Long time ago my dad would tell me to keep my mouth shut and play hard. Kind of a simple thought. Been doing it ever since. If you don't know what I am talking about then maybe you need this post more than anyone. If you are reading this and you have a really good baseball (or other sport) son or daughter maybe this is the message they need before they enter high school or college. Be seen not heard. If you are good at what you do people will know. You don't have to tell people. My folks would say let your bat do the talking. Of course when I was younger I had no idea what they meant. However, now I know. Nobody wants to hear how good you think you are. Stay humble.
Teammates don't need to brag on what they have done or can do...just do it. (Sorry Nike). Show up, shut up and play. The only people you have to talk to while you are competing is your coaches and teammates. I remember like it was yesterday when my high school coach, Coach Hudgins would tell us we don't talk to the umpires, we don't talk to the other coaches and we don't talk to the other team. Never really new why but coach said not to so we didn't, well at least I didn't. I am sure it was about staying focused on the task at hand and not being distracted from playing the game. I don't really think that there was much that could distract me from playing because for the first third of my life, playing ball is all I wanted to do.
As for not talking to umpires - this seems to have gone by the wayside. I see players at all levels chatting it up with the guys in blue. All I can think is how many Burma Roads we would have to run at practice the next day if Coach Hudgins saw us talking to one of the umpires. Anyway I'm not just talking about casual conversion. I really mean about talking to an umpire is about his judgement on a specific call. Just in case you are missing the point you don't have to use words to converse with he umpire. They can read lips and body language. Umpires can be very easily upset with the way you carry yourself after a call or the way your shoulders slump or your facial expression. If a call doesn't go you way then grin and bear it. That's what I mean about being seen and not heard. Bad calls happen, get over it. The more you dwell on that one bad call the worse you are going to feel about it. Let it go and play ball (or whatever). Oh yeah and tell your crazy parent or guardian that nobody want to hear them belly aching about a call either.
Coach Bale
