Mario Mendoza was the shortstop who played for nine wonderful seasons in the big leagues- from 1974 through 1982-with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers. He was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, he made it to the big leagues on the strength of his slick defensive play-the very graceful, bespectacled Mendoza displayed an outstanding range, sure hands and a strong, precise throwing arm. In 1980, no less an expert than Hall of Fame second baseman Mr Bill Mazeroski, himself a legendary fielder, declared, “Mario Mendoza is the best shortstop in the American League.”
For all his virtues, However, he was not a hitter. Over the course of his amazing career, he compiled a .215 lifetime batting average, meager by any professional standard-though far from the worst in big time major-league history. Yes indeed, he might well have faded into the long line of “good field, no hit” short-stops were it, not for a wisecrack by an-other Hall of Famer George Brett. In 1979, Mendoza had come to the plate much more often than in any other season of his entire career-and posted one of his worst batting marks, .198, In the following year, in an interview Brett quipped that he checked the league averages in the Sunday paper each week in order to see “who was below the Mendoza Line”- which means under .200, a benchmark for batting futility.
The precise origins of the phrase are in dispute; However, Mendoza him-self credited a couple of his own team-mates. But my friends, it was the high-0profile Brett who catapulted “the Mendoza Line” into the American lexicon. It was nodubt, a catchy term to be sure, like some geographical demarcation coined by some 16th-century conquistadors. And it soon became co-opted by fields beyond American baseball. Consider this my friends, 2011 headline from Barron’s: Fear sends 10-yr Treasury Under the Mendoza Line” (WOW) (a 2% yield).
When our President George W. Bush’s approval rating dropped below 30% in 2007, one of the Republican pollster suggested he’d fallen below “a sort of political Mendoza Line.” The late talented, Hollywood director Mr Garry Marshall carried a Mario Mendoza baseball card with him whenever, he was filming. “When I’m shooting a movie, I take my Mendoza card out of my wallet and tell everybody, including myself, that we gotta make sure not to drop below the Mendoza line today.”
Mario Mendoza’s name unfortunately, became intoxicated linked with failure. And that is a shame, because viewed through a different lens, he very well could be ranked a loud rousing success. For a moment, think of the odds that a baseball player will join the elite, top-notch group who’ve made into the major leagues-fewer than 20,000 have done it since 1876, that is not even enough to fill up half the average ballpark. Take it a small step further and compute the probability for a kid that was from Chihuahua-then calculate the odds of his staying in the big leagues for almost a decade. We should all outright fail miserably.
All of which demonstrates the squishy nature of success itself, in a very big way. What, what is it, really, aside from the subject of enough books to fill the Grand Canyon? For many, success means $$UCCE$$-professional advancement visionary entrepreneurship, savvy investing, any avenue to financial wealth. Perhaps others, may see it as making a humble contribution to society through public service, philanthropy or some other acts of altruism. Maybe it’s a rewarding marriage, finding a loving partner, family and loyal friends. On a different level, is success something we feel within ourselves.
Is success a sense of accomplishment, or the satisfaction of reaching for our goals, and screaming inside, I did it? Or is it how we’re perceived by the world? We can tell ourselves that we’re successful however, does that really matter if the world sees us as a crashing dud? Of course, one in a while, posterity weighs in. Let us consider Vincent van Gogh. He only sold, just one painting during his anguished lifetime, then this guy sliced off his ear and went out totally in left field, shooting his self to death at the young age of 37 in 1890. As of then, you might have said he’d fallen well below the Mendoza Line. However, in todays world, well, he’s Van Gogh.
And what of Mendoza? After his baseball career ended in America, he didn’t stop, Mendoza played for seven more years in Mexico ( compiling an excellent .291 batting average ) and began to managed teams there and in the U.S. minor leagues. Nicknamed Manos des Seda, or Silk Hands, for his fielding skills, Mendoza was elected to the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000. At 68, he is one of his country’s respected elder statesmen of sports, Perhaps my dear friends, it’s time to reassess, or even redefine, the Mendoza Line, but not as a cold statistical marker of ineptitude but as a murky border zone separating the half-empty and the half-full, ( in my book Mendoza was a success ), perception and reality, failure and success.
My dear friends look deep inside of you, to determine your personal measurement of success, what it means to you. Forget about everyone else’s view of what success is because, at the end of the day, it is your happiness that is on the line. Try to be not a man or woman of success, but be a man or woman of value. Yes, hard work and innate talent are no doubt, crucial elements of human achievement, however, mindset, believing in yourself, believing in what you’re doing and refusing to give up no matter what, is indeed major players in becoming successful. You are the captain of the ship, you are the star of the show and you have what it takes, don’t let anyone on God’s green earth convince you otherwise.
Way too many people measure how successful they are by how much money that they are making, or the people that they considered to be friends. In my opinion, true success should be measured by how happy you are and how much true value you add into society.
May prosperity be always with you.
Humbly yours, Paul Earl.
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I think the most important thing is that we all have our own criteria for success and it’s important to not become weighed down by someone else’s definition of success. There are some people who can only see success in terms of money but I think most people, especially as the get older, start to value other things more, such as quality of relationships, or what they are able to give back to their community in terms of time and not just money.
Good afternoon drinkteahub, thank you for visiting weightlifting for a beautiful world. You are absolutely correct in all you have said, we ourselves must be the ones to identify what we considered to be successful and money should never be the captain of that ship. If you recall in this article that I wrote I said try not to be a man or woman of success rather be a man or woman of value. Because by doing this the money will come to you. Once again thank you for visiting us, and if it’s anything at all that we can do for you please reach out to us. May Prosperity be always with you, humbly yours, Paul Earl.
Thank you so much for sharing with us such a beautiful article .Wow defensive game I love it and I found your article .There will be good and bad batting in cricket but never let it get frustrated. Your article makes this beautiful. Success is actually the feeling of achievement .There should be a strong attitude to reach the goals .Many of the people you talk about in your article are very successful, because they have learned to measure success. I like sports a lot, so I think if I need to have the mentality to measure my success from here, then I can do something good. To achieve success, you must first learn to measure success, but it is not possible to measure success .You must be appreciative of this great article and it is very inspiring for everyone .
Good evening Shanta Rahman, I am so very happy that you understood, what I was doing. I wanted to imprint on everyone’s mind, don’t worry about other people’s feelings when it comes to your own success and happiness, because no one knows but you what success means to you and it doesn’t have to be all about money. Your life is in your hands, this one life that you have, and it is is extremely important to live that one life to the fullest, for yourself and to always try to add True Value into society. I think you for visiting weightlifting for a beautiful world, and if it’s anything at all that we can do for you please reach out to us. May Prosperity be always with you, humbly yours Paul Earl.
Hi Paul. Success in life for everyone means something else. For some it means money, for others it means a successful family, for others it means successful children, for others it means living their life as they please, tasting from simple pleasures. You said excellent, “true success should be measured by how happy you are and how much true value you add to society.
Good evening Carmen, thank you for visiting weightlifting for a beautiful world. You are absolutely correct, this was the very point that I was making, success should not only be measured from the money that one makes. Success is always different from person to person. Society has turned it upside down and because of this so many of us have become materialistic. Once again thank you for visiting us and if it’s anything at all that we can do for you please reach out to us. May happiness be always with you, humbly yours, Paul Earl.
I agree with you that the measurement of success is how happy and valuable we are.
I think, often people measure success comes from money. And it is because people have been brainwashed with the environment, television shows and social media. And that is what makes many people consider money as the ultimate goal of success. In fact, the pursuit of money will never run out. Sky is the limit.
However, what has been my thought until now. I think success must also be accompanied by having a certain amount of money. Why? Because if I have to beg from people for food, I think I’m not successful because I’m still dependent on others. What do you think?
Good evening asmadi, there is no doubt that money is very important, we all have to have it in order to survive however, money should not be the key judgment on how one is successful or not because one can have tons of money and still not be successful. I personally believe success is a personal thing, we all have dreams and desires and goals that we have set for ourselves and when one attains that dream or that goal then that person is successful. I thank you so much for visiting weightlifting for a beautiful world, and if it’s anything that we can ever do for you please reach out to us. May Prosperity be always with you, humbly yours, Paul Earl.
Hi, Paul.
Thanks for sharing your views on measurements of success with reference to the Legend – Mendoza. What a stunning concept you discussed as success is our own happiness and that should be the actual line to be taken as a benchmark. So which values of mine made me happy the last time in my life need to be taken as the baseline. I am so inspired by the concept you shared with us. So Paul, tell us in the true sense- what makes you set the limits and the baseline for your success so far?
Warm Regards,
Gaurav Gaur
Good evening Gaurav Gaur, to answer your question, by understanding that success is different for every everyone. At one point in my life I was a rich man, I made some very bad judgements and lost it all however, I could honestly tell you I was not happy when I had all of that money. So in my eyes I was not successful, because the reason I made my life goal to acquire the large amount of money that I had was to be happy so I was a failure. My new thing now is success is a private thing because it’s different for everyone and you must not let Society dictate to you what success is. I thank you for visiting weightlifting for a beautiful world, if it’s anything at all that we can do for you please reach out to us. May Prosperity be always with you, humbly yours, Paul Earl.
This post is open to interpretation but what I took away is that you shouldn’t just be focused on success and achieving something that is worth saying success, but going out and just doing what you want to do.
An enlightening post to read that made me question my views and the purpose on why I’m achieving the things I am currently. I also think you shouldn’t do stuff make other people happy or so others will see you as a success either, that won’t make you satisfied.
Cheers for sharing this,
Josh
Good evening Joshua Collins, thank you for visiting weightlifting for a beautiful world. Yes you’re correct in what you’re saying, success is different for everyone some, people consider having a happy home with a beautiful family that is their success other people consider being atop musician, the point being is success is A Private Matter. The bottom line what it comes to, it should make you happy and if it makes you happy then you are successful. Thank you once again for visiting us, and if its ever anything that we can do for you by all means reach out to us. May Prosperity be always with you, humbly yours, Paul Earl.
Hello Paul. This is truly lovely especially towards the end. For me, Mendoza is a successful personality considering the fact that he added value to other teams. For me, true success is positive impacts in the society and the world at large. I want to be able to impact lives through what I do and with the money I make. I want to live life to the fullest. And most importantly, I want to be happy all the days of my life. This is what success really is.
Regards!
. Good evening MrBiizy, I love the way you brought to light what’s success means to you, because success is a private thing. I say this because everyone’s idea of success is different and we must not let Society brainwash us in believing that success is all about money because it is not, and you’re absolutely right we have one life and we should live this life to the fullest and do all that we can to add True Value into society. I think you for visiting weightlifting for a beautiful world, if it’s anything that we can ever do for you by all means reach out to us. May Prosperity be always with you, humbly yours, Paul Earl.