Baseball playoff season is here.  I love winter baseball.  Only the best teams remain; the ones that made the sacrifice to earn their place in baseball history by making the playoffs.  Teams that made it this far are already a success in my book.  These players sacrificed their time, energy, focus, knowledge and skill so the team could reach this pinnacle of their sport.  Every player chose to give of themselves to reach this goal.

Sacrifice is such a part of the game of baseball that it is part of the official rules.  Rule 10.08 is titled Sacrifices.  This section details the rules on a sacrifice bunt:

The official scorer shall score a sacrifice bunt when, before two are out, the batter advances one or more runners with a bunt and is put out at first base… sacrificing his own chance of reaching first base for the purpose of advancing a runner or runners.

The sacrifice bunt is the ultimate in teamwork.  A player intentionally sacrifices his chance at adding to his personal record solely to advance another player forward in an effort to help the team win.

Women’s soccer great Mia Hamm defined teamwork like this, “I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.”

All teams, whether in sports or business, rely on teamwork to succeed.  And teamwork only works when the members of the team are willing to sacrifice for each other’s success, and for the success of the team.

“Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.”  – Hill, Napoleon