Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / RIGHT STUFF: Could Darin Erstad, the ultimate gamer, be a good fit to lead Angels?

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RIGHT STUFF: Could Darin Erstad, the ultimate gamer, be a good fit to lead Angels? · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: 95 when they were the California Angels trying to send
0:13
Speaker 1: the Anaheim Angels to.
0:14
Speaker 2: The promised land.
0:15
Speaker 3: Here's the pitch to Lofton.
0:17
Speaker 1: Fly ball center field. Erstad says he's got it.
0:21
Speaker 4: Erstad makes the catch.
0:24
Speaker 1: The Anaheim Angels are the champions of baseball.
0:30
Speaker 4: And who will ever forget? the late, great Rory Marcus'
0:33
Speaker 4: call of the final out of the 2002 World Series.
0:37
Speaker 4: I know our guest today won't because he's the guy
0:39
Speaker 4: who made that catch. Darren Erstad, former Angels center fielder,
0:43
Speaker 4: 2002 World Series champ. Welcome to Halo territory. How are
0:47
Speaker 4: you doing today?
0:49
Speaker 2: Good. Thanks for having me. This is an honor. It's
0:51
Speaker 2: a pleasure. I'm excited. All right.
0:53
Speaker 4: We appreciate you joining us. Mark Trumbo, my regular co-host,
0:56
Speaker 4: the former Angels slugger. I am Mike DiGiovanna, former LA
0:59
Speaker 4: Times baseball writer. Darren, for those who haven't heard, tell
1:05
Speaker 4: us the story of that final catch, the two-handed catch specifically,
1:10
Speaker 4: and whatever became of that final out ball.
1:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, true story. The ball was in the air,
1:18
Speaker 2: and my dad just came into my head and played
1:23
Speaker 2: a thousand games of catch with him, and he just said, hey,
1:26
Speaker 2: use two hands. And that's the voice I heard right
1:28
Speaker 2: as the ball was coming down. I can't make that up.
1:31
Speaker 2: It was crazy. That's actually what happened. And I know
1:35
Speaker 2: in this day and age, I say using two hands
1:37
Speaker 2: is not as athletic as one hand. But at the time,
1:40
Speaker 2: it was perfect. And after I caught it, I almost
1:43
Speaker 2: got crushed by Ochoa. But then just running in, all
1:48
Speaker 2: I thought about was, holy balls, I'm so glad I
1:51
Speaker 2: didn't drop that ball. And that's pretty much all I
1:53
Speaker 2: think about now whenever it comes up. I'm like, I'm
1:55
Speaker 2: just glad I didn't drop that because that would have
1:57
Speaker 2: really sucked. But I think, you know, I use the ball.
2:00
Speaker 2: I have my, the ball, you know, we run for
2:04
Speaker 2: the pile and, and we always gave the closer the ball.
2:08
Speaker 2: He's that's what we did. And I'm at the bottom
2:11
Speaker 2: and I handed it to Percy and he's like, you
2:13
Speaker 2: keep it. And I was like, I don't want it.
2:16
Speaker 2: I was like trying to give it to the angels.
2:17
Speaker 2: He's like, you keep it. You know, it's just kind
2:19
Speaker 2: of defined what the angels were all about. Really family based.
2:22
Speaker 2: And so I kept it and I had it in
2:25
Speaker 2: a box for a long time. And then, Our coaches
2:27
Speaker 2: at Nebraska, when I was coaching there, thought it would
2:30
Speaker 2: be good to have it out just for recruiting purposes.
2:32
Speaker 2: So I had it out when the recruits came. And
2:34
Speaker 2: then I think Tim Meade asked me if they could
2:37
Speaker 2: have the ball and glove and jersey for the display
2:41
Speaker 2: in Anaheim. Oh, yeah. I think it's still there, but
2:43
Speaker 2: I hope it's still there.
2:45
Speaker 4: I'll check next time I'm in the stadium. It better be. Well,
2:48
Speaker 4: that's awesome. Well, we'll have plenty of baseball to discuss today.
2:52
Speaker 4: But first, I want to go back to November of 2015. Darren,
2:56
Speaker 4: you were in your fourth year as head coach at Nebraska,
3:00
Speaker 4: and you were asked to interview for the vacant Dodgers
3:02
Speaker 4: manager's job. You met with Andrew Friedman and it appeared
3:05
Speaker 4: to all go pretty well. And then you withdrew your
3:08
Speaker 4: name from consideration before they made their decision, citing family concerns. Now,
3:13
Speaker 4: at the time, your kids were nine, eight, and five.
3:16
Speaker 4: You had bought a home in Lincoln. You were pretty
3:19
Speaker 4: entrenched in the community. And I believe this was your
3:22
Speaker 4: exact quote. I could have seen myself working with those
3:26
Speaker 4: guys for a long time if I was ever given
3:28
Speaker 4: that opportunity. But when I got back home and sat
3:31
Speaker 4: down with my family and we started really going over
3:34
Speaker 4: the priorities in our life, I just looked at my kids'
3:37
Speaker 4: eyes and that's all I needed to do. Now, first
3:42
Speaker 4: of all, as we know, Dave Roberts took that job
3:45
Speaker 4: and has done pretty well. Three World Series titles, I
3:48
Speaker 4: think five National League pennants, 10, division titles. Any regrets
3:53
Speaker 4: about pulling out of that competition when you did?
3:58
Speaker 2: Not regrets, but I mean, you, you wonder what could
4:01
Speaker 2: have happened, but like you said, I think Davis was
4:03
Speaker 2: just fine. So, you know, yeah, it was one of
4:06
Speaker 2: those things. I just, I didn't want to miss my
4:10
Speaker 2: kid's stuff. And thankfully I was in a position where
4:12
Speaker 2: I was able to do that. And it was just,
4:15
Speaker 2: it was awesome. And I'll, I remember I, whenever I
4:18
Speaker 2: think they announced some finalists or there was something, my
4:21
Speaker 2: phone was blowing up and I was doing underhand toss
4:23
Speaker 2: in the cages to Jake Plachek, one of our infielders.
4:27
Speaker 2: And I just, I was like, what am I doing?
4:29
Speaker 2: I said, I just, this is where my life is.
4:32
Speaker 2: This is where we want our kids to be raised.
4:34
Speaker 2: Nothing against LA, but it just, you know, being from
4:37
Speaker 2: North Dakota, my wife's from a farm in Nebraska, it's
4:40
Speaker 2: kind of all we knew. And that's just kind of
4:42
Speaker 2: the direction it went.
4:45
Speaker 4: Well, if my math is correct, your kids are now 20, 19,
4:48
Speaker 4: and 16. And the Angels are looking for a new manager,
4:52
Speaker 4: as are the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros. You're 52 now.
4:57
Speaker 4: Just wondering, Darren, would your family situation, the fact that
5:00
Speaker 4: your kids are nearly grown, allow you to pursue a
5:03
Speaker 4: big league manager or coaching job right now? Are you
5:06
Speaker 4: interested in the Angels' job? Because fans out here want
5:09
Speaker 4: to know.
5:10
Speaker 2: Well, I... I can't dodge your text messages when I'm
5:13
Speaker 2: on a podcast with you. Yeah, I mean, I'm open
5:17
Speaker 2: to whatever. It's just who knows what the future holds. Obviously,
5:21
Speaker 2: I love the game of baseball. Now, you know, our
5:25
Speaker 2: son is a freshman golfer at Nebraska, which is awesome.
5:28
Speaker 2: He's here in town. Our daughter's a junior at Alabama,
5:33
Speaker 2: you know, trying to get into PT school there. And
5:36
Speaker 2: then our 16-year-old just left the house. He's a junior,
5:39
Speaker 2: but now he lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. and billets
5:42
Speaker 2: with the family and, uh, takes classes at the Academy
5:45
Speaker 2: there and just plays hockey. So he, you know, we're,
5:48
Speaker 2: we're kind of by ourselves and chasing them around. Uh,
5:51
Speaker 2: you know, I, I just keep an open mind to everything.
5:53
Speaker 2: I mean, just who knows what the day will bring. And, uh,
5:57
Speaker 2: I'm just going to try and live in the moment
5:58
Speaker 2: and enjoy every second.
6:00
Speaker 4: Can you say if there's been any contact with the
6:02
Speaker 4: angels recently?
6:05
Speaker 2: Not recently. No, but I've had opportunities in the past
6:07
Speaker 2: and yeah. for one reason or another, it just didn't
6:10
Speaker 2: work out. But, uh, you know, that's, no, I have
6:14
Speaker 2: not heard anything from them recently.
6:18
Speaker 5: Join the, join the club. Um, um, well, Mike's, uh, script,
6:25
Speaker 5: I'm going to have to pivot a little bit as Mike,
6:27
Speaker 5: I think Mike asked the question already about, uh, the
6:30
Speaker 5: multi-sports that your kids play.
6:32
Speaker 2: You are a multi-sport athlete too. So, uh, no surprise there.
6:35
Speaker 5: I wanted to ask you a theme with the angels, um,
6:39
Speaker 5: recently has been rushing some of their prospects through the
6:42
Speaker 5: minor leagues, developing at the big leagues. It's not always
6:46
Speaker 5: pretty and it's very tough to do. Now you are
6:50
Speaker 5: a 1-1 pick, played 150 games, got 625 at bats.
6:54
Speaker 2: I guess my question, when you.
6:56
Speaker 5: Got to the big leagues, did you feel that you
6:58
Speaker 5: were pretty well-rounded as far as fundamentally, or did you
7:03
Speaker 5: have to learn quite a bit yourself, even as talented
7:06
Speaker 5: as you were having that few games?
7:16
Speaker 2: I had no idea what I was doing. I mean,
7:18
Speaker 2: I vividly remember playing for Vancouver in AAA. We were in–
7:25
Speaker 2: I think we were in Calgary, and I literally took
7:27
Speaker 2: like the worst BP I've ever taken in my life.
7:30
Speaker 2: And I run into the outfield, and I'm like, how
7:32
Speaker 2: in the world am I going to survive in this game?
7:34
Speaker 2: And I get called in, and Donnie Long calls me in,
7:37
Speaker 2: and I'm like, he's going to yell at me for
7:39
Speaker 2: taking bad BP or something. And then they're like, you're
7:42
Speaker 2: going up to the big leagues. I was like– what
7:46
Speaker 2: it was a whirlwind from there. But yeah, I mean,
7:49
Speaker 2: I didn't, I was the benefit of at that time.
7:51
Speaker 2: I think our minor league organization was ranked last and
7:55
Speaker 2: there wasn't much depth there. So I, I came up
7:58
Speaker 2: quicker than I probably should have. And yes, I was
8:02
Speaker 2: learning on the fly. I, I did not have any
8:04
Speaker 2: idea what I was doing. I mean, I, I didn't
8:08
Speaker 2: know the signs. We were in Milwaukee at the old
8:10
Speaker 2: county stadium or whatever. It's first and third with two
8:13
Speaker 2: outs and, Rick Burleson put on like a sign at third,
8:17
Speaker 2: third base. And I thought it was some college thing
8:19
Speaker 2: where I get picked off a first and get a
8:21
Speaker 2: rundown and the guy scores. We didn't have that play,
8:24
Speaker 2: I guess, but I get, he's like, what are you doing?
8:27
Speaker 2: And I was like, I don't know. Like it was bad.
8:31
Speaker 2: So I learned, I learned a lot on the fly,
8:33
Speaker 2: but great coaches. The dudes are awesome. Everybody was great
8:37
Speaker 2: to me. And, and they made it, you know, help
8:40
Speaker 2: me out, took me under their wing. And it just, Very,
8:43
Speaker 2: very fortunate to have those guys. I mean, I could
8:46
Speaker 2: go down the list of all of them, but they
8:47
Speaker 2: were all awesome.
8:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the reason your system was so barren
8:51
Speaker 4: was because all those young guys, Salmon, G.A., Edmonds, DeSarcena,
8:56
Speaker 4: were all in the big leagues. I mean, that was
8:58
Speaker 4: a pretty good– I don't know if you realized a
9:01
Speaker 4: couple years later you'd be winning a World Series with
9:02
Speaker 4: most of these guys, but did you feel like you
9:05
Speaker 4: were coming to a team that was up and coming
9:07
Speaker 4: at the time?
9:09
Speaker 2: I mean, I didn't know any different. You know, I just,
9:14
Speaker 2: I didn't know what to expect. It was, you get
9:17
Speaker 2: there and I was just basically told, this is how
9:21
Speaker 2: you do things. And I watched them and kind of followed.
9:25
Speaker 2: And it's like, well, it seemed like they're doing pretty well.
9:28
Speaker 2: So I'll just keep doing what they're doing. I kept
9:30
Speaker 2: my mouth shut and my eyes and ears open and
9:33
Speaker 2: just played hard. And that's just what I did. And
9:37
Speaker 2: it worked out.
9:39
Speaker 4: Hey, we're going to take a quick break for a
9:40
Speaker 4: word from our sponsors. We'll be back with more Halo
9:43
Speaker 4: Territory and Darren Erstad.
9:46
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9:48
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10:09
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10:47
Speaker 4: And welcome back to Halo Territory with Darren Erstad, Mark Trumbo,
10:51
Speaker 4: and Mike DiGiovanna. Well, Erstad, you had what many consider
10:55
Speaker 4: one of, if not the best, all-around seasons in Angels
10:58
Speaker 4: history in 2000, at least until this kid Mike Trout
11:02
Speaker 4: came along. You hit.
11:04
Speaker 2: 355 with a.
11:04
Speaker 4: 951 OPS, 25 homers, 39 doubles, 100 RBIs, 121 runs,
11:06
Speaker 4: and a major league-leading 240 hits. And you won a
11:17
Speaker 4: gold glove playing left field. How did the, how, how
11:21
Speaker 4: are you so good that year after batting just 253
11:24
Speaker 4: with a 683 OPS, 13 homers and 53 RBIs the
11:29
Speaker 4: year before?
11:31
Speaker 2: Well, DG, if I had the answer, I would have
11:33
Speaker 2: done it the next year too. True. I mean, you know,
11:37
Speaker 2: I was just, honestly, that's like the catching the last
11:41
Speaker 2: out where you're like, like, man, I'm glad I didn't
11:44
Speaker 2: drop it. You know, it's like, it's one of those moments, like,
11:46
Speaker 2: how did I do that? I get asked all the time.
11:48
Speaker 2: People are like, Oh, you're on steroids. You did it.
11:50
Speaker 2: And I'm like, well, I would have taken steroids next
11:52
Speaker 2: year too. If I was on steroids. I mean, it's like,
11:54
Speaker 2: I didn't, why would I have stopped? It's, you know, what,
11:58
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just one of those things. I stayed
12:00
Speaker 2: healthy for the most part. I, you know, just my
12:03
Speaker 2: hamstrings were an issue all the time. And unfortunately that,
12:08
Speaker 2: that was a big thing. And I stayed healthy that year.
12:11
Speaker 2: And then of course I stayed healthy in 2001, the
12:13
Speaker 2: next year when it was a complete disaster, you usually
12:15
Speaker 2: don't get it. hurt when you're having your worst year
12:18
Speaker 2: they just throw you out there every game anyway but
12:21
Speaker 2: yeah it just you know just one of those things
12:24
Speaker 2: that felt good in the box and made the right
12:26
Speaker 2: adjustments and you know I guess if you ask if
12:30
Speaker 2: you ask people in arbitration about it or when you're
12:32
Speaker 2: doing deals they say well that really didn't count because
12:35
Speaker 2: it's better than average on balls in play was too
12:37
Speaker 2: high like that's not normal and so you know you
12:40
Speaker 2: hear those kind of things trying to I don't know
12:42
Speaker 2: I wish like I said if I could have if
12:45
Speaker 2: I could have done it again or knew what happened,
12:47
Speaker 2: I would do it again, but I didn't. And, uh,
12:49
Speaker 2: not much I can do about it now. Well, we
12:53
Speaker 2: can reminisce. You had an 8.7 war. And I think, uh, in,
12:58
Speaker 2: in terms of the MVP.
12:59
Speaker 5: Voting, had war been a thing, um, I'm fairly certain
13:02
Speaker 5: at that time, probably would have been laughed out of
13:04
Speaker 5: the room. If anyone mentioned it, uh, it, it was
13:07
Speaker 5: not popular. Um, it's still pretty divisive depending on who
13:11
Speaker 5: you ask, but, uh, it is, it is current. And, uh, Well,
13:16
Speaker 5: the question I was supposed to ask, do you feel
13:17
Speaker 5: you got robbed in the MVP voting?
13:19
Speaker 2: But when I looked at the eight players or the seven.
13:22
Speaker 5: That were in front of you, um, I mean, it's
13:25
Speaker 5: a murderer's row. A lot of people can form their
13:29
Speaker 5: own opinions about some of those names, uh, and the
13:32
Speaker 5: power of production, but, uh, stacked is what I would
13:36
Speaker 5: call this, uh, these 10 players, many hall of famers.
13:40
Speaker 2: Uh, in there and gaudy numbers.
13:43
Speaker 5: So, um, I do want to ask you about an
13:47
Speaker 5: interview circa June of that year. I kind of want to,
13:51
Speaker 5: what do these Bozo reporters ask you if hitting 394
13:55
Speaker 5: was the new normal for what fans should expect? Do
13:58
Speaker 5: you recall that interview around June? Do either of you
14:01
Speaker 5: recall that?
14:04
Speaker 4: Is this Bozo the Guilty Party in this scenario?
14:09
Speaker 2: There was no name attached. Well, it was the Times.
14:11
Speaker 2: Do you recall asking that?
14:13
Speaker 4: My backup must have been working that day. What do
14:16
Speaker 4: you think, Darren?
14:17
Speaker 2: That must have been Bill Shakin or somebody. Three nights
14:21
Speaker 2: before the new normal.
14:23
Speaker 4: All I remember is the stock answer Erste would give
14:26
Speaker 4: to probably half of my questions was.
14:29
Speaker 2: I don't know, DG. Yeah.
14:32
Speaker 4: So, I don't know, maybe I just stumped the panel.
14:35
Speaker 4: But I also remember that year asking you if you
14:38
Speaker 4: knew who Heine Mnuch was. Heine Mnuch, for those, a
14:42
Speaker 4: Hall of Famer, was the quickest to 100 hits in
14:47
Speaker 4: baseball history. I want to say 60 games. And Darren
14:50
Speaker 4: beat him to 100 hits that season. And we asked
14:55
Speaker 4: him if he'd ever heard of Heine Mnuch, and he
14:57
Speaker 4: looked at us all like we had two heads.
15:01
Speaker 5: I was dumbfounded by the amount of plate appearances you
15:04
Speaker 5: had that, that year.
15:05
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
15:06
Speaker 4: I mean, I, I, 787 was it?
15:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a lot of a bats. Um, there's not
15:13
Speaker 2: really a question. I've answered my own questions.
15:15
Speaker 5: Um, and I was going to ask if you had
15:17
Speaker 5: made any adjustments or if your routine click, but, um,
15:21
Speaker 5: it sounds like, which is the answer almost every time
15:23
Speaker 5: when you ask guys how things turned out the way
15:27
Speaker 5: they did, usually in a good way, there's not always a, a,
15:30
Speaker 5: tangible answer. Um, health, I think being the main thing
15:34
Speaker 5: for you, um, as somebody myself who experienced, you know,
15:37
Speaker 5: issues there, you can't take it for granted. And I
15:40
Speaker 5: think that you can probably attest to that. Um, you
15:43
Speaker 5: can't control it either, but when, uh, your body allows you, uh,
15:47
Speaker 5: if the talent's there, it's, you know, you appreciate those
15:50
Speaker 5: times even more on the backside. I think, uh, when the,
15:53
Speaker 5: when the Jersey comes off.
15:56
Speaker 7: Yeah.
15:58
Speaker 4: Do you think your injuries, Darren, Was it basically because
16:01
Speaker 4: you just never played with a governor switch? I mean,
16:04
Speaker 4: your reputation precedes you. You would run through a wall
16:07
Speaker 4: if you had to. You'd go for everything you thought
16:10
Speaker 4: you were going to catch. I mean, how much of
16:13
Speaker 4: your injury issues were just the result and function of
16:18
Speaker 4: just incredibly aggressive play? And there's really nothing you could change,
16:25
Speaker 4: I'm assuming, when you look at it that way.
16:30
Speaker 2: You know, I don't have that answer, but my mom
16:34
Speaker 2: always told me, have fun when you play. And since
16:38
Speaker 2: I can remember, playing hard and playing to win was fun.
16:43
Speaker 2: So that's how I played. And I'll never forget it.
16:45
Speaker 2: We were at Yankee Stadium, and I want to say
16:47
Speaker 2: it was 2000 or 2001. I could be getting the
16:50
Speaker 2: year wrong. But I was just standing on the railing
16:53
Speaker 2: of Yankee Stadium during batting practice, and Reggie Jackson walked
16:59
Speaker 2: up to me. And he goes, you can't play that way.
17:01
Speaker 2: I was like, what are you talking about? Like, you're
17:05
Speaker 2: going to, you're no value to your team getting, you know,
17:07
Speaker 2: you get hurt. You're no value. You can't play that way.
17:09
Speaker 2: And I'm like, well, yeah, I can. And I'm going to.
17:13
Speaker 2: And I, I was like, that's me. That's who I am.
17:16
Speaker 2: I was like, if I'm whatever happens, happens. And, you know,
17:20
Speaker 2: it just, in my head, I was like, you know what?
17:23
Speaker 2: We're going to beat these. We're going to beat the Yankees.
17:25
Speaker 2: Cause that's, they have a different mindset. And, that's probably
17:28
Speaker 2: not true, but that's what I thought. I was out
17:29
Speaker 2: there to pick a fight every single game. And, you know,
17:32
Speaker 2: it just, you know, those kinds of things kind of
17:35
Speaker 2: drove me. And I just know that I'm going to
17:37
Speaker 2: do anything to win the game. And if anybody's in
17:40
Speaker 2: my way, sorry. And I'm going to do anything for
17:43
Speaker 2: my pitcher on the mound. And I don't care if
17:45
Speaker 2: it's first game, middle of the season, end of the year,
17:48
Speaker 2: world series, it don't matter to me. It's I I'm
17:52
Speaker 2: playing for keeps out there. And that was fun to me.
17:54
Speaker 2: And yeah, I do have, I still struggle. I mean,
17:59
Speaker 2: it's to say, I don't think about what could have happened.
18:02
Speaker 2: You know, I think a lot of when you stop playing, it's,
18:06
Speaker 2: it's one of the biggest things that everybody deals with
18:08
Speaker 2: is that transition. And I had a little bit of a,
18:11
Speaker 2: you know, coaching helped a little bit, but I always
18:13
Speaker 2: refer to it as a black cloud just kind of
18:16
Speaker 2: hangs out here. Like, and, and on the bad days,
18:18
Speaker 2: it's right over the top of you. And you're just,
18:21
Speaker 2: you're like, you know, the, the words of what could
18:24
Speaker 2: have been, or what, you know, could have, you know, 2001,
18:26
Speaker 2: you know, You know, it's like each row's there and
18:29
Speaker 2: he comes, you're going to have a battle for the
18:31
Speaker 2: hit title. And I just have the worst year ever.
18:33
Speaker 2: It's like, what, what could happen? You know, it's just
18:35
Speaker 2: like those kinds of things. Sure. They come up and, uh,
18:38
Speaker 2: it's a, it's a fight every day to this day,
18:41
Speaker 2: still to not let that affect how you look forward
18:44
Speaker 2: with every day. But, uh, yeah, to be, I struggle
18:47
Speaker 2: with it. It's, it's a real thing.
18:50
Speaker 4: Speaking of rough years, 1999, a team was picked by
18:53
Speaker 4: many to win the division. They went 70 and 92.
18:56
Speaker 4: Finishing last place, and that team was wrecked by so
19:00
Speaker 4: much turmoil and dissension that manager Terry Collins resigned in August.
19:04
Speaker 4: GM Bill Bavesi resigned in late September. What do you
19:07
Speaker 4: think the low point was that season, Darren? Was it
19:11
Speaker 4: the fight in Cleveland in August, the Eric Milton no-hitter
19:14
Speaker 4: in September? And I'm asking you this to sort of
19:18
Speaker 4: set up, you know, obviously what happened three years later
19:20
Speaker 4: because it was quite a divergent team in 1999 and 2002.
19:27
Speaker 2: Well, thank you, DG. As I just told you, I'm
19:29
Speaker 2: getting therapy to work on the pass. You just keep
19:31
Speaker 2: bringing up stuff to rip out scabs. That's really nice
19:34
Speaker 2: of you. You know, for me that year, that was
19:38
Speaker 2: another just, I don't know, just, I don't know what happened.
19:45
Speaker 2: We had a lot of really good players. We were
19:46
Speaker 2: kind of close in 98 to making it. Yeah. There
19:51
Speaker 2: was just a lot of stuff going on that year.
19:55
Speaker 2: I was not one of the veterans, so I didn't
19:57
Speaker 2: really have much of a voice there, but I sure
20:02
Speaker 2: was part of it because I played like crap that year.
20:07
Speaker 2: Just another one of those I don't know what to say.
20:12
Speaker 2: It just felt terrible, and I just never got anything going.
20:19
Speaker 4: Bill Stoneman, of course, takes over as GM, hires Mike Socia,
20:22
Speaker 4: and Stoneman, I don't know if you recall, had a
20:25
Speaker 4: mandate to blow that team up, but he kept it
20:27
Speaker 4: mostly intact outside of the trade that sent Jim Evans
20:30
Speaker 4: to St. Louis for Adam Kennedy. How did the core
20:33
Speaker 4: of such a disappointing team in 1999 You, Salmon, G.A., Gloss, Percival, Washburn.
20:41
Speaker 4: How did that core evolve into a World Series champion
20:44
Speaker 4: just three years later?
20:46
Speaker 2: Well, it was A.K. and the Dancing Bear, Ken Bottenfield.
20:51
Speaker 4: Didn't mean to short sell the bot.
20:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, I loved him. You know, you can sit here,
20:59
Speaker 2: you know, after it's all happened and say, like, well,
21:02
Speaker 2: this is why it was, this is why it was.
21:04
Speaker 2: But for me personally... you know, after hearing all that
21:08
Speaker 2: stuff in 99, I, you come in there and you're like,
21:12
Speaker 2: I got all the answers. I know what's wrong. We're soft.
21:15
Speaker 2: This person's not tough, you know? And I was telling
21:18
Speaker 2: this to the new manager, Mike Socia in his office,
21:20
Speaker 2: and he just stopped me dead in his tracks. He said,
21:23
Speaker 2: he goes, Hey, you worry about yourself. I'll take care
21:25
Speaker 2: of all that stuff. And I just kind of didn't
21:27
Speaker 2: say anything. And I walked out of his office and
21:30
Speaker 2: I was like, okay. And he, he just kind of
21:33
Speaker 2: took care of everything and, I think everybody just kind
21:36
Speaker 2: of focused on themselves and stopped worrying about being a
21:39
Speaker 2: leader or, you know, trying to worry about everything when
21:43
Speaker 2: their own stuff wasn't in order. And I just think
21:45
Speaker 2: that that, that really helped, especially in spring training, you know,
21:50
Speaker 2: of just everybody getting ready. And I remember I was
21:54
Speaker 2: terrible at spring training. I'll, I'll never forget it. And
21:58
Speaker 2: I was like, here we go. I mean, I'm at
22:00
Speaker 2: a crossroads with my career and I didn't know what
22:03
Speaker 2: to do. And I, it was towards the end of
22:06
Speaker 2: spring training and hatch took me out on the field,
22:08
Speaker 2: the main field at Tempe Diablo. And I don't even
22:11
Speaker 2: know why, but I think Ash was throwing and he just,
22:15
Speaker 2: I don't know. It just, I just found something that
22:17
Speaker 2: was comfortable and I started hitting line drives the other way.
22:20
Speaker 2: And the next day I still had it and I
22:23
Speaker 2: never lost it then. It just, that was, that was
22:26
Speaker 2: his final line is, is, is I've ever, you know,
22:30
Speaker 2: that's kind of how it was every day for me.
22:32
Speaker 2: I like, I, it was a battle every day. with
22:34
Speaker 2: my swing. I think everybody would say that, uh, it
22:37
Speaker 2: doesn't look that way, but, uh, you know, I was just,
22:41
Speaker 2: I'd look back and I do have regrets of listening
22:43
Speaker 2: to too many people about my swing and changing too
22:46
Speaker 2: many things to please people. And, you know, I took
22:49
Speaker 2: my first bag practice when I signed with the angels
22:52
Speaker 2: at the gap down there in Mesa. And, and, uh,
22:55
Speaker 2: one of the hitting coaches said to me, he goes, son,
22:57
Speaker 2: you'll never hit in the big leagues that way. And
22:59
Speaker 2: I was like, And then I go to instructional league
23:06
Speaker 2: and they got me spread out. Like, like Jim Edmonds
23:09
Speaker 2: trying to hit like him. And I'm like, it's like,
23:11
Speaker 2: who does it? Nobody does that. Jimmy's the only one
23:13
Speaker 2: that could hit like that. And so I would do
23:16
Speaker 2: that down there. And then I'd go play in the
23:17
Speaker 2: fall league and I'd go hit my own way. And
23:19
Speaker 2: I was hitting pretty well. And then this guy would
23:22
Speaker 2: come over and say, see me in the fall league.
23:24
Speaker 2: He said, you're not doing it. And I'm like, well,
23:26
Speaker 2: I'm 0 for 22 in the fall league. I've got
23:27
Speaker 2: to do something to survive. Or 0 for 22 in
23:31
Speaker 2: instructional league. I said, I've got to do something to
23:33
Speaker 2: survive in the fall league. I know I didn't have
23:38
Speaker 2: enough confidence in my swing, and that was it. But
23:40
Speaker 2: when I got confidence, I was pretty good. Talk about familiar.
23:46
Speaker 2: It seems like exactly.
23:48
Speaker 5: The roadmap I got, I was so, I was probably
23:52
Speaker 5: from the white to the white in the batter's box
23:54
Speaker 5: one year.
23:55
Speaker 4: Doing the splits?
23:55
Speaker 2: You want to know where my power went?
23:58
Speaker 5: I mean, but I guess maybe that was the progression,
24:03
Speaker 5: even a few years after you came through. It's not
24:05
Speaker 5: a diss, but at the time, I mean, it has
24:10
Speaker 5: evolved a lot. And I think this next question is,
24:14
Speaker 5: hopefully is not, well, it's a little more uplifting. You
24:17
Speaker 5: don't have to talk so much about yourself. Maybe we
24:19
Speaker 5: can talk about your routine a little bit. That is
24:22
Speaker 5: a thing that players.
24:24
Speaker 2: Used to do. I think it's gone the way of
24:26
Speaker 2: the dinosaur.
24:27
Speaker 5: But did you use a batting tee is probably what
24:31
Speaker 5: I was most interested in. Or were you a flips guy? You, despite,
24:37
Speaker 5: I think at times you describe your ups and downs
24:41
Speaker 5: a little more dramatic, but you hit for a very
24:42
Speaker 5: high batting average. It sounds like you maybe had a
24:46
Speaker 5: little more barrel control at times than others when you're
24:50
Speaker 5: talking about having the on-field session with Hatch and Ash.
24:54
Speaker 5: To me, at least what kind of resonated was maybe
24:58
Speaker 5: that feel for the barrel, because if you don't have that,
25:00
Speaker 5: I don't think you can get those hits the other way.
25:03
Speaker 5: Players today are taught to hit the ball in the
25:06
Speaker 5: air to the pull side at all costs. It's a
25:09
Speaker 5: very tough way, kind of long-winded, but How did you
25:12
Speaker 5: keep your batting average up is my question. Well, it
25:18
Speaker 5: was that.
25:20
Speaker 2: Whatever part of the history of baseball where I was
25:24
Speaker 2: hitting the two-hole or the one-hole, and my job was
25:26
Speaker 2: to set the table for GA and fish and gloss
25:30
Speaker 2: and move on and those kind of things. You get
25:34
Speaker 2: rewarded for hitting a weak ground ball to the right
25:36
Speaker 2: side of the runner at second. If you didn't do that,
25:40
Speaker 2: you were– I mean, you could even walk in the
25:42
Speaker 2: locker room. It just, it was, you know, it was
25:45
Speaker 2: just a different, a different mindset. And, you know, you
25:50
Speaker 2: get it all the time. You know, people like, even
25:52
Speaker 2: when I was coming up, the older guys would say,
25:54
Speaker 2: they don't make them like they used to. And then
25:56
Speaker 2: when we're the older people, we're like, we don't, they
25:58
Speaker 2: don't make them like they used to. It's just, you
26:00
Speaker 2: just hear it over and over and over again. It's,
26:03
Speaker 2: I am a firm believer that you can't compare generations
26:08
Speaker 2: and every generation is has the best players, you know, the,
26:12
Speaker 2: the guys in the seventies, their eye hand coordination, their
26:15
Speaker 2: ability to play baseball, they would have been the same
26:17
Speaker 2: guys that are playing now. They just would have had
26:18
Speaker 2: better training and they would have done that. Or the
26:21
Speaker 2: guys that are the best players now, if they were
26:23
Speaker 2: in the seventies, they would have adapted to whatever was
26:27
Speaker 2: asked that time for baseball. It just, they're the best
26:30
Speaker 2: players and you adapt, you know, but I just, I
26:33
Speaker 2: really think that that's a big part of, you know,
26:36
Speaker 2: why you hit a certain way. And I, Mark, you
26:40
Speaker 2: can tell me if I'm wrong, but ABS to me
26:43
Speaker 2: changed everything because I remember Derwood Merrill, the umpire, like
26:48
Speaker 2: I don't know if it was Clemens or somebody on
26:50
Speaker 2: the mound. And I mean, seriously, the ball is a
26:52
Speaker 2: foot outside. I'm like, come on, Derwood. Like, you know.
26:55
Speaker 2: That's a Hall of Fame pitch, D. That's a Hall
26:57
Speaker 2: of Fame pitch. It's like, really? So I'm going to
27:00
Speaker 2: try and pull in the air every pitch that's a
27:03
Speaker 2: foot off the plate? Like, come on. That was the game.
27:06
Speaker 2: You adapt to the game. You watch the World Series.
27:09
Speaker 2: I hit a ball off LeBron Hernandez to left field.
27:11
Speaker 2: It's like a foot off the plate. That's where they
27:13
Speaker 2: pitch you. So what do you do? You slap it
27:16
Speaker 2: over there and then you let the big boys do
27:19
Speaker 2: their thing. So it's like, you can't compare. Yes, it's
27:24
Speaker 2: totally different now, but I think the strike zone being
27:28
Speaker 2: more north and south, I would have done better in
27:30
Speaker 2: this era because I actually liked hitting the high fastball
27:33
Speaker 2: and with my chop down swing sometimes. And then I
27:36
Speaker 2: always swung over the top of the balls that were low. So,
27:40
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know who knows, but I just,
27:43
Speaker 2: I think it's almost impossible to compare generations, but I
27:46
Speaker 2: do feel like the same type of players, they're the
27:49
Speaker 2: same players just would adapt to what you need to do.
27:54
Speaker 4: Well, Darren, you're a two-time All-Star and, of course, a
27:57
Speaker 4: World Series champ. But where does the fact that you
27:59
Speaker 4: won gold gloves at three different positions, left field, center field,
28:03
Speaker 4: and first base, rank on your list of accomplishments? Because
28:07
Speaker 4: I'm pretty sure we're not going to see that anymore.
28:11
Speaker 2: Well, DG, when you can't hit, you better play defense
28:14
Speaker 2: or you're not going to be there. So, you know, it's...
28:17
Speaker 2: I wasn't, honestly, I wasn't a very good defender in college.
28:20
Speaker 2: Never even thought about it. You're just trying to rate
28:22
Speaker 2: like nobody, whoever worked on defense, nobody did. And, and
28:27
Speaker 2: I'm in my leagues and work on defense. And I,
28:31
Speaker 2: we were at Tucson, Arizona when I got called in 96,
28:35
Speaker 2: when I got sent down. And I mean, I literally
28:38
Speaker 2: was like a storm rolling in and I, it was,
28:41
Speaker 2: we got our game canceled and Donnie long has me
28:43
Speaker 2: out there in the outfield, like teaching me how to
28:46
Speaker 2: play first base. And, I was like, what is going
28:50
Speaker 2: on here? And then I show up to spring training
28:52
Speaker 2: that next year, and I'm playing first base. I traded
28:54
Speaker 2: JT to San Francisco so we could have, you know,
28:58
Speaker 2: GA and Jimmy and Fish out there. I was terrible.
29:01
Speaker 2: I think I might have had like 13 errors. I
29:03
Speaker 2: had no idea what I was doing over there. It was–
29:06
Speaker 2: I mean, it was terrible. And then I just– I
29:10
Speaker 2: don't know. Tony Phillips kind of helped me out. He was–
29:14
Speaker 2: I was so scared and he grabbed me a few
29:16
Speaker 2: times and took me aside and just said, he said, son,
29:20
Speaker 2: we don't play this game scared. He goes, you're going
29:23
Speaker 2: to screw up. He goes, we don't play this game scared.
29:27
Speaker 2: And I, I kind of just said, F it. And
29:30
Speaker 2: I just started playing like I was in my backyard
29:33
Speaker 2: and I played defense that way. And, I mean, I
29:36
Speaker 2: started doing that and it worked. So I just kept
29:38
Speaker 2: doing it. And, yeah. But I was terrible at first.
29:42
Speaker 2: Holy cow. And I hated first base because it's a
29:45
Speaker 2: stinking Starbucks over there. It is the talking over there.
29:49
Speaker 2: I literally, it drove me. It was the worst thing
29:51
Speaker 2: ever when guys got to first base. The first base coach,
29:54
Speaker 2: I'd just be like. Seriously, do you not know? Can
29:58
Speaker 2: you not see the stamp on my forehead to leave
29:59
Speaker 2: me alone? So people got the– I think they figured
30:04
Speaker 2: it out pretty quickly.
30:06
Speaker 4: If memory serves, had you not played first base ever
30:09
Speaker 4: until that season? Wow.
30:13
Speaker 2: Nope, never. I remember being on one of those back
30:16
Speaker 2: fields for our first day of bunt practice, and, you know,
30:20
Speaker 2: DeSar's at short, and I think Velarde was at second,
30:23
Speaker 2: Head's at third. And I hadn't met really Medhead yet.
30:26
Speaker 2: I was scared to death of him, Dave Hollins. And
30:29
Speaker 2: they rolled like first and second, roll me a ball,
30:31
Speaker 2: and I got to throw it to third. And I
30:33
Speaker 2: chucked it down the left field line and it just
30:35
Speaker 2: rolled to the corner. And I'm like, do it again.
30:38
Speaker 7: Threw another, and then I short hopped that one ahead.
30:41
Speaker 7: And this is what Dave Hollins looked at me like
30:44
Speaker 7: when I short hopped the ball to him. So, yeah,
30:47
Speaker 7: but I just figured it out. And that's kind of
30:49
Speaker 7: where it was. Just stop playing scared.
30:51
Speaker 2: All right. Yeah.
30:55
Speaker 5: That's an interesting concept. I don't know how many youth
30:58
Speaker 5: viewers we have, but, um, you want to err on
31:01
Speaker 5: the side of being aggressive. Well, in any sport, no
31:03
Speaker 5: sport gets rewarded for being passive or overthinking it. You know,
31:07
Speaker 5: there's a time to think, and I think there's a
31:08
Speaker 5: time to get after it. And when it's game time, um,
31:12
Speaker 5: you want to get after it. Uh, I didn't have
31:15
Speaker 5: a question. Uh, when you took over at Nebraska, wondering
31:19
Speaker 5: what kind of attitude and standards did you set on
31:21
Speaker 5: day one, uh, you know, your message to the team,
31:25
Speaker 5: your first time as a head coach, what did you
31:28
Speaker 5: ask of your players and what did you want to
31:30
Speaker 5: instill in them to let them know that maybe there'd
31:33
Speaker 5: be a different culture shift going on and some of
31:36
Speaker 5: your expectations there?
31:41
Speaker 2: Well, I had never coached before and I didn't know
31:44
Speaker 2: what I was doing there either. So that was a
31:46
Speaker 2: learn on the fly thing. Coach Osborne was the athletic
31:51
Speaker 2: director and he had called me and he, he had said,
31:55
Speaker 2: you know, Hey, can you come in and help me
31:57
Speaker 2: try and find somebody, you know, I'm going through a
31:59
Speaker 2: few guys. I don't, I can't find anybody I like.
32:01
Speaker 2: So I went in there and he started interviewing me
32:03
Speaker 2: and I'm like, he goes, I need you to fix
32:05
Speaker 2: the culture. And I was like, I was like, well,
32:08
Speaker 2: I can do that. So, you know, I said, I'll
32:10
Speaker 2: do it. I want to see my kids stuff. I'll
32:12
Speaker 2: do it for like, you know, five years, but I
32:14
Speaker 2: can help get that, that culture, you know, where guys
32:17
Speaker 2: are excited to be there and, you know, doing things
32:20
Speaker 2: the right way. And, Um, you know, I don't recall
32:24
Speaker 2: my first meeting with them. Um, I don't, but I
32:28
Speaker 2: know one thing it's like, I learned really quickly as
32:31
Speaker 2: a coach that if you don't show them that you care,
32:34
Speaker 2: it's not going to, it doesn't matter. They don't care
32:37
Speaker 2: what you've done. They don't care what your bubble gum
32:39
Speaker 2: card says or doesn't say. It's a, it's not just
32:43
Speaker 2: one meeting. It's the day in day out, bring your
32:47
Speaker 2: lunch pail, care about them every single day. Be the same.
32:51
Speaker 2: And when you do that over time, good things happen.
32:56
Speaker 2: And it's just, you got to be that stabilizer for
32:59
Speaker 2: them because they got a lot of stuff going on
33:01
Speaker 2: as kids. And I felt like I was really good
33:04
Speaker 2: at that. Of course, picked from Coach Osborne, watching him,
33:08
Speaker 2: Mike Socha, watching him, and just being able to do
33:11
Speaker 2: that and bring that energy every day. And it really,
33:15
Speaker 2: it just kind of it was hard to do, but
33:18
Speaker 2: you had to have them drop their backpacks off at
33:20
Speaker 2: the door. They just had so much stuff. And I
33:23
Speaker 2: just said, you just bring your lunch pail and we're
33:24
Speaker 2: going to get along great. And when they didn't, they
33:29
Speaker 2: ran a lot on the bridge. I can tell you that.
33:31
Speaker 2: So there's a, they did a lot of extracurricular stuff
33:35
Speaker 2: that probably would be fired today. I can tell you that.
33:39
Speaker 2: So it's, you know, it was, I kind of shied
33:44
Speaker 2: away from that later on where you, you didn't need
33:46
Speaker 2: to do that. It wasn't necessary and found different ways
33:49
Speaker 2: for that to happen. And I actually kind of got
33:52
Speaker 2: to just, you take away their toys, like playing practice time,
33:57
Speaker 2: this man sitting in the stands and watch, and they
34:00
Speaker 2: want that, you know, they don't like to not be
34:02
Speaker 2: a part of it. And, you know, just kind of,
34:04
Speaker 2: I was just consistent and you, you, you have to
34:08
Speaker 2: truly care. And I watched coach Osborne. I watched him
34:13
Speaker 2: every day at football practice because being a kicker, You
34:15
Speaker 2: just sit on the sidelines and don't do anything. So
34:17
Speaker 2: you just sit there and you watch. He would go
34:19
Speaker 2: to every single guy, like walk-ons, scout team, know their name,
34:26
Speaker 2: say their name, ask how they're doing. And I'm just like,
34:29
Speaker 2: he's building from the ground up. So I was like,
34:31
Speaker 2: all right, during batting practice, I'm going to go. I
34:34
Speaker 2: go to every guy on the field every single day
34:37
Speaker 2: and I just check in with them to make sure
34:38
Speaker 2: they're okay. Hey, you know, how's your girlfriend doing? You know,
34:41
Speaker 2: anything with class? just to let them know I'm there.
34:44
Speaker 2: And it turned into some great conversations. And I have
34:47
Speaker 2: some great relationships with guys that coach to this day.
34:50
Speaker 2: So it's, I think it's just that consistency that you
34:53
Speaker 2: do it, not maybe one big speech. It's just how
34:56
Speaker 2: you are every day.
34:58
Speaker 4: I know you're six, seven years removed from coaching in Nebraska,
35:01
Speaker 4: but is there something you learned about today's players, maybe
35:05
Speaker 4: today's generation of players that helped, that allowed you to
35:10
Speaker 4: get them to buy into what you were saying?
35:14
Speaker 2: Yeah. I just, they, they have incredible pulls on their time.
35:19
Speaker 2: Their ability to multitask is insanity. It's crazy. Like they're,
35:24
Speaker 2: you know, I remember way back when you get to,
35:28
Speaker 2: you know, you have a bad week or something and
35:29
Speaker 2: you get fan mail on your chair and it's a
35:31
Speaker 2: letter and somebody is saying, you are the biggest piece
35:34
Speaker 2: of crap and you should just quit baseball. You're destroying
35:37
Speaker 2: my fantasy team. I hate your walk-up song. Just go
35:40
Speaker 2: and die. Yeah. And these kids today now they have
35:42
Speaker 2: a different, I mean, they're, they get done with the
35:45
Speaker 2: game and their social media feeds are just getting blasted
35:48
Speaker 2: with stuff. You know, we get one or two letters
35:50
Speaker 2: on your, on your chair and you, that would ruin
35:52
Speaker 2: your day. And these guys are just getting absolutely blasted
35:55
Speaker 2: after every game. And I'm just, that to me is
35:58
Speaker 2: just crazy to be able to handle stuff, you know,
36:01
Speaker 2: but again, if we were in that era, that's what
36:05
Speaker 2: we grew up with. We would have figured it out.
36:07
Speaker 2: That's just, that's all they know, you know, just thinking that,
36:10
Speaker 2: and they, They find a way. They love it. They
36:12
Speaker 2: deal with it. They love that interaction with social media.
36:16
Speaker 2: You know, it just wouldn't have been a thing that
36:17
Speaker 2: I would have enjoyed. But maybe if I played in
36:19
Speaker 2: this era, I would have enjoyed it. I have no idea.
36:22
Speaker 2: So I do– you know, the thing that's tough is they–
36:31
Speaker 2: everybody says kids today quit. And I just don't agree
36:35
Speaker 2: with that. Like I just– I, you know, maybe, maybe
36:39
Speaker 2: you don't have to be as hard to make them
36:41
Speaker 2: run as, as much, but it's in there. There are,
36:44
Speaker 2: I just think they get a bad rap. They, there's
36:47
Speaker 2: plenty of kids out there that want it and bring
36:50
Speaker 2: their lunch pail and work hard. And it's just, it's
36:53
Speaker 2: a little more complicated now. And they just, you just
36:55
Speaker 2: have to have a lot better communication, at least with,
36:58
Speaker 2: in my experience with kids that I've helped.
37:02
Speaker 5: I think that maybe there was a, Well, on my
37:06
Speaker 5: own part too, a misconception that, and it's really with
37:10
Speaker 5: any player that your age, even my age, that we're
37:16
Speaker 5: automatically going to be get off my lawn, can't watch
37:19
Speaker 5: this current stuff. And I think that's totally wrong when
37:23
Speaker 5: I'm hearing your answers. I don't know if it's always
37:25
Speaker 5: been the case or it's just something that being around
37:27
Speaker 5: these guys and relating to the younger kids, you start
37:31
Speaker 5: to realize that, yeah, you know, they do get after,
37:33
Speaker 5: they do want it. It's just, It has nothing in common.
37:36
Speaker 5: We're talking about social media. We talk about a lose-lose.
37:40
Speaker 5: Mike and I get called cockroaches and liars. You just
37:45
Speaker 5: cannot please everybody. You try, but you have to live
37:49
Speaker 5: with it. A lot of pressure for any player anywhere,
37:53
Speaker 5: even at the college level. If you're getting paid to play, okay,
37:56
Speaker 5: I understand. You want to rant and rave as long
38:00
Speaker 5: as you don't go beyond what's reasonable, but I don't
38:04
Speaker 5: think college players should be getting hate mail and other things.
38:07
Speaker 5: That's too much. But I really, I guess I'm just
38:11
Speaker 5: want to credit you for evolving. I think that that
38:13
Speaker 5: is a tough thing to do for ex-players. And for
38:16
Speaker 5: anybody that wants to work in the game today, it's
38:18
Speaker 5: a necessity to keep an open mind. Two teams left
38:23
Speaker 5: standing are huge analytical teams. I guess I will pivot
38:26
Speaker 5: to one question. Have you done a little bit to
38:29
Speaker 5: try and familiarize yourself with, you know, some of these
38:32
Speaker 5: New terms, there's a new one every day almost. But,
38:36
Speaker 5: you know, what's fashionable in the major league game, you know, currently?
38:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I had to, like, as a coach. Like,
38:46
Speaker 2: that was there when I was coaching. And, you know,
38:53
Speaker 2: I stopped doing, like, mechanical hitting stuff because as soon
38:57
Speaker 2: as we'd finish all our drills, they'd all get on
38:58
Speaker 2: their iPads and have FaceTime with their hitting coaches from
39:01
Speaker 2: back home. So I said, fine, you want to do that? Awesome.
39:05
Speaker 2: I'll be your approach coach. And so I started doing that,
39:08
Speaker 2: and I just lay out the numbers. And, you know,
39:10
Speaker 2: we had all the charts, and I said, okay, where
39:13
Speaker 2: do you like the ball? And they're like, oh, middle end.
39:15
Speaker 2: And I'm like, awesome, okay. So you get about 25%
39:18
Speaker 2: of your pitches on the inside, and you're hitting, yeah, great,
39:23
Speaker 2: you're hitting 400. But guess what? You're hitting one 20
39:26
Speaker 2: on the pitches away. And well, you're not going to
39:29
Speaker 2: ever play because the balls are never thrown there. And
39:31
Speaker 2: it's like, you just, you had to like give them
39:34
Speaker 2: evidence like, you know, of, of here's what it is.
39:39
Speaker 2: And then you could sell it to them. And that
39:40
Speaker 2: worked for me. But I will say this, that I've
39:44
Speaker 2: always believed and I'll never stop believing that the game
39:47
Speaker 2: of baseball is figures itself out. And that's the beauty
39:51
Speaker 2: of the game. And it's, you can see it right now.
39:54
Speaker 2: Look at what's on TV tonight. Look at those guys.
39:57
Speaker 2: You think, you think there's any quitters on those two teams?
40:00
Speaker 2: Those guys, pitchers cannot hold runners on. PFP doesn't exist. They're,
40:06
Speaker 2: I mean, the analytics people have figured it out. Tampa
40:09
Speaker 2: Bay is not the, the front, you know, the cutting
40:12
Speaker 2: edge of all that, you know, analytics stuff. And they
40:15
Speaker 2: got guys flying all over the place. And it's like,
40:18
Speaker 2: you know, they're putting pressure on teams in different ways.
40:20
Speaker 2: They're not striking out. And it's like as much, but
40:25
Speaker 2: like the game's evolving. And I heard something, I can't
40:28
Speaker 2: remember where I saw it. We were talking about it
40:30
Speaker 2: with the group and they're like, yeah, they go, they're
40:36
Speaker 2: teaching this new concept about letting the ball get deeper.
40:39
Speaker 2: And I'm like, I'm like, what are we doing? Like,
40:42
Speaker 2: it's like getting deeper. Really? That's what we're doing now.
40:46
Speaker 2: It's like, that's been around forever. I'm an analytics person.
40:51
Speaker 2: Did not come up with this thought that letting it
40:53
Speaker 2: get deeper will give you more time to see it
40:55
Speaker 2: and use the whole field. Come on. So like, I
40:58
Speaker 2: just love how the game is showing that you can,
41:02
Speaker 2: there's different ways to play. And yeah, for a period,
41:06
Speaker 2: there might've been a player that if you didn't hit homers,
41:07
Speaker 2: you're not going to play, but you can see it evolve.
41:10
Speaker 2: And now there's guys that are, that are platoon players
41:13
Speaker 2: that can play multiple positions that are fast and are
41:16
Speaker 2: maybe undersized and are getting a look and, and are
41:19
Speaker 2: going to be able to play. Now it's just opening
41:21
Speaker 2: up windows for different people, which I think is fantastic where,
41:24
Speaker 2: you know, the only one I could think of where
41:28
Speaker 2: you might be pigeonholed is NHL goalie. Now, if you're
41:30
Speaker 2: not six, four or bigger for NHL goalie, I don't
41:34
Speaker 2: care how good you are there. They are not going
41:36
Speaker 2: to even look at you. And that's, that's a true statement. Baseball.
41:40
Speaker 2: I mean, there's some good looking guys. Don't get me wrong,
41:43
Speaker 2: but I mean, if you can play the game a
41:44
Speaker 2: certain way and put pressure on teams, that looks like
41:47
Speaker 2: there's some value there. And that's just, it excites me
41:50
Speaker 2: a lot. Yeah.
41:51
Speaker 4: Watch, watch some clips of Tony, Tony Gwynn hitting. You might,
41:54
Speaker 4: you might see a guy who let the ball get
41:55
Speaker 4: deep on him. All right, we'll close with this question there.
41:59
Speaker 4: And I want to sort of bring it back to
42:01
Speaker 4: O2 and be a little relevant. This Milwaukee Brewers team
42:04
Speaker 4: kind of reminds me of you guys in O2. You
42:06
Speaker 4: seem to, capture something, bottle something. I mean, I guess
42:11
Speaker 4: if you could bottle it, you would have done it
42:12
Speaker 4: every year. But can you sort of articulate what it
42:16
Speaker 4: was about that 0-2 team that just caught fire late
42:21
Speaker 4: in the season and just seemed to carry that team approach,
42:27
Speaker 4: selflessness approach, the ability to come back? I think I
42:32
Speaker 4: saw a graphic on MLB Network today The Brewers have
42:35
Speaker 4: the most comebacks in postseason history, and Angels were second
42:40
Speaker 4: in 0-2. How do you sort of articulate what happened
42:45
Speaker 4: in the later stage of that year in October that
42:48
Speaker 4: just allowed that 0-2 team to just be magical?
42:54
Speaker 2: Well, what comes first, winning in team chemistry or team
42:58
Speaker 2: chemistry in winning? That's the question, right? You can't answer it,
43:04
Speaker 2: but You know, you look at that season, though, too,
43:09
Speaker 2: if I'm– I mean, I think I put my head
43:11
Speaker 2: through a wall, so I missed a couple games. But
43:13
Speaker 2: we were up in Seattle, and we were terrible. And
43:15
Speaker 2: then they saved not getting swept, and we came home,
43:17
Speaker 2: and it was just– just kind of got hot, and
43:20
Speaker 2: it never stopped. And I– yeah, I mean, I've said it.
43:25
Speaker 2: I'm not a guy that compares. Like, I just– it's– yeah,
43:28
Speaker 2: but it is hard to not look at the Brewers
43:30
Speaker 2: right now. And I'll tell you where the– Those Thundersticks
43:34
Speaker 2: and the fans, they came out like during the season
43:37
Speaker 2: and got going. And once that started, the train never stopped.
43:40
Speaker 2: And you can see that with Milwaukee's fans. They're on
43:43
Speaker 2: their feet. That place is rocking. And it's like, I
43:47
Speaker 2: don't know, there's a vibe there that looks very difficult
43:50
Speaker 2: that they're not going to win. But I don't put
43:52
Speaker 2: anything past Tampa. They're scrappy and know what they're doing.
43:55
Speaker 2: And I think it's going to be a great series. But, yeah,
43:59
Speaker 2: you know, with our team, look, a lot. I give
44:02
Speaker 2: Bill Stoneman tons of credit because I was gone. I
44:05
Speaker 2: was sitting at my best friend's house in Jamestown, North Dakota,
44:10
Speaker 2: taking a nap in his chair. And Linda Cohn says
44:13
Speaker 2: on SportsCenter, she goes, hey, Darren, if you're listening, you've
44:16
Speaker 2: been traded to the White Sox. And that's how I
44:19
Speaker 2: heard that I was getting traded to the White Sox
44:21
Speaker 2: in that winter. And then she came back a few
44:24
Speaker 2: minutes later and said, okay, you're not getting traded. That's
44:27
Speaker 2: how I found out that I got traded and not traded.
44:30
Speaker 2: I give Bill Stoneman credit for not selling, selling it.
44:34
Speaker 2: And with all the bad things we went through in 99,
44:38
Speaker 2: 2000 was great, but we didn't, you know, get to
44:41
Speaker 2: the playoffs. 2001, we were brutal, but you know, we
44:46
Speaker 2: all went through it together. I just think we formed
44:49
Speaker 2: a bond that when things got bad, it just that
44:52
Speaker 2: teams got each other's backs and then, you know, just,
44:57
Speaker 2: That's why it's magical, and that's why you can't recreate it.
44:59
Speaker 2: That's why it doesn't happen again. But for me, I
45:02
Speaker 2: don't think you can– whether winning comes first or chemistry
45:07
Speaker 2: or chemistry and winning, when you've got a group of
45:10
Speaker 2: guys and you win together, and it just– boy, does
45:13
Speaker 2: that make for some good memories. And we were just
45:15
Speaker 2: very blessed to have a great group of guys. You know,
45:19
Speaker 2: Jimmy was gone. Like, he wasn't on that team. And
45:22
Speaker 2: he was there during the World Series afterwards. I felt
45:23
Speaker 2: like he was part of our team. It was just,
45:26
Speaker 2: it was awesome. Like, so it just, it was a
45:29
Speaker 2: whole Angels organization. And I just, I guess I'm, I
45:33
Speaker 2: miss that family feel with the Angels. I miss that
45:36
Speaker 2: family feel with the Huskers. And if you feel a
45:38
Speaker 2: little fashion that that stuff doesn't exist anymore, then I
45:42
Speaker 2: don't know. I think it still exists. So I think
45:43
Speaker 2: it's pretty powerful. All right.
45:45
Speaker 4: Hey, we're going to close the show on that note.
45:47
Speaker 4: Can't think of a better.
45:48
Speaker 2: Way to close.
45:49
Speaker 4: Darren Erstad, former Angel Center fielder, 2002 World Series champ,
45:54
Speaker 4: Really appreciate you joining us today. Mark Trumbo, as always.
45:59
Speaker 4: Please like and subscribe. Thanks for watching on YouTube. Appreciate
46:03
Speaker 4: your support. And we'll see you next time on Halo Territory.