At Bat in Giant’s Stadium

Yesterday I had batting practice at Giants Stadium in San Francisco with Rich Murray, who played first base for the Giants from 1980-83. His stats included four home runs and 125 hits. I traded him a signed baseball for a signed copy of Getting More.

Murray was on hand for an evening at the ballpark for a group of Young Presidents Organization members from San Francisco.

The event was put together by Brad Oberwager, a Wharton graduate of 1995 and one of my favorite negotiation students. Brad is now Chairman of Sundia, which sells cut fruit in plastic containers. An anecdote is in the book on how he trades items of unequal value.

I gave a talk to the group about Getting More after missing five pitches from Rich, after which he gave me some batting tips and posed with me for a picture.

Later, when I went back to my hotel, I got into a conversation about the event with the doorman who took my car and noticed my Giants cap in the front seat. He remembered Murray and said, “Oh yeah, he played first base. Good guy.” The doorman was impressed with the signed baseball.

I’ll bet my 10-year-old son, Alexander, will be too.