By Luke Melms
This World Series has demonstrated the beauty of baseball well. The heavy load of a 162 game regular season plus a month full of playoff games relies on an entire team to run through the finish line.
The Dodgers and Astros experienced major setbacks during the regular season but saw other individuals step up to keep the train moving towards a division title. Clayton Kershaw spent five weeks on the DL with a back injury along with losing Adrian Gonzalez early in the year. The Astros had no starter make over 30 starts but collectively made it work as they traded time on and off the DL. Just as the body is not defined by any one part, the power of a team comes from all the pieces working together.
The concept of synergy stretches the mind to look at life from a completely different angle. Synergy is defined as “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” Synergy can practically be illustrated through two horses pulling weight.
A draft horse on its own can pull up to 8,000 pounds. However when two draft horses work together they can move up to 24,000 pounds. This is even more amplified when trained together as they can pull 32,000 pounds.
Logically this does not make any sense. We were all taught at an early age that 1 + 1 = 2. The power of synergy lies in the fact that multiplication not addition takes place when working as a team.
As I’ve been having conversations throughout the last couple years with many other baseball guys, it birthed Baseball and Business. Up to this point, it has served as more intangible resource through inspiration, encouragement and an occasional live event.
2017 has been a great starting point for this community but is exactly that…just the beginning. The 2.0 version will see a transition from more intangible to tangible. The biggest challenge most players face is transitioning and finding a first job after baseball ends. Baseball players face challenges many other athletes don’t. Whether it be summer ball while many others get internship experience or any of the other numerous hurdles, the deck is stacked against former college and pro baseball players.
We are close to introducing ways to level the playing field through offering career development and job placement services to connect players with companies that like what high level athletics develops.
Through these joint efforts, we believe that the gap between the baseball field and business field can be bridged. Our mission statement is more than just words. We look forward to announcing more as these developments behind the scenes get finalized.
