Speaker 1: All Star twenty twenty five San Francisco. Jack has been
Speaker 1: a good run, killing it. But I don't think there
Speaker 1: was any way we could have expected to have this
Speaker 1: as our closing interview. Yeah, I was excited. I couldn't wait.
Speaker 1: I gotta thank Dana Pump. I've been knowing Dana since
Speaker 1: I was fourteen, the biggest hustler in the world, him
Speaker 1: and his brothers.
Speaker 2: And he called me like a week and a half ago.
Speaker 1: He's like, Matt, I think I got Barry, Like Barry
Speaker 1: who because either Barry Sanders or Barry Bonds.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't believe you. He's like, no, I
Speaker 2: promise you.
Speaker 1: He's like, hit this lady, and I hit Lisa and
Speaker 1: we hit it off and now man, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2: Barry Bonds. Thank you.
Speaker 1: I'm seven times MVP, fourteen time All start, eight Gold Gloves,
Speaker 1: all time leader, and home runs single season home run leader,
Speaker 1: the greatest baseball player of all time.
Speaker 2: When you hear that, what comes to your mind.
Speaker 3: I don't really talk about it. I let my peers
Speaker 3: talk about it. I always tell people if you're good
Speaker 3: at something, they'll.
Speaker 2: Talk about it.
Speaker 3: You don't need to say anything. So I don't really
Speaker 3: talk about it. I know statistically where I am. I
Speaker 3: don't need to explain it. I'd rather just help the
Speaker 3: young generation and give you the information that was given
Speaker 3: me teacher, as much as I know. And then, you know,
Speaker 3: I always tell people always ask me, like how you
Speaker 3: do it? I'm like, just stay around long enough for
Speaker 3: someone to talk about you. That's pretty much is just
Speaker 3: don't be a commercial.
Speaker 2: Right right?
Speaker 3: You know, if you want to be really good at something,
Speaker 3: you just don't have to be doing it a long time.
Speaker 1: Well obviously very humble about your success, but do you
Speaker 1: ever kind of look back and at the stuff you've
Speaker 1: accomplished in some of the records that will never be touched,
Speaker 1: Like do you think like, hey, like when I was playing,
Speaker 1: I was, I really did it at the high I do.
Speaker 3: I look back and it's different. I have this, you know,
Speaker 3: like you talk about Michael Jordan, you can talk our
Speaker 3: IQ is like way up here, tiger. You know, it's
Speaker 3: just so high. And I think, for myself, I look
Speaker 3: back at the gifts that God blessed me with, and
Speaker 3: then I look back at the hard work that I
Speaker 3: put into it, and then I try to find ways
Speaker 3: of how do I give this to someone else? Or
Speaker 3: how do I teach this? Or how do you pass
Speaker 3: this on? And why do I see it? But you
Speaker 3: don't you know what I mean. It's it's it's this
Speaker 3: battle that you play with yourself all the time, and
Speaker 3: then how can I articulate that to somebody else? And
Speaker 3: then they give you, well, why, well why does this work?
Speaker 3: Or how did you do this? And and you know,
Speaker 3: my brain points right here in front of you, but
Speaker 3: you you know, and how do you not see it?
Speaker 3: And so I look back at ways of how for
Speaker 3: myself would I be able to, you know, articulate this
Speaker 3: to somebody else and give this gift that I was
Speaker 3: blessed with, and then you know, and hopefully he'll give
Speaker 3: it to somebody else.
Speaker 1: Greg Maddix once the best hitter I've ever faced, Trevor
Speaker 1: Hoffman said, the most dangerous hitter in baseball history, the
Speaker 1: big Unit, one of the most amazing players ever, A
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer, no doubt. A lot of guys. Again,
Speaker 1: you stick around long enough, they'll talk about you. But
Speaker 1: when it's from your peers, your contemporary, the guys you
Speaker 1: went to battle with, you're in year out.
Speaker 2: Is that is that more satisfying to you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's that's yeah, it's I mean, you can't
Speaker 3: get any better than that. I mean, just like in basketball,
Speaker 3: it's like I hear Michael George's name all the time.
Speaker 3: You know, you hear those names, and and when you
Speaker 3: have your peers talk about you, and you know, that's
Speaker 3: just the top of the list. There's there's no other
Speaker 3: list greater than that. I don't care who you are.
Speaker 3: What you are is if you have your peers talking
Speaker 3: about eating.
Speaker 2: You did you did something?
Speaker 4: Well, we're here now for NBA All Star Were you
Speaker 4: here in two thousand him for the All Star Game?
Speaker 3: I watched on I watched, Yeah, that was one.
Speaker 2: Of the best ones.
Speaker 4: Were you close to any NBA players of your time?
Speaker 3: Jordan? I kind of came up together. We were in
Speaker 3: Chicago when Jordan first came in the league. We used
Speaker 3: to hang out in Chicago all the time. He was
Speaker 3: at the Bulls and stuff and.
Speaker 2: Some ship like that. Two of the greatest I tell.
Speaker 3: You, like, Michael Jordan was before he even became the
Speaker 3: most famous person ever. Him tired, and we were in
Speaker 3: Chicago when he was just I mean, he's only two
Speaker 3: years older than I am, you know, And we went
Speaker 3: out to just to grab a bite to eat, and
Speaker 3: I ain't never seen a line of people that wanted
Speaker 3: to just talk to this guy. And I was just
Speaker 3: coming up too, so I was rookie, so nobody knew
Speaker 3: who I was, you know, was just Bobbie Bond's son,
Speaker 3: nobody at the time. And I thought I was pretty
Speaker 3: big at the time because I made it. But Michael
Speaker 3: had all these people, and he had had a couple
Speaker 3: of security guys there watching. Michael was so nice. He
Speaker 3: was just signing autographs and We're trying to grab something
Speaker 3: to eat, and I'm over here going, I'm Barry Hello.
Speaker 3: You know what it's like to have somebody that good,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, And for that one moment,
Speaker 3: I'm like, I want to be like Mike one day,
Speaker 3: you know, when you really see it from the very beginning.
Speaker 3: But he was so he was already large before k
Speaker 3: became larger than anything. And I will always remember that
Speaker 3: he was. He was always like, come on, b let's go.
Speaker 3: And you know, and it was good because we've we've
Speaker 3: always been like really you know, good friends, and even
Speaker 3: at a distance. You know, now that you know his
Speaker 3: profession's gone to where it's gone, and you've got distance
Speaker 3: we are even if we talk and we haven't talked
Speaker 3: a long time, like we talked to the things like
Speaker 3: last year. We had a conversation not too long ago,
Speaker 3: and it always seems like we've never missed a beat.
Speaker 3: And that's what that's what's really good about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got a question, I mean with we talked
Speaker 1: to Kobe about Mike, and Kobe said every aspect dealing
Speaker 1: with Mike was competitive, and maybe that's because that was
Speaker 1: a young guy trying to catch him. Was everything with
Speaker 1: you as Was it more just a genuine conversation friendship
Speaker 1: or was there some competitiveness even in the conversation.
Speaker 3: We played two different fields, so two different.
Speaker 2: Well he tried to come to your field though, Well.
Speaker 3: That wasn't happen. I mean, I love Mike, but that
Speaker 3: wasn't gone.
Speaker 4: Do you have actual for advice on baseball?
Speaker 3: No? I got never asked him advice and bats I
Speaker 3: knew he was that good, and you know, but uh,
Speaker 3: we always joked around with I mean, we had always
Speaker 3: a great respect for each other. I think Michael's I
Speaker 3: saw Michael the same thing he probably saw me that
Speaker 3: this I q of vision of you know, the type
Speaker 3: of players we were, and you know, like with my career,
Speaker 3: you know, I took a little bit from everyone. I mean,
Speaker 3: the greatest of the greats become they kind of like
Speaker 3: steal gifts from other people, and you're able to create
Speaker 3: your stuff, you know, like Tony Gwenn here, Pete Rose here,
Speaker 3: you know, William May's here, Hank here and there, and
Speaker 3: you know we're able to see all these qualities in
Speaker 3: each individual player, and then you kind of invent yourself.
Speaker 3: I just wanted to be a great hitter. I knew
Speaker 3: I had power, I knew I could do certain things.
Speaker 3: But my dad always told me, you know, be a
Speaker 3: great hitter. Don't chase the fence. Chase the fence. You're
Speaker 3: going to lose. Be a great hitter. And that's that's
Speaker 3: all I wanted to do. So I had to take
Speaker 3: Tony Gwenn as a great hitter. P Rose had a
Speaker 3: great hitter, Rod Carew and I had to take contact
Speaker 3: hitters because I could hit the long ball, but I
Speaker 3: was striking out a lot when I was younger, and
Speaker 3: I had to close that gap. And so my dad
Speaker 3: always told me, we're going to think you don't do well, son,
Speaker 3: things you do well, you always gravitate to that. If
Speaker 3: you can bring twenty percent or thirty percent or ten
Speaker 3: percent of what you don't do well, that increases what
Speaker 3: you do well. So it kind of balances them together.
Speaker 1: You mentioned, I mean Rod Carew, Tony Gwyn, Pete Rose,
Speaker 1: some of the greatest contact hitters of all time. What
Speaker 1: were some of the things you watched the day that
Speaker 1: you kind of picked up on.
Speaker 3: Their patients the way that they can calculate things on
Speaker 3: the field. I was able to mathematically calculate what a
Speaker 3: picture can and can't do. Once I can calculate you,
Speaker 3: then I could beat you, and then it becomes this
Speaker 3: what is beating him? Right? The goal of hitting is
Speaker 3: it's me and him, and if I can keep that
Speaker 3: tunnel vision between me and him and forget the goons
Speaker 3: that are around him, because in theory, my job is
Speaker 3: just to hit him and be good against him. Understanding
Speaker 3: the velocity of a pitch just a fastball. So we're
Speaker 3: just going to use a fastball analysis because you have
Speaker 3: a guy who throws batting practice to you every single day,
Speaker 3: and he only throws a fastball, right, and he tries
Speaker 3: to help you be really good, and we screw that
Speaker 3: up half the time. So I tried to figure out
Speaker 3: how to master batting practice first, because this guy is
Speaker 3: trying to help me, you know, So how do I
Speaker 3: can direct that?
Speaker 4: Now?
Speaker 3: I'm going to piece it to speed. Now I have
Speaker 3: to understand what my swing technique is and then understand
Speaker 3: the velossy of a pitch and the blossy of the ball.
Speaker 3: The further the faster it comes to me, the further goes. Right,
Speaker 3: But I don't change who I am. Right now, if
Speaker 3: I can focus on him, I already know the speed
Speaker 3: of a ball off my bat goes a certain speed.
Speaker 3: I don't care how many people over here. I can
Speaker 3: still squeeze it through you. It's not like you're going
Speaker 3: to catch every single thing, right, So my job is
Speaker 3: my victory is to make contact off of him. Once
Speaker 3: I do that, everything else is out of the equation. Right,
Speaker 3: So in theory, I win. I really do win, even
Speaker 3: though the pitcher's standing on the mount going. I got
Speaker 3: you out. No, the second basement, did a downfield? Did
Speaker 3: all this guy? You were already out equated. So we
Speaker 3: took all these people off the field. You would lose
Speaker 3: so much and be really crazy. Right, So now I
Speaker 3: have to redirect my brain into this tunnel vision of understanding.
Speaker 3: If I can concentrate enough to me and him, they
Speaker 3: slowly disappear. But I can't fight two people at once.
Speaker 3: I can't say a hit the line, drive to a
Speaker 3: short stop er. He's only to drive to the outfielder
Speaker 3: and he made a catch. Now I want to try
Speaker 3: to beat them both. You can't one on one. I
Speaker 3: can fight, but I can't fight two on one. I'm
Speaker 3: going to lose. So I have to refocus and go
Speaker 3: right back to here and go let me try to
Speaker 3: do that again. Let me try to do that again,
Speaker 3: and let me try to do that again, and then
Speaker 3: my success rate with him and me become better to
Speaker 3: my favorite because now I'm focused on him, and now
Speaker 3: his math has to change. And so we're gonna play
Speaker 3: chess constantly. Right, But in theory, there's a lot more
Speaker 3: to the game than it is. Because he's sixty feet
Speaker 3: six inches and he has to throw a ball seventeen
Speaker 3: inch home plate within this gap. Well, laws of physics
Speaker 3: tell me he can only do it so many times,
Speaker 3: even if I just stand there and never swing he's
Speaker 3: only gonna be able to do so many times, and
Speaker 3: then mathematically he has to come to where I get
Speaker 3: the advantage.
Speaker 1: It's just that's just my idea of those break down.
Speaker 2: He just gave you so many layers of the.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just it's just it's hard to explain where
Speaker 3: my brain goes.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Have you ever had those computer guys that do all
Speaker 3: this and you're like going and he looks at you like,
Speaker 3: this is a computer one on one? Are you stupid? Well,
Speaker 3: that's how my brain was in baseball. I'm like, you know,
Speaker 3: I'll get these questions like what do you think about
Speaker 3: so and so. I'm like, it's April or it's too dude,
Speaker 3: I don't know. You know, I don't I don't have
Speaker 3: that equation. There's so many things that can go wrong
Speaker 3: and right that I don't get excited. I don't get
Speaker 3: excited over the first city of a home run. I'm like,
Speaker 3: you know, okay, we got nine innings. I don't jump enjoy.
Speaker 3: You know. All I'm doing is focusing on that picture,
Speaker 3: focusing on the mistake, or focusing on something else that
Speaker 3: can happen, you know. And that's just how I think
Speaker 3: rubs people the wrong way. But so only way I
Speaker 3: can do it that works for me.
Speaker 2: For you, that's all that matters.
Speaker 4: Did you and Mike ever talk about signing to Jordan Brand.
Speaker 3: No, we never did. That was I was with Nike
Speaker 3: briefly the early part of my career, and then Felix
Speaker 3: came over to me and offered me a deal of
Speaker 3: a lifetime. At the time. They went with King Griffy
Speaker 3: Junior at that time because Junior came up and he
Speaker 3: was a kid, and I mean well deserved. I mean
Speaker 3: it was eighteen years old. You know, his dad was playing,
Speaker 3: so it was well deserved. And for me, I feeling
Speaker 3: came along. They offered me the world and for me
Speaker 3: at that time, and I was like perfect, And so
Speaker 3: I mean I'd love to be with Jordan now retired.
Speaker 3: You know, Mike, I'm right here, you know, you know,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 4: But in nineteen ninety two slam Dunk Contest visit Deon Sanders,
Speaker 4: Chris Carter King crazy, how was that you had a
Speaker 4: little bounce on you.
Speaker 3: No, people need to know the truth, because that's a
Speaker 3: damn lie. I got lucky as hell, yeah real, I
Speaker 3: mean I could slam dunk but I was just a
Speaker 3: basic slam dunker. I could go up with one hand,
Speaker 3: I could go up with two hands, now about it,
Speaker 3: and barely get up up there.
Speaker 2: Me too.
Speaker 3: But so with the scenario with it is that I
Speaker 3: got in to go against Dion. It was just I
Speaker 3: think it was just the second round, so I was
Speaker 3: I don't know who I was going against the first round.
Speaker 3: But so Dion was just really good. You know. Those
Speaker 3: guys could jump out the gym, and Dion just went
Speaker 3: cuckoo for summer reasons. I got lucky through the ball
Speaker 3: in the air and it bounced it and I got it,
Speaker 3: and that was everything I had. I shot that hell
Speaker 3: out of myself. Dion already did a great you know,
Speaker 3: some great moves up there and under his legs are
Speaker 3: behind his back and everything else, and I only had
Speaker 3: to do is just do the same thing. But he
Speaker 3: wanted to get a little bit back and just like
Speaker 3: some of the dudes last night at the slam dunk,
Speaker 3: and he missed it, and then that's how I beat him.
Speaker 3: So the truth is, Dion Sander could out jump me
Speaker 3: in a heartbeat, you know, and I just got lucky,
Speaker 3: and then after that it was over. My back was hurting.
Speaker 4: They need to bring that back. I think that they do.
Speaker 3: I think they do. It was real fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Mike, come he took off.
Speaker 1: I've seen a highlight of that somehow. That came across
Speaker 1: my feet a couple of days ago. And if you
Speaker 1: watch that, he's so lucky. You know how you slip
Speaker 1: off the rim sometimes that he would killed hisself. He
Speaker 1: would have sipped on because he was going so fast
Speaker 1: and hung and his whole body swung uneathroat. I was like, man,
Speaker 1: thank god he held over that rim.
Speaker 3: Those high jumpers man.
Speaker 2: Different. Obviously. Dad played ball.
Speaker 1: What are some of your fondest memories going to the
Speaker 1: ballpark as a child and being a ball boy.
Speaker 3: My dad was a hitting genius in his head, I mean,
Speaker 3: and he could hit two His own personal lives is
Speaker 3: one of gotten away from my father. But his mind
Speaker 3: was very shark, very very talented and hitting. He could
Speaker 3: pick a picture apart fast. And he educated me on that.
Speaker 3: He educated on learning their flaws, learning things. And then
Speaker 3: Willie was my mentor. Willie Mays was the one. It
Speaker 3: was great because I had like two people on me,
Speaker 3: like my dad was my dad who anything I did
Speaker 3: was never a for him. And then Willie was like,
Speaker 3: you did great. I love you. You know. My God's
Speaker 3: so I had balance, So I have basic balance. The
Speaker 3: guys who work with my dad, like Gary Sheffild, can
Speaker 3: tell you some really good stories about my dad when
Speaker 3: he was training with us. So I said, Carrie's different.
Speaker 3: He's really different, because like I could come home and
Speaker 3: say I hit two home runs and I'm like, Dad, man,
Speaker 3: you see that. He's like, how many bad you have?
Speaker 3: I said four? He said, why did you have four?
Speaker 3: I'm like, he ain't even happy over the two.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: Willie be like, that's great. He had a good at bats.
Speaker 3: So it was always good. But my dad was the
Speaker 3: one who challenged me. When challenged me to a point
Speaker 3: to where he expected perfection in practice, and practice was
Speaker 3: very important that my dad wanted perfection. And I'll never
Speaker 3: forget this. I was in the batting cage with my
Speaker 3: father and I was swinging the bat and I was
Speaker 3: jamming myself and I was missing balls, and my dad
Speaker 3: kept putting in the screen even closer and making it faster,
Speaker 3: and I go, Dad, I ain't got it, man. It's
Speaker 3: just so I was with my son at this time,
Speaker 3: he was little, and he said, Nikola, like, why don't
Speaker 3: you stand behind home plate? And he said, get up there, son, Barry,
Speaker 3: and I want you to hit. I said, my son
Speaker 3: back there, boy, are you crazy? He said, then don't
Speaker 3: let him get hit. I said, bro, this ain't going
Speaker 3: down like that. And so and I just say bro.
Speaker 3: At that time, I say it here, I said, pop, Dad,
Speaker 3: love you. I never said that to my father. I said, Nickola, like,
Speaker 3: get off this cade. So my dad said, no, I'm
Speaker 3: not going to let him get hit. He put a
Speaker 3: he put a t back there, and he said, in
Speaker 3: your mind, pretend it's him now. Swing. I've popped every
Speaker 3: single ball. He played mind games with me, which was
Speaker 3: which challenged me, which I loved and I needed him
Speaker 3: for that, you know, I needed my father for that.
Speaker 3: And it was the best. He's the best hitting coach,
Speaker 3: the best. I mean, his mind was just off the chart.
Speaker 1: Did that ever blur the lines of dad and trainers
Speaker 1: slash coach? Because I've trained my kids and I kind
Speaker 1: of find there's a fine line I coached my kids
Speaker 1: and trade my kids, and there's that kind of that
Speaker 1: fun line, and I walk it and teeter it as
Speaker 1: far as being dad and then coach and trainer. Did
Speaker 1: you ever like you said he expected perfection? Did that
Speaker 1: ever blur the line of dad?
Speaker 3: No? With me, it was different. I accepted him for
Speaker 3: who he was. I knew who he was. I knew
Speaker 3: the challenges I had with my father, and I had
Speaker 3: a choice. It was deal with it or I was
Speaker 3: going to miss the boat. And you have to see that.
Speaker 3: As an athlete, you're going to see it. And if
Speaker 3: you don't see it, then you're not going to be
Speaker 3: there anyway. And you have to see that. Why is
Speaker 3: my dad doing this? Why is he challenging me? We're
Speaker 3: not he's not at home. We're not at home where
Speaker 3: he's like, say, clean your room up or anything like this.
Speaker 3: Why is he pushing me? I didn't realize it untill
Speaker 3: as I was college and going on that. You know,
Speaker 3: he was just it was something I needed. It's weird,
Speaker 3: it's kind of hard to explain, but I needed that.
Speaker 3: I needed my dad to be just a jerk.
Speaker 4: You know what I mean.
Speaker 3: I needed my dad to challenge me. I needed that
Speaker 3: because I was so good. I think I would have
Speaker 3: took advantage of things if he didn't keep me in
Speaker 3: my place. Like he he would knock me down. And
Speaker 3: all everyone to do was for my godfather and my
Speaker 3: father to appreciate my career. I didn't care about anybody else.
Speaker 3: I didn't care about it. It was none that had to
Speaker 3: do with fans and none to do with anything. It's
Speaker 3: like I wanted my dad and willing to say I
Speaker 3: was part of their group, right, because no one really,
Speaker 3: no one really knows. My godfather Giants here fifty eight,
Speaker 3: My godfather's here right, My father's in right field, my
Speaker 3: godfather's in center field, and I play left field. All
Speaker 3: three of us in the generation played for Samson Giants,
Speaker 3: and all three of us played in the outfield twogether,
Speaker 3: but a part right. And that's always my goal was
Speaker 3: to play left field. And they wanted me to play
Speaker 3: right field when I was first coming up with Pittsburgh
Speaker 3: and have this double O seven James Bond like that's
Speaker 3: a no. And I wanted my own position because I
Speaker 3: wanted to complete that circle. And then I knew my
Speaker 3: own talent. I didn't have the arm like Willie or
Speaker 3: my dad did. I didn't. I knew I was quick
Speaker 3: to the baseball, and I owe that to Bill Verdon,
Speaker 3: one of my outfold coaches, and I knew my ability
Speaker 3: and I wanted to stay with him my ability.
Speaker 2: When did you start training when.
Speaker 3: My son was born? Nineteen eighty nine? Okay, when I
Speaker 3: got at eighty six. I mean I was town. That
Speaker 3: was good, But I wasn't you know. I was out clubs,
Speaker 3: partying like everybody else, you know, like when you're young,
Speaker 3: like shot as sleep when I'm dead, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean? Shoot who cares? And all of a sudden, Nikolai,
Speaker 3: my first wife, was pregnant. I was like, oh, this
Speaker 3: is real. I have a responsibility. I cold turkey everything,
Speaker 3: and all I did was go to the gym from
Speaker 3: that day on. And in nineteen eighty nine was I
Speaker 3: was leading off with Pittsburgh at that time, and Jim Leland,
Speaker 3: my manager, who's the most unbelievable manager I ever had
Speaker 3: in my entire life. And don't get me wrong, Dussy
Speaker 3: Baker and Felippe I Lou are up there, don't get
Speaker 3: me wrong. But he was my first right and so
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh was the best for me at that time. So
Speaker 3: I was leading off and I ain't never been lead
Speaker 3: off hitter. I'm like, I'm not leading off I'm leading
Speaker 3: the team in home runs. But yeah, I got like
Speaker 3: forty RBIs or something like. That's not me. That's never
Speaker 3: been my role. So my son was born. All I
Speaker 3: did was trained in the snow in Pittsburgh. I ran
Speaker 3: every day and then I said, I'm not hitting leading
Speaker 3: off anymore. And before when I went into the locker
Speaker 3: room to talk to Leland, the only thing he says,
Speaker 3: since I already know what you're in here, and don't
Speaker 3: you say a damn word to me. You're my number
Speaker 3: five hitter, sink or swim kid. Because he knew they
Speaker 3: wanted to trade me, but he believed in me. I said, Coach,
Speaker 3: I'm going to spend my whole life and that's the
Speaker 3: year I wont MVP. And then after that I started
Speaker 3: training with Roder Craig Jerry Rice, and all I just started.
Speaker 3: I just went off the deep end. And then I
Speaker 3: wanted to be better training wise, and all I did
Speaker 3: was trading. And I've been doing that for the rest
Speaker 3: of my life.
Speaker 1: Speak to that training, because I mean, Jerry Rice is
Speaker 1: known synonymously for his off season. He'll runs and train.
Speaker 1: So you jumped on that boat all that hard? That's hard?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean where we I'd run in the mornings,
Speaker 3: lift in the morning after running, and then go hit
Speaker 3: after that. I mean it was from like eight in
Speaker 3: the morning till twenty afternoon. And it's every day except
Speaker 3: the weekends. Every day.
Speaker 1: Baseball is known for a lot of unwritten rules. When
Speaker 1: you first came in the game in eighty six, were
Speaker 1: some of the unwritten rules.
Speaker 3: Depends what on written rules you're talking about.
Speaker 2: What you can talk about.
Speaker 3: I can talk about anything you want. This is twenty five.
Speaker 3: People say whatever they want now to day. You know,
Speaker 3: back when I was there, people didn't say would do
Speaker 3: it they want? Nowaday you say whatever you want, you
Speaker 3: get kudos for it. Now you get followers, I guess,
Speaker 3: and social media you just say. All you gotta do
Speaker 3: is say as everybody wants to see you now, you
Speaker 3: know so.
Speaker 4: I mean, but.
Speaker 3: What I wish the game was still today is there
Speaker 3: was a respect level at that time, a veteran level
Speaker 3: where you earned your stripes, you worked for it, and
Speaker 3: when you were a rookie coming up, you had to
Speaker 3: go through initiation. Yeah, you paid your dues. Damn sure.
Speaker 3: Back in those days where you know, I didn't have
Speaker 3: a locker when I first came in, you know, Lee
Speaker 3: Mozilli had Lee Mozilli was my locker mate, which and
Speaker 3: he was the coolest cat ever too. But he would
Speaker 3: sit his locker in my locker right here, and he
Speaker 3: put his ashtray right in front, in the middle of
Speaker 3: my locker, and he smoked. My locker was on the
Speaker 3: floor with on little hangars, you know, a little rollout things,
Speaker 3: and you sit on the floor and you have to
Speaker 3: earn your locker, so you have to get a hit.
Speaker 3: You got to steal a base or score run or
Speaker 3: hit a home round something before you can get in
Speaker 3: that locker. So when I first came in, they had
Speaker 3: my uniform sitting down and I already knew the remooks.
Speaker 3: My father's here and you know, and leaves like, how
Speaker 3: you doing, kid, I'm good, fair, And you respected the veterans,
Speaker 3: and you sat in the front of the bus like
Speaker 3: all rookies had to sit in front of the bus,
Speaker 3: all three of us, you know. And then we didn't
Speaker 3: have charter fights. We took commercial fights where you had
Speaker 3: to sit on the plane with other people at the
Speaker 3: same time. We didn't have that in Pittsburgh when I
Speaker 3: first came out. And then you had to go down
Speaker 3: to the They sent me down the baggage claim and
Speaker 3: I didn't even know the stuff didn't go to the
Speaker 3: baggage claim. They said, bing, you got to go to
Speaker 3: the baggage claim and get all the stuff. And I'm
Speaker 3: sitting in bags claim like this and nobody's there and
Speaker 3: I'm going, this is crazy. And then somebody comes and
Speaker 3: the bus already left.
Speaker 4: You know what.
Speaker 3: Everybody knows that's.
Speaker 2: Kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: And then you know they got and then you had
Speaker 3: to then you know, you had to go wait for
Speaker 3: everybody's luggage. And we had to walk up with the
Speaker 3: bellman to all the veterans rooms and to give them
Speaker 3: their luggage to like four in the morning. We had
Speaker 3: a lot of things you had to do as a
Speaker 3: as a young player, but you appreciate it and you
Speaker 3: earned your stripes to where when your time came, it
Speaker 3: was there there your time to be able to take
Speaker 3: that initiative and stuff, and you know, the veterans tell
Speaker 3: you shut up, you shut up, you know, And that
Speaker 3: was just the way it was. And it was fun,
Speaker 3: I mean, not a good time.
Speaker 4: It's like that in basketball now. It ain't no better
Speaker 4: than present.
Speaker 3: There's zero man, these kids are like br I'm like,
Speaker 3: I have never gone over to my godfather Willie or
Speaker 3: Hank Aaron and said bruh are hey Hank. I was like,
Speaker 3: mister Aaron, how you do? I mean, there was a
Speaker 3: different appreciation for what that person did in your career.
Speaker 3: You know, It's just different nowadays. They walked by you
Speaker 3: like you exist, you don't even know anything, but just
Speaker 3: I mean, let's fine, it's their game. Doesn't bother me none.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: Sometimes you got to hit rock bottom to come over here. Yeah, right,
Speaker 3: because God's gonna bring you wherever you need to get
Speaker 3: right right. Sometimes they'll walk by me and stuff this
Speaker 3: and then be like, hey, Barry, what do you see
Speaker 3: And I'd be like, oh, you must be two for thirty,
Speaker 3: you know. I go like this, I'm like, you must
Speaker 3: be two thirty. You need a little you need Lord
Speaker 3: in your hand, you need you need some church right
Speaker 3: now right. And then when they get it, then you
Speaker 3: don't hear from them again, and then you go back.
Speaker 3: But it's it's part of the process, and it's all good.
Speaker 3: I mean, like I say, I'm only there for this
Speaker 3: information if you need it, and that's all I'm there
Speaker 3: for I know, anything else is your path. And I
Speaker 3: always tell them you've done this before you even met me.
Speaker 3: And the athletes have to understand, I don't care what
Speaker 3: sports you're in, you did this before you ever met me.
Speaker 3: You may have known about me, but you never met me.
Speaker 3: You have to understand how good you already are. Just
Speaker 3: to be here, right, There's always gonna be somebody a
Speaker 3: little bit better than you, even no matter what team
Speaker 3: you're on, even when you're in high school litle league,
Speaker 3: there's always somebody better, or you were the best either
Speaker 3: or it's gonna full circle itself. But you just gonna
Speaker 3: understand your talent and then get the best of your
Speaker 3: telling you, you know, I used to. It's like a
Speaker 3: lot of players when I was coaching with the Marrow
Speaker 3: and stuff, they're like, well, I'm not you. I'm like, well,
Speaker 3: that's the first thing you got right, because that's you,
Speaker 3: ain't me. But let's be the best version of yourself,
Speaker 3: you know, right, Let's be the best verse yourself. I'm
Speaker 3: only here to help you. I'm not trying to challenge you.
Speaker 3: I can't do that anymore and I'm too old for that.
Speaker 3: So take this information and if it works. We're just
Speaker 3: gonna throw darts at a wall all day and we're
Speaker 3: gonna do this, and something's gonna stick, and let's just
Speaker 3: keep throwing these darts and whatever. You don't like what
Speaker 3: I say, thrown in garbage. I don't care. It's your journey.
Speaker 3: It's not my journey, right, I'm just here to help
Speaker 3: you get to that journey you're choosing. And if I can,
Speaker 3: I can. If I can't, kick me to the curb
Speaker 3: and go somewhere else, you know, I mean, it's okay.
Speaker 3: You ain't hurt my feelings, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: So that's it. It's alid.
Speaker 1: There's some younger guys that you really enjoyed working with,
Speaker 1: did you want? You know, wouldn't mind sharing that? Like
Speaker 1: soaked it up?
Speaker 3: And you know, I love working with all of them.
Speaker 3: I never have a favorite. I have a challenge of
Speaker 3: each individual. I never have like a favorite because I
Speaker 3: could do so many things out there. I'd love the
Speaker 3: challenge of getting you right or fixing a puzzle, because
Speaker 3: that's what I did in my head all the time.
Speaker 3: In my own personal career, we were always you know,
Speaker 3: you're always having to revamp yourself right, and it's taken
Speaker 3: on the challenge of I don't care if it's weighed.
Speaker 3: I don't give a credit if it's Mookie Betts. I
Speaker 3: don't care who it is that I've talked to or
Speaker 3: work with, or Dexter Fowler back in the days and
Speaker 3: stuff like that. It doesn't matter. Alex Rodriguez I worked with.
Speaker 3: It's that puzzle that I enjoy. It's not a favorite.
Speaker 3: Alex was easier because he's already the lead of the league, right.
Speaker 3: We don't Our conversations are different, and understanding that each
Speaker 3: conversation I have with each person is different. You can't
Speaker 3: this one method is not going to work with this guy.
Speaker 3: He doesn't I can sit there and say, you know,
Speaker 3: you need to hit off your front leg a little
Speaker 3: bit because you're too backsided. Well, may not work with
Speaker 3: this other guy. He doesn't understand that. He's like, he's
Speaker 3: leaning so far forward. I'm like, no, man, he like this,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean? I have to tailor tailor
Speaker 3: it to what works for them, right, And it's just
Speaker 3: creating the mind it's changing the mindset. What does a
Speaker 3: man hate to do if you're really good at something,
Speaker 3: it's telling him they can't do something they going to
Speaker 3: show you they can do it, right, What did I
Speaker 3: just It's just a mind ship, right, it's a mind
Speaker 3: shift because he already has the talent to do it,
Speaker 3: and saying, well, you're gonna tell me that you're a
Speaker 3: professional athlete. You just can't hit the ball right there?
Speaker 3: Who you talking to? Well, then you know what. I
Speaker 3: mechanically didn't do anything for you. You already fixed it
Speaker 3: your damn self, so you don't really need me, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean. So sometimes it's just redirecting the
Speaker 3: mind for great athletes, and all of them are great.
Speaker 3: If you're in if you're in a professional sport, you're great,
Speaker 3: no question, because there's so little of you there. Come on, brother,
Speaker 3: remember you are good. You gotta work with.
Speaker 4: That ten a hundred mile fastballs pissed to you today
Speaker 4: you're hitting any.
Speaker 3: Of them out one hundred. That's easy right now. Today,
Speaker 3: I don't care how hard you throw a baseball, they're gone.
Speaker 3: There ain't no way you can throw a baseball six.
Speaker 3: So I can't just do like this. If there's a
Speaker 3: catcher behind home plate that sits like this, what a
Speaker 3: glove and you throw a hundred mind, don't he just
Speaker 3: go like this, boom boom. All I did was change
Speaker 3: this object to a bat boom boom. I ain't got
Speaker 3: to change nothing. I just change the object. Now, if
Speaker 3: you're asking me to do something spectacler, that would take
Speaker 3: time for my body to get used to it at sixty.
Speaker 3: But to go up there and hit it, I don't
Speaker 3: care how hard do you think. As long as I
Speaker 3: can see it, I hit it.
Speaker 2: That's crazy.
Speaker 4: When you're great, you just great, though.
Speaker 3: Don't Willie could do it back, you know, and even
Speaker 3: when is it sixties? Him and my dad and them
Speaker 3: would come and hit all the time. They were did
Speaker 3: all the time.
Speaker 1: There's a rich history of racism in baseball. When you
Speaker 1: first got into the game, did you feel it, see it?
Speaker 1: Did you hear a story from your dad or Willie
Speaker 1: or Hank or anything like that.
Speaker 3: The problem with that question is that it's it's a
Speaker 3: fuel for the media to run with he said, questions, right,
Speaker 3: he said, he said, he said, we already know that answer.
Speaker 3: We don't need to. You know, I kind of stay
Speaker 3: out of it only because if you want the truth,
Speaker 3: it's an industry that needs to come together to make
Speaker 3: it happen, and the industry starts up here. Okay, I'm
Speaker 3: down on the bottom floor. So we as an industry,
Speaker 3: we hear bottom and top have to find a way
Speaker 3: to come together to balance it. Right for me to
Speaker 3: sit there and say is there racism? Yeah, I mean
Speaker 3: I could say yes, that's true. We all know that.
Speaker 3: I mean, as black people, we know what's going on.
Speaker 3: We're not blinded by any of that. Right, We're not
Speaker 3: a threat to anyone. We're not trying to pose a
Speaker 3: threat to anyone. We're trying to be relevant or equal
Speaker 3: or valued. Right, Well, the industry has to come together,
Speaker 3: and how do we do that. People need to sit
Speaker 3: at the table and figure it out.
Speaker 4: That's simple. That's a conversation. You have to decline in
Speaker 4: black payers in baseball. Is it because of the love
Speaker 4: and black kids not loving baseball? Or is it because
Speaker 4: other races are just dominating game.
Speaker 3: The other racer. If we're going to be technical, white
Speaker 3: races always dominated baseball. I mean it's it was there
Speaker 3: since they won until Jackie Robinson broke the color bearer.
Speaker 3: If you want to be honest and true about it,
Speaker 3: how many star blacks are in baseball? You got star Latinos,
Speaker 3: star Asians, you got star whites. When I played baseball,
Speaker 3: you had me King Griffyth Junior, Eric Davis, Ozzie Smith McGee.
Speaker 3: I can go on and on and on and on,
Speaker 3: Andre Dawson. I mean, I can name a ton of
Speaker 3: inspiring black athletes on the field to inspire other black
Speaker 3: kids to want to play right. So what is that
Speaker 3: an industrial problem? The industry needs to fix it.
Speaker 1: I went to school with a lot of white kids
Speaker 1: in high school, and travel baseball was expensive. It was
Speaker 1: almost priced out of my community. Although I went to
Speaker 1: school with kids that can afford it, I feel like
Speaker 1: it's kind of priced out of the black community at times,
Speaker 1: and I think that kind of hinders the opportunity for
Speaker 1: some of these kids to come up and really have
Speaker 1: an opportunity at it.
Speaker 3: It is very expensive. I mean, that's what five hundred dollars.
Speaker 3: It's like crazy. I mean, I do something else. I mean,
Speaker 3: gloves are three hundred dollars. I mean you're you're at
Speaker 3: almost two thousand dollars right now just to play baseball
Speaker 3: with sky equipment, just equipment. We're talking about just with spikes,
Speaker 3: you know, and stuff like that. And it's hard. But
Speaker 3: it still comes back to if you don't have enough.
Speaker 3: Like the NBA, there's so much equals or football, it's balanced.
Speaker 3: Baseball it is not as balanced. So why am I
Speaker 3: chasing baseball when I'm not looking at Okay, I can
Speaker 3: name Mookie Betts, I can name a few, but I
Speaker 3: can't name enough to say, Mom, go buy me a glove,
Speaker 3: or Mom, I'll go get a paper out, Dad, I'll
Speaker 3: go do this and play baseball. There's not enough of
Speaker 3: us and they'll see it. I'm retired. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm retired, Kenny. We're all retired now. It's either industrial
Speaker 3: we all have to get together and start communicating and
Speaker 3: talking and trying to find a balance, or you take
Speaker 3: the younger group and six three percent you got and
Speaker 3: try to balance it because you have to give the
Speaker 3: kids need something to see, somewhat to see. I mean
Speaker 3: you have to see it to want it. I mean,
Speaker 3: you probably have more black kids want to play tennis
Speaker 3: because it's serena and restlingly there out there, because you're
Speaker 3: seeing it and it's like a tennis racket and just
Speaker 3: some tent. I'm gonna go. You know, I could do that,
Speaker 3: you know, but there's not enough of us to inspire
Speaker 3: our community.
Speaker 1: There's been an influx in Japanese players coming over and
Speaker 1: have success Cine Miler in the NBA with European players,
Speaker 1: and there's a debate, and I feel like with European
Speaker 1: players it's more work, more practice, more skill.
Speaker 2: Training, and then the game is the reward.
Speaker 1: I feel like with au basketball, one practice and the
Speaker 1: game is everything. Why do you feel like there's the
Speaker 1: Japanese players are successfully transitioning into the Major League so
Speaker 1: much at a higher rate these days.
Speaker 3: Japanese baseball it's always been huge. I mean, it's always
Speaker 3: been good, and we've always as Americans have gone over
Speaker 3: to Japan and played in these All Star tournaments with them,
Speaker 3: and they have very talented athletes, same as the Hispanics,
Speaker 3: very very talented athletes. And then you have the Koreans
Speaker 3: are now producing pictures and stuff and players as well.
Speaker 3: But you have a culture there in a country that is,
Speaker 3: like I say, industry bound to make it happen. Well,
Speaker 3: we're the United States and the equal we're good, even
Speaker 3: less with blacks, we're still good. Industry, we're the best,
Speaker 3: we are the best. But the equality of it has
Speaker 3: to stay balanced. For me, I mean, it needs to
Speaker 3: be balanced, and the Japanese have always always have been
Speaker 3: very very good. It's just we're bigger, stronger, you know,
Speaker 3: we have. They're starting to catch up. You can see
Speaker 3: it in on Tani and stuff like that. They're starting
Speaker 3: to catch up. But at the time, we were always bigger, stronger,
Speaker 3: you know, and our game and it's just always been
Speaker 3: like that. But you know, now you can see that
Speaker 3: it's starting to transition over and and it's okay. I
Speaker 3: mean we as a married we don't care. It's just
Speaker 3: like when we get to the World Classic, what side
Speaker 3: you're gonna play on them? That's that's the time we care.
Speaker 3: You over here playing our league. You better staying. Don't
Speaker 3: go back over the pan now and start beating on us.
Speaker 3: You know, we have fun in that way. But and
Speaker 3: that's the competition. It's it's it's fun.
Speaker 2: Thoughts.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think he came in, has taken MLB
Speaker 1: by storm and then signed a monster contract. Thoughts on
Speaker 1: just his ability to do hit the ball the way
Speaker 1: he does and also pitch, and just the versatility of
Speaker 1: his game.
Speaker 3: The pitching and hitting has been outstanding. For what he's
Speaker 3: done in base running stuff like that, he's a complete player.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's no doubt about the type of player
Speaker 3: he is and what he's accomplished in his career. The
Speaker 3: game has just changed. I mean, the game is way
Speaker 3: different than it is than when I play the same
Speaker 3: way Michael talks about it or anyone else. Oh Tani
Speaker 3: is not gonna hit two home runs without seeing one
Speaker 3: goal right here in my generation. I don't care what
Speaker 3: he does. He's not going to steal two bases. About
Speaker 3: somebody decapitating his kneecap and slow him down because it's
Speaker 3: a different game back then today's game. They take batting
Speaker 3: practice all day. They take batting practice at one, two, three, four, five,
Speaker 3: all the way up. These guys hit more than I've
Speaker 3: ever seen my entire lifetime that we didn't do, and
Speaker 3: they should be better than us. It's hitting wise because
Speaker 3: they can hit a home run, flip their bat up
Speaker 3: in the air, run around, get a taco, come back down,
Speaker 3: have a limo, drive around, you know, all these antics
Speaker 3: that we weren't allowed to do. If I did anything
Speaker 3: like that, there's no way I'm going to see a star.
Speaker 3: You know, I'll see the hospital, but I ain't gonna
Speaker 3: see baseball. And so as a hitter. We had to
Speaker 3: hit in a way to where if I hit a
Speaker 3: home run, I know what's coming in next set back
Speaker 3: our possibility. So my thing is I have to be
Speaker 3: a little more defensive and be more of a contact
Speaker 3: hitter to get out of a problem than it's. Well,
Speaker 3: they can just do and hit, hit, and sometimes I
Speaker 3: think it could be a disadvantage. But O Tony dude
Speaker 3: boy can play. There's no question about who he is.
Speaker 3: I just my opinion. I just hope he just stays
Speaker 3: at the hitting category because his hitting ability is off
Speaker 3: the chart. Pitching, I just think might tire him out.
Speaker 3: I think he should come out of the bullpen here
Speaker 3: and there, like he has because he's dhing. He come
Speaker 3: out of the bullpen and throw an inning or two
Speaker 3: here and just because he's so good as a reliever too,
Speaker 3: like he could be one of the dominant relievers and
Speaker 3: dominant starters. I think as a starter, man, I think
Speaker 3: it might get wear a tear a little bit and
Speaker 3: tire him out. Why fix something that isn't broken, because
Speaker 3: that's like I couldn't me. I be like, no, I
Speaker 3: fix broke.
Speaker 4: This is good.
Speaker 3: I'm good piece, this is great. But I think coming
Speaker 3: out of the bullpen. He could really dominate.
Speaker 4: Current day, you got your daughter with you and you
Speaker 4: talked about working out what brings you joy today.
Speaker 3: My kids taking over everything I wouldn't. I don't do interviews.
Speaker 3: I've never done hard.
Speaker 2: We appreciate it.
Speaker 3: And my daughter is like, took over and she just said, Dad,
Speaker 3: you need to step back and let us do this.
Speaker 3: So I'm learning to shut up, learning hunch your cart
Speaker 3: a little bit. I'm learning to allow them to dictate
Speaker 3: this new generation that I'm not overly comfortable with, but
Speaker 3: at the same time I need to adapt to. And
Speaker 3: so I'm I'm allowing them to take over and say, Dad,
Speaker 3: you need to be here.
Speaker 1: We're gonna start seeing more on social media and that's
Speaker 1: already started.
Speaker 3: They got this stuff going crazy and I'm just like,
Speaker 3: what are you doing? I don't even understand this. What
Speaker 3: are you like him? Why are you tagging him? I
Speaker 3: don't even know him. I'm like, I don't want anybody
Speaker 3: on my phone.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: It's like I'm always like, what are you doing? It's like,
Speaker 3: so they took it. Like because I ride my bike
Speaker 3: all the time. I cycle a lot, so I have
Speaker 3: Strava and you know, my swift and stuff, and we
Speaker 3: give likes on to each other for working out and training.
Speaker 3: So my daughter had to explain to me it's the
Speaker 3: same thing. It's like, Dad, you're you're appreciating what he's
Speaker 3: done by the same thing. So think of it like
Speaker 3: when you're riding your bike on Strava and you're giving
Speaker 3: your likes and stuff and things like that. Think of
Speaker 3: it like that, and I'm like, oh, okay, now I
Speaker 3: get it. But at first, I'm just thinking people got
Speaker 3: all my information. I'm not doing I ain't in all that,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 1: So if you guys need help on the social media side,
Speaker 1: let us know. We just launched that side of the
Speaker 1: company and we're doing really well. Oh that's good.
Speaker 2: If you guys need some help with some ideas, we
Speaker 2: got it.
Speaker 3: She's the boss.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll talk to the head of the Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah. When you get six, you got to learn to
Speaker 3: step down. And I think it's like it's my time,
Speaker 3: as my kids are at the point where they're old
Speaker 3: enough to do it, you know, and it's time for
Speaker 3: me to just say it's dad. I got to step
Speaker 3: to the side a little bit. I stok at one
Speaker 3: leg in it it's it's scary, but you know, but
Speaker 3: so far it's been I mean it's been a blessing.
Speaker 3: I mean when you can have your family do stuff
Speaker 3: and know that they're doing it right and the best
Speaker 3: that they can and as a parent, it's pretty gratifying.
Speaker 4: Bay Area it isn't doing too good right now. We
Speaker 4: were here, We were here, we did a lot of
Speaker 4: community work. I actually uh donated accurd in April twelfth
Speaker 4: is actually my day here. But you have you do
Speaker 4: a lot of foundation work here and what are you
Speaker 4: up to around the city and how can we help
Speaker 4: you know with what you're doing.
Speaker 3: Here right now? I think the city right now, all
Speaker 3: of us are in the transition stage right now to
Speaker 3: find out what I mean, now, when you lose the
Speaker 3: Oakland A's is very tough Oakland's, it's going to be
Speaker 3: tough there. I mean, you know, protecting that city is
Speaker 3: very very important because crime is is not great here
Speaker 3: right and we're in this transition to where we need
Speaker 3: to put more and more value into our kids, and
Speaker 3: more and more value into our education system, and just
Speaker 3: in our leadership has to change. It's like things have
Speaker 3: to start changing where we need to demand this from them,
Speaker 3: not ask them. We need to demand this a long
Speaker 3: time ago. We're giving I understand the youth of things,
Speaker 3: but you're not ready to take over. I mean we
Speaker 3: as the elders are even older than me or whatever.
Speaker 3: We need to demand that respect from them, and we
Speaker 3: need to demand it the right way and allow them
Speaker 3: to take over it and do it the right way.
Speaker 3: And once we do that and we can transition back.
Speaker 3: We need to transition back a little bit. I think
Speaker 3: we're trying to go too far sou forward, and we
Speaker 3: need to come back and say, hey, wake up.
Speaker 2: First thing to come to mind, let us know guilty.
Speaker 3: Pleasure my dog, my black miniature snauzer. Yeah, cycling, working
Speaker 3: on the gym, being happy looks great.
Speaker 2: You're sixty, you're sixty, you're about to be sixty.
Speaker 3: No, I'm sixty. I'll be sixty one in July.
Speaker 2: Looks so you're aging backward.
Speaker 1: Benjamin Button, All right, I'm gonna take you a little
Speaker 1: bit outside of your comforts right here, build your perfect
Speaker 1: baseball player. Discipline. Who would you put for discipline? Feel
Speaker 1: free to use yourself.
Speaker 3: No, that's too easy. The perfect it would be a
Speaker 3: combination of people. Because I love so many like Ken
Speaker 3: Griffy Junior is the key. I mean, Ken Griffy Junior
Speaker 3: was if he never got hurt the way he did
Speaker 3: would just be phenomenal. But you've got people like Corbera,
Speaker 3: Albert pool Holds, Larry Walker, Todd Helton. I can go
Speaker 3: on and on with just all around, Eric Davis, Barry Larkin,
Speaker 3: Andre Dawson. I mean, there's so many of my general
Speaker 3: Bobby Bene, yeah, I mean, my best friend and things
Speaker 3: like that. I would, But if I had to pick
Speaker 3: like the elite, I mean, I'm gonna go with Junior
Speaker 3: because Junior was eighteen years old as a kid. He
Speaker 3: came in and just electrified everything. Fortunately he just got
Speaker 3: hurt during the times. But a kid that can do everything,
Speaker 3: Vladimir Guerrel, I mean, if he could ever not swing
Speaker 3: at everything, there's no one who beats that guy. He
Speaker 3: can throw a ball from the fence all the way.
Speaker 3: Hay and Larry Walker too, he had speed. He can
Speaker 3: do it every I mean, there's so many players of
Speaker 3: my generation that the competition level was so high amongst
Speaker 3: us all that it's hard to just pick one individual,
Speaker 3: you know, Yeah, sure, did some of us stand out? Yeah? Okay, right,
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm not gonna knock myself down. Did I
Speaker 3: stand out? Yeah, But if you're saying not choosing myself,
Speaker 3: I have to choose King Griffy.
Speaker 4: We lost Ricky Anderson this year.
Speaker 3: And about Ricky, oh, we were tight from day one.
Speaker 3: I mean, you guys understand, my dad played baseball, so
Speaker 3: all of most of the players that came up admired
Speaker 3: my father. So we all were friends at points even
Speaker 3: when I was younger. So Ricky and I, you know,
Speaker 3: been boys ever since I was little, just like mc
Speaker 3: hammer and I've been friends ever since I because he
Speaker 3: was in Oakland when my dad was going over there
Speaker 3: and we were all friends. So there is there is
Speaker 3: a but there's you know, the who I think would
Speaker 3: have been probably you know, people talk about bo Jackson
Speaker 3: and being in bo Jackson was a specimen he if
Speaker 3: he never not heard either. But I'm never going to
Speaker 3: deny Dian Sanders ever there. I mean, anybody can say
Speaker 3: whatever the heck they want, but if you can play
Speaker 3: two professional sports professionally and do it well, and he
Speaker 3: played baseball well, and he played football great, okay, and
Speaker 3: I think if he had time to play baseballs as
Speaker 3: all the time. He would probably be there too as
Speaker 3: a leadoff Hitterick sir Son, Who's then, who's the greatest
Speaker 3: athlete when you can play two professional sports at the
Speaker 3: highest level. I ain't in that category. Deon Sanders in
Speaker 3: that category. Bo Jackson's in that category. There's players that
Speaker 3: you know did did two sports professionally and trying to
Speaker 3: play one hard enough to have to try to to Dion,
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't think he was All Star, but
Speaker 3: he all. I mean we were teammates. I saw Deon
Speaker 3: Sanders hit the ball centerfield were in Florida. He had
Speaker 3: a ground ball up the middle. It just got through
Speaker 3: the centerfielder's leg, and Dion would staying on third base.
Speaker 3: I went in the dugout in the back of the
Speaker 3: clubhouse and I said, hit that. Rewind tape, please, because
Speaker 3: I missed it. That's how fast he was. I mean,
Speaker 3: just you know, when you're even me as good as
Speaker 3: I was base running, the way he cut those bases,
Speaker 3: I was like, whoa. And then all I want to
Speaker 3: do is imitate it, you know, because that's my brain, right.
Speaker 3: But I was never gonna be fast him, not even close.
Speaker 3: I can look at you backwards and just man like,
Speaker 3: that's crazy. When Meg can talk to you behind you go, come.
Speaker 1: On, seventy three home runs. What was your favorite part
Speaker 1: about that journey that season?
Speaker 3: Consistency I was. I was consistent that year. That was
Speaker 3: I felt it in I didn't feel it in spring
Speaker 3: to I gotta tell you a story behind this. I
Speaker 3: bet against myself, to be honest with you, because it
Speaker 3: was really the worst year of my life because I
Speaker 3: bet Sean Dunston the Mercedes and I lost. And in baseball,
Speaker 3: we have a rule. If you and I have a
Speaker 3: bet one on one and nobody hears it, then you
Speaker 3: can reneg or do whatever you want, and then you
Speaker 3: can be mad. But if you call you dude out
Speaker 3: in front of the team, you have to honor that
Speaker 3: bet or you get the beat down. Right, This is
Speaker 3: my generation. When so Sean was, I was hitting balls
Speaker 3: in spring training and I just felt locked in like
Speaker 3: I had never felt in my entire life. I just
Speaker 3: felt like, Wow, and Sean goes, You're going to break
Speaker 3: the record. I'm like, you stupid. No one in the
Speaker 3: planet's going to hit seventy home runs just because I
Speaker 3: had a few good days of BP and I was
Speaker 3: hitting home runs all over the place, and it's like,
Speaker 3: you're nuts. And I always wait till this fall down,
Speaker 3: you know, because good athletes and good hitters, we always
Speaker 3: know we're going to come down. It's just how far
Speaker 3: can we stop the fall? Right? Those are the good players, right,
Speaker 3: because you're always going to fall. I don't know what happened,
Speaker 3: I really, I really can't even explain it. I was
Speaker 3: just so consistent and locked in to where I could
Speaker 3: see things like this, and I could see it happening fast.
Speaker 3: I mean I could tell you what pitch was coming.
Speaker 3: It's like this, And it's not that I knew what
Speaker 3: Pitt's coming. I could just calculate the situation like I
Speaker 3: can read it as I like, you're going to do what?
Speaker 3: And it's just you know how you have that feeling
Speaker 3: and you know everyone has that moment. Mine just lasted
Speaker 3: a long time and that was just it mean to
Speaker 3: you home. It's been my home my whole life. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's my hometown. So I think it'd be different I
Speaker 3: played a different city or saying like, what's you know,
Speaker 3: like Cleveland would be to me if I wasn't from
Speaker 3: there something it would be different. But I was raised
Speaker 3: here my whole life for since I was a baby.
Speaker 3: I don't know anything else. So it's just home. Everyone
Speaker 3: I knows, friends of mine, politicians, and we went to
Speaker 3: high school together, the sheriff, you know, we together.
Speaker 2: We get in some ship. We gotta call it.
Speaker 3: That's all right, I called There's always there someone I
Speaker 3: know or my family new or so it's just always
Speaker 3: been home. I've never I don't know anything different.
Speaker 2: Right well, Barry Man, we appreciate you, We love you.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of us who love you out here
Speaker 1: and would love to start seeing you do more of
Speaker 1: this and share because there's so much greatness and we
Speaker 1: all look at you at the top of the total falling.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you just giving us a little bit of
Speaker 1: time today.
Speaker 3: Man, Thank you, very appreciate it.
Speaker 2: And that's a wrap. The Legendary the Goat Barry Bonds.
Speaker 1: You can catch us on DraftKings Network and all the
Speaker 1: Smoke Productions YouTube.
Speaker 2: We'll see you guys next week.
Speaker 4: M hm.
Speaker 2: Mm hmmm
Speaker 4: Mm hmmm mmm.