Clint Hurdle taught players to hit through wit.
The cover of former Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle’s new book “Hurdle-isms: Wit and Wisdom from a Lifetime in Baseball”. (Provided by Clint Hurdle)
He managed 17 years in the big leagues, suffered 1,345 losses, but won over organizations with his leadership and sense of humor. Hurdle has lived a life worthy of a movie, from Sports Illustrated coverboy to lost prospect to getting sober to leading the Rockies to the World Series.
The common thread connecting the pain and joy was funny, insightful anecdotes that reflected his engaging personality and learned humility.
Baseball is famous for its unwritten rules. Hurdle chose to write his thoughts down, authoring “Hurdle-isms: Wit and wisdom from a lifetime in baseball.”
Hurdle finds motivation through inspirational sayings, sharing those with 7,000 friends on a daily email. This book became an outgrowth of his 2023 life goal to “Grow” in his personal life and remove himself from his comfort zone, something he asked players to do for decades.
“I learned about myself, about the ability to write, about an entire process I had no idea about,” Hurdle told The Post about his book, which is available for pre-order. “It allowed me to revisit moments that were real and meaningful.”
Hurdle, 67, turned down more than a dozen book opportunities while managing. After his final season with the Pirates in 2019, he considered a multi-person project, sharing baseball stories from the rocking chair. But no publisher bit. He reached into his contacts, something he was reluctant to do, and talked with friend and best-selling author Jon Gordon. Gordon, known for “The Energy Bus,” advised Hurdle that he needed to “stretch,” to commit to going solo. Hurdle dug into his 13 journals logged over 20 years with the goal to “keep it light, bright and polite.”
The Hurdle-isms were born. In his breezy 20,000-word book often written on cross-country flights, Hurdle focuses on 25 of them. Those who followed the Rockies will recognize several, including, “There are two kinds of people in this world: those who are humble and those who are about to be,” and “multi-tasking makes me multi-mediocre.”
“The sayings just came from the way I saw life,” said Hurdle, long a voracious reader and music connoisseur.
Early in his playing career in Kansas City, Hurdle had a coach tell him the hardest thing in the simplest manner. Struggling at the time, Hurdle felt overwhelmed by pressure.
“I could have won a batting title, dated Marie Osmond and cured cancer,” Hurdle said, “and it wouldn’t have been good enough in my mind.”
As many people offered Hurdle advice, the coach told him, “It’s hard to relax when you are playing like horse (bleep).” The brutal truth — “Stop worrying about what everyone else is saying” — provided comfort, and motivated many Hurdle-isms.
Hurdle begins his book writing about restoring joy in sports and life. The first Hurdle-ism: Don’t keep score.
It remains difficult for baseball players not to define their lives by their batting average. When Hurdle was a member of …read more
Source:: The Denver Post – Sports
