#1475 Facing Nolan

Breaking Records in Peaks and Valleys

In our last couple +1s, we talked about the fact that Team Johnson is going next level via some neurofeedback.

As part of that, I’ve been watching a bunch of inspiring sports documentaries. One of my favorites was called Facing Nolan. It’s a fantastic look at the astonishing (!) career of Nolan Ryan.

Today we’re going to talk about one of my favorite parts of that documentary and connect it to some Peter Drucker wisdom and a couple of other +1s featuring some other great athletes.

So…

As you may know, Nolan Ryan was an extraordinary Major League Baseball pitcher.

According to the documentary, he holds 51 (!) MLB records.

He had a 27-year career that spanned FOUR decades—playing more seasons than anyone in MLB history. He has the most no-hitters in history (7!) along with the most one-hitters (12), two-hitters (18), and three-hitters (31) as well.

He holds the record for most career strikeouts at 5,714—which is nearly 1,000 more than the second place guy (Randy Johnson). He also holds the record for most strikeouts (383!) in a season. And, his batting average against of .204 is also a major league record.

And…

He ALSO holds the record for…

Most walks given up (2,795) which is nearly 1,000 more than the second-place guy (Steve Carlton). To put that in perspective, he walked more than 50% more hitters than any other pitcher in MLB history.

Plus he allowed the most stolen bases (757) and grand slams (10), and he threw the most wild pitches (277).

All of which makes me smile and makes me think of Peter Drucker, Babe Ruth and Aaron Judge.

First, Babe Ruth and Aaron Judge.

As we’ve discussed those guys are the home run kings AND the strike out kings.

Note: One goeswith the other.

Peter Drucker made the same point in his great book The Effective Executive where he tells us: “Strong people always have strong weaknesses too. Where there are peaks, there are valleys. And no one is strong in many areas.”

That’s Today’s +1.

Let’s go set some idiosyncratic personal-best records.

And…

Let’s be willing to embrace the fact that “where there are peaks, there are valleys.”

There are NO perfect human beings.

And you and I won’t be the first.

Day 1. All in.

LET’S GO, HERO!

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