Ego

They come in all different sizes. Obviously everyone has some sort of ego, and nobody likes the guy with the huge ego, but most would agree that you have to know you're good in order to have the proper confidence to succeed.

What got me thinking about this was what was happening lately with some old time pitchers maybe hanging on a bit too long. Take the great John Smoltz. The guy has been a beast, racking up great numbers year after year. 19 years in the bigs, only having his ERA above 4 just once since his rookie year, he begins his 20th season with the Red Sox, after 19 straight with the Braves.

He has a terrible stint with the Red Sox, going 2-5, with a 6.53 ERA. He was getting shelled left and right. Nothing really worked for him. He was then moved to the pen. That must have been a terrible feeling. I mean, this guy, one of the best pitchers since the 90s, is suddenly booted from the rotation. His ego is taking a huge hit.

Another example is playing on a team that is already out of the playoff race. Day in, day out, you put in "meaningless" at bats. Sometimes you might play a role in the playoffs, by perhaps beating a contender or even losing to a contender giving them enough wins to get their playoff spot. Sometimes. Mostly, you play before empty stands and get railed on for poor performance.

Well, all it took was for me to put myself in those situations to see how things like that work out. (Before I finish this, I just want to say that each scenario has something else to do with ego - I'm not comparing them.)

With Smoltz, he's not an idiot. He knows what's going on. Yea, it sucks, but when you play on a playoff contending team, like the Red Sox, you have to perform. He was given chances to turn things around but it didn't work. He has to put his ego in his pocket for now, and say, "What would I do if I was in the manager's position?" Once you open up your mind to how you look from the outside, things might start to make sense. And by the way, Smoltz is a class act, he couldn't have handled it better. He, of course, was traded to St. Louis, where he is 1-1 in 4 starts with a 3.27 ERA.

In terms of playing on a losing team, well, most of you know, I need not put myself in someone else's shoes. Ha. Seriously. This is where your ego takes over. I don't see what's wrong with playing for yourself. Playing for yourself as best as you can, will bring the team to win games, instead of playing lazily and wasting ABs. Also, ML players are playing for millions, so I don't care what your situation is, just play. And maybe hope to get traded.

To sum in up, ego can come into the equation several ways. There are surely more. But this gives a little look into some situations that the ego (or lack thereof) can help.