I was able to finish David Ross’s memoir “Teammate” today, which was a nice treat on a quiet Sunday morning.

After sleeping in a little while early after what felt like a long week, I put on some slippers and after I made some coffee, sat in the sunlight on the back porch and read.

Ross is a straight-shooting but humor loving guy. You can tell he loves people and he has loved the fellows he has played with during each year of his career. The book does a good job letting him tell his story about his life in baseball, from when he was in high school, through his college years, and then through each year he was in the pros. He talks about the people the impressed him and impacted him along the way. The narrative is broken up here and there by reflections on key moments in his 2016 championship run with the Cubs. He talks about routine ad character, about run-ins and close friends, about disappointments and moments where he had to make some key decisions.

In those moments, Ross, the backup catcher, was usually pressed to make decisions about choosing to be a good teammate.

There are many books out there about teammates and teamwork, and about how to be a team player. David doesn’t offer novel thoughts, but they are thoughts based on his experiences, and he takes time in a chapter near the book end to off his idea what a good teammate is. Beside his personal story of playing baseball, I was interested in what made this man, this backup player pursued by two teams who both won World Series, had to say about being a guy others wanted to work and play with.

He lists probably 15 or so qualities that must exist in a good teammate, but his first two are key to him.

Honesty, and humility.

You have to be able to be absolutely honest with yourself, and with your teammates, for you to all bond and grow together in the pursuit of a common goal.

A lot of people, in reality, have a hard time being true to themselves, being able to admit to what they are truly good at or what they are truly bad at, and being able to take responsibility when they make mistakes. Ross was grateful when he was brought to the Cubs, because the general manager for the club, Theo Epstein, believed in building a team on character- on honesty across all channels about needs and goals and intentions. Epstein wanted this culture as the cornerstone of his team building because he had seen dishonestly elsewhere all across baseball. If you can’t trust the people you work with, he thought, why work with them? Ross appreciated Epstein’s candidness with him at a pivotal point in his playing career, and a few words from an honest Epstein helped David to become the teammate that Epstein later wanted in his dugout in the Cubs’ historic run into 2016.

Ross likes to hang out and ham it up with the guys, but when it’s time to work, he works, and he presses his colleagues to do the same. And when one of them may need it, because he is their friend and they know he cares about them, Ross will be honest with a teammate because he wants the team they are on, and that person, to be their best.

Honesty is the main thing Rossy points at that is necessary in a great teammate. The honesty to call things as they are sometimes, when it is uncomfortable to do it, and potentially inviting push-back.

But that’s the thing about humility.

If you are really just worried about the team and about helping another to be their best, if you are honest and you get it thrown back on you, you were honest for the right reasons, for the right ends. You are not trying to inflate your own ego by putting someone else in their place. You are pushing them to be the best version of themselves as possible.

Rossy has other qualities that great teammates need, but I was good stopping and thinking about those two.

Honesty and humility.

Are you honest with yourself? Or do you lie to yourself?

Are you willing to do the hard stuff, the challenging stuff, the less glamorous stuff around work or around home, to help your crew- your staff, your family- become a circle of the best people they possibly can be?

Rossy, the backup catcher, was.

When the marathon Game 7 of the 2016 World Series finally ended on the grounder that became the Bryant-to-Rizzo third out, the team collected and crashed on the middle of the infield in a pile of jubilation. Moments later, as Ross was giving an post-game interview, Rizzo and a few of his teammates snuck up behind the backup catcher and he was soon lifted up over their heads, being carried around the field like a conquering hero over the heads of his men.

Did Rossy lead the team in home runs? Runs batted in? Singles, doubles, triples? No. Was he errorless behind the plate? No. He had just earlier that evening overthrew a ball which allowed two runners to advance, both to score, which put in jeopardy the title game which they had just fought to win. No, he wasn’t a perfect fielder.

But what he was was was that which inspired his teammates to want to celebrate the championship carrying him around after a long, emotionally-draining game.

That guy who made each of them better.

Let’s hear it for great teammates. And an enjoyable read, David.

—

“Teammate”, written by David Ross with Don Yeager, was published earlier this year by Hachette Books.