Latest / Scene Projects Sports Network / Phil Lep’s Mascot Journey and Royal Oak Leprechauns Season Preview

Transcript

Phil Lep’s Mascot Journey and Royal Oak Leprechauns Season Preview · Scene Projects Sports Network

• 0:14
  Welcome into a very exciting episode of the Scene Project Sports Network.
• 0:18
  I'm your host Bubba Starts, and joining me today is unofficial, mascot of the leprechauns,
• 0:24
  Phil Lepp.
• 0:25
  Phil, welcome to the show.
• 0:27
  Thanks, Bubba.
• 0:29
  Glad to be here and, glad to hype up my team a little bit.
• 0:34
  Yeah.
• 0:35
  I should I should have specified a little bit.
• 0:37
  Not all leprechauns, the Royal Oak leprechauns.
• 0:42
  Are there any other kinds?
• 0:44
  Just wanted to be clear for our listeners and watchers.
• 0:49
  Phil, be before we get too far into it, obviously, we're gonna talk a little bit about
• 0:53
  the team that that you unofficially represent and are a big part of during the baseball
• 1:00
  season.
• 1:01
  But would love to get a little bit of your backstory and how you kinda landed yourself in
• 1:05
  the the pot of gold, if you will?
• 1:12
  Well, I started a few years ago as a a fan that was coming to some of the games.
• 1:19
  And the following season, which would have been 2024, I was looking for the schedule to see
• 1:28
  when the game started on the Leprechaun's website, and I saw that they were looking for
• 1:35
  help, looking for people to help work at the park.
• 1:39
  So I said that sounds like fun.
• 1:41
  I'm recently retired veteran and postal worker, and that gave me something to do during the
• 1:51
  summertime.
• 1:52
  And I applied, and they invited me to be a part of the team.
• 1:57
  And this this will be my third year hanging out at the Lucky Corner in Royal Oak.
• 2:06
  I love it.
• 2:07
  I think it's awesome, and kudos to you.
• 2:10
  First of all, thank you, for your service both to our country as a veteran and, to, your your
• 2:17
  neighborhood as a postal service worker.
• 2:19
  I think that service often gets, overlooked in our world.
• 2:23
  I've made three trips to the post office already today in my little town.
• 2:26
  So, a a good day, to shout out our postal service workers.
• 2:31
  We sure appreciate it.
• 2:32
  And I appreciate the volunteer aspect of what you're doing with the team and bringing that
• 2:37
  experience, especially to the young fans.
• 2:40
  Can you talk about what it means to you, to see the elation on a young fan's face when, the
• 2:47
  leprechaun, is able to pose with a picture pose for a picture with them or maybe sign a
• 2:53
  baseball that they got as a souvenir.
• 2:57
  Oh, that's what makes it the most fun for me.
• 3:02
  Interacting with the kids.
• 3:04
  I like inter interacting with all the people in the crowd, but the the kids are the best,
• 3:09
  especially the regulars that you get to know by name after a while.
• 3:14
  There are families that have season tickets, and the kids are there every game, some of
• 3:20
  them.
• 3:20
  And and some of those regulars serve as bat boys and and have tried to unofficially help
• 3:28
  the crew out.
• 3:30
  And we we let them as much as possible without letting them get in the way or get into any
• 3:36
  kind of danger.
• 3:40
  But they let they wanna they wanna help us out, and we try to let them do that.
• 3:46
  And especially with the league, the Northwoods League being what it is, it's still amateur
• 3:52
  ball playing with a lot of, you know, the the talent are younger people as well, mostly
• 3:58
  college age, you know, student athletes still kind of making that transition, playing their
• 4:05
  summer ball before they go back to their metal bat leagues at college or they prepare for
• 4:10
  maybe a a career in professional baseball.
• 4:14
  I know that there's been some pretty big names that have come out of this league.
• 4:17
  I just think it's really awesome, the experience that the Northwoods League provides,
• 4:22
  not only for the players, but for the fans as well.
• 4:27
  Yeah.
• 4:28
  That's a big thing.
• 4:29
  We're that's why we're here to help prep the players mostly.
• 4:36
  One of the requirements to be on our team is you have to have a desire to further your
• 4:45
  baseball career beyond college.
• 4:47
  We don't we don't want people that are just just wanna play ball.
• 4:51
  We want people that are motivated to play beyond.
• 4:56
  And, I mean, just like any any other pro sports, it's only a certain small percentage of
• 5:03
  the people that even make it to the next rung of the ladder.
• 5:08
  On average, we're we've been having maybe two players off our team each year getting drafted
• 5:15
  in the MLB drafts.
• 5:18
  And and then we get to follow them in the minors as they try to work their way higher.
• 5:24
  And we're still waiting for our first leprechaun in the show.
• 5:30
  We had one pitcher from the Cincinnati Reds organization that got called up, but he never
• 5:37
  got in a game.
• 5:38
  He was only with the team about five days, and then they got they sent him back down.
• 5:43
  He never got to pitch.
• 5:44
  He thought he was gonna be our first, but we'll have somebody in there soon, I'm sure.
• 5:53
  Yeah.
• 5:53
  And I think the elation from the entire crowd and everyone who's a fan of the leprechaun
• 5:59
  seeing one of their boys out there is so amazing.
• 6:03
  And that's why I was really attracted to the Northwoods League and covering more of the of
• 6:10
  the teams and the stories around them.
• 6:12
  And I thought yours was, compelling to me, someone who was at the games as a fan and just
• 6:20
  wanted to be a part of something more even on a volunteer basis.
• 6:25
  And I think that's something that everyone can be inspired by.
• 6:31
  Well, it's it's fun to be active, especially as a senior.
• 6:37
  I mean, if you don't if you don't keep living, you you're not gonna keep living.
• 6:44
  So
• 6:47
  do you feel like the the summer now gives you a sense of purpose out here in the wider world.
• 6:54
  Obviously, I'm sure you have family and and other things, not that this is the only thing
• 6:59
  to live for.
• 7:00
  But to have that purpose during the summer as a recent retiree, is that truly something that
• 7:06
  you can, you know, recommend to other people who are getting ready to enter that next phase
• 7:11
  of their life?
• 7:13
  Find something that you're that you love and and you're passionate about to get involved in.
• 7:20
  It may be a a volunteer work or something, a certain cause.
• 7:25
  I appreciate that you're involved with the the veterans suicide prevention, for instance.
• 7:33
  But especially as we get into our senior senior years, most of us were not lucky enough to do a
• 7:42
  job for our career that was our passion, something that we love doing.
• 7:47
  For most of us, it was a job.
• 7:50
  And in in this time, to get to get to get involved with something that you love doing is
• 7:57
  a is a it's great.
• 8:02
  Phil, you got a little preview of the season for us.
• 8:05
  How's the, how's the team shaping up, and what can we look forward to from the Royal Oak
• 8:10
  Leprechauns this season in the Northwoods League?
• 8:14
  Well, they we haven't made any official announcements as to who's on our roster yet.
• 8:21
  First game is Memorial Day just over a month away.
• 8:25
  And I imagine over the next couple weeks, they'll start making announcements as to the
• 8:30
  the players that are gonna be on this year's team.
• 8:33
  I'm hoping they bring several folks back from last year's team.
• 8:38
  Unofficially, I've heard from a couple of the guys through social media that have let me know
• 8:46
  they're coming back, but it's that's that's all I know.
• 8:50
  Only know about three guys so far that are gonna be back on the team.
• 8:54
  Last year, we finished two games out of the playoffs, and ours this is just ours we we've
• 9:01
  just been in the Northwoods League two years.
• 9:03
  Prior to that, we played in a great what they call the Great Lakes League, which is a lower
• 9:09
  level.
• 9:10
  It was like for collegiate ball, we're like we're like the triple a or even the majors of
• 9:19
  collegiate ball.
• 9:20
  Us and the Cape Cod League are probably the two most quality summer leagues in the country, and
• 9:28
  there's probably fifteen, twenty summer leagues around.
• 9:32
  So we were playing in one of those lesser leagues as a franchise until two years ago, and
• 9:39
  this will be our third year in the Northwoods.
• 9:41
  And we came up just a little bit short of the playoffs last year, and we're hoping to get to
• 9:47
  the playoffs this year for the first time.
• 9:51
  Yeah.
• 9:51
  Get out there and make some noise and just, you know, the the third season around in the
• 9:57
  Northwoods league.
• 9:58
  And I know that the competition is stiff having talked with some of the other teams and and
• 10:03
  coaches.
• 10:04
  It's not easy.
• 10:05
  It's not an easy league to play in, and and you're looking at some really high level
• 10:09
  baseball as high as you get really in the amateur ranks, especially would bat like this.
• 10:15
  So really an incredible league.
• 10:18
  I love the atmosphere around the stadium that they're bringing and what volunteers like you
• 10:24
  are bringing to the game, Phil.
• 10:26
  So I really appreciate appreciate you jumping on and talking a little ball with me today.
• 10:31
  Well, it's my pleasure.
• 10:33
  And the Northwoods really does a good job of preparing, players for minor league baseball
• 10:43
  and eventually professional baseball because we play a 72 game schedule in, like, seventy six
• 10:50
  days.
• 10:51
  So so these players are playing every day pretty much, and then they might get one day
• 10:59
  off a month.
• 11:01
  Other than that, they're playing and they're going try half the games are on the road.
• 11:05
  They're traveling.
• 11:07
  For us in Michigan, the farthest we travel is to Green Bay, Wisconsin, but that's still quite
• 11:15
  a long bus ride.
• 11:18
  Yeah.
• 11:19
  Having driven from South Dakota, you know, through the Southern part of Chicago to get out
• 11:24
  to the Detroit area recently, I can I can vouch for that?
• 11:29
  Phil, I really appreciate you taking some time for me today.
• 11:33
  I can't wait to see you.
• 11:34
  Hopefully, Hopefully, I'll get an opportunity this summer to come all the way out there east
• 11:38
  to Royal Oak and to get to take in a game and to shake your hand in person and maybe get an
• 11:43
  autograph of my own.
• 11:45
  Well, we'd love to have you, and let us know if you're planning on coming out.
• 11:51
  We'll we'll make sure to get you taken care of and get you in the gates.
• 11:56
  And and we would love to have you visit visit us.
• 12:04
  And I'd I'd appreciate it.
• 12:07
  Yeah.
• 12:07
  I can't wait.
• 12:08
  I I think it's gonna be amazing.
• 12:09
  And if not this season, they'll always be next summer.
• 12:12
  Right?
• 12:13
  So, Philip, thank you for everything that you do for not just the Leprechaun organization,
• 12:19
  but for all the fans that are that are coming through the gates and and taking in the game,
• 12:24
  to make it an experience, win or lose, something that will be memorable for all of our
• 12:30
  young fans especially.
• 12:31
  So thank you for all that you do, and thank you for being part of the scene.
• 12:36
  Oh, you're welcome.
• 12:37
  Thank you for inviting me to talk.
• 12:40
  Go, Lups.
• 12:41
  Go.