DJ Smiles
Introduction (For the Grown Ups)
Tonight we have a story about the power of smiling. If this is your first time reading Bedtime Sports, (or you need a refresher) check out our "How To" post.
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DJ Smiles
(5 minute read)
How would you feel if I walked into a room and looked at you like this? <🕺🕺Look sternly at your child🕺🕺> Now how would you feel if I walked into a room looking at you like this? <🕺🕺Put on a wide and genuine smile🕺🕺>
My smile gives you clues about how I’m feeling, and that can influence how you feel.
What is something that made you smile today?
People smile for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes we smile reflexively which means we don’t even think about it, because we see something funny or feel happy. Sometimes we smile intentionally or on purpose, because we see someone we recognize or we want to let someone else know that things are ok without using any words. And sometimes we smile because someone smiled at us. Human brains have special neurons that make us feel like smiling even if we just see someone smiling - which means that smiles are contagious!
Across cultures, and across generations, humans have smiled as a way to express how we feel. Babies learn to smile by the time they are two months old, before they even learn how to do things like roll over or coo. Some scientists even think that dogs have learned to smile by spending so much time around humans and watching our facial expressions.
Just like other parts of our lives, there are lots of things in baseball that make people smile. A timely hit, a great catch, sometimes even a goofy, completely unexpected play can bring a smile to my face. But there are also a lot of things in baseball that don’t make you feel like smiling, like an error at the worst time, or your favorite player getting hurt. It can be tough for fans, but you can imagine that after a bad play, or a bad day, smiling might be the last thing a player would want to do.
Has there ever been a time that baseball made you smile?
DJ Stewart did not feel like smiling. After earning the final spot on the Mets team to start the season, everything had gone wrong. At first it didn’t seem so bad; in the very first game of the season, DJ got three at-bats and had two strikeouts and a walk…and the Mets lost. The next day, two more strikeouts, and this time, no walk….and another loss. The day after that, no strikeouts, but no hits either, and the Mets lost again. The next day, he didn’t even get to play AND the Mets lost again. By the fifth game of the season, the Mets did not yet have a win and DJ did not yet have a hit.
Nobody would feel great in this situation. To be honest, it was tough for me and I’m just a fan! But for DJ, it was especially hard. DJ is a bench player, which means he doesn’t play every day. The coach decides to put bench players in when other players need a rest, or when there is a good matchup against a specific pitcher. If a bench player is playing well, they usually get more chances to play. But if they’re not playing very well, well, they usually end up spending more time on the bench.
To make things worse, if you remember, DJ was the last player to make the Mets when spring training ended, meaning that he right on the edge of the major league team. If he wasn’t playing well, maybe the team would send him down to the minors and have someone else come and take his spot. DJ begin to worry about his family. Would he need to leave them in New York and to go play for the Minor League team in Syracuse? Would he need to find a new home, or just stay in a hotel? Would he have to facetime his daughter every night instead of coming home to see her? DJ was stressed out. It was a classic NO SMILE situation.
Have you ever been stressed out? What made you feel so stressed?
Carlos Mendoza is the head coach of the Mets. He decides who gets to play, and when they get to play. He helps the players prepare for games, and designs practices and drills so that they can get better. DJ thought that maybe Coach Mendy was going to tell him he needed to do something different in the batter's box. Maybe he was going to get mad at him because DJ wasn’t playing well. Or maybe Coach wouldn’t say anything, and he would just start losing more and more playing time. But Coach Mendoza didn’t do any of that. He looked at DJ and said, “Smile. Have fun.”
Have fun? How am I supposed to smile when I’m not doing a good job? DJ thought. But the next day, Coach Mendoza told him the same thing, “Smile. Have fun.” By the next day, even before Mendy could say anything, DJ had already knew what he was going to say, and he couldn’t help but start to smile.
Did you know that smiling tricks your brain? If you look in the mirror and smile, those mirror neurons we talked about earlier trigger the same way as if someone else smiled at you, and it makes you want to smile back at your reflection. Even without a mirror, simply scrunching your face muscles into a smile sends all types of messages to your brain and makes your brain think that you’re happy, even if you are not. Smiling can reduce your heart rate, lower your stress, and even boost your immune system - even if your smile is totally fake!
I don’t know if Coach Mendoza knew all this science (I bet he does) But Coach Mendy knew that a smiling DJ was a lot more fun to be around than a stressed out DJ, and that a smiling DJ probably had a better chance at being relaxed and getting a hit than a stressed DJ. And sure enough, DJ started to hit. After starting the season 0 for 12, DJ crushed a tie-breaking 3-run homerun against the Braves to help the Mets win a big game. Big smile. Then two nights later, another big home run to help the Mets jump to a big lead. Big Big Smile. Then a big double, and another Home Run on $1 hot dog night at Citi Field. Big Big BIG Smile. The smiles are coming naturally now, but Coach Mendoza still reminds DJ to keep smiling, every day. It’s their little joke; a good luck charm; a secret way to trick their brains. And if you watch whenever DJ gets a big hit, he takes a minute to shoot a big smile into the dugout, right at his coach.
Goodnight sport.
Sources
Shout out to reporting from Zach Braziller at the Post and Phillip Martinez at SNY for the story about Carlos Mendoza telling DJ to keep smiling.
And for some of the science behind smiling and how it affects our emotions check out this piece by Nicole Spector and some of the research lead by Stanford scientist Nicholas Coles
Art & Illustrations
DJ and the Bubble Gum hat courtesy of the Cup Of Mets podcast design team. Check out their podcast and the get some merch (Where’s DJ?)
DJ Stewart Hot Dog Neon created by the incomparable Dan Abrams at Athlete Logos. Check out his site here, or shop for Mets themed T's and mugs at the Queens Collection.
Vocab
A reflex is something that happens automatically, without any conscious thought. Has the doctor ever tapped your knee with a rubber hammer? They are testing your reflexes to see how your body reacts!
Sometimes we smile reflexively which means we don’t even think about it, because we see something funny or feel happy.
Intentional means to do something on purpose, or with by thinking about it first. It is the opposite of reflexive.
Sometimes we smile intentionally or on purpose, because we see someone we recognize or we want to let someone know that things are ok without using words.
More Story Ideas
Is there ever a time where smiling has gotten you through a tough time?
What is something that made you smile today?
What makes you smile when you think about your kids?
What are some baseball memories that still bring a smile to your face?