Everyday ethics: Lessons we can learn from Phillies’ loss

When I am honest with myself I admit I learn more from failures than successes. They stay in the memory a long time, and no matter how hard I try to remove them, they remain, sometimes cropping up unannounced. But the way out of a hole is to stop digging, which means acknowledging failures before trying to move on.

As in the game of life, baseball offers learning opportunities, especially in losses. That’s why the slower pace of a baseball game provides time to reflect on what happened. The general rule of living a better life is to take the time to consider what went wrong and vow not to repeat the same errors.

When the Phillies recently lost the seventh game against Arizona Diamondbacks and a chance to go to the World Series, it hurt, more so because I envisioned a parade after winning the series.

I’m a native Philadelphian and have suffered many defeats. You can tell I’m from the City of Brotherly Love because I refer to my birthplace as West Philadelphia, say “wadder” rather than “water,” try to explain to outsiders why Billy Penn stands atop City Hall or why it takes so long to ride a few miles on the Schuylkill Expressway during rush hours.

It usually takes me time to reflect on defeats, my own or others. If you didn’t spend your early years growing up in Philly, it’s hard to understand that there are three important realities in my hometown — sports, sports and sports. We live and usually die with our teams.

It’s as important to me to name the starting five of the 1950 or 1980 Phillies as to quote Scripture. In fact, sports is a religion in Philly with myths, heroes and villains, chants and songs, and memories of great victories and agonizing defeats.

So let me wax philosophical. What did I learn from the Phillies loss that might help me?

First, money doesn’t buy happiness, or even a trip to the World Series. The Phillies had one of the highest payrolls in baseball, yet their high paid sluggers failed to produce, especially when needed in the final two games. You should have spent more money and time recruiting and equipping youngsters in Reading or the Lehigh Valley teams instead of buying players elsewhere. It might take longer, but over time it’s the farm system that yields successes.

Second, making the right moves at the right times is most important in baseball and life. The Phillies manager, for all his good work during the season, made some dumb decisions during the last games with Arizona. For example, he left a weak-hitting rookie in to hit with the bases loaded and two out.  And who can forget leaving a relief pitcher in with a near dead arm who helped them lose two games? And need I mention the so-called “big bats” that struck out so many times one wonders who taught them not to make contact with the ball but hit the air around home plate?

Third, you’ve got to have hope. As I’ve often said after years of Philly sports teams end a season — “wait until next year.” It’s the same rule after you’ve fallen down in life: Get up. learn from your mistakes, dust yourself off, and move on.

Look, it’s only a few months until spring training, and you can watch the next great pitcher or hitter emerge. Hope is what gives us courage to go on. Life is too short to stay stuck in yesterday’s failures. Move onward and upward (and maybe find another topnotch starting pitcher and contact hitter or focus on the farm system for the future.)

The lesson from baseball is clear: Live in the present, hope for the future.

John C. Morgan is an author and teacher who barely could hit anything in youth baseball games.