BTW EXTRA: 2024 Michigan State Baseball First Pitch Dinner: Dr. Tom Dieters

Rob Bennett had a chance to sit down & chat with Michigan State Baseball alumnus of the year, Dr. Tom Dieters during the 18th annual First Pitch Dinner.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Baseball this week a spotlightproduction, and here's your host, Jim
Stark. Rob Bennett here back withyou to share more from this year's Michigan
State First Pitch Dinner. It wasa true honor to speak with a great
Spartan, this year's alum of theYear, doctor Tom Dieters. Thank you

(00:22):
so much for taking time out ona very special day for you. How
exciting is it now that you're here, the day is here, You're seeing
this room fill up, and justgetting another honor here at Michigan State well
deserved. Well, it's flattering.I can tell you that it means a
lot to me. It means alot to my family. I'm sure you're

(00:42):
not aware of this, but mydad also played baseball here after World War
Two, and my oldest brother playedhere in the seventies and I played in
the eighties. And to have themeven think of me is just completely flattering.
How did you find out that youwere going to get this honor?
Take us to that prospers. Yeah, I was up here last summer.
I think it was visiting Jake inhis office and we were just talking and

(01:06):
he just asked me, and Ilike, you no, me. I
don't think you mean me, Andhe said, no, we'd like to
honor you. I'm like, oh, you're digging, digging deep into your
alumni roster here. But I appreciateit. And I was. I was
floored. Immediately called my wife andtold her and and here we are.
Here we are okay. Well,baseball player from nineteen eighty to nineteen eighty

(01:29):
three the program. Do you havea favorite looking back? I'm sure you've
been asked us a million times,but do you have a favorite moment that
you remember on the field? Well, on the field, yeah, well,
there was a lot of them.You know, you tend to this
long time. You forget a lotof them too. But really, my
favorite things are and I'm gonna tellthese kids that are on the team now,

(01:53):
you forget a lot of stuff andand but the relationships you have with
the teammates and your friends. Imean, forty years later, I'm going
to have a table full of guysthat are on those teams because we're still
friends today. That's what matters.And you don't even realize it at the
moment because you're training, you wantto be in shape, you want to
win games. But at the end, the relationships you build and the friendships

(02:17):
you have the last last in lifetime. I want to talk a little bit
about your manager for three years,Heydi Whitleiler. What did you learn from
him? What are some of thegreat memories you have of him during the
playing days. Well, I rememberthe first time I met him. It
was over he was recruiting me,and we went to dinner over at the

(02:38):
University Club, and I was like, I always knew his name and I
heard his name, I never gotto meet him, and then here I
was having dinner with him, andI was kind of starstruck, if you
want the truth. And the factthat he knew me and wanted me to
be part of the program was fantastic. And then once we got into practices
and games. You know, youthink when you come out of high schoo

(03:00):
you know everything all play in thegame, and we realized how quickly you
don't. So it was a lotof little things that that he not only
showed me, but but the restof the players about the game and how
to play and how to play itright. He really was a great mentor
great coach, and I was thrilledto be able to play for him,
and then you had Tom Smith forone year, correct, I did.

(03:22):
So what was the different dynamic withhim? Was there? I'm sure different
dynamic with the coach Smith? Yeah, yeah, there was. And I
was happy when they hired coach Smith, and we're still friends today. I
talked to him all the time.He sent me a text last night congratulating
me on this, which is fantastic. But now he Tom was a great,
really good coach. Very probably underratedif you want the truth. He

(03:46):
knew the game, he ran theball club really well. Probably more structured
under coach Smith than than Skip.But I love playing for both of them.
And like I said, Tom's stilla good friend of mine today and
I wish he could be here,but he couldn't be. But yeah,
a great great man. You mentioneda little bit. What you're gonna tell
these young players trying to reach theirdream You see it filling up here right

(04:10):
now. What impressions you most aboutthese young players that you haven't been able
to see Coach boss meld over thelast decade now from Michigan State Baseball.
Well, it's a little bit differentnow here than when I played, but
not a whole lot different, I'msure I just respect how much time they
have to put into it, whetherit's baseball or any sport. I know

(04:33):
there's a couple of sports here toget all the publicity and everything. Yeah,
but these guys work hard and theyput it in just as much time
as the football team, basketball team, or anybody else. I guess the
dedication they have to the sport totry to play it at the highest level
possible. They all want to getto the major leagues. I'm sure some

(04:53):
of them probably will, but they'rehere today. They're wearing the green and
white, and I'm a little jealousof where I could put the unipartment.
Looks like you can still play alittle bit, right. I don't know.
I don't think you've done so muchfor this university, including this is
Sparta. This is a new realmthat these students are navigating through name,

(05:15):
image and likeness. How proud ofyou of how this has grown, This
is Sparta has grown and what's nextin the the maturation of that. Well.
I am overwhelmed with the success we'vehad with our NIL program, and
we not only do it hare atMSU, but we got about twenty other

(05:36):
schools that use us again and I'mnot dragging or anything, but we have
the best structure and program really inthe country, and I know that from
working with other schools. A yearago, maybe year and a half ago.
Now, fall of twenty one,we had twenty three students at Michigan
State under contract, and I thoughtwe had the whole school. I was
like huge, Right, we hadthe whole gymnastics team and one Bay small

(06:00):
one football and it was enormous.Twenty three and then this last fall we
had one hundred and ten, onehundred and ten students here at Michigan State.
Now we've gone well over two hundredcontracts that we've written in orders just
to be sustainable, and we havethe models to make that happen. Hopefully
we can make that happen. Weneed cooperation, but we need to get

(06:24):
all spartan fans involved, not justyour big donors. And the grants were
able to get as a nonprofit organizationbecause we are the only nonprofit around that
is in this nil space. Sowe can get grants from donor advice on
private foundations, Charita Manor Trust,and then donors also get a charitable deduction
they need. That is what's goingto make it sustainable is to get that

(06:46):
message out. Sue the masses.So the person that gives fifty dollars on
hundred dollars, five hundred dollars cancreate this basically award chess for all of
the programs here at Michigan State.That's got to be the future. That's
what's gonna make it sustainab All right, Robert wool here tonight, espously,
actor, do you have a favoritebaseball movie? What's your go to?

(07:06):
All the Naturals Prefidence. I mean, this is a great movie, This
is fun to ye, good story. The other one I really like is
a League of their Own Yes,and that one brings me to tears at
the end every single time. Thoseare my two favorite baseball Wow. It
has been a pleasure to speak withyou. Congratulations on the success. Congratulations

(07:27):
here today for you well deserved.Thank you for joining us, Thank you
for having me a guy who embodiesthe Green and white. Congrats to doctor
Tom Dieters. Once again. Makesure to stay tuned as more Michigan State
baseball content is headed your way thisseason. Right here on Baseball this Week,