A Night In August

Former Boston Red Sox Jason Varitek is one of my favorite baseball players of all time and it’s not because he tried to knock out A-Rod’s two front teeth or that he was a part of the curse snapping 2004 Red Sox. It was because of something I witnessed him doing one scorching hot August night in 2011.

Growing up I almost enjoyed seeing batting practice and infield work more than the games themselves. Being able to be one of the first ones in the park and seeing every body’s pregame preparation was incredible to me. The fact that a pitcher could almost effortlessly throw a baseball three-hundred feet during warmups left me in amazement every time. Or seeing a player drive consecutive home runs to each part of the outfield in one BP round made my dad and I just laugh at one another.

It wasn’t until I was older that I really appreciated what the players were doing and how they were doing it. They weren’t just going through the motions, but they had purpose. When they played catch, they hit each other in the chest and when they swung they worked on situations and placement. The greatest hitters in the world would finish a round of hitting and immediately go to a coach or fellow player like they still had more to learn about what they just did or felt. When you get to a game early, you see things that are invaluable for a young athlete and anybody wanting to get better at the game. Seeing the best players in the world focus on the little things every single day shows you that you can never work too hard or be too ready to compete.

This is the lesson Jason Varitek taught me in 2011 near the end of his historic career. The Red Sox were in town playing the Twins and when I made my way to the bullpen before the game there was something going on that changed my view on work ethic forever. 39 year old Jason Varitek was dripping sweat doing full effort blocking drills before the game that he was starting. A man who appeared in over fifteen hundred major league games, caught over eleven thousand major league innings, has a gold glove, and whose career spans fifteen years. He was still working on perfecting his craft. He didn’t just do a couple reps, it went on for minutes and minutes until it seemed he felt fully ready to compete and support his pitcher.

He could have easily fallen back on his age and let a few balls in the dirt roll away from him but he didn’t. He caught a near perfect game that night making multiple blocks with guys in scoring position. This is what separates the people that succeed and go far into their dreams. So throughout your life, if you ever feel like you’ve mastered something. That you are fully prepared to take on a dream, that you’re working hard enough. Just remember that 39 year old Jason Varitek was making a pitching coach throw baseballs in the dirt as hard as he could at him before a game in late August. 

You can work harder.

- Nolan Johnson