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BringJoy
This podcast is all about bringing joy through storytelling and conversation. You’ll be inspired and entertained It’ll be time well spent I promise you that, so sit back and relax. Let's do this thing!
BringJoy
From Olympic Gold to World Series Victory: Doug Mientkiewicz's Champion Journey
Doug Mientkiewicz shares his extraordinary journey from Olympic gold medalist to World Series champion, revealing what it truly means to develop a championship mindset in baseball and life. His emotional stories about turning career setbacks into defining moments show how champions respond when facing the toughest challenges.
• Being sent down to Triple-A in 2000 despite a strong spring training and having his confidence shattered
• Receiving the opportunity to play for Team USA in the 2000 Olympics, fulfilling his mother's dream
• Hitting the game-winning home run against Korea in the Olympic semifinals in rainy, cold conditions
• The emotional gold medal ceremony where he looked up to see his parents in the stands
• Winning the World Series with the Red Sox in 2004 after the historic comeback against the Yankees
• The importance of Dave Roberts' stolen base that changed baseball history by milliseconds
• Developing his coaching philosophy focused on making players mentally tougher
• Teaching players that "champions get better in the dark" when no one is watching
• Coaching his son Steel at Key West High School and witnessing his growth as a player
• Building team culture around the idea that "pressure creeps into the unprepared"
Thanks for tuning in to the Bring Joy Podcast. We're in Season 5 and it's all about baseball, talking big leagues to the little leagues, yankees to the Conks and everything in between. I'll share my joy for the game with you and whether you're a fan of baseball or good storytelling, you'll be entertained and each episode will bring a little joy to your day. So sit back and relax. Let's do this thing will bring a little joy to your day. So sit back and relax, let's do this thing. Welcome to the Bring Joy podcast, doug McKewitts. How are you Good? How are you? I'm great, I'm real great. Thanks for being here. Let me tell you a little story to set the table for our conversation. So it was about four months ago. Conk Baseball put out their schedule for the year and they say March 14th and 15th is championship weekend. So I say, ooh, I gotta do an episode on champions. The very next thought in my head is I gotta talk to Dumb and Cabers, because if there's anybody who knows about being a champion in baseball, it's you.
Speaker 2:Coach I've said this for a long time. I've been in the right place at the right time a lot of times, so I've been fortunate to be picked up by certain teams or on the right club and we've ended up.
Speaker 1:We've held the trophy a time or two yeah, I've seen a lot of pitches in preparing for this interview. You with your hands in the victory position, you know. Oh yeah, that's an awesome deal there. You know you won at the high school level, state championship, national championship, all the way to the big leagues, gold series, gold glove winner. And for me, you know, growing up in the 70s and 80s, the Olympics is a very big deal, so you're also a gold medalist coach.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was my dad. I'll never forget this. I went from AA to the big leagues in 1998. I skipped AAA. I spent all 99 in the big leagues and just get humiliated. I mean, I was, I wasn't ready. I got off to a great start in April and I just couldn't. When they, when they, adjusted to me, I couldn't change, I couldn't adjust back and I got kicked around hard and shattered my confidence. And I come back to spring training in 2000 and I have a great spring first 10 days. I'm back to where I thought I was before and they sent me down and, uh, I was heartbroken and I never forget my dad, that, my mom, both of them. They both looked at me and said something good is going to come out of this. You just don't. It just hasn't shown yet. And I, I, my confidence was completely shattered. I didn't think I was good enough to ever go back.
Speaker 2:I had a great, a great group of teammates in triple a at that year because the cliff notes of it, the twins had my first year in 99, my first full year in 1999. We had 19 rookies and only had a 25-man roster. The small market club is not going to be able to pay 19 guys at the same time. So they sent us back in different spurts to kind of break up so we don't all hit free agency at the same time. So I go to AAA play with a bunch of great guys. At one point I had Todd Walker who if you're a college baseball fan you know who that is. He played at LSU, was probably the top, probably the best second baseman to ever play college baseball at LSU. David Ortiz, torrey Hunter, aj Pruszynski were all on the same. Casey Blake, the list goes on and on. We bludgeoned people to death in AAA and we had such a good time doing it.
Speaker 2:And the Olympics roll around and I was on the team in 1994 out of college and my mom wanted me to play in the Olympics. So, just like your household, the Olympics were huge in my family. We watched the 80 Olympic hockey team beat the Russians. My favorite player scored the winning goal against Russia from Toledo. So we would watch the Olympics like religiously. And my my mom was heartbroken that I didn't make the team. And I did. I was.
Speaker 2:I signed pro in 95 and didn't go play in 96. And I tried to explain to her. Travis Lee at the time was probably the best amateur player going. He played first base and that college team in 96 was probably the best one at best amateur team ever assembled. They didn't win. So I remember getting the call and I they told me I made the team and I remember calling my mom and I said hey, um, it's not atlanta, but if you're willing to take a 16-hour trip, I think we got tickets to the olympics and she was like ecstatic through the moon and and, uh, you know, the rest is history. So, uh, it was one of the best experiences of my life, not only for me personally but for my career, and time of the sort of rest in peace. Skip Like I. Literally without him I don't think I end up having a career in baseball.
Speaker 1:What a story that's already getting emotional. I get chills and tears. I read this book I saw it on another podcast that you recommended this book A Miracle on Grass and throughout the whole book I'm getting chills and getting teary-eyed and hearing how they put that team together. Because not only so, let's go back a little bit, because this is the first team that was going to be a pro team. Before that it was built up of amateur players, so now they're going to be a pro team. Before that it was built up of amateur players, so now they're going to go pro. And you know that was the journey to build that team. What a challenge to get the leagues to give up the players.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, my.
Speaker 1:AAA team.
Speaker 2:Tell me about that my AAA team won 100 games and we only played 144 games. So my AAA team we had, I think we had six guys driving 100 runs and we had four guys over 30 homers. I hit two hole that year for them and they had 97 or 98 rbis. I hit two and I missed the last 11 games because olympics, so, like I, pretty much cost our triple a coach who was a lifer. He was like 70 years old at the time. He all he wanted was a championship ring and we would have gave it to him. But they we ran into a guy named Albert Pujols, but that's a whole different story. But my AAA team should have won the whole thing.
Speaker 2:But that book, literally, literally, like I learned so many things about that club. I mean Jimmy Rollins didn't make it. We sent home CeCe Sabathia and the story of that was we all get picked for this and then you had to go back and forth whether your team was going to allow you to go and if you weren't on the 40 man or whatever it was. So it was back and forth all the time. And CeCe, we had a bunch of exhibition games in Australia before the Olympics started and CeCe threw, I think a three-hit shutout. He threw a complete game on like 80 pitches. He just shoved and he was six foot whatever, eight, you know, 280 pounds and just A giant. He was a giant and he was just like. I don't know much about pitching, but I know that they don't hit that, so we really want that guy on the team. Long story short, thomas sort of wanted to put him in the bullpen and Cleveland said no, sent him back. So we lost cc sabathia to go back to throw like two winnings for cleveland that year. So like the names on that list were were crazy. And the funny thing is my coach in triple a we had our backup catcher, marcus jensen was on my team in triple a with salt lake and my manager told marcus he made the team but he didn't tell me. So I thought I didn't make it. So I was crushed, I mean I was devastated, and I was like I mean I was devastated and I was like I mean I down in the dumps pouting and then two days later they called me back. They called him back and said hang on, they didn't not say that I wasn't on the team, they were still deciding. There's another guy I think they mark johnson, big power guy from the minor leagues. They were deciding on the two and, uh, to go one better.
Speaker 2:I had a great triple a year, I think, at 340, 20 homers, almost 100 rbis, and I only got one hit. The exhibition games that bleeding up and I'll never forget this. I was one for 28 or something. The only only hit I had was a homer to center field, but I didn't hit many homers at center, so something was weird and I didn't have a slump the whole entire year.
Speaker 2:I remember thinking reggie smithgie Smith was our hitting coach and he looked at me before our last exhibition game and he goes are you going to start hitting? And I literally like made. I was like why would I want to start hitting now? They don't count, I go, trust me, when the bell rings, I'm going to be fine. And inside I was dying because I was like they're going to send me home. If they just sent CeCe back, they're going to send me back. And thankfully they kept me and I got a hit my first at bat. We were facing Dice K Matsusaka, who was pitching for Japan. He ended up coming over for the Red Sox for a long time, so we're facing Dice K right out of the shoot and I got a hit and run broken bat single and from there on out everything went into slow motion and everything I wanted to do with the bat happened and it was probably the best two week span I ever had in my life as a hitter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I want to talk about something specific at bats, because it couldn't be any more dramatic. One of the other things, if we back up just a little bit and you talk about deciding on those teams, is you have played for Team USA in college, correct? Yes, so that didn't hurt that you had that on your resume already.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they wanted international experience because the Cuban team was pretty much the same Cuban team we saw in the Olympics. They wanted guys who had experience in international baseball facing Cuba, the different rules. I think they did a fantastic job. Bob Watson rest in peace another great GM and great person. They did a really good job.
Speaker 2:I remember I met Roy Oswalt for the first time and Roy ended up pitching 15, 16, 17 years in the big leagues and Roy was 5'9", 5'10". I remember meeting him and I was, like, what position do you play Second? Like so you're a second baseman? And he goes no, I pitch, I'm gonna vote most southern draw accent. And I watched him throw the exhibition game and I said I am so deeply apologetic I will never disrespect you like that, ever again. And from that day forward I called him mr oswald and because I was like this dude's nasty, we had him bend sheets.
Speaker 2:So, like the position players, they picked an older group. They picked older guys that had some savvy, had a little snarl to them me, ernie Young, mike Neal, pat Borders he was a MVP of the World Series, he was our catcher. So Brett Abernathy had some guys that have been around the block a little bit that weren't going to be intimidated and I think that was the main focus of us was like the Cubans did. They won by intimidation and you might intimidate us as college kids like in pro pro ball. You're not going to intimidate us anymore and we had the arms this time to kind of shut them down. And we knew it and we just thought, if we get a chance, if we can face them face-to-face for the whole shebang, we got a legit shot of taking this thing home.
Speaker 1:You mentioned the snarl, and I've heard you talk about players that have grit. One of the questions I wanted to ask you was and you were starting to answer it now was what does it take to be a champion? So you're talking about matching up against the cubans, who dominate international baseball, and what is it about them that makes them so dominated at that level? And then, what did your team have?
Speaker 2:I guess you were just alluding to that, that that well, I mean, I think I think they were so good. I mean I think a lot of teams I know in 94 we faced them. We played them six or seven times Like it was a show. I remember I videotaped them, the old school giant VCR cameras.
Speaker 2:I brought my camera out to watch them take infield, because I was in awe. I was like these guys are just different, they're like the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball, but they're good and they're phenomenal. And I remember I think it was Omar Linares was their third baseman and the Mariners offered him at the time this was 94, I think they offered him $8 million a year just to play home games, not to travel, just to play home games. And that's how good this guy was and I think we got, as you play him, you're more in awe of him than you were trying to beat him. And I think as we got older and the competition got better, we kind of feel like you've been around the block a little bit.
Speaker 2:In pro ball you get to AAA. You see some dudes, you see some guys, and I just felt like a lot of us used that to. Kind of you know, we had the up-and-coming arms of the young prospects, pitching-wise, that were making the name of themselves on the way up. And then there was us that maybe already had a taste of it but kind of had it ripped away and everybody had a different story of what the Olympics was and how they used it as a stepping stone, but the bottom line, we had the arms that. We knew that wouldn't be afraid.
Speaker 2:Don't underestimate the Pat Borders effect, the game-calling that he had, knew that wouldn't be afraid. You know, don't underestimate the pat borders effect that the, the, the game calling that he had. Like of course, these guys are 21, 22 years old and this guy was an mvp of the world series in the big leagues. You're gonna ride with his, with his game plan. You know, don't underestimate that part of it. You know, having that veteran presence that we, that we desperately needed, they believed in what pat put down and, man, they followed it to a T and it was. You know it's a win that I'll take to my grave with me.
Speaker 1:I imagine you have the gold medal somewhere, right? Oh yeah, it's at my parents' house. That's really cool. And your mom and dad you talk about your mom, wasn't that so bad for you, were they able to be there?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, oh yeah. So you know it's hard for me to talk about not getting emotional, but probably the coolest thing for me was, sorry, getting the gold medal. We're all in the stand and literally I put my head down and they placed it on my neck and when I looked up, my mom and my dad were right in front of me and I lost it, like I'm doing now. It was the coolest thing. You know, you start to think back of all the sacrifices your parents made for you to get you in this position and you know it was something that I'll. You know the pride that I feel, that I felt that, that that my parents were there to see that my sister, her husband, were there and to look up directly across from me and I've seen videos of it, of singing the national anthem. I lost it Like I had.
Speaker 2:I went through so much that year personally and, uh, the emotional rollercoaster of what happened to me to get there and uh, and I knew how much it meant to my mom and I knew how much it meant to my mom and I knew how much it meant to my dad To finish it. The guys still give me shit about it. The guys on the team are like this is the happiest moment of my life. Why are you crying? I'm like dude, I don't think you get it. I don't think you get what the Olympics meant to my family and we joked around too. Not a joke, but it's like gymn. You know gymnasts and you know some of these great gymnasts. They get two or three cracks at it. They're great, right, they get two or three cracks at going.
Speaker 2:We knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime shot and this is our only opportunity to have this chance to win a gold medal. And we didn't want to do anything. We possibly do everything we possibly could to win and didn't want to do anything. We possibly do everything we possibly could to win. And they not only did a great job of putting that team together, we bonded like no other and I think it goes to you know.
Speaker 2:It kind of ties into today's game, when everything's about numbers and analytics and that team was built on nothing but what makes these guys tick like what? And they they had. They definitely could have found more talented position players than we were, but there was something that we had that you can't teach, you can't practice, that we just had. So many things like that have been ripped from us. I think every guy on that team has had somebody tell them they weren't good enough, they weren't fast enough, they weren't strong enough, and there's two ways you can do with that. You can either let it define you or you can use it as a motivator, and the group of that had a, like I said I keep going back to the world snarl. We had a snarl that you know. We were junkyard dogs and you put us on a field together. We weren't going to take any shit and there was a reason why that team pulled that off.
Speaker 1:And I think, when you one of the things that you know, I'm a fan. That's my claim to fame. I'm a fan, right? That's what I do. And I think why fans love champions is because champions have had some adversity, have had to overcome something, and it's so wonderful to root for somebody and see a champ overcome and answer the bell and respond to the moment, because that's the other part, right, you get up there and you have a moment. What do you do with it? Do you answer the bell? And champions do Not. Everybody's a champion, coach. That's why it's so special.
Speaker 2:Champions get better in the dark. I say that to every team I have. I say it to Steele Stee steel has heard that me talk about that. So he was since he was five years old. Champions get better in the dark. They get better when no one's watching. They don't do it for accolades, they don't do it for recognition from their coach. They get better when you're sleeping and when you're not watching.
Speaker 2:We're grinding and you know and that's and I I always go back to. You know kobe bryant, and you know he's got that they're up to nothing in the nba finals and he's got. He looks like he's got no emotion. And then you know the media is like why aren't you smiling? He's like job's finished, job's not finished and that's. You're always looking for the next. We're not done yet.
Speaker 2:So and I know I think too, my dad has a lot to do with it, has everything to do with it. My dad, every batting practice session I had, whether I was three years old or whether I was 35 years old, still playing in the big leagues the last five swings of every BP round was bottom of the ninth. Your team's down a run and they're second and third. What are you going to do. And I think by him putting me in that position and that situation every day, over and over and over again, it became it became natural. And I think there's guys that want to do it and there's guys that believe they're going to do it. And, uh, you know, I always tell our guys don't be the guy, be one of the guys and you'll become the guy.
Speaker 2:And I think that's where my dad's preaching of that and going through that, where it became second nature, to where, like I've seen myself get a hit in a situation for 35 years, it's going to happen. I tell Steel all the time visualize, like, visualize on deck, the pitch coming in, you see it, you see the results. That way, when it happens, it's just a replay. So I think that set me up my whole life for that, to where those situations I've always learned how to you know calm the mechanism and kind of live in the now. And and this is my turn, this is my, this is what I want. The best compliment you can can get as a player is if the game's on the line. I want Doug up there. I've heard of quite a few guys. You can take the accolades, the rings, all the personal stuff out the window. I wanted my guys to want me at the plate when the game mattered the most.
Speaker 1:That leads me to two red bats that we're going to talk about. Coach, the pool play right. Okay, you're at the bat. It's the eighth inning, the bases are juiced.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, 3-2.
Speaker 1:Take me there, Okay so.
Speaker 2:I think it might have been nothing-nothing. I don't think it was 0-0.
Speaker 2:We were facing an underarm Korean guy, korea. Always in the Asian countries, if you don't have a dice cake, japan was more traditional, but Korea, those Taiwan-type places, they kind of trick you with arm angles. So we were facing this guy that was literally throwing almost underhand. It was so submarine, it was almost underhand and it was so unconventional and we struggled with it and it wasn't very hard, it was very, it wasn't, it was like 82, so we weren't used to it.
Speaker 2:And then they bring in the ninth inning or the eighth inning rolls around, they bring in their closer and he's 96, 97 but it's straight as an arrow and I remember being up and literally I could tell and he threw me probably every pitch. I got a 3-2, three balls, two, two strikes and every pitch and I didn't swing once. Every pitch was either like right on the corner or right off the corner. I could see it and I knew it Out of his hand, I knew it was a ball and 3-2, it creeped back over the plate and I murdered it. I mean, I absolutely murdered it. And I always say this that one was more of an aggression kind of jog and bat flip and everything, because I was like this guy's nibbling. I was in a win-win situation in my opinion. I was like he's either going to walk me or I'm going to get a hit. I'm not going to get an out and if I make an out, someone's going to die, basically, if they're going to catch it, I'm trying to hit a ball through somebody.
Speaker 2:This is all happening in your mind where you're up there. I was picking up the ball right away and I knew it like the second left of his fingers ball off the plate A little bit on, a little bit off, got to 3-2, and it was right where I wanted it. If I could have called timeout, said I want it 95, right here I'll. And I I clicked it and I mean I clicked it good, and then, but more of a line drive, and the guys kind of mobbed me at home plate. It was like bash brothers and we're kind of you know, and and literally like damn, I like that just happened. And that one was more of like a, you know, it was a big moment because we haven't scored yet and it of every game out there kind of gave us a little bit more momentum to where we're like all right, you know, we're getting pretty good, we're getting pretty good. So that made us, I think, 3-0 or 4-0.
Speaker 2:And we kept coming back from behind. We came from behind against Japan and we actually we had the lead in the ninth. They tied it and we ended up hitting a walk-off homer. So we had some like Mike Neal hit a walk-off homer against Japan. We had some big hits that made us 4-0, and Q was around the corner. We run into them and we get our head beat in a little bit. We try to fight them instead of trying to beat them on the field, but we kind of we end up facing them again two days later, korea for the semifinal game, and it was such a different feeling. It's one of those games where it's rainy, it's cold. Whoever put the Olympics in Sydney, the Summer Olympics in Sydney during September, didn't really think it through, because it was really cold.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we couldn't watch it back home in regular time.
Speaker 2:It was cold I mean it was 40, 45 degrees and I remember leading up to that we lost to Cuba. Cuba ended up losing the Netherlands the next day and we're pissed Like. We're like damn, we didn't want them to lose. So we get to the semifinals. We're matched up against Korea. Cuba plays Japan. Well, Cuba throws their ace against Japan and we're watching it in the village and all of our guys, every guy on that team, was hoping Cuba won. Like, please, let Cuba win, Because you want Cuba. If you're going to do it, someone's got to knock the king off the pedestal.
Speaker 1:Right, because we're in the gold medal, just to make sure everybody's still following. We're in the medal round at this point where we're talking about okay and the middle round.
Speaker 2:And we knew that if we're going to get the respect that we wanted when we left san diego one, we got to win the gold medal and two, we got to dethrone that. We got to dethrone the king and we wanted cuba. And so we're. You know, jose contreras threw game one against for Cuba. He ended up pitching the big leagues for the Yankees and the White Sox. So we wanted and they were like first of all, we were like disrespected because they threw Contreras against Japan. So that told us that they thought Japan was more of a threat than we were. I'm like, okay, so we're all cheering.
Speaker 2:Another tip when you're showing it Like, come on. So when Cuba won, they won 3-0, and we were like laser-focused, like all right, it's lining up perfect. We go to our game and it's cold and rainy and it's miserable, it's misty Like, and we fall behind and we're facing the same sloppy underhand guy. I think they scored on a couple of booted plays and they're beating Roy Oswald and I'm like, wait a minute, are you telling me we're going to lose to Korea and so it's a night game? Our game is a night game. So now we end up, we knock the sidearm guy out, they bring in a lefty to face me and I hit a single.
Speaker 2:And the joke of the whole story is Mike Kinca was our third baseman. I think he pulled every muscle in his lower body. He got hit by pitch. I hit a single. So not only was he, I think he beat out a, he bring out, he beat out a swinging bunt. Now, mind you, it's been, it's been raining all night, so now it's muddy and like there's no turf is over there, there's no tarp, so it's sloppy.
Speaker 1:I mean like you can't even like there's a two-hour rain delay. Is this before?
Speaker 2:this is before the rain delay, so this.
Speaker 1:It's a muddy mess okay.
Speaker 2:So mike and kate's has a swinging bunt, third baseman feels it throws him out, calls him safe. So that's one time he was out. The next time I think they throw over, once he gets picked off, they call him safe again. I hit a single to right and he goes from first to third and I think he pulled both quads while he ran to third. As he ran. As he got to third, he slid past third and they tagged him and his hand was off, his hand was off the base and they called him safe.
Speaker 2:So, like he got out three times around the bases, I'm like, guys, it's fate, we're winning. So marcus jensen gets a slack fly, we tie the game two, two, going into the ninth or eighth or ninth, and we load the bases. And we got mike neal up it was like one of the one of our hottest hitters and we got bases loaded one out, we get it, we score a run, the game's over, and then the heavens open up and there's the two-hour rain delay. So now we're sitting in the clubhouse. That's not like the states. There's no dryer, there's no nothing, and we're sitting there and now it's wet uniforms miserable cold.
Speaker 2:It's 11, 30, 11, 45. Mike neal must have taken 400 swings in the cage to prepare for this at bat, because he's still.
Speaker 2:He's still at the back he's at the plate and, uh, in the back of your mind you're knowing like if we lose this game, we got to turn around and play at noon tomorrow. So it's already 1230, 1 o'clock in the morning. We go back out. Mike Neal hits a ground ball number to the third baseman. They throw us at home and our runner I think it was Brett Abernathy like illegally leg whips the hell out of the catcher. So they call it a dole play. So we go into the next inning. We get three outs. We come back and Mike Kincaid walks and I'm on deck and Tom of the sort of walks over to me and he goes, doug, if he gets on we're going to bunt. And I said I said Skip, I don't care. I said just get me the hell out of these wet clothes. I want to go home. I'm emotionally drained. At this point I can't even think straight. I said whatever you need, skip. So Kincaid walks, they pinch run him, gookie Dawkins Pinch runs for him. So first pitch, I get the bunt sign. I go to bunt Ball one, pull it back. Look down, harry Rodriguez gives me the bunt sign again. I'm like all right, cool Bunt. Pull back ball two. And I look and like our signs were if he finished working his way down his body, it's a bunt. Right, you want to lay the bunt down? If he finished working up his body, it was hit and run. So now I'm like hitting a run like six sweet, so two, hit and run, foul ball. Now it's 2-1. I look down, erod gives me up sign again. I'm like we're rolling again. I love it, tommy, let's roll the dice.
Speaker 2:Baby Guy picks over to first and Joki gets picked off and it was like such a momentum shift and I remember thinking like, as Tommy's arguing out there, he walks out there. It took him forever because he took forever to walk across the field. He's walking the umpire's from Cuba. He don't understand a word. Tommy's saying so they're arguing back and forth. And I remember the first instant of my head was well, cool, I don't have to hit and run anymore. Like I don't have to bunt, I don't have to hit and run anymore.
Speaker 2:And as he was going over there, I remember it was a sidearm righty and I remember during the argument I kind of stepped out and I thought like how have I elevated a ball against a right-handed side armor in my life? And I was like I go get an off-speed pitch and get out in front of it and see what happens and to this day I can see it. I saw the ball come up out of his fingertips. From his fingertips, I saw the ball pop up and the crazy part is he had 16 written on his fingertips. I saw the ball pop up and the crazy part is he had 16 written on his hat. I was number 16. The ball came up out of his hand and the second. I saw it pop up out of his fingertips.
Speaker 2:I go, I went in my head, I went, holy shit, put a good swing on it and it was a change up. It popped up out of his hand. I got out in front of it and I got, I got and I launched it and I just remember thinking like well, I'm standing there at home plate. I remember all the bat flips they have today and I don't like in the game I threw the bat as hard as I could and as far as I could straight up. And I remember thinking like, running to first I was like holy shit, that really just happened. Like I just blacked out, like what just happened? Like I saw it come up out and everything that I just told myself to do, it happened. And I was running on the bases going. I can't believe that just happened.
Speaker 2:So you know, obviously you get mobbed at home plate. I'll never forget, because they carried me off the field. They picked me up and Ben Sheets was standing there and Ben Sheets was the starting pitcher for the next game. He was our ace and he hugged me and he goes, you just won us a gold medal because he's pitching the next day. And I was like, all right, ct. You know, I believe you, buddy, like go go do your thing, bubba, go do it. You know. So that was. I said I still I'd see it. I don't have to watch the video anymore. I know what. I've replayed it. I've seen it a million times. There's that still picture will come ride with me to my grave where I can see his release point and I can see the ball come up out of his fingertips.
Speaker 1:Incredible to be in that moment and playing it through in your head. Right, I've seen this pitch. I've been here before. I've seen so many guys strike out on the curveball, though, because most of them don't hit it over the wall. It was a change-up. Oh, it was a change-up.
Speaker 2:Oh, it was Like I said I had a. I mean I went from so bad to so good. And I tell I told the boys last year at QS, I told Steel almost daily I'm like you're one swing away from feeling really sexy again Just remember that it can happen that fast from feeling really sexy again. Just remember that it can happen that fast. And the broken bat hit and run. I got off, dice K, my bat went in 500 pieces. It floated over the second baseman's head and from that moment on everything slowed down and it was funny. There's so many similarities. Steele had a bloop hit in carry that walked off. They had a walk-off winner. It was a bloop to and carry that that walked. That walked off. They had a walk-off winner was a bloop to right and he went off after that and I just said you never know I go, let's make you know, but that that swing might make you famous and they kind of got him going.
Speaker 1:So I have that on this thing. It's like we've already talked, so you and I'm gonna get emotional.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's okay. That's what this does. The game will do it to you when you're passionate, when you're passionate, baby emotions are a good thing.
Speaker 1:So you talk about you know the victory being carried off the field and in the Olympics, biggest moment, biggest stage in the world. Right, we haven't even talked about the World Series, but last year, in 2024, what you're talking about. Right, there you're on the field as a coach and you see steel, get that, we walk off, we win that game. We needed that game. I wasn't there. I'm sitting here in the same spot listening on the radio to rick opens, right, and he's going crazy. Hey, he's going crazy, but you looking out at Steele, that's pretty damn cool, right.
Speaker 2:The whole experience. You know. I know when Steele tore his knee the year before, I wanted him to play meaningful games in high school, and it's no disrespect to the place that he came from. I played against Key West in high school and we were a rival and I knew I know what what Weech does to you. I know what that feeling does. I wanted my son to feel that and I said, steel, you're going to a place you take, you, put one good swing on a pitch and you'll be remembered for the rest of your life. That's why we're making this move and I really truly felt like he. That team had a chance to win a state championship and so close. And I and like it's funny, that particular one, it was cold and blowing like crazy and when it first came off the bat I don't think I should repeat what I thought I was like what are you doing? And I got so mad and I'm like hang on a second, hang on and I saw the right fielder.
Speaker 2:I saw the right fielder kind of take a half step back and I'm like he didn't, he jammed the shit out of my goalie. I'm like that's got a shot. And then, like, when I saw it bounce, when he dove for it, my first instinct was like I was like nelson nelly, you better score. And like kudos, ralphie jr, what a hell of a call, what a hell of a send. Keep them coming, baby. Because we talk about it all the time. Ralphie and I were talking about like hey, like we gotta start pressing the envelope here, man, like we, we can't sit back this. These guys need to make shit happen out here like a week. We have to be able to do this. We have to do it on ourselves a little bit too, like let's get crazy aggressive and let's see what happens. And it was a great send by Ralphie. I saw you could tell he was, saw it before it happened and uh, I know, like for steals, for steel, it was kind of his exhale moment, I think, where it was. Like he had a couple of them during the year but like it was a cool feeling because I know what it meant to him, because he put so much pressure on himself to do well. When he was there and you know, I still swear, I still say to this day we didn't see the real steel didn't get shown in Key West.
Speaker 2:And I told 17 from day one when he was struggling in the beginning I said I've never seen him look like this. I said, but I know this, when we need him the most he will be the toughest out we have. I just know, I know what makes that boy move, I know what made, I know how I raised him and when we need him the most he'll be our toughest out. And ralph, he looked at me. He's like I go, I go, I might be bullshitting him just for confidence, for my own boy, but I go, I know his MO, I know what's inside that kid and I know that when every playoffs we had in Coral Shores we didn't have many, we had a couple games in there but every district final game we got into he never made an out. I said when this shit gets real, he knows how to slow the damn thing down. And we go back to visualizing the double he hit against Gibbons. That almost was a grand slam.
Speaker 1:I saw that.
Speaker 2:I saw that. I just saw it against Westminster. He had a shot at first and third against Westminster and Nelly was at first and I said Nelly, I said he's going to, he's going to turn this hundred mile an hour fastball around in the left center. He's gonna, he's gonna split the gap and you better score. I said I go, I saw it, I just saw it on deck, I saw it, I saw the pitch, I saw the swing and the funny thing is he threw the pitch and still took it. And I said, when we got home, I said you took the pitch, I saw you lacing in the guy. Go, you swing at that pitch right there, you lace that ball in the gap and we win.
Speaker 2:So I kind of baited him a little bit. I'm like, hey, that swing's coming, it's coming. Just remember that One swing. It's all I need from you. We need one swing, that's it. Just keep it simple. It's and you know it's pretty cool. His last at bat. I didn't want it to end, but his last swing was a meaningful one. He still has it on his phone it was huge.
Speaker 1:We love Steele. We didn't get enough of Steele. If I would have known he was up the road I think I told you this before I would have drove up there and got him. I thought he lived in California or something.
Speaker 2:I didn't know. No, I will say this. There's so many parallels to me and Steele. I transferred to Westminster my senior year. My mom didn't want me to do it. My mom was like he's not going to have any friends. It was the best move I ever made. My coach got fired over some BS.
Speaker 2:I went into the meeting and I said if he goes, I go. They fired him. I said, all right, the meeting. And I said well, if he goes, I go. And they fired him and I said all right, all right, we're going somewhere else, I don't know where. I didn't know what Westminster. Well, I knew it was a school, but I didn't know what. I didn't know Coach Hoffman, I didn't know any of that stuff. So I ended up going there and my mom said it was the best move we ever made.
Speaker 2:And I said and still, it ain't going to be easy. But when it's all said and done, I promise you you're gonna think, you're gonna say, oh, you wish you went sooner. And the first thing you said was dad, I wish I had more than one track at this. And I said I know, I know, I know, because it's just a different feeling.
Speaker 2:You guys, you guys, especially you and everybody else that comes to this game. You guys make it. You can't duplicate that. You can't. I mean it's like it's not I go. You won't understand how fun that is and how, what those, what you guys do every night. Those guys remember that for the rest of their lives like it's so meaningful and the way the town backs that group and and just the hometown pride that you don't get that unless you play texas football, high school football in texas. You don't get that. And I said even steel, go westminster. My, our games were scouts and parents. We didn't have these crazy maniacs just going nuts every night. I go what they get on you a little bit I'm like, yeah, that's passion, bud, that's what you want. That's what makes the hard. Great is when you play for places like that. Well, we sure do love them.
Speaker 1:I tell the kids this when you play for places like that, well, we, we sure do love him and I I told, I tell the kids this we're fans for life. So whatever they do, whether they keep playing baseball or whatever they do in life, don't be surprised if joy's behind him. You know, oh yeah, hollering and cheering for him. They give us so much to cheer for for me.
Speaker 2:Personally too, I wanted I know I know the history, I know we're on 11. We're on 11 state championships, westminster's on 11 state championships, and I know number 12 meant a lot to my boy for a lot of reasons the back-to-back rehabs on his knee and to do it before Westminster did it and to do it together. I know there was a little bit like he wanted to one-up me and I was totally fine with it and I was like you know what I go. I guess I want to bring number 12 so bad, with you wearing a different uniform and we go ahead and beat you all like a steel. That's all I want and that's why we made this move. And you know it still haunts him to this day. It still keeps me up at night knowing that we finished that game and givens. You know it's a wrap and you know. But I just said Steel, you got to stop worrying about number 12 and worry about the game in front of you. And I think when he finally did that, he started playing the way he knew how.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we loved him when he came up to bat. He had intentions and, like you say, he was a tough out and you know that understands. You know we're fans but we're baseball people too. We've been watching quality baseball forever, so and you know when somebody steps it up in the box if they're ready to hit the ball. And he always had intentions. I go back to that Kerry moment again in North Carolina, because that's the other thing. Right is that we're at the USA Baseball Complex, the name's all over the wall, and so for him, you know, I imagine that that moment has a whole different level of satisfaction. And there's pictures of him being mobbed by the conk team and it's really cool.
Speaker 2:I would like to find those pictures. It was neat. It was neat I got a picture of him and little Jackie in front of a couple signs that I'll take to my grave too, because I've known little Jackie since she was a baby and Jack has known Steel since he was a baby. So it had some meaning to it and I know to do it. He had a really good carry. I mean, we faced two teams in the beginning that were really good. I mean, we faced, I think, the number eight pick in the draft the first day and we faced a lot of quality arms that were going Division I and Steele really did really well against them and I think that was what I know.
Speaker 2:It meant something to Steele to kind of to show out and carry not only against the competition but because of those factors and maybe I overlooked it a couple, I overlooked it as growing up, but I don't underestimate the expectations that he probably felt because of me and I tried to do my best to never make him feel that way. I said I don't care what you do, but there's one thing we're going to do is we're going to outwork everybody. I don't care what it is, I don't care what you do, but if you take one thing from me, it's like you're never going to never let someone else outwork you, and I think that's the thing I'm most proud of for him is that I know what last year meant. It was hard and it was difficult at times being away and kind of doing it on his own. He grew up fast and he's got memories and I said I go back to this the day he blew his knee out in Coral Shores.
Speaker 2:He had one teammate at Coral Shores come to the hospital and him and AJ are really good friends, but the entire conk team text him and I said there's your answer, there's your answer. I got the two. Those guys care and they're different. I said we're going to focus on getting your knee better, but I think you're going to be wearing you're going to be wearing red and white soon and uh, let's get right we're so glad that we got to see him and, um, he's always part of our, our legacy.
Speaker 1:they will always tell the story about north carolina because the offense came alive after that. We played that final third of the season really well aggressive, at the plate, everybody was hitting the ball and, yeah, if we could have that Cardinal-Gimmons game over you never could win that game, no doubt.
Speaker 2:I always say this too. I said that was the hardest part for 17 and Ralphie and I and Jack and everybody that's involved with it was like it's not only the fact that we lost, but it was the fact that, like we just they started to get it, they just like we started. And I get it. Like, offensively is tough. We got some.
Speaker 2:You know if we got some freshmen Nelly, roman, you know we had some freshmen, but Pichardo, sammy had some struggles, started really slow. Noah started slow and it's like when that happens as an offense, everybody's trying to do so much and and I finally think that we finally got some runs and we started getting some momentum and that was the hardest part for us. It was like we finally got them swinging the way they were possibly capable of and we were getting better as the season went on and that was the hardest part. That was the hardest part going man, like I just want to see him play one more time and I I will say this if, if we finish that gibbons game, whoever we play at home the next game, it's a five minute affair.
Speaker 2:We beat the everlasting crap out of them and whatever we roll after that because I mean, anthony didn't throw that great in the first game at home and we snuck that one out and I remember like we went from dead as a doornail to walking them off and then we're down four or five in the ninth and come back and win that one. I'm like I looked at Ralph and I'm like dang this shit's over bud, like I go, we get through this one, I go, I don't care who we play, like they feel it, I, they feel it. I told Ralphie that in 17, there ain't no way we're losing a home game. We're coming home after that Cause you have little check marks and championship runs where you just don't think it's going well. And then all of a sudden you know everybody wants to believe like they. They always kids today. Think about the games. They win 13 to one where our generation was like I want that game. We're down seven, nothing in the fifth, and came back and won.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the ones we talk about. Those are the ones you want.
Speaker 2:Those are the ones that are memorable, right? So I'm like we were dead as a doornail the first home game in the playoffs and I go. All it takes is a spark. And I remember sitting there thinking, coaching first, going this is how my son's high school career is going to end against this no disrespect to them, but I'm like we play them 10 times, we beat them nine times, I go, we're not losing tonight. And I go. I looked at ralph and I go and looked at me and go all we need is a spark. We didn't. I go, we need one thing to go our way. And all of a sudden, and then that's all it takes. And then we got it and I was like I look, ralph, and I kept looking at you, going, we're close, like we're getting there, we're getting there, we're getting there. And that's the hardest part to swallow the fact that I never got a chance to see that team play again, and that was the disappointing part of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was tough. I know as fans, we thought that last year was going to be the year for sure. I mean, we always think that, right, every season.
Speaker 1:We're like it's this team. It's this team, Of course, Right, and if you don't, I don't want to know you, but that team was special. We've got such a young team now. You've been talking a lot with your coach's hat on and you played for some legendary coaches Tommy Lasorda you mentioned already, Joe Torre, Mike Martin Tell me what it takes to be a good coach. You're a coach.
Speaker 2:You've coached in the professional level. I. You know what it's not to me about coaching. It's never under, never forgetting how hard the game really is, never forgetting that um is it and it's. It's a tough one to battle every day I. I remember having talks to parents and be like I don't expect you to understand me, I'm gonna push your kid harder than you probably ever have, and it's only, it's not out of hatred. I remember having talks to parents and be like I don't expect you to understand me, I'm going to push your kid harder than you probably ever have, and it's not out of hatred, it's out of love I'm going to force him to. Growth only happens when you're comfortably uncomfortable, and my job is to make you uncomfortable for growth.
Speaker 2:I'd be foolish to not take something from every guy I played for right. I played for Tom Kelly, who stressed defense and base running and little things, managed a bullpen better than anybody ever saw. Joe tory could defuse a bomb before it got lit. He was fantastic at it. Terry francona super calm. Never, you know good demeanor, understood how to fix things. Ron Gardenhier prankster, but fiery. And so you take bits and pieces of each one of them and you kind of mold it into your own. And the one thing I have learned as a manager is I've always learned that, if you take what I always look at this way, if I've had a team that wasn't as talented as the other or vice versa, my job is to take their game and throw it right back in their face because I can't handle it. And that's one of the things that I've learned. Herb Brooks was huge at it. The AD hockey coach talked about it. You go back to the Russian hockey game. When the United States won, his whole goal was to take the Russians' game and throw it right back in their face because they can't handle it. And that's how they won that game. So I've always I always felt like I was very hard on my teams during the season and in the playoffs. Let them go. I've I've pushed and prodded and and and bitched and moaned and all the adjectives you can find, but when the bell rang for the playoffs, cut the leash and let them go and understand that mistakes are going to happen.
Speaker 2:I tell them every game there are things that are going to happen in this game that are not going to go our way In this series. It's not going to go our way. It's not make or break, it's how do we respond to it. It's who survives the first, who survives the biggest mistake and who survives the biggest mistake. And the mistake is not the mistake that's made. The mistake follows after how you respond to it. That's where things get changed. And I always tell them survive the first inning, survive the first inning, and then it becomes a game.
Speaker 2:I told Anthony, every start survive the first Emotional. You're coming out of home, you're running through the tunnel, you got you guys cheering them and going crazy. Survive the first, just survive the first, and then you roll. And that's what I would tell Anthony. I told all the guys that I had at pro ball and playoffs and championship runs and just survive the first, make it a game again. And we got you.
Speaker 2:So you know I love it. I love the competition part of it. But, more importantly, like I love seeing kids get better, I love seeing it's not always easy. You know teachers, teachers in the world that really care. Like it's frustrating and yes, I show it, I know it, but it's only because I've seen them better.
Speaker 2:You know people would make fun of me all the time about how I would react when Steve would hit, seen them better. You know people would make fun of me all the time about how I would react when steel would hit and I'm like, but I, when I don't see you doing your normal mistakes, something's wrong. That's where like, because I, I I've seen you better and I know you're not letting yourself put your best foot forward. That's the hardest part. That's the one thing about baseball that makes it so tough is because you see the work these kids put in.
Speaker 2:And now it's our job to find a way to get you to trust your work. Just trust your work. It's either I'm hard on my guys in practice Either you need to learn how to practice how you play or play how you practice, because there are two different speeds and you wonder why things change. I go, if I can. I always said this my biggest attribute was being able to function when the world around me was burning down, and that's what makes elite coaches and elite players. When everything's in chaos, can you process the information and function, and that's kind of how I would try to run practice. I would try to create a chinese fire drill to where, when it happened in a game, it's just second nature and we just react just like you were talking about that at bat, when you hit the home run right, because you're first, you're getting the bunt sign.
Speaker 1:So you were thinking, okay, I just got to do a job and move this guy over and we know it's a hit and run right. So you're changing and adjusting and it's raining and you're wet and the whole thing, and it's late, and then the guy gets picked off and you're still here, calm.
Speaker 2:Right, right, yeah, that's what you try to practice. You try to practice it, you try to practice, you try to practice it. You try to practice and put them in game situations where things are hard and things are fast and you make it. It's hard. That's the hardest thing about baseball is you really can't practice at game speed because different players process things. The same player can process the same play three different days in a row at a different speed. And how do you duplicate that? Well, you try to discuss.
Speaker 2:You know, I always try to tell my guys like what did you see? Tell me what you saw. And I give them a slow down talk what do you see? What did you see? And then we react and then we talk about how to fix it. And so many times everybody wants to get the job done. I go, your problem number one is control your breathing. You can control, you control the controllables. Baseball has been saying that for years control the things you can't control. What can you control? I can control my demeanor, I can control my breathing and I can control my process. And then the quicker you do that, the quicker you will. You will be the guy that gets the game winning hit more times than not that's's great.
Speaker 1:That's good stuff there. So one of the players that you played with and that was on the roster at one point, Dave Roberts right, he was on the Olympic roster. I don't think he made the 24th.
Speaker 2:He didn't go right.
Speaker 1:But he ends up being on the Red Sox with you when we win the World Series. He's coaching. Now he wins the World Series as a coach. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. And Dave, I will say this I play with Dave in Boston. I got to play with him on a AA All-Star team once, so I knew of him and he gets traded to Boston and I was really having a bad year. I was having I think I had 240. It wasn't great. I was coming off a major wrist surgery and it just didn't feel good.
Speaker 2:And I remember Dave and he was trying to talk to me about like slowing the game down. He's like all right, I want you to do something for me. And he said when you drive to the park, drive slower. When you eat in the morning, eat slower. When you're talking, talk slower. He's like do everything that you normally do but slow down. And he's like his analogy was when you're lost in a car and you miss the turn, you turn around and go 90 miles an hour back because you already missed a turn. You end up missing it again, right. And I'm like yeah, you're, you're right. He's like slow down. So it's something that always stuck with me. So, like when I watch his post-game press conferences and I'm just like he's still the same guy you know, like you can tell.
Speaker 2:You can see in his teams that he has told this story and they can. They control, like the team that's under control is the team that can be the aggressor. His teams don't react. They press, they keep coming and they realize I'm never out of the fight and, like last year, the World Series, they're down 5-0 against Garrett Cole. You think everybody and their brother thinks they're going and, like, all it takes is one, all it takes is a spark and you can tell that they never thought they were out of the fight and that's something that that doesn't just happen overnight. It takes, it's a process. But you can tell that it's always the teams that you see that they really enjoy working together, they really enjoy going to work, they enjoy playing with each other. Those are the teams that you can tell that that're down sixth and seventh. There's no panic in them.
Speaker 1:So, talking about comebacks, this gets us to your World Series victory. You win the World Series. You guys sweep the Red Sox All right. So it's the 100th World Series right. 86-year curse finally lifted. You know that, of course you know I'm a Yankee fan, right, coach? Yes, I know. Yes, I know that of course you know I'm a Yankee fan, right coach.
Speaker 2:Yes, I know, yes, I know.
Speaker 1:So anyway, just throwing this out there, the whole curse because they gave up the bid to the Yankees. But anyhow, what was winning the World Series? Like you catch the last out of the World Series, you're in that dog pile. Does it hurt to be in the bottom of a dog pile? Coach?
Speaker 2:That's the first thing you don't want to do is be at the bottom of it. Okay, I've been lucky that every dog pile I've never part of, I never made. I've never made in the bottom. I always held my ground. The closest I came was was was westminster I I jumped in the arms of the pitcher and I kind of was getting pushed back and I remember I thankfully caught my feet so I didn't. I wasn't underneath there. So every time I've managed to be on top, not on the bottom, which is a really smart move, okay. But Boston was cool because I mean, it's never been done before.
Speaker 2:Our guys the same thing I just talked about. Our guys were different. We'd meet, you know, 18 guys strong at breakfast on the road and that never happens. That team was close, as close as it could be. Me, dave Roberts, orlando Cabrera, all the guys that got brought over at the deadline. They did a fantastic job of making us feel like one of them. The second we got there. That team did a great job of it didn't matter how small you thought your job was. Every guy made it feel important. No job's too small. It didn't go unnoticed.
Speaker 2:We talk about one instance. One millisecond changed history. There's something about like something simple, like even stealing a base. It's easy to steal a base on a Wednesday night in February, you know, in June, right, knowing that you're pinch running and knowing everybody in the world knows you're going. It's a little different. So I remember sitting there cause I was, I was kind of grabbing a bat and getting ready to go on deck and they sent Dave out there and Dave looked at Tito and Tito just winked at him like nice and calm, just gave him a little wink and I knew exactly what that meant. Like come on, bubba, like this is why we brought you here and uh, you gotta go. And dave had the right. Dave has the right passion, demeanor, aggression. He knows I was brought here to do one thing and that was. You know that and that I still say it. It's definitely not underscored of what he did, but I don't think it's understood enough of how hard that is to sit there for four and a half hours in cold weather. Granted, you can go in the. Hey, dave slips an inch. Dave is a split second too late. History's over, like we'll never know. Posada puts the ball a little bit to the middle of the second base, maybe a little bit to the shortstop side and that's all it took. And that's like I said, to know you're going. It just worked out. Dave steals. Second. Kevin gets the four-pitch walk. Mo never walks people, especially in October. He walks the leadoff guy. We got Dave Roberts on the bench. He steals. Second. We got the right guy at the plate, billy Miller, who's the only guy who's somewhat any successful against Mo.
Speaker 2:I'm on deck. I gave Joe Torre shit for years going. You know what? I was on deck. I still haven't got a hit off Mariano Rivera. And the next night, the next night, the next night, david's hitting and he gets the walk-off single against Esteban Loaiza. I'm on deck, like I played for him in 2007. I go Skip. Why didn't you walk him? And I had really good numbers against Loaiza, so he had some backing there, but I was like man, they should have fired you on the spot for pitching to David and not me. That's crazy talk, joe. So no, but I. It just shows you the beauty of baseball. One, something like that.
Speaker 1:So bang, bang could change history and yeah, and that's that's why I love baseball so much there. There's so much joy in baseball and people say it's boring and I'm like, no, you're missing the game, right. There's so many little moments that make up the big moment, right, like like moving the guy over, stealing the base or everybody wants.
Speaker 2:Everybody wants to think about what happens at the end of the game. But you know, I always told our teams games are won and lost. In moments it could be the second inning could. In moments it could be the second inning, it could be the first inning, it could be the fourth inning. It could be a ball that you didn't, a double play ball you didn't turn. That cost your starter 15 more pitches. And now you've got to go into the pen an inning early and you run out to the end. You know us, look, jacob gets through the sixth inning. Fifth, you know we got. You know, we knew vinny was a two-inning guy. We made vinny had to go back out there. Vinny, for two innings, was lights out and we knew that going in. You know that those one or two outs or one or two pitches, that that add up, that people just think, or oh, that error didn't cost them anything.
Speaker 2:Well, yes, it does yeah, it does yeah they, those pitches add up and that. So little things like that that you can watch a game and think it's boring, or you can watch a game and think it's the most mentally grinding event you've ever, ever thought. I remember playing playoff games and sitting in my locker after a game and like not talking for 20 minutes, just be like I, I, I need, I need a minute, I have to sit there, my head hurts, I have a headache, my brain's been on high alert for four hours at an intense level that I don't know if I can do this again tomorrow. And then you wake up and you go to the field the next day and you find a way to get through it again. But those games in Boston were, I will say this, the Yankees series almost made, and no disrespect to the Cardinals. Austin were, I will say this, the yankee series almost made, and no disrespect to the cardinals, it was, it was almost like it was almost anti-climactic.
Speaker 1:the games in st louis were actually boring I was gonna say that, and and not just because I'm a yankee fan, but that american league championship series, you guys are down three games to none and that is the comeback right. And so there was so much drama and excitement, and it's the Yankees and the Red Sox, and you know. Then you, you guys end up sweeping the Cardinals.
Speaker 2:I remember leaving Fenway Park after we lost 19 to 8 or whatever it was, and I remember driving home I saw a group of six men 50-year-old men, walking together and all six of them were crying. And I remember thinking to myself driving home I was like we know what we're up against, we know it doesn't look good, but I remember thinking, man, I really wish I cared that much about something that I have no control over. But that was the epitome. We saw grown men crying like it's not over yet. I remember we walk in the clubhouse the next day going look, this place hasn't won a championship in 86 years. If they think we're going to do it the conventional way, y'all are crazy.
Speaker 2:Good point that was you know, not only did it happen then, but I mean the Yankees hadn't lost four games in a row in I don't know three years. We knew that. We knew, looking across, what we were up against. But we just thought, hey, we'll see what happens, we'll see what happens. And Dave steals that base and Dave's not out, dave's safe, billy singles, and here we go. And then you never know. And that was the one thing Terry Francona. I took from Terry was win today. That's all he kept saying Win today. If you think about winning four games in a row, it's almost undaunting, right, you can't do it, it's almost impossible. But he's like just win today and we come back. You win today and you can win today. You just got to do it four times. We've done that all year. That that kind of I took that from terry francona to be able to. I feel like no disrespect to the other managers I played for.
Speaker 1:He was the only guy at that time with that team could have pulled that off yeah, all the pieces there is come together for same thing with that olympic team that you mentioned. It had to be those guys in that moment to make it happen.
Speaker 2:That story. We needed Tom Lasorda there for a reason. Phil Regan was our pitching coach. I played for Phil at Winter Ball a year prior actually a winter prior so I had some history with him. They gave us strict rules on pitch counts for those guys.
Speaker 2:I was reading that in the book and it's like the seventh inning I think in the book. Tommy look like bumping him, like look, look, and he kept doing it. And Tommy finally looked at it. And he looked at it, he ripped it from Phil Riggins' hand and he spiked it on the ground and it went in 58 pieces and he goes I'll handle the Brewers tomorrow. I'm not taking this kid out of the game. And I looked at Tommy and I'm like I go, you're a bad MF-er. I go, you're a bad MF-er. I go, that's why you're the greatest of all time, skip, and I just gave him knuckles and I'm like we're pulling this shit off, like I remember that, like it was yesterday, like Phil was a worrywart right, he's the pitching coach, he's going to be his ass. And Tommy just pulled that thing from him and spiked it and it blew up and I was like hell yeah, skip, let's do this thing.
Speaker 1:That's good and that's what they said, that getting the sword was really important because he had the respect to. You know, work with the other teams and say, okay, we'll take care of your guy and whatnot.
Speaker 2:Just not tonight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just not tonight, Like you said, win tonight, win this game right.
Speaker 2:We'll apologize tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we this game right. We'll apologize tomorrow morning. So we're going back to the Olympics real quick. No other team has. We've never won a gold medal. That's the only time we won a gold medal. 2028, the baseball is coming back and the Olympics is going to be in LA. So you talk about having a vision. I had a vision last night. Any chance you're part of that team? Can you coach that?
Speaker 2:team for us. I would love to manage that team, I would love to be a coach on that team or I'd love to broadcast those games. I keep putting my name in and I do the NU national team every year. They know. They know, they know.
Speaker 1:I got the chills. Right now they had Ernie Young.
Speaker 2:They had Ernie Young. They had Ernie Young, our right fielder, who had a really big hit for us in that gold medal game. He was the hitting coach for the I think, 2024? Whenever the last one was, he was the hitting coach for that team. So we kind of joke around the guys on the team because we toast each other every year on the same day. We toast each other via FaceTime. We all get a little shot and cheers each other. So we always say like it's time to get the band back together one more time and let's do this thing again. And we would just do it with a little more gray hair or less hair than we had back in 2000.
Speaker 1:Like the 72 Dolphins right, the only undefeated team, and they celebrate. That's special to be part of a team like that Just a few men, all the players that have ever played Coach one of a few, that's incredible. Well, like I said, I had a vision that you're part of that somehow.
Speaker 2:I hope your vision comes true. That'd be great. I love that vision and I'll be rooting for you.
Speaker 1:I got this hat special for you. I went and had this hat made special for you. I'll be wearing that hat in 2028, for sure, man. Let me look at my notes here, so I want to make sure this conversation has been wonderful. That's awesome as a baseball fan, to have the opportunity to just talk and hear you sell all these stories.
Speaker 2:It's, trust me anybody for a conk, especially you, you, you guys. I said it before and I'll say it again you guys are what makes that place so special. It's great. Our kids love it. I know the little care bag you gave Steel. He cherishes it and he loves it. He took it with him. These things, what you guys do for those boys, it makes their life and they talk about it all the time and it makes the place really special like we can't thank you guys enough for the support you guys give them and and how much it means to to look up there and and there, I trust me. Last year there were a lot of nights we really needed you and we didn't give you much to cheer for, but you guys always had our back and and and for sure. You guys helped us win a heck of a lot of games they probably shouldn't have won. It was because of you guys and I'm just so grateful that my son got to put that jersey on.
Speaker 1:We are too. Thank you for sharing that. You made me cry again. Please let him know that I asked for him and, like I said, we talk about him. His name comes up still. It always will, and let him know that I'm rooting for him.
Speaker 2:Keep him track of me, he knows, he knows, he knows he can feel you guys. Even if he don't say it, he feels you guys. And that's what true fans when you feel them, you guys are real and we're grateful for you guys.
Speaker 1:That means everything, coach, and I think I want to read something from the book and we'll go ahead and wrap it up. I asked you earlier about what it takes to be a champion and you gave me a good answer. This is what Coach Tommy the Sword has said about you. After you hit the big home run to get us into the gold medal game, he said it was pure joy. Before his at-bat, doug and I had a talk. And he said it was pure joy Before his at-bat, doug and I had a talk and he said, skip, I'll do whatever it takes for us to win the game. He never thought about his individual accomplishments this whole time, just the team and winning. That's the kind of champion you are coach, that's just.
Speaker 2:That's the way I mean I was raised by we always joke around, I was raised by wolves. I was raised by my dad, my mom. My dad was really hard on me but my household winning was not fun, winning was expected. That's just kind of the way I was raised. I was always team. First I was a Larry Bird guy, just team, team, team. If your team does well, you do well and that's usually how it goes. And Jack at Florida State was the same way it was. You know, it's about us, it's all us. It's not about me, it's us and that's just the way. I need you like, you need me and that's the way it goes.
Speaker 2:Like Tommy, I'll be forever grateful for Tommy because he did so much for me personally, mentally, and so many talks we had 11, same thing so many talks that we had. That that really molded me as a man, you know. And Tommy I wasn't. I wasn't a dark place after 99. And Tommy was. I remember he pulled me aside and goes you can hit like what's the problem? And I explained it to him word for word and we sat down and had dinner and from that moment on I knew that one he was. I knew of him, I knew he was special, but he really wanted to figure me out and I still use those moments to this day.
Speaker 2:As a coach, I need to figure out what makes each kid tick, before baseball. I think that's where Tommy got me and Tommy understood and you know, when you get a player, that when you're a player and you realize that coach cares about me as a person, that player will run through a burning building for you and I think that's that's the legacy of. I think it's that 17, right, like that's the legacy of. I think that's 17, right. Like I was heartbroken as a coach, like I wanted to bring 17 a championship, like that still guts me and I didn't even play. But like for men like that and not just coaches for men like that you want, like I said for 11, coach Martin the list goes on and on. Joe Torre I'll run through traffic with my hair on fire for him just because that's how much he meant to me and that's. You know, you play for the guys that you respect the most and that's the bottom line. I learned how to respect my opponent, respect the game and respect who's running the show, and that's pretty much the way I was raised and that's winning supposed to happen.
Speaker 2:You know, I always say people use the word pressure. I don't believe in the word pressure. Pressure creeps into the unprepared. I was never unprepared, so everything wasn't, it wasn't a shock. So my dad prepared me, my parents prepared me and now it's just. I've seen the, the movie before, I just got to replay it, and that's kind of how, that's what, that's what I've, that's that's what got me by.
Speaker 2:It wasn't physical ability, it was mental ability. I always say this to every team I ever coached I don't know if I'll make you physically better, but I know I'll make you mentally tougher. At the end of the day, the mentally tough ones are the ones that survive, whether it's in baseball or whether it's in life, and that's kind of like. That was our team last year. We had a bunch of young kids and they weren't real mentally tough in the beginning, but 17 and Ralphie and Jack and I have beaten on them a little bit. They might not have been pretty during it, parents might not have liked it, but my job is to make you mentally tougher.
Speaker 2:So when the shit hits the fan, can you respond? And at the end they responded. So I'm not going to change, whether they're young kids or old kids or big leaguers or, you know, the middle school team. That's just the way I've seen it work too many times and that's how I'm always going to be. It worked out well for you. You've been a champion, I said. I've been in the right place at the right time a lot of times and I've had a lot. I had a lot of good teammates that helped me along the way and I've had I had two parents that supported me from day one, that that put my life in front of theirs, and for that I'm forever grateful well I'm.
Speaker 1:I'm grateful that I I passed cross coach. So much respect, absolutely. You know you've got a great and I appreciate you sharing it with me.
Speaker 2:Of course, anytime.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I hope you and Madison come back to the recs. You know we've got a few games left.
Speaker 2:We're coming. We're coming. I said I expect to be down there more than I am, more than I was. I understand.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to help out the kids up here.
Speaker 2:I understand and trust me. We watch it on Game Changer, okay, and we put it on the trust me, and I'm I would get kind of yelled at sometimes Like who's texting you at 1130? I'm like it's just Ralphie, it's just Ralphie. I mean we would be up until 12, 1230, 1 o'clock every night and it hasn't stopped. Whether my kid's there or not, we still text. We still text incessantly 7 o'clock in the morning. Jack's are more at 6.30, 6.15 in the morning. Retired Life's got them up early. But like Ralphie and I, we talk about the guys every day. We've been talking throughout the course of the fall to now. So I might not be there in person. I'm still in spirit and helping and trying to help and fixing. I always got Ralphie. Ralphie can always lean on me. We lean on each other to help and fix these.
Speaker 1:I told Crush the other day I said once a champ always a champ and once a conk always a conk. I see you rocking that KW all over the place, all over.
Speaker 2:I was like that's con all over the place.
Speaker 1:All over, All over. I was like that's called pride right there.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. When the place cares as much as y'all do, it's easy to rep.
Speaker 1:Very good, I'm glad we had a big impression on you and if you ever do get back to the recs, please come sit with me and the crew 100%, at least one inning, you got to hang some K's with me, coach.
Speaker 2:I'm going to hang a K up. That's what I said before I did this. I said I'm going to hang a K with you. I have to do it before. I'm going to do it this year. I'm going to go sit up there. I'm going to hang a K with you.
Speaker 1:Please do, Then your baseball career you got a, and then it's complete.
Speaker 2:I got you. I got you. That's a definite. That's a definite, that's a promise.
Speaker 1:Oh I hope you do. Coach, Thank you for talking to me and sharing your story with everybody.
Speaker 2:Of course. Of course, anytime for you. Thank you, coach, all right.
Speaker 1:I'm Joy Nulish and I appreciate you tuning into my podcast. My purpose is to bring joy into my life and the lives of others. If you enjoyed this episode, drop a review, share and subscribe, because there's a lot of good stuff on tap. You can also follow bring joy on youtube and instagram, or check my website at joynoodlescom. Now go bring joy to the people in your world. Until next time, much love.
