Charlie Munger Once Compared Smart Investors To 'Great Home Runners' And Explained Why Winners 'Wait For One They Can Really Handle'

Charlie Munger, the late Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK) (NYSE:BRK) vice chair, once mentioned that smart stock traders imitate baseball sluggers who "wait for one that they can really handle" instead of hacking at every offering.

What Happened: Munger told CNBC in a birthday-tribute interview in November 2023, “The great home runners do not remotely swing at every pitch … and that's what great stock traders do too,” driving home a lesson about patience and risk control.

Munger's warning came after host Becky Quick asked how to avoid ruinous mistakes. "Do not live your life in such a fashion that a bad day can kill you," he replied, a nod to steering clear of excessive leverage.

See also: Warren Buffett Shows How Patience Pays: 98% Of His $160 Billion Wealth Came After Turning 65, Thanks The Power Of ‘Compound Interest’

The 99-year-old billionaire, who died two weeks later, built his fortune alongside Warren Buffett by waiting years for rare, high-conviction opportunities such as Coca-Cola and American Express, then betting big. Their approach echoes Buffett's own diamond-plate axiom: “The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don’t have to swing at everything – you can wait for your pitch.”

Why It Matters: While not one to draw too many sports parallels, in the same 2023 interview, Munger praised legendary UCLA coach John Wooden for concentrating minutes on his seven best players — an allegory for loading up on a few standout stocks.

Buffett, meanwhile, often cites Baseball legend Ted Williams, dividing the plate into 77 cells to prove that selective swings boost averages — his metaphor for a tight circle of competence. Similarly, in a 1974 Fortune interview, Buffett stressed that investors can watch endless pitches without penalty, unlike ballplayers facing an umpire's count.

Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings gives Berkshire Hathaway's Class-A shares a momentum score of 82.06% and a strong growth score of 91.38%. Check to see how BRK's Class-B shares compare.

Photo Courtesy: Kent Sievers via Shutterstock.com

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