Captain’s Log: Of starships and leadership

Please bear with me. I will relate this to Twins baseball soon. But this past weekend, there was momentous news in the Star Trek universe (another fandom who wear costumes to large-group events):

Captain Jean-Luc Picard is back!!! As a lifelong Trekkie, this was a big deal to me, especially considering that Patrick Stewart’s Picard has been (and may always be) my favorite Trek character.

I realize that Captain Picard is just a character dreamed up in a Paramount Studios writers room. I really do. However, the wisdom and leadership imbued within this character continues to inspire me on a direct, personal level.

This fall, I’m heading back to online graduate school for a second Masters degree in order to better my occupational goals & desires. While this video didn’t single-handedly make my decision, it sure didn’t hurt, either...

On the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D, Picard was the the leader of quite a motley crew, consisting of a blind man wearing a hair binder over his eyes, a robot who could crush him at any time and had no emotions, a large & angry man with ridges on his forehead, and a first officer who seemingly did not possess the ability to sit down on a chair in a traditional fashion.

They were all unified as the best crew in the United Federation of Planets’ starfleet, however, because of the leadership and binding abilities of their captain.

He could be inspirational...

Yet at the same time, he was never one to back down from a challenge...

He was not afraid to dress-down a member of his crew who wasn’t performing up to snuff...

But he could also be their staunchest ally...

This got me thinking that a baseball manager has a job similar to that of starship captain. Consider the current Minnesota Twins and their makeup:

• Two players from Puerto Rico (Jose Berrios, Eddie Rosario)
• Four from the Dominican Republic (Adalberto Mejia, Ervin Santana, Jorge Polanco, Miguel Sano)
• Two from Venezuela (Gabriel Moya, Ehire Adrianza)
• One from Germany (Mac Kepler)
• Along with United States-born players from right down the street (Joe Mauer), in the swamps of Dunedin, FL (Bobby Wilson), the West Coast of Longview, WA (Trevor May), and the East Coast of Hampton, VA (Jake Cave)

I’ve already expressed my desire to move on from Paul Molitor as manager. I don’t know who that “next guy” is, but he needs to be someone who can unite people of different backgrounds together into one cohesive unit. A very Picard-ish skill set.

So, my advice to Falvey & Levine is this when deciding who will perch on that dugout top step next year...

One could do much worse than following the principles of the greatest leader the 24th century has ever seen.