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Speaker 1: I welcome to Is this a great game or what?

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Speaker 1: And our special guest this week is Kevin Plar, former

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Speaker 1: major league outfielder, now in the media business. He's on

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Speaker 1: foul territories all over the place.

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Speaker 2: He's doing great. Kevin. This is my son, Jeff. He's

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Speaker 2: got a terrible voice. Like me.

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Speaker 3: I gave him no height.

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Speaker 2: Say hi to my son, Hey Jeff, Yeah, I mean

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Speaker 2: we we just met before we got on live, and

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Speaker 2: there's no mistaking you guys are related.

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Speaker 4: Is it the voice or the hairline, because I'm starting

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Speaker 4: to lose it just like my dad here getting the

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Speaker 4: power alleys.

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Speaker 2: As he said, it's definitely the voice. It's definitely the voice, Kevin.

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Speaker 1: When we first started doing this, people would say, Tim,

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Speaker 1: I can't tell who's you and who's your son.

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Speaker 2: It got very confusing to people.

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Speaker 4: But that right I started telling people the episodes are

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Speaker 4: on YouTube, so you can watch our mouths move, so

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Speaker 4: you just don't get confused when you're in the car.

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Speaker 4: But you can bet for real, if there's a pop

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Speaker 4: culture reference, it's me, and if there's a baseball reference,

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Speaker 4: it's my dad. So we are so excited, Kevin, because

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Speaker 4: not only foul Territory of course, Bluebird Territory.

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Speaker 1: Love the show, love what you guys do.

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Speaker 4: And we're part of the Foul Territory network now in

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Speaker 4: twenty twenty six, which is so cool. So thank you

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Speaker 4: for welcoming us into kind of your media world here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been, it's been. It's been a lot. It's

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Speaker 2: been fun. It's something I always thought that I wanted

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Speaker 2: to do. And then you're kind of you know, you

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Speaker 2: get released last year and you're on your own for

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Speaker 2: the first time your whole life, right, and you start

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Speaker 2: to think about what you want to do next. And

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Speaker 2: I mean, the world's got a funny way of kind

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Speaker 2: of just working itself out, you know, I was. I

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Speaker 2: was quickly brought on with Foul Territory, you know, with

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Speaker 2: mostly because of my relationship with aer Krats and you

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Speaker 2: know us kind of playing in the minor leagues together

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Speaker 2: a little bit of time in the big leagues. They

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Speaker 2: brought me on. I really enjoyed that, and then the

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Speaker 2: Bluebird Territory thing kind of just happened because of you know,

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Speaker 2: being part of the blue Jay family. I got a

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Speaker 2: chance to do a ton of stuff with Sportsnet last

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Speaker 2: year during the postseason was able to kind of hop

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Speaker 2: on for that amazing ride to Game seven of the

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Speaker 2: World Series. Partially how this probably stemmed is because we

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Speaker 2: got a chance to talk during batting practice during that

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Speaker 2: postseason run. And obviously the connection of foul territory doesn't help.

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Speaker 2: And we recently just launched a podcast as well, to

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Speaker 2: the Majors, with you know, former closer Cody Allen as

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Speaker 2: my co host. And it's been a lot, but it's

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Speaker 2: been fun. And you know, no one kind of gives

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Speaker 2: you the roadmap when you get done playing, but you know,

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Speaker 2: I've been pointing in the right direction. I've been able

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Speaker 2: to meet a lot of great people. I had a

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Speaker 2: lot of great relationships with people when I think that

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Speaker 2: helped as well kind of usher this kind of new

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Speaker 2: adventure in the media space.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I've known Kevin Jeff for a long time,

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Speaker 1: but a couple of years ago this always has with me.

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Speaker 1: We were in Atlanta and it was an indoor batting

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Speaker 1: cage and we're in there watching guys hit and we're

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Speaker 1: standing next to Chipper Jones and Kevin Plar asked me.

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Speaker 3: So, Tim, what is your mount rushmore of switch hitters?

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Speaker 3: And I only.

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Speaker 1: Say that because Kevin, not too many big league players

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Speaker 1: are asking me something like that. That's a question that

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Speaker 1: I asked the people all the time. So we discussed that.

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Speaker 1: But your love of the history of the game and

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Speaker 1: your understanding of who are the greatest switch hitters of

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Speaker 1: all time? Like, where did that come from for you?

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Speaker 2: Well, first of all, I Apaul Jusher maybe putting you

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Speaker 2: on the spot with Chipper Jones in the room, you know,

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Speaker 2: I do remember you put him on that list, and

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Speaker 2: I mean I think if he wasn't standing there, you

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Speaker 2: probably would have put him on the list anyway. Anyway,

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Speaker 2: it would have been pretty awkward if if he wasn't

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Speaker 2: one of your four guys on the list, So that

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Speaker 2: was probably bad timing. But I think for me, I

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Speaker 2: was just always a fan of the game, you know,

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Speaker 2: And I think that's kind of, you know, not to

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Speaker 2: get into this whole idea of me promoting my own

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Speaker 2: podcast to the majors, but that's kind of part of

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Speaker 2: the idea of you know, what stemmed me to want

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Speaker 2: to do it. And ultimately I brought in Cody Allen,

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Speaker 2: a guy who lives out here, And I think I

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Speaker 2: was a fan first, right, I think I was a

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Speaker 2: fan of the game first. You know, I wasn't playing

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Speaker 2: as a five or six year old wanting to play

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Speaker 2: in the major leagues. I played because it was fun,

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Speaker 2: you know. I was a fan of the game. I

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Speaker 2: thought baseball was fun, and I never really kind of

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Speaker 2: lost sight of that even when I was a major leaguer,

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Speaker 2: that there was a ton of great players and that

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Speaker 2: came before me. That kind of paved the way I

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Speaker 2: was obviously a lot of I was fan of these

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Speaker 2: guys before I became a major leaguer, And I don't

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Speaker 2: think it's I don't think you have to lose the

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Speaker 2: idea that you can still be a fan of the

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Speaker 2: game even though you're doing it for a profession. Obviously

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Speaker 2: you lose a little bit of, I don't want to say,

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Speaker 2: the love for it, because anything that you do as

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Speaker 2: a job, no matter how fun it is, there's good

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Speaker 2: days and bad days when it it becomes a job.

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Speaker 2: And ultimately, when you don't work for yourself, you have bosses,

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Speaker 2: you get bad news sometimes and no matter what industry

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Speaker 2: you're in, sometimes that's hard to hear, you know. So

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Speaker 2: you know, I think that's basically why I asked you

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Speaker 2: that question. You know, there's not too many people on

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Speaker 2: earth that you get a chance to come across like yourself,

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Speaker 2: that are pretty much walking encyclopedias for the history of

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Speaker 2: the game, you know, And when you've got a chance

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Speaker 2: to be around someone like you that has that information

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Speaker 2: and that knowledge, you know, why wouldn't I ask that stuff?

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Speaker 2: And I think I continue to ask you those questions

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Speaker 2: during the postseason, and as I've gotten to know you,

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Speaker 2: and as I hope to be around you more, you know,

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Speaker 2: as I'm entering the same space that you've been in

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Speaker 2: a long time, I'm going to continue to ask those questions.

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Speaker 2: All right.

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Speaker 4: My dad is dreadfully embarrassed that you turn that into

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Speaker 4: a compliment to him. The number one thing he hates

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Speaker 4: the most is being complimented. But Dad, Kevin brings up

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Speaker 4: a good point. How cool is it to be able

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Speaker 4: to ask Tim Kirkschen that question? So it begs the

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Speaker 4: follow up, Kevin, who are your who's your mount rushmore

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Speaker 4: of switch hitters?

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Speaker 1: Who do you got?

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Speaker 2: Wow? I mean that's a that's a I mean I

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Speaker 2: would say my list probably isn't a whole lot different

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Speaker 2: than than your list. And remind me of who you said,

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Speaker 2: I mean, you got to put Chipper on there. You

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Speaker 2: got to put Mickey, you got to put Mickey Mantle

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Speaker 2: on there. You gotta go. I'm trying to remember your list.

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Speaker 2: Did you put I I went, Mickey Man, Murray on there,

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Speaker 2: Eddie Murray, Pete Row Yeah, Pete Rose, you gotta put

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Speaker 2: on there. Yeah. I mean, I think it's hard to

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Speaker 2: argue with that, that it's.

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Speaker 3: Hard to break that top four.

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Speaker 2: So also that day, but I'm trying to think right

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Speaker 2: now in the game, is there anyone that you feel

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Speaker 2: like could challenge that. Is there anyone currently switch hitting

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Speaker 2: that you know, obviously maybe they're still early in their career,

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Speaker 2: maybe they're kind of in the middle of their career,

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Speaker 2: maybe towards the end of their career. But I mean,

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Speaker 2: that's a really tough list to crack.

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Speaker 1: I don't think we're going beyond those guys. So also

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Speaker 1: that day, Kevin, I don't think you. I don't know

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Speaker 1: if you were in this conversation, but I also told Chipper,

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Speaker 1: I think this speaks to who Chipper is and who

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Speaker 1: baseball players are. I said, Chipper, I've also got you

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Speaker 1: as one of the four greatest third basemen of all time,

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Speaker 1: behind Mike Schmidt, Eddie Matthews and George Brett, and Chipper,

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Speaker 1: who I've known forever, looks at me and he goes,

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Speaker 1: just like this, he goes, I would take me over

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Speaker 1: those guys.

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Speaker 3: That's what he said.

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Speaker 1: And I'm thinking that this isn't like Chipper to be

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Speaker 1: boasting about anything, but Kevin, you can help me with this.

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Speaker 3: His point is, in this.

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Speaker 1: Game, which is so difficult to play, you have to

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Speaker 1: go to the play thinking I'm the best player, I'm

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Speaker 1: the best guy for this spot. Do you think that's

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Speaker 1: what Chipper was telling me that day? You have to

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Speaker 1: go to the play thinking I have to be up

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Speaker 1: in this spot.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I would agree with you. I think

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Speaker 2: it's easy for us to sit here. And obviously you're

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Speaker 2: a story end of the game. You've been around the game.

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Speaker 2: You understand the scouting and development part that goes into

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Speaker 2: the game too. And we love to fall in love

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Speaker 2: with this idea that there's really only five tools. But

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Speaker 2: I think what he's referring to is maybe the sixth

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Speaker 2: and seventh tool, which is obviously the mind and the heart.

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Speaker 2: You know, he obviously has the utmost confidence in himself

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Speaker 2: and the utmost belief in he's the right guy for

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Speaker 2: the job and the best guy for the job. It

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Speaker 2: is a little bit crazy at this point in time

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Speaker 2: that he would give you that type of answer, but

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Speaker 2: I think once a competitor, always a competitor. It's like Chipper,

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Speaker 2: you've made it. You're in the Hall of Fame. You're

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Speaker 2: in that conversation of greatest switch hitters of all time,

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Speaker 2: one of the greatest third basement of all time. But

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Speaker 2: that just kind of speaks to potentially of you know

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Speaker 2: what set him apart. And you've obviously been in the

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Speaker 2: game a long time. You've seen talent, but talent doesn't

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Speaker 2: always result in a Hall of Fame career, right There

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Speaker 2: was probably a handful of Chippers before Chippers, but maybe

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Speaker 2: it was that six and seventh tool that kind of

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Speaker 2: separated him from some of these other guys that maybe

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Speaker 2: had good careers or great careers or mediocre careers, and

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Speaker 2: that's ultimately what allowed him to have a Hall of

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Speaker 2: Fame career. Is even at this point being retired, I

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Speaker 2: don't even know how many years he's been retired, a

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Speaker 2: lot of years because clearly he's in the Hall of Fame. Now,

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Speaker 2: if you brought that conversation up to him. That's still

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Speaker 2: the way he thinks. You can't take the competitor, you

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Speaker 2: can't take the belief, you can't take the confidence, you

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Speaker 2: can't take the swag out of some of these guys,

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Speaker 2: And ultimately that's a huge separator for a lot of

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Speaker 1: Speaking of Hall of Famers, Kevin, we just watched the

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Speaker 1: WBC and there were Hall of Famers all over the WBC.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure you watched it religiously like the rest of

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Speaker 1: us did.

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Speaker 2: What was your.

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Speaker 1: Ultimate takeaway after just watching that ridiculously great tournament for

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Speaker 1: a couple of weeks.

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Speaker 2: My biggest takeaway is baseball isn't a great globally. I

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Speaker 2: think every team that aside from maybe a couple of

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Speaker 2: the teams in the pool play, but you think about

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Speaker 2: the Venezuela's of the world who ultimately wanted I think

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Speaker 2: you think about the Cinderella story of Team Italy. I

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Speaker 2: think you think about a team like Canada that made

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Speaker 2: it out of pool play into the next round missing

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Speaker 2: some of their best Canadian players. You think about what

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Speaker 2: a lot of these countries did. You got to love

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Speaker 2: where baseball is at globally. That's my biggest takeaway. My

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Speaker 2: second biggest takeaway is how much it just meant to

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Speaker 2: these guys and I come from this belief, and maybe

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Speaker 2: you feel the same way, maybe you feel differently. I

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Speaker 2: think there's been a lot of kind of unfair backlash

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Speaker 2: some of these guys being very honest about what that

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Speaker 2: tournament meant to them, what it would mean to win it,

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Speaker 2: and unfairly they had to compare to what it felt

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Speaker 2: like to winning a World Series. I come from the

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Speaker 2: belief that both of those things could be true. I

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Speaker 2: also believe that people can be a product of their environment,

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Speaker 2: of where they're at. Obviously, how could you you haven't you?

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Speaker 2: You talked Aaron Judge and he's telling you it's the

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Speaker 2: most important game he's ever played in his life. That

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Speaker 2: doesn't mean games that he played in the World Series

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Speaker 2: were not important. It just means he's living in the

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Speaker 2: moment of what's going on, and he is looking around him.

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Speaker 2: He's experiencing something he's never experienced before. Representing your country

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Speaker 2: is a huge deal. That doesn't mean representing your organization

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Speaker 2: and your franchise isn't a big deal. I think both

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Speaker 2: can be true. But I think, you know, watching a

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Speaker 2: country like Venezuela, you know, win last night, and the

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Speaker 2: pride that they had representing their country the tears of

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Speaker 2: joy they had representing their country, the sense of accomplishment

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Speaker 2: they now have, you know, and already talking about their

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Speaker 2: rankings for three years from now, saying Venezuela needs to

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Speaker 2: be ranked number one because we're the champs. I think

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Speaker 2: just puts baseball on a great spot.

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Speaker 1: So, Kevin, I asked by a bunch of people today,

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Speaker 1: like what happened to the United States? You know, offense?

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Speaker 1: I mean, how can anyone slow them down? As a

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Speaker 1: former major league hitter and a good one for a

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Speaker 1: long time, could you explain to us what the hitting

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Speaker 1: environment is like in the big leagues these days? The

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Speaker 1: pitching that these guys see every day, Kevin, I say.

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Speaker 3: Every night, how does anyone get a hit anymore?

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Speaker 1: How do you view where pitching is and where hitting

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Speaker 1: is in the big leagues today?

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Speaker 2: Well, I'm I'm obviously shortly removed from the game, But

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Speaker 2: as I sit in this chair, and as I always

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Speaker 2: sit in this chair, now I have the same sentiment

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Speaker 2: as you, as I don't understand how guys hit it.

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Speaker 2: I don't know how I did it. I don't know

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Speaker 2: how guys continue to do it. Pitching's never been, you know,

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Speaker 2: at a better place in this game. You know, it

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Speaker 2: is so hard for these guys to hit. But to

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Speaker 2: answer your other question, you know, how could the USA

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Speaker 2: be stopped? I mean I think about two different sort

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Speaker 2: of kind of answers to that question. Obviously, hitting's very difficult,

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Speaker 2: but these guys are also in the middle of spring training, right,

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Speaker 2: They're not fully you know, dialed in, and even if

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Speaker 2: they were dialed in, I think it could happen to anyone.

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Speaker 2: We tend to take this, you know, entirety of this

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Speaker 2: lineup when we think how does it be stopped? But

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Speaker 2: really a baseball lineup has made up of nine individuals, right,

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Speaker 2: Each one of these individuals has their kind of own

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Speaker 2: way of preparing, own way of getting ready. And you know,

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Speaker 2: hitting is so up and down. You know, the best

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Speaker 2: ones kind of minimize the highs and lows throughout their season.

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Speaker 2: But it's very easy for nine guys to struggle at

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Speaker 2: once when you've only played I mean, how many games

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Speaker 2: did they play in this tournament? Nine games? Guys go

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Speaker 2: through ebbs and flows of nine games. It just happened

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Speaker 2: that the United States hitters nine guys or ten guys

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Speaker 2: or eleven guys, whoever they were kind of rotating in

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Speaker 2: and out just never really got it going. And you know, lastly,

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Speaker 2: I think the difficulty that the US had, and I

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Speaker 2: think some other countries do you kind of you know,

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Speaker 2: like the Dominican lineup, the Venezuela lineup that are made

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Speaker 2: up of you know, entirely big leaguers, you still see

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Speaker 2: at this point it means so much to them to

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Speaker 2: represent their country. Where not to say that the US

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Speaker 2: players have to kind of swallow their ego, swallow their

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Speaker 2: pride and understand who they are. But you're asking guys

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Speaker 2: throughout an entire lineup to do things that maybe they

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Speaker 2: historically haven't done. It's harder to get flow in a

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Speaker 2: lineup when you have everyone's best hitter who's used to

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Speaker 2: hitting in the middle of the order and being run producers,

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Speaker 2: when you don't have a lot of guys who at

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Speaker 2: a lineup that are used to their job is to

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Speaker 2: get on base, their job is to move runners, their

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Speaker 2: job is to kind of make the lineup flow. When

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Speaker 2: you ask these guys to come together for nine games,

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Speaker 2: it's hard to kind of get that flow. And obviously

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Speaker 2: at some point you think talent is just going to

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Speaker 2: take over. But we also understand, hittings never been harder.

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Speaker 2: Hitting's the hardest thing to do in any sport, you know,

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Speaker 2: across the globe, and it's just unfortunate that throughout those

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Speaker 2: nine games there wasn't two or three hitters that were

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Speaker 2: kind of stacked together that could kind of overcome a

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Speaker 2: lot of kind of the inefficiencies that the US lineup had. Yeah, Kevin,

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Speaker 2: I think that's a great point.

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Speaker 4: You bring up nine games versus one hundred and sixty

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Speaker 4: two then a playoff. I mean, it's just a different

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Speaker 4: world for our players. But the WBC, nonetheless, despite the

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Speaker 4: lack thereof offense, was fantastic and so entertaining. And I

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Speaker 4: told my dad even, I was like, Dad, I think

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Speaker 4: March is given a run for October's money as the

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Speaker 4: best sports month.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I when I you know, when I look back

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Speaker 2: on Obviously, I'm born here in the United States. I

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Speaker 2: was rooting for Team USA. I wanted them to win.

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Speaker 2: But I do feel like, in some ways, if USA

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Speaker 2: wins yesterday, I think we're sitting here talking about it's

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Speaker 2: about time. That's what we expected to happen. I think

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Speaker 2: the fact that a team like Venezuela did win is

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Speaker 2: going to carry this conversation, you know, through the three

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Speaker 2: year gap, or maybe it's a two year gap to

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Speaker 2: the Olympics, correct, right, And so we have kind of

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Speaker 2: a version of this World Baseball Classic where the world

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Speaker 2: stage is kind of around baseball. In some ways, I

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Speaker 2: think it was kind of poetic, and I think it

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Speaker 2: was almost even better for the sport that a team

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Speaker 2: like Venezuela was able to win for those reasons. But

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Speaker 2: I also think a lot of these other countries now

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Speaker 2: feel like going into this tournament, such as Team Italy,

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Speaker 2: I feel like they have a legitimate chance, and I

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Speaker 2: feel like players that are I don't want to say associate,

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Speaker 2: it's not the word, because people that are able to

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Speaker 2: qualify to play for these countries, I think are going

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Speaker 2: to be more likely to want to do it. Because

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Speaker 2: I'm sitting here and think about the couple chances that

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Speaker 2: I had to play, and one was an insurance issue.

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Speaker 2: One I was early in my career, still trying to

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Speaker 2: get my footing with the organization that you know, drafted

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Speaker 2: and developed me. I'm thinking, is it possible as stay

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Speaker 2: in shape, you know, for a couple of years and

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Speaker 2: be able to kind of play at age thirty nine

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Speaker 2: or forty for a team in the WBC that I

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Speaker 2: could qualify and play for, because it just seems like

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Speaker 2: so much fun, Like we all dream when we're in

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Speaker 2: spring training to go through the regular season and get

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Speaker 2: a chance to play in the postseason and ultimately try

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Speaker 2: to win it, you know, World Series. For someone who

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Speaker 2: never won a World Series but got a chance to

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Speaker 2: play in the playoffs, to play in a March version

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Speaker 2: of the playoffs where every game feels like a Game seven.

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Speaker 2: What an experience, Kevin.

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Speaker 1: I spoke five weeks ago when the Israeli team announced

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Speaker 1: its WBC roster, and it was a tremendous night.

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Speaker 3: It was so festive.

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Speaker 1: Did the Israeli team ever talk to you about playing

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Speaker 1: for them?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that was definitely the team that I was referring to,

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Speaker 2: without referring to, but yes, it was Team Israel. I.

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Speaker 2: Think so, what would have been two years ago is

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Speaker 2: WBC would have been twenty sixteen, right, correct, Right? Yeah,

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Speaker 2: you know I was. I had just finished what would

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Speaker 2: have been kind of my rookie year with Toronto. We

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Speaker 2: went into the playoffs. I was still kind of you know,

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Speaker 2: finding my way within that organization, understanding how to be

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Speaker 2: a big leader, not really confident in myself enough yet

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Speaker 2: to feel confident leaving my team in spring training. And

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Speaker 2: then the other time they asked me to play was

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three when I was a member of

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Speaker 2: the Atlanta Braves. I was just coming off the shoulder

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Speaker 2: surgery with the Dodgers. I was on a minor league deal,

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Speaker 2: having to you know, fight and call my way back

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Speaker 2: onto the team. You know, I had talked to the

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Speaker 2: GM of the Braves at the time and he kind

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Speaker 2: of said, you know, I wouldn't necessarily advise you to go.

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Speaker 2: We'd like to see you around camp to see if

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Speaker 2: you know you're the right guy for the job. My

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Speaker 2: decision was made a little bit easier when you know,

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Speaker 2: I was coming up of injury and insurance wasn't going

403
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Speaker 2: to back me for that tournament. But now that I

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Speaker 2: don't have to worry about competing for a job on

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Speaker 2: a team, if you know, the universe works out and

406
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Speaker 2: Team Israel would want to have me, and probably more importantly,

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Speaker 2: to be an Olympian would be incredible. Right from two

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Speaker 2: years from now, if they come calling and give me

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Speaker 2: a little bit of heads up, I mean, I'm going

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Speaker 2: to stay in shape, because that's who I am. Baseball

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Speaker 2: shape's a different type of shape. But I think if

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Speaker 2: they called me and asked me if I wanted to

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Speaker 2: participate in the Olympics, do I feel like I would

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Speaker 2: be the best guy to go out there and play

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Speaker 2: center field every single day. No, to be part of

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Speaker 2: the team and platoon and maybe play a corner outfield

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Speaker 2: position or just kind of be like a resource and

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Speaker 2: a mentor on the bench. Absolutely, who went sign up

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Speaker 2: for a chance to be an Olympian.

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Speaker 4: Well, we're going to cover you, all right. I'm gonna

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Speaker 4: get my dad on Bluebird Territory so he can take

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Speaker 4: your spot there in case you end up doing this

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Speaker 4: in twenty twenty eight. Okay, so we'll cover the back

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Speaker 4: end of the media. We can really help you with

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Speaker 4: the base ball.

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Speaker 2: But beautiful. The beautiful thing about media, as you guys know,

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Speaker 2: with this type of media, as you can do it

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Speaker 2: from anywhere in the world and its schedule. So I

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Speaker 2: don't know if I'll necessarily need coverage, because the great

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Speaker 2: thing about this laptop and this MIC is I travel

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Speaker 2: with it anywhere I go. But yeah, I think it

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Speaker 2: would be a cool thing. I don't know exactly. I'm

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Speaker 2: pretty sure Los Angeles is deemed baseball is an Olympic sports.

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Speaker 2: How they are going to do it in terms of

435
00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:30,040
Speaker 2: and I know we have that can be a whole

436
00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:34,600
Speaker 2: nother conversation about you know, the potential uh, you know,

437
00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:38,600
Speaker 2: lockout a year from now, the PA and the Union,

438
00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:41,320
Speaker 2: you know what they're going to do. We have bigger

439
00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:43,280
Speaker 2: fish to fry in terms of kind of trying to

440
00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:46,639
Speaker 2: figure out a collective bargaining agreement, you know, so we

441
00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:49,840
Speaker 2: don't have a work stoppage because, like I mentioned earlier,

442
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:52,399
Speaker 2: I don't think baseball's ever been in a greater place

443
00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:56,040
Speaker 2: what we just witnessed with the WBC, what we're just

444
00:21:56,080 --> 00:22:00,560
Speaker 2: coming off of a seven game World Series. It's never

445
00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:02,479
Speaker 2: been in a better place. But I do think that

446
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:06,520
Speaker 2: is something that has to be discussed maybe at the

447
00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:08,439
Speaker 2: back end of this CBA what they're going to do

448
00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:11,639
Speaker 2: with the Olympics. Are they going to have a you know,

449
00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:14,480
Speaker 2: a break to allow our best players in the major

450
00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:17,159
Speaker 2: leagues to represent their country? You know, is it going

451
00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,720
Speaker 2: to be a bunch of non forty man guys and

452
00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:22,920
Speaker 2: you know the Olympic baseball kind of gets washed out

453
00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:26,400
Speaker 2: a little bit isn't as exciting as what we just witnessed,

454
00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:35,639
Speaker 2: But I think that's a conversation for another day.

455
00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:40,560
Speaker 4: So Kevin, you obviously have referenced your major league career

456
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:43,800
Speaker 4: ten different teams and behind you. For those watching on YouTube,

457
00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:45,919
Speaker 4: you might be able to see at great game or

458
00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:47,800
Speaker 4: what You can give us a follow and subscribe. There

459
00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:51,760
Speaker 4: you've got eleven jerseys because you included your your college

460
00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:53,160
Speaker 4: jersey up there right.

461
00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:58,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got eleven jerseys out there. You know, when

462
00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:00,880
Speaker 2: I started kind of this media When I started kind

463
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:03,800
Speaker 2: of this media venture, I would film in this room

464
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:05,600
Speaker 2: and I didn't have a Blue Jay jersey behind me

465
00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:08,600
Speaker 2: because I have one sit here to my left. And

466
00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,040
Speaker 2: then people and then I went out and it took

467
00:23:11,119 --> 00:23:13,879
Speaker 2: me a long time. You know, I was moving from

468
00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:17,080
Speaker 2: Arizona to Texas. I had all these jerseys, I just

469
00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:18,760
Speaker 2: hadn't had the time to get them framed. And then

470
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,520
Speaker 2: I finally had this beautiful room outside of my house

471
00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:24,520
Speaker 2: that I could display all my stuff. It makes a

472
00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:28,719
Speaker 2: nice background. So I ended up having like this perfect

473
00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:33,679
Speaker 2: nine squares which included my college jersey. And then people

474
00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:35,399
Speaker 2: were giving me a hard time that I have a

475
00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:37,679
Speaker 2: Blue Jay jersey and a Giant jersey because I have

476
00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:41,480
Speaker 2: them located elsewhere in my home. And if you see now,

477
00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:44,119
Speaker 2: it kind of actually worked out that it actually framed

478
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:46,520
Speaker 2: up to be kind of a perfect jersey too. That

479
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:50,320
Speaker 2: was nice. I put this. I put these nine jerseys up.

480
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:52,720
Speaker 2: I was I got these other my Blue Jay and

481
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,800
Speaker 2: my Giants jersey frame and I was going to film

482
00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:58,240
Speaker 2: an episode in here, and there just happened to be

483
00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:03,440
Speaker 2: two screws on the wall for those Dodger Angel jerseys,

484
00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:06,920
Speaker 2: and I'm like, Okay, it looks good, I'll film the episode.

485
00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:08,359
Speaker 2: And then someone pointed out to me it looked like

486
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,639
Speaker 2: a jersey. So I'm very happy with rolling with that.

487
00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:15,560
Speaker 4: Yeah, rolling Kevin, that college jersey up there. We thought

488
00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:17,119
Speaker 4: this was very unique. So if you don't know this

489
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,640
Speaker 4: about my my grandfather, my dad's dad, he was a mathematician.

490
00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:24,040
Speaker 4: He was a PhD in mathematics. And and you studied

491
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:26,600
Speaker 4: math in college, is that correct?

492
00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:34,040
Speaker 2: Loosely, loosely, partially partially originally, yes, I will well, so, yes,

493
00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:38,520
Speaker 2: I did study math in college. The college that I

494
00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:43,080
Speaker 2: went to didn't have necessarily like a specific business department

495
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:50,600
Speaker 2: as a college degree. So I did study math because

496
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:55,480
Speaker 2: if I was not. If I didn't end up being drafted,

497
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:58,440
Speaker 2: I was going to continue going down that road of

498
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:01,520
Speaker 2: business school, so that it was kind of like the

499
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:05,639
Speaker 2: gateway into business school. So I can't sit here and

500
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,400
Speaker 2: tell you I'm a PhD in math. I'm a mathematician.

501
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:11,119
Speaker 2: But that was like the closest that was like the

502
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:15,080
Speaker 2: closest sort of avenue to business right which during the

503
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:19,760
Speaker 2: time I was in college, once again, I didn't I

504
00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:23,680
Speaker 2: wasn't put on this earth to be a baseball player.

505
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,480
Speaker 2: That came through a lot of hard work. My parents

506
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:28,960
Speaker 2: didn't raise me to be a baseball player. My parents

507
00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:31,520
Speaker 2: allowed me to be an athlete first. My parents allowed

508
00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:35,640
Speaker 2: me to have other interest in things. So even at

509
00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:37,639
Speaker 2: that time when I was in college, as much as

510
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,680
Speaker 2: I wanted to, you know, get to the next level,

511
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:42,760
Speaker 2: which would have been the minor leagues, I was still

512
00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:47,719
Speaker 2: preparing life to not have that kind of workout. So

513
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:50,320
Speaker 2: I was taking math. I was going to go down

514
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:53,160
Speaker 2: the business route. At the time in college, I still

515
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:55,600
Speaker 2: thought I was going to go to law school. What

516
00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:57,960
Speaker 2: I was going to do with that law degree would

517
00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:00,000
Speaker 2: have been probably a lot different than what I would

518
00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:01,720
Speaker 2: do with a lot of degree. Now I think I

519
00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,240
Speaker 2: wasn't really kind of sure the direction that I wanted

520
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,280
Speaker 2: to go in. I was interested in law. What I

521
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 2: found out much later in life, once I got drafted

522
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:12,960
Speaker 2: and got an agent, stuff is WHOA. That's what I

523
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:15,320
Speaker 2: could have ended up being, was an agent. So if

524
00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:17,719
Speaker 2: baseball has worked out, I think that's kind of the

525
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:21,520
Speaker 2: direction that I would have. I love sports. I really

526
00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:23,680
Speaker 2: do love sports. I love baseball, I love all sports.

527
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:25,440
Speaker 2: So I felt like that business degree or a law

528
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:27,520
Speaker 2: degree would have I think I would have found my

529
00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:32,360
Speaker 2: way into sports, whether it would have been agency, business, ops,

530
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:36,480
Speaker 2: something about that because I love it. Man. I love

531
00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:39,840
Speaker 2: everything about it. I love everything that sports teaches you

532
00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:42,080
Speaker 2: as an individual. I love what it teaches you as

533
00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:45,479
Speaker 2: a teammate. I love the hard work, the discipline, the

534
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,080
Speaker 2: sacrifice you have to make. I love the idea that

535
00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:53,479
Speaker 2: sports gathered a community. I love sports can transcend. You know, sex, gender,

536
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:58,679
Speaker 2: you know, religion, political beliefs, country you're born in. You

537
00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:01,119
Speaker 2: know when you have a common goal to achieve something.

538
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:03,720
Speaker 2: You've been around baseball your whole life. You know, you

539
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:09,119
Speaker 2: get people from all different parts of the world, people

540
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:12,520
Speaker 2: that speak different languages, people that have different ideology, beliefs,

541
00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:16,399
Speaker 2: people that maybe think differently politically, and you come together

542
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:18,720
Speaker 2: you have something on the front of your chest, it

543
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:20,920
Speaker 2: becomes bigger than that. So I think that's the great

544
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:22,359
Speaker 2: thing about sports, right, Kevin.

545
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:26,840
Speaker 3: My dad went to MIT undergrad and he was yeah.

546
00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:27,400
Speaker 2: No.

547
00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:31,920
Speaker 1: My oldest brother, my oldest brother, got his PhD in

548
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:36,200
Speaker 1: electrical engineering from MIT. And by the way, my other brother, Matt,

549
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:38,359
Speaker 1: he and my older brother are in the Hall of

550
00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:42,080
Speaker 1: Fame for baseball at Catholic University. So we grew up

551
00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:45,600
Speaker 1: in a baseball house. My dad was a good player,

552
00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:47,560
Speaker 1: had a great feel for the game. The point is,

553
00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:52,240
Speaker 1: my fascination for numbers in the game came from my

554
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:55,600
Speaker 1: father when we weren't playing and he wasn't teaching us

555
00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:57,520
Speaker 1: how to play. We were sitting there with a baseball

556
00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:00,359
Speaker 1: encyclopedia on our laps, and he was shown me that

557
00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,080
Speaker 1: Joe DiMaggio, you know, hit three hundred and sixty one

558
00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:05,879
Speaker 1: homers and struck out three hundred and sixty nine times

559
00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:08,240
Speaker 1: in his career. I knew that, Kevin, when I was

560
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:09,040
Speaker 1: seven years.

561
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:10,520
Speaker 2: Old, because my father taught me.

562
00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:14,960
Speaker 1: My point is, with your math background and your interest

563
00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:18,560
Speaker 1: in the history of baseball and the statistics that they

564
00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:19,840
Speaker 1: kind of go hand in hand.

565
00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:24,080
Speaker 2: Agreed. Oh absolutely. I mean in terms of being a

566
00:28:24,119 --> 00:28:27,600
Speaker 2: fan of the game, it was allowed me to have interest,

567
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:29,920
Speaker 2: you know, in things like you were talking about, as

568
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:33,960
Speaker 2: someone that pursued it as a profession. Sometimes it was

569
00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:36,560
Speaker 2: something that got my way because I could calculate my

570
00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:39,200
Speaker 2: batting average while I was standing in the outfield. You know,

571
00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:40,680
Speaker 2: if I knew I wanted to get back to two

572
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:43,880
Speaker 2: to eighty, I can look at the scoreboard and be like, damn,

573
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:45,600
Speaker 2: I got one hundred and eighty at bats. Okay, if

574
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:48,840
Speaker 2: we round up to twenty at bats, two hundred, okay, yeah,

575
00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:51,000
Speaker 2: I need I need thirteen hits. I got to go

576
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,680
Speaker 2: thirteen for twenty. Oh man, I better get it going

577
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:58,720
Speaker 2: right now, Kevin. Yes, to answer your question, that's what

578
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:01,320
Speaker 2: sometimes we're doing in the outlo it is I'm looking

579
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:03,880
Speaker 2: at the scoreboard figuring out if I go thirteen from

580
00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,280
Speaker 2: the next twenty, I'm gonna hitting two eighty five and

581
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:08,400
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go kind of into that two hundred at

582
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:11,320
Speaker 2: batmar feeling pretty good about where I'm at, and then

583
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,040
Speaker 2: you know, maybe I accomplished that goal. Then I'm thinking

584
00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:16,760
Speaker 2: I got three hundred more at bats? How many more

585
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:19,200
Speaker 2: do I gotta get to kind of state? So yeah,

586
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:20,600
Speaker 2: it's a blessing and a curse to be able to

587
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 2: crunch summers like that, right, Kevin.

588
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:25,720
Speaker 1: When you grew up in southern California, who is your

589
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:28,160
Speaker 1: number one guy? The guy that you used to watch

590
00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:31,400
Speaker 1: play and say, that's my guy?

591
00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:37,360
Speaker 2: Man? It changed a couple times throughout my childhood, you know,

592
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:41,600
Speaker 2: I believe it or not, but I grew up. I

593
00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,200
Speaker 2: would say, once we got kind of into like kid pitch,

594
00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:46,280
Speaker 2: So that's probably around nine or ten years old. I

595
00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 2: was a catcher. I love to catch. I loved the action.

596
00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:51,680
Speaker 2: I wanted to be back there. You know. I always

597
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,480
Speaker 2: felt like I was a pretty like hard nose, tough kid.

598
00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:57,200
Speaker 2: I love calling the curveball in the dirt with two strikes.

599
00:29:57,240 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 2: I wanted to block it. I love trying to throw

600
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,320
Speaker 2: runners out at second base. So you know, Mike Piazza was,

601
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:06,000
Speaker 2: you know, a guy that I loved early on in

602
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:10,240
Speaker 2: my childhood. Russell Martin, Paul la Duca. You know, as

603
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,960
Speaker 2: I got a little bit, you know, older, and I

604
00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:15,520
Speaker 2: stopped catching once I got to high school. It was

605
00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,640
Speaker 2: guys like Andre Ethier. It was guys like Matt Kemp.

606
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:24,080
Speaker 2: You know, I loved uh for some reason. I loved

607
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,920
Speaker 2: Blake DeWitt because I just felt like he kind of

608
00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:30,000
Speaker 2: came out of nowhere. He you know, he became the

609
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 2: second baseman for you know, I felt like I was

610
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:36,840
Speaker 2: kind of also gravitwords, gravitated towards kind of these underdogs.

611
00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:42,080
Speaker 2: And I always sit here and tell people part of

612
00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:46,080
Speaker 2: the reason I made it to the big leagues and

613
00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:49,400
Speaker 2: I pursued it was I was very fortunate as a kid,

614
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:51,800
Speaker 2: and I was very spoiled as a kid that I

615
00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 2: grew up listening to VINSCOI. I grew up in Los Angeles,

616
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:57,120
Speaker 2: I grew up a Dodger fan, right, and he had

617
00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:02,400
Speaker 2: the most wonderful way of making a five year old

618
00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:05,120
Speaker 2: or six year old kid who thought Major League Baseball

619
00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:10,400
Speaker 2: players are superheroes or not from this world relatable. And

620
00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:12,120
Speaker 2: maybe I wasn't at five or six, but maybe it

621
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 2: was like when I was like twelve or thirteen, I

622
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,920
Speaker 2: would be sitting at home, I'd be watching games with

623
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,400
Speaker 2: my brother and my dad and my mom, and I'd

624
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:21,720
Speaker 2: be listening to Vince Schooley, and every once in a

625
00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:24,800
Speaker 2: while he'd be like he'd be talking about. For example,

626
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,720
Speaker 2: he'd be talking about Connor Jackson, playing first base for

627
00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,240
Speaker 2: the Arizona Diamondbacks. Went to El Camino Real High School,

628
00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:32,640
Speaker 2: which was in my neighborhood, right, And I'm like, holy,

629
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:35,600
Speaker 2: that could be me. Man Like, he grew up right

630
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:37,040
Speaker 2: down the street for me. He went to the high

631
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:39,000
Speaker 2: school right down the road from where I went to.

632
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:41,600
Speaker 2: He didn't come from a different planet. He literally went

633
00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:44,080
Speaker 2: to the high school right down the street. So he

634
00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:48,120
Speaker 2: just had this amazing way of making these guys that

635
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 2: we make out to be superhuman people at such a

636
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:55,440
Speaker 2: young age so relatable. And I never forgot that. I

637
00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:59,560
Speaker 2: never like, I didn't really fully understand it as a kid,

638
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:02,080
Speaker 2: and looking back on it, I was very thankful to

639
00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 2: have him in my household every day and made me

640
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:06,960
Speaker 2: believe that I could be a big leader because I

641
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:09,200
Speaker 2: looked at myself and I was like, I'm not super human.

642
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:12,400
Speaker 2: I'm very normal, right. But when you have this relatability

643
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:14,040
Speaker 2: to people that went to the high schools in your

644
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:17,360
Speaker 2: area and they grew up, you know, in southern California,

645
00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:20,200
Speaker 2: just like you, it made me believe I could do it.

646
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:24,320
Speaker 1: So cool now, now, Kevin, you al you named your

647
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 1: daughter after Kobe Bryant, Is that correct?

648
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:32,560
Speaker 2: My wife's not here, so I'll say, yeah, my wife's

649
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 2: here loosely. Loosely, right. So we when we found out

650
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 2: we were having a daughter first, you know, growing up

651
00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:45,360
Speaker 2: and even to some degree throughout my you know, my career,

652
00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:48,800
Speaker 2: people always referred to me as KP. You know, so

653
00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:52,040
Speaker 2: when we had a daughter, we wanted our firstborn to

654
00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:55,000
Speaker 2: be like KP, like me, right, because that was kind

655
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:58,520
Speaker 2: of my nickname growing up. And so we started kind

656
00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:03,600
Speaker 2: of brainstorming this idea of k names, right, And there's

657
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:06,800
Speaker 2: no mistaken Kobe was like my childhood idol. I grew

658
00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:09,680
Speaker 2: up in Los Angeles during you know, the era of

659
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:12,960
Speaker 2: Kobe Bryan and Shaq and then obviously Kobe on his own,

660
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:19,000
Speaker 2: and you know, we had the final two was Kobe

661
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,479
Speaker 2: in another name, a k name, And you know, we

662
00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:27,480
Speaker 2: ultimately didn't decide until our child was born. And yes,

663
00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:30,320
Speaker 2: there's probably an element of me taking advantage of my wife,

664
00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:34,080
Speaker 2: my poor wife who just gave birth to our first child, right,

665
00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:40,320
Speaker 2: and she was okay with either one. And we have

666
00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:43,640
Speaker 2: this beautiful baby girl. You know, my parents, my in

667
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:46,920
Speaker 2: laws are in the waiting room. And I'm like telling

668
00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:50,000
Speaker 2: my wife, you know, she's out of it. She just

669
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:52,160
Speaker 2: pushed out this child for the first time, you know,

670
00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:56,040
Speaker 2: and our whole life is changing. I'm like, Babe, our

671
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:58,160
Speaker 2: family wants to meet our daughter. We got to give

672
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:01,080
Speaker 2: her a name. She's like, you choose, I'm like Kobe.

673
00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:05,280
Speaker 2: And now, honestly, it's like, we cannot envision her not

674
00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:10,160
Speaker 2: having that name now, because you know, you never know

675
00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:14,320
Speaker 2: really what your child is going to gravitate towards. And

676
00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:16,799
Speaker 2: not to sit here and say my daughter is going

677
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:19,160
Speaker 2: to be a professional athlete, but I think growing up

678
00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:23,360
Speaker 2: around it, you know, me being a very sporty person,

679
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,719
Speaker 2: my wife also being a former college athlete too, we

680
00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:30,040
Speaker 2: always kind of hoped in dreams our kids would enjoy

681
00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:33,640
Speaker 2: sports or like sports, or be athletic. I would say,

682
00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:36,920
Speaker 2: kind of in the last two years, maybe year, my

683
00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:41,560
Speaker 2: daughter has really kind of found her way in terms

684
00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:44,480
Speaker 2: of at least wanting to be athletic, understanding it's cool

685
00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:46,839
Speaker 2: to be a girl that's athletic. I think early on

686
00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:49,040
Speaker 2: she was your typical four or five year old, wanted

687
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:51,839
Speaker 2: to play dolls and be a girl and do certain things.

688
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:55,880
Speaker 2: And I think now she's understanding her body and it

689
00:34:55,880 --> 00:35:00,200
Speaker 2: can be cool that I like kind of hitting you know,

690
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:02,880
Speaker 2: balls in the cage with you, dad, I like playing soccer.

691
00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:06,239
Speaker 2: I like I think it's cool that I'm strong and

692
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:08,880
Speaker 2: that I could be physical, and that it's cool to

693
00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:11,120
Speaker 2: work out and it's cool to train. So I think

694
00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:15,239
Speaker 2: it everything worked out for the right reason because she

695
00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:20,320
Speaker 2: is starting to be an athletic young girl, and Kobe

696
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:23,480
Speaker 2: is just a very fitting name for her. Kevin, how

697
00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:23,919
Speaker 2: is that?

698
00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:26,240
Speaker 4: So I have a two and a half year old daughter,

699
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:30,000
Speaker 4: so I'm not quite there in the you know, sports yet.

700
00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:33,399
Speaker 4: She's taking a dance class, so I'm the dance dad

701
00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:35,560
Speaker 4: learning the dance so I can help her when she

702
00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:38,960
Speaker 4: has a recital in May. But when your daughter started

703
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:43,920
Speaker 4: playing sports for you, did you find yourself like getting

704
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,359
Speaker 4: kind of revved up the way you would do when

705
00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,640
Speaker 4: you would step foot on a major league field because

706
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:51,080
Speaker 4: that competitive edge. I don't care how old you are,

707
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:53,440
Speaker 4: you kind of get excited when your kid's playing.

708
00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:53,600
Speaker 3: No.

709
00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:57,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I also take with a grain of

710
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,560
Speaker 2: salt that she's also eight years old. Side of that,

711
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:03,719
Speaker 2: and once again going back to the idea of the podcast,

712
00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:07,120
Speaker 2: it's okay for them to be eight. It's okay for

713
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:11,480
Speaker 2: them to just like it. It's okay for them to you know,

714
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:14,560
Speaker 2: understand that it's okay to lose too. Like it's not

715
00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 2: all about winning. There is a development aspect that is important.

716
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:22,040
Speaker 2: I think for me, the greater challenge wasn't does she

717
00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:24,040
Speaker 2: like it? Does she not like it? Is she winning?

718
00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:27,400
Speaker 2: Is she losing? I just want her to I wanted

719
00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:30,680
Speaker 2: her to understand when she signed up for something, she

720
00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:33,160
Speaker 2: had to finish it. When she signed up, it means

721
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:34,960
Speaker 2: you got to work your best. You have to be

722
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,040
Speaker 2: the best player on the field right now. No, should

723
00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:40,040
Speaker 2: you work hard, absolutely. If you have practice, if you

724
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:42,319
Speaker 2: don't feel like going, you still have to go. Those

725
00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:45,319
Speaker 2: are the more important lessons that I wanted to teach

726
00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:47,920
Speaker 2: you at a young age. And there was times early

727
00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:50,400
Speaker 2: on me and her mom had to fight her like

728
00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:52,520
Speaker 2: I don't want to go to practice. I had school,

729
00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:54,920
Speaker 2: I'm tired, blah blah blah. It's like, no, it's not

730
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:57,440
Speaker 2: about practice. It's about you signed up. It's a commitment.

731
00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:00,160
Speaker 2: You have a responsibility to your teammates to be there.

732
00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:03,920
Speaker 2: There's been times, there was times, you know, when I

733
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,239
Speaker 2: was coaching my son in flag football, this year at five,

734
00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:10,239
Speaker 2: he wasn't feeling well. He had I don't know what

735
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:11,480
Speaker 2: it was, and I don't want to say it like

736
00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:13,759
Speaker 2: the flu, but he didn't need to be out on

737
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:16,400
Speaker 2: the field playing. And I and you know, as competitive

738
00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:17,799
Speaker 2: as I am, and I want him to be out

739
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:19,440
Speaker 2: there and I want to try to win these games.

740
00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:21,880
Speaker 2: It was important for me to tell them, hey, look it,

741
00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:23,920
Speaker 2: you don't have to go out there and play, but

742
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:25,360
Speaker 2: you got to show up. You got to sit on

743
00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:28,880
Speaker 2: that bench here, your teammates on because we and you

744
00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:32,840
Speaker 2: made a commitment to your teammates. You know, unless you're bed,

745
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:35,080
Speaker 2: you're sick in your band, you can't go. We're out

746
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:37,600
Speaker 2: of town. Which is also okay at five years old.

747
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:40,360
Speaker 2: You know, it's okay that you take a family trip

748
00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:43,839
Speaker 2: and you go. You got things to do, you got

749
00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:45,560
Speaker 2: family trip to play. It's okay for your son to

750
00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:48,560
Speaker 2: miss his five year old flag football game. We'll we'll

751
00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:50,600
Speaker 2: cover for you. Know. That's why you have you know,

752
00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:54,400
Speaker 2: ten kids on your team. But for me, I just

753
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:56,279
Speaker 2: want my kids to work hard. I want them to

754
00:37:56,320 --> 00:37:59,640
Speaker 2: be there. I want them to eventually love it, because

755
00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:02,080
Speaker 2: without loving it, you're never gonna be any good at it.

756
00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:03,680
Speaker 2: You can be good at it and at some point

757
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:05,200
Speaker 2: you're gonna get burned out on it and you're not

758
00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:07,200
Speaker 2: gonna want it to do anymore. So I want my

759
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:11,239
Speaker 2: kids to love it. For me, I enjoy teaching her

760
00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:13,880
Speaker 2: the game. It's been a little bit harder for me

761
00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:16,560
Speaker 2: to sit on the sidelines during her games. I'm not

762
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:18,400
Speaker 2: the dad who sits in the chair and watches I

763
00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:20,919
Speaker 2: pace the sideline. I try to coach her a little

764
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:23,719
Speaker 2: bit from the sideline because ultimately, I just want the

765
00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:26,279
Speaker 2: best for her. It's not a matter if she goes

766
00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:28,600
Speaker 2: and scores a goal or she does X, Y and z.

767
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:32,560
Speaker 2: I I see the game, even though it's soccer. I

768
00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:34,319
Speaker 2: see the game a little bit differently. I see the

769
00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:38,440
Speaker 2: intricate sort of things that you know allow you to

770
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:40,759
Speaker 2: be successful, like whether it's just pushing up a little

771
00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:43,000
Speaker 2: bit when you're playing defense, get a little bit closer,

772
00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:44,879
Speaker 2: do this? You know? Why did you get the ball

773
00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:47,319
Speaker 2: at a bounce here? You had time to dribble like

774
00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:49,080
Speaker 2: I just enjoy teaching the game.

775
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:57,640
Speaker 3: Right, Kevin, did you ever meet Kobe Bryant?

776
00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:02,479
Speaker 2: No, sadly I did it, you know, and sitting here

777
00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:05,839
Speaker 2: talking about it many years later, it still like hits

778
00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:08,480
Speaker 2: home to me. But I never really thought that opportunity,

779
00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:13,279
Speaker 2: you know, had an expiration date. I felt like I

780
00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:16,319
Speaker 2: felt like exactly and I felt like even more so

781
00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:18,799
Speaker 2: once I had my first daughter. I now have a

782
00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:22,520
Speaker 2: second daughter. But everything Kobe started to do post career

783
00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:25,000
Speaker 2: in terms of trying to move the women's game forward,

784
00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:28,000
Speaker 2: I felt like, obviously I would have loved to have

785
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:31,759
Speaker 2: met him as my idol. You know, the idea of

786
00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:35,480
Speaker 2: you know, working hard, the MoMA mentality is a huge

787
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:38,479
Speaker 2: reason I feel like I succeeded in my careers because

788
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,520
Speaker 2: I felt like where I was able to lack some talent,

789
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,920
Speaker 2: I was able to make up for in belief in myself,

790
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,239
Speaker 2: but also you know, behind the scenes, the type of

791
00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:50,040
Speaker 2: work that I was to put in. But even more

792
00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:53,239
Speaker 2: importantly of me meeting him in terms of what he was,

793
00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:56,759
Speaker 2: what he meant to me, and as a you know,

794
00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:59,480
Speaker 2: a child, a teenager, and even throughout my major league career,

795
00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:02,320
Speaker 2: kind of losing sight of that kind of mom of mentality,

796
00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:05,560
Speaker 2: what he was kind of pursuing moving forward and trying

797
00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:08,920
Speaker 2: to move the women's game for it. As a you know,

798
00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:11,560
Speaker 2: a father of now two girls, I think that would

799
00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:14,360
Speaker 2: have been a really cool thing to to, you know,

800
00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:17,000
Speaker 2: hopefully get involved or meet him, or you know, just

801
00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:19,600
Speaker 2: learn from him and why it's important.

802
00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:21,360
Speaker 1: And you know where I could have helped, right and Kevin,

803
00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:23,359
Speaker 1: where were you when he went for eighty one?

804
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:27,799
Speaker 2: Where was he when I went for eighty one? I

805
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:30,040
Speaker 2: don't remember. I was probably at home. I mean I

806
00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:32,719
Speaker 2: was probably living in West Hills, California, in my childhood home.

807
00:40:33,239 --> 00:40:37,480
Speaker 2: What I remember more specifically is his last game. I

808
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:41,120
Speaker 2: was in Toronto watching the game. My parents happen to

809
00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:44,800
Speaker 2: be in town. And I'm never him going for sixty

810
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:48,760
Speaker 2: in his last game, you know, broken down, couldn't jump,

811
00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:52,560
Speaker 2: couldn't move, you know, had to work really hard for

812
00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:56,040
Speaker 2: those sixty points. But I do remember that, like yesterday.

813
00:40:56,120 --> 00:40:59,399
Speaker 2: The eighty one is burnt into my memory because I've

814
00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:01,840
Speaker 2: seen it so much time since, you know, on YouTube

815
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:05,719
Speaker 2: or the highlights. But in terms of where I was at,

816
00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:08,680
Speaker 2: I was I was probably still you know, living at

817
00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:10,680
Speaker 2: my parents' house. I was still probably a teenager at

818
00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:15,359
Speaker 2: the time. But I do specifically remember his last game

819
00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:18,560
Speaker 2: being with my dad, my mom, you know, my wife,

820
00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:20,640
Speaker 2: who didn't really care as much, but me and my

821
00:41:20,719 --> 00:41:22,480
Speaker 2: dad being able to watch it together. That was a

822
00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:25,239
Speaker 2: that was a huge thing. Is you know, my mom

823
00:41:25,239 --> 00:41:27,440
Speaker 2: grew up with two boys, you know, so it was

824
00:41:27,440 --> 00:41:29,319
Speaker 2: a big part of her life. Whether she liked it

825
00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:31,880
Speaker 2: or didn't like it, or you know, watched it or

826
00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:34,319
Speaker 2: cared or loved it was a way that me and

827
00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:36,600
Speaker 2: my dad and my brother just really bonded.

828
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:39,840
Speaker 4: You know, Kevin, you talked a lot about youth sports

829
00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:42,160
Speaker 4: and your own kids. You talked about your own upbringing.

830
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:45,799
Speaker 4: I think it's so incredible for people listening, especially you know,

831
00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:47,239
Speaker 4: we have a lot of families who listen to our

832
00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:50,160
Speaker 4: show for them to hear you say, oh, I wasn't

833
00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:51,920
Speaker 4: born to be a baseball player, right, I had to

834
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:55,359
Speaker 4: work hard to do this, and and you got yourself there.

835
00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:57,480
Speaker 4: You got yourself to the big leagues, which is so

836
00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:00,920
Speaker 4: incredible and it's credit to yourselves, your family, so many others.

837
00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:04,600
Speaker 4: But I think that something that deters so many children

838
00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:07,759
Speaker 4: and so many kids youth baseball players is the fear

839
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:10,600
Speaker 4: of the ball. I know me personally, fear of the

840
00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:12,480
Speaker 4: ball took me out of the game. I mean, granted

841
00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:14,400
Speaker 4: I was always much smaller than the other kids, but

842
00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:17,520
Speaker 4: once the kids grew up and Nick Pack in the

843
00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:20,920
Speaker 4: sixth grade was now, you know, five foot nine and

844
00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:24,320
Speaker 4: I was still four to six, and he's throwing seventy

845
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:26,279
Speaker 4: all of a sudden. I mean that feels like one

846
00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:28,759
Speaker 4: hundred and seventy for a kid. And I know you

847
00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:31,680
Speaker 4: faced your own battles. I mean back in twenty twenty one,

848
00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:34,360
Speaker 4: taking a pitch to your face, and fear of the

849
00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:37,320
Speaker 4: ball is real. Not just for kids, it's for major leaguers.

850
00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:38,359
Speaker 2: It's hard to get in there.

851
00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:40,239
Speaker 4: Can you talk a little bit about the fear of

852
00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:40,760
Speaker 4: the ball?

853
00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:43,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think. I think what happened to me in

854
00:42:43,719 --> 00:42:48,360
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, obviously, you know, cosmetically it was a

855
00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:50,440
Speaker 2: blessing disguise. I got a brand new nose, you know,

856
00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:53,600
Speaker 2: I got to kind of you know, it really kind

857
00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:56,319
Speaker 2: of prepared me for this life in the media, Like

858
00:42:56,560 --> 00:42:58,400
Speaker 2: the nose I had before versus the one to have

859
00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:01,480
Speaker 2: now night and day different. This is a much better

860
00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:07,440
Speaker 2: face for TV. So but in all seriousness, the great

861
00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:13,560
Speaker 2: thing that came out of that experience, and I came

862
00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:15,960
Speaker 2: back as quickly as I did because that's just who

863
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:18,360
Speaker 2: I am. Like I also understood at that point in

864
00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:21,839
Speaker 2: time when I was a member of the Mets. We

865
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:25,680
Speaker 2: were in first place. We had so many injuries, and

866
00:43:26,719 --> 00:43:30,480
Speaker 2: I felt this sense of needing to come back for

867
00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:32,799
Speaker 2: my teammates. There was a part of it that I

868
00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:35,359
Speaker 2: knew I needed to come back from myself, because much

869
00:43:35,400 --> 00:43:38,040
Speaker 2: like you said, I think the longer that I would

870
00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:41,840
Speaker 2: allowed that to kind of fester, the more doubt or

871
00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:45,239
Speaker 2: fear would have crept into my mind. The biggest thing

872
00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:49,520
Speaker 2: for me was I played baseball. I mean at that point,

873
00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:52,680
Speaker 2: I'm thirty four years old, right, I've been playing baseball

874
00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:54,879
Speaker 2: my whole life. I think there was one other time

875
00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:56,759
Speaker 2: in high school. I think I got hit in the

876
00:43:56,840 --> 00:43:59,920
Speaker 2: chin with the pitch. Not wasn't ninety eight, you know,

877
00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:01,719
Speaker 2: I don't even remember coming out of the game. I

878
00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:03,879
Speaker 2: think it was like a glancing blow to my chin.

879
00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:08,759
Speaker 2: But I had to remind myself when it happened, how

880
00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:10,560
Speaker 2: many bats have I taken in my life and it's

881
00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:13,200
Speaker 2: never happened to me before, Like it is a reality

882
00:44:13,239 --> 00:44:15,359
Speaker 2: of the game. It is part of the game. You

883
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:17,879
Speaker 2: don't see it that often, but it does happen, right,

884
00:44:18,200 --> 00:44:19,799
Speaker 2: But that was my big thing. It was kind of

885
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:23,160
Speaker 2: this reverse psychology idea that I've played for a long time.

886
00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:27,719
Speaker 2: It hasn't happened. It happened this one time. Why should

887
00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:29,920
Speaker 2: I be scared of it? You know, the odds of

888
00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:32,279
Speaker 2: it happening are not high, you know, one time out

889
00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:36,239
Speaker 2: of the twenty twenty five thousand at bats I've had

890
00:44:36,280 --> 00:44:38,880
Speaker 2: in my career since a little kid, through the minor leagues,

891
00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:41,799
Speaker 2: through the big leagues. That was important to me. But

892
00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:44,160
Speaker 2: the great thing that came out of it when I

893
00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:46,320
Speaker 2: was able to get back on that field very quickly,

894
00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:50,520
Speaker 2: was the amount of people that reached out to me

895
00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:56,200
Speaker 2: in terms of moms and sons, moms and daughters, parents

896
00:44:56,280 --> 00:45:00,239
Speaker 2: and kids reaching out to me, sending me videos or

897
00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:04,200
Speaker 2: not videos, sending me pictures of their kids sitting on

898
00:45:04,239 --> 00:45:06,440
Speaker 2: hospital beds who had just got hit in the face,

899
00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:08,520
Speaker 2: and they said that they wanted to be like me

900
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:10,120
Speaker 2: and they wanted to get back on the field as

901
00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:13,320
Speaker 2: soon as possible. That was the greatest thing. The amount

902
00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:17,640
Speaker 2: of parents that I talked to through social media, sending

903
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:22,279
Speaker 2: words of encouragement, sending advice, giving them thumbs up, saying, Hey,

904
00:45:22,600 --> 00:45:24,239
Speaker 2: this is not going to defy me, this is not

905
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:25,879
Speaker 2: going to keep me out. I want to get back

906
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:28,120
Speaker 2: on the field like he did. Where do you get

907
00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:31,120
Speaker 2: a mask like that, I'm not afraid I want to

908
00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:33,000
Speaker 2: be on the field. That was the greatest thing that

909
00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:36,440
Speaker 2: happened out of that is the amount of people that

910
00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:38,200
Speaker 2: reached out to me, that around of people that my

911
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:40,640
Speaker 2: story kind of reached and touched and were able to

912
00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:44,040
Speaker 2: help people potentially not have that fear that maybe someone

913
00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:45,759
Speaker 2: like you did have, you know, at a.

914
00:45:45,680 --> 00:45:49,520
Speaker 4: Younger age, you know, knowing dad Kevin's love of math,

915
00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:52,040
Speaker 4: He's probably sitting there and I just did a quick google.

916
00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:55,200
Speaker 4: All right, I have four four hundred and nine played

917
00:45:55,200 --> 00:45:58,399
Speaker 4: appearances in major leagues. It's one over and it's point

918
00:45:58,560 --> 00:46:03,120
Speaker 4: zero zero zero two three rounding up there, So very

919
00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:04,520
Speaker 4: little chance it's happening.

920
00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:07,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, and unfortunately it happens to someone

921
00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:10,320
Speaker 2: like you at a younger age where you know, the

922
00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:15,920
Speaker 2: the math doesn't equate to you know, multiple decibel points away. Right,

923
00:46:16,040 --> 00:46:18,840
Speaker 2: Maybe it's only maybe it's a one percent chance that

924
00:46:18,880 --> 00:46:21,080
Speaker 2: you get hit in the face and it could be enough.

925
00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:24,000
Speaker 2: But you know, I think that also comes back to

926
00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:28,040
Speaker 2: just having you know, you know, more people like myself,

927
00:46:28,239 --> 00:46:31,200
Speaker 2: more people like people I've come across in my career

928
00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:34,719
Speaker 2: where you really want to put the kid first when

929
00:46:34,760 --> 00:46:37,240
Speaker 2: it comes to youth sports, it's not necessarily all about

930
00:46:37,239 --> 00:46:41,400
Speaker 2: winning at that age. It's about the biggest win for

931
00:46:41,480 --> 00:46:44,200
Speaker 2: me as a coach of uth sports now is how

932
00:46:44,200 --> 00:46:46,520
Speaker 2: many kids do I have signed up next year? You know,

933
00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:48,399
Speaker 2: obviously I'm competitive and I want to win, but at

934
00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:51,319
Speaker 2: a young age, how many? So I coached football for

935
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:53,160
Speaker 2: the first time this year, Right when I retired, I

936
00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:55,120
Speaker 2: got asked to coach my son's team. I mean, I'm

937
00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:57,600
Speaker 2: literally right off the field to drafting a team, right

938
00:46:58,000 --> 00:46:59,520
Speaker 2: And that was the first meeting I had with the

939
00:46:59,560 --> 00:47:02,960
Speaker 2: parents that I said, I'm competitive, I want to win,

940
00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:05,400
Speaker 2: but not at the result of your kid not playing,

941
00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:07,560
Speaker 2: your kid not getting a chance to score this year.

942
00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:10,680
Speaker 2: And most importantly, how many kids do I How many

943
00:47:10,719 --> 00:47:12,359
Speaker 2: of your kids do I have signed up to play

944
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:14,440
Speaker 2: football next year? If we get nine out of ten,

945
00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:16,799
Speaker 2: I'm going to say that's a successful season. If we

946
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:18,880
Speaker 2: win two games and I get nine out of ten

947
00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:22,359
Speaker 2: kids in the end zone this year, successful season. That's

948
00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:24,160
Speaker 2: kind of certainly what happened. You know, we didn't have

949
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:27,360
Speaker 2: the best season in terms of winning wins and losses,

950
00:47:27,719 --> 00:47:29,400
Speaker 2: but I got a lot of those kids in the

951
00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:31,279
Speaker 2: end zone, and I'd like to think a lot of

952
00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:32,920
Speaker 2: those kids are going to play football next year.

953
00:47:39,200 --> 00:47:42,040
Speaker 1: Max to Kobe for a second, Kenny's pardon a stupid

954
00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:44,960
Speaker 1: question for me. But let's say he decides he's going

955
00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:47,279
Speaker 1: to lock you down. I'm sure you are a great

956
00:47:47,360 --> 00:47:51,360
Speaker 1: basketball player, because you were a great athlete at probably everything.

957
00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:55,000
Speaker 1: If Kobe decides in ten possessions that you are not

958
00:47:55,640 --> 00:47:58,360
Speaker 1: going to score in a one on one game, you

959
00:47:58,440 --> 00:48:01,320
Speaker 1: get the ball ten times. Are you going to score

960
00:48:01,440 --> 00:48:04,080
Speaker 1: against Kobe if he decides.

961
00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:04,920
Speaker 3: You're not going to score?

962
00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:10,880
Speaker 2: No, not even I think that. I think making that

963
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:15,640
Speaker 2: analogy can really translate to any sport, no matter how

964
00:48:15,680 --> 00:48:20,400
Speaker 2: good of a athlete you think you are. And obviously

965
00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:21,719
Speaker 2: I was one of the best in the world. I

966
00:48:21,719 --> 00:48:23,839
Speaker 2: played in the major leagues, right, but playing in the

967
00:48:23,960 --> 00:48:28,239
Speaker 2: NBA is totally different. And then you even done that

968
00:48:28,360 --> 00:48:30,239
Speaker 2: down more to the person that never played at the

969
00:48:30,280 --> 00:48:33,000
Speaker 2: highest level of anything that thinks that they can go

970
00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:36,840
Speaker 2: out and get a hit off Paul Schemes or Trek

971
00:48:36,920 --> 00:48:39,719
Speaker 2: Scuball like more.

972
00:48:39,880 --> 00:48:42,879
Speaker 4: Even see a second pitch, Kevin, Yeah, we're gonna see

973
00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:45,240
Speaker 4: what ninety eight looks like and never come back.

974
00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:48,640
Speaker 2: I mean, is there the is there the rare possibility

975
00:48:48,680 --> 00:48:53,680
Speaker 2: that if Kobe is standing on me, I throw one

976
00:48:53,680 --> 00:48:56,400
Speaker 2: over my head and it goes in the rim, right, sure,

977
00:48:56,719 --> 00:49:00,839
Speaker 2: much like there's much like there's a chance that you know,

978
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:05,440
Speaker 2: the average Joe send at home may bleed one into

979
00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:08,160
Speaker 2: right field off of you know, close your eyes and

980
00:49:08,200 --> 00:49:11,919
Speaker 2: you can get lucky, right, But like, you ain't doing

981
00:49:11,920 --> 00:49:14,680
Speaker 2: it now. The people at the top of their profession

982
00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:16,239
Speaker 2: in the sports that they play are so.

983
00:49:16,320 --> 00:49:19,040
Speaker 4: Damn good, man, Like there's one in four.

984
00:49:20,800 --> 00:49:22,919
Speaker 2: I play in a men's basketball league with my brother

985
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:24,640
Speaker 2: and some friends out here, and that's how I kind

986
00:49:24,640 --> 00:49:29,040
Speaker 2: of get my competitive fix. And we're in a competitive league, man,

987
00:49:29,040 --> 00:49:31,520
Speaker 2: And like we play some young young dudes in our league,

988
00:49:31,560 --> 00:49:34,000
Speaker 2: and we're clearly the old guys out there, and we

989
00:49:34,040 --> 00:49:36,799
Speaker 2: hold our own. But like there's times and it's hard

990
00:49:36,800 --> 00:49:38,640
Speaker 2: for me to score in those games. You know, Like

991
00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:42,000
Speaker 2: I ain't scoring an NBA game. Is there gonna be

992
00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:44,640
Speaker 2: a time that everyone collapses on a guy driving to

993
00:49:44,680 --> 00:49:46,600
Speaker 2: the basket. I'm wide open in the corner in an

994
00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:49,359
Speaker 2: NBA game. Could I knock down a three? Maybe? But

995
00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:51,640
Speaker 2: you ain't doing it. Like, the guys are just so

996
00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:54,880
Speaker 2: good at the top level, you know, the gap is

997
00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:59,200
Speaker 2: so large, Kevin, can you still dunk it? No? I can't, Man,

998
00:49:59,280 --> 00:50:00,040
Speaker 2: I can't.

999
00:49:59,719 --> 00:50:02,080
Speaker 3: But you did at one point when you were younger.

1000
00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:05,440
Speaker 2: I could. I could. I could like dunk a tennis

1001
00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:07,239
Speaker 2: ball when I was like in high school. You know,

1002
00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:11,040
Speaker 2: like despite what you see on a baseball field, a

1003
00:50:11,080 --> 00:50:12,840
Speaker 2: lot of that was wall aided. I don't have the

1004
00:50:12,960 --> 00:50:17,160
Speaker 2: vertical roop that you know, like a guy like Muki has.

1005
00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:21,960
Speaker 2: You know, I was. I'm a I'm a very I'm

1006
00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:24,520
Speaker 2: very good at a lot of things, Like in terms

1007
00:50:24,520 --> 00:50:29,160
Speaker 2: of sports, I would consider myself to be very athletic.

1008
00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:32,120
Speaker 2: Like I still like the wakeboard. I have a boat here.

1009
00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:33,799
Speaker 2: I like the wakeboard, I like the snowboard. Like I

1010
00:50:33,800 --> 00:50:36,400
Speaker 2: can do all the things pretty well, right, And then

1011
00:50:36,440 --> 00:50:39,120
Speaker 2: there's levels to athleticism. Then you have guys like Muki

1012
00:50:39,239 --> 00:50:42,400
Speaker 2: of the world that are like that's like the gap

1013
00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:44,560
Speaker 2: between how good I was at baseball and how good

1014
00:50:44,640 --> 00:50:46,719
Speaker 2: MOOKI is is like probably the same gap of how

1015
00:50:46,800 --> 00:50:48,759
Speaker 2: much better of an athlete he hits me and I'm

1016
00:50:48,760 --> 00:50:51,960
Speaker 2: a pretty good athlete. There are just certain people on

1017
00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:56,759
Speaker 2: this planet that are just unbelievable athletes. Man, Like, Yeah,

1018
00:50:57,040 --> 00:50:57,600
Speaker 2: it's crazy.

1019
00:50:57,800 --> 00:51:01,080
Speaker 1: We had Jerry harrison On last year on this podcast,

1020
00:51:01,280 --> 00:51:04,920
Speaker 1: and he said that Mookie could play slot receiver in

1021
00:51:04,960 --> 00:51:08,160
Speaker 1: the NFL right now, and he said he would be

1022
00:51:08,200 --> 00:51:11,000
Speaker 1: the point guard for the Lakers right now if he

1023
00:51:11,080 --> 00:51:13,080
Speaker 1: wanted to be now. I disagree with that, but the

1024
00:51:13,160 --> 00:51:17,839
Speaker 1: point is, Jerry Harriston volunteered to us that MOOKI is

1025
00:51:17,880 --> 00:51:20,759
Speaker 1: the best athlete like he's ever seen in a major

1026
00:51:20,880 --> 00:51:23,560
Speaker 1: league uniform, and you said something similar.

1027
00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:29,359
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think I think he was making

1028
00:51:29,400 --> 00:51:33,280
Speaker 2: a point of just how damn athletic he is. Could

1029
00:51:33,719 --> 00:51:38,720
Speaker 2: I think there's just if Mookie was six feet tall maybe,

1030
00:51:39,360 --> 00:51:41,520
Speaker 2: I think obviously just there is a little bit of

1031
00:51:42,040 --> 00:51:45,719
Speaker 2: I think there's just a little bit of height restrictions

1032
00:51:45,719 --> 00:51:48,200
Speaker 2: in terms of in the NBA. And not to say

1033
00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:52,240
Speaker 2: that there hasn't been guys at that height to play,

1034
00:51:52,280 --> 00:51:55,640
Speaker 2: but just think about guys that how talented of basketball

1035
00:51:55,640 --> 00:51:57,759
Speaker 2: players those guys are, because there's only been you know,

1036
00:51:57,920 --> 00:52:01,120
Speaker 2: a handful of guys playing basketball five six, five seven, Like,

1037
00:52:01,520 --> 00:52:04,080
Speaker 2: how friggin good are they to be able to compete

1038
00:52:04,080 --> 00:52:06,680
Speaker 2: out there with the giants of the world that are

1039
00:52:06,680 --> 00:52:09,880
Speaker 2: playing in the NBA the NFL. Could he be a

1040
00:52:09,920 --> 00:52:13,000
Speaker 2: slot receiver? I mean, I think that's more likely because

1041
00:52:13,680 --> 00:52:17,120
Speaker 2: there are some shorter slot receivers that are really quick

1042
00:52:17,200 --> 00:52:20,040
Speaker 2: and they can get open. And I mean, Moviie is

1043
00:52:20,080 --> 00:52:24,600
Speaker 2: just a really crazy athlete, and I think Jerry was

1044
00:52:24,640 --> 00:52:27,160
Speaker 2: making the point of just how special of an athlete

1045
00:52:27,200 --> 00:52:27,440
Speaker 2: he is.

1046
00:52:28,200 --> 00:52:30,279
Speaker 4: All right, well, Dad, you managed to slip in your

1047
00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:33,319
Speaker 4: favorite question of Ken you still done, which usually comes

1048
00:52:33,400 --> 00:52:35,080
Speaker 4: up with most of our guests. I think we asked

1049
00:52:35,120 --> 00:52:38,200
Speaker 4: every guest last year, except for our good friend Ken Rosenthal.

1050
00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:39,680
Speaker 4: It might have been the only one we didn't ask

1051
00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:40,399
Speaker 4: that question too.

1052
00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:43,120
Speaker 1: All right, all right, all right, Kevin, we we could

1053
00:52:43,120 --> 00:52:44,959
Speaker 1: take We could keep you all day, but we got

1054
00:52:44,960 --> 00:52:47,960
Speaker 1: to go for your sake. But before you go, since

1055
00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:51,239
Speaker 1: you were a great center fielder in your day, you

1056
00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:55,400
Speaker 1: made more acrobatic catches in center field than almost anyone

1057
00:52:55,400 --> 00:52:58,279
Speaker 1: I've ever seen. So since we started with the four

1058
00:52:58,360 --> 00:53:01,600
Speaker 1: greatest switch hitters of all time, just tell me and

1059
00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:04,279
Speaker 1: you can hurt some feelings here if you like. Who

1060
00:53:04,280 --> 00:53:07,000
Speaker 1: are the fore best center fielders? Who are the four

1061
00:53:07,080 --> 00:53:08,720
Speaker 1: greatest center fielders.

1062
00:53:08,239 --> 00:53:08,799
Speaker 3: Of all time?

1063
00:53:08,960 --> 00:53:12,399
Speaker 1: I have my list, but you can do either all

1064
00:53:12,520 --> 00:53:16,600
Speaker 1: time center fielders or the fore best you ever saw,

1065
00:53:17,080 --> 00:53:18,719
Speaker 1: or the four best you ever played with, I.

1066
00:53:18,719 --> 00:53:21,400
Speaker 2: Don't care how you do it. Yeah, so it's gonna

1067
00:53:21,400 --> 00:53:23,799
Speaker 2: be it's gonna be a tough one for me, right

1068
00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:29,359
Speaker 2: because I'm I gotta put this out there like a disclaimer, right,

1069
00:53:29,400 --> 00:53:30,920
Speaker 2: even put it on when you guys like air this

1070
00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:34,000
Speaker 2: put a disclaimer. This is not my all time list,

1071
00:53:34,120 --> 00:53:36,439
Speaker 2: right like, because how could I not put Willie Mas

1072
00:53:36,480 --> 00:53:36,680
Speaker 2: in there?

1073
00:53:36,719 --> 00:53:36,839
Speaker 3: Right?

1074
00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:40,640
Speaker 2: Right? I'm going to make my list of four players

1075
00:53:40,640 --> 00:53:42,320
Speaker 2: that I saw.

1076
00:53:42,239 --> 00:53:43,920
Speaker 3: Playing perfectly respectable.

1077
00:53:44,080 --> 00:53:46,799
Speaker 2: I respect that because I do feel like unless you

1078
00:53:46,840 --> 00:53:52,000
Speaker 2: were a true baseball historian like yourself, that has studied

1079
00:53:52,000 --> 00:53:54,279
Speaker 2: the game, that has walked the Hall of Fame, that

1080
00:53:54,320 --> 00:53:57,280
Speaker 2: has been around these players, I feel like it's unfair

1081
00:53:57,320 --> 00:54:00,040
Speaker 2: for me to just grab these guys because.

1082
00:54:00,160 --> 00:54:01,520
Speaker 4: Who played one hundred years ago?

1083
00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:01,799
Speaker 1: Right?

1084
00:54:01,960 --> 00:54:04,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, I totally yet he wasn't a great player, right,

1085
00:54:04,239 --> 00:54:06,040
Speaker 2: But I need to judge it off of what I've

1086
00:54:06,120 --> 00:54:09,239
Speaker 2: visually seen with my own eyeballs. Right, So I'm gonna

1087
00:54:09,280 --> 00:54:11,360
Speaker 2: put Ken Griffy in there. I'm gonna put Andrew Jones

1088
00:54:11,360 --> 00:54:15,400
Speaker 2: in there. Where I go from there is going to

1089
00:54:15,440 --> 00:54:19,359
Speaker 2: be a little bit tough, right. I'm a defensive guy.

1090
00:54:19,719 --> 00:54:22,840
Speaker 2: I'm a defensive guy, and I also the entirety of

1091
00:54:22,920 --> 00:54:25,560
Speaker 2: like the ballplayer, I gotta put Tory Hunter in there,

1092
00:54:26,760 --> 00:54:31,200
Speaker 2: great choice, and then those three. God, who would I

1093
00:54:31,200 --> 00:54:38,680
Speaker 2: put forth? Man, I'm gonna stick with those three right

1094
00:54:38,719 --> 00:54:41,239
Speaker 2: now because I don't want to misspeak on someone that

1095
00:54:41,360 --> 00:54:42,400
Speaker 2: I'm forgetting.

1096
00:54:43,120 --> 00:54:45,200
Speaker 4: I think going down your line and Kevin, I don't

1097
00:54:45,200 --> 00:54:47,279
Speaker 4: want to put words in your mouth. But like you know,

1098
00:54:47,320 --> 00:54:49,080
Speaker 4: you and I are a couple of years apart. I

1099
00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:50,719
Speaker 4: think you're born in eighty nine.

1100
00:54:50,760 --> 00:54:51,439
Speaker 3: I'm ninety three.

1101
00:54:51,680 --> 00:54:55,120
Speaker 4: I would probably, going on your vibe. Jim Edmonds came

1102
00:54:55,160 --> 00:54:55,799
Speaker 4: to bind to me.

1103
00:54:56,040 --> 00:54:58,120
Speaker 2: That was honestly when you said that I was gonna

1104
00:54:58,120 --> 00:54:59,719
Speaker 2: throw his name out there was gonna beat you.

1105
00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:01,440
Speaker 3: I think that's a great choice.

1106
00:55:01,920 --> 00:55:05,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's go with those four because there's probably someone

1107
00:55:05,640 --> 00:55:07,600
Speaker 2: that I could think of. I would put ahead of them,

1108
00:55:08,040 --> 00:55:13,640
Speaker 2: of someone that I actively remember watching playing right there

1109
00:55:13,800 --> 00:55:16,680
Speaker 2: was there much better center fielders in the game than

1110
00:55:16,719 --> 00:55:22,879
Speaker 2: Tory Hunter and Jim Edmunds. Probably, I think Toy's gonna

1111
00:55:22,920 --> 00:55:24,520
Speaker 2: get his time to shine in the Hall of Fame

1112
00:55:24,560 --> 00:55:28,640
Speaker 2: hopefully at some point. Jim Edmond's probably not. But from

1113
00:55:28,719 --> 00:55:32,520
Speaker 2: what I remember from my childhood through kind of adulthood,

1114
00:55:33,800 --> 00:55:36,080
Speaker 2: I'd put those I'd put those four guys up there.

1115
00:55:36,840 --> 00:55:40,319
Speaker 1: That's that's a pretty good list. And Kevin played center

1116
00:55:40,360 --> 00:55:43,680
Speaker 1: field about as well as anyone that I ever saw. Kevin,

1117
00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:46,840
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us. I am going

1118
00:55:46,880 --> 00:55:49,839
Speaker 1: to see I am doing a Blue Jays game on

1119
00:55:49,880 --> 00:55:55,280
Speaker 1: the radio March to twenty eighth against the A's.

1120
00:55:55,400 --> 00:55:57,799
Speaker 2: I will be their opening day. I'm looking forward to

1121
00:55:57,840 --> 00:55:59,319
Speaker 2: catching up with you in person.

1122
00:55:59,160 --> 00:55:59,680
Speaker 3: While I'm there.

1123
00:55:59,719 --> 00:56:02,240
Speaker 1: Is there anything you can do about my nose, Kevin,

1124
00:56:02,360 --> 00:56:05,560
Speaker 1: because my nose has got to change.

1125
00:56:05,840 --> 00:56:07,000
Speaker 2: I mean, you got a new.

1126
00:56:06,880 --> 00:56:08,080
Speaker 3: Nose and you're on TV.

1127
00:56:09,760 --> 00:56:11,600
Speaker 2: My one. Take one for the team.

1128
00:56:11,840 --> 00:56:12,959
Speaker 3: Take ninety eight.

1129
00:56:13,200 --> 00:56:14,160
Speaker 4: Just go during batting?

1130
00:56:14,400 --> 00:56:16,840
Speaker 1: Can I get a new nose without getting hit in

1131
00:56:16,920 --> 00:56:17,640
Speaker 1: the face with the.

1132
00:56:19,239 --> 00:56:21,640
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean you just call a doctor. There's there's

1133
00:56:21,680 --> 00:56:23,000
Speaker 2: great ones out there. I got a great one in

1134
00:56:23,040 --> 00:56:27,160
Speaker 2: Arizona for you. I'll get you your contact, all.

1135
00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:29,080
Speaker 1: Right, I'll see you in Toronto.

1136
00:56:29,440 --> 00:56:31,400
Speaker 3: Kevin, thank you so much for joining me.

1137
00:56:32,160 --> 00:56:33,120
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.