Guest commentary: Business and baseball go hand-in-glove
By Ritch K. Eich
I kinda grew up with a baseball and a glove in my hands. I was naturally left-handed, but I used a right-hander’s baseball glove until I played first base in youth baseball. I was about 10 years old when I got my first real first baseman’s mitt designed for southpaws.
As a kid, I loved nothing more than playing first base. I thrived on being in the middle of the action and having to constantly anticipate what to do with the ball wherever it was hit, as well as making sure all the infielders did, too.
I have often thought that when Pulitzer Prize-winning sportswriter Red Smith typed the words, “Ninety feet between home plate and first base may be the closest man has ever come to perfection,” he was speaking for me.
I grew up in Marysville, a Northern California town that enjoys a long and storied history in the baseball world going back well before the Civil War period. Historically, baseball was a big thing in Marysville.
It was played “by the men who made up the community: mill workers, accountants, salespersons, clerks, farmers, and attorneys. Looking at the yellowing pictures of them suited up for a game, you can see the common man elevated to the role of local hero,” according to Michael Jang’s 2003 book, “The Local Nine: A History of Baseball in Marysville, California.”
Baseball also is in my family tree.
In 1921, to paraphrase Jang, a local baseball team called the Marysville Merchants was the first baseball team in history to take an airplane flight to a game 40 miles away.
Baseball history was made in my hometown when these passengers — including my grandfather and team manager Harvey D. Eich, the Yuba County Treasurer, my great-uncles Warren and Allen Eich and my father, Wilton H. Eich, the bat boy — boarded a twin-engine biplane before a large crowd of spectators and newsreel cameramen and flew from Gridley to Woodland, CA.
The Merchants lost the game, but the trip is recorded for posterity in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
BASEBALL AND THE BUSINESS WORLD
There are many parallels between baseball and the American business world. Both are competitive and goal-driven. Success requires sustained performance at the highest level. Collaboration and teamwork are imperative.
And, many of the same qualities and values that lead to success in baseball also lead to success in business. On the field and in the boardroom, tenacity, perseverance, diligence, enthusiasm, listening, preparation, and dedication are important.
I learned many lessons and values from playing sports, which also apply to the business world. I was taught to fit in where needed, be an unselfish player, constantly seek to improve, share the successes, and strive to overcome failure.
My parents emphasized being courteous, practicing the Golden Rule consistently, being prepared, never losing your temper, and being a team player. They also taught me that when you are tired, dig deeper.
BASEBALL LINGO IN BUSINESS CULTURE
Baseball, our “national pastime,” has also ingrained itself into the culture of America’s business world in terms of language.
If you have ever played any form of the game, your vocabulary has no doubt expanded significantly, as baseball metaphors are frequently used in the business world for clarity, emphasis, and interest.
Here are 10 phrases from baseball that are commonly heard from the broadcast booth to the boardroom, from the pitching mound to mahogany row, and from the steps of the dugout to the shop floor:
• Rain check: to postpone an event or take up an invitation later
• Thrown a curveball: to get an unpleasant surprise
• Out of left field: something unexpected
• Play hardball: to be strong in advancing one’s position
• Hit a home run: to achieve success
• Cover the bases: ensure the execution has achieved its goals
• Step up to the plate: accept a challenge
• On deck: next in line
• Right off the bat: immediate
• A ballpark figure: an estimated worth
Real leaders in baseball and business must always be “on their toes.” You never know when your boss is going to alter the “starting line-up” or when competitive pressures will force you to go “extra innings.”
• Ritch K. Eich is the former chief of public relations for Blue Shield of California and former board chairman of the Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks.
