I was good at pop flies.
Not a lot of things came easy to me on those baseball fields in Miami in the 1980s and ’90s. I wasn’t the biggest. I wasn’t the strongest. I certainly wasn’t the fastest.
But I never dropped a pop fly.
Because that was one thing I could control.
If it went up in the air and it was anywhere near the infield, it was my ball. I’d be screaming at the top of my lungs the second it left the bat so there was no confusion.
“I GOT IT.”
No one drifting in. No last-second collisions. No gray area.
And as a pitcher, when I was on the mound it mattered even more. With runners on base, a routine pop-up is the out that gets you out of the inning. It’s the difference between walking off the field and having to face the heart of the order with the bases loaded.
If one of my knucklehead friends drops this ball, then everything changes — more pitches, more pressure, more runs, momentum gone, now I’m pitching from behind instead of back in the dugout with my team.
So I treated every one of them like it was the whole ballgame.
I got it!
Putting Money To Work
Fast forward 30 or 40 years and nothing has changed.
I’ve been fortunate to manage money, build portfolios, and sit across the table from some of the largest financial institutions in the world. I’ve worked with brilliant people. People I trust. People I still learn from every single day.
But when it comes to risk?
I got it.
Because here’s the part most people miss:
Pitchers are taught to get out of the way. Don’t take someone else’s pop fly. Depend on the others.
And that’s fine, I guess, in theory.
But responsibility doesn’t work that way.
If money gets lost, that’s on me.
If a position gets too big, that’s on me.
If the environment changes and I don’t adjust, that’s on me.
Just like on the mound — everyone else gets their turn at the plate and does their job — but I’m the one responsible for whether we get out of the inning.
You can listen to opinions.
You can collaborate.
You can gather all the information in the world.
But when the ball goes up?
It’s still your game.
Your capital.
Your risk.
Your decision.
The market hits it straight up in the air every single day.
No confusion.
No hesitation.
I GOT IT.
Stay sharp,
JC Parets, CMT
Founder, TrendLabs