Mount Vernon High School

October 4, 2024 Hustle Is Hard to Beat For any of us who want to win in any important area of life, one of the most valuable resources we have at our disposal is the powerful example of others. People who become champions haven’t gotten there by accident. They’ve made specific choices along the way that have created that margin of victory, and - if we use it the right way - their example can serve as a blueprint for finding success of our own. Of course, the same could be said for those who don’t win as well. The losers have made choices too, ones that have led them to a different destination. It's an important reminder - that success leaves footprints, and failure does, too. There are few athletes who left a more complicated trail of footprints than Pete Rose, the baseball legend who died this week at the age of 83. Rose spent the last 35 years serving as a sort of cautionary tale - a warning of the consequences that come with bad decisions. Despite his worthy credentials, Rose was kicked out of baseball for life and banned from the Hall of Fame for illegally betting on the game - a cardinal sin in sports. Those failures left an indelible mark on his memory. And yet, it’s impossible to look at the life and career of Pete Rose without acknowledging that there’s a lot his example can teach us. In the history of sports, there is no one who’s name is more synonymous with perhaps the most foundational piece of any success formula: relentless effort. The truth is, winning is reserved for those who work. So if we’re here with a desire to win for ourselves, it’s foolish not to follow the footsteps of the man they nicknamed Charlie Hustle. Pete Rose's example reaffirms a key principle of high performance...that hustle is hard to beat. Rose was a 17-time All-Star who won three World Series titles. He is baseball’s all-time leader in hits (4,256), at-bats (14,053), games played (3,562), and games won (1,972). At just under six feet tall and just under 200 pounds, Rose was anything but an athletic specimen. But his desire to win burned hot, and his effort reflected it. He didn’t care how it looked. He didn’t care what other people thought or said. He didn’t care if it was uncomfortable or inconvenient. Nobody - nobody - played harder than Charlie Hustle. For that reason, it’s hard to argue that any athlete got more out of their natural ability than he did. He wasn’t the biggest or fastest or most gifted player. But Pete Rose seemed to recognize what so many of the rest of us fail to, that no ability we possess is equally as controllable and as powerful as our effort. Simply showing up and choosing to work your tail off is a huge competitive advantage. That's a decision any one of us can make. And yet, the number of people who struggle in this area is staggering. There are talented, capable, lazy losers everywhere. The footprints of those people typically follow a familiar path. Instead of doing what champions do - what Pete Rose chose to do - they focus more on looking good than they do on playing hard. They’re worried about what other people might think or say about displaying a relentless commitment to competing. They are often driven more by their commitment to comfort and convenience. Despite their potential, they often find that those choices have led them to losing. If you’re here today with a desire to win, then it’s worth taking a minute to follow the footprints of Pete Rose’s success, and to recognize that no ability you possess is more controllable or more powerful than simply showing up and working your tail off. So keep raising the bar in this important area of performance, and keep recognizing the competitive advantage it creates. That’s the simple reminder Pete Rose offers each of us here today...that hustle is hard to beat. -Travis