Grace Under Pressure

16 February 2025

By Frank Scoblete

The other night I watched an interview with Tom Hanks. In it, Hanks recalled a meal he had with the former Yankee great Joe DiMaggio. Just Hanks and DiMaggio. Alone discussing pressure and how to handle it.

My father was a big DiMaggio fan and he styled my batting stance and swing after the Yankee great. I have no memory of ever seeing DiMaggio play but I do remember a time after the great ball player retired. I think the year was 1953 (or thereabouts).

We were at Yankee Stadium and there in the box seats in front of us was the Yankee Clipper. The game had not yet started. My father took me down to talk to this great ball player. I knew his name and that he had done many remarkable things on the baseball field.

I think I was tongue-tied but DiMaggio was pleasant and answered all of my father’s questions.

“Play with everything you have but remember that you must also have grace under pressure.”

I think DiMaggio said that or my father said it as he said that all the time. “When you play Frankie,” my father would say. “You must always show grace under pressure.”

That was my one and only encounter with Joe DiMaggio. He made a fan of me by simply talking to me.

But I always used the “grace under pressure” line as my motto. I never bitched or moaned at the umpires or referees. However, they called a game, well, that’s how they called it.

Today I note that there are very few players in baseball and especially in basketball (both men’s and women’s) who let calls go by without showing their disfavor. The saying “grace under pressure” has probably never been heard by any of these complainers.

I see way too many complaints in the casino world too. It is not rare that some dealers or floor personnel or pit bosses make mistakes. They are making decisions all day or night long. And they will make some mistakes.

When they do some players will go gorilla, hopping around, and loudly grunting their displeasure. They show anything but grace.

Dice players can be the worst of the lot. Since they are standing (most of them anyway) and are used to voicing their pleasures and displeasures, a call does not go the way they like it, then it can be “baboom!” Some players will lose control.

My recommendation to all of you who play craps (or any other game); take a note from Joe DiMaggio’s page and show your class when things don’t go your way – even if those things should have gone your way. Show some grace. Show some class.

All the best in and out of the casinos.

Frank Scoblete’s books are available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, e-books, libraries, and bookstores.