Baseball & Life

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1:01Little center field by John Fogarty. And to end the show today, we'll mark major league baseball's opening day with a sports writer and a pediatrician who've co-authored a book for parents and kids. And a question for you listeners, have lessons from your sport ever inform more serious things in your life or a way for you to teach a life lesson to a kid. Again, have lessons from your sport ever inform more serious things in your life or a way for you to teach a life lesson to a kid. 212-433-WNYC call a text. 212-433-9692. Our guests are longtime New York sports writer Ken Davidoff and Dr. Harley wrote part pediatrician and a middle and high school coach on their new book 101 Lessons from the Dugout. What baseball and softball can teach us about the game of life. It's also got a forward by former New York Met's great David Wright. And listeners don't tell Ken but there may be a question before the end of this segment about the Met's

2:03and the Yankees here on opening day. Ken and Dr. Rothbard congratulations on the book. Welcome to WNYC. Thank you so much for having us. So Dr. Rothbard, I see this as Ken's first book but you've written many previous books like No Regrets Parenting, Germ Proof Your Kids, and 940 Saturdays. What made you want to team up with a sports writer? Legitimacy. Ken has brought to this book project, which really I started 15 years ago. Ken has brought a street cred and a dugout cred to the book and a professionalism that being on dirt fields with kids for 10 years could never have brought for me. So I am grateful to Ken for upping my game. A doctor tells a sports writer that he adds legitimacy. That's a real one. But Ken, I'll let you model this for our callers with a really easy example from the book.

3:05Lesson number 19, The Sacrifice. And for people who don't know that's a play in baseball, where a batter intentionally makes an out for himself to help a teammate move up a base. So talk about The Sacrifice Lesson 19 as you have it in the book. Sure, Brian, this is one or more literal lessons, because just like in baseball, you give yourself up, you make an out to move your teammate over, to move your teammate closer to scoring position. There are many times in life where you give up your immediate good, if you will, to help someone else on your team, reading from the book, sometimes being generous and helping others may set you back. But you'll feel good about your sacrifice, even though you may be out, out of the time you spent or the money or stuff you generously gave away. Dr. Ropart, in a way, the whole concept is a cliche, right? Life lessons from sports. But sports, for most kids, is play time. The life lessons you listen in the book are serious things, though, like admitting your mistakes,

4:07overcoming hard times, standing up for what you believe. Can sports really help kids do well at things like those in the rest of their lives? Well, I'll tell you, I have real world experience with exactly that. And after the years of the dugout where I watch kids go through some really dire circumstances at home, where it's school, and oftentimes more minor circumstances that they had to overcome. I was able to use the analogies from sports, which I did my best to categorize in the book. To help the kids, but it went further than that. I was able to apply the lessons from sports to my clinic. And the example that I give is a mom who brought her teenage son into see me. He had been a ball player in the past, but now was getting in trouble. He was hanging out with the wrong kids. He was hanging out doing the wrong things. He was trying desperately to be popular.

5:08And I reminded him of what the first baseman goes through when he is stretching to receive the throw from the infield. You can stretch too far. Try to help your infielders. Try to help your friends. Try to help your classmates. But when the stretch is too far, you've got to take your foot off the base and catch the ball. So more damage is not done. I think that these lessons apply not just on the baseball field when you see troubled kids, but off the baseball field wherever you are. Huh. Mark and Clifton has one, I think. Mark, your on WNYC. Hello. Hi, I love the show and I love the sport of baseball. I'm so happy to be on. Playing baseball the league as a kid and hitting taught me so many things that I apply to my entire life. And the one I think about all the time is that a 300 hitter who's, you know, at the top of the league does nothing seven out of 10 times that they come to the to the plate. And so much of of being a great athlete

6:09and then connecting with whatever your work is and whatever your goal is, is keeping your head together those seven times that nothing happens to make those three possible. And it's a wonderful perspective that I was able to pick up early from trying my best to hit as a kid. Nice Mark. Thank you very much. Here's one, Ken, that that maybe is a little bit intriguing compared to some of the others. You have one about lying, less than 22, fake buns. Where do you go with that? Yeah, that's an interesting one. And I have to admit, Brian, that's one where I actually asked my son who played literally because, you know, Harley came up with the idea of equipment, you know, the fake bun with, with lying and my son confirmed that happens a lot at the youth level. But the idea, you know, a fake bun is sort of a white lie, especially at the youth level, right? You, you, you kind of flash bun like you're going to bun and you're trying to fake out the defense and throw them off guard. And the idea of being,

7:10it seems harmless, but, you know, it's, it has a little, it can cause a little bit of damage. You know, white lies are life's fake buns, sneaky and a little dishonest. People who tell white lies usually mean to protect someone's feeling, to hide bad news, you know, but, you know, instead white lies often backfire hurting others by causing false hope and disappointment and losing their trust. So that was an interesting one. There was a big segment there somewhere on white lies versus radical transparency. Mark and Norwalk, you and WNYC. Hi, Mark. Hello, Brad. How are you? Good. What's good? Uh, okay. So, um, I'm a sailor and sailing is the perfect, perfect metaphor for life. Uh, choosing between strategic goals and tactical goals or longer term thinking versus short term. And it also like letting somebody ahead in this one instance,

8:10but then getting ahead in the long run. Uh, also just the discipline that is required to, you know, the, you know, practice and, and study and everything. And you just get better and it's the same thing of life. You have to practice the things and work hard. Mark, thank you very much. Dr. Oakbart, the frame of the book is life lessons from baseball and softball. A generation to go softball wouldn't even have been in there. But I imagine it's your way of being gender inclusive in a modern book for kids because that's what girls play on their teams, obviously. Um, do you have anything gender specific that some of these lessons, you know, apply especially to softball or to girls because of their position in sports or society as a whole? Well, I think that, um, the issues of self-image really they apply their non- not gender specific. They apply to everyone, but, but maybe, uh, forgive me if I'm stereotyping. Maybe girls are more conscious

9:10of self-image. And, uh, there is a lot in, um, in softball and in baseball, uh, to teach us about self-image. And I think that one of the most, um, telling of the lessons is the batting order. And that is where you put the batting order oftentimes says to you what the coach thinks of you or what your teammates think of you or what the fans think of you. And the lead-off hitter has has a great self-image because their thought of is the best hitter. And the number nine hitter has maybe the worst self-image. But the reality is that the batting order only matters in the first inning because after that, anybody can be can be lead-off. And so I think we have to emphasize for girls, but for boys, of course, also that the image that others cast upon you should not be binded. That you need to see yourself as a number one hitter. As the lead-off hitter, regardless of how others may see you,

10:11that image of yourself has to be paramount. By the way, Ken, for you as a sports writer, why softball for girls if I can digress? They can play baseball, too. Why isn't their girls baseball like there's girls soccer and basketball and tennis, et cetera, rather than a different sport? Well, when his baseball is actually on the rise brine, so much so there's a league, a professional league starting this year. But yeah, to answer your question, I think there's just history. Obviously, there's the movie, which, of course, now I'm the penny marshal. Thank you, penny marshal, a league of their own, which documented the professional women's baseball during World War II. And I think in recent years, there has been a rise. Be it to answer your question simply, I think it's just the history of whenever I happen, girls play softball, boys baseball. But I do think that is evolving. And Brian, the best picture on my 12-year-old theme

11:11was a girl. Ken, as we run, that is great to know. Yeah, a little league is becoming, at least a little league is becoming co-ed. Absolutely. And then up from there, maybe over time. Well, almost at a time, Ken, for you as a sports writer, for more than 30 years, with the post-newsday, Bergen record. I see you grew up as a Yankee fan. Do you still watch? Do you have anything you think will be interesting and fun to watch for this year, with either the Yankees or the Mets? 20 seconds or so? Yeah, I watch now unburdened, Brian, because I used to be focused. What's the story? What's the calm? What's the angle? Now I just watch. And I think this will be a fascinating season and for your Mets, I think they're going to make the playoffs. I think they're going to be a lot better than last year. And anything on the Yankees? In particular, just fun to watch for. I don't need a prediction. Fun to watch this young picture. They just sent to the minors. Carlos Legrande, throws about 102 miles per hour. He will come up at some point,

12:11and then I can't wait to see him. Sports writer, Ken David off. And pediatrician, Dr. Harley Roadback, have written 101 lessons from the dugout, what baseball and softball can teach us about the game of life. Thank you for sharing some of it with us. Thank you so much, Brian. Brian, thank you very much. On WNYC, we're going to end the show with sports too about St. John's Basketball tomorrow. But for now, stay tuned for Alison. Since WNYC's first broadcast in 1924, we've been dedicated to creating the kind of content we know the world needs. Since then, New York Public Radio's rigorous journalism has gone on to win a Peabody award and a Dupont Columbia award, among others. In addition to this award-winning reporting, your sponsorship also supports inspiring storytelling and extraordinary music that is free and accessible to all. To get in touch and find out more, visit sponsorship.wnyc.org.