Latest / Foul Territory / The incredible story of Nationals RP Erik Tolman after amputation risk + Realities of dad life in MLB

Transcript

The incredible story of Nationals RP Erik Tolman after amputation risk + Realities of dad life in MLB · Foul Territory

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Eric Tolman of the Washington Nationals joining us right now. Eric,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: great to have you on and we haven't had you on.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: So congrats on everything that you've done and your story.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: So how are you doing? You having fun up there?
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm having a lot of fun up here. So
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: I appreciate you guys inviting me on. And I mean,
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: everything that's happened the last month, just been enjoying it
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: and just going to try to keep it going.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: We got to start with just laying out the story.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: So I know you've told it to a number of people.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: This audience will really appreciate it. Dedicated baseball fans and
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: a lot of young players out there, too. So can
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: you share a little bit of what makes you unique?
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: And then we'll obviously have follow ups for you.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah. One thing that makes me unique, I mean, I
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: would say is just kind of my perseverance. I mean, obviously.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: I've had a tough road and journey along the way.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: First started off with two Tommy Johns, one coming out
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: of college, and then on month 14, tore it again
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: and had a reset. And then in 2023, you know,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: coming back from my elbow surgeries and my fifth start
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: of the season in low A, I started the game
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: and ran out to the third inning after throwing two
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: and jumped over the line like every ballplayer does. And
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: my left cleat got stuck in the turf, fell forward,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: tried to catch myself with my leg, and unfortunately it snapped.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: So I dislocated my full knee, tore my ACL, PCL, LCL,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: hamstring tore off the bone, and worst of all, the nerve,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: peroneal nerve that runs through my knee to my big
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: toe severed, which resulted in a foot drop. And unfortunately,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: the nerves never came back, so I was fully paralyzed
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: in my right foot. And Got surgery on it, and
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: now I can move my foot up and down barely,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: but can't go in or out anymore. So it's kind
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: of just the basic of my injuries I've been through
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: and just learning every day how to, you know, play
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: baseball with it.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: So the result of your injury is you do have
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: to wear a brace for the foot drop, but you
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: also do what when you come on and off the field?
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: I step on that line, yeah.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: Every time, right?
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Every time, yeah. After, you know, that initial injury happened,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: jumping over the line. I mean, I don't really believe
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: in superstitions. I know in baseball, it's a lot of
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: guys believe in them, but I've kind of made it
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: my own to, you know what? The superstition is the
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: preparation you put into play.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: When you do that, when you step on the line,
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: does it ever bring you back? And I get it.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: You're locked into a big league game. You're doing well
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: in the big leagues. You're a shining bright light for
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: that bullpen. there is, does it bring you back when
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: you step on the line? Does it bring you back
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: to the moment, not just when you heard it, but
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: also thinking about the fact that the doctor had mentioned
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: for however long, possibly you might lose your leg or
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: your foot in that, in that moment.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Uh, I mean, when I step on the line now,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: I don't initially think about that. It's more just about like,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: you know what, this line kind of put a speed
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: bump in the road and just kind of screw you. Um,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: but yeah, I mean that night that I dislocated my knee,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: I was in the ER that night and for about five,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: 10 minutes, I would hear the handful of nurses around
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: me talk about amputation. And so that was probably the
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: longest five, 10 minutes of my life.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: Without these injuries. What do you think you would, what
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: kind of career do you think you would have had
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: without these injuries?
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: I think about that. And honestly, I have no idea. Uh, I,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: I'm a believer that, you know, who we are today
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: is everything that we go through and the adversity that
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: we had to overcome. And I truly think if I
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: didn't have, you know, two Tommy Johns with a serious
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: leg injury, that my work ethic and mindset would not
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: be who I am today. So it honestly is kind
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: of a blessing in disguise, believe it or not.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: Was there somebody that helped you through this? Was there
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: somebody that kept pushing or was there a thought, especially like,
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: when you get back from Tommy John surgery in 14th month,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: you should be full go. And then it blows out again.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Or like you were saying, laying in bed with possible
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: amputation happened.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it was a whole bunch of things. The
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: people around me, I had a great support system. Obviously
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: my parents, my brother, he played baseball for a long
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: time and he just was just at the very end
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: of his professional career. And he kind of told me,
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: he was like, Hey man, like, it's kind of easy
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: to tell where your future is going without baseball. And
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's not a bad thing, but you know,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: your dream is to become a baseball player. And, um,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: you know, he, he gave me a push forward to
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  Speaker 2: really change my habits in my life and be like,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: you know what, this is exactly what I want to do.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm going to go all in. So definitely my
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: family and a handful of friends here and there have
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: literally helped me through this whole process.
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: I mean, listen, You're being real about this whole situation.
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: You talked about a lot of thoughts going through your mind.
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: Was there something that kind of helped you along the way? Like,
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: you know, I would like for you to talk about that. Like,
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: what was something in your mind or every day you
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: did to kind of get your mind right, you know,
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: to make it through the day? Because it's tough, man.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, if anyone has gone through any injuries,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: they'll tell you it's extremely tough. So I know I've
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: been through a whole bunch. you know, surgeries and stuff.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: But every injury is honestly similar to one another, just mentally.
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  Speaker 2: And one thing that kept me pushing forward is I
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: was a little different. I mean, I tried a whole
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: bunch of things that keep me motivated and pushing forward
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: to being a baseball player. And a lot of that
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: was through music. So I was very big in what
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: you become or what you think of is who you become.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: So I was trying to just surround myself with the
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: right people and listen to the music and watch movies that,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: you know, that are pushing for your dreams and overcoming
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: adversity and not being soft. Like, you know what? Life's unfair.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: It sucks sometimes. And these are the cards I'm dealt with.
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  Speaker 2: And I just got to beat the dealer with it.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: One of the things that they do on the scoreboard
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: in some stadiums, they'll ask players, oh, what would you
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: have done if you had never played baseball or made
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: it to the big leagues? And some guys are like,
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: I would have played in the NFL. I probably would
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: have been on a PGA Tour. And I'm like, that's
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: so tired. No shot you would have ever done that.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: What were some of the jobs that you were looking
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: at possibly doing had you never made the big leagues?
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Have you never been able to get to this point?
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I actually was seriously thinking about retiring after I
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: tore my ECL a second time. So after that month
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: 14 of tearing it again, I actually was like, what
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: do I really want to do with my life? Because
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: right now it's not looking very good. And I narrowed
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: it down to a firefighter, police officer, or a Coast Guard.
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  Speaker 2: I really wanted to make an impact on the public
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  Speaker 2: and save people and do something for the community. And
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  Speaker 2: I'm also very active. So I thought that'd be kind
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  Speaker 2: of perfect. And it's ironic because now if I try
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  Speaker 2: to be two of those three things, I wouldn't qualify
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  Speaker 2: because of my foot injury, my foot drop. So I
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: wouldn't even be allowed to be a Coast Guard or
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure a firefighter. But I think I could
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: be a police officer, you know, be stationed at a
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  Speaker 2: park or something like that.
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  Speaker 3: That's crazy that two of the three jobs you wouldn't
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  Speaker 3: even you wouldn't even qualify for. But you qualify to
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  Speaker 3: be in the big leagues. And like I said, exactly.
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  Speaker 3: You're doing really well. For me, when I made the
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: big leagues, I remember standing out there for the national anthem.
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  Speaker 3: I remember growing up being a Phillies fan and I
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: put the Phillies uniform on for the first time and
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: sitting in the dugout. Like I remember that moment. What
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: was your first big league moment?
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  Speaker 2: My first big league moment I would say would be
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: when I came in to face Freddie Freeman in a,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: after we, you know, gave up a home run, I
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: came in a big situation with Freddie Freeman and just,
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: you know, growing up, watching him play was very surreal
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  Speaker 2: to me. And that was like, Oh crap. You know, I've,
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: this is it. The crowd is going crazy. I can
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  Speaker 2: feel the vibration at Dodger stadium with the sound system
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  Speaker 2: they have, which is insane. And that was the first
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  Speaker 2: time where I'm like, all right, well, this is when
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: people talk about the big leagues, this is the big
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  Speaker 2: leagues right now.
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  Speaker 3: Wait, wait. Were you a Dodgers fan growing up? Because
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: you're speaking very, very kindly about that speaker system as
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: an opposing player.
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  Speaker 2: No, I was not a Dodgers fan growing up. I
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: grew up in Orange County, California. So I was more Angels,
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: but I actually was corrupted into a Boston Red Sox
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  Speaker 2: fan from my dad.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Corrupted? I mean, we have a Red Sox fan on
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: our team here. Not on screen, but... Why do you
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: say corrupted?
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  Speaker 2: No, in a good way. I'm very happy that I
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: grew up as a Boston fan. You know, city of championships,
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: they like to say. So, you know, my dad's from
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: New Hampshire. He's very big into sports, and he just
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: raised me and my brother to be big Boston fans.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: But the Angels are a close second.
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  Speaker 3: All right. So my last question before we get to
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: hopefully some rapid-fire questions for you. You're in that bullpen
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: in Washington. There's no– There's no way of beating around
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: the bush. The bullpen has struggled this year as a whole.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: You know, blown saves and lost holds. What are those
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: conversations like for you guys out there? And I'm not
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: saying you've been in the show for 10 years and
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: you know what other conversations but what are the conversations
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: that you guys have out there knowing that as a
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: collective it's not the best season that you guys could
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: have put.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Out yeah obviously you look at you know the the
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: record that was broken the most blown saves and it's
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: not fun to be you know, part of that bullpen
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: and every single guy in the bullpen understands that we
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: are better than that. And I think if you look at,
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: you know, the guys that we've had all year up there,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think we've had 13 plus different, different
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: bullpen guys. So we just haven't really stuck to a
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: main group of guys. And I believe in the last
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: month with me coming up up and a few other
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: guys coming up, you know, we, We're hungry and we're
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: pretty damn good on the mound. And I think in
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: the years to come, next year and the following years,
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: that we're going to be much better because we actually
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: have guys that, you know, they've been through the thick
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: of the minors and they're hungry to get brought up and,
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: you know, go out and be put in those opportunities.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: So that's what I would say about it.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: All right, Eric, you spell your name perfectly. I'm also
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: an E-R-I-K, so that helps. Kevin Franzen texted me when
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: you made your debut that we have another Eric with
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: a K in the big leagues. And you also have
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: another thing that's common. Now, I was in the big
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: leagues when I first got called up when I was 30.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: You were 27. But 10 days before the trade deadline,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: the Pirates traded everybody. So I was 10 days into
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: my big league career, and I was the oldest player
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: on the roster for two days. You are one of
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: the older players on the roster... but you have some
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: of the least amount of service time. Is there like weird,
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: like dynamic of you get to sit in the front
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: of the bus, but you're going to dress up as
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: a rookie. Is there like, Hey, are they asking you
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: for advice? Cause you're old, but you're technically not old
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: in the big leagues.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Um, I mean, I still get treated as a rookie,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: you know, how to do karaoke on the bus, how
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: to dress up in a big Eagle inflatable costume, uh,
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: traveling to LA. Um, But, you know, I'm glad that's
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: happening because I think that's what makes this whole thing fun.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: You know, you want to be in a locker room
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: where guys can actually have fun with and you relate
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: with one another. And it doesn't matter by age. I mean,
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: we've all been through a bunch of scenarios and opportunities,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: and we're here for a reason. And some of the
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: younger guys, actually, like Daylon Lyle and Brady House, they
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: actually do, like, will talk to me and ask questions.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: and look up to me as like one of the
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: older guys. And I got to like take a step
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: back and be like, why are they asking me questions?
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: But I need to remember that I am a handful
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: of years older than them. So they're still going through it.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Like they've never been 23, 24 years old and I've been,
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: I went through it. So I try to help them
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: with that. But it's good dynamic just with, you know,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: relating with the teammates in the locker room and just
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: building camaraderie.
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: Love that. Love that. Last question for me. Now getting
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: through all this, getting back on the mound, is there
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: another goal or anything that you want in mind now that,
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: you know, you're having a little more opportunity with being
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: healthier or is, are you just trying to stay exactly
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: where you are right now? Is there anything else like
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: now it's like, all right, I got here, but there's
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: one more thing I want to get to. Is there
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: anything on your mind like that?
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, to be honest, I didn't go through
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: everything I did to just make the big leagues. I
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: am very hungry and I'm very motivated to be one
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: of the best in the league. And I know that's
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: extremely hard to do, but I do believe no one's been,
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: not many people have been through situations and adversity that
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: I have. And I believe I've gotten through the tough part.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: So now it's just about having fun, sticking to my
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: craft and the last two, three years, just coming back
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: from my injuries, I've gotten better every year. And I
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: think it's going to be a fun feature.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: Eric, you ready if we do some, Rapid fire questions?
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, let's do it. All right.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: Give me three things that you need if you're on
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: a deserted island.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: I need a iPod with a charger. That's two. I want,
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: I guess that's, okay, we'll go with sunscreen. And then
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: we'll go with a flute to keep me distracted. And
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: we'll go with just a baseball to throw around. Those
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: are the three things that went to my mind.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: Okay. An iPod. That's great. It feels like we're the
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: same age. It feels like we're the same age. You
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: said iPod, not like maybe iPod Shuffle or something. We
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: can do that. Next one. Another rapid fire question. I
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: got to rapid fire it. What reality competition TV show
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: would you most like to be on, but also be
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: really freaking good at?
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go with, can I say Family Feud?
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: I love, I'm not good at Family Feud, but I
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: want to be good at that.
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah. No, that's 100% great. All right.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: Last one. Last one, because you talked about music. Favorite albums.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: Favorite album. I'm going to go. Oh my gosh. I'm
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: kind of getting sunk right now. I'm going to go
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: with the one with Kanye West. I think it's power album,
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: or that might just be the song in the album
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: called power, but I'm not sure.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: The song power in the album. Yeah.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: It's hard.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, it, I don't know if I got that
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: question nowadays. I don't know the album names anymore. You
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: know how you used to know them when you were
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: a kid? I don't feel like I know, right?
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Well, I will say I am terrible with remembering lyrics
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: in songs and remembering artists and song names as well.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: I just love the beats, and that's what sticks with me.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: Wait, do you sing along? Do you sing along to songs?
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: Because they go hand in hand.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: I'll sing by myself, but I won't be singing in
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: front of you guys.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: But it's not, but you don't know the words. So you're,
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: you're that guy that's like sharpen, sharpen the knife.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I do get a lot of crap with, uh,
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: if I do hum or sing around other guys and
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: they're like, you know, those aren't the lyrics.
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Like, yeah, I know. I just, uh, yeah.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Uh, that song was in, yeah. His fifth album, my
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: beautiful dark twisted fantasy. Like I, If you gave me
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: a thousand tries, I would not have, I know almost
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: all of his songs. I would not have gotten the album.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: So there you go. I'm with you there, but, but
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: a good one, dude.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing the story, having
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: some fun with us and do your thing this last
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: week and a half here.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: I will. So I appreciate you guys having me on
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: and looking forward to the future.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: It's hot corners presented by Fox one, the Fox one app.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: So Steven has been in the athletic wrote an article
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: called the perks and heartaches of being a dad and
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: an MLB player. It is well, well.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: Aware.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: People are well aware of how the travel schedule and
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: how the season can get crazy for a baseball player.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: And Todd father will give us more here. I'll give
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: you one or two bites from the article and then
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Todd father will give us his perspective. The picture was
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: painted for Chris sale in 2021 when, He had just
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: turned his worst start of his career. And then in
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: the locker room, after sitting for a while in silence,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: he turns to reliever Garrett Whitlock and he says, want
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: to know what the best part of today is? And
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: he goes, now I can go home and not be
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Chris Sale.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: I'm just dad.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: You see Brandon Woodruff on the photo here. Woodruff was
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: quoted quite a bit in this story and pointed out
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: how the superstar is his wife, Joni. and how she
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: keeps track of all the kiddos at home for him
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: in their little small town. And then also he mentioned again,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: how he can go home good day, bad day, whatever
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: it is, you know, one of his kids wants to
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: play chess with him and you can just escape that way.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: So give us a lot more context to your top
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: father on the highs and lows of family life.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: I mean, there's all highs for me. I mean, especially,
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: you know, You want your kid to experience everything you've experienced. Unfortunately,
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: my kid was too young to kind of remember everything,
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: my oldest at least. It puts a smile on my face. No,
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: when the season is over, say you don't make the playoffs,
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: which is disappointing. But at the same token, once you
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: get off the flight or the drive home, guess who's
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: waiting for you? Somebody who doesn't care what the heck
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: you did for the past eight months. They just want dad.
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: They want Todd and dad to be there. Now to
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: wake up in his arms, have a sleepover in their beds,
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: take them to the park, give mom a breather a
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: little bit. You know what? I'm taking the kids. We're
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: going to go mini golf. We're going to go to
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: the boardwalk or go get a slice. And that would
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: be the best part of the time. And I think
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: ultimately it's the best part of your life because it
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: goes by fast and you miss a lot of things.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: And in those four months you get home, every day
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: is a really good day.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: One follow-up for you. Is there anything that you would
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: do to try and kind of maximize your time during
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: the big league days now now you're pops at home
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: right but during your big league days off season you'd
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: have a lot of time of course right to spend
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: with the fam anything in particular did you have a
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: routine like if you were and i guess you mentioned
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: like the you know it's a little different depending on
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: the age of your kids but Was there a FaceTime?
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: Was there some routine that you did either before or
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: after a game or text or something?
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it was always a call half hour before the
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: game or maybe 45 minutes. So I guess I get
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: at least five, 10 minutes of FaceTime or just hearing
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: their voice and just saying, hey, love you. Make sure
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: you watch me, you know, whether they did or not.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: I wasn't 100% sure because, you know, my oldest son
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: could figure out how to work a phone and see
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: highlights or whatever. But I knew my wife would always
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: have the game on, at least in the background. But, yeah,
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: it was a half hour, 45 minutes before the game
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: just to hear the voice. And my son, Blake, is like, Dad,
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: let's go. What are we going to do today? I'm like,
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: two for four. He's like, three for four. I'm like, oh, okay,
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: you got it. And we'd go over who's pitching, how
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: we're going to hit them. And that was the joy
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: of my day, ultimately, whether I did good or bad.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Hitters meeting with Blake.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: That's good.
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it was good.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Blake was running the meeting early.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: Early in life. He's got it on the resume.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: He does. He understands.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: I like it.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: All right, so that's a little bit of insight on
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: big league fatherhood. And the top corner, that's presented by
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Fox One and the Fox One app. Postseason, we can
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: sniff it at this point. And Fox is going to
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: have the National League side division series. AJ will be
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: on one of those series. Then the NLCS and the
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: World Series exclusively on Fox and the Fox One app.
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: Live or on demand.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Never miss a moment. Stream now.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Start your Fox One three-day free trial today at foxone.com.