It Gets Late Early Out There

Wisdom can come from anywhere.

As a baseball fan - and especially a Yankees fan - learning of the passing of Hall of Famer Yogi Berra was sad news indeed. 

I was visiting a station rife with baseball fans when the news broke.

Their break room has something very cool in it – a chalk board where anyone in the building can initiate a conversation or leave comments on the "subject of the minute."

“Favorite Yogi-isms“ was one of the chalk board topics Tuesday.

Marrying baseball and radio, I wrote on the board, “It gets late early out there.”

Yogi of course was referring to the afternoon shadows that creep into left field at Yankee stadium and add to the challenge of playing.

But if you believe that sources of inspiration know no boundaries, consider this radio (and life) interpretation: “Too often, time moves faster than we project/would wish/can keep up with.”

Today’s great idea implemented today is powerful.

Today’s great idea (or dream or goal or best intention) put off until later – perhaps not so much. Maybe not at all.

Thanks for the reminder Yogi. It DOES get late early. In left field ... and everywhere.

A number of years ago I wrote a piece on decision making based on Yogi's "If you come to a fork in the road, take it." Read it here.

Read a nice NY Times piece on Yogi’s career and quotes here

"When You Come To A Fork In The Road...

…take it." 

It’s one of the great Yogi-isms of all times: When you have a decision to make, make it. 

Even if no one has ever made that particular decision before. Even if it goes against long-standing traditions. If it’s the right decision to make, make it.

Forks in the road come with three choices and three sets of consequences. Take the correct fork and your journey – real or metaphorical – likely moves on to its next fork with minimal or lesser consequences than if you made the wrong decision where you’ll likely suffer some consequences but, if you’re fortunate, have chance to retrace your steps and make a better choice.

Not taking a fork is the worst “decision” of all and carries the most severe consequences. Making no decision means you’ll have no chance to make the right choice - or to recover from a bad choice. The immobility of a non-decision makes you target practice for those who came to a fork and took one.

Brands (recently Tylenol, Toyota, BP, the federal government) are always coming to forks in the road. How a brand responds (or doesn’t) often has significant perceptual impact.

Today’s era of transparency includes owning up to and correcting an honest mistake; it's both expected and rewarded.

Umpire Jim Joyce chose such a fork last night by acknowledging he blew the call that cost Detroit Tiger pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game. The consequences of the choice to admit this earned Joyce no small amount of respect from all sides.

"The guy had every bit of integrity. He faced the music. He stood there and took it…” Tiger’s manager Jim Leyland said of Joyce adding, “I'm taking about sincere. There was nothing phony about it. This guy was a mess. My heart goes out to him."

Armando Galarraga of course was at his own fork in the road. His choice was adopting a spirit of forgiveness which he publicly demonstrated by bringing the lineup card out to Joyce before today’s game. The consequences of that choice: applause from the fans (a nice choice of forks for them, too) and a tear from an emotional Joyce.

At 2:43 pm today, I was encouraged to learn that the brand called Major League Baseball which has come to a fork in the road because of all this, has promised to take one.

Personally I hope the fork that's ultimately taken (following an investigation – puh-leese make it quick) will be one that retroactively awards Armanda Galarraga a perfect game. Choosing this fork doesn’t mean I advocate instant more replay (I’m don’t) nor do I think that in the grand scheme of life this is a bellwether moment. It would however mean a lot to two people and (in my mind) a lot to the game and the MLB brand.

Still, choosing that fork will be a courageous, controversial, and one that goes against long-standing traditions.

But then that’s the nature of forks in the road – some are hard (especially it seems the ‘right’ fork). But business or baseball, when you come to a fork in the road, you have to take it.

Thanks, Yogi for the reminder.