Be Gentle, It's My First Time

BOSTON..Daniel Nava…swatted the very first pitch he saw from Phillies right-hander Joe Blanton and put it into the Boston bullpen in right-center field for a grand slam…."I was really small. I didn't grow until sophomore year of college. I really was 70 pounds. I couldn't go on the rides at the theme parks, I was so small."(as a freshman in high school)…With his grand slam off Joe Blanton in the second frame Saturday, Red Sox OF Daniel Nava became the fourth player in MLB history to hit one in his first career at-bat…."Nava is kind of a good story," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. "He's an independent league kid out of college -- he's hit everywhere he's been. There have been a lot of people in player development that have been talking about this kid for the last little while, saying, he can help you win games. So he's going to get a chance."

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100612&content_id=11104724&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

There are so few “make good” stories, nowadays, it’s refreshing to find one; especially in baseball. God, I hope they don’t find he was on steroids next year. We need to know that some people playing by the rules can truly be winners. There are so many “All About Eve” winners all over the place that you begin to wonder if the rules really have changed in the last fifty years. Can good guys really finish first in this present world?

If not then by all means I will happily be signed up as a loser. I have lived long enough to genuinely believe that virtue really is its own reward. I have paid really close attention and it seems that most of them, who win playing by “their own rules”, don’t live well in the consequences of their own rules.

Now I believe that I am among the few who are closely paying attention, and see the difference between “any win” and a “clean win.” Honestly I care more that the truth of that not change than seeing much of anything else, before I turn to dust. If this is a world where people who cheat and hurt others to “win” can truly prosper and enjoy the fruit of their labors, I hope I am dust-buster food before I recognize it.

Workplace Ethics: Winning the Integrity Revolution