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The Hardest Comeback (w/ Scott Spiezio) · Stugotz and Company

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Chuck Norris was chasing the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: The rex was not chasing the jeep.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Murray, Murray, you there. You love sandwiches. Huh, Let's go
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: to eighty.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: It was bo.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Wow, that's prime Time. Maybe I had a crush on
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: Betty Rubble.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: I honestly, until after the segment ended and we went
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: to commercial break, had no idea that Jonathan Coachman was black.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: He caught them the game last night, although they won
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: the game.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: You're listening to stuccatsen Company.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Our next guest is a two time World Series champion
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: whose biggest hits came on baseball's biggest stage. From helping
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: the Angels capture their first ever World Series title in
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: two thousand and two to winning another championship with the
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Cardinals in two thousand and six, he built a reputation
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: for delivering in the clutch, and today, Scott Spiezio, his
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: story extends far beyond baseball. He's been open about the
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: personal challenges he faced after his playing career and has
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: been an advocate for recovery, resilience, second chances, offering an
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: inspiring perspective and overcoming adversity. He is currently has a
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  Speaker 2: new book out it's called The Hardest Comeback, and a
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  Speaker 2: new documentary called Spiezio. The film will launch September tentf
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: that select theaters at Saint Louis around the twentieth anniversary
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  Speaker 2: of the Cardinals World Championship, and will then move to
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  Speaker 2: streaming on Rediscovered TV. That was a long introduction from
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: my friend Scott Spezium. Scott, how are you today, man?
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: I'm doing great. I appreciate you guys having me on.
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: I'm getting to look out the window and see beautiful
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: scenery here, so it's fun, fun being alive and seeing
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: God's creation.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I got to be honest with you, it's the first
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: time I've had someone on done an interview and they're
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: concerned about a deer coming through the shots.
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: I mean, that's it.
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: I'm worried about my dogs start barking at the deer
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: and messing up the interview, but hopefully they won't.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Your story is so inspiring, and we'll talk some baseball
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: with you in a minute. But I am wondering here,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: why was writing this book so important to you?
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Scot?
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: You know I didn't struggle my whole life, you know,
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: I really didn't have any injuries. I didn't understand addiction,
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: alcoholism and anxiety and depression. I thought a lot of
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: it was made up. And then all of a sudden,
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: I got injured, you know, late in my career two
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: thousand and four with Seattle, and you know, it was
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: really tough for me. I dealt with it by starting
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: to drink, kind of fit in with some of my
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: new teammates. That got out of hand. Led to seeing
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: my first drug at thirty three. And you know, for
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: twelve years after that, I suffered through addiction, depression, anxiety,
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: all that stuff. And even in the midst of it,
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: I knew that I had to make it and I
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: never gave up. I went to eleven rehabs in ten years,
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: and I knew that I had to tell the story
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: and give people hope, even when I didn't see much
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: hope myself.
• 3:07
  Speaker 6: You know.
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  Speaker 4: I even even in the documentary, there's there's video that
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  Speaker 4: I found of me taking it of myself, you know,
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: in the midst of it, saying that you know, I'm
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: not crazy, I know I'm gonna beat this. It's it's
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: really hard, you know, I'm struggling.
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: It was.
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: It was tough to send that to my director and
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: and have her put it in Its probably took me
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: a month before i'd even watch it. It almost seems
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: like a different person now, you know, And it was
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: for twelve years of my life. I was a totally
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: different person. I mean, there was still some of me there,
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  Speaker 4: but it wasn't all of me. And and I make
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: crazy decisions, but I just knew that I had to
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  Speaker 4: get through. It had to be as open and honest
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  Speaker 4: as I could be so that people that are suffering
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  Speaker 4: know that they're not alone and that there's hope out there.
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  Speaker 4: And and that's the biggest reason I did it. It
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  Speaker 4: would be so much easier to talk about the home
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  Speaker 4: runs and and the you know, the world series, and
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  Speaker 4: my dad's career and my band and all the fun stuff.
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  Speaker 4: But I knew that I had I had to get
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  Speaker 4: this out. And it's already. I mean, I just got
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  Speaker 4: a message at two in the morning. Somebody is really struggling,
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  Speaker 4: an ex major leaguer, and so I'm at tonight, I'll
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  Speaker 4: be I'll be talking to them. So I get calls
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  Speaker 4: like that, emails like that, messages all the time, and
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  Speaker 4: so I know that it's it's gonna help people.
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  Speaker 6: Scott for someone listening who knows that they're struggling but
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  Speaker 6: hasn't asked for help yet. What do you wish somebody
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  Speaker 6: would have told you when you were in that position?
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  Speaker 4: Oh wow, you know, I guess I would have told
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  Speaker 4: like if it was either somebody else telling me or
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  Speaker 4: me telling going back and telling myself is is be vulnerable,
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  Speaker 4: go out and get help. It's okay to get help.
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  Speaker 4: It's more important that you get help than it is
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: whatever it is or doing. Like for me, I I
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  Speaker 4: wish I would have you know, I did go to
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  Speaker 4: the Cardinals. It took it was it took too long
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  Speaker 4: to do it, but I finally did go. I wish
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  Speaker 4: I would have just said, you know what, like I'm
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: not going to help the team right now. I'm not
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  Speaker 4: going to help anybody. I need to go away for
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  Speaker 4: two months, you know, or longer.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, because whatever it takes, Yeah, whatever it takes, right, Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: Whatever it takes. You know.
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: I remember watching CC Sabbathia like do that with the
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: Yankees and thinking, man, what is this guy doing? Like
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: it's playoff time? But in you know, hindsight, I'm like
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: he made a great decision right there. For his for
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: the good of his career, and the good of him
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: and his family. You know, if I had to do
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: it back, I would have probably took August to September
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: to just work on myself and then that whole offseason
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  Speaker 4: to really get straight, especially at the beginning of my
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: addiction on alcoholism, because I think it would have a
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: lot easier. But instead, even though I did go to rehab,
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  Speaker 4: you know, in my mind it was like, Okay, I
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: did rehab, I'm good, I'm back playing, But I really wasn't,
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  Speaker 4: you know, healed. It takes a lot longer to do that.
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  Speaker 4: And you know, for me, the first step of AA
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  Speaker 4: is I'm powerless over alcohol or drugs, and my life
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  Speaker 4: has become unmanageable. I could, I could easily say that
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  Speaker 4: my life had started becoming unmanageable, but it was very
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  Speaker 4: hard for me to say that I was powerless over anything.
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  Speaker 4: You know, my dad used to play tapes for me
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  Speaker 4: when I was ten, eleven, twelve years old, and I
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  Speaker 4: played in my whole life, and they would say, you
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: are invincible. The driving purpose of a winter flows through
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  Speaker 4: your body. You are invincible. There is no limit to
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  Speaker 4: your strength, power and quickness. You have more than enough
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  Speaker 4: to win every game. And so that was my mindset,
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  Speaker 4: like when I get into battle Man, I'm invincible. You're
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  Speaker 4: in trouble, you know, And and and it worked great
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  Speaker 4: for me in my professional career. In my twenty sixth
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  Speaker 4: career game playoff games, I had twenty five RBIs and
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: over six hundred with runners in scoring position. And that
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: was my mentality, like, I'm going to beat you, but
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  Speaker 4: it's very hard in addiction to do it by yourself,
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: and so I had to let other people in. And
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  Speaker 4: that's what I would tell myself. Let it be vulnerable,
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  Speaker 4: let other people in. Share what you're feeling, share what
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  Speaker 4: you're going through, and listen to other people that have
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  Speaker 4: beat it and follow their advice.
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  Speaker 2: Did you find the writing of the book and reliving
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: some of these stories, did you find that it was
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  Speaker 2: helpful to you in terms of recovery?
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  Speaker 5: You know?
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  Speaker 4: I you know, I had already been seven years sober
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  Speaker 4: when I started writing.
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  Speaker 6: No.
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  Speaker 2: I guess what I meant, Scott was Was it cathartic
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  Speaker 2: for you to be able? Was it difficult reliving this?
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  Speaker 2: Was it cathartic for you? What was the feeling as
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  Speaker 2: you were writing the book. I'm sorry I was a
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  Speaker 2: poorly phrase question.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, no, I I kind of knew you were going
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  Speaker 4: at it, but yeah, it definitely was. There was a
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  Speaker 4: lot of parts that were very, very difficult to talk about.
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  Speaker 4: You know, I got my dad involved. You know, I'm
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  Speaker 4: fortunate enough that my parents are still living. You know,
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  Speaker 4: my dad's eighty four and my mom's eighty three, and
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  Speaker 4: my dad had a stroke, a severe stroke two years
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  Speaker 4: ago and fought back from it.
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  Speaker 5: So it was really cool to have him.
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  Speaker 4: Involved, both of them involved in both the documentary and
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  Speaker 4: the book, and to actually have them open the first
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  Speaker 4: copy of the book was really cool. But you know,
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  Speaker 4: reading his forward incredible. But at the end where he says,
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  Speaker 4: you know, I could fix anything in this swing, I
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  Speaker 4: could fix anything he did on the field, but I
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  Speaker 4: couldn't fix this, And just the heartbreak that you know
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  Speaker 4: they both felt, you know, when they had to let
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  Speaker 4: go of the rope so that I didn't hang, you know,
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: so they weren't sitting there holding the rope while I
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: hung myself, you know, with my addiction. They had to
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: let go and they had to sit you know, they
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: had to sit by the phone at night and wonder
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  Speaker 4: if I was gonna there was gonna be a call
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: saying that I was dead, you know, and and them
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: coming over and bringing me food, wondering if I was alive.
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  Speaker 4: You know, it's very hard to write that stuff down.
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  Speaker 4: It's very hard to share some of the stuff that
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  Speaker 4: I did when I wasn't making very good decisions. But
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  Speaker 4: I knew that I needed to do it, even though,
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: you know, sometimes it would be tough for my family
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: and my kids to read, but I felt that it
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  Speaker 4: was worth it to help those people out there that
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: are suffering. And yeah, it did help in some ways.
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: And like I said, there's still some chapters I don't
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  Speaker 4: really like to tell.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm sure. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Uh. The hardest comeback is his new book.
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  Speaker 2: It is at wherever you buy your books, Scott Spiezio
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  Speaker 2: is with us very inspiring story. I am wondering, Scott,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm sorry to take you to a bad place. Uh,
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: but it seems like you're in a very good place
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  Speaker 2: right now. But what was rock bottom like for Scott Spezia?
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: And it seemed like seemed like I had multiple rock bottoms,
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: you know. In the in the Big Book in AA,
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: it talks about like, hey, I guarantee one thing. If
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: you go back out after being sober your rock, your
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: bottom is gonna be even further down. And and I
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: should have listened to that, but yeah, each time was
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: something a little bit further and further down. It got
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: to the point where like I was drinking the handle
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: of vodka or two handles of vodka a day, which
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: is basically like a gallon of vodka, you know, spending
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: thousands of dollars on on cocaine, and and constantly battling,
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: you know, sometimes being up six seven days in a row.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: I could, I could barely function. I was, you know,
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  Speaker 4: I wouldn't eat much, I wasn't drinking water. I would
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: pee in a bucket, like puking buckets.
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  Speaker 5: I was.
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: I'd look outside and wish I could go outside. You know,
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  Speaker 4: it's crazy. I live on forty seven acres in the
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: middle of the country, right and I and I couldn't
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  Speaker 4: even go outside, you know, it was.
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: It was horrible.
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  Speaker 4: My parents got to you know, I was, I was
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  Speaker 4: smart enough to give over control of what I had
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  Speaker 4: left financially and my property to my parents and sell
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: all my cars and get rid of any access to
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: money that I had because I knew it was my
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: only chance, and so I did that. You know, here
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  Speaker 4: I am in my forties, handing over everything to my
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: parents so that they could maintain it and keep it
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: and and limit my access to to anything so that
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  Speaker 4: I had a chance at living. And they they they
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: helped me get through that, that rock bottom, and you know,
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  Speaker 4: I finally I finally started, you know, I got to
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  Speaker 4: the point where I got rid of the drugs. I
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: was still drinking. I was starting to feel better and
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: feeling like I was coming out of it. And then boom,
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  Speaker 4: God hit me like smack me over the head and said, hey,
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: you're not listening well enough.
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: I got Johnnie. I was in the hospital.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: I had a twenty percent chance to live, and they said,
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: if you make it the next five days, you're gonna
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: have to get on a liver transplant plant list, and
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: if you can go without drinking for six months, then
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: you've got a shot to get that transplant and you know,
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: have a you know, a successful life, you know, going forward.
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  Speaker 4: And the first thing I thought is how am I
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: going to go six months without drinking? Which it was
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: just crazy here. I'd never drank really until I was
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: thirty two. And then all of a sudden, I'm being
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: presented with you just have to go six months without
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: drinking and then you know you can have another chance
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: at life. And I'm thinking I can't do it. So
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: I literally prayed to God. I said, God, take away
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: my cravings. And that was in April sixth, twenty eighteen.
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: From that day on, I've had zero cravings. I actually
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: get physically ill when I see like a bottle of
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: vodka or tequila or anything like that. Like I saw
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: one in a grocery store a few, uh, a few
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: months ago, and I almost threw up on the on
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: the floor at the grocery store.
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  Speaker 5: But it's a it's a great thing. It's exactly what
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: I asked for.
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  Speaker 4: So I've had over eight years sobriety and and uh
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  Speaker 4: you know, it's it's been a blessing. And God saved
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: my saved me from liver transplant. After four months of
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: getting UH stuff pulled out of my abdomen, you know,
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: two and two and a half liters of fluid every
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: couple of weeks pulled out of my abdomen. I went
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: after my fourth visit UH with with the specialists at Northwestern.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: They said we can't explain it, but your liver scans
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: and your blood work is normal. All we can say
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: is somebody upstairs is look it out for you. And
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: so I knew that that God had performed two miracles
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: in my life.
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: For for a long time.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: I struggled with my identity after baseball, I couldn't.
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: I thought my life was over. That's all I did
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: my whole life.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: And and I realized that I had to find my
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: my identity and in something greater. You know, for me,
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: it's it's it's my Christian faith, and my purpose is
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: to help others. And you know, the reward of somebody
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: telling me, hey, I just hit six years sober, I
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: hit five years sober, or even thirty days sober, or
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: even one day sober like those are like hitting that
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: home run in Game six of the World Series. Every
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: time I get a message like that, and so it
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: helps me to know I never want to go back there.
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: But it also helps me to see people, you know,
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: saving their marriages or or being there for their kids
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: or for their family, and and uh and and living
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: in sobriety and and it's just nothing like it.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: You mentioned the home run.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: What do you remember about that Game six home run
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: against King Felix. I believe it was right, Well it
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: was Felix Rodrigez, Oh Felix.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, that's right, my dad, Yes, yeah.
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: Right, yeah, I did. I did play with Felix Hernandez.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: I would run with King Felix. I would just run
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: with that story if I were you better.
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: Well, Rode is just throwing pretty good, yes he was.
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: He was throwing, you know, on the old gun ninety seven,
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: you know, which would be one hundred and today's gun
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: one hundred, one hundred and one. He was tough to hit.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: But I remember, you know, being in that situation. I
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: had sixteen RBIs in that playoff game, and tell you know,
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: up to that point, and uh so I knew I
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: was incredibly hot. My dad and I had practiced this
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: in the backyard my whole life.
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: He'd always end every everything, every session with three two
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: count two outs, bases loaded down, one bottom of nine,
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: Game seven, World Series.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he prepared you for it, yes, and.
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: Then every that's all because he had been into World Series,
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: you know, And so he said when he got up
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: it was it was against the Red Sox in sixty seven.
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: He was there for the Yankees and sixty four and
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: the Red Sox and sixty seventy pinch hit, and he
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: said he was so nervous, he was shaken, you know,
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: at the plate. And then in sixty eight he got
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: a hit off a lolitch. He had only got two
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: plate appearances or two at bats in the World Series.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: So he's like, man, I'm gonna prepare you for that moment,
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: you know. And so my mom would always be like,
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: do it for the rings guy, you know. And so
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: when I get I also visualize that moment every night.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: And so when I got in that moment, I felt
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: at Totales, I would always try easier. And you know,
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: we had two guys on. We had one out in
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: the bottom of the seventh, down five nothing. Fans were
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: already leaving Anaheim. You know, they already had Plastic Cup
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: in the Giants clubhouse. We're down three games to two
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: at the time, and they already were on DAYLA in
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: the trophy. They had Champagne in the Giants clubhouse. Dusty Baker,
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: who also has a book out right now, we're still
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: competing against each other twenty four years later. You know,
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: I'm in his book, He's in my book in about
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: this situation right here. And he comes out to the
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: mound and I'm wondering what's he gonna do. He takes
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: out russ Ertees. He's got a right in and lefty
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: in the in the Panama switch hitter, so I'm trying
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: to see which one he's going to bring in and
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: he picked. He picked Philis Rodriguez, so I know I'm
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: bat left handed. He took the ball from Russler Tees
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: patted him on the butt.
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: You know. Russ starts walking back to Doug out.
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: He calls him back, hands him the game ball as
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: a souvenir, and he says it was just you know,
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: it wasn't because they thought the game was over, right,
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: but it was just a momentum. But I took it
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: as he thinks the game's over, damn. So yeah, so
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: it pissed me. It pissed me off, and I thought, man,
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: all I need to do is get a base hit here,
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: score run, and we're on our way. Because we had
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: fifty eight come from behind wins that year or something
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: like that, and I knew that we could do it.
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: And you know, after an eight pitch at bat, you know,
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: I got to three to two. He threw one down
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: and in I hit it. I didn't know if it
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: was enough because it was really high. And so, you know,
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: most of my one hundred and twenty two career home runs,
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: if you count my by three in the playoffs, were
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: you know, like line drives that that were doubles that
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: ended up being home runs. This one was very high,
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: and so I got past first base and was kind
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: of waiting there, and I saw Reggie Sanders drift to
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: the wall, went over his head. First and only time
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: in my life, I pumped my fists. You know, nowadays
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: you got to do a whole dance and stuff. You know,
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: I remember Paul O'Neil putting his head down and running,
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: So that's what I's.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Yes, old school, yeah, yes.
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I remember guys saying, hey, I act like you've
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: done it before. So I so that I pumped my fists,
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: and then I heard the loudest noise I ever heard
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: in my life. I felt like I was four feet
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: off the ground running the bases. All this adrenaline, and
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: I started visualizing all that stuff in my in the
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: backyard with my mom and dad and saw my teammates.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: When I got home, and then the dugout and I
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: could just how we were going to come back, and
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: you know, that made it five to three, and we
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: ended up coming back and winning at six five and
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: then uh you know that tied the record for the
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: most RBS at the time. Uh so then I, you know,
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: we won. The next day, I started getting all sorts
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: of press and and and.
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: Stuff that I wasn't used to. You know, I was.
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: I was a good player, but I wasn't the all
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: star guy, you know, the MVP guy. And all of
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: a sudden, here I am like doing all the you know,
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: David Letterman, Top ten Lists, Leno Show, you know sitcoms,
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: all this stuff, and it it from a kid from
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: the middle of the cornfields.
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: And more so, it's all of a sudden, you know, running. Yeah,
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: it was crazy.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: Yes, you should have ran into the opposing team's dugout
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: and gotten the ball back for more ties.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: How about that? Huh laughing? Go ahead, right, Yes.
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: I.
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: Feel bad for I feel bad for him because you
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: know it wasn't him that did it, And and Tim sam
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: And is friends with him, and Rust is always a
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: great guy. Right, It's same with Dusty. I know they
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: didn't mean it like that. It just it just so happens.
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: That's the way we took it. Sure, and uh, I
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: know Russ still has the ball. You know, It's it's
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: kind of crazy.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: What I mean, Jesus, Yeah, yeah, it's crazy, you know,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: But I don't.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: I used to feel bad for the Giants, I know,
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: anymore because they won three more.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: Act a boy, you know.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Scott, we'll get you out of Scott, go ahead, Scott.
• 20:33
  Speaker 6: I live and die with Yankees baseball. I was eight
• 20:35
  Speaker 6: in two thousand and two that Angels team and you
• 20:38
  Speaker 6: more specifically batting four hundred. That Alds still haunts me.
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: I still can't look at that rally monkey. Would you
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: rather hear Scott? I loved watching you play or Scott, respectfully,
• 20:53
  Speaker 6: I absolutely hated you as a player, because that second
• 20:57
  Speaker 6: one might be the bigger compliment.
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: You know, Actually I like them both.
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: I I got that a lot after that Giant Series too,
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: from the people in San Francisco.
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: Man. Uh, I think they're both a compliment. You know.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: It's it's really cool to hear that that you made
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: a difference and you ruined somebody's uh somebody's challenge, somebody's
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: childhood but hey, same with you guys. You guys got plenty.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: You know, Hazel's only got one.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: Right, you tell him exactly, Yes, he's got He's got
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: more than enough.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Did you say you were in a band.
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: Scott, Yeah, for a long time. I had a band
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: called sandfrog S A and D F R O G.
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: It's still it's still on Spotify and Apple Music.
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: Uh.
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: I was the lead singer and rode on guitar. I
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: never played the guitar live, but I was the singer
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: and we had a Morgan Rose, the drummer for seven Dust,
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: was the guy that produced our album and played on
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: two tracks, and Uh did a couple of little bit
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: of screen it on two tracks. It's like new metal.
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: We were hoping to release in two thousand and eight,
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: and then that's when I got bad, you know, and
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: never ended up really releasing it the way it should
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: have been released.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: But there's some good stuff out there. Check it out.
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: I get Hey, I get a whopping point zero zero
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: three cents.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: We'll try to up that for you guys.
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: Yeah, thanks, thanks.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: What's your go to karaoke song? Are you a fan
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: of karaoke?
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: You know what I used to sing all the time.
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: I like Alison Chain songs. I used to sing Alive
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: by Pearl Jam a lot nice, you know, but yeah,
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: I love We used to cover a lot of Alison
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: Chains disturbed, you know, all those godsmack I used to
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: do a lot of godsmack stuff. I could probably still
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: do some godsmack stuff if I was up there.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: Oh God, I'm tempted to ask you to do it
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: right now if I'm being.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Honest, No.
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: Way, I'm not warmed up.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: I am joking. The last two things, two very quick things.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: On the way out.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: The hardest comeback is available. It's out now, very inspiring
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: wherever you get your books. Are the Dodgers bad for baseball?
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: I think the way it's set up now with them
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: not having to pay, you know, the luxury tax like
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: they are, not the luxury tax, but the revenue sharing
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: like they're supposed to. I know, I'm not a big
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: fan of deferred money, you know, as the player would
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: be cool. You know, of course, everybody knows Bobby Benia day.
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: But yes, of course, I just don't think it's it's
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: fair to the rest of the league, you know. I mean,
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: it's fun to watch the team do really well, but
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: I just don't think it's fair to the rest of
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: the league.
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: And you know, something's got to change.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: All right, last question here, Indiana basketball school or football school?
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: Football?
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Now?
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: It's football now, hey, ill Annoy Illinoy is the basketball school?
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: I think we're I think I think we got a
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: good shot again this year. We hit the final four
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: last year. Yes, I'm going to I'm going to lin
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: On National champs this year.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, I love it. All right, we'll have you down.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: We'll have you here to break down the brackets when
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: they come out.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Okay, all right, yeah, I would love that. You'll be
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: our n C double a college basketball correspondent. How do
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: you feel about that?
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: It'll be fantastic. All All I'll talk about.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: Is the Yes, that's all we need you to talk about. Yes,
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: whatever question I asked, you just respond.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: With an on line I take you know.
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: That's it. Yes, that's it.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: Hey, I'm hoping the Lini football can can pull off
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: some more some more wins this year too, you know.
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: So that's it's been playing a lot better.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's the thing, Scott. Basketball schools want to
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: become football schools.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: You know, that's right.
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: I know, Yeah, I mean, it's crazy. It's absolutely crazy.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: It really is the hardest comeback. Check it out, purchase
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: it wherever you purchase books. Very inspiring story. It's Scott Spezia.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: We appreciate the time here and appreciate you sharing your story.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: I know some of this stuff is difficult, so thank
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: you so much, sir.
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: It was an honor to be on this show.
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: Thank you guys for taking the time to let me
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: share it, and hopefully we can help some other some
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: people out there there suffering.
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, keep up the great work, man, and I'm serious
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: about March madness.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: We'll have you on. Okay, all right, it sounds great,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: all right, looking forward to it.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: All right, have a good luck with the book, good
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: luck with the doc, and good luck staying sober man.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: It's it's very inspiring, it really is.
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: Thank you, thank you so much. Yeah for the doc.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: If you if you go on spezial dot info, it'll
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: tell you where it's gonna be streaming this stuff.
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: Okay, and we'll continue to promote it, my friend.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Thank you again.
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: Thanks guys, have a great one. Bye bye.