“I Took Babe Ruth’s Advice For Life”: Kobe Bryant Once Revealed Where He Got His ‘Swing Big, Miss Big’ Mentality From

The career that Kobe Bryant had in his 20 years in the NBA was the definition of hard work and dedication to his craft. Caron Butler’s explanation of Kobe’s ‘blackout workouts’ where you work out until you see spots is the perfect example of the kind of work he put in to be the best version of himself. 

Having won 5 championships and been named to countless All-NBA, All-Defense, and All-Star teams, ‘Bean’ went all out for what he wanted to achieve. There was no ‘in between’ for him. He knew he wanted to be the best player basketball had ever seen and well, depending on who you ask, he accomplished what he set out to do. 

His mentality through it all (aptly labelled ‘Mamba Mentality’ now) was one-of-a-kind. “Do you love the process that gets you to that point? Those boring, agonizing moments; if you love that, then you know you’ve found something that’s really true to you,” said Kobe.

Also read: Kobe Bryant Once Showed What Made Him a Better Defender Than The Rest With One Simple Trick That He Learned From Michael Jordan

Kobe Bryant on the advice he took from Babe Ruth 

Babe Ruth defined more than just a generation of baseball. He defined what it meant to be a baseball player in the United States of America. More importantly, he paved the way for the black community to not only be professional baseball players, but be darn good at it too. 

Taking ideologies from the late, great Babe Ruth doesn’t sound so shabby and it certainly seemed to help carve out a path for Kobe Bryant. Using Ruth’s baseball analogy, Bryant always swung big and if he missed, he missed big as well. 

@KobeBryant B-Day: “I remember what Babe Ruth said. He swings big, he misses big. I don’t have any fear whatsover.”https://t.co/caAWaUzcqb

— NBA History (@NBAHistory) August 23, 2016

Bryant never did anything half-heartedly. He set his mind to becoming an NBA champion and he achieved that by pouring his heart and soul into the game of basketball. When he finished achieving one goal, he was onto the next. 

Perfect example of Kobe Bryant using Babe Ruth’s ideology 

Kobe Bryant was never afraid of the big stage and he showcased this perfectly in merely his rookie season. The Lakers made the Playoffs in 1997 and in a pivotal ‘win or go home’ Game 5 against the Utah Jazz, he would shoot 4 airballs. 

The purple and gold would lose the game in OT and with that, their season was over. In hindsight, Kobe would use this moment to better himself, claiming this was a defining moment of his career.

Also read: Before LeBron James did it, Kobe Bryant Achieved the Same “Feat” vs 29 NBA Teams