Character Matters

Character Matters October 21, 2016

Anthony Rizzo, Cubs first baseman, has character and this incident reveals the man for who he is. By Shannan Younger:

Even if you aren’t a baseball fan, Chicago Cubs’ first baseman Anthony Rizzo’s apology to an umpire last night is worth paying attention to and sharing with your tweens and teens.

The Cubs are battling the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, and the winner heads to the World Series. In last night’s game, Rizzo apologized to home plate umpire Angel Hernandez when he came up to bat in the seventh inning. Rizzo had disagreed with him on a prior call.

Rizzo told the umpire, “My fault on that.”

Hernandez responded, “Your fault for what, brother? Come on, you’re good, bro. You’re awesome with us. No, no worries. You’re competing. I understand. Don’t worry. You know what’s best of it? You come back and tell me that. That’s how good of a guy you are.”

I love this so much. It’s a great example of sportsmanship and of righting a wrong. No one is perfect, of course. But apologizing when we do things that are imperfect is really important.

It’s great that Rizzo immediately recognized his mistake and said he was sorry at the next opportunity he had.


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