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| |  | Michael Fox CPCC,
founder of m�agine!,
is a professional
coach and trainer,
author and creative artist, whose work has been featured throughout
the world.
Michael is a
Certified Practitioner
of the
Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator.�
Do you know someone
who might benefit
from our weekly email?
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| The elevator on the left... |
While attending school several years ago I stayed several nights over the course of a year at the same lovely hotel. I noticed, over time, that only one of the two elevators in the hotel lobby functioned. The set of doors on the right would respond to the push of the button; the set of doors on the left remained curiously shut and still.
Of course, it's likely that the hotel--a posh facility that had nevertheless seen better days--had shut down the elevator to save money. Ah--but in my imagination--there was another explanation. The set of doors on the left opened only by a mysterious key and led, not to an elevator, but to an enchanted conveyance capable of transporting its occupant across time and space.
Oh, I wish I had that key.
But where would I go? My first thought--apart from a place and time compelled by family or faith and inspired by this weekend's renewal of Major League Baseball--would be to travel back in time to 1950 and attend what at the time would have appeared to have been a meaningless spring training baseball game in Florida. There the Philadelphia Athletics took the field in Vero Beach to play the host Brooklyn Dodgers, two teams that would eventually call California home.
In the Athletics' dugout was a slender, weary old man wearing--as he had for half a century and nearly 8,000 games--a tailored black suit with a starched collar and tie and matching hat. His name was Connie Mack, born Cornelius McGillicuddy during the War of Northern Aggression. Mack had owned and managed the A's for fifty years. Pitcher Bobby Shantz recalled the one occasion when he saw Mr. Mack concede his formal attire during a ballgame: "It was in St. Louis. The temperature was in the high nineties and it was extremely humid. The heat must have really gotten to Mr. Mack--understandably so, as he was in his eighties by then--because he took off his hat and loosened his tie. It was the only time I ever saw him out of uniform."
In the broadcast booth that spring day in 1950, was a red-headed young man anxiously calling his first game as a Dodgers broadcaster. Vin Scully, according to my Dodgers 1950 Yearbook, was "a 1949 Fordham University graduate who in his closing college days covered Rams football, basketball and baseball games over the school station after lettering for two years as an outfielder on the diamond." Upon graduation, Red Barber--legendary broadcaster and, at the time, Sports Director for CBS Radio Network--had recruited Scully to call college football games. Scully impressed his employer by calling a football game from the roof of frigid Fenway Park in Boston, despite having left his coat and gloves at the hotel. (He had assumed he'd be calling the game from the warmth of the press box.) Barber subsequently recommended Scully for the empty chair beside him in the Dodgers broadcast booth. Sixty-three years later, Scully remains as the voice of the Dodgers and--in many respects--the voice of the game itself.
Looking back on that spring day in Vero Beach when Connie Mack and Vin Scully crossed paths, their storied careers together span the entire history of modern Major League Baseball, birthed in 1903. I'm curious who might cross Vin Scully's path these days and renew the conversation fifty years from now.
Incidentally, the A's first baseman for that spring training game was Ferris Fain, the uncle of Shirley George, a treasured friend in the Sacramento area of California. Ah, connections.
So, if I loaned you the key to the elevator door on the left where would you go? Choose anywhere apart from the prompt of family and faith.
What personal, compelling passion would be served by your choice?
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Michael Fox
m�agine!
530/613.2774
407 Myrtle Drive
Farmerville, LA, USA 71241 |
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In addition to personal and professional coaching,
m�agine! specializes in spiritual transformation coaching,
employing its proprietary models
--Values, Vision, Voice and Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength--
as well as
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator� curriculum
published by CPP, the People Development People.
Michael's books include
Complete in Christ,
Complete in Christ Spiritual Transformation Workbook,
and Biblio�files.
Coaching fees are based upon a sliding scale. Contact us for details.
For additional information, visit our website at maginethepossibilities.net.
Limited scholarships are available for spiritual transformation coaching.
On the flip side, if you are able, please inquire about opportunities
to fund scholarships for those who cannot afford coaching fees.
View our archives!
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