Great athletes make it look easy. When you watch Barry Bonds swing a bat, it looks like anybody could do the same thing. What truly seperates the good from the great is not so much talent, but a work ethic and a dedication to pursue one’s career with a single-mindedness.

It’s as true in baseball as it is in any way of life. You can be as talented as anybody, but when you don’t apply yourself, that talent is wasted.I get a chance to speak with college and high school coaches all the time, and there’s a similiar lament. They tell me how many more great athletes are wandering the halls of their school than just the ones on the field or in the gym. The ones wandering around the schools are often more gifted athletically than some of the greats. The difference? The great ones apply what they have, learn how to use it better and keep working to improve every single day.

Bonds, for one, will never have to wonder. He’s done everything he can to keep himself in excellent condition. It’s not just his body either. He also keeps his mind sharp.

So while he may make it look easy, he’s accomplished that by working at it daily, many hours a day. What most of never see is the long, hard hours away from the ballpark that these athletes put in. Think of it this way: there’s about 180 days to the baseball season. A game lasts maybe three hours. For every hour the great player is on the field, he’s already spent about 100 hours getting ready. That means studying charts, pitchers, tapes, and books. It also means hitting the weight room, working out in a gym or out in the open, and keeping fit through diet and nutrition.

Imagine spending 100 hours in preparation for a single hour of work in your own job. Doesn’t figure you’d put in that much effort. Yet there it is for the ballplayers.

The casual fan is taking a break from reality when they come to the park. It’s like a mini-vacation. For the ballplayer, it is a way of life. You’re watching these players perform at their highest level. It’s taken years to finr tune those skills and there’s not a single player out there who will honestly say they’ve stopped working at it, because if they did, they wouldn’t be around.

Everybody suffers through a slump now and then. Everybody makes mistakes. After all, even finely-tuned athletes are still human.

There’s never a lack of effort at the professional level though. First of all, your teammates would demand nothing less. Your manager would demand more, and the fans can make things pretty unpleasant.

Baseball is a beautiful game, with 25 players working together toward a common goal. Maybe there are teams who look at things realistically and understand a World Series may not be in the immediate future. But most of them try anyway. Every professional player overcame tremendous odds to reach this level. For each success story, there’s a dozen failures — injuries, personal problems, etc.

Any one who has put on a major league uniform has to feel like a success, just because of all the hard work and effort it took just to get that far.

Maybe it’s time for the fans to start putting a little something extra into it.

by Rick Eymer