Now this is 'enormous' pressure
Somebody should introduce baseball player Alex Rodriguez to former baseball player Lou Brissie.
The former could learn something from the latter about grace under pressure.
A-Rod claims that he began using steroids in 2001 because of his new free-agent contract with the Rangers.
"I felt an enormous amount of pressure," Rodriguez has said. "I felt I had all the weight of the world on top of me to perform at a high level every day."
A few days after hearing that I stopped at the office and found in my desk tray "The Corporal Was a Pitcher: The Courage of Lou Brissie."
The book's author is Chicago native Ira Berkow, a Pulitzer Prize-winner and former New York Times sports columnist.
Brissie's story should be recommended reading for every major-leaguer and required reading for Rodriguez.
Pressure? A-Rod felt it because of a 10-year, $252 million contract?
To be fair, pressure does accompany trying to live up to being Alex Rodriguez, Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods.
However, Brissie's story demonstrates that pressure is relative and comes in all sizes, shapes and degrees.
If A-Rod felt the weight of the world in 2001, he should be made aware of the weight of the World War that Brissie fought in 1944.
Rodriguez was 25-years-old when he decided to begin using steroids. "Young and stupid," he says now of himself back then.
Brissie was five years younger but much less stupid when he had his own life-defining decision to make during World War II.
The book jacket for "The Corporal Was a Pitcher" set the scene like this: "Following a devastating German artillery attack in December 1944, most of Leland Victor (Lou) Brissie's squad was left for dead."
This might shock today's major-leaguers who avoid the military as if it were a death sentence - which often it is, by the way - but many players like Brissie volunteered to serve in the 1940s.
Lou Brissie hadn't made it to the big leagues yet, but his dream was to play for the Philadelphia A's. First he had to survive the war.
Brissie was among those "left for dead" after the Germans struck, but he was too stubborn to die. He was found under snow and mud and later told his shattered leg would have to be amputated.
"No," Brissie protested. "You can't take my leg off. I'm a ballplayer. I can't play on one leg."
"You will die if we don't."
"Doc," he said quietly, "I'll take my chances."
Now that's pressure. Brissie just wanted to play baseball, and for much less than $252 million.
Brissie returned home with a damaged leg - and played in seven major-league seasons and the 1949 All-Star Game!
It's said that our military personnel - including the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan today - do what they have to do so the rest of us can do what we want to do.
Whether Brissie did what he did so Alex Rodriguez could take steroids -
Well, a good guess is Brissie didn't envision such a thing - or a $252 million contract, for that matter- when he risked death just for the chance to play major-league baseball.
Somebody really should introduce the two so Lou Brissie can teach Alex Rodriguez something about how to make decisions under pressure.
mimrem@dailyherald.com