A Couple of Tugs and a Leadership Lesson

By By: Kyle Thompson; @KyleOKC

May 31, 2012

Heroism is as much a part of the game of baseball as wooden bats andinfield dirt. Baseball fans grow up hearing stories about Babe Ruthcalling his shot, Willie Mays making his famous catch, and JackieRobinson breaking the color barrier.

Furthermore, baseball has the ability to make heroes out of the mostunlikely players. For instance, David Freese of the St. Louis Cardinalswill now forever be known as the hero of Game 6 of the 2011 World Seriesand the savior of the Cards' 11th World Series Championship.

Along with this heroism comes a certain mystique that somehow distancesplayers from other everyday citizens. However, the recent heroics of theCincinnati Reds' Todd Frazier bring everything back into focus.

This week, Frazier, who was fresh off of a mammoth week of hitting feats,was having lunch with teammate Ryan Ludwick when they noticed a man inthe restaurant who was choking. With the immediate prompting of Ludwick,Frazier sprung into action. While using the Heimlich Maneuver, he gave acouple of tugs and was able to dislodge a piece of steak from the man'sthroat, saving his life.

For more details on this story, check out the David Brown's article here.

This story has a great leadership lesson in it: There is value when citizens demonstrate immediate, selfless leadershipin order to assist another citizen.

I am definitely guilty of looking at ballplayers in a different lightsimply because of the amazing things that they do, but this storydisplays the simple human element that we all possess. We may not allhave the opportunity to hit a walk-off home run to win an MLB game, butwe all have the ability to make a difference in the lives of citizensaround us. It is a responsibility we should all take seriously.

I am sure that this is just one of the many stories of selflessness andheroism that a major leaguer has shown off the field. Please feel free toleave a comment below describing any of the experiences that you havehad, or you can tweet me @KyleOKC or the @MLBFanCave with your stories.