Mike Myers

Mike Myers loves a challenge. Thank goodness, because the pitcher’s resume is filled with 10 different teams: Giants, Marlins, Tigers, Brewers, Rockies, Diamondbacks, Mariners, Red Sox, Yankees and White Sox. He was in the majors with most of those clubs, however if he hadn’t taken some advice during his stop in Detroit, his run may have stopped with the Tigers. That was when a Hall of Fame pitcher told Mike he needed to add some funk to his stuff. That funk became Mike’s signature: a sidearm throw. It wasn’t easy to master, and it took Mike about 40 games in the minors to physically get the movement down and to mentally come to terms with being a pitcher in the bullpen. Prior to that, Mike had always been a starter. Little did he know how much he would love being a reliever and how far it would take his career.

These days, Mike is a liaison for MLB’s Player’s Association – a job he saw a need for as a player because he never fully understood the ins and outs of the business. The job didn’t exist when Mike retired, so he went to the MLBPA in New York and presented his thoughts. They created the job and now Mike, along with two others, split up the league and spend the season reaching out and educating players about their rights, the Collective Bargaining Agreement and much more.

Hosted by Susie Wargin

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I was a guy that went down, and so that's where I truly learned
how to be a reliever mentally andphysically, just how to prepare on a
daily basis. Because they said,if you're gonna make it back to the
big leagues, you're going to bea reliever. It took me forty games
in the minor leagues to accept itbecause I didn't want to because I always
thought, if you're a reliever,that means you're a failed starter. Welcome
to cut Traded, Fired, Retireda weekly podcast featuring conversations with professional athletes

(00:23):
and coaches who have been gracious enoughto tell their stories about change, setbacks,
and moving forward. I'm your host, Susie Wargen. This episode's guest
has a lot of Major League Baseballjerseys with his name on it. You
can guess what that means. Manytrades, a grind through the minor leagues,
and to finally get there, hehad to find a niche. Mike
Myers wanted to be a basketball playergrowing up, but realized in high school

(00:46):
that the hardwood wasn't his path.Instead, it was the mound on the
diamond. He was a starting pitcherthroughout high school, college and in the
miners, but to make a namefor himself in the bigs, he had
to mentally and physically become a relieverand developed something funky. That funky was
a sidearm throw, and being asouthpaw, that throw gave many left handed

(01:07):
batters a lot of problems. Mike'sbest season and the majors came when he
was with the Rockies in two thousand. He had a two point o five
ERA at coors Field and a onenine nine for the entire season. After
retirement, Mike basically created a jobfor himself with the Players Association as a
liaison. He helps educate players abouttheir rights, the CBA, and much

(01:30):
more. He's been around the baseballblock more than a few times and continues
to stay involved. Ladies and gentlemen. Mike Myers Got Traded Fired Retired podcast
with Susie Wargin. Hello Mike Myers, Hey Susie, thanks for having me
on. Absolutely not to be confusedwith other Mike Myers out there, the
actor, the pitcher, the otherbaseball player, the outfielder, Mike Mayer.

(01:55):
Yes, no y no, ma y. How often you get
confused with the others? Though,has that happened throughout your life a lot.
Oh, when I played for theYankees, it was great because everybody
when you make a reservation somewhere aftera game, you're like, Mike Myers
is coming in and at a time, his wife's name was Robin as well
spell the same exact way. She'san R O B y in right.
Yeah, So need a reservation,you know, for two for Mike Myers,

(02:17):
And all of a sudden I showup and they're like, oh,
let's get the white tablecloth off,let's put that checker one back on there,
and we don't know who this guyis. You are not the same
Mike Myers. You were not inWayne's world or any of the others,
but you were a You had afabulous career in major league baseball as a
reliever, but also worked your waythrough the minor leagues. We're gonna kind

(02:38):
of go through your whole grind.Just such a grind in baseball. It
is a grind. It is alifestyle that everybody dreams of, but once
you get into it, you don'treally want to choose it. If you
really knew what was going on behindthe scenes, and that's what this is
all about. So you're born inArlington Heights, Illinois, which is,
as I understand, a little northwestof Chicago. Yeah, just about eleven

(02:59):
twelve miles from really feel that that'sthe way I was explaining to people,
but yeah, just outside the citylimits. Grew up two brothers, Mom,
dad, we're no problem. Middlechild, middle child syndrome. All
right, got you. Oh everythingmakes sense now, Mike, Thanks appreciate
it. Our second son would welcomethat comment. See understands what middle child
is and he drops on us allthe time. So funny. But yeah,

(03:21):
I grew up out there playing sportsmy whole life, soccer, basketball,
baseball, all the way through amateursports and high school. I always
wanted to get a college basketball scholarship, but couldn't jump, couldn't shoot well.
So there's two issues. Okay,you're the third baseball guy i've talked
to that liked basketball first and thenrealized that's not for me. You can't
do it. Go into baseball.Oh, I love it. It's all
about the teamwork, competition, runningup and down the court. I was

(03:44):
a good point guard with handling theball, passing it off defense. But
the other two aspects of what collegeswere looking for. We're not in the
cards, not quite. The fallbackof baseball turned out pretty well, okay.
And then as you go through you'rein high school at Crystal Lake Central
High School. Yes, that's movedborn and off. It's a little further
out, about one hundred and fifteenmiles away from the city. Sort of.
When I moved there, it wasmore a farm land. It was
only a town of about twenty twentyone thousand people. Went back and visited

(04:08):
a few years ago. I missedevery street sign and stop light and everything
else that I was familiar with.All of sudden, there was a home
depot in town, and I waslike, okay, that used to be
a bank and that by going so, I actually drove through Crystal Lake to
the next city of Woodstock, andthen I realized, I think I went
too far. That is weird.I'll go back to Broomfield sometimes, which

(04:29):
is just right here, and I'mlike, whoa, wait. All the
things that I went to as akid are not there anymore, and there's
some big box shop that's there now, and it's just weird. It's very
different. Yeah, that's how Ifeel, sort of going back to Tiger
Stadium, the old Tiger Stadium is. You go there now and there's a
couple of sports bars around it anda little fence area. But I remember
like, okay, that's not therebecause that was my signal or my sign

(04:51):
to turn off the highway, thisis where I need to go my rookie
year, everything else, and soyeah, things just completely changed. And
you know, mentally you don't wantto, No, you definitely don't.
So as you're going through high school, Mike, does baseball just become your
number one at some point or doyou keep playing your other sports throughout that
time? So I was a goaliein soccer freshman and sophomore year. You're

(05:14):
goalie. Yeah, it was greatbecause our offense was horrible. So I
use soccer to get ready for basketballseason. Again my passion was basketball.
Used it for the running everything else, get ready to go since the offense
was so bad. I think weplayed sixty minute games in high school.
I think we averaged on the ballon the offensive side only two minutes.
So I was always active as agoalie, commanding sort of like a point

(05:38):
guard. You're commanding the defense onwhere to go. You're sort of positioning
people were to be and so itwas great. I had a blast doing
it and make a lot of saves. Oh yeah, yeah, I made
a bunch of look quite a fewthrough it too. But then basketball,
the point guard and all that stuff. And then moved out to Crystal Lake
and realize that everybody played sports andit was great because they welcome me.
I transferred there between my sophomore injunior year, okay, and everybody just

(06:01):
welcome in with open arms, andwe immediately had successful teams. So I
think our basketball team that year wenttwenty three and three. The baseball team
went twenty one and five one conference. Being a big part of those teams,
just was an absolute blast, hadfun with it. Senior year,
baseball was there. I knew Iwas good at it, played on a
travel team or two I was invitedto, but I never really had like

(06:23):
the strong passion beyond basketball for baseball. All of a sudden, a couple
of scouts came up to me andstarted talking to me and saying, hey,
you know, this school may wantto look at you, or that
school may want to look at you, because they were in a scouting service.
And then I was pitching against ourarrival. I went to central pitch
against Crystal Lake South, and allof a sudden, there's like twenty people
behind home plate. And back thenit was like a little four row bench

(06:46):
on one side and four row benchon the other side. Because nobody watched
everybody that was there, so youknow what people are there, and it's
like, oh, every all theparents came out for arrival. I didn't
know they were scouts. And thenafterwards, the scouting director who actually brought
all the other scouts in to seeme pitch said, by the way,
you made me a liar, AndI said, what are you talking about?
He goes, you know how hardyou were throwing? I said,
I have no idea. I'm gottwo sweatshirts on then my jersey because it

(07:08):
was twenty eight degrees snow was blowingsideways typical spring Chicago baseball. They said,
yeah, you were throwing the hardshore of throwing. You're hitting like
eighty nine on the radar gun.You're usually a round eighty two eighty four.
And I was like, okay,I don't know what that means,
but sure, great, no problem. That night, Iowa State came and
talked to me night That night,came to the house, met my mom
and dad, sat down and wetalked to the dining room table. They

(07:30):
slid across an offer sheet and Isaid, I'll get back to you,
and they said, well, comeon out next week, get a tour
of campus. My dad took meout there. Love what they had to
say. They were gonna give mean opportunity to play a D one against
Oklahoma State, which was number onein the country at the time. Oklahoma
was top ten, and I said, you know, I always love a
challenge, let's go. So youjust decided then, yeah, yeah,
it was pretty much. I hadtwo other schools that were number two and

(07:50):
number three, Western Michigan in KansasState. But the opportunity to play at
Iowa State right away, be partof the starting four in the rotation,
and have the A scholarship that theygave me sort of made the choice for
me. Almost gotcha. And youwere starting at that point. You were
starting pitcher all through the miners aswell, weren't you. I was,
Well, my first relief a parentswas the first game I played professional ball,

(08:11):
but that's because I had about sixweeks off. You get drafted,
you show up for a couple ofpractices and then you go and play games.
They're like, we want to easeyou into it. So my first
professional game, minor leagues were losingtwo to one on the road, so
they said, go in, throwthe bottom of the eighth inning. Make
sure you're getting inning in because wejust want to get you a little bit
of work, and then we'll throwyou two winnings the next game and then
we'll sort of work you back upto where you're a starter. I said,

(08:33):
great, no problem. So Igo in, throw a shutout inning.
We score a running the top ofthe ninth to tie it up.
So I go out and pitched thebottom of the ninth and then I put
a spot on the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, come out of
the game and I think we lostit in like the sixteenth inning, and
they came out of the game.They're like, Okay, we think you're
built up to be a starter.Against then I started my whole minor league

(08:54):
career, which is an under fourplus years. And then welcome to the
big leagues. Opening day nineteen five. It's your first game and here you
go. You're coming in relief inthe ninth thtning. So wow, what
was fun? And we're going toskip ahead now, but I want to
go back to Iowa State. Thedifference between mentally being a starter versus being
a relief pitcher, how did youmake that switch? Just accept it.

(09:16):
It's always thinking mentally that you're probablygetting decorated down to the bullpen because you're
not starting. You're not throwing moreinnings. So it's not a badge of
honor. If you're the guy thatcomes in and wipes out aside, and
you know that's your job, you'drather be a starter. Mentally, I
would rather be a starter. Ittook me until forty relief games to realize
I never want to be a starteragain. It is too much fun in

(09:39):
the bullpen. You got an opportunityto pitch every day. You're called upon
every day. You don't get soroutine oriented. And I was very anal
with how I prepared every five days. It was you throw your start day
and then I want to go forabout a three mile run after I started,
and then the next day you gofor about a fifty minute run.
Then you would through a certain thingwith catching. Then the next day day
two do a certain thing with throwing, bullpen, long toss, running,

(10:03):
very regimented, super regimented. Yeah, and to the point where, forty
eight hours before my start, Iwould always eat the same thing and then
you go to the bullpen and yourealize, what in the world were you
thinking. You know, every dayit can be a little weird, can't
they. Yeah. Yeah. WhenI used to be out at the Rockies,
I had great chats with all ofyou, all the relievers, but

(10:26):
I didn't know the starters very well. Like Jeff Francis would talk to me
sometimes. But they just don't.I don't want to say they're not as
fun, but they're not as funas the bullpen is sometimes. But I
think it's because they're so focused andthis is my routine and I have to
do this every day, whereas therelief guys and the bullpen are like whatever.
Yeah, every day is completely different. You have a certain roll down
there, and unless you're Mariano Rivera, you may pitch at any time in

(10:46):
a game, yea. Like oneinstance is I've never pitched before the seventh
thirty thinning before with Buddy Bell asmy manager, he was my manager for
the first two years. He's mymanager for my two years in Colorado,
and I've got a routine in thefifth inning of a stretch routine and everything
else I would do. Just getloose prot myself for whenever the seventh threey
thinning, the phone ring, andyou know, go get this guy out
of that guy. Well, JasonJennings is pitching, he's having a bad

(11:07):
start, and all of a sudden, Bonds is walking to the plate in
the fifth inning with the bases loadingtwo outs and goes against Bonds. And
I'm the guy that goes against Bonds. And it calls down to the bullpen
and said, hey, how longwill it take Myers to get ready to
go get him? And I waslike, are you talking about this at
bat? Or like when he comesup in a couple of innings from now,
and he goes, I want himfor this at bat right now,

(11:28):
I said, just tell him I'mready. Next thing I know, Buddy's
walking out of the dugout, pointinghis left arm down to the bullpen.
I don't even know where my gloveis yet, so I'm sprinting around and
get my glove. I come sprintingin, I get my eight warm up
pitches and thankfully hit the first pitchof the routine, flyball to the left
field and the inning and he tapsme on the back says, appreciate it.
Thanks. So talking about every dayis completely different. It is completely
different and sometimes zero time to mentallyprepare, and that's sometimes the best thing

(11:50):
probably want, absolutely, especially whenyou go against the guys. I always
faced number three four in the lineup, face the lefty, the Dave rots
Ken, Griffi Bonds. You know, you go through. Every team's got
a stud left hand or hitting thirdor fourth, and usually that means there's
guys on base might come in andI cherished that. I loved it,
but it was one of the thingsyou mentally prepare for, but you know

(12:13):
what's going to happen, so youdon't get overly psyched out about it.
So it was fun. I betit was. Okay, let's go back
real fast to Iowa State and yourtime in college. You also played in
the Cape Cod Baseball League. Youwere an all star in nineteen eighty nine.
With that, how did that workwith going to college that spring?
After first few starts, the coachIowa State, Bobby Randall, who former

(12:33):
Minnesota twin in fielder, He said, um, you want to go to
Cape Cod play summerball this year?And I was like, where is it?
What is it? I mean,I was completely oblivious to most things
in life. You're like Midwest guy, you don't know where things are happening
on the coast. It just happened. Yes, So he told me what
it was, you know, bestPremier college league, best players. I
was like, oh, another challenge. Great, love to go there.

(12:54):
So show up and I'm facing thelikes of Frank Thomas and a bunch of
other players. He was probably themost famous guy there at the time.
But every team was loaded with peoplefrom cal State, Florida and Pepper nine,
Oklahoma State, all over the place, kind of the cream of the
crop of all the college It was. It's right, And so I went
there and had a blast that playedfor the Brewster white Caps, or the

(13:16):
Brewster white Caps as they say.I'm out there. It was great.
They set me up at a countryclub so I was able to go and
pick up balls off the range andclean and gas up golf carts back then
ride the bike to the game thatevening. Had an absolute blast. Love
it out there, and I stillkeep in touch with the host family.
Oh that's cool, it's nice.That's really cool. So then between that
and Iowa State, you're still startingthis whole time, and then at one

(13:41):
point you get drafted. In nineteenninety you get drafted, get drafted by
the Giants, by the Giants,but that's not where you end up going,
right, I got drafted by theGiants, spent two and a half
years in their minor league system,and then the Marlins came into existence.
I'm down in the Dominican Republic atthe time playing winter ball. All of
a sudden, I get a phonecall saying, hey, you know,
this is David Dombrowski. We draftedyou in the expansion draft on the Rule

(14:03):
five side, welcome. Can't waitto see you in Florida next year.
And I was like, awesome,great, can't wait to be there.
What does this mean again oblivious tothe business of baseball? This, yeahause
explain Rule five. When there's anexpansion draft, how they get to kind
of just pick all the other twentysix teams at that time, got to
protect a certain number of players.And then the Rockies and the Marlins,

(14:26):
right, they came in at thesame time. Yeah, one person off
of each team and then you sortof get to protect like three more guys.
The other clubs got to protect threemore guys before the Rockies a Marlins
get to pick again off that sameclub, and then a week later as
the rule five. And so Iwas a Triple A roster protected player,
not a major league roster protected playerby the Giants. So what that means
is I get put on the Marlinsforty men roster and I have to stay

(14:50):
there for the whole year or theMarlins have to send me back to the
Giants or work out it's some typeof trade. But the Marlins at the
time, because I was a TripleA protected guy, not a major league
person, they could send me toTriple A. So they owned more of
your rights than the Giants did.Yeah. So I went into camp just
going in, wide eyed, bushytail, young buck, never knew what's going

(15:11):
on, and all of a sudden, them around players that you're not in
minor leaguemp anymore, around a bunchbig league players and big leage camp.
And it was great because you seeBrian Harvey, the closer for the Angels
at the time, was there inWalt Weis's former Rookie of the Year shortstop
at the A's and forgot Walt wasthere. Yeah, well it was there.
Talking to Charlie Huff, our openingday starter during spring training. It
was an absolute treat, such astoryteller, unbelievable stories, unbelievable person.

(15:35):
He worked as like a second orthird pitching coach for the Marlins at the
time, even though he's our openingday starter, because he was in his
low forties at the time and everybodyelse was in their low twenties mid twenties.
The expansion teams are so interesting becauseit's such a hodgepodge of guys from
different you know, kind of misfitsa little bit, the guys that don't

(15:56):
quite fit in. But then sometimesthey can come together because that's what they
all are, and they all havea chip on their shoulder and they can
all work together, and it canbe either fantastic or it can be disastrous.
Yeah. I think it was moreon the fantastic side for most people
because you come in and most peopleknow your position. I knew my chances
of making the big league team wereslim the Nune and then they told me
go out and pitched against Cleveland.Your schedule to throw three ings against Cleveland,

(16:18):
and that was as they were startingtheir heyday with Tony Ramirez, the
Scale, Alamar and everything else.And I was like great. So I
went out there and threw three innings. I think I gave up one hit,
and they said, okay, nextgame, you're gonna start against the
Mets. I was like, oh, Bonia and Hunley, Vince Coleman and
all these other guys. And Iwas like, holy cow, welcome to
the big leagues. All right,let's get to start in did well against

(16:38):
them. I think it went fourinnings and gave up one run. They're
like, okay, you were inanother one, go against the Braves.
So I threw against Tom Glavin.First guy I faced with the Braves is
Beyond Sanders, coach Prime up atColorado. It was the first guy I
faced him. Yeah, if Imeet him, I'm up there. I'm
not going to tell him I struckhim O on three pitches. That would
tell him that that would be rude. Yeah. So went five is shut

(17:00):
out innings against the Braves. Andthen also they're like, okay, you're
gonna start against Houston. Then you'regonna start against New York and then we're
getting ready to break camp and allof a sudden, I'm the number four
starter, and I'm like, allright, this is completely unexpected because I
was not even a blip on theRadar forum. It was just morn you
were just and yeah, you're TripleA protection, you're a young guy.
We're going to develop you. Andoh my god, four days before opening

(17:23):
day they made a trade for twoother starters, and so that made me
number six, which puts you downin Triple A, and so I spent
the year down there. The nextyear, spent a little time with injuries
at Triple A, and then finallyin ninety five, made it out of
camp. Opening day of ninety five, coming off the striking lockout year was
my debut. Okay, so yourdebut was April twenty fifth, nineteen ninety
five. What was that? Like? You made the opening day roster,

(17:45):
so you know you're already there,right, made the opening day. We
got called up from Triple A andgot that phone call. Still I show
up to I'm like, tell mywife, I gotta go to the field
and she's like, why, game'snot for like seven hours, and I'm
like, I just want to makesure my uniforms there and they're not trading.
They're not trading me. Again,if I go in, I want
to make sure that they tell meearly. I show up and Ivery was

(18:06):
like, what are you doing earlier? So I just here to taking the
atmosphere and get talking, you know, see who's around. I don't know
what time people are supposed to showup. Nobody told me anything other than
what time batting practice starts. SoI go through all of BP just thinking,
you know, there's always these talksof a trade going on. I
was always that guy that people said, you know, you might be rumored
in this kind trade. Yeah,yeah, you're on the bubble of making
the team or not. And Iwas like, all right, So we

(18:29):
go through batting practice. I stilldon't believe that I am going to be
announced waiver hand of the crowd andeverything else. So get out there,
you know, finally do it.It was great. You hear your name
on the PA. Hear the namePA. My dad flew in, my
aunt and uncle flew in. Mywife was there, just got married to
the past winner. Then all ofa sudden, ninth inning they're like,
myers are throwing the top the ninthbecause we're losing. So I go out

(18:52):
and first guy faces Mike Piazza,and so it was about a twelve or
thirteen pitch at bat. He keptfollowing everything off. Then I on the
slider and he hit a bullet singleoff the left field wall. At that
time, it was a manual scoreboardon the left field wall and had knocked
down two of the tiles. That'show hard he hit it done. I
faced a couple other guys, gotout of it without giving up any runs.

(19:14):
That was my debut and it wasgreat. Wow. Yeah, what
a trip though to have it inthe back of your mind the whole time
of like, I think somebody's goingto come pull me off of here and
say, yeah, you know whatyou're you're going back, just kidding.
Nobody else said anything to me duringthe game other than Brian Harvey said,
oh, by the way, here'sa candy bag. You're responsible for the
candy bag taking it to and fromthe bullpen. So it had all the
candy and it back then you couldhave the chewing tobacco or sunflower seeds and

(19:38):
all that sus my job to fillit up as a rookie. And after
the game was over all the otherrelievers came up, give me a pound
them back and said, hey,way to pop the cherry. That was
it. Wow, and your timein Florida. Then when by the time
you make it to the big leaguesin April, they trade you in August.
Ye, not there very long.I was only up ten days and
then they sent me down to theminor leagues because we had our projected opening

(20:00):
day shortstop was ready to come offof the injured list or the disabled list
at that time, so the actualreliever, So I was a guy that
went down. And so that's whereI truly learned how to be a reliever
mentally and physically, just how toprepare on a daily basis, because they
said, if you're going to makeit back to the big leagues, you're
going to be a reliever again.It took me forty games in the minor
leagues to accept it because I didn'twant to because I always thought if you're

(20:22):
a reliever, that means you're afailed starter. But it took you a
while to accept. You know what, you have an opportunity to pitch every
day. You have an opportunity tocontribute to the team win. You can
prepare it completely differently. You don'thave to be so mentally ready to do
things all the time. You justsort of block everything out and then phone
rings and you click it in rightaway. All right, it's game time,
let's go. Do you think thatthat's maybe just the player to think

(20:45):
that, because I don't know iffrom a fan perspective that fans think that
you mentioned Mariano Rivera somebody like thatthat comes in and the metallic is blaring,
and it's just like, I mean, the guy is a hero for
the one inning that he's in there, and I don't think people go,
ohways, a starter, But ifyou look at his career, he's a
failed starter. He came up tothe big leagues, pitched, got knocked
around, pitched, got knocked aroundas a starter, only had one fastball

(21:10):
that was average at the time anda mediocre breaking ball, gets sent back
down to the minor leagues. Allof a sudden holds a ball a completely
different way, and all of asudden, there's this Mariano pitch that he
comes in and now he's the numberone setup guy for John Wetland as a
ninety six season rolls through and ninetyseven they're like, all right, job's
yours as a closer. So buthe was a failed starter. There's only

(21:32):
Houston Street was a closer for Texascloser in the big leagues right away.
And here, yep, I thinkthere's only a couple of guys that were
actually relievers in college that we're areliever in the big leagues. Interesting.
I've never thought about it like that, but I can see where you would
think about it from a fan standpoint. They don't follow the careers as closely

(21:52):
through the minor leagues and all this, and you guys all know each other
very well. Yes, So inAugust of ninety five, the Marlins trade
you two the Tigers. You stayedthere through ninety seven, and that is
where you really developed your sidearm throwsubmarine style, right. Yes, so
I was over the top, justa conventional three quarter arms slot pitcher at

(22:14):
the time. So when I gottraded from the Marlins to the Tigers,
I was in the minor leagues atthe time. Get called back up in
Chicago against the White Sox. Comein face Robin Nura with the bases loaded.
Hes a routine pressure situation. It'sa routine flyball to center field.
Nobody scored. Nobody tagged up andscored. So I did my job.

(22:34):
They pulled me out to bring itin the right hander for Frank Thomas.
Then the next game I go out, I think I gave up. You
know, Albert Bell would not havebeen a fifty fifty guy without me.
So he hit one out of TigerStadium off me. I gave up I
think six other singles straight back upthe middle. Then my next outing,
I pitched in Minnesota, gave upfour doubles off the wall, and then

(22:57):
weren't taking a flight from Minnesota.Tron and al Ka Line Hall of Fame
outfielder connects with me on the Plane'spodcast for The Tiger at the Times and
he says, listen, you're alwaysthrowing strikes, but you've got no funkiness
to you at all. Let metell you why I can't hit sidearm pitchers.
So he's telling me about how hecan't hit it because the deception,

(23:17):
the arm angle to spin on theball is different. You don't see it
too offense, very rare. Hegoes, I think you should throw cidar.
So the next day I go downto the bullpen before the game,
with Ralph Truel, the pitching coach, and Jeff Jones, the bullpen coach,
and I throw a bullpen, andthey look at each other, sort
of shrugged her shoulders, says,I'm throwing every pitch to the side arm.
Ralph Truel, the pitching coach,he just looks at me and says,
all right, anytime I see yourhand come above your shoulder, you're

(23:40):
find one hundred dollars. Oh,you had to do it all the time.
So I said, well, whatabout like playing long toss? They
said, anytime I see you.So I sat for like ten days through
a couple of bullpens in between that, getting the rhythm down and getting sort
of the mechanics down to it andtrying to get a feel for consistency.
Ten days go by, Go outthere, one two three. Sparky Anderson's

(24:00):
the manager at the time, Andif you're hot, you're always in,
and if you're cold, the doghouseruns deep. I was in the deep
part of the doghouse early on untilanother ballout game. Go one two three,
Go out there the next day,one two three, Go out there
the next day, one two three, next day, strike out. Brady
Anderson for my first career strike up, go one, two three. So
in the next game, I comein for the first time with the guy
on base and they call for tothrow over the first pickoff. So I

(24:22):
come set and I'm like, howdo I do this? Side? I
was like, wait a second,am I gonna get fined? This is
my mental thought on the mound.I didn't know if I'm gonnaet find a
hundred bucks for doing exactly what thecoach told me to throw the ball over
the first base, So I hadto step off the my own think about
it, step back on. Iwas like, Okay, I think this
might be underneath my shoulder, butI'm not sure. But I hope I

(24:42):
don't get fined for doing it,and I hope the first baseman can catch
it that way too, right.I just didn't want to throw it in
the stands. So then the nextgame I come in and we were playing
the Red Sox in Detroit, andall of a sudden they call for me
and intentionally walk somebody. So Igot the lefty out and intentionally walk somebody.
Go get a lefty up. Howdo I do this? I don't

(25:03):
know how to do this. Idon't know how to throw like three quarters
speed side arm without doing it overthe top that's normal and everything else.
So it was a learning process.But then all of a sudden, it
just became routine that that winner.I went to the Arizona Fall League for
a month to go ahead and tryand figure this out how to do it
consistently. So I went out thereand I had some great teammates and catcher

(25:25):
south Asano, who was a longtime journeyman catcher, played a little bit
of time with the Rockies with teammateswith him here. I was teammates with
him with the Yankees, and youknow, he nicknamed my breaking ball to
frisbee because you sort of throw itlike a frisbee side arm. And yeah,
then it's just all of a suddenhit. And next year I threw
eighty three games in the big leagues. The next year I threw eighty eight
and kept on everyday player. Soit was awesome. How different was it

(25:47):
physically for you? And you haveto do anything differently as far as your
shoulder, making sure that everything stayedokay, changing your whole the whole way
you were throwing. For me,I was always long, lanky, elastic
when I was even over the top, very flexible, and so that just
transitioned well to throwing side arm.Naturally, your body's made to walk with
your arms underneath your shoulders right,and so arm wise, it was no

(26:10):
big deal in my back. Overthe course of time, with the mount
of torque I was putting on it, with how I landed and twisted throwing
the ball, developed a couple ofherniated discs, but nothing that I couldn't
play through for sure, because everybodydoes that. Yeah why not, But
again, I'm out there to faceone or two hitters. That was it.
But yeah, my body felt greatthe whole way through. That's crazy.
And by the time you got toColorado you'd been a few years into
it. So in between Detroit andthe Rockies, you were traded to Milwaukee

(26:36):
and then Milwaukee trade you to Coloradofor Curtis Liscanic. Yeah, who,
I hadn't heard that name in along time. I was like, oh
wow, I haven't heard Lescanic's nameand forever. I was given a prelude
to being traded. My agent calledme up one day in the winter before
the trade and he goes, justso you know you're probably gonna be a
Rocky and I was like, man, I don't want to go to Colorado.

(26:56):
A year before a free agency.I was like, why he goes?
Well, Dan o'dwald the new GMat the time, I was looking
to trade Dave Viers the Saint Louisand if that trade actually goes through,
then the next day he's trading Lascanicto Milwaukee and you're the guy. And
I was like, all right,I guess I'll look in the news for
Dave Viers. And I saw itone night and sit there having dinner with
the wife and our one child atthe time, and I just said,

(27:17):
Hey, by the way, tomorrowI'm going to be a Rocky. She
goes, what are you talking about? And I was like, yeah,
I'm going to Colorado. So thenext day I get a phone call from
Dan saying, hey, welcome toColorado. Okay, So do you guys
live in Milwaukee? At that time, I was robbing there with you.
Now, do you guys have ahome base? We had a home base
in Florida at the time, Okay, right near where her parents had lived.
Because I'm always so curious, especiallybaseball, where you're just in so

(27:37):
many different places. Does everyone movewith you or do you just kind of
keep one spot and then you're gonefor six months. Well, it was
a couple of years in the marriage. One child not in school, she
was easier, so it was easiertoo for to travel with. Later in
the career when the kids started goingfull time school, then it was more
of the distance relationship with the familyand come home on the off days.

(28:00):
They'd come out of it once amonth for a weekend or something, and
that is tough. It was achallenge, but we made at work.
We had a home base in Florida, spring training in Arizona, season in
the Midwest, go back to Florida, and then it seemed like wherever we
picked the home base, we alwayshad spring training on the other side of
the country. Why don't you werein Arizona, you were training in Florida

(28:21):
or vice versa. Yeah, weget moved from Florida to Colorado because Colorado
gave me a nice three year dealwith an option on the fourth season,
and so we said, okay,we're gonna make the West West our home.
And two years into the contract,he trades me. I went to
Arizona. So that was fine,but then after that, it was Florida
Spring training is to finish my career. It's all over, flip flopped,
all over. Yes, so,but you do have one of your best

(28:44):
seasons. Two thousand ends up beingyour best season, I think, and
especially pitching at coors Field. Youhad a two point zero five ERA and
forty three games at corps through theseason, seventy eight games at one point
nine nine. What clicked that year? The conversation I had with Jerry to
Poto when I got traded over madeeverything sort of fall into place. And
then just everything came in with throwingmentally a different way. I asked,

(29:07):
Jerry, you know what made youso successful? And we had a couple
other small conversations about inherited runners andsome other stuff relievers always talk about.
But what made you successful at coorsField? He goes Mentally, when a
hitter gets off of the plane,he's like, thank god we're in Colorado,
because I'm gonna come out of herewith three to five home runs.
I'm gonna have about ten to fifteenRBIs and jump my average by about ten

(29:30):
points. So the hitter is alreadyan aggressive standpoint of swinging the bat,
and this is well before the moneyball became the fad with taking pitches and
making the pitchers work and the heatwouldar. But He's like, they're aggressive,
so you gotta get strike. Oneeasiest way to get strike one throw
inside. Make sure you throw aninside pitch for a strike because those guys
are looking to extend and go yardoff you and everything else. And so

(29:52):
that really clicked in so all sidhe started throwing inside a lot more earlier
in the season, and I didlater in the season too, but I
made it a point remember that everyday when I went to the mound,
so that conversation really stuck. Ididn't give up a run, I don't
think till July first that year.Of course, it's one of the only
times I ever shook off Brett Maineat the catcher and Ryan Klesko goes big
fly. So Brent Maine, thatguy. I will never forget the game

(30:17):
where he had to come in andpitch like literally braves the heart of that
game out of everybody. And I'mlike, Brent Maine's pitching, what is
going on? Pitching with a brokenhand too, by the way, that's
right, he had a broken handon his glove hand. I can remember
vividly. John Wasden had Andreas Gallaragin the elbow with a ball, and
then there was the bench clearing andJohn Wassden was our last pitcher and all

(30:37):
sa they're like, Maynard, canyou go out there and pitch? It's
like, uh no, but yeah, I'll get it a try, and
he did and he did, andhe took a line drive right through his
legs, like one of the firstcouple of hitters had a line drive back
through his legs. He's like,oh boy. And then thankfully we wanted
like I think played in one ortwo winnings after that, Brian bohan And
who started the day before, camein. That's right. He pitched an
inning of relief, didn't he.Yeah, he came in in the inning

(31:00):
where we didn't have any more relievers, and he started the day before,
yep. And so all of asudden, you know, Buddy Bell's like,
what are you doing going out tothe mound. He goes gotta come
get me, get pulled me outof here. So we finished up the
inning that was and started, gotthrough it without giving up a run.
And then Maine goes out there andpitches two or three innings. Yeah,
it was a riot because I hadthe locker right next to him, so

(31:21):
having to listen to him talk tothe reporters afterwards and about him and I
joking around. It's been a verygood relationship. Yeah. He was a
great, much free guy. Allright. So you do a couple of
years here and then you end upgetting traded, as you mentioned to the
Diamondbacks. Ye. Do you haveany memories because you have a lot of
trades in there of anything specific happening. Where is it usually your agent calling
you and saying something, or didGMS ever talk to you and say,

(31:42):
hey, you know what, We'resorry, I gotta do this. I
got traded multiple times, multiple wayseach time, so I had first trade.
I got the rule five David andBruns can call me. Then I
get traded from the Marlins to theTigers. I'm in Triple A at the
time with the Marlins. We're inScranton, Wilkes Barre, and the manager
calls me to this hotel room likeat twelve o'clock and got cousins in town.

(32:04):
Wife is there, and I'm justsitting there going what I didn't pitch
that bad? Why am I gettingreleased. The only time players going down
and talking to the managers if you'regonna get released. Walk into his room
and goes, sit down, Let'stake a seat, and he goes,
just want to let you know you'vebeen traded to the Tigers. And I
was like, Oh, thank god, this is awesome. I can't wait
to go. The general manager forMilwaukee at the time, Sale Bando,
he called me when I got tradedto Milwaukee from Detroit. Sale called me

(32:29):
and said, hey, you're gettingtraded to Colorado. Dan o'dad's gonna call
you. Dan called me welcome youto the team. Then the phone call
with from Colorado to Arizona was probablythe funnest one I had because I just
got done working out. I'm goingover to the inlaw's house for dinner.
My wife's there, kids are thereready to meet me. And I walk
in the door and I'm on thephone at the time with Dan O.

(32:50):
Doubt says, I get traded,and we have a nice conversation about my
time in Colorado and everything else.I walked through the front door and then
the words, by the way,who'd you get for me in the trade?
Come out all of a sudden,the entire house just perks up,
like, wait a minute, you'regetting traded. Where are you going?
We we love Colorado. We don'twant to leave. And so I was
like, you finished conversation with Dan, and then I told family got traded
Arizona. The last time I gottraded was when I was with Seattle in

(33:14):
two thousand and four. I gettrade to Boston in August for their playoff
push, and I'm at dinner withthe in laws down in Tampa, so
I have my cell phone turned offor at lunch rather get down at lunch.
At one thirty in Tampa, turnmy cell phone on, Chuck,
and there's like fifteen twenty messages fromBob Melvin, the manager at the time,
the travel secretary for the Mariners,the travel secretary for the Red Sox,

(33:37):
and Terry Francona, the manager forthe Red Sox. So I called
Tito, and he goes, whencan you get here? I said,
well, according to the messages Igot, I guess I got a flight
in like three hours. I'll landat six thirty, so you can put
me on the lineup card tonight andI can pitch relief if we really need
me to. He goes, allright, we're sitting a guy down.
You're on the lineup card tonight.So I show up. Oh my goshow

(33:58):
up in the fifth inning. Goshake cancer the entire dugout, shake the
coach's hands. Let Tito Terry Franconaknow that I'm there. Go down the
bullpen, meet all the guys downthe bullpinks. I know him by name
and by face, but I don'tknow him personally. They're like, you
know, welcome, glad to haveyou. You know this that the other
thing. Start small talking for asecond. Phone rings myers, you're in.
You haven't done anything, You've justshown up and shaken hands. Terry

(34:19):
Francona was the first base coach underBuddy Bell when I was with Tigers.
Oh no, kidding, he knows. It doesn't take me any time to
warm up. I was so madthat day, but I got in pitched.
I end up throwing twenty five gamesin a month, three quarters for
the World Series team, and thenwe had a playoff push and you got
a ring greatest comeback ever. Absolutelyyeah. You spent so much time in
so many different organizations, and youhad great players on a lot of those

(34:42):
teams. So then to go toa team where you actually make it all
the way, what was it likewinning a World Series? So the playoff
run was unreal. It was likeanother experience. And then win in the
World Series. The fans in Boston. We clinched in Saint Louis and then
I think their flight home was liketwo in the morning or three in the
morning. I think we finally goton the plane and we've stayed up the
entire night, all having a greattime and playing cards and drinking champagne and

(35:06):
whatnot. On the plane, We'relike, man, half the city of
Boston's going to be gone when weland, because everybody said I'll die if
you guys went a World Series.But it was great. We landed.
We land right at rush hour,and so all the players are like,
oh man, this s thanks.It's going to get us three hours to
get the Fenway. The police forcecleared off the highways for us. They
had, I mean just the motorcade. Yeah, believable, with like five

(35:27):
charter buses and everything. People arehanging off buildings signs. So it was
great. I love the city ofBoston. I've ran the Boston Marathon three
times. I'm so endeared to thatcity because of how they come out and
support all the runners. And it'sjust I was there for the Rockies in
OH seven and the couple of gamesthat were there, Games one and two
were just amazing. And games atFenway are iconic. It's an experience like

(35:49):
no other. I was at theWorld Series games as a fan in Chicago
when they won it in sixteen,but as a player in OH four and
then five or OH five when wemade the playoffs, and I was with
the Red Sox year two. Itis just absolutely pandemonium. It is awesome.
You've played in both Fenway and atYankee Stadium as a member of each
team. Yep, what's better.Who's listening to this podcast? People in

(36:13):
Colorado. They're both awesome. Igot to pitch at Yankee Stadium, the
originally Yankee Stadium before they put thenew one up, and that was great.
Walking the halls, you see therooms and you hear stories, and
the iconic players came through. Igot to meet Whitey Ford. Ron Guidry
was my pitching coach. Goose Gossagewas a special instructor. At the time,
it was like you're getting paid togo to fantasy camp almost at times,

(36:36):
so you got to hear about differentstories within the confines of the walls
at Yankee Stadium. Playing for them, wearing the pin stripes, it definitely
is a completely different feel than anywhereelse in major leagues. Then playing for
Boston, being there when we actuallywant it, having the fans, craze
and everything. It's like you showup and I'm playing for all these otter

(36:58):
teams before I get there, andnobody knows who I am when I walk
in the grocery store. I goacross the street to a sports bar here
in corus Field and nobody would knowwho I would be at the sports column
or at Lake Street tavern or somethinglike that. But walking down the street,
we're in Boston. Can you walkin the grocery store and they're wondering
what you're buying? It's like,Wow, this is different. I think
the best fan engagement was after wewon the World Series. Players were all
going around different hotels. Different companieswould come in and they come over here

(37:21):
and sign for an hour, signover here for an hour, or sign
the memorabilia, and I just like, I need like a two hour break.
I gotta have dinner. With mywife. That's all I want to
do. I've been running around thecity Boston for three days. So I
show up the cheers and I said, Hey, can I get a table?
And they're like no, And mywife goes, you have no idea
who this is. So my wifetells, this is Mike Myers, played
for the World Series team. Ohhold on, we got a table before

(37:43):
you hold on just a second.Before we even sit down, there's fourteen
beers at our table, bought fromall the people customers, and I'll have
one, maybe two. I'm notgetting I'm not getting ripped. And yeah,
because I still had to go toanother appearance that night, so I'm
just taking a small But yeah,that was fun. That was probably one
of the one of the funnest ones. And then another time is I my

(38:05):
morning routine is I just stayed ata hotel there. I'd walk across the
street to Starbucks and then there wasa crape shop where I'd always get lunched.
Then I'd go to the field forthat month and a half that I
was there, and then through theAngels and the Yankees playoff games, I'd
walk in get my order in.Nobody'd say anything pay the bill. Leave
I walk in after we were inthe World Series. I'm not allowed to
buy anything. There's no more billthe man, Come on, you could
have done this for me a weekago. But I was very appreciative.

(38:28):
But it was fun. That's reallycool, all right. So Mike in
two thousand and seven, you finishyour career. Last pitch I threw.
I hit Kurtz Grannerson in the elbowand before Ozzy Gee and even left the
dugout because I was playing for theWhite Sox at the time, said of
myself, that's probably last pitch Iever throwing the big Leggs. It was
the last. It was the lastgame of the year, Okay, So
that was real easy to figure out. Yeah, I had a bad last

(38:49):
six weeks, eight weeks of theseason, and I'm at that age and
I had made a living throwing eightyeighty one miles an hour. On a
good day, it was eighty two. But it was always the funkiness and
the movement curveball at it, throwsixty four to sixty nine miles an hour.
That helped me, you know,made the career long. You were
one of a kind. But whenI threw that pitch. There was just
something about it and that was it. And I thank God for all the

(39:12):
experiences. I got everything I did, no regrets. Yeah, so it
was awesome. You try it againin two thousand and eight, you're invited
to the Dodgers camp. Yeah.I called up, I had a conversation
with my agent, had a conversationwith my wife and said, you know
what, I'm healthy. I hada call places to get me a job
because nobody was answering the agent's phonecalls. So I called up Joe Tory,

(39:32):
who took the job with the Dodgersat the time, and I said,
Joe, I know I'm not goingto make the team, but can
you showcase me I'm healthy. Idon't want to walk away saying I wonder
if let me go in and provethat I suck. I mean, nobody
wants me anymore. Rip the nameoff the back of my jersey. And
he says, you still got thesame work ethic in spring training and I
said yeah, because I was thefirst one in the locker room, show
up to my workouts, talk toyoung kids. And he says, come
on and do it. I'll giveyou like ten to thirteen games so I

(39:54):
went in and did it. Igot my ten to thirteen games pitched adequately,
and all of a sudden their lefthanded prospect got hurt, so like
you might make the team. AndI was like, great, this is
why I came back, just forthat what I purpose. And then with
about four or five days ago beforecamp started, that guy all of a
sudden came up with this miracle rehabprocess, comes out, throws ninety five

(40:14):
miles an hour through the whole inning. I walked right in the tori's office
afterwards, I said, can Iget my release? Now? He goes
Now the GM has released you tomorrowmorning. I said, okay, great,
and so I went home. Youwere done, yep, satisfied with
everything. I actually couldn't wait tobe done. Really over ten years of
service, got a World Series,ring, made decent money in the game,
and I wanted to watch my kidsgrow up. So yeah, I

(40:37):
couldn't wait to be done. Andthe ten years is a big deal.
Not only is it, I mean, is it tough to get there?
But then that's your pension, maxpension, your max pension in baseball.
Yes, yeah. Then the nextyear in oh nine, you become a
special assistant to Major League Baseball's PlayersAssociation, which you're still very involved with
today. Explain what you do thereand some of the issues and things that

(40:57):
you help with. On the player'sside, what I do is player relationship,
communication and education. At the sametime, a lot of players were
like me, where you go playthe ball and you have an agent or
somebody will figure out the business sideof it. I was always curious when
I played, as far as like, why do we have the rights we
have? So during it I askeda lot of questions. I talked to
the right people. All of asudden, I became a union rep for

(41:19):
the teams that I was on thatI became a pension committee rep, which
there's only four of those. WhenI got done playing ball, there was
different opportunities for career inside of baseball. For me trying to chase that coveted
role of becoming a general manager.People wanted me to be a pitching coach.
Broadcasting side, people wanted me tocome on because I've got a great
radio face. You have a greatradio voice, you have a great face

(41:43):
for TV as ic off TV,and we're all good. But then I
started thinking about all the travel Iwould do, and I was like,
you know, what else did Ido in the game, and the player
association came out, came into mindabout what was it when we're missing and
what we didn't have at the timewas somebody that would go out and be
aggressively talking from a former player toa current player, telling him about your
rights, your issues, communicating withhim on a daily basis. So I

(42:05):
wrote out a game plan. Iflew to New York talk to the executive
director post me for a half anhour, and then five and a half
hours later, I walked out ofhis office non fearend time. Yeah.
The next day, his assistant callsme up and says, what did you
do? I was like, whatare you talking about? He goes,
He's talking completely different about how we'regoing to do things with communication, how
we're going to do this that theother thing. And I was like,
all I did was asking for ajob. But he told me why,

(42:28):
And I told him all the thingsthat we were missing and what I thought
needed to be done. What Ido now is exactly what I told him.
And then I do a little bitmore too, because I've been there
for thirteen years now. Player Communicationguy gets any transaction that happens, guy
gets called up, traded released.By the way, here's what your rights
are. Here's the paperwork you shouldbe filling out if you get called up.
There's a four oh one k thatyou're going to be a part of.

(42:49):
There's health insurance for you if you'reon the forty man roster. Now
make sure you have by all thattaken care of all the things nobody's telling
you. Yes. Yeah, thenew Minor League collective party in agreement got
settled last night, so I stillhave to learn the ins and outs of
that. But for the Major leaguellectiveBargaining Agreement the past a bunch of years,
if a guy got called up,you know the club is responsible for
shipping his car from the Minor leaguestaium the Major league stadium, and then

(43:10):
i'd put in the text message tohim. By the way, you don't
forget though, But if you getsent down, they're not responsible for that.
And if you're and you only getso much time to report back to
Triple A, so make sure youknow if you're gonna be there for only
a few days, don't ship yourcar, don't take your car a stadium
gosh stuff that a lot of peopledon't response. Find your wife out responsible
for the rent in the minor leaguecity as long as you have certain languages

(43:30):
and provisions in your contract. Sothere's all kinds of ins and outs.
We've got a four hundred and fiftypage collective bargaining agreement, so I know
ninety eight percent of it and thenthe two percent that I don't know.
I always like that a player askedme about. I always get back with
you. A great lawyer team backin New York that get back to me
that day with that's what the lawyersare forced to absolutely go through the minutia

(43:51):
of that kind of stuff. Yeah, the whole purpose of me creating that
job is I don't want the lawyersin New York who are doing the bargaining
to the owner ships. With MajorLeague Baseballs, it's easier for a baseball
player to talk to a baseball player, understand the language what needs to be
done, where you can inject yourselfinto the daily routine. With Clayton Kershaw,
future Hall of Famer for the Dodgers, I know exactly when I can

(44:13):
talk to him, and I knowwhen I don't even try to approach him
if I need to talk to himabout something. Austin Gomber is a player
up for the Rockies this year.He's approachable every minute of the day,
so it's easy. He's a reliever. Yeah, So the relievers are easy,
they're fun, simple, Yeah,they're responsible people. Well, I
mean, what a cool thing thatyou came up with this job. What
an invaluable position that was really missing. And there's a lot of companies that

(44:35):
are missing somebody like that. Ithink at every company you have your upper
echelon that make these decisions. Butyou're like, have you ever ran a
radio show in your life? Didyou know what we do on a regular
basis? You know? And soto have that middle person to really understand
and make sure that both sides understandwhat's going on, I mean, that's
invaluable. It is, and theplayers at the time they feel like it

(44:58):
could be a nuisance, but theyappreciate when they're done with their career,
when they when they actually do needhelp. I try to interject myself early
in their career with that first callup. I'm one of the first two
text messages they get that's not familyor agent. Make sure here's your rights.
Here's this. Oh, by theway, I work for you.
I will help you defend your rights. I will tell you the truth about
everything. Some people will just giveyou the fluff. I will tell you

(45:19):
the truth. I'll tell you thegood or the bad. Yeah, pretty
much. So do you have acertain region, then, Mike, you
can't call everybody. Basically, I'memployed by the Players Association. What that
means is you work for all theplayers, but the team's I'm assigned to.
There's three of us that do iteach other. There's always been three,
and it's been rotating of who's comingin and out of that role.
One person comes in and one yearI had Houston Astros and then that person

(45:40):
actually lived in Houston. So Mike, you know Cincinnati Reds is open because
that person left the job. Willyou take Cincinnati? About ten teams?
You have actually have fourteen fourteen becauseof how it's all designed. So I've
got the NL West, Seattle,Oakland, and Anaheim at the AL West,
three teams in the NL Central,and three teams in the NLIS.
I can knock off usually two birdswith one stone with going to course,

(46:04):
I fly to Saint Louis. Yeah, I fly to Saint Louis. I
can see pittsburgher Cincinnati more often ornot, or because those are two of
my three teams in the NL Central, or I'll hit one of those teams
when they come into Colorado. SoI go out of Course Field a lot.
Got my routine of how I getthere, where I park walk in.
It's great because a lot of thesecurity guards are still the same same
twenty three years ago. Isn't thatcrazy? But yeah, that's what I

(46:28):
love about the people at Course Fieldtoo, and the employees is ownership is
loyal to them, and they're loyalback by showing up every year and having
fun with it. Very true.It's great to hear that you're still loving
doing what you're doing for years.I do. It's enjoyable and for the
most part, I get to createmy own schedule. That's the beauty of
it. Better. Yeah, Okay, last question, Mike, as we
wrap up, and I ask allof my guests this. As you look

(46:49):
back throughout your career, whether itwas high school, college, miners,
majors, and you had ups anddowns and there were probably times where you're
like, I'm done, not gonnado this. What kept you going and
what would be your advice to peoplewhen they have failures or can't seem to
move forward? How do you moveforward? I loved every day. It
was great. Just wake up andwhat's today's challenge? How do I need

(47:09):
to prepare for I'd go to bedthinking about, Okay, did I prepare
for tomorrow? Then I'd wake upthinking about did I prepare yesterday? For
today? And everything else through thebaseball life, having a good balance of
I was a baseball player, butI was a dad and I was a
husband, and that takes priorities,So balancing all of that stuff. But
going through the ups and downs ofa baseball season is unless they take the

(47:31):
uniform off my back, I'm comingtomorrow. I get done. I gave
up a grand Slam that won thegame for the Cardinals the Ray Lankford,
and then gave up forty fifth homerun to Mark McGuire the year that he
hit seventy. That evening after thegame, I'm in the weight room preparing
for tomorrow's game. It's just allright. It was a bad day.
Move on, Yeah, that's beauty. Bobby on the bullpen too. You
gotta go the next day. Butyeah, I was getting through the trouble

(47:52):
times just knowing that I'm gonna dosomething tomorrow. It's gonna be different,
and I'm gonna have fun with it. That's awesome, my thing. Than
you. So good to see you. Thanks for coming in sharing your story,
and it's great to see you again. Need to get together more often.
Absolutely, all right, thanks Mike, Mike Myers. Wow, talk
about some nerves of steel, Hans, some of those names he faced.

(48:13):
Wow. Well, if you arehearing this, you've listened to the entire
episode. First of all, thankyou. Secondly, I hope you enjoyed
this episode and the others. Ifyou do enjoy the podcast, please rate
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(48:37):
the website CTFR podcast dot com.I'm your host, Susie Wargin, and
again, thank you for listening,and until next time, please be careful,
be safe, and be kind.Take care