The Problem with Home Runs
Why Small Ball Wins in Baseball and Life.
You don't have to be a baseball fan to appreciate the spectacle of a home run.
There's something mesmerizing about watching one player at bat crush the ball over the fence and round the bases. It's one of those singular achievements in sports—a solo effort that lights up the scoreboard. One person elevating their team. And of course everybody loves a grand slam. Bases loaded, and one swing of the bat drives in four runs, often demoralizing the opposing team and creating what feels like an insurmountable lead.
Think back to 1994, after the baseball strike. Many would argue that Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire's quest to break Roger Maris' home run record did more than just make history—it revitalized the game and united a nation. Two men chasing history, culminating in McGwire finishing the 1998 season with an astonishing 70 home runs, with Sosa close behind at 66. The nation was captivated by their race to surpass Maris' seemingly untouchable record of 61.
But here's the thing - neither of them won the World Series that year. You know who did? The Yankees. And they didn't do it living and dying on the home run ball. They won by playing what the baseball folk like to call "small ball" - getting on base, moving runners over, making the smart plays. Not as glamorous, but it worked.
Perhaps most telling is that today, Sosa and McGwire are more remembered for the steroid scandal than for that magical summer of '98. That record-breaking season that had us all captivated? It's now forever overshadowed by what came later. The lesson? Sustainable success isn't built on spectacular moments but on the foundation of doing the right things consistently over time and as a team.
We're often transfixed by dramatic breakthroughs and revolutionary innovations, but sustainable progress usually comes from stacking small wins. Just as a baseball team can't rely solely on home run hitters to win championships (Aaron Judge, I'm looking at you), we can't build lasting success on home runs alone in our lives.
So this week, let’s explore the strategy of winning through coordination rather than power and why small ball is where it’s at.
Building Success One Base at a Time
In baseball, "small ball" isn't just about individual plays—it’s about orchestration. It’s the runner on first stealing second, the batter hitting behind the runner, and the next batter hitting a sacrifice fly to bring the run home. No single player wins the game alone. Instead, the win comes from multiple players executing their roles in concert, each contribution building on the others. (Side note: baseball seems super boring on the surface, but if you pay attention, it’s a fascinating game of athleticism, skill, and strategy…but I digress.)
Let’s look at how this applies across different aspects of life:
At Work: That big revenue item might get all the attention—the flashy, splashy deal that people crow about. But it's easy to lose sight of how these big signings actually happen. They’re built on countless coordinated daily actions. It’s the customer service person who follows up on every ticket, the engineer who catches small bugs before they become big problems, and the product team that continues to iterate and improve features and the customer experience.
In Relationships: We all love the grand romantic gesture—the surprise vacation, the elaborate proposal, the big anniversary celebration. But lasting relationships aren't built on these "home run" moments. They're built on remembering how your partner takes their coffee, sending that quick "thinking of you" text, or bringing home flowers for no reason at all. It’s the small, daily acts of attention and care that create lasting bonds.
In Personal Growth: Real, lasting personal growth comes from building systems of small, interconnected habits that work together. It’s how a regular sleep schedule supports your morning workout, which energizes you for focused work, which gives you the mental space for meaningful conversations, which leads to better relationships and reduced stress, which in turn helps you sleep better.
Building Systems Around Small Ball Thinking
The true power of small ball thinking lies in building systems that support this approach. Here’s how to make that shift:
Celebrate small wins with genuine enthusiasm. That customer testimonial or minor code tweak might not make headlines, but these are the building blocks of lasting success. In your personal life, this might mean celebrating a week of consistent workouts rather than waiting to hit your goal weight.
Look for connections rather than individual achievements. A small product update might seem minor until you see how it reduces support tickets, improves user satisfaction, and leads to better reviews.
Value consistency over occasional brilliance. The team member who reliably delivers good work every day often creates more value than the occasional superstar performance. Similarly, the person who meditates for five minutes every day typically sees more benefit than someone who does occasional hour-long sessions here and there.
Find satisfaction in the process, not just the outcome. Learn to appreciate the daily work of improvement, knowing that each small step moves you forward. Whether you're learning a language (celebrate understanding a new phrase), developing a skill (enjoy the practice sessions), or building better habits (acknowledge each day you stick to your plan), the journey itself becomes rewarding.
Creating Momentum Through Connection
When you start thinking this way, you can really create some momentum. Every action builds upon the last, creating a flywheel effect:
Each small win builds confidence for the next
Success in one area naturally flows into others
The people you work with or people in your life start seeing and creating connections themselves
The system becomes stronger and more resilient over time
That minor process improvement leads to better quality, which increases customer satisfaction, which generates more traffic, which provides more opportunities for improvement. Before you know it, you've created a self-reinforcing cycle of success—not through any single dramatic change, but through the compound effect of connected improvements.
In Conclusion
Look, I know it isn't baseball season, and this is kind of an odd thing to write about in mid-November. But I keep seeing a "home run culture" play out at work and with people I know, and it’s been on my mind.
Here’s what brought this home for me: Later this week, I'm heading to Colorado, where we're putting on Trivia Haunt at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. I'll be honest—it’s a scaled-down version of what we had hoped and planned to do. A lot of things beyond our control brought the scope (and the profit) way down. But I don’t care. I'm super excited for this event. It will be smaller, quirkier, more intimate—a place where we can create something magical. It's not a home run by any measure, and internally it’s developed a sort of stigma of being a letdown. But this event is a solid right-field double. It gets us on base and in scoring position. And if we hustle and play smart, we can still cross home plate. I dunno, maybe I am taking the analogy too far here.
That's really at the heart of what makes small ball so challenging—it requires us to reset our definition of success. We have to train ourselves to see the beauty in a well-executed bunt, to celebrate advancing the runner, and to value the unglamorous work that ultimately wins games. And it isn't just a strategy—it's more radical than that. It's a completely different way of thinking about success.
So the next time you're tempted to swing for the fences, maybe take a breath and look around. There might be a better play—one that involves your teammates, builds momentum, and sets everyone up for success. Because at the end of the day, the box score doesn't care if you won with a grand slam or a series of singles. A run is a run, and a win is a win.
This bears repeating.