99.9% vs. 100%

Is not giving your 100% best effort every pitch, every out, every inning of every game acceptable? Perhaps it's just me, but nothing upsets me more than seeing a ball player lack hustle and not respect the game by giving his full out effort. For example, in any given 9 inning baseball game, a batter might come up to the plate an average of 4 times per game. This means he is required to SPRINT and run as hard as he can down the first base line four times. Baseball is a game of intense patience. Fielders stand at their position waiting for the ball to be hit to them, hitters wait in the dugout until its their turn to bat, testing the patience and intensity of each player, ensuring he is focused for his opportunity that may come at any given moment. It is a game within a game and requires quick bursts of energy. So why is it many kids nowadays do not play the game at a level of 100%? What ever happened to players like Pete Rose who gave meaning to the word "hustle"? Is the game filled with too many "style" guys like Manny Ramirez who only care about how long their hair is, how many wrist bands they can wear and making sure their baggy pants fit over their shoes?

My point here isn't to ramble, but simply bring back attention to detail and ultimately the old school way of respecting the game. Play it as it is meant to be played. Play it for those who have played before us and made it a legendary game. Play it for those fighting in Iraq giving up their lives for us to play this game in a free country. Play it for those battling cancer or who are stuck in a wheel chair that would give anything to trade places with you. Put things in a different perspective?

So I challenge the thought, is giving 99.9% good enough? Is running out every ground ball hit, except one, tolerable? Is having complete focus on every pitch, every ground ball or every pop fly too much to ask for?

Let me put it this way. If we accepted 99.9% as being "satisfactory" then the following examples would occur:

* 2 million documents would be lost by the IRS this year.
* 22,000 checks would be deducted from the wrong bank account in the next 60 minutes.
* 1,314 calls would be misplaced by phone companies each minute.
* 1 million credit card holders would have the wrong customer information.
* 12 babies would be delivered to the wrong parents every day.

So again, I pose the question-- is giving 99.9% good enough? It is our job as coaches, trainers, mentors, parents or anything of the like to demand 100% effort out of our kids. No longer should we sit back, turn our heads the other way when we see a kid disrespecting the game. This can come in many forms whether it be lack of hustle, throwing a pity party, wearing too much flair and caring about his style instead of his performance, and many other examples we could list. Just think that by simply hustling out ONE ground ball and beating the throw, or hustling out ONE pop fly to the infield that happens to drop, or focusing on ONE more pitch to paint the outside corner--of what it could do to the game. What if by consistently doing these things resulted in just ONE extra win all season long? And that win meant the difference between making the playoffs or not... Now doesn't that put things into perspective?

And if we don't take action now, and teach these kids to play the game right and to respect the game--then we are failing as teachers. If we let them know that giving 99.9% effort and hearing them say "yea, but coach, I pretty much gave it my all" is not going to be tolerated, then this will ultimately trickle down into their adult character. If we do not take action and stand firm, we're essentially teaching our kids that ignoring these principles is okay and when they're older it will flow into their job, their family life and so on. As Pete Rose said, "you owe it to yourself to be the best you can possibly be in baseball and in life".