One of the most interesting stories of April has been the rise of baseball player Chris Colabello. Most of my readers are probably wondering "Who is Chris Colabello?" His name isn't very well known even among many baseball die-hards, but his story is fascinating.
In 2011, Colabello was a 28 year old first baseman playing for the Worcester Tornadoes of an independent baseball league where he had played the last 7 seasons. Before that, he played baseball for a small college and then went undrafted by major league baseball. For most people, that would have been the end of a dream.
Very few college athletes make it to the professional level, so when the best opportunity for playing ends (aka they run out of eligibility), they move on to trying to find a career path using their education and degree. The alternative for a baseball player is to play for a team like the Tornadoes for a meager $750/month as a rookie and hope they get noticed by higher paying leagues i.e. the major leagues where the minimum salary is $500k/year.
Colabello had a different mindset than most college graduates who run out of eligibility and don't get drafted. When asked why he continued to play for a living, his answer was that he always believed deep down that he was good enough to play in the major leagues if he continued to develop his skills.
Whether a person foregoes other career or life opportunities to chase a dream really depends on the answer to this one question: Do you believe deep down in your heart and soul that you can achieve it? If the answer is no, then you may as well move on now or concede that just reaching your potential or coming close is enough to warrant the effort.
The not so fun part of dream chasing is knowing when to hang up your cleats. Colabello had three stipulations for continuing to play baseball: 1) He was still having fun, 2) he was able to endure financially and physically, and 3) he continued to improve. He would have walked away if one of three stipulations wasn't met. Whether the chosen discipline is a stress relief or a stress inducer would be my threshold question. Vince Lombardi believed that you have to appreciate the grind to succeed:
Fortunately for Colabello, the Minnesota Twins didn't have enough first baseman in their minor league system and were desperate for help back in 2012 when they signed him. Normally, teams don't look for 28 year olds to develop in their minor league system, but the Twins were short handed on their AA team and besides he was the MVP of the independent league he was playing in.
Colabello finally got his shot to develop under a major league team! He applied the same work ethic and attitude that got him to this point and made the decision by Twins management to promote him really easy when he tore up the minors. As with all real life stories, he faced adversity along the way. As a major league rookie, he struggled to adjust to the majors despite having gaudy minor league statistics.
Fast forward to spring training 2014 when it wasn't 100% certain that Colabello would make the team. In fact, he was offered the chance to double his salary to play for a South Korean team in a straight up trade for cash. Citing his dream to play in the major leagues, Colabello declined the doubled salary. Expectations were still really low for how his season would go based on last year's struggles, but injuries derailed the player that he was competing with for playing time at first base in the first couple days of the season.
Given the chance to play every day since the beginning of the season, Colabello just broke Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett's team record for RBI in a single month! What's interesting about this story is not that the team record got broken, but it was accomplished by a player that no other team wanted just 3 years ago. It goes to show that if you believe in yourself and dream, continue to work to improve, and market yourself anything can happen against all odds.
Unrelated to Colabello's story, I should mention and give kudos to my cousin, Garrett Crain, who plays second base for TCU. He was recently named the co-Big 12 player of the week. I haven't seen him since he was about a foot shorter than he is now, but he has worked hard his whole life to develop the skills that are now paying dividends. Good luck to him going forward!
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