Richard’s father, Don Fenton Sr., whom we dedicated the Go for No! book to, loved the Cubs. He feared not living to see the Cubs win the World Series and sadly, he didn’t.
As the years went on, Richard began to fear the same. And then, finally last year, they won. We just watched the Cubs home-opener this week which brought back memories of the final game last year.
If you watched, you remember, things looked pretty shaky that night.
The Cubs won in Game 7, an 8–7 victory with extra innings. It was the fifth time that a Game 7 had gone past nine innings, and the first to have a rain delay which occurred as the tenth inning was about to start. The Cubs were the sixth team to come back from a three-games-to-one deficit to win a best-of-seven World Series.
A ‘Go for No’ story in and of itself!
World Series MVP Ben Zobrist also had a ‘go for no’ story since he just easily might have not been in major league baseball at all.
The story goes that Zobrist was a better basketball player in high school and had no scholarship
offers to play college baseball. No professional scouts or college recruiters considered him. He said, "When I was done with my last high school game, I was driving around town just thinking I'm done with baseball for the rest of my life." Zobrist's mom, Cindi, has been quoted as saying, that baseball "was in the past" at that point.
But his high school coach encouraged him to spend $50 to
participate in an annual summer event in Peoria, Illinois - a camp tryout of sorts.
One problem: The camp cost $50 and Zobrist’s dad refused to pay for it. The family eventually reached a compromise: Zobrist could use $50 of the birthday money he had received from his grandparents.
Zobrist attended the camp
and received interest from some schools, including a school close to the family's home. He eventually transferred to Dallas Baptist before being drafted by the Houston Astros and was later traded to the Tampa Bay Rays. Oh, and Zobrist also played in the 2015 Series and won with the Kansas City Royals.
Ben Zobrist was a fifty dollar birthday gift plus a willingness to tryout from changing his life.
Now he's a two-time World Series Champion.
