In the game of baseball, the sacrifice bunt is the most unselfish play in the game. For those that are not baseball fans, a sacrifice bunt is when the hitter is willing to put the team first at their personal expense. Almost always the coach will flash the bunt sign to the hitter in order to advance a player already on base to the next base. In baseball terminology, you are “moving the runners over,” and putting them in scoring position. Meaning, a base hit by the next hitter most likely scores a run.

The “sacrifice” part of all of this is that the hitter is giving up an opportunity to swing the bat and get a hit, possibly a homerun.

If the bunt is successful and the runner does advance to the next base, then the hitter, or in this case the bunter, has done their job. Thus, allowing the next hitter an opportunity to become the hero.

The bunter is willing to allow somebody else to be the hero as a result of their sacrifice.

You have all seen a baseball team dogpile a player who just knocked in the game winning run with a base hit. In my many years of playing, coaching, and watching baseball, I have never seen a team dogpile the player who placed the runner in position to score with a sacrifice bunt. Without that little sacrifice, then the game may have been lost.

That is the thing about making sacrifices, they often go unnoticed, or at the very least, unappreciated. And I’m not just talking about baseball.

My parents made sacrifices for me.

My dad worked long hours building a business that provided opportunities for his children that he never had. My mom drove two hours every day in heavy traffic to teach kindergarten, doing her part in building our future.

They did not do it for their health, they did it for me, my brothers and sister.

I have never forgotten a conversation I had with my dad a few years before he died. I told him how much I appreciated all the sacrifices which he and my mom had made for me.

He looked at me and said, “Todd, those weren’t sacrifices, they were just short-term inconveniences. We wanted to be dream makers for you kids, and that was just part of the deal, we never expected to be appreciated for them. Those little inconveniences gave your mother and I joy. It was how we loved you guys. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

My parents never talked about the many sacrifices they made throughout the years for me and my siblings; They never asked for credit, and I will never know some of their greatest sacrifices. To them, it was just, “part of the deal” of raising a family.

It appears to me that sacrifices aren’t real if you have to remind people about them all the time. Making sacrifices for others can shape a person in ways that success simply cannot. Sacrificing unconditionally is the hard part.

Good parents, bosses, preachers, teachers, spouses, and friends, etc. are willing to put down a sacrifice bunt for the benefit of others when necessary…and have no regrets in doing so.

“Sacrifice is a part of life. It’s supposed to be. It’s not something to regret. It’s something to aspire to.”

• Mitch Albom

I have personally benefited from the sacrifices of others. No question about it.

In life, sacrificing for others takes courage.

In baseball, sacrificing for others just takes good mechanics.

In both cases, the intent is the same. A willingness to go with less so others can have more – and being completely okay with that, even if nobody notices or seems to care.

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Todd Howey is a columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose articles appear on Fridays. Email comments to [email protected].