Sam Donnellon: Jimmy Rollins’ act of contrition
Posted by Ted Hopton on June 6, 2008
I don’t often write here about sports stories, but I like stories that have a good message, and this one does. If you’re not a Phillies or baseball fan, Jimmy Rollins is a superstar shortstop who won the Most Valuable Player award two years ago. Yet in yesterday’s game he failed to run hard to first base, thinking the ball he’d hit was going to be easily caught for an out. When the ball was dropped, he had squandered a chance to be on second base instead of first.
The story here is not baseball or sports — it’s about taking responsibility for your actions no matter who you are. It’s also about management — Charlie Manuel yanked Rollins out of the game as punishment, sending a clear message about accountability. And then it’s about how you act when you get chastised publicly.
He took his medicine. Jimmy Rollins took his benching yesterday like a man, like a teammate, maybe even like the leader he purports to be.
