From Minor League Baseball to a Major League Call-Up

This summer, I’ve had the privilege of working with a former Major League Broadcaster. He called games for one team for more than thirty years. The only thing that prevented him from staying in the bigs longer was the relocation of his team.

Fast forward a few years, travel a few hours from Le Stade Olympique and you’ll find his relatively new home, which won’t stay that way for long. After a handful of years calling games for Les Quebec Capitales in the CanAm League, Jacques Doucet is going back to broadcasting Major League Baseball.

The former Montreal Expos voice will call a dozen Toronto Blue Jays games this September for a new French-speaking station based out of Montreal. Next February, it’s off to Spring Training and then a minimum of 60 Blue Jays games in 2012.

Having enough persistence to call Indy ball after decades in the majors had to be tough, but it’s finally paid off. When I spoke to Jacques a few minutes ago, he said he doesn’t regret the temporary downgrade. After all, he probably wouldn’t have gotten the call from Toronto if he hadn’t been broadcasting in some capacity for the last few summers.

Congrats Jacques. I wish you all the best in the AL East.

Jacques’ story goes to show that you never know where you may end up or how you’ll get there. Detours aren’t always bad, and good things happen to good people. Sometimes you just have to set yourself up in the right place at the right time. Luck can be a factor, but what’s wrong with creating a little luck of your own? It’s worked for me in the past, and there’s nothing stopping it from happening for you in one way or another except for a negative attitude.

I won’t stand on a soap box and claim I’m better than anyone else, but I’m willing to admit that working hard and (just as importantly) working smart have furthered my career just as much as any other planned move has.

Have you ever gotten a lucky break when things looked the most bleak? I’d love to hear how you turned things around with a comment below. Thanks again for reading!