Slugging Expo outfielder Ken Singleton was truly a great Montrealer. Good looking, charming, great ballplayer, silky voice and totally chill. Sadly he was sadly gone too soon in a disastrous trade.His departure - according to local legend - was accelerated by the fact that he had a white girlfriend. No idea if this is true or if the recently-deceased GM Jim Fanning took this into consideration when blundering into a deal which sent him and the excellent Mike Torrez off to Baltimore for basically nothing.
Anyway Singleton came back after his playing days and became an excellent colour commentator and one story he told is food for thought.
One day in the minors Singleton was standing in his position in the outfield during a game.
A loud-bellowing verbose fan kept on screaming from the stands all sorts of comments. Singleton was semi-listening to the guy thundering his unsolicited commentary down incessantly.
So when the young pitcher on the mound starts failing, the manager strides out to come and talk to him on the mound.
Singleton just knows that the screamer is going to broadcast his view on this situation and sure enough the guy bellows out his perspective.
But the fan yells something totally unexpected.
"HEY MANAGER! DON'T SCOLD HIM! SCHOOL HIM!"
Singleton, standing in the outfield, mulls this over several times until his mind is fully blown.
Don'tscoldhim, school him.
The point? Why speak harshly to someone when what they really need is calm instruction and reassurance? Rarely was such pithy and humane philosophical advice dispensed from such an unlikely source and Singleton admitted that it caused him to think differently.
Keep it in mind next time you find yourself dealing with someone who is letting you down.