Latest / Foul Territory / Dodgers Senior Director of Team Travel Scott Akasaki

Transcript

Dodgers Senior Director of Team Travel Scott Akasaki · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And to be able to go to Japan and be
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: involved in that and be in a spot where arguably
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the best player in the world is of Japanese ancestry.
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  Speaker 1: Over the course of my career, the course of my life,
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  Speaker 1: my own personal history has been tremendously moving to me.
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  Speaker 2: All Right, we're talking to the Dodger Senior director of
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  Speaker 2: Team Travel, Scott Akasaki, joining us right now. Very excited
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  Speaker 2: for this conversation as we love to go outside, just
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: the player manager conversation. Scott, awesome to have you on.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for the time. How you doing
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: and if you can just give us a little intro,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: like we're sitting in a circle with everyone, like, Hi,
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  Speaker 2: my name's Scott. This is what I do.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Well, Thanks guys. My name is Scott Okasaki. I'm the
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  Speaker 1: Dodger Senior director of Team Travel. I've been doing this
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  Speaker 1: for about two decades now and having a lot of
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  Speaker 1: fun still.
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  Speaker 3: Scott, Now, are you wearing a quarters? Because? Sorry? Are
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: you wearing a quarter?
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: Is it because you said you're gonna wear something sexy
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: on the show?
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  Speaker 1: Is that?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah? Because that's it.
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  Speaker 1: I thought about I thought about wearing something like nice,
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  Speaker 1: but then I had to represent you know, the squad
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  Speaker 1: over here, right I can't I can't forget my camera.
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  Speaker 1: But there it is right there, you know, So.
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I see, I see how it is. I mean,
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  Speaker 4: that's so so it's just it's very GM director of
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  Speaker 4: travel type of attire.
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  Speaker 3: But that's okay, Yes, you look great.
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  Speaker 1: I got after this.
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  Speaker 4: So you know, okay, I haven't seen you since twenty fourteen.
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  Speaker 4: And that's where we're going to start. When you were
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: the you were the director of whatever that trip was
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  Speaker 4: that we took to Japan with all the MLB all
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  Speaker 4: stars and me.
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  Speaker 3: But how much has travel and just the like just
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  Speaker 3: the effort that.
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  Speaker 4: You have to put in changed in that ten years
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  Speaker 4: Now we're going the eleventh year. What are some of
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  Speaker 4: like the most significant things that have changed for dudes
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: getting on the bus and go into a game, because
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: it's way more than that.
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  Speaker 1: Well yeah, I mean I think a lot has changed
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  Speaker 1: really in the past five six years. You know, the
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  Speaker 1: the the performance aspect of it, the rest, you know,
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  Speaker 1: all the science that has come in. You know, it's
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: not just about launch angle and all of that. And know,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: we measure sleep and we measure you know, recovery and
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: so all of that comes into everything, the way we travel,
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  Speaker 1: the beds we sleep in, so it's all interconnected.
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: I want to ask you this once the schedule comes
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  Speaker 5: out for the new year. My my question you would
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  Speaker 5: be is that when you first start getting after it
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  Speaker 5: with hotels trying to figure out where everything goes or
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  Speaker 5: do you have like kind of an inkling beforehand, because
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: this is a lot of work. You got to understand
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  Speaker 5: what hotels, the guys are going to, making sure they're happy, flights,
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: all this kind of stuff. So when do you really
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: start getting after it? Season ends, World Series ends? Are
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: you getting after it right away or you just got
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: away for the schedule to come out.
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  Speaker 1: No, that's too late, todd Uh. You know, the schedule
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  Speaker 1: comes out for us in about May or June, depends
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: on the year, but generally around that time. So we
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: all the travel directors around the country are starting to
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: put pieces in place around that time, and it's an
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  Speaker 1: ongoing conversation with the various hotels. You know, Like one
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  Speaker 1: of the things that I was explaining to somebody yesterday was,
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  Speaker 1: you know, how can we stay at this hotel over
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  Speaker 1: here and not this place over here? Well, it's because
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  Speaker 1: the Dodgers have been in a fortunate situation to be
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  Speaker 1: in the postseason every year, So the hotel that takes
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  Speaker 1: us during the season has to be able to take
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  Speaker 1: us in October two.
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  Speaker 4: All right, So o'tani has I mean he brings his
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  Speaker 4: own bed cover and his own personal pillows. Have you started,
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  Speaker 4: since now this is his second year playing for the Dodgers,
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  Speaker 4: have you started to find hotels that have what he
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  Speaker 4: needs or what he wants, or what certain players want
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  Speaker 4: and then he doesn't have to bring that on his
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  Speaker 4: own or is he still packing a bed everywhere he goes?
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  Speaker 1: Well, I cannot confirm or deny what we do for
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  Speaker 1: Shoho Tani. So I'm gonna just leave that at that.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, that's fair. That's fair.
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  Speaker 4: Then I'll then I'll ask this, Are the players in general,
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  Speaker 4: not Shoo Tani? Are the players in general now more
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  Speaker 4: or less needy than they were in twenty fourteen when
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  Speaker 4: all we ever really got was an envelope and hopefully
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  Speaker 4: it was the bed that you know, wasn't the pillow
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  Speaker 4: top bed where our back would be wretched in the middle.
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  Speaker 1: Of the night, you know, Kratzy, that's a that's a
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  Speaker 1: tough question because I would. I would say that the players,
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  Speaker 1: and rightly so, are the center of this game, right
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  Speaker 1: and especially with a team like the Dodgers, with all
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  Speaker 1: the superstars that we have, they are the ones that
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  Speaker 1: everybody should be taking care of. So you know, maybe
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  Speaker 1: that wasn't thought of in the when I first started
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  Speaker 1: this position as as it is now, but it's right,
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  Speaker 1: you know, like the players come first, and we can't
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  Speaker 1: forget that. You know, we have these jobs because of them,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, and it's not necessarily needy or whatever,
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  Speaker 1: but you know, they're they're the They're the front and
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  Speaker 1: center part of our game.
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  Speaker 5: I want to ask this question. I think this is
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  Speaker 5: a fun one. I want to say. I would say,
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  Speaker 5: what irks you more? What gets you? Like all when
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: a player calls like, I'm going to go two different
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: scenarios here, I wrote them both down, So what irks
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  Speaker 5: you more? Like an hour before the game, hey man,
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  Speaker 5: I need six more tickets from a player or the
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  Speaker 5: guy that says, hey, I'm flying home at three pm
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  Speaker 5: the day, I'll he's like, I got to make different plans.
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  Speaker 5: Can you find me another one later on at night?
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  Speaker 1: You know, Todd, I'm going to take the politically correct
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  Speaker 1: answer and say that all of it is not bothersome,
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  Speaker 1: you know, to beyond. I think we're I've been in
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  Speaker 1: this game long enough to be able to and I
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  Speaker 1: think all of the travel directors, once they have, you know,
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  Speaker 1: some time under their belt, is to be able to
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  Speaker 1: anticipate the last minute ask understanding that you know, things
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  Speaker 1: come up all the time, and you know the guys
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  Speaker 1: are focused on their games, and then that's the important part, right,
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  Speaker 1: So I don't mind at all. You know, we try
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  Speaker 1: to get ahead of it as much as we can.
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  Speaker 1: But sometimes, you know, stuff happens right in our daily lives,
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  Speaker 1: right we forget, you know, as parents, things for our kids,
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  Speaker 1: and we're like, oh dude, I forgot about this, but
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  Speaker 1: you know, we have to scramble and we have to
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  Speaker 1: deal with it. So you know, that's just a part
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  Speaker 1: of That's just a part of life. So we understand.
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  Speaker 2: For the card collectors out there, you got to check
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  Speaker 2: out Arena Club. I've got to share room. AJS got
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  Speaker 2: a showroom and it's become a place where you can
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  Speaker 2: basically do everything digitally and physically in the hobby.
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  Speaker 6: Absolutely can get cards, so great them for they come
• 7:01
  Speaker 6: in the plastic if you want to physically get them
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  Speaker 6: so they don't show up like this card that's all
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  Speaker 6: bent that Scott for some reason decided incary. They show
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  Speaker 6: up nice, like the exact same card. Look how perfect
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  Speaker 6: this one is. That's how Arena club sends them to you.
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  Speaker 6: They'll leave it in case them for you so they
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  Speaker 6: don't get messed up in transit. So Arena Club's your
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  Speaker 6: one stop shop for any baseball card, football card, any
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  Speaker 6: card needs that you might have.
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  Speaker 2: And you should check out slab packs. You can rip
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  Speaker 2: a pack for hundreds of dollars or less and hit
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  Speaker 2: on a card that's worth tens of thousands of dollars.
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  Speaker 2: I'll take those odds right now. You can get twenty
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  Speaker 2: percent off your first slab pack or your first card
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  Speaker 2: purchase by going to Arena club dot com slash foul.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: That's code foul. Once you get there Arena club dot
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  Speaker 2: com slash foul, codefoul.
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  Speaker 4: How much is the time that you leave? I know
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  Speaker 4: you talked about the sleep specialists, but like we just
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: had a situation where a team played a game at
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  Speaker 4: six twenty nine and the CBA said you weren't allowed
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  Speaker 4: to play a game.
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  Speaker 3: After six point thirty.
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  Speaker 4: How much of that goes into your planning in the
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  Speaker 4: sense of, hey, we don't want our team because you're
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: on the west coast going east even if it's not
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  Speaker 4: all the way to the East coast, and then waking
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  Speaker 4: up twelve out or getting there twelve hours before the game.
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  Speaker 4: How much does that go into the Dodger's view of winning.
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  Speaker 3: Baseball games and keeping their players healthy.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all of that is really important. We sit around
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  Speaker 1: and we talk about it. It's debated a lot, and
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if there's a right answer, you know,
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  Speaker 1: because you do things one way, and you know, you know,
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  Speaker 1: our situation, humble Bragg coming up is is whatever we've
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  Speaker 1: decided has worked in the past as far as making
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  Speaker 1: the playoffs are concerned. So I don't know if we
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  Speaker 1: have the answer. We certainly discuss it, and it's debated.
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  Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, what time you travel,
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  Speaker 1: where you stay, how you get there, what amount of
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  Speaker 1: sleep you have? Good players win good games, and good
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  Speaker 1: health wins good games. I mean good health wins games.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, no doubt about it. So my first question is
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  Speaker 5: it might I don't know if some answer you are
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  Speaker 5: you bilingualed, do you know other languages as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I I grew up speaking well, actually I didn't
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  Speaker 1: grow up speaking, but Japanese is second my second language.
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  Speaker 5: Yes, okay, great, So the reason I'm asking that, so
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  Speaker 5: you guys go to Japan and you play your games
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  Speaker 5: out there, Mookie Bets gets sick. Right, So now luckily
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  Speaker 5: you speak both the lang you speak Japanese as well,
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  Speaker 5: so you know, one time or two you must not
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: have you know, known the language. But at the same time,
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  Speaker 5: what in that kind of situation, you know, you got
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  Speaker 5: to be on your toes ready to go. So what
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  Speaker 5: what's the next steps for him? Like, there's got to
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  Speaker 5: be some sort of movement, right.
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  Speaker 1: Right, So you know, MLB has a really good team
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  Speaker 1: in place. You know, they're prepared for this, right MLB
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: sets up the games, you know, we're we're also because
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  Speaker 1: we have Shohei and Yoshinobu and Roki, we have a
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  Speaker 1: team of Japanese you know, bilinguals a lot, and so
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  Speaker 1: that being the case, not just me, My Japanese is
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  Speaker 1: probably you know, you know, I'm I'm third generation Japanese
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  Speaker 1: American and we have native Japanese speakers on our staff,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: and so they're able to help in Mooki situation or
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: anybody situation with it with any type of request. So
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  Speaker 1: very fortunate in that respect. But yeah, the Japan trip
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  Speaker 1: was absolutely awesome.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: All Right, we need your expertise now, Okay, as.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: Players, I know the game is over to getaway day,
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  Speaker 4: I throw all my stuff into the bag, do my interview,
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  Speaker 4: My bag goes, bang out the clubbies at a visiting
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  Speaker 4: place or the home place, push my bags to the truck,
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  Speaker 4: and then get on the plane.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: Plane lands, blah blah blah. We go to the airport.
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  Speaker 4: Give us the director of team travel schedule from start
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: of game on getaway day to putting your head on
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  Speaker 4: the pillow, and how many people are on the plane
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  Speaker 4: with you, guys that you have to take care of
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  Speaker 4: this entire group.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Well, every team is different. The Dodgers roll big. We're
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: about in the mid nineties. As far as our traveling
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: party is concerned. We've actually went to a two plane model,
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  Speaker 1: which is the first in professional sports. So we have
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  Speaker 1: a player plane and we have a staff plane. That's
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: a little bit complicated because you have two different sets
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: of luggage, two sets of equipment, so you have to
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  Speaker 1: be very organized. But the start of the game. We
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: have a very good crew as far as equipment staff
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: is concerned. Everything is highly organized, so we have things
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: going in two different directions. We are in communication with
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: the hotel as well as far as you know, making
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: sure things are everybody's treated the same, but you know,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: things are a little different for the players and.
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  Speaker 3: The staff.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Depending on what time we Our distance of travel is
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: what time I go to bed, you know, so it's
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: it's it's a lot, but you know it's what I
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: signed up for, and you know, I still enjoy doing it.
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: One time we went from Anaheim, I got called up
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: played one was that one game in Anaheim we flew
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: to Tampa for an off day. So I flew across
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: the country to Tampa. They left my suitcase in the
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: hotel or at the at the whatever the truck. It
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: never got on the truck. So we got to Tampa
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: with two bus or with two planes, with set essentially
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: two separate traveling parties. Has have you lost more luggage
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: or have you forgotten more luggage or has.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: It gone to the wrong hotel?
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: And how long did that take to like completely iron
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: out when you guys went to two planes, which is
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: phenomenal to me. That is so big league, but it's
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: also a league big league number of people that you're
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: flying around too.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so knock on wood, it hasn't happened yet. I mean,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: you just have to be in front of it and
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: stay organized, Cratzy, you know. So you know, my guess
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: is that it's gonna happen at some point, and we
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: just have to read and react, you know, do.
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: Other because other players sometimes look at Dodger players and
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: they go, oh man, they have all this nice stuff.
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: Other players look at the Yankee players and oh man,
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: the Yankees all this stuff. Do other directors of travel
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: look at Scott Akasaki and go.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: Man, you get all the nice stuff? This is so cool?
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: You get two planes? Or do they look at you
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: and go, I don't know. All I work for the Marlins. Like,
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: we don't even have air conditioning on our plane, so
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: I don't have to do nearly as much as you.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: You know, I don't know, Cratzy. I think that you'd
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: have to ask them. But you know, I think any
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: person on another team would say, would I rather manage
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: two planes or I rather manage one plane?
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: You know?
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: And I think like the answer is pretty clear, you know,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: like one is more simpler than two.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: All Right, people look at players and they go, well,
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: how do I become a big league player? How do
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: we become a major league baseball player? How do you
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: become a major league director of travel?
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: You know, I don't think there's a recipe or a
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: way to do it per se. You know, I just
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: think getting into sports whatever way you could possibly do it,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: and then just being right place, right time, showing organization,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: showing the ability to communicate, showing the ability to be
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: able to talk to different people, whether it's people in
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: the front office or players or coaches. And yeah, like,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: like I said, there's there's no recipe, but I think
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: hard work, organization, those are sort of the hallmarks of
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: this position, and h interpersonal skills and just you know,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: being able to to do the to do the job
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: on a on a daily and yearly basis. It's it's
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: not easy, right, no doubt.
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: I mean, you're you're getting after it, and don't forget
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: people Scott has a family too. But what I want
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: to ask you, because people don't people forget that stuff
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: like oh he's a big leaguer, Well he's also a
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: human being. Who has kids and he's gone. It's not
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: like he puts everybody on the plane and goes, good luck, guys,
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: see you when you get back in LA. But what
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: I want to know is how nice is that ring?
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: How much did you enjoy? I know you have some
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: National League Championship rings. How nice is that World Series ring?
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about, crassy,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: you know, but actually this is this is that. That
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: was the twenty twenty ring, which I carry with me.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: The twenty twenty four ring is locked in a safe
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: in LA. But yeah, it's nice, right, Like you talk
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: about my family, you talk about you know, the rings,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: you talk about the Japan trip. I really haven't. I
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: really have accomplished all that I've wanted to in this game,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: and I feel really fulfilled from a work aspect, and
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: I wanted to take a minute. You know, there was this,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: there was a time in our nation's history when Japanese
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Americans weren't treated in the right way. And to be
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: able to be in an era and to serve a
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: team that has Jackie Robinson and Fernando Valley Zuela, Sandi
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: kofek Shoheo Tani Chanho Park, Hideo Nomo pioneers in this game,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: and to be able to go to Japan and be
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: involved in that and be in a spot where arguably
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: the best player in the world is of Japanese ancestry.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Over the course of my career, the course of my life,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: my own personal history has been tremendously moving to me,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: and you know, to the good. And to have my
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: family see that, and to be able to share with
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: my own kids that, you know, at a certain point
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: during World War two, bad stuff happened to Japanese Americans.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: But now to be able to have my boys in
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: the clubhouse and see role models people who look like them,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: and for them to understand and that they can do
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: whatever it is, you know, they want whatever the sky's
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: the limit in terms of what is possible. And I
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: think that's the great thing about this game, that's a
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: great thing about this country. That's a great thing about
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: my job right now, you know. And I really do
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: this job for them, and so it's an important piece
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: of how I stay motivated on a daily basis, because
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: you know, to be honest, you know, I do miss
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: out on all of those family things that a normal
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: nine to five Monday through Friday, Father Misses.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: That's very powerful, and I can tell you, I mean,
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: I was in Japan several months ago, and the connection
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: right now that Baseball brings to obviously baseball fans in
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: America and to baseball fans in Japan is it's really special.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: It's incredible, right, Like I had an extra special time
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: being able to talk about obviously what I do and
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: everybody being a fan of Show Hey and or of
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: major League Baseball. So my last one for you is,
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: of course you're on a team that has, like you mentioned,
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: the arguably best player in the sport. You've got Roku Sosaki,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: new to the party, Yamamoto now in his second season.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: How special is it to have those guys around? And
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: obviously I know you're not going to speak for them,
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: but is there anything you can give us about either
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: the connection that you have to them or whether it's
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: their appreciation for being here and being part of the organization.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: People just want, like any info because you know, they
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: don't do a ton of interviews obviously, right They've got
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: a lot going on. I think more of the interviews
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: of course with with Japanese media, which I'm sure there
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: is a whole nother to do. There's so many of
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: them following the team around. But you know, what can
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: you give us just to give a little intel on
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: how those guys are to work with?
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, obviously there's the language barrier, right, and
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: so being able to speak Japanese to them on a
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: daily basis is a special thing because I don't have
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: to go through an interpreter. But I can tell you
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: and and and all the fans about each of those guys.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: They are so great in terms of people. And I
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: know that's a boring answer, but they are so good
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: to my kids, They're so good to me, and it's
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: genuine and what you might see on TV or is
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: they are as nice of people as can be. And
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: you know what that goes for, Like all the Dodger players, right,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: so you know, Kik Hernandez, Tai Oscar Hernandez, right, Mookie Betz,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Freddie Freeman, these are all great people, Alex Vessia, you know,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: like Tanner, Scott, Evan Phillips. These are guys are all
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: superhuman beings. Anthony Bott, I don't know, I want to
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: name off the whole roster because I don't want anybody
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: to feel left out. But everybody is genuinely nice, you know,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: So not just like Roki or Yoshinovu or showhey, but
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: it's everybody on the roster, you know. And everybody in
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: the roster is a human being at the end of
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: the day, right, And so that I think is often
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: lost in wins and losses and world championships and strikeouts,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: is like human beings, right. This game is more about
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: human beings than potentially any other sport. And if there's
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: one thing I could impart upon, sort of like the
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: back of the curtain stuff, is how these men are gentlemen,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: you know, their class acts.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: Scott.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: That's gonna make people mad because people want to hate
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: the Dodgers. And now that you've said that Dodgers players
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: are really good dudes, Oh wait a minute, clubhouse culture matters, Scott.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: That's right, It does matter in winning. Oh, thank you.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: You know, you know. And and and it starts it starts
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: at the top, right, It starts with with Andrew Friedman,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Brandon Gomes, our ownership, Stan Casten uh. And then of
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: course you know I'm not having said his name, but
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Dave Roberts, right, like, you know, Dave Roberts sets the
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: tone for for everything right and and so without Dave,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: you know that clubhouse culture doesn't continue to operate on
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: a daily basis. You can't just throw good players in
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: a room and say win. Right. There has to be
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: a glue, and Dave makes that happen.
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: Scott, I thank you for coming on here because we've
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: been trying to get somebody in your position that like,
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: it's not it's not it's not heard and seen enough
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: because the glue is throughout the players, coaches, the staff,
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: because it doesn't happen without you guys. So Scott Akas,
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: thank you very much for coming on the show today.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much, and I really appreciate the opportunity.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: Eric.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: This has been great. So happy to come on any
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: time in the future if if, if time and schedule
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: is allow, he Todd. I want to do something my
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: dad taught at Rutgers when he first started. Yeah, so
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: like one thousand years ago, when my dad first got
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: his PhD in math, he taught at Rutgers. I know
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: you're a big Rutger supporter.
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: Oh yeah, there's listen, there's always a Jersey connection, Rutgers connection, Scott,
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: the same thing yeah, we love, we love ru baby.
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: I know there's always a connection.
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: We appreciate that I didn't go to I mean, Todd
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: didn't go to class, so don't don't even it didn't matter.
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: He doesn't know that there was classes. He played baseball.
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: Okay, come on now, come on there, hey, major and ball, fine,
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: can work out Major in communication. Yeah, I still got
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: to get my degree, but I'm gonna work.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: He's using it now.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: There you go.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: Well, Scott, this was awesome. Just be careful. There is
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: actually something pretty pretty bling bling ish on your your hand,
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: on your hand, just be careful.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: I don't really know, you know, I gotta go busting,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: you know. Hey, man, I wear this to the store,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: right and and I, uh, you know, go to the market.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: I go to the market and uh, you know, Trader
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Joe's back home or you know, I guess now the
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: place to go to is Arawan, right. So yeah, it's uh,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: it's something to be proud of.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that is special.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: So thank you so much again, Scott, and enjoy the
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: weekend and we'll we'll catch up with you again at
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: some point.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Okay, thank you very much, have a have a great day.