Life beyond Hardball: Julian Griffith talks acting, baseball, and giving back

Remember the chubby kid from Hardball? Julian Griffith has come a long way from his breakout role alongside Keanu Reeves, crafting a multifaceted career that weaves together his passions for acting, baseball, education, and community service.

Growing up in Bellwood, a suburb outside West Chicago, Julian was raised by a single mother who worked as a schoolteacher. At just three years old, he began his acting journey with print modeling before landing his first significant role in Hardball at age ten. After this early success, Julian took a 13-year hiatus from acting at his mother's insistence to focus on education and experience a more normal childhood—a decision he initially resisted but now deeply appreciates.

During this break, Julian flourished as a baseball player, earning all-conference honors as a high school catcher before playing college ball on scholarship. His promising career faced a significant setback when he tore his UCL during his junior year, requiring Tommy John surgery. With remarkable determination, Julian completed his recovery months ahead of schedule, eventually signing professional contracts with several teams including one in Puerto Rico where he maintained an impressive .488 batting average.

Julian's achievements extend beyond sports and entertainment—he made history as the first African-American male to graduate from his college's education program. Today, he runs Juiced Up Athletics, providing affordable baseball and softball training to kids from all economic backgrounds across the Chicago area. His non-profit organization, Juiced Up World Changers, supports Chicago's homeless population with essential supplies and resources aimed at helping them transition out of homelessness.

Throughout our conversation, Julian shares candid behind-the-scenes stories from Hardball (including the revelation that they actually filmed at the old Detroit Tigers stadium rather than Wrigley Field), discusses his return to acting with roles on shows like Chicago Fire and Amazon's Utopia, and reveals his future aspirations as a writer and producer.

Want to support Julian's mission to help the homeless in Chicago? Visit the Juiced Up World Changers Facebook page or contact him directly at [e-mail].

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
how are things going?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
uh, things are going well, man, just been uh busy
with life.
I mean, 2020 has been uh crazyfor everybody, you know.
Right, it's definitely beenvery interesting in an
adjustment, but you know, lifegoes on and you know, just been
moving, moving around.
That's all I can say.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, that's all you can do right now right, that's
all I can do.
All right.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
So we'll get into it.
So tell my listeners a littleabout yourself, your early life,
where you're from, your come upand everything like that.
Well, I'm from a small suburboutside of West Chicago called
Bellwood not the nicest area.
You know I was raised by asingle mom, school teacher, you
know.
Started playing baseball when Iwas seven.
You know, been acting since Iwas three, you know, and those

(01:16):
two avenues my life has prettymuch evolved around, you know.
You know acting baseball,sports, you know.
And so, you know, born andraised in Chicago, man, and you
know, of course, move around,you know, became an actor,
baseball player, model, I sing,I do a little bit of everything.
You know I have a teachingdegree as well, so, and an
entrepreneur.
So yeah, chicago, born andraised baby, that's it.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Now are you still in the Chicago area?

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yes, yes.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Okay, yes.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
I am.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
All.
Are you still in the Chicagoarea?
Yes, yes, okay, yes, I am Allright.
And yeah, I was raised by asingle mom too, so I know how it
is.
You have a twin brother,correct?
I think I read.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
I do All right.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Does he act as well?

Speaker 2 (01:58):
No, he actually is a singer.
He pursues his music careerright now.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Gotcha, gotcha.
Okay, I did not know that.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Uh, interesting, and you said you sing too as well,
right, yes, yes, I have twosongs out right now working on
the ep that's going to releasesometime in the near future all
right, definitely have to lookout for that then yes yes, uh.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
So yeah, you said, you started acting at three.
Uh what?
What did you do that young?

Speaker 2 (02:26):
um, back then we were doing a lot of print ad
modeling actually.
So when you saw the kids inyour school books holding clocks
and all that type of stuff, Iwas doing a lot of that.
Um, I didn't get my.
My first big role actually washardball, that was my first
acting, formal acting roleoutside of.
You know church plays andlittle.

(02:47):
You know little theater.
You know stuff like that, butmy biggest, my first one, was
hardball.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
So I did a lot of modeling starting off all right,
then after hardball youactually took a break from
acting and just focused onschool and baseball, correct?

Speaker 2 (03:03):
correct.
Yes, 13 years old, my mom mademe I always say we made a deal,
but she kind of like made me doit she told me she wanted me to
go to high school, have a normalchildhood to a certain extent,
so whatever I could, you know,salvage at that time.
And once I graduated highschool, she allowed us to make

(03:27):
the decision whether or not Iwant to either go to college or
pursue acting full time.
And so at that time I reallydidn't want to, because I was
getting a lot of auditions for alot of big movies and it was a
tough pill to swallow.
At that time I did not like thedecision.
But as I got older and at theage I am now, I appreciate her

(03:50):
for it.
She just wanted us to make surewe remain humble and, you know,
didn't grow up and become alittle screwed up like a lot of
these child actors and starsbecome once they hear the word
no.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
Right, yeah, you definitely get that a lot with
uh child actors and uh, oncethey they get like older age and
uh all the fame gets to them,uh a lot of them spiral out of
control and uh it's pretty badsometimes with some of them.
So that's, yeah, I get what.
I get what your mom was doing.
They're just making sure, likeyou said, staying humble and

(04:25):
made sure you had a formaldegree, which is always a good
thing to have to fall back on.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
But you played baseball all four years of high
school.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yes, I played varsity all four years.
I was a starting catcher andthen, of course, I was the
highest recruited out of my highschool.
All-conference, all area wasnominated, all state.
I didn't get it, but I was, Iwas pretty I was, I was pretty
good I was, I was pretty goodfor the area I was in, because

(04:59):
back then you didn't really know, I didn't know much about you
know rankings and I was verysmall minded as far as I was
very stubborn.
I can admit that you know,because I mean baseball was
something that I was.
I was taught by my dad May restin peace.

(05:20):
He passed away April this yearbut he, he taught us baseball at
seven years old.
But after him and my mom splitup, when I was 11, I was on my
own with baseball.
So everything was self-taught,pretty much.
You know, seven years old, youknow you're teaching just how to
just make contact with the ball, you know, and just catch it.

(05:40):
So it's nothing too formal, butafter that I was on my own.
So when you the highestrecruited in the high school and
arguably the best player, itain't much anybody can tell you
and you've been doing it on yourown for so long.
So when you know, when I wasall conference, all area, you
know I look at things like I was.
I was content with being goodthe best in my school, but I

(06:01):
wasn't thinking you know bigger.
Content with being good thebest in my school, but I wasn't
thinking you know bigger, I wantto be the best in the country
and I didn't realize that untilI got to college.
So I mean, it was, it was, um,it was a humbling experience,
but it was.
I was glad I learned, but Iwish I did, you know, think much
broader, uh, than I did, did inhigh school.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
Right, yeah, sorry to hear about the loss of your
father.
Appreciate it.
But yeah, man, I totally get itLike growing up, like I said, I
was raised by a single mom.
I had my grandmother and mysister there, but none of them
played sports.
So when I was we're about thesame age I think you're like a

(06:43):
month older than me actually,really.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
As I did my research.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, I'm born in April of 90.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
So we're around the same age.
So, yeah, it's definitely hardlike trying to like teach
yourself sports when, like youdon't really have anyone else.
I mean I had my little leaguecoaches and stuff like that.
But you do a lot of learningoutside of practice and on your
own, your own research on it.
And yeah, it's definitelytougher to do when you don't

(07:16):
kind of have those influencesinside the home, and especially
at a young age too.
So but I mean for you to beable to do all that on your own
and still like come out top,recruit of your high school and,
you know, still get recruitedfrom colleges, I mean that's a
pretty big accomplishment.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, yeah, it was thanks to my high school coaches
, the, the ones who did kind of,they did what they could and
they got college recruits there.
And you know we didn't have allof the.
You know, social media wasstarting to boom, if you
remember back in 2008,.
You know it wasn't.

(07:55):
No college was looking at youon MySpace, you know, or.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Tag.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
So we didn't have all of these recruiting websites.
If you wanted a college, youemailed them, you went and
visited or they came to yourgames and that's kind of how
they worked for me uh.
So my I do thank my uh highschool coaches uh who did assist
me in that uh aspect for sureright?

Speaker 1 (08:21):
yeah, it's definitely uh.
It's definitely a lot easiernowadays to get noticed out
there with uh instagram, youtube, facebook and whatnot, as
opposed to when we were seniorsin high school and we didn't
have that kind of uh publicitynot at all the newspaper.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
I still have my newspaper clipping through some,
some of my highlights or somegames.
Like you.
Don't even see kids having thatstuff anymore no, you know, you
just post it online.
You just post it online, that'sit yeah, that's true, that's
crazy.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
Uh.
So after high school, where didyou go to college?

Speaker 2 (08:57):
uh went to saint joseph's uh college in
rensselaer, indiana.
Uh d2 um.
And then I ended uptransferring and finished up at
Calumet College of St Joseph inIndiana, the sister school of St
Joe's.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Okay, and you played baseball both schools.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yes, yes, I did Baseball scholarships for both
of them.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
All right and if I remember correctly during my
research, you got injured yoursenior year.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
I actually got injured my junior year.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Junior year.
Okay, yes.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
So, 2010, the beginning of my junior year, I
was getting I had a littleinterest from the Chicago White
Sox, from a local area scout,and I was making film for him
and I, while I was in theprocess of making film so they

(09:47):
can send it off, I um tore myucl in my elbow, which is the.
It ended up being the popularuh tommy john surgery that
everybody knows in baseball,right?
so, um, once I had that um thethe interest from the white
socks was pretty much a no-gobecause I was coming from a

(10:07):
small school already and youknow the injury they can't bank
and they can't, I can'tguarantee how I'm going to come
back, and so just being at asmall school, them already
taking the chance it just it wastoo risky and so I tore my UCL
in 2010, had Tommy John surgeryin 2011 yeah, so my junior year.

(10:31):
So I ended up red shirting.
I got hurt twice, so I allright.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yeah, that, uh, that injury is a tough one because,
like you say, when, uh, when youget that kind of injury and
after surgery, you never, neverknow how you're going to come
back.
Some guys bounce back perfectlyfine, can still play the game,
and others it's a career-endinginjury.

(10:57):
So, yeah, it's definitely atough injury but I take it, the
surgery went well, obviously foryou.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yes, I had the surgery.
I had the surgery in June of2011.'s crazy because, um, it
actually takes a year to comeback, uh, from the surgery,
typically at 100 percent and um,my dad at the time was, like
you know, it's June, you alreadycan't do anything for like

(11:22):
three months.
You have to heal for threemonths.
So now, june, july, august,boom, I haven't do anything for
like three months.
You have to heal for threemonths.
So now, june, july, august,boom, I haven't done anything
because they won't let you, youcan't run, you can't do anything
, you have to let it heal.
They were like once thathappens, then you get to go to
physical therapy.
The season starts in February.
So my dad was like all right,you redshirted last year because

(11:44):
I didn't play, but I had thesurgery in June.
So if you're going to come backand be ready for February,
you're going to have to push itlike extreme.
And my dad was a formermilitary guy Army and so tough
love was his thing and he waslike you got to get off the
painkillers.
I'm like what he's like, you gotto get off the painkillers.
I'm like what he's like yougotta get out the painkillers.

(12:06):
So I was only on painkillersfor six days after the surgery.
I stopped not even a week afterand so I he was like you have
to heal.
Naturally you're gonna healfaster.
So I'm over here.
I'm in the worst pain of mylife.
When I tell you I I'm like dude, I'm laying on the floor, my

(12:26):
mom's like what's wrong?
She's like I don't know, I'mjust laying on the kitchen floor
.
It's cold, it feels good.
I'm going to just try to findanything to make me feel better,
because I couldn't do anything.
And he was like no painkillers,no painkillers.
So I'm, I'm healing.
Naturally I can't do anything.
I have sleeping on the couchbecause they don't want my arms
to fall collapse when I'm layingdown.

(12:47):
So I'm literally sitting uprighton the couch sleeping for
months.
And then, when I startedphysical therapy, I did double
physical therapy, so everythingthey had me do at the physical
therapy location.
I would then come home or go tomy school gym and do the same
thing every day and fast forwardto December of 2011.

(13:09):
They came and evaluated me andthey were like, uh, you're
actually further along than weexpected you to be.
You're actually one month ahead, so we're actually gonna let
you out of physical therapy amonth early.
I was like wait, you, I, you,I'm done.
You're like, yeah, we can't doit.
You reached the goal we havefor you, and that was supposed
to be next month, and you werealready here.

(13:31):
So I was done with physicaltherapy in December and I came
back six months earlier.
Long story short than a year.
I did rush it.
I was not a hundred percent.
I should.
I should have taken a littlebit more time, but I did come
back six months earlier.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
But I did gain three miles.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
I gained three miles on my arm.
Um, after the people think it'sa surgery, it's not the surgery
, it's your physical therapy.
So, whatever you're doing andhowever you're strengthening
those muscles, that's what makesyou throw hard.
So I did did come back throwingthree miles harder, for sure.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
Okay, yeah, I was going to ask you if it affected
your game that much.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
That's crazy.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
That's crazy, that like six days only being on pain
meds and then just cold turkeyquit man.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
I told my mom just cut it off.
I was like just cut my arm off,just cut it off.
I am looking up everything.
I'm like dude, I'm icing, I'mtrying to just figure something
out, but I'm listening to my dad, just I'm thinking, dad knows
best, right, you know, I'mthinking all right he gotta know
something you know, so yeah man, yeah, I can only imagine that
it sucks in the moment.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
But uh, I mean I, if you think about it, man, you,
you healed a month earlier.
It was probably the best thingthat could have could have
happened.
But at the same time, the thepain to go through.
That that's crazy yeah, my dadman so college though you uh,

(15:03):
you got a degree in uh education, uh, to be correct yes, sir,
elementary education yes allright.
Did you ever pursue anythinglike that afterwards have?

Speaker 2 (15:15):
um.
I did work for chicago publicschools as an auditor and a
coach, um.
So in the offseason, when I wasnot playing after college, that
was my job.
Outside of doing lessons Iworked for I was a coach and
auditor.
So I went in.
I worked for early childhood inChicago public schools and

(15:35):
teachers who struggle withclassroom management.
They would bring me in and Iwould help them or support them
and give them methods and, ofcourse, make sure that they're
teaching to the curriculum andmake sure all the files and the
shot records are all up to date.
So I did that from 2015 to um.
Was it 2015, 2015, 2014 to 2019?

(15:59):
So five years yes.
Yes.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
All right, yeah.
And another thing I read if myresearch is right, you were the
first African-American male tograduate the education program
from your college, right?

Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yes, yes, the very first one to graduate.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
How does that make you feel I mean that's making
history a big accomplishment,man.
How did that make you feel Imean that that's.
I mean that's making history abig accomplishment, man.
How did how did that make youfeel at the time?

Speaker 2 (16:27):
man, it felt good.
They, they made it more of abig deal than it was to me.
You know, um, and you know Ididn't know um until, uh, this
the semester I was going tograduate, so that second
semester, they they were likeyou know, you do know that you

(16:47):
have, you know, a bigresponsibility.
I'm like what are you talkingabout?
I'm in the cohort witheverybody else.
They were like you know,there's never been an
African-American man to evergraduate from our education
program.
I'm like no, I did not knowuntil now.
And um, uh, they were like yes.
So then at that point I waslike okay, I guess I am making a

(17:10):
you know history here, uh, so.
I mean, I still didn't, itdidn't?
I didn't think of it anydifferently.
I was just like, okay, I'llmake sure I graduate.
That was the first time I waslike, let's make sure I finish
and nothing holds me back.
So, um, yeah, it was the firstone I did.
Let's make sure I finish andnothing holds me back.
So that was the very first, thevery first one.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
That's awesome, man.
Congratulations on that.
That's a big, big thing toaccomplish.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yes, yes sir.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
But yeah.
So after college you actuallysigned a couple professional
baseball contracts.
Yes sir, where all did you signwith?
Where did you play at?

Speaker 2 (17:46):
2014,.
I signed with the Fort WorthCats in Texas United League.
I played with Julio Franco.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
Oh really.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
Batting title champions for the major leagues.
He was 56 years old when heplayed with us.
Wow yeah, he retired from theMLB at 48 or 47.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
Right.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
So he came and played with us at fifty six, twenty,
fifteen.
I played with the EllensburgBulls in Washington state.
I played in Puerto Rico when Iwon a league in twenty sixteen,
and then I signed with theEastside Diamond Hoppers in
Detroit in the United ShoresLeague and then I walked away
after another injury that wasalready taking place okay, yeah,

(18:28):
actually I'm from michigan, Ilive in the michigan area, so I
know the, uh, the team youplayed for.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Yeah, that's crazy.
So, um, but in the puerto ricoleague I think I read that you
were like the fourth best playerin in the league high uh fourth
highest batting average.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
I hit 488 out there in their double a wow, that's
crazy.
Yeah, I was 20 for 41 actually,to be exact 20 for 41 yeah, my
dad and I said he was like, seta goal, um, and I'll, uh, you
know I'm, I'm like I'm a badforeigner and I used to set that
goal.
And he, he was like no, youneed no bigger, all right, 500.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
And.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
I was batting 500, and then one extra at bat.
I didn't get that hit and itdropped me to 488.
So that's why I was 24.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
I was hitting 500.
So I mean you basically stillhit your goal.
Oh, absolutely, absolutely.
It was still a good goal, Imean oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah, it was still a good goal.
A lot of people did not hit 300.
Right, so I hit 488.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
I was going to say a 488 is a high batting average.
I mean it's hard to do.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
It took a lot of focus and just you know,
consistency and so Right.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
So would you say your passion is more with baseball
or acting?

Speaker 2 (19:49):
Man.
You know, even at 30 years oldI still find myself trying to
answer that question.
Okay, well, I'll say my goal Ihave put everything in order it
was always baseball, baseballacting than education.

(20:09):
And the reason I said that wasbecause baseball, I knew that
there's always an age window.
So eventually, at some point intime, if you don't do it, that
window's going to close.
Acting will always be there.
So I was like, if I don't getwhere I need to go in baseball,
where I want to go in baseball,then I have acting.

(20:31):
And then, while I'm pursuingacting, I can always, uh, use
the education degree as thatfinancial backing, you know,
source of income.
So that was the goal.
So if you go based on that,then it would have been baseball
acting, education.
So.
But I believe that all of themwent hand in hand.

(20:51):
They complement everything I doin life, all the avenues I do
in life.
So you know, and I'm fortunateenough to have both passions in
my first big role ever.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
So you know, yeah, a lot of people don't get that
option or that opportunity.
But, yeah, you were blessedwith a good opportunity to do
both.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yes, sir.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
So you do, you do, uh , you coach.
Now, right, you do uh liketraveling coaching for baseball
and softball tell me more aboutthat.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
Um, I run, uh, juiced up athletics.
Um, that's my own company.
I travel around and do baseballand softball training.
So, individual lessons and bigcamps and clinics um, I do a
full-time outside of acting.
That's what I do full-time.
No more education, so I teachwithin my you know lessons and
camps.
That's how I right you knowstill put my teaching degree.

(21:44):
So, um, I started training kidsin 2015 and then I launched my
business in 2018.
So, actually, november will betwo years formally that I've
been a full-time entrepreneur.
And, um, I'm in the Chicagolandarea and, uh, northwest Indiana

(22:04):
area and I'm actually in theprocess of expanding.
I got some people want me tocome up to Canadaada and
everything once I'm camp, sowe're trying to go nationwide
out here.
Um, but yeah I, I just, I goaround and I, I do camps and
lessons for, uh, cheaper pricethan a lot of these other

(22:24):
organizations do, because when Icame up playing baseball I
didn't have any lessons, Ididn't have any training, and if
my mom knew where to take us,I'm sure she would have, but we
didn't know.
You know, I didn't have anylessons, I didn't have any
training, and if my mom knewwhere to take us I'm sure she
would have, but we didn't know,you know, I didn't know that
people were doing lessons likethis and and so, and.
Where I grew up, my mom is both, it was two of us, so my mom
was not affording that at thattime anyway.

(22:46):
So, my objective was let's takewhat I learned, you know,
throughout collegeprofessionally, and give to a
lot of these children who do nothave these avenues or who might
not be able to afford thesethings and even I have plenty of
kids who do, who can afford it.
But my overall focus has beento do quality training for a

(23:11):
cheaper price, for an affordableprice.
So I traveled around and do itfor about half the price of most
of my competitors.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
That's awesome, man, being able to give back to kids
who can't necessarily affordthat kind of training, because I
know when I was that age, mymom didn't have the extra money
to send me off to get that kindof training for baseball either.
So that's cool that you do thatfor the community, a good way
to give back to your peoplearound you and stuff like that.

(23:41):
What are the age groups you do?

Speaker 2 (23:45):
I actually am six years old.
Very rarely I took like threesix-year-olds through college,
so I have a wide range of uh,clientele got you.
Yes, sorry, it's broad, it'spretty broad right, that's uh.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
yeah, that's cool, maybe, uh, maybe I can come into
chicago and bring my son andyou can get some lessons from
you.
He's only five right now, buthe just said we just signed him
up for T-Ball, okay, and he'sloving it.
He's a stockier five-year-old,so he ain't fast, but man, he
can hit that ball.

Speaker 2 (24:21):
That's what the world knows me as the chubby kid, so
I understand where he's comingfrom.
It's okay.

Speaker 1 (24:28):
Right, yeah, because before the interview it's been a
minute since I actually watchedthe movie hardball.
So I I sat down with my son andwe were watching it and uh, the
, the scene where you get jumped, he was.
He looked at me, he goes he'slike, daddy, is that, is that
boy gonna be okay?
And I'm like, yeah, he was likehe's fine, it's a movie.
And then I told him how I waslike talking with you tonight

(24:51):
and he was like, oh, that'sreally cool.
And then he just went back tohis movie.
But but, yeah, man, um, so youalso do a non-profit through
your uh, through your companytoo.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
Right, tell me more about the non-profit um juiced
up changers, um we raised moneyand we have raised money to
support, uh, the homeless outhere and um you know, we had
that big polar vortex uh, lastjanuary, right and well, uh, I

(25:26):
part.
I teamed up with one of mybuddies from our church and, um,
we raised, I think, 800 andsome dollars in less than 12
hours.
I posted it at midnight and bynoon we had enough money and we
bought propane tanks, blanketsUm, we bought.

(25:48):
We've key lock locks for thembecause a lot of people come and
steal their stuff.
They're placed on a tent cityout here where a lot of them
have different tents, like awhole community set up, and
people steal their stuff.
So we bought locks, propanetanks and some blankets and
water, everything else andwhatever else.

(26:09):
We asked them.
We went to them specificallywater, everything else and
whatever else we they we asked.
We went to them specifically.
We're not people who, um arejust, oh, we're gonna buy these
things that we assume they need.
We went to the guy they callhim the mayor and we asked what
do you need?
And we got what they needed andeverything else they didn't, uh
, we didn't spend.
We put it on a gift card andgave them all those.
So we didn't keep any money.
We gave all of it um to themand we have more donations of

(26:33):
clothes, shirts, jackets, suits,people just trying to um give
them opportunities.
I just don't want to keep themwarm, but we want to get them
out of the cold.
You know, right and we want toget help.
Try to give them some type ofresources to actually um, leave
that homeless lifestyle andactually start.
You know, know, get a betterfuture, get some finances coming

(26:54):
in and, just you know,experience that prosperity in
life.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, that's.
That's such an awesome thingthat you guys are doing for the
homeless out in Chicago.
Yeah, I haven't been to Chicagoin probably, I think, two years
now, but I used to go.
Like every year me and mybuddies would take a trip out
there and just just walk aroundChicago to see everything.
And yeah, the homelesspopulation out there is insane.

(27:20):
There's so many, you know.
It's so hard to like to see allthem like that, especially in
the Chicago area where it doesget so cold.
Chicago area where it does getso cold.
A lot of people don't realizeup in Michigan and Chicago and
our northern states that we livein is how cold it gets outside.

(27:41):
The homeless have nowhere to go.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
It's rough out here, Windy City.
It gets negative degreesoutside.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
All year long at one time outside you know, they need
it.
Right, yeah, that's crazy, butthat's such a great thing that
you guys are doing.
Where can For my listeners?
Where can people donate?

Speaker 2 (28:05):
You can donate.
I have a Facebook page calledJuiced Up World Changers.
Also.
They can contact me Through mybusiness, ju Athletics Life At
gmailcom is called juiced upworld changers.
Also.
They can contact me, um,through my business, uh, ju ju
athletics life at gmailcom ifthey want to donate.
Ju athletics life at gmailcom.
Another one is book juliangriffith at gmailcom, where

(28:27):
we're always looking fordonations and not only do we
donate, or, but also go outpublic speak, and I mean now
that I transfer, you know,transition full time into my
business about 90 percent of thetime.
I mean it is pay, I mean theschools are paying for the
public speaking, but through my,not for profit, I some public,

(28:51):
uh, free public speaking as well.
So we have went out, donepublic speaking, um, I was out
the keynote speaker for theunited negro college fund,
indianapolis, um, so we, we, Itraveled around talking about
education, the homeless, um, youknow the value of education and
the entrepreneur mindset, notthe workers mindset.

(29:12):
So, um, not only do I, wedonate to the homeless and
everything, but we just try to,you know, inspire and influence
our youth as well.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, man, that's awesome.
Uh, I'll definitely put the theemails in the link to the show
so, uh, people can see it and uh, I'll throw it out there for
you.
But, yeah, man, that's, that'ssome an amazing thing to be able
to get back to the city ofChicago and the homeless because
, like you mentioned, it's roughout there, especially
wintertime.
Yeah, yeah, man, so jumpinginto the acting part, I was

(29:47):
trying to save Hardball towardsthe end just because one of my
favorite movies, so we'll jumpinto those.
But you've had a couple cameo,like other little small roles in
shows like, uh, chicago pd andchicago fire.
Uh, were you fans of the showbefore?
Do you watch the show?

Speaker 2 (30:07):
for the podcast purposes.
Yes, I love the show.
I I watched it all the time andalways told myself I would love
to be on this show.
No, I'm going to be completelyhonest.
It's not that I wasn't a fan ofthe show.
I just don't watch TV a lot.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
And a lot of actors and stuff say it.
I don't watch TV.
So for me, when I'm auditioningfor things, I watch movies,
I'll watch Netflix andeverything.
But for me I'm so busy thatwhen.

(30:49):
I do have time.
I rather like play my Xbox.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
Right.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
I want to play my Xbox, maybe turn on Netflix, but
I wasn't really watching TV, soI knew a lot of people who were
on the shows already.
I knew of the shows, but I hadnot formally watched it.
And, as vain as it sounds, Iwatch it when I'm on it, but
it's not vain at all.
I just want to see theperformance.
I watched it the.
As vain as it sounds, I watchit when I'm on it, but it's not
vain at all.
I just want to see theperformance.
I watch it the one time, right,that's it.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
So, yeah, no I, I totally get that because, like
you'll see, a lot of actors saylike they never watch anything
they're in.
And yeah, I'm obviously not anactor or anything, but I was
like I, I think I'd watchsomething that had me in it,
like, yeah, mean, I don't know,that's just me speaking, but,
like you said, for performancepurposes, to see how you did and

(31:39):
everything.
But yeah, I'm actually a hugefan of Chicago PD, I'm just a
normal person.
So I have time to watch shows.
You're a little busier than I am, though I work and I raise,
though I work and I raise my son.
That's about it.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
I got a baby girl at home too, so I understand.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
Congratulations.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
But, yeah, I'm a huge fan of the show.
I do have to ask you, thoughI'm a huge fan of Sophia Bush.
I love Sophia Bush.
I've been in love with SophiaBush for years, way before
Chicago PD, so when I saw shewas on this show, I naturally
had to watch it.
Did you get to meet her whenyou did the show.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
I actually did not get to meet her.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
Okay, I don't have to be too jealous of you then.
I mean, you're still on one ofmy favorite shows, but I would
have been.
I would have been a lot morejealous if you we actually got
to meet sophia bush yeah, no, Ididn't get to meet her.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
None of the episodes, none of the seasons.
I was on season four, seasonsix um none of the none of the
episodes I was on um when Ifilmed.
She was never a part of thosescenes.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
So no, all right.
Oh man, I was gonna say you'reprobably the luckiest person
I've ever met.
What did you like better doing?
Chicago Fire or Chicago PD?
I know they kind of go hand inhand, really.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
Um, all right, I'm gonna be honest.
Chicago fire, um, it was muchmore relaxed.
The the cast mates on bothshows were great, but if I had
to pick my preference, it wouldhave been chicago fire.
Um, they were just much morelaid back and, you know, uh,

(33:25):
humble, you know.
Okay, you know because a lot oftimes you know it's like this
and because I started so youngand I took a break and then I
started transitioning back intoit.
When you start and you're thestar or one of the stars on on
whatever project you're workingon, naturally people treat you

(33:48):
like the star.
So you know, it know, it's notthat you're you, it's not.
I'm not going to say that theyaren't humble or that people
don't have humility.
It's the fact that their, theirsurround, their atmosphere,
their environment does not callfor them to be that way.
So, because that's thetreatment that they get,
sometimes people might come off.
That's the treatment that theyget.

(34:12):
Sometimes people might come off.
You know, you know pretty, youknow arrogant, um, so, chicago
fire, it was very laid back.
Um, actually, the summer, like,I was having full conversations
with the regulars on the showand they were the ones starting
conversation with me.
And then at the end, when wegot done filming, they were the
ones starting conversation withme.
And then at the end when we gotdown filming, they were like,

(34:33):
hey, you want to take a picturewith us really quick.
And I'm like, yeah, I didn'task them for a picture.
They were like, hey, can wetake a picture with?

Speaker 1 (34:38):
you.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
And the thing is, you know some of the younger people
on the thing yeah, they're on,they're regulars on the show,
but I've been acting longer thanthem.
I've been in this game for over20 years, since 2000.
Yeah, so you know, you look atthat, it's like literally 20
years.
So I've been acting longer thanthese guys, but they just been
consistent, they been in it andthey didn't take that break like

(35:01):
I did.
So you know it was.
I love Chicago Fire, though,Like I said, they were great.
Conversation was great.
One of the guys, the the lead Ican't think of his name on the
show.
Uh, he has a british accent inreal life casey, casey casey
casey.
Um, we were in the van and I wasjust saying I'm very like, I'm

(35:25):
an extroverted introvert, ifthat makes sense.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
So I I'm kind of the same way, so I'm very sociable.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
But I keep to myself, I'm ready to talk and we were
just chilling and you know, I'mjust oh, you're playing our cop,
you're playing the cop in ourscene.
So I'm like, yeah, no problem,nice to meet you.
They're all introducingthemselves and they were riding
out of the parking lot headed toset and they're like um, man,

(35:53):
whose corvette is that?
And, like everybody, he askedthe driver and I, because I do
have a corvette and they werelike, uh, whose corvette is that
man?
Uh, they're asking the driver,man I don't know, and then
asking everybody who's that man?
Man, I would love it and I'mjust sitting.
I'm sitting like this, likejust in the um and I'm in the
front row and it was caseyasking the guy who plays casey.

(36:14):
He was asking he's right behindme and I'm like that's mine,
what that's yours, yeah, um,they're like man.
That is nice, everybody's likeman.
That's nice man I wish I couldhave.
I'm like it's for sale, you canalways buy it.
You know, I'm like I had justbought it in august because I

(36:35):
had another one I upgraded and Ibought it in august and when I
found out, uh, we were having ababy.
I was like ah right but I stillhave it okay um, but yeah, they
were like they were compliment.
So that's kind of how weactually broke the ice, because
I was sitting there quiet theentire time and they're asking

(36:56):
everybody in the van, who'swho's corvette, who's corvette?
Does anybody know?
And I'm just like that's minethat's mine it's fine, I'm like,
you know.
You know I'm like I'm not aregular on the show, but I mean
I can't afford nice things.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
So right, yeah, that that's awesome.
Yeah, I'm a huge fan of ChicagoFire too.
I've watched it from the get gotoo, and that's cool to hear
that, like like these actorsthat you see on TV and that you
watch every week that come tofind out that most of the time
they're like laid back and justjust like you, uh, and start

(37:29):
conversations with you and stufflike that too.
Um so, uh, you did, you didanother show.
What is it, uh, utopia?

Speaker 2 (37:36):
uh, yes, that's out now.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
Uh right, amazon prime all right, I have not
watched it yet.
Are you, are you a regular init?

Speaker 2 (37:44):
no, I had two episodes.
Uh, okay, so it's three andfive.
Um, they need to make me aregular.
You know um, you know it iswhat it is.
Is they cast out of la a lot?
okay but they shoot here in inchicago.
So when you're casting out ofla, they usually try to get like

(38:07):
the bigger roles.
And then when they come forsome of the smaller roles, like
for some reason, people love mein a uniform right now, so all I
can, I keep getting cop rolesand I play a soldier in utopia,
so I'm still in a uniform.
But, um, yeah, they I'll getlike a few different episodes.
I could have been regulars insome shows, but without spilling

(38:30):
too much, I think the best wayI can say it is I have morals.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
And.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
I did not.
You know what I mean.
If you do your research, Ididn't, you know.
Best advice I can say, or thebest thing I can say is there's
a lot of people out here thatyou know that saying I'll do

(38:56):
anything for a million dollars,it's real to a lot of people and
you know when you, when you,just when you, you got you don't
understand where you come fromand you got good morals.
You just you know there'scertain things you got to be
okay with saying no and you knowwhat god has for you, it's for
you.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
So I've said no to a lot of stuff, so you know, I
guess I couldn't yeah yeah, well, I'm sure it all is for the
right reasons, you know, I mean.
I mean you seem to be doinggood, so I mean the right things
will come for you, any futuremovies, or anything.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
Yeah, so well, definitely everyone check out
Utopia on.
Amazon Prime.
It's a good show I watched.
I finished it all.
Hopefully I'll get season two.
I'm on hold right now.
I might be filming Chicago Fireagain.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
Excuse me.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
I am slated to do another horror movie next year
called Circle of Threes, where Iactually play a deputy.
So it's like you see what I'msaying, like I always play
Getting typecasted.
Yeah, you know circle of threes, where I actually play a deputy
.
So it's like you see what I'msaying, like I always play.
but at least I casted, yeah, youknow and so I am a deputy, uh,
but it's in a rural area.

(40:17):
I'm not in a uniform, more likelaid back, got a badge on me,
that's you know.
But, um, that we're supposedwe're, that's supposed to be
filmed next year.
They had to push things backdue to the coronavirus and
everything.
So, circle of threes, there's afew things in the works.
I'm writing my own show rightnow and we were in the process

(40:42):
of writing a couple more films.
We were actually going to starta production company because
right now is like the best timesis everyone's at home.
You know, everything is goingto streaming.
You know, put your own contentout and work these deals, get
the adam sandler deals, you knowright.
You know that he's getting onnetflix for everything he get.
Have you seen the the deal thathe got?

Speaker 1 (41:07):
yeah, he he's getting for, uh I think I think his
first was like a three or fourmovie deal and just just the
month the money they gave himfor that is insane he got.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
He got 100 million the first time.
I think they offered him 160million for four more movies I
couldn't imagine.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
But it's also Adam.
Sandler but at the same timefor a streaming service to offer
that kind of money just formovies.
But I mean good for AdamSandler.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Yeah, good, Put me in one of your movies if you watch
this man.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
Right.
I've always wanted to be anactor, so I mean, hey, I'll come
out and do one of your movies.
I wasn't one movie they filmedup here.
I was an extra in it.
It was called Into the Storm.
It was about tornadoes.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (42:04):
Yeah, they filmed it up here in Michigan locally.
So I I'm signed up to a, anagency for like extra work.
So I was, I was like mine mightas well try it.
Uh see, kind of, because I'vealways wanted to.
I've always wanted to be anactor, but I don't.
I always wanted to see whatlike the set.
Life was like set life was likeyeah and uh, man, it was really

(42:24):
cool.
I played a high school graduate.
Uh, I got rained on the wholetime, but, uh, it was a cool
experience though, man, it wasreally cool.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Keep migrating from the extra work and get your
agent to start trying to get yousome speaking roles.
Man, that's where it's paying.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
I got to get an agent first.
I don't even have an agent.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
Look up top talent agents in whatever area you stay
in, and then submit to them.
They're all doing onlinesubmissions right now.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
Nice, I may have to look into that then.
Oh yeah, but now we're going tojump into Hardball, my favorite
.
So I mean, I'm not being 100%honest with you, man.
I've watched Hardball, hardballman, a million times.
Like I said, we're, we're aboutthe same age.
So, uh, we were 10 when thatthat movie came out and uh, like

(43:19):
I was 11.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
Yeah, because we filmed it when I was 10.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
Yeah yeah, but, um, but at that time, man, we were
like I was right in LittleLeague.
So, like you see a baseballmovie come out and me and my
buddies watch that a milliontimes, man, we put it on repeat
and it's just crazy.
What was, what was it likeworking on that movie set?
Because I mean, you have, youhave some big names in that

(43:46):
movie before before the movie,some big names in that movie
before before the movie.
Yeah, you got Keanu Reeves,diane Lane Um, what's his name?
Uh, john Hawks.
Yeah, what was it like workingwith, uh, such big names in
Hollywood already.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
Oh man, it was.
It was great man.
Um, the channel was the sameway everybody describes him the
most humble guy I've ever met.
He just laid back.
I would talk to him on setevery day.
He said I was his favorite.
You know it's okay, but um no,he would actually get mad.

(44:24):
Well, I'm not going to say hegot mad.
Let me not say that he would,because the way my mom raised me
I would say Mr Blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
So hey.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
Mr Keanu, you know, hey, hey, hey, you don't have to
just call me Keanu, okay.
And we were like okay, mr Keanu, sorry, I mean Keanu, you know
Right, but every day man, wewould talk, uh, when we were on
set, he would just, you know,always talk to us about you know
, his acting stuff, because hewas, you know, he wasn't, he had

(44:55):
just done matrix the yearbefore, so he was still, he was
just like about to hit that peak, you know with a lot of stuff,
um, but it was great.
Diane lane was awesome, johnhawks was awesome.
Uh, the boys all of us wererelatively new, with the
exception of two of them haddone two smaller things on film

(45:17):
and Bill Cosby's show, but itwas great because we were just
black kids, so most of us playedbaseball.
We thought, hey, we just tryingto play baseball in a movie,
right, that was it I mean andyeah yeah, do you.

Speaker 1 (45:35):
Uh, do you ever talk to any of the the other guys
from the movie, do you?

Speaker 2 (45:39):
yeah, we.
We keep in touch on socialmedia and everything and like, a
couple of them live in la, twoof them live in la, so like when
I do go to la I get up withthem.
A few of the other ones live inChicago.
So we keep in contact on socialmedia and we text each other
and everything.
We all say we need to gettogether at some point in time.

(46:00):
You know as a whole, but I wishI still talked to Keanu because
we could be on.
John Wick, right now, now but,you know, or the matrix right,
you know.
But just you were his favorite,so just hit him up, he'll
remember you I know man, hedon't have social media that's
true social media and I was likeI found his, like I was gonna

(46:23):
reach out to like his publicistor something like this you know,
see, if he remembers me, justto I just want to catch up with
him.
I don't need anything.
I don't want anything from justright, just to see if he
remembers me.
I just want to catch up withhim.
I don't need anything, I don'twant anything from him Right.
Just to see how he might sayhey, come, go ahead, come to
so-and-so, be in there,absolutely.

Speaker 1 (46:41):
Right, you never know .

Speaker 2 (46:42):
Never know.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
So the scene where you guys were at Wrigley.
Did you guys actually film atWrigley or was that set up to be
Wrigley?

Speaker 2 (46:53):
We actually filmed that at the old Detroit Tigers
Stadium.

Speaker 1 (46:57):
Really.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
Yes, because the movie was rated R at first.

Speaker 1 (47:03):
So, Chicago.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
The mayor of Chicago was already making a big deal
out of kids cursing in the movie.
So because of that theywouldn't let us use the stadium.
So we had to go to becauseDetroit Tigers had just got
their new stadium or they werethey were building it.
Yep, they were building it, andthe old one was still there, of

(47:27):
course.
So we, they rented it out, andthat's what we used to film that
scene.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
That's crazy.
Yes, that's crazy.
So I'm going to take it Becausewhen you rewatch the movie you
can kind of tell.
But the scene in the part whereyou guys see Sammy Sosa, I'm
assuming you guys Sammy wasn'treally there.
No, he was not.
I didn't think so.
10-year-old me wanted Sammy tobe there.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
Wanted Sammy to be there.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
I mean, as you can see, I'm wearing my Cubs hat.
I wore it because, like themovie, you're from Chicago, but
I mean a kid in the 90s man Ilove sammy so says so that's
when I became a a cubbies fan.
But uh, it kind of breaks myheart a little bit to know that
he wasn't actually there.
But like if you, if you watchthe movie, you can kind of tell

(48:22):
that it was kind of, uh,digitalized.
He was there well so here's the.

Speaker 2 (48:29):
When they filmed it, the guy who the boys initially
thought was Sammy Sosa, the guyhe was like oh no, not me,
that's the same guy they used.
Then they put him where SammySosa would be standing and we
used him.
So he was our Sammy Sosa, andhe was not our Sammy Sosa, uh of

(48:51):
the takes out.
But the reason why Sammy Sosawas not there was because they
were actually in the playoffs atthe time, right, and they
filmed him at the um playoffgame wherever they were.
I forgot where they were.
Um but he was actually playingelsewhere and that's how they
filmed it.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
And then they they added that clip in gotcha okay,
yeah, you, you could definitelytell now that it was a added in
feature.
But I had to ask because younever know.

Speaker 2 (49:20):
But, yeah, yeah, I didn't, I didn't have my hopes
up or nothing I was actually afrank thomas fan, though more
than it was supposed to be frankthomas.
Actually, they changed it inthe movie.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
Really, because I wore number 35.

Speaker 2 (49:34):
Remember that.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
Right, yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
That was the reference.
It was supposed to be.

Speaker 1 (49:39):
Frank Thomas Okay.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
Then they switched it to a Cubs game and because I
haven't watched the movie in along time, I didn't say yeah,
because when I was in thehospital, outside of saying
you're never going to stay beingour coach, when he was leaving
out of the room, the originalline was I want 35, coach 35.

(50:05):
Okay.
Yeah, so that's and then it waschanged.
Yeah, interesting.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
Okay, yeah, because you were, you are the one that
calls out that that's sammy sosa, because everyone, everyone's
like telling you to like shut up.
You don't, you, you don't know.
Then you walk away and you'relike there goes sammy right
there, yeah.
But yeah, that's a cool, little, little fun, fun fact to know
about the movie.
Did you get to keep your jersey, did you?

Speaker 2 (50:32):
keep those jerseys.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
No.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
No, they didn't.
Let us keep it, because we wereactually on contract for 2 and
3.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
They were going to make more of them.

Speaker 2 (50:42):
Well, we were on contract for Hardball 1, 2, and
3.

Speaker 1 (50:46):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
And obviously it never happened.

Speaker 1 (50:49):
Right.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
They kept all of the stuff um I guess I'm assuming,
in case it ever had happened atthat time.
But right we can't fit thosejerseys anymore right, that's uh
, that's unfortunate.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
I would have loved, uh, hardball two and three
everybody.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
We would have loved it too.
We're, we're still, we're notopposed to doing it.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
I say, make us college players, or something
you know yeah or uh, or now thatwe're old enough to be parents,
because we are, uh, yeah, coach, or the parents of it yeah,
they could easily spin something.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
I mean hell, if you write your production company
right, hardball too um, I wasfilming a movie this year or in
may, and um, that productioncompany was actually we.
They were actually talkingabout it.
So, okay, it might maybe we'llsee, we'll see.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
All right, I'll keep an eye out for it, for sure.
But um, all right, man, well,we're about to wrap up here, but
uh, like I said I got, I got acouple questions for you.
From being in chicago, youprobably hear the questions all
the time, but I I gotta know.
Oh yeah, question one do youput ketchup on your hot dogs?

Speaker 2 (52:06):
when I ate hot dogs, ketchup and onions.
Yes, yes, I did I.
I don't eat meat anymore.
I'm a pescatarian.

Speaker 1 (52:12):
Oh, really yeah, Seafood at most.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
I haven't had any meat, any other meat outside of
seafood, since October 2018.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
Wow, that'd be hard for me.
I love seafood, though, so Icould eat seafood every day, all
day.
Yes, yes, but, man, I love mymeat too, though, so I don't
know.
I give you a lot of props forthat man.

Speaker 2 (52:35):
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 (52:37):
But no, like being in Chicago, you know it's frowned
upon to put ketchup on hot dogs.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
I put ketchup.
I had ketchup and onions when Iate my hot dogs.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
All right.
Like here in Michigan, if I'mat a cookout I'll put ketchup
and mustard on my hot dogs, butif you go to a Coney up here
because Michigan's known for theConey Islands it's just the
chili and mustard.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
Mustard yep.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
Nothing else.
People look at you weird.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
If you have a Polish, then it's mustard and onions.
If you have a polish, then it'smustard and onions if you have
a polish.
So if you have a maxwell streetpolish here in chicago, then
it's mustard, but for my hot dogit was always ketchup and
onions for me, all right, myfirst time in chicago, I did get
a polish dog, uh I forgot wherewe got it from it was was good.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
I got it without onions though, Cause I'm not a
big onion guy.
It has.
They have to be grilled onionsfor me.

Speaker 2 (53:34):
They are grilled.

Speaker 1 (53:35):
They you didn't, you didn't go to Maxwell street,
then you gotta go to Maxwellstreet they grill those onions.

Speaker 2 (53:42):
Man, and I don't eat meatball.
I'll be riding past itsometimes, god, maybe once
because you can smell it off theexpressway.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
You can smell it.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (53:51):
It also may have been before, because I just recently
started eating grilled onions.
It could have been even beforethat, but yeah, I'm not sure
where we went.
But no, it was a good Polishdog, though.
I enjoyed it.
Good, we already talked aboutthe question before we started
recording.
But for the listeners, cubs orSox.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
Sox man.
Sox, if I was an A, I alwayssay if the Cubs were trying to
recruit me, I probably wouldhave been a Cubs fan too.
Of course Sox were trying torecruit me, and my very first
baseball game I went to was aCubs game my dad took us to.
They lost, and as we wereleaving the stadium my dad says,

(54:34):
and I quote I don't know why Icame here.
I should have just stuck withmy team all along.
And from that moment I'vealways been a Sox fan.

Speaker 1 (54:45):
Okay, my first game in Chicago was actually a White
Sox game.
Me and my buddies went to it.
They did.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
I believe they won by two, so me and my buddies went
to that and then two weeks laterwe came back to Chicago because
Detroit was playing the Cubs atWrigley.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
At night.
So I was like I got to go tothis game and at the time there
were more Tigers fans there thanthere were Cubs fans oh, yeah,
oh yeah, oh yeah.
I think, this was probably likethree or four years ago so it
was before the Cubs won theirseries, which I'm actually
wearing my uh in my uhsweatshirt too.

(55:37):
It was, you know, yeah, maybe,but uh, no, I'm.
I'm a tigers fan and I'm a cubsfan, but I'm also a red sox fan
, just from uh, I, I was ashortstop and nomar garcia parr
was my favorite player.
Okay, okay, he was a socks atthe the time, but he did go to
Chicago the next year the Cubsafter.
Um, yeah, he missed the WorldSeries with the Sox and the one

(55:58):
with the Red Sox.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I'm a Yankee fan, ah.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
I don't know about that.
Yeah, I see that.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
Jeter, jeter, uh.
A-rod Robinson Cano and myfavorite catcher, the reason I
started catching this, jorgepesada okay, I remember that was
my favorite.
That was my favorite unorthodoxright, but it was a switch
hitter, offensive catcher andcould play everywhere.
He was a utility player I'llgive you.

Speaker 1 (56:24):
I'll give you that, since I had no more with with
the socks and stuff like thatbut uh, but yeah, man, we went
to that game at Wrigley.
It was an awesome game.
Detroit beat the shit out ofthem.
Yes, I forgot what pitcher wehad pitching that game, but he
actually went up to bat and hita home run.
Our pitcher did it definitelywasn't, verlander.

(56:48):
It wasn't Verlander Max Welleror something like that.
It was definitely wasn'tVerlander.
It wasn't Verlander, Um, uh,Matt Max Maxwell or something
like that.
Shit, I can't think of his name.
It's not Scherzer.
Was it Scherzer?
It may have been Scherzer.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
Cause he was with Detroit, I thought.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
Yeah, yeah, I just remember when I went up to bat,
the guy behind it was so pissedoff.
Man, he's throwing shit andyelling.
I'm pretty sure we almost diedon the train ride back.
Really, it shook really bad andthere was a lady like sleeping

(57:23):
on the train.
You could tell she was a local,did it all the time, but man,
as soon as it started shakingher, she just like came alive
and her eyes just like went solike bright and I was like, oh
man, I was like, if this, thislady's this scared.
But uh, yeah, it was freaky anduh, we also took a wrong turn
and walked down someneighborhood that we should not
have been walking out at night.

(57:45):
So, uh, that'll happen.
Yeah, I told my buddies I'mlike we should probably turn
around and get it, get the hellout of here.
But uh, good times in chicago,though oh, absolutely right one
more question for you and I.
I think this is the best chicagoquestion to ask someone from
chicago.
I I have a feeling you probablyknow what it is, but I'm going

(58:08):
to ask you For someone who'snever been to Chicago or
anything like that where do yousend them to get the best
Chicago pizza?

Speaker 2 (58:17):
I knew you were going to say that.

Speaker 1 (58:19):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
Oh yeah, home Run Inn .
And people are going to get madat me that some people will say
Giordano's and all that and Ido not agree.
I do not agree.
Well, I'll say this Home RunInn is my ultimate favorite for
thin crust, now Deep Dish.
It's a toss-up between Connie'sPizza and Giordano's.

(58:44):
Okay.
So if you're going Deep Dishfor Chicago-style pizza, if
you're going deep dish ForChicago style pizza, if you're
going deep dish, most people,I'll go ahead and say Giordano's
, okay.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (58:56):
Thin crust Home run in Home run in pizza.
Yes, even the frozen home runin pizzas Taste just as good.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
Really.
In my opinion, Okay, I just sayI've never been to Home Run Inn
, I've been to Giordano's.

Speaker 2 (59:13):
Yeah, did you like it , did you like Giordano's?

Speaker 1 (59:15):
I did.
I like deep dish, so Giordano'swas super good.
To be honest, I've never heardof Home Run Inn.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
You've never heard what no.

Speaker 1 (59:25):
And I have a cousin who just moved out of Chicago.
A few years ago they had a kid.
They live in the suburbs ofChicago now, but she moved out
there to go to school.
I don't know.
I'll have to ask her if she'sever been to Home Run Inn.
Home Run Inn.
Hopefully I can make it out toChicago real soon and I'll
definitely check out Home RunInn.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
Hey, hit me up.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
I will.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
I can take you to Home RunRin-Nin and you can get
some Ho-Rin-Nin pizza and justgo to the grocery store.
They got the frozen Ho-Rin-Ninpizza.

Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
You know, I may have seen the Giordano's in the
grocery stores.
Maybe I have seen them, becausewhen you say the name it sounds
familiar.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
But I know I haven't been there so maybe I've seen
them Try the frozen one.

Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
Okay, I'm definitely going to hit you up, though, if
I come to Chicago.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
Yes, absolutely All right.
I'm going to hold you to that.
I will take you bro.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
Awesome, all right, man Again.
Julian man, thank you.
Like I said, huge fan ofHardball man.
When, uh, I was able to reachout, cause I I tried reaching
out to a bunch of you guys but Icouldn't find contact
information for a lot of them.
But when I saw you, like I wasable to find your email and shit
and I'm just like I have toreach out, man, I was like cause

(01:00:43):
, in my opinion, man, you wereone of the leading kid roles in
that movie.
I mean you to me, you had morelike, just like, more like
one-on-one scenes with yourself,yeah, as opposed to like some
of the other kids in the group.
So, uh, yeah, man, you were oneof my favorite characters, yeah,
but uh, definitely one of myfavorite characters in the movie

(01:01:03):
.
Uh, appreciate you probablystole, stole a lot of the scenes
, man, yeah, you, you were justgreat in it, man, and I look
forward to seeing more of yourstuff.
Absolutely.
I appreciate you taking thetime tonight and talking with me
.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
No problem, thank you for having me.
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:01:21):
Of course, man.
Of course.
But, julian, have a good night.
I'm definitely going to hit youup when I'm in Chicago next yes
.
And we'll go grab some pizza.

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
Sounds good.
You have a good night of theworld, my man.

Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
You too, have a good night.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
All right Later.