Unconventional Wisdom: Baseball, War, and Outlaw Country

In Far Middle episode 176, baseball great Willie Mays makes a series encore appearance in conjunction with the episode’s sports dedication. While Mays was honored in episode 24, it’s an interview Mays gave in 1954 that’s the focus of this installment.

In that interview, Mays revealed his mindset as a professional athlete in the 1950s, which included emphasizing the importance of loving the game, living a clean life, and getting the right amount of sleep. He believed in learning through experience and developing one's own style, as evidenced by his unconventional "basket catch" technique. Mays' approach demonstrated confidence and self-assurance that led to excellence.

Next, Nick connects “to another example of self-confidence and self-assurance, but in this instance leading to epic — and I mean epic — human suffering and historical tragedy.” He proceeds to examine Adolf Hitler's experiences during World War I. Those experiences shaped Hitler’s self-assured and often arrogant approach to military strategy in World War II. 

Hitler's front-line experiences as a messenger in the trenches gave him a sense of superiority over his generals, whom he viewed as detached from the realities of war. This confidence in his judgment, stemming from his firsthand war experiences, tragically contributed to his disastrous military decisions in World War II.

“Sometimes the greatest among us, and the worst of the human species, they share some things in common,” says Nick. “And understanding the nature of that overlap, I think it can help us fortify the greatest and avoid the worst.” 

Continuing to discuss the thin line between genius and madness, Nick examines a third and final connection: Billy Joe Shaver. A founding father of outlaw country music, Shaver's unconventional path to success included overcoming personal setbacks, such as losing parts of two fingers in a lumber mill accident.

Shaver’s unique songwriting style and independent spirit helped birth the outlaw country genre. However, his non-conformist attitude also had a darker side, as evidenced by a shooting incident in 2007, for which he was later acquitted.

Nick concludes by emphasizing the importance of maintaining a moral compass while being self-confident and challenging conventional wisdom. The episode’s three seemingly unrelated figures illustrate how similar traits can lead to vastly different outcomes, from greatness to tragedy.