The grass has been freshly cut, the lines still wet with paint and the hopes of fans across the country are at an all-time high…baseball’s opening day is here! For America’s past time, this is by far the best time of year, because each and every team at this point still has the aspirations of playing and winning in October. With the fresh, clean slate of a new season, each team still has the same high hopes and opportunities to make a run at the beloved World Series trophy.
Last year, Baltimore fans were greeted with an unbelievable surprise, a playoff team. Entering the season, many fans uttered the words “this is our year,” but you won’t find many who truly believed in their hearts that we had a team that was going to grant our city their first playoff berth since 1997. But with hard work, dedication, a great team effort and of course a little bit of luck, the Baltimore Orioles brought playoff baseball and its unbelievable excitement back to Baltimore.
As we look forward to opening day, we hope that that same drive and determination that we saw firsthand in 2012 carries over to 2013. We hope that those Oriole players who tasted success for the first time last year build on that momentum. In any team, you always need a leader to push you to success and avoid complacency. Over the last year, Adam Jones has grown into the face of the franchise and I believe his personal slogan of “stay hungry” ties together what Cal Sr., taught in his days with the Orioles (read his coaching manual in the Materials section). It encompasses the ideas of hard work, teamwork, dedication, perseverance, and drive.
Living life with these basic principles make a person successful in any game or arena in life. The same characteristics enabled Jackie Robinson to break through the color barrier and pave the way for players like Jones.
Whatever curveball life throws at you, always find a way to adjust and reach your goals. And when you achieve your goals, be sure not to be complacent, but to stay hungry.
Tell us: What were your greatest achievements over the last year? What were your kids’ greatest achievements? And, on the theme of staying hungry, what are you striving for in 2013?