Book Review of “Born to Play” — (20/52)
Dustin Pedroia’s autobiography details his underdog’s journey to baseball fame and glory
Dustin Pedroia has accomplished some giant feats during his years playing for the Boston Red Sox. In Dustin’s rookie season for the Sox in 2007, he won Rookie of the Year and helped bring a second World Series championship to the New England area. For eighty-six years (1918 to 2004), the Red Sox did not win a World Series title. Then, in a span of three years, they won twice!
The next year, in 2008, surpassing all expectations, Pedroia won the MVP (Most Valuable Player) Award by posting a 0.326 batting average, 17 home runs, and 83 RBIs. In just his first two years in the league, “Pedro” (as Pedroia is affectionately called) took the big leagues by a storm.
But, it was quite an enthralling feat since these feats of epic proportions were being churned out by a diminutive ballplayer in Dustin Pedroia. Dustin’s autobiography, Born to Play, taps into the long, arduous journey that Pedroia has to undergo in order to make it to the pinnacle of baseball. Having a small frame and a tiny stature, Pedroia faced tremendously long odds on his uphill battle towards being recognized.
A common thread throughout Born to Play is that Pedroia plays with amazing poise and tenacity, which lead to great feats on the baseball fields; however, scouts and coaches still can’t bring themselves to seriously believe that Pedroia, given his body’s composition (short and stocky), could produce these performances.
But, thankfully, always being told he was “too short” or that he didn’t have the “correct” body type for a future big leaguer didn’t faze Pedro. Instead, scouts and coaches would come to learn that “if [they] told [Pedroia] he couldn’t do it, he was going to go ahead and show [them] that he could.”
I especially enjoyed this part of Pedroia’s “Eff You” personality when it came to proving his doubters wrong by putting up great performances on the field rather than running his mouth. Simply put, his feats on the baseball field would always convince the doubters of how wrong they had been to not give Dustin Pedroia a chance to play for their team.
No need to talk about how great you are, your work will do it for you.
Baseball
Pedroia, being a hitter, talks at length throughout the book about the vicissitudes and thrills of the sport he loves.
“The game’s so stressful. Baseball is built around failure: even if you’re a great hitter, you fail seven times out of ten. I know that and understand that.”
Having to overcome that failure and the fear of failure is a key rite of passage for all of the great baseball players. They all come to realize that failures, slumps, and downturns are an in-built part of the game. This is why mental fortitude, heart, and determination go exceedingly long ways in separating the “greats” from everybody else.
Perception is also a key component of baseball success (or failure). For example, in April of his rookie season, Pedroia was going through a rough start to the season where hitting was concerned. He was batting roughly .150 for the first month; however, he always kept a positive attitude and eventually got out of the slump by having an amazing May. From there, he didn’t look back and eventually won Rookie of the Year and led the Red Sox to their second championship in three years.
Pedroia knew that everyone else around him were constantly criticizing him for his paltry .150 batting average at the start of his rookie season, but he also knew that if a few more of his ground outs had fallen as hits, then he would have easily been batting .270 in that same month. And, all of Boston would have been showering the young Pedroia with praise (instead of the copious amounts of ridicule they showed in reality).
Baseball is a game that asks a lot from its players, but, most of all, it asks that players play it with the “long run” in mind. Over the course of a 162 game season (plus playoffs), if a player gets too bogged down in the daily ups and downs, then it will become too emotional and cumbersome of a burden to consistently put up great performances. Basically, one can very well over-think their way out of baseball.
I believe life is the same way. While we should be living in the moment and making the most of each day as it comes, we should also be cognizant of the “long view” of things. This means not getting too down on ourselves when we keep failing. It also means not getting too excited or unfocused when we achieve great success.
For Dustin Pedroia, baseball has been a boon. He gravitated towards the sport from a very young age and hasn’t looked back. As he continues his ascension to the annals of baseball, he also continues to prove his remaining doubters wrong by letting his on-field performances do the talking. For his fans, he serves as a beacon of hope and a positive, glowing reminder as to what can happen when an undersized, underdog player shows the dogged ferocity of his desire to be the very best that he can be.
Dustin Pedroia’s career statistics (accurate as of Saturday, June 27th, 2015):
Sources
Pedroia, Dustin, and Edward J. Delaney. Born to Play: My Life in the Game. New York: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2009. Print.
Notes
This is the TWENTIETH post (out of 52 in total eventually) that is a part of my 2015 Book Reading Challenge.
If you enjoyed this post, then please hit the green “Recommend” button below — thanks in advance!
