Latest / Foul Territory / Ben Zobrist joins Kurkjian’s show

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Ben Zobrist joins Kurkjian’s show · Foul Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: And welcome to Is this a great game or what?
0:09
Speaker 1: And our special guest this week is former Major League
0:12
Speaker 1: player Ben Zobrist, world champion with the Cubs in twenty
0:17
Speaker 1: sixteen and twenty fifteen with the Royals. Ben, thanks for
0:21
Speaker 1: joining us. This is my son Jeff. He was in
0:24
Speaker 1: the ballpark when the Cubs beat the Indians. Then Indians
0:29
Speaker 1: and thanks to you. So he might not be asking
0:32
Speaker 1: you any questions today.
0:34
Speaker 2: I think he's still angry.
0:38
Speaker 3: Hey, you know what I'd like to say, sorry, but
0:39
Speaker 3: not sorry. You know that's what I did.
0:42
Speaker 4: Well, Ben, I will say you know, I grew up
0:44
Speaker 4: obviously with my dad. I grew up a fan of
0:48
Speaker 4: the game, a fan of the story. But at the
0:51
Speaker 4: time of that historic and I say again historic run
0:55
Speaker 4: for the Cubs, I was a morning radio show host
0:58
Speaker 4: for a pop radio station.
1:00
Speaker 2: In Cleveland, Ohio.
1:01
Speaker 4: So I somehow found myself in a standing room only
1:04
Speaker 4: ticket and I knew, and this is very selfish, I'm
1:08
Speaker 4: not gonna lose, because if then Indians win, this great
1:13
Speaker 4: city also gets a drought taken away. And I'm now
1:16
Speaker 4: the morning show host in Cleveland. I get to celebrate.
1:19
Speaker 4: If not, I get to say I was in one
1:20
Speaker 4: of the most epic nights for Cubs.
1:23
Speaker 2: Fans of all time?
1:24
Speaker 4: Was that not because in my opinion, it's the greatest
1:27
Speaker 4: game I've ever been to in person, right, and I've
1:30
Speaker 4: been to a number of them. But was that not
1:33
Speaker 4: the coolest thing in the world? Game seven insane rain delay?
1:37
Speaker 2: Like, take us through it, please?
1:40
Speaker 3: I mean, I'd like to think so. I'd like to think,
1:42
Speaker 3: because you know, we were on the winning side of it,
1:45
Speaker 3: I'd like to say that, yes, this was the penultimate
1:49
Speaker 3: championship in America to be able to be a part of.
1:52
Speaker 3: And I mean we got to see the aftermath afterwards,
1:54
Speaker 3: but as we were going through it, I think we
1:56
Speaker 3: all understood even going into the series that this was
1:59
Speaker 3: going to be pretty special regardless of which city won.
2:03
Speaker 3: You know, you hate to upset Lebron James, but he's
2:07
Speaker 3: had enough winning, I think, in his life. But it
2:10
Speaker 3: was it was a fun experience, to say the least.
2:13
Speaker 3: But I think when we got to Cleveland and we
2:16
Speaker 3: were coming into Game six and seven, and we knew, wow,
2:19
Speaker 3: if we come back and win. Now we were down
2:21
Speaker 3: three to one in the series, and when you come
2:22
Speaker 3: that's a that's a tough thing to overcome and when
2:25
Speaker 3: you come back and win a game seven and then
2:28
Speaker 3: you go into extra innings on top of it, and
2:31
Speaker 3: the watching world of sports is right there with you.
2:35
Speaker 3: We knew all of Chicago was going to be nuts,
2:37
Speaker 3: but I had no idea'd be like seven million people
2:40
Speaker 3: right at the parade. That was something. I think they
2:44
Speaker 3: said maybe the six or seventh largest gathering and all
2:47
Speaker 3: of peaceful gathering and history or something. I mean, that's epic.
2:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, incredible.
2:53
Speaker 4: I mean it's worth noting too, Ben Obviously. I think
2:58
Speaker 4: one thing that pains Clevelands is the Cavaliers came back
3:02
Speaker 4: from a three to one deficit just a couple months earlier,
3:06
Speaker 4: and they said the Warriors blew a three to one lead, woo,
3:09
Speaker 4: Like it was like this whole thing, and then Cleveland
3:12
Speaker 4: did it again. So it's like, we can't be saying
3:15
Speaker 4: this and putting it into the ether. And the Cubs
3:17
Speaker 4: make that great comeback, which was just incredible.
3:21
Speaker 3: Listen, it was. It was in the cards. I like
3:24
Speaker 3: to say it was divine because of the rain delay
3:27
Speaker 3: and because of the way that it all went down.
3:29
Speaker 3: It was epic in the best sense of the word.
3:33
Speaker 3: And I think when I look back at the details.
3:36
Speaker 3: It really feels like a Hollywood story in a lot
3:39
Speaker 3: of ways. The way that it all went down, just
3:41
Speaker 3: kind of the rain delay. You just don't get a
3:44
Speaker 3: pause like that in baseball. That's what happened. That's what's crazy,
3:47
Speaker 3: is everybody thinks it's kind of a slow game. It's
3:50
Speaker 3: really not, because you go from a bat to a bat,
3:52
Speaker 3: to play to play, and between the plays you're always strategizing.
3:56
Speaker 3: But there's not really ever a pause for ten or
3:58
Speaker 3: fifteen minutes. The game resumes after at least probably two
4:02
Speaker 3: maybe three minutes. If there's an injury or something, it
4:04
Speaker 3: pretty resumes pretty quickly. So we had seventeen minutes to
4:08
Speaker 3: get together and instead of going up to the clubhouse,
4:10
Speaker 3: which is I heard. It's a good thing we didn't
4:12
Speaker 3: because they were already putting plastic everywhere and that would
4:15
Speaker 3: have been an epic fail by the clubhouse staff for
4:19
Speaker 3: all of us to see the plastic all around the room.
4:22
Speaker 3: But listen, we all stayed down there. We stayed in
4:25
Speaker 3: the weight room area of Cleveland and Tim. I don't
4:28
Speaker 3: know if you guys have both been down there. I'm
4:29
Speaker 3: sure you probably have. It's a dingy little spot down
4:33
Speaker 3: outside of the dugout, and Jason Hayward grabbed all of us,
4:36
Speaker 3: threw us in that weight room and was like, guys,
4:38
Speaker 3: we need to talk. We need to get on the
4:40
Speaker 3: same page. And what he said was nothing short of
4:44
Speaker 3: really the most epic teammate move I've ever seen, because
4:49
Speaker 3: he really kind of just brought us together and reminded
4:52
Speaker 3: us of some things that we had done together and
4:55
Speaker 3: basically said, it doesn't matter what anybody else outside of
4:57
Speaker 3: the room believes, and we talk about needing somebody to
5:01
Speaker 3: step up at the time that it really means the most.
5:04
Speaker 3: I can't think of any other time I've seen a
5:07
Speaker 3: bigger teammate movie, especially considering the fact that he was
5:10
Speaker 3: not having a good series. He would admittedly say that
5:13
Speaker 3: and he was a little frustrated at some of the
5:16
Speaker 3: playing time decisions, but regardless, irregardless of that, he hung
5:20
Speaker 3: in there as a teammate and was like, I know
5:22
Speaker 3: what our team needs, and he brought us all together
5:24
Speaker 3: at that time, which was just unbelievable. We walked out
5:27
Speaker 3: of that room with a totally different mindset than we
5:30
Speaker 3: walked in and that for me was the uh, you know,
5:33
Speaker 3: the turn of events right there that we needed as
5:35
Speaker 3: a team.
5:37
Speaker 2: So Ben, we'll stay on this.
5:39
Speaker 1: After that game, I went back to the hotel in
5:42
Speaker 1: Cleveland and there was a grown man roughly my age
5:46
Speaker 1: that makes him an old man, uh, literally crying at
5:50
Speaker 1: the elevator at one thirty in the morning.
5:52
Speaker 2: And I sent to this fellow, are you okay? And
5:56
Speaker 2: he said yes.
5:57
Speaker 1: He said, I just got off the phone with my
6:00
Speaker 1: father and he's never seen the Cubs win before. So
6:05
Speaker 1: he talked to his father at one point thirty in
6:07
Speaker 1: the morning Eastern time, and wept over the phone. I mean,
6:12
Speaker 1: that's what that's what sports can do. Ben, am I
6:15
Speaker 1: right about this?
6:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, You're absolutely right. I think that that is at
6:21
Speaker 3: its best. What sports does is it brings people together.
6:24
Speaker 3: It bridges generational challenges and gaps. I mean that's why
6:28
Speaker 3: fathers try to teach baseball to their kids, right, is
6:31
Speaker 3: because it's difficult to connect at times when you're from
6:36
Speaker 3: different generations. But when you can connect over a sport
6:39
Speaker 3: and you feel like it's something you can share and
6:44
Speaker 3: that team finally wins, you get to celebrate together just
6:48
Speaker 3: like when you were kids. It's just that reminder of
6:50
Speaker 3: like what you grew up learning with your dad a
6:53
Speaker 3: very very long time ago, right. So I think that's
6:55
Speaker 3: the thing is it connects people, not just generations, parents
6:58
Speaker 3: to children, but also so I think just people from
7:03
Speaker 3: all sorts of different backgrounds that if they can connect
7:06
Speaker 3: over a team winning a championship, that's what sports are
7:11
Speaker 3: supposed to do, right, bring us together.
7:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's the ten year anniversary this year too, which
7:16
Speaker 4: I'm sure for you in some instances feels like yesterday.
7:18
Speaker 2: Right, It's crazy, it does.
7:23
Speaker 3: It feels like yesterday, and it feels like I've lived
7:25
Speaker 3: like ten lifetimes since that time as well. Right, It's crazy,
7:28
Speaker 3: especially when you're Raisingkiz and I think we're so little
7:32
Speaker 3: when all this took place, and now I've got teenagers.
7:35
Speaker 3: It's just weirding me out that, like, all this was
7:38
Speaker 3: ten years ago. At this point when I see the pictures,
7:41
Speaker 3: I don't feel like it was long time ago. But
7:43
Speaker 3: I think from their standpoint, it was a very long
7:46
Speaker 3: time ago. Right. So the younger generation, I think, is
7:50
Speaker 3: coming into their own and they're like, oh, wait, you
7:52
Speaker 3: did what you helped win the World Series, and like, yeah,
7:56
Speaker 3: I was a part of one of the most special ones, right,
7:59
Speaker 3: And yet and yet there's other people that like will
8:04
Speaker 3: still come up in like it was yesterday and hugged me, like, oh,
8:06
Speaker 3: thank you so much for helping us win. You know,
8:10
Speaker 3: that's the blessing of being able to be a part
8:12
Speaker 3: of that.
8:18
Speaker 1: Then we'll get back to baseball in a minute, and
8:20
Speaker 1: we'll get to your book in a minute. But you
8:22
Speaker 1: brought up Lebron James, and I ask every guest we
8:25
Speaker 1: have on the show, when is the last time you
8:28
Speaker 1: dunked a basketball?
8:32
Speaker 3: Well, was the last time I dunked a basketball? I
8:34
Speaker 3: mean it was probably high school or college at the latest.
8:38
Speaker 3: I mean I did it a little bit in high school,
8:40
Speaker 3: never in a game, but we would play around in practice.
8:43
Speaker 3: I could get it up there enough to do that,
8:45
Speaker 3: but I certainly couldn't do it now. I need to
8:48
Speaker 3: do a lot of work to get back there. There's
8:50
Speaker 3: probably a lot of injuries later too.
8:53
Speaker 2: Right now, Ben, I don't want you to be modest
8:56
Speaker 2: about this.
8:56
Speaker 1: I dragged this out of you years ago when we
8:59
Speaker 1: were talking about how important it is, especially for a
9:02
Speaker 1: kid to be a well rounded athlete and a common
9:06
Speaker 1: denominator of every big league player.
9:09
Speaker 2: I've met multi.
9:10
Speaker 1: Sports star in high school, and you told me that
9:14
Speaker 1: you didn't play high school football until your senior year
9:18
Speaker 1: when the coach asked you to come out.
9:20
Speaker 2: Do I remember that story properly?
9:23
Speaker 3: You got a great you got a great memory. Uh,
9:25
Speaker 3: that is true. Uh, very few people. I don't know
9:29
Speaker 3: if I've ever had anybody ask me this question over
9:31
Speaker 3: the years. They don't care.
9:33
Speaker 2: Ben, you won the MVP of the team. Is that correct?
9:41
Speaker 3: I don't think. I don't remember that. Uh.
9:44
Speaker 2: I know I was.
9:45
Speaker 3: I was one of the better players on our team.
9:47
Speaker 3: But we you know, we had a quarterback that was
9:49
Speaker 3: really good. We had a couple other wide receivers. I
9:51
Speaker 3: definitely I had several interceptions on the defensive side and
9:55
Speaker 3: I had several touchdowns on the offensive side. So it
9:59
Speaker 3: was a very fun and you know what, that's a
10:01
Speaker 3: testament to that coach. Coach Goodwin was his name, Goodie.
10:08
Speaker 3: He was a new coach that year for our team,
10:10
Speaker 3: for our high school, and he was like, Hey, we
10:12
Speaker 3: got athletes from these other sports that aren't playing. Let's
10:15
Speaker 3: get him out here. And he's like, you don't have
10:17
Speaker 3: to do all the weights workouts in the summers. Just
10:19
Speaker 3: come out for our two days in August and play
10:21
Speaker 3: the fall and then you can jump right into basketball
10:24
Speaker 3: as soon as it's over. So it sounded like a
10:27
Speaker 3: pretty good deal. And you know, because I didn't have
10:31
Speaker 3: time to be in the weight room that much and
10:32
Speaker 3: so doing it. Actually, I actually missed it when I
10:36
Speaker 3: went to college baseball that next fall. I missed playing
10:39
Speaker 3: football because it just has that feel and that smell
10:42
Speaker 3: in the fall that I remembered from that high school
10:46
Speaker 3: senior year, and it was It was a very special year.
10:50
Speaker 3: I don't think we made the playoffs, but one of
10:52
Speaker 3: the most fun seasons I've had, especially playing a new sport.
10:56
Speaker 1: I'm hopelessly biased about this, Ben, but I think baseball
10:59
Speaker 1: players are the most well rounded athletes in the world.
11:03
Speaker 1: You put a ball of any kind in their hand,
11:06
Speaker 1: and they are.
11:07
Speaker 2: Going to look like they've done this before. We put
11:10
Speaker 2: you at a free throw line in an NBA game,
11:13
Speaker 2: gonna look like you've shot a free throw before. Does
11:16
Speaker 2: this not? Am I right about this?
11:18
Speaker 1: That we just took a guy who never played football
11:21
Speaker 1: with all due respective football players and you were a
11:23
Speaker 1: good player. Is that support my argument that baseball players
11:28
Speaker 1: the skill required to play baseball transfers to.
11:32
Speaker 2: The other sports a little easier, Am I right?
11:36
Speaker 3: I well, I will say this. I would say that
11:40
Speaker 3: the skill side of being able to adjust and adjust
11:46
Speaker 3: to different skills. Every baseball player has learned that, especially
11:49
Speaker 3: by the time they get to the major leagues, you
11:51
Speaker 3: know how to make adjustments, right, because there's so much
11:53
Speaker 3: failure involved in missing a pitch or missing a swing,
11:57
Speaker 3: and you've got to go back and do it over again.
11:59
Speaker 3: So they're ready to make adjustments. I think they're fastest
12:02
Speaker 3: in the world, potentially in different sports. But I also
12:05
Speaker 3: think now they's so much bigger, faster, and stronger than
12:08
Speaker 3: they used to be as athletes. There's a lot of
12:11
Speaker 3: guys that probably could have been NFL players that are
12:14
Speaker 3: now pitchers on the mound. They're just giant beings. But
12:18
Speaker 3: I would like to say that even the baseball players
12:21
Speaker 3: that are little, like say in a Jose Altuve, a
12:24
Speaker 3: smaller guy who you'd say, oh, well, he couldn't play
12:27
Speaker 3: basketball or he couldn't play football, I feel like he
12:29
Speaker 3: would find a way. I really do feel like he
12:32
Speaker 3: would find a way to be a good player in
12:35
Speaker 3: whatever those realms are, you know, because they're just I
12:38
Speaker 3: do think there's a mental side to being a great
12:41
Speaker 3: athlete and making quick adjustments and just learning what even
12:44
Speaker 3: if your body isn't as bigger, as stronger, as fast
12:46
Speaker 3: as other people, what do you do well that you
12:49
Speaker 3: can highlight and kind of help your team with. So
12:52
Speaker 3: I might have to agree with you. I've always kind
12:54
Speaker 3: of used to say, like, maybe basketball players because they
12:57
Speaker 3: have that skill with the ball. But I've seen some
13:00
Speaker 3: basketball players swing a back and it ain't pretty right.
13:04
Speaker 2: Listen my point.
13:06
Speaker 4: My dad and I were play by play and color
13:08
Speaker 4: commentator for the Celebrity Softball game, and let me tell you,
13:13
Speaker 4: they put some serious athletes football, basketball and others, and
13:19
Speaker 4: they're striking out, striking out in a slow pitch softball
13:23
Speaker 4: game and not looking good doing it. It's one thing
13:26
Speaker 4: when you get like a former player who's really just
13:28
Speaker 4: trying to swing for the fences and can't get the timing,
13:30
Speaker 4: that's one thing. And I get that because it's a
13:33
Speaker 4: different world in softball, but yeah, it's it's surprisingly much
13:38
Speaker 4: harder to play baseball because of the speed of the game,
13:41
Speaker 4: the speed of the pitch. Ben though in your football
13:43
Speaker 4: and basketball career, and this kind of sounds like a
13:45
Speaker 4: cheesy question, but like, what's something you took from those
13:49
Speaker 4: sports that made you a better baseball player, because for us,
13:53
Speaker 4: we always say to anybody, any of our guests, that like,
13:56
Speaker 4: playing just baseball is not good for your body, it's
14:00
Speaker 4: not good for your mind.
14:02
Speaker 2: When you're a kid, you want.
14:03
Speaker 4: To play multiple sports. So what did you learn from
14:05
Speaker 4: the other sporting experience that made you a Major leaguer
14:08
Speaker 4: and a World Series champion?
14:12
Speaker 3: You know, that's a great question. I think if I
14:15
Speaker 3: had to, the thing that comes up to the top
14:17
Speaker 3: of my mind at first is really learning how to
14:20
Speaker 3: take advantage of a small window to do something very
14:27
Speaker 3: detailed to get yourself in the right position to succeed, like,
14:31
Speaker 3: for example, as a as a when I was playing
14:34
Speaker 3: wide receiver, if I was playing basketball, anticipation is a
14:39
Speaker 3: really important part of you know, making a quick adjustment
14:45
Speaker 3: to faster than the opposition might be able to. And
14:48
Speaker 3: I think that also taught me when I was in baseball.
14:52
Speaker 3: Let's say I was playing the outfield and I was thinking, well, okay,
14:56
Speaker 3: I'm watching what the ball is doing off the bat.
14:58
Speaker 3: But if I had time realize the way this my
15:02
Speaker 3: pitcher throws and the way that this guy swings, I
15:06
Speaker 3: should probably be leaning into my left side. For example,
15:09
Speaker 3: He's most likely going to go to the left here,
15:12
Speaker 3: So I was anticipating that first quick move. And I
15:16
Speaker 3: think in that way, that anticipation is something that I
15:20
Speaker 3: learned as a defender in basketball, as a wide receiver,
15:23
Speaker 3: as a defender, as a defensive back in football, I realize,
15:28
Speaker 3: like in baseball, if you're taking advantage of those those
15:30
Speaker 3: moments and thinking through that that minutia. You know what
15:33
Speaker 3: they said. I heard this, and I don't know if
15:35
Speaker 3: it's true or not. You guys maybe can look this up.
15:38
Speaker 3: I heard that some of the best athletes in the
15:39
Speaker 3: world have similar like chemical makeup as some of the
15:43
Speaker 3: best thieves in the world, because I think a thief
15:47
Speaker 3: has to look for like like the opening where if
15:50
Speaker 3: they're trying to steal something like, they're looking for the
15:53
Speaker 3: opening in someone. And I think, as an athlete, even
15:55
Speaker 3: though that's not healthy to think that way on a
15:57
Speaker 3: regular basis, athletes have to think that way about the
16:00
Speaker 3: opposition so that they can take advantage of that mistake
16:03
Speaker 3: and quickly succeed at, you know, winning that moment in
16:08
Speaker 3: the game. What do you guys think about that?
16:10
Speaker 4: Well, I think stealing a base I mean the word
16:12
Speaker 4: steal is in it, and you're waiting for the picture
16:15
Speaker 4: to wink and do something that you're like, all right, now,
16:18
Speaker 4: it's a chance.
16:19
Speaker 3: Right.
16:19
Speaker 4: It's like reaching for the cookie jar as a kid, right, Like.
16:21
Speaker 4: It's the kind of thing where you're like, I have
16:23
Speaker 4: this one moment to make this.
16:25
Speaker 2: Happen, and Ben, I'm with you. You have to.
16:28
Speaker 1: Steal a sign once in a while. You have to
16:30
Speaker 1: watch the pitcher and know when he's throwing over when
16:33
Speaker 1: he's coming to the plate. You have to watch that
16:36
Speaker 1: shortstop when you're at the plate to see what direction
16:39
Speaker 1: is he moving depending on the pitch. So there's a
16:42
Speaker 1: lot of thievery in baseball, and it's all about being
16:46
Speaker 1: observant and paying attention. Some of the greatest players I've
16:49
Speaker 1: ever seen, including Cal Ripken, he never missed a thing
16:53
Speaker 1: in all the years that he played, because those subtle
16:57
Speaker 1: little things are so so important to winning and losing
17:00
Speaker 1: a game.
17:02
Speaker 3: Absolutely, there's no doubt. Actually, I think if I were
17:05
Speaker 3: to say people have asked me like, what do you
17:07
Speaker 3: think you were best at or whatever? I don't think.
17:11
Speaker 3: I think I was very average in a lot of
17:13
Speaker 3: categories as a baseball player. But I think what kind
17:16
Speaker 3: of helped me excel at different times in my career
17:18
Speaker 3: is the ability to focus on those details, focus on
17:21
Speaker 3: the finite details when maybe it was a part of
17:25
Speaker 3: the game where other guys would slack off, or a
17:27
Speaker 3: part of the season where everybody was a little tired, right,
17:31
Speaker 3: and I felt like, those are my chances, those are
17:33
Speaker 3: my opportunities to make good and like get my numbers
17:36
Speaker 3: up or or make sure that I make the impact
17:38
Speaker 3: that I want to make when I can, because there's
17:41
Speaker 3: going to be a lot of those moments where just
17:43
Speaker 3: better players, better athletes are going to be on their game,
17:47
Speaker 3: and if you aren't at the height of your game,
17:50
Speaker 3: or you're not as physically gifted, you're not gonna be
17:52
Speaker 3: able to overcome them. But if you can be the
17:54
Speaker 3: guy that focuses on the finite details that much more
17:57
Speaker 3: and that much that much like persevere through that that
18:03
Speaker 3: those moments, maybe you'll get a chance to overcome some
18:07
Speaker 3: guys that are more talented than you.
18:13
Speaker 4: So Ben, we had Joe Madden on the podcast. We've
18:17
Speaker 4: been doing this our third season and it's been so
18:20
Speaker 4: cool because we've had all sorts of walks from Major
18:22
Speaker 4: League baseball. And I know you played for Joe Madden,
18:25
Speaker 4: not with one team, but with two teams, and we
18:29
Speaker 4: had so many laughs with him. A legendary manager but
18:35
Speaker 4: also a unique approach to bringing the team together. How
18:38
Speaker 4: fun was it being under his tutelage?
18:43
Speaker 3: Gosh, Well, there's nobody more unique than him in the
18:45
Speaker 3: game of baseball in my opinion, right, And Tim, you've
18:48
Speaker 3: been around you, guys have been around a lot of guys,
18:50
Speaker 3: and Joe just he loves being quirky and thinking his
18:54
Speaker 3: own way. Right. He's an original, and he loves being
18:57
Speaker 3: an original, right, And I think that's one of the
19:01
Speaker 3: things he brought to being a manager. And he allowed
19:05
Speaker 3: everybody to be who they were meant to be and
19:08
Speaker 3: give them the freedom to kind of roll with that.
19:13
Speaker 3: I think that really worked for me because I came
19:16
Speaker 3: into the major leagues at a certain time when I
19:18
Speaker 3: was a little bit bogged down by my own sense
19:22
Speaker 3: of like, this is how it's got to be. I
19:24
Speaker 3: guess this is the right way to play the game.
19:26
Speaker 3: And Joe kind of let me have a little more freedom.
19:29
Speaker 3: And because I was already highly disciplined and pretty consistent
19:32
Speaker 3: in certain ways, it gave me some creativity and flexibility
19:36
Speaker 3: that I think essentially made me one of the more
19:39
Speaker 3: productive players during that time because they were thinking outside
19:42
Speaker 3: the box. He was thinking Andrew Friedman, those guys were
19:44
Speaker 3: thinking outside the box in regard to how to put
19:47
Speaker 3: a lineup together, what I could do as long as
19:50
Speaker 3: I had the flexibility mentally to do it. And Joe
19:54
Speaker 3: didn't only make me a great player on the field
19:56
Speaker 3: and by putting me in the position to succeed. He
19:58
Speaker 3: was a guy that believed than you off the field too,
20:01
Speaker 3: and he told you that. And at first, I really
20:05
Speaker 3: I'm not sure if I believed his belief in me,
20:07
Speaker 3: if that makes sense, But over time it proved itself,
20:11
Speaker 3: and I just I just realized, Man, this guy, actually
20:15
Speaker 3: he really thinks that I can do even more than
20:18
Speaker 3: I maybe think I can do. And it was a
20:20
Speaker 3: little bit of borrowed belief that I had from Joe
20:23
Speaker 3: that made me as good as I was during my
20:26
Speaker 3: career at certain parts. So I was really fortunate and
20:29
Speaker 3: blessed that Joe was the manager of my entire major
20:32
Speaker 3: league career with all but one year.
20:35
Speaker 1: Right, Ben, were you there the day that he brought
20:39
Speaker 1: Sadie the Snake into the clubhouse.
20:41
Speaker 2: The snake, what's like this enormous that Were you there
20:46
Speaker 2: that day? And did you go near the snake?
20:49
Speaker 3: Listen, Joe did that the only year, so he did
20:52
Speaker 3: it in Chicago too. He did it in Tampa Bay
20:55
Speaker 3: and Chicago. Brought basically a petting zoo into the clubhouse
21:00
Speaker 3: in both places, so he brought snakes. I don't know
21:03
Speaker 3: if Sadie the snake was in Tampa Bay or if
21:05
Speaker 3: that was good snake that was in Chicago fifteen when
21:08
Speaker 3: I wasn't there, But that's what I'm talking about. You
21:11
Speaker 3: didn't know whether Joe was gonna you were gonna show
21:14
Speaker 3: up in the clubhouse. I got a fun story about
21:16
Speaker 3: the clubhouse that Joe allowed. Besides petting zoos, which happened,
21:21
Speaker 3: like I said a few different times, there was a
21:24
Speaker 3: time where we were playing since we just passed Cinco
21:27
Speaker 3: de Maya. Okay, this is a great story. I don't
21:29
Speaker 3: know when this is gonna air, but we just passed
21:32
Speaker 3: Sinko Demaya when we're recording this, and goodness, there was
21:36
Speaker 3: a Sinko Demayo in Tampa Bay. I can't remember. Carlos
21:39
Speaker 3: Paine was on the team. You guys know Carlos beautiful,
21:42
Speaker 3: amazing human being. His perspective in the game is a
21:46
Speaker 3: whole another, you know, perspective. It's a whole other conversation.
21:50
Speaker 3: I just love Carlos in so many different ways. And
21:53
Speaker 3: there was a day where he hired a band to
21:58
Speaker 3: come on Sinco de Mayo. He had a long game
22:01
Speaker 3: that night. Nobody knew he he hired his band. Okay,
22:04
Speaker 3: but we had a long game that night. It went
22:06
Speaker 3: into extra innings and we lost, and maybe I don't know,
22:09
Speaker 3: the eleven, twelve, thirteenth innings, something like that. It was
22:12
Speaker 3: a long game, and so we come in. You know,
22:15
Speaker 3: every team is a little bummed. You come in and
22:17
Speaker 3: it's quiet, very quiet. Whoever blew the game at the
22:21
Speaker 3: last inning, he was bummed. And nobody wants to get
22:24
Speaker 3: in anybody's grill during that time. So Carlos was like, man,
22:27
Speaker 3: I got these There was literally a band standing outside
22:30
Speaker 3: the clubhouse, Mariachi band, and we all walked past these
22:36
Speaker 3: guys and we're like, what in the world is going on?
22:39
Speaker 3: I swear to you. Carlos goes in, goes into Joe's office.
22:44
Speaker 3: Doors always open, he says, Joe, listen, I uh, I
22:49
Speaker 3: don't know. I kind of hired. I hired a mariachi
22:53
Speaker 3: band to play for us after the game, and Joe goes,
22:59
Speaker 3: He's like bring him in, you know, like I don't
23:01
Speaker 3: care that. Wow, So none of us know this. I
23:05
Speaker 3: found that out after fact. We're just like undressing out
23:08
Speaker 3: our lockers and all of a sudden, I just hear yeah.
23:17
Speaker 3: I mean we turned around, like what is happening right now?
23:22
Speaker 3: And these guys just start playing walking through the clubhouse
23:26
Speaker 3: like fifteen minutes after we lost it extra any lost.
23:30
Speaker 3: I mean, you can't make this stuff up, but you
23:32
Speaker 3: have to have a special manager like Joe to create
23:34
Speaker 3: a scenario like that.
23:36
Speaker 2: Wow, right, Carlos paigea once.
23:39
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember this, but in Spring Trading,
23:41
Speaker 1: Joe told me in a squad game Carlos made a
23:45
Speaker 1: mistake on the basis and then got himself out of
23:48
Speaker 1: it by quoting doctor Martin Luther King that if you
23:52
Speaker 1: make a mistake, but it's for the right reasons, it's okay.
23:56
Speaker 1: Show Like, does this sound like Carlos pay it to you?
24:00
Speaker 1: And does it sound like Joe Madden to you that
24:03
Speaker 1: that could happen?
24:05
Speaker 3: Absolutely? Like I can totally see that happening with both
24:13
Speaker 3: of those guys. That was Those were some special years
24:15
Speaker 3: having those characters in the clubhouse, right.
24:19
Speaker 1: We're gonna get your book in a minute. It just
24:21
Speaker 1: helped me with this because I don't know anything about it.
24:23
Speaker 1: You were in a movie called Ring the Bell? Is
24:25
Speaker 1: that correct? Twenty thirteen? Rick rich Shutliff, my dear friend,
24:32
Speaker 1: and John Kruck, both of them were teammates. They made
24:36
Speaker 1: me laugh so many times. What was your role in
24:39
Speaker 1: the movie and what was their role in the movie?
24:43
Speaker 3: Oh, my gosh, it was so it was amazing. There
24:48
Speaker 3: was a an agent that was recruiting a player in
24:51
Speaker 3: this movie. And the main character of the movie was
24:55
Speaker 3: a friend of mine named Casey Bond who was playing
24:57
Speaker 3: the main character of the movie. And so he was
25:00
Speaker 3: great pitcher, but he had he had a whole backstory behind,
25:04
Speaker 3: not the reason why he wasn't playing. But there was
25:06
Speaker 3: an agent that came in and was like bringing in
25:08
Speaker 3: some baseball friends of his to kind of try to
25:12
Speaker 3: recruit this guy off of his family farm and what
25:15
Speaker 3: he was doing there to go play ball. And so
25:17
Speaker 3: we gathered for like some tea or lunch around this
25:21
Speaker 3: guy's family table outside of their farm, and so me,
25:25
Speaker 3: I was a major league player, All Star whatever that
25:29
Speaker 3: they were coming in to kind of face this player
25:32
Speaker 3: in the movie. And so he was pitching against me,
25:35
Speaker 3: and Kruck and Sutcliffe were behind the screen like making
25:39
Speaker 3: jokes as I'm facing this guy, and so I had
25:42
Speaker 3: to swing and miss a couple of times. You know,
25:44
Speaker 3: he got me on a few I had to swing
25:46
Speaker 3: and miss at the end, but ultimately I was able
25:48
Speaker 3: to hit a bomb off of him that they put
25:50
Speaker 3: in the movie too, you know. And it was they
25:52
Speaker 3: created this whole fun scenario around us, like challenging this
25:56
Speaker 3: guy from this farm who's gonna go play pro ball?
25:59
Speaker 3: But it was it was a really fun Ultimately, the
26:02
Speaker 3: movie was really fun to go do. I only had
26:04
Speaker 3: to shoot for like a day to go over there.
26:06
Speaker 3: But that's another story as to like Joe, the reason
26:10
Speaker 3: why they got me and not somebody like Lance Berkman
26:13
Speaker 3: at the time, or you know, Josh Hamilton, these stars
26:16
Speaker 3: that were like a little closer in Florida was because
26:19
Speaker 3: those guys their manager wouldn't let them leave spring training.
26:22
Speaker 3: And I went into Joe's office and I said, Joe, hey,
26:25
Speaker 3: there's a movie being shot with Rick Sutcliffe and John
26:28
Speaker 3: Cruck and they need a major league player for a day.
26:31
Speaker 3: He's like, dude, go be it the movie for a day.
26:34
Speaker 3: You can skip tomorrow or whatever. And so I was like,
26:38
Speaker 3: all right, So I drove on the other side of
26:40
Speaker 3: Florida and went and shot this movie.
26:43
Speaker 1: And Ben any surprise that Sun and Kruck were standing
26:47
Speaker 1: behind a screen like laughing with everyone and cracking jokes.
26:51
Speaker 2: I mean, that's all they do anyway, anyway, right.
26:55
Speaker 3: And none of that needed to be in the script,
26:57
Speaker 3: Like it was literally written in the script. Kruck basically
27:01
Speaker 3: gives Zobrist a hard time. Cruck and Sutcliffe sit back
27:04
Speaker 3: there and you know, you know just I mean, dynamite
27:08
Speaker 3: drop in after drop in, just while I'm trying to
27:11
Speaker 3: I had a hard time not laughing as they're the
27:13
Speaker 3: pictures are being thrown, because they're saying things as the
27:16
Speaker 3: pictures are being thrown. You know, that's incredible.
27:19
Speaker 4: I mean, we we actually just talked to Joe Buck
27:22
Speaker 4: and talked about my dad's performance with him on Brockmeyer
27:26
Speaker 4: and I gotta.
27:27
Speaker 2: Say, terrible, was terrible, awful.
27:30
Speaker 4: I was just gonna tell Ben, I said, we set
27:33
Speaker 4: the bar pretty low. So your appearance, I'm sure was fantastic,
27:37
Speaker 4: And now I know what I gotta watch after my.
27:39
Speaker 3: Baby goes to sleep tonight. I feel like we're baseball guys.
27:44
Speaker 3: We're a lot better if you just let us roll
27:47
Speaker 3: and then whatever comes out is better than like, don't
27:50
Speaker 3: give us a script. We're not very good with scripts usually.
27:57
Speaker 2: Well, I'm not a very good actor.
27:59
Speaker 1: But I've written three books, Ben, and now you've written
28:01
Speaker 1: a book.
28:02
Speaker 2: So tell us about your book.
28:04
Speaker 1: Explain what it's about, and tell us just how this
28:09
Speaker 1: all came about.
28:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks for asking. It's the book is called Prepare
28:14
Speaker 3: for the Pressure. It's really born out of my ability
28:19
Speaker 3: to handle certain pressures during my career and then to
28:21
Speaker 3: not handle others. Right. So the book is about building
28:25
Speaker 3: a level of courage, consistency, and then resiliency not only
28:29
Speaker 3: on the sports field but in life. And you know,
28:32
Speaker 3: I dealt with a couple of times of depression during
28:35
Speaker 3: my career, and so it kind of chronicles a lot
28:38
Speaker 3: of stories around like what I did well during my
28:43
Speaker 3: career and my upbringing that kind of made me a
28:45
Speaker 3: good player, but ultimately the things that I really struggled
28:48
Speaker 3: with and would wish I would have done better at
28:50
Speaker 3: I had a level of resiliency that I think I
28:53
Speaker 3: definitely could have done much better at it had I
28:55
Speaker 3: known some of these things. But after I got out
28:58
Speaker 3: of baseball, I really did a lot of studies around
29:00
Speaker 3: emotional intelligence and started a nonprofit cal Champion Forward, which
29:04
Speaker 3: is what this had is about. And Champion Forward is
29:08
Speaker 3: addresses the mental and emotional skills for young athletes, parents
29:12
Speaker 3: and coaches. So we're kind of trying to hit at
29:14
Speaker 3: the challenge that the youth sports experience has right now
29:18
Speaker 3: around these kids that are mentally struggling and they're they're
29:23
Speaker 3: they're great athletes, and they're playing a lot of a
29:25
Speaker 3: lot of sports, whatever the sport day is that that
29:28
Speaker 3: is that they love, but they're really getting burnt out
29:30
Speaker 3: early on or they're trying to figure out how do
29:33
Speaker 3: I continue to climb up the ranks When you know,
29:36
Speaker 3: nil money has been infused into this, the pressure has mounted,
29:40
Speaker 3: not only for the kids, but for the parents and
29:43
Speaker 3: the coaches as well. Got a lot a lot of
29:45
Speaker 3: good families, a lot of good coaches that are kind
29:47
Speaker 3: of leaving the game because they're seeing some toxicity around it.
29:51
Speaker 3: So I went and studied emotional intelligence and figured there's
29:54
Speaker 3: a gap here that we could be infusing some of
29:57
Speaker 3: this into sports in this particular way. So the book
30:01
Speaker 3: is really my effort at sharing my own experiences and
30:04
Speaker 3: then ultimately how I wrap that in the last few
30:07
Speaker 3: chapters into what we're doing with the nonprofit to help
30:11
Speaker 3: give people the tools that they need to be a
30:13
Speaker 3: lot more resilient, to be aware of what they're feeling,
30:17
Speaker 3: to be balanced in the choices and decisions that they're
30:19
Speaker 3: making around the game, but ultimately to be connected not
30:22
Speaker 3: only to themselves, not only to the people that they
30:24
Speaker 3: love the most, but even in their faith journey, right,
30:27
Speaker 3: because that's something that's always been very important to me.
30:30
Speaker 3: So it's got an infusion of all those things in it.
30:33
Speaker 3: And I'm not really a writer, guys, and I certainly
30:37
Speaker 3: struggled when I was going in the studio, like talking
30:40
Speaker 3: into a microphone for hours a day for the audiobook,
30:43
Speaker 3: But I loved the whole experience and it was a challenge,
30:45
Speaker 3: but it was something that I hope some athletes, parents
30:48
Speaker 3: and coaches find find some worth in and some value in.
30:54
Speaker 2: And Ben you are.
30:55
Speaker 1: I know you're a man of great faith, but you're
30:57
Speaker 1: also the son of a pastor. What was it like
31:00
Speaker 1: growing up as an athlete and in your house as
31:05
Speaker 1: the son of a pastor.
31:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, jeez. Well, as a as an athlete, that was
31:14
Speaker 3: just some of that was born into me. I mean
31:16
Speaker 3: I grew up my dad was obviously a big sports fan,
31:18
Speaker 3: but he wasn't playing a lot of sports at the time,
31:21
Speaker 3: but I could see the passion that he had. And
31:23
Speaker 3: I was also growing up in the nineties where you
31:25
Speaker 3: had the sports movies of Rocky from the eighties, the
31:29
Speaker 3: Natural from you know, Roy Hobbs, you had the Sandlot
31:32
Speaker 3: coming out, you had Rudy, you had Hoosiers, you know,
31:35
Speaker 3: some of these great sports movies of the nineties just
31:38
Speaker 3: really inspired and grabbed my attention. I thought, like, I'm
31:40
Speaker 3: a small kid from a small town, but why can't
31:43
Speaker 3: I be the underdog that goes and does something great athletically?
31:47
Speaker 2: Right?
31:47
Speaker 3: So I kind of it kind of made me believe
31:50
Speaker 3: that I was capable of more and I kind of
31:51
Speaker 3: dreamed of that. So as an athlete, I was very competitive.
31:55
Speaker 3: I was I had a competitive fire. I wanted to win.
31:58
Speaker 3: But then as a as a believer and growing up
32:01
Speaker 3: in church, understanding what God does in your life. For me,
32:06
Speaker 3: it was like, oh wait, but I also want to
32:08
Speaker 3: be who God made me to be. So does that
32:10
Speaker 3: mean I could I still be a good athlete and
32:13
Speaker 3: also follow God. And that's where I think for a while,
32:19
Speaker 3: I was like, yeah, I can do both of those.
32:21
Speaker 3: And I was trying to do them in the same way.
32:23
Speaker 3: And I was trying to almost perform for God or
32:26
Speaker 3: be a really good Christian for the Lord. And I
32:30
Speaker 3: knew that I was saved by grace, but I don't
32:32
Speaker 3: know if I really experienced that until I went through
32:34
Speaker 3: this depressive period, right, and I really understood then that Wow,
32:39
Speaker 3: even when I'm at my weakest and most vulnerable, that's
32:43
Speaker 3: when God really shows up and he carries you in
32:47
Speaker 3: those moments. And I have a story around that where
32:50
Speaker 3: my dad. When I was in eighth grade I think
32:53
Speaker 3: I was, or maybe seventh grade, I was running the
32:55
Speaker 3: mile and the state track meet. Going back to being
32:58
Speaker 3: an athlete that plays multiple sports, right, I was always
33:01
Speaker 3: trying to be a great athlete and whatever the season was,
33:04
Speaker 3: and I was running the mile, and I was highly
33:06
Speaker 3: ranked in the state, and some went wrong and I
33:10
Speaker 3: was getting dehydrate and I didn't realize it in the
33:12
Speaker 3: last lap, I just like lost all of my gas
33:16
Speaker 3: and I came around the last two hundred meters and
33:18
Speaker 3: I collapsed on the track and my dad was in
33:22
Speaker 3: the stands. And I'll never forget this because there was
33:26
Speaker 3: a video of it at one point. I don't know
33:28
Speaker 3: where that video is. I think it's been lost in
33:29
Speaker 3: the archives of VHS tapes, as you know. But he
33:34
Speaker 3: jumped out of the stands, ran and picked me up
33:38
Speaker 3: off the track before anybody else could and walked me
33:40
Speaker 3: across the finish line. And of course I was disqualified, right,
33:44
Speaker 3: But it just really highlights something that we do our best,
33:48
Speaker 3: and we give everything we have in whatever sport, and
33:52
Speaker 3: eventually we reach our endpoint. There's a point that we
33:55
Speaker 3: reach where we can't go anymore, even if you've given
33:57
Speaker 3: everything you have to it. And that's when having that
34:01
Speaker 3: borrowed belief, that's when you have someone faithful that's walked
34:05
Speaker 3: alongside you, that can carry you through the finish line, right.
34:09
Speaker 3: And so I think that's just such such a beautiful
34:12
Speaker 3: picture of how faith is infused with the best effort
34:16
Speaker 3: and trying to be the best competitor we can be.
34:18
Speaker 3: And I really found a lot of that when I
34:21
Speaker 3: went through this depressive period in my life later on
34:24
Speaker 3: in my career as well.
34:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, Ben, I think it's so beautiful that you're sharing
34:29
Speaker 4: your faith and the low moments. I think especially our kids,
34:34
Speaker 4: you know, all they see, all they grow up with,
34:36
Speaker 4: is the age of social media, right, where like people
34:39
Speaker 4: are just posting their best moments. It's their highlight reel.
34:42
Speaker 4: Everything is rose colored glasses. But to be able to
34:45
Speaker 4: have an athlete playing at the highest level, be able
34:49
Speaker 4: to talk about the dark times in life, being able
34:52
Speaker 4: to talk about the difficulties that he's had and talk
34:55
Speaker 4: about faith and talk about strength and weakness is great
34:58
Speaker 4: because I think men is bec are kind of taught
35:01
Speaker 4: when we're growing up, Like you know, I push it down,
35:04
Speaker 4: don't cry, rub some dirt in it. Then, Like there's
35:07
Speaker 4: times for those, Sure, you get hit by a pitch,
35:10
Speaker 4: rub some dirt on it, get to first base, let's
35:11
Speaker 4: win this game, right, that's a good time to be tough.
35:14
Speaker 4: But there's other times where it's okay to be vulnerable
35:17
Speaker 4: and it's okay not to be tough. It's okay to
35:20
Speaker 4: let it consume you and then work through it. And
35:22
Speaker 4: I think that's what's so special about this book that
35:25
Speaker 4: you're putting together. Prepare for the pressure releases July seventh.
35:29
Speaker 4: You can go to Champion Forward dot org. I'm actually
35:31
Speaker 4: gonna put the link in the show notes so everybody
35:34
Speaker 4: knows where.
35:34
Speaker 2: To get it so they can check it out.
35:37
Speaker 4: But I think I just want to say thank you
35:39
Speaker 4: because it's you know, I have a son on the
35:41
Speaker 4: way next month June fifth, My wife is due and
35:44
Speaker 4: I have a daughter already. I know you have girls
35:46
Speaker 4: and a boy, so but I think it's so important
35:49
Speaker 4: for our kids to learn these lessons at a young
35:51
Speaker 4: age that it's okay. It's okay to be vulnerable, it's
35:54
Speaker 4: it's okay to be upset, and it's okay to realize
35:56
Speaker 4: you're in a pit and you know you're in the
35:58
Speaker 4: valley instead of the peak.
36:00
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, Well, I learned that there's two emotions as
36:02
Speaker 3: an athlete that work for you. You can be excited
36:05
Speaker 3: and happy for everybody when you're succeeding, or you can
36:07
Speaker 3: be angry when it's not, and those are acceptable. But
36:10
Speaker 3: any of the other emotions that you might be feeling, fear, shame, hurt,
36:14
Speaker 3: any of that stuff, you kind of have to shut off. Right,
36:17
Speaker 3: and that's not really a healthy way to live. So
36:20
Speaker 3: there is a time when you step between the lines
36:22
Speaker 3: or on the court. Make no mistake about it. The
36:24
Speaker 3: game isn't going to wait for you to feel You
36:27
Speaker 3: got to get onto the next moment. If you want
36:29
Speaker 3: to help your team win, you got to go to
36:31
Speaker 3: battle for each other. But before and after those moments,
36:35
Speaker 3: we have to be human. Again. I talk a lot
36:38
Speaker 3: about being a hero and being human and when I
36:40
Speaker 3: do a lot of speaking stuff, and I'm coaching young
36:42
Speaker 3: players now and when I talk about that, I think
36:45
Speaker 3: I want them to understand. Yes, when you go to
36:48
Speaker 3: school and when you step on the field, that's the
36:50
Speaker 3: time to be the hero version of yourself, the best
36:53
Speaker 3: version of yourself. And so you better show up ready.
36:56
Speaker 3: The game or the test is not going to give
36:59
Speaker 3: you excuses and let you feel right. You got to
37:02
Speaker 3: move on and get and get better. That being said,
37:05
Speaker 3: when you're done with it, can you step out of
37:08
Speaker 3: that and can you get to a place with people
37:11
Speaker 3: who love you for who you are and not what
37:13
Speaker 3: you do. Can you share what it was like trying
37:17
Speaker 3: to be a hero and when you messed up or
37:19
Speaker 3: when you did well? Can you talk about that, because
37:22
Speaker 3: that's the difference between somebody that's healthy and unhealthy, and
37:25
Speaker 3: functional families and dysfunctional families. Right, we're all dysfunctional at
37:29
Speaker 3: some level. But what makes us healthy versus unhealthy is
37:33
Speaker 3: the ability to name our dysfunctions and really pause and say, hey,
37:38
Speaker 3: what do we need right now?
37:39
Speaker 4: What?
37:39
Speaker 3: What? What was that actually like to go through, you know,
37:43
Speaker 3: for you and and to be okay, not trying to
37:45
Speaker 3: fix that. We got to fix stuff on the field
37:48
Speaker 3: and in the game all the time. It's a game
37:50
Speaker 3: of adjustments to be great. That's the same thing with
37:53
Speaker 3: any work or any any role that you have where
37:56
Speaker 3: you want to be great. Even at home as a parent,
37:58
Speaker 3: you have to be a hero lot of times, but
38:01
Speaker 3: you have to find other moments to step back and
38:05
Speaker 3: be a human being with people that understand that they
38:08
Speaker 3: don't have to fix you. And life is hard sometimes
38:10
Speaker 3: and if we create those spaces, we're going to be
38:13
Speaker 3: able to be a more free and fast player when
38:17
Speaker 3: we step on the field and we're trying to perform
38:19
Speaker 3: at our best.
38:24
Speaker 1: Then, going back to your early days as a baseball player,
38:27
Speaker 1: you told me once that when you graduated from high school,
38:30
Speaker 1: you essentially said all right, I'm not playing anymore, and
38:33
Speaker 1: then before you know it, you're playing college baseball. Then
38:36
Speaker 1: you're a professional player, then you're in the big leagues.
38:39
Speaker 1: When did the light go on after high school that
38:42
Speaker 1: made you think I can do this, I can play
38:46
Speaker 1: more baseball and be good at it.
38:49
Speaker 3: Well, it wasn't. It wasn't me that started that. I
38:52
Speaker 3: mentioned borrowed belief before, and some faithful people in my life.
38:57
Speaker 3: One of those people was my high school coach. Goal.
39:00
Speaker 3: When I finished high school, graduated, finished my senior season,
39:03
Speaker 3: I had zero college scholarship offers and I was not
39:07
Speaker 3: planning on playing baseball beyond that moment. And coach Gold
39:13
Speaker 3: told me, he told me I had to pay fifty
39:15
Speaker 3: dollars on my own money, but he told me he
39:17
Speaker 3: thought I should go to this scout day, and he
39:20
Speaker 3: let me come back and pick up my high school
39:21
Speaker 3: uniform and go to this scout day and show off
39:25
Speaker 3: for some college scouts. And that's where Elliott Johnson, those
39:27
Speaker 3: two coaches saw something in me that said, this guy
39:31
Speaker 3: should be playing college baseball and he has a chance
39:35
Speaker 3: for that to pay for his college tuition. And it
39:37
Speaker 3: really did. And that was the blessing that it did
39:40
Speaker 3: help pay for college and got me a college degree,
39:43
Speaker 3: but more than that, it got me a career that
39:45
Speaker 3: I didn't expect to be able to have, and then
39:48
Speaker 3: really a platform that I didn't expect to have. So
39:51
Speaker 3: you really need people in your life that can believe
39:53
Speaker 3: when you don't believe, and can see the future a
39:56
Speaker 3: little bit, see what you're capable of when you don't
39:58
Speaker 3: see it. And I've had had Coach Gold, Coach Johnson,
40:03
Speaker 3: Joe Madden. These are all people that have been a
40:05
Speaker 3: part of that in my life, and it's really a
40:07
Speaker 3: part of my story, and that's in the book Prepared
40:09
Speaker 3: for Pressure too, because you have to have people that
40:12
Speaker 3: can have faith for you through the fog. It can't
40:15
Speaker 3: just be fair weather fans that come along when things
40:17
Speaker 3: are rosy and everything's great. You have to have people
40:19
Speaker 3: that can help you be faithful when you can't see
40:22
Speaker 3: the next step in front of you.
40:24
Speaker 1: Right, Ben, I was talking to Rick Vaughan the other day.
40:28
Speaker 1: Rick Vaughn and I are very very close friends and
40:30
Speaker 1: have been forever. So please take her to the right way,
40:34
Speaker 1: he said, the first time he met you, when the
40:37
Speaker 1: rays acquire you from the astros.
40:39
Speaker 2: He looked at you and said.
40:40
Speaker 1: This guy is a skinny little kid. How's he going
40:43
Speaker 1: to be really good at this game? Do you remember
40:46
Speaker 1: being that thin when you got to the rays? And
40:49
Speaker 1: then how did you suddenly hit twenty seven homers a
40:52
Speaker 1: few years later?
40:54
Speaker 3: I mean, he's right, I was pretty wrong, and I
40:58
Speaker 3: was twenty five years old, but I looked like I
41:01
Speaker 3: was probably nineteen or twenty.
41:03
Speaker 1: Right.
41:03
Speaker 3: I was just a late bloomer. So I couldn't even
41:05
Speaker 3: really grow any facial hair at the time, very little.
41:09
Speaker 3: Right my first year. I could grow it on my chin,
41:11
Speaker 3: but I couldn't grow it down here. So I was
41:13
Speaker 3: just still a late bloomer even at twenty five. So
41:16
Speaker 3: I think that's the thing that a lot of young
41:18
Speaker 3: kids need to realize, is if you have the skills
41:23
Speaker 3: and you have the passion, the passion of practice, and
41:27
Speaker 3: you love it like it can really take you a
41:30
Speaker 3: long way. And I didn't realize what I was capable of.
41:34
Speaker 3: I don't think Rick Vaughan or Joe Madden or Andrew
41:37
Speaker 3: Friedman even realized what I was capable of at the time.
41:39
Speaker 3: But they saw that I had the passion and I
41:42
Speaker 3: could be productive even if I wasn't going to be
41:45
Speaker 3: a great pro. I could be productive and it developed. Right.
41:50
Speaker 3: If you're still learning and growing and you're willing to
41:53
Speaker 3: try new things and change and morph along with your career,
41:57
Speaker 3: you never know where it could take you, right. And
41:58
Speaker 3: this is my story of, you know, being a utility
42:02
Speaker 3: player or a quote super utility player before it was
42:05
Speaker 3: a thing, and those guys created that and I just
42:08
Speaker 3: went along with it. And yeah, I was pretty raw
42:11
Speaker 3: and young and skinny trying to play against Derek Jeter
42:14
Speaker 3: and Alex Rodriguez and the mighty Red Sox at the time.
42:18
Speaker 3: Like I'm sure everybody kind of looked at me and
42:20
Speaker 3: was like, what is this kid doing out here? But
42:23
Speaker 3: ten years later, I was helping the Cubs win, you know.
42:26
Speaker 3: And that's the crazy thing is you never know where
42:30
Speaker 3: it can take you if you're willing to just kind
42:31
Speaker 3: of take it one step at a time. Right. I didn't.
42:34
Speaker 3: I didn't have the dreams of being able to do
42:37
Speaker 3: the things I did. I just took it one day
42:39
Speaker 3: at a time, all.
42:40
Speaker 1: Right, Ben, This is way off the topic, But did
42:43
Speaker 1: you ever see Rick Vaughd throw batting practice?
42:47
Speaker 3: Not that he was at all, all.
42:49
Speaker 1: Right, Ben, you should know this. He was a good
42:52
Speaker 1: college pitcher. He threw was hard in college. George Mason
42:57
Speaker 1: threw a collegiate no hitter. And he's he never tells
43:01
Speaker 1: anybody there, but the next the next time you see him,
43:05
Speaker 1: you need to ask him, Hey, somebody told me that
43:08
Speaker 1: you threw hard, and he did.
43:11
Speaker 2: And it's so interesting that you get to.
43:13
Speaker 1: Know somebody, but someone as modest as him never says
43:17
Speaker 1: word he threw hard in college.
43:20
Speaker 2: Rick Vaughan, your boy, I.
43:22
Speaker 3: Did not I did not know this. I really didn't
43:25
Speaker 3: know this. I'm I'm surprised. Well, he's a humble guy, obviously, yes,
43:29
Speaker 3: But you know, my enduring memory of our time together
43:32
Speaker 3: is how he always had a smile on his face,
43:35
Speaker 3: like he did his work, and he was always very
43:38
Speaker 3: positive and helpful to us. So I was like, dude,
43:41
Speaker 3: this guy, this guy's just a positive I just figured
43:44
Speaker 3: that was his his uh superpower. But apparently he can
43:47
Speaker 3: actually throw a ball too, or he could at one point.
43:50
Speaker 1: All right, so real quickly, I'm going to tell you
43:52
Speaker 1: one more story. We were on the field at Joe
43:54
Speaker 1: Robbie Stadium. Rick Vaughan and I when I covered the
43:56
Speaker 1: orioles and Terry Kennedy to catch her for the Orioles.
43:59
Speaker 1: It's an exhibition game and they have like a fence
44:03
Speaker 1: put up.
44:04
Speaker 2: It's not the real fence, it's like a softball fence
44:06
Speaker 2: put on a football field.
44:08
Speaker 1: And Terry Kennedy looks at Rick Vaughan and I love
44:11
Speaker 1: Terry Kennedy, and he says, do you think you can
44:13
Speaker 1: throw it over that? You know, that temporary fence out there,
44:18
Speaker 1: And he.
44:18
Speaker 2: Pushed him and pushed him and pushed him, and.
44:20
Speaker 1: Finally it really angered Rick Vaughan, so he picked up
44:24
Speaker 1: the ball and threw it not over the temporary fence
44:27
Speaker 1: but into the regular It stands about it was at
44:32
Speaker 1: least three hundred and thirty feet atmore No. This was
44:36
Speaker 1: in Miami at Joe Robbie Stadium and spring training. One
44:40
Speaker 1: of these moments, yeah, where a player challenges the PR
44:44
Speaker 1: guy and the PR guy finally says, all right, that's enough,
44:48
Speaker 1: and he picks it up and makes this ridiculous row.
44:51
Speaker 1: You would have trouble throwing it as far as he
44:53
Speaker 1: did that day.
44:54
Speaker 2: There's a second night Lawn story.
44:57
Speaker 3: I'm a big believer, but I don't know about it.
44:59
Speaker 3: If I can don't even believe that.
45:02
Speaker 2: Hey, I was there. I was there. I saw it.
45:07
Speaker 2: I was standing right next to us.
45:09
Speaker 3: Listen, I'm not gonna that's the That's what's so crazy,
45:13
Speaker 3: is like, I believe you, but I'm like, I don't
45:15
Speaker 3: know if I can believe the story. I have to
45:17
Speaker 3: believe it now, I have to believe it. That's that's unbelievable, though.
45:21
Speaker 3: I can't imagine. Did he have to pick up his
45:25
Speaker 3: arm by first base after he threw it over the
45:27
Speaker 3: wall or what? Like his must have fallen off too.
45:32
Speaker 2: Look, he's a quiet competitor.
45:34
Speaker 1: He got he got challenged, and he said, I'll show
45:37
Speaker 1: you what I could do if you push me.
45:39
Speaker 2: Far it off And he got pushed and then he
45:41
Speaker 2: did it.
45:41
Speaker 1: So that's your rick long story for the day. All right, Jeff,
45:44
Speaker 1: change the subject. I'll tell RV stories all day.
45:47
Speaker 2: If you let me.
45:48
Speaker 4: Now, Dad, I don't you know you're the numbers guy,
45:51
Speaker 4: you're the stats guy. You know so much about this game.
45:55
Speaker 4: But I want to make sure I have this one right. Ben,
45:58
Speaker 4: your final major le game, you made your only pitching
46:04
Speaker 4: performance in your career.
46:05
Speaker 2: Do I have that correct?
46:08
Speaker 3: You got it? That's right?
46:10
Speaker 4: And you struck out do you remember who?
46:15
Speaker 3: How could I forget he's gonna be a Hall of
46:17
Speaker 3: Famer here pretty.
46:18
Speaker 4: Soon he struck out Yadi Yadi Air Molina his only
46:23
Speaker 4: pitching performance. Dad was in his final major league game
46:26
Speaker 4: and he struck out of a Hall of famer.
46:28
Speaker 2: I mean that's crazy, right. First off? How can I
46:32
Speaker 2: not know this?
46:33
Speaker 1: How can my my son knows something that I don't know?
46:36
Speaker 1: I was born to know these things, all right, Never mind, man, explain,
46:41
Speaker 1: explain the day you pitched, and explain the strikeout of
46:44
Speaker 1: Yadi or Molina.
46:46
Speaker 3: Well, listen, that was his. That was as unbelievable as
46:49
Speaker 3: your RV story just was. So it's true, but it's
46:54
Speaker 3: it is true, and it's not a lie. I So
46:57
Speaker 3: Yadi is Is was notorialously, notoriously known by our pitching
47:01
Speaker 3: staff as a guy who was tough to strike out. Anyways,
47:04
Speaker 3: he didn't strike out a lot. He made a lot
47:06
Speaker 3: of good contact, and so the fact that I struck
47:09
Speaker 3: him out made people really shake their heads. But I'll
47:11
Speaker 3: tell you how that happened. Okay. First of all, the
47:14
Speaker 3: game was out of hand. We were losing by ten
47:18
Speaker 3: runs or something like that. In the fourth or fifth inning,
47:21
Speaker 3: it was a rough start to the game and the
47:24
Speaker 3: season was over for us. After that game, he was taken.
47:27
Speaker 3: Joe was taking all the starters out, and this is
47:29
Speaker 3: my last year. He knew that I was either going
47:32
Speaker 3: to retire after this year or if I played, it
47:35
Speaker 3: might not be in Chicago. So he went to all
47:38
Speaker 3: the starters and basically said, do you guys want to
47:41
Speaker 3: come out? Are you done? We had young guys coming up,
47:44
Speaker 3: you know, the forty man roster for when rosters expanded
47:47
Speaker 3: to whatever the amount was at the time, and so
47:50
Speaker 3: a lot of most guys came out and they came
47:51
Speaker 3: down to me and I said, I'm standing this game
47:53
Speaker 3: to the end. I want to play every inning. And
47:56
Speaker 3: I said, but if we get to the bottom of
47:58
Speaker 3: the eighth, which would have been the Cardinal's last turn
48:00
Speaker 3: at bat, I said, I want to pitch because it
48:03
Speaker 3: was the only it was one of the only two
48:05
Speaker 3: positions that I never played. I have no desire, never
48:09
Speaker 3: did to be a catcher. Those guys are way tougher
48:12
Speaker 3: than I am, and I didn't want to get banged
48:14
Speaker 3: up back there or hurt anybody mess up a pitcher's
48:17
Speaker 3: stats because I couldn't catch a ball. So but getting
48:21
Speaker 3: on the mound when the game was out of hand.
48:24
Speaker 3: Of all the time I spent the Major leagues, Joe
48:26
Speaker 3: never put me on the mound. Nobody ever put me
48:29
Speaker 3: on the mound. So I was like, I want to pitch.
48:32
Speaker 3: And I pitched in college. Listen to me. In college,
48:35
Speaker 3: I pitched, and there was kids were born after that
48:39
Speaker 3: point and were driving cars. There was sixteen years between
48:42
Speaker 3: my pitching appearance in college my pitching appearance in major leagues.
48:48
Speaker 3: Competitive standing on a mound as a competitor, and I
48:51
Speaker 3: got up there and I'm facing my teammates. The first
48:54
Speaker 3: guy a former teammate in Dexter Fowler, and you know,
48:57
Speaker 3: I somehow I got two outs. I didn't get de
49:01
Speaker 3: extra out. I walked him. I went through the heart
49:03
Speaker 3: of the Cardinals lineup and got two outs. And I
49:05
Speaker 3: got to YACHTI with men on first and second, and
49:09
Speaker 3: I threw a change up that was below the hitting
49:13
Speaker 3: speed and he swung through it. And he swung through it,
49:17
Speaker 3: and he looked up at me and he just shook
49:20
Speaker 3: his head and he started like smiling and laughing, like
49:23
Speaker 3: I can't believe that the top How did I just
49:26
Speaker 3: strike out against a picture or a position player. But yeah,
49:31
Speaker 3: what an experience to be the last thing that I
49:34
Speaker 3: got to do on a baseball field. Right. It was
49:36
Speaker 3: so special and I'll always remember that my kids were there,
49:40
Speaker 3: my family was there, and it was just a great
49:43
Speaker 3: way to end my career. Wow.
49:46
Speaker 1: So the next time you see Yati, he will of
49:48
Speaker 1: course bring this up.
49:50
Speaker 2: You have to bring this up. Correct.
49:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm gonna bring paraphernalia to get him to sign
49:55
Speaker 3: and I'll be like, listen, you're a Hall of Famer
49:59
Speaker 3: now I'm not. I didn't even get one vote on
50:02
Speaker 3: the ballot. So let's just give this to me too.
50:05
Speaker 3: You know, I know you gave me a strikeout. Can
50:06
Speaker 3: you give me a signature too. Yeah, he's a special dude.
50:10
Speaker 4: What a good name, ben Zobris, thank you so much
50:13
Speaker 4: for your time. The new book, Prepare for the Pressure,
50:17
Speaker 4: releases July seventh, Champion Forward dot org. Not only for
50:20
Speaker 4: the book link, but also for all the good work
50:23
Speaker 4: he's doing for our coaches, our parents, and our kids.
50:26
Speaker 4: We wish you nothing but good vibes and good luck,
50:30
Speaker 4: and thank you for taking the time for our podcast.
50:34
Speaker 3: Man, Thank you guys so much. It was really fun interviews.
50:37
Speaker 3: So have a great one.
50:39
Speaker 2: Thank you man.
50:39
Speaker 1: Now call r V as soon as you get off
50:42
Speaker 1: of the phone. Okay, okay, I'll let him know.
50:46
Speaker 3: I didn't know he was that great. He's a great
50:49
Speaker 3: baseball player.