Jorge Posada Says He ‘Wasn’t The Best Player’ In Baseball, But Dad’s Crucial Advice Led To Championship New York Yankees Career
Retiring in 2012 after playing 17 straight seasons with one team, Jorge Posada is one of the most remembered members in recent years of legendary Major League Baseball team, the New York Yankees.
Posada recently shared his biggest piece of advice he learned early in his baseball career, which helped him become successful even if he wasn’t always the best player on his team.
What Happened: Making a Major League Baseball roster and being successful in the league can be a daunting task, despite many people aspiring to this scenario as a kid.
Posada is one of many who dreamed of becoming an MLB player as a child.
“I wanted to be a big league baseball player no matter what,” Posada told CNBC Make It in March 2024. “I didn’t have a Plan B. Plan A was that I was going to be a big league player.”
Lucky for Posada, things turned out quite well. The catcher played 17 seasons for the Yankees, hitting 275 home runs, having 1,664 hits and 1,065 RBIs. Posada was named an All-Star five time, a Silver Slugger five times and helped the Yankees win four World Series championships.
But it wasn’t just luck for Posada, instead it was the combination of luck, talent and hard work.
“I wasn’t the best player on my little league team. I wasn’t the best player at my college. I wasn’t the best player in the minor leagues. But I knew I wanted it more than anybody else, and I worked harder than anybody else to get there.”
The biggest piece of advice that Posada received related to his baseball career came from his dad.
“My dad always said, ‘Don’t lose your job because somebody is working harder than you.’ That, for me, helped me so much throughout my career.”
Posada said that his father’s guidance helped him maintain focus on his journey to the MLB, instilling the importance of working harder than the rest.
“I needed to be more disciplined and stay away from things that would keep me away from the game. It helped me stay away from bars and stay away from kids who weren’t focused.”
Learning From an MLB Star: Along with advice from his dad, Posada also got key career advice from another MLB star.
Posada recalled that during his baseball career “somebody was always watching,” which could be during a game, but also during practice or in the dugout.
Yankees legend Don Mattingly, who played 14 seasons with the team and over 1,700 games, played a key role in this narrative for Posada.
“My first Spring Training I was with Don Mattingly down in Fort Lauderdale. I would get to the field pretty early and he was already there hitting or taking fly balls or ground balls in the back field,” Posada recalled.
Posada tried to beat Mattingly to Spring Training as a minor-leaguer, but was never able to do so.
“He taught me so much. I saw the best player doing all this hard work and putting in all this time and I was like, ‘I don’t think I’m doing enough.'”
osada noted that the idea of ‘someone always watching’ could add pressure in high-stakes situations, such as crucial at-bats in big games.
The former MLB star said it was important to get thoughts of failure out of his brain during high pressure situations.
“Try to think of everything positive, you don’t think about the failure part. Tell yourself, ‘I’ve been here before. I’ve done this. I’m prepared.'”
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