Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Kolten Wong talks spring training! Wetherholt, WBC, family, and more!!

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Kolten Wong talks spring training! Wetherholt, WBC, family, and more!! · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: This week a treat a special guest, two time gold
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Glover eight years with the Cardinals. We welcome Colton Long
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: into Cardinal Territory. Colton, how you doing, my man?
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: I'm doing good, man. How you doing?
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Jim doing great?
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Uh?
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: My first question is folks should know this. You are
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: at Cardinals camp. So what's it like being back at camp,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: back with the boys.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Oh?
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: Man, it's amazing, you know, obviously, just kind of coming
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: back and being in Jupiter. This is first time been
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: in Jupiter since twenty twenty, realistically, like I've never been
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: back since, so, you know, a lot of cool memories obviously,
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: I you know, I turned into a man, you know,
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: being with the Cardinals and whatnot. And you know, Jupiter
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: is always a special place. So coming out of here
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: special for me. And driving back and and you know,
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: pulling into the clubhouse and seeing the new clubhouse that
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: they have. Man, it's it's beautiful.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: And these kids are They're lucky, man, They're they're very lucky.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: How did this all come about? How did it happen?
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Where Coln Wong was gonna come back and talk to
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: the younger guys.
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, honestly, you know, I took the I took a
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: year off after I retired just to kind of be dad.
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: I wanted to really lock in and learn my children
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: and and you know, figure out you know, who they are.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: That's one of the biggest things that you know, was
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: in my decision for retiring was you know, the first time.
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: First thing that really hit me was my oldest son.
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: I saw his first steps on my phone, you know,
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: and uh, that killed me, man, that really did. So
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: that was a big thing for me to step away.
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: And you know, so I got to really enjoy my
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: my my oldest and then my youngest was starting to
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: do his you know steps and whatnots. I was there
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: for that and uh, you know, so the decision was
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: was the correct and it was it was a great time.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: You know, people don't realize too professional athletes like yourself
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: make a lot of money, okay, but that doesn't mean
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: it's a perfect existence.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: There's a sacrifice. You're not there.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: I know, you got two boys and and you mess
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: a lot. And I know, no matter how great you are,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: how well you're doing at the plate, or how well
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: the team is doing.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: There's a bit of a sacrifice there.
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: Right, absolutely, absolutely, And that was the biggest thing too,
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: is like I started to realize towards the end of
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: my career that when I had my kids, like before
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: I was, I was, I was, I was a feuder rat,
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: like I just wanted to be at the field early
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: I was probably you know I was right after YACHTI
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: every single day of showing up just wanted to get better,
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: wanted to continue to push. And then towards galenside my kids,
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: I just wanted to stay home, you know.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: I wanted to be there.
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: I wanted to hold them, I wanted to play with them,
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: and it just my priorities just changed three sixty and
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: then you know, that's that's a beautiful thing about having kids, right,
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: It just it takes that selfishness out of you as
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: a person and it puts all the spotlight on that
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: beautiful thing that you created. So you know, definitely blessed
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: with that for sure.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: So for people that don't remember, you were a first
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: round pick with high expectations for the Cardinals, and the
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: same can be said for JJ Weatherhold And I've seen
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: the pictures from Jupiler, You've been talking to Tim working with
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: him a little bit. Tell me the things that you're
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: you're talking to JJ about.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, just trying to be an ear for him to
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: be honest with you. Man, the guy is special. The
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: kid is absolutely special. Just like his makeup, the way
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: he cares himself, his attitude about how he's trying to
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: get better. You know, he's really good at just accepting
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: the fact that he needs to work more, he needs
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: to get better at a lot of different things. I mean,
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: the guy's special. Man, He's going to be a heck
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: of a player. We all know that. And I think
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: that's the coolest thing is like he realizes that he's good,
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: but he knows that there's so much more that he
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: can add to his game. And it's that's that's a
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: special trait that a lot of guys don't have. So
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: just watching him, I mean, obviously you watch the bat.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: The bat is incredible. You know, if you're going backside
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: at Roger Dean, let's say something. I mean, guys are
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: doing that. So you know that's going to play in
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: the big leagues. Man, the makeup, the head, you know,
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: him being confident in himself, that's gonna play in the
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: big leagues.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Defense is gonna play the big league. It's just cleaning
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: up a little bit things here and there. But he's
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: so young, man, he's gonna figure out and that guy's
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: gonna be specialist. Saint Lewis be ready man, JJ's coming.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: So a lot of guys that have his resume might
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: not take that well. Work is still a big part
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: of it. You're saying that this kid understands what's ahead
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: and what he has to do to get to where
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: he wants to be.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Right absolutely, you know, he's for me.
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: It seems like he's a guy that is okay with
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: breaking himself down and understanding that. You know, I'm at
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: the highest level of the games that I play my
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: whole life.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Now I need to make sure that everything is at
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: that level, you know.
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: And that's the biggest thing with big leaguers and a
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: lot of these guys is you don't get the special
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: guys in the game that have created these amazing careers,
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: you know, And you talk to him and they're constantly
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: getting better and better and better, and they're never satisfied.
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: And he's got that same in trade with him, you know,
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: And it's just special to see that uh, me being
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: the guy now, I'm just wanted to be an ear
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: for him, you know, help him do anything that he's
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: got any questions a lot, And I told him, I
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: was like, man, take my number during the season, bro.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: You know, I don't. I don't want to put it
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: on you, but you know you're gonna have your ups
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: and downs. That's just part of a baseball season. If
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: you need help, you need just somebody that talks to
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: an event, hit me out, bro.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: I remember when the Cardinals drafted you and being the
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: first round pick and with high expectations that comes with
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: a certain amount of pressure, the same some of the
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: same pressure that the JJ I'm sure probably will have
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: to deal with it at some point. How How tough
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: is that to him?
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: It definitely is tough, you know.
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: But I think that the thing that a lot of
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: people don't realize, like the pressure that they put on
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: us is not even that close to the pressure we
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: putting ourselves.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: It's it's that attention to detail that we put on
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: every single day on the little things to make our
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: game as perfect as we can do, you know, and
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: then when it doesn't come up, obviously, the fans are pissed.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Everybody's pissed. Like you got to realize how pissed.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: We are, you know, like we take pride and so
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: much time and effort into just constantly working on these
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: little intricate details to make your defense better, to make
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: your offense a little bit, to figure out your bunting,
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: the little things like that. So when you do mess
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: up as much as you, guys get pissed off. I
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: promise you, if we could take out out how many
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: hit ourselves, say hey, what a bad we would.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: So the Cardinals now.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Rebuilding, it's a different scenario than when you were a
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Cardinal low those many years. I'm just curious, what's your
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: sense of the energy level and the exsignment level for
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: a lot of young players getting their opportunities this year.
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think I think a lot of guys
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: are kind of figuring that out. They're understanding that, you know,
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: this is a big opportunity for a lot of these
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: young guys that you know, maybe some of them have
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: a year or two maybe if somewhere on the verge
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: of trying to make that big leagues. Like listen, man,
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: there's so much opportunities right now for you guys. To
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: get there. This organization is trying to rebuild. We're trying
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: to figure out how to get back to where we
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: were back.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: In the day.
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: And you know, a big step is the transition of
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: this complex down here. I mean, these kids are coming
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: into a top of the line, see to the art complex.
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: And you know, with that kind of complex that you're
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: playing in, the level of play is going to continue.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: To get higher. It has to because you have everything.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: They have force plates, they have track man's, they have trajets,
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: they have every single thing to make you a better player.
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: It's all about now you putting in the work and
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: using the tools that the Cardinals have provided now to
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: get to that next step. And I think that that, honestly,
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: this thing has come together perfect timing because now you've
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: got kids that you can bring down here and you
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: constantly build and build the Cardonal way back the way
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: that we want to do because we have everything in house.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: How different is it the complex I'm talking about the
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: facilities from when you were a young player in camp.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Oh man, hey, do you really explain that to people?
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: You guys, ever been to a nineteen ninety seven baseball.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Dugout? Very similar feel it was you know, it was
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: old school rugs.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Man.
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: We had the ceiling was probably eight feet high as
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: some of the top of the scenes were falling out.
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: We had the old metal lockers with the little benches,
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: you know. And now these guys are coming in, man,
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: and their thing. It's it's beautiful. They got the car
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: on the seating lit up. They got brand new Ruggs.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: These guys have couches, they got TVs, they got all
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: these things.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Man, they got this lunch room. Now that's state of
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: the art.
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: These guys are getting fed unbelievable meals, and like, dude,
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: take advantage of this, boys, and enjoy this and appreciate it, man,
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: because I promise you, as much as you guys love
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: playing this game, you're gonna be retired lot long when
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: you're playing, man, So just enjoy it.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: Seems like it's nice.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you about your your cardinal career,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: and you had so many highlights along the way. I
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: know you took a lot of pride being a cardinal.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: What is the one moment that jumps out to you?
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Because I'm thinking about Game two NLCS twenty fourteen. You
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: walk it off in the ninth inning when you think
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: about your career, what are the moments that stand out
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: to you.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's definitely a big moment for me, you know.
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: I mean, obviously, you know, I think we all understand
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: twenty thirteen what happened, So twenty fourteen was huge, but honestly,
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: twenty thirteen was, I'm sorry to say, it was something.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: That I would never give away. You know.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: Getting picked off obviously sucked, man, it really did as
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: a person, as a player, I was twenty two years old,
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: just got to the big leagues, you know, and to
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: have that happen.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: You know, at that time, I thought it was the
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: end of the world.
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: But in the reality of things, man, that situation right
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: there made me want to become so much more than
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: I thought I could be.
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: It made me want to push so much harder to
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: make people for not forget, to make people understand that
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: I'm not just that guy that I could constantly be better.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: I could push the envelope to be who I want
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: to be, you know. And it was like, I think that.
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: That pickoff took away the fear of the game for
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: me after that, and I was like, okay, listen, I
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: did the worst thing you probably could do in a game,
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: get picked off to end the game in a World
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: Series with Carlos freaking beltrom at the plate.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: And it's so I kind of started to really lean
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: onto that and be like, you know what, man, if
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: I hit that rock bottom, there's no place lower for
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: me to go, So there's no fear anymore. So I
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: think that was a big transition for me to really
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: start taking that next step and becoming the player that
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: I was. And yeah, so I would never give any
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: of those situations away, and that was definitely a big
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: one for me.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: It's funny because another media guy buddy of mine once said,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: when you talked to Coltland about his cardinal career, of
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: all the accomplishments and great things, even if you know
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the pickoff is not something you plan to ask him about,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: he brings it up. So obviously that was sort of
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: the pivotal moment in your career.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: Right, Absolutely, absolutely, And the thing is, I'll never run
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: away from that, you know.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: I try to tell kids that too.
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: After IM like, look, you guys, wan'ta watch the video,
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: go see it, like learn from that, understand that, you
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: know what, man, Like, we're gonna mess up, you're gonna
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: mess on the fild. You're gonna make these little decisions
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: and at the wrong time, and you're gonna you're gonna
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: pay the consequences. You know, as long as you face
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: the music and you come back and you want to
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: be better and you're you're not gonna let that define you,
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: and you're gonna be better. You know, it's gonna build
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: you to the man that you want to be and
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: the man that you're expected to become.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: So when, uh, when you talk about the Cardinals, like
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: I could see your eyes light up. And you played
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: with with other teams too, but you're a cardinal. What
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: was it about playing with the Cardinals being a Cardinal
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: that that you appreciated so much?
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: I tell everybody this to this day.
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: I was like, you know, the biggest thing for Saint
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: Louis was when I came here, we were winning, you know,
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: And so when I stepped in, the aura that was
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: in that clubhouse was we were expecting to win every
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: single day, you know, And we weren't just expecting to
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: play one sixty two. We were expecting to go and
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: continue to play the playoffs. So we're always getting ready
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: for one sixty two and the playoffs. It was never
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: we were never accepting just playing and that was a
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: big thing, man. That really helped me as a person
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: to continue to push and get better because I was like,
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: you know, I don't want to feel any of these guys.
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: I want to let any of these guys down, because
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: at the end of the day, like these guys have
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: showing me what it's take, it's gonna take to be
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: a big leaguer, So I'm gonna do whatever I can
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: to be the guy that needed to beat, you know.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: And then realistically, like the Saint Louis Cardinals, man, they
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: were so good at teaching us how to create a routine,
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: especially for us young guys coming into the you know,
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: pro baseball whatnot. You know, I tell a lot of
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: these young guys nowadays, I'm like, man, they're the only
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: way that you can be confident as a player is
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: if you have, you know, a bulletproof routine, something that
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: you can do every single day. Doesn't matter if it's
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: you know, you play eighteen nine game or eighteen innings
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: the night before and you got to dig in the
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: next day.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: You know, you still understand that my routine is what
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: I do every single day to get you ready.
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: So I was telling them, you know, you build a
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: solid bulletproof routine and your confidence is constantly behind that
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: because you're never worried about how you're feeling this night.
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: You just realize, like, I did everything I need to
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: do every single or the same way to get ready.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: So I just gotta go out there compete.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: And yeah, that's been a big thing with a lot
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: of these guys, is just understanding what the Cardonal way is.
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: You know, it's a hard work, it's attention to detail,
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: and it's a winning to go out there and compete
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: all twenty seven ounce.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: I'm just wondering what the day to day, the daily
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: for Coldon Wong is. Now you mentioned your dad, you're
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: watching your kids. What what is a normal day like
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: for Colton wall Man.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: So I wake up usually went right around like six
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: six thirty ish.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: I'll get up and then I'll kind of wait for
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: the boys, and then the boys will wake up and
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: they'll come down and won't hang out, and.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: Then we'll go outside.
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: I take them outside every day right we wake up,
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: They'll get like a little ogre, will go outside and
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: then we'll start hitting baseballs off the tee. They love baseball. Man,
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: They're just constantly out there and we hit baseballs and
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: we'll come in. I'll cook them at breakfast. I try
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: to make them like super healthy breakfast. Is because the
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: one thing I learned is like when Matt Holliday when
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: he was here, he had Jackson, he had Ethan. They're
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: I think eight and six at a time, somewhere around
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: that age, and I'd pay attention to him and how
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: he took care of these kids and how he fed
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: them and how he just he had them on a
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: regimen of realizing like this is life.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: You know, this isn't you know me just doing like
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: this is how we're going to live life.
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: And like you look at those kids now and like
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: the way that they carry themselves and how they're like
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: they're I mean, these kids are machines, you know. So
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: I learned from Matt, and I took all those things
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: and all the guys that had kids, I just constantly
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: will just learn and figure out. So I was like, Okay,
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: But the funny thing is now that I'm here, I'm like,
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: so I talked with Brownie.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: They hitting coach. I'm like, hey, Brownie, what should I do?
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: With my kids.
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: You know what, can I start adding that this smart thing?
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: So he Brownie's a mad scientist. So he's like telling me.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: He's like, yeah, you need to get this that this.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: I'm like, oh so I'm here writing down all the
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: different things and I do. Thank you, Ed. I'm gonna
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: grab all these things and we're gonna just go out
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: of town.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Well, your kids have you know, have the gene pool
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: they won the genetic lottery, like holidays kids. You think
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: your kids will be big leaguer someday possibly.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: You know what, I just whatever they do, I hope
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: they do it's the way that I did. I just
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: hope they attack whatever they want to do wholeheartedly. That's
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: the thing is, like, you know, I I tell everybuddy
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: like the baseball is my journey.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: You know something that I want to do. I don't
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: ever want to portray that on my kids.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: They want to do it amazing If they don't, like,
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: I just hope that whatever they do they attack it
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: just as hard as I do.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: That's it.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: We're gonna take a quick break here.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: You're watching Cardinal Territory on the Foul Territory Network.
• 15:44
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• 16:47
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  Speaker 1: to Fox one for complete terms and conditions. So coldon Wong.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you've been watching the WBC. We
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: had a little clunker last night for Team USA. But
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: you didn't play in the World Baseball Classic, but you
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: did represent America where Team USA in college? So what's
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: the difference between playing in a college game or a
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: big league game and representing your team, which obviously you
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: have love.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: For it, but we're in the USA on your chest.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: What's the difference?
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: Oh, it's crazy, you know. I mean, you're not just
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: playing for yourself, You're not just playing for a city.
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: You're playing for the whole country, you know, and on
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: the biggest stage like this too. Like I didn't mind
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: in college and I wasn't even really playing. I was
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: just part of the team at the time. But uh,
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: you know, even just being on it and you know,
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: realizing how special that was and the guys that I
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: got a chance to be around. You know that Team
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: USA Jersey will always weigh heavy and always have that pride,
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: and you know, you see it on all the guys
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: that are playing right now. You know, obviously everybody's still
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: in spring training moment. Man, these guys are turning up,
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: you know, and you know, seeing the little animosity that
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: is going on and whatnot. I love it, man. I
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: think it's just great for the game. I think it's
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: great for the fans, and it's great for just you know,
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: showing people that you know this, it's okay to have
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: a little animosity, Okay to do that.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: Man. That's just part of these guys competing.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: Last night.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Now, there was some confusion as to whether or not
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: the the the Americans were into the next round if
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: they had already qualified.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: I'm just curious.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: So, like, you're playing Team Italy and there's major leaguers
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: on their team and the United States gets upset, Just
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: put yourself in that position. If this All Star team
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: from the US and again you're playing against the Italian team,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: which has bona fide professional players too.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: But put yourself in that mindset.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: What to like to suddenly be behind eight to nothing
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: to Team Italy.
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: What would that be?
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Like?
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: It's tough, man, because I mean in baseball, like it
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: doesn't matter. You know, you can have a good team.
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: Sometimes that's just off on that day, you know. And
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: the thing is like, when you're down eight, that is
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: so far to catch, especially when you understand the other
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: team has solidified big leaguers, you know, like, yeah, it's
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: Team Italy, but you look at that team and a
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: majority of those guys are big league guys.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: You know, there's a.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: Good group of guys that you know have a chip
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: on their shoulder because they realize that everybody calmed them
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: out right away. You know, they're like, Dude, I play
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: with a lot of these guys on TSA. I play
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: with a lot of these guys in Team Mexico Dominican Republic.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: We all play together, you know, and it's like, so,
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: I think that's the cool thing with Team Italy. And
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: then the whole situation is like, you know, you're starting
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: to realize like these guys, you know, they might not
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: be household name, but everybody in this league is pretty
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: dang good man, and it's it's fun to see the
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: competition growing all over the world.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: So Holidays coaching and he's doing, you know, some of
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: the podcasting. Lance Lind's doing some some broadcasting. I know
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: he's doing some coaching on the side too. What's a
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: hen for koluen Wang? What do you want to see
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: in the future? What direction do you think you might hit?
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, honestly, I mean I've been asked that question a
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: couple of times this week, and I honestly don't know.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: You know, this was kind of the first step of
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: me just kind of coming out and just wanted to
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: kind of give back to the organization that gave me everything,
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: you know, give me my start, drafted me, believed in me,
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: you know when I was just a kid from Hawaii.
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: You know, so for me, I just it was always
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: pulling on my heart to come back. And you know,
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: when I was done to give back and do what
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: I can. I don't think I'm ready to do the
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: coaching thing yet. You know, I've been really enjoying my
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: time with my boys, there are four and about to
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: be three, you know, so they're that prime time of
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: you know, really just learning them and you know, seeing
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: them grow and.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Constantly become you know, the men that they're going to be.
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I don't think there's really much it's gonna
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: pull me away from them at this point. But you know,
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: definitely these you know, little show ups here and there,
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: I'd love to do and you know, even start bringing
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: my boys with me to so that they can realize,
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: you know, what dad used to do back in the day.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: And you're just thirty five years old. I mean, you're
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: still a young man. But that's one thing your kids
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: need to get that feel You got to come.
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: To camp once.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: You want to bring your kids, right, I mean, because
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: that's part of the process for the for the kids,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: and maybe one day they end up where the Holiday
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: kids are.
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: Right, absolutely, absolutely, I mean that's so special just to
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: get that. You know, I used to I used to
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: watch the Holiday kids and you know, everybody who'd bring
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: their kids on, like, man, this is crazy. These kids
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: don't realize how how lucky they are to be out
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: here and to appreciate this thing, you know, And so yeah,
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: I'm definitely going to try and continue to do to
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: come out and support and whatnot, and you know, who
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: knows on the road what may happen.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm not trying to take anyone's job or
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: come in and be that guy.
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: I just I really just genuinely want to just help out,
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: you know, whatever I can do, Like especially like for instance,
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: the jj I thing, like that was perfect for me
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: to just come in and kind of help out the
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: guy and just be an earphonem. That's really all I
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: wanted to do, just kind of be around the guys
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: and just tell him, you know, and just kind of
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: be that guy to explained to him, like, hey, listen, man,
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: my career was never Hall of Fame, you know, like
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: it was.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: It was hard. You know.
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: I started from the ground zero, and I had to
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: work my way up and constantly you know, getting back down,
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: figuring out, getting back down, figuring out. And you know,
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: so for me, like so it's kind of easy for
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: guys to like compare their careers to or like you know,
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: talk to me, because they realized, like, man, the game
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: wasn't so easy for me.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: I had to work so much harder than everybody else.
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: Just to be able to be average or you know,
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: somewhat above average to hold myself there for ten years.
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: I was like, you know, it was it was a
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: grind that I did every single day that I loved
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: and I became obsessed with.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: And you know, if you guys have any questions, man, I'm.
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: Sure majority of the situations you guys are asking I've
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: been in, so yeah, ask away.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: You were a very good player and some of the
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: best defense at second base I ever saw steel base.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: I used to say, someone has a little pop too.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: You were the My last question, now, where the less.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: You go is?
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: You know, we we've talked about you being back and
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: being away from it. Take me to the moment where
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: you're in the clubhouse and you're putting on the gear
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: for the first time in a while and walking out
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: on the baseball field. What's going through your mind? What's
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: coming over you at that moment?
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: Oh man, that was kind of crazy because I walked
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: up and obviously, you know, instead of going into the clubhouse,
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: I went to the coach's locker room, you know, So
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: I go down, I'm like, we're just coaches locker room.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: So I figure out my way and a get in there,
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: and of course while she's the band. You know, he
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: had me, he had my stuff all hanged out with
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: with the wall and the sixteen.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: But I told her, dude, I don't.
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: Want the jersey, you know, that's that's Gorman's thing, Like,
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: just give me a nice little hoodie.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: That's totally fine, man.
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: But you know, just being back here and you know
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: some of the smells, you know, walking through the hallway
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: and having the smells. I remember walking, like the first
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: time I was walking, closed my eyes and just smelling.
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: I'm like, holy smokes. Like I remember being I remember
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: the smell. I remember walking here and going to the
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: backfields and getting ready for to play, you know, the
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: minor league games, or getting ready to go out to
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: Roger Dean. And you know, it's just like the little
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: things like that, the subtle thing, because I mean there's
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: so much changes to this place, you know, the little
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: things that are still left.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Those are the things that I'll starting to appreciate.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Well, Coldon, we uh, we appreciate you spending time, great
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: catching up with you again. It's great that you're back
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: with the team and helping a young player, you know,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: to make his next step. But we appreciate you coming
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: on with us. Always a pleasure, always one of the
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: good guys, Golden.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: Wong, and that's gonna do it rather thank you.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's gonna do it for this edition of Cardinal Territory.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: We'll see you for the next episode. Hopefully that one
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: won't suck.