The Post Game Podcast Ep. 36 - Adam Greenberg: Detachment from Results, Preparing for the Opportunity, Setting Little Goals
Adam Greenberg is a former Major League Baseball player with the Chicago Cubs and Miami Marlins. After playing 3 years of baseball at The University of North Carolina, he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 9th round of the MLB Draft.
On July 7, 2005, Adam was called up to the big leagues with the Cubs. On the very first pitch he saw, he was hit in the head by a 92 mph.
Over the next 7 years, he would fight positional vertigo, terrible headaches, nausea, double vision and dizziness, all while keeping his dream to make it back to the big leagues alive.
Seven years later, on October 2, 2012, Adam got a chance at one more MLB At Bat with the Miami Marlins, after they signed him to a 1 Day Contract with the club.
He also played for Team Israel in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, started and sold a health & wellness company Lurong Living. He currently resides in Connecticut with his wife and three children.
What You’ll Learn About:
- What do you “have to have?”
- Doing everything in your power to create opportunities for yourself
- Preparing for the opportunity and detaching from the result
- It’s not enough to talk about doing something, you have to back it up
- However much you’re doing, someone else is doing more
- What are you doing when nobody’s looking?
- You can always push through and become better
Timestamps:
(0:00) – Intro to Adam
(2:30) – Interviews over the years
(3:45) – Drive to be the best as a kid
(5:00) – You have it or need to be challenged
(6:00) – Consistently challenging yourself
(7:10) – What do you have to have?
(10:00) – The result is irrelevant
(11:30) – Preparing for the opportunity
(13:30) – Confidence in your abilities
(15:00) – Recruitment to UNC
(16:05) – Negotiating his scholarship offer
(19:00) – Let your playing do the talking
(22:45) – Standing up for what you believe
(24:00) – Gaining Confidence
(26:30) – First time sports were taken from him
(27:30) – How do you react to having something taken from you?
(28:20) – Setting little goals
(32:10) – The call up to the big leagues
(36:50) – The first big league at bat
(37:40) – The first pitch
(40:40) – Someone else is doing more
(41:50) – I’m not going back
(43:30) – Giving everything he could to make it back
(48:40) – Facing Valerio De Los Santos years later
(52:50) – Phone call from Matt Liston
(57:10) – Get me an opportunity
(1:00:30) – Call from the Marlins
(1:02:00) – What are you doing when nobody’s looking?
(1:04:20) – Competitor
(1:05:30) – Preparation and Success
(1:07:30) – Never Give Up
(1:09:30) – Becoming comfortable sharing his story
(1:10:30) – Where to Find Adam
Links:
https://www.adamgreenbergofficial.com/
Get Up: The Art of Perseverance