Latest / Rosters to Rings Podcast / Triumph, Heartbreak, and the Hall of Fame with Adrian Beltré

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Triumph, Heartbreak, and the Hall of Fame with Adrian Beltré · Rosters to Rings Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Roster Syrings alongside two time American League
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Championship General manager John Daniels and Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Dad Levin. In this episode, we continue
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: our incredible conversation with Adrian. He takes us inside the
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: relationships with some of his favorite teammates, offers an on
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: field detailed perspective of the twenty eleven World Series, and
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: takes us behind the scenes of getting the call to
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame. It feels like we could do
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: a whole show on this, but let's jump to one
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: other topic I wanted to hit with you is what
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: went into your decision to be represented by Scott Boris
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and what has he meant to you throughout your career.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: It was pretty easy, you know. I one of the
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Scott Boris.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Workers. I get you kids, they worked for him.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Approached me in the minigan when I was I think
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: I used before starting my first season. It's oummer League.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Prior around that, he approached me. Heals he talked to
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: me about Scot Bores. I have no ideas. I think
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: who was? They give me the whole presentation of the agency.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: You know, I have a couple of the agents like
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: reach out, but you know, I didn't expect anything, you know.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: So he gave me the whole rundown about scout Wars
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: and I asked up all the guys so you know
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Scoupboard is and they were like, oh, yeah, I was
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: on the best agent.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: I'm like, I guess I signed with this guy. So
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: I ended up signing and he was clear.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: He said, you can sign with us and you can
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: see how we work, and if you don't like it,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: you can also move on and go to an next run.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: But at the time I didn't meet with s cup Boards.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: I just met with one of his three percentatives and uh,
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: I agree to sign with him. So I signed with
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: him and that was it. And he wasn't like the
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: other agents at the time. The other most of the
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Latin players, especially Dominican, we get uh we get it
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: signed upbout when we sat with the agent, because they
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: give your glove, they give you back.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: We didn't I used to that.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: In the Minican they give you all tons of stuff,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: so you normally go with the gut to give you
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: a lot of stuff.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: Stotboard is not like that. He represent you.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: He he helped you this stuff or not, like trying
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: to bribe you, well the stuff that you probably don't
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: need at the time. Uh. He wasn't like that, And
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: I was glad that that I find him because I
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: mean what he presented to me as a ballplayer like
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: things to people don't understand how Scott boor Us work.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: He started the game. He's really smart about the game.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: And but he would let you know what you're good
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: at and you're not good at. He's really he really
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: opened to letting you know what you're worth is and
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: letting you know like this is our your protection, this
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: is what people expected you.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: What can you do better than this?
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: And through my career, Uh, the only fact we had
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: we had was that, you know, I always thought of myself,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: I guess in the in the market. I never had
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: an expectation of the morney wise, I always would beloved.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: I don't want to be disappointed. So he always throw
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: numbers out there that I ridiculous that I didn't want
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: to hear. I don't want to hear because for me
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: it was like, what are you talking about? But for
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: some reasons he always ended up being in the area
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: what he only said.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: But for me it was more. The our relationship was
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: more about.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Helping me be better in what the area that I
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: thought that I need to work on, and he was
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: always there for me. Uh we went. We go way back.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: And when I struggled my first couple of years in
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: the Lake because I was you know, even not in
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: most of my early career, but through my whole career,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: I always started slow. In the first half, Brundell was ridiculous.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: I was hitting one fifty in May and you know,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: understanding that that was my life playing baseball and that
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: was my way out to help my family in the
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Miinigan to be two for me to help economically, Like
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: I was frustrated. I was really devastated the fact that
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: I will work hard. I was dedicated, you know, I
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: have about a team, but it was not shown on
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: the field. I was not performing the way I should
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: and the way that he gathered around me and letting
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: me know that that's normal, You're gonna get better. He
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: actually got help mentally about it. Helped me talking to
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: people so I can have the right mindset, and that
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: for me, that was more important than anything else because
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: you know a young kid and you'll think that because
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: you work hard because you're dedicated, everything's gonna just be
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: fine in the field. It's not how it works. You're
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: on the mental side of it. It's important too, So
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: he helped me out that in that sense. He was
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: always supportive of me being better and me being open
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: to be myself.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: That's for sure. That's a Scott.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: And not only when people look at it like just
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: you know, the superig and the guest you know, plays money.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: He's really getting to the the you know, the person aside,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: which is I I only appreciate it from him.
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: I'm glad to hear you say that I'm Scott because
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: you know, he's in our position. He's not always fun
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: to deal with, right because he's so he's so good
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: at what he does. But in a lot of cases
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: that we just touch on, our our interests are aligned, right,
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: they're the same, right, we all want the player to
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: perform at the highest level, to help the team, to
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: help himself, you know, in the future, contracts and things
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: of that nature. And I always thought Scott was was
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: you know, for as much as a you know, angst
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: and pulling your hair out at times that is, you know,
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: you're negotiating with him, you know that he's going to
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: do his best to help that player, and a lot
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: of other agents do it as well, but he's really
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: good at trying to help support, you know, the player
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: off the field in some of these other ways to
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: you know, kind of best execution of the contract. I
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: think when a really good example that in your your
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: career is and when you signed with Boston because you're
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: such a young big league or you know, you had
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: several different chances to be a free agent, signed with
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: Seattle after LA and then after Seattle you signed the
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: one year deal in Boston. I think that might have
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: been the first time I heard him use the term
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: pillow contract. Right, you know, you have a monster season
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: in Boston and then you know we're fortunate enough to
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: sign you afterwards. Can you talk a little bit about
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: your betting on yourself that year with the Boston contract
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: and and and what went into that.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was interesting year because you know.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: I I I finished that year in Seattle.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: I I got hurt.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: I go for ball and my shoulder kind of pop out,
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: so and then I I received a land drive my
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: rightistical that I signed for a couple of weeks because
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: I was not smart enough to wear a cup. I
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: will never come into anybody else but I I am.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: I'm not playing for season in Seattle. And I actually
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: wanted to go back for a year because I feel
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: like I didn't performed the way I should.
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: But that didn't work out. So and that was the
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: year that it was an alleged collusion from the owners
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: of the stuff that came out.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: And that right after that, I thought, you know what,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: let's see what I can do. I know that I
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: was healthy, but I know that can still play and
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: perform at the highest level because I believe in myself.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: So Scott said to me, listen, you're getting offers about
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: three year offers. In the three years that you get in,
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: you get in this sat amount of money for three
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: years now one penny less three years, two million dollars.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: It was the offer from three different teams, which you
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: kind of proved the collusion that was going on back then.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: And he and I said, well great.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: I thought that I'm going to have a hard time
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: finding a job because I didn't perform well and I,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: you know, I just played half a season and and
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: he goes, yeah, but that's not weird that they offer
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: you three years understanding that what gonna play you are uh,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: and they want to get you cheap because they know
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: they're getting a good player and a good good teammate
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: and a great leader.
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: And he said to me, like, I think that they're smart.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: They're not.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: There's not a bad offer, it's not a bad contract,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: but they're smart because they're getting you for three years.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: Are the really cheap? According to him, cheap for me
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: was way the more way than enough. What he said
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: to me, he said, listen, like do you believe in yourself?
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: Like of course? Like are you healthy? Like, yeah, I'm healthy.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: And as I proposed, you find a team that uh,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: you're comfortable with playing. They give you and will give
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: you some exposure and you prove to MLB that you're
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: healthy and.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: You don't have to have a great year, just.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Play the most you can be healthy, and you're want
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: to find and you know, the team with a chance
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: to actually put you on the spot where you want
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: to win the World Series will give yourself a chance.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: And I thought about it. I said, yeah, why not, Like, yeah,
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: I believe it myself. I can do that. I'm feel good,
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: I feel healthy. I can't do that. So it came
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: about one of the teams that needed the third basement
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: was Boston, and Boston came and made an offer. But
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: at the time, which it kind of it trickles down
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: to when I went to Texas, the third baseman was
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Mike Low, and I understood that Mike Low has some
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: hip injury issue, but I wasn't clear what situation wise,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: so when they may offer me the contract with the
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Scott kind of was happy about the fact that you
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: were to playing a really good team in the East
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: Coast and most people see because all my career before
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: that I'm playing the West Coast Dodger in Seattle. You know,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: people in these in these coast don't see my games
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: unless I'm playing against them. So he said, it's a
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: great opportunity for you to do that, and I said, yes, okay,
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: but you know, I don't mind going to Boston, but
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: I need to figure out I was going out with
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: my glove.
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: I don't want to any kind of problem.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: So I said, before I do that, I would like
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: to talk to my glove to make sure that he's
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: okay with me going over. If not, it's not going
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: to be a contract mean going to Boston. So I
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: ended up talking to Mike before Mike understand the old
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: the situation was, he knew that he was not going
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: to play three base as much be THEHGAM playing first base.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: So then after that we end up agreeing to that
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: contract going to Boston, and and I mean it was,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: i'll like you, the first Pillow contract. But for me
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: it was perfect because I would just throwing on a
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: really good team to play defense. Only come on there,
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: play defense, hit seven eight, and don't you know where
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: about anything else. So I came in like a good,
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: great group of guys with the great emails, and the
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: fan base was great too, and I got there, It's
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: just okay, I'm gonna work on my defense because that's
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: what I need me to do. So I'm just gonna
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: get there and play play the game, no no pressure,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: what whatever.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: So I started playing.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm hitting really good, but I was at
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: hitting for power in the beginning. And I ended up
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: having a great season, and I think, to be honest,
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: wasn't part of my worst seasonpreme defense in Boston. I
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: don't think I played defense well that as I should.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: But I ended up having a really good season and
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: I really liked the fame base. I really like the
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: the I hear that the f the fan base, and
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: I like the front office, and I thought about going back.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: You know, they offered me a contract and I thought
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: about it, but it was a great spart from me
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: because they treat me really well. I ended up having
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: a blast playing against those guys. We did not make
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: it to the playoffs because a bunch of guys got hurt.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: You know, Big Puppy got hurt, Peedo, I got hurt.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: You please got her, Victor Martinez got hurt, Jason brad
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: I got hurt. So we got literally a hospital of
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: the game. And I kind of I heard a little bit,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: but I kind of squipped my way out with Tito
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: and playing, playing pretty.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Much every day. But I was a great experience doing that.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: And you know it came about that after the season,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: the o for mere contract.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: We were back and forth, but I was looking.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: I was focusing mainly that time to give my step
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: a chance to not most so much the money or
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: the area where I was going to play it or sign,
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: but sided with the team. They gave me a best
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: chance to win the worst cerap because the only thing
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: missing my career at that moment, and that's why I
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: ended up chosing you guys at that time.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Adrian, so much to unpack there, not the least
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: of which is we're about forty episodes deep and we
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: hadn't heard the words testicle and colostomy bag a little
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: one both in one episode, and so I wanted to
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: thank you for that. But I think you're also you're
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: talking about some of the additional advantages of working with
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: a guy like Scott Bors is the education he offered,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: the perspective he gave you at that time when you
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: were prepared to sign one of those three year, twenty
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: one million dollar deals, which now seems crazy that somebody
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: of your caliber would sign for that, but at the
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: time he had the foresight to say, let's bet on yourself,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: and if you were prepared to do that, he had
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: the perfect ending spot for you, because that turned out
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: to be one of your significant off offensive seasons and
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: you end up signing signing with us, which was really
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: a watershed moment. And one thing I just want to
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: say to you, Adrian, is I got a chance to
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: work in the game for twenty six years. This will
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: be my twenty seventh. I've never watched a player have
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: more fun playing the game than you did playing the game.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: You always did it with some degree of respect, but
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: fans were going to get come to the game, they
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: were going to get entertained. You were going to do
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: something spectacular on the field, and you were going to
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: have some fun doing it. And I think back to,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: like so many unique relationships you had, and I just
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: want to hit on a few of them. Here. Tell
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: us about what your relationship with Felix Hernandez has meant
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: to you over the years. Nothing was more fun than
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: when you were in Texas and we were playing Seattle
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: and you guys were going back and forth with each other.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: But like, what was the origin of that? And tell
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: tell us a little bit of what he's meant to
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: you in your career.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that was that was some fun times.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I you know what, It's the thing that some
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: baseball player now sometimes don't understand. I grew up playing
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: the game that I love, and I was when before
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: I signed, I had a blast playing it.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: I didn't think about mechanics, I don't think.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: I just thought about playing the game and I and
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: some reason I was. I was pretty good at it
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: before I signed when I first when I signed and
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: I came to the minor leagues, then that kind of
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: went away a little bit when I got to the
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: big leagues because I was struggling in the beginning every season,
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: so the fun of the game kind of I put
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: it on the back end.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: Because I was so serious about the fact that I
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: need to perform. You know, I'm in the big leagues.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: I need to do my job.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: And I actually did not enjoy the game at the time,
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: and I went through the rough patch here in LA
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: I went to Rosset Patch and Seattle, and and between
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: that you see some flashes on me enjoy the game
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: because I love I enjoyed the game. But I got
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: to a point where like I'm like, listen, like, you know,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: my family is healthy, my family is financially set. Like
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: if I get released a fire today, like I'm gonna
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: live my life just as well as anybody else.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: So it turned the point where I, you.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Know, at one time, I'm gonna go back to a
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: little bit because one of the reason that I started
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: doing that too is because when I was struggling in
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: La a lot, you know, which is is something that
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: young guys should learn from. It you know, I got
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: married when I was twenty three years old, and I
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: was young. I got married, but at the time when
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: I was struggling with LA, I would come home and
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: really not be present with my wife or my kid,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: and you know that was not fair to them.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: But my wife understood the game. She gave me my
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: space at the time.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: But there came a time where it was it was
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: getting too much because I would come home and just
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: turn out the signing don't talk, don't interact with anybody,
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: because I just felt like I was disappointed. I was
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: a disappointment and I didn't understand what I was struggling
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: so much, and people had so much of high expectation
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: of me. So one time my wife told me, hey, listen,
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: I understand you're going through this rough patch on your career,
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: but you have to remember that your your husband and
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: your dad. And that hit me really deep, and I'm
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: glad that she did at the time because then I realized, man,
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: is this is eating me alive. And maybe because I'm
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: taking this so seriously and bringing it home when I
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: go back, when I go back to a stadium, all
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: that pressure is still on my shoulders. So after that,
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: I started kind of understanding that I need to relax
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: a little bit more and be able to enjoy the game,
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: and you know, and I started.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: Having more fun with it over a little bit later.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: And then after.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: That, I was performing better because I was just playing
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: the game that I enjoyed playing, and it was it
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: was super, super super easy when you're doing decent and
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: you enjoyed the game to just be out there like
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: a kid. And when I was in Seattle, you know,
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: I had the biggest contract they offer all the time,
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: so again I forgot about what I learned in LA
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: and then went back to Seattle trying to justify the contract,
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: and and it was just went bad, and it went
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: so bad that I just didn't.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: I didn't. I didn't.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: I didn't want to be in the field because I
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: felt like I was not performing at the level that
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: I that I should and I felt like a disappointment, disappointment.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: And in that year was when uh we got this
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: young kid, Felix throwing the big nineteen years old throwing
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: freaking fire, such a great stuff, and uh, he right
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: away just kind of gravitation towards me, and I got
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: it on them my way, and I said listen, this
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: is why you need how you need to be in
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: the big least. You have so much talent, like you
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: have to understand that you're gonna be somebody great. So
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: make sure you focus what you need to do and
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: do things right. Because it was it was a little while.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: I was able to have a great relationship with him
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: and we we can you know best butts. We would
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: talk smack about the fact that you know, if we
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: go separate ways meaning Seattle, he goes somewhere, I go
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: somewhere and we faced each other, gonna be a really match, Yeah,
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: because he would talk ship about the fact that he
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: was going to strike me out every time he faced me,
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: and I would tell him, if I take you deep,
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna run run the basis like Michael Jackson thro
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: the backers. So that we do that for years and
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: then means, you know, leaving going to Boston. And when
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: I first day, I started with Boston right away ingratilation,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: but now you screwed because I'm gonna face you and
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: to strike you out. So I started right there and
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: I remember, like like today, the first day we were
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: going to face when I was in Boston, he he
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: texted me out the way saying, hey, I'm pitching that
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: so day you know I'm gonna throw your first pitch
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: fastball and I'm gonna strike you out and going leading
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: in to it. It was back and forth every day,
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: talking talking smack every day, and uh he came the
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: day and he did strike me out the first time
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: he face I fatally striked me out.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: But I was to day the born are.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: I guess our challenge of like trying to be professional
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: in the field, but at the same time let people
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: know that we are gonna kind of get at each other.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: And I I I probably knew that some people didn't
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: like it, but it was just part of being competitive
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: and having fun playing the game, trying not to offend anybody.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: But that matchup, I mean, I couldn't wait every time
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: I knew we're going to face Phoenix or the team
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: he was in Seattle, I couldn't wait to face it
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: because it was it was a matchup that I couldn't
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: wait to to live again.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: It was it was fun, for sure, It was fun.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: We have fun with it and hopefully people enjoyed it
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: and didn't get it offended by it.
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: I was always I was marveled at your ability to
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: kind of turn it on and off to Maybe that's
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: not the right phrase, but you could have fun like
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: you're just describing, but still stay locked in, right, you would,
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: you know, whatever kind of the stuff you and Elvis
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: would do. And I want to want to hear you
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: talk a little about your relationship there with Elvis. But
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: like a lot of guys can't do that. They couldn't
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: mess around on the you know, in one moment and
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: then lock and you know, fraction of a second later
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: and make unbelievable plays with unbelievable focus. I've always thought
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: that was one of your like your superpowers, that you
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: could you know, a lot of guys are super serious.
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: They have to be to stay focused to perform at
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: the level. You could have fun and do that, And
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: I thought I was tremendous for the fans, and I
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: was worried about it for our young players, Like I
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: don't hate You're not Adrian just yet. You know you
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: might need to stay focused here a little bit. Can
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: you talk about Elvis, you know, Hall of Fame, your
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: induction speech, you joke talked about it. He's a pin
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: in your butt, And you talk a little about your
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: your relationship and the impact that he had on your
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: time in Texas.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, and the good point, uh j D.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: I think that I always wanted to respect the game,
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: respect my peer, and I respect my teammates. I never
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: want to close that line of respect anybody. I take
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: my jeft seriously, seriously always and once that line. Yes,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: I have fun, but I understand my job, understand that
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: the other guys was my enemy, that's for sure. I
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: thought that I did a decent java at it.
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: It was.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: It was difficult times trying to have fun and understanding
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: that some people might now understand what I'm doing, but
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: I did it and I hope that people didn't get
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: offended by it. Uh. But going back to Elvis, man,
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: it was similar to.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: To kind of like Phillis.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: You know, I came to Texas, which is it was
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: one of my better decisions in my career.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: I think that going into that team and coming into
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: the Texas you know, clubhouse with that uh those guys
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: in there, it was it was a great time for
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: me in my career.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: And not only the teammates.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: That I did, I inherit coming in, but having the
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: culture you guys already have from before.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: It was incredible.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: I just came in and it was it was easy
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: just to be one of the guys, you know, you know,
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: with the welcoming that Michael Young had me and Ian
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: and and and all those guys, it was easy just
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: to come in and be just one of the guys.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: And the soon that I got there, Man, Elvis and
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: I just.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: We're just like interestinarly, just mold like a freaking put
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: to a shoe.
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: He we're different, We're a completely different person. But part
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: of his personality and the way he is it helped
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: me to be a better person and a better player.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: Difficult to explain, but you know, Elvis is joking, laughing
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: every time every day.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: You know, yes, I have fun, but I separate things.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: You know, when I'm working on something, I'm serious about
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: what I'm doing, you know, and that kind that helped
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: me to be more relaxed and enjoyed the game more
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: because Elvis kind of pushed me a little more that
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: I that I needed to and at times, to be
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: honest with you, you know, Elvis is a great person,
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: great kid, but I have to be more a part
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: with him at times because he needed to focus a
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: little more then just have fun.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: You know, is A is A is a fine line there,
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: but I did.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: I did have a coup of type of issue with
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: some of my teammates, especially I.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I is A is A.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: One of my best teammates too, a great teammate, but
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: we had to And again it's like what I'm talking
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: about open conversation with your teammates.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: We had an issue one time with Ian because Ian.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: Is really really intense, uh, And I respect that because
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: he said he's a gamer. He comes, he goes to
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: play every day. He wants to kill the other the
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: other the other teams. He wants nothing to do with them,
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: which is fine. You know, everybody does it different. And
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: I remember we we have meetings about how to play
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: different players from the other team, and we cannot figure
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: out defensively between me and Elvis, how to play uh defensively,
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: Uh my trial, my trial. For some reason, every time
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: hit the bond, the ground is between me and Elvis,
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: and we took pride for me and Elvis. We took
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: pride of nobody going they need no hits around our side.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: We took pride on that.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: And if it's somebody lucky enough we're gonna call each
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: other out, and you need to be playing better.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: You need to be you know you're playing that guy
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: that way.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: We played this way and we had a great communication
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: how to play gude to like look at each other.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: It was something that you can't teach. I think we
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: had a great chemistry doing that. But right before the game,
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: after we have our meeting, defensive meeting, we went we
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: look through videos and we said, every time we hit
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: the ball on the ground is between us. So let's
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: let's freaking kind of cutting like this, play give in
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: the middle and given the line, we're gonna play almost
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: next to each other, let's do that. So he comes
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: f out of the first eating and but we we
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: had like probably three or four straight game that we lost.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: The game we were losing. We had three or four
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: game losten streak.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: So we were little little hack because we had a
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: good team and we're losing. So my trial, the first
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: first of ball, he comes hit a bullet right betwo
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: me and Elvis. Literally we looked two free from each other.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: He is a rightby tween us. So me and Elvis
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: look at each other laughing, like, how are we gonna
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: play this guy?
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: How I'm gonna do with this guy.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: So the boys in the field, Elvis looking at me, laughing,
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: touching the ball like smiling.
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: He throws it. He's gonna throw it to Ian, and he.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: Is like yelling at Elvis, like yelling in the field,
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: like what is going on? Give me the ball like yelling,
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: and he's looking at it and put it kind of
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: glancing at me. But I'm looking at him right first
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: of all, like I understand the way he is, but
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: the way I see it is like I can be
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: more intense than Ian when I'm serious about something, but
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: I would never do it on the field.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: So that's why I didn't like the fact that he
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: was doing that.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: But I understand where he's coming from. So we back
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: it comes out. I'll go to dugout and he's yapping.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: I say, yeah, you have a minute, let's go to
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: the hall. So I took it to I took it
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: to the hall and say what's going on? So he's
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: mad with the reason. So we're losing the freaking games
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: here and Elvis just smiling over there, playing.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: Like he's don't care, you know, talking to you in
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: the middle of the play.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: Give me the ball and I go, yeah, First of all,
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: I think is wrong for you to be yelling anybody
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: in the field.
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: And uh, but let me tell you something. The reason that.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: We're smiling kind of laughing of the fact that we,
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: like you, you heard in the meeting, we don't know
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: how to play this guy. So I splend the whole
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: situation what we're talking about, and he understood that with
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: the fact. But I want to listen like it will
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: be the last time you say anything like that to
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: me or two Elvis on the field, because I don't
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: want to take it the same say, when you want
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: to talk to me or any of our teammates. You
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: can freaking yell at me anytime you want, and I
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: will listen. I will look at the phase and listen
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: to it. But if you do in the field, will
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: never happen again. So I will freaking ye're like you
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: right in front of you in the middle of the field.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: Done that again.
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: And after that he understood.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: And after that we actually have better relationship because you
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: understood what we were talking about. And he kind of
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: realized that he just jumped into the rusion at the time.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: But it comes to life that not everybody understand how
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: the dynamic and me and Elvis worked. It was not
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: easy to see, but with Elvis it was just it
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: was fun to play with. He was such a gun like, happy, enthusiastic,
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: full the energy guy and he was always happy. He
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: was nothing negative. You know, he was in the clubhouse,
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: he was annoying all the all day. He was the
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: guy that you know, he was a life of the party.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: He was the guy that was playing music on the
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: in the clubhouse. You know, he gets he get away.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: He used to get away with a lot of things
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: because the way he was. You know, he was protected
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: by Michael, protected by me Bianeapoli, and he was just
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: a delightful guy to play with. And I'm glad that
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: he was able to to become, you know, a hall
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: of fame from the Rangers, because he deserves it. But
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: you know, I was just waiting that he could have
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: played longer if he would have listened to me about
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: being more of the leader instead of being a goofball.
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: I think that that would have stayed his carey.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: A little bit.
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: But you know, what a fun guy to play with,
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: for sure. I enjoyed that time.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Adrian. I always felt you never said this directly but
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: I always felt like you viewed every player in the
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: clubhouse through the lens of can this guy help me
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: win a championship? And if he ken, there was nothing
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: you wouldn't do to help them. And I think Elvis
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: was that guy in larger guard that you took under
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: your wing because you knew the potential he had. You
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: knew that the only way for us to achieve the
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: best we could would be for him to be the
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: best version of himself. The other thing I would just
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: say about Ian Kinsler, who you alluded to, is you
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: would like to think all players want to win as
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: much as the next guy, but some guys just hated
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: to lose. Ian Kinsler hated to lose. And I think
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: it's also like the difference between and this could be
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: a whole nother show, which is just the way that
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: when you go watch winter ball in Latin America and
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: you watch the game played, everyone is having fun. If
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: there's a double play in the second inning, the whole
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: dugout floods the field and they're celebrating it. It's so
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: different when you watch the game at the major league level.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: I actually think the way you played the game is
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: exactly the way everyone should play the game. We should
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: be celebrating it. It's entertainment, it's a lot of fun.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I think the guys who grew up in the
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: United States believe in that kind of act, like you've
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: been there and never let the fans know if you
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: just hit the home run to walk off or if
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: you struck out to end the game. And I always
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: believe the opposite, like celebrate as much as you possibly can.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: I thought that Wash did a great job as the
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: manager of the team, where every night he wanted us
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: to win, but also he wanted the other team to
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: know we were enjoying kicking their butts, and that was great.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: I want to take you into one of the most
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: spectacular games I ever witnessed that you were part of.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: If you could remember back to October fourth, twenty eleven,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: you said you joined the Rangers in part because you
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: were hopeful of pursuing a World Series. Is well, we
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: were playing in the Alds in Tampa. We were up
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: two to one, we had a chance to close them out.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: We ended up winning four to three, but you played
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: a pretty important part in three of the four runs
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: we scored. What can you tell us about your memories
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: from that game.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: Ah, I mean from that game, but we knew that
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: obviously we had a mission and we had a great team,
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: and we I never felt as comfortable offensively.
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: With any team in that team.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: It was just we had a believable team. But we
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: know that Tampa was a good, sneaky team. They had
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: a good pitching staff, and we were trying to close
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: out that game.
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: Our bats were not clicking the way we wanted to
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: in the series yet.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: But I I didn't want to go to the next
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: game because I don't remember whose picture, but I knew
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: that it was gonna be a tough pitching matchup against us,
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: so we wanted to close them out that day. But
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: you know, even the game before, I was my I
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: feeling I was feeling feeling good offensively. I was feeling
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: good offensively. So I felt like, you know, I need
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: to perform here because I want to go to the
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: next round. And I remember that first bat I had.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: I had a approach how to face that guy. I remember,
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: the right handed guy with a good change. I befogot
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: his name at the moment, but I had a plan.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna go, I'm gonna look high I'm gonna look
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: up everything up, I'm gonna swing.
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: I guess that's what I want. I don't want to do.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: And I remember I I hit a first home first
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: I got home run, and I felt like, okay, I
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: I think I'm gonna have a good day today. And
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: you know, I think on the mountain heis thank you, helexon, Yeah, yeah,
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: thank you. And that next bat I hit the home
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: run and I was feeling good about myself and the
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: game was really closed.
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: I think I hit the other home run too. We
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: were back and forth, kind of.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: Close game, and I think we were up three two
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: at the moment, and I was facing.
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: More lefty. He was was your kid.
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: Throwing gas and I know that he likes his fastball.
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: And again that what my say was look high and
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: let a fly, and he threw me a high fastball
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: and I connected, and I thought about then lets hit
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: three home runs. Yes you did. But it was the
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: atmosphere in our clubhouse, in a dugout, man like running
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: a second base, looking in the dugout, I smelling like
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: testing a little bit of going to the next round.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: It was good and it was good and and you.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: Know, uh, going in and we had a great bullpen,
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: so I expected it for us to close them out
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: and that day, but you know, after the game, we
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: close them out, and I was glad that I was
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: part of a key moment of moving to this round
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: because I felt in my heart that we were going
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: to win the whole thing that year. But it didn't
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: turn out that way. But I was happy to be
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: able to contribute at least in that game.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, Adrian, you said you thought we had
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: a chance to win it that year. I think we
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: all thought we had a chance to win it that year.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: I don't want to send any of us into therapy here,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: but maybe just your perspective from being on the field.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: Saint Louis were playing in the World Series. We're up
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: three to two in games, we have a chance to
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: close it out. You're on the field when it's an
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: incredible series. I mean, let's call it like it is.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: That whole series was just a battle of excellent players.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: There were so many Hall of Fame caliber players on
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: both those teams. They all showed up. Everyone was having
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: a great series. There were like four or five guys
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: who were candidates for the MVP of the series. Epic
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: performances all the way around, but we do have a
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: chance to close it out. Take us down to the
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: field level. What was the ninth inning like for you
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: as you were that close to realizing your dream of
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: winning a World Series? We were all that close, but
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: you were actually on the field and had a chance
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: to celebrate with the boys. What was your perspective Game six,
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: Saint Louis.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: But I'll try to summarize a little bit of it
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: because it was so much stuff going through my head
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: at the time, and I want to try to make
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: it short. But you know, it got to the moment
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: of the ninth inning, under standing is we only need
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: three outs with one of the best closer in the
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: Big League at the time, Felise, And you know in
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: my head is going.
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: Through like this is what you came here for.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: You know, nothing is going your way right now, nothing
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: is going to go pass your way any grandble around me.
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna make the play because I don't want to
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: be the reason why we're not the champions, because I
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: might not get on the chance to do that this again,
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: because I just I felt on top of the whole
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: year with the our team. Our team was you guys
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: did a great jet put the team together. Our team
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: was stacked, especially offensively. But at that moment, you know, ninetheenning,
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: no outs, playing defense, thinking of okay, just come here,
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: you know, Natalite and just shut it down, and you know,
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: everything start to kind of slow down a little Bernado
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: and then type of plays past. You know, we have
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: a situation where Freeze coming to hit with the men first.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: I don't remember who hit a bluep or something. I
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: don't remember who was, but in my mind I have
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: the meeting that we had as a team in how
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: to pitch Freeze because he had a great, uh serious
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: before before us against Milwaukee, and.
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: It was showing.
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: Mike Matters was showing every pitch that he hit was
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: the middle away or breaking balls. And you know, I
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: always take information and keep it in my head just
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: in case I need it. I don't get involved at
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: but I listened and I have it just in case
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: people ask me for questions.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: I have it.
• 38:50
  Speaker 5: To to to use it, to use it or to
• 38:55
  Speaker 5: actually help my teammate, because I was alway is focus
• 39:01
  Speaker 5: on why can I do to help my teammates?
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: And when I saw that a bat against Freeze, and
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: I see Napoli calling.
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: Fastball inside.
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: It's seen atally going no, fast inside, no, and then
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: throw it fast of all away and he just miss
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: it with a good swing.
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: And it's at least something that I normally don't do.
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: Is go to the mound and tell him a picture,
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: which I'm not how to pitch a player, but at
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: that moment, I understand the situation, so I and I
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: didn't want to let it go by, and then second
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: guess myself, why did I go and share that information
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: with the picture. So we call time out and Elvis
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: came with me and not only came up, and they
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: said and.
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: I was, I was really, I was really fired up.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: You know, I don't think I can say what I
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: told him, so I told that at the moment, but
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: I said, listen, we know this guy can hit fast
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: one inside. Don't be a freaking p and you throw
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: a hundred month for hour, for God's sake, like pun
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: him in. And Napoli goes, yeah, I'm calling it fast
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: all inside, and and I say, I know, I'm looking
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: at it. I see and then Natalie said like okay, okay,
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: it's like, don't pitch anything away, don't nothing, no breaking
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: balls pandem aside. I'm gonna guard the line, no doubles
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: pande side, but you're good as go. So in my mind, okay,
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: he got it. Now you understand what we're coming from.
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: He has a capture obviously that went to the whole lineup.
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: So how to pitch the players? So Napoli goes behind
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: play and calls for fastball.
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: Inside and he goes no, fast points out, and he.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: Goes no, and he goes like kind of like fastball away,
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: like a question mark type, like like I'm afraid of asking,
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: and he goes, yeah, it's fastball away. He misses, and
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: then next pitch fastball his side, No fastball way, no
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: break the ball he followed off, so it's too too
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: and that he's calling it fastball his side, he don't
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: want to call it, so you don't want to throw it.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: So then he calls fastball away and that ball and
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: that pitch come.
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: Middleway and he made contact. Are the time to make contact?
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: It looked like I catch a ball on right field,
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: So for me it's like it's no motion seeing the
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: ball and then changing my my I vision to Nelson
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: where he's playing, and then I see that oh he
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: has to go back and watching the ball, watching the wall,
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: seeing Nelson, and I'm at the beginning, I'm like like
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: I had to celebrate, and then it comes like, oh,
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: maybe not. And I'm coming down and it's just like
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: everything is.
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: Slow motion and I see him kind of jump.
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: And I'm like waiting to see if the bables on
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: the glove, and I see the ball hit the wall
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: and come back this way.
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: And I was in this belief or what just happened.
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: First of all because and that's no, I'm not gonna
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: blame anybody, because we all are fall and including myself,
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: because I was the type of player that normally checked
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: what the outfield plays, and if I think somebody might
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: not be playing the pure schol we playing, I normally
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: notified the coaches and let him know, hey, are you
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: okay what he's playing, and they will let me know
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: yes or no, So let it go and go by
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: my business. But I was so focused on my area
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: about the fact that I expecting a pitch inside and
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: I would not let anything go by my third base
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: area that I forgot about checking my teammates if they're
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: playing in the position where they should be. Yes, it's
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: on the outfield coach to make sure that he playing
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: where you want him to be playing. And yes, it's
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: it's the obligation of the outfield is to understand the
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: situation where there is a situation or not double and
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: you should be playing more deeper than where you were
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: so that we are for all the time. Uh, it's
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: hard to blame one person. But at the moment, was like,
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: what just happened? Like, what just happened? So the ball
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: hit the wall, us to the too back to like
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: almost on the infield. You know, Freeze end up hitting
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: triple typo game and I'm I'm a like, I can't
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: believe what just happened. But I'm like, okay, just forget
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: about it. It's typebo game. We're still in the game.
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: We end up you know, finish that inning. Come back,
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: come back, Uh he comes freaking Uh Publicton that was
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: having a tough time.
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: On that serious hit the bomb. So I can now
• 44:29
  Speaker 3: we got it. We got it.
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: We got think only we're coming to pitch to pitch
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: to close that that inning, and I think they tied
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: it again. I don't remember exactly how happened, but then
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: we got Mark Lowe, which was one of our best
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: delivered that year facing freeze again and the three two
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: to him change up away like no freaking way. But
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: I mean it's I'll be honest with you guys, and
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: you guys probably relate to this. I can sleep for
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: about three weeks that that that was my worst day
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: of my life.
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: It is.
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: It was something that I couldn't I couldn't come to
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: to understand how that happened. I mean, we were strike
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: away two times from just becoming champions, and it's for me,
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: it was you know, I was like thirty something at
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: the time, and I understood how difficult was to get there,
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: To be at that moment where all you need is
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: just one good pitch or even if the back pitch,
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: even to somewhere to someone that's so we needed. It
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: was devastating. And you know that you I don't know
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: where you brought that up, and I'm I'm about to
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: cry here, but you know, it happens in baseball, and
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: I don't regret a lot of things, But then I
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: wish I could go back in time and just play
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: that in and again and and and and do a
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: lot of things different.
• 46:14
  Speaker 4: Atrian those you nailed it on so many fronts, the
• 46:18
  Speaker 4: emotions that all of us felt, and I remember that
• 46:21
  Speaker 4: exact feeling of like how hard it how many things
• 46:25
  Speaker 4: had gone right, how many people had done their jobs
• 46:27
  Speaker 4: well to put us in position, you know that that
• 46:31
  Speaker 4: weekend there, and then for it not to happen just
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: just you know, hey, we still had a great team
• 46:36
  Speaker 4: the next year, but just how hard it is to
• 46:38
  Speaker 4: get back to that point. And even that game, game six,
• 46:41
  Speaker 4: you know, eleven innings. I think there was only one
• 46:43
  Speaker 4: inning that runs weren't scored, right, I think it was
• 46:45
  Speaker 4: the third eight innings run runs were scored in this
• 46:48
  Speaker 4: epic game, and there's so I guess my point there
• 46:51
  Speaker 4: was There's so many little that we talk about, you know,
• 46:53
  Speaker 4: the freeze at bats and the ball, and I feel it,
• 46:56
  Speaker 4: there's so many things that could have gone differently, And
• 46:59
  Speaker 4: you know, I I look at myself. You know, coach
• 47:02
  Speaker 4: Ui Area. We had taken him off the playoff roster
• 47:05
  Speaker 4: because he had the rough series in Detroit, and you know,
• 47:07
  Speaker 4: he goes on to Boston and has an epic season
• 47:11
  Speaker 4: two years later and as a World Series hero, and
• 47:13
  Speaker 4: you know, I think about that decision, so so many
• 47:16
  Speaker 4: things that had gone right, but in that one moment,
• 47:18
  Speaker 4: there were just you know, a million and any tiny
• 47:21
  Speaker 4: detail goes a different way. You know, history is different.
• 47:24
  Speaker 4: And but I remember that team extremely fondly, as you know,
• 47:27
  Speaker 4: one of the best times in my life.
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Adrian, one of the it was so emotional. We
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: cared so deeply. I mean, you said you didn't sleep
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: for three weeks. I honestly think for the next ten
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: years of my life, I don't think a day went
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: by without me thinking about something about that game that
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: could have gone differently that would have let us win.
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: I mean you said Coachi Orhara JD. I'm thinking of
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: n D. Chavez, who we had on the roster because
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: he was such a gifted defender, and could he have
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: been in the game, could he have made the catch?
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: You know, you just don't. You just don't know. But
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: I think it was such a great team. And I
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: think one of the maybe cruel elements of sports is
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: when you lose the World Series, when you lose the
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: Super Bowl, the NBA Championship, you're not viewed as like exalted,
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: as being in second place. You're kind of like the
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: first loser. And I remember it was about five six
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: years later Michael Young had retired, and I just came
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: up to him and said, you know, I'm just so
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: proud of what you guys accomplished that year. And he
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: kind of said, thank goodness you said that, because I
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: feel like we're all supposed to be ashamed of this.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: And I said, you're going to tell you the same thing, Adrian,
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: like that. I know you said that was one of
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: the worst days of your career, and that probably was
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: one of all of ours that will haunt us. But
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: that was the most enjoyable season I've ever had watching
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: a team play the game of baseball. That you guys
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: were so dynamic, we were so loaded. It was kind
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: of right before we all understood what war was. And
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: the war you guys delivered individually and collectively was just exceptional.
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: The gifts you gave the communities around Arlington, Texas, throughout
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: the state, throughout Rangers territory, those are gifts those people
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: will will have shaped their lives for the rest of
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: the time, and it was just exceptional. We want to
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: end this one on an upbeat, though, Adrian, so let's
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: shift our attention. You're also on the field for one
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: of the most epic fights that took place in recent time.
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: A young, shorter gentleman named rugnet O'dor had a chance
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: to square off against Jose Batista. You, if memory serves,
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: then were kind enough to remove Jose from the situation
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: so that he wouldn't fall down having gott knocked out
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: by Odor. What was that moment like for you on
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: the field?
• 49:32
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: Man, I mean I have been in Kapa, different bra
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: not quite as aggressive as that one. But emmy, you
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: can see, you can see the development of it because
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: you know he's been cheaping back and forth or a
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: year before, and you know, it is the game of baseball.
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: You kind of can see it coming. It transpired the
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: way that people a lot of people don't know. It's
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: a lot of internal things to that. You know, a
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: couple of things that was said by Bautista. They didn't
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: didn't really winding. Our team didn't take it well, but
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: you know, not sorry, sure, you know the digital things.
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: He be free the ball, which is not the main
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: reason people think was the main reason.
• 50:27
  Speaker 3: Was not the main reason. But we we knew, everybody
• 50:31
  Speaker 3: knew he was gonna get hit. The question was when.
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: And he got hit. He got hit, Uh, you know,
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: regardless of if Bush didn't his own or he was
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: asked her, it doesn't matter. He got hit, he didn't
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: like it, and you know, but Rugie and him had
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: a little ah back and forth thing ben before that,
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: and we had as a team, especially infield because I
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: tried to protect anybody.
• 51:02
  Speaker 3: So he had a meaning. Listen, if he Batista isn't
• 51:05
  Speaker 3: in first base, something happened like.
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: Elvis both gets hit to you, give it to Rougie quick.
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: Don't let him freaking just stand next. We can get killed.
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: If a grandpos to me, I'm gonna be quick the same.
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: So let's let's just work on that, okay. So it
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: happened just the way we talked about Batista get hit.
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: He's at first. I don't moment who was hit and
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: hated like a high shopper to me. So I understand
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: what's coming up. So I throw the ball quick to
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: Rookie cut it and he I don't know how he
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: knew he was not facing Mattista.
• 51:38
  Speaker 3: He was out of his backwards stars.
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: So he hit him and her around with the ball
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: with his hands like glowers you can be to turn
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: the ball first base.
• 51:49
  Speaker 3: He literally just missed his face and.
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: His fine.
• 51:53
  Speaker 3: He threw the ball.
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: I know, I mean that the packer was over here.
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: Hit the ball to the right field, and Batista up
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: a kind of made a mistake of trying to confront Rugie.
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: Ruggie is the guy that is quick to react. So again,
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: but he starts struggled a little bit and uh, Ruggie
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: just just put one of his chin. There was man
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: water punch right away. He kind of shoveled over with
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: the glove and then he's hit him in the freaking face.
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: And my inititian reaction to it. I've never been in
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: the broad that I'm the one throwing punches, but at
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: that moment I was about to. But when I'm running
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: for second base to help my teammate and got there,
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: all I saw was Batista's face kind of like his
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: eyes kind of like not really there if if if if,
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to be clear, he was out, So at
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: that moment I would just even though I was I
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: had the inpatient to do something different. My reaction was,
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: let me get this guy here because he's not really present.
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: So I grabbed and took him to the side. But
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: I know, well, I knew all the time that a
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: lot of his teammates didn't really uh support him the
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: way he was acting in what was going on, And
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: when I grabbing to the side, I find it odd
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: that none of his teammates came to his rescue. I
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: was actually like, hope, hope, hoping somebody would come and
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: grab him so I can go back to the action
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: is but nobody was. It was ten to help him,
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: and I was. I was telling him his fanis, hey,
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: are you okay? Are you okay? And he's like not
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: his funny to me, and then like are you okay?
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: Are you gonna be okay? So I want to let
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: him go and go to the middle where the the
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: you know, the thing is and he said, oh, he
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: hit me, like no ship, he hits you. So then
• 54:21
  Speaker 2: the Marlo, the Marlo was the coach, was the only
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: one that came and kind of said, oh, I got
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: ab I got him, and I know the model of good.
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: He was a coach when I was in Boston, so
• 54:29
  Speaker 2: the a b I got him, go go, So I
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: kind of let him go. But man, the only story
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: is short. What a punch, What a punch?
• 54:37
  Speaker 4: And I was.
• 54:39
  Speaker 3: I was glad that I had a first seat to
• 54:42
  Speaker 3: watch him.
• 54:44
  Speaker 2: Uh deliver that because I mean, I don't condone that,
• 54:47
  Speaker 2: but it was needed at the time.
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: You have a lot of gold gloves and silver sluggers
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: behind you. I have the picture that the frame by
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: frame picture of him punching Bautista that Odor signed for
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: me as part of my memorabilia. I'll remember that fondly forever.
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: ABB remiss before we let you go here, tell us
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: the wonderful day that you're sitting with your family. You
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: get the call, and just one thing I just want
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: to share with the listeners. One thing that I thought
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: was so marvelous about your career is how much you
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: included Aj, your son in it. He was in the clubhouse,
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: he was always super respectful, but you were always working
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: with him before the games in the outfield. But be
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: able to share that moment with your whole family. But
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: AJ sitting right next to you, you get the call
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: for the Hall of Fame.
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: How was that call?
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: How was that feeling? How great was that to share
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: that moment with your family?
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: Me?
• 55:44
  Speaker 3: It was it was something that would never forget for me.
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I love the game, and I love the competition
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: and being competing with the best of the best. But
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: I'm a family men first, And you know, I I
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: I heard and I learned that the hard way too,
• 56:02
  Speaker 2: like I splained before, and I got I got lucky
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: that I was able to marry into a person that
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: understood what I was going through, understand the game, and
• 56:14
  Speaker 2: and allowed me to be myself in in and off
• 56:18
  Speaker 2: the field. And I was I was lucky enough to
• 56:24
  Speaker 2: create a family that it was so well put together
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: in the sense of.
• 56:30
  Speaker 3: Understanding how our life was going to be.
• 56:34
  Speaker 2: Me and not being home half of the time, and
• 56:37
  Speaker 2: even when at home, I don't see them enough, and
• 56:43
  Speaker 2: getting to have kids and and obviously have my daughter
• 56:47
  Speaker 2: that that was born into the game and then has
• 56:52
  Speaker 2: again my only son and in the middle of it,
• 56:56
  Speaker 2: and he's been kind of and they love a game
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: through me, and see how passionate he is about the game.
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: You know, for me, it was it was a joy
• 57:08
  Speaker 2: and it was a joy to be able to to
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: help him understand how the game is from the inside
• 57:15
  Speaker 2: out the clubhouse and and by the way, I want
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: to thank you guys, especially JD.
• 57:21
  Speaker 3: Farnow, and that's to happen.
• 57:23
  Speaker 2: I understand that some clubhouse were not We're not happy
• 57:27
  Speaker 2: about the fact that you bring your kid to the clubhouse.
• 57:30
  Speaker 2: And that's that was one of the reasons why I
• 57:33
  Speaker 2: was so focused on understanding that and making sure that
• 57:37
  Speaker 2: he will not bother anybody because we get in the
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: privilege of having our kids in the clubhouse, which is
• 57:43
  Speaker 2: which is something that we appreciate.
• 57:48
  Speaker 3: And for me to have my son when I.
• 57:50
  Speaker 2: Could in the clubhouse, seeing him enjoying like seeing all
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: the other stars, you know, him being next to Napole,
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: the Elbis and Michael.
• 57:58
  Speaker 3: Jani and from him was it was. It was a
• 58:01
  Speaker 3: dream for him.
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: And to be able to inter up with him, talking
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: to him about what's good or what's not good. And
• 58:09
  Speaker 2: I was always trying to to teach him a lesson
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: about something good on the bag when I was seeing
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: one of my teav something that does not right with him.
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: You see what he's doing. I would never want to
• 58:19
  Speaker 2: see you doing that. And I was playing why so
• 58:23
  Speaker 2: he understood what I was comming from.
• 58:27
  Speaker 3: Uh. But for me having my son in the clubhouse.
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: Like catching fly balls and the outfield, me playing cash
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: with him, uh, me throwing practice to him, hitting grumble
• 58:42
  Speaker 2: to him, seeing the joint on his face. For me,
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: it was it was everything you know and and now
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: the thing that I was good at it was okay,
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: the family time on our six p m as. Now,
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: why not to focus on the game and get a
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: need to understand like what I need to be ready
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: for this game to do the best I can to
• 59:09
  Speaker 2: be the best player I can be for my teammates.
• 59:12
  Speaker 3: So I was I was able to shift that quick.
• 59:15
  Speaker 2: But for me it was the win already just having
• 59:17
  Speaker 2: my son around and being able to have a culture
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: that you guys created for the guys that can come in,
• 59:25
  Speaker 2: come in and and have a have a of a
• 59:31
  Speaker 2: flexibility of us having our kids around.
• 59:35
  Speaker 3: For me, it was it was great.
• 59:36
  Speaker 2: And after that, you know, for me it was I
• 59:40
  Speaker 2: spent eight years in Texas with it was completely like
• 59:46
  Speaker 2: the best choice that I can could have made going
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: to any team. And it's thank you to you guys.
• 59:50
  Speaker 3: I think that relationship that we had uh JD and
• 59:54
  Speaker 3: that I thought it was great.
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we have we have some uh one or two
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: vacation about pubtract and the fact that at the moment
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 2: what I understand and I admitted that I was wrong
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: when we were trying to sign Nelson back that I
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 2: couldn't understand why would you not want Nelton back? But
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: I was talking from the side of the player that
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 2: wanted to make your team better. Now from the front
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 2: office was better if it makes sense to do that.
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 2: So I think at the time I crossed the land
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 2: a little bit there and I apologize for that. But
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 2: going back to the moment when that comes to term
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 2: of highlighting my career and accepting, which is I've never
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 2: been good at people talking about me or me talking
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 2: about myself. But at the moment when it comes that
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 2: you're going to be potential, actually be in this fraternity
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 2: of the best of the best, go after you retired.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: For me, it was like a moment that I couldn't believe.
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 2: And again having my family next to me, my son
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 2: that that now is looking potentially being a baseball player
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 2: too in college now it was a moment that I
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: would never forget. You know it is it is like
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 2: you're I just I did this for fun when I
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 2: started like that was baseball is it was my joy.
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 2: And now you get to recognized, got paid a lot
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: of money and be put in in this pedestal of
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 2: the best of the best because you play the game
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 2: that you just enjoyed playing for free when you were
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: a kid.
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 3: I can't describe it.
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 2: So I I had.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 3: I don't have many regrets in my in my life,
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 3: and I.
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: Sincerely say this, I've been so lucky. It's so grateful.
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 2: I'm so grateful to to have the career that I had,
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 2: just to play the game that I love. I mean,
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 2: I don't know how to describe it. I think that
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 2: you know, I will always I would always be thankful
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: to God and thankful to the people around me that
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: allowed allow that to happen. And what a joy to
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: play with players of people that understand the game and
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 2: they were just just your friends.
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 3: But at the same time just play next to you
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 3: and have that joy of just being a kid out there.
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 2: Man. Yes you compete, Yes you get mad, you get frustrated,
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 2: but the game that you love to play, you play
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 2: every day and you get paid house a big to
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 2: do that to do so so yeah, that's this. I mean,
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 2: I can't I couldn't be so, I couldn't be much lucky,
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 2: but my life has been for sure, And thank you guys,
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you man.
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 4: Adrian. Just quick note that obviously a tremendous player is
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 4: evidenced by the wall behind you. And the you know,
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 4: wild successes. You had tremendous teammate, successful businessman now and
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 4: but I always admired you know, you and Sondra just
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 4: just wonderful parents. I saw the girls at different public
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 4: events and around the you know, around the organization, and
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 4: the way they carry themselves and aj you know, the
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 4: way that that it was clear the example had been
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 4: set for him, the way he carries himself with respect
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 4: for others. Who really speaks to you know, probably more
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 4: Sondra than you quite frankly, but me and that's all
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 4: of us, right, But I mean, you guys did such
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 4: a great job with those kids.
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 3: So yeah, thank you.
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 4: You talked about the culture you were instrumental in setting that,
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 4: and appreciate everything you did for the organization at the time.
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you, and thank you for being there.
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 2: Thank you for being there too in the Hall of
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 2: Fame with us, even though Jenny, thank you for coming.
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 2: If that went over because of somebody else, but I
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 2: let it go.
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 3: I'll let it go.
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: It was an incredible event. The three guys who went
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: in that year, Adrian, Joe Mauer, and Todd Helton were
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: the three teams that I'd worked for I knew them
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: all personally. It felt like a capstone moment in my career.
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: But getting to share that with you, Adrian and I
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: just echo what Jad said. I thought it was so
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: remarkable two things when you would throw VP to AJ
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: in the outfield. One was that you were throwing seemingly
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: about eighty eight miles an hour and he was like twelve.
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: But the thing more remarkable was that he was actually
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: hitting you, which was which was fun to watch. Is
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: you know, in our careers we get around be around
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: special people, special talents, and JD and I have been
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: blessed in that regard. But you're on my mount rushmore
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: of the best players, the best people I've ever been
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: around to watch play the game. You played it with
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: so much joy, so much talent. Byron Buckston, Who's a
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: player who I got a chance to be around for
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: about eight seasons. And one thing he said is he
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: was motivated every night to try to turn one kid
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: into a fan and one fan into a fanatic. Over
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: your career, you turn millions of people into baseball fanatics
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: the way you played the game, and so for fans
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: all over the place, thank you and thank you for
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: bringing us into your home and your life throughout those
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: wonderful eight seasons in Texas. It was a gift that
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: I will never forget and it will be indelibly marked
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: on my life. So thank you, and that wraps our
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: time with Adrian Beltray. Please stay with us through the
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: break where Producer Wyatt will have some listener questions. Thanks
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: again to jd. Thank you Adrian. Wonderful conversation. Look forward
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: to doing it again down the road.
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 3: Thank you, my pleasure anytime on behalf.
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: Of John Daniels and Producer Wyatt. Thank you so much
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: to Adrian Beltray, and thank you to our listeners. Please
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: listen every Thursday here on Rosters to rings
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 3: Sh