From Olympic Gold to World Series Victory: Doug Mientkiewicz's Champion Journey

Doug Mientkiewicz shares his extraordinary journey from Olympic gold medalist to World Series champion, revealing what it truly means to develop a championship mindset in baseball and life. His emotional stories about turning career setbacks into defining moments show how champions respond when facing the toughest challenges.

• Being sent down to Triple-A in 2000 despite a strong spring training and having his confidence shattered
• Receiving the opportunity to play for Team USA in the 2000 Olympics, fulfilling his mother's dream
• Hitting the game-winning home run against Korea in the Olympic semifinals in rainy, cold conditions
• The emotional gold medal ceremony where he looked up to see his parents in the stands
• Winning the World Series with the Red Sox in 2004 after the historic comeback against the Yankees
• The importance of Dave Roberts' stolen base that changed baseball history by milliseconds
• Developing his coaching philosophy focused on making players mentally tougher
• Teaching players that "champions get better in the dark" when no one is watching
• Coaching his son Steel at Key West High School and witnessing his growth as a player
• Building team culture around the idea that "pressure creeps into the unprepared"

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Thanks for tuning in to the Bring Joy Podcast.
We're in Season 5 and it's allabout baseball, talking big
leagues to the little leagues,yankees to the Conks 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
day.
So sit back and relax.
Let's do this thing will bringa little joy to your day.

(00:29):
So sit back and relax, let's dothis thing.
Welcome to the Bring Joypodcast, doug McKewitts.
How are you Good?
How are you?
I'm great, I'm real great.
Thanks for being here.
Let me tell you a little storyto set the table for our
conversation.
So it was about four months ago.
Conk Baseball put out theirschedule for the year and they
say March 14th and 15th ischampionship weekend.

(00:51):
So I say, ooh, I gotta do anepisode on champions.
The very next thought in myhead is I gotta talk to Dumb and
Cabers, because if there'sanybody who knows about being a
champion in baseball, it's you.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Coach I've said this for a long time.
I've been in the right place atthe right time a lot of times,
so I've been fortunate to bepicked up by certain teams or on
the right club and we've endedup.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
We've held the trophy a time or two yeah, I've seen a
lot of pitches in preparing forthis interview.
You with your hands in thevictory position, you know.
Oh yeah, that's an awesome dealthere.
You know you won at the highschool level, state championship
, national championship, all theway to the big leagues, gold

(01:38):
series, gold glove winner.
And for me, you know, growingup in the 70s and 80s, the
Olympics is a very big deal, soyou're also a gold medalist
coach.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, it was my dad.
I'll never forget this.
I went from AA to the bigleagues in 1998.
I skipped AAA.
I spent all 99 in the bigleagues and just get humiliated.
I mean, I was, I wasn't ready.
I got off to a great start inApril and I just couldn't.
When they, when they, adjustedto me, I couldn't change, I

(02:09):
couldn't adjust back and I gotkicked around hard and shattered
my confidence.
And I come back to springtraining in 2000 and I have a
great spring first 10 days.
I'm back to where I thought Iwas before and they sent me down
and, uh, I was heartbroken andI never forget my dad, that, my
mom, both of them.
They both looked at me and saidsomething good is going to come

(02:32):
out of this.
You just don't.
It just hasn't shown yet.
And I, I, my confidence wascompletely shattered.
I didn't think I was goodenough to ever go back.
I had a great, a great group ofteammates in triple a at that
year because the cliff notes ofit, the twins had my first year
in 99, my first full year in1999.
We had 19 rookies and only hada 25-man roster.

(02:53):
The small market club is notgoing to be able to pay 19 guys
at the same time.
So they sent us back indifferent spurts to kind of
break up so we don't all hitfree agency at the same time.
So I go to AAA play with abunch of great guys.
At one point I had Todd Walkerwho if you're a college baseball
fan you know who that is.
He played at LSU, was probablythe top, probably the best

(03:16):
second baseman to ever playcollege baseball at LSU.
David Ortiz, torrey Hunter, ajPruszynski were all on the same.
Casey Blake, the list goes onand on.
We bludgeoned people to deathin AAA and we had such a good
time doing it.
And the Olympics roll around andI was on the team in 1994 out
of college and my mom wanted meto play in the Olympics.
So, just like your household,the Olympics were huge in my

(03:38):
family.
We watched the 80 Olympichockey team beat the Russians.
My favorite player scored thewinning goal against Russia from
Toledo.
So we would watch the Olympicslike religiously.
And my my mom was heartbrokenthat I didn't make the team.
And I did.
I was.
I signed pro in 95 and didn't goplay in 96.
And I tried to explain to her.
Travis Lee at the time wasprobably the best amateur player

(03:59):
going.
He played first base and thatcollege team in 96 was probably
the best one at best amateurteam ever assembled.
They didn't win.
So I remember getting the calland I they told me I made the
team and I remember calling mymom and I said hey, um, it's not
atlanta, but if you're willingto take a 16-hour trip, I think
we got tickets to the olympicsand she was like ecstatic
through the moon and and, uh,you know, the rest is history.

(04:21):
So, uh, it was one of the bestexperiences of my life, not only
for me personally but for mycareer, and time of the sort of
rest in peace.
Skip Like I.
Literally without him I don'tthink I end up having a career
in baseball.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
What a story that's already getting emotional.
I get chills and tears.
I read this book I saw it onanother podcast that you
recommended this book A Miracleon Grass and throughout the
whole book I'm getting chillsand getting teary-eyed and
hearing how they put that teamtogether.
Because not only so, let's goback a little bit, because this

(04:58):
is the first team that was goingto be a pro team.
Before that it was built up ofamateur players, so now they're
going to be a pro team.
Before that it was built up ofamateur players, so now they're
going to go pro.
And you know that was thejourney to build that team.
What a challenge to get theleagues to give up the players.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Oh, yeah, my.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
AAA team.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Tell me about that my AAA team won 100 games and we
only played 144 games.
So my AAA team we had, I thinkwe had six guys driving 100 runs
and we had four guys over 30homers.
I hit two hole that year forthem and they had 97 or 98 rbis.
I hit two and I missed the last11 games because olympics, so,

(05:36):
like I, pretty much cost ourtriple a coach who was a lifer.
He was like 70 years old at thetime.
He all he wanted was achampionship ring and we would
have gave it to him.
But they we ran into a guynamed Albert Pujols, but that's
a whole different story.
But my AAA team should have wonthe whole thing.
But that book, literally,literally, like I learned so
many things about that club.
I mean Jimmy Rollins didn'tmake it.

(05:57):
We sent home CeCe Sabathia andthe story of that was we all get
picked for this and then youhad to go back and forth whether
your team was going to allowyou to go and if you weren't on
the 40 man or whatever it was.
So it was back and forth allthe time.
And CeCe, we had a bunch ofexhibition games in Australia
before the Olympics started andCeCe threw, I think a three-hit

(06:19):
shutout.
He threw a complete game onlike 80 pitches.
He just shoved and he was sixfoot whatever, eight, you know,
280 pounds and just A giant.
He was a giant and he was justlike.
I don't know much aboutpitching, but I know that they
don't hit that, so we reallywant that guy on the team.
Long story short, thomas sortof wanted to put him in the
bullpen and Cleveland said no,sent him back.

(06:40):
So we lost cc sabathia to goback to throw like two winnings
for cleveland that year.
So like the names on that listwere were crazy.
And the funny thing is my coachin triple a we had our backup
catcher, marcus jensen was on myteam in triple a with salt lake
and my manager told marcus hemade the team but he didn't tell

(07:00):
me.
So I thought I didn't make it.
So I was crushed, I mean I wasdevastated, and I was like I
mean I was devastated and I waslike I mean I down in the dumps
pouting and then two days laterthey called me back.
They called him back and saidhang on, they didn't not say
that I wasn't on the team, theywere still deciding.
There's another guy I thinkthey mark johnson, big power guy
from the minor leagues.
They were deciding on the twoand, uh, to go one better.

(07:21):
I had a great triple a year, Ithink, at 340, 20 homers, almost
100 rbis, and I only got onehit.
The exhibition games thatbleeding up and I'll never
forget this.
I was one for 28 or something.
The only only hit I had was ahomer to center field, but I
didn't hit many homers at center, so something was weird and I
didn't have a slump the wholeentire year.

(07:42):
I remember thinking reggiesmithgie Smith was our hitting
coach and he looked at me beforeour last exhibition game and he
goes are you going to starthitting?
And I literally like made.
I was like why would I want tostart hitting now?
They don't count, I go, trustme, when the bell rings, I'm
going to be fine.
And inside I was dying becauseI was like they're going to send
me home.
If they just sent CeCe back,they're going to send me back.

(08:07):
And thankfully they kept me andI got a hit my first at bat.
We were facing Dice K Matsusaka, who was pitching for Japan.
He ended up coming over for theRed Sox for a long time, so
we're facing Dice K right out ofthe shoot and I got a hit and
run broken bat single and fromthere on out everything went

(08:28):
into slow motion and everythingI wanted to do with the bat
happened and it was probably thebest two week span I ever had
in my life as a hitter.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, I want to talk about something specific at bats
, because it couldn't be anymore dramatic.
One of the other things, if weback up just a little bit and
you talk about deciding on thoseteams, is you have played for
Team USA in college, correct?
Yes, so that didn't hurt thatyou had that on your resume

(08:51):
already.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, they wanted international experience because
the Cuban team was pretty muchthe same Cuban team we saw in
the Olympics.
They wanted guys who hadexperience in international
baseball facing Cuba, thedifferent rules.
I think they did a fantasticjob.
Bob Watson rest in peaceanother great GM and great
person.
They did a really good job.
I remember I met Roy Oswalt forthe first time and Roy ended up

(09:12):
pitching 15, 16, 17 years in thebig leagues and Roy was 5'9",
5'10".
I remember meeting him and Iwas, like, what position do you
play Second?
Like so you're a second baseman?
And he goes no, I pitch, I'mgonna vote most southern draw
accent.
And I watched him throw theexhibition game and I said I am
so deeply apologetic I willnever disrespect you like that,

(09:32):
ever again.
And from that day forward Icalled him mr oswald and because
I was like this dude's nasty,we had him bend sheets.
So, like the position players,they picked an older group.
They picked older guys that hadsome savvy, had a little snarl
to them me, ernie Young, mikeNeal, pat Borders he was a MVP
of the World Series, he was ourcatcher.
So Brett Abernathy had someguys that have been around the
block a little bit that weren'tgoing to be intimidated and I

(09:54):
think that was the main focus ofus was like the Cubans did.
They won by intimidation andyou might intimidate us as
college kids like in pro proball.
You're not going to intimidateus anymore and we had the arms
this time to kind of shut themdown.
And we knew it and we justthought, if we get a chance, if
we can face them face-to-facefor the whole shebang, we got a

(10:14):
legit shot of taking this thinghome.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
You mentioned the snarl, and I've heard you talk
about players that have grit.
One of the questions I wantedto ask you was and you were
starting to answer it now waswhat does it take to be a
champion?
So you're talking aboutmatching up against the cubans,
who dominate internationalbaseball, and what is it about
them that makes them sodominated at that level?

(10:38):
And then, what did your teamhave?

Speaker 2 (10:40):
I guess you were just alluding to that, that that
well, I mean, I think I thinkthey were so good.
I mean I think a lot of teams Iknow in 94 we faced them.
We played them six or seventimes Like it was a show.
I remember I videotaped them,the old school giant VCR cameras
.

(11:00):
I brought my camera out to watchthem take infield, because I
was in awe.
I was like these guys are justdifferent, they're like the
Harlem Globetrotters of baseball, but they're good and they're
phenomenal.
And I remember I think it wasOmar Linares was their third
baseman and the Mariners offeredhim at the time this was 94, I
think they offered him $8million a year just to play home
games, not to travel, just toplay home games.

(11:21):
And that's how good this guywas and I think we got, as you
play him, you're more in awe ofhim than you were trying to beat
him.
And I think as we got older andthe competition got better, we
kind of feel like you've beenaround the block a little bit.
In pro ball you get to AAA.
You see some dudes, you seesome guys, and I just felt like
a lot of us used that to.
Kind of you know, we had theup-and-coming arms of the young

(11:43):
prospects, pitching-wise, thatwere making the name of
themselves on the way up.
And then there was us thatmaybe already had a taste of it
but kind of had it ripped awayand everybody had a different
story of what the Olympics wasand how they used it as a
stepping stone, but the bottomline, we had the arms that.
We knew that wouldn't be afraid.
Don't underestimate the PatBorders effect, the game-calling

(12:04):
that he had, knew that wouldn'tbe afraid.
You know, don't underestimatethe pat borders effect that the,
the, the game calling that hehad.
Like of course, these guys are21, 22 years old and this guy
was an mvp of the world seriesin the big leagues.
You're gonna ride with his,with his game plan.
You know, don't underestimatethat part of it.
You know, having that veteranpresence that we, that we
desperately needed, theybelieved in what pat put down

(12:25):
and, man, they followed it to aT and it was.
You know it's a win that I'lltake to my grave with me.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
I imagine you have the gold medal somewhere, right?
Oh yeah, it's at my parents'house.
That's really cool.
And your mom and dad you talkabout your mom, wasn't that so
bad for you, were they able tobe there?

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
So you know it's hard for me totalk about not getting
emotional, but probably thecoolest thing for me was, sorry,
getting the gold medal.
We're all in the stand andliterally I put my head down and
they placed it on my neck andwhen I looked up, my mom and my
dad were right in front of meand I lost it, like I'm doing

(13:08):
now.
It was the coolest thing.
You know, you start to thinkback of all the sacrifices your
parents made for you to get youin this position and you know it
was something that I'll.
You know the pride that I feel,that I felt that, that that my
parents were there to see thatmy sister, her husband, were
there and to look up directlyacross from me and I've seen

(13:30):
videos of it, of singing thenational anthem.
I lost it Like I had.
I went through so much that yearpersonally and, uh, the
emotional rollercoaster of whathappened to me to get there and
uh, and I knew how much it meantto my mom and I knew how much
it meant to my mom and I knewhow much it meant to my dad To
finish it.
The guys still give me shitabout it.
The guys on the team are likethis is the happiest moment of

(13:52):
my life.
Why are you crying?
I'm like dude, I don't thinkyou get it.
I don't think you get what theOlympics meant to my family and
we joked around too.
Not a joke, but it's like gymn.
You know gymnasts and you knowsome of these great gymnasts.
They get two or three cracks atit.
They're great, right, they gettwo or three cracks at going.

(14:12):
We knew this was aonce-in-a-lifetime shot and this
is our only opportunity to havethis chance to win a gold medal
.
And we didn't want to doanything.
We possibly do everything wepossibly could to win and didn't
want to do anything.
We possibly do everything wepossibly could to win.
And they not only did a greatjob of putting that team
together, we bonded like noother and I think it goes to you
know.
It kind of ties into today'sgame, when everything's about

(14:33):
numbers and analytics and thatteam was built on nothing but
what makes these guys tick likewhat?
And they they had.
They definitely could havefound more talented position
players than we were, but therewas something that we had that
you can't teach, you can'tpractice, that we just had.
So many things like that havebeen ripped from us.

(14:56):
I think every guy on that teamhas had somebody tell them they
weren't good enough, theyweren't fast enough, they
weren't strong enough, andthere's two ways you can do with
that.
You can either let it defineyou or you can use it as a
motivator, and the group of thathad a, like I said I keep going
back to the world snarl.
We had a snarl that you know.
We were junkyard dogs and youput us on a field together.

(15:20):
We weren't going to take anyshit and there was a reason why
that team pulled that off.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
And I think, when you one of the things that you know
, I'm a fan.
That's my claim to fame.
I'm a fan, right?
That's what I do.
And I think why fans lovechampions is because champions
have had some adversity, havehad to overcome something, and
it's so wonderful to root forsomebody and see a champ
overcome and answer the bell andrespond to the moment, because

(15:48):
that's the other part, right,you get up there and you have a
moment.
What do you do with it?
Do you answer the bell?
And champions do Not.
Everybody's a champion, coach.
That's why it's so special.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
Champions get better in the dark.
I say that to every team I have.
I say it to Steele Stee steelhas heard that me talk about
that.
So he was since he was fiveyears old.
Champions get better in thedark.
They get better when no one'swatching.
They don't do it for accolades,they don't do it for
recognition from their coach.
They get better when you'resleeping and when you're not

(16:20):
watching.
We're grinding and you know andthat's and I I always go back to
.
You know kobe bryant, and youknow he's got that they're up to
nothing in the nba finals andhe's got.
He looks like he's got noemotion.
And then you know the media islike why aren't you smiling?
He's like job's finished, job'snot finished and that's.
You're always looking for thenext.
We're not done yet.

(16:42):
So and I know I think too, mydad has a lot to do with it, has
everything to do with it.
My dad, every batting practicesession I had, whether I was
three years old or whether I was35 years old, still playing in
the big leagues the last fiveswings of every BP round was
bottom of the ninth.
Your team's down a run andthey're second and third.
What are you going to do.

(17:03):
And I think by him putting mein that position and that
situation every day, over andover and over again, it became
it became natural.
And I think there's guys thatwant to do it and there's guys
that believe they're going to doit.
And, uh, you know, I alwaystell our guys don't be the guy,
be one of the guys and you'llbecome the guy.

(17:24):
And I think that's where mydad's preaching of that and
going through that, where itbecame second nature, to where,
like I've seen myself get a hitin a situation for 35 years,
it's going to happen.
I tell Steel all the timevisualize, like, visualize on
deck, the pitch coming in, yousee it, you see the results.
That way, when it happens, it'sjust a replay.

(17:47):
So I think that set me up mywhole life for that, to where
those situations I've alwayslearned how to you know calm the
mechanism and kind of live inthe now.
And and this is my turn, thisis my, this is what I want.
The best compliment you can canget as a player is if the
game's on the line.
I want Doug up there.
I've heard of quite a few guys.

(18:09):
You can take the accolades, therings, all the personal stuff
out the window.
I wanted my guys to want me atthe plate when the game mattered
the most.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
That leads me to two red bats that we're going to
talk about.
Coach, the pool play right.
Okay, you're at the bat.
It's the eighth inning, thebases are juiced.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
Oh yeah, 3-2.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
Take me there, Okay so.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
I think it might have been nothing-nothing.
I don't think it was 0-0.
We were facing an underarmKorean guy, korea.
Always in the Asian countries,if you don't have a dice cake,
japan was more traditional, butKorea, those Taiwan-type places,
they kind of trick you with armangles.
So we were facing this guy thatwas literally throwing almost

(18:58):
underhand.
It was so submarine, it wasalmost underhand and it was so
unconventional and we struggledwith it and it wasn't very hard,
it was very, it wasn't, it waslike 82, so we weren't used to
it.
And then they bring in the ninthinning or the eighth inning
rolls around, they bring intheir closer and he's 96, 97 but
it's straight as an arrow and Iremember being up and literally

(19:21):
I could tell and he threw meprobably every pitch.
I got a 3-2, three balls, two,two strikes and every pitch and
I didn't swing once.
Every pitch was either likeright on the corner or right off
the corner.
I could see it and I knew itOut of his hand, I knew it was a
ball and 3-2, it creeped backover the plate and I murdered it
.
I mean, I absolutely murderedit.

(19:42):
And I always say this that onewas more of an aggression kind
of jog and bat flip andeverything, because I was like
this guy's nibbling.
I was in a win-win situation inmy opinion.
I was like he's either going towalk me or I'm going to get a
hit.
I'm not going to get an out andif I make an out, someone's
going to die, basically, ifthey're going to catch it, I'm

(20:03):
trying to hit a ball throughsomebody.
This is all happening in yourmind where you're up there.
I was picking up the ball rightaway and I knew it like the
second left of his fingers balloff the plate A little bit on, a
little bit off, got to 3-2, andit was right where I wanted it.
If I could have called timeout,said I want it 95, right here

(20:25):
I'll.
And I I clicked it and I mean Iclicked it good, and then, but
more of a line drive, and theguys kind of mobbed me at home
plate.
It was like bash brothers andwe're kind of you know, and and
literally like damn, I like thatjust happened.
And that one was more of like a, you know, it was a big moment
because we haven't scored yetand it of every game out there
kind of gave us a little bitmore momentum to where we're

(20:46):
like all right, you know, we'regetting pretty good, we're
getting pretty good.
So that made us, I think, 3-0or 4-0.
And we kept coming back frombehind.
We came from behind againstJapan and we actually we had the
lead in the ninth.
They tied it and we ended uphitting a walk-off homer.
So we had some like Mike Nealhit a walk-off homer against
Japan.
We had some big hits that madeus 4-0, and Q was around the

(21:11):
corner.
We run into them and we get ourhead beat in a little bit.
We try to fight them instead oftrying to beat them on the
field, but we kind of we end upfacing them again two days later
, korea for the semifinal game,and it was such a different
feeling.
It's one of those games whereit's rainy, it's cold.
Whoever put the Olympics inSydney, the Summer Olympics in

(21:34):
Sydney during September, didn'treally think it through, because
it was really cold.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, we couldn't watch it back home in regular
time.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
It was cold I mean it was 40, 45 degrees and I
remember leading up to that welost to Cuba.
Cuba ended up losing theNetherlands the next day and
we're pissed Like.
We're like damn, we didn't wantthem to lose.
So we get to the semifinals.
We're matched up against Korea.
Cuba plays Japan.
Well, Cuba throws their aceagainst Japan and we're watching

(22:06):
it in the village and all ofour guys, every guy on that team
, was hoping Cuba won.
Like, please, let Cuba win,Because you want Cuba.
If you're going to do it,someone's got to knock the king
off the pedestal.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Right, because we're in the gold medal, just to make
sure everybody's still following.
We're in the medal round atthis point where we're talking
about okay and the middle round.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
And we knew that if we're going to get the respect
that we wanted when we left sandiego one, we got to win the
gold medal and two, we got todethrone that.
We got to dethrone the king andwe wanted cuba.
And so we're.
You know, jose contreras threwgame one against for Cuba.
He ended up pitching the bigleagues for the Yankees and the
White Sox.
So we wanted and they were likefirst of all, we were like

(22:49):
disrespected because they threwContreras against Japan.
So that told us that theythought Japan was more of a
threat than we were.
I'm like, okay, so we're allcheering.
Another tip when you're showingit Like, come on.
So when Cuba won, they won 3-0,and we were like laser-focused,
like all right, it's lining upperfect.
We go to our game and it's coldand rainy and it's miserable,

(23:13):
it's misty Like, and we fallbehind and we're facing the same
sloppy underhand guy.
I think they scored on a coupleof booted plays and they're
beating Roy Oswald and I'm like,wait a minute, are you telling
me we're going to lose to Koreaand so it's a night game?
Our game is a night game.
So now we end up, we knock thesidearm guy out, they bring in a

(23:37):
lefty to face me and I hit asingle.
And the joke of the whole storyis Mike Kinca was our third
baseman.
I think he pulled every musclein his lower body.
He got hit by pitch.
I hit a single.
So not only was he, I think hebeat out a, he bring out, he
beat out a swinging bunt.
Now, mind you, it's been, it'sbeen raining all night, so now
it's muddy and like there's noturf is over there, there's no

(23:59):
tarp, so it's sloppy.

Speaker 1 (24:01):
I mean like you can't even like there's a two-hour
rain delay.
Is this before?

Speaker 2 (24:06):
this is before the rain delay, so this.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
It's a muddy mess okay.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
So mike and kate's has a swinging bunt, third
baseman feels it throws him out,calls him safe.
So that's one time he was out.
The next time I think theythrow over, once he gets picked
off, they call him safe again.
I hit a single to right and hegoes from first to third and I
think he pulled both quads whilehe ran to third.

(24:29):
As he ran.
As he got to third, he slidpast third and they tagged him
and his hand was off, his handwas off the base and they called
him safe.
So, like he got out three timesaround the bases, I'm like, guys
, it's fate, we're winning.
So marcus jensen gets a slackfly, we tie the game two, two,
going into the ninth or eighthor ninth, and we load the bases.

(24:52):
And we got mike neal up it waslike one of the one of our
hottest hitters and we got basesloaded one out, we get it, we
score a run, the game's over,and then the heavens open up and
there's the two-hour rain delay.
So now we're sitting in theclubhouse.
That's not like the states.
There's no dryer, there's nonothing, and we're sitting there
and now it's wet uniformsmiserable cold.

(25:14):
It's 11, 30, 11, 45.
Mike neal must have taken 400swings in the cage to prepare
for this at bat, because he'sstill.
He's still at the back he's atthe plate and, uh, in the back
of your mind you're knowing likeif we lose this game, we got to
turn around and play at noontomorrow.
So it's already 1230, 1 o'clockin the morning.

(25:36):
We go back out.
Mike Neal hits a ground ballnumber to the third baseman.
They throw us at home and ourrunner I think it was Brett
Abernathy like illegally legwhips the hell out of the
catcher.
So they call it a dole play.
So we go into the next inning.
We get three outs.

(25:59):
We come back and Mike Kincaidwalks and I'm on deck and Tom of
the sort of walks over to meand he goes, doug, if he gets on
we're going to bunt.
And I said I said Skip, I don'tcare.
I said just get me the hell outof these wet clothes.
I want to go home.
I'm emotionally drained.
At this point I can't eventhink straight.
I said whatever you need, skip.
So Kincaid walks, they pinchrun him, gookie Dawkins Pinch
runs for him.
So first pitch, I get the buntsign.

(26:21):
I go to bunt Ball one, pull itback.
Look down, harry Rodriguezgives me the bunt sign again.
I'm like all right, cool Bunt.
Pull back ball two.
And I look and like our signswere if he finished working his
way down his body, it's a bunt.
Right, you want to lay the buntdown?
If he finished working up hisbody, it was hit and run.

(26:42):
So now I'm like hitting a runlike six sweet, so two, hit and
run, foul ball.
Now it's 2-1.
I look down, erod gives me upsign again.
I'm like we're rolling again.
I love it, tommy, let's rollthe dice.
Baby Guy picks over to first andJoki gets picked off and it was
like such a momentum shift andI remember thinking like, as

(27:02):
Tommy's arguing out there, hewalks out there.
It took him forever because hetook forever to walk across the
field.
He's walking the umpire's fromCuba.
He don't understand a word.
Tommy's saying so they'rearguing back and forth.
And I remember the firstinstant of my head was well,
cool, I don't have to hit andrun anymore.
Like I don't have to bunt, Idon't have to hit and run
anymore.
And as he was going over there,I remember it was a sidearm

(27:23):
righty and I remember during theargument I kind of stepped out
and I thought like how have Ielevated a ball against a
right-handed side armor in mylife?
And I was like I go get anoff-speed pitch and get out in
front of it and see what happensand to this day I can see it.

(27:44):
I saw the ball come up out ofhis fingertips.
From his fingertips, I saw theball pop up and the crazy part
is he had 16 written on hisfingertips.
I saw the ball pop up and thecrazy part is he had 16 written
on his hat.
I was number 16.
The ball came up out of hishand and the second.
I saw it pop up out of hisfingertips.
I go, I went in my head, I went,holy shit, put a good swing on
it and it was a change up.
It popped up out of his hand.
I got out in front of it and Igot, I got and I launched it and

(28:08):
I just remember thinking likewell, I'm standing there at home
plate.
I remember all the bat flipsthey have today and I don't like
in the game I threw the bat ashard as I could and as far as I
could straight up.
And I remember thinking like,running to first I was like holy
shit, that really just happened.
Like I just blacked out, likewhat just happened?
Like I saw it come up out andeverything that I just told

(28:28):
myself to do, it happened.
And I was running on the basesgoing.
I can't believe that justhappened.
So you know, obviously you getmobbed at home plate.
I'll never forget, because theycarried me off the field.
They picked me up and BenSheets was standing there and
Ben Sheets was the startingpitcher for the next game.
He was our ace and he hugged meand he goes, you just won us a

(28:53):
gold medal because he's pitchingthe next day.
And I was like, all right, ct.
You know, I believe you, buddy,like go go do your thing, bubba
, go do it.
You know.
So that was.
I said I still I'd see it.
I don't have to watch the videoanymore.
I know what.
I've replayed it.
I've seen it a million times.
There's that still picture willcome ride with me to my grave
where I can see his releasepoint and I can see the ball
come up out of his fingertips.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
Incredible to be in that moment and playing it
through in your head.
Right, I've seen this pitch.
I've been here before.
I've seen so many guys strikeout on the curveball, though,
because most of them don't hitit over the wall.
It was a change-up.
Oh, it was a change-up.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
Oh, it was Like I said I had a.
I mean I went from so bad to sogood.
And I tell I told the boys lastyear at QS, I told Steel almost
daily I'm like you're one swingaway from feeling really sexy
again Just remember that it canhappen that fast from feeling

(29:51):
really sexy again.
Just remember that it canhappen that fast.
And the broken bat hit and run.
I got off, dice K, my bat wentin 500 pieces.
It floated over the secondbaseman's head and from that
moment on everything slowed downand it was funny.
There's so many similarities.
Steele had a bloop hit in carrythat walked off.
They had a walk-off winner.

(30:12):
It was a bloop to and carrythat that walked.
That walked off.
They had a walk-off winner wasa bloop to right and he went off
after that and I just said younever know I go, let's make you
know, but that that swing mightmake you famous and they kind of
got him going.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
So I have that on this thing.
It's like we've already talked,so you and I'm gonna get
emotional.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
Okay, that's okay.
That's what this does.
The game will do it to you whenyou're passionate, when you're
passionate, baby emotions are agood thing.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
So you talk about you know the victory being carried
off the field and in theOlympics, biggest moment,
biggest stage in the world.
Right, we haven't even talkedabout the World Series, but last
year, in 2024, what you'retalking about.
Right, there you're on thefield as a coach and you see

(30:56):
steel, get that, we walk off, wewin that game.
We needed that game.
I wasn't there.
I'm sitting here in the samespot listening on the radio to
rick opens, right, and he'sgoing crazy.
Hey, he's going crazy, but youlooking out at Steele, that's
pretty damn cool, right.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
The whole experience.
You know.
I know when Steele tore hisknee the year before, I wanted
him to play meaningful games inhigh school, and it's no
disrespect to the place that hecame from.
I played against Key West inhigh school and we were a rival
and I knew I know what whatWeech does to you.

(31:37):
I know what that feeling does.
I wanted my son to feel thatand I said, steel, you're going
to a place you take, you, putone good swing on a pitch and
you'll be remembered for therest of your life.
That's why we're making thismove and I really truly felt
like he.
That team had a chance to win astate championship and so close

(31:59):
.
And I and like it's funny, thatparticular one, it was cold and
blowing like crazy and when itfirst came off the bat I don't
think I should repeat what Ithought I was like what are you
doing?
And I got so mad and I'm likehang on a second, hang on and I
saw the right fielder.
I saw the right fielder kind oftake a half step back and I'm
like he didn't, he jammed theshit out of my goalie.

(32:21):
I'm like that's got a shot.
And then, like, when I saw itbounce, when he dove for it, my
first instinct was like I waslike nelson nelly, you better
score.
And like kudos, ralphie jr,what a hell of a call, what a
hell of a send.
Keep them coming, baby.
Because we talk about it allthe time.
Ralphie and I were talkingabout like hey, like we gotta
start pressing the envelope here, man, like we, we can't sit

(32:41):
back this.
These guys need to make shithappen out here like a week.
We have to be able to do this.
We have to do it on ourselves alittle bit too, like let's get
crazy aggressive and let's seewhat happens.
And it was a great send byRalphie.
I saw you could tell he was,saw it before it happened and uh
, I know, like for steals, forsteel, it was kind of his exhale

(33:02):
moment, I think, where it was.
Like he had a couple of themduring the year but like it was
a cool feeling because I knowwhat it meant to him, because he
put so much pressure on himselfto do well.
When he was there and you know,I still swear, I still say to
this day we didn't see the realsteel didn't get shown in Key
West.

(33:23):
And I told 17 from day one whenhe was struggling in the
beginning I said I've never seenhim look like this.
I said, but I know this, whenwe need him the most he will be
the toughest out we have.
I just know, I know what makesthat boy move, I know what made,
I know how I raised him andwhen we need him the most he'll

(33:45):
be our toughest out.
And ralph, he looked at me.
He's like I go, I go, I mightbe bullshitting him just for
confidence, for my own boy, butI go, I know his MO, I know
what's inside that kid and Iknow that when every playoffs we
had in Coral Shores we didn'thave many, we had a couple games
in there but every districtfinal game we got into he never

(34:05):
made an out.
I said when this shit gets real, he knows how to slow the damn
thing down.
And we go back to visualizingthe double he hit against
Gibbons.
That almost was a grand slam.

Speaker 1 (34:18):
I saw that.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
I saw that.
I just saw it againstWestminster.
He had a shot at first andthird against Westminster and
Nelly was at first and I saidNelly, I said he's going to,
he's going to turn this hundredmile an hour fastball around in
the left center.
He's gonna, he's gonna splitthe gap and you better score.
I said I go, I saw it, I justsaw it on deck, I saw it, I saw

(34:39):
the pitch, I saw the swing andthe funny thing is he threw the
pitch and still took it.
And I said, when we got home, Isaid you took the pitch, I saw
you lacing in the guy.
Go, you swing at that pitchright there, you lace that ball
in the gap and we win.
So I kind of baited him a littlebit.
I'm like, hey, that swing'scoming, it's coming.

(35:00):
Just remember that One swing.
It's all I need from you.
We need one swing, that's it.
Just keep it simple.
It's and you know it's prettycool.
His last at bat.
I didn't want it to end, buthis last swing was a meaningful
one.
He still has it on his phone itwas huge.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
We love Steele.
We didn't get enough of Steele.
If I would have known he was upthe road I think I told you
this before I would have droveup there and got him.
I thought he lived inCalifornia or something.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
I didn't know.
No, I will say this.
There's so many parallels to meand Steele.
I transferred to Westminster mysenior year.
My mom didn't want me to do it.
My mom was like he's not goingto have any friends.
It was the best move I evermade.
My coach got fired over some BS.
I went into the meeting and Isaid if he goes, I go.
They fired him.

(35:49):
I said, all right, the meeting.
And I said well, if he goes, Igo.
And they fired him and I saidall right, all right, we're
going somewhere else, I don'tknow where.
I didn't know what Westminster.
Well, I knew it was a school,but I didn't know what.
I didn't know Coach Hoffman, Ididn't know any of that stuff.
So I ended up going there andmy mom said it was the best move
we ever made.
And I said and still, it ain'tgoing to be easy.
But when it's all said and done, I promise you you're gonna

(36:12):
think, you're gonna say, oh, youwish you went sooner.
And the first thing you saidwas dad, I wish I had more than
one track at this.
And I said I know, I know, Iknow, because it's just a
different feeling.
You guys, you guys, especiallyyou and everybody else that
comes to this game.
You guys make it.
You can't duplicate that.
You can't.
I mean it's like it's not I go.
You won't understand how funthat is and how, what those,

(36:32):
what you guys do every night.
Those guys remember that forthe rest of their lives like
it's so meaningful and the waythe town backs that group and
and just the hometown pride thatyou don't get that unless you
play texas football, high schoolfootball in texas.
You don't get that.
And I said even steel, gowestminster.
My, our games were scouts andparents.

(36:52):
We didn't have these crazymaniacs just going nuts every
night.
I go what they get on you alittle bit I'm like, yeah,
that's passion, bud, that's whatyou want.
That's what makes the hard.
Great is when you play forplaces like that.
Well, we sure do love them.

Speaker 1 (37:10):
I tell the kids this when you play for places like
that, well, we, we sure do lovehim and I I told, I tell the
kids this we're fans for life.
So whatever they do, whetherthey keep playing baseball or
whatever they do in life, don'tbe surprised if joy's behind him
.
You know, oh yeah, holleringand cheering for him.
They give us so much to cheerfor for me.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
Personally too, I wanted I know I know the history
, I know we're on 11.
We're on 11 state championships, westminster's on 11 state
championships, and I know number12 meant a lot to my boy for a
lot of reasons the back-to-backrehabs on his knee and to do it

(37:47):
before Westminster did it and todo it together.
I know there was a little bitlike he wanted to one-up me and
I was totally fine with it and Iwas like you know what I go.
I guess I want to bring number12 so bad, with you wearing a
different uniform and we goahead and beat you all like a
steel.
That's all I want and that'swhy we made this move.
And you know it still hauntshim to this day.

(38:11):
It still keeps me up at nightknowing that we finished that
game and givens.
You know it's a wrap and youknow.
But I just said Steel, you gotto stop worrying about number 12
and worry about the game infront of you.
And I think when he finally didthat, he started playing the
way he knew how.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
Yeah, we loved him when he came up to bat.
He had intentions and, like yousay, he was a tough out and you
know that understands.
You know we're fans but we'rebaseball people too.
We've been watching qualitybaseball forever, so and you
know when somebody steps it upin the box if they're ready to
hit the ball.
And he always had intentions.
I go back to that Kerry momentagain in North Carolina, because

(38:53):
that's the other thing.
Right is that we're at the USABaseball Complex, the name's all
over the wall, and so for him,you know, I imagine that that
moment has a whole differentlevel of satisfaction.
And there's pictures of himbeing mobbed by the conk team
and it's really cool.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
I would like to find those pictures.
It was neat.
It was neat I got a picture ofhim and little Jackie in front
of a couple signs that I'll taketo my grave too, because I've
known little Jackie since shewas a baby and Jack has known
Steel since he was a baby.
So it had some meaning to itand I know to do it.
He had a really good carry.

(39:36):
I mean, we faced two teams inthe beginning that were really
good.
I mean, we faced, I think, thenumber eight pick in the draft
the first day and we faced a lotof quality arms that were going
Division I and Steele reallydid really well against them and
I think that was what I know.
It meant something to Steele tokind of to show out and carry

(39:58):
not only against the competitionbut because of those factors
and maybe I overlooked it acouple, I overlooked it as
growing up, but I don'tunderestimate the expectations
that he probably felt because ofme and I tried to do my best to

(40:18):
never make him feel that way.
I said I don't care what you do, but there's one thing we're
going to do is we're going tooutwork everybody.
I don't care what it is, Idon't care what you do, but if
you take one thing from me, it'slike you're never going to
never let someone else outworkyou, and I think that's the
thing I'm most proud of for himis that I know what last year

(40:38):
meant.
It was hard and it wasdifficult at times being away
and kind of doing it on his own.
He grew up fast and he's gotmemories and I said I go back to
this the day he blew his kneeout in Coral Shores.
He had one teammate at CoralShores come to the hospital and
him and AJ are really goodfriends, but the entire conk

(41:03):
team text him and I said there'syour answer, there's your
answer.
I got the two.
Those guys care and they'redifferent.
I said we're going to focus ongetting your knee better, but I
think you're going to be wearingyou're going to be wearing red
and white soon and uh, let's getright we're so glad that we got
to see him and, um, he's alwayspart of our, our legacy.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
they will always tell the story about north carolina
because the offense came aliveafter that.
We played that final third ofthe season really well
aggressive, at the plate,everybody was hitting the ball
and, yeah, if we could have thatCardinal-Gimmons game over you
never could win that game, nodoubt.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
I always say this too .
I said that was the hardestpart for 17 and Ralphie and I
and Jack and everybody that'sinvolved with it was like it's
not only the fact that we lost,but it was the fact that, like
we just they started to get it,they just like we started.
And I get it.
Like, offensively is tough.
We got some.
You know if we got some freshmenNelly, roman, you know we had
some freshmen, but Pichardo,sammy had some struggles,

(42:17):
started really slow.
Noah started slow and it's likewhen that happens as an offense
, everybody's trying to do somuch and and I finally think
that we finally got some runsand we started getting some
momentum and that was thehardest part for us.
It was like we finally got themswinging the way they were
possibly capable of and we weregetting better as the season
went on and that was the hardestpart.
That was the hardest part goingman, like I just want to see

(42:37):
him play one more time and I Iwill say this if, if we finish
that gibbons game, whoever weplay at home the next game, it's
a five minute affair.
We beat the everlasting crap outof them and whatever we roll
after that because I mean,anthony didn't throw that great
in the first game at home and wesnuck that one out and I
remember like we went from deadas a doornail to walking them
off and then we're down four orfive in the ninth and come back
and win that one.

(42:57):
I'm like I looked at Ralph andI'm like dang this shit's over
bud, like I go, we get throughthis one, I go, I don't care who
we play, like they feel it, I,they feel it.
I told Ralphie that in 17,there ain't no way we're losing
a home game.
We're coming home after thatCause you have little check
marks and championship runswhere you just don't think it's
going well.

(43:17):
And then all of a sudden youknow everybody wants to believe
like they.
They always kids today.
Think about the games.
They win 13 to one where ourgeneration was like I want that
game.
We're down seven, nothing inthe fifth, and came back and won
.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
Yeah, that's the ones we talk about.
Those are the ones you want.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
Those are the ones that are memorable, right?
So I'm like we were dead as adoornail the first home game in
the playoffs and I go.
All it takes is a spark.
And I remember sitting therethinking, coaching first, going
this is how my son's high schoolcareer is going to end against
this no disrespect to them, butI'm like we play them 10 times,
we beat them nine times, I go,we're not losing tonight.

(43:53):
And I go.
I looked at ralph and I go andlooked at me and go all we need
is a spark.
We didn't.
I go, we need one thing to goour way.
And all of a sudden, and thenthat's all it takes.
And then we got it and I waslike I look, ralph, and I kept
looking at you, going, we'reclose, like we're getting there,
we're getting there, we'regetting there.
And that's the hardest part toswallow the fact that I never
got a chance to see that teamplay again, and that was the

(44:13):
disappointing part of it.

Speaker 1 (44:15):
Yeah, it was tough.
I know as fans, we thought thatlast year was going to be the
year for sure.
I mean, we always think that,right, every season.
We're like it's this team.
It's this team, Of course,Right, and if you don't, I don't
want to know you, but that teamwas special.
We've got such a young team now.
You've been talking a lot withyour coach's hat on and you

(44:39):
played for some legendarycoaches Tommy Lasorda you
mentioned already, Joe Torre,Mike Martin Tell me what it
takes to be a good coach.
You're a coach.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
You've coached in the professional level.
I.
You know what it's not to meabout coaching.
It's never under, neverforgetting how hard the game
really is, never forgetting thatum is it and it's.
It's a tough one to battleevery day I.
I remember having talks toparents and be like I don't
expect you to understand me, I'mgonna push your kid harder than
you probably ever have, andit's only, it's not out of
hatred.
I remember having talks toparents and be like I don't
expect you to understand me, I'mgoing to push your kid harder
than you probably ever have, andit's not out of hatred, it's

(45:17):
out of love I'm going to forcehim to.
Growth only happens when you'recomfortably uncomfortable, and
my job is to make youuncomfortable for growth.
I'd be foolish to not takesomething from every guy I
played for right.
I played for Tom Kelly, whostressed defense and base
running and little things,managed a bullpen better than
anybody ever saw.
Joe tory could defuse a bombbefore it got lit.

(45:39):
He was fantastic at it.
Terry francona super calm.
Never, you know good demeanor,understood how to fix things.
Ron Gardenhier prankster, butfiery.
And so you take bits and piecesof each one of them and you
kind of mold it into your own.
And the one thing I havelearned as a manager is I've

(46:02):
always learned that, if you takewhat I always look at this way,
if I've had a team that wasn'tas talented as the other or vice
versa, my job is to take theirgame and throw it right back in
their face because I can'thandle it.
And that's one of the thingsthat I've learned.
Herb Brooks was huge at it.
The AD hockey coach talkedabout it.
You go back to the Russianhockey game.

(46:23):
When the United States won, hiswhole goal was to take the
Russians' game and throw itright back in their face because
they can't handle it.
And that's how they won thatgame.
So I've always I always feltlike I was very hard on my teams
during the season and in theplayoffs.
Let them go.
I've I've pushed and proddedand and and bitched and moaned

(46:46):
and all the adjectives you canfind, but when the bell rang for
the playoffs, cut the leash andlet them go and understand that
mistakes are going to happen.
I tell them every game there arethings that are going to happen
in this game that are not goingto go our way In this series.
It's not going to go our way.
It's not make or break, it'show do we respond to it.
It's who survives the first,who survives the biggest mistake

(47:08):
and who survives the biggestmistake.
And the mistake is not themistake that's made.
The mistake follows after howyou respond to it.
That's where things get changed.
And I always tell them survivethe first inning, survive the
first inning, and then itbecomes a game.
I told Anthony, every startsurvive the first Emotional.
You're coming out of home,you're running through the
tunnel, you got you guyscheering them and going crazy.

(47:28):
Survive the first, just survivethe first, and then you roll.
And that's what I would tellAnthony.
I told all the guys that I hadat pro ball and playoffs and
championship runs and justsurvive the first, make it a
game again.
And we got you.
So you know I love it.
I love the competition part ofit.
But, more importantly, like Ilove seeing kids get better, I

(47:52):
love seeing it's not always easy.
You know teachers, teachers inthe world that really care.
Like it's frustrating and yes,I show it, I know it, but it's
only because I've seen thembetter.
You know people would make funof me all the time about how I
would react when Steve would hit, seen them better.
You know people would make funof me all the time about how I
would react when steel would hitand I'm like, but I, when I

(48:13):
don't see you doing your normalmistakes, something's wrong.
That's where like, because I, II've seen you better and I know
you're not letting yourself putyour best foot forward.
That's the hardest part.
That's the one thing aboutbaseball that makes it so tough
is because you see the workthese kids put in.

(48:34):
And now it's our job to find away to get you to trust your
work.
Just trust your work.
It's either I'm hard on my guysin practice Either you need to
learn how to practice how youplay or play how you practice,
because there are two differentspeeds and you wonder why things
change.
I go, if I can.
I always said this my biggestattribute was being able to

(48:58):
function when the world aroundme was burning down, and that's
what makes elite coaches andelite players.
When everything's in chaos, canyou process the information and
function, and that's kind ofhow I would try to run practice.
I would try to create a chinesefire drill to where, when it
happened in a game, it's justsecond nature and we just react

(49:22):
just like you were talking aboutthat at bat, when you hit the
home run right, because you'refirst, you're getting the bunt
sign.

Speaker 1 (49:28):
So you were thinking, okay, I just got to do a job
and move this guy over and weknow it's a hit and run right.
So you're changing andadjusting and it's raining and
you're wet and the whole thing,and it's late, and then the guy
gets picked off and you're stillhere, calm.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
Right, right, yeah, that's what you try to practice.
You try to practice it, you tryto practice, you try to
practice it.
You try to practice and putthem in game situations where
things are hard and things arefast and you make it.
It's hard.
That's the hardest thing aboutbaseball is you really can't
practice at game speed becausedifferent players process things
.
The same player can process thesame play three different days

(50:06):
in a row at a different speed.
And how do you duplicate that?
Well, you try to discuss.
You know, I always try to tellmy guys like what did you see?
Tell me what you saw.
And I give them a slow downtalk what do you see?
What did you see?
And then we react and then wetalk about how to fix it.
And so many times everybodywants to get the job done.

(50:26):
I go, your problem number oneis control your breathing.
You can control, you controlthe controllables.
Baseball has been saying thatfor years control the things you
can't control.
What can you control?
I can control my demeanor, Ican control my breathing and I
can control my process.
And then the quicker you dothat, the quicker you will.
You will be the guy that getsthe game winning hit more times

(50:49):
than not that's's great.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
That's good stuff there.
So one of the players that youplayed with and that was on the
roster at one point, DaveRoberts right, he was on the
Olympic roster.
I don't think he made the 24th.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
He didn't go right.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
But he ends up being on the Red Sox with you when we
win the World Series.
He's coaching.
Now he wins the World Series asa coach.
That's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
That's awesome.
And Dave, I will say this Iplay with Dave in Boston.
I got to play with him on a AAAll-Star team once, so I knew of
him and he gets traded toBoston and I was really having a
bad year.
I was having I think I had 240.
It wasn't great.
I was coming off a major wristsurgery and it just didn't feel

(51:37):
good.
And I remember Dave and he wastrying to talk to me about like
slowing the game down.
He's like all right, I want youto do something for me.
And he said when you drive tothe park, drive slower.
When you eat in the morning,eat slower.
When you're talking, talkslower.
He's like do everything thatyou normally do but slow down.

(51:58):
And he's like his analogy waswhen you're lost in a car and
you miss the turn, you turnaround and go 90 miles an hour
back because you already misseda turn.
You end up missing it again,right.
And I'm like yeah, you're,you're right.
He's like slow down.
So it's something that alwaysstuck with me.
So, like when I watch hispost-game press conferences and
I'm just like he's still thesame guy you know, like you can

(52:22):
tell.
You can see in his teams that hehas told this story and they
can.
They control, like the teamthat's under control is the team
that can be the aggressor.
His teams don't react.
They press, they keep comingand they realize I'm never out
of the fight and, like last year, the World Series, they're down

(52:43):
5-0 against Garrett Cole.
You think everybody and theirbrother thinks they're going and
, like, all it takes is one, allit takes is a spark and you can
tell that they never thoughtthey were out of the fight and
that's something that thatdoesn't just happen overnight.
It takes, it's a process.
But you can tell that it'salways the teams that you see
that they really enjoy workingtogether, they really enjoy

(53:03):
going to work, they enjoyplaying with each other.
Those are the teams that youcan tell that that're down sixth
and seventh.
There's no panic in them.

Speaker 1 (53:12):
So, talking about comebacks, this gets us to your
World Series victory.
You win the World Series.
You guys sweep the Red Sox Allright.
So it's the 100th World Seriesright.
86-year curse finally lifted.
You know that, of course youknow I'm a Yankee fan, right,
coach?
Yes, I know.
Yes, I know that of course youknow I'm a Yankee fan, right
coach.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
Yes, I know, yes, I know.

Speaker 1 (53:33):
So anyway, just throwing this out there, the
whole curse because they gave upthe bid to the Yankees.
But anyhow, what was winningthe World Series?
Like you catch the last out ofthe World Series, you're in that
dog pile.
Does it hurt to be in thebottom of a dog pile?
Coach?

Speaker 2 (53:54):
That's the first thing you don't want to do is be
at the bottom of it.
Okay, I've been lucky thatevery dog pile I've never part
of, I never made.
I've never made in the bottom.
I always held my ground.
The closest I came was was waswestminster I I jumped in the
arms of the pitcher and I kindof was getting pushed back and I
remember I thankfully caught myfeet so I didn't.
I wasn't underneath there.
So every time I've managed tobe on top, not on the bottom,
which is a really smart move,okay.
But Boston was cool because Imean, it's never been done

(54:17):
before.
Our guys the same thing I justtalked about.
Our guys were different.
We'd meet, you know, 18 guysstrong at breakfast on the road
and that never happens.
That team was close, as closeas it could be.
Me, dave Roberts, orlandoCabrera, all the guys that got
brought over at the deadline.
They did a fantastic job ofmaking us feel like one of them.

(54:37):
The second we got there.
That team did a great job of itdidn't matter how small you
thought your job was.
Every guy made it feelimportant.
No job's too small.
It didn't go unnoticed.
We talk about one instance.
One millisecond changed history.
There's something about likesomething simple, like even

(55:00):
stealing a base.
It's easy to steal a base on aWednesday night in February, you
know, in June, right, knowingthat you're pinch running and
knowing everybody in the worldknows you're going.
It's a little different.
So I remember sitting therecause I was, I was kind of

(55:20):
grabbing a bat and getting readyto go on deck and they sent
Dave out there and Dave lookedat Tito and Tito just winked at
him like nice and calm, justgave him a little wink and I
knew exactly what that meant.
Like come on, bubba, like thisis why we brought you here and
uh, you gotta go.
And dave had the right.
Dave has the right passion,demeanor, aggression.

(55:41):
He knows I was brought here todo one thing and that was.
You know that and that I stillsay it.
It's definitely not underscoredof what he did, but I don't
think it's understood enough ofhow hard that is to sit there
for four and a half hours incold weather.
Granted, you can go in the.
Hey, dave slips an inch.

(56:04):
Dave is a split second too late.
History's over, like we'llnever know.
Posada puts the ball a littlebit to the middle of the second
base, maybe a little bit to theshortstop side and that's all it
took.
And that's like I said, to knowyou're going.
It just worked out.
Dave steals.
Second.
Kevin gets the four-pitch walk.

(56:25):
Mo never walks people,especially in October.
He walks the leadoff guy.
We got Dave Roberts on thebench.
He steals.
Second.
We got the right guy at theplate, billy Miller, who's the
only guy who's somewhat anysuccessful against Mo.
I'm on deck.
I gave Joe Torre shit for yearsgoing.
You know what?
I was on deck.
I still haven't got a hit offMariano Rivera.

(56:47):
And the next night, the nextnight, the next night, david's
hitting and he gets the walk-offsingle against Esteban Loaiza.
I'm on deck, like I played forhim in 2007.
I go Skip.
Why didn't you walk him?
And I had really good numbersagainst Loaiza, so he had some
backing there, but I was likeman, they should have fired you

(57:07):
on the spot for pitching toDavid and not me.
That's crazy talk, joe.
So no, but I.
It just shows you the beauty ofbaseball.
One, something like that.

Speaker 1 (57:17):
So bang, bang could change history and yeah, and
that's that's why I lovebaseball so much there.
There's so much joy in baseballand people say it's boring and
I'm like, no, you're missing thegame, right.
There's so many little momentsthat make up the big moment,
right, like like moving the guyover, stealing the base or

(57:38):
everybody wants.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
Everybody wants to think about what happens at the
end of the game.
But you know, I always told ourteams games are won and lost.
In moments it could be thesecond inning could.
In moments it could be thesecond inning, it could be the
first inning, it could be thefourth inning.
It could be a ball that youdidn't, a double play ball you
didn't turn.
That cost your starter 15 morepitches.
And now you've got to go intothe pen an inning early and you

(58:01):
run out to the end.
You know us, look, jacob getsthrough the sixth inning.
Fifth, you know we got.
You know, we knew vinny was atwo-inning guy.
We made vinny had to go backout there.
Vinny, for two innings, waslights out and we knew that
going in.
You know that those one or twoouts or one or two pitches, that
that add up, that people justthink, or oh, that error didn't

(58:22):
cost them anything.
Well, yes, it does yeah, it doesyeah they, those pitches add up
and that.
So little things like that thatyou can watch a game and think
it's boring, or you can watch agame and think it's the most
mentally grinding event you'veever, ever thought.
I remember playing playoffgames and sitting in my locker
after a game and like nottalking for 20 minutes, just be

(58:42):
like I, I, I need, I need aminute, I have to sit there, my
head hurts, I have a headache,my brain's been on high alert
for four hours at an intenselevel that I don't know if I can
do this again tomorrow.
And then you wake up and you goto the field the next day and
you find a way to get through itagain.
But those games in Boston were,I will say this, the Yankees

(59:04):
series almost made, and nodisrespect to the Cardinals.
Austin were, I will say this,the yankee series almost made,
and no disrespect to thecardinals, it was, it was almost
like it was almostanti-climactic.

Speaker 1 (59:11):
the games in st louis were actually boring I was
gonna say that, and and not justbecause I'm a yankee fan, but
that american leaguechampionship series, you guys
are down three games to none andthat is the comeback right.
And so there was so much dramaand excitement, and it's the

(59:32):
Yankees and the Red Sox, and youknow.
Then you, you guys end upsweeping the Cardinals.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
I remember leaving Fenway Park after we lost 19 to
8 or whatever it was, and Iremember driving home I saw a
group of six men 50-year-old men, walking together and all six
of them were crying.
And I remember thinking tomyself driving home I was like
we know what we're up against,we know it doesn't look good,

(01:00:00):
but I remember thinking, man, Ireally wish I cared that much
about something that I have nocontrol over.
But that was the epitome.
We saw grown men crying likeit's not over yet.
I remember we walk in theclubhouse the next day going
look, this place hasn't won achampionship in 86 years.
If they think we're going to doit the conventional way, y'all

(01:00:21):
are crazy.
Good point that was you know,not only did it happen then, but
I mean the Yankees hadn't lostfour games in a row in I don't
know three years.
We knew that.
We knew, looking across, whatwe were up against.
But we just thought, hey, we'llsee what happens, we'll see
what happens.
And Dave steals that base andDave's not out, dave's safe,
billy singles, and here we go.

(01:00:42):
And then you never know.
And that was the one thingTerry Francona.
I took from Terry was win today.
That's all he kept saying Wintoday.
If you think about winning fourgames in a row, it's almost
undaunting, right, you can't doit, it's almost impossible.
But he's like just win todayand we come back.
You win today and you can wintoday.
You just got to do it fourtimes.

(01:01:03):
We've done that all year.
That that kind of I took thatfrom terry francona to be able
to.
I feel like no disrespect tothe other managers I played for.

Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
He was the only guy at that time with that team
could have pulled that off yeah,all the pieces there is come
together for same thing withthat olympic team that you
mentioned.
It had to be those guys in thatmoment to make it happen.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
That story.
We needed Tom Lasorda there fora reason.
Phil Regan was our pitchingcoach.
I played for Phil at WinterBall a year prior actually a
winter prior so I had somehistory with him.
They gave us strict rules onpitch counts for those guys.
I was reading that in the bookand it's like the seventh inning

(01:02:00):
I think in the book.
Tommy look like bumping him,like look, look, and he kept
doing it.
And Tommy finally looked at it.
And he looked at it, he rippedit from Phil Riggins' hand and
he spiked it on the ground andit went in 58 pieces and he goes
I'll handle the Brewerstomorrow.
I'm not taking this kid out ofthe game.
And I looked at Tommy and I'mlike I go, you're a bad MF-er.

(01:02:23):
I go, you're a bad MF-er.
I go, that's why you're thegreatest of all time, skip, and
I just gave him knuckles and I'mlike we're pulling this shit
off, like I remember that, likeit was yesterday, like Phil was
a worrywart right, he's thepitching coach, he's going to be
his ass.
And Tommy just pulled thatthing from him and spiked it and
it blew up and I was like hellyeah, skip, let's do this thing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
That's good and that's what they said, that
getting the sword was reallyimportant because he had the
respect to.
You know, work with the otherteams and say, okay, we'll take
care of your guy and whatnot.

Speaker 2 (01:02:58):
Just not tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:02:59):
Yeah, just not tonight, Like you said, win
tonight, win this game right.

Speaker 2 (01:03:03):
We'll apologize tomorrow morning.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
Yeah, so we this game right.
We'll apologize tomorrowmorning.
So we're going back to theOlympics real quick.
No other team has.
We've never won a gold medal.
That's the only time we won agold medal.
2028, the baseball is comingback and the Olympics is going
to be in LA.
So you talk about having avision.
I had a vision last night.
Any chance you're part of thatteam?

(01:03:26):
Can you coach that?

Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
team for us.
I would love to manage thatteam, I would love to be a coach
on that team or I'd love tobroadcast those games.
I keep putting my name in and Ido the NU national team every
year.
They know.
They know, they know.

Speaker 1 (01:03:41):
I got the chills.
Right now they had Ernie Young.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
They had Ernie Young.
They had Ernie Young, our rightfielder, who had a really big
hit for us in that gold medalgame.
He was the hitting coach forthe I think, 2024?
Whenever the last one was, hewas the hitting coach for that
team.
So we kind of joke around theguys on the team because we
toast each other every year onthe same day.
We toast each other viaFaceTime.
We all get a little shot andcheers each other.

(01:04:06):
So we always say like it's timeto get the band back together
one more time and let's do thisthing again.
And we would just do it with alittle more gray hair or less
hair than we had back in 2000.

Speaker 1 (01:04:19):
Like the 72 Dolphins right, the only undefeated team,
and they celebrate.
That's special to be part of ateam like that Just a few men,
all the players that have everplayed Coach one of a few,
that's incredible.
Well, like I said, I had avision that you're part of that

(01:04:40):
somehow.

Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
I hope your vision comes true.
That'd be great.
I love that vision and I'll berooting for you.

Speaker 1 (01:04:44):
I got this hat special for you.
I went and had this hat madespecial for you.
I'll be wearing that hat in2028, for sure, man.
Let me look at my notes here,so I want to make sure this
conversation has been wonderful.
That's awesome as a baseballfan, to have the opportunity to
just talk and hear you sell allthese stories.

Speaker 2 (01:05:04):
It's, trust me anybody for a conk, especially
you, you, you guys.
I said it before and I'll sayit again you guys are what makes
that place so special.
It's great.
Our kids love it.
I know the little care bag yougave Steel.
He cherishes it and he loves it.
He took it with him.
These things, what you guys dofor those boys, it makes their
life and they talk about it allthe time and it makes the place

(01:05:31):
really special like we can'tthank you guys enough for the
support you guys give them andand how much it means to to look
up there and and there, I trustme.
Last year there were a lot ofnights we really needed you and
we didn't give you much to cheerfor, but you guys always had
our back and and and for sure.
You guys helped us win a heckof a lot of games they probably
shouldn't have won.
It was because of you guys andI'm just so grateful that my son
got to put that jersey on.

Speaker 1 (01:05:50):
We are too.
Thank you for sharing that.
You made me cry again.
Please let him know that Iasked for him and, like I said,
we talk about him.
His name comes up still.
It always will, and let himknow that I'm rooting for him.

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
Keep him track of me, he knows, he knows, he knows he
can feel you guys.
Even if he don't say it, hefeels you guys.
And that's what true fans whenyou feel them, you guys are real
and we're grateful for you guys.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
That means everything , coach, and I think I want to
read something from the book andwe'll go ahead and wrap it up.
I asked you earlier about whatit takes to be a champion and
you gave me a good answer.
This is what Coach Tommy theSword has said about you.
After you hit the big home runto get us into the gold medal

(01:06:40):
game, he said it was pure joy.
Before his at-bat, doug and Ihad a talk.
And he said it was pure joyBefore his at-bat, doug and I
had a talk and he said, skip,I'll do whatever it takes for us
to win the game.
He never thought about hisindividual accomplishments this
whole time, just the team andwinning.
That's the kind of champion youare coach, that's just.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
That's the way I mean I was raised by we always joke
around, I was raised by wolves.
I was raised by my dad, my mom.
My dad was really hard on mebut my household winning was not
fun, winning was expected.
That's just kind of the way Iwas raised.
I was always team.
First I was a Larry Bird guy,just team, team, team.

(01:07:24):
If your team does well, you dowell and that's usually how it
goes.
And Jack at Florida State wasthe same way it was.
You know, it's about us, it'sall us.
It's not about me, it's us andthat's just the way.
I need you like, you need meand that's the way it goes.
Like Tommy, I'll be forevergrateful for Tommy because he

(01:07:46):
did so much for me personally,mentally, and so many talks we
had 11, same thing so many talksthat we had.
That that really molded me as aman, you know.
And Tommy I wasn't.
I wasn't a dark place after 99.
And Tommy was.
I remember he pulled me asideand goes you can hit like what's

(01:08:06):
the problem?
And I explained it to him wordfor word and we sat down and had
dinner and from that moment onI knew that one he was.
I knew of him, I knew he wasspecial, but he really wanted to
figure me out and I still usethose moments to this day.
As a coach, I need to figure outwhat makes each kid tick,

(01:08:26):
before baseball.
I think that's where Tommy gotme and Tommy understood and you
know, when you get a player,that when you're a player and
you realize that coach caresabout me as a person, that
player will run through aburning building for you and I
think that's that's the legacyof.
I think it's that 17, right,like that's the legacy of.
I think that's 17, right.

(01:08:46):
Like I was heartbroken as acoach, like I wanted to bring 17
a championship, like that stillguts me and I didn't even play.
But like for men like that andnot just coaches for men like
that you want, like I said for11, coach Martin the list goes
on and on.

(01:09:06):
Joe Torre I'll run throughtraffic with my hair on fire for
him just because that's howmuch he meant to me and that's.
You know, you play for the guysthat you respect the most and
that's the bottom line.
I learned how to respect myopponent, respect the game and
respect who's running the show,and that's pretty much the way I
was raised and that's winningsupposed to happen.

(01:09:28):
You know, I always say peopleuse the word pressure.
I don't believe in the wordpressure.
Pressure creeps into theunprepared.
I was never unprepared, soeverything wasn't, it wasn't a
shock.
So my dad prepared me, myparents prepared me and now it's
just.
I've seen the, the movie before, I just got to replay it, and
that's kind of how, that's what,that's what I've, that's that's

(01:09:51):
what got me by.
It wasn't physical ability, itwas mental ability.
I always say this to every teamI ever coached I don't know if
I'll make you physically better,but I know I'll make you
mentally tougher.
At the end of the day, thementally tough ones are the ones
that survive, whether it's inbaseball or whether it's in life
, and that's kind of like.
That was our team last year.
We had a bunch of young kidsand they weren't real mentally

(01:10:13):
tough in the beginning, but 17and Ralphie and Jack and I have
beaten on them a little bit.
They might not have been prettyduring it, parents might not
have liked it, but my job is tomake you mentally tougher.
So when the shit hits the fan,can you respond?
And at the end they responded.
So I'm not going to change,whether they're young kids or

(01:10:33):
old kids or big leaguers or, youknow, the middle school team.
That's just the way I've seenit work too many times and
that's how I'm always going tobe.
It worked out well for you.
You've been a champion, I said.
I've been in the right place atthe right time a lot of times
and I've had a lot.
I had a lot of good teammatesthat helped me along the way and
I've had I had two parents thatsupported me from day one, that
that put my life in front oftheirs, and for that I'm forever

(01:10:56):
grateful well I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:10:58):
I'm grateful that I I passed cross coach.
So much respect, absolutely.
You know you've got a great andI appreciate you sharing it
with me.

Speaker 2 (01:11:07):
Of course, anytime.

Speaker 1 (01:11:09):
Yeah, I hope you and Madison come back to the recs.
You know we've got a few gamesleft.

Speaker 2 (01:11:14):
We're coming.
We're coming.
I said I expect to be downthere more than I am, more than
I was.
I understand.

Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
I'm trying to help out the kids up here.

Speaker 2 (01:11:20):
I understand and trust me.
We watch it on Game Changer,okay, and we put it on the trust
me, and I'm I would get kind ofyelled at sometimes Like who's
texting you at 1130?
I'm like it's just Ralphie,it's just Ralphie.
I mean we would be up until 12,1230, 1 o'clock every night and

(01:11:40):
it hasn't stopped.
Whether my kid's there or not,we still text.
We still text incessantly 7o'clock in the morning.
Jack's are more at 6.30, 6.15in the morning.
Retired Life's got them upearly.
But like Ralphie and I, we talkabout the guys every day.
We've been talking throughoutthe course of the fall to now.
So I might not be there inperson.

(01:12:03):
I'm still in spirit and helpingand trying to help and fixing.
I always got Ralphie.
Ralphie can always lean on me.
We lean on each other to helpand fix these.

Speaker 1 (01:12:17):
I told Crush the other day I said once a champ
always a champ and once a conkalways a conk.
I see you rocking that KW allover the place, all over.

Speaker 2 (01:12:26):
I was like that's con all over the place.

Speaker 1 (01:12:27):
All over, All over.
I was like that's called prideright there.

Speaker 2 (01:12:29):
That's awesome.
When the place cares as much asy'all do, it's easy to rep.

Speaker 1 (01:12:35):
Very good, I'm glad we had a big impression on you
and if you ever do get back tothe recs, please come sit with
me and the crew 100%, at leastone inning, you got to hang some
K's with me, coach.

Speaker 2 (01:12:47):
I'm going to hang a K up.
That's what I said before I didthis.
I said I'm going to hang a Kwith you.
I have to do it before.
I'm going to do it this year.
I'm going to go sit up there.
I'm going to hang a K with you.

Speaker 1 (01:12:55):
Please do, Then your baseball career you got a, and
then it's complete.

Speaker 2 (01:13:03):
I got you.
I got you.
That's a definite.
That's a definite, that's apromise.

Speaker 1 (01:13:07):
Oh I hope you do.
Coach, Thank you for talking tome and sharing your story with
everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
Of course.
Of course, anytime for you.
Thank you, coach, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:13:17):
I'm Joy Nulish and I appreciate you tuning into my
podcast.
My purpose is to bring joy intomy life and the lives of others
.
If you enjoyed this episode,drop a review, share and
subscribe, because there's a lotof good stuff on tap.
You can also follow bring joyon youtube and instagram, or
check my website atjoynoodlescom.
Now go bring joy to the peoplein your world.

(01:13:37):
Until next time, much love.