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Speaker 1: Before we get started, please rate and review our show.

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Speaker 1: It helps people find us. On this episode of Sports

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Speaker 1: Illustrated Weekly, it's been a minute since Pablo Sandoval played

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Speaker 1: Major League baseball, which doesn't mean he hasn't been playing

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Speaker 1: baseball at all. Writer Joseph being conjoins me to discuss

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Speaker 1: his g Q story on what Sandoval has been up to,

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Speaker 1: where he's been playing, and whether the man affectionately known

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Speaker 1: as Kung Fu Panda has designs on making it back

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Speaker 1: to the big leagues. I'm your host, John Gonzalez from

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Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio. This is Sports Illustrated Weekly.

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Speaker 1: Joseph being Con, Welcome to Sports Illustrated Weekly. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: having me, John. I used your full formal Christian name here.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna call you Joey though, because that's what you

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Speaker 1: go by. But you wrote an excellent piece for GQ Magazine.

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Speaker 1: I highly recommend everybody go and read it. Will make

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Speaker 1: sure to link to it in our show notes. But

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Speaker 1: it's about Pablo Sandoval, who was one of the big

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Speaker 1: guest him best known players in Major League Baseball for

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Speaker 1: a long time. He was affectionately known maybe still is,

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Speaker 1: as Kung Fu Panda. I guess you don't really shake

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Speaker 1: a nickname like that. But before we get to what

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Speaker 1: he's up to these days, give people a little synopsis,

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Speaker 1: a little background on his MLB career, When did he

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Speaker 1: last play in the majors and what was he known

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Speaker 1: best for. Yeah, so I am from San Francisco, so

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Speaker 1: I kind of saw the whole, uh, at least the

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Speaker 1: high point of the Pablo Sandoval experience. But he arrived

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Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight halfway through the season and

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Speaker 1: just kind of came on in that mythical way that

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Speaker 1: rookies sometimes do. He wasn't a big prospect, but he

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Speaker 1: showed up. And he was this five ten at the time,

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Speaker 1: listed at two forty six pound third baseman who would

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Speaker 1: jump and grab line drives and blow bubbles while in

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Speaker 1: the air. He would also stumble and fall around the

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Speaker 1: bases every once in a while, and uh, late in

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Speaker 1: that season he jumped over a Dodgers catcher to score

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Speaker 1: a run. And that's when Barry Zito gave him the

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Speaker 1: name that stuck to Kung Fu Panda, and even by

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Speaker 1: the end of that year, Giants fans and started showing

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Speaker 1: up wearing panda hats. He was just kind of this

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Speaker 1: like you know, lightning in a bottle kind of player

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Speaker 1: that comes around. And he never hit as well as

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Speaker 1: he did as a twenty two year old. You know,

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Speaker 1: he had a very early peak, which is part of

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Speaker 1: what fascinates me about his story. But he won three

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Speaker 1: World Series with a team that hadn't won a World

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Speaker 1: Series since nineteen fifty. He caught the final out in

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Speaker 1: the World Series, Salvador Press but two two popped up, said,

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Speaker 1: and then he left. And that's kind of what always

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Speaker 1: is fascinated about the Pablos story is you're this made

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Speaker 1: man in San Francisco, three time World Series champion, World

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Speaker 1: Series m v P. And then he left to Boston,

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Speaker 1: and as anyone knows about the Boston media, it's not

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Speaker 1: a great place to go and fail. I spent some

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Speaker 1: time in Boston. All East Coast cities are very tough.

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Speaker 1: That's a particularly tough spot, especially if you're a baseball player.

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Speaker 1: With all the history with the Red Sox. But Pabo

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Speaker 1: was still a fan favorite. So when did he wash

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Speaker 1: out of the majors? What happened there? Yeah? So he

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Speaker 1: is stuck around like he started the season last season

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Speaker 1: on the Atlanta Braves and he was a glorified pinch hitter,

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Speaker 1: but he was a good vibes guy in the locker room.

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Speaker 1: He was well liked, and halfway through the season he

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Speaker 1: was traded to the Indians for the eventual World Series.

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Speaker 1: MVP was part of that fantastic trade and then continued

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Speaker 1: to struggle with the Indians and no one came calling

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Speaker 1: this year. So he got a call from Mexico and

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Speaker 1: signed on with the team in mont Clova in northern Mexico,

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Speaker 1: seven hours south of Austin, Texas, to play for the Acereros.

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Speaker 1: I love this story. I mean, when athletes are, you know,

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Speaker 1: holding on, trying to stay in their sport, he decides

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Speaker 1: to go down to Mexico. It's a fascinating piece. You

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Speaker 1: went to Mexico. Set the scene for everybody. What's that

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Speaker 1: league like, what's that town like, and what does he

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Speaker 1: look like in that atmosphere. So I was lucky enough

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Speaker 1: to write about the Mexican League in from Medium. I

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Speaker 1: went down to Tijuana for that story, and Tijuana the

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Speaker 1: stadium is seventeen thousand capacity. It kind of feels not

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Speaker 1: big league ish, but definitely bigger than the Miners. But

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Speaker 1: driving into mont Clova. It is a there's one big

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Speaker 1: street that runs through the town. You know, there's some

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Speaker 1: H E. B s, there are a few American businesses,

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Speaker 1: but it definitely feel is like a small town. I

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Speaker 1: love the small town man. It's unbelievable how the people are,

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Speaker 1: how the people threat you. I saw a bankbull citium.

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Speaker 1: When you can't do a city like God, you want

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Speaker 1: to want to play, you want to be do you

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Speaker 1: want to do for the city In mont Clova? It

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Speaker 1: is very hot when I was there, there were highs

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Speaker 1: of one oh eight on some of the days. It's

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Speaker 1: very humid, and it's very small town ish. But this

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Speaker 1: eight thousand capacity stadium fills to the brim. Fans bring drunes, noisemakers,

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Speaker 1: there's I think three or four mascots, there's cheerleaders, there's

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Speaker 1: music playing through the entire game, and probably most importantly

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Speaker 1: of all, for all of this energy, there are two

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Speaker 1: dollar beers at uh oh yeah, that's the good stuff,

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Speaker 1: like a man. Iconic games. So it's more like you're

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Speaker 1: at a basketball game, or soccer game or football game.

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Speaker 1: Then what we picture Major League Baseball games. I'm sure

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Speaker 1: something like a nice picnic, uh you know, quiet little

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Speaker 1: day in the park. They love the game, They respect

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Speaker 1: the players, say, you know, playing in other countries is

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Speaker 1: different because you know more things about that country, and

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Speaker 1: that's things from this country and in John the time here.

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Speaker 1: So as we mentioned, he's obviously a fan favorite. He's

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Speaker 1: a big name. He also told you right when you

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Speaker 1: were talking to him, Joey that especially down there, everybody

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Speaker 1: knows him. Yeah, so he I think I was, as

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Speaker 1: you do with these sports stories. I kind of came

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Speaker 1: in with a question, which is, why when you've won

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Speaker 1: four World Series rings and made a hundred and sixteen

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Speaker 1: million dollars do you continue to play? And if you're

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Speaker 1: going to continue to play hymn Clover, which I explained

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Speaker 1: as the Pittsburgh of Mexico and it's kind of a

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Speaker 1: small steel town, Like why do you choose that place

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Speaker 1: of all places? And that was a question I had

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Speaker 1: continue to try to ask in different ways to Pablo,

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Speaker 1: And as far as I could tell, they were one

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Speaker 1: of the teams that called. They were a team that

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Speaker 1: kind of expressed that they trusted him and believed that

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Speaker 1: he could be you know, we know, Manny being manny.

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Speaker 1: They were okay with Pablo being Pablo down there and

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Speaker 1: uh that he would have a chance to win and

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Speaker 1: compete Uival Gloa. That the in the organization, the owner,

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Speaker 1: the ownership, they're they're so nice with me and my family.

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Speaker 1: Is this This is one of the mat sited to

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Speaker 1: play baseball at the lot Baseball and the thing the

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Speaker 1: Chemist movie guys super nice. Soon after I was down there,

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Speaker 1: he was cut by the team and I signed on elsewhere.

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Speaker 1: So it kind of created some narrative tension in the

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Speaker 1: story when you see a guy choose a town that's

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Speaker 1: a little off the beaten path because of trust and

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Speaker 1: then that trust is broken. Yeah, that's tough. So he made,

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Speaker 1: as you mentioned, a hundred and sixteen million dollars in

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Speaker 1: his career. What was he making down there? Mexico Baseball

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Speaker 1: contracts are not public, but I did some digging and

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Speaker 1: the best guests I have is about twenty thousand per

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Speaker 1: month plus room and board, and then for the foreign players,

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Speaker 1: who are usually the highest paid in the league, taxes

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Speaker 1: are covered as well. So I spoke to one pitcher

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Speaker 1: for a different team who said he was called up

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Speaker 1: to the majors in September of last year and actually

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Speaker 1: made less money that month than the months he was

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Speaker 1: playing in the Mexican League because of taxes, expenses, all

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Speaker 1: of that. So it doesn't pay well compared to you know,

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Speaker 1: Prime Pablo, but it pays better than the minor leagues,

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Speaker 1: and you get to live kind of the not big

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Speaker 1: league experience, but closer to big league experience because this

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Speaker 1: is in mont Clova. This is the biggest show in

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Speaker 1: town and there's no question about that. And how's the

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Speaker 1: competition in the Mexican League? Is league anna good? So

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Speaker 1: after that twenty sixteen rule change I wrote about in

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Speaker 1: the earlier article, the rule change basically allowed teams to

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Speaker 1: count Mexican American players as native players on the team,

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Speaker 1: and each team gets seven players born outside of Mexico.

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Speaker 1: But this kind of led to a talent surge because

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Speaker 1: these teams would start searching, you know, for a great

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Speaker 1: grandmother who maybe was born in California before California was

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Speaker 1: part of America and that would count as Mexican heritage,

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Speaker 1: or you know, they would go searching for Mexican heritage

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Speaker 1: wherever they could find it, and that kind of brought

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Speaker 1: an influx of talent into the league all at once.

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Speaker 1: In since then, the league has definitely gotten better. There's

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Speaker 1: days where you're watching a game and it kind of

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Speaker 1: feels like you're playing David Roths. Let's remember some guys

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Speaker 1: like it'll be like, oh, remember that Cubs prospect who

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Speaker 1: never made it? Or remember Addison Russell, who was you know,

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Speaker 1: a startering, burgeoning star on the Cubs. Or Josh Reddick

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Speaker 1: or Chris Carter. There's some guys you know. But pitching

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Speaker 1: is light years behind hitting. Now. I was looking it up,

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Speaker 1: and uh, four guys hit four hundred this year. Two

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Speaker 1: guys hit thirty eight homers during the ninety games season,

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Speaker 1: and they were averaging twelve runs a game in these

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Speaker 1: Mexican League games. So it is a hitting bonanza. But

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Speaker 1: it's not bad, Like it's a fun product to watch, alright.

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Speaker 1: So it's a hitting bonanza. And yet he goes down

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Speaker 1: to the small, landlocked steel Town gets cut. Now he's

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Speaker 1: with a new team. Team. How did he look to

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Speaker 1: you when you went to see him? And how's he

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Speaker 1: playing with his new team? Yes, so he was cut

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Speaker 1: because he was hitting two forty in this league where

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Speaker 1: hitting is balloon the numbers are ballooned, and the team

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Speaker 1: was right at five hundred when I was down there

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Speaker 1: in early May, so I had someone in the front

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Speaker 1: office tell me, like, the owners are concerned. We've spent

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Speaker 1: a lot on all of this talent, and uh, we

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Speaker 1: shouldn't be a five hundred team. So they made a

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Speaker 1: lot of changes, one of which being Josh Reddick retiring,

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Speaker 1: one of which being Pablo being cut, and a few

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Speaker 1: others followed, but they ended the season as the three seed.

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Speaker 1: Pablo then signed on with a team called the Old

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Speaker 1: Mecca's the Tabasco and they are the two seed in

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Speaker 1: the Southern Division and playoffs have just started. Once he

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Speaker 1: got to his second team, he started hitting three hund

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Speaker 1: dred He's done a lot better and uh, fingers crossed.

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Speaker 1: They meet up in the World Series of the Mexican

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Speaker 1: League in a couple of weeks. All it's a part

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Speaker 1: of the Pablo Sandoval story, as you mentioned at the top,

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Speaker 1: is how he's looking. And you know what, you and

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Speaker 1: I discussed this before, and I mean not just how

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Speaker 1: he's looking on the field, but how he actually looks physically,

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Speaker 1: and you and I discussed this before. We don't want

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Speaker 1: to do any fat shaming here. However, he is named

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Speaker 1: Kung Fu Panda, so how's he look these days? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: So I've always been of the belief as long as

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Speaker 1: you could get around the bases and hit and you're

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Speaker 1: not making a bunch of errors, I don't really care

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Speaker 1: if you have a little gut. I was grew up

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Speaker 1: a Movan fan. You know, it's fine, it's baseball. We're

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Speaker 1: not playing soccer here. But he's definitely looks like Pablo Sandoval.

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Speaker 1: He doesn't look like late career, you know, Mo Vaughn

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Speaker 1: or something. It's not like he's put on an extra

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Speaker 1: twenty or thirty pounds. But yeah, I mean, one of

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Speaker 1: the fascinating parts of this article was going and reading

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Speaker 1: back through all these clips to do your research on it.

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Speaker 1: And the world has changed in a few short years

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Speaker 1: where the stuff that the Boston guys, especially but also

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Speaker 1: bar Stool were writing about Pablo would just not fly

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Speaker 1: today at all. Dan Shaughnessy had a line get a

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Speaker 1: load of that gut in his twenty sixteen spring training

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Speaker 1: column about him. There was mentions of Colonel Sanders, Sarah Lee,

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Speaker 1: the Delhi counter at Publix, and then uh, bar Stool

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Speaker 1: being bar Stool had a headline, look at this fat

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Speaker 1: fucking piece of ship Pablo sander Bals. So the amount

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Speaker 1: that this guy got raked over the coals for being

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Speaker 1: overweight is something special, but I don't think it will

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Speaker 1: happen again in sports. I like him is the way

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Speaker 1: he is thick with two sees. That's my kind of

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Speaker 1: ball player. So obviously this is not the majors. He's

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Speaker 1: taken heat for his body type, he's taken heat for

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Speaker 1: his game, and yet he's still trying to play. And

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Speaker 1: you asked him if he ever lost his love for

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Speaker 1: the game. What was his response. I mean, it's pretty

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Speaker 1: magical to talk to a guy because obviously all of

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Speaker 1: these athletes have their guard up a little bit in

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Speaker 1: these interviews. And at first I was talking to Pablo

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Speaker 1: and I was just like, there's some cliches coming. And finally,

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Speaker 1: once you start to get into more of the poetry

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Speaker 1: of baseball is when he started opening up and he

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Speaker 1: talked about, you know, this is the game that's like

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Speaker 1: created life for me. It's one of the things that

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Speaker 1: I still do with love and passion because that's the

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Speaker 1: way they teach me when I was young. People don't

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Speaker 1: realize them when you lost that it's time to walk away.

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Speaker 1: But I'm never going to lose that because I love this.

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Speaker 1: It's this guy who is just I mean. He tells

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Speaker 1: the story about scouts beginning to arrive out in a

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Speaker 1: Puerto Cabio, Venezuela starting to talk to him when he's

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Speaker 1: a fourteen year old, and his mom is like, I

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Speaker 1: want to talk to these scouts and tells them my

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Speaker 1: son is not going to come to America at fourteen.

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Speaker 1: He's gonna finish high school. He's gonna get his life

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Speaker 1: in order as much as that's possible by seventeen years old.

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Speaker 1: But then he finally is signed and comes over to

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Speaker 1: rookie ball as a seventeen year old with barely any English,

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Speaker 1: arrives in America and is forced to find his footing

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Speaker 1: and obviously all about is inextricably tied to baseball, loving

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Speaker 1: the game, you know, Like I said, I don't know

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Speaker 1: nothing to beside baseball. So I'll be talking with my family,

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Speaker 1: so they're having fun, like he's having fun to see

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Speaker 1: him playing, and uh and during the time with me,

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Speaker 1: you know, so I still hear the baseball. I're gonna

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Speaker 1: keep playing until I don't know. My wife tell me,

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Speaker 1: oh my kids, tell me stop So it's this guy

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Speaker 1: who has just now spent more in half of his

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Speaker 1: life away from his home, but also has made a

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Speaker 1: home wherever he's playing through baseball. So it's this kind

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Speaker 1: of magical story. And he talks about his son starting

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Speaker 1: to get into the game just as a swing happy

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Speaker 1: as he is. And yeah, I think I was trying

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Speaker 1: to answer the question why I'm on clover, why I

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Speaker 1: keep playing? And you try to dodge in duck cliches

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Speaker 1: and all of that, and you think there must be

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Speaker 1: some ulterior motive here. But like, the man has made

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Speaker 1: enough money, he's comfortable. He just really likes to play baseball,

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Speaker 1: and he's not ready to quit. Are just s happy

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Speaker 1: to keep playing baseball, keep swinging, Like I always I

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Speaker 1: was making a job. I'll get paid to swing to

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Speaker 1: don't get walks. So yes, if I hate the ball,

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Speaker 1: gonna be fine next week. I always say that. So

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Speaker 1: he loves the game. I get that. But he's thirty six,

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Speaker 1: he'll be thirty seven in August. He's still going. Does

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Speaker 1: the harbor illusions of making it back to the Biggs

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Speaker 1: or does he know that it's probably not gonna happen.

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Speaker 1: That's a great question. I mean, he would not say

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Speaker 1: directly one way or the other. I think he is realistic,

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Speaker 1: and I think I talked to a few guys in

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Speaker 1: the league who talked about how hard it is to

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Speaker 1: be a veteran and rEFInd your footing, especially in Major

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Speaker 1: League Baseball these days, when often there's a premium put

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Speaker 1: on the cheaper option and the younger guy under team

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Speaker 1: control all of that. But I also think there was

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Speaker 1: something Josh Reddick told me which became extra interesting because

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Speaker 1: he retired days after I left, and after he told

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Speaker 1: me this quote. He told me, you're a former player

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Speaker 1: a lot longer than you're ever a current player, so

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Speaker 1: you just try to play as long as you can

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Speaker 1: and enjoy every moment. You don't want to look back

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Speaker 1: and go, man, I really wish I would have played

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Speaker 1: two more years. So I think that tells the story

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Speaker 1: as much as anything is. The Mexican League is not

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Speaker 1: the big leagues. I don't think Pablo believes he has

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Speaker 1: anything else to prove in a career is four rings.

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Speaker 1: He has a World Series m v P. The Pablo

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Speaker 1: Santoval stories always this kind of idea that if only

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Speaker 1: he had changed his body, or if only he had

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Speaker 1: stayed in San Francisco, or if only he hadn't torn

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Speaker 1: his laborum, what could have been. But I think I

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Speaker 1: kind of believe him when speaking with him, that he

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Speaker 1: doesn't have regrets. He thinks he had a career worthy

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Speaker 1: of what he his talent and everything else, and he

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Speaker 1: just wants to play baseball, and Mexico's is good to

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Speaker 1: the place as anywhere to play, as good a place

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Speaker 1: as any I always liked watching him play. I really

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Speaker 1: enjoyed reading about him playing in Mexico. Go read Joseph

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Speaker 1: being CON's excellent story about Pablo Sandoval in g Q.

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Speaker 1: Will have a link on our show notes. Joey, thanks

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Speaker 1: for this, Thank you John, thanks for listening everybody, and

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Speaker 1: a reminder to please rate and review the show. It

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Speaker 1: helps people find us. And a special thanks to our

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Speaker 1: friends at g Q for passing along Sandoval's interview audio.

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Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated Weekly is a production of Sports Illustrated and

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Speaker 1: I Heeart Radio. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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Speaker 1: you get your favorite shows. And for more of Sports

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Speaker 1: Illustrated It's best stories and podcasts, visit SI dot com.

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Speaker 1: This episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly was produced by Jordan Rozsieri,

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Speaker 1: Jessica your Moski, and Isaac Lee, who was also our

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Speaker 1: sound engineer. Our senior producers are Dan Bloom and Harry

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Speaker 1: sward Out. Our executive producers are Scott Brody and me

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Speaker 1: John Gonzalez. Our theme song is by Nolan Schneider. And

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Speaker 1: if you've stuck around this long, we leave you with this. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: rough food. I've been having funy now you don't I

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Speaker 1: like it. I love it, I love it everything, every

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Speaker 1: everything like full. Here is good. People come to you,

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Speaker 1: invite you to do a barbecue, Cardinals like a corn

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Speaker 1: Cardinals all and and you know it's everything like and

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Speaker 1: this city is a special