Expect Miracles

In a famous quote by E.A. Teppe he states, “What you expect of yourself will closely be linked to what you accomplish.” Some of you will soon be trying out for your high school team, this can be a time of some nervousness and anxiety especially given the fact that this might be the first time that you have had to “make” a team. You might, for the first time be in situation where the possibility of not making a team is very real for you. As I look back throughout my life and my career, there is no question in my mind that the above statement is true. Looking back on the events that have transpired in my life I can now see how the expectations I have had for myself have materialized into the actual experiences I have had.

Too often we have “hopes” of the things we wish to accomplish however our expectations are usually cloaked in “reality”. We have a tendency to expect “realistic” things of ourselves as if this somehow protects us from disappointment. The irony is, when you fall short of our “hopes” but accomplish our “expectations” we are still disappointed. Hoping for something to happen doesn’t allow us to create the experience we want. When we hope for something we leave open the possibility for it not to happen. Hoping basically means that something could or could not work out. However an expectation leaves no doubt in your mind that a goal will be realized. Think about it, when you go to bed at night you expect the sun to rise in the morning. You have no doubt that this event will take place, if you hoped this would happen you would never get a restful night of sleep. When you are driving in a car you have faith and expect to get to your destination safely, if you didn’t you would be a nervous wreck and most assuredly you would cause a few accidents. The same reasoning goes for accomplishing our goals.

In both my playing career and in my life I have learned that we must expect the impossible out of ourselves and for the impossible to take place. When we have a goal to accomplish something it is easy for us to look outward and say, “well this will never happen.” We get wrapped up in “how” we are going to accomplish something and completely forget about or desire to accomplish it. We never know what is going to take place to lead us to our destination. Just because we can’t see how it is going to happen doesn’t mean that it can’t happen.

In order to play at the levels that we desire we must expect miracles to happen to allow us to achieve our dreams. Many times we limit ourselves and what we can accomplish, we allow the outside opinions of others to condition our expectations and beliefs in what we can accomplish. In order to reach your goals and the levels that you desire you must expect them to work out. Regardless of what you have going on in your life, regardless of all the evidence to the contrary you must have faith and whole heartedly believe that you dream will be realized.

Looking back at my career, I now have the ability to see how this has impacted my entire life. There are many things I have hoped for, however I have only accomplished the things I expected to accomplish. Even when there was no reason and no possible way for their attainment. When you expect these dreams to happen miracles will start to happen to get you what it is you desire.

In July of 2000 one such miracle occurred. Earlier in the year I had graduated from college and I drove to Indiana to tryout for a minor league baseball team. After the tryout not one team showed any interest and I can’t necessarily say I blamed them. I played at a small college, had a career batting average around .250 and never played a day of varsity baseball in high school. When I drove back home it appeared to most that the dream had come to an end. It seamed to everyone but my wife and myself that my playing days were over and that it was time to “get a real job”. However since I was a little kid I had always expected myself to play professional baseball and continued to work as if this dream was going to be realized.

Once I returned home from Indiana I started coaching an 18u travel team. During one of our games I was coaching third base and struck up a conversation with the coach from the other team. We discussed baseball and it happened to come up that my dream was to play professional baseball. After the game the coach pulled me aside and introduced himself as the owner of a minor league baseball team in St. George, Utah. He told me that my passion and knowledge of the game was exactly what he looked for in his players. Less then one week later I was in uniform and playing professional baseball. This man gave me an opportunity to play professionally and this opportunity came out of nowhere and looking back it is a true miracle that it ever happened.

My tenure with the team didn’t last long. Some could argue that it was because I wasn’t ready to play at that level and in some respects they would be correct. It is my belief that I wasn’t ready because once I was on the team I didn’t expect to stay. My focus shifted and I began to “hope” that I could stay. I had doubts that I belonged and as a result my experience followed my expectation. I was released shortly after getting to St. George and really didn’t understand why until now.

Just two years later another miracle occurred but once again my focus shifted and the result quickly followed. I had signed with another minor league team and just a week before I was scheduled to leave for spring training the manager called me and released me before ever seeing me play. Once this happened I began to wish for the opportunity to wear a major league uniform even if it was just for one day. I expected this to happen, I don’t know why I expected it but I did. Once again out of now where a miracle appeared. I just so happened to be giving lessons to the son of a former (California) Angel. He was now a part time coach with the team and one afternoon prior to giving a lesson to his son he walked into the facility and saw me hitting. He was very impressed and just a couple days later I was on a plane to Arizona for a private tryout with the now Los Angeles Angels. It was amazing! I got to the spring training complex, walked into the locker room and there waiting for me was my very own Angels uniform. Even more surprising was the fact that the jersey they gave me had one of my two favorite numbers on it (I told no one what my numbers were). I slipped on the uniform and ran out to the field. I was in heaven, and having the time of my life. As such I played better then I had ever played up to that point. I hit what was at the time the farthest ball I had ever hit. I had some of my best rounds of batting practice I had ever had. At one point I turned around and saw the entire Angels coaching staff standing around the cage watching me hit.

After my tryout ended I had multiple coaches coming over to me raving about my swing and the round of hitting they just witnessed. Unfortunately they had to inform me that there wasn’t a spot available for me with the organization. Why? What had happened? They were just raving about my abilities, telling me that I was better at this then one player or better at that then another player. I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t reaching the dreams I had for myself. But what did I expect? What was my expectation for that day? I mean my hope was that they would be so impressed that they would sign me on the spot. My expectation however was for one day. One day in a major league uniform is all I expected and as a result it is all I received.

What I hope you learn from my experiences is that you need to expect the impossible. Set high goals for yourself and regardless of what goes on around you or what others may say expect yourself to realize those goals. As some of you come up on your first real tryout experience don’t limit yourself by “hoping” to make the team. Expect yourself to make the team, expect yourself to be a starter, expect yourself to put up great numbers. Then go to work as if those goals are already your reality. Expect miracles in your life and you will begin to see miracles all around you. Don’t let anything create doubt in you mind that your goals will be realized. Just remember the above quote and know that your life will closely resemble your expectations.