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Speaker 1: Is this a great game or what?

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Speaker 2: With Tim and Jeff Kirkchhin and we are at the ABCA,

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Speaker 2: the American Baseball Coaches Association Convention in Washington, DC. Thanks

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Speaker 2: to our friends at Game Changer and Dick Sporting Goods

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Speaker 2: for hosting us, and.

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Speaker 1: We've got an awesome show planned for you.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 2: We know it's the baseball offseason, but this place is

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Speaker 2: just beaming with baseball fans.

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Speaker 1: You've got bats, you've got gloves. People are taking.

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Speaker 2: VP Dad thirty feet from where we're set up right now.

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Speaker 2: We have Brandon Geyer who's going to be joining us

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Speaker 2: from Major League Mindset. He former Major leaguer, has such

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Speaker 2: a great mind behind him. He went to UVA and

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Speaker 2: he talks all about being a mental life coach, which

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Speaker 2: is so important, right.

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Speaker 4: And we also have Ross Natoli, the baseball coach at

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Speaker 4: Catholic University for the last forty years, he's won over

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Speaker 4: eight hundred games.

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Speaker 5: And we have from Game Changers Alex.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is really great and Ross Natoli obviously a

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Speaker 2: very important person in our family. My uncles, my dad's

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Speaker 2: older brothers played at Catholic University. And we're going to

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Speaker 2: talk a little bit about my Uncle Matt, my dad's

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Speaker 2: brother who passed away from ALS in twenty twenty three,

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Speaker 2: and what Ross Natoli has done in that program to

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Speaker 2: honor him. So it gets a little bit emotional there,

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Speaker 2: but we're excited to take you along for the journey.

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Speaker 5: Dad.

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Speaker 2: This day is all about coaches and managers at the ABCA.

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Speaker 1: This is special.

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Speaker 4: I must have met at least one hundred high school

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Speaker 4: baseball coaches today.

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Speaker 5: It was so cool.

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Speaker 4: I met coaches from San Diego, from Boise, Idaho, from Michigan,

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Speaker 4: and it seemingly they're all here and they're here to

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Speaker 4: learn how to be even better coaches.

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Speaker 5: I loved it so much.

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Speaker 4: And the connections with baseball, as we've talked about, Jeff,

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Speaker 4: you know, there are so many people that I met

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Speaker 4: and I said, yeah, I knew you thirty years ago,

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Speaker 4: or you played against my brother, or I played against

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Speaker 4: you along the way. It was like going back in

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Speaker 4: time coming to the coaches Convention.

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Speaker 5: It was absolutely great.

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Speaker 2: We're dedicating this episode to coaches, so you've got a

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Speaker 2: whole bunch of great coach related and manager related things

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Speaker 2: for the show.

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Speaker 4: Right first off, Jeff, anyone who takes the time to

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Speaker 4: coach baseball on any level is good with me.

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Speaker 5: Of course, I grew up in a baseball family.

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Speaker 4: My father Pop taught his three boys how to play

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Speaker 4: the game.

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Speaker 5: He taught Andy and Matt a whole lot better than

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Speaker 5: I did how to play the game.

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Speaker 4: Because they're in the Cavoch University Baseball Hall of Fame

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Speaker 4: and I played at Walter Johnson High School.

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Speaker 5: Not the point.

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Speaker 4: The point is this is where it all starts, with

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Speaker 4: Little League baseball, even before that, and to run into

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Speaker 4: this many coaches who are trying so hard to help.

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Speaker 5: Our kids, it is great.

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Speaker 4: The one thing I heard a bunch of times today

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Speaker 4: Jeff is and I don't want to be critical about

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Speaker 4: this is the difficulty of parents involved in the coaching. Now, listen,

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Speaker 4: any parent who is involved in his son or daughter's,

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Speaker 4: you know, athletic career.

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Speaker 5: God bless you.

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Speaker 3: We're all for it.

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Speaker 4: But I remember a few years ago buddy of mine

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Speaker 4: was coaching a twelve year old travel team in Chicago,

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Speaker 4: and these kids were good, but the parents were not

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Speaker 4: so good, and every time a kid would make it out,

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Speaker 4: the parents would like scream at the kids.

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Speaker 5: So the coach, who was.

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Speaker 4: A Division one college pitcher, I'm going to leave his

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Speaker 4: name out of this and pitched the in the College

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Speaker 4: World Series, and at age fifty five, could still really

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Speaker 4: throw hard. He got so tired of the parents yelling

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Speaker 4: at the kids that he invited the dads out for

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Speaker 4: batting practice in front of the wives and the children,

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Speaker 4: and naturally he struck out all the dads. He embarrassed

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Speaker 4: all the dads, and two of them were furious, like,

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Speaker 4: what was that all about.

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Speaker 5: And the coach, who was still a really good pitch, said,

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Speaker 5: you have no idea how hard.

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Speaker 4: This game is to play, and you yell at your

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Speaker 4: kids every single.

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Speaker 5: Time that they make it out.

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Speaker 4: Now you know what it's like to be humiliated in

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Speaker 4: front of your family.

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Speaker 5: Stop yelling at your kids.

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Speaker 4: So here at a coach's convention, I think that story

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Speaker 4: needs to be told.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so too, And you bring up a

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Speaker 2: great point. I was a little league umpire for years

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Speaker 2: dealing with coaches and parents and listen, at the end

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Speaker 2: of the day, it's supposed to be fun. And that's

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Speaker 2: something really awesome that Brandon Guyer talks a lot about.

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Speaker 2: And you hear that from a major leaguer who was

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Speaker 2: an incredible football player in high school. As well for

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Speaker 2: them to be saying this is supposed to be fun.

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Speaker 2: It's okay to have fun, and you're still able to

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Speaker 2: maybe make it to the major leagues.

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Speaker 1: You know what I mean is the special part of

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Speaker 1: what it's going on.

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Speaker 4: I mean, as we're at the Jose Cruz Junior just

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Speaker 4: walked by, I shook mo Vaughn, Hey, Jose, and I

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Speaker 4: shall see you.

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Speaker 2: Mo Vaughn walks by. Jose Cruz Junior walks by. This

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Speaker 2: is the Michael Kadai or walk by the big leaguers

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Speaker 2: everywhere here.

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Speaker 4: This is so cool, So Jeff, it's we have to

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Speaker 4: teach our kids to how to play, and it starts

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Speaker 4: at the little league level with twelve year olds.

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Speaker 5: We talked to Rosston.

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Speaker 4: Totally today, who teaches high school kids, recruits them, teaches

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Speaker 4: them how to play college baseball. Then we get into

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Speaker 4: minor league baseball. Our pal Mike Toomey was one of

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Speaker 4: the best minor league managers for a very short period

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Speaker 4: of time. I learned so much from him because I

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Speaker 4: covered the Alexandria Dukes Class A team that Mike Toomey

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Speaker 4: managed in nineteen eighty and just to show you what

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Speaker 4: a co op team was like back then. He didn't

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Speaker 4: know who was showing up and leaving his team on

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Speaker 4: a daily basis.

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Speaker 5: Because it was a co op team.

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Speaker 4: He would get a player from the Mariners organization or

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Speaker 4: the Blue Jays.

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Speaker 5: So there were.

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Speaker 4: Multiple times that Mike Toomey, who was a great college

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Speaker 4: baseball player, and his hitting coach, Elwood Holland from Howard University,

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Speaker 4: they were the coach and the hitting coach of the

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Speaker 4: team they have to play in a minor league game

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Speaker 4: because they didn't have enough players.

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Speaker 2: That's the beauty of what our coaches do and our

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Speaker 2: managers do, right.

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Speaker 4: But what's really changed, though, Jeff, are the facilities in

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Speaker 4: college right now.

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Speaker 5: It's just unbelievable.

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Speaker 4: If you go to Mississippi State or any big time

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Speaker 4: Division one, the ballparks are unbelievable. The money that is

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Speaker 4: spent to upgrade things is incredible.

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Speaker 5: And back to Mike Toomey.

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Speaker 4: Mike Toomey when he coached at George Washington, they played

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Speaker 4: their home games on the Ellipse. The ellipse, of course,

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Speaker 4: is just a giant piece of grass with some bases

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Speaker 4: on it, right there in the center of Washington, DC,

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Speaker 4: in the shadow of the Washington Monument and the Capitol

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Speaker 4: and the White House, and Toombs the manager at GW,

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Speaker 4: he would have to he would have to go over

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Speaker 4: the ground rules before the game with the umpires and say, okay,

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Speaker 4: see that blue car parked on the street down the

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Speaker 4: left field line. Anything to the left of that is

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Speaker 4: foul is out of play. And then if the tourist

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Speaker 4: who was driving the blue car was replaced by a

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Speaker 4: red car, they would have to stop the game and say, okay,

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Speaker 4: now see the red car out there.

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Speaker 5: Anything to the left is out of play.

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Speaker 4: That's what it was like to play college baseball for

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Speaker 4: George Washington in the late seventies.

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Speaker 5: Things have changed so much.

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Speaker 4: But the point is as a college baseball coach, as

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Speaker 4: Rosston Toty will.

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Speaker 5: Tell us, you have to be adapted.

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Speaker 1: So you know, throughout the first season of Is This

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Speaker 1: a Great Game?

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Speaker 6: Or what?

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Speaker 3: We talked to a.

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Speaker 2: Lot of managers on the show. We talk about a

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Speaker 2: lot of managers, but you know it's the coaches too

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Speaker 2: that are making these teams. We've met so many of

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Speaker 2: them here at the ABCA. Tell us some of your

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Speaker 2: favorite coach stores, Well.

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Speaker 5: I have a million of them.

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Speaker 4: So I just decided to look at my favorite coaches

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Speaker 4: by you know, by their jobs so on. One of

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Speaker 4: my favorite first base coaches ever was Jim Fry, who

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Speaker 4: went on to manage two major league team managing them,

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Speaker 4: not coach, but when.

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Speaker 5: He was the first base coach for the.

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Speaker 4: Orioles, Mike Flanagan got on base. This is during the

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Speaker 4: DH era. So Jim Fry, who had a tremendously dry

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Speaker 4: sense of humor, Mike Flannagan got on base, not used

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Speaker 4: to being on bass because he's a pitcher playing in

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Speaker 4: a in a National League postseason game. And Jim Fry

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Speaker 4: tells Mike Flanagan, Okay, get your keep your left foot

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Speaker 4: on the bag and get as big a lead as

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Speaker 4: you can with your right foot.

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Speaker 7: No.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so we we love that.

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Speaker 4: I also remember that Tory Lavello, who's the manager of

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Speaker 4: the Diamondbacks. Kelly Johnson, former major league player, used to

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Speaker 4: tell me that Tory Leavello could sit in the first

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Speaker 4: base coaches box and he could tell when the guy

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Speaker 4: was gonna throw over the first every time, so Tory

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Speaker 4: would whisper to Kelly, he's coming over, he's coming over,

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Speaker 4: And every single time he said he's coming over, the

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Speaker 4: pitcher would throw over. That's really the job of a

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Speaker 4: first base coach is to make sure that everyone knows

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Speaker 4: what's going on there. And this is not a great

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Speaker 4: story about I'm to tell it anyway. Buck Shoalder told

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Speaker 4: me the story once where Greg Nettles, one of the

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Speaker 4: really really great defensive third basement of all time, was

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Speaker 4: the first base coach for the Yankees, and obviously after retirement,

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Speaker 4: and Mel Hall made it out at first base and

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Speaker 4: threw his helmet at his first base coach, Greg Nettles,

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Speaker 4: who was a great major league player. So Greg Nettles

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Speaker 4: just picked up the helmet, took it back to the dugout,

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Speaker 4: put it on the floor of the dugout, took out

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Speaker 4: a bat and smashed Mel Hall's helmet into a thousand pieces,

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Speaker 4: and he said, Mel, here's your helmet right here.

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Speaker 2: That's incredible. Do you have any third base coach stories,

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Speaker 2: because that's for great first.

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Speaker 5: Base Cayle rich Donalley is my favorite third base coach ever.

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Speaker 5: Rich is a dear friend of mine.

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Speaker 4: But you know, when as the third base coach you're

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Speaker 4: in you're in charge really of sending the signs, getting

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Speaker 4: the signs from the manager, and then sending them to

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Speaker 4: the players. So Rich is the absolute greatest sign giver ever.

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Speaker 4: And he said he used to practice all the time.

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Speaker 4: He said, I'll be brushing my teeth in the morning

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Speaker 4: at home, and my wife will walk in and I'll say,

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Speaker 4: see if you could see the bunt sign. Well, I'm

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Speaker 4: brushing my teeth, he said, And he was serious. He

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Speaker 4: said there were times when I would uh, I wasn't.

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Speaker 4: I thought the locker room the clubhouse was bugged. So

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Speaker 4: I would take our players into the bathroom, into the

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Speaker 4: stalls in the bathroom, and we would go over the

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Speaker 4: signs in the bathroom to make sure they got it.

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Speaker 4: And he said, and I would practice while I was

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Speaker 4: driving my car, and I would pull up next to

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Speaker 4: a guy parked next to me, and he would see

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Speaker 4: me going through all the signs, and I'd roll down

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Speaker 4: my window and say, did you get my signs?

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Speaker 5: The guy would look at me and say.

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Speaker 6: What are you talking about?

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Speaker 5: But this is what third base coaches do.

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Speaker 4: Tim Flannery was a great third base coach. And he

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Speaker 4: told me that he routinely would find kids in the neighborhood,

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Speaker 4: eleven year old kids in the neighborhood and give them

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Speaker 4: the signs for the San Diego Padres, figuring if an

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Speaker 4: eleven year old can figure out that this is the

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Speaker 4: bunt sign, then the major leaguers should be able to

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Speaker 4: figure it out also, So he would practice on eleven

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Speaker 4: year olds. And he said he would walk in the

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Speaker 4: shower certain nights after a game and give all the signs.

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Speaker 4: And he said players didn't like it very much when

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Speaker 4: I gave him the signs.

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Speaker 3: In the shower.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and I did love it for a short time,

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Speaker 4: and only I would get a kick out of this.

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Speaker 4: But the Mets hired Razor Shines. That's his real name.

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Speaker 4: I don't think Razor was a nickname. But Razor Shines

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Speaker 4: played in the big leagues, had eighty one at bats

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Speaker 4: in his major league career and never scored a run.

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Speaker 5: Think about that, Jets owl.

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Speaker 4: So that's like playing twenty games, getting four at bats

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Speaker 4: a game, never scoring a run.

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Speaker 5: And he was the third base coach for the Mets.

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Speaker 4: So as the third base coach for the Mets or

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Speaker 4: for any team, your job is to send people home.

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Speaker 4: And he never scored a run in eighty one at bats.

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Speaker 1: He probably sent a lot more people home, that's for sure.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, all right, my pitching coaches. They're obviously a little

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Speaker 4: more important than base coaches. But one of my favorite

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Speaker 4: pitching coaches was Tom House, who was the pitching coach for.

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Speaker 5: Bobby Valentine when he came to Texas.

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Speaker 4: I think I told you this story, but Tom House,

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Speaker 4: who was brilliant, knows more about the throwing of a

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Speaker 4: baseball I know than anyone I've ever met, and was

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Speaker 4: a good Major league pitcher in his time.

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Speaker 5: He got his pitchers.

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Speaker 4: To start throwing footballs before games because he thought the

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Speaker 4: motion of throwing a football would strengthen your arm. So

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Speaker 4: about halfway through the first year that Tom House was

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Speaker 4: with the Rangers, I asked Charlie Huff, how's the throwing

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Speaker 4: of the football is going? Is it helping you guys?

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Speaker 4: And he goes, I don't know.

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Speaker 5: But we lead the league in third down conversions, which.

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Speaker 2: Well, now you see a lot of that, and you

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Speaker 2: see even pitchers throwing javelins.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, they're throwing footballs.

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Speaker 4: They're throwing all sorts of things, everything to strengthen your arm.

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Speaker 4: Mike Flanning, the late great Mike Flanning, was the Orioles

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Speaker 4: pitching coach several years and he told one of his pitchers,

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Speaker 4: he said, look, the one thing I don't want you

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Speaker 4: to do is to put your pitching hand up on

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Speaker 4: a ball hit up the middle, because you're gonna try

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Speaker 4: instinctively to bare hand a ball and you might get

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Speaker 4: hurt because you get hit on the bare hand and

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Speaker 4: it's your pitching hand.

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Speaker 5: So one of his pitchers said, this is the stupidest

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Speaker 5: thing ever.

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Speaker 4: I'm not gonna put my hand behind my back in

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Speaker 4: a major league game.

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Speaker 5: I mean to practice, I'm not going to do it.

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Speaker 4: And later that year that pitcher threw his hand up

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Speaker 4: trying to catch a ball hit through the middle and

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Speaker 4: broke a finger and missed.

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Speaker 5: A couple of months. So maybe we should listen a

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Speaker 5: little bit. Cofers to our pitching coach.

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Speaker 4: One of the great pitching coaches of all time was

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Speaker 4: named Art Fowler, good major league pitcher, and Art was

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Speaker 4: his old school. As it got so when one of

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Speaker 4: his pictures was really struggling throwing strikes, Art would go

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Speaker 4: to the mound and occasionally he would just look at

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Speaker 4: his picture and say, son, Babe, Ruth is dead. Throw

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Speaker 4: the ball over the place.

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Speaker 6: That's so beautiful.

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Speaker 4: In one game in Cincinnati, I think it was Rick

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Speaker 4: Suckcliffe of the then of the Cubs, had given up

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Speaker 4: a bunch of home runs, like three home runs in

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Speaker 4: a row. And every time you hit a home run

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Speaker 4: in Cincinnati back then, they would blow off a cannon.

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Speaker 5: They would shoot off a cannon.

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Speaker 4: So he gave up I believe it was three homers

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Speaker 4: in a row. And Art Fowler came to the mound

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Speaker 4: and Rick Suckcliffe, who's not very happy about this, He

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Speaker 4: looks at Art Fowler and says, get the hell out

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Speaker 4: of here. I don't want to see you out here,

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Speaker 4: and I don't want Zim, the manager to come out

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Speaker 4: here either.

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Speaker 5: Leave me alone. And Art, he said, no, we're gonna

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Speaker 5: leave you in.

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Speaker 4: I am just trying to save some time so the

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Speaker 4: guy has more time to load.

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Speaker 5: Up the cannon.

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Speaker 6: That's amazing, all right.

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Speaker 4: And the last thing about our coaches, I love hitting coaches.

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Speaker 5: It's a really hard job.

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Speaker 4: Merv Retmund, who was with the Rangers when Doug Rader

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Speaker 4: was there, the recently passed merv Rehtmund, taught me more

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Speaker 4: about hitting and the art of hitting than anyone I met.

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Speaker 5: And he was the hitting.

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Speaker 4: Coach for the A's when they had Mark McGuire and

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Speaker 4: Jose Canseco during their time, So this is just a

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Speaker 4: shout out to him.

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Speaker 5: I'll never forget that. Aaron Boone told me once.

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Speaker 4: He's playing with the Indians and he's in the prime

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Speaker 4: of his career, but he's off to a terrible start.

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Speaker 5: He's hitting like one fifty on June third, So.

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Speaker 4: He walks down to the cage at one o'clock of

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Speaker 4: the afternoon for a seven o'clock game, and Eddie Murray,

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Speaker 4: his hitting coach for the Indians, sees him coming. Eddie

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Speaker 4: Murray's one of the great hitters ever. First Ballot Hall

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Speaker 4: of Famer.

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Speaker 5: Eddie Murray sees Aaron Boone.

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Speaker 4: Coming and just goes like this and just starts to

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Speaker 4: shake his head like, oh no, here he comes again.

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Speaker 4: And Booty looks at his own hitting coach and says,

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Speaker 4: you think I want to be down here at one

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Speaker 4: o'clock in the afternoon for a seven o'clock start.

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Speaker 5: I'm in trouble. I need to hit. I need to

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Speaker 5: get better. That's how hard it is to hit in

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Speaker 5: the big leagues.

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Speaker 4: And last thing, our friend Eduardo Perez told me he

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Speaker 4: was a hitting coach for the Marlins one year and

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Speaker 4: he really didn't enjoy it because of the time it

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Speaker 4: took to do the job. And he equated being a

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Speaker 4: hitting coach in the big leagues as the same as

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Speaker 4: being a short order cook at a fast food restaurant.

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Speaker 4: He says, you look around and you've got thirteen dishes

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Speaker 4: going at one time because you got about thirteen players

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Speaker 4: the deal. Ten of the dishes are cooking really well,

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Speaker 4: and then you look around and three of them are

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Speaker 4: on fire, and you gotta go take care of those.

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Speaker 4: So my point to all these stories, Jeff, is it's

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Speaker 4: really difficult to be a coach on the little league level,

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Speaker 4: the high school level, the minor league level, and the

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Speaker 4: major league level. And I just hope we brought a

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Speaker 4: new appreciation to how difficult it is to be a coach,

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Speaker 4: but how important it is to be a coach.

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Speaker 5: And here we are at the Coaches Convention.

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Speaker 2: With three great guests, Brandon Geyer, Ross Natoli and Alex

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Speaker 2: Treza of Game Changer is going to be joining us.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for listening, and of course you can watch

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Speaker 2: on YouTube Is this a great.

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Speaker 1: Game or what?

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Speaker 2: And follow us on social media to see some exclusive

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Speaker 2: videos from our time at the ABCA.

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Speaker 1: Our guests are coming up next.

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Speaker 2: Is this a great game or what we are at

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Speaker 2: the ABCA with a very special guest. Thank you to

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Speaker 2: our friends at game for hosting us. But today we

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Speaker 2: have Brandon Geyer, former Major leaguer and a mental skills coach.

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Speaker 1: Brandon, thank you, thank you, thank you for joining us.

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Speaker 2: When I showed my dad the lineup of people who

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Speaker 2: are going to be here, he said stop when I

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Speaker 2: said Brandon Geyer's name, because he said we got to

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Speaker 2: get him on the show.

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Speaker 5: Wow.

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Speaker 3: Well, first off, thank you for having me. I really

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Speaker 3: appreciate it.

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Speaker 8: As I told you earlier, that means a lot because

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Speaker 8: there's a lot of you know, very popular big names here,

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Speaker 8: So thank you for that.

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Speaker 3: It's great this attempt.

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Speaker 8: I've always had so much respect for you and everything

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Speaker 8: you do, your passion and zest with everything, but when

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Speaker 8: it comes to baseball in life, so it's quite an honor.

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Speaker 4: Well we'll get to the mental skills in a minute,

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Speaker 4: but first things that intrigued me about baseball. You got

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Speaker 4: hit by a bitch eighty five times in a seven

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Speaker 4: year career. Hank Aaron and Willie Mays together played forty

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Speaker 4: five years and didn't get hit eighty five times combined.

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Speaker 4: How do you explain getting hit as often as you did?

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Speaker 6: How did you do that?

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Speaker 8: Well? I think you might have left off some of

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Speaker 8: the ones in the playoffs. I don't know, maybe because I.

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Speaker 5: Only have the regular season. Are you over ninety now?

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Speaker 3: I might be. Chatman got me a couple of times

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Speaker 3: that hurt.

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Speaker 8: I mean almost the worst hit by pitch we can

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Speaker 8: get into that was from Chapman in.

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Speaker 3: Game four of the World Series.

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Speaker 6: Where did it hit you?

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Speaker 4: So?

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Speaker 8: Literally, it could have been the worst, but it ended

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Speaker 8: up being the best hit by pitch ever. They had

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Speaker 8: to review it, so it came it literally grazed my

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Speaker 8: pants right where you know where. I don't want to

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Speaker 8: get it right, and it literally they had to review

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Speaker 8: it to see if it really hit me. So obviously

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Speaker 8: it could have been the worst thing ever. Actually it

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Speaker 8: was the best hit by pitch. But to answer your

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Speaker 8: question why it was a combination, I you know, I

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Speaker 8: we're gonna be talking about the mental side of the game.

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Speaker 8: I kind of wired myself to look at it like.

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Speaker 3: It's a single.

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Speaker 8: It's it's a it's a walk, like you're you're getting

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Speaker 8: on base.

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Speaker 3: I'm helping the team I'm helping the team.

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Speaker 8: I'm letting the big guys behind me drive me in.

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Speaker 8: So I looked at it in a positive light. And

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Speaker 8: then also, you know, I was a platoon hitter for

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Speaker 8: most of my career, so a lot of lefty pitchers

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Speaker 8: that I'm face saying or don't want me to get extended,

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Speaker 8: so they're pitching me in a lot, and I wired

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Speaker 8: myself just not to move, and my stride would kind

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Speaker 8: of turn when I would stride to my front foot

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Speaker 8: would get to the chalk line.

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Speaker 3: So if they missed just a little bit, it was

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Speaker 3: gonna hit my legs.

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Speaker 8: So this leg it took until, you know, three months

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Speaker 8: into the offseason for all the bruises to go away

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Speaker 8: the season.

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Speaker 3: But that's that's why.

449
00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,800
Speaker 8: And combine those together, like I never went up looking

450
00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:27,320
Speaker 8: to get hit.

451
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:29,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was just you combine those. That's how it happened.

452
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,439
Speaker 4: I wrote a story once on what it's like to

453
00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:35,600
Speaker 4: get hit by a pitch, and I must interviewed fifty

454
00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,800
Speaker 4: different guys, and not one of them had any trouble

455
00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:43,040
Speaker 4: identifying the worst hit batter they've ever had because it

456
00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:46,360
Speaker 4: hurt so much. Now, who hit you and where did

457
00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:48,720
Speaker 4: he hit? You that may you go, oh my god,

458
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:50,399
Speaker 4: this is going to leave a mark for a h.

459
00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:53,160
Speaker 3: There's a lot that stand out.

460
00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:54,840
Speaker 8: I got to think it was back in I believe

461
00:21:55,080 --> 00:22:00,439
Speaker 8: twenty twenty fifteen Tampa Bay Rays Charlie Moore and he

462
00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:03,919
Speaker 8: was with the Pirates. He always has that nasty two seamer.

463
00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:07,479
Speaker 8: And you know, at the time, I think I think

464
00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:10,080
Speaker 8: it was Kevin Cash. Actually he gave me a fed

465
00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:12,359
Speaker 8: me a bone. You can start against a righty today,

466
00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,400
Speaker 8: thank you. So I'm in there, you know, I'll grinding

467
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,080
Speaker 8: and I'm going in and he throws a nasty two seemer.

468
00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:20,360
Speaker 8: It looks like a strike the whole time, and I'm

469
00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:22,680
Speaker 8: actually going to swing, and last second I was like, okay,

470
00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:23,600
Speaker 8: it's not gonna be a strikes.

471
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:25,320
Speaker 3: So it hits my right bicet.

472
00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:27,960
Speaker 8: But I go into it instead of like I like

473
00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:30,159
Speaker 8: to think, I kind of got pretty good at turning.

474
00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:31,880
Speaker 3: Away from pitches, so it didn't really hurt a whole lot.

475
00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:34,200
Speaker 3: But this one I went into it.

476
00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:36,760
Speaker 8: And like literally the next day of my whole arm

477
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:37,960
Speaker 8: blue and purple.

478
00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:40,359
Speaker 3: But one thing I'm very proud of.

479
00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:42,159
Speaker 8: If I'm going to say this about the hit by pitches,

480
00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:44,480
Speaker 8: I never came out of a game, and I never

481
00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:46,639
Speaker 8: missed one game because of it. I know, that's a

482
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:48,840
Speaker 8: lot of luck. And I hated to wear protective gear,

483
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:52,440
Speaker 8: so I never did. But yeah, so that the Charlie

484
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:54,760
Speaker 8: Morton one, without a doubt stands out as the worst.

485
00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:55,680
Speaker 1: So Brandon.

486
00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:59,399
Speaker 2: I was a morning show radio host in Cleveland, Ohio

487
00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:03,480
Speaker 2: from two and fifteen to twenty and eighteen. I was

488
00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:06,919
Speaker 2: at Game seven of the World Series Chicago Cubs Cleveland Indians,

489
00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:10,440
Speaker 2: your team, I know, but it's known legendarily as maybe

490
00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:12,439
Speaker 2: the great, one of the best great game sevens in

491
00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:17,560
Speaker 2: the history that team, Terry Francona and your team, working

492
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,560
Speaker 2: with such a legendary manager who was a guest on

493
00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:21,600
Speaker 2: our show last year.

494
00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:25,280
Speaker 5: Oh wow for forty five minutes, no surprise.

495
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:26,040
Speaker 3: He is the best.

496
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:28,840
Speaker 8: I mean, how lucky am I that I got to

497
00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:30,399
Speaker 8: play for Terry Francona.

498
00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:33,080
Speaker 3: I mean, Kevin Cash is great, but also Joe Madden.

499
00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:35,440
Speaker 8: Yeah, like two guys that you know, when I think

500
00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:37,320
Speaker 8: of them, I think of like they just allow you

501
00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:39,400
Speaker 8: to play free and loose and kind of have fun.

502
00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:41,919
Speaker 8: Obviously they expect you to play the game hard, but

503
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:45,440
Speaker 8: as managers, they're they're always picking you up. And as

504
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:48,639
Speaker 8: I started to suit, you know, coach my son's youth teams,

505
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:51,080
Speaker 8: and I see all this lot. A lot of times

506
00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:53,560
Speaker 8: I see the opposite right, coaches are tearing down. I'm like,

507
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:55,119
Speaker 8: if you want them to play their best, don't you

508
00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:57,680
Speaker 8: want to build them up? So to get back Terry Francona,

509
00:23:57,760 --> 00:23:59,280
Speaker 8: That's what he did so well, and it was an

510
00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:01,600
Speaker 8: absolute joy to play for him. I got traded at

511
00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:04,200
Speaker 8: the trade deadline, so going to a new team him,

512
00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:06,640
Speaker 8: the culture, the leadership there just.

513
00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:08,320
Speaker 3: Made me personally feel so comfortable.

514
00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,119
Speaker 8: And then that team we had some big injuries heading

515
00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:13,879
Speaker 8: into two playoffs, but it just shows like when you

516
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:16,520
Speaker 8: have a team all on the same mission, all picking

517
00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:19,800
Speaker 8: up each other, anything can happen. And so that season

518
00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:23,200
Speaker 8: something we'll never forget. In Game seven, I mean I

519
00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:25,880
Speaker 8: literally still get goosebumps every time I think of Raj

520
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:30,760
Speaker 8: Davis hind that game in the eighth inning, it is crazy, crazy,

521
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:31,760
Speaker 8: amazing memory.

522
00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:35,159
Speaker 4: Chapman hadn't given up a homer since like June, and

523
00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:37,760
Speaker 4: I hadn't hit one since the beginning of all August.

524
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:40,080
Speaker 4: He hits one of the biggest home runs on the bench.

525
00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,320
Speaker 4: You guys must have been at apoplectic. Well, so I

526
00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:45,800
Speaker 4: had a great view. I was on second base. I

527
00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:48,359
Speaker 4: just hit a double, and so I see him. I'm like,

528
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:50,080
Speaker 4: oh my god, I've never seen someone choke up on

529
00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:50,920
Speaker 4: the bat so much.

530
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:53,240
Speaker 3: I might have been choking up five inches.

531
00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:56,560
Speaker 8: And then battle battled and when he hit it, I

532
00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:58,840
Speaker 8: didn't think he hit it high enough because Cleveland's.

533
00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:00,240
Speaker 3: Walls pretty pretty tall left field.

534
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:03,679
Speaker 8: And then I saw it hit that camera guy, like yeah, actually, camera,

535
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:04,760
Speaker 8: I was like, you gotta be kidding me.

536
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,440
Speaker 3: We chapmans around thirty pitches. You'll just tied it up.

537
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:09,960
Speaker 3: Game seven, bottom the eighth, We're about to win the

538
00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:10,640
Speaker 3: World Series.

539
00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:15,359
Speaker 8: Almost passed out, and then just like amazing what Raj

540
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,680
Speaker 8: did and what the team did, and hey, was it

541
00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:18,199
Speaker 8: meant to be?

542
00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:18,600
Speaker 4: Right?

543
00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:21,760
Speaker 1: Did Tito make you laugh like he made?

544
00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:24,760
Speaker 5: He's made me laugh so many times.

545
00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:26,840
Speaker 3: All of us, and that, yeah, one hundred percent.

546
00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:30,560
Speaker 8: That's why I think his personality, what he did, it

547
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,440
Speaker 8: allowed players. I think, you know, when it comes to

548
00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:35,040
Speaker 8: the mental side of game and all that, if we

549
00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,040
Speaker 8: can help players play free and loose, they're gonna be

550
00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:40,160
Speaker 8: dangerous and they're gonna be more and more consistently show

551
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,560
Speaker 8: up at their best. Tito was really good at in

552
00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:46,640
Speaker 8: different ways, letting players play free and loose. You know, players,

553
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:48,600
Speaker 8: I didn't do if, but players are playing cards in

554
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,359
Speaker 8: his office all the time. Like he's always around, he's

555
00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:55,159
Speaker 8: always picking you up. There's been fascinating studies about what

556
00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,080
Speaker 8: the power of a smile will do, Like literally studies

557
00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:01,159
Speaker 8: two groups. One group put up pen so in between

558
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:03,440
Speaker 8: their lips, the other one put it in between their teeth,

559
00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:05,919
Speaker 8: but one in between their lips causes a frown. The

560
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:08,240
Speaker 8: other one when it's in between your teeth causes like

561
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:08,919
Speaker 8: a smile.

562
00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:11,320
Speaker 3: And like within I feel.

563
00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 8: It was like five or ten minutes those who had

564
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:18,160
Speaker 8: the pencil in between their teeth noticeably different positivity, attitude

565
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:18,800
Speaker 8: and all that stuff.

566
00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:20,800
Speaker 3: And so it comes back to the power of a smile.

567
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:24,520
Speaker 8: It's actually a great mental tool, and for something we

568
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 8: don't have to get into the mental game yet, but

569
00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:28,680
Speaker 8: for my young kids who are nine, like the team,

570
00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:32,520
Speaker 8: when they feel like they're getting overwhelmed and like the

571
00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:35,680
Speaker 8: umpires are making back calls or whatever, it is one

572
00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:36,360
Speaker 8: of the things.

573
00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 3: To step off, take a deep breath and just smile.

574
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:41,000
Speaker 8: That's one of the best things that can release all

575
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 8: of that negativity and it just gets you back to

576
00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 8: the present moment. So that's what Tito was good at,

577
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:49,520
Speaker 8: bringing smiles to everybody. Whether they showed on the outside

578
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:51,879
Speaker 8: like Lindor all the time, or whether you're smiling on

579
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:52,560
Speaker 8: the inside.

580
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:54,560
Speaker 3: Everyone's different, but it really helped well.

581
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,199
Speaker 2: When I started in morning radio, long story short, I

582
00:26:57,240 --> 00:26:58,920
Speaker 2: was having trouble getting up and wake up every day

583
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,440
Speaker 2: three point thirty for the last years, and somebody said,

584
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:03,720
Speaker 2: when you're in the shower in the morning, smile because

585
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,960
Speaker 2: it brings you natural endorphins and it wakes you up more.

586
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,239
Speaker 1: So that energy it all comes from, you can get

587
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:09,920
Speaker 1: it from inside.

588
00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:12,560
Speaker 4: So we met Luke Rock at the Hall of Fame

589
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,040
Speaker 4: one year Luke Brock won with Great Baseball Players of

590
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:18,280
Speaker 4: All Time. He meets Jeffrey Kirchin, who's eleven years old,

591
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,000
Speaker 4: and he meets him in the clubhouse of the golf

592
00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:24,000
Speaker 4: course there with me and Luke Brock looks at my son,

593
00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:27,240
Speaker 4: who was eleven, and said, you have a great smile.

594
00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:30,120
Speaker 5: You need to smile as often as you can.

595
00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:35,679
Speaker 4: Nothing disarms a person faster than a great smile. I

596
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,320
Speaker 4: bet that he's got that advice from a Hall of Famer,

597
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:39,879
Speaker 4: A Hall of Famer with a great smile.

598
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:41,920
Speaker 3: By the way, Luke Brock one of the best smiles.

599
00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:44,199
Speaker 3: That's amazing. I just think of like little things like that.

600
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:46,639
Speaker 8: You don't know when someone's gonna say something, but that

601
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 8: probably will be with you for the rest of your lifeline.

602
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:51,720
Speaker 3: Yea, since that moment like that's no doubt.

603
00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:54,840
Speaker 4: Right, So Joe Madden made you smile a bunch of times.

604
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,120
Speaker 4: To tell us a Joe Madden story. Whether he brought

605
00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:01,639
Speaker 4: a snake into the clubhouse, that's what I say. Sadi

606
00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:02,800
Speaker 4: was the name of the snake.

607
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:03,439
Speaker 3: I remember.

608
00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:04,880
Speaker 6: Tell us about what happened.

609
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:06,720
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, no, he brought the snake in it. He

610
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,639
Speaker 8: brought other animals into into the clubhouse.

611
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:11,439
Speaker 3: He would just do these things, whether it was.

612
00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:14,760
Speaker 8: In the clubhouse or flights or whatever. It is once again,

613
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,159
Speaker 8: free and loose. How can I allow these players to

614
00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:19,640
Speaker 8: have fun and play free and loose? Another story, when

615
00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:21,399
Speaker 8: we were playing the Tigers.

616
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:22,000
Speaker 3: One day at Detroit.

617
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,359
Speaker 8: I believe, and you probably actually know this, he made

618
00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:28,000
Speaker 8: the lineup eight six, seven, five, three oh nine. I

619
00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:30,280
Speaker 8: believe in some sort of way I might be messing

620
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:30,560
Speaker 8: that up.

621
00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:31,400
Speaker 6: Well he did.

622
00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,800
Speaker 4: It's hit one of his favorite songs. Yeah, because he's a.

623
00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:38,000
Speaker 3: Music guy exactly. So he did that, and I think

624
00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:39,920
Speaker 3: I was actually in that lineup.

625
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:44,160
Speaker 8: With the with the facing a righty picture. But anyways, yeah,

626
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:46,000
Speaker 8: so I think of that. I think of I mean,

627
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:47,840
Speaker 8: there's so many that stand out but that are come

628
00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:49,640
Speaker 8: into my head right now, or the animals that would

629
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:51,320
Speaker 8: come in And when he made that lineup that.

630
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:54,280
Speaker 4: Did you get close to the snake or were you

631
00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,200
Speaker 4: one of those guys who were fifty feet away?

632
00:28:57,440 --> 00:28:58,040
Speaker 5: Yeah?

633
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:01,520
Speaker 8: So I got close of so a big thing for me,

634
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:05,120
Speaker 8: I think for what holds human beings back more than anything,

635
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 8: I believe. I was taught this at a young age

636
00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:10,840
Speaker 8: is fear and snakes are a big fear of mine,

637
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,880
Speaker 8: and I was taught the only way to overcome your fears,

638
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:15,080
Speaker 8: you've got to face them.

639
00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:15,400
Speaker 5: Yeah.

640
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:17,240
Speaker 8: So as bad as I did not want to go

641
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:19,520
Speaker 8: see that snake and touch it, I went up and

642
00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 8: I made sure I did, knowing that hey, this might

643
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:24,440
Speaker 8: sound weird, but it's gonna help.

644
00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 3: Me in other fats in my life because oh I

645
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:27,520
Speaker 3: face that fear. I overcame it.

646
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:29,640
Speaker 8: The other fear that comes up, whatever it is, fear

647
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:30,800
Speaker 8: of failure in a certain.

648
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:33,040
Speaker 3: High pressure moment. Oh, I can handle that too.

649
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:36,360
Speaker 4: So yeah, So Joe Madden told me the story about

650
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,719
Speaker 4: Sadie about how many players just ran for the hills,

651
00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:42,640
Speaker 4: but he said the guys went right up next to.

652
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:43,920
Speaker 3: The head of the snake.

653
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,840
Speaker 4: Joe Madden says, maybe I can trust that guy in

654
00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:49,800
Speaker 4: the ninth inning of a game tonight.

655
00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:51,360
Speaker 3: So that's interesting.

656
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:52,800
Speaker 5: Being who the.

657
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:56,200
Speaker 4: Psychologist said he is, he was trying to learn something

658
00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:59,360
Speaker 4: about his players, and he saw someone like you, who's

659
00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:02,640
Speaker 4: greatest snakes, who went up and challenged it.

660
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:03,080
Speaker 3: Yeah.

661
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 8: Yeah, in those moments though, you got to have trust

662
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:08,320
Speaker 8: the snake handler. They wouldn't bring a snake they've trained

663
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:10,600
Speaker 8: it good. That also brings some trust with you and

664
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:11,800
Speaker 8: going going for Could you.

665
00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:15,239
Speaker 2: Imagine that Injury re World fifteen day DL bit by

666
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:16,120
Speaker 2: a snake brought in.

667
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:16,800
Speaker 6: By the manager.

668
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:19,640
Speaker 8: If I see a little gardener stake or whatever, rat,

669
00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 8: snake or whatever they're college just in my yard, I'm

670
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:23,040
Speaker 8: a lot of times I'm running away.

671
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:25,160
Speaker 1: Well, as a Maryland guy, you know, we get a

672
00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:27,560
Speaker 1: lot of snakes. Dad's had one in his garage.

673
00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:28,920
Speaker 5: Yeah, we won't go into that.

674
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:30,680
Speaker 3: How much freaks me out as much as snake.

675
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:34,840
Speaker 5: Right, So Joe told us that day that the snakes.

676
00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:38,040
Speaker 4: Started a poop and the handler said, it's a good sign.

677
00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:40,200
Speaker 5: We got to take him like he hadn't eaten in

678
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:41,240
Speaker 5: two weeks.

679
00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:42,920
Speaker 3: And then once was getting hungry.

680
00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:44,080
Speaker 5: It was starting to get hungry.

681
00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:48,280
Speaker 3: So that's funny. I totally forgot about that.

682
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:50,440
Speaker 5: Right, Well, we're gonna pivot to this, sorry, Jeff.

683
00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,880
Speaker 4: You are a great high school football player and you

684
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:54,880
Speaker 4: look like you could.

685
00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:55,520
Speaker 5: Play in the NFL.

686
00:30:55,640 --> 00:31:00,479
Speaker 4: Right now, how much did your football high school football

687
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:04,760
Speaker 4: exploits help you as a baseball player and vice versa.

688
00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:06,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, it did a lot.

689
00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:09,640
Speaker 8: And when anyone ever asked me about this, I always

690
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:13,080
Speaker 8: go to my wife because I don't know if you remember.

691
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 3: Lindsay Murphy should work in the business.

692
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:16,720
Speaker 8: Yes, she worked for Fox five here in DC a

693
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:20,800
Speaker 8: sports anchor and we met at University of Virginia.

694
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:22,240
Speaker 3: She was a reporter at the time.

695
00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:25,520
Speaker 8: She interviewed me, and her first question is are you

696
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:27,960
Speaker 8: more of a football player and a baseball body or

697
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:30,880
Speaker 8: so like like talking about football a lot because I

698
00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 8: would run into walls and do all this stuff. So

699
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:35,360
Speaker 8: I always think about her when anyone does that.

700
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:36,320
Speaker 3: I just want to bring that up.

701
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:39,720
Speaker 8: But in terms of the physicality, it helped me so much.

702
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:44,240
Speaker 8: And honestly, I tried to look and play and be

703
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:47,120
Speaker 8: as physical as I possibly could because I missed that

704
00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:51,480
Speaker 8: in playing football. Football was I love baseball. Football was

705
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:54,080
Speaker 8: the most fun I've ever had wowing that, and I

706
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:56,440
Speaker 8: really wanted to play in college. It's just, you know,

707
00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:58,280
Speaker 8: it didn't work out to play both. But I think

708
00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:01,840
Speaker 8: that physicality was huge. And you know, a football player,

709
00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:06,239
Speaker 8: I believe physiology drives psychology a lot. So really, as

710
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:10,600
Speaker 8: a football player, becoming as physically and mentally fit as possible,

711
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:13,520
Speaker 8: I knew that would then drive my psychology. So that's

712
00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:17,560
Speaker 8: where I believe the football you know, physiology and mentality

713
00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:20,959
Speaker 8: directly translated to baseball and really helped me during my career.

714
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,480
Speaker 3: And you know, as you asked, I got hit a lot.

715
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:26,440
Speaker 8: Well, I'm not getting hit as a running back by linebackers,

716
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:28,000
Speaker 8: so I might let me get hit by pitches.

717
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 2: Right, So, Dan, we have to stop bringing guests on

718
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:33,400
Speaker 2: the show that are a lot smarter than us.

719
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:35,560
Speaker 3: All right, Well, I don't know, I don't think that's

720
00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:37,160
Speaker 3: the kid. Don't let the glasses full.

721
00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:41,200
Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, we've had a few of those. So just

722
00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:44,760
Speaker 4: to finish this point, So I met Amad Rashad long

723
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,840
Speaker 4: before your time, Hall of Fame football player, great, great

724
00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:48,920
Speaker 4: wide receiver.

725
00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:50,400
Speaker 5: At University of Oregon.

726
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:52,960
Speaker 4: I met him at a baseball game at Yankee Stadium.

727
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:54,960
Speaker 4: He's in the first row. So I get to talk

728
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:55,640
Speaker 4: it to him and.

729
00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:57,680
Speaker 5: I say, did you ever play baseball?

730
00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,280
Speaker 4: And he goes, oh, I love to play baseball, but

731
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:01,680
Speaker 4: I couldn't play.

732
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:03,440
Speaker 3: I was afraid of the ball stop.

733
00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:05,040
Speaker 4: And he was a big football and he was a

734
00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:08,040
Speaker 4: great football player, and he's used to going across the

735
00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:11,280
Speaker 4: middle and getting killed by a safety or a quarterback.

736
00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:15,440
Speaker 5: But the fear of the ball drove him out of

737
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:15,880
Speaker 5: the game.

738
00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:19,280
Speaker 4: And Brandon, I totally understand that the fear of the

739
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:21,400
Speaker 4: ball drives people out of the game every day.

740
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:24,520
Speaker 5: You're the minority who's not afraid to get hit.

741
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:28,000
Speaker 4: But I found that fascinating that a football player was

742
00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:30,520
Speaker 4: afraid of the ball but he wasn't afraid to.

743
00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 3: Play football is crazy, It really is.

744
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:33,880
Speaker 5: Can you understand that?

745
00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:34,720
Speaker 3: I can't.

746
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:36,560
Speaker 8: I mean, I guess it's a different thing, like you

747
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:38,760
Speaker 8: don't have as much control of the ball where it

748
00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:40,600
Speaker 8: could hit you when it's football. You have a little

749
00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:46,120
Speaker 8: bit more on pads for sure, But since I retired,

750
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:47,520
Speaker 8: that's something I've really noticed.

751
00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:48,680
Speaker 3: It's it's an epidemic.

752
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,960
Speaker 8: Young kids are waiting baseball because they can't get over

753
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:57,600
Speaker 8: that fear. And so I tried to as much as

754
00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:00,680
Speaker 8: I can, just share tips and ways to get out

755
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:04,040
Speaker 8: of the way, ways to overcome that fear. And actually

756
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:05,840
Speaker 8: thinking about this table right now, it brings me up

757
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:08,120
Speaker 8: with one of the top tips. It's like, you know,

758
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:10,600
Speaker 8: if you're a young ballplayer listening, or anyone who struggles

759
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:12,520
Speaker 8: with it, you know, when you walk around your house,

760
00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:14,440
Speaker 8: I'm sure at some point in your life you've stubbed

761
00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:16,480
Speaker 8: your toe on a table or something like that and

762
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:19,560
Speaker 8: it hurt very bad. Yeah, the pain went away, but

763
00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:21,640
Speaker 8: I bet every time you walk by that table, you

764
00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:24,000
Speaker 8: don't think about it, right right, So let's start to

765
00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 8: apply that to getting hit. It's gonna hurt probably most

766
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:29,040
Speaker 8: of the time. It's not gonna be severe, it's gonna

767
00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:30,960
Speaker 8: go away. We don't need to think about it all

768
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:32,920
Speaker 8: the time. Because if we're thinking about that rather than

769
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:35,400
Speaker 8: up there hitting the ball. With how good these pitchers

770
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,719
Speaker 8: are nowadays, it makes the game way harder than it

771
00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:39,920
Speaker 8: already is so right.

772
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:42,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, as a longtime Little league umpire, that was the

773
00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:45,279
Speaker 2: hardest part for me because as silly as it sounds, right,

774
00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:46,680
Speaker 2: you can't hit the ball if you don't step up

775
00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:48,520
Speaker 2: to the plate, and some of these kids running out

776
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:49,719
Speaker 2: and you've seen it a hundred times.

777
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:51,960
Speaker 1: I've seen it a hundred times, and just to stay

778
00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:52,399
Speaker 1: in there.

779
00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:55,600
Speaker 2: It's such a mental aspect that no other game except

780
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:58,040
Speaker 2: for maybe football of course, you know, we're across the

781
00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:01,319
Speaker 2: open field in the flat, yeah, doesn't have to deal

782
00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:01,879
Speaker 2: with and.

783
00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:04,359
Speaker 1: Every play starts with a pitch.

784
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:07,560
Speaker 2: You know, So it's this game needs, you know, people

785
00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:09,600
Speaker 2: like you to talk about the mental aspects of not

786
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:11,239
Speaker 2: only adults playing the game, but also kids.

787
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,279
Speaker 8: Yeah, and this actually affected my son a year and

788
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 8: a half ago when he first started doing kid pitch.

789
00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:18,520
Speaker 8: He got hit one of the first times in practice

790
00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:21,000
Speaker 8: by like a very hard thrower. So all of a sudden,

791
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:23,960
Speaker 8: he stepping in the bucket every time. I'm like, hmm,

792
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:27,280
Speaker 8: my son might be my artest client here because he didn't.

793
00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:27,840
Speaker 3: Want to listen to me.

794
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:28,279
Speaker 6: Right.

795
00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:30,080
Speaker 3: But but then with the team, what we did.

796
00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:32,839
Speaker 8: I got these softballs and we would just practice throwing

797
00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:35,399
Speaker 8: at him, practice getting out of the way and and

798
00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:37,560
Speaker 8: you know, thank the good Lord it went away. He

799
00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,400
Speaker 8: didn't have it anymore. But it can get anybody.

800
00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:42,000
Speaker 3: And you know, but yeah, but.

801
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:45,120
Speaker 5: Jim, that's the lesson. This is what baseball players know

802
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:48,680
Speaker 5: is how much it hurts. So let's use the softer baseball.

803
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,960
Speaker 5: Let's throw tennis balls at him. Let's teach them how

804
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:53,200
Speaker 5: to get out of the way.

805
00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:56,080
Speaker 4: So when a baseball does come, they are trained to

806
00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:58,320
Speaker 4: turn like this instead of turning.

807
00:35:58,360 --> 00:35:59,400
Speaker 3: It's a scary thing.

808
00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:01,160
Speaker 8: A lot of young WANs they're doing this and then

809
00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:02,319
Speaker 8: it's opening up all this.

810
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:03,480
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's what.

811
00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:07,000
Speaker 4: Tony LaRussa teaches is if a kid steps in the bucket,

812
00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:10,400
Speaker 4: he is now opening himself up to a position he

813
00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:11,520
Speaker 4: can't correct.

814
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:15,000
Speaker 5: But if you, if you, if you step this way, now.

815
00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:17,319
Speaker 8: You can turn like this, turn away almost like you're

816
00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:19,919
Speaker 8: catching an egg, like you and kind of like that's

817
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:21,520
Speaker 8: what I kind of worked on as I got to

818
00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:24,279
Speaker 8: continue to go is turn away from it. Get it

819
00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:26,240
Speaker 8: on the meaty part of the body. He's still gonna sting,

820
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:29,279
Speaker 8: but it's obviously a lot better head face in a.

821
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:32,239
Speaker 2: Last sure, So Brandon, we're here at the ABCA. You

822
00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:34,239
Speaker 2: know the American Baseball Coaches Association.

823
00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:36,680
Speaker 1: Is there a coach that.

824
00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:40,120
Speaker 2: You want to think when you were growing up in Herndon, Virginia,

825
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:44,120
Speaker 2: somebody who helped you learn the game or somebody who

826
00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:47,319
Speaker 2: really really made helped make you into the major league

827
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:47,920
Speaker 2: that you became.

828
00:36:48,239 --> 00:36:50,520
Speaker 3: Wow. Wow, that's a great question.

829
00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:53,680
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've had hundreds and huns of coaches.

830
00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:55,920
Speaker 8: There's so many coaches that come to mind, but I'm

831
00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:59,919
Speaker 8: gonna I'm gonna pick some that are here right now

832
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:03,000
Speaker 8: when it comes to and it's actually a college coach

833
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:05,880
Speaker 8: is Brian O'Connor and Kevin McMullen at the University of Virginia.

834
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:08,880
Speaker 8: Rian mullen was named the National Assistant Coach of the

835
00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:10,800
Speaker 8: Year last yesterday.

836
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,120
Speaker 3: He got the award and what they did for me.

837
00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:15,279
Speaker 8: So my story is my first three years at hert

838
00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:16,759
Speaker 8: in high school, I was a below average player.

839
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:18,080
Speaker 3: I hit two seventy as a junior.

840
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,440
Speaker 8: Finally, then I started to train the mental side and

841
00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:23,960
Speaker 8: I was given this key that unlocked all my physical skills.

842
00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:26,799
Speaker 8: And I was just fortunate that summer of my junior year,

843
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:29,360
Speaker 8: they were at a tournament and saw me play, and

844
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:31,520
Speaker 8: they were the first coach O'Connor came to my house

845
00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:34,480
Speaker 8: offered me believed in me, because no one up to

846
00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:36,719
Speaker 8: that point was really talking to me at all. And

847
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:38,439
Speaker 8: then I go to UVA, and you know, I get

848
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:40,960
Speaker 8: caught up in the college life there and I stopped

849
00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:42,879
Speaker 8: training the mental side of the game. The first year

850
00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:44,920
Speaker 8: I go in as a third baseman, they tried the

851
00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:47,600
Speaker 8: experiment of me playing third and Zimmerman playing shortstop.

852
00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:48,960
Speaker 3: Ryan Zimmerman, you.

853
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:50,799
Speaker 8: Know, I'm this hot shot recruit. I don't need to

854
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:52,560
Speaker 8: train the mental side. It's like riding a bike. It's

855
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:55,640
Speaker 8: like I forgot everything. So I almost got kicked out

856
00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:58,239
Speaker 8: of school. They moved me to the outfield. I stayed

857
00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:01,799
Speaker 8: there for good, but the the man they helped me

858
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:05,719
Speaker 8: become off the field specifically, and then it translated on

859
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:08,759
Speaker 8: the field and the opportunity that they gave me and

860
00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:11,160
Speaker 8: have given so many players, and the culture that they

861
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:14,359
Speaker 8: build at University Virginia. I mean, there's literally so many

862
00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:17,600
Speaker 8: coaches I can think, but Brian O'Connor and Kevin McMullin

863
00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:19,919
Speaker 8: at UVA one hundred percent come to mind.

864
00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:23,120
Speaker 4: What was the key that unlocked your physical skills?

865
00:38:23,480 --> 00:38:24,480
Speaker 5: Do you know what it is?

866
00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:26,920
Speaker 6: It's here yea, so we'll explain what that means.

867
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,080
Speaker 8: Yes, So without a doubt in high school, I couldn't

868
00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:33,640
Speaker 8: control my emotions. I relied on results for confidence. So

869
00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:36,040
Speaker 8: I relied on something out of my control for confidence

870
00:38:36,080 --> 00:38:38,560
Speaker 8: In a game of failure, results aren't always going to

871
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:40,360
Speaker 8: be there. So if I didn't have that, I was

872
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:42,600
Speaker 8: like going at an amusement park at the game rather

873
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:44,640
Speaker 8: than just being even key O. I was so up

874
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:47,360
Speaker 8: and down. I couldn't handle failure because I feared it

875
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:49,520
Speaker 8: and I didn't know how to handle it. So the

876
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:53,360
Speaker 8: key became my mindset and I you know, there's position

877
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:55,799
Speaker 8: player five tools hip for power, HIF for average good arms,

878
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,480
Speaker 8: it's be good defense. I think the sixth and most

879
00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:01,480
Speaker 8: important tools is because it's what helps get the most

880
00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:03,520
Speaker 8: out of all these. Like players can work so hard

881
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:06,320
Speaker 8: on these, but what about in big moments and big situations.

882
00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:08,680
Speaker 8: You can have the best exit VELO and the best VP,

883
00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:11,520
Speaker 8: But in those moments, if you're tight and tense, it's

884
00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:13,440
Speaker 8: gonna throw off everything and you're not gonna be able

885
00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:16,960
Speaker 8: to slow things down. So I trained that very intentionally.

886
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:20,239
Speaker 8: Like this wristband, I'm wearing the great Ken Ravisa. When

887
00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:21,799
Speaker 8: it comes to the mental game. He's like the mental

888
00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:24,640
Speaker 8: performance pioneer. He would always talk about the breath. And

889
00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:27,120
Speaker 8: I read that book Heads Up Baseball heading into senior year,

890
00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:32,600
Speaker 8: and it changed everything for me. And then seven years later,

891
00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:34,920
Speaker 8: when I'm with the Tampa Bay Rays, he's he followed

892
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:37,800
Speaker 8: Joe Madden around as a team sports psychologist. He was

893
00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 8: there and I said, thank you, Ken, You changed the

894
00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:43,000
Speaker 8: trajectory of my life. So the key became my mindset.

895
00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:44,560
Speaker 8: It didn't, you know, it literally.

896
00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:47,240
Speaker 3: Became like this personal source of power that it didn't.

897
00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:49,880
Speaker 3: I don't think it changed me. It allowed me to

898
00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:50,840
Speaker 3: finally be me.

899
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:53,560
Speaker 8: I had a better sense of self and locked a

900
00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:57,160
Speaker 8: different identity, didn't put all my self worth to who

901
00:39:57,239 --> 00:39:59,799
Speaker 8: I was as a baseball player. I could separate the

902
00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:01,879
Speaker 8: two and so then I went out and had more

903
00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:04,880
Speaker 8: confidence and played free and loose. And as I said earlier,

904
00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:07,399
Speaker 8: when we can get players to do that, they are

905
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:10,520
Speaker 8: dangerous and then they allow themselves.

906
00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:11,440
Speaker 3: To find out how good they can be.

907
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:14,200
Speaker 8: So the sixth tool, without a doubt, the mindset is

908
00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:16,520
Speaker 8: without it, That's what helps players get the most out

909
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:16,960
Speaker 8: of those others.

910
00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:19,759
Speaker 4: So when the mindset changed, But then you would have

911
00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:22,959
Speaker 4: an zero for three with three strikeouts, as everybody does.

912
00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:26,440
Speaker 5: How did you get through that with your new mindset?

913
00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:30,240
Speaker 8: I think it all comes down to approaching everything. It's hard,

914
00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:33,120
Speaker 8: but it's approach everything to win or learn. So I'm

915
00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:35,760
Speaker 8: going to go into competition mentally and physically as prepared

916
00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:36,480
Speaker 8: as possible.

917
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:38,759
Speaker 3: It's a hard game, so I'm either gonna win and

918
00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:39,239
Speaker 3: if I do.

919
00:40:39,320 --> 00:40:41,839
Speaker 8: A big part of that is to celebrate three words

920
00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:44,200
Speaker 8: ere gon one, to say that's like me, you kind

921
00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:47,200
Speaker 8: of what that's like me in a big moment, something

922
00:40:47,239 --> 00:40:49,600
Speaker 8: you're proud of. To build up your self image, because

923
00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:52,319
Speaker 8: we'll never outperform a poor self image, and we're really

924
00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:55,520
Speaker 8: only capable of living and playing up to the image

925
00:40:55,520 --> 00:40:57,920
Speaker 8: we create for ourselves. So who we think we are

926
00:40:58,080 --> 00:41:00,799
Speaker 8: literally drives everything we do. We want to say when

927
00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:03,279
Speaker 8: we have success, that's like me. And then when we

928
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:06,759
Speaker 8: eventually in this game and in life fail and fall

929
00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:08,600
Speaker 8: short of our standards.

930
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:12,280
Speaker 3: It's a learn. We're not losing, we're learning from itting.

931
00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:15,080
Speaker 8: It's like we're getting data, we're reflecting and then using

932
00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:17,520
Speaker 8: that to help us in the future. And then this

933
00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:21,760
Speaker 8: tip winn or learn really becomes win or win because

934
00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:24,640
Speaker 8: learning is winning. So literally, when you can do that,

935
00:41:24,719 --> 00:41:26,040
Speaker 8: you become so good.

936
00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:27,120
Speaker 3: At handling failure.

937
00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:29,839
Speaker 8: And I think the best of the best are the

938
00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:34,040
Speaker 8: best at failing. Big leaguers are obviously very talented, so

939
00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:35,920
Speaker 8: are a lot of minor leaguers, so are a lot

940
00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:36,640
Speaker 8: of college guys.

941
00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:37,319
Speaker 3: It's how do you.

942
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:40,160
Speaker 8: Handle the inevitable failure that comes your way. And I

943
00:41:40,239 --> 00:41:44,040
Speaker 8: really believe we all hear like resiliency is good. Be resilient,

944
00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:47,600
Speaker 8: and I think those are who are resilient they bounce.

945
00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:50,920
Speaker 3: Back quicker than most. But I don't think we should

946
00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:54,000
Speaker 3: bounce back. I think we should bounce forward. We should

947
00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:56,959
Speaker 3: fail forward. And a term I like to talk about

948
00:41:57,000 --> 00:41:58,200
Speaker 3: I'll be talking about it later today.

949
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:02,160
Speaker 8: A lot is anti fragilly. When we're anti fragile, we're

950
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:03,360
Speaker 8: the opposite of fragile.

951
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:04,480
Speaker 3: We're unbreakable.

952
00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:07,520
Speaker 8: And literally, it's like Ace Fentura in Pet Detective, where

953
00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:10,440
Speaker 8: that box that getting kicked around. The more you get

954
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:13,800
Speaker 8: kicked around, the stronger you get. When you're anti fragile,

955
00:42:14,160 --> 00:42:16,760
Speaker 8: And it's just the game changer because you actively benefit

956
00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:18,960
Speaker 8: from all the failure and adversity that comes and you

957
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:21,000
Speaker 8: look at it like it's a true partner and growth,

958
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:23,000
Speaker 8: and it's a long way of me getting back. That's

959
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:24,840
Speaker 8: how you can really deal with those over three of

960
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:28,959
Speaker 8: three strikeouts and just realizing it's gonna happen. Right, Three

961
00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:30,920
Speaker 8: things and I'm going off here, but this is a

962
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:33,560
Speaker 8: big things. Is great three things that were taking to

963
00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:36,320
Speaker 8: me a while ago by a mentor brandon you me,

964
00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:39,600
Speaker 8: every other human being will never be exonerated from three

965
00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:43,080
Speaker 8: things in life. And he said they are pain, uncertainty,

966
00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:45,480
Speaker 8: and hard work. So no matter who you are, from

967
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:47,720
Speaker 8: time to time, you will have pain mentally or physically.

968
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:50,680
Speaker 8: You will have uncertainty of your future from time to time.

969
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:52,920
Speaker 8: And it's gonna take a lot of hard work.

970
00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:54,200
Speaker 3: And discipline to get what you want.

971
00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:58,040
Speaker 8: And the greater the challenges you face, the more committed

972
00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:01,239
Speaker 8: you need to be to your routine in your protocols.

973
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:04,080
Speaker 8: And once I learned all that well that first year

974
00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:05,880
Speaker 8: in double A with the Tennessee Smokies, where I was

975
00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:08,840
Speaker 8: hitting one to eighty after two hundred at bats. Oh,

976
00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:11,600
Speaker 8: this is a normal part of being a human being. Ah,

977
00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:14,400
Speaker 8: it's not supposed to be easy. It just helped me

978
00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:16,239
Speaker 8: deal with that instead of being the end of the

979
00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:17,719
Speaker 8: road that year in Tennessee.

980
00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:19,480
Speaker 3: It became a slight bend in the road.

981
00:43:19,719 --> 00:43:21,759
Speaker 8: I finally went from being the first base coach for

982
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:24,480
Speaker 8: Ryan Samberg with the Tennessee Smokies in two thousand and nine,

983
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:27,960
Speaker 8: I got sent down, finished strong. Then next year I

984
00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:29,920
Speaker 8: won the Cubs Minor League Player of the Year award

985
00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:31,279
Speaker 8: and led the league in hitting.

986
00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:33,080
Speaker 3: But the year before I was the worst in the league.

987
00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:36,560
Speaker 8: And it only happened because I cultivated that emotional stamina

988
00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:38,279
Speaker 8: and anti fragility to do that.

989
00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:40,160
Speaker 3: And then that all season I was straded too the

990
00:43:40,239 --> 00:43:41,800
Speaker 3: Rays and my big league career started.

991
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:44,040
Speaker 8: And I'm only bringing this all up because it all

992
00:43:44,040 --> 00:43:46,799
Speaker 8: comes back to this, right If I don't have that,

993
00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:49,799
Speaker 8: there's no way that time rock bottom of my life.

994
00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:53,600
Speaker 8: Two thousand and nine, Tennessee Smokies. It's the end of everything.

995
00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:56,440
Speaker 8: We aren't talking right now. Probably never been fortunate enough

996
00:43:56,440 --> 00:43:59,720
Speaker 8: to meet you and UJF. So it's just the power

997
00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:01,240
Speaker 8: of the This is really crazy, Brandon.

998
00:44:01,320 --> 00:44:04,440
Speaker 2: I have to say, for anybody listening to this, watching this,

999
00:44:04,719 --> 00:44:07,880
Speaker 2: I am just hypnotized because this is more than just

1000
00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:11,200
Speaker 2: about baseball. You know, you're talking about the game of baseball,

1001
00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:13,359
Speaker 2: but you even mentioned this applies to life. I mean,

1002
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:16,600
Speaker 2: I feel so rejuvenated to have that attitude in those

1003
00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:19,279
Speaker 2: tools to be able to work this. Do you feel now,

1004
00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:21,880
Speaker 2: as a you know, mental skills coach, you're kind of

1005
00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:25,239
Speaker 2: giving back to those who gave you those skills. Now

1006
00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:26,719
Speaker 2: you're like, Okay, I got to pay it forward. I

1007
00:44:26,719 --> 00:44:29,560
Speaker 2: got to do this for the kids because someone did

1008
00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:32,520
Speaker 2: it for me. Yeah, I would almost feel like I

1009
00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:33,040
Speaker 2: was just.

1010
00:44:33,080 --> 00:44:36,320
Speaker 8: A waste if I'm given all this wisdom and knowledge

1011
00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:38,920
Speaker 8: and fortunate enough to have the experience I had playing

1012
00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:41,919
Speaker 8: and get that platform, if I don't give it back

1013
00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:42,399
Speaker 8: in a way.

1014
00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:44,719
Speaker 3: I mean, it just so happens. I'm very passionate about it,

1015
00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:45,480
Speaker 3: so that helps too.

1016
00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:48,239
Speaker 8: But yeah, I think that would be a Travis dy

1017
00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:51,720
Speaker 8: if I had all this and went through all these time, Like, guys,

1018
00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:54,560
Speaker 8: anything you can think of, mentally or physically, I have

1019
00:44:54,640 --> 00:45:01,160
Speaker 8: been there. Fear, worried out, stress, performance, anxiety, rejection, demotion, embarrassing.

1020
00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:02,440
Speaker 3: Moments on and off the field.

1021
00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:05,759
Speaker 8: I dealt with it all seven surgeries we talked about,

1022
00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:08,200
Speaker 8: I got hit a lot, so mentally physically a lot

1023
00:45:08,239 --> 00:45:10,919
Speaker 8: of pain, and so like doing what I do now.

1024
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:13,160
Speaker 8: I was telling a couple of people yesterday I've never

1025
00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:16,319
Speaker 8: felt so much meaning and purpose in my life. I've

1026
00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:18,960
Speaker 8: never felt more meaning and purpose of what I do

1027
00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:22,880
Speaker 8: and super just fortunate to be able to have the platform.

1028
00:45:22,239 --> 00:45:22,640
Speaker 3: To do this.

1029
00:45:23,239 --> 00:45:26,880
Speaker 2: I have just been taken to church by Brandon Geyer. Seriously,

1030
00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:31,520
Speaker 2: you are preaching some amazing things. Major league mindset. Where

1031
00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:33,719
Speaker 2: can they find you on social media so people can

1032
00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:36,160
Speaker 2: get into that mindset you know and learn more about

1033
00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:36,640
Speaker 2: what you're doing.

1034
00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:39,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, so most of them are at Brand and Geyer.

1035
00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:43,160
Speaker 8: I think Instagram's at the guy or five when I

1036
00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:46,320
Speaker 8: first started it, but brandangeyer dot com has all the information.

1037
00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:50,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would love to anyone reached out. I'm here

1038
00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:50,960
Speaker 3: to be of service.

1039
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:54,080
Speaker 8: That's what I'm trying to just give back as much

1040
00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:56,200
Speaker 8: as I can. So, and what you guys are doing,

1041
00:45:56,239 --> 00:45:58,919
Speaker 8: I really appreciate the opportunity to help spread the word,

1042
00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:01,680
Speaker 8: but obviously get up and connect. But love what you

1043
00:46:01,719 --> 00:46:03,640
Speaker 8: guys are doing, what you've always done for the game.

1044
00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:05,839
Speaker 8: Like I said, your zest and everything it just like

1045
00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:08,600
Speaker 8: oozes out of you. So I really appreciate how you

1046
00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:09,360
Speaker 8: attack everything.

1047
00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:10,319
Speaker 3: Well, thank you tell you.

1048
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:13,399
Speaker 2: We did thirty five episodes last year, Brandon and when

1049
00:46:13,600 --> 00:46:16,320
Speaker 2: pretty much every guest would end an interview with that, Tim,

1050
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:19,439
Speaker 2: I really you've been so great, and so he immediately

1051
00:46:19,719 --> 00:46:20,160
Speaker 2: just is.

1052
00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:22,040
Speaker 1: Like, all right, all right, all right, we're done.

1053
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:22,800
Speaker 5: Dad.

1054
00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:25,120
Speaker 2: This has been a dream of mine to do this

1055
00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:26,280
Speaker 2: podcast with you and Brandon.

1056
00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:28,480
Speaker 1: As I said at the top, you were our go

1057
00:46:28,520 --> 00:46:29,000
Speaker 1: to guests.

1058
00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:31,160
Speaker 2: With what you're doing with major league mindset and everything,

1059
00:46:31,239 --> 00:46:32,400
Speaker 2: it's really special.

1060
00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:34,279
Speaker 1: We can't thank you enough for your time and good

1061
00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:35,600
Speaker 1: luck on the stage at the ABC.

1062
00:46:36,040 --> 00:46:38,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you, thank you. I really really appreciate it.

1063
00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:40,239
Speaker 5: We really appreciate it. I'm still not going near a

1064
00:46:40,280 --> 00:46:41,439
Speaker 5: snake anytime soon.

1065
00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:44,279
Speaker 3: Maybe we can do it together one day. Get over

1066
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:44,680
Speaker 3: there we go.

1067
00:46:52,040 --> 00:46:54,680
Speaker 5: Welcome back to is this a great game or what?

1068
00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:58,040
Speaker 4: I'm with my son Jeff Kirkchin and a very special guest,

1069
00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:02,960
Speaker 4: Ross and totally head baseball coach at Catholic University. He's

1070
00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:07,279
Speaker 4: been there for forty years and he's won over eight

1071
00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:08,520
Speaker 4: hundred games. Doc.

1072
00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:09,640
Speaker 5: It's so good to see you.

1073
00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:12,240
Speaker 7: Thanks him. Great to be on with you and Jeffrey.

1074
00:47:12,400 --> 00:47:14,719
Speaker 2: Well, I gotta say it's so fitting. We're driving to

1075
00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:18,680
Speaker 2: the ABCA. Okay, we're here, and you guys got dinner

1076
00:47:18,719 --> 00:47:20,879
Speaker 2: the other night and you casually drop dad.

1077
00:47:20,960 --> 00:47:23,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, we're doing the podcast at the ABCA and

1078
00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:24,480
Speaker 1: Rosco ABC.

1079
00:47:24,719 --> 00:47:25,439
Speaker 5: We're gonna be there.

1080
00:47:25,440 --> 00:47:26,480
Speaker 6: We know the ABCA.

1081
00:47:26,680 --> 00:47:28,759
Speaker 2: But this is so perfect that we get to sit

1082
00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:30,840
Speaker 2: down with you and have a have an episode with you.

1083
00:47:30,920 --> 00:47:33,920
Speaker 7: As you know, all things in the baseball world in

1084
00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:37,360
Speaker 7: the final analysis are small. Yeah, the connections just happen.

1085
00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:40,120
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's amazing, it's really great. Ross.

1086
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:43,360
Speaker 4: You still have a full time job at the Department

1087
00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:47,160
Speaker 4: of Energy. Explain how you could keep a full time

1088
00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:51,560
Speaker 4: job and coach a baseball team literally every day.

1089
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:55,839
Speaker 7: Well, if it starts with having the best wife ever, Yeah,

1090
00:47:55,920 --> 00:48:00,640
Speaker 7: and really learning to balance your time so that you're

1091
00:48:00,640 --> 00:48:03,480
Speaker 7: doing justice to the family part of your life first

1092
00:48:03,480 --> 00:48:07,840
Speaker 7: still and then dividing up the other two. So it

1093
00:48:08,560 --> 00:48:12,320
Speaker 7: comes down to time management. It comes down to really

1094
00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:17,520
Speaker 7: enjoying both areas, both as an engineer with a Department

1095
00:48:17,520 --> 00:48:21,080
Speaker 7: of Energy and you know my love of coaching baseball.

1096
00:48:21,080 --> 00:48:23,320
Speaker 4: All right, new Ross, I want you to tell Jeffrey

1097
00:48:23,360 --> 00:48:26,440
Speaker 4: the story and don't leave out any details about the

1098
00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:29,239
Speaker 4: time you were going to be late for batting practice

1099
00:48:29,719 --> 00:48:32,279
Speaker 4: and you call Bobby Bachardo, your coach, and said I'm

1100
00:48:32,280 --> 00:48:34,560
Speaker 4: going to be late. Take it from there and don't

1101
00:48:34,640 --> 00:48:36,120
Speaker 4: leave out any detail, Okay.

1102
00:48:36,640 --> 00:48:38,920
Speaker 7: So I work at the Department of Energy during the

1103
00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:44,440
Speaker 7: day from seven to three thirty typically, So that afternoon

1104
00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:46,600
Speaker 7: I had taken off because we were playing a game

1105
00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:51,760
Speaker 7: at Randolph Macon in Virginia. So I'm driving down ninety

1106
00:48:51,800 --> 00:48:56,680
Speaker 7: five and left about noon, and then there was an

1107
00:48:56,719 --> 00:49:00,239
Speaker 7: accident in traffic's backed up. You know our games at three.

1108
00:49:00,520 --> 00:49:02,879
Speaker 7: You know, we were supposed to hit from like one

1109
00:49:02,960 --> 00:49:07,000
Speaker 7: twenty to two. So around one o'clock or so, I

1110
00:49:08,080 --> 00:49:11,240
Speaker 7: tell Bobby, look, I'm still probably about fifteen twenty minutes away.

1111
00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:13,520
Speaker 7: Can you get it started if I don't make it?

1112
00:49:13,920 --> 00:49:16,839
Speaker 7: And he said sure. Well I ended up making it

1113
00:49:16,920 --> 00:49:19,880
Speaker 7: like right at the BP time. So I parked my car.

1114
00:49:20,320 --> 00:49:23,880
Speaker 7: You know, as baseball coaches do, we halfway changed in

1115
00:49:23,920 --> 00:49:24,239
Speaker 7: the car.

1116
00:49:24,320 --> 00:49:25,080
Speaker 6: But all I got.

1117
00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:28,320
Speaker 7: Alls I changed was my I got my work shoes

1118
00:49:28,480 --> 00:49:31,920
Speaker 7: and I put turf shoes on. So I took my

1119
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:35,880
Speaker 7: tie off. I had khaki pants and a just a

1120
00:49:35,920 --> 00:49:38,880
Speaker 7: collar shirt and I just went right to the mound

1121
00:49:39,719 --> 00:49:43,359
Speaker 7: and threw BP like that in my street clothes. And

1122
00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:46,400
Speaker 7: Ray Hendrick, great friend of mine, tremendous program at ran

1123
00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:49,319
Speaker 7: it off Macon still talks about it, still holds it

1124
00:49:49,360 --> 00:49:52,880
Speaker 7: against me, he goes, And then we actually won that game,

1125
00:49:53,080 --> 00:49:55,759
Speaker 7: he goes, You let it you. We just lost to

1126
00:49:55,800 --> 00:49:58,800
Speaker 7: a team were their coach just threw batty bags a

1127
00:49:58,880 --> 00:49:59,600
Speaker 7: street clothes.

1128
00:50:02,680 --> 00:50:03,640
Speaker 6: That's amazing.

1129
00:50:04,480 --> 00:50:05,759
Speaker 1: That's what coaches do.

1130
00:50:06,160 --> 00:50:08,320
Speaker 6: That's what we do. That's what we stories.

1131
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:11,800
Speaker 4: And Ross, that's surely not the only story like that.

1132
00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:15,560
Speaker 5: You must have had other ones where you're juggling. It's

1133
00:50:15,680 --> 00:50:16,680
Speaker 5: just amazing that.

1134
00:50:16,880 --> 00:50:19,040
Speaker 4: But again, when you have to keep a full time job,

1135
00:50:19,160 --> 00:50:22,320
Speaker 4: you're in a love for baseball, right, sometimes it's difficult.

1136
00:50:22,440 --> 00:50:25,960
Speaker 2: Well, Ross, you and we've talked on the podcast obviously.

1137
00:50:26,040 --> 00:50:29,719
Speaker 2: We launched in twenty twenty four, just a you know,

1138
00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:32,839
Speaker 2: half a year after we lost Uncle Matt, my dad's brother,

1139
00:50:32,920 --> 00:50:33,520
Speaker 2: to ALS.

1140
00:50:33,680 --> 00:50:36,040
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna try to get through this without crying

1141
00:50:36,160 --> 00:50:37,160
Speaker 1: because we've talked about this.

1142
00:50:37,239 --> 00:50:37,560
Speaker 3: We did a.

1143
00:50:37,560 --> 00:50:41,960
Speaker 2: Special als Lu Garrig Day show, and for us, this

1144
00:50:42,200 --> 00:50:45,839
Speaker 2: was really a beautiful tribute to Uncle Matt, who loved

1145
00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:49,480
Speaker 2: baseball more than anybody we knew, right, and a great

1146
00:50:49,520 --> 00:50:52,240
Speaker 2: baseball player at Catholic University, a Hall of Fame member

1147
00:50:52,560 --> 00:50:54,799
Speaker 2: of Catholic University, along with his older brother, my dad's

1148
00:50:54,840 --> 00:50:59,960
Speaker 2: oldest brother, Andy Kirksham. You created the Ultimate Teammate Award,

1149
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:02,960
Speaker 2: Matt Kirkschin Ultimate Teammate Award, which is awarded. I want

1150
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:04,640
Speaker 2: you to talk a little bit about why you did

1151
00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:07,640
Speaker 2: it and what player receives this award each year.

1152
00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:12,320
Speaker 7: Forty years later coaching, I've never played with or coached

1153
00:51:12,320 --> 00:51:14,600
Speaker 7: a better teammate than Matt Kirkchen.

1154
00:51:16,520 --> 00:51:17,000
Speaker 5: I haven't.

1155
00:51:17,680 --> 00:51:19,359
Speaker 8: And so.

1156
00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:23,960
Speaker 7: When I got the news, you know, Matt that summer

1157
00:51:24,440 --> 00:51:27,560
Speaker 7: mentioned boy, Ross, I'm having trouble button my shirt and

1158
00:51:27,600 --> 00:51:32,040
Speaker 7: then ended up diagnosis, diagnosis, finally the diagnosed with als,

1159
00:51:32,040 --> 00:51:34,400
Speaker 7: and I said, boy, I want to stay close with

1160
00:51:34,480 --> 00:51:38,000
Speaker 7: Matt and his family through all this because I know,

1161
00:51:38,160 --> 00:51:39,880
Speaker 7: as Matt would probably say, this is going to be

1162
00:51:39,920 --> 00:51:41,640
Speaker 7: tougher on you guys than it is going to be

1163
00:51:41,680 --> 00:51:43,279
Speaker 7: on me. That's the kind of guy he was.

1164
00:51:44,120 --> 00:51:48,480
Speaker 4: And we're taping this on Saturday, January the fourth, and

1165
00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:49,880
Speaker 4: today is Matt's birthday.

1166
00:51:50,560 --> 00:51:51,360
Speaker 7: How special is that?

1167
00:51:51,880 --> 00:51:53,080
Speaker 5: So it's a very.

1168
00:51:52,920 --> 00:51:57,080
Speaker 4: Special thing for us that Ross tell us how important

1169
00:51:57,200 --> 00:51:59,200
Speaker 4: it is to be a great teammate.

1170
00:52:00,320 --> 00:52:02,960
Speaker 7: As you've said many times, Tim, and I've invited him

1171
00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:06,320
Speaker 7: to talk with our team, we've met him, we've we've met,

1172
00:52:06,480 --> 00:52:09,000
Speaker 7: you know, Tim and Matt at NAT's games talking to

1173
00:52:09,040 --> 00:52:13,279
Speaker 7: our team. There is no greater tribute in baseball than

1174
00:52:13,320 --> 00:52:18,600
Speaker 7: to be considered a great teammate. And when you're trying

1175
00:52:18,600 --> 00:52:22,880
Speaker 7: to build a culture, that really means something. And again,

1176
00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:26,000
Speaker 7: I never forget the privilege that it is to coach,

1177
00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:30,880
Speaker 7: just to have the opportunity to make a positive difference

1178
00:52:31,800 --> 00:52:34,920
Speaker 7: in a young man's life, It's a true privilege and you.

1179
00:52:34,880 --> 00:52:35,839
Speaker 6: Can never forget that.

1180
00:52:37,760 --> 00:52:40,399
Speaker 7: And it's also about the connections that you make with

1181
00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:45,160
Speaker 7: your players and your coaches as well. But the Back

1182
00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:48,359
Speaker 7: Kirkton Ultimate Teammate Award is really central to what our

1183
00:52:48,400 --> 00:52:51,799
Speaker 7: team culture really is about. It's about serving others. It's

1184
00:52:51,840 --> 00:52:55,000
Speaker 7: about caring about your teammates. It's about really having each

1185
00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:59,359
Speaker 7: other's backs than just talking about it. And you don't

1186
00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:03,520
Speaker 7: realize it until five, ten, fifteen, twenty years, but you're

1187
00:53:03,520 --> 00:53:06,319
Speaker 7: gonna be teammates for life. Yeah, And there was no

1188
00:53:06,360 --> 00:53:10,960
Speaker 7: better teammate than your brother and your uncle Matt Kirchin.

1189
00:53:11,280 --> 00:53:12,640
Speaker 5: Well, thank you for that. Ross.

1190
00:53:12,760 --> 00:53:15,440
Speaker 4: I want you to just tell one final story for us.

1191
00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:19,280
Speaker 4: It's the greatest story ever for our family. When Uncle

1192
00:53:19,320 --> 00:53:22,440
Speaker 4: Matt threw out the first ball at the Mount Saint

1193
00:53:22,480 --> 00:53:24,040
Speaker 4: Mary's game that day.

1194
00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:26,680
Speaker 5: Can you tell us what happened that day?

1195
00:53:27,400 --> 00:53:28,360
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what happened.

1196
00:53:28,400 --> 00:53:32,600
Speaker 7: Well, first of all, I had to mention and I

1197
00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:35,080
Speaker 7: talked to Mike to me as well, said Mike, you

1198
00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:37,760
Speaker 7: really want to come out because I'm gonna have Matt

1199
00:53:37,960 --> 00:53:41,200
Speaker 7: come to the Mount and you know, throw out the

1200
00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:45,360
Speaker 7: first pitch. We played twenty games forty years ago in

1201
00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:47,200
Speaker 7: the fall. Now we're only allowed to play one date

1202
00:53:47,280 --> 00:53:51,000
Speaker 7: in the fall against somebody else. So good friend of mine, Franklon,

1203
00:53:51,080 --> 00:53:54,520
Speaker 7: he just got the job at Mount Saint Mary's. Typically

1204
00:53:54,520 --> 00:53:56,279
Speaker 7: played the Naval Academy all the time in the fall,

1205
00:53:56,320 --> 00:53:58,360
Speaker 7: but we played Mount Saint Mary's. That was our one game,

1206
00:53:58,600 --> 00:54:00,399
Speaker 7: and I go, you know what, I want to really

1207
00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:04,279
Speaker 7: just honor Matt at this game, so i'd let Tim know,

1208
00:54:04,880 --> 00:54:06,719
Speaker 7: and I wanted to make sure that as many of

1209
00:54:06,760 --> 00:54:10,520
Speaker 7: the Kirchins you know, that were available, could come as well.

1210
00:54:11,239 --> 00:54:14,000
Speaker 7: But we had Schurts made up before that, you know,

1211
00:54:14,080 --> 00:54:16,160
Speaker 7: and I was wearing one, but I made him for

1212
00:54:16,239 --> 00:54:17,920
Speaker 7: my whole team, and then I had a bunch of

1213
00:54:17,960 --> 00:54:21,640
Speaker 7: others for the Kirkchin family when they came. So when

1214
00:54:21,640 --> 00:54:25,000
Speaker 7: Matt got there. You know, I said that come down

1215
00:54:25,080 --> 00:54:26,719
Speaker 7: to the field. You know, we want you to get

1216
00:54:26,719 --> 00:54:29,080
Speaker 7: ready throughout the first pitch. And I had all my

1217
00:54:29,160 --> 00:54:34,439
Speaker 7: guys in the dugout and you know, had them walk

1218
00:54:34,480 --> 00:54:37,960
Speaker 7: out and they all had their back kirching Catholic TV

1219
00:54:38,040 --> 00:54:42,040
Speaker 7: Baseball kirching number two on the back. And that was

1220
00:54:42,640 --> 00:54:45,800
Speaker 7: really one of the special moments in my coaching career

1221
00:54:46,520 --> 00:54:49,680
Speaker 7: to have that privilege to honor someone like Matt.

1222
00:54:49,960 --> 00:54:53,000
Speaker 4: Because after he looked at his family all wearing m

1223
00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:56,760
Speaker 4: kirchen two jerseys, and then he looked at all forty

1224
00:54:56,800 --> 00:55:01,040
Speaker 4: seven Catholic University players or wearing that jersey and he said,

1225
00:55:01,080 --> 00:55:04,680
Speaker 4: I can't believe they did this for me. And that's

1226
00:55:04,719 --> 00:55:07,520
Speaker 4: the first time I've seen him cry since this whole

1227
00:55:07,640 --> 00:55:11,960
Speaker 4: ordeal began. But that's because it was a baseball team

1228
00:55:12,440 --> 00:55:15,920
Speaker 4: that reached out. It was his team, and it was

1229
00:55:16,080 --> 00:55:19,200
Speaker 4: Ross and the CU team. And it just shows you

1230
00:55:19,280 --> 00:55:25,200
Speaker 4: again how baseball cherishes its players, takes care of its players,

1231
00:55:25,560 --> 00:55:27,000
Speaker 4: and celebrates its players.

1232
00:55:27,080 --> 00:55:27,400
Speaker 3: Ross.

1233
00:55:27,440 --> 00:55:30,000
Speaker 2: This has been so great to join. Have you join

1234
00:55:30,120 --> 00:55:33,000
Speaker 2: us at the ABCA. Thank you for sitting down with us,

1235
00:55:33,040 --> 00:55:35,600
Speaker 2: for honoring uncle Matt on his birthday.

1236
00:55:35,800 --> 00:55:38,200
Speaker 1: Could not come at a better time. Ross, thank you

1237
00:55:38,239 --> 00:55:39,640
Speaker 1: for what you've done to our for our.

1238
00:55:39,560 --> 00:55:42,280
Speaker 7: Fank, thanks so much for having me, Tim and Jeffrey.

1239
00:55:41,840 --> 00:55:42,480
Speaker 3: Thank you Ross.

1240
00:55:42,560 --> 00:55:43,919
Speaker 5: So good, so great good.

1241
00:55:50,840 --> 00:55:52,200
Speaker 1: Is this a great game or what?

1242
00:55:52,520 --> 00:55:55,320
Speaker 2: And we are at the ABCA thanks to our friends

1243
00:55:55,360 --> 00:55:58,000
Speaker 2: at Game Changer. And one of the guys who have

1244
00:55:58,080 --> 00:56:01,359
Speaker 2: made that happen is our guy who we recently got

1245
00:56:01,400 --> 00:56:02,920
Speaker 2: a video of him hitting a home run at a

1246
00:56:02,920 --> 00:56:04,799
Speaker 2: major league ballpark, so we need to get into that.

1247
00:56:04,880 --> 00:56:07,759
Speaker 2: Of course, we need to thank you for having us

1248
00:56:07,800 --> 00:56:09,960
Speaker 2: out here. We were with you at the Little League

1249
00:56:09,960 --> 00:56:11,400
Speaker 2: World Series and now the ABCA.

1250
00:56:11,520 --> 00:56:12,919
Speaker 1: This is a special event here.

1251
00:56:13,239 --> 00:56:15,520
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's awesome. I want to thank you guys. I mean,

1252
00:56:16,640 --> 00:56:19,160
Speaker 9: I haven't met you guys really before until the Little

1253
00:56:19,200 --> 00:56:23,160
Speaker 9: League World Series and we've become fast friends and Game

1254
00:56:23,239 --> 00:56:27,239
Speaker 9: Changer and myself personally is so thankful for that. And yeah,

1255
00:56:27,280 --> 00:56:28,919
Speaker 9: it's a great thing and I'm really happy you guys

1256
00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:29,200
Speaker 9: are here.

1257
00:56:29,200 --> 00:56:30,719
Speaker 4: And it tell us the truth when you hit that

1258
00:56:30,800 --> 00:56:33,040
Speaker 4: ball out of the ballpark, when was the last time

1259
00:56:33,080 --> 00:56:34,240
Speaker 4: you took batting practice?

1260
00:56:34,360 --> 00:56:35,120
Speaker 5: Tell us the truth?

1261
00:56:35,719 --> 00:56:38,640
Speaker 9: Probably I said ten years before and we were jogging around,

1262
00:56:38,640 --> 00:56:43,080
Speaker 9: but a good five years and no meaningful swing. So yeah,

1263
00:56:43,120 --> 00:56:44,800
Speaker 9: it's been a long time and I did have khakis

1264
00:56:44,800 --> 00:56:47,880
Speaker 9: and a polo on so and sneakers, so it was

1265
00:56:48,880 --> 00:56:49,520
Speaker 9: it was a feat.

1266
00:56:49,560 --> 00:56:52,879
Speaker 1: Let's really dig in, you know with fans and cleee.

1267
00:56:52,560 --> 00:56:53,480
Speaker 9: Sometimes you get lucky.

1268
00:56:53,560 --> 00:56:56,680
Speaker 4: Yeah, Trus for what you do with Game Changer, how

1269
00:56:56,760 --> 00:56:59,359
Speaker 4: much does it help that not only were you a

1270
00:56:59,400 --> 00:57:03,040
Speaker 4: minor league player, you were a really good minor league player.

1271
00:57:03,280 --> 00:57:06,160
Speaker 4: How much does that help in the job that you do?

1272
00:57:06,719 --> 00:57:09,640
Speaker 9: Yeah, well, thank you. It's a long windy road as

1273
00:57:09,680 --> 00:57:12,240
Speaker 9: a as a minor leaguer, you know, over ten years,

1274
00:57:12,239 --> 00:57:15,319
Speaker 9: but it does help, right, It's just you know, we

1275
00:57:15,320 --> 00:57:17,520
Speaker 9: were talking about them before. The baseball world is very

1276
00:57:17,520 --> 00:57:22,600
Speaker 9: connected and it's large, right, but also small. So you know,

1277
00:57:22,680 --> 00:57:25,520
Speaker 9: having those relationships and the trust in the market of

1278
00:57:25,600 --> 00:57:27,680
Speaker 9: like someone who's gone through it a little bit, I

1279
00:57:27,680 --> 00:57:30,400
Speaker 9: think really helps you know, our product and just you know,

1280
00:57:30,440 --> 00:57:33,440
Speaker 9: connecting with coaches and players and families. So it definitely

1281
00:57:33,480 --> 00:57:34,560
Speaker 9: helps on a daily basis.

1282
00:57:34,920 --> 00:57:36,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, for those who don't know anything about Game Changer,

1283
00:57:37,000 --> 00:57:40,040
Speaker 2: first of all, it's become synonymous with little league baseball.

1284
00:57:40,200 --> 00:57:43,160
Speaker 2: You can stream, you can keep score, you can get stats.

1285
00:57:43,240 --> 00:57:44,760
Speaker 1: I mean, those are the kind of things.

1286
00:57:44,560 --> 00:57:46,880
Speaker 2: That I would spend tirelessly when I was sitting on

1287
00:57:46,920 --> 00:57:50,080
Speaker 2: the bench of my team trying to figure out everybody's statistics.

1288
00:57:50,080 --> 00:57:52,040
Speaker 2: Game Changer will do it for you. It'll stream the game,

1289
00:57:52,080 --> 00:57:54,920
Speaker 2: so grandma and grandpa in California, if you're in Maryland,

1290
00:57:54,920 --> 00:57:57,080
Speaker 2: can be watching your son or daughters games, and you're

1291
00:57:57,120 --> 00:57:59,880
Speaker 2: expanding to more than just baseball, but baseball such you're

1292
00:58:00,080 --> 00:58:02,520
Speaker 2: bread and butter here and that's why you're at the ABCA.

1293
00:58:02,640 --> 00:58:05,760
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's really a great product, right, and I really

1294
00:58:05,760 --> 00:58:07,479
Speaker 9: think it's and we talk about this all the time,

1295
00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:10,000
Speaker 9: you know, with our company, but we're a community app.

1296
00:58:10,040 --> 00:58:13,640
Speaker 9: You know, we connect parents and kids and coaches and

1297
00:58:13,920 --> 00:58:16,520
Speaker 9: you mentioned grandmas and grandpas that can kind of tune in.

1298
00:58:17,560 --> 00:58:19,880
Speaker 9: But it's at scale too, right. We cover over seven

1299
00:58:19,920 --> 00:58:22,960
Speaker 9: million games a year, livestream over two million, right, So

1300
00:58:23,240 --> 00:58:26,440
Speaker 9: we're really able to connect those communities and for the

1301
00:58:26,480 --> 00:58:28,680
Speaker 9: people that can't be there, right, make them feel like

1302
00:58:28,720 --> 00:58:31,280
Speaker 9: they're kind of sitting in the stands, you know, watching

1303
00:58:31,280 --> 00:58:32,360
Speaker 9: what's going on in person.

1304
00:58:32,760 --> 00:58:35,760
Speaker 5: Tres Where were you? Where was I? Fifteen years ago?

1305
00:58:35,840 --> 00:58:39,120
Speaker 4: My daughter was a great high school basketball player, Jeffrey's sister,

1306
00:58:39,680 --> 00:58:42,600
Speaker 4: and she I missed one game in four years of

1307
00:58:42,600 --> 00:58:45,760
Speaker 4: her high school career, and she scored twenty against Richard

1308
00:58:45,760 --> 00:58:48,400
Speaker 4: Montgomery and I missed it, and I could have been

1309
00:58:48,440 --> 00:58:50,000
Speaker 4: watching it with Game Changer.

1310
00:58:50,080 --> 00:58:51,920
Speaker 9: Yeah, fast forward, right, you would have been right there

1311
00:58:51,960 --> 00:58:55,160
Speaker 9: with her. But it's a great thing. It's come a

1312
00:58:55,200 --> 00:58:59,520
Speaker 9: long way, started in twenty ten and has grown and grown.

1313
00:59:00,160 --> 00:59:03,200
Speaker 9: And we also offer emerging sports, right. We have basketball,

1314
00:59:03,280 --> 00:59:05,560
Speaker 9: we have football, we have lacrosse and some others. So

1315
00:59:05,840 --> 00:59:08,520
Speaker 9: it's not just in the diamond space, but it's becoming

1316
00:59:08,560 --> 00:59:10,840
Speaker 9: something you know that covers all youth sports.

1317
00:59:11,720 --> 00:59:15,520
Speaker 2: Alex Trez, thank you so much for having us. Seriously,

1318
00:59:15,560 --> 00:59:18,240
Speaker 2: this has been a great time to our continued relationship

1319
00:59:18,240 --> 00:59:20,600
Speaker 2: with Game Changer. Of course we hope to uh and

1320
00:59:20,680 --> 00:59:22,479
Speaker 2: it was very convenient that it was in DC because

1321
00:59:22,600 --> 00:59:24,080
Speaker 2: Dad and I drove together this morning.

1322
00:59:24,280 --> 00:59:26,040
Speaker 1: He made me a breakfast sandwich that I could eat

1323
00:59:26,040 --> 00:59:27,800
Speaker 1: in the car. This is this is a father son

1324
00:59:27,880 --> 00:59:29,600
Speaker 1: show and that's what Game Changer it's all about, is

1325
00:59:29,640 --> 00:59:30,040
Speaker 1: the family.

1326
00:59:30,200 --> 00:59:32,040
Speaker 9: So well, thank you guys so much. Again, this has

1327
00:59:32,040 --> 00:59:33,240
Speaker 9: been amazing and.

1328
00:59:33,320 --> 00:59:36,760
Speaker 3: Look forward to the future together. Well, thank you, thanks

1329
00:59:36,760 --> 00:59:37,040
Speaker 3: so much.

1330
00:59:37,200 --> 00:59:38,920
Speaker 1: Let's go deep a