Being a Cubs fan, I am familiar with adversity and strange happenings. None is stranger than the case of outfielder, Adam Greenberg. ("Adam Greenberg’s grandfather was indeed Hank Greenberg — Abraham Hank Greenberg, no relation to the Hall of Fame slugger.") I have an especially close affinity to Greenberg since he is one of the few Jewish baseball players currently in the system.
He was called up from the Chicago Cubs minor league system and faced his first major league at bat last year on July 9, 2006 against Florida Marlins pitcher Valerio de los Santos. On the first pitch of his major league career at bat, he was hit by de los Santos. He went down immediately and suffered a concussion. He never returned to the Chicago Cubs. In fact, on Friday, he was released from Class AA West Tennessee affiliate. It seems that his baseball career is over.
Strangely enough, his career on base percentage is a perfect 1.000 despite having zero official at bats (since hit by a pitch sends you to a base for those not understanding baseball).
I talk alot about the role that luck and timing play in business and life. How else do you describe this incident as bad luck and timing; Greenberg has been preparing his whole life for a chance to play in the majors and with his first pitch, he gets hit by it. It will be interesting to see where Greenberg goes from here. I would love to interview him for the next book!
