On this day in 2000, Eric Byrnes made his major league debut with the Oakland Athletics. He hit a single his first time up.

In a radio interview in Phoenix this morning, Byrnesie said that he was among 50 prospects who were brought together just after his first year in pro baseball. The coach addressing them said, “You think you know what the Majors is like? …Look around you. 48 of you will never play a game in the Majors!”

Byrnesie said he looked around the room and thought, “Well, who’s coming with me?”

Believing in yourself. That’s always the first step. There’s always plenty of people around who will tear you down, out of jealousy, or to take you down a peg when you need it. But no matter how many of those people there are–and there have been lots of them in Byrnesie’s career–or whether they are doing it for good reasons or bad, you’ve got to believe in yourself. Byrnesie’s ability to believe in himself has always been one of his endearing qualities.

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