The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - South Beach Sessions - Eric Hosmer

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

Eric Hosmer burst into Major League Baseball straight out of high school, won four Gold Gloves and a World Series championship with the Kansas City Royals… and even though he’s not playing anymore, “The Wizard of Hoz” is not done making waves.  Dan and Eric bond over their shared Latino upbringing in Miami and why the once-in-a-lifetime feeling of hitting a home run at Yankee Stadium would’ve never been possible without his family’s support and sacrifice. Eric also gets real about his challenging time with the San Diego Padres, the struggle of aging out of playing professionally and how the birth of his son was the life-changing impetus to move forward and start his own company, MoonBall Media, which is changing the way players and fans talk about baseball. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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When you know, You know! Sold. Whether you're looking to sell your car right now or just whenever feels right, go to Carvana.com and sell your car the convenient way. Terms and conditions apply. Welcome again to South Beach Sessions guest today. I did not know that he was this large. I did not know that he was this Cuban.

Eric Hosmer from Miami played with the Kansas City Royals, played with the Padres, played with the Cubs last year, last year, played with the Cubs. And I'm happy to have you here. Just want to talk to you about your journey, what it is that you're doing now, because you've transitioned into a media company, which is what I'm doing, an unusual choice, I would say, for a former major league baseball player.

But I also want to explain to the audience through your words, because I don't think they necessarily understand just how hard it is to get to where you got to and how hard it is to stay there and how lopsided obsessively competitive one has to be to the detriment of other things in order to keep making money when you're fighting other people for money in a hugely competitive world so thank you for being with us I appreciate appreciate it. Thank you for having me.

Being a Miami guy, know all about you. So now moving into this new space after the playing days are over, to be here and to be on this show is a tremendous honor. So I appreciate that. But yeah, like you were saying, when you're competing at a level that's the highest level of what you're doing,

you have to be obsessive. You have to be, it's gotta be 24-7. Everything that you're working towards has to be for that, whether it's at home, whether it's at the field, and all that type of stuff. So I got to a point later on in my career, the last couple years, where I was in Boston and Chicago, and didn't really have that everyday role

as far as playing. So I found myself having a lot of downtime. I find myself really talking to the younger guys that weren't playing every day, trying to help them as much as I could. So now that the playing days are over, I wanted to do that on a bigger scale, continue to help people, continue to share my insight and my perspective to fans on how the game's going. So a lot of opportunities I'm excited to get into. Did it make you selfish having to be a baseball player who was consumed with having to be a baseball player?

100%, I think at the end of the day, especially now in my life, I have a son now that's 18 months and you don't wanna take away time from him, but at the same time, you wanna give everything you have to your profession, to the game of baseball and once you start kind of thinking, you're trying to divide both and use your time like that, that's when, you know, you can't compete at that highest level that someone else is going to come and, and work that hard to take your spot.

So to me, the way I value one of these positions and these roster spots, if you're not willing to give all you have for that, then you don't really deserve one of those spots. So I got to a point where my body couldn't hold up the play every single day. I wanted to be at home with my son. I wanted to see him grow. So I'm at a point now where I want to stay involved in the game, but I don't want to be there eight months every day out of the year. So this kind of makes sense for me. One of the things that I don't think people understand because they're watching a baseball game of what it does to your body that schedule is an insanity

it's not humanly reasonable to play 162 baseball games to be at the ballpark for 10 hours a day What did your body feel like at the end just the just the torque of swinging a baseball bat that many times? Like what at the end? What did your body feel like? Yeah, it was hard to get going It was hard to get going on days especially getting off the plane you look at three four hour delay Pick up the game later finish get on a plane go to Minnesota

You got a game in Minnesota today Those were the days for me that it was really hard because I wanted to get my body in a position To go get work done, but you got to limit the swings because you want to be fresh for the game. So when it gets to that point, it's hard to work the way you want to work. And it's hard to get everything done in a full day that you want to. But what does hard mean? I, you, there's, there's my hard and then there's your pain threshold hard and those are different. So when you say hard to get going, what does that mean? So for me, towards the end of my career, my lower back would get real tight,

especially after getting off a plane, sitting on a plane for three, four hours. That's the part where it was hardest to get going. It was hardest to, to, to warm up and it was hard to get in the cage and take the amount of swings that I want to take when I want to make certain adjustments. So for me, that was the part where when you can't work the way you want to work, those are stuff that you gotta overcome, those little aches and pains, that soreness and all that type of thing.

And you throw in different obstacles. It's really cold in Chicago, it's really cold in Minnesota at these places. So it just got hard to really train and prepare the way I wanted to prepare. When I ask you about selfish, the reason I'm asking you about it, so you were a first round pick,

you have to be obsessive about competing. How did it affect your relationships? And if you're Cuban the way that I'm Cuban, your parents were doing a lot of the stuff for you so that you could make sure to concentrate on the thing that you wanted to concentrate on. Absolutely. And from a young age, we didn't go on family vacations. We went out to baseball tournaments on the weekend. And then the professional career, when you're coming home for two, three months at a time, and the first couple weeks,

you get to have some off time and all that, but then after, you're right back on that daily grind, that daily schedule of having a routine and getting your body ready, getting your baseball stuff ready, and all that type of stuff. So yeah, it was hard. It was a lot of times where you don't have time for other things and family wants to, you know, they want to hang out, they want to be there with you and at the end of the day you have to separate sometimes because you got to get

yourself ready to go to go compete at the highest level. Were you an adult before you had a child and got married? Were you a functioning adult or were you an atrophied adolescent? I would say to my knowledge there were certain parts where I felt like I was a functioning adult Having a kid my last playing season. I think that really changed perspective in a lot of things you know you get home from a a nine-day road trip on the west coast and Your little boy is gonna be up at 630 in the morning and you hear him wake up at 630 in the morning and you want to go out and spend time with them.

But at the same time, you have to get ready for a game that night. So those were some hard times, you know, that not definitely not hard as far as like perspective wise putting yourself in these shoes, but to compete at that level and to be fully recharged and ready to go. There's certain decisions that come up like that that you know that's where you start to question certain things about taking this you know playing career and continuing it on. What would you want to share about your parents story in Cuba and how they got over here what you know about the sacrifices made on your behalf? Yeah so

my mother is Cuban she came over here when she was nine years old. And just the sacrifices alone, like you said, to be over to be here, to be in America, the land of the free and to be able to pursue anything you want to pursue in life. So for me, that was something that that was huge. And and and the baseball side of that, my grandfather, I remember every holiday, every time I was over there, we would watch Cuban American baseball games or I'm sorry, the Cuban professional league. And he would show me highlights and of Kendries Morales. And then about five, six years later with the Royals, I got to play with Kendries Morales. And that connection right there for me was everything. Because right when I got on that team, there was two guys that were Cuban, Kendra Morales, Brian Pena. And it felt like I was with my uncles every single day the way that those guys looked out for me The way that they just made sure I was good in every aspect of not only the game

but in life was something that I really just felt comfortable with and Appreciate it so much and to me that really opened my eyes on on how strong the Cuban bond is when you know Cuban players Seek other Cuban players and see those guys in their locker room the way that they treat them to me was was something I really idolized about that bond. What are the things that you remember about veterans doing for you upon arrival that made you feel like you were getting acclimated or was or acts of generosity? Yeah just when when you go to when you play baseball and you get into the professional level, you know

it takes you about each level is about like a month or two to fully transition and be like, okay I went through some hard times now. I overcame it now. I'm good to go I feel comfortable here the big leagues sometimes it doesn't happen like that This game is hard and there's a lot of things that get thrown at you that aren't fair from a business perspective that hey You know you are the best player here, but you're not gonna play every day because of certain situations. Maybe a guy signed to more money,

or maybe we wanna give this younger guy opportunities. So I think that frustrated me in the beginning when you feel like you're doing something to a certain level, and these guys open your eyes on how everything runs and how everything is ran. And sometimes it's not gonna be fair, but at the end of the day you got to deal with it you got to move on and continue to do what you got to do so I think that was some stuff early on that really helped me out. Your mother was the oldest of eight children? Yeah.

And what was her life like in Cuba? What are the stories like about what her life was like? You know she's she was basically a second mother you know she was the second mother to all her younger siblings and you know she would tell me story after story there was an opportunity for me to go out to Cuba and do some baseball camps out there and my mother is a super positive person you know so when I brought her the opportunity to tell her I can go over there she was a little hesitant about it at first So that really made me want to really dig deep into

Everything about there and it's something that I really want to go and can visit out there to just to see How it was the lifestyle just kind of get a picture in my mind of how everything was because I do appreciate the sacrifice At the end of the day, but I think I'll appreciate it that much more when I get to go and see it from my own eyes. What did she say to you? Because I had a situation like that. ESPN, when the normalization of relations was happening and Obama was going over to Cuba, he was doing so with ESPN, with baseball,

and they asked me and my father to go, and we were going to go but my mother didn't want to go and then we didn't want to go without her and she refused to answer the calls of ESPN's president and that was the end of that we didn't end up going. You haven't been back yet and what were the sensitivities for her? The way that she responded to to me telling her I had this opportunity I can tell that something just didn't sit right with her and I never really got to fully dissect and ask her why but to me just seeing that reaction I knew I knew there was something there and watching that game

when Tampa Bay went over there and seeing some interactions with with the president and people over there it just didn't seem like it sit right with her it didn't sit well with her so. but she wouldn't also deny you the opportunity to go, right? My mother sort of slithered around that one too, where she wouldn't directly say, I don't want you to go, but the feeling was strong enough that I didn't want to disrespect. Exactly. I didn't want her to extend herself so much that I would end up hurting her by accident. Exactly. And that's what got me thinking like later on in life I need to go there. I want to see what's going on. At this point in time doesn't feel right. The reaction like I said from her it was something that okay we'll get back to

this at some point in time later but but yeah it left me wanting to go there and physically see what's going on over there just because I think that level of appreciation not that it's not at an all time high right now, but that's gonna open my eyes to a lot more. Can you tell us sort of what it is that your parents did in the name of sacrifice in order, because it's not just you that got to the big leagues, right? All of you did.

Yes, yes, and I mean, as a kid, you don't understand the sacrifice. You don't, you just think it's normal. You think that's what's supposed to happen. So now being a parent, understanding that sacrifice, you know, my father was from down here and he was a firefighter for the city of Miami. So to see him get home from a 72 hour shift

and gets home at seven in the morning and I'm going out and I want to go out and hit batting practice or do something, I understand that sacrifice. So the family stuff and to understand my family from Cuba and the sacrifice they had to make coming over here, like I said, really opened my eyes to that and that's something I'm super appreciative about. Your father was doing the shifts that were 48 and 72 hours

without sleep so that he could be around for the baseball stuff, right? Yeah, and in the city of Miami, like we both know, you're working, you know, there's not much downtime there, you're getting calls left and right, so yeah, he was getting after it. What do you remember about his presence at these things? What do you remember about his pushing?

You know, thinking back on those moments, not one time did I ever see my dad and think he was tired, not one time did I see him and not think he wanted to be there. So now looking back, understanding what he was going through and how tired he might have been just keeps that level of appreciation continues to grow because these aren't easy. That's not easy stuff that he was doing. It's a lot of sacrifice and it's stuff that I look back on throughout my playing days

and my playing career when there's days where, man, you're tired. You don't want to get up and go to the field and do your thing every day you put it in perspective and he was doing this risking his life daily to me just going to the ballpark playing a baseball game so for me that was a just a perspective moment that what you're doing is great it's fun so go out there and get that stuff get your work done your right your life isn't on the line how did he help you become tougher? I think it's more of me just kind of watching him over the years I don't know if it was one thing or two that he said to me But watching him watching the consistency of what he was preaching to me every single day

I think that's the stuff that I picked up on because you never saw him break No, I never saw him break saw the The composure was always the same, no matter what it was, not only in sports as well, but, but off the field with life. The composure was never the same, it was never different. It was always the same, and to me those are things that I definitely picked up on. And you felt what in your childhood? Safe, protected, it felt comfortable, it, what, what, what would you say this, was it pressurized? Like how did it feel growing up to

become a first round pick and baseball is hugely important and the failures are met with what? Yeah, the failures are they're met with a lot of doubt and I think when you know you have that belief in everybody back home that you can do this and it's not something that they need or we have to do. For me, making the big leagues was a dream, was a goal, but there was never pressure to me that from the family, like, hey, we need you to be here. We need you to do this.

So for me, I signed out of high school, got a signing bonus, was able to take care of my family in a way with that signing bonus to put me at a level of, not comfort, a level of not comfort a little bit of comfort but at the same time continue to strive for that work because I was able to help my family in a certain way and the steps as they get bigger and better those can that help can be even more so for me you know it wasn't a pressure as far as we need to do this it was more of a privilege and

and something that internally I always wanted to continue to take care of my family and that was the motivation to keep going." Folks, it's Jeremy, and throughout football season I have a few favorite traditions, including headed over to my dad's with my brother and watching football with them on a Sunday afternoon, spending some time with my wife watching Thursday Night Football and shouting about my fantasy team while she doesn't really care about the imaginary thing that I'm doing. But whether it's defending your favorite team after a bad loss, or obsessively checking your fantasy lineup, football fandom is bigger than just your Sundays. Miller Lite knows the passion that comes with rooting for your team, like the debate that

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fewer cows and carbs than premium regular beer. You signed about 10 minutes before the deadline to sign, correct? Yep. How pressurized was that, or did you know, like we were going 10 minutes till the deadline because we were just trying to maximize the dollars or was it a theatrical thing or were you? Torn no, I was torn. I was torn. It was so back then the draft the way it's built up now

There's different rules So there was an August 15th deadline and you had to be signed by midnight of that last day leading up to the 15th So it was we were at home and you know know my dad my father wasn't a huge drinker he was having a bunch of coronas that night and it was about 1145 and we had told Scott because he was nervous he was nervous he was super he was super nervous we had told Scott what's the choice take people through what the choice is here what we're wrestling with so it's either sign go to the Kansas City Royals organization or I was signed to go to Arizona state play three years of college

then you get drafted as a junior so if i don't sign professionally i can't get drafted again for another three years so it's about eleven fifty eleven fifty five and the way they handle negotiations is they don't throw numbers at you they throw the players and so matt wieters back then was a guy who signed and he signed for six million dollars and the offer i had was a little bit less than that. So Scott's telling me we wanna get Matt Weeders money. Scott Forrest is telling you Matt Weeders is a catcher,

right, he's a catcher? Yeah, catcher out of Georgia Tech, signed there, he's a catcher. And he's the top guy, right? You went third, right? Yeah, so he was actually drafted a couple years before, but when they're comparing what you want as a signing bonus, this is the comparison.

So, okay, I'm sitting there, and Scott's like all right this is what we're gonna shoot for we'll call you back let you know everything goes boom boom so it got past the deadline to about 1215 and I'm thinking man like I think I just I think I just blew my opportunity to play in the put and play in professional baseball because they haven't called back I don't know if they got up to that number that we want to get to. So I'll never forget my dad, you know, he's like, hey, let's go walk the dog outside.

And you can tell he's nervous at that point. And I'm like, yeah, we got to slow down. Stoic dad, stoic dad who never show, he's always showing you calm. He never breaks. He fights fires. Yeah. Now he's pounding beers and he wants to go

for a walk with the dog. Yes. But right around midnight too. So he's just wanting to get up and talk about some things and all that. But yeah, we end up 1230, get the call. Hey, the Royals came back. We got Matt Weider's offer.

So then everything happened. Everything went well. Signed, went to professional baseball, got taken off the field about three, four days after that because there was some concern of the deal not getting done within the deadline time. So I missed about a week. Everything was fine after that and then got to start my career. There was some concern of the deal not getting done within the deadline time. So I missed about a week.

Everything was fine after that and then got to start my career. But were you wanting to go and get the money? Did it matter to you? Did you just want to get along the professional track? Were you not interested in the college experience? I wasn't interested in school at all. I wasn't a very good student. I wanted to play baseball.

I wanted to make my life solely around baseball. And there was a point in time there while we were waiting for Scott to call back that I'm sitting there and I'm like, man, what did I just do? Like, I'm, I'm going to be in college. I'm going to have some kind of nine page paper due in about two days that I haven't started on. And I could have had an opportunity to sign for a bunch of money, play professional baseball. So yeah,

there was some nervousness on my end going but that that I thought I ruined the opportunity to sign right then and there. And at that point in your head ruin the opportunity because you wanted six million instead of 5.5 million what have I done like what have I done I don't care whether it's a few hundred thousand dollars I want to go play baseball I don't want to be studying for midterms. Absolutely, and that's exactly what it was. It was putting my trust into Scott Boris

and him telling me, hey, this is what, he knew I wanted to play professionally. He knew I didn't want to go to school. So my trust was fully in him and, you know, thank God he called back and it all worked out because it would have been a different path for me if it didn't, obviously. Where along the path did you feel like

I'm not going to make it to the major leagues? Or where along the path does the doubt exist that, uh, that corrodes the confidence? Yeah. So my first year in professional ball didn't go very well. Um, we're in Burlington, Iowa, coming from Miami, going to Burlington, Iowa was a culture shock for me right away. Uh, I had never seen snow until that first year of playing professional baseball.

So, you know, I'm used to going out, it's hot, it's baseball weather. Now we get to professional baseball. It's my first two months of the season and we haven't played a game where I can feel my hands. And I'm starting out terrible. I'm having a terrible season or a terrible start to the season.

So for me, there was still confidence of being in the big leagues and making it to the major leagues. But at that point in time, I'm like, man, this is going to be a lot harder than I visualized. And you're just cold. And it's cold. And we got to a game at King. We're in King County, Illinois. It's about 20 degrees. It's raining. It's snowing. The game gets delayed for an hour. And they're saying, hey, we're going to play this at eight thirty. And I'm walking outside, I'm thinking, there's no chance we play a baseball game today. And sure enough, we did. And in those conditions, I'm like, man, how am I supposed to succeed if I can't feel the bat and I'm playing in this kind of weather? Tell me about the culture shock.

It was, I mean, the Midwest is a different area than Miami. It's a different, Miami, there's a lot to do. There's a lot of places around Miami that you can go to visit. There's beaches, there's all different type of things There's a lot of places around Miami that you can go to visit. There's beaches. There's all different type of things. When I go to Burlington, Iowa, there's essentially one place to go to, and it's a huge hotel.

It's called Fun City. They have amusement parks, casinos, bars, all that type of stuff in there. My Cuban uncle, Uncle Joey, comes up for a weekend, and we want to hang out. We want to do our thing, whatever. So me being a youngster, I have a fake ID back in the day. We go into Fun City, which is the place where you can go and all that type of stuff. We go, we go to Shoe Pool, we're hanging out. About 10 minutes into this, I get escorted out of there by one of the security guards

and he tells me, hey, you're underage, you can't be in here, you got to go. So from that point on, I couldn't do anything outside of baseball I was going home I was playing PlayStation the other guys were going out having a good time so it was a you know it felt pretty lonely some of those nights I was gonna say were you sad were you scared you couldn't have fun in Fun City yeah no fun in Fun City but yeah lonely man and just like man I got to get out of here I got to figure out a way to get to another level, to get to another city, something like that.

So yeah, there was a lot of nights, man, where you felt like I was missing out on stuff when the other guys were going to do something, and I had to stand back. So yeah, there was, Burlington was definitely some tough times for me. Forgive me for placing cultural stereotypes upon you, but I would assume if you are Cuban boy in Miami the way that I know Cuban boys in Miami, you're not an adult when

you're getting to professional baseball. You are still a bit of a child. Yes. You haven't learned much of anything and your parents have done a great deal for you so that you can get the things that you want. Yes. And so you get there and how ill equipped are you for living on your own in a place that doesn't resemble the only place you've ever known your whole life. Yeah, definitely wasn't ready for that. You know, especially having a Cuban mother, Cuban mothers do

everything for their boys. They take care of everything. There's, there's't ready for that, you know, especially having a Cuban mother. Cuban mothers do everything for their boys. They take care of everything. There's food ready at all times. And my mom would help me get stuff done with my laundry, all that type of stuff. So being a 17 year old boy going out there and, you know, living on your own, living in a city where you don't know anything around you, certain foods that aren't around you, you're eating stuff that just doesn't taste right. And you're like, man, this is different than home.

So that's where, you know, at that point in time, you have to find some people that are teammates, friends, whatever, to really lean on. And that's where I had a real strong connection with a lot of the players, a lot of Latino players as well. And that was, some of those moments, man, we were six, seven people deep in a hotel room. We have a little rice maker there, we're making food for each other. And that's those moments where like, man, we were six, seven people deep in a hotel room, we have a little rice maker there,

we're making food for each other, and that's those moments where like, man, I was like, this feels like I'm at home with my uncles, with my cousins at a family outing, at a family event, and that brought me a lot of comfort. The Royals were also, as I recall, pretty Hispanic, were they not, I mean, you mentioned the couple of Cuban players, but I just remember

that being a Hispanic team. Yes. What did that feel like to you? Like how was that for you? It was awesome. It was comforting. You know, those were my best friends on the team. You know, it was so awesome because when we're, whether it's a hotel room, whether it's a locker room,

you know, the Latin guys would always find somewhere to always hang out, be together. And to me, that's what I love. You know, I didn't want to be by myself. I didn't want to be on my own or alone doing stuff in the room or whatnot. So we would always have that one person that we'd go to their room.

There'd be about seven or eight guys in there. And we just had fun, whether it was just everyone sitting in there talking, whether it was playing cards or whatnot. We just had fun in that bond. And I think always having that place to go to with those guys really brought me that comfort. In the minor leagues though the Hispanic guys didn't have as much money as you right? You were the only one with money I would imagine. Yeah so we would it would be like eight or nine of us we'd go to a

grocery store we'd buy rice we'd buy some food there we had the little like pressure cooker and we go to the hotel rooms and one of my buddies Rocco Rivera he was a Dominican guy I would just buy him a case of beer. Buy him a case of beer, he's sitting there having a couple beers, cooking food for everybody and everyone's having a great time. Oh you were paying for the cook in beer. Yeah, I wasn't able to buy the beer but I was able to have someone buy it for us, pay him and that's how we all just found ways to take care of each other. Where else did the doubt make an appearance after your first year?

So after that first year of professional ball, my second, third year in the minor leagues, I have good seasons, have a good rookie year in the big leagues. The second year in the big leagues, the league really adjusted to me, and I wanted to get off to a good start. I wanted to be an all-star.

I wanted to do all that. And about mid-May, I was hitting about 220. Had a couple home runs, but nothing really good. And at that point in time for me, it was like, man, like this year is a failure. I'm not gonna make the All-Star game. I got off to a terrible start. You end up playing another six months of that year and you realize how much time is in a full season. So that was a point in time where I was pretty down on myself, but I learned so much from that year because I understood how long a season was and you didn't need to have you know Those numbers by May you can get hot at any point in time throughout the year

And your numbers will be where you want them to be What are the first couple of times in the big leagues where you're facing somebody and you're like I can't believe that dude throws that I don't like what am I supposed to do with that? Yeah It was there was a couple of those moments and the reasoning being is when you're a position player There's certain pitches that these guys have that you don't see in the minor leagues And I remember I was facing Corey Kluber And he had one strike on me and he threw me a cutter that started on the inner half of the plate and I went

To swing and then this thing just kind of sawed me off and I fouled it off So then the next pitch he starts it a little more inside and he throws a two seam fastball. So he just goes east and west on me and I see this thing start and I'm like, all right, no, I'm not swinging at that. That's gonna cut it on my hands and it just goes like that, freezes me for strike three and I'm like, okay, it's different up here. The reason that makes me laugh is that I remember and and it's not the same thing, but you just jostled the experience that ended my baseball career in high school, which is I was facing Bobby Hernandez, somebody who would grow on to become a professional pitcher. And I'm down 0-2 and I'm expecting a curve ball.

And he knows that he doesn't have to bother with that with me. And he just throws a fastball and it's right. And I couldn't do anything. I'm like, I can't do this anymore. So when you're talking about Kluber moving the ball that way, I don't think people understand how maddening it must be that your success can often depend on a matter of inches, even if you're doing everything right.

And sometimes there's a Kluber out there who can do certain things with a baseball that you've not seen before. Yeah, and that, even just that at bat alone got me, like, my wheels spinning in a whole different direction. So the next time I face him, I'm like, okay, when he throws that cutter in on me,

is he automatically following that two-seen? Because if he is, and I'm gonna swing on it, this is something I gotta anticipate before it comes out of his hands. And there was another moment like that in New York when I got to face Mariano Rivera, and we got to a 3-0 count, and the third ball was probably a strike,

and the umpire called it a ball, and he kinda looked at the umpire and gave him like a little smirk. And this is my rookie year. So then 3-0 I'm taking, he throws a strike. 3-1 he starts his cutter on the outer part, and it goes over the plate for a strike and then 3-2 he throws that same pitch and it breaks even more and breaks my bat and just sheds it to pieces and

I'm thinking like this is the best of the best right here And I don't know what just happened to me But this umpire just pissed this guy off somehow and he got nasty on me, but I was like, okay It's a different level up here Can you explain to us what it's like to be obsessive about these things and to have a failure rate that is, you know, seven out of 10 times and you're still doing great? Frustrating and that's where the hardest thing as a baseball player, you have to learn how to deal with that failure.

You almost throughout the course of a season, you want to have stack up small wins because there's times where you just feel so lost up there that it's like alright let me just try and swing it strikes today that's my goal today I don't care if I don't get a hit or whatnot I'm just gonna try and swing it strikes today and then if you do that you feel like you can go on to the next step so it's kind of like a little small win to get you back to somewhat of a normality in the head and and get your headspace back to where it needs to be so there's a lot of different stuff that you deal with especially playing a game back to somewhat of a normality in the head and get your head space back to where it needs to be.

So there's a lot of different stuff that you deal with, especially playing a game for so long your whole life and you're dealing with certain stuff that you have to make adjustments on and then you get to the next level and those adjustments have to change. So that can really mess with you mentally and there's some things that you just have to ignore and continue to move on and go the way you go about it. And there's certain things that it's like, hey, no, you have to physically make adjustment here and change this. So you have to balance what's worth making the adjustment

for, what's not, and you just learn on the fly. Can you explain to me as if I'm an idiot or to somebody who doesn't even understand baseball, how would you go about explaining how hard it is to do what it is you did well? Yeah, so baseball, when you're younger, it's all about velocity, and usually that pitcher has that one breaking ball that can really, really

put you away. So you're basically asking, how hard does this guy throw, and what's his breaking pitch? And baseball, back in the day, if you didn't swing at that 0-0 breaking ball, 1-0 when you're ahead're ahead 2-0 these are counts where you're gonna get fastballs the game now has transitioned into a way where there's pitches that compensate that 2-0 count where you should get a fastball then now these guys have cutters these guys have split fingers a lot of these starting pitchers their arsenal is 5-6

pitches deep so it's no longer how hard is this guy throw and what's that breaking ball like there's so much different spin and so many different pitches these guys can throw at you. You really have to break down that report and understand all right when this guy's behind in the count he likes these pitches. When he's ahead in the count he likes these pitches. So there's a lot of pre-planned game plan that you have to go in knowing what you're gonna whatever your plan is for that day how you have to execute. Who awed you? From a pitching standpoint? Anywhere, just teammates, just skill.

When you said Kendricks Morales, I thought to myself, when I first saw that guy play, I was like, I mean, good God. He awed me in a way of looking for something that I didn't know you can look for. Kendricks would be the first one to get to the field every single day. He would love his rice and beans and he would make a big plate of Latin food, go down to the cage and he would have a computer here, a

computer here and it was the picture we were facing that day and it was all his fastballs and all his breaking balls on both different screens. And he would just play on both and watch for something different to pop out. So he would get me over and all the guys would call me Boppo. He'd be like, Boppo, Boppo, bang, bang, bang. And he would show me the video and he would say, all right, look, his hand on this pitch when he throws a fastball is here,

and then his hand goes below his belt or below the logo here when he's throwing a breaking ball. So he taught me to look for certain things that pitchers have tips and tells on something I had no idea to look for, and that really opened my eyes as well. And who else awed you? Like, who were you thinking of?

When I say awed, just where you're, it could be somebody you're facing a childhood hero, somebody you grew up watching, just anybody. Anything that conjures for you the feeling of awe. Yeah, my first game on the road was at Yankee Stadium, so getting able to see Derek Jeter, you know, I had always idolized Derek Jeter just for the way he handled himself on the field, off the field. So to be able to play against him, to hear them announce his name, and he comes to the bat, and I'm at first,

and just to have that moment right there was an in-all moment for me. Did you rehearse what you were gonna say to him when he got over and stood next to you? I was thinking of a couple different things, but I'm like, no, that's not going to work. Or I don't want to say that to him. I don't want him to think I'm some, you know, young kid that's saying something like this. But no, I definitely was nervous and I don't get nervous, you know, in front of many people, especially on the baseball field. But he was a guy that I tried to I try to imitate a lot of things he did.

And when I got up to him or he got off the first base, it was just a starstruck moment that I just really didn't know what to say. It was lost for words. When you mention the Yankee Stadium for the first time, can you take me back to a time, any time, that you would associate most with positive feelings in baseball?

I mean, obviously when you're celebrating victories of the highest order, but just where you're living your dreams and they're better than what you even imagined when you were a child dreaming them. Yeah. So Yankee stadium was where I hit my first home run. So I just remember being in New York, being on the opposing team, hitting a home run. The crowds obviously not happy. They're everyone's sitting down. They throw the ball back and I'm rounding second and right on the third baseline is the family section. And I remember hitting second base, being able to look up and see my uncles, my parents, my cousins, everybody there. And

it just seemed like we had taken over that whole entire stadium because the whole crowd sitting down. No one's clapping. No one's saying a thing. And it just seemed like we had taken over that whole entire stadium because the whole crowd sitting down, no one's clapping, no one's saying a thing. And my family is in the family section there standing up. And that's all I see rounding second base. So for me, that was a moment of, of man, like, this is really happening right now in Yankee Stadium, a stadium I idolized playing in, a team I idolized. I was a Yankee fan growing up. And as you know, down here, the Marlin gamesized, I was a Yankee fan growing up. And as you know, down here,

the Marlin games were, it was a different atmosphere. They always had good players, never really sold out the stadiums on a regular season game. So to be able to go up to Yankee Stadium as a kid, which was the first stadium outside of Marlin Stadium I'd been to, just opened my eyes to baseball being at a different level, the atmosphere, all that type of stuff. So that was a surreal moment. Were they close enough and was it quiet enough that you can hear your family or were they not that close? They weren't that close. Couldn't hear them. I can definitely see them. But the family section Yankee Stadium is the second level on the third base side.

So I definitely saw them and when I hit second, like I said, I looked up and it was just the Hosmer family up and going at it which was cool. in bonus bets instantly. Score big with DraftKings Sportsbook, the number one place to bet touchdowns. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code DAN. That's code DAN for new customers to get $200 in bonus bets when you bet just five bucks. Only at DraftKings Sportsbook. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. In New York, call 877-8HOPENY or text HOPENY467369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven Seven or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino in Resorting, Kansas 21 and over age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction Void in Ontario bonus bets expire

168 hours after issuance for additional terms and responsible gaming resources see DKNG.co slash FT ball For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.co.ftball. What are some of the moments that fill you with sort of an emotional gratitude? Is there any place along the path? I would imagine this might happen later in life as you develop some wisdoms and some age. But what are the moments that you would think of now if I were to ask you, have you ever cried on a baseball field? Just grateful for the opportunity to live the life you want to live. Yeah

certainly. You know this past year was a big one for me getting able to have my son be at the field and then bring him in the locker room and just kind of show him my world. When we won the World Series there was a there's a picture so we won the World Series in city feel. I can't believe you won that World Series, but I still can't believe the Kansas City Royals won the World Series. We should have won in 14, but yeah, it didn't happen. Went back in 15, we did.

So there's a moment in 2015 where the families are coming on the field after we win, and my mom and dad roll up in Citi Field, and they're on behind home plate, and a security guard, my mom gets through, security guard stops my dad and says, sir, you can't come on the field right now. This is it. And my dad just kind of looks at him, gives him the F you with his eyes and comes on the field. So to have that moment with my parents, my mom's breaking down crying. And there's a picture of me and my mom where I'm giving her a hug and she's just crying

like this in my arms. For me, that just brought everything full circle. The sacrifice we talked about, the sacrifice they made for me to be able to pursue this in a career, that all just came full circle at that point in time. And that's a picture that I always have with me in my phone, in my house, and I catch myself staring at that picture just thinking of a lot of good things.

What are the landmarks you remember from that season? Like what are the, take us through the journey of, that had to be the most fun you've had in baseball at any level, right? Oh, no question. So 2014, we lose the World Series. We sweep the whole entire American League. We lose the San Francisco Giants.

Madison Bumgarner wins like three of the four games in the World Series. Nasty. Nasty, I mean, coming in every game, he's doing his thing. Then the 15. Unreasonable, the whole thing unfair Unfair we went from in 2014 thinking man

I don't know if we can make the World Series to getting there sweeping the American League thinking there's no way we're losing this now This is our story lose 2015 got a lot of the same guys back. We roll through the whole entire season. We win the division first series We have the Astros come off the wild card game. The team that comes in off the wild card game comes in with a lot of momentum. They come in hot. They come beat us game one. We're down two games to one in Houston.

They're up like five to one in the eighth inning. We're thinking we're going home at that point in time. We pull off a huge comeback, end up beating them in the fifth game all the way, uh, beat Toronto the next series, which if we don't have home field advantage in my opinion, I don't think we beat Toronto. Then we get to New York, and I think we beat New York pretty easily there, and that was kind of that rundown of that 2015 year.

Do you have to pay for your own drinks in Kansas City? Like, for how long did you go where anywhere you would go in Kansas City, everything was taken care of? Yeah, so I played there another two years after we won, and it was like that for everybody. How long did you go where anywhere you would go in Kansas City, everything was taken care of? Yeah, so I played there another two years after we won, and it was like that for everybody. Any restaurant you went to, they took care of you.

Somebody in the restaurant took care of us. It was unbelievable. I've only been back one time since. I was supposed to go back with the Padres in 2020. The schedule got moved around. We ended up staying on the West Coast for a majority of the schedule, so that never happened. And then 2022, the year I got traded, we were supposed to go there about two weeks after

the trade deadline. I get traded to Boston. The first series in Boston, I have to meet the team in Kansas City to play there. So was there for about two days. Everything was on the fly. It's fun to be back, but I still feel like I really haven't been able to go back and spend some time with the people there, which I will this year, and I look forward to it. During the post-season run, though,

you're walking into any restaurant and it's standing ovations, correct? Yeah, and it's flattering, it's uncomfortable. At the same time, you're walking into a place and everyone stands up and starts clapping for you and is looking your way. But at the same time, there's such an appreciation there, because Kansas City, not the biggest

market when it comes to fans. So the bond that we had with the fans out there, I mean, every time we won a playoff series, we were all going out, we told the fans where we were going, we get to enjoy some time with them. So it was a unique bond that we had with the city of Kansas City. I was talking to JJ Reddick about this recently, I have yet to meet an athlete who doesn't struggle with the transition into retirement and the grieving,

the burying of what used to be his identity. You're still a young man. You're in your mid-30s and you're working all your life toward being this one thing. You achieve it. And then in your mid-30s, unlike in most professions, it's done and you've gotta put it away. It becomes difficult for the entirety of the family,

for the people who love you. What was it like for you? It was different. It was, you know, from 2022 to the end of my playing career, I had been traded a couple times. I had to move my family probably about six or seven times. So we would come home in Miami the offseason. We went out to San Diego, got traded to San Diego, then went to Boston, get to Boston, have a baby, stay there for the offseason, sign with the Cubs the next year,

go to Arizona, get to Chicago. Then I get released in Chicago and we're stuck in Chicago, not stuck, we're in Chicago for another four or five months until we go home So at that point in time, that's when it really started to to get difficult I was in Chicago about June till whenever we got home for winter and It's like man. Like what am I gonna do right now? I want to be involved in the game I want to find somehow to stay in the game and guys that that retire always say, if you want to stay in the game, don't go too far for too long because it'll be hard to get back in.

So I just kept thinking of how ways I can stay in the game, how are ways I can continue to reach people in the game and outside of the game that enjoy watching. And this is where the Moonball Media idea came in and the podcast of Digging Deep. And that's kind of how I started to really feel like I was using my time wisely was because all that time in Chicago I had been preparing and trying to

visualize what this could be. But you're still in the middle of it, right? You're still processing this. I ask the question as if you would already solve it. You're in the middle of transitioning. Yes, yes. Are you getting help? Are you asking for advice?

Are you, are you acknowledging that it is a turbulent thing for any human being? Because there's something about, uh, about, I'm not going to just say baseball players, but athletes, uh, you have to concentrate so much on the thing that it can get in the way of your introspection. You're not thinking about the end. You're never thinking about the end. Yeah. It's a

different thought process because even in the off seasons I would always have to be ready to go do my baseball stuff. Hey I can go do this but at the end of the day I got to make sure I get a workout and go hit and do all this type of stuff. To not have that is something that I'm like man, what am I gonna do if I don't have to do that? The structure is also helpful, right? The structure of just, that's one of the things that jars people. I don't have to be someplace at a time.

I've been on a schedule for I don't know how long. Now there's just sort of a vast roaming emptiness. Yes, and that's that structure, like you're saying, was everything. That's how baseball, that's how athletes are wired. You have that structure. You know where you need to be. The days you don't have to do something is an off day.

You kind of use that as a down day to recharge. And then you're right back to that structure. So that's what I'm trying to create now and trying to feel. Where can I really help? Where is my purpose for all this? And that's where now, you know, we're trying to grow and continue to grow as a media company, as a podcast podcast and find ways to find those answers, to talk to guys that have gone through the coaching stuff or gone through their playing careers and

stopped and have gone through all that experience. So we're trying to really hit home and understand how to make that transition and that's something that I have had to lean on a lot of people. Why a media company? So there was a couple different points in time throughout my something that I have had to lean on a lot of people. Why a media company? So there was a couple different points in time throughout my career that that I felt like I wanted to tell my story I wanted to tell the situation on my own. I didn't have those opportunities when I was in Kansas City I wanted to sign back there. I wanted to be a royal for life. I didn't have that opportunity to sign back there I think a lot of the fans thought that I didn't want to go back there. So that was one time where I was like,

man, I wish I had something to tell my story and to tell people what really went down. Another way, in San Diego, I get to San Diego, I sign a big contract, I don't perform the way I want to perform. There's a lot of heat that's coming from me, from the fans, from other people, from media there. And then the conversation

became that I was tearing certain things up in the clubhouse. I wasn't doing stuff that I should. I wasn't leading the way that I should. And that was another situation where I'm like, man, I really wish I can tell my side of the story. I really wish I can share to the people my perspective and let that happen. And last year, a good guy, a good friend of mine, Manny Machado, same thing. He's in San Diego. They don't make the playoffs. They have a great roster. Big article comes out on Manny being the reason of them not making the playoffs. And that's where I'm like, okay, this is where I want another opportunity to be able to share some of my insight of seeing what Manny does behind the scenes. And that's really

how this all came about. What were you accused of doing in the clubhouse? You were tearing the clubhouse apart with what? Just not being a good clubhouse guy, really dividing the team and not doing what I was supposed to do to bring the team together, which just wasn't true at all. That had to be bothersome. Big time, big time. And if you're not performing the way you should and people are talking about that, I completely get that. That's part of what comes with that, and I'm with that. All of being an athlete, signing a big deal, that's the stuff that comes with that.

But then when you take it a step further and talk about what kind of teammate, what kind of person you're being, that's when it's like, okay, I really want an opportunity to explain my side of this. Why didn't you end up being a royal for life? What are the parts of that story that have not been told? Yeah, so different ownership now, but we got to a situation

where there was two teams in on me and free agency, the royals and the Padres, and we got to a point where we wanted to, you know, get whatever we can get out of both teams. And the offers were pretty much the same up until a point where Kansas City called back and said, hey listen, we're not going to do certain deals over five years anymore. The owner caught wind of what was happening, we're not going to do this anymore, we're going to go back on our deal, and this is the different side of it. So at that point in time, I'm trying

to do what's best for me and my family. There was such a big gap in the financial part of it that I just couldn't sacrifice that for my family, so I ended up signing out in San Diego. Do you regret it? Was it the right decision? It was the right decision. Absolutely. I don't regret not one part of it because that was my, that was the situation I had and I had to pursue that. And I enjoyed my time in San Diego. I enjoyed the teammates out there. I enjoyed people out there. And it ultimately just came down to the fact that stuff was done a certain way, that there were certain times that the team, the group of guys, felt like that wasn't

the right thing to do for the team, and I was that voice to go and talk to whether it was the manager or management up top and say, hey listen, we can't do this, we need to do this a certain way, or we should do this a certain way, and ultimately it just wasn't a good working relationship, and they decided to move on. Give me an example of when it is you're going, like when you're being a legitimate organizational leader,

when you have to take something to the top on behalf of your constituency. So take a guy like Manny Machado, for instance. This guy has been playing in the big leagues at the highest level for 10 plus years. When the manager comes down and says, hey, instead of batting practice, the traditional pitcher throwing or a coach throwing you batting practice, we're going to take batting practice off a machine. We're going to take batting practice off a machine, throwing about 95 to 100 miles an hour. We want you guys to see what you're going to see-wise, the same as the game you were on in practice. That's what we're trying to go for.

And a guy like Manny Machado is saying, I've been doing this a certain way for 10 years, I need to make sure my rhythm is good, and I need that BP pitcher to throw me balls so I can make sure I'm ready to go to face this pitcher at night. He doesn't have that decision because we are now coming with an organizational rule of stuff

having to be done a certain way. So when stuff like that happens, the players start talking. A lot of guys don't agree with it. There's someone that has to go and explain to these guys, hey, maybe we shouldn't have this for certain people. And ultimately that just never got to the point where we had a good working communication line. So what happened?

You go up there, you start telling them this, and you say, get the hell out of here, we're not interested in your opinions on these matters? If we wanted the opinions of the players, we would have asked you. Yeah, I think it got to a situation where there were certain managers in there that didn't have the authority to decide on how we were gonna do it.

So when that message gets to them, they return and deliver the message up top, and ultimately, it never happens. So you that message gets to them, they return and deliver the message up top. And ultimately it never happens. So you never really get to go up top and talk to the person you want to talk to to change. You need your manager to do that for you at the end of the day. And it just got to the point where it was always button heads on some kind of end. And it was just a back and forth a lot that that we never really got to resolve. What does possible sound like for your business? It's having the spend to powers your scale with no preset spending limit.

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Yeah, definitely, definitely. And the year that I got traded in San Diego was definitely the toughest on me. It was the toughest, like I said, on my family. We moved to a bunch of different cities at different times. And the hardest part was it was about the second year that I was involved in all these trade rumors. Each year the trade deadline comes,

that's the talk for two weeks or three weeks or so. You see names pop up, they're gonna try and get rid of this guy, they're gonna try and get rid of this guy. That became really difficult for me because you're walking into the clubhouse, you're walking into the food room, there's TVs everywhere, people are having conversations

and all of a sudden you walk into the room, the conversation's kind of shut down and it's the guys having respect for me. Don't want to talk about what's happening or don't want to talk about what's on the TV. So at that point in time, it just felt like I had become a distraction. And that's the last thing I wanted to do was, was having me be a distraction to the team, to what we're trying to accomplish here. So at that point in time, there was a lot of hard conversations that happened with me and the general manager. And at that point in time, I was like, man, like, we just got to do something here. If I'm going to be a distraction, I don't want to continue to do this.

How hard is baseball on your wife? Very hard. I think that's something that nobody really takes into consideration. You know, I know now, um, Francisco Lindor's wife had just put out something how she's receiving certain death threats, she's receiving certain things from fans about her child, her children. So that can be hard. I think that's something that the wives, they all try and internalize, especially with my wife. She doesn't want me to know that she's going through that.

So she really tries to hide that from me, and at certain points, stuff gets too hard that she just can't hide certain things. Like? Like whether it's being talked about, being traded and the trade deadline stuff, having certain fans say something to them at the stadiums, there's a bunch of different examples that can happen.

Well, but how about the moodiness of her husband? How about her husband bringing work home with him because he's hit the ball hard five days in a row and he's won for 17. Yeah and that stuff for me was hard to talk to her about because I would always tell her I want to I need to talk to somebody that knows what I'm going through that can relate to what I'm going through and she just wants to help and she just wants to be there to do whatever she can to help me the way we're wired that's still what you're thinking and you can

tell that's on the other person's mind. So yeah, it is hard, it's very hard. What are you trying to do with digging deep? You said staying close to baseball, but what are you trying to accomplish? What are the conversations you're trying to have and why do they matter? Yeah, I think it's a unique perspective that we're in

because I think player to player having that conversation brings a lot of comfort to players. I think players want to say certain things and baseball players don't want to say certain things. But in my opinion, baseball is the last of this player driven media. So player driven media, as far as I can share my perspective on certain ways guys prepare on certain things that happen in the game. So the digging deep aspect of it is we can go deeper into guys' stories. We can figure out adversity, times that were tough,

how they responded, go that route with it. Now with Digging Weekly, we're gonna talk more about the game, share insight on what's happening, certain plays, certain decisions that are being made. That's more of the in-season kind of comment on certain things that is happening. So a lot of different ways that we're trying to reach the sports world. How have you gotten good at failure?

I guess just failing over time and just learning how to do it. I've failed so much that it's that it's old hat to me. You're just used to it at that point. But I think handling failure, especially while still playing that's what helps the most is having guys on your team that you really enjoy being there you enjoy competing against because when you can all kind of sit back at the end of the game and you can laugh at yourself and you can kind of openly joke about something you didn't do well that night really helps where it gets tough is when you feel like you're on a team that you know you don't really

connect with a lot of people you're kind of wearing all this stuff on your own and you go back to your locker it's just you there you don't really want to talk or say anything to anybody that's for me fortunately I've never been in that situation but I know that's where it can get real tough. I have a hard time treating failure as learning to me it just ends up feeling like failure I don't when I'm in it I don't have a lot of success turning into the rosy positive side of it. It just feels like failing,

and then I become very hard on myself. Yeah, and there's a guy, Justin Sua, he's the co-host on Diggin' Deep, and a lot of people say you win and you learn, and he says he hates that because you learn from both. And why can't you learn from both? Because yeah, when you lose, you wanna sit there and figure out why, why, what happened.

But when you win, you just kind of go about it. You go grab your meal, your victory beer at the end of the day, and you go home and you never reflect on what got you there and all that type of stuff. What did baseball teach you about life? Like it's a broad question, but how did baseball make you better at handling things away from the diamond?

Just handling failure, handling how to grow up, perspective, all different type of things. And I think what was really cool for me was towards the end of my career, getting to play on different teams, I got to see a lot of guys I've idolized and are admired and played against throughout the years, and I got to see their process,

I got to see their routines, I got to see how they handle certain things, especially towards the end of my career going to Boston. and being a huge market, being, you know, the center of the baseball world. And that could be a tough fan base, but seeing how the Rafael Devers, the Xander Bogards, how they go about it, not only the good stuff, but at the hard times as well and how they handled this situation was a cool perspective for me because I got to see a lot of those guys behind the scenes when I never really got to see that. Did you enjoy the enjoyable moments enough or in retrospect do you wish you had savored them more because you were so busy being competitive

that the joy sort of got squeezed out of it because the next day's pitcher was going to be tough to face too? Yeah and certainly when I look back on the 14 and 15 season in Kansas City, you know, that's something you look back on and you take for granted. You think you're gonna be there your whole career with that group of guys. And then all of a sudden two years later, that whole entire roster is on different teams. So I definitely think looking back, those were times where, you know, I think I took that a little too for granted too much. If that was something that I really

could have sat back and enjoyed each day and really understand what we're accomplishing, I think that's something that I looked back on and was like, man, those were times that I really wish I could have reflected and went back and enjoyed each moment more. Did family members each react differently to you retiring? Or was there a sameness to whatever the emotions were around you telling them

that you weren't gonna do it anymore? Yeah, it was different for some. My family, whatever time my game is, that was what their day, their schedule revolved around. They were gonna watch the game that night. Even if it was on San Diego and the West Coast, they're taking a nap in the middle of the day, making sure they're up at 10 o'clock

to watch those late games. So that was the hardest part is telling some, especially my grandfather, people, I was telling him that I was retiring and you could just see that daily entertainment of him watching the game and keeping up with the team. He's not gonna have that anymore. So that was hard for me to see certain reactions

when telling family I was going to play. Oh, so your grandfather was crestfallen Because he wasn't gonna get his six forty games anymore. He had his schedule late at night He got to watch his grandson play and you took it away from him because you're an asshole. Yeah Because I want to go start a podcast look at me. That's right So you took that away from you said his name is people you call him people. Yeah, Henry, we call him people. So yeah, he was, and you can just see the look in his face. When I told him, he was like, Hey, you know, what are you going to do?

You're going to be done or you keep playing? And I said, no people, I think I'm done. And you can kind of just see the, the sink and his body language that, man, like I don't have a team to follow. I don't have anybody to, to watch every night. So that was tough. What a joy though, to be able to give that gift to the people who love you.

Yeah, it was, and it was so fun because every time we'd come back to Miami to play, you know, all the families out there, and to see them interacting with teammates. My teammates had gotten to know them at certain points and times, the guys that I played a couple years with. So just to have that bond with everybody

after the game in the family room, getting to see everybody bond with teammates, different players, different family members, that's stuff that I'll miss for sure. I got to imagine that the degree of difficulty is something that you're going to miss. There's not going to be anything that resembles that challenge the rest of your life, right? I mean, not that you would think, you know, and baseball, it just kept you guessing the whole time because the game continues to get harder. The pitchers find ways to get better.

They find ways to throw new pitches. So yeah, I don't think there's going to be anything that's this challenging. Maybe there will be if there is, I'm unaware of. It just kept you coming back for more. It kept you hungry. And you never in baseball feel like, man, I got this figured out. I'm good. I can just coast from now. It has to be so strange though,

it really does, to find yourself in a position where nothing that you do the rest of your life will probably ever feel like Yankee Stadium did when it's full of people and you're at the height of conquering the degree of difficulty that you're conquering. Yeah, and you know, I haven't had many, man I miss it moments when opening day happened.

It was the Padres and Dodgers in Korea. I'm watching the game and Manny hits a home run to left field, probably about 500 feet. Hits his bat, he just drops his bat and stares at it and I'm like, okay, I missed that feeling. When you can drop the bat, run around the bases, feel like a superhero, I do miss that feeling. And I don't know if there's ever gonna be a feeling

that can match that, but that was the first time where I'm like, man, this is gonna be different because I'm not gonna experience that kind of feeling anymore. Is there any one of those that tops the initial one at Yankee Stadium, like the one feeling that you associate with, I drop my bet I'm the strongest person in the world? Winning the World Series, I remember standing at first base

and Wilmer Flores was hitting, there was two strikes, and he fouled about three pitches off, and I just kept pinching myself, like we're a one strike away from winning the World Series. And the strike happened, I throw my glove up in the air, scream as loud as I can, and for me, that is a feeling that will never be matched, and that's something that I'll probably

never experience again. It has to be strange to you as well. Just in the lifespan of your career, you've gone from seeing pitchers be nasty. I remember talking to Mike Lowell about this one time, and he's talking about you don't understand the difference between 92 and 96. 92 you're like I'm on it. I'm on it. I'm on it. 96 you're like whoa I got to speed up my bat some but now it's everybody out there throwing a hundred. Everybody. I remember something

there was something that someone came out with said there was over a hundred minor league pitchers throwing over a hundred miles an hour. So the game has certainly gotten tougher. Like we've said, these pitchers, they've found ways to adapt and make their stuff more nasty. There was obviously the sticky stuff that went on throughout a point in time. And that's really where it was like, all right, this is different because I've seen guys I've been facing for four or five years and I know their arsenal well, I know their stuff, I know I can handle them. All of a sudden now they have gotten so much better. I've been facing for four or five years and I know their arsenal well. I know their stuff. I know I can handle them.

All of a sudden now they have gotten so much better. Their arsenal has gotten so much better because they just continue to adapt. They can continue to learn new ways. They continue to learn about their pitches. So the game is not getting any easier. It's a bit of a mind fuck though, to have you aging. So your skills are diminishing some and what keeps replenishing on the mound keeps throwing the ball harder and harder. Like that's a, you, you, you can feel your

window closing. Yes. And you know that you have to now start to that anticipation of that front door to seem that we were talking about. You have to do that a lot more. You have to use your experience to understand, okay, he's going to come with this pitch. You have to use your experience to understand, okay, he's gonna come with this pitch,

I need to cheat a little bit, get going. Cheating meaning, if he releases the ball now, I'm seeing it and go. As soon as he's about to release the ball, I gotta start my go because I can't catch up to it normally. So that is very frustrating. Did you feel the diminishment happening? Like, did you feel, obviously, in your mid-30s,

you're not in your prime anymore. Very few players improve after 30 years old. I think Paul O'Neill is one of the rare ones, but you don't get a lot better after 30 usually. So could you feel it happening? Yeah I felt it this year or that last year in Chicago. I definitely did. The first couple games of the year we're playing in 30 degree weather. We're facing, you know, Corbin Burns and Brandon Rudruff, two of the best in the game.

And like we said, I had to find myself in those opportunities to where, all right, a fast ball's coming here. We gotta swing a little earlier. I gotta know that I gotta anticipate this pitch and cheat a little bit. That's when I was like, okay, it's not as easy as it used to be

to be able to see the ball out of hand, react and swing and go from there. Are you telling anybody or are you alone with it? No, you're alone. You just gotta kind of figure out, that's where you can then lean on some of the older guys, guys with experience. Luckily in Chicago I had a guy like Mike Napoli

who had been through the game, he had been through the later parts of his career and that's the stuff that really helps and it's like alright Maybe now we got to do a little more beforehand on looking up certain tendencies of pitchers So you know when to anticipate those certain pitches when you say it's not as easy as it used to be when was it easiest? Easiest as far as just being able to know I can fire off my a swing and catch up to this velocity I I can see the ball out of hand, make a decision all while pulling off my A swing. That is what I think when you become an older player and you can't work the way you want to work and your body's not

allowing you, you then have to get to that point where you got to anticipate a little too much. But when was it easiest? Like when is it that what's the time period that you're it's never easy, right? It was never, it never felt easy. You were never so confident that it ever felt easy, because surely the game humbles you at every turn. You're not even allowed to feel that, are you? You're never allowed, you can feel like you're hot,

but you're never allowed to feel like it's easy. Never, no, and I think you get to a point in your career where you have enough of a dialogue against a pitcher, that you've faced him enough times that you know what he's gonna attack you with. So that's what I would say that the game has now become a little bit easier in a way that you know what you're gonna see that night.

Whether it's a certain pitch, a cutter, a curve ball that he's gonna continue to throw to you, you know what you have to do in your work leading up to the game because you know what pitches you're gonna see. Do you have another pitcher, not unlike that Rivera story where you're up there and you're like this isn't gonna go well for me like I kind of know this isn't gonna go well for me. Yeah and it's a pitcher that I surprisingly had good numbers off

Chris Sale. Every time I face Chris Sale he's a lefty looks like Randy Johnson he's throwing at you from an angle. The ball looks like it's coming from first base for a lefty. We're facing them opening days in Chicago. It's cold. And I'm just looking at the big board, seeing who you're facing the next day. You see Chris sale tomorrow. You just know it's not going to be an easy day. I've found a way to have some good success off him. I don't know what that was,

but that was a picture where it's like, this is going to be a tough day at the art today. Did you have a lot of teammates or any that you actively disliked, that you had trouble sharing a clubhouse with? No, I got along with pretty much everybody. You know, you're gonna have some moments where, hey, you gotta lock a guy in every now and then,

but never had moments where I'm like, this guy sucks. I don't want anything to do with this guy. I've been fortunate to have some good teammates, some good older guys that have showed me some, you know, good experience and knowledge that I shared with me, and good younger guys that I've gotten to share that knowledge with, and they're hungry, they want to work, and they want to be the best they can be.

What do you do in parenting specifically to do it differently than you felt from your parents? Something, is there anything that you learned not to do from your parents because you didn't like how it felt? That's something I think about a lot. That's something that, you know, I wanna have a open dialogue with my son.

Whether it's, you know, if I ever dated a girl in high school, if I dated a girl outside of, or after high school, I never really told my parents. My parents only knew about Casey, my wife, when we started dating and that was it. So that's the stuff that me with my son, that I'm like, okay, am I gonna have more of an open dialogue here?

Is he gonna be able to talk to me and lean on me about certain things? But that's stuff I go back and forth with each and every day. Why is it that you and your dad didn't talk about that stuff? Or what is it that you're thinking of there that you would have liked to have had?

Just, yeah, like you said, my dad's a hard-nosed, blue-collar guy, he doesn't talk about feelings, he doesn't talk about certain things. Huge fan of your father, by the way, I got to watch him a lot, highly questionable, all that type of stuff. But yeah, it's just a different time, it's a different day and age now.

But did he tell you that he loved you? He told me that he loved me, yeah. Did he tell you he was proud of you? Yeah, he would tell me different time. It's a different day and age now. I think that's- But did he tell you that he loved you? He told me that he loved me, yeah. Did he tell you he was proud of you? Yeah, he would tell me he was proud of me. All right, so you were getting some of that stuff. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I definitely got some of that support. It wasn't completely stoic

where nothing came out of him or nothing. We definitely had those moments where, what's cool now about it, being older, is I can talk to him about anything like that now. To where when I was younger, I really didn't know if I wanted to approach him with certain things. Now we've gotten past that and we feel we really, we can talk about anything. And I think going through that as a kid to now being an adult and being able to share

him stuff as a father of mine or me as a father and him as a grandfather, it's gotten to a really good bond. I will, I will tell you that the stories I remember about are Rafael Palmeiro. And the reason I've mentioned Palmeiro and Conseco is because I'm guessing that this had something to do with why it is that they chose the path of steroids as well. If you have to be so competitive and winning all the time, but Palmeiro's wife would make it after one time he went four for five in Wrigley Field off of Dwight Gooden, and his father called him and told him if you were a real fucking man you would have hit more than singles.

And his wife ended up in a position where she just refused to let her husband answer the phone when her father would call because it would be relentlessly pushing that way. Do you have another story like that one or is that the memorable one where you're like, yeah, he made me tougher, but it also scarred me because I would have liked something a little softer there. Definitely, that's the one specific one

I remember for sure. It's a pretty good one. I didn't think you were gonna top that one, but if you have another, I don't know if it was a perpetual thing because Palmeiro would also say like his father, he'd hit a double off the fence and his father would be like on the cage screaming, like on the back of the, you know, backstop screaming at him because he wanted more from him because

Tammy Ami and flagami are crazy. There was plenty of opportunity or plenty of times, you know, playing down here at old Pasquale park and playing against Latino Americano where those moments did happen stuff got competitive and you know they wanted to bring certain energy out of the players that they wanted to but that's the one specific story I remember I do remember a lot of times my mom just kind of hinting over to him like let's take it easy a little bit you know what I mean. Well both both Palmeiro and Kinseko articulated well I'm grateful for it and I thought to myself okay you can be grateful for

it but that also seems excessive like you might have been able to accomplish some of the same things there are other ways to do that that's not the only way to get to success but it doesn't sound like you harbor anything in the way of anything other than gratitude for the way that you were raised, pushed, sculpted. Absolutely. And it's something that I continue to look back on. I'm like, man, I get it now. I understand certain lessons.

I understand certain things, why they were handled a certain way. So yeah, I'm definitely appreciative of it. But at the same time, like we're saying, I want to be the same. And then I want to also take it a step further and understand how to have that line of communication with my son at that age and not wait till later on in life. Anything else you want the people to know about Eric's new podcast is digging deep. It's part of the Moonball Media empire. He has a new show out every Wednesday.

You listen and subscribe wherever it is that you get your podcast. What else would you like people to know about that? I can't wait to bring a certain perspective, a certain insight to the game. When we say player-driven media, I have a lot of respect for a lot of the media world in baseball and how they cover the game. For now, what I want to do is give that player side,

that unique perspective of, hey, this is what I'm seeing throughout the game. This is the way I'm seeing this situation being handled. I think what's unique about my situation as well is it's a company that I'm in on with Anthony Ceratelli, my business partner, but there's no restrictions. I get to say what I want to say. I get to explain the way I want to explain it.

I don't have to be guarded in a certain way. And that's certain things that everything you've done in your career and the way you've handled certain opportunities, I really admire and look up to because you've done it the way you want to do it and I think that's the the goal of mine is to continue to do this the way I want to do it and just try and share the game that we all love and baseball is is a game that a lot of people watch daily and if I can bring my insight or any kind of unique perspective that helps somebody I

want to do that in any way. Appreciate the time, appreciate the insight, appreciate the perspective, and I will tell the audience, appreciate that throughout your career, you were a pillar of professionalism, no matter what those assholes wrote about in San Diego, calling you a clubhouse cancer. I think everybody regards you as somebody who was a pillar of professionalism,

so thank you for sharing your story with us here. Absolutely, thanks for having me Dan, appreciate you. Likewise.