An Example of Perseverance Paying Off

Not long ago, Toledo Mud Hen’s baseball player Mike Hessman set a minor league record by hitting his 434th minor league homerun–it was a grand slam. The record had stood for 80 years! This was his 20th year of professional baseball and nearly all of it has been spent in the minor leagues. So, what did Mr. Hessman get for persevering so long at this level? In addition to the homerun record, he attracted the attention of his managers and coaches and is expected to be a coach and possibly a manager at the major league level someday. As his former manager Larry Parish put it when referring to his promise as a major league coach or manager: “I think he’s going be good at it. He gets along with all different kinds of players. And, he understands the game.” Today, less than a year later, Mr. Hessman is the hitting coach for the Detroit Tigers minor league affiliate in Norwich, Connecticut. The lesson here is that no matter what you are doing, do it well and hang in there and eventually good things will happen.