When one thinks of an “old school” baseball manager, Jack McKeon quickly comes to mind.
McKeon’s approach to managing was about as old school as it gets in the era of Sabermetrics. He relied on gut instinct, using pride as a motivator, letting his players learn on the fly, and doing things his own way.
His approach to faith follows in the footsteps of famous old school coaches like Vince Lombardi and Don Shula. He’s a devout Catholic who attends Mass every day and he believes unapologetically in the power of prayer and the intercession of saints.
His approach to exercise is certainly more “old school” than any doctor would ever recommend these days. McKeon walks a couple miles each morning…while puffing on a cigar.
Though Jack McKeon personifies many endearing “old school” qualities, he’ll tell you that the secret to his success comes down to good old-fashioned persistence. Or, what I like to call, Old School GRIT…
I’m here to tell people the game is never over. It’s just like Yogi Berra said, “It’s ain’t over ‘till it’s over.”
You gotta keep plugging along. Persistence is the key to success. When you look back on my career, it was a carbon copy of persistence.
For every disappointing thing, something positive came after it. Every time I got fired, I eventually ended up getting a better job until one day I’m named Manager of the Year with the Reds in 1999 and then I’m winning a World Series with the Marline four years later.
The reason for that is my attitude.
The same goes in business. If you’re fired or something goes wrong, it’s not the end of the world. I always thought there are people in a lot worse shape than I am.
Your attitude determines your altitude.
You’ve got to have faith. I go to church every day. You keep moving, you keep going forward.
Regardless of your age, keep fighting. Don’t give up. You might think you’re too old or too poor or too sick to go on, but if you have faith, anything is possible.
Look at me. I was out of work for three years, 72 years old and all signed up for the North Carolina Senior Games, and a few months later I’ve got the biggest World Series ring ever made.
If that [Marlins] job hadn’t come along, I would have managed in a rookie league. It’s like I tell kids when I go out to the schools: you can be whatever you want to be. I still feel that way.
If it doesn’t work today, keep at it. Don’t quit. It might work tomorrow.
Don’t ever give up.
— Jack McKeon, from his book I’m Just Getting Started
Jack McKeon first became a major league manager in 1973. It took him 30 years and five different big-league jobs before he won a World Series at the age of 72.
He retired two years after his World Championship, but then returned to the dugout once again to serve as interim manager for the Marlins in 2011. At the age of 80, he became the second-oldest manager in Major League Baseball history.
So much of life comes down to GRIT. Who can persevere the longest and the hardest? Who can keep a positive, can-do, find-a-way attitude through life’s endless ups and downs? Who can keep moving forward regardless of what stands in their way?
Again and again we see this in sports, business, and life: the person who keeps persevering and never gives up is so often the person who ends up on top. Jack McKeon’s life story personifies this fact of life.
Yes, Jack McKeon is “old school” in many various ways, but it was his old school GRIT that made him a baseball legend.
