Praise for Harvey Dorfman

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[ LIFTED FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES (May 7, 2011): ]

‘AN APPRAISAL OF HARVEY DORFMAN’ 
 BY SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY COACH AND AUTHOR RICK WOLFF:

‘For Dorfman, 100 Percent of the Game Was Mental’

A vast majority of baseball fans never heard of Harvey Dorfman. But for 30 years until his death in February at 75, he had a profound effect on hundreds of major league players. Dorfman was hired by the Oakland Athletics in the mid-1980s to serve as their mental performance coach, and worked his magic with some of the game’s biggest stars.

At his home in North Carolina, and in his private office, he had dozens of framed photographs of players — many of them future Hall of Famers — and each was autographed with a sentiment like, “Harvey — I owe my career to you” or “If it weren’t for you Harv, I wouldn’t still be in the big leagues.”

 

Players like Roy Halladay, Brad Lidge, Mike Pelfrey, Rick Ankiel, Jim Abbott, Al Leiter, Bob Welch, even Greg Maddux — and on and on — had quietly worked with Dorfman. In truth, he never wanted to talk openly about the players who consulted him. He respected their privacy. But the bottom line was that Harvey helped all these players, and hundreds more, focus on their mental approach to the game.

 

Dorfman wrote several books, two of which have become mandatory reading for professional ballplayers: “The Mental Game of Baseball” and “The Mental ABC’s of Pitching.” Ballplayers often referred to him as a kind of baseball shrink, but he would laugh that off.

 

“I’m not a shrink,” he would protest with a smile. “I’m a stretch!”

 

He was not a psychologist. He did not have a doctorate in psychology. Rather, he combined hard-core common sense with a mixture of tough-love confrontation and compassion. In his gruff, profanity-laced way, he regarded traditional sports psychology approaches like “take a deep breath” or “think only positive thoughts” as nonsense.

 

Rather, Dorfman’s style was confrontational, or as he would say, “I hold a mirror up to your face.” He would tell All-Stars who were struggling with their hitting or pitching what nobody else would, “You’re pulling off the ball on the outside corner” or “You can’t get your first pitch over for a strike.”

 

The key was that Dorfman would then demand: “What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do to make the appropriate adjustments?”

 

His approach was all about the ballplayer’s taking responsibility and being accountable. Force him to find his own way back to success. And by doing so, he will be even stronger than before.

 

Dorfman was a man of letters. Although he grew up in the Bronx, he became a beloved English teacher in Vermont, where he settled with his wife, Anita, and their two children. Dorfman was conversant in the current best sellers and would routinely quote chapter and verse from famous philosophers about life’s challenges.

 

He started to hang around the Vermont Expos farm team and became buddies with Karl Kuehl, who ran the Montreal Expos’ minor league system. When Kuehl went to work for the A’s, he hired Dorfman full time.

 

I had never heard of Dorfman when he called in 1989 after reading my book, “The Psychology of Winning Baseball.” He said a number of major league clubs were looking for somebody like me, who had played professional baseball and had a background in psychology. I was flattered and told Dorfman, “Feel free to give out my name and number.” Most general managers, I thought, still believed in the old-school philosophy that no baseball player needed a sports psychologist.

But within the next few days, I started to receive phone calls from representatives of major league teams like the Indians’ Hank Peters, the Orioles’ Roland Hemond and the White Sox’ Jerry Reinsdorf. Suddenly, I was being courted like a college recruit. Each team was offering me a deal to work with its players. I ended up signing with the Indians and got the chance to work for them for a number of years. I even received a 1995 American League championship ring, which I cherish.

The Hall of Fame does not have a wing for sports psychology, but if it did, Harvey Dorfman would be a first-ballot unanimous choice. He was one of a kind, and major leaguers everywhere mourn his passing — especially those who are mired in batting slumps or who can’t throw strikes.

By RICK WOLFF

Copyright THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY; May 7, 2011.

 

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Recommended Reading:
(For those interested in coaching and performance psychology:) 

Coaching the Mental Game: Leadership Philosophies and Strategies for Peak Performance in Sports and Everyday Life (2003)  by Harvey Dorfman

 

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Sean Casey, on MLB.com, pays tribute to Harvey:

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More on Harvey:

 'Stay In The Moment with Dr. Baseball', Men's Journal (Feb. 10, 2009.)

[ Contains colourful language and unfavourable characterizations of Harvey and his clients -- but if you're interested, it's worth a read.]


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(Thanks for your interest,
and all the best.)