A couple of other examples: Johnny Unitas, Mike Trout (playing up), Ryan Leaf, Heath Shuler (playing way, way, way down). Trivia pros could give a thousand others.
First of all, I had no idea Strasburg was a fat, taco guzzling slob only two years before becoming the most hyped pitching prospect ever. That's a wild turnaround!
Though it's hard to believe in retrospect, the vast majority of extremely successful people came out of nowhere, so to speak. For every son of a billionaire who's destined to a glamorous life from day one, there are dozens (hundreds, thousands?) of people who come from humble beginnings and rocket to the stratosphere on the back of talents nobody knew they had.
I believe that success should be defined by the person achieving it, not by the peanut gallery of onlookers (that doesn't preclude it being fun to speculate on!). A person with a decent job and amazing family might feel overwhelmingly successful, whereas one of the top lawyers in the country might feel like a failure because he isn't *the* best. It really is all relative.
As far as Strasburg goes, it would seem asinine not to consider his career a success. His relative lack of accolades was largely a result of misfortune with his health, unless you want to say that throwing 100+ is a guarantee that one's body will break down prematurely. Nobody should be held to the standard of HOF or bust even if they were among the most touted prospects ever.
A couple of other examples: Johnny Unitas, Mike Trout (playing up), Ryan Leaf, Heath Shuler (playing way, way, way down). Trivia pros could give a thousand others.
First of all, I had no idea Strasburg was a fat, taco guzzling slob only two years before becoming the most hyped pitching prospect ever. That's a wild turnaround!
Though it's hard to believe in retrospect, the vast majority of extremely successful people came out of nowhere, so to speak. For every son of a billionaire who's destined to a glamorous life from day one, there are dozens (hundreds, thousands?) of people who come from humble beginnings and rocket to the stratosphere on the back of talents nobody knew they had.
I believe that success should be defined by the person achieving it, not by the peanut gallery of onlookers (that doesn't preclude it being fun to speculate on!). A person with a decent job and amazing family might feel overwhelmingly successful, whereas one of the top lawyers in the country might feel like a failure because he isn't *the* best. It really is all relative.
As far as Strasburg goes, it would seem asinine not to consider his career a success. His relative lack of accolades was largely a result of misfortune with his health, unless you want to say that throwing 100+ is a guarantee that one's body will break down prematurely. Nobody should be held to the standard of HOF or bust even if they were among the most touted prospects ever.
I can’t recall the last time I read a baseball-focused piece… you reeled me in with the NBA analogy and the overall topic of potential. Great read :)