December 7, 2023 • 44 mins
Welcome back to another empowering episode of Strive 365, where your host Justen Arnold continues to explore inspiring journeys of determination and success. This time, we reconnect with Dan Mason, General Manager of the Rochester Red Wings, for a second engaging episode at the ROC VOX studio. After a memorable first meeting at Innovation Field, this conversation delves even deeper into Dan's captivating story.
From his early days as an unpaid intern to leading a prominent minor league baseball team, Dan shares his personal and professional trajectory, colored by a lifelong passion for sports. He opens up about his roots, his family's connection to Notre Dame, and the resilience he built facing numerous rejections early in his career.Dan offers a unique perspective on the influence of coaching in shaping not just athletes but individuals, discussing the vital role of mentors in his journey. He highlights the importance of resilience in sports and life, providing valuable insights into overcoming setbacks and aiming for greatness.
Throughout the episode, Dan reflects on the integral role of the Rochester Red Wings in the community and their efforts in promoting well-being and unity. He recounts heartening stories of players' journeys from the minors to major league success, providing key takeaways for our listeners.This conversation isn't just about baseball; it's a story of unwavering motivation, leadership, and the pursuit of excellence. Revisit Dan Mason's inspiring narrative and learn how the principles of sports can be applied to personal growth and success in any field. Tune in for an episode full of motivation, insights, and the spirit of striving 365 days a year!
**About Justen Arnold:**For a comprehensive gateway to all things related to Justen Arnold, including helpful links, exclusive affiliate deals, and special discounts, visit [holler.id/justenarnold](https://holler.id/justenarnold).
**Unlock My Personal Insights:**
Gain free access to my personal journal and explore the strategies I use for success at [flexxmp.phonesites.com/flexxmpjournal](https://flexxmp.phonesites.com/flexxmpjournal) and learn more about my journey at [www.flexxmp.com](https://www.flexxmp.com).
**Discover My Literary Journey:** Check out my new book, "Purpose Through Pain: Living a Limitless Lifestyle in the Presence of Adversity," at [www.justenarnold.com](https://www.justenarnold.com), a heartfelt exploration of overcoming challenges and finding strength in adversity.
**Join Me in My Mission:** I've embarked on a fulfilling new role in sports ministry and mission work with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). To support this cause or to learn more, please visit my donation page: [https://my.fca.org/justenarnold](https://my.fca.org/justenarnold).
**Support the Podcast:** Strive 365 is 100% listener-supported. Your support, whether monetary, through likes, positive comments, or shares, is deeply appreciated and helps us continue bringing inspiring content to our audience.
From his early days as an unpaid intern to leading a prominent minor league baseball team, Dan shares his personal and professional trajectory, colored by a lifelong passion for sports. He opens up about his roots, his family's connection to Notre Dame, and the resilience he built facing numerous rejections early in his career.Dan offers a unique perspective on the influence of coaching in shaping not just athletes but individuals, discussing the vital role of mentors in his journey. He highlights the importance of resilience in sports and life, providing valuable insights into overcoming setbacks and aiming for greatness.
Throughout the episode, Dan reflects on the integral role of the Rochester Red Wings in the community and their efforts in promoting well-being and unity. He recounts heartening stories of players' journeys from the minors to major league success, providing key takeaways for our listeners.This conversation isn't just about baseball; it's a story of unwavering motivation, leadership, and the pursuit of excellence. Revisit Dan Mason's inspiring narrative and learn how the principles of sports can be applied to personal growth and success in any field. Tune in for an episode full of motivation, insights, and the spirit of striving 365 days a year!
**About Justen Arnold:**For a comprehensive gateway to all things related to Justen Arnold, including helpful links, exclusive affiliate deals, and special discounts, visit [holler.id/justenarnold](https://holler.id/justenarnold).
**Unlock My Personal Insights:**
Gain free access to my personal journal and explore the strategies I use for success at [flexxmp.phonesites.com/flexxmpjournal](https://flexxmp.phonesites.com/flexxmpjournal) and learn more about my journey at [www.flexxmp.com](https://www.flexxmp.com).
**Discover My Literary Journey:** Check out my new book, "Purpose Through Pain: Living a Limitless Lifestyle in the Presence of Adversity," at [www.justenarnold.com](https://www.justenarnold.com), a heartfelt exploration of overcoming challenges and finding strength in adversity.
**Join Me in My Mission:** I've embarked on a fulfilling new role in sports ministry and mission work with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). To support this cause or to learn more, please visit my donation page: [https://my.fca.org/justenarnold](https://my.fca.org/justenarnold).
**Support the Podcast:** Strive 365 is 100% listener-supported. Your support, whether monetary, through likes, positive comments, or shares, is deeply appreciated and helps us continue bringing inspiring content to our audience.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:20):
Hey, welcome to another empowering episodeof Strive three sixty five, your go
to source for conquering life challenges andthriving no matter the odds, whether you're
seeking mental, physical, emotional,spiritual growth, We're going to help guide
you toward a better life. AndI'm your host, Justin Arnold, and
we're back again with Dan Mason ofthe Rochester Red Wings. We're on location
now, we're here in the studiojust to continue our conversation. So Dan,
(00:41):
thanks for joining us again. Thanksfor having me Justin. Yeah,
so anything. So we got intoa little bit of the Red Wings,
but I want to know more ofyour story, like how you got into
where you are now. Well,I don't know how fascinating that is,
but I started. I'm from Rochester, grew up in Webster where life is
(01:02):
worth living, obviously, and wentto McCay Jesuit and then went to Notre
Dame and then came back home andstarted my career with the Wings in January
of nineteen ninety as an unpaid intern. So you can imagine how excited my
parents were. After helping me superpumped get through four years of school,
I came home and said, hey, Mom, Dad, guess what got
(01:25):
my first job getting paid zero?Still get to live at home, still
get to drive your car, so, get to eat your food, and
best of all, mom, youstill get to do my laundry. So
they were really excited about that.But it's really how you have to get
your foot in the door, likea lot of industries is by doing an
internship. But it also helped merealize that this is something I wanted to
(01:46):
do as a career. So itwas very beneficial to me and hopefully the
Red Wings. And after a coupleof months they offered me a job and
I'm been there ever since. Whatwas your first job? Director of group
sales? Okay, yeah, soNotre Dame, Yes, sir, how
did you My father went there,so I grew up in LEPERCN diapers and
(02:07):
he brainwashed me well that God madeNotre Dame number one, and so I
always had a dream of going there, and McQuaid prepared me enough to allow
me the opportunity to get in,and so I from there. I just
was very fortunate to get in.I would never get in today. It's
(02:28):
a lot harder to get in todaythan it used to be. But so
thankfully my timing was good. Yeah. So I grew up in Chicago suburbs
and then had grandparents in western Illinois, and we used to watch Notre Dame
games and I was a fan.I don't know, the fighting Irish are
pretty cool because it was one ofthe few back on basic cable back in
like the r eighties and nineties.So I was a fan. And then
(02:51):
I saw the Rudy movie and itlike became a bigger kid. It's the
greatest movie of all time. Yeah, so explore, like, so your
childhood a little bit, tell mea little more about how your childhood,
how that grew into wanting to getinto you know, the unpaid in like
why that, let's do that role. Let's go into that. I think,
you know, I've always had agreat love for sports, playing sports
(03:15):
and going to games with my parentsand with my family and my buddies.
I used to go to a lotof red Wing games as a kid,
like in the fifth, sixth,seventh grade, and you know, I
just I just loved being around thegame. And my grandfather took me to
(03:36):
a lot of baseball games when Iwas a kid. And you know,
when I I interviewed for a bunchof jobs when I was at Notre Dame.
And that's what I was just tryingto do, is just try and
find a job, because that's whatyour that's what society tells you to do,
is just get a job, getyour degree, and then go find
a job. So I interviewed withabout probably twenty different companies, and I
(03:57):
think I led the league in rejectionletters. We had a way ailing wall
at our house senior year and whereyou hitting batting average, So I had
we had all our our all ofmy roommates, and I had our rejection
letters on a wall right when youwalked into our house. And uh,
I definitely had the most. Anduh so it really made me focus and
(04:19):
figure out what I really wanted todo because I was just trying to find
a job. I really wasn't tryingto find something I was passionate about.
And I just refocused, reset andrealized that, you know, I wanted
to work in sports, thought thatI would try that because I wanted to
find a job that I woke upevery day and I looked forward to going
(04:40):
to work. And I was interviewingfor jobs that I would have been miserable
at and so Luckily the Red Wingsgave me a chance, and I've been
there ever since. Man, itwas like the universe working in a way
to you know, it's like youwent through all these no's for a good
reason, right to get to youryes. That was like yes, yes,
yeah, exactly. That's really coolabout your story. There and a
(05:01):
lot of rejection letters. And Ithink it's good information just for people listening,
like you know, especially today,right, you know, a lot
of people want that yes and theyfeel defeated. I feel like what I
see, you know, when theyget that no. And and so it's
a it's a really good lesson tolearn. So give me. I'm curious
of year span. You don't haveto give your age per se, but
(05:23):
what were the years you know,around when you graduated, when you went
to Notre Dame, What years werewhat was going on at that time over
the years. Uh So I graduatedin nineteen eighty nine. So the last
time that Notre Dame won a nationalchampionship was my senior year. No way,
pretty dang cool. Coach Holtz camein my sophomore year and writed the
(05:43):
ship and and so that was alot. That was a lot of fun
to be around, be a partof that championship season. That's that's that's
something that's pretty cool. So didyou play like any sports in college,
even interim murals or anything. Iplayed hockey my my whole life, really
and we talked about that, youknow. So I played when I was
at Notre Dame. I played,tried out my freshman year. It surprisingly
(06:05):
a Division one team did not havea need for a five to six and
fifteen pound right winger. I don'tknow why. So I went to Ermuro
route and also got into coaching whenI was in college. I coached youth
hockey my sophomore through senior year witha couple of buddies of mine, and
it was really one of the morerewarding things I think I did in college
(06:30):
and made me look forward to somedayif I had kids, look forward to
coaching my kids. Yeah, andthat's what we were talking about too,
just coaching. But I want todive into that for sure. But I'm
just curious if you can admit toit on here. Do you have a
favorite player, favorite team? Bothhockey baseball. We're allowed to well,
I would say hockey grew up aBruins fan, and so I'm still a
(06:55):
Bruins fan. Bobby Orr was kindof my hero growing up. Uh yeah,
well, the future is coming.Is looking good for yours? Pretty
good? Yeah? And then uhfor baseball. You know, I grew
up a Red Sox fan, butmy first boss, I went, I'll
(07:15):
never forget. I went to workone day had a Red Sox tie on,
and my boss pulled me into hisoffice and he said, hey,
Mace, who's your favorite team?I said, well, or He said,
I like your I like your tie. Who's your Is that your favorite
team? I said yeah, yeah, I figured, you know, it
goes with the gig baseball tie.And he goes, yeah, who's your
favorite team? I said, well, the Red Sox And he goes,
I'm gonna ask you this question again, and I want you to think long
(07:38):
and hard about it. He said, who's your favorite team? And I
said, is it the Baltimore Orioles, who were our affiliate at the time,
And he said, good answer.So that was the last time I
wore my Red Sox tie. Andand from that point on, I became
a fan of whoever our major leagueaffiliate is. And and honestly, I
thank him for for doing that forme, because that is the right thing
(08:01):
to do. You know, Ishould be a fan of our major league
affiliate. So right now, theWashington Nationals, or I like to say
America's team is my favorite team.Okay, other than the Red Wings office.
What about players? Is there anyplayers you ever looked up to as
any as a kid or yeah,any sport. I mean Joe Montana growing
up and being brainwashed as a asa young kid to be a Notre Dame
(08:24):
fan. You know, Joe Montanawas my you know, probably my all
time favorite athlete, and one ofthe coolest things was getting the chance to
meet him and you know and obviouslyfollow his career not only with n D
but the amazing career that he hadwith the forty nine ers. Yeah.
So let's talk about coaching a littlebit. So you were a coach,
(08:45):
you saw a passion in that,and and do you have any coaches in
your past that stick out great,bad anything you like to share? Yeah,
I think both of my my highschool hockey coaches had had a tremendous
impact on my life, you know, and they were completely different styles.
(09:05):
One was more old school and theother was a lot younger, closer to
our age, and just had adifferent way how he handled things, I
guess, a more modern approach andboth I think I try to take pieces
(09:28):
of both of what they taught meand how they made me become not only
a better player, but a betterperson. And I think coaches can have
a tremendous impact on people's lives,and sometimes kids or the players don't realize
it until after they are older andmore mature. And Joel Tebelli, who
(09:52):
is my mentor and I consider tobe the greatest coach of any you know,
coach or manager I've ever been around. You know, his sage,
wisdom and the way he managed people, not only on the field, but
you know, myself and the otherpeople that work for him in the front
office. I try to emulate hiscoaching style or leadership style every day.
(10:16):
And you know, I learned somuch from him. And he used to
tell me all the time about howplayers that Major League Baseball, players that
he managed would often come up tohim fifteen ten, twenty twenty five years
later and say, you know,I couldn't stand you when you were my
manager, but now I realized youwere the best. Dang manager I ever
(10:37):
had. And so I think oftentimespeople don't maybe understand why a coach is
doing something until they're much later inlife, and then they realize, like,
oh, this guy really was doingwhat was best for me. It's
like parenting too, Like I mean, I didn't realize what some of my
(11:00):
parents were doing correct till later inlife. And and there's a famous quol
that you're probably familiar with that athat a coach, let me see,
a coach can make can impact morelives in one year than most people do
it will in their lifetime. Andthat could be positive or negative. Right,
yeah, So, and and Iwas just talking to some of the
(11:20):
other day. He's a landscaper,did some landscaping, and we were talking
about like his leadership skills and heI feel like this is rare, but
his self awareness of his leadership abilitiesand his business. So when you first
started his business, he started toemulate like he's a he played at a
high level football, played some minorsome minor league football, and and he
(11:43):
he said, he started to emulatelike his his mean aggressive football coaches that
were like yelling and screaming, buthe didn't realize it. And he was
like, why why wan't anybody workfor me? Why why isn't anybody I
was sticking, and then he realizedand then he started to emulating his favorite
coach, uh and his favorite andI asked who his favorite coach was,
and it was like, don't laugh, but it was my uh, it
(12:05):
was my intermural softball coach. Iwas like, that's not funny, that's
awesome. That's a cool story becauseyou're this buff football guy and your favorite
coach. And he explained some ofthe attributes similar to what you might attribute
to and I was like, thoseare great, and so he started emulating
mirror that, and his business isnow flourishing. And the same thing.
He didn't realize how much his coach'sinfluence and influences business. So they realized
(12:26):
how much his business was hurting.So he like looked to another coach that
he really looked up to. Andso you hit the nail on the head,
and you know, I see Isee it today too, and I
would love your perspective. But youknow, I'm in it. I'm coaching
hockey and coaching baseball, U twosports of yours. And and there's some
really good coaches, but why Istepped up, even with running a business
(12:48):
and being busy in a podcast andall this was the things I was hearing
from parents and the things I wasseeing and the stats I've just been seeing.
It's it's I agree with you onendred percent the impact, but I'm
not seeing and maybe your perspective isdifferent, but I'm not seeing as a
positive on the ice, right onthe field. And so we had a
(13:13):
great experience when I've been involved inyou know, i'm co coaching. I'm
an assistant with my daughter's team,and he's an amazing head coach. But
in baseball, I took the leadand I got feedback from my assistants.
At the beginning of the year,you know, I set some standards that
I had the players and coaches signin almost like a three strike role just
and everything went great and everybody wason board. We didn't win that many
(13:33):
games, but it was probably everyonesaid it was their best season because we
worked as a team. But Iwould love to hear your perspective on that.
Yeah, I think I think,especially with you sports, a coach
can really foster a love of agame, whatever game it is, whatever
sport it is, or they cankill a love of the game, you
(13:56):
know, if you are riding someeight year old incessantly because he missed the
ground ball or you know, missedthe missed the check or whatever. You
know. So I was always afirm believer and coach when I was coaching
hockey and baseball of being positive andtry to use positivity and teamwork like you
(14:20):
mentioned, and being a good teammate. I think those are really really important,
not only to make kids, uh, because because kids want positive reinforcement,
you gotta you have to use teachablemoments and say, hey, you
didn't do this correctly. But Iknow you probably know that, and you
(14:41):
know I don't need to you know, if you made an error in the
field, yeah, everybody in thewhole place knows you made an air.
I don't need to tell you youscrewed that up right. So I think
trying to take those moments and say, okay, what would you do next
time if that happens, or justsay hey, let's hey, after the
(15:03):
game today, let's just take tenground balls. No big deal. I
mean the best yeah, the bestplayers and sports are hard. Man.
It's baseball. If you succeed one, if you succeed three out of ten
times, you are considered the bestat what you do. What other profession
in the world are you successful threeout of ten times and considered good?
(15:26):
Right? Major Hall of famers makeairrs, Hall of Famers strikeout. Yeah,
So, I mean you can't liveand die by every single page or
every single play. Coach Freeman nowat Notre Dame, I think he is
an amazing coach, and he hasa saying, one play, one life,
(15:46):
and you have to forget whatever happenedthe last play, good or bad.
You got to forget it and getready for the next play. And
I think that's a great way togo through life. Right, learn from
your mistakes, whatever those mistakes makehave been, and make sure you,
you know, try to do itbetter the next time. But you know,
mistakes can be teachable moments, andthey don't have to You don't have
(16:07):
to belittle people for you know,screwing not screwing up, but making a
mistake, because we all make mistakes. Man, and some coach, some
thirty five year old guy yelling ata nine year old kid because they made
a mistake, I don't think isthe right thing. That's just my opinion.
I don't think it's an opinion.You literally had said something I've been
(16:29):
saying over the last probably a yearor so, off and on where it's
it's one of these things where I'venoticed, like I truly believe. Let
me say this, I truly believemost kids are doing their best and really
they are just going out there tohave fun, right, They're not purposely
there might be that one trouble.But even if there is that one trouble
(16:52):
kid, to me, in mymind, I want to know why is
there something going on at home whereI know yelling at them is only going
to make matters worse, but tryingto understand and listen to him. Like
I've coached a team where there hasbeen a kid like that and I sat
down, had a conversation and figuredout what the issue was. It was
something at home. It was thepressure, you know, like for example,
(17:15):
that happened in baseball and then inhockey. I worked with the team
and the kid was being forced toplay. Didn't want to. He just
wanted to play it for fun,like in his backyard, maybe on the
pond, not competitively, but hisdad wanted him to play, and so
he revolted and so we just said, let's have fun this season, and
(17:36):
we sat down with him and wechatted with him. But most because I
was there, will brush that skidoff. He's a trouble kid. He'll
sit the bench most of the time. And I get it. I get
it. I totally get it.But at the end of the day,
it goes back to for me,I'm not trying to grow the next Mario
Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky. I'm justhelp this kid in life, you know.
(18:02):
So, and most kids that playyouth sports are not going to play
professionally. Most kids when they yeahand are not going to get paid to
do whatever sport they're playing. It'stoo you know. I look at it
as a way to foster a lovefor whatever sport they're playing, make some
new friends, hang out with somekids that maybe you know, especially with
(18:23):
the way hockey is set up right, you're playing with kids from all over
all Rochester, So it's kind ofcool. You could be from Webster and
playing with a kid from Henrietta orGreece or Fairport or whatever, and you
see those kids. You know,I still see guys that I grew up
playing travel or house with and thenwe played against each other in high school,
(18:45):
and you know, I see themtoday and it's just it's just ally
was cool to see those guys.You know, So you build relationships with
a lot of different people, andthat's one of the cool things about my
job is I get to see alot of people from my past, either
guys I went to high school with, or people I went to grade school
with, or teachers or guys Iused to play with, moms and dads
(19:10):
of guys I used to play with. So it's really fun to see a
lot of those people that I hadrelationships with in my past. Yeah,
I bet that's cool. I mean, I mean, if you had any
interesting stories like just at the ballparkof something like that, or somebody hadn't
seen you in a while and theyjust ran into you, or yeah,
I think it happens, you know, teachers. I get to see a
(19:32):
lot of those kind of people,you know, either from grade school or
high school. And then again justyou know, guys I used to play
against or with, or people,you know, people I went to high
school with that I haven't seen intwenty or thirty years. It's always cool
to see those people and rekindle thoserelationships. For those that aren't watching,
(19:53):
I just want to point out thisguy. Every time I've met him twice
now and every time I've seen him'salways smiling and I can feel joy all
This guy's higher. He's got goodenergy. So if you're not watching and
you can't hear that, and Ijust want you to know, this guy
is just he's cool. So he'sa good human. But yeah, back
to a little bit of that.I learned a statistics just recently about only
you know, less than one percentgo pro less than even seven or no
(20:15):
less than eight percent, it's likeseven point twenty five go to college.
So and you just mentioned like howthat inflicted your life. I mentioned another
story, So let's you know it, whether it's is there something like that
the Red Wings your organization is doingas role models or or the sport itself
(20:37):
in building in on on the communityto help it thrive in these aspects in
the coaching world. What do youYeah, well, I think we try
to be a lot more than justa baseball team, where our formal business
name is Rochester Community Baseball, Sowe try to get that. Yeah,
so we are kind of like thePackers I know you don't like the Packers
as a Bears fan, but weare well yeah, okay, yeah,
(21:02):
But Naomi Silver's dad back in nineteenfifty seven started a stock drive to save
the team, and so we area community owned team. Now the Silvers
have the majority of the ownership ofthe team, the majority of the shares.
But so that's how our name isRochester Community Baseball. So we try
(21:22):
to be a lot more than justa baseball team. We try to be
an integral part of the community.We're involved in a lot of boards.
Naomi especially is involved in quite afew not for profit boards, and so
are other people in our organization.And we tried to do a lot of
community outreach over the course of theseason. And because again we want to
(21:47):
we want to be more than justa place where people come to watch baseball.
We want to be woven into thefabric of Rochester. So you obviously
you come across, you did coach, you liked it. Do you still
see yourself going into that coaching rolein your position? You know, my
kids are grown now, and youknow, so I think that it's always
(22:15):
going to be part of the greatmemories I have of my kid's childhood and
again seeing kids that my my kidsplayed with that I coached. That is
always one of the highlights of myday. If I see some of these
kids that you know, either playwith my son or play with my daughter,
and I got a chance to coachthem and see them now as young
(22:37):
adults as opposed to you know,eight or nine year olds. It's really
cool to see how they have grownand matured. And I think my role
now as a as a fifty sixyear old guy who has employees that are
in their low twenties, I thinkthat is how I have to That's how
(23:00):
I'm coaching now, is coaching thesemen and women in my office and teaching
them how to be professionals and howto be more than just you know,
employee of Rocher Community Baseball, buthow to do the right thing and handle
themselves in the business world and helpthem grow. And you know, hopefully
(23:21):
those folks are going to be withour organization for a long time. But
again it's inevitable for me because I'veseen it many many times over the years
that people will work for us forfive or ten or fifteen years and then
move on to other careers and it'salways fun for me to see and gratifying
to see how other people who startedtheir careers with the Red Wings are now
(23:48):
doing in the world as moms oras dads and husbands and wives, and
you know, just to see howthey're handling their affairs now as uh as
a parent and as a as aspouse and uh as mom or dad.
So you still it seems sounds likeyou're still in contact with people that have
(24:11):
played with the organization or been withthe organization but no longer are Oh absolutely,
yeah, I still you know,mostly people that worked for us in
the in the front office, butI still talk to players all the time.
And that's always that's a last too, you know, like and it's
not guys maybe that are household namesthat went on to you know, long,
(24:33):
long, long careers in Major LeagueBaseball, but guys that certainly made
their mark here in Rochester and uhthat are either coaching now or they're in
other roles in their lives. Anduh, it's it's always a blast catching
up with guys that used to playfor us. That's that's gotta be just
a cool feeling almost like I don'tknow, I'm imagining like a like a
papa type feeling to see these theseonce kids. Yeah, no doubt about
(24:59):
it, No doubt about it.And a lot of guys too, like
when when you know, my lifeis a lot different now than it was
back in let's say, nineteen ninetyseven. We had an amazing team.
We had a very we were alllike in our you know, young twenties
or late twenties and or early twenties, a lot of us in the front
(25:22):
office, and that's sort of thesame age that the players were, So
we would work our tails off andthen after the games we would hang out
with the players and you know,we would all you know, end up
with the same spots because that's wewere all the same age, and it
just so happened. So we hada really that that year, nineteen ninety
seventy, Yeah, it was.It was just it was a very magical
(25:45):
year. Was the first year inthe ballpark. We had a really good
team, and there was just greatsynergy between the front office and and the
players on the field. And nowit is a little bit more different.
You know, I think the playerslook at me as more of this older
guy that's been around and because theseguys are you know, in their low
(26:07):
twenties. But it's always fun tostay connected with the players that have come
through Rochester, and I think theyhave a great respect and admiration and some
awesome memories of playing here. Yeah, I mean, do you I'm imagining,
do you ever just go out thefield and play catch with some of
these guys? Ever? No,not really. I think I think,
(26:30):
you know, the best time Ihave interacting with the players is during batting
practice. I'll just go out thereand you know, watch them hit and
and talk to them while they're atthe cage. And but there's a reason
why I were a tie and Iwork in the front office. I wasn't
a very good baseball player, asmuch as I would love to have been.
Usually some of the best coaches andmanors aren't the best players, you
(26:52):
know. I mean, like Ijust started two years ago, but I'd
like to think I'm pretty decent atit. So, yeah, you pointed
out something though, the importance ofbonding. You know, that year nineteen
ninety seven, and I'm sure somepeople listening this might remember that, and
just from not only the team aspectto the behind the scenes aspect and just
how important that is and I feelour team here has done really good.
(27:17):
But I've been with other teams whereI've like assistant and it's literally just practicing
games and you're not bonding, andyou see the difference and the overall success.
I look at success not just inwins and losses, you know,
I look at growth, energy,attitude, those kinds of things. So
I mean, how do we getlike, I'm coming back to this again,
(27:38):
because how do we get back tothat? How do we get back
to this healthier coaching culture. Howdo we get back to this bonding because
I feel like part of it becauseI'm in the health world. It seems
like people are always playing catch up, running behind, going from this to
that, so we don't even stopto Breathe think, yeah, and it's
become just a competitive world instead oflet's have fun sometimes, Yeah, that's
(28:00):
connect And I think even as Ilook at our team, our group of
players, sometimes you know, itused to be. Now I'm gonna sound
like an old man, but justsay it. It used to be after
games, the guys would hang outin the clubhouse for a long time,
like our hour and a half afterthe game, just hanging out, playing
(28:21):
cards, hanging out now. It'sit's almost like if I go down there
half an hour after the game,everybody's gone. I think phones are a
big reason why, and iPads andall that stuff. You know, like
people are just have their head andtheir phone. All the players. Oh
yeah, yeah, because they youknow. And I'm not saying that they
(28:45):
don't hang out, but not tothe extent that they used to, you
know what I mean. So Ithink it's just different. You know,
people in general are a different AndI think one of the best memories I
have from coaching is and having agood group of parents is essential to having
(29:07):
a successful year as as well ashaving a good group of kids, because
when you get a good group ofparents, you you pick each other up
right, You're given, you're givingrides, You're hanging out after the games,
you know, team parties, andI think those those, you know,
are some of the memories that Ihave. Some of the fondest memories
(29:30):
I have from coaching is just hangingout and building the relationships with the other
moms and dads that we had.And I think my kids feel the same
way. You know, my kidsstill today if they see, you know,
a parent that they you know,they really loved, you know,
they get a charge out of seeingmister so and so or missus so and
so. Yeah. So setbacks youtalked about them earlier, you know,
(29:52):
rejection letters. I don't know ifinternship is or is a setback, but
it's a challenge for sure. Andand so you know what advice you give
would you give to some listeners onhow to handle those, how to thrive
through them, how to strive throughthem, or maybe a story of somebody
you help through, whether it bethrough the organization along those lines, boy
(30:14):
story. I I think you justhave to look at I think you have
to look at setbacks as a partof life, and you have to look
at it as a teachable moment,and you just have to use it to
better yourself, you know, andand and use that experience as an education
(30:37):
to do better the next time you'refaced with that similar situation. And and
sometimes it's just a matter of Okay, man, I'm just gonna put my
head down and keep plugging away.And that's the only way I'm going to
get better is is yeah, justkeep working. And uh And a lot
of times, I'm a firm believerin hard work, and I'm a lot
(31:00):
of times, hard work makes thedifference. You know, if you want
to be good, that's one thing. But I don't want to be good.
And I tell this to my peoplethat work for me all the time.
Don't strive to be good. Striveto be great. Strive to be
you know, one of the bestat what you do. And that takes
(31:21):
effort. You know, if youwant to be good, it doesn't take
a whole lot of effort. Honestly, if you want to be great,
then you know what it takes.It takes some effort. You made a
good point to just spurred the recentmemory in my head where one of my
good friends he was trying to getto know my older daughter who plays high
(31:42):
level across and he was just askingher questions and you know, college or
what she want to do and andand basically the reason why I bring this
up was he finally got to thepoint, like, your competition isn't the
girls you're going to be playing againsthigh school? Like she's fourteen, your
company. He asked who her favoriteschool or player was, and it's Syracuse
(32:04):
Orange. She got to see him, she had to take pictures with him,
and she's like and they just didreally well obviously, and and he's
like, that's your competition. Whoeverthe best player is on Syracuse Orange,
that right there, that's your competition. Like, because that's what you you
know, this is good, thisis great, and that's you got to
work towards that, not being betterthan the next fourteen or fifteen year old
(32:25):
girl. And and I just Ijust think that was that's great advice.
And I heard him say that,and you you just doubled down on it,
and it's something to think about.So people listening just hear that out,
like, you know, what areyou striving for? What is your
goal whether it be in sports orlife. And just I also just want
to add, since you know I'mall about people in relationship, just make
(32:49):
sure you bring the loved ones withyou and not forget about them along that
journey as well. So you knowyour job cannot be easy, but you
sit here and just just full ofgreat energy, Like how do you keep
that energy? How do you staymotivated especially in your position? And how
can others take your advice? Justbecause a lot of people what I've see
(33:09):
because I work with these clients,I'm come in contact with them, I
see them when I'm coaching stress anxiety, Like they just start smiling as much
as a lot of people as Isee. And so what can you share?
Well, you know, I'm nota brain surgeon, you know what
I mean. I'm I'm I am. You don't over complicated or is that?
(33:32):
Well? I think I'm not savinglives, I'm not. I'm making
sure that people have fun. Thatit. You know, we make the
experience at Innovative Field worth your timeand worth your money. That's what we're
doing. And if I'm not havingfun, then how do I expect you
to have fun when you come outto see us. And yes, there's
(33:53):
a lot of things that go onand there's a lot of stress. But
I think the way I kind ofcenter myself is by looking in the mirror
and say, dude, somebody paysyou to work for a baseball team.
That's how freaking cool is that?Right? And so no matter what the
(34:14):
worst day of my job, Istill work for a baseball team. And
that's pretty cool and I love it. And I think I feed off the
energy of our fans, and Ifeed off the energy of the people that
I work with, and that iswhat keeps me going. So it's a
culture that's that's incredible. So youtalked a little bit about seeing people that
(34:37):
either played for the Red Wings orthe organization go on. Is there any
like story, the memorial story thatsticks out of a player or anybody that
started with wed rings went onto somegreat success. And success can be defined
in a lot of different ways.So and just to add on to that,
what lessons can be learned, whatlistens can listeners learn from that journey?
(35:00):
I think the best the best memoriesthat I have associated with players are
guys that toiled in the minor leaguesfor a long time. And you know,
there's in baseball, you have prospects, and you have other players that
are needed to complete your roster,you know, and the prospects are the
(35:22):
guys that have the best chance ofgoing up right, So it's the guys
that weren't drafted in the first round. They were drafted in the twentieth round
or the thirty fifth round back backin the day. And to see guys
that were never considered to be youknow, have the opportunity probably never going
to get to the major leagues,you know, play in the minor leagues
(35:45):
for ten or eleven years without evena sniff of going up to the big
leagues and then being in that clubhousewhen the manager says in front of the
whole team, hey, guys,you know so and so is going to
the major leagues. Tommy Watkins isa great example. The guy that played
for us was We used to callhim the Mayor of Rochester because he was
(36:07):
just awesome of our fans, justthe most one of the most outgoing players
we've ever had. Super cool guy, just amazing person and when he went
out on the field, just gaveit everything he had, like emptied the
tank every single night. But hewasn't the most talented on our team.
(36:30):
He was, you know, originallycalled up because we just needed somebody,
we needed an extra infielder. Hewas just going to sit on the bench,
but he played his way onto thefield more often because he just gave
it as all all the time.And then our manager walked into the clubhouse
and said Tommy Watkins, congratulations goingto the big leagues, and the whole
place went crazy because everybody knew thatthis guy probably was never going to get
(36:55):
to the major leagues, and holycow, he made it his childhood dream.
After ten or eleven years, andmost guys don't play in the minor
leagues for ten or eleven years.You know, you get to a certain
point and then you just kind ofphase out, right, And now he's
the third base coach for the MinnesotaTwins. So not only did he the
(37:15):
story get a chance to play inthe major leagues, he coached and they
managed in the minor leagues. Andnow he's a coach in Major League Baseball
and has been and will be fora long time. Dedication. You just,
man, that's such a great lessonfor anybody. Again, that's another
one, striving, like just stickto it, just stays persistence, keep
(37:37):
working at it. But it soundslike he had that extra like just always
having a good attitude. Yeah,right, And I think we talked about
setbacks, right. It can bevery deflating when you think you're better than
a guy that gets called up,but other people keep getting called up to
the big leagues ahead of you.It can be extremely deflating because you're you
(38:00):
naturally will think what do I haveto do? It's no different in business,
right, what do I have todo to get this promotion? How
do I how can I keep gettingpassed? Over and over and over from
for for all these positions that otherpeople that I feel are I'm better than
keep getting And in baseball that happensall the time, and it's a very
mental game. And so it's youknow, it's the guys that just put
(38:24):
their head down and keep plugging,and when they get a chance to go
up, it's just the coolest thing. Yeah, And it just reminded me
of something else we talked about.It's a little connected. Was earlier was
about it reminded me of last night. And I saw some players who would
get upset by a call or aplay or how the scene where there were
(38:45):
some players and Digs was one ofthem, Like if a penalty was called
or pass interference or whatever, hejust got up, went back to the
line. And there are other playerslike that, but there are other ones
that throw a throw fit. Imean, there was a moment where I
don't know if you were watching thegame, where the punter just like swinging
as hell, like you know,So it's it's just, hey, this
is part of it. Move on. It's like that in life, and
(39:06):
just this is it. How dowe work hard of the next player,
the next down and the next thayingand so you can center and just be
almost stoic. So I think that'sgreat. We're gonna be wrapping it up
here, but I've got a fewmore questions. I'm always curious. This
is me. I don't know ifanybody else is what goes on in the
off season. So we just wrappedup our planning for the twenty twenty four
season. As I we meet asan entire staff and we talk about everything.
(39:30):
You know, we celebrate our successfrom the previous year, so twenty
twenty three, but really the focusis, Okay, twenty twenty three was
good, but it's over. Sohow do we make twenty twenty four better
than twenty twenty three? How dowe make it the best year we've ever
had. So really, we spendthree days just talking about every facet of
(39:51):
the operation, picking it apart,building it back up. And that's what
we were doing this week, andthen next week we start putting those plans
in place, and we continue tobuild out our promotional schedule. And really
this is the time of year wherewe're selling selling season seats. So if
anyone wants any just give us abuzz at four to two, three or
(40:13):
four or five four one zero zeroone. But we're selling our season seats,
selling mini plans, selling advertising,putting all the things in place before
our opener, which will be inone hundred and fifty nine days now fifty
eight days on April second. Soa lot of planning, a lot of
sales. That's what we do inthe off season. You want to sponsor
(40:36):
a podcast, just get no.But man, so, so this is
gonna be a question anyway, Sojust asking out, so can you share
in those exciting developmentser plans that areon the horizon. I think we're going
to keep it in our back packfor now and build excitement towards the twenty
twenty four season. But we gotsome cool things planned and we really think
(40:59):
it's going to be a fun yearfor our fans. I'm excited. I
love it. My son absolutely lovesit now that he plays it. And
so anything else that you you know, wanted to share on here to talk
about before we wrap it up.No, just thanks to you and thanks
to all the fans out there listeningthat you know, we we can have
(41:21):
all the best plan best laid plansin the world and do all this work
and planning to make it a greatexperience. But until the fans come out
and show up, it really doesn'tdoesn't mean anything, you know, So
I think, uh, just continueto thank the great fans of Rochester for
their support of Red Wings baseball andanything else. Since this is on thriving
(41:43):
and striving that you'd love to justshare if you could have had anybody that's
listening right now, whether it bean athlete, a child in school,
somebody young, that you would lovefor them to hear that we haven't shared
on here, just to keep themmotivated, keep them thriving. I think
there's three words that I lived byevery single day. And these three words
were told to me by the world'smost famous groundskeeper, of George Toma.
(42:07):
So we brought him in as aconsultant to we were having some issues with
our field, and we met withhim for about a day and a half
and at the end of the session, you know, we're sitting in a
room with our groundskeeper and Naomi Silveror our owner, and myself and and
he says, you know what,you people have the three words that it
(42:28):
takes to be successful. And Isaid, okay, what are the three
words? And he said and thensome Now. At that point, I
was thinking, well, this guyhas been doing more than cutting grass all
these years. But he said,you do. I said, you got
to explain this man, because I'mlost, you know. And he said,
(42:50):
you do everything in your power toget the job done and then some.
And you know, that really strucka chord with me. And I
try to do everything to the bestof my ability and then just a little
bit more. And I think ifeverybody approached their lives and everything they do
with those three words, you're gonnahave good results. And yeah, always
(43:13):
just one more like exceeding, notjust meeting expectations. Yeah, I love
it. Well, thank you somuch again. You got to just hang
it out again. This is man, This is awesome. It's it's fun
hanging out with you. It's comfortable. I feel like I'm talking to a
I don't want to age it,but just like a good uncle or something.
All right, advice the uncle Iwish I had. That's a whole
(43:35):
other episode. But no, Ithank you again and thanks for listening to
this episode. And as you allknow, this is completely just a non
profit show done for you guys,so this listener supporter can so continue to
like, share, subscribe, getit out to the world, and yeah,
come to a Red Wings game.It's it's a blast. Baseball is
America's favorite pastime for reason, andRed Wings do a great job then just
(44:00):
about anybody. So again, thankyou again, and thank you all for
your listeners for tuning another episode ofStrive three sixty five. Take care,
Hey, welcome to another empowering episodeof Strive three sixty five, your go
to source for conquering life challenges andthriving no matter the odds, whether you're
seeking mental, physical, emotional,spiritual growth, We're going to help guide
you toward a better life. AndI'm your host, Justin Arnold, and
we're back again with Dan Mason ofthe Rochester Red Wings. We're on location
now, we're here in the studiojust to continue our conversation. So Dan,
(00:41):
thanks for joining us again. Thanksfor having me Justin. Yeah,
so anything. So we got intoa little bit of the Red Wings,
but I want to know more ofyour story, like how you got into
where you are now. Well,I don't know how fascinating that is,
but I started. I'm from Rochester, grew up in Webster where life is
(01:02):
worth living, obviously, and wentto McCay Jesuit and then went to Notre
Dame and then came back home andstarted my career with the Wings in January
of nineteen ninety as an unpaid intern. So you can imagine how excited my
parents were. After helping me superpumped get through four years of school,
I came home and said, hey, Mom, Dad, guess what got
(01:25):
my first job getting paid zero?Still get to live at home, still
get to drive your car, so, get to eat your food, and
best of all, mom, youstill get to do my laundry. So
they were really excited about that.But it's really how you have to get
your foot in the door, likea lot of industries is by doing an
internship. But it also helped merealize that this is something I wanted to
(01:46):
do as a career. So itwas very beneficial to me and hopefully the
Red Wings. And after a coupleof months they offered me a job and
I'm been there ever since. Whatwas your first job? Director of group
sales? Okay, yeah, soNotre Dame, Yes, sir, how
did you My father went there,so I grew up in LEPERCN diapers and
(02:07):
he brainwashed me well that God madeNotre Dame number one, and so I
always had a dream of going there, and McQuaid prepared me enough to allow
me the opportunity to get in,and so I from there. I just
was very fortunate to get in.I would never get in today. It's
(02:28):
a lot harder to get in todaythan it used to be. But so
thankfully my timing was good. Yeah. So I grew up in Chicago suburbs
and then had grandparents in western Illinois, and we used to watch Notre Dame
games and I was a fan.I don't know, the fighting Irish are
pretty cool because it was one ofthe few back on basic cable back in
like the r eighties and nineties.So I was a fan. And then
(02:51):
I saw the Rudy movie and itlike became a bigger kid. It's the
greatest movie of all time. Yeah, so explore, like, so your
childhood a little bit, tell mea little more about how your childhood,
how that grew into wanting to getinto you know, the unpaid in like
why that, let's do that role. Let's go into that. I think,
you know, I've always had agreat love for sports, playing sports
(03:15):
and going to games with my parentsand with my family and my buddies.
I used to go to a lotof red Wing games as a kid,
like in the fifth, sixth,seventh grade, and you know, I
just I just loved being around thegame. And my grandfather took me to
(03:36):
a lot of baseball games when Iwas a kid. And you know,
when I I interviewed for a bunchof jobs when I was at Notre Dame.
And that's what I was just tryingto do, is just try and
find a job, because that's whatyour that's what society tells you to do,
is just get a job, getyour degree, and then go find
a job. So I interviewed withabout probably twenty different companies, and I
(03:57):
think I led the league in rejectionletters. We had a way ailing wall
at our house senior year and whereyou hitting batting average, So I had
we had all our our all ofmy roommates, and I had our rejection
letters on a wall right when youwalked into our house. And uh,
I definitely had the most. Anduh so it really made me focus and
(04:19):
figure out what I really wanted todo because I was just trying to find
a job. I really wasn't tryingto find something I was passionate about.
And I just refocused, reset andrealized that, you know, I wanted
to work in sports, thought thatI would try that because I wanted to
find a job that I woke upevery day and I looked forward to going
(04:40):
to work. And I was interviewingfor jobs that I would have been miserable
at and so Luckily the Red Wingsgave me a chance, and I've been
there ever since. Man, itwas like the universe working in a way
to you know, it's like youwent through all these no's for a good
reason, right to get to youryes. That was like yes, yes,
yeah, exactly. That's really coolabout your story. There and a
(05:01):
lot of rejection letters. And Ithink it's good information just for people listening,
like you know, especially today,right, you know, a lot
of people want that yes and theyfeel defeated. I feel like what I
see, you know, when theyget that no. And and so it's
a it's a really good lesson tolearn. So give me. I'm curious
of year span. You don't haveto give your age per se, but
(05:23):
what were the years you know,around when you graduated, when you went
to Notre Dame, What years werewhat was going on at that time over
the years. Uh So I graduatedin nineteen eighty nine. So the last
time that Notre Dame won a nationalchampionship was my senior year. No way,
pretty dang cool. Coach Holtz camein my sophomore year and writed the
(05:43):
ship and and so that was alot. That was a lot of fun
to be around, be a partof that championship season. That's that's that's
something that's pretty cool. So didyou play like any sports in college,
even interim murals or anything. Iplayed hockey my my whole life, really
and we talked about that, youknow. So I played when I was
at Notre Dame. I played,tried out my freshman year. It surprisingly
(06:05):
a Division one team did not havea need for a five to six and
fifteen pound right winger. I don'tknow why. So I went to Ermuro
route and also got into coaching whenI was in college. I coached youth
hockey my sophomore through senior year witha couple of buddies of mine, and
it was really one of the morerewarding things I think I did in college
(06:30):
and made me look forward to somedayif I had kids, look forward to
coaching my kids. Yeah, andthat's what we were talking about too,
just coaching. But I want todive into that for sure. But I'm
just curious if you can admit toit on here. Do you have a
favorite player, favorite team? Bothhockey baseball. We're allowed to well,
I would say hockey grew up aBruins fan, and so I'm still a
(06:55):
Bruins fan. Bobby Orr was kindof my hero growing up. Uh yeah,
well, the future is coming.Is looking good for yours? Pretty
good? Yeah? And then uhfor baseball. You know, I grew
up a Red Sox fan, butmy first boss, I went, I'll
(07:15):
never forget. I went to workone day had a Red Sox tie on,
and my boss pulled me into hisoffice and he said, hey,
Mace, who's your favorite team?I said, well, or He said,
I like your I like your tie. Who's your Is that your favorite
team? I said yeah, yeah, I figured, you know, it
goes with the gig baseball tie.And he goes, yeah, who's your
favorite team? I said, well, the Red Sox And he goes,
I'm gonna ask you this question again, and I want you to think long
(07:38):
and hard about it. He said, who's your favorite team? And I
said, is it the Baltimore Orioles, who were our affiliate at the time,
And he said, good answer.So that was the last time I
wore my Red Sox tie. Andand from that point on, I became
a fan of whoever our major leagueaffiliate is. And and honestly, I
thank him for for doing that forme, because that is the right thing
(08:01):
to do. You know, Ishould be a fan of our major league
affiliate. So right now, theWashington Nationals, or I like to say
America's team is my favorite team.Okay, other than the Red Wings office.
What about players? Is there anyplayers you ever looked up to as
any as a kid or yeah,any sport. I mean Joe Montana growing
up and being brainwashed as a asa young kid to be a Notre Dame
(08:24):
fan. You know, Joe Montanawas my you know, probably my all
time favorite athlete, and one ofthe coolest things was getting the chance to
meet him and you know and obviouslyfollow his career not only with n D
but the amazing career that he hadwith the forty nine ers. Yeah.
So let's talk about coaching a littlebit. So you were a coach,
(08:45):
you saw a passion in that,and and do you have any coaches in
your past that stick out great,bad anything you like to share? Yeah,
I think both of my my highschool hockey coaches had had a tremendous
impact on my life, you know, and they were completely different styles.
(09:05):
One was more old school and theother was a lot younger, closer to
our age, and just had adifferent way how he handled things, I
guess, a more modern approach andboth I think I try to take pieces
(09:28):
of both of what they taught meand how they made me become not only
a better player, but a betterperson. And I think coaches can have
a tremendous impact on people's lives,and sometimes kids or the players don't realize
it until after they are older andmore mature. And Joel Tebelli, who
(09:52):
is my mentor and I consider tobe the greatest coach of any you know,
coach or manager I've ever been around. You know, his sage,
wisdom and the way he managed people, not only on the field, but
you know, myself and the otherpeople that work for him in the front
office. I try to emulate hiscoaching style or leadership style every day.
(10:16):
And you know, I learned somuch from him. And he used to
tell me all the time about howplayers that Major League Baseball, players that
he managed would often come up tohim fifteen ten, twenty twenty five years
later and say, you know,I couldn't stand you when you were my
manager, but now I realized youwere the best. Dang manager I ever
(10:37):
had. And so I think oftentimespeople don't maybe understand why a coach is
doing something until they're much later inlife, and then they realize, like,
oh, this guy really was doingwhat was best for me. It's
like parenting too, Like I mean, I didn't realize what some of my
(11:00):
parents were doing correct till later inlife. And and there's a famous quol
that you're probably familiar with that athat a coach, let me see,
a coach can make can impact morelives in one year than most people do
it will in their lifetime. Andthat could be positive or negative. Right,
yeah, So, and and Iwas just talking to some of the
(11:20):
other day. He's a landscaper,did some landscaping, and we were talking
about like his leadership skills and heI feel like this is rare, but
his self awareness of his leadership abilitiesand his business. So when you first
started his business, he started toemulate like he's a he played at a
high level football, played some minorsome minor league football, and and he
(11:43):
he said, he started to emulatelike his his mean aggressive football coaches that
were like yelling and screaming, buthe didn't realize it. And he was
like, why why wan't anybody workfor me? Why why isn't anybody I
was sticking, and then he realizedand then he started to emulating his favorite
coach, uh and his favorite andI asked who his favorite coach was,
and it was like, don't laugh, but it was my uh, it
(12:05):
was my intermural softball coach. Iwas like, that's not funny, that's
awesome. That's a cool story becauseyou're this buff football guy and your favorite
coach. And he explained some ofthe attributes similar to what you might attribute
to and I was like, thoseare great, and so he started emulating
mirror that, and his business isnow flourishing. And the same thing.
He didn't realize how much his coach'sinfluence and influences business. So they realized
(12:26):
how much his business was hurting.So he like looked to another coach that
he really looked up to. Andso you hit the nail on the head,
and you know, I see Isee it today too, and I
would love your perspective. But youknow, I'm in it. I'm coaching
hockey and coaching baseball, U twosports of yours. And and there's some
really good coaches, but why Istepped up, even with running a business
(12:48):
and being busy in a podcast andall this was the things I was hearing
from parents and the things I wasseeing and the stats I've just been seeing.
It's it's I agree with you onendred percent the impact, but I'm
not seeing and maybe your perspective isdifferent, but I'm not seeing as a
positive on the ice, right onthe field. And so we had a
(13:13):
great experience when I've been involved inyou know, i'm co coaching. I'm
an assistant with my daughter's team,and he's an amazing head coach. But
in baseball, I took the leadand I got feedback from my assistants.
At the beginning of the year,you know, I set some standards that
I had the players and coaches signin almost like a three strike role just
and everything went great and everybody wason board. We didn't win that many
(13:33):
games, but it was probably everyonesaid it was their best season because we
worked as a team. But Iwould love to hear your perspective on that.
Yeah, I think I think,especially with you sports, a coach
can really foster a love of agame, whatever game it is, whatever
sport it is, or they cankill a love of the game, you
(13:56):
know, if you are riding someeight year old incessantly because he missed the
ground ball or you know, missedthe missed the check or whatever. You
know. So I was always afirm believer and coach when I was coaching
hockey and baseball of being positive andtry to use positivity and teamwork like you
(14:20):
mentioned, and being a good teammate. I think those are really really important,
not only to make kids, uh, because because kids want positive reinforcement,
you gotta you have to use teachablemoments and say, hey, you
didn't do this correctly. But Iknow you probably know that, and you
(14:41):
know I don't need to you know, if you made an error in the
field, yeah, everybody in thewhole place knows you made an air.
I don't need to tell you youscrewed that up right. So I think
trying to take those moments and say, okay, what would you do next
time if that happens, or justsay hey, let's hey, after the
(15:03):
game today, let's just take tenground balls. No big deal. I
mean the best yeah, the bestplayers and sports are hard. Man.
It's baseball. If you succeed one, if you succeed three out of ten
times, you are considered the bestat what you do. What other profession
in the world are you successful threeout of ten times and considered good?
(15:26):
Right? Major Hall of famers makeairrs, Hall of Famers strikeout. Yeah,
So, I mean you can't liveand die by every single page or
every single play. Coach Freeman nowat Notre Dame, I think he is
an amazing coach, and he hasa saying, one play, one life,
(15:46):
and you have to forget whatever happenedthe last play, good or bad.
You got to forget it and getready for the next play. And
I think that's a great way togo through life. Right, learn from
your mistakes, whatever those mistakes makehave been, and make sure you,
you know, try to do itbetter the next time. But you know,
mistakes can be teachable moments, andthey don't have to You don't have
(16:07):
to belittle people for you know,screwing not screwing up, but making a
mistake, because we all make mistakes. Man, and some coach, some
thirty five year old guy yelling ata nine year old kid because they made
a mistake, I don't think isthe right thing. That's just my opinion.
I don't think it's an opinion.You literally had said something I've been
(16:29):
saying over the last probably a yearor so, off and on where it's
it's one of these things where I'venoticed, like I truly believe. Let
me say this, I truly believemost kids are doing their best and really
they are just going out there tohave fun, right, They're not purposely
there might be that one trouble.But even if there is that one trouble
(16:52):
kid, to me, in mymind, I want to know why is
there something going on at home whereI know yelling at them is only going
to make matters worse, but tryingto understand and listen to him. Like
I've coached a team where there hasbeen a kid like that and I sat
down, had a conversation and figuredout what the issue was. It was
something at home. It was thepressure, you know, like for example,
(17:15):
that happened in baseball and then inhockey. I worked with the team
and the kid was being forced toplay. Didn't want to. He just
wanted to play it for fun,like in his backyard, maybe on the
pond, not competitively, but hisdad wanted him to play, and so
he revolted and so we just said, let's have fun this season, and
(17:36):
we sat down with him and wechatted with him. But most because I
was there, will brush that skidoff. He's a trouble kid. He'll
sit the bench most of the time. And I get it. I get
it. I totally get it.But at the end of the day,
it goes back to for me,I'm not trying to grow the next Mario
Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky. I'm justhelp this kid in life, you know.
(18:02):
So, and most kids that playyouth sports are not going to play
professionally. Most kids when they yeahand are not going to get paid to
do whatever sport they're playing. It'stoo you know. I look at it
as a way to foster a lovefor whatever sport they're playing, make some
new friends, hang out with somekids that maybe you know, especially with
(18:23):
the way hockey is set up right, you're playing with kids from all over
all Rochester, So it's kind ofcool. You could be from Webster and
playing with a kid from Henrietta orGreece or Fairport or whatever, and you
see those kids. You know,I still see guys that I grew up
playing travel or house with and thenwe played against each other in high school,
(18:45):
and you know, I see themtoday and it's just it's just ally
was cool to see those guys.You know, So you build relationships with
a lot of different people, andthat's one of the cool things about my
job is I get to see alot of people from my past, either
guys I went to high school with, or people I went to grade school
with, or teachers or guys Iused to play with, moms and dads
(19:10):
of guys I used to play with. So it's really fun to see a
lot of those people that I hadrelationships with in my past. Yeah,
I bet that's cool. I mean, I mean, if you had any
interesting stories like just at the ballparkof something like that, or somebody hadn't
seen you in a while and theyjust ran into you, or yeah,
I think it happens, you know, teachers. I get to see a
(19:32):
lot of those kind of people,you know, either from grade school or
high school. And then again justyou know, guys I used to play
against or with, or people,you know, people I went to high
school with that I haven't seen intwenty or thirty years. It's always cool
to see those people and rekindle thoserelationships. For those that aren't watching,
(19:53):
I just want to point out thisguy. Every time I've met him twice
now and every time I've seen him'salways smiling and I can feel joy all
This guy's higher. He's got goodenergy. So if you're not watching and
you can't hear that, and Ijust want you to know, this guy
is just he's cool. So he'sa good human. But yeah, back
to a little bit of that.I learned a statistics just recently about only
you know, less than one percentgo pro less than even seven or no
(20:15):
less than eight percent, it's likeseven point twenty five go to college.
So and you just mentioned like howthat inflicted your life. I mentioned another
story, So let's you know it, whether it's is there something like that
the Red Wings your organization is doingas role models or or the sport itself
(20:37):
in building in on on the communityto help it thrive in these aspects in
the coaching world. What do youYeah, well, I think we try
to be a lot more than justa baseball team, where our formal business
name is Rochester Community Baseball, Sowe try to get that. Yeah,
so we are kind of like thePackers I know you don't like the Packers
as a Bears fan, but weare well yeah, okay, yeah,
(21:02):
But Naomi Silver's dad back in nineteenfifty seven started a stock drive to save
the team, and so we area community owned team. Now the Silvers
have the majority of the ownership ofthe team, the majority of the shares.
But so that's how our name isRochester Community Baseball. So we try
(21:22):
to be a lot more than justa baseball team. We try to be
an integral part of the community.We're involved in a lot of boards.
Naomi especially is involved in quite afew not for profit boards, and so
are other people in our organization.And we tried to do a lot of
community outreach over the course of theseason. And because again we want to
(21:47):
we want to be more than justa place where people come to watch baseball.
We want to be woven into thefabric of Rochester. So you obviously
you come across, you did coach, you liked it. Do you still
see yourself going into that coaching rolein your position? You know, my
kids are grown now, and youknow, so I think that it's always
(22:15):
going to be part of the greatmemories I have of my kid's childhood and
again seeing kids that my my kidsplayed with that I coached. That is
always one of the highlights of myday. If I see some of these
kids that you know, either playwith my son or play with my daughter,
and I got a chance to coachthem and see them now as young
(22:37):
adults as opposed to you know,eight or nine year olds. It's really
cool to see how they have grownand matured. And I think my role
now as a as a fifty sixyear old guy who has employees that are
in their low twenties, I thinkthat is how I have to That's how
(23:00):
I'm coaching now, is coaching thesemen and women in my office and teaching
them how to be professionals and howto be more than just you know,
employee of Rocher Community Baseball, buthow to do the right thing and handle
themselves in the business world and helpthem grow. And you know, hopefully
(23:21):
those folks are going to be withour organization for a long time. But
again it's inevitable for me because I'veseen it many many times over the years
that people will work for us forfive or ten or fifteen years and then
move on to other careers and it'salways fun for me to see and gratifying
to see how other people who startedtheir careers with the Red Wings are now
(23:48):
doing in the world as moms oras dads and husbands and wives, and
you know, just to see howthey're handling their affairs now as uh as
a parent and as a as aspouse and uh as mom or dad.
So you still it seems sounds likeyou're still in contact with people that have
(24:11):
played with the organization or been withthe organization but no longer are Oh absolutely,
yeah, I still you know,mostly people that worked for us in
the in the front office, butI still talk to players all the time.
And that's always that's a last too, you know, like and it's
not guys maybe that are household namesthat went on to you know, long,
(24:33):
long, long careers in Major LeagueBaseball, but guys that certainly made
their mark here in Rochester and uhthat are either coaching now or they're in
other roles in their lives. Anduh, it's it's always a blast catching
up with guys that used to playfor us. That's that's gotta be just
a cool feeling almost like I don'tknow, I'm imagining like a like a
papa type feeling to see these theseonce kids. Yeah, no doubt about
(24:59):
it, No doubt about it.And a lot of guys too, like
when when you know, my lifeis a lot different now than it was
back in let's say, nineteen ninetyseven. We had an amazing team.
We had a very we were alllike in our you know, young twenties
or late twenties and or early twenties, a lot of us in the front
(25:22):
office, and that's sort of thesame age that the players were, So
we would work our tails off andthen after the games we would hang out
with the players and you know,we would all you know, end up
with the same spots because that's wewere all the same age, and it
just so happened. So we hada really that that year, nineteen ninety
seventy, Yeah, it was.It was just it was a very magical
(25:45):
year. Was the first year inthe ballpark. We had a really good
team, and there was just greatsynergy between the front office and and the
players on the field. And nowit is a little bit more different.
You know, I think the playerslook at me as more of this older
guy that's been around and because theseguys are you know, in their low
(26:07):
twenties. But it's always fun tostay connected with the players that have come
through Rochester, and I think theyhave a great respect and admiration and some
awesome memories of playing here. Yeah, I mean, do you I'm imagining,
do you ever just go out thefield and play catch with some of
these guys? Ever? No,not really. I think I think,
(26:30):
you know, the best time Ihave interacting with the players is during batting
practice. I'll just go out thereand you know, watch them hit and
and talk to them while they're atthe cage. And but there's a reason
why I were a tie and Iwork in the front office. I wasn't
a very good baseball player, asmuch as I would love to have been.
Usually some of the best coaches andmanors aren't the best players, you
(26:52):
know. I mean, like Ijust started two years ago, but I'd
like to think I'm pretty decent atit. So, yeah, you pointed
out something though, the importance ofbonding. You know, that year nineteen
ninety seven, and I'm sure somepeople listening this might remember that, and
just from not only the team aspectto the behind the scenes aspect and just
how important that is and I feelour team here has done really good.
(27:17):
But I've been with other teams whereI've like assistant and it's literally just practicing
games and you're not bonding, andyou see the difference and the overall success.
I look at success not just inwins and losses, you know,
I look at growth, energy,attitude, those kinds of things. So
I mean, how do we getlike, I'm coming back to this again,
(27:38):
because how do we get back tothat? How do we get back
to this healthier coaching culture. Howdo we get back to this bonding because
I feel like part of it becauseI'm in the health world. It seems
like people are always playing catch up, running behind, going from this to
that, so we don't even stopto Breathe think, yeah, and it's
become just a competitive world instead oflet's have fun sometimes, Yeah, that's
(28:00):
connect And I think even as Ilook at our team, our group of
players, sometimes you know, itused to be. Now I'm gonna sound
like an old man, but justsay it. It used to be after
games, the guys would hang outin the clubhouse for a long time,
like our hour and a half afterthe game, just hanging out, playing
(28:21):
cards, hanging out now. It'sit's almost like if I go down there
half an hour after the game,everybody's gone. I think phones are a
big reason why, and iPads andall that stuff. You know, like
people are just have their head andtheir phone. All the players. Oh
yeah, yeah, because they youknow. And I'm not saying that they
(28:45):
don't hang out, but not tothe extent that they used to, you
know what I mean. So Ithink it's just different. You know,
people in general are a different AndI think one of the best memories I
have from coaching is and having agood group of parents is essential to having
(29:07):
a successful year as as well ashaving a good group of kids, because
when you get a good group ofparents, you you pick each other up
right, You're given, you're givingrides, You're hanging out after the games,
you know, team parties, andI think those those, you know,
are some of the memories that Ihave. Some of the fondest memories
(29:30):
I have from coaching is just hangingout and building the relationships with the other
moms and dads that we had.And I think my kids feel the same
way. You know, my kidsstill today if they see, you know,
a parent that they you know,they really loved, you know,
they get a charge out of seeingmister so and so or missus so and
so. Yeah. So setbacks youtalked about them earlier, you know,
(29:52):
rejection letters. I don't know ifinternship is or is a setback, but
it's a challenge for sure. Andand so you know what advice you give
would you give to some listeners onhow to handle those, how to thrive
through them, how to strive throughthem, or maybe a story of somebody
you help through, whether it bethrough the organization along those lines, boy
(30:14):
story. I I think you justhave to look at I think you have
to look at setbacks as a partof life, and you have to look
at it as a teachable moment,and you just have to use it to
better yourself, you know, andand and use that experience as an education
(30:37):
to do better the next time you'refaced with that similar situation. And and
sometimes it's just a matter of Okay, man, I'm just gonna put my
head down and keep plugging away.And that's the only way I'm going to
get better is is yeah, justkeep working. And uh And a lot
of times, I'm a firm believerin hard work, and I'm a lot
(31:00):
of times, hard work makes thedifference. You know, if you want
to be good, that's one thing. But I don't want to be good.
And I tell this to my peoplethat work for me all the time.
Don't strive to be good. Striveto be great. Strive to be
you know, one of the bestat what you do. And that takes
(31:21):
effort. You know, if youwant to be good, it doesn't take
a whole lot of effort. Honestly, if you want to be great,
then you know what it takes.It takes some effort. You made a
good point to just spurred the recentmemory in my head where one of my
good friends he was trying to getto know my older daughter who plays high
(31:42):
level across and he was just askingher questions and you know, college or
what she want to do and andand basically the reason why I bring this
up was he finally got to thepoint, like, your competition isn't the
girls you're going to be playing againsthigh school? Like she's fourteen, your
company. He asked who her favoriteschool or player was, and it's Syracuse
(32:04):
Orange. She got to see him, she had to take pictures with him,
and she's like and they just didreally well obviously, and and he's
like, that's your competition. Whoeverthe best player is on Syracuse Orange,
that right there, that's your competition. Like, because that's what you you
know, this is good, thisis great, and that's you got to
work towards that, not being betterthan the next fourteen or fifteen year old
(32:25):
girl. And and I just Ijust think that was that's great advice.
And I heard him say that,and you you just doubled down on it,
and it's something to think about.So people listening just hear that out,
like, you know, what areyou striving for? What is your
goal whether it be in sports orlife. And just I also just want
to add, since you know I'mall about people in relationship, just make
(32:49):
sure you bring the loved ones withyou and not forget about them along that
journey as well. So you knowyour job cannot be easy, but you
sit here and just just full ofgreat energy, Like how do you keep
that energy? How do you staymotivated especially in your position? And how
can others take your advice? Justbecause a lot of people what I've see
(33:09):
because I work with these clients,I'm come in contact with them, I
see them when I'm coaching stress anxiety, Like they just start smiling as much
as a lot of people as Isee. And so what can you share?
Well, you know, I'm nota brain surgeon, you know what
I mean. I'm I'm I am. You don't over complicated or is that?
(33:32):
Well? I think I'm not savinglives, I'm not. I'm making
sure that people have fun. Thatit. You know, we make the
experience at Innovative Field worth your timeand worth your money. That's what we're
doing. And if I'm not havingfun, then how do I expect you
to have fun when you come outto see us. And yes, there's
(33:53):
a lot of things that go onand there's a lot of stress. But
I think the way I kind ofcenter myself is by looking in the mirror
and say, dude, somebody paysyou to work for a baseball team.
That's how freaking cool is that?Right? And so no matter what the
(34:14):
worst day of my job, Istill work for a baseball team. And
that's pretty cool and I love it. And I think I feed off the
energy of our fans, and Ifeed off the energy of the people that
I work with, and that iswhat keeps me going. So it's a
culture that's that's incredible. So youtalked a little bit about seeing people that
(34:37):
either played for the Red Wings orthe organization go on. Is there any
like story, the memorial story thatsticks out of a player or anybody that
started with wed rings went onto somegreat success. And success can be defined
in a lot of different ways.So and just to add on to that,
what lessons can be learned, whatlistens can listeners learn from that journey?
(35:00):
I think the best the best memoriesthat I have associated with players are
guys that toiled in the minor leaguesfor a long time. And you know,
there's in baseball, you have prospects, and you have other players that
are needed to complete your roster,you know, and the prospects are the
(35:22):
guys that have the best chance ofgoing up right, So it's the guys
that weren't drafted in the first round. They were drafted in the twentieth round
or the thirty fifth round back backin the day. And to see guys
that were never considered to be youknow, have the opportunity probably never going
to get to the major leagues,you know, play in the minor leagues
(35:45):
for ten or eleven years without evena sniff of going up to the big
leagues and then being in that clubhousewhen the manager says in front of the
whole team, hey, guys,you know so and so is going to
the major leagues. Tommy Watkins isa great example. The guy that played
for us was We used to callhim the Mayor of Rochester because he was
(36:07):
just awesome of our fans, justthe most one of the most outgoing players
we've ever had. Super cool guy, just amazing person and when he went
out on the field, just gaveit everything he had, like emptied the
tank every single night. But hewasn't the most talented on our team.
(36:30):
He was, you know, originallycalled up because we just needed somebody,
we needed an extra infielder. Hewas just going to sit on the bench,
but he played his way onto thefield more often because he just gave
it as all all the time.And then our manager walked into the clubhouse
and said Tommy Watkins, congratulations goingto the big leagues, and the whole
place went crazy because everybody knew thatthis guy probably was never going to get
(36:55):
to the major leagues, and holycow, he made it his childhood dream.
After ten or eleven years, andmost guys don't play in the minor
leagues for ten or eleven years.You know, you get to a certain
point and then you just kind ofphase out, right, And now he's
the third base coach for the MinnesotaTwins. So not only did he the
(37:15):
story get a chance to play inthe major leagues, he coached and they
managed in the minor leagues. Andnow he's a coach in Major League Baseball
and has been and will be fora long time. Dedication. You just,
man, that's such a great lessonfor anybody. Again, that's another
one, striving, like just stickto it, just stays persistence, keep
(37:37):
working at it. But it soundslike he had that extra like just always
having a good attitude. Yeah,right, And I think we talked about
setbacks, right. It can bevery deflating when you think you're better than
a guy that gets called up,but other people keep getting called up to
the big leagues ahead of you.It can be extremely deflating because you're you
(38:00):
naturally will think what do I haveto do? It's no different in business,
right, what do I have todo to get this promotion? How
do I how can I keep gettingpassed? Over and over and over from
for for all these positions that otherpeople that I feel are I'm better than
keep getting And in baseball that happensall the time, and it's a very
mental game. And so it's youknow, it's the guys that just put
(38:24):
their head down and keep plugging,and when they get a chance to go
up, it's just the coolest thing. Yeah, And it just reminded me
of something else we talked about.It's a little connected. Was earlier was
about it reminded me of last night. And I saw some players who would
get upset by a call or aplay or how the scene where there were
(38:45):
some players and Digs was one ofthem, Like if a penalty was called
or pass interference or whatever, hejust got up, went back to the
line. And there are other playerslike that, but there are other ones
that throw a throw fit. Imean, there was a moment where I
don't know if you were watching thegame, where the punter just like swinging
as hell, like you know,So it's it's just, hey, this
is part of it. Move on. It's like that in life, and
(39:06):
just this is it. How dowe work hard of the next player,
the next down and the next thayingand so you can center and just be
almost stoic. So I think that'sgreat. We're gonna be wrapping it up
here, but I've got a fewmore questions. I'm always curious. This
is me. I don't know ifanybody else is what goes on in the
off season. So we just wrappedup our planning for the twenty twenty four
season. As I we meet asan entire staff and we talk about everything.
(39:30):
You know, we celebrate our successfrom the previous year, so twenty
twenty three, but really the focusis, Okay, twenty twenty three was
good, but it's over. Sohow do we make twenty twenty four better
than twenty twenty three? How dowe make it the best year we've ever
had. So really, we spendthree days just talking about every facet of
(39:51):
the operation, picking it apart,building it back up. And that's what
we were doing this week, andthen next week we start putting those plans
in place, and we continue tobuild out our promotional schedule. And really
this is the time of year wherewe're selling selling season seats. So if
anyone wants any just give us abuzz at four to two, three or
(40:13):
four or five four one zero zeroone. But we're selling our season seats,
selling mini plans, selling advertising,putting all the things in place before
our opener, which will be inone hundred and fifty nine days now fifty
eight days on April second. Soa lot of planning, a lot of
sales. That's what we do inthe off season. You want to sponsor
(40:36):
a podcast, just get no.But man, so, so this is
gonna be a question anyway, Sojust asking out, so can you share
in those exciting developmentser plans that areon the horizon. I think we're going
to keep it in our back packfor now and build excitement towards the twenty
twenty four season. But we gotsome cool things planned and we really think
(40:59):
it's going to be a fun yearfor our fans. I'm excited. I
love it. My son absolutely lovesit now that he plays it. And
so anything else that you you know, wanted to share on here to talk
about before we wrap it up.No, just thanks to you and thanks
to all the fans out there listeningthat you know, we we can have
(41:21):
all the best plan best laid plansin the world and do all this work
and planning to make it a greatexperience. But until the fans come out
and show up, it really doesn'tdoesn't mean anything, you know, So
I think, uh, just continueto thank the great fans of Rochester for
their support of Red Wings baseball andanything else. Since this is on thriving
(41:43):
and striving that you'd love to justshare if you could have had anybody that's
listening right now, whether it bean athlete, a child in school,
somebody young, that you would lovefor them to hear that we haven't shared
on here, just to keep themmotivated, keep them thriving. I think
there's three words that I lived byevery single day. And these three words
were told to me by the world'smost famous groundskeeper, of George Toma.
(42:07):
So we brought him in as aconsultant to we were having some issues with
our field, and we met withhim for about a day and a half
and at the end of the session, you know, we're sitting in a
room with our groundskeeper and Naomi Silveror our owner, and myself and and
he says, you know what,you people have the three words that it
(42:28):
takes to be successful. And Isaid, okay, what are the three
words? And he said and thensome Now. At that point, I
was thinking, well, this guyhas been doing more than cutting grass all
these years. But he said,you do. I said, you got
to explain this man, because I'mlost, you know. And he said,
(42:50):
you do everything in your power toget the job done and then some.
And you know, that really strucka chord with me. And I
try to do everything to the bestof my ability and then just a little
bit more. And I think ifeverybody approached their lives and everything they do
with those three words, you're gonnahave good results. And yeah, always
(43:13):
just one more like exceeding, notjust meeting expectations. Yeah, I love
it. Well, thank you somuch again. You got to just hang
it out again. This is man, This is awesome. It's it's fun
hanging out with you. It's comfortable. I feel like I'm talking to a
I don't want to age it,but just like a good uncle or something.
All right, advice the uncle Iwish I had. That's a whole
(43:35):
other episode. But no, Ithank you again and thanks for listening to
this episode. And as you allknow, this is completely just a non
profit show done for you guys,so this listener supporter can so continue to
like, share, subscribe, getit out to the world, and yeah,
come to a Red Wings game.It's it's a blast. Baseball is
America's favorite pastime for reason, andRed Wings do a great job then just
(44:00):
about anybody. So again, thankyou again, and thank you all for
your listeners for tuning another episode ofStrive three sixty five. Take care,
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