A short YouTube commentary by Brian Johnson (Heroic +1 #1,475) reflecting on the Nolan Ryan documentary 'Facing Nolan.' Johnson highlights Ryan's extraordinary MLB records (career length, strikeouts, no-hitters, walks, wild pitches, stolen bases, grand slams allowed, etc.), links those peaks and valleys to Peter Drucker's idea that strong people have strong weaknesses, and encourages embracing idiosyncratic personal bests.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. In our last couple ones we talked about the fact that Team Johnson is going next next next level via some neurofeedback. As part of that, I've been watching a bunch of inspiring sports documentaries and one of my favorites was called Facing Nolan. It's a fantastic look at the astonishing career of Nolan Ryan. Today we're going to talk about one of my favorite parts of that documentary and connect it to some Peter Drucker wisdom and a couple of other plus ones featuring some other great athletes. So as you may know, Nolan Ryan was an extraordinary major League baseball player. According to the documentary, he holds 51 Major League Baseball records. He had a 27 year career that spanned four decades, playing more seasons than anyone in Major League baseball history. He has the most no hitters in history 7 or along with the most 1 hitters 12, 2 hitters 18 and 3 hitters 31. He holds the record for most career strikeouts at 5714, which is nearly 1000 more than the second place guy, Randy Johnson. He also holds the record for most strikeouts.383 in a season. And his batting average against of.204 is also a major league record. And he also holds the record for Most walks given up 2,795, which is nearly 1,000 more than the second place guy, Steve Carlton. To put that in perspective, he walks more than 50% more hitters than any other pitcher in Major League baseball history. Plus he allowed the most stolen bases. 757 and grand slams 10. And he threw the most wild pitches. 277. All of which makes me smile and makes me think of Peter Drucker, Babe Ruth and Aaron Judge. First, Babe Ruth and Aaron Judge. As we've discussed, check out the plus ones. Those guys are the home run kings and the strikeout kings. Note one goes with the other. Peter Drucker made the same point in his great book the Effective Executive where he tells us, and I quote him, strong people always have strong weaknesses too. Where there are peaks, there are valleys. And no one is strong in many areas. End quote. That's today's plus one. Let's go set some idiosyncratic personal best records. And let's be willing to embrace the fact that where there are peaks, there are valleys. There are no perfect human beings and you and I won't be the first. Day one all in. Let's go hero.
