Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson pitching (thefastertimes.com)

What is a hero, you might ask? A hero is someone who is admired for their qualities like strength, courage, or nobility. I do have a hero, but I do not admire him for being rich or famous, I admire him for his boldness, faith and courage. My hero is the relief pitcher of the San Francisco Giants, Brian Wilson. Brian Wilson is not just my hero for being famous, but for the traits that I listed earlier, boldness, faith and courage.

Brian Wilson was drafted onto the San Francisco Giants in 2003 and has been playing on this team since. When drafted onto the team, Wilson was put in the games as the starting pitcher but then, in the middle of the season, he became a relief pitcher. He was not changed to a reliever because he was not good enough, but he wanted to. “Being a real pitcher is too tiring,” Brian Wilson told Jimmy Kimmel in an interview, “I wanted to be a reliever because I saw what they got to do, come in at the most critical time of a game and fix the pitching that was originally happening,” verbalizes Wilson.

Brian Wilson doing his arm cross gesture (bleacherreport.com)

Brian Wilson is well-known for saving many games the Giants have played in the 2010 MLB season. He helped his team go all the way to the World Series which was the first the Giants had won since 1954. He has become most famous for his arm cross gesture at the end of a game. Brian Wilson explains it this way, “It’s taking into consideration my own walks in life. For instance, when I cross my arms, I have my left hand in the fist and my right hand goes underneath pointing with my index finger. What I’ve taken into my own belief is that the finger represents one man. I’m that one person and I can only go so far in life leaning on my own understandings and my own strength. The fist represents the power of the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. The fist is symbolic of a circle, it’s never-ending. The strength will continue to grow, so here’s the strength of God and the strength of me. I can only go so far in this life. But when I cross, I now have this one person with the strength of Christ, and I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me. I can get over any battles in life.” For Brian Wilson to reveal his faith to the world takes a lot of courage and faith to do. He has faith to credit God for the successes that he has had. He also has courage because he was able to stand up to the world and say this is what I believe and I respect it.

Brian is bold because he is not afraid to display his faith for God in front of others and tell people about it. Also, he has shown motivation because of his hard training that he has displayed in front of his teammates. Many of his teammates see him funny but can be serious at times. “The thing about Brian Wilson is that he’s intense,” recalls one of his reliever buddies, Javier Lopez, “Everything you see is genuine, but you know what? He has the ability to be funny and be relaxed and be calm. Closers, they’re in high-pressure situations and tough spots all the time. His ability to stay pretty light-hearted, but get focused is probably something a lot of people don’t notice”.

Someone who shows qualities of boldness, faith and courage is a hero and an example of that is Brian Wilson. I admire these traits displayed by Brian Wilson in life. I definitely do not admire him for his fame and fortune. He shows great qualities in life that should be acknowledged. My hero is the relief pitcher of the San Francisco Giants, Brian Wilson.