You haven't heard of David Manning for two reasons. One, he pitches for the Milwaukee Brewers, and two, he's been in the minor leagues for 12 years.

Manning, 31, finally made his major league debut for the Brewers on Aug. 2, but it went largely unnoticed, like a satellite crossing a star-filled sky.

Manning pitched a total of four innings and gave up six earned runs in a 7-1 loss to Montreal. His next start would be his last.

In his brief major league stay, Manning finished with an 0-2 record and a 16.20 ERA. He walked eight and struck out just two. He was sent down to AAA Indianapolis on Aug. 10, where he'll wait for another chance from the Brewers or another team.

Manning's numbers were unimpressive. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he failed. He finally got his chance, maybe his only chance, and he blew it.

But statistics lie.

Regardless of what happens to David Manning from now on, I think he is a winner, and not just because he was a Brewer.

Some people don't get it. Success cannot possibily be measured with universal measuring cups. Success is working diligently for 12 years in the minor leagues. It's battling back after arm injuries. It's putting in your ear plugs when someone tells you that you can't or you shouldn't. It's sticking with your dream long enough to see it happen, even if you wake up before you're satisfied.

Of all sports, baseball can test a person's patience the most. It's a confidence gut-check. Sure, there are plenty of players that make headlines for their six-figure signing bonus. But the reality is, the majority of players in the minor leagues play for a salary that the counter person at McDonald's would turn down.

Provo Angels pitcher Aaron Pullin wasn't drafted out of college. He watched 50 rounds come and go without getting his name called. But after the draft the Anaheim Angels called.

How would you like to pursue your dream?

Just tell me when and where.

Pullin dropped everything and left his home in Midland, Texas, to join the Angels.

Players typically get a signing bonus to help offset the $800 a month they make in the minor leagues.

With a little creativity, Pullin can say his signing bonus was six figures -- $000,000.

That's right, he got nothing but a plane ticket from Texas to Utah.

Those who think logically will tell Pullin to finish college. Get on with life and start a career. But there is a reason why people chase a dream, and life's real failure isn't that the dream doesn't turn out to be everything imagined, it is the lament of the words "what if. "

Former BYU running back Reno Mahe is 5-foot-11, 185 pounds. He's too small to play in the NFL. He played on a losing team in a conference starved for respect.

How could he possibly make it in the NFL? He's married. Why doesn't he get a real job and support his family?

Mahe played his first game with the Philadelphia Eagles last week. He rushed for nine yards on eight carries and caught three passes for 22 yards.

Will it be good enough to make the team?

Mahe will soon find out, but even if he doesn't make it in the NFL he's got one thing on the skeptics who scoff at him -- he tried.

What was so remarkable about the movie "The Rookie " was Jim Morris, despite his age, had the audacity to try. And in a sport that could be sued for age discrimination, he made it.

In 1999, when Morris was 35, he pitched four innings with Tampa Bay. He gave up three hits and struck out three. He finished with a 5.79 ERA.

The following year (2000), Morris pitched in just 10 innings and finished with a 4.35 ERA before giving up on baseball.

"I realized a dream I'd had since I was 3, " Morris said in an interview with ESPN.com. "But I wanted to spend more time with my kids, and help them pursue their dreams. "

A major league success?

Not according to statistics -- he never got a major league win.

But he had the courage to try.

Baseball isn't the only sport with rosters full of dream chasers. Regardless of what the avenue is in life, whether it's an entrepreneur trying to decide to go in to business, or a high school student wondering if he should try out for a team, or an author who believes in his book when no one else does, success comes in different forms.

There are hundreds of Dave Mannings who try and never reach the pinnacle of success; their dreams fall short of expectations.

But for every Dave Manning there are a thousand others who don't have an official at-bat in life because they never had the courage to try and the persistence to see a dream come to fruition, even if it's different than they had imagined.

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