Sales and Sales Leadership Lessons from Lou Piniella and the Umpire

Last night on the MLB Network, I heard Don Denkinger, a former major league baseball umpire, tell a very funny story about former Yankee player and current Cubs manager Lou Piniella.

The pitch came across the plate and Denkinger called strike one.

Piniella thought the pitch was low, turned, and asked, “where was that pitch at?”

Denkinger responded, “Lou, don’t you know that you can’t end a question with a preposition?”

Piniella steamed for a moment and called time out.  “OK, where was that pitch at, ass hole?”

There are some great sales and sales leadership lessons embedded in this funny story.  Can you extract any of them?

I’ll identify the winners later this week.