August 11, 2022 • 36 mins
Ron welcomes former professional baseball player Latroy Hawkins to the show to talk about his life and career. During his 21-year MLB career, Hawkins pitched for 11 different teams, 1,042 games, 10th-most of any MLB player as of 2020, and logged 30 saves against all 30 MLB teams. Hawkins was drafted straight out of high school and at 42 years old, a year before his retirement, he was the oldest active player in MLB.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Ron Bar and this is today's edition of
Ron Bars Sports Byline USA podcast on the eight Side Network.
Letroy Hawkins joins us on Sports Byline. Twenty one year
relief pitcher with eleven different teams, and when LaTroy retired,
he was the only active player to be a member
of the one thousand Games Pitch Club and at forty
(00:20):
two years of age, he was the oldest active player
in Major League Baseball and he was drafted straight out
of high school by the Minnesota Twins. Detroy, you were
raised in Gary, Indiana, and you were raised primarily by
your mother, Deborah. Tell me a little bit about her.
Um My mom, Deborah, she was a single parent. Um.
(00:42):
She was a nurse early on when I was a
young keller, and then she started she went to school
to be a cashotologist. She did hair. Um, she did
the best she could know with um without you know,
having a scouse in the household. Very stern. Uh. She
played the role of boat parents and she she laid
(01:05):
down the heavy hand and you know she did she worked.
She did what she had to do to provide for
her three kids. And she taught us, you know, about
hard work and perseverance and UM, you know, never asked
before a handout. You know, never want anything for free.
You go out there and work for everything that you
(01:25):
you want and you go earn it. And that was
her whole thing. You have to go out and earn.
You know, you're placing this in this in this uh big,
wild wide world. You know you were also raised in
part by your maternal grandparents. And I think about that
because I had that same type of influence in my
(01:46):
life as well, and I always was thankful for it
and I could put my finger on it, But I
want to ask you, being in that circumstance, what was
it that you got out of life from that perspective
that maybe other people would not have. UM. I think
it's really a blessing to be able to, um have
your grandparents around. UM. My grandfather just passed away May nine,
(02:10):
and he was ninety four years old, and uh he
was remarried and his new wife, Grandma cell Estine, they
have been married fifty five years, so they had married
long before I was born. UM. But my that was
my mom's father. When my mom's mom, she passed me
in oh six, and I spent a lot of time
with her um at her house because my mom worked
(02:34):
and they worked different schedules, so I had a chance
to just be raised a lot by My grandmother just
showed me how how to um care for people, have empathy, um,
how to share, how to understand that you know, everybody
needs help sometime, and don't be afraid to lend people help.
(02:56):
And when you lend people help, don't do it with
the with the heart of wanting something in return, because
that's not what it's about. My grandmother was very caring lady.
I mean she had I remember one time I was
already in the big leagues and I was at her
house and I was sitting in the kitchen talking to her,
and she had her back to the door, and I
(03:16):
was facing the door, and I see this little white
kid walks in her house, goes right in the refrigerator,
and this just blew my mind, and I'm like, Grandma,
who is that. It's like, that's the family to live
across the alley. They're gas and lights off, so I'm
letting me use my refrigerator. And that resonated with me
so much because that's the type of person my grandmother was.
(03:38):
You know, she didn't care what color you were. And
she grew up in Mississippi. She saw the worst and
worst of people. She saw the worst of the worst
of people. And it didn't make a difference what color
that family was. When they wrote down on they love,
they knew that they can count on uh miss miss lead.
They knew they can count on her, And that right
there is just that always set with me, Like my
grandmother was just that type of person. I mean, you
(03:59):
can you can always go to a house and get
a meal or two or maybe three. Did a lot
of a lot a lot of people to stay with her,
But our door was always open if you needed somewhere
warm to go and you needed some food. You were
always very talented as an athlete growing up in high school,
you competed in basketball and football as well, And I
(04:19):
was surprised to learn that you competed in basketball against
Glenn Robinson and you also received a full scholarship offer
to play college basketball in Indiana State. How tough was
the decision to play baseball professionally. Baseball had me hook
when they said they were gonna pay me right out
of high school and I didn't have to go student
(04:41):
the classroom again. But yeah, I played against Glenning High School.
We're the same age, so we started playing against each
other and like maybe the seventh eighth grade, and there
was a point where I was taller than the seventh
and eighth and ninth grade, and in between our ninth year,
ninth grade year, in our sophomore year, he grew probably
about five son kinches over summer and the rest of history.
(05:02):
But um, it was a good time for Keeton. I mean,
I enjoyed sports. Sports kept me out of trouble. So
I tried to play as many sports as I could
keep me occupied. My grandparents and my mom made sure
that whatever I wanted to play, they made sure they
put me in it and made sure I stayed in
and I couldn't quit once I was in. And you know,
(05:23):
saying went to my brother and some of my cousins.
You know, we had to you know, we wasn't working.
We had to be playing sports. And I don't think
back then I had a pretty good work ethic to
be trying to work for money. I had to work
ethic for sports. You were raised in Gary, Indiana, and
that's a hard scrabble type of town, at least when
you were growing up there. Uh, it was a steel
town and I'm just wondering, how did that forge some
(05:46):
of your attitudes toward life. Well, I think like in
that area, that that region of Indiana we call it
that area northwest Indiana, we call it the region and
a lot of blue crawler workers because when I was
run up, we had three up four steel meals, and um,
that's what people did. They went to work. I mean
(06:07):
that some of the conditions wasn't great, but they didn't complain.
They persevered, they pushed through. And I'm talking about all colors, white,
you know, Babs, Hispanics, Latinos, you know, everybody works. I mean,
it was just and it just showed you the perseverance
and the greediness that they had to, um, you know,
go out and work and make a living for make
(06:27):
a better living for themselves. And you know, that's what
they taught me, Like you know, things that I saw
and experience growing up in in in my hometown. Um,
baseball had nothing, had nothing on that, Like, I mean,
there was nothing baseball could do or show me that
I hadn't seen, especially in a negative fashion. So I mean,
you know, my teammates complaining about about certain things that's
(06:50):
going that they see in the clubhouse, or certain foods,
or they just complaining because they come from a different demographic.
I didn't complain about that because a lot of times
it was better than where I came from. It was
a lot better than where I come from. So that's
what it taught me. Not to complain. Um, go to
work every day, put in an honest day's work, pushed through, persevere,
(07:12):
don't complain, And when you do that, a lot of
times you're gonna come out. You're gonna come out with
a smile on your face. You were drafted straight out
of high school, as I said, by the Minnesota Twins.
Did you think you were ready to go off and
have that type of professional sport experience. No, I didn't
think I was ready. I had no clue with it.
But you know, being drafted entailed completely. I'll tell you
(07:35):
how naive I was. I thought when I got drafted,
I was going straight to the major league. That's how
naive I was about the process. I didn't know I
was a lone way from the major league. Um. But
I was in my government Eton class taking my finals,
and the young lady walked in handed my teacher, Miss
Boon a piece of paper and she just, you know, smoothly,
(07:59):
and she just gliding over to my desk and put
it on the corner my best and I looked at it,
I read it, and I was like, oh, that's cool,
and but I need to be casting this e contest.
So I locked in on the test and after the classes,
when I had had a chance to really set in
and and you know, at that point, I didn't think
my life was gonna change like it did. And then
(08:20):
able to baseball is giving me the luxury to to
leave home as a young kid and and see's parts
of the country that I probably I don't think I
probably would ever seen. Um. It made me. It also
woke me up to the fact that I was good
in my area, but in a grand scheme of things,
with the collective talent from across the country, I was
(08:43):
so far behind watching these guys. When I first got
to FOURT Manors, Florida, I thought they were big leaguers already.
The way they filled the ball, the way they threw
the ball, the way they hit the ball, I had
no clue. I didn't never experience anything like that, So
I didn't think I was ready. But I knew I
had one thing. I had perseverance. I was a good listener,
I was a good athlete, and I was willing to
(09:05):
put into work to be successful. And about a minute,
tell me about what the minor league experience was like
for you, because you did to go through the minor
leagues at the time. And then I thought it was
very colorful and it was a lot different than what
it is today. Yes, completely different than it is today. Um.
We didn't have all the luxuries you had to Um.
(09:26):
You had to improvise on a lot of things. The
food wasn't great. You know, you know better, you do better.
We didn't know any better back then. Um. But I
enjoyed it because once again I had a chance to
go to places like Fort Meyers, Florida, UM Elizabeth in Tennessee. Uh. Luckily,
in ninety three, when I was in a ball the
(09:47):
Twins had just signed a deal for our a ball
team to be in Fort Wayne, Indiana, so it was
two hours from home. I had a lot of families
was able to come see me my second year in profession,
my third year for president baseball. That help, and then
I had a chance to go to UM Nashville, Tennessee,
and in Salt Lake City, so I got a chance
of see places and and adding to that all the
(10:09):
places that I had a chance to travel to when
I played in those different towns, so Bristol, Connecticut, Cedar Raptors, Iowa, Waterloo, Iowa.
Where I got to Salt Lake City, Peening, Edmonton, Calgary,
um um Tacoma. Just places that are probably little town
that I probably never would have been able to go
(10:29):
to and get to meet people from all walks of life.
LaTroy Hawkins is with us. We're talking about his life
and his career will continue to do so as we
continue across the country and around the world. We've got
you on Sports Byeline. You're listening to Ron Bars Sports
Byeline USA podcast Deltroy Hawkins is with us here on
Sports Byeline USA. Twenty one years in the majors, pitching
(10:53):
with eleven teams, relief pitcher. Did you always start out
as a as a pitcher or did that come from
another position or did you play multiple positions as you
were growing up in high school and then the early
part with the Twins, Well, I was I played multiple
positions growing up. When I got to high school, I
was primarily pitching and catching, and I got drafted as
(11:15):
a picture so that's the only thing I did as
the professional was pitched. And I'm glad once you get
into it, you don't understand how difficult it is to
play two positions. It's hard enough to learn one position
and everything that goes into it, and the daily grind
and the mechanics and the consistency and when you're trying
to figure out, you know, playing offense and playing defense,
(11:38):
and it's it's a whole another animal. So those guys
that could do that are really good at both their
exceptional players and their aptitude for learning and being able
to apply what they learned is absolutely amazing. But no,
I was always a picture. I started. I was a
starter In my first three and a half years in
the big leagues. I think I got ninety eight career
(11:59):
starts that didn't work out for me. I was moved
to the bullpen, and that's where my career started to
really take off. Once I got to the bullpen and
was able to uh. I think for me it helped
that I was engaged in the game every day, and
as a starter, I was, you know, pitching every fifth day.
What did you expect the major leagues to be like
and how are they similar to our different la Troy,
(12:22):
I had no clue what to expect when I got
to the big leaves, but I knew that I was
going to be facing guys that I actually watched on
television growing up. So that right there, um gave me
some kind of um, you know, anxiety to think that
I would be facing you know, Harold Banes and Frank Thomas,
(12:44):
you know, guys that I actually watched play for the
Chico Scago Whiteside growing up, and I admired them, and
you know, I would sit in there, you know, being
watching the games and going through there, you know, trying
to imitate their at bat and things like that. But
you know, it was everything. It was. It was something
that as much as you prepare yourself in the minor
(13:09):
leagues to get to the big leagues, when you get
to the big leagues, there's just as much more to
learn as you had learned already, and having a mental
capacity to be able to do that, get better to
get to the big league, and then once you make it,
continue to get better every day because they're draft in
(13:29):
the next player to take your position every year in
June when you came up. Was there anybody that took
you underneath their wing to show you the ropes? Yeah,
I had Kirby Puckett, Um, Kenneth Happani, um Rick Aguilera.
So I had a veteran group that was UM that
(13:49):
was very They're all professionals, they have been rookies before.
They understood. So you know, just having those guys to
lean on and be able to talk to you and
you know, being able to just talk to him about,
you know, not having success because I didn't have a
lot of success at the beginning I had. I mean,
I went out there and failed repeatedly. I failed. I
(14:14):
feel miserably and it's definitely a hard pill to swallow.
But there's also a challenge to yourself to get better
in all those areas, areas that you know, was that
were the reason why you were felling at the major
reg level. So, man, I had some good mentors and
they definitely kept me saying, kept me motivated. UM helped
(14:36):
me understand that you know, it's not easy, and if
it was easy, everybody's doing it, but you know you're
specially because you're here now. You just gotta figure it out,
and then figuring outcomes were going out there, going out there,
being put in different situations on the mound. That's how
you figure it out. And once you start to figure
it out and you start becoming comfortable in those uncomfortable situations,
(14:56):
you're and then you're able to drive in those situations.
Made your major league debut early in and you talk
about the struggling. Tell me about that first game against
the Baltimore Orioles. I really don't even remember it because
it was a blur. I don't remember how people come
to town from Indiana. My parents and family come in town,
(15:20):
and that's all I remember. It didn't go well. Um.
I do remember not being nervous, and that was pretty
odd to me because I wasn't nervous. And a lot
of times, most times, well all the time you got
making a mazy debut, they're nervous, they're nervous. Um. I
wasn't nervous, And I think that play that negatively affected
(15:45):
me because I wasn't nervous. Because I remember getting sent
down that year and getting called back up and that
September and when I got called back up and said Tember,
I was so nervous. I couldn't even sleep. I didn't
have that issue the first time, but yeah, that was
a tough. So that was tough. That was part of
my struggles as a starter, and it started with my
first major league start at East Orios. Well, I just
(16:07):
couldn't you know. I was throwing strikes, but I mean
they were hitting the ball all over the place, and
you know, I just couldn't get it out. I remember,
I think I remember I had a groundball double play
and it hit the runner, so we didn't didn't have
opportunity to turn a double play that probably could have
got me out of any Instead the runner, the runner
was out and the hitter ended up getting a single.
(16:29):
So when I remember the wheels falling off after that, Yeah,
you gave up seven earned runs and only an ending
and two thirds of work, and that could be kind
of mentally destroying for someone. Do you realize or remember
when you felt, hey, I can really pitch at this level?
What what point was that latroyof Um At what point
(16:52):
did I realized? It was probably about three years in
in between years three and year four, because there's always
that that area doubt until you get really comfortable. Uh
and confident in what you're doing and confident that you're
gonna be successful every outing. It took me about three
years or four years. And you're always, You're always when
(17:16):
you're young, at the top of your sport, you always
I think that once you have a bad outing, and
you're gonna get sent back down. And I always thought that,
um and just because you know, it was happening around me.
But I had a great manager and Tom Kelly. Tom Kelly,
you know, he saw something in LaTroy Hawkins that LaTroy
(17:38):
didn't see in himself. And he would call me in
his office. It was like, you keep working, young man,
It's gonna work out for you. Just keep working. But
if I ever see you stopped working or gonna think
you stopped working, I'm gonna figure out of here. So
I will walk out of Tom Kelly's office and not
know if that was a good meeting or a bad
But I had him on my side, and I always
(18:00):
talk about and when I talk about my career, because
he showed he showed his his his faith in me,
and I think, I think that's a while. I started
to see the potential of myself and I was able
to make it work. But It all started because Tom
Kelly saw something in me and he gave me a
chance when a lot of the teams would have given
(18:22):
would have given up on me, and t K never
gave up on me. You know, one of the things
I find interesting, LaTroy is the fact that when a
pitcher goes from being a starter to being a reliever
like you did, they have to deal with a lot
of different things. It's a completely different mindset. You don't
know when you're gonna go into the game. You also
know when you're a starter. Okay, I've got five days
to prepare for this batter or this team coming up
(18:45):
as well. And then you've got the ego factor, you know,
being the starter and now being a relief pitcher. That's
a very interesting dynamic. Tell me how you work through that. Um.
I remember in and screen training, I started a couple
of games and then I would come in and piggy
back the starter and I end up making a team
(19:07):
out of screen Training and we get to Minnesota. Tom
Kelly called me in his office, Hey, Hawk, we're gonna
We're gonna put you in the bullpen. I think they're
gonna be a good, good, um good situation for you,
and you said some other things. That My only question
to him, or do I learn how to pitch out
of the bulletpen in the big leagues? I got to
(19:28):
go to the minor leagues. He's like, no, you get
to learn here in the big leagues. I was like, well,
I'm fine with the decision, Um. But for me, I
think it it was all mental because when I was starting,
I wasn't being successful. So I had four days in
between to think about everything that went wrong in the
start before. And four days was not enough time. Two Uh,
(19:49):
it was too much time for me to be, you know,
just replaying UM what happened in the game before UM engaged. I,
you know, waiting those four days, I was a lot
of anxious. A lot of times. I had some fear
some other times, but being a reliever, you know, I
didn't have a chance to have that same anxiety. I
(20:12):
didn't have a chance I have that same fear because
had I gone out there and in the eighth ending
with a two run lead and give up a three home,
three run home run and lose that lead, there's the
opportunity that I could be out there tomorrow night in
the same situation, and I can excel at it, but
(20:33):
as a starter, you don't get that opportunity to be
out there every day, or how the opportunity is a
chance to be out there every day. So that helped
me mentally, knowing that I could get right back out
there and redeem myself. And it also helped me that
I didn't have to face uh lineups three times. I
can't say I did that a lot in my career
as a starter, because I never made it to the
(20:54):
very time around. But you know, I've built this confidence
that said, I'm gonna gonna face you one time, I'm
on all out at you and as he you're gonna
get me, or I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna get you,
and started to you know, just understand how hard it
is to hit in the major league. To hit that
round ball with a round back, you gotta be pretty
good to do that consistently. And as we know, you
(21:16):
know in baseball, he sailed more than you succeed. So
I started to have that mentality and that's when it
started to turn around for me. We're talking with LaTroy
Hawkins about his fine, fine career twenty one years with
eleven teams, and he's a member of the one thousand
Games Pitch Club. And also, at forty two years of age,
he was the oldest active player in Major League Baseball.
(21:38):
We'll talk more about his fine career as we continue
on America's sports talk show. You're listening to Ron Bars
Sports Byline USA podcast. Detroy Hawkins is with us here
on Sports Byeline USA. He played for eleven different teams,
and I just wondered, as you moved around baseball, how
did you approach that because you talked to players and
(21:59):
they say, well, we don't we want to know what
our role is on the team. We want to know stability,
all of those sort of things. But you were very adaptable.
Where did that come from? LaTroy? Um just, I think
it came from my upbringing, and I understood that once
I went to the bullpen and the way that the
Tree agency market was going and where it was, that
(22:21):
there's a good chance being a middle at least guy
to a late releif call it, I would not be
on the same team to my whole career. Um. That
first two movements after last Minnesota, the movement to Chicago,
I was tough because Minnesota was the organization who drafted me,
Minnesota's organization, who gave me an opportunity to be a
(22:43):
big leader, excuse me. And then I got treated from
Chicago to San Francisco, and that was tough because I
signed a three year deal, two year deal with a
player of option to be in Chicago for three years,
and I was there a year and a half. After that,
I became immune to a I started looking at the
positive of UM, you know, going to different key, different cities,
(23:06):
the opportunity to get to meet new people, UH, different teammates, UM,
different gms, and I just looked at it that way.
It was an opportunity to m go to eleven different
cities and submerge myself in the in the community in
those cities and see how different city is and you
know what they have, you know what what plus do
(23:28):
they have to offer, and you know what the negative
parts of that city is. So I had to I
had a definitely agree to. I made my experience in
leven different cities what I wanted it to be. And
I can tell you I didn't have one city that
I didn't enjoy because every city gave me something different.
I was just gonna ask you with that much traveling
besides the writing a book about where to eat dinner
(23:49):
and where to live in any of those cities. What
did you learn about the people on this country? Um,
I learned that. You know. It's funny because I think
I learned more about people once are retired, because when
you're when you're a professional athlete, A lot of times,
like you talked about the bubble because of now now,
(24:12):
because of coronavirus, But I always talked about a bubble
that we've lived in because we have the best of everything,
even though you know in this country, the more money
you make, the more free stuff, more stuff you're giving more,
less stuff you have to pay for, and you know,
it's just we're not retired. I had a chance to
(24:33):
step away from that bubble and really see how hard
working Americans are and how hard you work doesn't equate
to what you you know, what you what you bring home,
and how hard life really is for a lot of
(24:55):
people in our country. Life is hard. Then you start
to understand when you look at the news, you understand
why things happen and how you know there's a part
of our society different ethnicities to steel completely left out
in the American dreams and not because of something that
they they've done, just because of the system. And you know,
(25:19):
it was very alarming to me, just you know, once
I stepped away from the bubble of being a professional athlete,
it was very alarming to me. But I do know
there's you know, Americans, we were very resilion people. Um
and I've traveled all over the world. I've been through
probably fifteen different countries and you know, people talk about
(25:39):
America is the greatest country on the planet. Well, you
know what it is. It is, But I don't think
you're allowed to say that if you hadn't been anywhere else,
you don't have anything to judge you with. Yes, some
other places, Well you can make that decision. Yeah, that
that's a very good point as well. Let me list
the teams that you played for the Twins, of course,
the Cubs, the Giants, Baltimore, Colorado, the Yankees, Houston Milwaukee,
(26:02):
also the Angels and the New York Mets in Toronto
Blue Jays. Now, I mentioned that because the one thing
I know, having covered sports for such a long period
of time is that the fans are very provincial. They're
different as fans in particular cities and having been to
all those cities, what did you notice about fandom in
various cities in the country. Um I noticed that stands
(26:29):
are very temperamental people. Um I noticed that fans are
so caught up in what you can, what you bring
to their team, and they completely to get that you're human.
Learned that fans are um in certain cities are just
(26:54):
as racist as they can be. They don't have a
filter on what they think they can say to a
to a professional athlete. And I also learned that if
you open yourself up to fans, centem are really good people.
They are really good people, but that that one percent
(27:20):
is that one percent that keeps that doesn't allow players
to open up to fans. And I'm talking about pre
social media to pre social media. But you know, nine,
fans are really good, but you always have that you
always have that one percent that I think that you
(27:40):
know your your property of them because you played for
their teams, and since they bought a ticket, they can
say and try to do anything they want to you.
And you know, that's the only thing. Actually, I've had
some great experiences with fans. I had a fank club
in Minnesota that's over you know, Southern hundred of people. Um,
(28:02):
and I had some experience with fans and my experience
in Chicago with fans being racist towards me because of
you know, I've given up a home run or didn't
get to save the things like that. But you know,
fans are part of our game. They aren't. They truly are.
And like I said, nine percent of fans are unbelievable,
But it's just that one percent that Kim definitely, uh,
(28:24):
make that experience not happen like you should. Yeah, I
know exactly what you mean. And I've preached on my
program about that because fans feel that because they bought
that ticket, they have the right to do anything they
want in reference to the sport, to the team, and
also to the fans, and I've told him that's wrong.
Let me ask you about being in New York with
the Yankees, because that's a very interesting market in itself.
(28:47):
Two thousand seven, you had a situation and I want
to get your side of this. You signed a one
year contract with the Yankees. You became the first player
since outfielder Paul O'Neil to where his jersey number twenty
one for the Yankees, and you after a while you
returned from a road trip on April sixteenth, and you
changed your number to number twenty two in response to
the fans booing, yelling, and calling you O'Neill's name when
(29:10):
you took the field. That's never an easy situation, and
I suppose in a market like New York particularly, So
tell me you read on that whole thing, um, my
read our whole thing is I just didn't understand it.
I really didn't. And it's not a not de Paul O'Neal.
But I was wearing a number because of Roberto Clemente.
(29:32):
But the fans felt like I didn't have the right
to wear that number. Now, granted, at that time, I
probably had ten years in the big leagues, but I
didn't have the right to wear a number that was
available on the team that I went to, and I
was a major league veteran. It just didn't It didn't resonate.
But they didn't make sense to me. It still doesn't
make sense to me. Um, And then what what? What
(29:54):
also doesn't make sense to me? As much as they
don't like Roger Clemens. I looked to the number twenty
you and they were fine with that. So the whole system.
The whole situation was so bizarre. But I remember having
a conversation with Jeter about He was like, hawks up
to you if you want to change the number, man,
But I can tell you what They're going to be relentless.
(30:15):
They're not gonna let us. They're not gonna let up.
And I had a conversation from Marino. He said the
exact same thing. So I decided to change the number.
It didn't change our case. I was still I still sucked.
I still sucked. I couldn't change our pitch. I couldn't
find the irony. I couldn't. I couldn't understand their reason
they're reasoning behind it. It wasn't okay to where Paul
(30:39):
O'Neill's number, but it was okay to where Roger Clement's number.
I didn't. I still don't understand that. Like you, it'd
be it'd be really tough for you to help me
understand that. I can understand why you didn't understand it
as well. A friend of mine who was a Hall
of Fame reliever and now in the Hall of Fame,
played for the San Diego Poereason. I remember a conversation
(31:01):
we were having and I said to him, I said,
what's the greatest asset a reliever can have? And he
looked at me, smiled, and he said, a short memory. Yep,
that's not something always easy to have. Excuse me, would
they be Trevor Hoffman? Yes, yes, okay, great teammate, all around,
(31:24):
great guy, incredible human being, incredible, But yeah, he's right.
You gotta have a short memory because you know, and
that's and and that that also reverted back to what
I was saying as a starter, when I had all
that time to think about, you know, my my last
out he as opposed to being a reliever. I had
to have a short memory because I could be out
there that very next night in the same situation, facing
(31:46):
that same guy. So you have to have a short memory,
because if you let what happened at the night before
creep into what's going on in that particular day, you're
steadying yourself up a failure. Your teammate up in Minnesota
was Pat Mahomes a picture as well, and you are
the godfather of his son. Of course everybody knows him now,
(32:06):
Patrick Mahomes a half a billions When you heard about
that contract, I'm just wondering, being a professional athlete understanding
it and everything. What was your read on that, and
and also tell me a little bit about about the
the young Patrick mahomes Uh, the the NFL football players,
since you're his godfather. So he he called me on
(32:32):
side that side of before. It was before I think
he got they got released on Monday. It was brought
on Monday. So he called me on that Saturday. I
was on the steel because I'm in Minnesota right now
with the Big League and we're going to you know,
we're in the middle of a screamage. He said, Hey,
you got time to talk And I was like, I
really don't, Patrick, because i'm you know, I'm on the field.
(32:53):
He's like, I said, but I don't think. We were
about twenty minutes from being done. He's all right, call
me when you get a minute. I said, I call
you about five minut I guess he couldn't wait. He
texts me the terms of the contract. He texts me
the terms of the contract, and I remember texting them
back and I was like, I'm gonna call you when
(33:16):
I'm done. I'm almost done and I'm trying to yeah,
and he texted I said, last picture. I'll text you
in twenty minutes. And then he went on to tell
me that, you know, the ends and out of the contract,
and I in my next text to him, I said,
I have killed. I'll call you, and then I text
him I'm done, and I was like, that was And
we talked about it, and we just talked about the
(33:38):
you know, everything inside the contract, not the actual number,
because people get caught up in the number, you know,
and you know, we don't. In the football, you just
can't get caught up in that actual number. You gotta
you get caught up in you know, the ends and
out of the contract. Because they worked deffinitely than basketball
and football, you know, I mean baseball, they worked in NFL.
Contracts are completely different. And he started to all, I mean,
(34:00):
you know, the ins and out, and I was and
I just had chilled and I'm like, well, we knew
it was going to be you know, a whole lot
of money. And asked him how he failed. And then
when I was telling him about you know what, I
just told him how proud I was of him, and
you know, I really, you know, I really don't talk
a lot of football with him, but I always talked
(34:22):
to him about you know, being a good leader and
continue to be a good leader in that clubhouse because
you know, everybody's looking for a good leader and without
good leadership, um, that's when things start to go haywire.
And I just you know, just Erson to continue to
be as you are. And you know, we're not gonna
let the money changes. You won't do that. You know,
(34:44):
you who you are because your your character and your
morals and things that you stand by, and those things
are gonna change because you have money. And you know what,
that was the last you know, I texted him the
other day because JOHNS Donaldson was asking about him. But
you know, we talked that day and that was it.
But he's a he's a very smart kid. And when
he was a Texas tech you know, everybody Patrick did,
Patrick did. I was like, you guys know he's on
(35:05):
the danis. That's too right. He's not just a good quarterback.
He's very he's a highly intelligent young man and and
that he is. He has a photographic memory, he's very thoughtful.
He's committed to make an impact in this community, whether
it's you know, in Texas and Kansas City. Um, he's
very conscious about that. He just did that special I
(35:26):
mean did um. He's UM on the cover of all
this um GQ magazine, and he talked about some tough
issues UM and how proud. He talked about maybe one
powerful statement about how proud he was being a black man,
and he's just as proud of having a white mom.
And you know, those things go a long way, because
(35:48):
you know, you know, he gets some stuff on. He
talked about some of the stuff he's gotten on on
social media about you're not black, you're not white, blah
blah blah blah blah. And you know, we've always talked,
talked about not ever let somebody put you in a box.
You'd be proud of your white side. You'd be proud
of your black side, because you're lucky enough to have
(36:09):
both be proud. LaTroy, I want to thank you very LaTroy.
I want to thank you very much. I have enjoyed
this conversation, as I have with every conversation you and
I have had over the years, and not only twenty
one years. I mean, that gets my total respect, uh,
for the way you approach your life and approach baseball
as well. Take care, my friend. You're welcome here anytime.
(36:32):
Thank you anytime you want me on LaTroy Hawkins with
US twenty one years as a relief pitcher with eleven
different teams. We continue with more of you and sports Byeline.
You have been listening to Ron Bars Sports Byline USA
podcast on the eight Side Network
Hi, I'm Ron Bar and this is today's edition of
Ron Bars Sports Byline USA podcast on the eight Side Network.
Letroy Hawkins joins us on Sports Byline. Twenty one year
relief pitcher with eleven different teams, and when LaTroy retired,
he was the only active player to be a member
of the one thousand Games Pitch Club and at forty
(00:20):
two years of age, he was the oldest active player
in Major League Baseball and he was drafted straight out
of high school by the Minnesota Twins. Detroy, you were
raised in Gary, Indiana, and you were raised primarily by
your mother, Deborah. Tell me a little bit about her.
Um My mom, Deborah, she was a single parent. Um.
(00:42):
She was a nurse early on when I was a
young keller, and then she started she went to school
to be a cashotologist. She did hair. Um, she did
the best she could know with um without you know,
having a scouse in the household. Very stern. Uh. She
played the role of boat parents and she she laid
(01:05):
down the heavy hand and you know she did she worked.
She did what she had to do to provide for
her three kids. And she taught us, you know, about
hard work and perseverance and UM, you know, never asked
before a handout. You know, never want anything for free.
You go out there and work for everything that you
(01:25):
you want and you go earn it. And that was
her whole thing. You have to go out and earn.
You know, you're placing this in this in this uh big,
wild wide world. You know you were also raised in
part by your maternal grandparents. And I think about that
because I had that same type of influence in my
(01:46):
life as well, and I always was thankful for it
and I could put my finger on it, But I
want to ask you, being in that circumstance, what was
it that you got out of life from that perspective
that maybe other people would not have. UM. I think
it's really a blessing to be able to, um have
your grandparents around. UM. My grandfather just passed away May nine,
(02:10):
and he was ninety four years old, and uh he
was remarried and his new wife, Grandma cell Estine, they
have been married fifty five years, so they had married
long before I was born. UM. But my that was
my mom's father. When my mom's mom, she passed me
in oh six, and I spent a lot of time
with her um at her house because my mom worked
(02:34):
and they worked different schedules, so I had a chance
to just be raised a lot by My grandmother just
showed me how how to um care for people, have empathy, um,
how to share, how to understand that you know, everybody
needs help sometime, and don't be afraid to lend people help.
(02:56):
And when you lend people help, don't do it with
the with the heart of wanting something in return, because
that's not what it's about. My grandmother was very caring lady.
I mean she had I remember one time I was
already in the big leagues and I was at her
house and I was sitting in the kitchen talking to her,
and she had her back to the door, and I
(03:16):
was facing the door, and I see this little white
kid walks in her house, goes right in the refrigerator,
and this just blew my mind, and I'm like, Grandma,
who is that. It's like, that's the family to live
across the alley. They're gas and lights off, so I'm
letting me use my refrigerator. And that resonated with me
so much because that's the type of person my grandmother was.
(03:38):
You know, she didn't care what color you were. And
she grew up in Mississippi. She saw the worst and
worst of people. She saw the worst of the worst
of people. And it didn't make a difference what color
that family was. When they wrote down on they love,
they knew that they can count on uh miss miss lead.
They knew they can count on her, And that right
there is just that always set with me, Like my
grandmother was just that type of person. I mean, you
(03:59):
can you can always go to a house and get
a meal or two or maybe three. Did a lot
of a lot a lot of people to stay with her,
But our door was always open if you needed somewhere
warm to go and you needed some food. You were
always very talented as an athlete growing up in high school,
you competed in basketball and football as well, And I
(04:19):
was surprised to learn that you competed in basketball against
Glenn Robinson and you also received a full scholarship offer
to play college basketball in Indiana State. How tough was
the decision to play baseball professionally. Baseball had me hook
when they said they were gonna pay me right out
of high school and I didn't have to go student
(04:41):
the classroom again. But yeah, I played against Glenning High School.
We're the same age, so we started playing against each
other and like maybe the seventh eighth grade, and there
was a point where I was taller than the seventh
and eighth and ninth grade, and in between our ninth year,
ninth grade year, in our sophomore year, he grew probably
about five son kinches over summer and the rest of history.
(05:02):
But um, it was a good time for Keeton. I mean,
I enjoyed sports. Sports kept me out of trouble. So
I tried to play as many sports as I could
keep me occupied. My grandparents and my mom made sure
that whatever I wanted to play, they made sure they
put me in it and made sure I stayed in
and I couldn't quit once I was in. And you know,
(05:23):
saying went to my brother and some of my cousins.
You know, we had to you know, we wasn't working.
We had to be playing sports. And I don't think
back then I had a pretty good work ethic to
be trying to work for money. I had to work
ethic for sports. You were raised in Gary, Indiana, and
that's a hard scrabble type of town, at least when
you were growing up there. Uh, it was a steel
town and I'm just wondering, how did that forge some
(05:46):
of your attitudes toward life. Well, I think like in
that area, that that region of Indiana we call it
that area northwest Indiana, we call it the region and
a lot of blue crawler workers because when I was
run up, we had three up four steel meals, and um,
that's what people did. They went to work. I mean
(06:07):
that some of the conditions wasn't great, but they didn't complain.
They persevered, they pushed through. And I'm talking about all colors, white,
you know, Babs, Hispanics, Latinos, you know, everybody works. I mean,
it was just and it just showed you the perseverance
and the greediness that they had to, um, you know,
go out and work and make a living for make
(06:27):
a better living for themselves. And you know, that's what
they taught me, Like you know, things that I saw
and experience growing up in in in my hometown. Um,
baseball had nothing, had nothing on that, Like, I mean,
there was nothing baseball could do or show me that
I hadn't seen, especially in a negative fashion. So I mean,
you know, my teammates complaining about about certain things that's
(06:50):
going that they see in the clubhouse, or certain foods,
or they just complaining because they come from a different demographic.
I didn't complain about that because a lot of times
it was better than where I came from. It was
a lot better than where I come from. So that's
what it taught me. Not to complain. Um, go to
work every day, put in an honest day's work, pushed through, persevere,
(07:12):
don't complain, And when you do that, a lot of
times you're gonna come out. You're gonna come out with
a smile on your face. You were drafted straight out
of high school, as I said, by the Minnesota Twins.
Did you think you were ready to go off and
have that type of professional sport experience. No, I didn't
think I was ready. I had no clue with it.
But you know, being drafted entailed completely. I'll tell you
(07:35):
how naive I was. I thought when I got drafted,
I was going straight to the major league. That's how
naive I was about the process. I didn't know I
was a lone way from the major league. Um. But
I was in my government Eton class taking my finals,
and the young lady walked in handed my teacher, Miss
Boon a piece of paper and she just, you know, smoothly,
(07:59):
and she just gliding over to my desk and put
it on the corner my best and I looked at it,
I read it, and I was like, oh, that's cool,
and but I need to be casting this e contest.
So I locked in on the test and after the classes,
when I had had a chance to really set in
and and you know, at that point, I didn't think
my life was gonna change like it did. And then
(08:20):
able to baseball is giving me the luxury to to
leave home as a young kid and and see's parts
of the country that I probably I don't think I
probably would ever seen. Um. It made me. It also
woke me up to the fact that I was good
in my area, but in a grand scheme of things,
with the collective talent from across the country, I was
(08:43):
so far behind watching these guys. When I first got
to FOURT Manors, Florida, I thought they were big leaguers already.
The way they filled the ball, the way they threw
the ball, the way they hit the ball, I had
no clue. I didn't never experience anything like that, So
I didn't think I was ready. But I knew I
had one thing. I had perseverance. I was a good listener,
I was a good athlete, and I was willing to
(09:05):
put into work to be successful. And about a minute,
tell me about what the minor league experience was like
for you, because you did to go through the minor
leagues at the time. And then I thought it was
very colorful and it was a lot different than what
it is today. Yes, completely different than it is today. Um.
We didn't have all the luxuries you had to Um.
(09:26):
You had to improvise on a lot of things. The
food wasn't great. You know, you know better, you do better.
We didn't know any better back then. Um. But I
enjoyed it because once again I had a chance to
go to places like Fort Meyers, Florida, UM Elizabeth in Tennessee. Uh. Luckily,
in ninety three, when I was in a ball the
(09:47):
Twins had just signed a deal for our a ball
team to be in Fort Wayne, Indiana, so it was
two hours from home. I had a lot of families
was able to come see me my second year in profession,
my third year for president baseball. That help, and then
I had a chance to go to UM Nashville, Tennessee,
and in Salt Lake City, so I got a chance
of see places and and adding to that all the
(10:09):
places that I had a chance to travel to when
I played in those different towns, so Bristol, Connecticut, Cedar Raptors, Iowa, Waterloo, Iowa.
Where I got to Salt Lake City, Peening, Edmonton, Calgary,
um um Tacoma. Just places that are probably little town
that I probably never would have been able to go
(10:29):
to and get to meet people from all walks of life.
LaTroy Hawkins is with us. We're talking about his life
and his career will continue to do so as we
continue across the country and around the world. We've got
you on Sports Byeline. You're listening to Ron Bars Sports
Byeline USA podcast Deltroy Hawkins is with us here on
Sports Byeline USA. Twenty one years in the majors, pitching
(10:53):
with eleven teams, relief pitcher. Did you always start out
as a as a pitcher or did that come from
another position or did you play multiple positions as you
were growing up in high school and then the early
part with the Twins, Well, I was I played multiple
positions growing up. When I got to high school, I
was primarily pitching and catching, and I got drafted as
(11:15):
a picture so that's the only thing I did as
the professional was pitched. And I'm glad once you get
into it, you don't understand how difficult it is to
play two positions. It's hard enough to learn one position
and everything that goes into it, and the daily grind
and the mechanics and the consistency and when you're trying
to figure out, you know, playing offense and playing defense,
(11:38):
and it's it's a whole another animal. So those guys
that could do that are really good at both their
exceptional players and their aptitude for learning and being able
to apply what they learned is absolutely amazing. But no,
I was always a picture. I started. I was a
starter In my first three and a half years in
the big leagues. I think I got ninety eight career
(11:59):
starts that didn't work out for me. I was moved
to the bullpen, and that's where my career started to
really take off. Once I got to the bullpen and
was able to uh. I think for me it helped
that I was engaged in the game every day, and
as a starter, I was, you know, pitching every fifth day.
What did you expect the major leagues to be like
and how are they similar to our different la Troy,
(12:22):
I had no clue what to expect when I got
to the big leaves, but I knew that I was
going to be facing guys that I actually watched on
television growing up. So that right there, um gave me
some kind of um, you know, anxiety to think that
I would be facing you know, Harold Banes and Frank Thomas,
(12:44):
you know, guys that I actually watched play for the
Chico Scago Whiteside growing up, and I admired them, and
you know, I would sit in there, you know, being
watching the games and going through there, you know, trying
to imitate their at bat and things like that. But
you know, it was everything. It was. It was something
that as much as you prepare yourself in the minor
(13:09):
leagues to get to the big leagues, when you get
to the big leagues, there's just as much more to
learn as you had learned already, and having a mental
capacity to be able to do that, get better to
get to the big league, and then once you make it,
continue to get better every day because they're draft in
(13:29):
the next player to take your position every year in
June when you came up. Was there anybody that took
you underneath their wing to show you the ropes? Yeah,
I had Kirby Puckett, Um, Kenneth Happani, um Rick Aguilera.
So I had a veteran group that was UM that
(13:49):
was very They're all professionals, they have been rookies before.
They understood. So you know, just having those guys to
lean on and be able to talk to you and
you know, being able to just talk to him about,
you know, not having success because I didn't have a
lot of success at the beginning I had. I mean,
I went out there and failed repeatedly. I failed. I
(14:14):
feel miserably and it's definitely a hard pill to swallow.
But there's also a challenge to yourself to get better
in all those areas, areas that you know, was that
were the reason why you were felling at the major
reg level. So, man, I had some good mentors and
they definitely kept me saying, kept me motivated. UM helped
(14:36):
me understand that you know, it's not easy, and if
it was easy, everybody's doing it, but you know you're
specially because you're here now. You just gotta figure it out,
and then figuring outcomes were going out there, going out there,
being put in different situations on the mound. That's how
you figure it out. And once you start to figure
it out and you start becoming comfortable in those uncomfortable situations,
(14:56):
you're and then you're able to drive in those situations.
Made your major league debut early in and you talk
about the struggling. Tell me about that first game against
the Baltimore Orioles. I really don't even remember it because
it was a blur. I don't remember how people come
to town from Indiana. My parents and family come in town,
(15:20):
and that's all I remember. It didn't go well. Um.
I do remember not being nervous, and that was pretty
odd to me because I wasn't nervous. And a lot
of times, most times, well all the time you got
making a mazy debut, they're nervous, they're nervous. Um. I
wasn't nervous, And I think that play that negatively affected
(15:45):
me because I wasn't nervous. Because I remember getting sent
down that year and getting called back up and that
September and when I got called back up and said Tember,
I was so nervous. I couldn't even sleep. I didn't
have that issue the first time, but yeah, that was
a tough. So that was tough. That was part of
my struggles as a starter, and it started with my
first major league start at East Orios. Well, I just
(16:07):
couldn't you know. I was throwing strikes, but I mean
they were hitting the ball all over the place, and
you know, I just couldn't get it out. I remember,
I think I remember I had a groundball double play
and it hit the runner, so we didn't didn't have
opportunity to turn a double play that probably could have
got me out of any Instead the runner, the runner
was out and the hitter ended up getting a single.
(16:29):
So when I remember the wheels falling off after that, Yeah,
you gave up seven earned runs and only an ending
and two thirds of work, and that could be kind
of mentally destroying for someone. Do you realize or remember
when you felt, hey, I can really pitch at this level?
What what point was that latroyof Um At what point
(16:52):
did I realized? It was probably about three years in
in between years three and year four, because there's always
that that area doubt until you get really comfortable. Uh
and confident in what you're doing and confident that you're
gonna be successful every outing. It took me about three
years or four years. And you're always, You're always when
(17:16):
you're young, at the top of your sport, you always
I think that once you have a bad outing, and
you're gonna get sent back down. And I always thought that,
um and just because you know, it was happening around me.
But I had a great manager and Tom Kelly. Tom Kelly,
you know, he saw something in LaTroy Hawkins that LaTroy
(17:38):
didn't see in himself. And he would call me in
his office. It was like, you keep working, young man,
It's gonna work out for you. Just keep working. But
if I ever see you stopped working or gonna think
you stopped working, I'm gonna figure out of here. So
I will walk out of Tom Kelly's office and not
know if that was a good meeting or a bad
But I had him on my side, and I always
(18:00):
talk about and when I talk about my career, because
he showed he showed his his his faith in me,
and I think, I think that's a while. I started
to see the potential of myself and I was able
to make it work. But It all started because Tom
Kelly saw something in me and he gave me a
chance when a lot of the teams would have given
(18:22):
would have given up on me, and t K never
gave up on me. You know, one of the things
I find interesting, LaTroy is the fact that when a
pitcher goes from being a starter to being a reliever
like you did, they have to deal with a lot
of different things. It's a completely different mindset. You don't
know when you're gonna go into the game. You also
know when you're a starter. Okay, I've got five days
to prepare for this batter or this team coming up
(18:45):
as well. And then you've got the ego factor, you know,
being the starter and now being a relief pitcher. That's
a very interesting dynamic. Tell me how you work through that. Um.
I remember in and screen training, I started a couple
of games and then I would come in and piggy
back the starter and I end up making a team
(19:07):
out of screen Training and we get to Minnesota. Tom
Kelly called me in his office, Hey, Hawk, we're gonna
We're gonna put you in the bullpen. I think they're
gonna be a good, good, um good situation for you,
and you said some other things. That My only question
to him, or do I learn how to pitch out
of the bulletpen in the big leagues? I got to
(19:28):
go to the minor leagues. He's like, no, you get
to learn here in the big leagues. I was like, well,
I'm fine with the decision, Um. But for me, I
think it it was all mental because when I was starting,
I wasn't being successful. So I had four days in
between to think about everything that went wrong in the
start before. And four days was not enough time. Two Uh,
(19:49):
it was too much time for me to be, you know,
just replaying UM what happened in the game before UM engaged. I,
you know, waiting those four days, I was a lot
of anxious. A lot of times. I had some fear
some other times, but being a reliever, you know, I
didn't have a chance to have that same anxiety. I
(20:12):
didn't have a chance I have that same fear because
had I gone out there and in the eighth ending
with a two run lead and give up a three home,
three run home run and lose that lead, there's the
opportunity that I could be out there tomorrow night in
the same situation, and I can excel at it, but
(20:33):
as a starter, you don't get that opportunity to be
out there every day, or how the opportunity is a
chance to be out there every day. So that helped
me mentally, knowing that I could get right back out
there and redeem myself. And it also helped me that
I didn't have to face uh lineups three times. I
can't say I did that a lot in my career
as a starter, because I never made it to the
(20:54):
very time around. But you know, I've built this confidence
that said, I'm gonna gonna face you one time, I'm
on all out at you and as he you're gonna
get me, or I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna get you,
and started to you know, just understand how hard it
is to hit in the major league. To hit that
round ball with a round back, you gotta be pretty
good to do that consistently. And as we know, you
(21:16):
know in baseball, he sailed more than you succeed. So
I started to have that mentality and that's when it
started to turn around for me. We're talking with LaTroy
Hawkins about his fine, fine career twenty one years with
eleven teams, and he's a member of the one thousand
Games Pitch Club. And also, at forty two years of age,
he was the oldest active player in Major League Baseball.
(21:38):
We'll talk more about his fine career as we continue
on America's sports talk show. You're listening to Ron Bars
Sports Byline USA podcast. Detroy Hawkins is with us here
on Sports Byeline USA. He played for eleven different teams,
and I just wondered, as you moved around baseball, how
did you approach that because you talked to players and
(21:59):
they say, well, we don't we want to know what
our role is on the team. We want to know stability,
all of those sort of things. But you were very adaptable.
Where did that come from? LaTroy? Um just, I think
it came from my upbringing, and I understood that once
I went to the bullpen and the way that the
Tree agency market was going and where it was, that
(22:21):
there's a good chance being a middle at least guy
to a late releif call it, I would not be
on the same team to my whole career. Um. That
first two movements after last Minnesota, the movement to Chicago,
I was tough because Minnesota was the organization who drafted me,
Minnesota's organization, who gave me an opportunity to be a
(22:43):
big leader, excuse me. And then I got treated from
Chicago to San Francisco, and that was tough because I
signed a three year deal, two year deal with a
player of option to be in Chicago for three years,
and I was there a year and a half. After that,
I became immune to a I started looking at the
positive of UM, you know, going to different key, different cities,
(23:06):
the opportunity to get to meet new people, UH, different teammates, UM,
different gms, and I just looked at it that way.
It was an opportunity to m go to eleven different
cities and submerge myself in the in the community in
those cities and see how different city is and you
know what they have, you know what what plus do
(23:28):
they have to offer, and you know what the negative
parts of that city is. So I had to I
had a definitely agree to. I made my experience in
leven different cities what I wanted it to be. And
I can tell you I didn't have one city that
I didn't enjoy because every city gave me something different.
I was just gonna ask you with that much traveling
besides the writing a book about where to eat dinner
(23:49):
and where to live in any of those cities. What
did you learn about the people on this country? Um,
I learned that. You know. It's funny because I think
I learned more about people once are retired, because when
you're when you're a professional athlete, A lot of times,
like you talked about the bubble because of now now,
(24:12):
because of coronavirus, But I always talked about a bubble
that we've lived in because we have the best of everything,
even though you know in this country, the more money
you make, the more free stuff, more stuff you're giving more,
less stuff you have to pay for, and you know,
it's just we're not retired. I had a chance to
(24:33):
step away from that bubble and really see how hard
working Americans are and how hard you work doesn't equate
to what you you know, what you what you bring home,
and how hard life really is for a lot of
(24:55):
people in our country. Life is hard. Then you start
to understand when you look at the news, you understand
why things happen and how you know there's a part
of our society different ethnicities to steel completely left out
in the American dreams and not because of something that
they they've done, just because of the system. And you know,
(25:19):
it was very alarming to me, just you know, once
I stepped away from the bubble of being a professional athlete,
it was very alarming to me. But I do know
there's you know, Americans, we were very resilion people. Um
and I've traveled all over the world. I've been through
probably fifteen different countries and you know, people talk about
(25:39):
America is the greatest country on the planet. Well, you
know what it is. It is, But I don't think
you're allowed to say that if you hadn't been anywhere else,
you don't have anything to judge you with. Yes, some
other places, Well you can make that decision. Yeah, that
that's a very good point as well. Let me list
the teams that you played for the Twins, of course,
the Cubs, the Giants, Baltimore, Colorado, the Yankees, Houston Milwaukee,
(26:02):
also the Angels and the New York Mets in Toronto
Blue Jays. Now, I mentioned that because the one thing
I know, having covered sports for such a long period
of time is that the fans are very provincial. They're
different as fans in particular cities and having been to
all those cities, what did you notice about fandom in
various cities in the country. Um I noticed that stands
(26:29):
are very temperamental people. Um I noticed that fans are
so caught up in what you can, what you bring
to their team, and they completely to get that you're human.
Learned that fans are um in certain cities are just
(26:54):
as racist as they can be. They don't have a
filter on what they think they can say to a
to a professional athlete. And I also learned that if
you open yourself up to fans, centem are really good people.
They are really good people, but that that one percent
(27:20):
is that one percent that keeps that doesn't allow players
to open up to fans. And I'm talking about pre
social media to pre social media. But you know, nine,
fans are really good, but you always have that you
always have that one percent that I think that you
(27:40):
know your your property of them because you played for
their teams, and since they bought a ticket, they can
say and try to do anything they want to you.
And you know, that's the only thing. Actually, I've had
some great experiences with fans. I had a fank club
in Minnesota that's over you know, Southern hundred of people. Um,
(28:02):
and I had some experience with fans and my experience
in Chicago with fans being racist towards me because of
you know, I've given up a home run or didn't
get to save the things like that. But you know,
fans are part of our game. They aren't. They truly are.
And like I said, nine percent of fans are unbelievable,
But it's just that one percent that Kim definitely, uh,
(28:24):
make that experience not happen like you should. Yeah, I
know exactly what you mean. And I've preached on my
program about that because fans feel that because they bought
that ticket, they have the right to do anything they
want in reference to the sport, to the team, and
also to the fans, and I've told him that's wrong.
Let me ask you about being in New York with
the Yankees, because that's a very interesting market in itself.
(28:47):
Two thousand seven, you had a situation and I want
to get your side of this. You signed a one
year contract with the Yankees. You became the first player
since outfielder Paul O'Neil to where his jersey number twenty
one for the Yankees, and you after a while you
returned from a road trip on April sixteenth, and you
changed your number to number twenty two in response to
the fans booing, yelling, and calling you O'Neill's name when
(29:10):
you took the field. That's never an easy situation, and
I suppose in a market like New York particularly, So
tell me you read on that whole thing, um, my
read our whole thing is I just didn't understand it.
I really didn't. And it's not a not de Paul O'Neal.
But I was wearing a number because of Roberto Clemente.
(29:32):
But the fans felt like I didn't have the right
to wear that number. Now, granted, at that time, I
probably had ten years in the big leagues, but I
didn't have the right to wear a number that was
available on the team that I went to, and I
was a major league veteran. It just didn't It didn't resonate.
But they didn't make sense to me. It still doesn't
make sense to me. Um, And then what what? What
(29:54):
also doesn't make sense to me? As much as they
don't like Roger Clemens. I looked to the number twenty
you and they were fine with that. So the whole system.
The whole situation was so bizarre. But I remember having
a conversation with Jeter about He was like, hawks up
to you if you want to change the number, man,
But I can tell you what They're going to be relentless.
(30:15):
They're not gonna let us. They're not gonna let up.
And I had a conversation from Marino. He said the
exact same thing. So I decided to change the number.
It didn't change our case. I was still I still sucked.
I still sucked. I couldn't change our pitch. I couldn't
find the irony. I couldn't. I couldn't understand their reason
they're reasoning behind it. It wasn't okay to where Paul
(30:39):
O'Neill's number, but it was okay to where Roger Clement's number.
I didn't. I still don't understand that. Like you, it'd
be it'd be really tough for you to help me
understand that. I can understand why you didn't understand it
as well. A friend of mine who was a Hall
of Fame reliever and now in the Hall of Fame,
played for the San Diego Poereason. I remember a conversation
(31:01):
we were having and I said to him, I said,
what's the greatest asset a reliever can have? And he
looked at me, smiled, and he said, a short memory. Yep,
that's not something always easy to have. Excuse me, would
they be Trevor Hoffman? Yes, yes, okay, great teammate, all around,
(31:24):
great guy, incredible human being, incredible, But yeah, he's right.
You gotta have a short memory because you know, and
that's and and that that also reverted back to what
I was saying as a starter, when I had all
that time to think about, you know, my my last
out he as opposed to being a reliever. I had
to have a short memory because I could be out
there that very next night in the same situation, facing
(31:46):
that same guy. So you have to have a short memory,
because if you let what happened at the night before
creep into what's going on in that particular day, you're
steadying yourself up a failure. Your teammate up in Minnesota
was Pat Mahomes a picture as well, and you are
the godfather of his son. Of course everybody knows him now,
(32:06):
Patrick Mahomes a half a billions When you heard about
that contract, I'm just wondering, being a professional athlete understanding
it and everything. What was your read on that, and
and also tell me a little bit about about the
the young Patrick mahomes Uh, the the NFL football players,
since you're his godfather. So he he called me on
(32:32):
side that side of before. It was before I think
he got they got released on Monday. It was brought
on Monday. So he called me on that Saturday. I
was on the steel because I'm in Minnesota right now
with the Big League and we're going to you know,
we're in the middle of a screamage. He said, Hey,
you got time to talk And I was like, I
really don't, Patrick, because i'm you know, I'm on the field.
(32:53):
He's like, I said, but I don't think. We were
about twenty minutes from being done. He's all right, call
me when you get a minute. I said, I call
you about five minut I guess he couldn't wait. He
texts me the terms of the contract. He texts me
the terms of the contract, and I remember texting them
back and I was like, I'm gonna call you when
(33:16):
I'm done. I'm almost done and I'm trying to yeah,
and he texted I said, last picture. I'll text you
in twenty minutes. And then he went on to tell
me that, you know, the ends and out of the contract,
and I in my next text to him, I said,
I have killed. I'll call you, and then I text
him I'm done, and I was like, that was And
we talked about it, and we just talked about the
(33:38):
you know, everything inside the contract, not the actual number,
because people get caught up in the number, you know,
and you know, we don't. In the football, you just
can't get caught up in that actual number. You gotta
you get caught up in you know, the ends and
out of the contract. Because they worked deffinitely than basketball
and football, you know, I mean baseball, they worked in NFL.
Contracts are completely different. And he started to all, I mean,
(34:00):
you know, the ins and out, and I was and
I just had chilled and I'm like, well, we knew
it was going to be you know, a whole lot
of money. And asked him how he failed. And then
when I was telling him about you know what, I
just told him how proud I was of him, and
you know, I really, you know, I really don't talk
a lot of football with him, but I always talked
(34:22):
to him about you know, being a good leader and
continue to be a good leader in that clubhouse because
you know, everybody's looking for a good leader and without
good leadership, um, that's when things start to go haywire.
And I just you know, just Erson to continue to
be as you are. And you know, we're not gonna
let the money changes. You won't do that. You know,
(34:44):
you who you are because your your character and your
morals and things that you stand by, and those things
are gonna change because you have money. And you know what,
that was the last you know, I texted him the
other day because JOHNS Donaldson was asking about him. But
you know, we talked that day and that was it.
But he's a he's a very smart kid. And when
he was a Texas tech you know, everybody Patrick did,
Patrick did. I was like, you guys know he's on
(35:05):
the danis. That's too right. He's not just a good quarterback.
He's very he's a highly intelligent young man and and
that he is. He has a photographic memory, he's very thoughtful.
He's committed to make an impact in this community, whether
it's you know, in Texas and Kansas City. Um, he's
very conscious about that. He just did that special I
(35:26):
mean did um. He's UM on the cover of all
this um GQ magazine, and he talked about some tough
issues UM and how proud. He talked about maybe one
powerful statement about how proud he was being a black man,
and he's just as proud of having a white mom.
And you know, those things go a long way, because
(35:48):
you know, you know, he gets some stuff on. He
talked about some of the stuff he's gotten on on
social media about you're not black, you're not white, blah
blah blah blah blah. And you know, we've always talked,
talked about not ever let somebody put you in a box.
You'd be proud of your white side. You'd be proud
of your black side, because you're lucky enough to have
(36:09):
both be proud. LaTroy, I want to thank you very LaTroy.
I want to thank you very much. I have enjoyed
this conversation, as I have with every conversation you and
I have had over the years, and not only twenty
one years. I mean, that gets my total respect, uh,
for the way you approach your life and approach baseball
as well. Take care, my friend. You're welcome here anytime.
(36:32):
Thank you anytime you want me on LaTroy Hawkins with
US twenty one years as a relief pitcher with eleven
different teams. We continue with more of you and sports Byeline.
You have been listening to Ron Bars Sports Byline USA
podcast on the eight Side Network
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