Travis Ishikawa played eight years in Major League Baseball, mostly with the San Francisco Giants. His walk-off home run in the 2014 National League Championship Series sent the Giants to the World Series. He is now a minor-league hitting coach in the Giants organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Let me tell you about a phone call.<\/p>\n
It was right around the All-Star break in the 2010 season. I hadn\u2019t started a single game for the San Francisco Giants the month before, but in July, I had started to play more consistently and better.<\/p>\n
We were in Washington D.C. on a road trip, and I stepped into the tunnel outside the locker room to call my high school coach, Danny Graham.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is ridiculous,\u201d I told Danny. \u201cI\u2019m just a pinch-hitter off the bench for the Giants and a defensive replacement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because I\u2019d had about a week\u2019s worth of success, I felt like I was owed and entitled. I\u2019m better than they think I am. They\u2019re screwing me. I\u2019m the victim.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s kind of embarrassing to talk about now, but it\u2019s good for the story. In my head at that time, I just assumed I was going to have a 15-year career in San Francisco with the Giants. The immaturity. The entitlement.<\/p>\n
In the playoffs that year, we played the Atlanta Braves in the Divisional Series. It was Game 3, and the Braves had just taken a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. I came up in the ninth. When I stepped in for that at-bat, I was wondering if everybody on the field, in the stadium and watching on TV could see my nerves. My legs were shaking, and I had a hard time breathing.<\/p>\n
It was my first playoff experience, and I knew the severity of the at-bat; I knew the stakes. I allowed my thoughts to focus on the pressure.<\/p>\n
I walked, eventually scored a run and we went on to win the game. But by focusing on the pressure of the moment and fear of failure, I felt less athletic in the box and turned that moment into one of stress.<\/p>\n
Let me tell you about a phone call.<\/p>\n
It was 2014, and I had just played a minor-league game in Round Rock, Texas. I couldn\u2019t sleep. I stepped out of the hotel and called Danny, my high school coach, again. It started with how we all start calls: \u201cHey, how\u2019s it going?\u201d<\/p>\n
I told him: \u201cI\u2019m not good.\u201d I couldn\u2019t even small-talk my way into it, and I just started bawling.<\/p>\n
By then, I\u2019d been around a little longer. I\u2019d been punched in the face several times but I\u2019d always been able to get back up.<\/p>\n
On the last day of spring training before the 2011 season, I was designated for assignment. That hurt \u2014 I wasn\u2019t expecting it. I went down to the minors and started playing some in the outfield. I figured if I wasn\u2019t good enough to be a backup first baseman, I needed to be versatile. My only thought was: I\u2019m getting back to San Francisco. But a shoulder injury ended my season.<\/p>\n
I spent the next year, 2012, with the Milwaukee Brewers. I loved Milwaukee and the team and thought: I could spend some years here. But at the end of the season, they didn\u2019t bring me back.<\/p>\n
I was kind of like, Damn, what else do I have to do?\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next year,\u00a0I played just six games for the Baltimore Orioles before they designated me for assignment.\u00a0The Yankees claimed me right after. I took a redeye on Sunday night, got in Monday morning and played Monday night at Yankee Stadium. I went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts and Yankee fans booed me.<\/p>\n
A few days later, they designated me for assignment.<\/p>\n
In 2014, I was the Opening Day first baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Three weeks later, I was let go for the fifth time in three years. At that point, I rejoined the Giants as a minor leaguer, but I was so bad in Triple A that season, they benched me.<\/p>\n
This time it felt like I was getting kicked in the face while I was trying to get back up. I was trying everything, but no matter what I did, it didn\u2019t work. I was a 30-year-old defensive replacement and pinch hitter in Triple A. So I called Danny and told him I didn\u2019t know if I could do this anymore.<\/p>\n
From 6 years old, all I wanted to do was play baseball. There was really nothing else to me, it felt like. I think a lot of people can relate to that.<\/p>\n
Danny let me vent it out and cry it out, and then he told me: \u201cI don\u2019t have the answer for you, but all you need to know is I love you and you\u2019re more than just a baseball player.\u201d He reminded me of Romans 8:28 \u2014 \u201cAnd we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose\u201d \u2014 to show me that I was loved outside of what I do for work.<\/p>\n
He told me: \u201cYou could go back and play in the big leagues for the next 15 years or you could be released tomorrow and you\u2019re still the same guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Let me tell you about a phone call.<\/p>\n
It was August 2014, two months after my tearful call with Danny, and I was in Washington D.C. again. I was back with the Giants after an unexpected promotion to the big leagues.<\/p>\n
When I got called back up and walked into the clubhouse, I saw my name plate and my Giants jersey with the No. 45 on it. (I had worn No. 10 before). I just sat there for a while and smiled. Mike Murphy, our clubby, came up to talk to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIshy, welcome back!\u201d he told me. \u201cI gave you No. 45, but your old No. 10 is back there if you still want it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I told him: \u201cI don\u2019t even care what number is on the back. It says Giants on the front. I just couldn\u2019t be happier right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not long after that, while we were in D.C., I stepped out of the clubhouse and called Danny again.<\/p>\n
I said: \u201cCoach, do you know where I\u2019m standing right now?\u201d He said no. I said: \u201cFour years ago, I was in D.C. talking to you and complaining about how I was just a pinch hitter for the Giants. I felt like I deserved more playing time, that I was being screwed.\u201d<\/p>\n
I told him: \u201cHere we are four years later, and I\u2019m in the exact same spot outside the clubhouse in D.C. I\u2019m just a pinch hitter for the Giants \u2014 and I\u2019m telling you I couldn\u2019t be happier.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was in the exact same situation, with the exact same job, but my perspective had completely changed. That was such a cool moment for me. I even had front-office people come up to me and tell me that I just seemed happy. I just wanted to be in the moment, and there was a freedom to that.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a firm believer that you don\u2019t learn and grow until you fail. On the baseball field, when I\u2019ve had some of my biggest failures and setbacks, I often look back later and think, I don\u2019t know if I would have been able to do what I did if it wasn\u2019t for those moments.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what happened in the playoffs that season.<\/p>\n
When I stepped to the plate in Game 5 of the 2014 NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals, everything felt different. The score was tied 3-3, and we had runners on first and second with one out. I knew the severity of the situation: A win would win the National League pennant and send us to the World Series.<\/p>\n
I noticed the Cardinals had Randy Choate, a left-handed reliever, warming up in the bullpen. In the past, I would have thought, OK, they\u2019re going to bring in the lefty here, and I\u2019m going to get pinch hit for.<\/p>\n
But not this time.<\/p>\n
The Cardinals left in Michael Wacha, a right-handed pitcher. I looked at the barrel of my bat and just had this calm feeling in my head. Later, I would compare that to the nerves I felt four years earlier in the playoffs against the Braves. Instead of allowing the fear of failure to take hold like I had, this time I felt a calming peace. All that adversity from the last four years had reminded me to enjoy the moment. My perspective had gone from victim and what I was owed to grateful for the opportunity. It was a type of peace I wished I could bottle up and keep with me all the time.<\/p>\n
First pitch, Wacha tried to pitch me really far inside. Ball one.<\/p>\n
The Cardinals always pitched me inside, so between pitches I told myself, They\u2019re coming in, they\u2019re coming in. See the ball out over the plate.<\/p>\n
Second pitch, same thing. Ball two.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s going to try to throw me a strike, and he has to throw a fastball.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He threw a fastball and I took one of the easiest swings of my career. To this day, it still feels like slow motion. I watched the ball slip over the wall in right field. I high-fived our first-base coach. And then \u2026 blank. I don\u2019t remember running the bases. I don\u2019t remember slamming my helmet.<\/p>\n
Like I said, I was completely in the moment.<\/p>\n
The next thing I remember, I was down on the ground and we were celebrating going to the World Series.<\/p>\n
\u2014 As told to Jayson Jenks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Travis Ishikawa played eight years in Major League Baseball, mostly with the San Francisco Giants. His walk-off home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1334,70,101,4820,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-17593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-mlb","tag-peak","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}