The Call That Joe Made

Say what you want to about the Yankees, but you can’t deny it…last night’s come-from-behind, bottom-of-the-twelfth-inning win is the stuff dreams are made of.

 

The Yankees were down 2-1 entering the bottom of the ninth in a pivotal ALDS Game 3. Win and they go up 2-1 in the series, on the verge of moving on. Lose and they’re on the brink of post-season disaster.

 

In that moment, Joe Girardi made what history books will call one of the greatest, certainly one of the gustiest, calls any manager has made. He benched his DH (a perennial all-star, a gold glove winner, a man who’s hit 647 career homers and 1,950 career RBIs) and went with a 40-year-old useable player who “they” said should never have been on the roster in the first place.

 

But today, Girardi’s call is being praised. Now, “they” say it was genius. It was baseball wizardry. But I think it was something much deeper…and it reaffirmed some realities that apply to so much more than the baseball diamond.

It doesn’t matter what “they” think or say. 
Joe Girardi made a call based on leadership. Flat out. If that call hadn’t worked, he would have been blasted by the media, fans, everyone. But he didn’t care about what might happen. He only focused on what he knew COULD happen. There’s a massive difference. As he said in his post-game press conference, "You have to make some decisions sometimes that are tough decisions." And leaders make them, despite what the crowd thinks or says.

In the heat of battle, the most important thing is focus.
The Yankees won last night (and will hopefully go on to win it all) because their leader kept the focus and did what needed to be done to move forward. It’s something I have an opportunity to witness every day with my Pastor. And last night, it was played out on the baseball diamond in front of millions. Focus on the greater goal is more crucial than pandering to someone’s (or millions of someone's) feelings.

When you lead the right way, even the greats will follow.
When Girardi made the call to bench A-Rod, he didn’t give a dissertation. He simply said, “This is what we’re doing.” Most athletes of A-Rod’s stature would have responded differently than #13 did. But when Joe made the call, there wasn’t any pouting or yelling or temper tantrums. It was, quite literally, “You've got to do exactly what you've got to do.” And when that ball sailed over the wall to win the game, no one cheered louder than the man who had to take a back seat. Why? Because he trusts the leadership of his manager. And because Joe Girardi has crystal clear focus for where the organization needs to go.

Let me say this: I don’t know Joe Girardi. As a lifelong Yankees fan, I watched him play ball when I was a kid (I remember the perfect game he caught for Doc Gooden.) I’ve cheered through every World Series he’s won (both as a player and a manager). And I would love the chance to meet him. But I don’t know him. I don’t know what was really going on in his head. But what I do know is that we can all learn from that call and from that man…Joe.