Being a Champ

bydaniel44

769 followers

12 years ago

Excuse the sports blog if you’re not into baseball, but this hits close to home with my home team.

The Cy Young award is an honour that is annually given to the best pitcher in Major League Baseball for the American League and the National League. It was announced today that Roy Halladay announced his retirement after 16 years of baseball. He played his last four years with the Philadelphia Phillies. He started his career with the Toronto Blue Jays and decided he wanted to retire as a Blue Jay.

He was drafted 17^th overall in 1995, a few years after the Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series. He quoted, "But to me the biggest thing was had I not been fortunate enough to come up with the Blue Jays and have the people around me that I did and have the people develop me that I did I would've never had that chance."

He was traded to Philadelphia for the chance to win the World Series. He did his part in his first year in Philadelphia: No-Hitter against the Marlins in May, no-hitter in the playoffs against Cincinnati. He didn’t win the coved World Series Championship, but I appreciate his comment on his support team to help him develop to be one of the best pitchers in the Major Leagues.

Roy had a fairly good year in his first full season in 1999 at 8-7 with an ERA of 3.92, but had a disastrous 2000 with a 4-7 record and an ERA of 10.64. He was sent back to minors and the coaches worked on his mechanics. Some teams can trade young talent that doesn’t come around for veterans who have a track record. By 2002, he had a 19-7 record with an ERA of 2.93 and was voted as an all-star. The next year, he was an all-star and won the Cy Young Award. Except for 2004, where he had been on the disabled list twice due to shoulder soreness, he went on to become an all-star 6 more times, voted as a candidate for the Cy-Young award times, and voted twice as an MVP candidate.

He is known for his work ethic and his ability to pitch no less than 220 innings from 2006 to 2011.

I love his story of his struggles and how he never gave up. He didn’t win the World Series, but he is content and grateful of the opportunity that he had been given by the organization. He became an elite pitcher by the effort he put into his craft. It took Roy energy time and focus to become good enough to be an all-star and a Cy Young winner. I know that this is one of may success stories, but this one is close to home.

Think of the time and effort that you are putting into your online business before giving up. Much like the minor leagues, we need to work on the basics and mechanics of internet marketing. Eventually, you can get to the big leagues.