Mick Unplugged - Present & Purpose: Finding Balance with Jason Heyward

Episode Date: March 5, 2026

Today, we welcome a true titan of the baseball world, Jason Heyward, a World Series champion and multiple Gold Glove winner whose brilliance extends far beyond the diamond. Jason's impactful career is a masterclass in perseverance, strategic excellence, and leadership, inspiring millions through his dedication to teamwork, personal growth, and community engagement. He is a phenomenal athlete who has consistently demonstrated what it means to lead by example, making him an invaluable voice for leaders and entrepreneurs alike.Takeaways:Beyond the Field: True impact comes from what you do outside your primary domain, whether that's fatherhood, community work, or personal lessons.Connecting with Community: Genuine engagement and presence in the community foster deeper understanding and allow for meaningful contributions.Leadership Through Life: Lessons learned through personal experiences, such as fatherhood and navigating life’s challenges, directly translate into powerful leadership principles.Sound Bytes:"This conversation is about the father he is, the presence that he has, what he's doing in the community, lessons that he's learned, and just hearing his story his way is awesome.""You're gonna hear who his goat of baseball is, and it might surprise you, maybe it won't.""This is a lesson for leaders to learn about presence, to learn about dedication. to learn about how to really connect with people and connect to your community."Connect & Discover Jason:Instagram: @jasonheywardFacebook: @JasonHeyward22Instagram: @jasonheywardbaseballacademy🔥 Ready to Unleash Your Inner Game-Changer? 🔥 Mick Hunt’s BEST SELLING book, How to Be a Good Leader When You’ve Never Had One: The Blueprint for Modern Leadership, is here to light a fire under your ambition and arm you with the real-talk strategies that only Mick delivers. 👉 Grab your copy now and level up your life → Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million FOLLOW MICK ON:Spotify: MickUnpluggedInstagram: @mickunplugged Facebook: @mickunpluggedYouTube:  @MickUnpluggedPodcast LinkedIn: @mickhunt Website:  MickHuntOfficial.comWebsite: howtobeagoodleader.comWebsite: Leadloudseries.comApple: MickUnpluggedSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, I'm not going to sugarcoat this. Jason Hayward is one of my favorite baseball players of all time. He grew up in Atlanta, which was like a couple of hours from where I grew up. Always been one of my favorite players. All the accolades in baseball, he's won. But this conversation isn't that. This conversation is about the father he is, the presence that he has, what he's doing in the community, lessons that he's learned,

and just hearing his story, his way is awesome. We're going to wrap it up at the end. You're going to hear who his goat of baseball. is, and it might surprise you maybe it won't. We'll talk about his favorite baseball stadium and his favorite pregame mill as well. But this is a lesson for leaders to learn about presence, to learn about dedication, to learn about how to really connect with people and connect to your community. So without further ado, this is my guy. Jay Hay himself.

Jay Saham. You're listening to Mick Unplugged, hosted by the one and only Mick Hunt. This is where purpose meets power. and stories spark transformation. Mick takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning, helping you discover your because and becoming unstoppable. I'm Rudy Rush, and trust me, you're in the right place. Let's get unplugged.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplud, and today I'm sitting here with one of my baseball goats. I'm talking about a man who is a multiple gold glove winner, a World Series champion, and just an overall great. human being. His impact it sins beyond the baseball field. He inspires millions with his dedication and profound insights in the

teamwork and personal growth. Please join me in welcoming the exceptional, the influential, the incomparable. Jay Hayward. Jason, how you doing today, brother? Great, Nick. I appreciate you, man. I really appreciate that intro. You know, it's always humbling to hear what others feel about you the way they feel or your impact that you might have made on them

in their mentality. So, man, I appreciate it. I I appreciate you have me on today. Bro, I'm the honored one. Like I said, I followed your career forever. I grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, just outside of Greenville, South Carolina. So when we hear superstars, man, and I know it wasn't just baseball,

but I like to tell people you were a prodigy, man. Like, you were a young man, doing big things. And a lot of people don't realize how young you were when you actually got drafted, man, to be drafted at 17 and to move up the ranks. And I want to talk through a lot of that. But I love asking my guys,

guess. What's there because, their deep purpose into doing the things that you do? And I know you do a ton off the field. We're just talking about family before we press record, man. Today, why does Jason Hayward continue to do what he does? Day, I appreciate that question, because to your point, getting drafted at 17 years old out of high school, getting into college, signing to go to school with UCLA. Baseball and education solved a lot of my intent and my why. No, sure. shoot as high as possible, see where they fall, put my best foot forward. And today, at 36 years old, 16 years later, major league career-wise, now having three kids being married, I'm Tata to my kids.

So that's dad and you can't stop being my wife being from Montenegro. So, like, for me, it helps me to say my purpose to them be someone who is dedicated to his craft, whether that's baseball, whether that's baseball academy, and North Austin just outside of Chicago. And then like being the best version of myself, fitness-wise, right? Like just maintaining a routine to be able to get home after workouts like I'm doing today and then jump on with them, whether that's get them in the pool, whether that's work out with Messi if he wants to like kind of practice some baseball or golf before he goes

into his lesson. So I just think it's very important to be an influence. You know, I was one of the very fortunate people to grow up in a household with both parents, my brother, Jacob and I, my parents being Ivy League. grads, my dad going to engineering school, right, playing basketball at Dartmouth, which is where my parents met. So I just want to one day be that conversation that when someone asks my kids, like, hey, like, what one of the bigger influences for you?

And that can be right there in the household as their talk to, as their dad, and V&I and join being their parents. Man, that's amazing. And to me, that defines who you are. And I'm going to say, I'm going to say a word that I think is going to resonate. Because what you don't know, Jason, I didn't want to tell you. this before. But I've seen you play probably 15 times because when I say you're one of my goats, one of my favorites, it's obviously what you do on the field. But the first couple of times I got to

go to a game that you played out, I got to see how you interacted with your teammates, how they looked at you, the managers, the coaches, and the fans. And then I got to learn more about your story. You talked about your parents and family and what they mean to you. There's one word that I what you used to describe Jason Hayward and it is this, present. I think you work incredibly hard to be present for the people that matter to you, for the people that look up to you.

And that's what drew me to really calling you one of my favorites. Like, again, what you do on the field is amazing. That's second to none. Those stats can speak for themselves. But when people watch Jason Hayward interact, when you go to an academy or you go to an event, a venue,

and you see Jason Hayward and just how he interacts with people and how you're present, man. Like, I think that is your superpower, bro. I really appreciate that. I really appreciate that. For anyone watching listening that doesn't know what I want to give in perspective, you've seen me play in person 15 times. That's a lot.

Even over a 16-year career, for somebody to be able to see someone one time, you get lucky, right, growing up as a baseball fan. So the fact that you've seen me 15 times, I appreciate you, you know, showing up and paying attention that way. But, no, I think present is a great way to put it. And I think I've always done my best to do that. But winning on the baseball, on the playing side, has been a big part of that, right?

I've been on winning teams my whole life. So just understanding the value of being present with my teammates, all the people you mentioned, coaching staff, even fans as you get to the professional level, just not taking it for granted. And so just I've done my best to enjoy the ride, enjoy the friendships, enjoy the camaraderies, the ups, downs, which are a part of life.

So, yeah, being present is what I've done my best to do. But I also want to give, like, this insight on from 20 years old making my debut to now, 36 years old, I was introduced to this game and to the business world and to the real world very quickly. And so I had to continue to learn who I could be present for, right? Like how many things I can give away of my energy and my space, because you have to do the best to be the best version of yourself, while also when it's most important, like give what you can give to those who are most important to you.

So that's been something fun and very important to learn along. And that leads to a question I want to ask you because, again, I've gotten to see you in person many times and just how you do that. And then knowing that, you know, your children mean the world to you, your wife and all your family mean the world to you, how do you balance that? Because I know there are a lot of people that are watching and that are listening, that are like, yeah, I own businesses, or I'm a leader within my community,

and I always have a lot of touch points, right? And you get that. You have a lot of touch points. How do you balance and prioritize your presence? Much like baseball, you have to be real about imperfection. Like, that's a part of life. And so understanding every situation, especially stepping outside of baseball, into the business world, into the nonprofit world, into inner city communities,

and really seeing like everyone operates differently. The structure is not the same. And so that being said, just doing my best to put my best foot forward. Like, take the small victories. Do my best at getting uncomfortable and realizing, hey, I may need to reach out to this person more, or I may need to go greet these people differently

versus sometimes you need to sit back and let other people speak and let other people grow. So I think just the more situations that I can put myself into, and that I put myself into over time where I'm like, okay, this one I need to look at differently. This one I realized today, what I did well, what I could probably improve on, and then also just, hey, this was just something new. And the only way to get an understanding of and perspective on something is just keep showing up. Keep taking that different phone call, keep taking that different meeting. When someone asks, hey, do you want to do something?

I remember like at 2025, I would kind of say, no, I'm just going to stick to like doing my best to get my foot down and, and go making a go-go-go-play in right field, which is great. I've been compensated very well for that over time, but that's not the end-all-be-all. And so when you ask about the balance, I think it's getting comfortable with the chaos, which light throws us. There's always going to be something new,

always going to be something different. And lastly, just have your anchor. Like, what are your, like, must-have to start your day? What's your process that you want to have, whether it's wake up and having that cup of coffee, whether it's having that banana and vitamins, that stretch, that workout, maybe you're reading something, like whatever it looks like to the individual. I think you have your anchor and your structure and then you're able to deviate from there and just flow of life. Man, that last part, we have so much in common because I teach individuals and corporate leaders that is identifying your must-haves.

Like I start every single morning with my list of three must-haves. Where are the three things that are non-negotiable today? And it should be different every day, right? Because I learned from the day before or what my priorities are going to be for that day. But we have that in common, man. And I don't think people understand how important that really is is having non-negotiated every day.

Like I have three because I can tolerate three. But I think everybody should at least have one non-negotiable every day that they're working on. What do you think about that? I love that. And then for me, it's when you say they fluctuate, like they may change. The day before you might have taken something.

like tomorrow I want to look at this and get caught up to speed on this or if I don't know something maybe I need to do some research or if I have a question right or you may need to get back to someone so I really appreciate how having three non-negotiables at least picking one at a minimum just what can you do to get yourself better to start today right like I think that that's a nice way to look at it and then to kind of give people I don't want to say end result because life is you know, it's not forever, but, you know, as long as we're living it, you keep living and it always changes. Just to give people like the result of it, so to speak, that's how you build your comfort.

You know, people ask, oh, how do you feel so comfortable doing this? Or how do you become so present? Well, there's a lot of stuff that I don't know and I will never know. But the more that we put in our basket as an individual, the more we say, oh, today I want to do this and I'm not going to let anything stop me from learning this. So I'm not going to let anything stop me from figuring this out. I think the more comfort we build and it's one day at a time. One of the other things that I know you do really well off the field,

because it shows on the field, is decision-making, right? Like, you don't win defensive player of the year. You don't win multiple goal gloves without decision-making. Like, a lot of people may just look and see, yeah, you're out in the field, you see the ball, you go run to the ball. But there's a lot that goes into that strategy. I want to go early on and talk about decision-making because you had a big one at 17s.

Do I go to UCLA? Or do I take this offer? And talk us through that and how you learned decision-making and then ultimately how you made the decision to take the Braves offer. Well, just being real, I feel like I was empowered by my parents. They allowed me to feel like I had support. And every day, or not every day, but my pop's been the college athlete, my mom being well-educated.

They would just make sure, hey, like, you want to keep playing baseball? I'm like, yes. You want to keep going to these workouts. Yes, you want to keep doing these showcases. Absolutely. Then I had a decision to make getting to high school. My pops was like, you can play basketball this winter, or you can do showcases for baseball.

We're not going to do both. That's going to be a lot. I'm being real on, like, what our means were. It's like, but you choose. I go, I think I'm going to do these baseball showcases. in my mind basketball I could play in Pete, right? I'm like, I'll get my fix there, but I want to continue seeing what I can do

to be the next King Griffey Jr., to be in Atlanta Brave, to be a New York Yankee, Derek Jeter. That's what I was curious about. That was mine not negotiable at the time growing up. And so then getting to my senior year, my pop's asked me again, one more time as he's taking me to like a workout in East Cobb up from Henry County.

He's like, hey man, like, you sure you want to keep doing this? And I gave my look, I was there, bro, like, you have to stop asking me that. Because I'm like, we're here now. If you're thinking about turning around, I said, let me out because I'm about to figure out how I can get up there. He's like, no, I'm just asking me. I'm just asking. But coming up to that decision with Atlanta, with the draft, again, education was a big driver for me.

Baseball was a big reason why I wanted to get my education to be able to continue progress, be able to continue moving forward. Getting into UCLA, my great uncle, Ken of Washington, played for John Wooden there, played basketball. for UCLA, came off the bench, all the things beat Duke in the international title. That was my reason for being able to get over to UCLA and explore them. Coming out of the South. You know the South, Mick.

Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, everything close by. For me to get west, I had to have another reason, and that was family. And so that was a nice way for me to see the world, see, hey, like, this is not just the South. See Beverly Hills, see California, see Pasadena, see the Rose Bowl, get that experience, get those vibes.

And so I had other things to factor in with my decision, which helped me out a lot. In fact, All-American Game was in San Diego. So I also got to see West Coast again and see baseball out there and see the presentation and the way it was done, progressing to that next level and what I was hoping to be a high draft pick. And that was always my mentality. See how high it can be drafted. See where things fall. But you have one goal.

see if you can be number one overall and work with that mentality and it'll fall where it's supposed to fall. And coming down to it, Atlanta being the 14th pick on draft day, in my mind, I'm like, well, I hear them. They say they're going to take me. There's also a few other teams that say they're going to take me before them. There's some that are saying that they're going to take me after them all in the first round. But I'm like, you know what? I don't believe in until I see it. I get the phone call from Atlanta.

They say they're going to draft me. And I'm like, okay, we're here. now is my time to make this decision. My parents again say, no, it's your choice. Even with my uncle, my great uncle in my ear, Kenny Washington saying, hey, I think you should go to UCLA. I think it's a great network for you. I think it's a great way to grow.

You'll have that after sports. Respectfully, I've driven up and down the highway. I've passed Turner Field, been to some baseball games, been to some playoff games in Atlanta. Watch Braves and Yankees in the 90s. Those are my two teams. My mom being from New York,

dad being from South Carolina. us growing up in Georgia. So I'm like, no, if I've come this far being drafted in the first round with things as they are in the Atlanta Braves organization, I think I'm doing myself a disservice for all this time I put in to go to college, right? Because then what are we shooting for after that, after being drafted 14 overall? So that went into my decision. The opportunity to get education after was also in my mind.

That was something I had to fall back on if I wanted to. But still to this day, that mentality has been. And if I need to go back to school, I will. If there's something that's going to block me or be a variable that that's a non-negotiable, I'll figure that out. But I put a lot of time into my parents put a lot of time into physically, mentally, losing sleep financially for me to be in a position to be drafted in the first round. And I said, no, let's go do this and let's start this process and see where the church fall. I love it, man.

I love it. And we have this in common too. I was not a baseball first round draft pick. but UCLA was actually my first love. Although I'm a Tar Hill, and I'm a Tar Hill through and through, when it came to time to Select College, I actually wanted to go to UCLA. I've been a Tar Hill and a Georgia Bulldog my whole life, but I wanted to go to UCLA.

Anybody that's 16, 17 that goes out to the campus, you know why I wanted to go to UCLA. But with my parents being from South Carolina, it was like they were never going to see me. And so I was like, North Carolina, it is. But, yeah, that campus is beautiful. No, beautiful campus, like a mile long, right? You can see the whole thing from both ends.

And then it's like a, like to your point, it's a melting pot, right, of people who obviously want to progress, but also don't mind being in LA. So coming from the South, do you see that? You're like, all right, man, well, if I can go to school here and get better and learn something on the way and then still have this as a network, that's great. But I feel like, I mean, as you know, and as a lot of people know, our heels and bulldogs, you also have some big. very strong alums and cultures there and both of those universities.

Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, I could talk about your career all day, Jason, but I think your career speaks for itself. I want to talk to you about the things that people don't see, man, the academies, the things that you do in the community, the passions that you have on the field but off the field. Talk to us about your academies, the foundations that you have that you're doing in the community, first and foremost. Well, this neighborhood baseball academy came about the idea in 2020, my name by the name of Donita Travis, who's the head of the nonprofit by the hand club.

And it's, we can say, or whatever, free plug for them, this and that. But I just, it's undeniable for me for the work they've done in inner cities with education. And when they say by the can, And they literally from pre-K, elementary, middle, high school, college, into their profession. They make sure that the individuals' families are loved and given a lot of exposure and taking care of. So that being said, 2020 was the first time the world stopped in unison, you know, in a long time. But the sports world, right? That was, I feel like, was one of the few times where we all said, we don't have anything to do. So what can we do with our time?

And some Chicago athletes got together. Sam Acho, Ms. Chubisky, two former bears, reached out and said, there you go. See, it's a small world. It's a small world, especially in that South, man, especially in that South. But they reached out and said they were going over to the west side of Chicago, going to the neighborhood in Austin, and they were going to be a part of healing circles, addressing the social injustices at the time, addressing the struggles that families were going through with COVID. Everyone was dealing with it, but then in neighborhoods like this,

we all understand that people live it harder. We talk about communities. Sam is from Nigeria, and we get on a bus with some of the kids that live in that neighborhood, and we roll through, and Sam's like, wow, this looks like back home, as in Africa, Nigeria, it looked like his village with so many places being bordered up. And I just feel like I have to share and give it context for what I was, shown and what I kind of live with them for a brief moment. You know, people come to our games,

people come hang out with us. We sign autographs. We take pictures. We play our games. We go home to our families. This was real life for them. And so I wanted to be a part of this sport campus, this dream, this facility, 52,000 square foot in North Austin. And I wanted to represent them as the baseball side. We have basketball. We have soccer. We have e-gaming. Of course, by the hand is there with the education side, there's nutrition. But in my mind, I for sure know baseball. I've been a part of some inner city endeavors coming out of Atlanta, lead to legacy, they're there.

CJ and Kelly Stewart, they've done an outstanding job starting in 2007 when I got drafted. So I was able to like see that, see the time it took to put into that, but also I was playing baseball. But I felt like this was my opportunity to get back in incentive through sport, get back and having a place to go as a community. Because when you ride through these communities, Mick, they call them food deserts, right, where you see more liquor stores,

22 at the time, then you see grocery, then you see healthy foods, then you even see for, like, the community to come together. Like, I grew up a Southern Baptist. That was kind of my community away from sport and things like that, right? You don't see much of that here in these neighborhoods.

So the intentional sports facility, Jason Hayward Baseball Academy after school program for about 40 kids a week after school-wise, just off of that for them to be able to come in and say, I have something to do, I have teammates I can look forward to. I have a name and Jason Hayward that is, you know, taken in Chicago as his own and being a resident. Of course, being a part of a 2016 team and winning a world championship, but that was the beginning of my introduction to living in Chicago and seeing, What an impact, what I see is, I understand people will say it's a big impact,

but what I see is a very small impact in a city that is very hungry to put his best foot forward in that space. That's how I got started. That's how I got introduced to North Austin, the community we're in, where the baseball academy and facility is. And I have to say, being real, it's when you don't know the space of nonprofit world, when sports are your endeavor, when that's how you gain your platform, it feels like a lot of risk taken, right, where you're not sure how to go about it. And I think one of the phrases we use

is, like, building the plan while it's in the air, you know, and that's kind of a constant, but here we are three years in. We feel like we are now, I don't want to say starting over, but we're starting from a new beginning. And we have our facility. We have our programs. We have our events. We have our students that they're coming in and want to see us. We have our families. But now we have more in a good way. opportunities like Derek Rose has come through. Angela Reese has come through. You talk about the colleges and universities that come through and want to have their softball practices,

basketball practices, hosting events. And so now we are repositioning ourselves to take on what's next as we grew. And so that's where we are. That's kind of like why I wanted to get into it because I understood what it was to have education and sport as an incentive to give me somewhere to go other than making another tough decision.

I was fortunate enough not to have to make very tough ones myself, but I had teammates, I had best friends, I watched their families. These kids in Austin have, I would say, less, like good decisions to make, so to speak, or less places to congregate that they can feel safe and trust. And it's been really, really nice to take and start this journey with this community and say,

I want to be an option. I want to give you an option to go and feel safe. So that's J.HBA. And here we are going. on year four starting off this spring. Amazing, brother. How can people that are watching or listening support of the nonprofit? They can donate.

Of course, I feel like people who always say, oh, well, don't ask too much for money or don't ask too much for people to donate time. They can donate time. They can go to intentional sports. That's the Instagram for the overall facility. Jason Hayward Baseball Academy is my Instagram for J.HBA. But there's a link in both of those handles that will show you the events going on, the programs going on, showing where we're headed and where we like to go, showing what we've done,

showing how crime rate has gone down in the surrounding area and made an impact. And then, of course, donating the time, donating money. There are also links to do that as well. And when I say this, any little thing is awesome. Whatever someone feels like they can give is awesome because it's going directly to kids. It's going directly to families. When I'm in there training in the offseason and lifting, hitting, seeing like mothers and aunts

and uncles come through some days just to walk the track, just to walk around the turf. For me, that's amazing because they have somewhere to go, right? They have somewhere indoors. They have somewhere safe, somewhere reliable. And so lastly, seeing kids come through and have their field days. I remember field day growing up, man, even my senior year in high school,

we were supposed to have a senior trip in Herrick County. And they're like, you know what, we're just going to have a field day. And we're supposed to go to Disney World, but they're like, no, we're just going to walk across the street. And we're going to go to our football stadium and you guys are going to have a day, water balloons, this and that. Well, seeing this facility when I show up every day to work out, seeing the people that come through, Theos, and so on. It feels like United Center vibes. It's not the United Center. Michael Jordan didn't play there, right?

But for this community, I think that's what's special about it. It's something to take pride in. And it's also hope for a new level of progress. So that's how people can get involved. But I just, I have to share the story. I have to share the vibe. Because every time I walk in and leave, I get chills about being humbled to, one, be able to use this space to work out.

Two, my family can come and go and see, hey, like, this is what we're doing. This is our contribution. And then just the kids and the families, man. Just want to continue to get better and sharpen that for them. I love it. I'm going to make sure that we have links everywhere. to support both the facility and your academy. If you're watching, if you're listening,

I don't ask for a lot of favors, but I'm going to ask this time, if you can donate financially, please do. If you live locally, if you're a leader, if you're a speaker and you're going to be in the Chicago area, donate some time. All things matter.

All things matter because you never know who you're going to touch, who you're going to inspire. And I'm proof of that, just by going to things when I was a kid of, you never know the lesson that you're going to give someone or a small thing that matters. And for Jason and for everybody that's a part of the academy,

that's a part of the facility, it takes a village. And so all the support that you can give, I can promise you they're going to appreciate. And there's nothing that's too small. Like, even if you can just be somewhere for 20 minutes, you never know what that 20 minutes means to Jason and the staff there, man. So Jason, I'm going to do my part to help push promote and we'll talk offline, but when I'm in the area, I'm going to go donate financially

and also some time to them. Appreciate it to me. And that's huge. Thank you for bringing it up. Thank you for asking me about the facility, the academy. And also, thanks for showing us love, man. We appreciate anyone who wants to come by, come through, and we'll do our best to make it feel warm welcome.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right, Jason, I know your time is valuable. I'm going to get you out of here with my top five rapid fire. Let's go. All right. Who was your goat athlete growing up? Hey, my goat athlete.

I had two favorite players in baseball. My goat athlete, Eric Jeter, after another Yankees, coming in his rookie year, his first winning a World Series, even though it was against my Braves. But just the way he handled it, the rest of the way. No, it's not going to be perfect. It's not going to always be pretty. He dealt with New York media,

and then the more over time I learned about the sport, the more I learned about the tradition and the Yankees and that expectation, it solidified it for me. And fortunately, I've been able to meet Jeet and, you know, play against him, compete against him, follow his life a little bit after baseball. And so for me, rest of peace, he's kind of like the Kobe of baseball for me because I'm born in 89.

MJ started a little bit sooner than when I was born, so I didn't get to follow it the same way I was able to follow. Kobe, so their Jeter for me is my goat athlete. All right. I love Jeter as a human being, but I'm a Red Soxark and a Brave. So if he'd have been a Red Sok, he would be my greatest of all time. Understood. When you got to get motivated, when you got to get pumped up, what song is in your ear?

What's in your earbuds? I'm going to say right now it is On One Tonight by Gunna. On One Tonight by Gunna because that album, I feel like it was him having to address a lot of the tough times that he's gone through, you know, legally, right? But I feel like, especially from the South, I'm sure you can testify on this, but I feel like you don't see as many artists come out of it as well as he has. Even with dealing with the young stuff, it's, I know we're all torn and we want to see great music, be great music. We want to see these guys fellowship and grind together. but for me, on one tonight is a testament to, he's like, man, you know what?

Like, I've been politically correct. I've said my apologies. I've, you know, taken some things on the chin. But right now I'm on one tonight and I got to go do my thing and I got to be, I got to be surgery. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I love it. What has been your favorite ballpark to play in, either at home or away?

There's going to be more for me, more votes for Wrigley. We feel on the north side of Chicago, even before being a cub, for playing there for seven years as a visitor. For one, a lot of first there, like first Grand Slam there, first two-homer game there. I think like first, like four-hit game there, something like that, five-hit game there.

A lot of cool first, but then just what Wrigley is in itself, being able to experience the old clubhouse on the visiting side, walking down the turns as you get closer to the field, the more you smell the grass, the more you smell the history. The amount of former baseball players and people and politicians that have set foot in this cathedral. While the north side of Chicago, for me, was super special to feel. And then, like, once you zoom out, then you get Lake Michigan, then you get Lake Shore,

then you get the Chicago vibes, you get Ridleyville, you get the rest of downtown. You get the fireworks from Wednesday, every Wednesday, Saturday, from Memorial Day to Labor Day. You get the air and water show. So for me, as a whole, Wrigley Field itself, just they do baseball, right? That's what Rigley does. It does baseball. It does it in. In the neighborhood, the neighborhood opens up.

People go to their jobs. The players, the fans come in and operate and play the 120-day game. The game ends. And then everyone goes back to enjoying Chicago as it was. So for me, that's my easy. Ridley field is it? Easy enough. Easy enough.

What is your favorite ballpark food? So it's French toast. We're talking ballpark food. See, when I answered that, I immediately obviously thought as a player. Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah. Breakfast food. It's French toast, bacon, scrambled eggs with spinach, pancakes.

Maybe there's some like blueberries in them, bacon, scrambled eggs, spinach. Fruit before the game. That's my vibe on getting to the field and having a good meal before we go tackle that day game. I love it. I love it. I'm going to get you out of here on this one. As the story of Jay Hay continues to evolve, what's one word you wanted that story? One word.

And that story as it continues to evolve, man. I'm thinking about being a dad. I'm thinking about business. I'm thinking about nonprofit. I'm thinking professional. What is something to tie all this together? I don't want to say surprising. I don't want to say I think I will go with dedicated.

I want to say dedicated. That's where I'll leave it because that's in order to be where I would like to continue to go, continue progressing in every aspect of my life. it's dedicated and I think that's what's going to have to be the constant. That is you. I can see that, man. I can see that. Jason, brother, you mean more than you'll ever know to me.

I can't wait to see what happens in 26 for you, no matter what you do, where you go, how you do it. I'm there with you, man. So, like, you know, everybody says they have a number one fan. Well, that's me for you, bro. So whatever you're doing, I'm there with you, man. I appreciate the love, man. I appreciate the hospitality.

I appreciate you being genuine, right, and shooting me straight. I know you will. And if you ever see anything where you feel like, oh, no, Jay, you could have did this different now that we've formerly met via the podcast. Let me know. Let me know, man. We love to trade stories, love to trade ideas. So iron sharpening iron, man. I appreciate you.

It's been an honor to be on. I appreciate you, too. I appreciate you too. And for all the viewers and listeners, remember your because is your superpower. Go unleash it. That's another powerful conversation. on Mick Unplugged. If this episode moved you,

and I'm sure it did, follow the show wherever you listen, share it with someone who needs that spark, and leave a review so more people can find there because. I'm Rudy Rush, and until next time,

stay driven, stay focused, and stay unplugged.