Latest / Chasing Baseball Dreams / Episode #14 Anthony Mendez | Jane the Virgin Narrator on Travel Ball, Parenting & Letting Kids Lead
Transcript
- Bobby Minor: And welcome to Chasing Baseball Dreams. My guest today is Anthony Mendez. He's a three-time Emmy nominated voice actor and narrator. You probably know him best as the Latin lover narrator from Jane the Virgin, a role that earned him two Emmy nominations. He's also earned another Emmy nomination from PBS's Wonders of Mexico. He's narrated Disney's Futastic and even voiced the Doctor in Puss and Boots: The Last Wish. But today we're gonna be talking about another role that means a whole lot more to him, being a baseball dad. So Anthony, welcome to chasing baseball dreams. Anthony Mendez: Thank you, Bobby. Appreciate it, man. Been a fan of yours Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: for a while till Bobby Minor: I appreciate that. That's it's crazy to me when I when people have said that. and you may recognize his voice as the intro and outro on the Chasing Baseball Dreams podcast. So Anthony, thank you for doing that. Anthony Mendez: That's right. That's that's my latest and greatest work. Bobby Minor: I don't know if you're gonna get an Emmy nomination for that one though. Anthony Mendez: We'll try. Bobby Minor: So, but yeah, so we'll just kind of jump right into it, man. So before we get in before we get into baseball, I mean, obviously you were twice Emmy nominated for your work as the Latin lover narrator on Jane the Virgin, which that we l my wife and I loved the show, but I think your narration that just it just it just takes it to another level. how did you first how did you get into voice over acting? And what are some other voices or projects that we might recognize you from without realizing that it was you? Anthony Mendez: well I got into voiceovers 'cause I thought I was gonna be a singer. not good enough to s for singing as a professional career, so I ended up moving over to radio commercials. I used to produce radio commercials for local nightclubs. And then one time the local DJ who couldn't do it was on vacation. They got me to do it, it kinda fell in love with it, took acting classes in New York, some improv classes, eventually found an agent and eventually it kinda hit. Almost like it took like six to eight years though. yeah, we got into voiceovers that way. I started doing promos and trailers, movie trailers for the North American Hispanic market, which I still do. That's always been my bread and butter. Jane the Virgin came along and then Jane the Virgin, oddly enough, opened up doors for animation. I got to play on American Dad. got to play on Elena of Avalor, Haley's On It, and a bunch of other stuff. And One of the most fun things was to get called to see if I wanted to do Puss and Boots too. I was like, What do you mean if I wanna do? Hell yeah, I wanna do Puss and Boots too. You're gonna be Puss's Doctor. And the funny thing Bobby Minor: Yeah. Yeah. Anthony Mendez: was that the Latin lover narrator was inspired and based on Antonio Banderas' voice. And here I am in this movie Bobby Minor: wow. Yeah. Anthony Mendez: playing his doctor or his character's doctor. And I thought that Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: was a lot of fun, yeah. Bobby Minor: Yeah. So have you ever done any on camera work? Anthony Mendez: No, I s started trying to. It's just I'm spoiled now, right? I can do five, six, seven jobs in a day here in my home. Right? Whereas for on camera doesn't mean that I'm not open to it. Obviously having studied acting and and I am technically an actor. It's just I just use my voice for everything. Bobby Minor: Right. Anthony Mendez: doesn't mean that I'm not open to it. It's just I would have to have a mobile voiceover rig in the studio or in the trailer because It's always a last minute thing. Hey, can you record this? They want it ASAP and that's how it is throughout the day. Sometimes they want you to audition throughout the day. They also want that back pretty fast. So yeah, so on camera, I think it would kind of have to be a good situation where it doesn't interfere with my ongoing voiceover stuff. by the way, I also did GTA five. That's a very that's something I never really talk about. I'm one of the guys in Rob's liquors, the clerk behind Bobby Minor: You know, it's funny, I I I look at you know, I'll look at I am I D B credits for a lot of people and people that I you d you don't think of as being voiceover actors have done things like GTA and things like that. I'm like, okay. Yeah. Anthony Mendez: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of fun. It's it's a l it's harsh on the voice 'cause they always you know, after you're done with the session you have to do all the exertion sounds, like you have to do dying, yelling, exasperation, all that stuff. So it's a lot of work, yeah, yeah. Bobby Minor: So you you are an actor. That's true. You're just, yeah. I mean, you haven't to do all Anthony Mendez: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Bobby Minor: that. So, now I know that you mentioned just through some of our communication, you mentioned you you told me that you kinda got caught up in the travel ball machine for a while. your son's a sophomore in high school now. But so what it what it caught up actually looked like for your family and what finally made you realize that you needed to maybe take a step back from all of that? Anthony Mendez: Caught up just means getting caught up in get placing the importance of these games or the results of these games, the results of the games, the his stats, being in a competitive team or a, you know, quote unquote, more or less well-known team, if you will. that to me is being caught up. And it's just kind of you don't realize it at 9, 10, 11, none of that. None of that. Man. It's just so that to me was getting caught up. And of course, when you're caught up, your credit card comes out of your pocket really easily because they say, Hey, we're gonna do a tournament here. Let's go. And I remember it got to a point where my son told me at 11, and when we moved here to Los Angeles, he played Little League for two years. And like a lot of kids that go into travel ball, he just develops a little faster than the other kids. So he wants we as parents, maybe we need better competition. we've then we fall into the travel ball. Now that doesn't mean that travel ball is is bad overall. There's a lot of benefits to it. but when it's it's mostly your perspective on it that has to be in a more kind of best way I can describe it, you have to be kind of humble about it. Let your ego out of the way and let the kid have fun. and not be his coach, you know, on the way home. Things like that. So that's just getting caught up. I did all the wrong things, initially. A lot of good a lot of right things in terms of supporting him, but a lot of bad things in terms of how hard I wrote him at eleven years old. It's just that I looking back, I'm I'm glad he's still playing baseball. Bobby Minor: Yeah. No, it's good. Thanks for sharing that. So so he just started a sophomore year of high school. He wants to play baseball as long as he can. So talk a little bit more about how your role as dad has changed from when he was, you know, ten, eleven and twelve to where he is now. Anthony Mendez: The biggest thing for me that helped me overcome it and allowed me to change who I was as a dad or a baseball dad, because that term in and of itself can have negative connotations to it, right? the biggest change was when I told him, after he came to me and said, I don't want to play baseball anymore, we kind of understood that it wasn't baseball itself, right? It was the environment that he was in. He went from little league to playing in a ma in the major circuit of of travel ball, UAASA baseball. It's a lot of pressure for an eleven year old. They still don't have their abstract thinking developed, right? And they associate bad performance with them being a bad player or a bad kid, or that they're not working hard enough, which may be the case later on, but they can't really figure that out. So we told them, All right, let's take a break. Let's pull back, let's take a break, and let's find a place where you can just develop. And that's when we found and I've told you about this organization as a rock star, Los Angeles Rockstars, which is a nonprofit organization set up by Eric Aldridge down in Inglewood. it was a little bit of a hike for us to get to it, but the way I saw it is if I'm gonna travel from the San Fernando Valley down to Inglewood, California every day, I'd rather do that if he's playing and and participating and learning and having fun. versus traveling every weekend to say Vegas or Arizona. so my role since then, to answer your question, it's become more of a of a guide, right? I facilitate the people that train him now, because after a certain age, you have to realize I didn't play at a high level. I played basketball in high school and played is is is a stretch. So the most I can do for him basically early on is teach him fundamentals of baseball, right? and then I dove into studying biomechanics with learning from drive line and stuff like that, just to make sure he was safe, right? Arm care. He's been doing arm care since 11. That's always been a thing for me. Advocating for him when if they write him too hard too early. so my role has changed from not just being a coach to him and an advocate to mostly just being an advocate for him and also a sounding board for him if he has an issue. to guide him more l more as a young man now than as a baseball player. which kind of overlap and, you know, obviously. Bobby Minor: Yeah. That's good, man. That's that's that's I mean, just really good stuff. So I don't like baseball can make parents feel like every decision is huge, you know, the team, the coach, playing time, lessons, showcases. So looking back now, what do you think you spent way too much energy and wor energy worrying about when he was ten and eleven? And then what turned out would you say that matters a lot more than you thought where he is now? Anthony Mendez: I think his stats early on, when he was pitching, making sure that he, you know, had command at nine or ten, I worried too much about that. and while that's important, obviously, to teach a kid, I also wanted him to throw hard and and and one of the wor this is something I tell people all the time, don't buy custom cleats, please. It's just it's a waste Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Anthony Mendez: of money. You know, these kids, they gr outgrow stuff all as it is, but it's also unnecessary. You can buy you can find thirty-five or even forty dollar cleats and you know, and at a local sports store or something like that. don't buy the best and latest glove and don't go crazy spending all this money on bats. And I'm saying that because I did all of that. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: thinking that one thing was gonna help This bat has more pop than the other. Instead of allowing him to kind of develop as a hitter or even as a pitcher. So I spent too much time worrying about stats, worrying about how he looked out there. I spent too much time worrying about winning games. it was just it's it doesn't hurt it hurts me, but it hurts it hurts him more. and I also initially anyway, until I spoke to one of the coaches at Drive Line before we transferred over to Bimol. that told me it's not his job because I felt bad that he skipped his programming at eleven or twelve. He had daily program workouts and things like that, all in the name of arm care. But I told him, Hey man, Bobby Minor: Right. Anthony Mendez: sorry we couldn't get caught up with he we couldn't do it. And he said, don't worry, it's not his job. And I try to tell other dads that too early on. I tell him it's not it's not their job, and it might not ever be their job, chances are if you look at the odds. So that's one thing I definitely spent way too much time focused on stats and appearance and crap like that. Bobby Minor: Yeah. I don't know. You know, looking good out on the field. That's that's you know, probably that Dominican flair. My wife's Puerto Rican and Dominican, and I know I'm thinking I have at least a couple, there's a couple pairs of custom cleats that were my sons that are in our garage right now. And you know, Anthony Mendez: Mm-hmm. Bobby Minor: you got you gotta have that little that little swagger, that little Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. Anthony Mendez: You gotta have the flag on there and stuff. Bobby Minor: so do you ever so I I mean recently I interviewed Michael Kelly. who's very well known, another Emmy nominated actor, but not known for his voice. Anthony Mendez: Yeah. I'm a big fan. Bobby Minor: He has a very distinct look. And we were taught I was asking him, does he ever get, you know, recognized at the ball fields and things like that? What about you? Like, because you're all it's all voiced. Does anybody ever hear your voice and say, Where have I heard that voice before? Anthony Mendez: No, no, I don't think so. I don't recall ever being recognized among the Travel Ball families. Eventually they Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: learn what I do. I don't go around telling people what I do, right? but eventually they find out and I find out that some of them were fans of the show, which is kind of cool. but that's one of the advantages of being a hundred percent voice actor, at least Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: so far. I can move about this town and not have to worry about it, right? I can go out and say and do whatever I want. in two cases only people have recognized me, but it was during the height of the show. and I think because it was they were followers on Instagram. but other than that, no. I mean it's my voice changes for so many things. If you look at the Latin lover narrator, which is my most recognized voice, he talks more like this, you know, it's this very pillow talk, Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: Antonio Banderas kind of thing. You know, and for me to go around walking around talking like that is kind of would be wild. Bobby Minor: Yeah, I'd be like, What's up with this guy? But you do have a very to me like I mean if I didn't know you and I just met you, I'd be like, Bro, you should be on radio or doing something. Like you have that voice Anthony Mendez: yeah. Bobby Minor: anyway, you got the deep the deep bass voice. So, okay, I see you're wearing your Nick's cap. Yeah, and I mean I understand why. On the baseball side, like who's your favorite team growing up? Who's your favorite team now? Anthony Mendez: Growing up we used to go to a ton of Yankees games. we used to sit in the tier reserved, the nosebleeds, at the old Yankee Stadium. and I don't know, a lot people don't remember this. but on Bat Day, we used to love Bat Day because at the time they don't do it anymore, you get mini bats. It was Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: for a kid it was like full sized heavy ass bat. It was solid wood. So imagine all those people in the Bronx with full Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: size bats at the stadium. I can see why they kind of shrunk them up a little bit. Yeah, so I grew up as a Yankees fan. I don't have just to get it out there, I don't have any hatred for the Mets. As a as a matter of fact, I'm kind of like a closeted fan of the Mets because they're kind of scrappy, you know, as Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: and and they are well, maybe one day they'll be Cinderellas, right? We don't But I remember in eighty six I started watching baseball because of the, you know, eighty six Mets. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: Even though we went to a lot of Yankees games and when they won, it was just my wife also is a huge Mets fan. so somehow we made it work, you know, Yankees and Mets in the house. And now I kind of just I watch a lot of Mets games because I just w I have I have no no horse in that race and it's more fun to watch, you know, there's no pressure. So and I like what the Padres are doing too. So I'm more of a baseball fan than you know, there's an old skit that Jerry Seinfeld does. you should look it up. It's hilarious. When he talks about that we're rooting for we're really rooting for uniforms. He said your guy gets traded and all of a sudden you're like, Boo, but it's the same shirt. So yeah, so that's that's kind of me. Bobby Minor: I'm gonna to watch it. So what's your favorite stadium? Because you mentioned the Padres. I love Petco. Petco's one of my favorite stadiums. And actually, my son played junior college baseball in California this year. So I flew out so we could drive back. And I had him meet me in San Diego and we got to watch the Padres and the Dodgers play in Petco. so yeah. So what's your favor what's your favorite stadium? Anthony Mendez: that's fun. I like there's two different reasons why I like Dodgers and Petco, right? Petco Stadium is just beautiful. It's an open air thing. Even when you're in getting food, you still feel like you're outside. It's and it's Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: almost like a city block. We went into one of the gift shops and they took our tickets to enter the stadium on the back exit of the gift shop. And the gift shop was on the street. So it was almost like a little town. so I love Peko for that reason. Everybody's always, you know, it's a really fun team, a really fun organization to to root for. Dodgers Stadium I like because of the history there, right? Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: both historic, both, you know, impactful in terms of the community and with some controversy, obviously, initially, but there's something about Dodgers Stadium that is grimy to me that. reminds me a little bit of I don't know, I d you know, I can't compare it to LA because I didn't grow up in LA, but it reminds me a little Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: bit of like the Bronx a little bit. You know, there's something old school about it. So I like both the old school and the new school. So Dodgers City MSN, I do wanna go to Seattle, Seattle to to watch a game there 'cause obviously for Julio Rodriguez. But I have a friend out there who who has invited me and I haven't been able to get away to go up there. But that's on that's nice on my next on my list is to go to Seattle 'cause that looks like a fun place to be. Bobby Minor: Yeah, no doubt. I I got to cross a bucket list sta a bucket list item off from visiting the stadium a couple of weeks ago on my birthday. My wife and I flew up to Chicago, so I got to go to Wrigley Field and see the Cubs in the White Sox. So I got so I saw I saw all these rivalries. I saw the the Dodgers and the Padres in Pecco, I saw the Cubs and the White Sox in Wrigley, Rangers and Astros Anthony Mendez: that's cool. Bobby Minor: here in Globe Life locally. So Anthony Mendez: Yeah, that's awesome. Bobby Minor: Well good stuff. So if you could sit across from a dad whose son is ten or eleven and he's about to go all in and travel baseball because he's afraid his kid will fall behind, what would you tell him before he before he swipes his cards? Anthony Mendez: I will tell him nobody's really, nobody that matters is really looking at their kid at this age. They're just not. you really think they are. And some of the organizations make you feel like they are with the stats and the rankings and and the streaming and all that. It's just, it's not important. The two things you gotta do right now is is nurture a love for baseball at that age. And Teach him the fundamentals of the game. So then when he does get stronger and more athletic and and does get to the point where he does say, okay, and it has to be up to him, of course, okay, I want to play in high school, right? At 13 and 14, you can really start then and start saying, Okay, I'm gonna start training, I'm gonna start doing these, and maybe say, Okay, maybe I do wanna see what's out there and enter one of these tournaments. But at six, seven, eight, I have friends that I call them, where are you? I'm in Arizona. I'm just like, why? Why? And particularly if your kid wants to be a pitcher or a catcher. You really don't have to go all over the world for that. There's everybody wants a pitcher and a catcher. So Bobby Minor: Yeah, true. Anthony Mendez: if they happen to go there, sometimes you don't know where they're gonna end up, right? So yeah, at that age, just focus on nurturing. Trust me, you you're gonna save yourself a ton of money, a ton of stress, and you might possibly. prevent the kid from leaving the game by the age of ten or eleven. Because I've seen it. Bobby Minor: That's good. That's good stuff. You know, and going back, you know, what he right now you were saying, you know, foster or nurture a love for the game, which is so important. And, you know, you mentioned it with with your own son. And I talk a lot about that. Like when your son says he wants to quit, don't freak out, don't panic. You gotta you gotta ask the right questions because to your point and your experience with your son, he didn't want to quit because he doesn't love baseball. There's something about the environment that, you know, that he didn't That he didn't enjoy, but he still loved baseball. And that's important because we think, you know, a lot of times they say they want to quit. Now, sometimes they do just want to quit baseball. That's not their path, but Anthony Mendez: Yeah. Yeah. Bobby Minor: but a lot of times it's not, it's not baseball itself. It's they don't enjoy the car ride home with you. they don't, you know, the coach, the team, any of those things. It's just too much of a grind because it's crazy to me. I had a mom reach out to me, I think in June. Her son was 11. He was going through his third. Growth plate, separation as an eleven year old. His travel team had already played sixty games this year in June. And Anthony Mendez: Mm. Bobby Minor: it's just it's it's insane, man. Just like Anthony Mendez: It's man. Yeah, it's it's it's Bobby Minor: Yeah. It's crazy. Anthony Mendez: a shame. I mean it's and again, I don't blame the parents, right? It's the same as the social media algorithms, right? There's a machine behind it. And it's not far-fetched to say that that's what it is. It was designed to do that. It's designed to make you feel at a very young age that you're behind. I had a friend call me. Because you freshman year high school, it's a big transition for kids, right? Bobby Minor: yeah. Anthony Mendez: the good thing about the Rockstar Baseball program is they take the ego out of the equation. And it's not for everybody, because they don't care if at a young age you're losing tournaments. They're plugging in pitchers, everybody's getting a shot. But at 13, they start this program called high school prep, right? Where they're facing freshmen. that summer they're facing facing incoming freshmen for high school. So at 13, all of a sudden to get on the 6090 field, you know, the real baseball field, because you're hitting these home runs with bats that aren't real. You're hitting Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: these home runs in fields that aren't real. It's a video game, right? Like Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: Cooper style, for example. That's a lot of fun. Go there, have fun, right? Don't take it too seriously. but it's a video game up to that point. It's it's actually nurturing the love for baseball to allow these kids to hit these things with these Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: what should be illegal bats. that's another story. but You know, thirteen and fourteen, transitioning over to to high school, I had a mom call me who was one of the moms from that we met through the Rockstar program. And her kid is more caught up in it than she is. because you know, these coaches are telling me I need to go here, I need to go to this state that I'm already behind. And I told her, Don't let anybody let tell you that a freshman in high school is behind. If he's made the team and he's playing the game. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: Right? He's made the team. He's playing the game. Obviously, he's not behind. Now, if he didn't make the team, that's something you may want to take a look at, right? And there's a bunch of reasons why not. But generally, if a kid doesn't make at least a Frosh team, there are certain things that they do have to work on, and that's okay. Come back next year. but to be told outright by coaches that your kid is falling behind as a freshman is insane to me. Where The kid is not even into his adult body yet. Tell me at Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Anthony Mendez: maybe 16, definitely 17 or 18, right? but even then, if you can find a local community college to play baseball, Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Anthony Mendez: you're playing baseball. That's you're gonna you can't make, you can't create these guys, right? I see a lot of legacy kids that are coming up, and I'm just like, Yeah, well, shit, I wish my dad was a major league player. That, but that's them. You can't create these you can't make your kid be a major league. You just can't. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: It just either happens or it doesn't. It has to be on their will, on their on their dedication to how much how hard they want to work. But to tell a kid too y so young that they're behind and to play sixty games as an eleven year old is insane to me. It's just a lot. And and again, I don't blame the parents. It's it's it was created for this. So we're just, you know, we've got to be a we've got to be pulled away f disconnected from the matrix. Bobby Minor: Yeah, I love it. I love it. Well, and do there's so much wisdom in what you're saying. It's it's people like now look, there are a lot of great coaches out there, great organizations that genuinely care about your son and they're gonna do right by you and your son. They're not gonna sell you something that you don't need. they're not Anthony Mendez: Mm-hmm. Bobby Minor: gonna you know, but the reality is there are a whole lot out there that that they're trying to just basically, you know, stick their hand in your pocket every step of the way. And, you know, when you talk about a kid being behind, I talked about this the other day in a video, you you're making the assumption that everybody develops at the same time on the same path. Because who are you you know what I mean? Like who are you behind? Like everybody everybody's journey is different. I saw a post today a guy a guy that was saying like he n never like didn't play travel ball in high school at all. They took summers off. He played division one baseball, he spent five years playing professionally, you know, and but the machine is designed, it wants it wants the parents, the parents that are watching this, it wants it's gonna prey on your hopes, dreams, and aspirations of your Anthony Mendez: Yes. Bobby Minor: son. You know, if you want your son to play baseball in college, you need to be doing this, and it's also gonna prey on your fear, you know. If you're not doing this, your son's gonna fall behind. Anthony Mendez: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yep. Bobby Minor: And I just Don't buy into it. And I know it's hard when you see everybody else doing it. and Anthony Mendez: Yes. Yep. Bobby Minor: yeah, okay, if you have an eight-year-old kid that's playing travel baseball and he is playing 60 or 70 games a year, he's probably gonna look a lot better than the eight-year-old kid that's just playing little league. But it doesn't matter at eight, doesn't matter at nine. And once it does be even begins to matter, like you said, Anthony, is when they get on the big field. So none of it matters until you're playing 60-90, you know, swinging a drop three. That's when it starts to matter, Anthony Mendez: Yeah. Bobby Minor: but even then. You got kids that are, you know, that were, you know, early puberty kids, late bloomers and everything. So, you know, I think by the time you're sixteen, that's when you really start to see, you know, okay, this is this is what's real and this is what's not real. So Anthony Mendez: Yeah. My son Michael, who's a freshman as as we discussed, he he hasn't done a single showcase. no, he's a sophomore. Sorry. Jesus Christ, it just goes by so fast. Bobby Minor: I said sophomore. Okay, so he's a freshman. I mentioned sophomore year. Okay. okay. So I thought I was wrong. Anthony Mendez: He's a kindergartner. He's playing high school Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: baseball. yeah, it goes by fast, as you know. yeah, Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: he's a sophomore. he hasn't done a single showcase. and that's intentional. because I understand what they're looking for in terms of Numbers, right? I understand what they're looking for in terms of maturity. I know these things from people like you, people like Eric who run the Rockstar, people that are out there trying to get this same message across, right? I understand what they're looking for. And they're looking for, as a pitcher, a certain VLO, certain movement. he, to me, as a freshman, these are guys that are scouting, because now at this point it's colleges, right? That we're looking for. We our first goal was for him to love the game. Our second goal was to make a baseball team in high school somewhere. And the percentages get smaller and smaller as you go. Now the next goal is for him to have a a lot of fun as a sophomore and a junior, and then to get to college if he wants to continue to play. But there are certain things that they look for at these things. These are college coaches that are used to seeing men. These guys in college are men. They have full bodies, they've grown to their bodies. They see you as a kid. And if you're not throwing as hard as they're used to seeing or within a certain marker for your age, then what's the point, right? And in addition to that, they really can't talk to you till July till August 1st of your rising junior year anyway. So what is the rush? And I Division One coaches, yeah, yeah. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Division one coaches, yeah, division division one coaches. Yeah. Yeah. Anthony Mendez: so what's the rush, right? So next summer we'll go out there and see what's what and let the chips fall where they may. based on how much work you've done or where you are physically. Cause you can't make magic happen, right? If he can't throw ninety, he can't throw ninety. can he get faster through training for what he's throwing? Yeah. Can he do his arm care, get stronger? Yeah. But there's a limit to what each individual can do. It's like in my career in voiceovers, for example, I have one or two voices that I can do in different modes, right? But there's some guys, man, that they can just do all kinds of stuff with their voices. I can't do that no matter how hard I work. That's fine, right? So Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: stay in your lane, just follow the program and don't be in such a rush to get this exposure. as a you know, as people say, exposure gets you exposed, right? And Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: that's that's the reality of it, man. Bobby Minor: That's good stuff. And I mean, you know, I always say, like, don't don't go to a showcase unless you have something to show. You know, it the worst thing Anthony Mendez: The show. Yeah. Bobby Minor: to me, one of the worst things a parent could do is take a kid who's not ready to showcase because they want to establish a baseline. Because that baseline, that's gonna stay with him. That now that's part of his digital resume. And that stays with him. And then you can get caught up, you know, you know, we gotta do this, we gotta do that. And I know that because I did that myself with my son Julian, you know, and Spent a lot of money that I didn't need to at Perfect Game Showcases because we were chasing, we wanted Anthony Mendez: Yes. Bobby Minor: better numbers, better grade, better ranking. So, all right, so I want to do something I like to do with everybody. It's called In N Out. If you're a base, you been around baseball, just a little in and out real quick. It's four questions, rapid fire, 15 to 20 second answers. we'll jump into it and then I got a couple more questions for you and we'll and we'll wrap everything up. But it's time Anthony Mendez: Sure. All right. Bobby Minor: for In N Out with Anthony Mendez. So first question, what's what's one travel ball expense you'd think twice about if you're starting over? Anthony Mendez: Bats. If a kid can hit, he can hit. That's is it. Bobby Minor: I that's a good answer. And you can buy bats and gloves on eBay. You don't have to buy you don't have to buy everything brand new, you know, big five or wherever. you know. All Anthony Mendez: You Thank you. Yeah. Bobby Minor: right. Second question. What matters more for a young player? The name on the front of the jersey or the opportunity he gets when he puts it on? Anthony Mendez: The opportunity he gets, if he gets opportunities. If you're in a major circuit like we are, and you don't play as much as the coach's kids, for example, go to a lower level and play there. Especially before the age you know, before you enter high school, why not? Bobby Minor: Yeah. I mean good reps. That's what you need. third question. So what's one thing your son needs from you now that he didn't need from you when he was 10? Anthony Mendez: I think he needs more of a dad, but he also needed that when he was ten. I was just more Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: of a coach dad. Now he just needs more of a dad and and I am happy to provide that for him. And also if he wants to get better, is acknowledgement, right? There are nights where he says, Hey, can we go hit in the backyard? You have a batting cage and a bullpen and everything. We're very privileged to do so, right? We even have track man, believe it or not. Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Anthony Mendez: and when he says, I want to go hit and sometimes I'm tired, man. I'm just like, all right, let's do it. You know, if the kid Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: is the one that's telling you to go, and also the opposite. He needs me to let him know it's okay when he doesn't feel like doing it. Bobby Minor: Mm-hmm. That's good. That's good stuff. all right, here's the slow roller. Last question. You're the narrator, so finish this sentence. The biggest plot twist in my son's baseball journey has been Anthony Mendez: He might not be as tall as me. He may or may not, but I don't know. I'm six two, so yeah, yeah. Bobby Minor: wow. All right. Well, yeah, that that's that's a good that's a good size. all right, so that was In and Out with Anthony Mendez. what's your favorite baseball memory? Something that you you witnessed in person? Anthony Mendez: Cooperstown, I think. and I tell you it's odd. He didn't hit a single home run. Most kids hit home runs in Cooperstown. It's designed for that. Let's be real. Bobby Minor: Right. Anthony Mendez: He didn't hit a single home run, and we felt terrible about it. However, months later, pictures from Cooperstown pop up and he said, I'm getting emotional about it because kids let you know what's what. They ground you. He said, Man, I had so much fun then. And that to me was like, shit, here we are worrying about him not having hit any home runs. And he had a blast at Cooperstown. So yeah, Cooperstown for me is kind of turned it around for me. It's it's not what we think it is, it's what Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: he feels it is. Bobby Minor: Yeah. That's good stuff, man. Thank you so much for sharing that. what about what about from a major league baseball perspective, what's your what's your all time favorite memory? Anthony Mendez: Bat Day at Yankee Stadium. Even though we were in nosebleeds and in seats that were so inclined that it felt if you took a step forward you would tumble all the way down to the field. it was just a lot of fun. we would come home and and we weren't able to use our bats inside the house, obviously, living in an apartment in New York, but bat day at Yankee Stadium was always one of the the biggest memories. And then second to that was when the Mets won the eighty six World Series prior to that. and rushing down and getting every single newspaper that we could. For the next day. Bobby Minor: Yeah. That's good, man. That I you know, I forget about like I when I asked this question, like I think of like I was at Adrian Beltra's three thousandth hit game, Anthony Mendez: no way. Bobby Minor: Juan Gonzalez yeah, Juan Gonzalez when he played for the Rangers, he got his one hundredth RBI before the all star break. I was at that game. I was at Nolan Ryan's seventh no hitter. And I think about those memories, would you make me think of memories like I remember as a kid going to the old Arlington Stadium, which was the old, old stadium, and sitting in the center field bleachers with my grandmother who would make hot dogs and wrap them in foil and we'd sit out there and eat those and going Anthony Mendez: so cool. Bobby Minor: down on the field. They used to do a thing that was called picture day, where they would they would rope off kind of around, kind of like around the warning track. And you would go and you would stand there with your camera and the differ players would walk by and stop and you could take pictures. I forgot about things like that. Those are still like great memories. Anthony Mendez: Yeah. Yeah. Bobby Minor: And yeah, so thanks for sharing. Anthony Mendez: Paul O'Neal too. I don't know if you knew if you remember this when Paul O'Neal was up to bat, they used to have the big O as a target out in right field. Bobby Minor: Yeah. Anthony Mendez: yeah, so those those were good times. Bobby Minor: Yeah, for sure, for sure. So as we wrap up, what's one thing like what's one thing that you would say? I mean, you've said a lot, and I don't want to, but like, you know, just to that that parent out there right now of, you know, the eight, nine, ten, eleven year old, what's one thing that you feel like that dad or that mom really needs to hear and really needs to take to heart? Anthony Mendez: Let the kid guide you on what he needs. He'll let you know in one way or another. And parents know their kids. So if you just put your ego aside when it comes to baseball, put what you think he needs for baseball, guide him. Give him if you can the opportunities he he he he or resources that he needs to get better or at the game. But even if it's just allowing him to play, I don't know, major league baseball game on on Xbox or PlayStation. Just allow those things and let the kid guide you on what they need. I can guarantee you, especially because I'm at the point where I am now where we're getting ready for high school baseball as a sophomore before our junior year. Nobody is scouting a six, seven, eight, nine, 10, or 11 or even a 12 year old or 13 or 14 for that matter. But after 12, if you want to start getting it, making it a little bit serious, do it. And then see if the kid wants to continue do it. It has to be up to him. Otherwise, you are creating some tension between you and your kid as as as a parent. So yeah, let the kid guide you is is the short answer for that. Bobby Minor: No, that's good stuff, man. I really appreciate it. do you have anything coming up? Any voiceover work that maybe we should look out for? Any movies, T V shows, anything that that we should be Anthony Mendez: I'm doing a bunch of movie trailers right now. I do so many. I honestly sounds and I'm not bragging or anything. I forget what I do. we're working on this little film campaign for one of the streamers that I can't really talk about yet. and we're working on what it's more like commercial kind of thing. So a lot of stuff that you're asking me about, I'm at the point now where I can't talk about two or three of the things. Bobby Minor: Right. Anthony Mendez: Yeah, but if you do want to go back and and listen to some things, I obviously Jane the Virgin is is one of my most favorite things. Look me up on IMDb and and try to find those things there. And and that's it really, man. It's just it's just we're grinding away here, man. It's just I think I'm I'm at the point in my career where I audition every day, but there's always something that comes in that needs to be recorded every day. And it's so much that now I'm so focused. Bobby Minor: Right. Anthony Mendez: My daughter's starting college and things like that. So Yeah, that's really it. I mean I'm at AnthonyMendez dot com, so if you wanna check out some of my work there and that'd be cool. And and my latest and greatest work is the opening and the closing for this podcast. Bobby Minor: That's right. I love it. I love it. It's my wife my wife was really excited. She's I think she told Anthony Mendez: That's cool. Bobby Minor: ever told everybody that she knows. and then what about on social media? Where can people follow you on social media? Anthony Mendez: Mo I'm mostly on Instagram, Anthony VO, or Anthony Mendez VO on on Instagram. and then from there, I don't do a whole lot of TikTok. I know a lot of my managers and a lot of my agents and things like that. They really want me to start doing more social media. But the reality is, man, that was never really my thing, you know. And I know it's it's it could be a platform to push and do certain things, but I'm I don't really quantify my success by how many followers I have or don't have anymore. just trying to put out stuff and maybe at one point I'll revisit Jane the Virgin and talk about my experiences there. that's one of the things I wanted to talk about in social media. But you're not gonna find me doing any dances, that's for sure. Bobby Minor: Yeah. I stay away from all the TikTok trends and everything. Anthony Mendez: Yeah. Bobby Minor: So well dude, well Anthony, I really appreciate it, man. Thank you so much. good luck to you and good luck to your son. Anthony Mendez: Thank you, man. Appreciate it, Bobby. Thank you so much, man.