In the film Bull Durham, a realistic and smart comedy about the charming grind that is minor league baseball, a number of philosophical baseballisms are said. One of them, given to young fireball pitcher Nuke Laloosh by wily veteran catcher Crash Davis, is this:
Well I think the writer of Bull Durham, Mr. Ron Shelton, may have gotten his inspiration for that pearl of wisdom from legendary pitcher Satchel Paige. I was putting together an Instagram post today – Satchel was born on June 6, 1906 – and used a quote:
All of a sudden the connection clicked! The two quotes are so similar, my bet is definitely that Shelton, while writing and looking for inspiration, came across Paige's wise words and adapted them for the screen!
My understanding of the quote(s)? Baseball is much like life; yes there are highs and lows, but it’s really all about the process. (And many of life's issues are out of our hands anyway.) We just have to show up each day, that's the most important thing. Wise indeed. Thanks for the incite, Satchel, and Happy (Heavenly) Birthday!