever see him play. I wonder if anyone ever told him this; that he is playing and putting out effort as if the whole world is watching him when, in reality, not many are watching at all.

Now, what about us?
We may not have All-Star stats or headed to the Hall of Fame, and we may not be an outstanding member of the elite 30-30 Club. We may never make $36 million a year. And, many may be thinking, “Yes, I am just like Mike Trout; no one ever notices me or sees the work that I do.” But I want to ask, irrespective of who sees you, are you working as hard as Mike Trout plays? Are you doing your job in such a way that it does not matter who sees you or who notices you? Are you working at your task to do a great job or just working to be noticed?
Are you working with the hopes of gaining popularity? I trust that as you continue to become a quality Craftsman at whatever your job may be that you are putting forth an effort worthy of the Hall of Fame – regardless of who may be watching!