December 5, 2025 • 34 mins
In this engaging conversation, Billy Wardlow shares his extensive journey in baseball, from his early days in Key West to his current role with the Toronto Blue Jays. He reflects on the excitement of the World Series, the importance of building relationships within the sport, and the challenges of equipment management. Wardlow also offers valuable advice for young athletes and emphasizes the significance of community and passion in sports.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:07):
Hey Joy, it's your friend Vic calling from Atlanta.
Anytime I get to do somethingwith you, it's a great day, my
friend, and I appreciate youhaving me do this.
As I understand, you have mydear friend Billy Wardlow on
your show tonight.
I don't know if you know, but in1992 I had the great honor of
coaching this young man andtutoring privately as well,
(00:32):
baseball and life-wise.
And um to say that he has turnedinto a phenomenal human being is
an understatement.
I can't tell you how proud I amof him, of his accomplishments,
not only in high school, but injunior college and at Tampa, and
then of course his career withthe Blue Jays.
(00:55):
I uh I love this kid like he wasmy own, and thankfully he calls
me dad.
Billy, you're on with the best.
Have a great one, brother.
SPEAKER_02 (01:08):
Thanks for tuning in to the Joy of Baseball Podcast.
It's all about baseball, fromthe sandlots to the big leagues
and everything in between.
I'll share my joy for the gamewith you, and whether you're a
fan of baseball or goodstorytelling, you'll be
entertained, and each episodewill bring a little joy to your
date.
So grab you some peanuts andcracking jacks.
Let's talk baseball.
(01:29):
This episode is sponsored byRamonas, promoting Kong Prime
since 1971.
How are we doing, baseball fans?
I got a good one for you today.
I got Billy Wardlow.
He's been in baseball all hislife, from little leagues to the
pros.
And now he's got 25 years pluswith the Toronto Blue Jays.
And he's a Key West native.
(01:50):
Welcome to the show, Billy.
SPEAKER_00 (01:51):
Thank you for having me, Joy.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02 (01:53):
Hey, I don't know if you noticed anything, but how
about this hat?
SPEAKER_00 (01:57):
Nice.
I'm glad it showed up in KeyWest.
Finally got there, so it's niceto be able to uh actually see
our logo on a hat with the WorldSeries.
SPEAKER_02 (02:05):
Absolutely.
And tell I can only imagine it'sbeen a long time since my
Yankees were in it.
SPEAKER_00 (02:10):
I know we uh we've been trying to do this this
session for a while, and uh itgot pushed back, and some of my
travels pushed it back, and thenas the season progressed, um the
heater rivalry between the BlueJays and the Yankees uh I wanted
to see how it played out.
Played out a little bit, alittle bit in in our favor this
year.
Um, I know you had to do somegrieving over it, so I let that
(02:31):
play out as well, and uh thensome World Series travel and
some travel after that, and gladwe're finally able to get this
uh get this recorded and get itout there and share some stuff
with everybody that's involvedin baseball wherever this
reaches, especially back homeand whatever, you know, wherever
it goes.
SPEAKER_02 (02:50):
Yeah, I'm I'm excited to have you for sure.
It was worth the wait.
I think we've been talking aboutthis since spring training, and
like you said, friendly rivalrybetween us, the Yankees, and the
Blue Jays.
But you guys absolutely got thebest of us.
You took the lead and you neverlooked back.
Hell of a playoff run to theWorld Series, and let's start
(03:12):
right there.
Tell me about the World Series.
What was that like?
SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
It was a ride, man.
Um I I went to the playoffs infifty.
We went to playoffs in 15 and16.
In 2015, we lost in thechampionship series to the
Royals.
And um, I thought that was agreat experience in uh making it
to the World Series.
I tell everybody uh we playedbasically played eight and a
half games.
Not everybody can say they makeit a seven-game series and play
(03:38):
eight and a half games.
So it was a great uh series forbaseball, it was a great series
for baseball fans.
It was it was just greatbaseball that was played.
There wasn't any blowouts, uheverything you got to see,
everything.
Extra innings, small ball, yousaw errors, you've seen home
runs, you've seen everyeverything that had to do with
baseball, you got to see.
SPEAKER_02 (03:56):
It truly was one of the most entertaining series
that I can remember.
I mean, it it really, like yousaid, had everything you're
talking about, eight and a halfgames.
That's that 18-inning game.
Was that game three that went 18innings?
SPEAKER_00 (04:09):
Yes, it was game three.
That was a long night.
We we traveled the night beforeand we got into L.
We took a red eye and we gotinto LA early in the morning, so
it was a long day, and we didn'texpect that.
East Coast time it was probably3 a.m., I believe.
But it was a it was a long game.
And I mean, by the end of thegame, the second half of the
game, we had you know a lot ofour backup guys in, and they
(04:32):
held tight.
And LA had guys on second andthird no outs inning after
inning, and we kept getting outof it.
And uh we couldn't put it away,but it was a hell of a hell of a
game.
SPEAKER_02 (04:42):
It it really was.
I was up all night, everybody onFacebook, are you watching this?
It was crazy, and then youcouldn't go to sleep after I
think I was up till four o'clockin the morning.
It was like, it was what a rush.
I can't imagine being there.
Did I see a picture of you andyour dad?
SPEAKER_00 (05:00):
Yeah, my dad, my dad came to one, two, six, and
seven.
So he was in Toronto.
He didn't come to LA, but he wasin Toronto.
SPEAKER_02 (05:07):
How how special was that to be able to bring your
dad along?
SPEAKER_00 (05:10):
Oh man.
Uh undescribable.
It was cool.
SPEAKER_02 (05:15):
I I know that that him and your whole family, and
you're you're from a huge familyhere in Key West.
Everybody was so proud of you.
I mentioned this earlier.
I think all of Key West is allof a sudden a Blue Jays fan.
You know, forget, forget who weusually root for.
We were rooting for you all theway.
And uh there was somethingreally cool, Conk Baseball.
They did one of those thingsthey do on social media and they
(05:37):
asked the kids, oh, you know,who's gonna win the series?
And I think every one of themsaid the Blue Jays.
SPEAKER_00 (05:43):
A lot of them.
I'll give props to Jack Niles.
He threw my name in there onetime, so I appreciated that.
SPEAKER_02 (05:48):
Yeah, that's my catch.
SPEAKER_00 (05:50):
Yeah, I appreciate the following.
It was it's it's amazing.
Everybody I run into, you know,says the same thing that they're
you know pulling for their BlueJays.
Um, I don't think a lot ofpeople saw us get in there, you
know, earlier in the season.
And then as the uh playoffs cameand the World Series came, I
don't know if people thoughtthat uh we were gonna make it
(06:10):
past four games, but uh we wemade it interesting.
SPEAKER_02 (06:13):
You certainly did, and it makes the it makes
looking forward to this nextseason even more interesting,
right?
SPEAKER_00 (06:20):
Makes it real interesting.
Um one thing I got to finallyexperience is playing baseball
right up until November, whichuh must be exhausting.
Gets things going pretty quickbecause now uh got three days
until the winter meeting starts.
And uh once the winter meetingsget here, it's game on.
So it gets here quick.
SPEAKER_02 (06:40):
Hey, that's good stuff.
And and we should probably backup a little bit.
Tell me and and everybodywatching, what is your role with
the Blue Jays?
And tell me a little bit aboutyour career path in professional
baseball.
SPEAKER_00 (06:52):
Um after I played at University of Tampa, I coached
there for a year and a half, twoyears.
I um got a job over with theYankees back in '90, spring
training in '98.
Um, from there, I I worked acouple years in the minor
leagues.
I worked in '99 with the Braves.
And then I got this job.
My first season was uh 2000.
(07:14):
So I got hired in December of99.
I'm the minor league equipmentcoordinator.
So I'm in charge of theequipment at our complex here in
Florida for spring training andeverything that goes on here.
It's a rehab center.
It runs 365 days a year.
Um, we have an academy in theDominican Republic with two
teams.
So we have about 150, 200personnel players down there
(07:36):
that I oversee with equipment.
Um, five minor league teams herein North America and the
scouting department for theirpre-draft workouts.
And now we have probably, Ithink, four scout teams.
So, and now with how travel ballis set up around the country,
um, and they have these perfectgame tournaments and tournaments
around.
Um, we've developed a few scoutteams ourselves.
(07:57):
A lot of the major league teamshave done it.
So I oversee all the equipmentuniforms for that as well.
SPEAKER_02 (08:02):
That's gotta be a wild job.
I can't imagine the number ofpieces of equipment for that big
of an organization.
SPEAKER_00 (08:12):
Oh, it yeah, it's it's quite a bit.
The logistics of gettingeverything, we have a, you know,
we have a minor league team inVancouver, Buffalo, New York,
uh, Manchester, New Hampshire.
We have two teams here locallyin Dunedin.
And then, like I said, our twoteams in the Dominican Republic.
So logistics of it all, gettingit there, making sure
everything's there on time, theseason starts, everything behind
the scenes, make it run.
SPEAKER_02 (08:33):
So I don't know if if you said this or not, but how
many people work with you inyour department to be able to
make all that happen?
SPEAKER_00 (08:39):
Not as many as I wish.
SPEAKER_02 (08:41):
Yeah.
Are you hired?
SPEAKER_00 (08:43):
Uh my crew has, I mean, my crew are probably about
seven or eight guys.
Wish we had a few more.
It's better than what it was.
We used to do it with with threeor four, and we've we've
increased it a little bit, butwe make it work, and uh my crew
my crew makes my life easy.
I'll tell you what, if it wasn'tfor them, I wouldn't be been
here this long.
And one of them one of my guyshas been with me 25 years, so
(09:05):
it's a pretty good uh we have apretty good thing going here.
SPEAKER_02 (09:08):
Sounds like it.
And now that you got rings andtrophies and things like that to
carry around, maybe you can hirea few more people.
SPEAKER_00 (09:15):
We're trying.
We're trying.
SPEAKER_02 (09:17):
Hey, so I put out a promo on social media yesterday,
and I said, hey, I'm gonna haveBilly on the show.
Any questions?
And Monica Santana, another KeyWest girl that lives up in
Tampa, Bubba's wife.
Uh, she wanted to know what'syour favorite part of the job?
SPEAKER_00 (09:33):
Um, I would have to say the relationships that I've
built and that I continue tobuild with players.
Perfect example, um, GeorgeBell, 1988 AL MVP.
First player from the DominicanRepublic to win the MVP in the
major leagues.
Um, he was coaching here when Istarted, and um, him and I
(09:56):
created a really good friendshipand to this day.
I'm at the point now to where Ihelp him organize his golf
tournament every year.
So three or four years, fiveyears now I've been doing his
golf tournament.
It's it's cool how I grew upwatching these guys, and I now
work with a lot of them.
I now get to do golf tournamentsand playing golf tournaments
with some of the a lot of theguys that I grew up watching.
(10:17):
The older guys, I mean, guysthat played in the 80s and 90s
that I grew up just admiring.
I get to, you know, I'm withevery day.
And then now the younger crewthat's coming up, the younger
guys that are coming up, therelationships you build with
them, and you get to see thoseguys every day, you get to see
what they put into it every day.
So that's that's one of the bestthings, you know.
(10:41):
And and can't uh can't reallycomplain that I get to come to
work at a baseball field everyday.
My office is at a baseballfield, and coming from Key West,
you can't really beat that.
SPEAKER_02 (10:51):
Yeah, right.
Do you ever just pinch yourselfand think, is this really
happening?
SPEAKER_00 (10:55):
Many times.
SPEAKER_02 (10:56):
So speaking of um, you know, the relationships that
you build, I'm curious, arethere any players that you've
watched come up through thesystem from Singway or even the
developmental leagues, and andnow they've made it to the show?
And is there any names we'drecognize?
And how special is that?
SPEAKER_00 (11:14):
Well, most a lot of the guys on the team this year.
I mean, those guys you got Kirkand Yesovich and Schneider, uh
Arger, Blue Hardy, all thoseguys.
Um they've come up through here,and then across the league, we
have I mean, there's so manyguys across the league.
Gabriel Moreno's and andGuriel's out with the
Diamondbacks, and TeoscarHernandez is out with the
(11:36):
Dodgers.
And I mean, the list goes on andon with the guys in other
organizations.
I mean, and it's not just theplayers, it's coaches as well.
It's ex-players.
Ricky Romero and I are he wasone of our first round picks,
um, starting pitcher for us foryears.
Him and I are really goodfriends.
Aaron Sanchez, good friend ofmine, uh, Jose Batista, and
Carnachon, all those guys, youknow, over the years, it's, you
(12:00):
know, those guys have becomefriends, and it's been a pretty
cool experience.
I mean, I story about Batista.
Last year, my nephew was intown, and I called Batista and
asked him about um some cardsbecause my nephew's gotten into
car collecting.
And first thing he said was,come to the house.
So I was like, I can't, youknow, I told him I can't come
over to your house.
(12:20):
And it's a Friday night, eighto'clock.
My parents were in town, mysister was in town, and they
looked at me like I was crazy.
It's like Jose wants us to cometo the house.
So I was like, I cannot bring mynephew to your house right now,
seven o'clock on a Friday night,eight o'clock on a Friday night.
And and we did, we ended upgoing over there.
So it's just those are the typeof things, they're special
people, they're friends of mine,and I'm very, very, very lucky
(12:43):
and fortunate to be in theposition I'm in and to to have
those relationships.
SPEAKER_02 (12:47):
Yeah, what what an experience.
You um we talked a little bit umabout the equipment already and
the volume.
I'm just curious because youknow, baseball is a game of
numbers.
Do you have any numbers of youknow how many bats and gloves
and balls are used in a game ora season?
You have any numbers to sharewith me?
SPEAKER_00 (13:07):
I order about for my minor leagues, we go through man
a hundred probably close toeight thousand, I would say,
dozen baseballs in the minorleagues.
That's across, I mean, you'replaying 160 games at five
levels, and then you're playinguh 80 games at three levels.
(13:29):
And then you have springtraining, and then you have
extended spring training.
You have you know, training goesover here at the complex all
year long.
Um bat-wise, we go through afew, you know, the numbers of
the bats have come down.
There's a whole new sciencebehind bats, and the wood has
changed, and the way they theymeasure wood, and the way that
they turn the wood these days,and the way it's balanced and
the density of the wood.
(13:50):
That's changed.
So the the breakage is a littledifferent on the bats as well
these days.
So you you we're not going asthrough as many as we used to.
SPEAKER_02 (13:57):
I was gonna ask you, like, what's the average number
of bats a player goes through ina season?
SPEAKER_00 (14:02):
Differs.
Differs.
It depends.
Some guys in the big leaguesmight go through a dozen, they
might not even go through adozen.
Guys in the minor leagues mightgo through three, four, five.
You can't really put a number onthat.
It's it is there's too manyvariables.
SPEAKER_02 (14:14):
Sure, and and just like we talked about the numbers
in baseball and analytics, I'msure the job, since you've been
in the league, you know, 25years, the jobs change.
There's a lot more technologyand IT involved, keeping track,
I would imagine, with all thatequipment and everything, right?
To help you with some of it.
SPEAKER_00 (14:32):
Oh, yeah.
My first my first three years, Ididn't have a computer.
I did everything by hand.
And I still have my first budgetthat I did by hand.
So um now I have a computer.
Now uh we're on it doing this.
So yeah, I um now I havespreadsheets and charts and all
that kind of good stuff to takecare of things.
But it has gotten a lot biggeras well.
(14:54):
Like I said, that we now we havescouting department stuff.
I mean, I have a I don't know,I'm probably 20 pages deep on a
spreadsheet on my budget now.
SPEAKER_02 (15:01):
So and then the other thing I thought um I
wanted to ask you about, youknow, baseball, there's a lot of
superstition in baseball, justlike me and you not talking
during the playoffs, right?
I wouldn't want to mess up yourmojo, right?
But um, you know, baseballplayers, baseball fans are
superstitious.
I'm curious, do you see thatwhen it in terms of equipment,
(15:21):
you know, making sure thatplayers have certain bats to
keep that streak alive and thatkind of thing?
Any funny stories to share?
SPEAKER_00 (15:28):
You have to.
There's shirts, you know, shirtsthat aren't washed and certain
hats and batting gloves andpants are ripped, don't sew
them.
You know, I mean, there's leavemy pants alone.
Don't don't touch them, don'tsew them, leave them like they
are.
And people wonder sometimes, youknow, wow, they're in the major
leagues, they have holes intheir pants.
That there's sometimes thoseguys want those holes in those
pants.
(15:49):
So there's a lot of things, youknow, helmets getting clean.
There's pine tar on helmets.
You know, sometimes you cleanthe helmets and polish them and
make them look good, and playersdon't want you to touch them.
So there's a lot of littlethings, a lot of nuances.
You know, there's some guys youdon't deal with, some guys you
don't go around.
Um, is leaving the startingpitcher alone a thing?
I think it is.
Um, I treat it that way.
(16:10):
I always have.
Um, I learned from from RoyHalliday when he was here, so
I've always followed that and Ileave the starting pitchers
alone, so I don't I don't gonear them.
SPEAKER_02 (16:21):
And I'm sharing helps that you grew up in
baseball, right?
SPEAKER_00 (16:25):
So gives you a little bit of feel of the game.
SPEAKER_02 (16:27):
Is everybody on on your team and your department
former ball players?
SPEAKER_00 (16:32):
Um, for the most part, yes.
We have a couple that are not.
SPEAKER_02 (16:35):
Um because it might be that kind of stuff would be
hard for someone to understandwho didn't grow up around it.
SPEAKER_00 (16:41):
Yeah, for the most but for the most part, they all
were in sport or they've workedin other sports.
I have one guy that that youknow works with us.
Uh he worked in hockey.
Uh, one guy's from soccer.
So they have a field of sports,they have a field of you know,
inside the locker room orclubhouse area, so that helps a
lot.
SPEAKER_02 (16:58):
Um, any insider information you think they're
gonna keep Bo and Vladdytogether?
SPEAKER_00 (17:04):
That's way above my figures.
SPEAKER_02 (17:06):
I sure hope so.
SPEAKER_00 (17:07):
We'd like to see it, you know, but that's that's way
far.
That's too so far away from me.
I'm at the bottom.
I'm just trying to keep ittogether.
I'm trying to keep all thepieces together on my end.
SPEAKER_02 (17:19):
Yeah, yeah, I imagine.
But that I think that is prettyspecial that they played so long
together because you don't seethat kind of thing in sports
anymore.
SPEAKER_00 (17:27):
No, and the good the cool thing about them was when
they came up, we we also hadBiggio here, and we also had uh
Clemens, Casey Clemens.
So it was pretty neat to have wehad all the whole infield was
covered with from first to thirdwith Vlad, Biggio, Chet, and uh
Clemens.
So it was a pretty cool littlelittle thing we had going there
(17:48):
for a while.
SPEAKER_02 (17:49):
You have a take in field with them?
SPEAKER_00 (17:50):
Many years ago I stopped.
Getting too old for that.
I've I used to throw um for thefirst five or six years, I used
to throw BP a lot.
I used to go outside and throwbat in practice.
Uh, used to throw to the majorleague team when they would come
to town and play the rays.
Um, that was a cool experiencein itself.
Um, but no more.
(18:10):
I'm getting I've gotten too oldfor that.
I could probably still do it,and I do sometimes go out in the
cages and have to show the youngguys that every once in a while
I can make contact.
But at least I can still makecontact.
It's not the best, but myhand-eye coordination is still
there.
SPEAKER_02 (18:24):
That's good stuff.
Let them know who they'redealing with, right?
Because here in Key West, youwere a standout from Kennedy
Drive to to Rex Weach Field.
And and let's talk about playingbaseball here in Key West.
Who were some of your coachesgrowing up and some of your
teammates?
SPEAKER_00 (18:40):
Oh.
Well, let me let me first uh, ifI can, start by saying this
because I thought about this alittle bit going into this.
When I was growing up, I used togo to the fire station.
My dad was in the firedepartment, and we we'd uh we'd
go out to Wickerfield,Wickersfield almost every day.
And I used to see um RalphHenriquez when he played in the
(19:02):
minor leagues, Ralph Sr.
And he was out there with Ibelieve Kelly Scott, if you
don't remember that name.
Um I think they're mayor, theyboth went to Mary Immaculate,
right?
So Ralph Henriquez, Kelly Scott,um growing up, Bubba Sweeting,
Brooks, Carrie, Ridgie Garcia,and then you know, there's so
many more.
Victor Alberry.
(19:23):
We have a rich history downthere.
That's the names that you wouldalways hear.
And then it gets into family,and I had my uncles, Dickie,
Kenny, my dad, and then uh Joey,and then my my uh my cousin
Kenny.
That's the baseball side of it.
Playing baseball in Key West wasso much so different.
And you know, we all strive toto play at the high school and
(19:48):
and to to be on that that wasour major leagues to uh to play
with the guys that put we had awe had a really good group.
My freshman and sophomore year,Judd Wise was our coach.
unknown (20:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (20:00):
I had Judd on the show.
SPEAKER_00 (20:02):
I know you've done a lot with him and the stats and
all that.
He was one of the best.
I think we lost, if I'm notmistaken, I think we lost two
games in two years.
I think we were 21 and 2 oneyear, and I think we were 17 and
0 another year.
SPEAKER_02 (20:16):
That's good baseball right there.
SPEAKER_00 (20:17):
And and you know, that was on the JV, and as
everything else in the world,the pyramid gets smaller as you
get up, and as we get to thevarsity, you know, the games get
tougher.
So the competition, those guysthat we were playing in Miami
and beaten as a freshman andsophomore, they were getting
older and they were maturing.
You know, then our record wasn'tas good.
And we still went to, you know,the the districts and all that
(20:40):
good stuff, but we weren'tundefeated anymore.
So you could see the pyramidgetting smaller, and as you get
to college, it's the same way.
But Peter Fraga and WillieZerpa, Jonathan Jolly, Randy
Niles, Randy and I wereinseparable.
Um the you know, Darren Mills.
We had Mar Mario Myra, DarrenMills, and myself.
Victor was our coach, and uh hecalled us the black widows.
SPEAKER_02 (21:04):
I I heard I heard about that story.
Tell me about that.
SPEAKER_00 (21:08):
We all had black gloves.
Jeff Hart was at first base, anduh and somehow, some way, the
word got around town, and Idon't know if it's just people
talking or maybe Victor at thehair salon talking about the
black widows.
But I got around town and someof the police thought that there
was a new gang in town, and thisgang was gonna be violent.
(21:29):
The furthest thing from it.
We weren't violent, but uh we weplayed pretty good ball, and
that was the black widows.
I guess we'll go down thehistory as being known as a
gang, so yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (21:38):
I I heard that story from from Victor, who you know
has um plenty love for you, andhe told me he said, Ask him
about the black widows becauseeverybody in the infield have
black gloves.
And did you guys name yourselfthat or did he name you guys
that?
SPEAKER_00 (21:53):
It was probably all of us.
I mean, I can't remember that.
But um, you know, just thoseguys and I coach Fraga, Coach
Fraga, uh, you know, I had myjunior year, I had him, and in
my senior year I had CoachMilliken.
But we had some good times.
I saw Coach Frag Coach Fraga,Peter lives here in Tampa now.
I've seen Coach Fraga last yeara few times um around town or at
(22:14):
a baseball game or at dinner.
It's good to still run into himevery once in a while, but just
the practices and the games andeverybody's parents, you know,
the dad standing up on the thirdbaseline, you know, hanging out
and yelling at the umpires, andit was, you know, you can't beat
it.
And and to be honest, that thatleads into where I almost where
(22:35):
I am now.
I've worked this is my I'm goinginto my 27th year with the Blue
Jays, and over the years we'veyeah, 29 in baseball, 27 with
Toronto.
I've had the uh unbelievableexperience of working with some
cool people, ex-big leaguers, exGMs, and where I'm going with
(22:57):
this is I've talked to Laz Diaz,who's an umpire in the big
leagues to this day, Ed Lynch,an ex-GM.
I can the names go on and on andon.
Lenny Harris.
I mean, baseball, if you're inbaseball, you know these people.
And every time somebody hadeither once told them I was from
Key West or now I still run intothem, the first thing they say
(23:19):
is, I can't believe we made itout of Key West alive.
Um, we we got our butts kickedand we got ran out of town.
People were throwing rocks atour buses, people didn't let us
sleep at the gym.
We sleep in the gym and theywere knocking on the door,
banging on the windows, throwingrocks at the windows.
And this is from generalmanagers of major league teams
down.
SPEAKER_02 (23:37):
And they still remember.
SPEAKER_00 (23:38):
And they still remember.
And that's what, like, still tothis day, I'm in awe and I'm in
shock every time, even if I meetsomebody new and I tell them I'm
from Key West and they hadplayed against Key West in high
school, or they're from theMiami area and they played in
the 70s, 80s.
That's the first thing thatcomes to their mind.
And it is, it blows me away thatpeople that high up in baseball
(23:59):
know about what we, you know,what we strive for in Key West.
SPEAKER_02 (24:02):
That was one of the questions I was gonna ask you.
You've traveled all over theworld, you've seen baseball
played in so many communities.
Is Key West baseball stillspecial?
And it sounds like you'd say so.
SPEAKER_00 (24:14):
Not just coming from you, but from Yeah, I mean,
there's good baseball around,but the atmosphere, you can't
get that.
The atmosphere is is unmatchableat that level.
You're not gonna find thatatmosphere anymore.
SPEAKER_02 (24:26):
And that and like you said, it's not just coming
from us, right?
Baseball people from all overtell you that.
SPEAKER_00 (24:32):
Yeah, they will tell you.
And you know, and there's acouple schools in Tampa that get
crowds, and they get crowds towatch the games.
But the the passion, they theymight have a little bit of
passion, but they don't have thekey west passion.
I promise you that.
SPEAKER_02 (24:46):
It is something special about it.
And I know you've been to to oneof the games and you've seen the
K crew that I hang out with downthere behind home plate, hang in
the caves for the pitches andeverything.
We we have a heck of a goodtime.
If you get back before yourseason gets too busy, come and
sit with us.
SPEAKER_00 (25:04):
Try to get down there during the middle of the
year.
I have to wait till springtraining's over.
SPEAKER_02 (25:07):
All right.
Well, we'll keep a seat warm foryou.
SPEAKER_00 (25:10):
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
I'll try to make it for sure.
I have family that sits rightback there.
SPEAKER_02 (25:14):
So your Uncle Dennis, we make sure his seat
and Miss Ann's seat are saved,reserved for him.
If he gets there first, he savesmine, and vice versa.
As a matter of fact, I don'tknow if you saw, but he also
commented on the post that totell you he was so proud of you
and he loves everything you'redoing, and you always got a
great smile on your face.
SPEAKER_00 (25:34):
Cool, thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (25:35):
That's good stuff.
And uh speaking of Tampa, um, Ihad Miguel on the show, and uh,
I told him I'm gonna go upthere.
He sent me a Tampa Jesuit hat,and I look pretty good with that
hat too.
SPEAKER_00 (25:49):
So I told him it's the same color blue, so we'll be
all right.
SPEAKER_02 (25:52):
Yeah, right.
I think I think I might be on tosomething here, but uh I told
him I'm gonna go up there andtry to watch a game.
Speaking of your um your family,your cousin Joey Orlow, um, heck
of a career he's having at St.
Thomas, big standout here in KeyWest, and just carrying it on as
a coach now.
I'm hoping that I could get himon the show.
I'm not sure if they'll let himbe on my show or not.
(26:16):
I know, I don't know if I rankhigh enough in in the world for
St.
Thomas.
SPEAKER_00 (26:20):
But um, we'll get him on.
SPEAKER_02 (26:22):
Yeah, we'll have to do a whole Wardlow show.
SPEAKER_00 (26:25):
We could do that, you could probably do that too.
SPEAKER_02 (26:27):
Right?
SPEAKER_00 (26:28):
Yep.
If it wasn't for him, I wouldn'tbe where I am.
SPEAKER_02 (26:31):
So then while we're speaking of your family, I know
we're talking about baseball,but your family's really
important in Key West beyond thehistory that you've contributed
to in baseball.
But your dad, commissioner forso many years, your Uncle Dennis
that we mentioned already, themayor, prime minister of the
Concord Republic, the war lovesrun deep, bringing good stuff to
(26:53):
the community.
So you're part of a big legacy,whether it's on the baseball
field or just on the island.
That's why we all feel so proudof you, man.
SPEAKER_00 (27:00):
So it's all good stuff.
Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_02 (27:03):
So with that, with that in mind, um talking about
influencing and how Joey helpedyou, and you know, you mentioned
Ralph, both of you up there andin the pros at one point.
What would you say to any keywest kids that are watching the
show right now?
And to hear you coming up on 30years in professional baseball,
(27:27):
any advice that you you mightoffer them?
SPEAKER_00 (27:30):
Play as long as you can.
Um doesn't just have to bebaseball, any sport.
If you're in sport, play sport,do something, uh, stay active.
Main thing is you gotta stay inschool and make your grades, and
then follow, you know, followyour passion.
I um, as every kid's dream,thought I was gonna play in the
big leagues.
And as I mentioned earlier, thepyramid gets smaller as you get,
(27:50):
you know, as you get higher andhigher, the pyramid gets
smaller.
And that's in business, it's insport, it's in everywhere.
Just recognize where you are andand and follow your dreams and
just know that there are manyavenues to uh to follow that.
I always said I was gonna workin the big leagues or play in
the big leagues.
I didn't make it playing.
That pyramid got smaller.
I saw the talent was way better,but I fought and I supported
(28:15):
everybody, and I didn't, youknow, I didn't complain.
I practiced, I stayed around andcoached for a couple years.
I got into Pro Ball and Ifigured out a way to make it
sustainable and last.
And and there are many avenues.
There, there's scouting.
Now, with you know, technology,there's so many different
avenues and analytics and video.
Dieticians are huge in thisindustry right now.
(28:37):
Strength and conditioning,trainers, I mean, equipment,
coaching, I mean, you name it,it's there.
There, there's I have peoplereaching out to me daily.
I have a couple people from KeyWest that I've been in touch
with in the past couple of daystrying to get into the baseball
world.
Make your grades, stay inschool, and follow your dream.
And and uh the one thing I wouldsay is the one thing I was told
(29:00):
is don't burn any bridges.
SPEAKER_02 (29:02):
Relationships, right?
Building relationships.
SPEAKER_00 (29:05):
Very important because one day you're gonna
have to come back across thatbridge, and if it's burned, it
won't be there.
SPEAKER_02 (29:11):
That's that's good advice from a man who knows
who's had much success.
Good stuff.
Let's go ahead and wrap this up.
I like to do it with a umsegment that I call for the
cycle.
So I ask you four questions, andjust like completing a cycle in
baseball, it gets harder as yougo.
Be because I have two shows, Igot the joy of baseball and I
got the conks.
(29:31):
I'm gonna kind of blend thequestions, but it'll it'll start
out easy and get a littleharder.
You up for it?
SPEAKER_00 (29:36):
Let's try it.
SPEAKER_02 (29:37):
All right.
So the first question is whatwould your walk-up song be?
SPEAKER_00 (29:41):
Geez, you stuck me stumping me right off the bat.
Um, I love this life.
SPEAKER_02 (29:47):
That's a good one.
Do do you see any impact on theminor leagues now that college
baseball has NIL and playing,paying players such big salaries
basically to play collegebaseball?
Do you see any impact in theminor leagues?
SPEAKER_00 (30:05):
I think guys are s uh signing later later, not
coming out as early as they usedto.
Some guys will come out earlier.
I think they're staying aroundfor the money.
Um and I think after COVID, whenthey started contracting the
minor leagues and they startedforming a couple collegiate
leagues and future leagues, um,I think that's impacted a lot by
(30:30):
by the NIL and the NCA.
SPEAKER_02 (30:32):
I've been following more college baseball recently,
and I I was just curious if ifthat was going to have an
impact.
The other thing that I feel likeI see is guys aren't staying in
the minor leagues as long.
Is that is that just the namesthat I hear of or do you see a
trend there?
SPEAKER_00 (30:49):
They're pushing them.
It it it they're getting they'regetting pushed pretty pretty
quickly.
Um may have something to do withthis collective bargaining
agreement.
I'm not positive on that.
Right.
But there's probably some thingsthat I don't know of that are
going on with that.
And and it also has to do with,like I said, after COVID, they
started contracting the minorleagues.
(31:10):
So we used to have, I think it'seight minor league teams, now
we're down to five.
We're only allowed to we're onlyallowed to have 165 guys, minor
league players in the UnitedStates during the season on
rosters.
So we have one, two, three, fiveteams.
And we're allowed to have 165total during the season.
(31:32):
That includes I'm not as sure.
I'm not sure what the uh injuredlist numbers are, but I know
it's 165 low.
We used to have 215, 220.
So we had a you know, you getrid of 40 or 50, 50 guys you had
around playing on this four orfive other teams.
Um, it's not there anymore.
So the low the mid, it kind ofgoes from rookie ball straight
(31:56):
into low A, whereas we used tohave rookie ball, two short
season teams, and then a low A.
So they've kind of got out gotrid of the short season teams.
So the guys are rookie ball aregoing straight to A-ball.
So those guys at the lowerlevels are now older, coming
from colleges.
SPEAKER_02 (32:10):
So you gotta you gotta make it quicker.
Yeah, yeah, there's not enoughspots for for you to stay.
SPEAKER_00 (32:16):
That that makes it tough.
Somebody's always coming.
That's like like I said, thatpyramid is and this these days
it's accelerated a lot more.
We used to have 40 rounds of thedraft, now we're at 20.
SPEAKER_02 (32:27):
Baseball's tough.
That's what they say, right?
If it was easy, everybody woulddo it.
SPEAKER_00 (32:31):
Yeah, it's a grind.
And it's easy to make it to thebig leagues for the guys that
are in it, and it's but whatthey say is it's easier to get,
it's easy to get there, it'sharder to stay.
SPEAKER_02 (32:39):
What does Kunk Prime mean to you?
SPEAKER_00 (32:41):
Uh passion, deep, deep, deep passion.
Uh, it goes back to what you'resaying about you know the family
in Key West.
My my family's always beenpassionate about the city.
Um and that's just was instilledin me, you know, family and and
the community.
And then it bled into baseball.
(33:01):
And Kong pride is just passion,and it's almost comparable to
wearing you know, any sportslogo that you're a fair a fan
of, a favorite of.
You wear that the KW and you youcan't you can't beat it.
It's indescribable.
So I would just say passion.
SPEAKER_02 (33:17):
I I love that.
And finally, what brings youjoy, Billy?
SPEAKER_00 (33:21):
What brings me joy, seeing my family and everybody
in my family, just seeing howsupportive we are of each other,
A, and how they are supportiveof me and everything, you know,
we've missed a lot of things.
I've haven't been able to do alot of things because of what I
do, but this is what I this ismy job, this is what I do.
So having them being able to bepart of it and seeing them
(33:45):
excited for it, and that'sthat's what what makes me happy.
And just, you know, that'sanother one that's just it's
hard to describe.
It's it's uh heartfelt and anduh they're all there and they're
and they're all part of it.
Everybody, every single one ofthem.
I mean, cousins, aunts, uncles,cousins, kids.
I mean, they're all part of it.
SPEAKER_02 (34:06):
So yeah, the void loads come in thick,
multi-generations.
Here we go.
Hey, Billy, thank you so much.
I know you're a busy man.
You got a lot going on in yourworld.
I wish you all the continuedsuccess.
We following you.
You know how true it is that I'mrocking this Blue Jays hat.
That's Kung Prime right there.
SPEAKER_00 (34:25):
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02 (34:26):
Let's go, baseball.
This episode is sponsored byRamonas, promoting Kong Prime
since 1971.
I'm Joy Newlis, and I appreciateyou tuning into my podcast.
If you enjoyed this episode,drop a review, share, and
subscribe because there's a lotof good stuff on the channel.
You can find more joyful contenton YouTube, the socials, or
(34:47):
check my website atjoynoulis.com.
And go surround yourself withthe things that bring joy to
your world.
Until next time, much love.
Hey Joy, it's your friend Vic calling from Atlanta.
Anytime I get to do somethingwith you, it's a great day, my
friend, and I appreciate youhaving me do this.
As I understand, you have mydear friend Billy Wardlow on
your show tonight.
I don't know if you know, but in1992 I had the great honor of
coaching this young man andtutoring privately as well,
(00:32):
baseball and life-wise.
And um to say that he has turnedinto a phenomenal human being is
an understatement.
I can't tell you how proud I amof him, of his accomplishments,
not only in high school, but injunior college and at Tampa, and
then of course his career withthe Blue Jays.
(00:55):
I uh I love this kid like he wasmy own, and thankfully he calls
me dad.
Billy, you're on with the best.
Have a great one, brother.
SPEAKER_02 (01:08):
Thanks for tuning in to the Joy of Baseball Podcast.
It's all about baseball, fromthe sandlots to the big leagues
and everything in between.
I'll share my joy for the gamewith you, and whether you're a
fan of baseball or goodstorytelling, you'll be
entertained, and each episodewill bring a little joy to your
date.
So grab you some peanuts andcracking jacks.
Let's talk baseball.
(01:29):
This episode is sponsored byRamonas, promoting Kong Prime
since 1971.
How are we doing, baseball fans?
I got a good one for you today.
I got Billy Wardlow.
He's been in baseball all hislife, from little leagues to the
pros.
And now he's got 25 years pluswith the Toronto Blue Jays.
And he's a Key West native.
(01:50):
Welcome to the show, Billy.
SPEAKER_00 (01:51):
Thank you for having me, Joy.
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02 (01:53):
Hey, I don't know if you noticed anything, but how
about this hat?
SPEAKER_00 (01:57):
Nice.
I'm glad it showed up in KeyWest.
Finally got there, so it's niceto be able to uh actually see
our logo on a hat with the WorldSeries.
SPEAKER_02 (02:05):
Absolutely.
And tell I can only imagine it'sbeen a long time since my
Yankees were in it.
SPEAKER_00 (02:10):
I know we uh we've been trying to do this this
session for a while, and uh itgot pushed back, and some of my
travels pushed it back, and thenas the season progressed, um the
heater rivalry between the BlueJays and the Yankees uh I wanted
to see how it played out.
Played out a little bit, alittle bit in in our favor this
year.
Um, I know you had to do somegrieving over it, so I let that
(02:31):
play out as well, and uh thensome World Series travel and
some travel after that, and gladwe're finally able to get this
uh get this recorded and get itout there and share some stuff
with everybody that's involvedin baseball wherever this
reaches, especially back homeand whatever, you know, wherever
it goes.
SPEAKER_02 (02:50):
Yeah, I'm I'm excited to have you for sure.
It was worth the wait.
I think we've been talking aboutthis since spring training, and
like you said, friendly rivalrybetween us, the Yankees, and the
Blue Jays.
But you guys absolutely got thebest of us.
You took the lead and you neverlooked back.
Hell of a playoff run to theWorld Series, and let's start
(03:12):
right there.
Tell me about the World Series.
What was that like?
SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
It was a ride, man.
Um I I went to the playoffs infifty.
We went to playoffs in 15 and16.
In 2015, we lost in thechampionship series to the
Royals.
And um, I thought that was agreat experience in uh making it
to the World Series.
I tell everybody uh we playedbasically played eight and a
half games.
Not everybody can say they makeit a seven-game series and play
(03:38):
eight and a half games.
So it was a great uh series forbaseball, it was a great series
for baseball fans.
It was it was just greatbaseball that was played.
There wasn't any blowouts, uheverything you got to see,
everything.
Extra innings, small ball, yousaw errors, you've seen home
runs, you've seen everyeverything that had to do with
baseball, you got to see.
SPEAKER_02 (03:56):
It truly was one of the most entertaining series
that I can remember.
I mean, it it really, like yousaid, had everything you're
talking about, eight and a halfgames.
That's that 18-inning game.
Was that game three that went 18innings?
SPEAKER_00 (04:09):
Yes, it was game three.
That was a long night.
We we traveled the night beforeand we got into L.
We took a red eye and we gotinto LA early in the morning, so
it was a long day, and we didn'texpect that.
East Coast time it was probably3 a.m., I believe.
But it was a it was a long game.
And I mean, by the end of thegame, the second half of the
game, we had you know a lot ofour backup guys in, and they
(04:32):
held tight.
And LA had guys on second andthird no outs inning after
inning, and we kept getting outof it.
And uh we couldn't put it away,but it was a hell of a hell of a
game.
SPEAKER_02 (04:42):
It it really was.
I was up all night, everybody onFacebook, are you watching this?
It was crazy, and then youcouldn't go to sleep after I
think I was up till four o'clockin the morning.
It was like, it was what a rush.
I can't imagine being there.
Did I see a picture of you andyour dad?
SPEAKER_00 (05:00):
Yeah, my dad, my dad came to one, two, six, and
seven.
So he was in Toronto.
He didn't come to LA, but he wasin Toronto.
SPEAKER_02 (05:07):
How how special was that to be able to bring your
dad along?
SPEAKER_00 (05:10):
Oh man.
Uh undescribable.
It was cool.
SPEAKER_02 (05:15):
I I know that that him and your whole family, and
you're you're from a huge familyhere in Key West.
Everybody was so proud of you.
I mentioned this earlier.
I think all of Key West is allof a sudden a Blue Jays fan.
You know, forget, forget who weusually root for.
We were rooting for you all theway.
And uh there was somethingreally cool, Conk Baseball.
They did one of those thingsthey do on social media and they
(05:37):
asked the kids, oh, you know,who's gonna win the series?
And I think every one of themsaid the Blue Jays.
SPEAKER_00 (05:43):
A lot of them.
I'll give props to Jack Niles.
He threw my name in there onetime, so I appreciated that.
SPEAKER_02 (05:48):
Yeah, that's my catch.
SPEAKER_00 (05:50):
Yeah, I appreciate the following.
It was it's it's amazing.
Everybody I run into, you know,says the same thing that they're
you know pulling for their BlueJays.
Um, I don't think a lot ofpeople saw us get in there, you
know, earlier in the season.
And then as the uh playoffs cameand the World Series came, I
don't know if people thoughtthat uh we were gonna make it
(06:10):
past four games, but uh we wemade it interesting.
SPEAKER_02 (06:13):
You certainly did, and it makes the it makes
looking forward to this nextseason even more interesting,
right?
SPEAKER_00 (06:20):
Makes it real interesting.
Um one thing I got to finallyexperience is playing baseball
right up until November, whichuh must be exhausting.
Gets things going pretty quickbecause now uh got three days
until the winter meeting starts.
And uh once the winter meetingsget here, it's game on.
So it gets here quick.
SPEAKER_02 (06:40):
Hey, that's good stuff.
And and we should probably backup a little bit.
Tell me and and everybodywatching, what is your role with
the Blue Jays?
And tell me a little bit aboutyour career path in professional
baseball.
SPEAKER_00 (06:52):
Um after I played at University of Tampa, I coached
there for a year and a half, twoyears.
I um got a job over with theYankees back in '90, spring
training in '98.
Um, from there, I I worked acouple years in the minor
leagues.
I worked in '99 with the Braves.
And then I got this job.
My first season was uh 2000.
(07:14):
So I got hired in December of99.
I'm the minor league equipmentcoordinator.
So I'm in charge of theequipment at our complex here in
Florida for spring training andeverything that goes on here.
It's a rehab center.
It runs 365 days a year.
Um, we have an academy in theDominican Republic with two
teams.
So we have about 150, 200personnel players down there
(07:36):
that I oversee with equipment.
Um, five minor league teams herein North America and the
scouting department for theirpre-draft workouts.
And now we have probably, Ithink, four scout teams.
So, and now with how travel ballis set up around the country,
um, and they have these perfectgame tournaments and tournaments
around.
Um, we've developed a few scoutteams ourselves.
(07:57):
A lot of the major league teamshave done it.
So I oversee all the equipmentuniforms for that as well.
SPEAKER_02 (08:02):
That's gotta be a wild job.
I can't imagine the number ofpieces of equipment for that big
of an organization.
SPEAKER_00 (08:12):
Oh, it yeah, it's it's quite a bit.
The logistics of gettingeverything, we have a, you know,
we have a minor league team inVancouver, Buffalo, New York,
uh, Manchester, New Hampshire.
We have two teams here locallyin Dunedin.
And then, like I said, our twoteams in the Dominican Republic.
So logistics of it all, gettingit there, making sure
everything's there on time, theseason starts, everything behind
the scenes, make it run.
SPEAKER_02 (08:33):
So I don't know if if you said this or not, but how
many people work with you inyour department to be able to
make all that happen?
SPEAKER_00 (08:39):
Not as many as I wish.
SPEAKER_02 (08:41):
Yeah.
Are you hired?
SPEAKER_00 (08:43):
Uh my crew has, I mean, my crew are probably about
seven or eight guys.
Wish we had a few more.
It's better than what it was.
We used to do it with with threeor four, and we've we've
increased it a little bit, butwe make it work, and uh my crew
my crew makes my life easy.
I'll tell you what, if it wasn'tfor them, I wouldn't be been
here this long.
And one of them one of my guyshas been with me 25 years, so
(09:05):
it's a pretty good uh we have apretty good thing going here.
SPEAKER_02 (09:08):
Sounds like it.
And now that you got rings andtrophies and things like that to
carry around, maybe you can hirea few more people.
SPEAKER_00 (09:15):
We're trying.
We're trying.
SPEAKER_02 (09:17):
Hey, so I put out a promo on social media yesterday,
and I said, hey, I'm gonna haveBilly on the show.
Any questions?
And Monica Santana, another KeyWest girl that lives up in
Tampa, Bubba's wife.
Uh, she wanted to know what'syour favorite part of the job?
SPEAKER_00 (09:33):
Um, I would have to say the relationships that I've
built and that I continue tobuild with players.
Perfect example, um, GeorgeBell, 1988 AL MVP.
First player from the DominicanRepublic to win the MVP in the
major leagues.
Um, he was coaching here when Istarted, and um, him and I
(09:56):
created a really good friendshipand to this day.
I'm at the point now to where Ihelp him organize his golf
tournament every year.
So three or four years, fiveyears now I've been doing his
golf tournament.
It's it's cool how I grew upwatching these guys, and I now
work with a lot of them.
I now get to do golf tournamentsand playing golf tournaments
with some of the a lot of theguys that I grew up watching.
(10:17):
The older guys, I mean, guysthat played in the 80s and 90s
that I grew up just admiring.
I get to, you know, I'm withevery day.
And then now the younger crewthat's coming up, the younger
guys that are coming up, therelationships you build with
them, and you get to see thoseguys every day, you get to see
what they put into it every day.
So that's that's one of the bestthings, you know.
(10:41):
And and can't uh can't reallycomplain that I get to come to
work at a baseball field everyday.
My office is at a baseballfield, and coming from Key West,
you can't really beat that.
SPEAKER_02 (10:51):
Yeah, right.
Do you ever just pinch yourselfand think, is this really
happening?
SPEAKER_00 (10:55):
Many times.
SPEAKER_02 (10:56):
So speaking of um, you know, the relationships that
you build, I'm curious, arethere any players that you've
watched come up through thesystem from Singway or even the
developmental leagues, and andnow they've made it to the show?
And is there any names we'drecognize?
And how special is that?
SPEAKER_00 (11:14):
Well, most a lot of the guys on the team this year.
I mean, those guys you got Kirkand Yesovich and Schneider, uh
Arger, Blue Hardy, all thoseguys.
Um they've come up through here,and then across the league, we
have I mean, there's so manyguys across the league.
Gabriel Moreno's and andGuriel's out with the
Diamondbacks, and TeoscarHernandez is out with the
(11:36):
Dodgers.
And I mean, the list goes on andon with the guys in other
organizations.
I mean, and it's not just theplayers, it's coaches as well.
It's ex-players.
Ricky Romero and I are he wasone of our first round picks,
um, starting pitcher for us foryears.
Him and I are really goodfriends.
Aaron Sanchez, good friend ofmine, uh, Jose Batista, and
Carnachon, all those guys, youknow, over the years, it's, you
(12:00):
know, those guys have becomefriends, and it's been a pretty
cool experience.
I mean, I story about Batista.
Last year, my nephew was intown, and I called Batista and
asked him about um some cardsbecause my nephew's gotten into
car collecting.
And first thing he said was,come to the house.
So I was like, I can't, youknow, I told him I can't come
over to your house.
(12:20):
And it's a Friday night, eighto'clock.
My parents were in town, mysister was in town, and they
looked at me like I was crazy.
It's like Jose wants us to cometo the house.
So I was like, I cannot bring mynephew to your house right now,
seven o'clock on a Friday night,eight o'clock on a Friday night.
And and we did, we ended upgoing over there.
So it's just those are the typeof things, they're special
people, they're friends of mine,and I'm very, very, very lucky
(12:43):
and fortunate to be in theposition I'm in and to to have
those relationships.
SPEAKER_02 (12:47):
Yeah, what what an experience.
You um we talked a little bit umabout the equipment already and
the volume.
I'm just curious because youknow, baseball is a game of
numbers.
Do you have any numbers of youknow how many bats and gloves
and balls are used in a game ora season?
You have any numbers to sharewith me?
SPEAKER_00 (13:07):
I order about for my minor leagues, we go through man
a hundred probably close toeight thousand, I would say,
dozen baseballs in the minorleagues.
That's across, I mean, you'replaying 160 games at five
levels, and then you're playinguh 80 games at three levels.
(13:29):
And then you have springtraining, and then you have
extended spring training.
You have you know, training goesover here at the complex all
year long.
Um bat-wise, we go through afew, you know, the numbers of
the bats have come down.
There's a whole new sciencebehind bats, and the wood has
changed, and the way they theymeasure wood, and the way that
they turn the wood these days,and the way it's balanced and
the density of the wood.
(13:50):
That's changed.
So the the breakage is a littledifferent on the bats as well
these days.
So you you we're not going asthrough as many as we used to.
SPEAKER_02 (13:57):
I was gonna ask you, like, what's the average number
of bats a player goes through ina season?
SPEAKER_00 (14:02):
Differs.
Differs.
It depends.
Some guys in the big leaguesmight go through a dozen, they
might not even go through adozen.
Guys in the minor leagues mightgo through three, four, five.
You can't really put a number onthat.
It's it is there's too manyvariables.
SPEAKER_02 (14:14):
Sure, and and just like we talked about the numbers
in baseball and analytics, I'msure the job, since you've been
in the league, you know, 25years, the jobs change.
There's a lot more technologyand IT involved, keeping track,
I would imagine, with all thatequipment and everything, right?
To help you with some of it.
SPEAKER_00 (14:32):
Oh, yeah.
My first my first three years, Ididn't have a computer.
I did everything by hand.
And I still have my first budgetthat I did by hand.
So um now I have a computer.
Now uh we're on it doing this.
So yeah, I um now I havespreadsheets and charts and all
that kind of good stuff to takecare of things.
But it has gotten a lot biggeras well.
(14:54):
Like I said, that we now we havescouting department stuff.
I mean, I have a I don't know,I'm probably 20 pages deep on a
spreadsheet on my budget now.
SPEAKER_02 (15:01):
So and then the other thing I thought um I
wanted to ask you about, youknow, baseball, there's a lot of
superstition in baseball, justlike me and you not talking
during the playoffs, right?
I wouldn't want to mess up yourmojo, right?
But um, you know, baseballplayers, baseball fans are
superstitious.
I'm curious, do you see thatwhen it in terms of equipment,
(15:21):
you know, making sure thatplayers have certain bats to
keep that streak alive and thatkind of thing?
Any funny stories to share?
SPEAKER_00 (15:28):
You have to.
There's shirts, you know, shirtsthat aren't washed and certain
hats and batting gloves andpants are ripped, don't sew
them.
You know, I mean, there's leavemy pants alone.
Don't don't touch them, don'tsew them, leave them like they
are.
And people wonder sometimes, youknow, wow, they're in the major
leagues, they have holes intheir pants.
That there's sometimes thoseguys want those holes in those
pants.
(15:49):
So there's a lot of things, youknow, helmets getting clean.
There's pine tar on helmets.
You know, sometimes you cleanthe helmets and polish them and
make them look good, and playersdon't want you to touch them.
So there's a lot of littlethings, a lot of nuances.
You know, there's some guys youdon't deal with, some guys you
don't go around.
Um, is leaving the startingpitcher alone a thing?
I think it is.
Um, I treat it that way.
(16:10):
I always have.
Um, I learned from from RoyHalliday when he was here, so
I've always followed that and Ileave the starting pitchers
alone, so I don't I don't gonear them.
SPEAKER_02 (16:21):
And I'm sharing helps that you grew up in
baseball, right?
SPEAKER_00 (16:25):
So gives you a little bit of feel of the game.
SPEAKER_02 (16:27):
Is everybody on on your team and your department
former ball players?
SPEAKER_00 (16:32):
Um, for the most part, yes.
We have a couple that are not.
SPEAKER_02 (16:35):
Um because it might be that kind of stuff would be
hard for someone to understandwho didn't grow up around it.
SPEAKER_00 (16:41):
Yeah, for the most but for the most part, they all
were in sport or they've workedin other sports.
I have one guy that that youknow works with us.
Uh he worked in hockey.
Uh, one guy's from soccer.
So they have a field of sports,they have a field of you know,
inside the locker room orclubhouse area, so that helps a
lot.
SPEAKER_02 (16:58):
Um, any insider information you think they're
gonna keep Bo and Vladdytogether?
SPEAKER_00 (17:04):
That's way above my figures.
SPEAKER_02 (17:06):
I sure hope so.
SPEAKER_00 (17:07):
We'd like to see it, you know, but that's that's way
far.
That's too so far away from me.
I'm at the bottom.
I'm just trying to keep ittogether.
I'm trying to keep all thepieces together on my end.
SPEAKER_02 (17:19):
Yeah, yeah, I imagine.
But that I think that is prettyspecial that they played so long
together because you don't seethat kind of thing in sports
anymore.
SPEAKER_00 (17:27):
No, and the good the cool thing about them was when
they came up, we we also hadBiggio here, and we also had uh
Clemens, Casey Clemens.
So it was pretty neat to have wehad all the whole infield was
covered with from first to thirdwith Vlad, Biggio, Chet, and uh
Clemens.
So it was a pretty cool littlelittle thing we had going there
(17:48):
for a while.
SPEAKER_02 (17:49):
You have a take in field with them?
SPEAKER_00 (17:50):
Many years ago I stopped.
Getting too old for that.
I've I used to throw um for thefirst five or six years, I used
to throw BP a lot.
I used to go outside and throwbat in practice.
Uh, used to throw to the majorleague team when they would come
to town and play the rays.
Um, that was a cool experiencein itself.
Um, but no more.
(18:10):
I'm getting I've gotten too oldfor that.
I could probably still do it,and I do sometimes go out in the
cages and have to show the youngguys that every once in a while
I can make contact.
But at least I can still makecontact.
It's not the best, but myhand-eye coordination is still
there.
SPEAKER_02 (18:24):
That's good stuff.
Let them know who they'redealing with, right?
Because here in Key West, youwere a standout from Kennedy
Drive to to Rex Weach Field.
And and let's talk about playingbaseball here in Key West.
Who were some of your coachesgrowing up and some of your
teammates?
SPEAKER_00 (18:40):
Oh.
Well, let me let me first uh, ifI can, start by saying this
because I thought about this alittle bit going into this.
When I was growing up, I used togo to the fire station.
My dad was in the firedepartment, and we we'd uh we'd
go out to Wickerfield,Wickersfield almost every day.
And I used to see um RalphHenriquez when he played in the
(19:02):
minor leagues, Ralph Sr.
And he was out there with Ibelieve Kelly Scott, if you
don't remember that name.
Um I think they're mayor, theyboth went to Mary Immaculate,
right?
So Ralph Henriquez, Kelly Scott,um growing up, Bubba Sweeting,
Brooks, Carrie, Ridgie Garcia,and then you know, there's so
many more.
Victor Alberry.
(19:23):
We have a rich history downthere.
That's the names that you wouldalways hear.
And then it gets into family,and I had my uncles, Dickie,
Kenny, my dad, and then uh Joey,and then my my uh my cousin
Kenny.
That's the baseball side of it.
Playing baseball in Key West wasso much so different.
And you know, we all strive toto play at the high school and
(19:48):
and to to be on that that wasour major leagues to uh to play
with the guys that put we had awe had a really good group.
My freshman and sophomore year,Judd Wise was our coach.
unknown (20:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (20:00):
I had Judd on the show.
SPEAKER_00 (20:02):
I know you've done a lot with him and the stats and
all that.
He was one of the best.
I think we lost, if I'm notmistaken, I think we lost two
games in two years.
I think we were 21 and 2 oneyear, and I think we were 17 and
0 another year.
SPEAKER_02 (20:16):
That's good baseball right there.
SPEAKER_00 (20:17):
And and you know, that was on the JV, and as
everything else in the world,the pyramid gets smaller as you
get up, and as we get to thevarsity, you know, the games get
tougher.
So the competition, those guysthat we were playing in Miami
and beaten as a freshman andsophomore, they were getting
older and they were maturing.
You know, then our record wasn'tas good.
And we still went to, you know,the the districts and all that
(20:40):
good stuff, but we weren'tundefeated anymore.
So you could see the pyramidgetting smaller, and as you get
to college, it's the same way.
But Peter Fraga and WillieZerpa, Jonathan Jolly, Randy
Niles, Randy and I wereinseparable.
Um the you know, Darren Mills.
We had Mar Mario Myra, DarrenMills, and myself.
Victor was our coach, and uh hecalled us the black widows.
SPEAKER_02 (21:04):
I I heard I heard about that story.
Tell me about that.
SPEAKER_00 (21:08):
We all had black gloves.
Jeff Hart was at first base, anduh and somehow, some way, the
word got around town, and Idon't know if it's just people
talking or maybe Victor at thehair salon talking about the
black widows.
But I got around town and someof the police thought that there
was a new gang in town, and thisgang was gonna be violent.
(21:29):
The furthest thing from it.
We weren't violent, but uh we weplayed pretty good ball, and
that was the black widows.
I guess we'll go down thehistory as being known as a
gang, so yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (21:38):
I I heard that story from from Victor, who you know
has um plenty love for you, andhe told me he said, Ask him
about the black widows becauseeverybody in the infield have
black gloves.
And did you guys name yourselfthat or did he name you guys
that?
SPEAKER_00 (21:53):
It was probably all of us.
I mean, I can't remember that.
But um, you know, just thoseguys and I coach Fraga, Coach
Fraga, uh, you know, I had myjunior year, I had him, and in
my senior year I had CoachMilliken.
But we had some good times.
I saw Coach Frag Coach Fraga,Peter lives here in Tampa now.
I've seen Coach Fraga last yeara few times um around town or at
(22:14):
a baseball game or at dinner.
It's good to still run into himevery once in a while, but just
the practices and the games andeverybody's parents, you know,
the dad standing up on the thirdbaseline, you know, hanging out
and yelling at the umpires, andit was, you know, you can't beat
it.
And and to be honest, that thatleads into where I almost where
(22:35):
I am now.
I've worked this is my I'm goinginto my 27th year with the Blue
Jays, and over the years we'veyeah, 29 in baseball, 27 with
Toronto.
I've had the uh unbelievableexperience of working with some
cool people, ex-big leaguers, exGMs, and where I'm going with
(22:57):
this is I've talked to Laz Diaz,who's an umpire in the big
leagues to this day, Ed Lynch,an ex-GM.
I can the names go on and on andon.
Lenny Harris.
I mean, baseball, if you're inbaseball, you know these people.
And every time somebody hadeither once told them I was from
Key West or now I still run intothem, the first thing they say
(23:19):
is, I can't believe we made itout of Key West alive.
Um, we we got our butts kickedand we got ran out of town.
People were throwing rocks atour buses, people didn't let us
sleep at the gym.
We sleep in the gym and theywere knocking on the door,
banging on the windows, throwingrocks at the windows.
And this is from generalmanagers of major league teams
down.
SPEAKER_02 (23:37):
And they still remember.
SPEAKER_00 (23:38):
And they still remember.
And that's what, like, still tothis day, I'm in awe and I'm in
shock every time, even if I meetsomebody new and I tell them I'm
from Key West and they hadplayed against Key West in high
school, or they're from theMiami area and they played in
the 70s, 80s.
That's the first thing thatcomes to their mind.
And it is, it blows me away thatpeople that high up in baseball
(23:59):
know about what we, you know,what we strive for in Key West.
SPEAKER_02 (24:02):
That was one of the questions I was gonna ask you.
You've traveled all over theworld, you've seen baseball
played in so many communities.
Is Key West baseball stillspecial?
And it sounds like you'd say so.
SPEAKER_00 (24:14):
Not just coming from you, but from Yeah, I mean,
there's good baseball around,but the atmosphere, you can't
get that.
The atmosphere is is unmatchableat that level.
You're not gonna find thatatmosphere anymore.
SPEAKER_02 (24:26):
And that and like you said, it's not just coming
from us, right?
Baseball people from all overtell you that.
SPEAKER_00 (24:32):
Yeah, they will tell you.
And you know, and there's acouple schools in Tampa that get
crowds, and they get crowds towatch the games.
But the the passion, they theymight have a little bit of
passion, but they don't have thekey west passion.
I promise you that.
SPEAKER_02 (24:46):
It is something special about it.
And I know you've been to to oneof the games and you've seen the
K crew that I hang out with downthere behind home plate, hang in
the caves for the pitches andeverything.
We we have a heck of a goodtime.
If you get back before yourseason gets too busy, come and
sit with us.
SPEAKER_00 (25:04):
Try to get down there during the middle of the
year.
I have to wait till springtraining's over.
SPEAKER_02 (25:07):
All right.
Well, we'll keep a seat warm foryou.
SPEAKER_00 (25:10):
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
I'll try to make it for sure.
I have family that sits rightback there.
SPEAKER_02 (25:14):
So your Uncle Dennis, we make sure his seat
and Miss Ann's seat are saved,reserved for him.
If he gets there first, he savesmine, and vice versa.
As a matter of fact, I don'tknow if you saw, but he also
commented on the post that totell you he was so proud of you
and he loves everything you'redoing, and you always got a
great smile on your face.
SPEAKER_00 (25:34):
Cool, thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (25:35):
That's good stuff.
And uh speaking of Tampa, um, Ihad Miguel on the show, and uh,
I told him I'm gonna go upthere.
He sent me a Tampa Jesuit hat,and I look pretty good with that
hat too.
SPEAKER_00 (25:49):
So I told him it's the same color blue, so we'll be
all right.
SPEAKER_02 (25:52):
Yeah, right.
I think I think I might be on tosomething here, but uh I told
him I'm gonna go up there andtry to watch a game.
Speaking of your um your family,your cousin Joey Orlow, um, heck
of a career he's having at St.
Thomas, big standout here in KeyWest, and just carrying it on as
a coach now.
I'm hoping that I could get himon the show.
I'm not sure if they'll let himbe on my show or not.
(26:16):
I know, I don't know if I rankhigh enough in in the world for
St.
Thomas.
SPEAKER_00 (26:20):
But um, we'll get him on.
SPEAKER_02 (26:22):
Yeah, we'll have to do a whole Wardlow show.
SPEAKER_00 (26:25):
We could do that, you could probably do that too.
SPEAKER_02 (26:27):
Right?
SPEAKER_00 (26:28):
Yep.
If it wasn't for him, I wouldn'tbe where I am.
SPEAKER_02 (26:31):
So then while we're speaking of your family, I know
we're talking about baseball,but your family's really
important in Key West beyond thehistory that you've contributed
to in baseball.
But your dad, commissioner forso many years, your Uncle Dennis
that we mentioned already, themayor, prime minister of the
Concord Republic, the war lovesrun deep, bringing good stuff to
(26:53):
the community.
So you're part of a big legacy,whether it's on the baseball
field or just on the island.
That's why we all feel so proudof you, man.
SPEAKER_00 (27:00):
So it's all good stuff.
Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_02 (27:03):
So with that, with that in mind, um talking about
influencing and how Joey helpedyou, and you know, you mentioned
Ralph, both of you up there andin the pros at one point.
What would you say to any keywest kids that are watching the
show right now?
And to hear you coming up on 30years in professional baseball,
(27:27):
any advice that you you mightoffer them?
SPEAKER_00 (27:30):
Play as long as you can.
Um doesn't just have to bebaseball, any sport.
If you're in sport, play sport,do something, uh, stay active.
Main thing is you gotta stay inschool and make your grades, and
then follow, you know, followyour passion.
I um, as every kid's dream,thought I was gonna play in the
big leagues.
And as I mentioned earlier, thepyramid gets smaller as you get,
(27:50):
you know, as you get higher andhigher, the pyramid gets
smaller.
And that's in business, it's insport, it's in everywhere.
Just recognize where you are andand and follow your dreams and
just know that there are manyavenues to uh to follow that.
I always said I was gonna workin the big leagues or play in
the big leagues.
I didn't make it playing.
That pyramid got smaller.
I saw the talent was way better,but I fought and I supported
(28:15):
everybody, and I didn't, youknow, I didn't complain.
I practiced, I stayed around andcoached for a couple years.
I got into Pro Ball and Ifigured out a way to make it
sustainable and last.
And and there are many avenues.
There, there's scouting.
Now, with you know, technology,there's so many different
avenues and analytics and video.
Dieticians are huge in thisindustry right now.
(28:37):
Strength and conditioning,trainers, I mean, equipment,
coaching, I mean, you name it,it's there.
There, there's I have peoplereaching out to me daily.
I have a couple people from KeyWest that I've been in touch
with in the past couple of daystrying to get into the baseball
world.
Make your grades, stay inschool, and follow your dream.
And and uh the one thing I wouldsay is the one thing I was told
(29:00):
is don't burn any bridges.
SPEAKER_02 (29:02):
Relationships, right?
Building relationships.
SPEAKER_00 (29:05):
Very important because one day you're gonna
have to come back across thatbridge, and if it's burned, it
won't be there.
SPEAKER_02 (29:11):
That's that's good advice from a man who knows
who's had much success.
Good stuff.
Let's go ahead and wrap this up.
I like to do it with a umsegment that I call for the
cycle.
So I ask you four questions, andjust like completing a cycle in
baseball, it gets harder as yougo.
Be because I have two shows, Igot the joy of baseball and I
got the conks.
(29:31):
I'm gonna kind of blend thequestions, but it'll it'll start
out easy and get a littleharder.
You up for it?
SPEAKER_00 (29:36):
Let's try it.
SPEAKER_02 (29:37):
All right.
So the first question is whatwould your walk-up song be?
SPEAKER_00 (29:41):
Geez, you stuck me stumping me right off the bat.
Um, I love this life.
SPEAKER_02 (29:47):
That's a good one.
Do do you see any impact on theminor leagues now that college
baseball has NIL and playing,paying players such big salaries
basically to play collegebaseball?
Do you see any impact in theminor leagues?
SPEAKER_00 (30:05):
I think guys are s uh signing later later, not
coming out as early as they usedto.
Some guys will come out earlier.
I think they're staying aroundfor the money.
Um and I think after COVID, whenthey started contracting the
minor leagues and they startedforming a couple collegiate
leagues and future leagues, um,I think that's impacted a lot by
(30:30):
by the NIL and the NCA.
SPEAKER_02 (30:32):
I've been following more college baseball recently,
and I I was just curious if ifthat was going to have an
impact.
The other thing that I feel likeI see is guys aren't staying in
the minor leagues as long.
Is that is that just the namesthat I hear of or do you see a
trend there?
SPEAKER_00 (30:49):
They're pushing them.
It it it they're getting they'regetting pushed pretty pretty
quickly.
Um may have something to do withthis collective bargaining
agreement.
I'm not positive on that.
Right.
But there's probably some thingsthat I don't know of that are
going on with that.
And and it also has to do with,like I said, after COVID, they
started contracting the minorleagues.
(31:10):
So we used to have, I think it'seight minor league teams, now
we're down to five.
We're only allowed to we're onlyallowed to have 165 guys, minor
league players in the UnitedStates during the season on
rosters.
So we have one, two, three, fiveteams.
And we're allowed to have 165total during the season.
(31:32):
That includes I'm not as sure.
I'm not sure what the uh injuredlist numbers are, but I know
it's 165 low.
We used to have 215, 220.
So we had a you know, you getrid of 40 or 50, 50 guys you had
around playing on this four orfive other teams.
Um, it's not there anymore.
So the low the mid, it kind ofgoes from rookie ball straight
(31:56):
into low A, whereas we used tohave rookie ball, two short
season teams, and then a low A.
So they've kind of got out gotrid of the short season teams.
So the guys are rookie ball aregoing straight to A-ball.
So those guys at the lowerlevels are now older, coming
from colleges.
SPEAKER_02 (32:10):
So you gotta you gotta make it quicker.
Yeah, yeah, there's not enoughspots for for you to stay.
SPEAKER_00 (32:16):
That that makes it tough.
Somebody's always coming.
That's like like I said, thatpyramid is and this these days
it's accelerated a lot more.
We used to have 40 rounds of thedraft, now we're at 20.
SPEAKER_02 (32:27):
Baseball's tough.
That's what they say, right?
If it was easy, everybody woulddo it.
SPEAKER_00 (32:31):
Yeah, it's a grind.
And it's easy to make it to thebig leagues for the guys that
are in it, and it's but whatthey say is it's easier to get,
it's easy to get there, it'sharder to stay.
SPEAKER_02 (32:39):
What does Kunk Prime mean to you?
SPEAKER_00 (32:41):
Uh passion, deep, deep, deep passion.
Uh, it goes back to what you'resaying about you know the family
in Key West.
My my family's always beenpassionate about the city.
Um and that's just was instilledin me, you know, family and and
the community.
And then it bled into baseball.
(33:01):
And Kong pride is just passion,and it's almost comparable to
wearing you know, any sportslogo that you're a fair a fan
of, a favorite of.
You wear that the KW and you youcan't you can't beat it.
It's indescribable.
So I would just say passion.
SPEAKER_02 (33:17):
I I love that.
And finally, what brings youjoy, Billy?
SPEAKER_00 (33:21):
What brings me joy, seeing my family and everybody
in my family, just seeing howsupportive we are of each other,
A, and how they are supportiveof me and everything, you know,
we've missed a lot of things.
I've haven't been able to do alot of things because of what I
do, but this is what I this ismy job, this is what I do.
So having them being able to bepart of it and seeing them
(33:45):
excited for it, and that'sthat's what what makes me happy.
And just, you know, that'sanother one that's just it's
hard to describe.
It's it's uh heartfelt and anduh they're all there and they're
and they're all part of it.
Everybody, every single one ofthem.
I mean, cousins, aunts, uncles,cousins, kids.
I mean, they're all part of it.
SPEAKER_02 (34:06):
So yeah, the void loads come in thick,
multi-generations.
Here we go.
Hey, Billy, thank you so much.
I know you're a busy man.
You got a lot going on in yourworld.
I wish you all the continuedsuccess.
We following you.
You know how true it is that I'mrocking this Blue Jays hat.
That's Kung Prime right there.
SPEAKER_00 (34:25):
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02 (34:26):
Let's go, baseball.
This episode is sponsored byRamonas, promoting Kong Prime
since 1971.
I'm Joy Newlis, and I appreciateyou tuning into my podcast.
If you enjoyed this episode,drop a review, share, and
subscribe because there's a lotof good stuff on the channel.
You can find more joyful contenton YouTube, the socials, or
(34:47):
check my website atjoynoulis.com.
And go surround yourself withthe things that bring joy to
your world.
Until next time, much love.
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