Bob Kipper was the team pitching coach when I played for the Low-A Greenville Drive, and again when I played for the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs. I loved him! He was awesome. He had pitched in the big leagues for a long time, so he could relate to us as players; aka he remembered how hard the game could be. He was always upbeat and positive. And as a bonus, he threw great batting practice!

More than any of that, when I think of Bob Kipper I think about the pre-game meetings he hosted before every game with the starting pitcher and the starting catcher for that day. About an hour before every game, he’d come get the two players he needed for that day and pull us into his office to talk about the scouting report on the other team’s hitters and our plan of attack going into that night’s game. Every time, as he followed us into the office, he would casually ask the pitcher how he was feeling. And every single time, he would cut himself off like it was a bad habit. Like he didn’t do the exact same routine every single time. It went something like this:

“Hey (insert name here), how you feeling today? Wait, stop. You know what? I’m not gonna ask you that. You know why? Because I don’t care. The real question for today is… What I really care about, is ARE YOU READY TO COMPETE?”

It took me a few times to notice the scripting. And as a catcher I was in this meeting more often than the starting pitchers…. So I don’t know how long it took them to notice, if they even ever did. But after I noticed what he was doing, I needed to hide a sly smile.

Kip, you taught me to be ready to compete regardless of if I felt good on a given day. To go out and seek and fight to win, not just play the game and see what happens.

That’s the beauty of baseball… the best team doesn’t always win. The biggest, strongest, fastest players still have to go out there and earn it. It’s a battle every single day to see who will come out on top.

Are you ready to compete?