...continuing the theme of great ones who stunk at first.... A classic story that most baseball fans should know, but I'm going to tell it anyway:
When Mickey Mantle was called up to the bigs, he was awful. He was nervous, he was trying too hard, and he failed, bigly. The Yankees sent him back to Triple A.
He then happened to have a game somewhere in the midwest, close enough to Commerce OK that his father, Mutt, could drive over and see him. While visiting with Mickey in his hotel room, Mickey confided to his father that he didn't think he was cut out for baseball, they he just didn't see how it was going to work out. Mutt then grabbed Mickey's luggage and began to pack his stuff.
"Come on home with me. I'll get you a job at the mine. I thought I raised a man, but you're just a boy."
You know the rest. Sure, The Mick in many ways never grew up, but he certainly was a man on the baseball field.