Dan Busby: Baseball and Boards

 

Issue No. 531 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Oct. 10, 2022) spotlights the immense legacy of nonprofit books and resources available today because of the vision of Dan Busby (1941-2022). We miss him.    Dan Busby (1941-2022) authored more than 70 editions of 14 different books—nine of them written when he was in his 70s, including Trust: The Firm Foundation for Kingdom Fruitfulness. Dan Busby’s Board Books & Baseball Books! Many leaders and readers of Your Weekly Staff Meeting have graciously reached out to me upon hearing the sad news that my close friend, Dan Busby, lost his battle to cancer on Sept. 28, 2022. He was 81. Heaven’s gain! (Read ECFA’s tribute here.) So in this issue, I’d like to spotlight and remind you of the immense legacy Dan left for leaders and readers. As a CPA, then a denominational CFO, Dan served ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability) for 30 years as a volunteer, senior staff member, and then president from 2008 until his retirement in 2020. He was ECFA’s sixth (and to date, longest-serving) president. [Updated] Dan Busby’s family invited friends to join them for an online memorial service on Oct. 21, 2022, Friday 2:00 p.m. Eastern time. Click here to view a recording of the service.  Click here to view the Oct. 21, 2022, online Memorial Service for Dan Busby. ECFA’s tribute noted that by his retirement from ECFA, Dan “had authored or co-authored more than 70 editions of 14 different books—nine of them written when in his 70s. He also published many ECFA eBooks.” I’m spotlighting five books below, including four that I had the huge privilege of co-authoring with Dan. [  ] Trust: The Firm Foundation for Kingdom Fruitfulness, by Dan Busby (2015) • Read more. • Order from Amazon. In the opening chapter, Dan describes “The Low-Trust Penalty.” In low-trust organizations, Busby warned, you’ll see:    • Internal dissension. “Without trust, the office dissension machine runs at full speed—and divides a ministry against itself.”    • Disengagement. Staff work in silos and “they shift from joyful service to turf protection.”    • Turnover. “When trust is low, turnover is disproportionately high—ministries lose the people they least want to lose.”    • Fraud. “Low trust encourages a small theft; if they don’t get caught, they may take it to the next level.” The quotations are numerous and memorable—click here for 100 trust quotes for your PowerPoints, speaking notes, coffee break conversations, and tweets, including this from Richard Blackaby: “Our problem as leaders is we do everything we know to do. That’s not enough. We need to do everything God wants us to do.” [  ] Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom: 40 Insights for Better Board Meetings (2nd Edition), by Dan Busby and John Pearson (2018). Lesson 1 asks, “Would you trust a surgeon who stopped learning? How about a board member who stopped learning?”  • Order from Amazon. • Read the 40 guest blogs. [  ] More Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom: Effectiveness, Excellence, Elephants! by Dan Busby and John Pearson (2019). In Lesson 39, we quoted Donald Rumsfeld, “Meetings are a good place to discover whether an organization might be suffering from groupthink. If everyone in the room seems convinced of the brilliance of an idea, it may be a sign that the organization would benefit from more dissent and debate.” • Order from Amazon. • Read the 40 guest blogs. [  ] Lessons From the Church Boardroom: 40 Insights for Exceptional Governance (2nd Edition), by Dan Busby and John Pearson (2019). Lesson 3, “Guarding Your Pastor’s Soul,” quotes Andrew Murray: “Humility is the only soil in which the graces take root; the lack of humility is the sufficient explanation of every defect and failure.”  • Order from Amazon. • Read the 40 guest blogs. • View the short videos. [  ] ECFA Tools and Templates for Effective Board Governance: Time-Saving Solutions for Your Board, by Dan Busby and John Pearson (2019). To introduce the 22 tools, we quoted Peter Drucker: “Although I don’t know a single for-profit business that is well managed as a few of the nonprofits, the great majority of the nonprofits can be graded a ‘C’ at best. Not for lack of effort; most of them work very hard. But for lack of focus, and for lack of tool competence.” • Order from Amazon. • Read the 22 descriptive blogs. • Download the tools and templates. 2 More From Dan Busby—The Baseball “Ticketologist!” Like all great leaders, Dan Busby also enjoyed hobbies and interests outside of his demanding leadership roles. (Donald Rumsfeld wrote, “I lean toward people who have lives outside of work—an interesting hobby, perhaps, or fluency in a foreign language, for example.”) Dan's friends described him as a baseball “ticketologist” because of his research, stunning ticket collection, and authorship of books about baseball tickets. I’ve reviewed two of his baseball books. [  ] Before and After Jackie Robinson, A Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers Told Through the Lens of Tickets and Passes, by Dan Busby (August 2022). Just barely, the Lord gave Dan time to finish this 400-page full-color gem before his homegoing. Noting the colorful history of  the Brooklyn Dodgers (including rare photos and even rarer baseball tickets), only Dan Busby could also carve out 10 leadership principles (with commentary) in a book about baseball! It’s the perfect coffee table book for your office or home. • Read more. • Order from Amazon. • View the short YouTube videos. [  ] Before and After Babe Ruth: A Story of the New York Yankees Told Through the Lens of Tickets and Passes, by Dan Busby (2018). In the 1950s, Dan began collecting World Series programs (the mail order company attached actual World Series tickets!). Inspired, Dan upped his game and in 1962 began collecting opening day tickets from every major league baseball team. He often consulted with the National Baseball Hall of Fame concerning memorabilia acquisitions. I've told friends, “Dan was in a league of his own—he was a walking Wikipedia!” You’ll love this book on the Yankees. • Read more. • Order from Amazon. • View the short YouTube videos. ONLINE MEMORIAL SERVICE. Join Dan’s family and friends on Oct. 21, 2022, for the online memorial service, where along with Gary Hoag and Steve McVey, I will also have the privilege of sharing some brief comments about my very special friend.        Mastering 100 Must-Read Books Part 1: How to Read a Book! Book #2 of 100: My Ideal Bookshelf For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #2 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.  Your “Leaders Are Readers Champion” can suggest this format: a five-minute summary and then one or two questions for a five-minute discussion. (See the study guide in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.) Your team will love Book #2: My Ideal Bookshelf by Thessaly La Force and Jane Mount The book’s big idea: invite over 100 leading cultural figures (Malcolm Gladwell, James Patterson, and others) “to share the books that matter to them most; books that define their dreams and ambitions and in many cases helped them find their way in the world.” • Read John’s review. • Order My Ideal Bookshelf from Amazon. • Download the 100 Must-Read Books list. The authors quote David Sedaris: “Tobias Wolff is America’s greatest short-story writer. Sometimes I meet ministers, and I always say to them, ‘If I had a church, I’d read a Tobias Wolff story every week, and then I’d say to people, “Go home.”’ There’s nothing else you would need to say. Every story is a manual on how to be a good person, but without ever being preachy. They’re deeply moral stories; the best of them read like parables.” NOTE: See Part 11 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books. “Hall of Fame Sports Stories” features reviews of five sports books including Dan Busby’s Before and After Babe Ruth. Busby’s latest, Before and After Jackie Robinson, is included in the “Index to Bonus Books,” a curated list of 91 additional books you can read—once you complete the 100 Must-Read Books!                     PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. We had the very special privilege of designing book covers for Dan Busby and ECFA, including the Trust book and four board governance books. We also produced the videos and designed the read-and-engage viewer guides for the ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 1, 2, and 3. Do you need some video or design ideas? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social). MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  • WEBSITE:   Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations   IMPORTANT NOTICE!  Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here. New book reviews will also be archived at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. Or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon.

Before and After Jackie Robinson

 

Issue No. 527 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Sept. 2, 2022) spotlights a colorful and massive book, Before and After Jackie Robinson: A Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers Told Through the Lens of Tickets and Passes, by “Ticketologist” Dan Busby. Fascinating! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies).   View the 3-minute tribute to Jackie and Rachel Robinson at the 2022 MLB All-Star Game at Dodgers Stadium on July 19. (With cool graphics!) “Ticketologist” Dan Busby on Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers “Chills!” That’s how fans described Denzel Washington’s tribute honoring the trailblazer, Jackie Robinson, at the 2022 MLB All-Star Game at Dodgers Stadium on July 19. It just happened to also be the 100th birthday celebration for Jackie Robinson’s widow, Rachel (she wore No. 42).  Denzel Washington’s solemn salute to both Jackie and Rachel commemorated that monumental day on April 15, 1947, when Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier. Washington spoke of Jackie’s “supreme talent and unshakable character." (See the three-minute tribute above.) But there’s more to the Jackie Robinson story—more than you ever knew. So with impeccable timing, my good friend, Dan Busby, has just hit a homerun with his stunning hot-off-the-press book, Before and After Jackie Robinson, A Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers Told Through the Lens of Tickets and Passes.    Baseball tickets? Yes. Remember the concept of actual tickets (before the turnstiles demanded proof on your digital device)? The New York Times recently asked Dan Busby what he thought about the transition to digital tickets. His response, “Save a tree, lose a memory.” And the memories. Oh, my. As Busby showcases in his colorful stroll through Brooklyn’s baseball history, baseball tickets and passes are a unique and fascinating gateway into the cheers, jeers, fears, and more of Major League Baseball. Play ball! (And by the way, the 2022 MLB World Series begins on Oct. 28. The Los Angeles Dodgers are lookin’ pretty good!) Before and After Jackie Robinson, however, creates a huge problem for me! The book is 400 pages (with hundreds of photos and images) and there’s so much I want to spotlight. Yet calling this gem a “book” is sorely inadequate. This full-color massive masterpiece is one-of-a-kind. You’ll give it a place of honor on your coffee table at home and your reception area at work. But I need a double-header eNews to do this review justice. Or maybe I can knock out a double or a triple—or even a few poignant bunts—to entice you to order the book. It’s absolutely fascinating! I had no idea! TRUE OR FALSE? [   ] T/F #1. Jackie Robinson (1919-1972) was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball. Robinson’s achievements—against all odds—were many, including Rookie of the Year in 1947 and six-time All-Star in his 10-year career. He played in six World Series, including 1955 when the Brooklyn Dodgers won the Series. (True!) [   ] T/F #2. In 1947, sportswriter Tommy Holmes wrote, “Opening day has come and gone and nothing at all terrible happened because a colored man played in a big league lineup for the first time.” (True!) [   ] T/F #3. Jackie Robinson wore Number 42 (see the movie). “Number 42 is now the most celebrated number in baseball. Each year on April 15, every player in the Major Leagues wears 42 and no one wears it the rest of the year.” (True! That’s just one of 22 “Quotable Quotes” in the book’s introductory appetizers.) Many of my readers will remember that Dan Busby served as ECFA’s president from 2008 until his retirement in 2020. But many will be surprised to learn that he’s also been a baseball memorabilia collector and researcher for over 60 years. He’s recognized as one of the premiere baseball “ticketologists.”  BUSBY’S “TICKETOLOGY” RESEARCH delivers fascinating snippets and Dodger memorabilia on almost every page: • Musical Depreciation Night? An upper grandstand ticket for Aug. 13, 1951, cost just $1.75. But free admittance was offered to any fan who brought a musical instrument for “Musical Appreciation (or Depreciation) Night.” Read more on page 269 to learn why the local musician’s union had issues with the Dodgers’ popular “Sym-Phony Band” and why the union “had threatened to throw a picket line around Ebbets Field.” (Will this tuba fit through the turnstile?) • The Mystery of Norman Rockwell’s “The Three Umpires.” According to Busby, Norman Rockwell painted five covers for The Saturday Evening Post in 1949. (Lifetime, he painted 259 covers for The Post!) Yet Busby (aka Detective Busby!) surmised that the Dodgers-Pirates game at Ebbets Field that Rockwell depicted, featuring three umpires and impending rain, wasn’t quite accurate. Had Rockwell perhaps taken “poetic license” with the finer points of baseball? Busby wrote to Rockwell and the famous illustrator sent Dan a personal and gracious response on Dec. 1, 1970. (Norman Rockwell’s letter is featured on page 385.) • Last Game at Ebbets Field. On page 375 is a ticket for Sept. 24, 1957—the Dodgers’ last game in Brooklyn. Organist Gladys Gooding, known sometimes to greet the umps with “Three Blind Mice,” had entertained the fans at Ebbets Field from 1942 through this final game. (Interestingly, the Dodgers had the first organ in MLB.) In addition to narrating Dodger history—and MLB history—“through the lens” of the thousands of baseball tickets that Dan has collected over the years, Before and After Jackie Robinson is a chronological cavalcade of culture, history, leadership, management, the art of the deal, fundraising, real estate management, civil rights, the economy, advertising, finance, and so much more. (In 1919, a war tax was added onto U.S. professional sporting event tickets priced at 40 cents or more to help fund the $25 billion budget for World War I.) 10 LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES. Only Dan Busby could carve out 10 leadership principles (with commentary) in a book about baseball! He lists 10 favorites, including: “Leaders know that fundamental decisions must always allow for the changes that inevitably come.” Busby adds, “When Ebbets Field in Brooklyn was constructed in 1912-13, Charles Ebbets made a major planning decision. He assumed transportation would always be by trolley in Brooklyn and/or he thought automobiles were just a passing novelty.” (Oops!) More leadership insights: • “Leaders know that dwelling on negatives is counter-productive.” (In 1938, Larry MacPhail became the GM. “He joined a sinking ship.”) • “Leaders keep their eyes on the goal during tough times.” • “Leaders briefly enjoy honors but quickly return to accomplishing what will become their legacy.” (“Little did Jackie know that black parents would soon name their children, boys and girls, after him.” And this: “Babe Ruth changed the way baseball was played; Jackie Robinson changed the way Americans thought.”) • “Leaders are willing to accept criticism.” • “Leaders know that hearts can change.” • “Leaders Innovate! Innovate! Innovate!” (Examples: Lights for night games and radio broadcasts with Red Barber.) • “Leaders focus on big issues but they don’t ignore the small ones.” • “Leaders take calculated risks.” “Leaders recognize the power of God” is Busby’s tenth leadership principle. “More than a pastor to Jackie, [Rev. Carl Downs] became his close friend. With his help, Jackie understood that faith was not only about praying; it was also about struggling daily to overcome social injustices. Jackie started praying each night before he went to sleep. When he reached the Major Leagues, Robinson developed a nightly ritual of praying and kneeling at his bedside. ‘It’s the best way to get closer to God,’ Robinson said, and then he added with a smile, ‘and a hard-hit groundball.’” Last year I resolved to venture out into the fertile fields of other disciplines (see my Mistake #3: “Reading Too Narrowly—Stuck in My Lane”) and while I so appreciate leadership and management insights, I’m becoming an enthusiast for a wider lifelong-learning journey. Dan Busby’s book checks all of those boxes—and more! Play ball! To order from Amazon, click on the title for Before and After Jackie Robinson, A Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers Told Through the Lens of Tickets and Passes, by Dan Busby. BONUS BOOK! Dan Busby is also the author of Before and After Babe Ruth: A Story of the New York Yankees Told Through the Lens of Tickets and Passes (see below).  YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) Before and After Jackie Robinson features dozens of quotable quotes you’ll share with friends, including this one from announcer Harry Caray, following Game 7 of the 1955 World Series: “As if carrying a personal crusade, [Jackie Robinson] succeeded in breathing life into a Dodger team which from the start of this Series seemed destined for the embalmer.” While your organization probably preaches “There is no ‘I’ in team”—are you intentional about recruiting those gifted men and women who can be catalysts for breathing new life into your programs, products, and services?    2) While baseball is serious business to many—it’s also highly entertaining and Before and After Jackie Robinson is loaded with memorable ideas for the Hoopla! Bucket. Abe Stark was 22 when he opened his clothing store. In 1924, his big sign in the outfield at Ebbets Field “…offered players a suit of clothes if they could hit the sign with a fly ball.” Many did! Does your organization have the right mix of fun and hoopla! for your team members and customers?     Before and After Babe Ruth by Dan Busby In the 1950s, Dan Busby began collecting World Series programs (the mail order company attached actual World Series tickets!). Inspired, Dan upped his game and in 1962 began collecting opening day tickets from every major league baseball team. This ticketologist now consults with the National Baseball Hall of Fame concerning memorabilia acquisitions. I tell friends, “Dan is in a league of his own—he’s a walking Wikipedia!” Before and After Babe Ruth: A Story of the New York Yankees Told Through the Lens of Tickets and Passes (2018) is a gorgeous coffee table book that features baseball tickets and season passes on every page—and the remarkable colors, shapes, sizes, fonts, and advertising (yes—advertising was alive and well in the early 1900s) are outdone only by the page-turning narrative on owners, managers, players—Babe Ruth, of course—and Yankee and MLB history, in all its virtues and vices. You can’t put it down! Click here to read my review. For more on Busby’s fascination with baseball, visit his Baseball Ticket Man website and his YouTube channel of short videos.   P.S. And for my fellow Chicago Cubs fans (I endured 21 winters in Chicago, but some wonderful days at Wrigley Field)—just a reminder that we won the World Series in 2016 (on my birthday!). Click here to read my review of The Cubs Way: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse, by Tom Verducci.                     JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Dan Busby writes that leaders “innovate, innovate, innovate!” If you’re singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” but no one’s coming—it may be time for fresh innovation. We can help. Contact Pearpod Media (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social). More Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom “Just Do One Thing a Month” is a reasonable request for board members. That’s Lesson 9 in More Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom: Effectiveness, Excellence, Elephants! by Dan Busby and John Pearson. Order the book. Read the lesson. Read the guest blog. MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  • WEBSITE:   Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations FOR UMPIRES & THE REST OF US! Read Why We Argue and How to Stop: A Therapist’s Guide to Navigating Disagreements, Managing Emotions, and Creating Healthier Relationships, by Jerry Manney. The author’s counsel: “…practice not going to every argument you’re invited to.” Read John’s review on Amazon. IMPORTANT NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here. New book reviews will also be archived at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. Or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon.

Before and After Babe Ruth

 

Issue No. 390 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Aug. 20, 2018) features a colorful baseball book (with management insights) by Dan Busby, a self-described “ticketologist.” You can’t put it down!  And this reminder: click here to download  free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for more summer reading list nominees.   Management Through the Lens of Baseball! Hey, baseball fans! The 2018 World Series begins on Oct. 23. Will your favorite team be there? (Go Cubs!) Today, the New York Yankees are 11 games out of first place in the AL East, but it hasn’t always been this way. The Yankees have won 27 World Series championships—an MLB record. But their most recent Commissioner’s Trophy has been collecting dust since 2009. So…what’s up with these fascinating factoids? And why should you care? Hot-off-the-press is Dan Busby’s amazing book, Before and After Babe Ruth: A Story of the New York Yankees Told Through the Lens of Tickets and Passes. Even if you’re a Chicago Cubs fan like me (I survived 21 winters in Chicago), you can’t put this book down. It’s absolutely fascinating—and there’s something in this book for everyone: fans, CEOs, marketing/branding teams, church leaders, parents, fundraisers, and team builders! Enjoy these eight water cooler conversation starters: 1) HEADLINE SAVVY. The Yankees were once called the “Highlanders,” but that 11-letter moniker crowded newspaper headlines, while “Yanks” and “Yankees” were a better fit. The name, “Knickerbockers”—a plug for a popular beer from Owner Jacob Ruppert’s brewery—was also rejected due to length. That reminded me of Charles Handy’s autobiography that notes Management Guru Peter Drucker “once quipped that journalists only came up with the word [guru] because ‘charlatan’ was too long for a headline.” 2) FUNDRAISING SAVVY. During World War I, “...in an attempt to positively influence public opinion about professional baseball…the Ball and Bat Fund was established to provide baseball equipment to soldiers serving overseas.” Across America, every baseball fan was asked to donate “25 cents for the purchase of equipment and to forward a copy of the appeal to four other fans.” (When’s the last time you asked your most loyal donors to recruit other donors?) 3) PR SPIN. Quoting Peter Morris on the Yankees at Hilltop Park for their 1903 to 1912 seasons: “The best player may have been throwing games, their chief scout was a bigamist, the owners skirted the law, and maybe the best thing you could say about the ballpark was that it never burned down.”  So…why a book about baseball through the lens of baseball tickets? My friend, Dan Busby (we co-authored a governance book last year), has a very serious day job as president of ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability). In off-hours though, he describes himself as a “ticketologist.”  In the 1950s, Busby began collecting World Series programs (the mail order company attached actual World Series tickets!). Inspired, Dan upped his game and in 1962 began collecting opening day tickets from every major league baseball team. This ticketologist now consults with the National Baseball Hall of Fame concerning memorabilia acquisitions. I tell friends, “Dan is in a league of his own—he’s a walking Wikipedia!” This gorgeous coffee table book features baseball tickets and season passes on every page—and the remarkable colors, shapes, sizes, fonts, and advertising (yes—advertising was alive and well in the early 1900s) are outdone only by the page-turning narrative on owners, managers, players—Babe Ruth, of course—and Yankee and MLB history, in all its virtues and vices. You can’t put it down! More fascinating factoids: 4) 1 COOKIE OR 2? I was reminded of the “One cookie or two cookies?” marketing lesson I gave my son Jason (at age four)—when I read Busby’s account of Babe Ruth’s salary negotiating skills when the Sultan of Swat was still with the Boston Red Sox:  “Before the 1919 season began, Ruth gave [Owner Harry] Frazee a choice of two proposals: one year at $15,000 or three years at $10,000 each. Frazee reluctantly accepted the latter.”  Parents: Inspire your kids to play baseball. In 2014, L.A. Angels center fielder Mike Trout signed a six-year contract extension for $144.5 million. Yikes. Compare his 2018 salary of $33.25 million to The Great Bambino’s 1919 salary of $10,000 per year. Yikes, again. 5) SUNDAY BASEBALL. According to Busby, “At the start of the twentieth century, Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati were the only major league towns that allowed Sunday baseball.” It’s interesting that today, MLB doesn’t complain when churches conduct services on Saturday. 6) FLOP WARNINGS! Busby describes Boston Red Sox Owner Harry Frazee as a “clever theatrical promoter” (his day job) and his biggest hit, No, No, Nanette, ran for 321 shows on Broadway. Riding that wave, Frazee produced Yes, Yes, Yvette—which flopped after just 40 shows. (Memo to Marketing: conduct flop analysis on all products, programs, and services—especially when the CEO thinks he or she has a home run idea.) 7) NFL: BLAME BARROW. Baseball Hall of Famer Ed Barrow (1868-1953), the “de facto general manager” of the Yankees for many years “was the first executive to put numbers on player uniforms.” He retired the first player’s uniform numbers (Lou Gehrig’s), and was the first executive “to allow fans to keep foul balls that entered the stadium.”  And NFL execs may want to note this: Barrow “was the first to require the playing of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ the United States’ national anthem, before every game, instead of only on holidays.” I gotta stop…but how about just one more! 8) HOT DOGS ON THE FIELD? What’s more American than hot dogs and baseball? But in the 1921 World Series between the Yankees and the Giants (nine games at the Polo Grounds), concessionaire Harry Stevens “was selling 21,000 hot dogs and 3,000 bags of peanuts per game”—but—“he complained that the drama of the games was hurting his sales, because the fans were so focused on the action that they were not eating enough food. (Memo to Management: identify your measurable goals first—then play ball!) This beautiful book is a treasure. It’s the perfect gift book for baseball fans and your organization’s front lobby. Nicely done, Dan! To order from Amazon, click on the title for Before and After Babe Ruth: A Story of the New York Yankees Told Through the Lens of Tickets and Passes, by Dan Busby.      Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:  1) For your staff meeting: “For the next four weeks, I’m asking four people to borrow this Yankees book for a week and present one fascinating factoid and one management insight at our next four staff meetings. The first taker earns a Starbucks card!” 2) The announced opening day attendance at the new Yankee Stadium on April 18, 1923 (the “Souvenir Programme” cost 15 cents) was 74,217. One problem: seating capacity “was really around 62,000.” How accurate are our stories and statistics—and what drives our need to exaggerate? P.S. Go Cubs! And read my other two favorite baseball books, The Cubs Way: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse, by Tom Verducci (2017), and A Nice Little Place on the North Side: Wrigley Field at One Hundred (2014), by George F. Will.       Major League Branding Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook (2nd Edition with 17% Fewer Typos!) The Printing Bucket chapter in Mastering the Management Buckets notes Fred Smith’s pithy book, Breakfast With Fred—and this wisdom, “I learned to write to burn the fuzz off my thinking.” If it’s time for you to burn the fuzz off your branding, order the workbook, ReBrand: Workbook + Coloring Sheets For Ministry Branding  a 57-page eBook on ministry branding, by Jason Pearson.  MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  • WEBSITE: Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations IMPORTANT NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here. New book reviews will also be archived at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. Or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon.

Paradise Found

 

Issue No. 526 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Aug. 29, 2022) features a contender for my 2022 book-of-the-year honors. (It’s a poignant page-turner.) And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies).   The Paradise High School football team after the Nov. 8, 2018, devasting fire: “The first workout since the fire was filled with a bunch of kids with no sweats, no cleats, and no chance.” (No way!) No. No. No Way. (Way!) Last week, after reading the prologue and the first chapter of Paradise Found—I couldn’t put it down. Literally. Even though I’m “retired” (whatever that means), I took the day “off”—and read the book in one day. Never done that before. Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke has gifted us with a stunning book, Paradise Found: A High School Football Team's Rise from the Ashes. On Nov. 8, 2018, the friendly folks in Paradise, California, watched their town burn to the ground at the rate of 80 acres per minute. The devasting toll:    • 84 lives lost!    • In a day, the population dropped from 26,800 to 2,034!    • 20,000 burned-out cars, 19,000 homes lost! Of the 104 football players, 95 of the Paradise High School Bobcats had lost their homes. A playoff game for the next night was cancelled. Coaches, athletes, faculty, students, and parents—lives and futures in total disarray. Could the town and the team recover? No way. Paradise, a mountain village in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains (90 miles north of Sacramento and 12 miles east of Chico), was also the home of the right person at the right time: Head Football Coach Rick Prinz. A former youth pastor with a master’s degree from Biola University, he discovered his calling was coaching.  Bill Plaschke’s narrative launches like a James Bond movie. You’re in those cars and trucks fleeing the fires—nearby propane tanks are exploding while students arrive at school and parents arrive at workplaces. What to do? For many:    • No time.    • No time to return home and pack.    • No cell phone connection to family members.    • No carpool lane—jammed, bumper to bumper traffic. Chaos!    • No escape route—heavy, suffocating smoke.    • No chance to get gas. Yikes.    • No way. But earlier that morning, before the panic and evacuation, Coach Rick Prinz was still hopeful. At 8:10 a.m., he texted the varsity team that football practice would still begin at 3:00 p.m. No way. In a flash, everything changed and—trust me—you won’t skip a page in this page-turner. Eventually, some families moved to San Diego and to Arizona and some to nearby Chico—but snagging even a modest apartment was nearly impossible. Could the team and the town recover? Would there be a 2019 football season—perhaps a revenge/redemption mission? No way. But…the coach with the calling prayed. And in borrowed buildings and a distant hope and more prayer, the high school rose from the ashes: Paradise Found. Kinda. The powerful themes in this breathtaking account prompt both hallelujahs and tears. (Last week, I tried to read several poignant paragraphs to my wife, Joanne. No way. Too choked up.) Fast forward to February 2019 and the school’s new location in an industrial warehouse in Chico. However. “Once school restarted…many of the teens drifted away or just plain disappeared. They couldn’t take the ninety-minute drive from some distant town where they lived in some tiny mobile home. Some of them moved out of state. Some of them couldn’t get out of bed.” Most lived within a three-hour radius of the new school location “…in a variety of accommodations—apartments, trailers, rental homes, hotels—that were paid through insurance or life savings. The players were everywhere and nowhere.” In 2018, the varsity squad was 76 strong. Now…just 22 showed up—“exactly enough for one offense, and one defense, with no subs.” The first varsity football practice landed on a borrowed vacant lot next to the Chico airport.  “The ‘field’ was a weed-choked lot filled with rocks and trash, food wrappers and soda cans, and giant holes next to piles of dirt. ‘Football’ was also a misnomer, as most of the kids were wearing old blue jeans and casual shoes. Even if they had gear, there was no place to dress.” The author adds, “The first workout since the fire was filled with a bunch of kids with:    • no sweats,    • no cleats,    • and no chance.” Honest…when their first practice began—you guessed it:    • No football! But…maybe hope could eke out. The San Francisco 49ers invited the team to their Nov. 12, 2018, Monday night game against the New York Giants. After a three-hour rickety bus ride to the game, those tired, disheveled young athletes emerged into the cold air (low 40s) with no coats. “They didn’t forget them; they simply didn’t have them anymore. Their winter clothes had burned up in the fire.” (No way! The Bobcats athletic director “swooped to the rescue” with a box of mismatched Paradise sweatshirts “pilfered from the student store earlier that morning.”) Not the 49ers, but the Paradise football team was cheered by the 69,409 fans that night. Eli Manning’s team beat the 49ers in a heartbreaker, 27-23. “…but the Paradise Bobcats didn’t care. They knew loss, and this wasn’t it. This was relief. This was escape.”  Invited to appear on the postgame show, the players met “a tearful Jeff Garcia, a retired quarterback who’d been the franchise’s field general in the early 2000s.” He, like them, had experienced being “a tough kid in a small town.” So Garcia gently inspired them to rebuild and “…rally the troops and rally the town, right? Rally the town!” Coach Prinz and the team wondered, “Rally the town? But didn’t they need a place to sleep first?” And suddenly…a bigger challenge emerged, perhaps a movement. “Rally the town!” And so with prayer and persistence (did I mention prayer?), the former youth pastor now head football coach began strategizing both the plays and the process for the rebirth of Paradise. At the Green and Gold intrasquad scrimmage (public invited), two weeks before the fall opener, “…a recording of singer-songwriter Phillip Phillips took over, the wistful sounds of his song, ‘Home,’ playing over the public address system.” Listen here. Powerful! Phillip Phillips sings, “Just know you’re not alone, ‘cause I’m gonna make this place your home.” Listen here. One reviewer called this book, “Friday Night Lights meets Unbroken.” My summary: “If you appreciated The Boys in the Boat—and the stunning master class on teamwork—you won’t stop talking about Paradise Found.” Could this be my 2022 book-of-the-year? (Stay tuned.) The leadership moments in virtually every short chapter are beacons of hope, such as the players’ commitment ceremony: “…the annual Prinz ritual in which each kid stands in front of the group and states his personal goal, team goal, and character goal for the coming season. They write down these goals on cards, which Prinz saves.” But in 2019, there’s a twist: “When the players finished their commitments, the coaches took over the microphone. They’d also filled out cards. In past years, their part in the ceremony had been subdued. But this year was different. This year they turned the simple declarations into sermons.” A young assistant coach affirmed, “I’m proud to be part of this history that’s going to happen. This program is a huge part of rebuilding this community. I take it not as a burden but as an honor.” Whew! Another coach wore sunglasses to hide his emotions. His words punctuated the moment: “I feel like God chose us.” Powerful! I’ve read hundreds of Plaschke’s sports columns in the L.A. Times over the years and he never disappoints (read the tribute to his Mom). Ditto this book. Plaschke masterfully weaves the sobering survival stories of players, coaches, and cheerleaders into, over, and around the team’s 2019 season. (Spoiler alert: the Bobcats were a very good team!) You must read this book—and when you do, watch for these gems:    • SLOGANS. The team slogans: “CMF: Crazy Mountain Folk” and my favorite, “We Just Hit People!”    • SKILLS. The athletic director’s persuasion skills in cajoling other football teams to compete against the Bobcats. (Lose/Lose: If other teams beat the up-from-the-ashes Bobcats, that’s not a good look. If other teams lose, it will look worse!)    • SPEECHES. The incredible, inspiring, and uplifting pre-game and halftime speeches by Coach Prinz and other coaches and the traditional “Glory Hill Run” with the motivational talk about Cortés and the 1519 conquest of Mexico. “And here the players shouted from the bottom of their ragged shoes to the top of their donated T-shirts: ‘Burn the ships!’”    • STADIUM. Returning (amazingly) to their own stadium for their first home game (on new grass!) with 5,000 ecstatic fans, yet...No restrooms (Porta-Potties only).  And no full marching band (just half-the-size with three tubas, a lonely trumpet, the band instructor on the drums—and only 14 other instruments!)    • STILLNESS. The pregame team prayers (did I mention prayers?)    • SHE! Read how coach Prinz inspired and encouraged a trainer’s assistant to try out for the field goal kicker position. She (yes, she) earned the job—after following Coach Prinz’s contrarian counsel.    • SPIT. The “Paradise Medical Plan” vs. the Immediate Care Plan. Injured? Don’t go to Immediate Care—you’ll be out for two weeks. Instead see our trainer: “Us mountain boys, we put a little mud on it, a little spit on it, and we go back to work.”    • SCARS. Must-read: the 21 quotations, from John Milton’s Paradise Lost—appetizers for the meat to follow in every chapter including, “Purge off this gloom, the soft delicious air, to heal the scar of these corrosive fires.” And the cheerleaders! Oh, my. “In some ways the Paradise cheerleaders faced greater challenges than the players did. They had to stifle their anger and stomach their personal losses while putting on smiles for a town that desperately needed smiles.” The senior cheerleading captain, while running for her life on Nov. 8, dashed back into her house to retrieve her cheer uniform.  At games, she led the cheers: “Circle up, P-Town, you know, you know; P-Town, the green and gold…” and the captain “shouted those words as if they were Scripture” and “clung to those words as if they were salvation.” Hope found? No way! Way! Wow! I can’t imagine that any other book could so captivate my heart and mind for an entire day. I couldn’t put it down. Maybe Paradise Found touched those warm and raw emotions when I earned my varsity letter as #35 on Seattle’s Queen Anne High School football team (ACL injury and all). Or maybe…it was the sometimes rough “locker room” language? (Warning: the author quotes people verbatim, yet my Baptist values gave the crude vocabulary a pass. What angry words would I spew in similar circumstances?) But…maybe it was the praying. A plethora of prayers. To order from Amazon, click on the title for Paradise Found: A High School Football Team's Rise from the Ashes, by Bill Plaschke. Listen on Libro.fm (8 hours, 2 minutes).  P.S. BREAKING NEWS! Read more about this devasting fire in the article, “Inside the Investigation," in the Aug. 27, 2022, edition of The Wall Street Journal. “The fire was entirely out of control. At its fastest, it engulfed the equivalent of 80 football fields a minute, by some estimates. As the evacuation process began, thick black smoke took on the hellish orange hue of the flames. Escape routes became choke points, lines of cars inching along melting asphalt.” (Excerpted from the new book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America’s Power Grid,” by Katherine Blunt.) YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) High school football coach Rick Prinz was the right person at the right time. A former youth pastor, he discovered his calling in coaching—and he embraced it. Frederick Buechner (1926-2022) wrote, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” How intentional are we in helping and inspiring our team members to embrace their callings?   2) CRISIS BUCKET EXERCISE! Oh, my. Most of your staff just lost their homes and their possessions in a horrific flood. Your entire office is underwater. You’ve assembled the team on high ground to assess, plan, and bring comfort. With no time to prepare (no way), you pull out your best motivational pep talk. Will it be adequate? Will it be enough? (It’s a little late to learn character in a crisis.) Are you ready?   From the YouTube interview with Bill Plaschke: “That’s crazy! How you gonna have a football team with no town?” Watch the entertaining interview with Bill Plaschke on the story behind the story of Paradise Found. (Click here for the 51-minute interview.)   Bill Plaschke chats about writing Paradise Found What he learned from Coach Rick Prinz, his favorite column ever, Kobe and Shaq, the craft of writing, and his biggest fan—his mother! Fascinating! On Nov. 17, 2021, just after Paradise Found was published, Bill Plaschke was interviewed by Christian Stone, L.A. Times executive sports editor. In addition to his color commentary on this unique writing project, Plaschke talks about his amazing 33 years with the L.A. Times, including 25 years as a columnist. (It’s a master class for writers and communicators.) And get this: already an experienced sports writer when he joined the L.A. Times team, the editors rewrote his story leads for Plaschke’s first eight articles!  Listen to “Ask a Reporter” with columnist Bill Plaschke (51 minutes on YouTube). Click here.                     JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Prepared for your next crisis? You’ll need more than a clever slogan. Is your communication contingency plan in place to bring hope to your team and your constituency? We can help. Contact Pearpod Media (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social). Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom For more on prayer, read Dan Bolin’s powerful prayer for the boardroom, Lesson 40, “A Board Prayer,” in Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom: 40 Insights for Better Board Meetings (2nd Edition), by Dan Busby and John Pearson. Order the book. Read the prayer. Visit John's Books. MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  • WEBSITE:   Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations GET READY FOR YOUR NEXT CRISIS! Read Connectable: How Leaders Can Move Teams From Isolated to All In, by Ryan Jenkins and Steven Van Cohen. Why? Patrick Lencioni urges, “Every leader and manager needs to read this.” Read John’s review.  IMPORTANT NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here. New book reviews will also be archived at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. Or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon.