Latest / Foul Territory / Dave Roberts on managing Shohei Ohtani, 2004 ALCS, & epic career on Karl Ravech's Dirt From The Dugout

Transcript

Dave Roberts on managing Shohei Ohtani, 2004 ALCS, & epic career on Karl Ravech's Dirt From The Dugout · Foul Territory

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, and welcome to the latest edition of Dirt
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: from the Dugout, alongside my buddy partner, Justin Musil. I'm
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Carl Ravitch, fresh off the Little League World Series, which
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: was a unique and gratifying and wonderful World Series, the
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: most memorable I've had in the 20 years I've done
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: it for a billion reasons, but most importantly, because of
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the incredible outpouring of support that I received when I
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: was there, as well as getting a chance one more
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: time to watch the 20 top Little Leagues from around
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the world compete for a little league world series championship.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: And Justin, I know you said something very, very nice
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: and put it out there on the parent dugout. So
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: thank you very much for that. As I've jokingly said,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: it is a, it's a neat thing to sort of
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: be alive while people are eulogizing your career and hearing
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: all of these wonderful things said about you. When I
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: know if, if the circumstances were different, And I had
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: just done a Kentucky basketball game or a Dodger baseball game.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: There would be people who are not necessarily throwing me flowers.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: So I'll take it for the time being. That's for sure.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Well, I told you this, Ravi, and I mean it, man.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: It's just like you mean a lot to people. You've
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: done it the right way. You're so good at what
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: you do. I think there's just it's so it's great.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: It's not, you know, not the. the terms you wanted
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: to end on. But at the same time, it shows
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: the support and the people who cared about you and
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: really just felt like you were part of their home, man.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's what I think is so unique about baseball, right?
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: It's just you're in the living room. You're on all
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: the time. Your voice is on all the time. There's
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: a comfort with that. And it's generational, man. But just
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: hats off to you, man. Obviously, Little League World Series
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: was awesome once again. But I know you don't like it.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: but I think you deserved it. And it was awesome
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: to see all the outpouring of, of support. And the
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: thing is Ravi, it, it's, it's about you as a human,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: like you're, you're the same guy away from the screen
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: as you would think you would be. And I've been
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: able to experience that. And I think when people see
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: people that they're, that are well-known and, and they are
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: in their living rooms and, and they get the chance
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: to meet you, it's like, wow, he was really nice.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: And that guy was really respectful and really kind. Like
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: you saw a lot of those messages and you probably
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: didn't think anything of it, but it means something to people,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: you know? And so that's off to you, man, for
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: always doing it the right way.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much. And that segues beautifully into our,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: our guest, which of course here on the parent dugout,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: you are more than welcome to ask questions on our platform.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Please do so. Uh, he is a man that I've
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: loved since I got a chance to know him a
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: long time ago. Um, He is currently the manager of
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers, but to me, he's just the man. Going
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: back to his days with the Padres, we'll learn much
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: more about his upbringing. We'll learn about what went into
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: the stolen base when he was with the Red Sox.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: But you talk about authentic. Having spent time in literally
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: every manager's office, there is nobody who we would rather personally,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and I think collectively as broadcasters, rather spend time with
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: than the guy we're bringing on now. Let's welcome Dave
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Roberts onto the Dirt from the dugout. And Dave, thanks
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: so much for being here, man. You know how I
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: feel about you, and I'm delighted you're willing to take
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: the time to help us here.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: No, absolutely, Ravi. I echo what Justin said about you.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: I've known you for decades, and I'm just excited to
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: have this conversation. And me having a crazy, fun journey,
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: being a parent of two, And so this platform is
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: pretty special.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Good. Well, thank you very much. We appreciate that. But
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: let's go back then, and we'll get into all the
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: modern-day Dave Roberts stories. But let's just sort of focus
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: on why baseball. I just literally left Williamsport. We've got
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: a whole bunch of 11- and 12-year-olds there. Why for you,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: for a guy that went to UCLA and had the
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: opportunity to play football and basketball and baseball, why this
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: great sport of baseball? Why did you go down that path?
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: You know what's funny is– you know, as a young kid, um,
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: obviously nowadays, uh, people are, you know, specializing in one
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: sport and that's across, you know, boys and girls. Um,
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: but when we were coming up, Ravi, it was more
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: of you play whatever is in season. And I played soccer, basketball, football, baseball.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: And then I kind of then locked in on the three,
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: the big three. And then, uh, Football was always my love,
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: my passion. I loved Friday nights. I loved the hitting,
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: the contact, the pep rallies. And then I had an
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: ACL reconstruction at the end of my sophomore year. And
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: then I missed my entire junior year. And that was
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: a doctor telling me that I would never play sports again,
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: which I remember being with my dad. Yeah. And my
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: dad And I was just like bawling in tears. So
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: I'm 16 at this time. A doctor telling me that
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: my God, quote unquote, at that time was going to
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: be done. And that was heartbreaking. So then I come back,
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: work hard. Then it's football and baseball into my senior year.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: And then I think for me, guys, it was more
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: of had an appointment to go to the Air Force Academy.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: And at the last minute go tell my dad, I
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: really don't want to go to the Air Force Academy.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: Would you forgive me if I didn't go and my
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: dad going, son, you do whatever your heart's desire. And
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: that's where I basically just beat down on coach Adams
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: door UCLA and was a recruited walk on. Wow.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: I didn't know that Dave. I didn't know you having
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: had partial knee replacement surgery and sort of battling back
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: from that. I didn't, I never heard that story. Well,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: good on you.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah. It's one of those things where it's like, you know, it's,
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: You don't, and everyone knows it, you don't know what
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: you have until it's gone. And it just really obviously
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: made me lock in on school because I didn't know,
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: you know, being a B student and knowing I wanted
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: to go to college and if football wasn't going to
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: be the thing or baseball, then you had to bear down.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: So that was a blessing. But yeah, missing competing for
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: my junior year was brutal. Yeah, that was tough. But
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: to come back my senior year and play the two sports,
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: football and baseball, I really found a love for baseball
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: my senior year where I was a football player that
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: played baseball. But then my senior year, I became a
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: baseball player. And then once I got to UCLA, where
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: then it was just specialized in just baseball, then I
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: really understood the grind of what baseball is. And I'll
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: tell you guys, this is I've loved. I love baseball
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: more every year. And that's a credit to the game.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: And I learn different things all the time about the game.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: But I promise it's getting better and better as I'm
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: in my 50s. Awesome.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: That's so interesting, Dave.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: And I want to take a peek back at the
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: time where you went through that. Because there's a lot
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: of kids now, as you know, are dealing with injuries
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: in high school and UCL is blowing out like never before.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of setbacks that kids face that I
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: think that listen to this show. What was that like
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: and what did you learn through that experience to build
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: your resilience and your perseverance that you maybe had then
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: later down the road?
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: I think with a lot of athletes, it's about you
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: need the road map. And I say that in the
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: sense of, yes, I was devastated with the ACL reconstruction.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: And then it was like, okay, what's next? And so
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: I think that we kind of, our brains work where
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: it's like, there's disappointment, but then now what's the process,
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: the return to play? What's the roadmap? And so I
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: think for me, it was like, okay, I'm not going
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: to play. I'm going to be out for nine months,
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: but then now I've got to lock in on the rehab,
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: do everything I can to get back. And there's no
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: pity party. It's just kind of go through the process.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: And then if you do it right, then, you know,
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: you can come back. And I think that for me,
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: people have had reconstructions with knees. There are a ton
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: of UCL things. So I think that there are roadmaps
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: for guys to come back. But I think for me though,
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: Justin is, I really never felt sorry for myself. And,
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: you know, even dealing in 2010, as we fast forward
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: and we'll go back, I had cancer and I never
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: threw that pity party. And that's something that I get.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: I don't know if it was who I am or
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: my parents instilled that in me, but I just never
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: was that guy. So good.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: That's great. That's amazing. I didn't, uh, there are things
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: I'm learning here and I thought I've known you pretty well. Um,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: let me ask you this, Dave. Um, you deal with adversity.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Your players at every level deal with adversity. Is it
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: more incumbent on the parent, the coach, or the kid
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: to recognize and come up with game plans to deal
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: with that? You said no pity party. Well, where does
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: no pity party come from? Why do you have that
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: mindset as opposed to We've seen many. Woe is me.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: I need some support. Like, where did that all generate?
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: And what would your advice be to either parents or
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: kids about how to deal with those things?
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, it is different. I'm trying to kind
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: of wrap my head around when I was a young
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: kid who hated losing. When I remember at soccer games,
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: when I lost, I would cry and my sister's making
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: fun of me. And, you know, I think that Rome's
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: burning after losing once. game. But that's part of the competitor, right?
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: I don't recall my parents coming down on me about that.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: But then as I fast forward to kind of raising
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: my son, who is a ballplayer now coaching in the
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: Tiger system, trying to get him to understand the process
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: and taking good at bats and, you know, be positive. And,
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: you know, the whole like baseball is a game of
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: failure and all those kinds of lessons that he probably
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: didn't want to hear. I think for me, it's like,
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: it's hard now guys, because you see a lot of
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: travel ball stuff and that's not just baseball. That's all sports. Right. And,
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: And so it's like a lot of it is not
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: about winning. And so that's what's hard for me as
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: a parent or a coach, because a lot of it
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: is showcasing. They can put it under the umbrella of development.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: But I guess as a major league coach, it's like,
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: what are you developing? Are you developing skills or developing
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: winning players? So that's it. And again, that's like can
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: be debated. What's what's. the most beneficial for young kids. Um,
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: I'm certainly on one end of the spectrum. Um, but like,
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: I think, yeah, I think for me, it's like, I
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: just think knowing how to play the game the right way,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: playing to win, being a good teammate is a good
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: recipe for success and not only the particular sport, but
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: also life. Um, but I guess to answer your question,
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: it's a combo. I think that it's the parents, um,
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: it's that the coaches, if you get the right coaches
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: and also it's the young kids, hopefully have an awareness
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: of just having fun and playing the game the right way.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. That's a great answer. It's funny, Justin, before
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: you go, I mean, so many people we've had on here, all,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: many of your contemporaries have said the same thing. Are
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: we benefiting by teaching these skills or once these kids
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: get to be a certain age, are they even prepared
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: to play the game the right way and to, win
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: a game and maybe maybe justin there's a there's a
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: mix in there or a combination in there but so
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: many doc have said the exact same thing you just said.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah i think that i think the issue yeah and
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: i and dave i'd like to get your input on
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: this but i think the the there are many really
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: good club and travel organizations that do a really good
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: job of of building the player and and doing exactly
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: as you're saying i think that the discrepancy is there's
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: just so many and so Some do that, some don't.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: The question that I have for you, Dave, is as
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: you look at the landscape and kind of just where
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: we're at, you've now been in baseball long enough and
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: you've been managing.
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: Long enough and you have your rings, right?
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: You've done it at the highest level and you've accomplished
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: the greatest thing you can accomplish. Are you seeing a
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: difference in the players that are a little bit older
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: compared to the younger guys that are.
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: Now coming up?
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Are you seeing a difference in just where they're at
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: with their baseball IQ or their understanding of the game?
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: Or do you feel like all of that is still
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: pretty strong kind of on both ends of those spectrums?
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I definitely see, you know, a difference in the
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: older player versus a young player. And before I answer this,
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: you know, I am not, I will say this is
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: that the players nowadays and all sports across, you know, athletics,
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: in my opinion, are better. The skill sets are better
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: because they start earlier, they specialize, and these travel ball
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: coaches are making a living, they're giving kids an opportunity.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: So that's a great thing. And they're certainly passionate about that,
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: whatever particular sport. I do see where Freddie Freeman, for example,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: versus a young player that's up and coming, that I
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: think that there's more adjustability there's more watching of the
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: games versus a linear player. And I call them showcase
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: players where they don't understand, you know, they understand their swings,
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: but they don't understand what the game is telling them
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: to do, the scoreboard. And, you know, they'll be more
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: apt to watch an iPad to see their swings in
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: slow motion versus what is that pitcher doing Every time
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: it's 3-2, what pitch is he throwing? Or, you know,
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: what does that hitter do when he gets two strikes?
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: Is he making an adjustment, trying to shoot the ball
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: the other way? Or does he not make an adjustment?
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: And I think those are things that me as a
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: coach try to get our players to really watch baseball.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: Because a lot of the times if you're watching, your
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: eyes line up with what you're seeing on the iPad,
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: you know. And so there's just nothing more valuable than watching,
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: you know, in real time.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: So one of the things these coaches in Williamsport say
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: that they had to do was take away the iPhones.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Like literally every night, everybody hands the iPhone in at nine.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: It's a different world, iPhones compared to iPads. But you
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: do wonder, would a coach, a manager ever be able
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: to at any level say, iPads down, watch the game.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: There's more to be learned from watching the game than
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: watching the iPad. We can do that after the game.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: But for now, can we just focus on what's going
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: on out there?
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: You know, I think some managers do do that. I
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: haven't pulled that card yet. You know, as a manager,
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: and I applaud the coaches in Williamsport to do that,
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: when you start to reach a certain point at my level,
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: if you're going to make rules, the key is you've
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: got to follow through, right? And so what I don't
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: want is Freddie Freeman now to pick up an iPad
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: and then now I've got to scold him. or Shohei Otani,
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: but then you let Shohei look at the iPad, then
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: you lose credibility in the clubhouse. I do think that
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: the messaging has to be consistent as far as encouraging
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: guys to watch the game, not be beholden to just
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: the iPads, have the conversations, and I do think that
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: that works best.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: So, Dave, okay, so you have, you know, in your
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: locker room, you have an assortment of talent. You guys
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: are you know, unquestionably the most, I think many would
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: say is just a star star struck team, right? You
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: have so many, so many stars, so much talent. That
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: is a tall task for you as a manager to
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: handle all the different players that are so talented, right?
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: I want to ask you about that because I think,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: you know, for the coaches that watch the show or listen, um,
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: I think it's an interesting thing because you really have
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: done an amazing job navigating that Dave with all of
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: the different personalities, all the different stars that you have.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: It feels like at the end of every season, when
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: you watch from afar, you guys are so tight and
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: it's like, there's such a glue to what you're doing there.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: And it's a culture and you get them all to
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: play together for one goal. Can you just take us
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: through how you get to that every year? It's amazing, man.
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, thank you, Justin. And Peter Guber, one
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: of the owners of our club, a mentor of mine,
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: he's in the film industry. He always tells me, he's like, Doc,
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: keep the thing the thing. And for me, it's like
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: the thing is winning, winning a championship. And I think
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: for me, I'm always talking about things like the game
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: honors you. I do think that if you do things
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: the right way, you're a good teammate. The game honors you.
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: I do let guys know, regardless of who they are,
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: that the game doesn't need them. And I think that's
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: important for players to realize that, because when you've won
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: two championships, you're You've made a ton of money. You've
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: got a lot of celebrity. You start to get this
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: ego about you and people telling you how great you are.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: But it is an important reminder to know that with
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: or without you, the game of baseball is still going
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: to go on. And that's the truth. And the last
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: thing is that the goal is to win a championship.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: And for me to get everyone to say that their
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: number one priority is to win a championship then it
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: allows for me to hold them accountable all year long, um,
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: and keep them in the bumper lanes that whether it's
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: playing time, whether it's how they play, whether it's the
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: little things that need to be addressed, because we're all
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: aligned that the goal is to win a championship. And, um,
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: so I think for me, you know, making sure guys, uh,
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: are good teammates, the game honors, you play the game
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: the right way, um, know that the game, um, doesn't
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: need you. And I think that's a gratitude piece and
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: a reality check for everyone, myself included. And the last
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: thing is that playing to win a championship and that's
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: every day. And I think for us is what I'm
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: proud of guys is that we play a certain brand
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: of baseball every night, win or lose. And that's hard
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: to sustain. And I think we've done a really good
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: job of that. Yeah.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah. No doubt about it. This is, it's, it's the
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Pat Riley school, those, those dreaded hated Lakers by Celtics
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: fans out there of the, uh this is about we
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: and us not i and me so roberts has clearly
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: followed that and he's got a problem because he's a
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: laker guy but we'll discuss that later and let's bring
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: doc roberts back in here dave the beautiful part about
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: this platform that we have here too is it allows
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: our subscribers our members to ask questions directly so here's
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: one of the questions from uh a teammate named Dom.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: This is unreal. Thanks, Dave. You said every player needs
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: to be communicated with differently. How do you figure out
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: what a player actually needs from you? And just adding
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: to the question, does that change day to day?
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: A great question, Dom. It does change day to day.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: Maybe not day to day, but I think the key
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: is as a coach or leader, it's our responsibilities to
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: learn the player. And I think that for me, you know,
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: I get criticized a lot on the X's and O's
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: the end game. And for me, that's the easy part.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: The hard part is knowing what the player needs. So
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: I think for me, you know, I have players going
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: through things at home, off the field, um, physical stuff, uh,
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: you know, contract stuff and trying to, uh, get to
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: the core and, um, really find out what the player needs.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: I think sometimes I got to love on guys. Sometimes
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: I got to challenge them. You know, I think for me, it's,
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: you know, the superstars are the superstars. I don't necessarily
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: have to give them all the time, but I also
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: am mindful of the bench players, the relief pitchers to
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: make them feel just as valuable. So sometimes I will
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: say I play hard to get with the superstars. because
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: they get all the attention anyway. But I do, Dom,
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: do this thing called leadership by wandering. I spend a
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: lot of time in the food room, out in the pen,
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: out on the field, and I touch all the players.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: And it also gets me out of my office. So
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: I think that every player wants to be seen. And
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: so if I can see him and touch him and
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: say a little something, You know, me as a coach,
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: I feel pretty good, and I think they do too.
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: That's amazing, man. Yeah, that's amazing, Dave. I want to
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: get to the next question here.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: So Royce asks, what's harder, managing a young player who's
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: trying desperately to prove he belongs or managing a superstar
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: who's already accomplished everything and has very little left to prove?
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: God, that's a great question. So with the young player,
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: it's hard because– In one sense, it's easier because you
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: can mold them. You have the hammer. But they're chasing
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: a contract money. And so you can't fault them for
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: trying to make their way and establish themselves and still
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: try to give themselves up for the team, right? The
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: other guy... has made all the money, has got the accolades,
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: and now they're chasing individual stats, you know. So those
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: things that where you might want to, you know, for example,
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: Freddie Freeman, he's trying to get 3,000 hits. But then
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: I think that certain days he might need an off day.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: But then Freddie feels like I want to play. I
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: feel good enough to play. If I play, I get
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: a chance to get a couple of knocks. If I
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: don't play, I don't get any chances. So there's things
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: about just having the conversation of what's beneficial for you
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: and what's beneficial for the team. But again, it's player
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: to player. The hard part is the superstar player that
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: is not the superstar player anymore. Because then you start
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: thinking about, is he a platoon guy? Is father time
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: getting to him? Does he need a couple days off
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: a week? Because a young guy is more talented. But
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: on the other side, and I'll stop the question is,
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: you know, but when you get to the postseason, you
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: want the guy that is more invested. And how are
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: you invested? Life experience. And that's why for me last year,
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: I went with Miguel Rojas at the end because he
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: was going to live and die in the World Series. Where,
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: because of lack of experience at that moment in time,
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: Andy Pajes wasn't. And so for me, I wanted to
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: bet on as many guys that were going to leave
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: it all out there. And you don't know what you
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: don't know. And so Andy, this year when he comes back,
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: is going to be hungrier than he was last year.
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: And in 10 years from now, towards the end of
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: his career, he's going to be as hungry as Miguel
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: Rojas was last year. And again, that's experience.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: That's so cool.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: That's a great answer. It's ridiculous. We should have went
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: to Vegas after that decision. We have plenty more questions here, Doc.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: But do you ever sit there and say to yourself,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: told you, nailed that one? I mean, do you ever
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: afford yourself the opportunity to just reflect privately and say,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: I may have gotten that one right because look at
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: what Pahez is doing this year?
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: You know, I do and I don't. Yeah, I'm afraid
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: to kind of answer that because you don't ever want
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: to feel like it's your doing and I don't want
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: that humble pie. I do think that what I am
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: proud of though, Ravi, is I trusted my gut. And
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: I think that's something where, you know, people always want
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: the CEO job, the head coach, the manager, But there's
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: a lot of responsibility that comes with it. And, for example,
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: if I did play Miguel Ross, if he doesn't play well,
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: I'm the reason we didn't win the World Series. So
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: those are things. I'm proud that I was able to
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: just trust my gut and be willing to take the smoke.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: And so that's something I will say I'm proud of.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: All right. I digress. I went off script there. Go ahead, Justin.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: I love it, man, because you're giving us insight into–
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: all of the reasons why you do things. And I
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: think from afar, people can sometimes look at a manager
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: making the decisions. And you know this, the armchair quarterback, right?
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: It's very easy to look back on something. And we
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: can always agree or disagree after the fact and kind
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: of come up with their own reason. And that's really
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: what a lot of journalists, that's their job is to
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: create sort of conversation around things and ask questions.
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: And that's fine.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: But I just think you guys live in a tough
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: world because everyone kind of like when you do well
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: and you're making the right moves, it almost feels like, well, yeah,
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: of course you should have. But then when you don't,
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: you're criticized for it. Can you just talk a little bit, Dave,
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: personally about how you handle criticism and how you handle
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: negative feedback for the youngsters in particular that maybe social
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: media is it's just so much negative now and there's
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: so much on there. Can you just give some tips for,
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: for the youngsters out there on how you handle that
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: and what you see your players do to try to
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: just block out that noise?
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, for me, I don't do social media. Um, I
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: think that it's just not good for, for my wellbeing,
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: my mind, because, you know, as a, as the old adage,
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: you're never as good as you, they say you are
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: and you're never as bad. Um, And I think that,
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: you know, by nature, and it was created to be
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: able to go down these rabbit holes. And that's a
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: dark place. And I think for me, as even sometimes
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: with our guys, I encourage them to get off social
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: media because, yeah, when it's going well, you feel good
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: and you love the flowers. And then when it goes bad,
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: it turns quickly. And then it's not of benefit. So
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: I think for me, I try to encourage these guys
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: not to, but, you know, Most of them don't listen
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: to me. They still do it. I think for young players,
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: it's for young kids. It's just something that even to
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: try to get off it once in a while and
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: to realize, for me, that's a parenting thing and really
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: trying to get these kids to realize that you're not
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: missing out on anything. When you do the exercise and
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: get off social media, even for a week or two,
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: it's actually freeing. And then you take away that comparison
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: game and that's a, that's a dangerous game to play,
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: especially in this world. And so, yeah, it's a tough
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: one for me, but I understand some of the benefits,
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: but also I think there's a lot of, you know,
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: detriments coming with, with kind of chasing social media and
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: being on it. Yeah.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Well, welcome again to Dirt from the Dugout. This is
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: part two of our conversation with the great Dodger manager,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Dave Roberts, Justin Musil, Carl Ravitch here. Of course, the
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: parent dugout is where we invite everybody to go. So
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: you get the best in our content, which is very diverse.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: It has to do with dirt from the dugout. It
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: also has to do with baseball recruiting confidential. You can
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: ask Justin and me anything you want. You'll get our
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: blogs as well. I'm just back from the little league
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: world series, but the focus is on Roberts and the
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: major league world series and the pressure that he's under,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: you know, and in part one, we learned all about
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: his upbringing and the, diverse sports that he played, as
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: he said, soccer, basketball, football, and baseball. and what led
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: him to eventually fall in love with the sport. I
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: thought it was really interesting. He didn't really fall in
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: love with baseball until his senior year of high school.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: There are many who will say, as I found out
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: when they're 12, I've been dreaming about coming to the
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Little League World Series for my whole life. well, your
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: life has been 11 years. So there's really not a
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: lot of dreaming that's been going on. He didn't really
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: fall in love with this sport until he was a
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: senior in high school, which I never heard that story.
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: I mean, and then obviously we didn't know about his
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: ACL reconstruction, which was a very different time to have
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: an ACL injury. So I thought that was an interesting story.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: He dealt with a lot of adversity that he had
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: to overcome. And as he said, Ravi, He was a
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: football player playing baseball, right? And then his senior year,
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: he became a baseball player. I think it was an
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: awesome conversation around his background and his upbringing and all
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: the superstars that he's managing and all the different strategies
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: that he's taking.
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: I was surprised.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: I don't know about you, Ravi, but I was surprised
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: at how very transparent he was with how he dealt
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: with his, how he deals with his players and and
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: how he manages them and the different strategies he uses
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: with them.
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah. No question. I mean, the beauty of him is
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: he is, he's a authentic, but I do think authenticity
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: for anybody in any profession, Justin, you know, this with
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: your own baseball recruiting confidential history, when you've had success
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: at something, when you've done it for a long time,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: the foundation on which you stand on becomes a lot
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: more sturdy. You're more stable in your convictions and, He
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: is very stable in his convictions. He's won in a
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: lot of ways. He has currency that you can't really
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: have unless you've accomplished the things that he's had and
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: had the experience that he's had. It allows him to
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: have the conversations with Kike Hernandez and differently than he
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: would with Mookie Betts and differently than he would with
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: Freddie Freeman. So again, it is experience. It is successful experience.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: It's also the ups and the downs of Yeah, and
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: I found it to be really enlightening about a guy
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: who is very public. He's out there. He's managing the Dodgers.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: With all due respect to the Yankees, it's the Dodgers
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: who are the preeminent organization in Major League Baseball right now.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and he has a lot of superstars to manage, right?
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: And he's had a lot of success, but it took
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: him a long time to get there, and he's had
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: to battle through some things.
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: It was just such an awesome conversation.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: That's why I think part two, this whole conversation is
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: so good.
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: And part two starts with a question. I'm sure many
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: of you are wondering, well, why haven't you asked about
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: that guy yet? It starts with how challenging and what
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: are the ups and downs and joys of managing Shohei Otani? Um,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: so we've talked about the superstars on your team and
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: we're 30 minutes into this thing. We haven't even mentioned
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: barely Shohei Otani. So the question is from Maverick, what's
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: it like managing him? I know we've had this conversation.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: Is it like traveling with the Beatles? You show up
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: in a city, the attention around him appears to be insane. Um,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: What's that experience like for you?
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: The experience is great in the sense of I realize
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: how fortunate I am to get to manage Shohei. I
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: think he's the best player of all time. What he
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: can do and how he can impact a game on
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: both sides has never happened. It really hasn't. Then you're
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: taking on all the fanfare that he has. And he's,
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think that there's been a baseball player,
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: you know, really this century, maybe, or ever that has
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: moved the needle for our sport, like Shohei, you know, domestically, internationally,
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: you know, you get visiting clubs, advertising, Japanese, you know,
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: sponsors on the road because Shohei's there. We get, visiting
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: stadiums with people from Japan, traveling to watch him play
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: on the road. And so it's been great for our game.
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: He is so humble, very disciplined, uh, with his, uh, crafts, um,
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: quite sneaky, funny, funny guy. Um, and it is like,
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: I didn't travel with the Beatles in the seventies, but
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: it is like traveling with the Beatles, um, everywhere we go.
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: It's like, we're traveling, you know, with the rock star and, um,
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: it's a lot of fun, but, and I think the
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: thing is, though, for me is like, it's great for
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: the game, um, because not just baseball fans, but sports fans,
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: people know the name Shohei Otani and, you know, people cry,
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: you know, just seeing him and everyone stands up when
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: he gets to the on deck circle. And I get
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: to kind of see that and that that's fun to see,
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: but pretty easy guy to manage, you know, knows what
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: he needs to do to get ready. Um, yeah, he's
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: scuffling right now with the bat. Um, But he'll be back.
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: He'll be fine. But great, great guy.
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: That's awesome, man.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think when you think about these players
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: from afar, you know, the fan might see them as stars.
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, you're just trying to get them to all
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: play together for one goal. I mean, obviously, you know,
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: when you look at the talent around you, as we
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: talked about before, Dave, that was one thing. I want
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: to go back to your playing days, though, because– you
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: have the infamous steal, right. And you were a winner. You,
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: you played, do you ever feel like you're, you know,
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: now you're at a point where you've accomplished so much
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: as a, as a manager, it's overshadowing, you know, a
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: good career that you had, or does that bother you
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: at all?
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: I mean, because, because you were a good player too, right.
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: So like, you know, you know, I think there's, there's
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: some credibility that comes with being a really good player. That's,
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: you had some really big moments and, and, I just
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: would love you to talk about that and how you
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: balance that out and what matters to you because obviously
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: your career as a player matters to you a lot
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: as well.
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: Well, I had a nice career. For a guy that
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: signed for $ 1, 000 out of college, playing for as long
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: as I did, I have no regrets. I love managing.
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: I love being a part of you know, impacting players
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: and impacting the game. Certainly there's nothing like playing, but
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: I think that I enjoy managing more. I don't miss
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: thinking about facing Randy Johnson or Pedro Martinez. And now
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: these guys, you know, Mizorowski and I couldn't imagine seeing
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: them on the probables or, you know, Chris sale. Like
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: we saw him the other day. I was like, no,
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: thank you. So, My chair in the dugout is much better,
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: much more comfortable than the batter's box. And I will,
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: it is interesting because now, yeah, certainly I'll be looked
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: more as a manager and even my players probably go,
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: you played? You actually played? So I'm approaching that part
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: of life. But I think that, again, I've been in
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: this game since 1994 when I signed with the Tigers
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: in the 20th round. So to still be enthusiastic about
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: my job, this game, that's something I'm proud of, and
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: not to be some curmudgeon.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: And you should be, and you're not a curmudgeon. But
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: to Dave's point, Dave was first a 47th round draft pick,
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: then a 28th round draft pick, then came up with
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: one of the most iconic postseason moments in the history
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: of baseball, and subsequently has obviously won World Series as managers.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: Let's go back, because the Steel... in 0-4 in game
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: four for the Red Sox down three zip was significant
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: on a lot of levels. You've told the story about
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: knowing what you had to do, but we do have
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: a question from a member and it does speak to
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: kids out there. It may speak to parents out there.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: So you stole second in one of the most iconic
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: moments in baseball history. What did that version of Dave
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: Roberts understand about the pressure, the pressure of the moment
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: that maybe you still use today as a manager, but
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: for the kids out there, you're coming up, bases loaded,
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: there's pressure, you know, you're in the field, ground ball, pressure.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: How did you handle the pressure of that moment knowing
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: what your job was?
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, another, man, these are some great questions. I think
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: for me is preparation. I think that's everything. I think that,
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: you know, true confidence is is bred from preparation. And
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: whether you're Tiger Woods taking shots and making putts and
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: putting yourself in tough spots or Kobe or whoever it is, right?
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: Tom Brady making pressure throws on fourth down with your
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: back to your end zone to your back. And I
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: think for me, it's like I just was prepared for
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: that moment. I studied Mariano. I was a role player
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: at that time. And so, you know, once I got
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: out there, I felt I was ready. And so with that,
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: I wasn't afraid to fail. And I think that that's
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: part of being a champion is you can't be afraid
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: to fail. And so how are you not afraid to
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: fail is when you know you've done everything you could
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: to prepare for that particular moment. And I think that
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: how we have won three championships in six years I
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: think we have more players than anybody that are not
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: afraid to fail that can embrace whatever moment comes to
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: them because you don't know when the game is going
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: to come towards you in a big spot and so
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: I think for me it's the preparedness, and I think also, again,
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: just the willingness that Freddie Freeman's failed many times in
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: big spots. And we remember the walk-off grand slam in
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: Game 1 versus the Yankees or the walk-off in Game
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: 3 against the Blue Jays in the World Series last year.
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: But he's even said, he goes, man, people don't remember,
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: I've failed many times in the ninth inning. So I
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: think those are the two things.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: One other thing, but Justin, on that steal before you
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: get there, I'm curious, it's like in the moment and
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: in hindsight, what are the details, Doc, that you remember
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: about that moment? I mean, literally, are you so zoned
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: in that nothing is impacting you? Or are there every
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: little detail that you recall about that stolen vase?
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that I remember it being cold outside.
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: You know, I remember Terry saying, anybody gets on base,
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: you're going to run for them. Millar gets on base.
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: And I remember telling Lynn Jones that the bunt sign
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: was on and I'm going to steal second base or
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: take the bunt sign off. So Tito took the bunt
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: sign off. I remember Lynn saying, all right, kid, do
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: what you do. And then I remember three throwovers from Mariano.
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: And we had him in September, right? So in New York,
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: and I remember that Jorge went out to the mound,
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: and when he went back behind the plate, Mariano held
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: the ball. And so held it, held it, held it,
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: then delivered. So I knew that if ever I had
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: the same opportunity, wait him out. He's going to hold
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: the ball, hold the ball to deter me from stealing
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: second base. So after the three throwovers, it was like
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: Top Gun, and he was a MiG, and I was Maverick.
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: I had him on radar a lot. So, um, I
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: was like, the red light was beat, was blasting like,
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: and so I had him and then I was like, okay, man,
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: wait for him. Just wait him out, wait him out.
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: And then he held, held, held. And then I got
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: a great jump.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: That's so great. That's awesome.
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: I want to, you, you, you brought up something about, uh,
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: you know, the, the heart of a champion and being fearless, right.
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: And, and not being afraid to fail and all that.
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: And there's a, real famous clip now of Millar before
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: that game, right? That said, hey, don't let us win
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: this one, right? Like, don't let us win this one.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: Can you just take us into that sort of culture
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: when you guys are, you know, backs against the wall
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: doesn't really describe it. It was even, you know, more
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: than that. It is plastered on the wall. But yet
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: there's this like spirit before the game that was, if
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: you look back on some of that, It is definitely
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: where you guys believed you were going to win that
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: game and win that series.
• 42:42
  Speaker 4: Can you just take us through that?
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: Because it just felt like the looseness and the fear
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: of losing that series was just not there at all.
• 42:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that Kevin really hit on something very,
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: very good in the sense of let's just win today.
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: Don't let us win today because then we're going to
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: win tomorrow. And I think the thing is that's really important.
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: The lesson is, and I apply that today with my managing,
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: is it's one day at a time and let's try
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: to win today. And regardless of what happens, let's pick
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: up the pieces and win tomorrow. And what that does
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: is that it takes away the, it's not as daunting.
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: The season's not as daunting. The pressure is much more,
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: you know, dissipated because all you have to do is today.
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: And so we're not trying to win the World Series
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: on September 1st. We're not trying to win four games
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: in one day against the Yankees. And so you're not
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: trying to get four hits and one at bat. Those
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: things like that's just the way to live life where,
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: you know, young kids are trying to get drafted. Well,
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: you're not going to get drafted in September when the
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: draft is in June. You got to put in your
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: work today and then you got to do the same
• 43:59
  Speaker 3: thing tomorrow. Keep stacking days and And I think that's
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: a mindset that I didn't have as a player because
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: you're trying to be an all-star, you're trying to hit 300. And,
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: you know, so those are things that it's helped me
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: as a manager, try to like get my players to
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: get more micro where the world wants you to get
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: more macro and think bigger, but that just becomes noise.
• 44:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: Doc, we got a question from Ryan here, and it
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: applies to everybody in life. He asks, what's the hardest
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: conversation you've ever had with a player and what did
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: it teach you? And just a quick aside, when I
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: was working in Binghamton, New York, Doc, and I was
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: doing weekends, the news director brought me back out behind
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: the newsroom and said, you're not going to become the
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: everyday weekend, a weekday sportscaster. We're going to go in
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: another direction. And in the moment you don't think about
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: the difficulty of that conversation. You're just all sad and upset.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: And am I in the right career? You've had to,
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: you've had to be the guy leading these conversations, but
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: you were a role player. So you've had to listen
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: to those conversations for a kid out there when they're
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: told news, they don't want to hear what's the best
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: advice that you can give them about these hard conversations
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: that invariably they're going to have.
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: Well, I think, um, you know, from two perspectives, I've
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: been on both sides. I think from the player's perspective,
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: you just want honesty, clarity, and you've got to be
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: a good self-evaluator. I think the thing is with players
• 45:36
  Speaker 3: is that the good thing about players is they're not
• 45:41
  Speaker 3: good self-evaluators because they always believe and should believe that
• 45:44
  Speaker 3: they're the best option. But A player that is a
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: good self-evaluator on his strengths, weaknesses, is pretty powerful when
• 45:54
  Speaker 3: you can be honest with yourself. And so to receive information, criticism,
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: a tough conversation, you're more apt to receive it better.
• 46:05
  Speaker 3: I think for me, I've learned to just be honest
• 46:08
  Speaker 3: with players and shoot them straight. Because I think when
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: you're having a tough conversation, a lot of it you
• 46:15
  Speaker 3: want to kind of smooth it over a little bit,
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: not break their soul. But at the end of the day,
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: you don't really give them clarity. And I've done that
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: before where now, you know, telling Justin Robleski last year,
• 46:29
  Speaker 3: for example, that, Hey man, you're not going to be
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: on the first, the division series roster. You've had a
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: good year. You're going to be in the pen and,
• 46:39
  Speaker 3: Don't know if it's going to be the next series,
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: but what we do need is, you know, during this
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: division series, you need to keep your arm ready when
• 46:46
  Speaker 3: we're throwing lives. We're going to our players are going
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: to need you to take live at bats and saying, hey,
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: but we believe in you. And then he gets added
• 46:57
  Speaker 3: to the World Series roster is and is one of
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: the pivotal guys in the World Series. So those are
• 47:03
  Speaker 3: things that I think that I think he appreciated. But yeah,
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: telling a guy he's getting released or sent down, those
• 47:10
  Speaker 3: are brutal conversations.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's so much to that too, Dave, when you
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: talk about just the navigating of people. I mean, you're
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: talking about humans, right? And you're talking about relationships. You're
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: talking about families that are involved. And this is way
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: deeper than just it's a pro athlete. And I think
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: when you kind of look at some of that stuff,
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: Can you just share a little bit about the backdrop? Obviously,
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: you're LA, huge market. You're dealing with superstars all over
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: on your club. Can you just share a little bit
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: about the human aspect of what you try to do
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: and how you're trying to connect with them as people
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: to get the most out of them as well and
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: to show them that you care about them? Or what
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: strategies could you give to other coaches and how to
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: connect with their players is maybe the better question.
• 48:07
  Speaker 3: I think that's the core of my coaching is the
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: caring and learning the players, their families, making sure that
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: they know each other. A lot of my spring training
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: meetings is poking fun at guys, but also doing things
• 48:26
  Speaker 3: so they all know how each of them got there.
• 48:31
  Speaker 3: And then you start to find like, oh my God,
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: you're from Wisconsin, Oh, I went to school in Wisconsin.
• 48:39
  Speaker 3: And you get a pitcher, catcher, or a pitcher, hitter,
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: a young guy, old guy, there's a bond, right? And
• 48:46
  Speaker 3: I think that the more you get guys familiar with
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: one another, the stronger the bond is. So we have
• 48:52
  Speaker 3: a lot of players, probably 60 players every year that
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: come through our clubhouse with injury, performance, up-down, options, all
• 49:01
  Speaker 3: that kind of stuff. So it's ever-evolving. So you got
• 49:06
  Speaker 3: to make guys feel invested, feel comfortable. And I think
• 49:09
  Speaker 3: more than ever, when I was younger, you didn't feel
• 49:13
  Speaker 3: comfortable in a big league clubhouse if you're a young player,
• 49:16
  Speaker 3: where now there's a lot more young players that we
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: got to find ways to... make them feel comfortable also
• 49:23
  Speaker 3: but still have boundaries but still make them feel like
• 49:26
  Speaker 3: they can be themselves and I realize that they perform
• 49:30
  Speaker 3: better that way and so I do think that for
• 49:34
  Speaker 3: me it's caring about the player making sure you know
• 49:36
  Speaker 3: that you care about them and then As they always say,
• 49:39
  Speaker 3: you know, they don't care what you know until they
• 49:41
  Speaker 3: know you care. So try to love on these guys.
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great. And I've seen him do it. And
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: whether it's Kike Hernandez or Freddie Freeman or Mookie Betts,
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. Miguel Rojas, he's the guy you want
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: putting his arm around you. One more before we get
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: to the kitchen sink for me. It occurred to me,
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: your heritage, your half-life, Japanese and half African-American. You go
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: to UCLA where Jackie Robinson was a central figure, and
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: now you're managing Shohei Otani and other players from Japan.
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: Has that struck you? Is that lost on you? Is
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: that important to you?
• 50:18
  Speaker 3: It's important to me, not lost on me. I think
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: that it makes me feel even more responsible to do
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: right by the game, right by my opportunity. I remember,
• 50:36
  Speaker 3: you know, being a freshman at UCLA and walking onto
• 50:39
  Speaker 3: Jackie Robinson Stadium and playing my career there. And now
• 50:45
  Speaker 3: that I'm friends with, you know, Rachel Robinson and in
• 50:49
  Speaker 3: her 90s and, you know, the Robinson family, that blows
• 50:53
  Speaker 3: me away. And then playing with Hideo Nomo and being
• 51:00
  Speaker 3: the first minority manager for the Los Angeles Dodgers and
• 51:04
  Speaker 3: Dusty Baker being one of my great friends and Cito Gasson,
• 51:08
  Speaker 3: the first African-American manager to win a World Series, texting
• 51:11
  Speaker 3: me saying, I'm proud of you. You know, those things are,
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: those things blow my mind. But what it does also
• 51:18
  Speaker 3: is it kind of makes me, it ups my game
• 51:23
  Speaker 3: because I don't take it for granted. I know that,
• 51:27
  Speaker 3: you know, the organization is counting on me to do
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: things the right way. My players are my family. You know,
• 51:34
  Speaker 3: there's things now guys that in this world that our
• 51:39
  Speaker 3: decisions affect our family. And so that's a more existential
• 51:44
  Speaker 3: deeper one, but I do think that, you know, it
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: just keeps me more mindful of doing things the right way.
• 51:49
  Speaker 3: So my wife, my kids can be proud and, you know,
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: have opportunities as well. Awesome.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: That's great. Thank you for sharing that.
• 51:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: I want to, I want to, Piggyback on that, the
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: last part of your answer there and what it, you know,
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: all the things that you're representing. And I think it's
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: really important for players, younger players, and as they get
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: older to understand they're representing way more than themselves with
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: how they act on the field, their actions off the field.
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: Can you just touch on that a little bit more
• 52:23
  Speaker 2: and how you try to drive that point home with
• 52:26
  Speaker 2: your players? under the enormous spotlight that they're under, but
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: how their actions just impact so many people away from
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: even just your team.
• 52:38
  Speaker 4: How do you get them to see that light, Dave?
• 52:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think for me, it's like, you know,
• 52:46
  Speaker 3: how do you want to be viewed? You know, players
• 52:49
  Speaker 3: are a little bit more difficult in the sense that
• 52:52
  Speaker 3: they're younger by nature versus a coach. They're less experienced.
• 53:00
  Speaker 3: They're in it emotionally, the compete part of it. I
• 53:06
  Speaker 3: think it's more of like, how do you want to
• 53:08
  Speaker 3: be looked at by people? You know, you know, you
• 53:13
  Speaker 3: can say Pete Rose, how he played the game or
• 53:17
  Speaker 3: a Chase Utley or a Freddie Freeman, a Clayton Kershaw.
• 53:22
  Speaker 3: Or are you a guy that just is playing for
• 53:24
  Speaker 3: the flair? And if like, if that's the case, then
• 53:27
  Speaker 3: that's the case. Um, I just, for me, it's like,
• 53:32
  Speaker 3: you just earn the respect of your peers. And I
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: think for me, if I played the game, I managed
• 53:38
  Speaker 3: a game, you know, if you can look and say, Hey,
• 53:41
  Speaker 3: the people that are around the game, your peers respect
• 53:45
  Speaker 3: how you did it, then you've done it the right way. And, um,
• 53:50
  Speaker 3: not to say you're doing it for other people, cause
• 53:52
  Speaker 3: you certainly got to do it for yourself. Um, But
• 53:55
  Speaker 3: I think people now, unfortunately, I think players are missing
• 53:58
  Speaker 3: the plot. And I say that where, you know, you're
• 54:03
  Speaker 3: down six runs and you hit a solo homer and
• 54:06
  Speaker 3: then you pimp the homer and, you know, it's like
• 54:09
  Speaker 3: you won the game. It's like, well, you're still losing
• 54:11
  Speaker 3: by five runs. Or, you know, you get a first
• 54:15
  Speaker 3: down and you're down 21 points in the fourth quarter and,
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: you go away from the pile so they can see
• 54:23
  Speaker 3: your number on the broadcast so Ravi can talk about
• 54:26
  Speaker 3: you it's like well you're still down to 21 you're
• 54:28
  Speaker 3: still gonna lose a game and it's like where people
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: or my I was raised where like Walter Payton would
• 54:34
  Speaker 3: get a first down or touchdown and give the ball
• 54:36
  Speaker 3: back to the referee you know you hit a homer
• 54:39
  Speaker 3: it's like act like you've done it before that's where
• 54:42
  Speaker 3: I'm at but I do get the fans like that
• 54:47
  Speaker 3: kind of stuff so it's that player that is still
• 54:51
  Speaker 3: certainly I can't say it's not good for the game
• 54:54
  Speaker 3: but there's a balance I guess.
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: Yes yeah good word balanced yeah good balance is right
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: I want to I want to ask one one more
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: thing on that though do you find a lot of
• 55:05
  Speaker 2: players that that you deal with that you've managed over
• 55:09
  Speaker 2: over your career do you find that some are really
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: not motivated to win Dave like do you feel like
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: there are some that just like to be there for
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: Like you said, the flash.
• 55:20
  Speaker 4: I mean, is that something that you've seen in this?
• 55:23
  Speaker 4: Are you seeing it more? Can you talk a little
• 55:25
  Speaker 4: bit about that?
• 55:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So the guys like that, first off, we'll get
• 55:32
  Speaker 3: rid of. We don't have guys like that. But I
• 55:37
  Speaker 3: will say, going back to the young player, veteran player
• 55:40
  Speaker 3: conversation we had earlier, I can't fault young players for
• 55:44
  Speaker 3: trying to accrue numbers so they can get compensated. That's
• 55:49
  Speaker 3: a real thing. Whereas players that have made money, now
• 55:54
  Speaker 3: they can be all in on winning because they've already
• 55:57
  Speaker 3: made their money, right? And you still got to be
• 56:00
  Speaker 3: mindful that they were that young player at some point
• 56:02
  Speaker 3: trying to make money. So I think for me as
• 56:04
  Speaker 3: a manager, you have to understand and respect where everyone's
• 56:10
  Speaker 3: coming from. And their intentions are not always bad. But yeah, Justin,
• 56:15
  Speaker 3: if the guys that are just selfish, and care for themselves.
• 56:19
  Speaker 3: Those guys, we weed those guys out. And for me,
• 56:24
  Speaker 3: Andrew Friedman and Brandon Gumbs are great. You know, those
• 56:28
  Speaker 3: guys just don't play for the Dodgers.
• 56:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Appreciate your insight on that, Dick.
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: It does. And I think experience, success, credibility, all those
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: things afford people like Doc and Francona and Cora and
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: others the ability to make decisions as you go back
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: to the beginning and trusting your gut. The gut is
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: easier to trust when you've got the resume. you know,
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: that somebody like Doc does and makes Doc so great.
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: All right, Doc, we wrap up here. We do this
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: thing called the Kitchen Sink. These are four kind of random,
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: out-of-the-blue questions, fairly quick answers. The first one is, what
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: is the ideal off-season plan for you to get away
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: from baseball? How do you do that? What's the ideal?
• 57:06
  Speaker 3: The ideal is spending a few days at Augusta National.
• 57:12
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 57:14
  Speaker 3: I'm going to go to Augusta National and then take
• 57:16
  Speaker 3: in an SEC football game in Tuscaloosa.
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: That speaks beautifully to Justin's next question.
• 57:24
  Speaker 4: Here we go.
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: Let's go to the next one here, Dave. So what
• 57:27
  Speaker 2: three people, alive or dead, would make up your ultimate
• 57:31
  Speaker 2: golf foursome?
• 57:33
  Speaker 3: Oh, I love that. Alive or dead. Oh, man. Okay.
• 57:38
  Speaker 3: Barack Obama for sure would be one. um, I would
• 57:44
  Speaker 3: certainly have, uh, yeah, I don't think he played golf, but, uh,
• 57:50
  Speaker 3: I would, I would love, uh, I'd love Martin Luther
• 57:54
  Speaker 3: King and Jackie Robinson. Cool, man. Okay.
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: You'd learn a lot on that little walk around.
• 58:00
  Speaker 3: I would, man.
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: You'd learn a lot, man.
• 58:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: Best piece of best future coaching advice you ever got.
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: And from whom was it doc?
• 58:10
  Speaker 3: Um, Best piece of coaching advice was a good friend
• 58:17
  Speaker 3: of mine, Pastor Keith Jenkins. And he basically said, what
• 58:21
  Speaker 3: got you here won't get you there. And what he
• 58:24
  Speaker 3: meant was, as a player, I was stubborn. I was hardheaded.
• 58:31
  Speaker 3: If you crossed me, I'd cut you off. I wasn't
• 58:34
  Speaker 3: a good listener. Everything was about me. And he said,
• 58:37
  Speaker 3: if you want to manage, you got to flip all
• 58:39
  Speaker 3: that on its head. You can't be stubborn. You got
• 58:42
  Speaker 3: to be a better listener. It's not about you anymore
• 58:46
  Speaker 3: because you need the players. If you can't cut them off,
• 58:48
  Speaker 3: if they don't perform the way you like. So just
• 58:51
  Speaker 3: the idea that what got me here to a certain
• 58:53
  Speaker 3: point won't get me there as a manager. I love it.
• 58:58
  Speaker 4: I love it.
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: Don't settle and evolve. Great.
• 59:00
  Speaker 4: Love it. I love it, man. Okay.
• 59:02
  Speaker 2: Let's go to the last one here and then we'll
• 59:04
  Speaker 2: get to your MVP, Dave. So where do we go here?
• 59:08
  Speaker 2: Let's roll it, Adam. So you were a 47th round pick,
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: then a 28th round pick. What did you see in
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: yourself that others didn't?
• 59:19
  Speaker 3: I was, I could outwork the field. I knew who
• 59:26
  Speaker 3: I was as a player and I was a winning player.
• 59:31
  Speaker 3: I think that people can't quantify what a winning player is.
• 59:35
  Speaker 3: I just felt like I was a winning player. Great.
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: Great answer. Believe in yourself. All right, Doc, your last
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: one here is that we ask this for every guest.
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: Your most valuable person in your life. This isn't the MVP.
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: This is who's been the most valuable person to this
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: point in your life.
• 59:56
  Speaker 3: Undoubtedly, my wife. Oh, man, my wife is the MVP.
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 3: We've been together for 39 years. She keeps me humble.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 3: She encourages me. I was playing golf with a guy
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 3: named Jimmy Dunn a few weeks ago, and I asked
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 3: Jimmy Dunn, I said, hey, your father, what's the best
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 3: piece of advice he gave you? And he said, Dave,
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 3: here it is. He said, and his dad was a
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 3: shirt maker. He said, always stay at the table. He said,
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 3: if you stay at the table, You'll always be a
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 3: part of the discussions, the decisions, and you'll work your
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 3: way up. And to be able to stay at the table,
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 3: you've always got to make the right decisions. You make
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 3: the right decisions, you don't get booted from the table.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 3: He said, get to a point where you're not nervous
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 3: at the first tee. And it speaks to playing the
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 3: game of golf, the relationships, and then also if your
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 3: game is good enough that you're not nervous at the
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 3: first tee, that says something about your character, right? And
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 3: then the last thing you said, the most important decision
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 3: you'll make is the woman you choose to be your wife.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 3: And so fortunately, that's the best decision I made. So
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 3: she's my MVP.
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 4: That's awesome.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: Does he stitch some of those little quips and wisdom
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: into his shirts? That would be a great idea. Like
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: put a little quip at the bottom of the shirt
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: so people can read it before they tuck it in.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: We'd have something there. This was better than I could imagine, Doc.
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for spending the time with us here
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: on Dirt from the Dugout. You're the best. We really
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: appreciate you.
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 4: Thank you, Dave.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 3: All right, fellas. Thanks for having me on.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: Good luck the rest of the way.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 4: Appreciate it.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 3: Thanks, guys.
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: That is Dave Roberts, of course, joining us here on
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: Dirt from the Dugout. And don't forget, everybody, please, theparentdugout.com.
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: You know what you get. We really are encouraging people
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: to join. It keeps growing and growing. We love the community.
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: You will, too. We will have Jesse Cole, the founder
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: of the Savannah Bananas, on next week. Justin, great show.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: Thanks very much, man. We'll see you next week.
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 4: Thank you, Ravi.