Chicago Cubs: David Ross Carried A Secret Weapon Last Night

Before last night, Chicago Cubs catcher David Ross had played 883 games in the big leagues. By now, you would think he knows the opposition hitters inside out and when he rolls out of bed in the morning, you would guess that he knows exactly what pitch he’s going to call on a 2-1 count to Francisco Lindor. You would think that, but you would be wrong. Because David Ross has a secret weapon he carries with him when he takes the field. It’s perfectly legal and it’s largely gone unnoticed for years. Here’s the story of that wristband.

When a major league ballplayer is in what they call “the zone”, he is not thinking, he’s just doing. And when the pressure reaches its maximum as it did last night, that’s where you want to be operating on the field. But the trouble is that the “zone” is often all too elusive, and more often than not you find yourself having to think instead of being on cruise control.

And the trouble beyond that is that when we think we often make mistakes in our thinking and bad things happen. Or even worse, we don’t think and therefore we are not prepared for what happens in the next instant. And the ball you missed by two feet in the outfield that you should have caught drops before you because you weren’t positioned correctly. And the reason you weren’t positioned correctly is because you snoozed through the team meeting when it was covered.

David Ross Carried A Secret Weapon – On His Wrist

Well, David Ross doesn’t leave anything to chance. That’s why he’s lasted 15 seasons with a career batting average of .229. And he’s lasted that long because he pays attention during these meetings.He listens and apparently he writes things down too.

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Because did you notice that every once in a while David Ross could be seen “peeking” just below his catcher’s mitt and lifting a piece of Velcro and peering down at his wrist. What he was doing is checking his “cheat sheet”, except it’s not cheating.

In fact, it’s one of the smartest things I’ve ever seen a player do on the field and I’m surprised more aren’t doing the same, regardless of the position they play.

And that’s because his wristband helped to eliminate the need for him to think about what pitches he should call when certain hitters were at bat. All he had to do was flip the flap up and voila, there was the answer they had discussed hours ago in their pregame meeting.

Earlier in the game, David Ross had made a costly error the cost the Cubs a couple of runs. But that was a physical error and those things are bound to happen. It wasn’t a mental error though as in the case, for instance, where you throw to the wrong base trying to catch a speedy runner, who is called safe only because you “forgot” he was speedy and you should have gone to a different base for the out.

Later, Ross would answer his mistake by driving one deep over the left center field wall for a home run. This would be his last home run in a major league uniform as he had previously announced his retirement from baseball at the age of 39.

And in my mind at least, it was fitting that Ross, the consummate professional who leaves nothing to chance and wears a wristband to remind himself of all that he needs to remember…….it was fitting that he would go out in style as a member of the World Champion Chicago Cubs.

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And it was probably only fitting as well that his teammates carried him off the field as seen here in the video:

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