Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Ryan Ludwick Talks Joshua Báez, Jordan Walker, Coaching The Cards

Transcript

Ryan Ludwick Talks Joshua Báez, Jordan Walker, Coaching The Cards · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Jim Hayes and we have a great guest today, a
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: great guy, a great person. He is the Cardinals outfield coordinator,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: two thousand and eight All Star, two thousand and eight
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Silver Slugger Award winner. It's Ryan Ludwick. Hey, Loodie. How
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: you doing, man?
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Jim, how are you, sir? I'm doing great. Thanks for
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: having me on.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you coming on him. I was looking forward
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to this. So outfield coordinator, tell us a little bit
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: about what that entails.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: You know, you know you're looking for athleticism, right you
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: think about strong positions within the field, and obviously it's
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: up the middle, whether it be your catcher or short style,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: up your center fielder. But when I look at the outfield,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: it's it's the last line of defense. And how do
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: we protect the last line? And we're just looking for guys,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: in my opinion, which I have great guys who work
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: with me, Willie McGee, Bernard Guilkey, and you look at
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: all the guys who are working at each affiliate right now,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: working their tails off to make these guys better. But
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: we're just trying to get guys out there that have
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: a good internal clock, guys who run good routes, guys
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: who get good jumps off the ball, and guys who
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: make efficient throws and and make the right play. You know,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: obviously baseball is a game of offense and and and pitching.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Right now, people love seeing home runs, and people love
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: seeing one hundred miles proper pitches that are moving left
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: and right. But at the end of the day, defenses,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: in my opinion, pitching, pitching and defense wins championships.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: So the data day, all right, so you oversee all
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: of this. Are you visiting affiliates? Are you just going
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: over data and tell us about what the actual work
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: entails for you.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: So we have KPIs that were so Hawkeye is tracking
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: all the data. We're tracking first step, we're tracking routes,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: we're talking, we're tracking arm efficiency. So we have all
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: that data. Is it purely correct at this point? No,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: But it's a lot longer than when I played because
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: we had zero data. It was just it was an
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: eye test. So we had we do have a lot
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: of data, and and yeah, we're tracking all this stuff
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: and and we send out monthly KPI leaderboards to each affiliate,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: and these players know exactly where they're at and and
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: where they need to get better. And that's how we
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: as co just tried to make these guys better because
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: we see that data and then we hit on that field,
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: whether it be first step route or arm efficiency, whatever
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: that KPI might be, that's what we're looking at to
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: try to improve these players.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: So you're part of a different direction for the organization,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: right Him took over and and he kind of beefed
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: up player development and from what I understand, there's more analytics,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: obviously more staffing. So the new direction for the Cardinal
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: was what's it been like for you being part of it?
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's great. Him's great, Surf's been great, Larry Day
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: has been great, everything's gone. The transition has been very smooth. Obviously,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: I've played for eight different organizations. I've you know, Billy
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: being drafted me. I've been with Shapiro, I've been with
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: I've been with Jockety, I've been with IM, I've been
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: with a lot of really good gms and slash presidents
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: and and I feel like what Heim's doing right here
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: over in the Cardinals Cardinals landscape is it's it's it's
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: fun to watch, right, I mean, as a cardinal, you
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: see what are big league club's doing right now, and
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: you see what some of our minor leaguers are doing
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: right now, and there's excitement again. And that's that's what
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: I enjoy about being a cardinal, is the history, the tradition,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: and and it's like we might take a step back,
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: but it's not a big step. It might be one
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: or two steps back, and they're right back or where
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: we need to be. And I feel like we're really close.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: You know, we got a lot of really good young
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: talent and the clubs, the club's playing really well, and
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: it's exciting. It's for me, it's exciting to watch.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: So maybe I'm wrong on this. I've been wrong a
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: lot in my mediocre career. But I would label you
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: as an old school guy and Willie McGee old school guy.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: But now you guys are part of new school. So
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: for you, the transition going from like you said, back
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: in the day when everything was eye test to now
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: data driven, analytics driven, how has that transition gone freedom?
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: You know, it's it's it's definitely an adjustment. But I
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: think that's baseball, you know, in itself, like, you're always
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: adjusting as a player, right, You're constantly making endgame, post game,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: off season adjustments. You're making adjustments all the time, whether
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: it be to your defensive scheme, whether it be to
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: your hitting, whether it be to your throwing program, whether
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: it be to whatever that looks like. So the game's
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: always evolving. I mean it's been evolving since you know,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: the late eighteen hundreds, So the game's always in transition,
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: and and you just you go with the flow, and
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: you like, for me, do I still trust my eyes?
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: I do. I'm I'm a firm believer in work, ethic
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: and heart. And you know, Grady Houston, who I had
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: in Oakland, who's over there, still would always talk about,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: you know, I want a grinder. I want someone who's
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: out there grinding on the field, a guy like who
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: I had an outfield circle by the name of Nathan Church.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Like that guy was the guy that I gravitated to
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: because he played the game a lot like me. And
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: you pull for those guys. You pull for the guys
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: that are going out there every day and throwing everything
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: they have out on the field. So you know, that's
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: what I look for now. Obviously, numbers are numbers you
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: get you gotta look at the numbers, and the numbers
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: are they're they're pretty honest and they're pretty true. But
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: for me, at the end of the day, I'm looking
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: at a player, when I'm working with a play how
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: much is he given me day in and day out,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: not only in practice but on the field and off
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: the field?
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Makes sense. I when I hear stuff like that, the
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: thing I wonder, and I think there's varying opinions, but
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: a minor league player today, how different is that player,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: just the person, just the way they've gone through their
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: career to that point. How was that different than a
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: minor leaguer from back when you were trying to get
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: to the bigs.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Well, it's funny because we had this conversation. I had
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: this conversation with a player. I was just in Lakeland, Florida,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: and I was helping out because the manager took his
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: week vacation and we went three and three over five hundred,
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: which you know, nice, I'll take. I'll take that as
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: a win. It was fourth of July weekend and it
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: was it was great. But I had a player come
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: up to me and he was like, man Leuddy, I
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: want to play more, know, like, I want to be
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: on the field more. And that's I think that's where
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: it's a little different compared to when I grew up.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: You know, I look back at my first year and
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: I think I started in one hundred and my first
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: full season, I think I started in one hundred and
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: twenty nine games. And now you have a built and
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: off day every Monday. When I played, you've had maybe
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: one or two off days the entire month. And then
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: if you're an everyday guy, you were playing every day. So,
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: you know, I think now we look at the business.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: I could be wrong when I say this, but you
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: put money into players, and obviously it's an investment and
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: you try to protect that investment and they still get
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: their work in, but they're not on the field quite
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: as much as we were back in the day. But
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: with that being said, I think we are doing a
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: better job at keeping guys healthy by doing.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: That nice all right. You know something, there are so
• 9:01
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• 9:04
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• 9:08
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• 9:17
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• 9:19
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• 9:25
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• 9:39
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• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Thank you, seat Geek. All right, so, Luddy, you were
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: mentioning some of the players that you've gotten to work with.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: One of the guys that I think is the best
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: story in all of baseball, And there's a few we'll
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: get to them, but let's talk about Jordan wa Walker,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: who faced a lot of obstacles to get to where
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: he is now and he kept pushing it. Had a
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: lot of people talking to them, well here, here, do this,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: do this, and he kept focusing. Now he's an All
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: star to look forward to seeing him play and in
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: the home run derby. But tell me the Jordan Walker
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: journey to where he is now? What does that say
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: about that guy?
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean the way I look at it, and
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: I could give you a different opinion than if you
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: were to talk to somebody else. But I see a
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: guy who you know, when I think about Jordan Walker,
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: the kid really never failed, and he got to the
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: big leagues really fast, and he failed for the first
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: time at that level. And when he fail at that level,
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: I failed one time in a ball and then I
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: didn't fail until I got to the big leagues. And
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: when you're on that stage, I mean, you're playing in
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: front of thirty five forty thousand people in a packed house,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: and you know, you have this dream as a kid
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: growing up being a big leaguer, and it's hard, it's
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: really hard, and and and when you're in that realm
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: of being a young kid and having that failure, I
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: think it's really tough for some guys. But I think
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: that just shows his character. Extremely hard worker, great kid,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: great background, unbelievable family, very intelligent and you know the
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: work he's put into it to get through the mud
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: right like he got he was he was stuck there
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: for a minute. But he's still a young kid. And
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: what he's doing at the big league level is I mean,
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: let's be honest, I mean, he's probably top in my opinion,
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: he's probably top ten hitter in the game right now,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: and we have a special player and it's super exciting
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: as a coach, as a fan, and I consider him
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: a brother like all my all, all the guys I
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: work with, you know. I just I'm so proud of him,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: and I'm proud of the Cardinals because what he's doing
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: and the way he's carrying that team has been so impressive.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: He's got to be I mean, I know him pretty well.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: He's a really nice guy, really down to earth, but
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: internally he's got to be pretty tough to battle through it.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: As you mentioned, he's a young guy, and every player,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: every player has, as you mentioned, a little failure built
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: in to that path that they take towards the bigs.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: People forgot, this is a young guy, so give him
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: a little time, and they did and it worked out.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Another guy though, that I think everyone's talking about and
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: everyone would love to see at the big league level. Well,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: but fortunately the Cardinals right now have some pretty good
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: outfielders on the big league roster. Is bias Tell me
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: a little bit about that guy and what's what's special
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: about him?
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: Well, I want to hit hit on that a little
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: bit before I get into Bias. But like the patients
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: that Heim and Surf and LD have shown with not
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: only Jordan but Bias an entire organization, I think that
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: makes a huge impact and and I think that's helped
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: helped out a lot of our players tremendously with Bias
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: a little bit different story, right, Like the swing of
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: miss was, it was off the charts when he was young,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: and there was there was a point where people didn't
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: know if he was going to be able to do it.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: And he was on the backfields and Jupiter with myself
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: and Russ Steinhorn and obviously Brock and all our hitting
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: guys working grinding through it, trying to find find his
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: his mojo. And you know, Elvis has done a good
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: job with him. Who's our hitting coach in Double A
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: right now, he helped him out tremendously and and Peoria
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: last year and the way he I will say this,
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: like Josh Bias is one of the hardest workers I've
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: ever seen in my entire life. And Josh Bias is
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: full of confidence. And Josh Bias never gave up. He
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: never gave up. And now Josh Bias is reaping the
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: benefits of the work and the effort he's put into it,
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: and he's turned himself into one of the best power
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: hitters in the minor leagues right now. And again, I
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: get back to that that motor, right the motor is.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: The motor's incredible. He's super athletic, super gifted, strong, fast
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: power like he's got all the tools and it just took. Again,
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: we're talking about a guy who is not very old,
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: and sometimes it takes patience. And you know, I always
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: said back in the day, we would talk about him
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: and I said, we could be looking at like a
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: a Mike Stanton type player. You know, this guy has
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: elite power and he's done it himself. You know, he's
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: done it himself. He's put the pieces together. And what
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: he's doing this year after last year. You know, last
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: year he kind of broke out and then he's backing
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: it up and sometimes it just takes guys a little
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: bit longer to click. And what he's doing right now,
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: I think he's shown the world who Josh Bias truly
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: is and he's put himself in a position to be
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: quite possibly one of the elite power hitters in the game.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: That's awesome. I was talking to some of the young
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: guys in the Cardinal Clubhouse who've been up and down
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: and have seen him, and they said they can't believe
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: the difference when they saw him when he was scuffling
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: early in his minor league career to the guy he
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: is now. You mentioned the swing and miss. What's the
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: difference with him now where he's been able to kind
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: of cut down on that and and just square up baseball.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: I think it's just the motor, I really do. He's
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: got that heart where he's not gonna give up. He's
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: gonna he's gonna continue to fight and do everything he
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: can to be the best possible Lary he can be,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: And like, you can't. That's that's what I've realized. This
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: is my twenty seventh year in professional baseball. You can't.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: You can't teach that. You can. You can coach a
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: guy how to hit, play defense, and maybe how to
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: throw a ball, give him tips or hints, but the
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: internal part of it is something that is special, and
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: he's very special in that aspect. He has a huge
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: heart and he works his butt off.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Give me a couple of names of guys that you're
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: intrigued by. You mentioned at the big league level, you
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: gravitated toward Church, who's really come into his own. He's
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: walking playing great defense has popped. Give me some guys
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: at the minor league level that you're intrigued by.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: Just a couple of names, well oneas he's not check
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: another another bias he's he's a very confident individual. The
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: power is real. And obviously he's having a tremendous year.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: And you know, you got Gurbage down in Peoria. Who's
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: Who's Yeah, he's he's he can hit Typete. You look
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: at Typete. Obviously he's had a rough year with you know,
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: going through missing some time.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: But he had a concussion, right, he had concussion issues, right, Yeah, Yeah,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: he's ath though he's a stunt Yeah, oh it's it's
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: it's a pure athlete, you know.
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: And it's fun to watch these guys. You know, we
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: got the draft tomorrow and and we're gonna get a
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: new crop and it's fun. Like I enjoy I missed playing,
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: there's no doubt about it. I really miss playing. I
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: missed competing. But on this end of the job, you
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: get the camaraderie and you get to meet these young
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: kids and you get to see him grow and you know,
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: when they get to the big leagues, you you form
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: these bonds and and you know, Josh told me, it's
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: funny we we're talking about. Josh Bias is like, bluddy,
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: I want you there when I make my debut, and
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: I was like, I don't know if I'll be able
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: to make it. I got a job, bro, Like, I mean,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: I'd love to be there. But that's the fun part
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: about being on this side of the game is you
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: get to see these guys grow and obviously I gotta
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: do it at the highest level for a little bit
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: of time, and then you know, now you get a
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: hand hand it down to these these young kids, and
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: there's nothing better than when they make their debut and
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: they make a career. You know, it's it's it's just
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: so it's it's it's an unbelievable feeling.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Well, you had a nice run as a major leaguer,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: there's no question about that. We're gonna do some reminiscing,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: but first a short break. You're watching Cardinal Territory on
• 19:37
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  Speaker 1: Lodwick twelve years in the bigs, twelve years, nice work,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: four with the Cardinals, and when I think about I
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: think about you, I think two thousand and eight thirty
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: seven homers, All Star Silver Slugger. What do you remember
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: about your time as a Saint Louis Cardinal.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Well, obviously, I'm still in the organization. I love the organization.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: It's it's my favorite organization baseball. I've been with eight
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: of them. My son's initials are STLs. That's in Tyler Ludwick.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: I met. I met guys like you, Jim and and
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: you know, Bernie and and and obviously Goldie and and
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: everybody that that has been in that organization has treated
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: me like gold. Whether it be mo or Heim or
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: the fans. I mean, the fans are in my opinion,
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: the best fans in all of baseball. And there's just
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: something special about the Birds on the bat man and
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: and I cherished it, and and it it felt like home.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: And when I got traded to San Diego, it was
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: like the worst day of my life. But I'm back
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: with the org, and like we talked about earlier, it's
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: a lot of fun seeing this team play the way
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: they're playing. And there'd be nothing better than to be
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: part of this organization and winning World Series as a coach,
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: you know, as I helped these young kids get to
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: their highest level. So yeah, the Cardinals are, in my opinion,
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: the best organization in baseball. I think it's the classiest
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: organiza organization in baseball. I haven't played for all of them,
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: but I do know this in my heart. The Cardinals,
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: the fan base and and the history of the organization's
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: the best for me.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: All right, Well said you know, I always think too
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: for coaches. Sometimes, if you've been like a Hall of
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Fame caliber type coach and everything worked, then you never
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: had that adversity that maybe some of the players go through,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: and you can relate to that. But when you were young,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: like thinking you're like before you became a big leaguer
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: or maybe on the verge, tell me about you had
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: a hip issue, like like a giant hip issue. They
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: put your whole career in jeopardy. Tell me about that,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: because I honestly think that creates the person that's the
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: final product.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: Right. Well, they told me that. When I had that done,
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: I had an eight inch tight te named Rob put
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: into my themeur it so the neck of my femer
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: cracked halfway through and I cried. I mean, the doctor
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: told me, like, I don't know if you ever played baseball, man,
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: And I just got into the big leagues, I got
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: sent down. I believe it was two thousand and two.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: I was very young, and you know, it was just
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: one of those deals where you just you drind through it. Man,
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Like they're like, I love baseball, I've always loved baseball,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: and I just I wasn't going to stop. There was
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: nothing that was going to get my way. And I
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: remember being in a slim ax. I don't know if
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: you know the swimmxes, but it's a pool with a
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: current against you, literally with the rails on the side.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: Learning how to walk again after the surgery and the
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: work and the effort I put into it, like they
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: were like eight nine hour days just trying to learn
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: how to walk and run again. And came back in
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: three and when I started the season, I could only
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: dage because I still wasn't mobile enough to really play
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: the outfield. And then eventually about a month into the season,
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: I got back into the field and then you know,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: I was hitting the ball really well. Texas called me
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: up and then they traded me to Cleveland, and you know,
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: I had a great month in Cleveland. Really loved Eric
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Wedge over there, and Buddy Bell, the manager and bench coach,
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: had Shapiro Antonetti over there, and you know, they gave
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: me every chance. But you know, in September. I think
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: in the month of August, I think I led the
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: American League and home runs and RBIs, and then I
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: think the first week in September, we went to Detroit
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: and I had a single up the middle. When I
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: round the first base, I slip in the first base
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: and ran into Carlos Panion, who I got traded from
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: from Oakland, Texas for And I had my kneego up
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: in my thigh and I had to have two knee surgeries,
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: and then I came back from that, and then I
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: got hit by a ninety six mile per hour fastball
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: on my wrist and shattered my old nun and had
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: have a four inch titanium run put in my oldness.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: So there was a stretch of my career where it
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: wasn't easy. It was really hard. And I think this
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: in my heart, and what I'm talking about when you
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: meet those type of players is what really cared me
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: through it. And I'm so blessed. I wouldn't change it.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: I think the Lord works in ways where he has
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: a plan for everybody, and I think that was my plan.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: But had I wish it was easier, yes, but I
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: think it also made me a little bit tougher and
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: it makes me appreciate what I have now in life.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: How does that experience, what you went through, helped you
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: relate to players that have their own various obstacles that
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: they may be trying to overcome.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: That's been I think that's my best quality, being able
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: to sit down with the player and just talked to
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: him about what what it looks like, how it looks
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: and obviously I've been there, I've done it. I've been
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: through a lot of adversity. And you know, you talk
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: about Jordan Walker, you talk about Josh Bias. Have I
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: had those talks with those guys, and I think it
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: it brings some value to those guys knowing that I've
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: been there, and I've done it, and I've been through it.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Obviously it's a different deal, whether it be injuries or
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: failure or whatever that looks like. Just being able to
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: bring that experience to those those young kids and make
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: them feel more comfortable and have them realize that this
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: is part of the journey, Like it's not always easy
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: and you're gonna you're gonna have hard times, but at
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: the end of the day. If you continue to fight,
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: you continue to work. You have the heart, you have
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: the brain, and you love the game. The world is
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: your limits.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Great stuff, Letty, I gotta tell you. It's great seeing it.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: It's great catching up with you. We appreciate you coming on.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: I miss you, buddy, I miss you too. That's gonna
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: do it for this edition of Cardinal Territory. We'll see
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: it for the next edition. Hopefully that one won't sup.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: H m hm