The El Duque Effect—The JDawg
In 1998 the New York Yankees were on their way to a record breaking year. They were easily the best team in baseball and one of the most dominant teams of all time.
In the middle of the season, it was almost like they got a little lazy, a little complacent. Thats when they dug into their minors and brought up Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez. Hernandez was probably the most decorated Cuban pitcher of all time. He had signed a huge off-season deal with the Yankees after defecting from Cuba. He was exactly the shot in the arm that this team needed. They ended up hacing a record breaking regular season, and went into the postseason as the favorites. In the post season, they were tied 1 game apiece with the Indians when he went to the mound and pitched the most important game of the series. The Yankees ended up winning game 3 and storming through the rest of the post season and easily winning the world series. The addition of this veteran and big game pitcher helped push this already great team to new and unheard of heights. His impact cannot be discounted.
Fast forward to 2006. After one of the magazines in my company folded, a huge burden was placed on my art staff. We had to execute some of the already sold ideas in the pages of our magazine. Obviously with our already huge workload we couldnt handle it inhouse. So we had to hire some freelance help. Now, let me state that I have a great team. I have two great young designers, and a traffic manager who keeps us on our toes. We know what we need to do and we do it damn well. So getting someone who fits in with our already great group is no easy chore.
As i kept on thinking who could fill this role, I kept ending up at the same solution. The JDawg. He had worked with me before, knew the magazine, and was freelancing fulltime. I could add an already established veteran to a great team. Needless to say it worked out better than i could have hoped. In the few months that he was here, it was like he was never away. Besides bringing a high level of work, it was like he really brought the team together. They all gelled with him. It was perfect.
So in the same way the 96 Yanks added El Duque, we added the JDawg. Both contributed greatly to the success of their teams.
In the middle of the season, it was almost like they got a little lazy, a little complacent. Thats when they dug into their minors and brought up Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez. Hernandez was probably the most decorated Cuban pitcher of all time. He had signed a huge off-season deal with the Yankees after defecting from Cuba. He was exactly the shot in the arm that this team needed. They ended up hacing a record breaking regular season, and went into the postseason as the favorites. In the post season, they were tied 1 game apiece with the Indians when he went to the mound and pitched the most important game of the series. The Yankees ended up winning game 3 and storming through the rest of the post season and easily winning the world series. The addition of this veteran and big game pitcher helped push this already great team to new and unheard of heights. His impact cannot be discounted.
Fast forward to 2006. After one of the magazines in my company folded, a huge burden was placed on my art staff. We had to execute some of the already sold ideas in the pages of our magazine. Obviously with our already huge workload we couldnt handle it inhouse. So we had to hire some freelance help. Now, let me state that I have a great team. I have two great young designers, and a traffic manager who keeps us on our toes. We know what we need to do and we do it damn well. So getting someone who fits in with our already great group is no easy chore.
As i kept on thinking who could fill this role, I kept ending up at the same solution. The JDawg. He had worked with me before, knew the magazine, and was freelancing fulltime. I could add an already established veteran to a great team. Needless to say it worked out better than i could have hoped. In the few months that he was here, it was like he was never away. Besides bringing a high level of work, it was like he really brought the team together. They all gelled with him. It was perfect.
So in the same way the 96 Yanks added El Duque, we added the JDawg. Both contributed greatly to the success of their teams.
posted by LEV at
2:56 PM
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