When Dreams Come True: La Piñata’s Heroic Story (Heroic +1 #1,439)

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. Today we're gonna wrap up our little tour through the first three books of Darren Donnelly's wonderful Sports for the Soul series. As we've discussed, Darren has a special ability to tell a great inspiring sports story packed with scientifically grounded practical wisdom. It's a rare and winning combination, which is why I'll recommend you check out the notes and books in the series yet again for Think like a warrior. Old school grit, relentless optimism, victory favors the fearless, life to the fullest and the turnaround. All of those are linked in this plus one. Of course, like any great hero's journey, a great sports fable needs to include a hero who meets a guide and has some buddies who help him achieve the impossible. I'll save the spoiler alert for his minor league baseball player who makes it to the big leagues and does something incredible. And I will tell you that and I had goosebumps as I typed this. When I read this make believe story about a baseball player doing the impossible, I thought of my dear friend Brandon Guyer. Brandon played major league baseball and of course he was once in the minor leagues going through many of the same things the hero in Darren's fable experienced. One day, after one of his worst performances, Brandon's AAA manager brought him into his office. He was nervous about what he might be telling him. To Brandon's great surprise, he was being called up to the big leagues the very next day. He was going to play his very first game in the same stadium he grew up going to as a kid. Imagine that for a moment or three. Now it's his first at bat. He steps up to the plate and you know what he does? He hits a home run in front of his family and his friends. The the first player to ever hit a home run in his first career at batting, Camden Yards. I got goosebumps right now. Imagine that for a moment or three actually. Watch this video I linked to in the plus one to feel the power of that moment. I've watched that video at least a dozen times and I've gotten tears in my eyes every single time. So our hero hits a home run and his first at bat, standing ovation. Then you know what Brandon does? He strikes out in the next two at bats. Then you know what happens? He gets sent back down to the minor leagues where he goes up and down for years before making it stick in the big leagues. And you know how he navigated that whole process with exactly the ideas that we come back to all day, every day. Then you know what happened? He made his dreams come true and did things like catch this ball in the playoffs link and hit this double in game seven of the World Series. Linked against one of the best closers in baseball. Not too long after, the announcer gave him the nickname La Pinata because he got hit by more pitches than anyone else in baseball in baseball history. By the way, on an at bat to hit by pitch ratio. And by the way, Brandon's the guy who inspired me to get my Arete tattoo. We trade text with our aura scores every morning. He's made me a better human being. Bless you brother. You're one of the good guys. And I'm honored that he says some kind words which I link to about how our Mastery Series and coach program made him a better human being. And he joined Michael, our head coach, to share his wisdom with our coaches. Check that out as well. I'm also honored that he and his wife Lindsay are two of our biggest investors in Heroic. Bless you both. They have some kind words to say about that as well. And you can learn more about Brandon on his website, brandonguyer.com he's now the mental toughness coach for the University of Virginia's baseball team, where he's a Hall of Famer and he teaches young athletes how to win on and off the field by living with virtue. He's the living embodiment of what it means to be heroic. Day one all in. Let's make our dreams come true, hero.