THAT POSADA INSTINCT

I coach a bunch of little leaguers some of the time in my busy schedule.  I do it because I love the game and my son asked me to.  How do you say no to that? You don’t, you go all in. 

In one of the early practices, I mentioned Jorge Posada and his heart when he played the game. Only a few of the kids really knew what Jorge was all about or even who he was.  Some were young when Jorge played and others just say him once or twice but mostly heard from their dad.  Explaining heart isn’t easy, especially if it’s not part of your makeup. For some of these kids, they enjoy playing but they're not  there yet when it comes to "heart." Trust me though, that will change. 

I was able to isolate Jorge’s double in the 2003 ALCS against the Red Sox.  It’s probably my favorite hit by Jorge ever and I knew that if I showed that to them on my iPad, they’d get it. There he was standing on second base, screaming and shaking his fists.  Heart...there it was.

My players are kids. I never want to push anyone too hard at the age of 9 or 10, but at the same time, I want them to feel what winning is all about. After all, we already lost a few too, so winning consistently is something I’d like them to experience right now.  That demonstrates "team."  That demonstrates "unity" and when they start playing together, they start pushing each other.  But it’s that model that lets heart eek in and I’m starting to see it in my boys.

You know about my 10 year old and how I have always equated him to Jorge Posada.  Read MY SON HAS THAT POSADA FIRE for context on that. He watches everything on the field. If he strikes out, he'll think about it on the bench. He's into the game and now these other kids are watching every pitch too. They’re making the plays and when it comes together, they know they did something great… even if that "something" is as simple as firing a ball to first to get the 3^rd out of the inning.  Every little play is big in little league, because while the fundamentals need to happen, it’s the plays that don’t happen that can get you into trouble quick.  Luckily for me, I’m finding little Jorge Posada’s on my club… "Little Warriors" willing to do what they need to do to win. They swing hard now, they are aggressive on the bases and they get filthy with their slides to home.  It’s that Posada Instinct all coming true. Heart. 

Jorge Posada probably never imagined that he did anything out of the ordinary when he played the game, but he’d be wrong to think that. I always followed Jorge’s career since the beginning.  Why? Because people said he couldn’t, but he said he could and did.  That was always my trouble. I was small, I was never picked on the playground until the end and no one expected much out of me. 

But over time, I gained that confidence and while it was Rickey Henderson Instinct for me in the early 80’s, the message is the same.  You know you can, you do and you win. 

Thanks to Jorge Posada, there are a lot of kids that know they can these days on our little league baseball field.  What a role model… what an icon.  All about hustle… guts… hard… and Posada instinct. We should all have #20 on our backs these days. It would make it even sweeter for these kids who have turned into little ballplayers right in front of my eyes. 

I needed to share... these kids need some applause. They've worked hard... like Jorge did for us.

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