SUCCESS STORY
Bryce Harper: Quiet Confidence
By: Jake Hokanson | Business and Entrepreneurship
Extroverts today seemingly dominate the world. They occupy all the empowering jobs, and they seem to be smarter and put on a pedestal by all of their peers and the owners of jobs they are after. Giving introverts less hope to find who they are in the world. Along with the shy tendencies they already possess if you couple that with extroverts being favored in the workplace, introverts can be brought down in spirit significantly. According to Susan Cain, in what Forbes describes as a must read book, Quiet, most of the business jobs are given to extroverts, along with a number of opportunities for them to create great experiences for themselves, simply because they make themselves appear intelligent by displaying confidence in the workplace. They do so by begin vocal and asserting. This kind of treatment that extroverts receive is simply because they are born with certain personalities, which more often than not leaves introverts with whatever jobs and opportunities that are left behind. It’s a sad reality, but it is what the world has been coming to in recent years. However, there is hope for introverts given in recent works that make it seem like being an introvert isn’t so bad.
The baseball world is experiencing a new kind of talent, unlike any other talent anyone has seen before. Featuring more heart, and passion for the game. This man is a new upcoming star named Bryce Harper. Harper is a 22-year-old converted outfielder from Las Vegas, Nevada, currently playing for the Washington Nationals. He is the son of proud mother and father Sheri and Ron Harper. Thanks to this aspiring baseball star, the logic made about extroverts is being defied. By making the decision to use the powers of being an introvert in his favor, he is making himself a standout on the biggest stage of baseball, despite the fact that he is not given some qualities that extroverts possess that make it easier. In a league full grown men he blends right in with them, despite being in the league as a teenager. But he didn’t get there just any way, he wanted to be a star more than anybody else, so he made it routine to practice as much as he could. He would dwell for hours a day, with the hopes of making himself the best baseball player he could be, and he did so, while defying the points made by Susan Cain in the process, giving introverts everywhere a better name and a reason to strive for the things they want to be in life, and to do the things they feel they could not before. Bryce Harper is an outlier, which is defined by Malcolm Gladwell in his famous book Outliers as a scientific term to describe things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience (Gladwell, Malcom). Gladwell describes these heroes to have climbed to the top of their respective professional hills by either putting in 10,000 hours of work, or being given special opportunities that would help fate bring them to the top, or even a combination of both. The question that we present ourselves is whether or not we can credit Bryce Harper on his 10,000 hours of work, or if he is an example of a natural talent that found it’s way to the top like everyone else.
One of the things mentioned in Susan Cain’s book Quiet is the fact that introverts find their energy in quiet solitude. Where as extroverts feed off of other people’s energy. In the case of baseball players, the team aspect of the game brings out a lot of energy. According to a Human Kinetics excerpt about coaching baseball, it is important that you coach your team, with the thought of all your players being different. Some players seek energy and motivation form their teammates One player that is very unique as far as attitude and work ethic (HK Excerpt). In just his 4th year in the Major Leagues, he has made a name for himself as one of the game’s elite stars, by reaching copious milestones at a very young age, among which include joining a small list of players that have hit twenty homeruns before the age of twenty. Harper’s success is due to the fact that the Nationals drafted him at the age of 17, so his development in the minor leagues happened at a very young age, as he made his MLB debut at the age of 19. But Harper’s success at a young age is no mystery, sure, God has blessed him with the opportunity to play this game, but Harper took his talents and spent hours trying to make himself better. Harper has the drive and the will to succeed, but he is not like the rest of his teammates.
While Harper is an introvert, he displays very unique qualities. When he is either on or off the baseball field Harper demonstrates uncharacteristic traits for the introvert that he is. When he is in the heat of competition he almost flips a switch, instantly becoming the loudest, most pumped up player in the dugout. Unlike other teammates he has played with over the years, like Stephen Strasberg and Adam Laroche, who are both identified in a Facebook article posted by Susan Cain, as players who exhibit some of the most common introverted traits on and off the field. During games, introverts often keep to themselves. Back in Bryce’s time in the minor leagues, as he and Stephen Strasburg were going through the road to the show together, Harper says that Strasburg isn’t one to speak much (Nats Equirer). In a similar article done by Thomas Boswell following the nationals 2012 season, Boswell identifies Strasburg as the type to golf by himself at 6:00am, simply because he enjoys the time alone, and doesn’t feel the need for company. On the field, he won’t speak during his innings on the mound and will have little to say during his at bats. While Harper is locked in, and he is being his animated self on the field, while he displays quieter more introverted tendencies off the field. While in high school, you could see the introverted side to Harper and you could see how it helped him put in his 10,000 hours of practice. He finds his strength being in solitude, just him and baseball. After a weeklong tournament, he and his dad would go straight to the cages to hit. The afternoon would be silent, Bryce knew exactly what needed to be done, and he would go to work. Hitting pitch after pitch, making necessary adjustments as he sees he needs to, with his dad occasionally offering a suggestion, but nothing more. Eventually those hours would add up, did he get to 10,000? Who knows, but the practice is there and the heart is there. If you think he has heart as he stretches a single into a double, or beats out an infield hit, watch him strikeout. He will slam his bat on the ground, his strength will crush an unbroken bat as if it were a dead tree branch, and this is the display of passion that has given him the opportunity to live out his childhood dreams playing baseball.
It wasn’t just practice, baseball never stopped in the Harper house, it was all baseball all the time. As a young man, during his high school days, Harper would play in over 170 games a year, playing in as many as 10 games in a single weekend. According to his mother, he would come home from a long weekend of playing continuous baseball, with a dismal hour of downtime, the first thing he would say when he walked through the door was “Dad lets go hit.” (E:60). Satisfied with his play or not, Bryce is always doing everything he can to make himself a better player. If He needed to play long toss, on a day with golf ball sized hail and sewage water overflowing drainpipes in the street, Bryce would be outside playing catch, and his dad would be right by his side. His dad has been a great influence; the Washington Post has interviewed him with their regards to his hard work. The article is asking about his job as a builder in Las Vegas, Nevada. The article highlights the fact that Ron Harper (father) does everything the old fashion way, because he values doing his daily tasks with 100% effort. He is quoted numerous times repeating the phrase “Nothing replaces hard work.” (For the love of Bryce Harper). Hard work and practice is what helps us better attain success in the terms of Malcolm Gladwell, he is said so himself “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” (Outliers, pg.42).
This mentality has obviously rubbed off on his son, as the Washington fans watch the young 22 year-old outfielder give the game everything he possible can. He does the unthinkable; he has stolen home, gone from first to third on a ground out, made unbelievable catches and has hit multiple homeruns in a game on multiple occasions. He has taken the league by storm, and has already established himself as an elite defender, a threat on the base paths and the man who everyone stops what they are doing to watch. He has gotten to where he is like every other player does.
People wonder about Bryce Harper, and how he has gotten to where he has. His brother was drafted, and his father has had quite the influence on him, and his baseball instincts seem to flow naturally. People even bash Harper, despite all of his life accomplishments. But how this would rattle most people, it motivates Bryce to be a better player. He was quoted saying “I love the way people talk crap. I hear it all the time. ‘Overrated.’ ‘You suck.’ I’ll just do something to shut them up, like, ‘I’ll show you.” (Quotes Log). Which he has taken to heart, and progressively had better seasons every proceeding year. He is hated even among the league; he has been thrown at several times and is continuously booed upon arrival to the ballpark. However, everybody hates those who are on the top, they are going to do what they can to try and kick them off. Bryce has been on the bottom, and is now working his way to the top and taking the all-star treatment the best way he can.
However, you cannot discredit the hard work Bryce has given to the game, coupled with all the preparation he has put in to get to where he is. He is a living example of an outlier that Gladwell highlights in his book. And because of his hard work, he has been given opportunity after opportunity to prove his skills are superior, and has earned everything he has received. He has been tested at every level, and proved to be superior. Even in times of failure, he has found more drive and desire to overcome that failure to ensure that it never happens again. You cannot fall to the top of a mountain, you have to make the climb, and Bryce Harper has climbed to the top of his mountain, and now he is looking for another goal to accomplish.
Work Cited
Boswell, Thomas. “Washington Nationals have right personality to handle the long grind of a regular season.” Washington Post. Feb, 2013. April, 5 2015.
Smith, Jason E. “The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Cain, Susan.” Journal of Analytical Psychology. Volume 58, Issue no.1. Feb 2013. Pg. 144–146. Medium. March,13 2015.
Cain, Susan. “QUIET: Power of Introverts Written about Washington Nationals Clubhouse?” Facebook. April, 1 2015.
The Official Site of Major League Baseball- MLB.com Homepage. Bryce Harper Player Profile. MLB, LP. April, 3 2015
E:60 Bryce Harper. Dir. Richie Bisile. Bryce Harper, Ron Harper and Sheri Harper. ESPN. 2009.
Curran, Mike & Newhan, Ross. “Motivate Different types of baseball players.” Human Kinetics, Excerpts. 2006. Web May, 2, 2015
Harper, Bryce. Interview. “Harper doesn’t really talk to Stephen Strasburg.” Nats Equirer. July 22, 2011.
Cain, Susan. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a world that can’t stop talking. Crown Publishing Group, USA. January 24, 2012.
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. Little, Brown and Company. November 18, 2008.
Harper, Ron. Interview. “For the love of Bryce Harper.” June 13, 2013.
“Bryce Harper.” BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2015. 14 May 2015. http://www.brainyquote.com/citation/quotes/quotes/b/bryceharpe520128.html#MdoV47YrK6rticww.99
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jake Hokanson, a business and entrepreneurship major from Chanhassen, Minnesota, seeks to become owner of his own business. Hokanson likes all things baseball, competitive/fun games and being outside.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED
While reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, I learned that most of the elite hockey players in the world have birthdays earlier in the year.
College writing class taught me to write with a deeper level of honesty, because the best writers write what everyone else is afraid to write.
Write about something you care about. Don’t bore yourself by choosing to write a paper about Kenneth Cole if you don’t love Kenneth Cole. Especially if you have never heard of Kenneth Cole, or don’t know much about him.
Building suspense is a skill that good writers possess. Making the readers wait for the big news is what makes them want to continue reading.
Using original power verbs can make your papers unique and more interesting to read. Anything you can do to further engage your readers you should do. Instead of “Brandon ran to class” maybe say “Brandon desperately bolted to class.”
College writing taught me to use juxtapositions, two unrelated things contrasting each other can make your readers think, which is good.
Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers has also taught me that you can be great at anything, but it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become great.
Be sure to know what to leave out when it comes to writing, because text that isn’t necessary will just disengage your readers.
Be as specific as you can. It is better to be specific as opposed to general. General writing can be boring.
Susan Cain’s book Quiet revealed to me that judgment can hold back people’s true abilities. An NCAA basketball game was played with no spectators, and it was reportedly the best game played that season for both teams.
Use original comparisons. There are a handful of comparisons that everyone has heard, like: “It was as easy as pie.” This course has taught me to make comparisons that haven’t been made before: “It was as easy as peeling an orange.”
There is no judgment in the writing covenant, and everyone is free and encouraged to read what they have written. You are sharing your work, and you should be proud of it.
Finish where you start. If your writing can make a full circle, it will help readers to better understand your work, which in turn will make your writing more appealing.
Do not start a paragraph with a quote. Start it with a question, an anecdote story, or a hook that will make your readers want to continue reading.
Some of the most successful people in the world only made it to where they are because they have been given unique opportunities. Being in the right place at the right time can be the defining moment in your life, and create you an opportunity like none other.
Name the dogs. If somebody were to die, and be found the next day in a ditch, hearing that may not get the response you want. However, if they die flipping their 1999 Ford F-150 Supercab into the median on highway 169, while heading north towards grandma’s retirement party, you might get some sympathy from your readers and make them actually care about this man who died, even if they do not know him.
It’s 1:30pm, in the midst of all the horror of finals week. Jake Hokanson’s dream summer job has finally given him an interview. Sitting and waiting frantically for whom Jake hopes to be his future boss, there is not a positive thought running through his mind. Continuing to replay over and over again the time he shorthanded Mr. Boegarts during the handshake, or the time Jake was so nervous to answer Mr. Boegarts’ question about grades that he let out a fart while staring directly Mr. Boegarts’ old wrinkly face, leaving him hopeless and miserable at the site of being unemployed for the 3rd summer in a row. The most important thing I learned during my time in this course is to drop readers in a moment. It is the best way to get them hooked in your work, to make them want to continue reading your piece.
