Welcome to the Complete Game Podcast, where we're all about baseball with Ethan Dungan, owner of Glovehound Baseball glove repair Shop, Rick Finley, founder of MDNI Baseball Academy, and the creator of George Foster Baseball, the MVP himself, Reds hall of Famer George Foster.

I'm your host, Greg Dungan.

Now let's talk baseball.

All right, fellas, welcome to episode seven.

All right, all right, we're here.

Ready to go.

Rock and roll.

It's here to stay.

Looking forward to.

To our time today.

Talking about.

Talking about teammates and team chemistry.

Today, before we get started, I want to remind everybody that you can find the podcast on just about every place you would go to listen to podcasts anywhere.

If you want a good list of the major ones, you can see it at the top of our website, complete game podcast.com.

but you can find it on Apple Podcasts and iHeartRadio and AM and Spotify and all those normal places.

So you can also find us on YouTube.

If you just search the Complete Game podcast, you can find us on YouTube and every episode is up there as well.

So.

And you can follow us on Facebook.

We post the episodes on Facebook.

So just search Complete Game Podcast, and we'd love to have you over at the Facebook page.

So.

All right, get on board.

Let's get started.

So today we're going to start with our name five.

And we're just going to go around each person.

Give one at a time this time.

Oh, my God, I'm glad.

Oh, man, I'm first.

Thank you.

Yeah, poor George, he just.

He gets them.

I got plenty.

We should let him go.

He gets the raw end of the stick every time we do.

You're not going to let him go first?

I think.

I think next time we need to write him down in advance and put him in a hat.

That's what we should.

I think we do that.

That'll be episode eight right there.

Yes.

Okay, so today we're gonna name five things that great teammates do to help the club.

And George, you can go first.

Five things first.

Oh, this is precious.

I really wanted Rick to go first.

Well, I have so many.

The main one, I think, is support.

Being support one another on and off the field, and especially on the field, if a guy doesn't get a hit or makes an error, you know, pat him on the back and say, don't do it again.

So it's okay.

We'll make up for it.

But being able to support your teammates, I mean, we were great with the Reds, but we didn't have to Say anything.

It's just the body language.

If I didn't drive in the runs with just seldom, then Tony Perez, he knew that he was going to do it.

So you trusted that trust factor was there.

But it came from you knowing that, you knowing what the guy can do.

And I just.

I label that as being support.

Cool.

Rick, what you got?

Team chemistry.

As far as the youth and travel, baseball, select baseball.

End of it.

Team chemistry would be by leading through exercises.

That's creating team chemistry.

You know, when kids come in and they know what to expect and they get right to it and they might have a.

One of the kids or there are several kids that once you set that standard and kids know what to do, then you create that teen chemistry.

And I found that to work really well.

Ooh, ooh, I got another one.

I can't wait till my turn again.

Me too.

And I got.

You took my first one, so I had to.

You got what I need?

Yes, Ethan, what do you got?

Alrighty.

So my first one and a lot of these other ones kind of fall underneath it, but my first one is lead by example.

Because if you want your teammates to be good teammates, you have to first be a good teammate.

And anybody can model that.

You don't have to be the best player on the team to model what it means to be a good teammate.

So just for every player to take that leadership opportunity upon themselves and take the responsibility of being a good teammate on themselves goes a long way.

Cool.

My first one is show up prepared.

Have.

That's.

No, that's two.

Have your gear in.

Show up.

Show up is one and prepare.

No dope.

That was one of mine.

Well, you can't do it if you don't show up.

That's kind of a no.

Yeah, that's it.

Show up.

But when you say show up and prepare, be prepared.

It.

It takes the bubble out.

I mean, the power out of it.

You say show up.

There you go.

There it is.

Show up.

All right.

So, yeah, the idea that you got your gear in order, you got your game plan going on in your head, you've got, you know, you know what's going on, and you're not rushing around, driving everybody crazy doing something the last minute you are there and you're ready to go and ready to hit the field when you're supposed to, that was good.

Okay, George, we're back to you.

Oh, back to me already.

That was fast.

I was.

I would show up when, man, I wanted.

That was show up.

He didn't say it right.

He just show up, show up, show out.

No role.

Knowing your role on the ball club and with the Reds market, make sure that everybody knew their role.

Of course, you had the big eight, the starting eight, they know where they're going to be their role and but a guy who's going to pinch hit, pitch, run, going for defense, they got to know you, you got to know his, the role and but I use your word to being prepared for your role.

And when a situation comes up, a right hander's out there and you're left handed, B or hitter, you being ready.

So know your role on the ball club and, and that back to what Rick had said, that brings that chemistry working as a team.

Let me ask you something.

Did, did people know that they might end up pinch hitting prior to the game?

Did they ever get any, any prior notice like, hey, be ready, I might use you today.

Or was it just they knew from the past, from history.

But Sparky would tell George Sugar, George Sugar mainly that, okay, be ready.

Yes.

So, so he comes and let.

Okay, you're going to go in for defense.

Okay.

So you're, he's giving you that, that warning that you, when you were going to come about or someone say Bob Bailey at the time, if he gets a hit, you're going to pinch run for him.

So you get your legs loose.

Don't go out there and pull a muscle because you weren't loose.

Get your legs loose.

Right.

Okay, cool.

Rick, what's your next one?

All right, so again, talking about creating team chemistry is help put up equipment.

You know, if you're indoor or whatever, if your, your team is doing indoor, help put out, put up equipment.

One of the things I see, even in the academy, I see certain teams that the coaches are doing and then the players ready to get their stuff and run out the door.

And sometimes I have to catch them.

It's like, no, this is, this is your practice.

The coaches don't do that.

You do that as a, as a team and make them accountable, make kids accountable.

And that's how you create team chemistry and do it together.

Not the coaches doing it, not just the rookies, everybody.

Well, I want to bring that up though, because a lot of times, especially in high school programs, it gets pushed on the younger kids.

But to have those upperclassmen lead by example, it helps the program as a whole rather than just the individual players.

So, yeah, it does.

Cleaning up equipment is on mine as well.

Yes.

What was your next one?

My next one.

Now that it is my.

Okay, I didn't add one.

I was just your dad.

It's on your side.

Let's see, my number three or.

Well, number three on my list.

But my second one here is control your emotions.

Oh, talk about things that great teammates do to help.

I second that emotion.

There you go.

But to come in the Duck, you know, everybody, baseball is a game of failure.

You're not going to do, you know, get it right 100% of the time, but to come in there and throw your stuff and, you know, make a big fuss all over, you know, one strikeout, I mean, that ruins the chemistry right there, and it just sucks all the momentum out of the game.

It sucks the momentum out of the practice.

And it's really kind of selfish because it just draws the attention to you rather than the team, so.

And give power to the other team because they know that you're upset, that.

They'Re in your head.

So that's a huge one for me, is controlling your emotions.

That's an excellent point.

And on the backside of that, picking up your teammates when things don't go well.

Yeah.

So the idea that, you know, somebody comes in there, you can tell they're frustrated, something didn't go well, and, you know, maybe they made a bonehead move running the bases, or they, you know, they.

They really wanted to get a hit, they struck out or they, whatever they did, you got a pitcher who's getting shelled and he's in between innings, and, you know, things just aren't going well to.

Rather than.

Than just let them stew, go over there and pick them up, you know, go over there and see if you've seen something that would help them.

You know, I've seen, you know, I saw that this happened.

You might, you might try this differently next time or.

Hey, man, I know how.

I know how it feels.

I've been there with you.

You'll get it next time.

No big deal.

Pick your teammates up, be their support.

That makes a big difference.

But I like what you said about body language when your first one is, you know, even if, you know, maybe you are.

Maybe you are over that day, but don't be, you know, head down, kind of slumping around in the field.

Yeah.

I mean, it's.

It's your responsibility to.

To bring your all.

And.

And body language is part of emotions.

Very good.

I second that.

Okay, George, this one, when you talk about picking up your teammate with Bly Levin, he, of course pitched for Minnesota as a Hall of Famer and pitched some for the Pirates.

Boo.

And so he.

He had Hit given up a home run his first, first game.

So the pitching coach came out there and Bly Laburn think that he's going to say something encouraging.

And this is the way the pitching coach talked to me.

He said, don't worry about it.

This is not going to be the last home run you're going to give up.

So that was encouraging.

Oh, I didn't, I don't.

I'm not going to go through my career not giving up a home run.

But going with the guy, forget his.

Anyway, I go with communication is the word.

And you want to be able to communicate out on the field, especially on the field and especially in the outfield because you don't want to collide and someone gets hurt.

But you got to make sure you communicate because the center fielder or the shortstop, usually center fifth or shortstop and catcher, they're in control out there.

And I leave it to Dronwald, you know, if he, any ball he can catch, let him catch.

And whoever's playing center field at the time, they're in charge.

But I see a lot of guys, a guy who's played center playing left or right and they, they forget what position they're in.

So you have that collision.

But I had one only one time, Geronimo.

We almost collided, but I spoke since I could speak Spanish, I told him a piece of my mind.

I let him know.

But I was going to use it.

Jim Palmer, when I talk about home runs, this guy never did give up a grand slam.

Because even if see the guy who's basic load and a power hitters up, he may walk that guy to get somebody else who's not going to hit a grand snap.

So he's proud of the fact that he hadn't given up a grand slam in his career.

But communication is the word and he.

Was tough in that 77 all star.

Ah, why you had to bring that?

I shouldn't even mention that.

Well, but the other thing.

Oh, not just.

Yes, number 78.

You didn't see the 7.

Yeah, good.

So yeah, 77.

The other interesting thing from there you were talking about communication the outfield.

That was.

There was one play I watched because I just watched it last night.

I saw it where you were out there and Parker and he comes over and he caught the ball like reached up over your head, right.

You were like, okay, showing me up.

But he was just so darn big.

He was just reaching, reach into the sky to catch that fly ball.

It was kind of funny.

I tied his shoes later on.

I cannot imagine what it would have been like to collide with a man that big.

That would have been.

I may not be here today.

Rick.

What you got, my last one is respect the coaches.

And that's huge.

Yeah.

And umpires.

Absolutely.

That's huge right there.

We've got.

We in a era where that.

It's me, me, me.

And sometimes when coaches are trying to develop and try to teach a player something, I've seen it again in the academy.

I've seen a kid just walk away from a coach.

And I think we mentioned this about a couple episodes before and I mentioned the kid's name.

I said, man, you don't do that.

Man, you're gonna.

Would you do that to your, your, your parents?

You know, if they tell you to do something, just walk away.

Say you do.

You don't do that to your coaches.

Right.

And respect your coaches.

That goes a long way.

Well, coach coaches are part of the ball club too.

It's.

It's more than just the kids out there.

So team chemistry definitely involves the coaches.

Can't overlook that.

But even if you disagree what the coach has to say, you know, don't show them up.

Don't show them up.

And I mean, that's not good.

We talk about chemistry.

It's not good for the chemistry of the team.

And now they.

Now you.

You downgraded or the coach and don't.

Well, back to not respecting the coach.

What he has to say and say, even though it's not what you agree with, but just walk away and, and deal with it.

But body language and how you, how you deal with the situation.

The other, other guys, oh, he doesn't respect the coach and they let them get away with it.

That trickles down.

Yeah, it'll trickle down to.

Then parents start to voice their.

But a good example for me is that the kid was disrespect or the other part we didn't add is disrespecting the parent.

Yeah.

And so the kid said something to the parent.

I said, okay, until you apologize, you're out of the game.

And he looked at me like, yeah, we're.

I'm gonna be out of.

Yeah, you're out of game.

Here's a seat space right here on, on the, on the bench.

But I didn't like the fact that Howie, his parent, you know, took the time to came bring him to the game and give that support.

But yet he's going to yell at if it's dad maybe did that again get him later on, but it was the mom.

So I Said, no, we don't do that around here.

Right?

Yeah, that was, that's important.

My turn, let's see, mine is be humble and don't be above correction.

You know, even I like that.

Even if you are the best player on the team, you know, don't be, don't be so high and mighty that, that you're not going to take instruction or constructive criticism from anybody else because you can always be better.

And, you know, maybe one of the kids whose batting average isn't as high as yours or who doesn't throw as hard, maybe he notices something.

And don't be unwilling to, to take.

That advice along the lines of respecting your coaches in your umpires and your parents.

One of the things that I've learned in the years that we've been working in marketing with, with companies is that there's a difference between a company where the boss works, says that someone works for them versus someone works with them.

Like here.

My wife and I own a childcare center here in the building.

And we love our people.

They're amazing people.

They work with us, not for us.

Right.

Okay.

They have a job to do that is very specific and they do it amazingly well, and I am very thankful for them to do that job.

Leslie and I have a different job.

We just have different responsibilities.

We're responsible for different stuff, but yet we're all on the same team.

Your coach has his own responsibilities.

The umpire has his own responsibilities.

Your parents have their own responsibilities.

And just because you don't see eye to eye doesn't mean that you are equal in all of your responsibility.

And you need to respect that and appreciate.

Yeah, be great, be grateful.

Because they got, you know, you wouldn't necessarily do so well in their shoes if you had to swap places.

So, you know, it's one of those things where they appreciate you, you appreciate them.

It tends to go around pretty well.

My next one is.

It's an old, it's an old Elvis thing.

It's tcb, is take care of business.

Taking care of business off the field.

So take care of your business off the field.

That's a lot of different things.

One, that's, that's your workout.

That's your preparation.

That's, you know, if you're going to go over your, you know, maybe study some hitters, maybe go over scouting report, maybe it's your personal practice every day.

It's, it's the skills you're working on, it's going to your private teacher.

It's, you know, getting your swings in Getting your, throwing your bullpens, doing your things, get your stuff done off the field because the team depends on you having done that when you show up, they need the benefit that you gained from doing all that personal workout stuff on the field, and so they need you to do that.

The other thing is just, you know, also just your behavior and the things that you do.

You know, we've talked about there.

There are guys in the bigs who had a ton of talent and just couldn't get it together with their decision making off the field.

Right.

And that's tragic when that happens.

One of your responsibilities to your teammates is to handle yourself and take care of business off the field.

Don't be bringing undue publicity to the team.

Don't be bringing undue, you know, struggle.

When you're a youth player, that could be, you know, don't bring, if you're, if your girlfriend is mouthy, don't bring her to the.

No, don't bring her to the game.

I'm just teasing.

But that's true.

That's true.

Yeah.

The biggest thing is, you know, take care of your business off the field and be ready.

Don't.

Don't make your, your team and your coach have to handle your life.

But that word behavior, I like that you said everything, sugarcoated everything, which is great.

But when you talk about off the field, we talk about, you read about some of these players have getting in trouble in a bar or having a fight, and that's back to, you know, being in control.

Somebody's heckling you and you don't.

Because you didn't do well that day on the game, in the game.

Don't, don't carry it over to that situation.

But my favorite story is I'm well with the Mets.

So there a road going towards Shea Stadium and a road going towards Long Island.

So the guy to my left, he had given me the finger, and so I didn't want to return, you know, giving the same gesture.

So what I did, I stayed close to him, made him go to Long island, which, which I knew he wanted to go towards Shea Stadium.

And I said, there's a different way to do this.

That's my.

When I'm.

When I'm driving and somebody's riding my, Riding my bumper rather than brake.

Check.

I do windshield wipers.

So I do the turn the.

Turn the cleaner on so that it sprays on and it runs through your windshield wiper fluid.

But it's a lot safer than brake checking Somebody.

Oh, well, someone behind you to give you the bright light.

So I move over and let them get past me.

Then I get behind them, give them the bright lights.

Driving tips with George Foster.

Yes.

Be careful.

Oh, goodness.

All right, George, what else is on your list?

I have.

Which is.

It starts with Charlie.

Charlie Hustle.

Being hustle.

When you're on, when you're on the field, it doesn't take any talent to hustle.

I, I find guy I had guys, I said, you gotta hustle out there.

They're walking out there.

And the unfortunate thing, I had only had nine guys and he would have been willing.

Would had eight if I had taken him out of the game.

But I tell him one of my pet peeves you being being on time and, and, and hustle.

And like I said, it doesn't take any time to hustle.

You want to hustle on and off the field, it's not only give that energy to your team, but now the fans saying, this guy's hustling.

And before I knew that he was on a ped.

Sammy Sosa was always hustling.

And.

But he set a good example.

And I just tell kids, you know, or your legs okay, if you're not okay, I'll take you out of the game.

No, I'm okay.

Okay, let's run out there.

And so hustle is a word that really stand out.

And Pete Rose bring that to mind.

You know, he made that popular hustling on a walk.

Here's a guy running the first on a walk.

Yeah, well, I mean in the, in the 76 All Star Game, he gets on, on first base, on it, on a single.

And the next, the next hit, he's, he's at home.

Like he didn't, he never even thought about stopping.

He was second, third, and dove into home, you know, and, and, and made it safe, scored the first run.

So, you know, that was, that was pretty cool.

We got Rick cleaning up dugouts, man after a game, making sure that everybody, you know, put your water bottles, throw them away, trash seeds, which really can't on turf fields anymore.

But just cleaning up, man, it's just.

Back to that word respect.

Right?

Well, it's respecting yourself, respect your own.

Space and what it does example for the team.

So people like, oh man, thank you for cleaning up the dugout.

There's been times where our guys sweep.

Swept out the dugouts, push the dirt out and things like that for the next team to come in.

So that's just respect part.

Yeah.

My last one here is take responsibility for your mistakes.

That was another pet Peeve of mine is, guys, guys strike out and then they come in a dugout complaining, blame it on something else.

And I'm like, you're the one that missed the pitch or you're the one that watched.

You know, don't blame the umpire, don't blame the pitcher.

Just take responsibility for it and move on.

You know, if you, you boot a ball in the infield, don't blame it on the dirt.

Just own it and move on.

It's not that hard, but because when you, when you're not willing to do that, it just drags it.

And then now it's everybody's error.

Now it's everybody's strikeout.

And, and it's.

That's harmful to team chemistry.

We don't want to hear it.

Yes.

The last one I had was, if you're going to, if you're going to correct a teammate, do it one on one and do it quietly.

Yeah.

Do it firmly.

You've been reading my notes.

I'm just saying, mean business.

Don't, don't.

Don't be afraid of the confrontation.

But if you gotta call somebody side, say, hey, man, that wasn't cool.

Right.

Don't do it in front of everybody because that.

Now if you call them out in front of everybody, now they gotta save face and look tough.

Right.

If you call them up, if you go one on one, they don't have to save face with anybody because it's just the two of you.

And they can easily go eliminate that embarrassment.

Yeah.

They can just say, all right, man, sorry about that.

Yeah, big deal.

And then everything's cool.

But, yeah, have some class.

And don't do that in front of everybody.

Yeah, Yeah, I like that.

Because you don't have to show him up, you know, show that you're, you're, you're, you're.

You're the boss or you want.

You're the one who's going to correct everybody.

But I've had Bobby Bonds would say to me, you know, you're better than that.

Right away I knew that something I'm not doing correctly if I'm not hustling.

I should have taken a better at bat.

But right there, it's so succinct.

It's precise.

Everything's right there.

It's not saying, well, you're not.

You're not really helping the team today.

Yeah.

You just said, we don't do that.

Or you're better than that, so to speak.

So you finished the season last year exhausted from all the travel and the tournaments.

And you tossed your gear in a bag where it's been sitting all winter.

Now you're ready for another year.

But your favorite glove that fits just right is an error waiting to happen.

The leather is dry, the laces are brittle, and this year you're on a new team with new colors.

And it sure would be cool if it matched well.

Wouldn't it be great if you had a glove guy who could help you out with that?

You do.

His name is Ethan, and he owns Glovehound baseball glove repair shop in Fairfield, Ohio.

Just contact him@glovehound.com and upload pictures of your glove.

He'll give you a call back to talk it over, and then you can send it in for a repair, relays, recondition, whatever you need.

If you're in the area, you can even just stop by the shop.

That way you don't have to bother with shipping.

And a lot of times, he can even fix it while you wait.

Rawlings, Wilson, Mizuno, All Star, Nakona, he's seen them all.

And he's helped players at all levels, from beginners to pros.

Last year, he worked on a glove that Jose Trevino used in the World Series.

And he can help you, too.

You can find Glovehound on Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and on the web@glovehound.com you're only going to get busier.

So reach out today and give your glove the love it deserves at Glovehound.

All right, fellas, we're going to move on, to move on to the main thing, and we're going to talk about mainly how to build this, how to build this chemistry and what to do with it.

You guys have had, especially George, you and Rick have had the.

The opportunity to be on some championship teams at differing levels as coaches, as players.

You've had a lot of different experience on and off the field with this kind of stuff.

And so curious as to how, how you learned to do that, like, who taught you to be a great teammate.

It started with.

It started with really Willie Mays talking to.

It's a situation of Willie Mays taught Bobby Bonds and Bobby Bonds.

I was his responsibility, so whoever else came would be my responsibility.

So Bobby let me know what we.

We do out here.

And.

And right away you're knowing, you know, to be in line so you don't have to have a coach telling you what to do.

So through Bobby Bonds, I learned a lot about the game and how to carry yourself, like Ethan was saying earlier, how to carry yourself out there.

And if you strike out.

Don't throw the bat, throw the helmet.

We don't.

Things like that.

And no cursing or swearing, things as such.

So you let it.

Letting you know right away what you need to do.

Don't miss curfew.

You gotta be curfew.

And making sure that when you go out for spring training, go out to conditioning, you know, actually put your work in and not just go out there and go through the motion because you're representing the team.

You gotta be ready for that.

So Bobby Von stands out in my mind.

You know, you were.

You were talking about no cursing and swearing.

This is, this is interesting.

This sort of.

The idea that that's proper behavior has kind of gone out the window.

Right.

Society is more acceptable, which drives me crazy.

I always taught Ethan that there are three reasons why people.

Why people curse and swear.

They're either ignorant, they don't know a better word to use.

Their.

Lazy.

They're lazy.

They.

They just don't bother to choose a better word.

Or they're out of control and they're so gone that they did another word can't pop into their head.

And so don't ever be ignorant, lazy, or out of control.

Express yourself clearly and, you know, have some class.

Well, that goes for players and coaches because those, Those words hold weight.

And when they're uttered on a baseball field, it draws attention and it just, it really.

That can really suck the life out of the game and take a lot of the fun out of it.

Well, I know for me, a coach or anyone use profanity towards me.

It's like I'm turned off.

You know, I don't.

I don't hear what you're saying.

I'm walking away.

There's a better way to explain a situation than using profanity.

And with kids, it's the same thing, you know, make sure.

Nope, we don't say that here.

You may say it someplace else, but not here.

Yeah, there's a.

I think there's a real benefit to bringing that back as being something that is classic, that's classy and.

And immature and manly.

Sure.

For me, who taught me to be a great teammate, I.

It's a combination of a lot of people from friends to my neighborhood and family, of course.

Family.

Because you're competing all the time, so.

Well, when you have a hundred brothers and sisters.

Yeah, right.

Youngest out of a lot of double digits, you know, because being the youngest out of double digits, you learn how to be a great teammate.

You know, how to compete and everything.

But normally it Was probably had good coaches, good teammates, neighborhood, and we always competed against, no matter the sport.

It could be basketball, football, baseball.

Just learned how to get jacks.

Hopscotch.

Yeah.

Jump rope.

Yeah.

Anything bad, it just taught you to compete, be a good teammate, learn how to win or lose with pride and marbles.

Dignity.

Forgot about marbles, man.

Yeah, marbles.

Yeah.

But.

But that, that's basically that for me.

Yeah.

I'll have to.

I'll have to hand it to you, Dad.

I mean, it was.

It was something that was, you know, instilled into me at an early age, and it was framed to me how to be a good employee.

But, you know, that translates to the field as well.

But it was show up on time, work hard and don't complain.

And if you do the.

If you do those four things, you really can't go wrong.

And you're not going to rub anybody the wrong way, you know, if you show up and give it your all.

But really just taking.

Taking responsibility for myself as a person outside the game translates to inside the game.

And I could definitely.

I could definitely think of times that, you know, me just working hard and trying to, you know, organize my stuff, be cleanly and go about my.

My game a certain way rubbed off on.

On my teammates.

So just living it outside, you know, makes it way easier to translate it to.

To inside the game.

Well, and.

And I in turn, have to throw that to my dad because there you go.

That's where, you know, I learned things like respect and, you know.

Yeah.

Disrespect was not an option.

That wasn't something I had to correct.

You know, my mom had a left.

My.

My dad taught us early on, you don't throw.

You don't throw your gear.

You don't.

You don't mouth off.

You don't.

I mean, that is the quickest way to get.

To get a reprimand real fast.

Like, he would not.

I.

I guarantee you he would not have hesitated to come jerk me right off of that bench and deal with me in the middle of a game.

So, I mean, it was just.

There was no playing around when it came to that stuff.

I mean, my dad had a lot of.

A lot of patience and a lot of.

A lot of grace for you.

Worked hard, you tried, you didn't make it, you gave it a good effort, you failed, those kinds of things.

But when it came to no, you knew better.

You could have just behaved and you didn't.

Right.

There's no right.

There's a choice.

Better choice to make.

Yeah.

Yeah, but like you said, I know I had said Bobby Bonds, but my mom was always there, always supportive and said she would say never give up, you know, no matter what transpired.

But she used the phrase, I don't know if Rick remembered, don't take any wood nickels.

Oh, yeah.

You know, I mean, don't just take things, you know, at face value.

Face value.

You know, check it out.

You got to do some research.

And I don't know how many times I heard that, that expression, but I know before our Reds game starts, when she's at the game, we know that she has her megaphones.

She's telling their, telling the pitchers, strike them out, pop them up.

So I said, well, it's like playing the national anthem.

We knowing that, okay, it's time to play.

Yeah, yeah, well, and that's, you know, we were also raised to respect that as well.

You know, you're gonna, we'll play the national anthem.

Going to hold you, you can take your hat off.

You stand there and be respectful.

You know, you.

It was important to, to respect the elements of the game that were, that were classic America.

And you know, America has not always been the kindest place to everybody in every situation, but it's hard, you'd be hard pressed to find a better country on the planet.

So, you know, be thankful that you're here.

What about with, what about with regard to coaches early on in your, in your playing career?

Like, yes, even, even like college?

I know you played a little bit in college, played some minors.

You played some things like that.

Like, so what are, what are some, some things maybe that you, that you've learned about being teammates.

Okay, so I remember I was 13.

I can.

And this is how I really love coaching.

And for some reason, I don't know if I aged out with my friends, but I couldn't, I couldn't play this summer.

So the guy asked me to be assistant coach.

And from there on that's where coaching.

Because we were already doing things in our neighborhood, you know, we would have football games and we have four, you know, we'll play against each other.

Street man.

We used to have playbooks and stuff and that's how smart we were.

And precocious.

Yes.

And so look, that, that's how we, that's how we develop, you know, our players and stuff.

So what was the question again?

I kind of lost.

Who taught you how to be a good teammate?

Okay, so that.

So.

So actually one of the coaches did.

He taught me how to coach, but also how to be A good teammate.

And in our coaches then was pretty.

They were tough.

They wouldn't, like, I don't know, youth coaches then, man, they make you run.

They.

I mean, punishment.

Yeah, man, they.

But they were tough, but they were loving.

You know what I'm saying?

They got the best out of you.

So I can remember coming along and having guys who would, you know, like you.

You get going up to bat and they're like, okay, look, what we need you to do is just hit the ball anywhere.

Like, we got a guy in scoring position.

What we need is contact.

We need you to hit that ball.

So I'm, you know, I needed to go up there not thinking about what's the best thing for my stats, what's the best thing for my situation, how do I come out looking the best here?

I needed to go, look, I just need to put the ball.

Ball and play, you know, this side of second base.

Because there's a guy on third.

If I can just put it somewhere over here on the right side and get him in, it doesn't matter if I'm out, because there's only one out.

I'll.

We'll survive it, but we need to get him in.

Right.

And so a good teammate does things like bunt and sacrifice and.

And things that the team needs.

Needs him to do.

And I.

I had coaches that would.

That would.

Would teach us that and say, look, what I need from you right now is this.

Okay, great.

You know, that's.

That's my job, you know, or it's 90 degrees and it's a Saturday and we got a double header and the other kid turned his ankle, and you got to catch two in a row.

So I just.

I need you to guzzle some water and go back out there.

Okay, sure.

No problem.

You know, that's just what we do.

Yeah.

One of the things that always was a big deal for me when that.

That coaches could do to help was giving players responsibility.

And that was the first thing you had mentioned was.

Was helping create that routine so that players have that autonomy.

Yeah.

But anytime that.

That we would get to coach bases or umpire our own practices or we were the ones throwing soft toss to each other.

I mean, nobody likes bad soft toss, so you're gonna get that.

You're gonna get that feedback immediately, and.

You better figure out a bunch.

Yeah, right.

They playing games.

Exactly.

So.

So that was.

That was always awesome.

And forces it.

What.

It puts you in the coach's shoes.

It puts you in umpire shoes, and it humbles you and makes you Realize, you know, it is a little harder than you think.

And it brings, it brings that accountability.

You know, getting to, getting to experience that and participate in it.

And definitely, definitely helps with chemistry.

And that's something that the coaches, you know, give to the players.

You know, when, when they're, when you're told what to do all the time, it, it's not as fun.

Right, right.

And you don't gain the same understanding.

Talking at you versus growth.

Yeah, you don't have that growth.

No.

Well, it doesn't.

You don't develop the, the leadership structure within the team.

That was the one thing that, you know, go back to the, to the, the, the 77 year after they, when they trade Perez.

Now you've changed the leadership way that it works.

You've changed who does what.

You've changed up.

And not that in Dan Driessen was a fine player and put up fine numbers, but he wasn't Tony Perez.

And so when you, when you take a person out of that situation, you've affected the dynamic.

Yes, for true.

But that was.

No, they didn't realize the importance of a Tony Perez on the team, realizing that he was the catalyst until he was no longer there.

And I mean, like you say, Danny had a great year, but I haven't asked him this.

I was wondering if how much pressure he felt because people said, well, now you're taking Tony Perez, but you're not really taking Tony Perez's place.

You're getting a chance to play.

Right.

And he would have done if he were there.

Say like Lou Gehrig comes in, but Wally Pip decided to get sick.

But in this case, Danny came in, did a great job and Lou Gehrig did an outstanding job.

But it's one of those situations that chemistry changed.

But now you had to, like you used the word dynamic.

It changed in the meantime.

Now who's responsible, putting it more so you're in that more responsible position.

Instead of batting six, now you're batting fifth.

So you're looking, looking at a guy who looked at driving RBIs.

Because Tony average 90 plus RBI is over 10 years.

That's something.

Yeah, that's commendable.

And that's how I learned how to, along with my brother, learn how to focus on what's more important.

Driving in that run with two outs, two strikes.

I want to be the guy to do that.

Yes.

Well, go ahead.

I wanted to just add something real quick, talking about team chemistry.

And this is at the college level.

Okay.

So a lot of people don't.

And it doesn't matter what level you are on, because what happens is when you get to the college level and you don't play, guess what?

It works on you mentally.

You know, you got to go through the grind of practice.

You got to work out still.

You got to still be a supportive teammate.

So I have this young lady, her name is Joni.

Give her a plug real quick.

And she's, she's a freshman in college and she hasn't played in about four games or so.

And so one day she sent me a video of her hitting and stuff and asked me, okay, what's the, what's going on here?

And I told her.

So now they're down in Florida.

Currently, he's got about eight games.

So she finally gets in.

Okay, she's got two hits now, two of her first college hits.

And so one of the things I told her is that I think I told her mom that I said college.

And I posted, I said, college athletics is hard and it will test you mentally.

If you don't play a lot as a freshman, you got to keep working, keep grinding and be ready when your number is called, you know, and, and continue to be a good teammate because it will wear on you.

And, you know, and then that's why people transfer and stuff.

Yeah.

Go to the portal and stuff.

And it's a, it's a grind.

So team chemistry and understanding, like George was saying, understanding your role and be ready when the time when your number is called.

That's a lot with team chemistry, because he could break down and, and then once somebody said, oh, they're not playing me, and then it festers throughout the whole team complaining, complaints.

Yeah, they call it being a cancer to the team.

Being a cancer to the team.

And it happens a lot at the high school levels and stuff because I think that what happens in select travel baseball, you have only.

Well, at the younger ages, you got about 11 to 12 on themselves.

So they playing a lot, you know, even if they're not starting, they playing a lot.

Everybody's got a role now.

Once you get to 14, 15 in high school and you get to high school and you find out what your role is.

And there's 20 guys and there's 20.

Something guys that you got to fight for.

So you got to find out, okay, where you fit in at and stuff.

And you've, you experienced that and, and you gotta find your role, you know, because you don't know what the coach's philosophy is and how he does things and things.

And that's.

And I think that's.

That could get to a kid, you know.

Sure.

Yeah, yeah, that.

And get to a kid and make them feel like, oh, man, I'm not.

Saying the coach who doesn't like me.

Yes.

But you know that.

So I see both sides of it really do.

Well, I had two things to that.

Number one, especially in a high school or a college program and even the pros, it's the older guy's job to set that tone and teach the younger guys, because those freshmen don't know anything, and you can't blame them for that.

You know, they're coming off, you know, this.

The field just got bigger, you know, like, there's a lot of adjustment to do.

You got to have patience with that.

Yeah, but I like what you're saying about being a.

Being that role player that's waiting for the opportunity rather than, you know, thinking about, oh, I haven't gotten my chance, or, oh, you know, rather than, you know, being a downer.

Look at it.

It's your.

You're still a part of the team.

You're still wearing that jersey.

You have a responsibility to.

To have a good morale, you know, in the clubhouse, in the dugout, in the weight room.

Yeah.

Because if you don't, it's gonna.

It's gonna affect other players.

So I like the idea of even if you're not playing all the time, you're still a big part of that team.

There you go.

There you go.

Well, and let's.

Let's talk about another thing that affects that, too.

So we've talked about things that affect team chemistry, like selfishness and laziness or not being in control of yourself and.

And all these kinds of things.

But then there are things that are going to be out of your control, too, like turnover.

Yeah.

So if, you know, in your case, you were on a different team every year.

Yeah, that was hard.

And that's hard because you come in the door and you don't know everybody.

You might know one or two guys.

You don't know the coach.

Coach doesn't know you.

And you've got three months that you got to figure all this out and play.

And, you know, and.

And.

And then we're not.

A lot of times we're not practicing because it's hard to get a field or it's hard to find a place or it's.

What.

And even.

Even when the coach really means well and is working hard to try and make it happen, it's a hard thing to do in a very short period of time.

With a brand new crop of kids every time you turn around.

So that could be a real struggle.

I mean, just look at.

Let's go back to, Back to the 77 Reds.

You look at, okay, you guys had a lot of pitching turnover in one year.

So, you know, you, you get McEnany leaves and.

Gully was the main one had left a starter.

Yeah.

Each week.

No, no Zachary path starters right there.

So it changed the mindset.

Now you said, well, we just lost 12 victories because Zachary had won 12 games.

So now you bring a Tom Seaver over.

Okay.

But even if he wants 30 games is still.

I mean, he had to win 30 games to really make up for not having a bad Zachary.

So it put me more responsibility on him.

And now everybody's relying on, oh, when Tom's not pitching, you know, with Johnny saying said play for rain if.

Certain.

Guys are not pitching, you know, pay play for rain.

Well, and you know, you get, you traded out Perez and what you got a couple of pitchers for Perez.

One of those big Woody Fryman who was in the later years of his career.

So you're getting a veteran, right, who may not have the same performance on the field, but you're getting veteran in the clubhouse.

So how does that offset.

Well, I was going to say now you, you bringing in someone you're not sure he has that winning attitude.

And even though you're a good athlete, but do you have that winning attitude?

And I just knowing that he came over, when you come over for a guy like a Perez, now there's more pressure there again.

So every time he goes out there, he feel that he has to be perfect.

And so now we brought a relief pitcher over and he wanted to put him in the closing role.

So now he's had pressure that I gotta do it, but he's looking at the fact I gotta do it every time.

But you don't have to do it every time, but keep your team in the game.

So but you now you start saying, oh, how many more changes?

Do we really want to win?

You just, just want to go out there and compete?

We want, we want to.

We know the fact of we want to win.

You're not bringing in.

Are you bringing in guys that really want to win or know how to win?

Right?

And so it was a big, big difference mindset.

That's what I love about what the Reds did this offseason is not only did they go get Gavin Lux and Jose Trevino to.

For their, for their skills, but those two guys played in the World Series.

Last year, you know, one of them won, one of them lost.

But still, those are two guys that were there coming to a Reds team that hasn't been anywhere near there in a long time.

So.

So not so.

I just, I love the idea of going after that attitude.

Not just the skill set for.

At the major league level anyway.

Yeah.

Well, college on, well, college.

When you get to college, like Rick was saying that now you, you got to find, find your role may change.

Yes.

And being prepared for that role change.

And because the coaches, their, their job's on the line, they're focusing on business.

Winning.

It's a business when you're in high school or maybe in lower than that, to me, it's, it's to the.

To develop.

Right.

Yes.

But once you get to college now you're gonna, you gotta win.

You don't win.

I see in basketball, John Miller, he's gone.

Yes.

He's gone to Texas.

So.

So, but, but in this case, it's, it's all about the money.

Who's gonna pay you the more money.

But it's still the fact that you gotta win.

If you don't win, they're gone because now the school feel, well, we're not going to be in that next round, so we won't make more money.

So.

But, but you got to understand as a college player that your role may change.

Being prepared for that.

They, they recruited eight or nine shortstops.

Yeah.

And they can't play them all at one time.

Yeah.

That's why I love watching college baseball, because it's like watching playoff, mlb, playoff baseball.

Every single game.

It's always intense and everybody brings the energy.

It's so much fun to watch.

Oh, and sometimes you got guys who, you know, they, they need to go off of the team because they're, they're there and it's not working out for them.

Right.

They're not, they're not getting what they were looking for.

I'm glad they have that, the, the portal now.

They have that flexibility.

But before you stuck with the team.

But now you'll be able to go to another ball club that somebody would.

Could utilize your services.

And in the pros now you've got to deal with contracts and who will sign and who won't, who's coming, who's going.

And you know, you got that all going on.

So.

Yeah, it can be a, it can be a struggle.

Let me ask you this.

When you're watching an opposing team, let's say you're at a tournament and you're Watching another team play, you got, you're in between games and you know they're coming up on your schedule, you're watching them.

How can you tell whether they have great chemistry or not?

What do they do that lets you know that team's got great chemistry?

Number one is do they get loose together?

Yes.

You know, are they going doing their running?

They're taking.

You're the pre grain, pre game situation.

And a lot of times we see three or four guys going out there doing their run.

The other ones are not or they just going through the motion.

But I required that with my team is that everybody runs and, and then you want to, you want to play catch, you know, have it all organized.

So you seeing that they're doing everything together.

That's the key word, doing it together.

I agree.

I second that.

And in everyone's running together, they throw and catch mechanics look rhythmic and flawless.

You know, no one's dropping the ball all the time or throwing over their heads.

Right.

Little things like that.

Now the key thing, how I can tell if a team, team chemistry looks good is so you can't take infield no more.

You don't have time.

But that used to be the telltale sign right there.

Yeah, you take infield, boy, we, we know we going to beat you.

Yeah.

Especially outfielders.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

We assure our arms off, man.

But our, our catcher talks and I talked.

When I did infield, I talked a lot.

So we're putting fear in the other team so that, so they know that we're about business, man, our team chemistry.

Everyone's talking.

And so when people run off the, off the field, we high five in each other and stuff and everything that, then, that brings the team chemistry, you working together, you know, everybody's supporting, everyone's talking.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I was going to say my, my dead giveaway is, is the chatter that's happening.

It's not just any chatter because it's, it's not, it's not talking smack at the other team dugout, it's talking to your guys.

Yes.

You coaching your guys.

The other thing is whether or not that chatter is player driven because when you're, when you're, when you're struggling and you know it's a long inning and the coach comes over and says, come on guys, get that.

That's just like, that just ruins it because it's not, it's artificial at that point.

He's like trying to, you know, do it for you.

It's not, it's not authentic.

I'll Put it, I'll put it that way.

But when you got that constant chatter going and it's always positive that right there.

And that's intimidating because from the, like they're just talking non stop and it's like it gets in your head and it's, it's.

Yeah.

You know, some teams don't like that.

No.

Right.

But, but that's always a.

And that's something that you can hear from, from the time you enter the ballpark, you can hear a team that, that is cohesive and, and just constantly uplifting each other nonstop all game long.

But for me as a coach, I, in the beginning I didn't think about it, but later on I realized that it's something that I, it was a psychological move.

When I'm saying something to my player, it's also going towards the other or the team and I'm telling my batter or hitter, I said, oh, come on now, get a hit.

This guy's ready.

Now this guy, he's slowing down.

So now the guy hears that and he's going to try to throw harder or come on now, you can steal a basis.

This guy doesn't have a good arm.

He can't.

He had to hit a cutoff man to throw a second base.

So things like that to get into their head.

Yes, yes.

So let me ask you this.

This is a big one.

So can you fix poor team chemistry?

And if so, how do you do it?

Trade them?

No.

I went from the Reds to the Met.

I had the, I assumed that everybody wanted to do, wanted to get to the top, but then they didn't want to work to get there.

So now the general manager comes in and said, well, we got, we got to get rid of some of these guys.

We want to get a winning attitude.

And I'm saying, you know, why, why can't we train these guys?

But it felt that it's going to take longer to train these guys than to go out and trade for somebody who's experienced it before.

Yes.

And so at times they may jump ship and say, well, we'd rather go and get someone, trade for somebody than to try to teach this guy how to do it.

But most of those guys been there for a while.

They just there like a journeyman and like, okay, the game's over, what we're going to do after the game.

So when, when there's a guy on your team that has a lot of talent and ability.

Yes.

You want to take time with that person.

Say like a Billy Hamilton, he may not Swing the bat well, but teach him how to bunt.

He had good speed.

So work with that guy.

You don't want to just throw that.

Get rid of that guy.

Because it's going to be a challenge to be able to get a guy like that in return.

And that's what I saw when I went coaching team, seeing what, what value that guy brings to the ball club.

If he good running speed, that was number one thing.

But it's a challenge deciding on how to what players to keep that had a winning attitude or the ones that you're going to trade away to get someone who feel that.

We talk about guys who played for a world championship, they know what they need to do to get themselves ready to win a championship.

And other guys, you get in and they're a good player, but they haven't been in a winning atmosphere.

Well.

And it's hard to act like you've been there if you haven't.

Right.

I agree with that.

And I'll second what George said because he's correct.

But also too on again, talking about the select and travel baseball level during tryouts.

Those are the things that you gotta see.

I see that pick, I pick up on it right away, man.

You know, if they running, if they don't run or they lazy about throwing and things.

Especially catchers.

Especially catchers.

Oh, man.

Not running, but I mean, taking charge.

Yes, taking charge.

Talking.

I was talking to a guy yesterday.

There was in the facility, him and his son place for Dakota east.

And we were just talking about that new coaching staff and they lost.

But you know, he was telling me certain things that was going on.

So I know one of the assistant coaches on the team, he wasn't there.

And he said, well, if he was there, man, they wouldn't be doing none of that.

That guy would have been talking and.

But he.

So I asked him, I said, does your catcher talk?

Not really.

He said a lot of pass balls wasn't cuts, wasn't doing going well.

But.

But I think to.

Even before you fix the poor team chemistry, you have to let the players know what your philosophy is set for the expectation, got to set the expectations.

So that's what I've done a lot.

You know, let them know, you know, what's to be expected of them.

Again, that trickles down to leading exercises.

Guys that come in, they know what the foam roll, they know the stretching routines.

And you see it, you know, all my MDNI teams, they know what to do.

So you set the example.

And then my other team, that's in there, that's 13 you.

They do the same thing also.

So the trickle down effect.

So you got to set the standard.

Yeah, I like the idea of preventing bad chemistry because at the major leagues, you know, you don't necessarily have that opportunity because you got guys coming in.

And out or the time, Right?

Yes, sir.

But at the youth level, you have a little bit more control over that kind of thing.

But set the tone at the beginning of the year.

And the most important part is you have to hold yourself to it.

Yes, you can make all the promises that you want and have a really great philosophy, but if, if you don't follow up on it, it falls apart.

And then, and then the players don't respect the coaches and they're waiting for us.

They wait for it.

No, they are vultures.

And I've seen that destroyed just about every, every youth team I play for.

I think everybody's had that happen to them once or twice.

I've had it happen to me a couple years ago and is a gut punch because it never happened to me before before.

Really haven't.

And, and I've been with a lot of teams in over the 20 something years I've been in travel baseball and it happened to me for the first time and I was like, man, oh boy, that.

I never had that happen to me.

I had to take some a month off to come back.

But yeah, you got to set the expectations.

But like Ethan had said using the word humble, I had to humble myself.

You know, going from playing on a major league level and now coaching.

Yes.

So now that, now the parents are trying to tell me what to do and, and we're playing a double hitter that day.

And the kid, one kid, he didn't play the first game.

And the parents are, why did my kid play?

I said, we're playing two games.

He started in the second game.

Yeah, yeah, but I didn't know that.

I'd say, well, that's why I'm the coach.

But a lot of these pairs, of course they feel that their kid is better than what he really is.

But it's like, I can, I, I've been there.

I know what he can, can and cannot do.

You know talent, right?

I know talent.

And then I, I know if that kid is a kid, I'm going to rely on a certain situation.

And so I DH is one kid because defensively he hadn't caught a ball yet and he's not gonna, he's gonna hurt the team as far as the other team scoring runs.

But he may get physically hurt because he's not.

Can't seem like he's Ray Charles out there.

He can't see the ball.

So.

So I just, I.

I commonly tell the parents, I said, you know, yeah, he's playing.

He's going to be a dh.

But he said, yeah, but I want him to be out in the field.

I said, no, you don't want him.

You don't want to be out there.

So wait a minute.

Trust me.

So you're suggesting humility for the parents as well?

Yeah, no way.

But I'm more so focused on myself.

I had to be humble.

Like, wow, he's.

He's contesting what I'm George Foster.

Yes.

MVP.

77 with the big Red Machine.

He doesn't.

They don't care.

They couldn't.

Concerned about their son.

So I had to.

I'm a coach and I'm learning.

I mean, even though I played on, on the highest level, I'm still learning.

But the number one thing was learning about the parents.

Yeah, because they're going to come at you because, you know, when it comes to their kid, they ready to fight.

Something I learned a long time ago, a good definition of humility.

Hum being humble means to have the proper perspective.

It means to see yourself in the proper perspective.

So if, if, if I'm the player and the coach, like, let's say I'm the player and I'm playing on your team, and I'm some kid and I'm just playing, and you've, like, got World Series experience and everything else.

Okay, I see that.

When it comes to baseball, okay, my experience is this big, and George's experience is this big.

And seeing that in the proper perspective keeps me from going, oh, I know everything.

And it puts me in the idea of, you know, I'm fortunate to be in this situation, to learn from somebody who knows what he knows.

Yeah.

You know, but you think that.

But no, but that was a good example you brought up, because I'm.

Okay, the guy's coaching third on the other team.

And so he, he did a squeeze play and, and, and it worked.

And I said, wow, why are you getting so upset?

It seemed like you'd never done this before.

So.

Yeah, I've been in the World Series.

The World Series.

I didn't see you there.

What World Series are you talking.

Right.

Which one are you talking about?

So he just kept going off, going on, say, okay, but now you really want to be.

Be out there.

I said, you, you can't go out there and do it yourself.

And just believing that your kids will be able to go and execute the situation.

But it's like, okay, one of my guys got hit right away.

It's like, we got to get one of their guys and.

But, you know, I had to back off.

Is that the same thing?

Yes.

Yeah.

You know, that's, that's the.

I had a trumpet teacher in college that when you got a little too big for your riches, you.

He would say, he would turn to you and go, so, so when you played principal for the Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra, how did you do it?

You know, when you studied with Alessi Macchiato in New York, what did he tell you?

Okay, that's what I thought.

So let me, let me kind of weigh in here a little bit.

He was just, he was slick about that.

Yeah, guys would, the parent would come, you know, they don't look at everything.

Look how many strikeouts you had when you played.

I said, well, do you have a baseball card?

I don't, I don't remember seeing your baseball card.

You should just look at it and go, you should go.

You know what?

I've always been curious.

So when Nolan Ryan pitched to you.

What was your, what were you thinking?

That's.

Just ask them how many times they struck out that year.

Yes.

Well, let me, let me offer some perspective from this.

I, I think, I think that you can fix poor team chemistry, but it's a really, really big job and you got it.

You got a really mean business, especially if you're talking about youth baseball, because you got a very short period of time to do this.

And it comes from, let's say things are going sideways.

I think if you're going to bring your team together.

Let's talk about just the kids first.

You're going to bring your kids together.

They've got to spend time with each other.

They have to.

You cannot do this if all you do is see each other for pre game and a tournament and then another game and another game and then they go home.

Yeah, they gotta do.

You gotta spend time.

That's practice.

Yes, that's practice.

Or, or hanging out together or whatever.

They've got to spend time together.

And preferably.

This is going to sound weird, but there's a, there's a whole, there's a purpose behind this.

Preferably when they're eating food.

Okay.

There's a thing that goes on when human beings eat food together that, that you have to put your sword down to pick up your fork.

There's just a thing like, works.

Yes.

Yeah.

Okay.

And when you Share a meal with one another.

It's.

If you think about it, it's.

It's a kind of a vulnerable time because there's.

There's not much else you can do but eat food.

Right.

So when you're eating together, it will change things.

One of the things, when I was in.

I was in college, I joined a fraternity and we were having a hard time bringing the fraternity together.

And they said, we need to.

We need to bring this.

Get these guys together.

They all got different classes.

They're all over campus.

They're here and there and everywhere.

And I said, okay, here's what we're going to do.

I'm going to put them in groups of five, and I'm going to make a schedule.

And each week your group has to eat at least one meal with everybody in the other group.

So, like, there's five guys in my group, there's five guys in Rick's group.

And so I have to schedule five meals that week.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, late night.

I don't care when, doesn't matter when.

But I'm going to take all five guys in his group and I'm going to find time to eat a meal with each one of them.

And we did that for a month.

And the thing just went, Just came.

Sharing, bonding.

Yeah, Absolutely.

Came together.

It's.

It's an important to spend time with each other.

You can.

There is no, no substitute for time.

Well, I'll throw another one in.

There is.

Is community service.

Oh, yeah, that's.

That's a great.

Because that's.

That forces humility when you're doing.

When you're doing something and putting somebody else's needs above yourself, that.

That is manufacturing humility right there.

But I will say the flip side to that is for players who don't show up, it singles them out quick and it starts to reveal who's really there and who's really not.

So it can be positive and it builds that chemistry, but it can also kind of highlight some issues.

But that's another great way to do that.

The other thing is if your parents are coming apart on you, you and you're having a hard time keeping it together.

Yes.

Give them jobs.

Bring.

Give them, utilize them.

Ask them to help with things.

Right.

And then.

And then realize they are volunteers, they don't work for you.

Yeah.

Okay.

So the best thing you can do is inspire them.

And so at that point in time, they're working with you, not for you.

Okay.

And you.

But give them, Give them jobs to come together, help you Know if you need help keeping score, you need help organizing, help making phone calls, help driving things, help moving gear, help me or whatever hotel put them.

Give them something to do.

Because if you don't give them something to do, then all they have to do is to sit around and talk.

And if all they have to do is sit around and talk, then they're all going to talk about that.

Aren't bugging them.

Well, and it helps.

It helps them to be involved more through more than just what their one player is doing or telling them.

Because, you know, if they're.

If their players is having a bad game, then they're having a bad game.

But if they're involved in the team and the team wins, you know it's it.

And you know you're doing yeah.

And you know you're doing well.

When other kids.

Parents are picking up your kids.

Yeah.

And when your parent, you know, when, when that is going on and people are taking care of each other, you want to get people to take care of each other.

That's really the deal.

If you can get them to take care of each other, that works.

So give them.

Giving them jobs, spending that organized time together, making that happen.

We've already talked about live in a good example yourself, setting that expectation and sticking to it.

You know, be living that standard so that they can see it every day.

These are things that you can do to turn that culture around and bring that chemistry to what you're doing.

Celebrate.

This is the big thing.

Celebrate.

Celebrate.

Celebrate.

I don't care what it is.

Celebrate something.

Celebrate whose birthday it is.

Celebrate National Donut Day.

Celebrate the fact that we got two hits today.

Celebrate the fact that we're.

Celebrate something.

Somebody get a good score on their test.

Somebody got their driver's license.

Somebody got the.

Celebrate it.

Put it out on email.

Put it out on a game changer.

Put it out on whatever it is you're using.

Let everybody remind 101, whatever it is.

You know, put the stuff out there and celebrate.

Put it on Facebook, put it on wherever you're doing and celebrate with everybody.

If you create a culture of celebration, then positivity becomes the norm.

We deal with this with companies all the time.

People say, I can't ever get somebody to leave positive reviews about working here.

I know people like working here, but they don't go leave the reviews.

The only people who leave reviews are the people who are mad and they leave the negative ones.

Right.

And that's because people are motivated to do something when they're angry, they're not necessarily motivated to do something when they're positive, unless they're positive all the time.

And then when they do something, they're already positive.

So if celebration is the norm, if it's what you do every day, then when you ask somebody to leave a review, they're going to do it positively because that's the way we do things around here.

Yes, it's it because the whole culture is that.

Because you've created that culture of celebration.

Celebration is natural to them.

Otherwise, if you don't celebrate all the time, then celebration is different.

It's a 180.

It's hard.

It's against their human nature.

Human nature is to complain and be grumbly.

So you have to, you have to celebrate everything all the time so that you can celebrate when you need to.

That's the point.

That's a, that's a good, that's a good one.

And creating team chemistry in how to fix it.

This is why in this era here people go to team to team the team because of all these things that you and Ethan, all you guys pointed out.

I stayed, my son stayed with one guy for eight years, from 11 year to 18U.

And Mark was not only a great coach, man, we just as a team, we did a lot of stuff together.

And so the end of the year, our last tournament always was the end of July.

Of course, when we did that, my wife Sonia and Ricky's birthday is the end of July.

So they used to celebrate Sonia's birthday all the time when we went out and everything.

We always ate together and everything.

Of course, by the time he got to the ninth grade, it was just him and Ricky and I on the road because she wasn't a baseball player, you know, and she like, hey, it's y'all too.

Now I'm celebrating my birthday on a cruise or something.

Well, that's, you know, the other thing is if you're in between, if you're in the off season and you want to bring those kids back, stay in touch with them, keep celebrating the things that happened to them all year long.

Follow them.

Follow them.

Yeah.

Did they, did something go well at school?

Did something go well where they work?

Did they get recognized for this or.

That, basketball games or football games, stuff, whatever there was participation in.

Mark used to come to Ricky's games or we used to go there to a lot of kids on our team's games and, or whatever it was, man.

And that's probably why we didn't have the kind of turnover back then.

That most teams have now because of chasing whatever it is that they chasing, man.

I think that if you, when you first get a team together, create a group text message where you can, where you can celebrate all the time, or a group email or even a Facebook group, you can create a private Facebook group on Facebook if you want to, if that's where all your people are.

And just, you know, the world doesn't need to know.

The world doesn't necessarily care, but your community cares and your people care.

And so that.

Think about this kid gets his driver's license and everybody when he shows up at the game, everybody else's parents, and everybody's going, hey, congratulations.

Oh, stay off the road.

And they're giving them the business, but they're doing.

Everybody's doing.

Acknowledging, yeah, everybody's doing it.

Hey, good job, good job, good job.

Some kid gets his Eagle Scout or gets his whatever.

Good job, good job, good job.

You know, that kind of thing, that kind of thing builds that culture of celebration and it makes it go forward and it will make those kids want to come back and play with you again.

It will actually make those kids double think a better opportunity, statistically.

Sure.

I've had people who worked in my company, who work with us here at our company, who other people will have offered them more money, have offered them different situations, and they said, nope, I'm going to stay here because there's no way you're ever going to love me like these people love me.

Priceless.

And that's important.

You have to care for your people.

Ethan is more than my podcast partner.

He's my son.

And like every baseball parent, my first priority was his development as a player.

Every year, we'd start out with a new coach and a new team, making new promises, only to end up playing the same old tournaments with little to no practice in between.

You know what I'm talking about.

That's why I'm so thankful that we found MDNI Academy.

I first met Coach Rick over a decade ago when Ethan was just a kid.

And I'll never forget the relief I felt watching his first lesson.

I knew right then that no matter what team he played for, my son would have amazing, consistent instruction from so someone who cared.

Rick has trained baseball and softball players at the select, travel and even college levels.

So I knew that Ethan could continue his excellence through training approach.

For his whole baseball career, he learned hitting, pitching, catching, fielding, and more all in one place.

Most of all, he learned to love the greatest game in the world and how to play it.

With character and integrity.

MDNI is a first class facility with plenty of tunnels for hitting and pitching instruction that open up into large areas for teaching fielding, base running speed and agility.

They even have a weight room for strength training.

So if you're wearing yourself out running all over town to multiple teachers or worse, you're counting on that new select coach to actually develop your child.

You need to check out MD&I Academy today.

Go to mdaiacademy.com and contact Coach Rick to learn how you can get all the baseball instruction you need need from someone who cares about your favorite player as much as you do at MDNI Academy.

All right, guys, we're going to wind up here with a little segment, a new segment called who's the Hero?

And I went online and I looked up.

You looked me up again.

No, I didn't look you up this time.

Okay.

I looked up who the greatest teammates of all time were and oh, bleacherreport.com did an article of the 15 greatest teammates in MLB history.

And so I'm going to give you very quickly the start at 15.

I'm going to give you the first 10, and then I'm going to read the descriptions of the last five.

We'll see if you can guess who they are.

So starting at number 15, according to Bleacher Report, was Phil Rizzuto.

Phil Rizzuto was it says the man known as Scooter was always a phenomenal teammate.

Yankees Yankee shortstop.

Yeah.

Goes on about how Yogi Berra says, Phil was a gem.

One of the greatest people I've ever knew.

A dear friend and a great teammate.

He was a heck of a player, too.

When I first came to the Yankees, he was like a big, actually small brother to me.

Big, small.

He was.

He was meant, or he has meant an awful lot to baseball.

And the Yankees left the world, left us a lot of wonderful memories.

Number 14, Johnny Gomes.

Really, I've heard, I've heard very good things.

He played with a lot of people, man.

Yeah.

James Shield says, I reckon I rank him number one.

He's always in the clubhouse, always first online to give a high five.

There's just an excitement he brings and it's very contagious.

And he's always has everyone's back.

Number three, Maglio Ordonez.

Right, Mag.

One of the quotes here was, see, oh, Brendan Bosch says, since I've been with the Tiger, the Tigers, Tigers.

Maglio has always been an amazing teammate of mine.

Helped me out a lot as a young player.

And what he's done for the Tigers organization cannot be understated.

Number 12, Darren Dalton.

Okay.

Through his 14 year career with the Phillies, catcher Darren Dalton was a catalyst being described as one of the great clubhouse leaders in franchise history.

Number 11, Jason Veritek.

Yeah, Boston.

There's 15.

Yeah.

Through 15 years with Boston, he was described as a leader by example and as a great teammate.

He became only the third captain in team history in 2005 and became well known for his tireless work ethic.

Number 10, Kirby Puckett.

Yeah.

They say the true measure of a man lies in how others view him.

In this regard, Minnesota Twins center fielder Kirby Puckett was held in high esteem both as a man and as a teammate.

Said Tony LaRusso.

I agree with that.

It's a great guy.

Great player.

Triton College in Chicago.

That's where he went to school at the Chi Town.

Where was a fun one?

The fun one.

He said something about.

Throwing me out at third.

He said, when.

When you.

When all you.

Okay, this is actually.

Yeah.

Tony LaRusso said this.

Tony LaRusso said this.

He said, when all you have is hardware on the mantle and you've got all the postseason checks and you've got a World Series ring and you've got all that stuff for every player.

I think ultimately, when you look in the mirror at the end of your career, you ask yourself, was I a good teammate?

Kirby Puckett was the ultimate.

That's what everybody said about Kirby.

I told my guys today at the meeting, rather than mourn Kirby's passing, this was after Kirby passed.

He said, I want everybody to shake hands with the guy next to him and ask themselves if they're a good teammate.

So that was.

That's powerful.

It says the clubhouse was alive when he walked in.

This is a.

Gary Gayetti said clubhouse was alive when he walked in.

I shouldn't say walk in because he was there before everybody else.

It was just amazing.

That Game 6 of the 91 World Series, every day he would put the whole team on his back.

Hop on, boys, was his favorite line.

Hop on.

Puck will take care of you.

So.

All right.

Number nine, Larry Walker, Colorado Rockies.

Former right fielder.

Yep.

Is widely known as one of the greatest Canadian baseball players ever.

But he is also remembered as a great teammate.

Frank Crocetti, number eight.

During a career that spanned 37 seasons of service to the New York Yankees.

One team.

Yeah.

37 seasons.

Frank Crusetti must been a scout, too.

Collected 17 World Series rings.

No Rolex watches.

They were getting Rolex watches.

I don't know.

It says eight as a player and nine more as a coach.

Coach.

Oh, okay.

Crusetti played shortstop for the Yankees from 32 to 48, and while he was never regarded as a great hitter, he had a.245 career average.

He was.

He was highly regarded for his defensive skills.

Got hit by a lot of pitches, too.

Yes, he did.

Number seven, Sean Casey.

Yeah, the Mayor.

Long time Cincinnati Reds first baseman Sean Casey earned the nickname the Mayor promptly or primarily because of his penchant for talking to the opposing hitters when they reach first base.

Number six, Trevor Hoffman.

All right.

Trevor Hoffman will go down in history as one of the greatest closers in the history of baseball and the first to reach 600 saves.

However, for teammates and coaches, it will be the legacy as a teammate that will be remembered more fondly.

It's a X red.

Former manager Bruce Bochy spoke glowingly of having Hoffman on his team.

What's even more impressive is the person he was.

Bocce said, I consider myself fortunate to have had Trevor as my close friend all those years in San Diego.

He is the best teammate I've ever seen.

He really looked after his teammates.

Like, not a lot of hall of Fame guys or guys who felt that was the leader of a team, but it just.

You find that guys who are there and not really been known and.

Which is great to hear because in the beginning, like, okay, Adonis.

Yeah, I know the name.

But he wasn't really.

It was a good player, but he wasn't the, say, hall of Famer or all star.

Many years.

Okay, so here's the top five.

I'm gonna.

I'm gonna read the description.

You try and tell me who this is.

Okay.

Do.

How to ring a bell.

Bing.

So, you know, he played shortstop and he's.

And he's in the hall of Fame.

Derrick.

Cheater.

Barry.

Barry Larkin.

In January of this year, the praise that came pouring forth from his teammates, opposing players, it was.

Whatever year this was written spoke to his character and his placement on the list as a great teammate.

19 year career with one team.

Lin.

Oh, Luc is the guy.

Oh, you cheated.

You saw.

You saw.

Looking at the monitor, you said, I'm cheater.

I said Larkin.

So, okay, it says, selfless giving, great leader, outstanding individual.

All were phrases used to describe Barry Larkin, and all served to make him one of the greatest teammates in baseball history.

All right, number four, hall of Famer.

He was a slugger.

See, I'm trying not to give it away Whenever.

Slugger.

Don't be the Machine?

No, As a power hitter.

Teammates, opposing players.

Tony Perez.

Oh, if I give you his nickname, you'll know him.

So I have to.

I have to get away from that team and date.

I'm working on it.

Throughout a career that spanned 22 seasons, he was one of basically feared hitters, yet one of the most beloved, unassuming person.

Oh, that's right.

Was the first to reach out to rookies and help them, despite his lofty status.

No less than hall of Fame player Rod Carew, his teammate for eight seasons, summed up his legacy with a few fitting words.

It's not Jim Rice, is it?

No, no.

Herman.

Killer.

Rod Cruz said, this is a sad day for.

For all of baseball and even harder for those of us who were fortunate enough to be a friend of Harmon's.

Harmon Killer was a gem.

I can never thank him enough for all I learned from him.

He was a consummate professional who treated everyone from the brashest of rookies to the groundskeepers to the ushers in the stadium with the utmost respect.

I would not be the person I am today if it weren't for Harmon.

Killer brew.

He was a Hall of Famer in every sense of the word.

Yeah.

When she said his career started in, what, the late 50s, middle 50s to early 70?

What?

70?

I don't know.

I don't have those numbers in front of me.

He played from 54 to 75.

Okay.

All right.

So this guy was a fabulous.

I had a fabulous career.

Became the eighth man in MLB history to hit 600 home runs.

But it's the overwhelming admiration and respect of others that earns his placement on this list.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer conducted a fan poll.

Jim told me.

Yes, yes, one, one, one.

Yes.

Yes.

It was Jim Tomey.

He's probably the most forgotten name in that.

Yeah.

In that 600 home run.

It's forgotten because they don't pronounce his name right.

They split him up to different pronunciation.

Sports Illustrated conducted a poll of MLB players in 2007 with Tomei named by the majority of players polled as the second friendliest guy in baseball behind Sean Casey Clark.

Yeah.

Tomey has been the recipient of the Roberto Clemente Award for his charitable contributions outside baseball, the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award for his character and integrity, and the Marvin Miller man of the Year Award.

So he has some impressive credentials there.

Yes.

We're neck and neck.

All right, number two.

The Brooklyn Dodgers had this guy, and he said, when this man met Jackie Robinson for the first time, he shook his hand.

Shortstop, period.

Peewee Reese.

I said the full name.

He knows that part of was the.

First time Reese had ever shaken the hand of a black man.

Reese was steadfast in his support of Robinson as he broke baseball's color barrier in 1947.

Steadfastly supporting him throughout that first season and for the rest of his career.

The mark of a great teammate is one who puts the interests of the team above personal gain or belief.

The example of Reese's support of Robinson and their friendship is a shining example of a great teammate.

Yes.

Level swing.

Let it travel.

Wait for your pitch.

Be aggressive out there.

It's no wonder young players get confused at the plate.

What if your son or daughter could learn not only how to hit the ball but also where to hit it, when to hit it there and why?

George Foster has played baseball at the very highest levels.

He was the National League MVP when he hit 52 home runs and 149 RBIs in a single season.

He led the major leagues in home runs twice and RBIs three times.

He was a five time All Star, a Silver Slugger and he helped the Reds win back to back World series.

During his 15 year career, George developed a unique approach to hitting that made him one of the greatest hitters of all time.

And now your favorite player can learn it too.

That's right, baseball legend George.

George Foster is currently accepting new students.

Learn the psychology of hitting, situational hitting, hitting for power, bunting and more.

Every team needs players who can hit and George explains the game in a way that's easy to understand and exciting to learn.

So check out georgefosterbaseball.com to learn how you can apply for private lessons with a member of the Cincinnati Reds hall of Fame.

Spots are limited and the roster will fill up fast, so don't wait.

Apply at George Foster baseball.comday All right fellas, here we go.

Number one, greatest teammate of all time According to Bleacher Report.

Willie Stardru.

No.

For all of the accolades, for all the accolades this person received during his career and his life, that of great teammate was the one that he most cherished.

Ted Williams.

On a special day honoring him at the stadium of the team where he played.

A silver trophy with all of his teammates signatures was given to him.

But it was the poem that they had hired the local newspaper writer to write John Kieran to that embodied who he really was.

We've been to wars together.

We took our foes as they came and always you were the leader and you and you ever game idol of Cheering millions records are yours.

By Nathan's iron of frame they hailed you, Decked you with laurel leaves Lou Gehrig.

There you go.

Iron, iron.

But higher than that we hold you we who have known you best Knowing the way you came through Even every human test this is, this be a silent token of lasting friendships gleam and all we've left unspoken.

Your pals on the Yankees.

Yes.

We're not keeping score, but I got three.

So.

Yeah, those are like.

Those are some of our best, best teammates of all time.

So we'll play who's the hero some more.

That's kind of awesome.

Yeah.

Lee May.

Lee May is the guy to light up a clubhouse.

I said, this guy should have been a comedian because he never.

He never said the same joke twice.

I said, this guy, we should have taped what he had to say.

I mean, I've been great material, but he was my.

One of my.

It was my first roommate when I came to the Reds, and it took me a while after therapy to get.

Get past it, but that guy Lee May, I just love to sit around in the corner because if he sees you.

Well, I thought it was.

It was funny.

One of the other things I watched last week and I shared with Leslie was a.

You guys did a question answer thing with Marty brennaman at the 40th reunion.

So 10 years ago, you guys are all on a stage.

We're all lined up across the stage, sitting on.

On.

On these sort of benches, all.

And they had the pictures and all you guys were there and Marty was kind of wandering around asking questions.

And they have that on YouTube.

Yes.

I' man, you know, Pete's up there just saying whatever pops in his head, you know.

But everybody was.

Was trying to get Tony Perez to finally admit that it was him who was stirring up stuff.

Oh, all those years.

Yeah, he's the instigator.

I know.

Speak English.

I know.

Do that.

And he'd say.

Marty said he would go to one guy and say, oh, you ought to hear what he was saying about you.

That's what he does.

I learned from Tony.

I said, joe, you know what Johnny said about you?

My.

My favorite of the whole.

Of the whole thing, though.

The last guy to talk, the last guy to talk is this guy in the whole thing.

They ask you about how Sparky asked Pete to move to third base.

And you said, well, it wasn't Sparky's move, it was my move.

I got to tell you that.

Pretty much the whole thing was George Fox.

It was like in cowboy movie a Western movie.

Say I give you the sundown to get out of left field.

It was, it was really funny.

And Pat Zachary, I think has, he has one of the coolest voices.

Yeah.

Deep voice.

But anyway, yeah, so lots of fun with the teammates and, and hopefully we've shared some things that have been that you've enjoyed today, hearing about teammates and some things that these guys have been through.

And if you've liked what you've heard, come back next week.

We're going to talk about some more stuff.

There's a new episode that hits every Wednesday and if you haven't picked up the first three episodes, well, it's three at this point.

We're recording seven today.

Three are out, four come out, another one comes out.

So yes, again, remember, we're recording ahead of time.

So.

But if you haven't picked up all the, the past episodes, go to wherever you like podcasts or go to our website and take in the other ones and see what's, see what's out there.

These guys have had some great things to share and it's been a real privilege to do several shows with them and I look forward to doing this for a long time.

So don't miss out.

All right, share until next week when you when you see us online, share it with all your friends and we'll see you next week on the Complete Game Podcast.

We hope you've enjoyed the Complete Game Podcast, the show that's all about baseball.

New episodes drop each week, so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss a thing.

If you'd like to support the podcast, consider leaving us a five star rating or better yet, drop us a comment or a question.

Let us know what you think.

The Complete Game Podcast is produced and distributed by 2Creative Digital Marketing.

Check us out at 2CreativeDigital.com on behalf of Ethan, Coach Rick and the Silver Slugger George Foster, I'm Greg Dungan saying have a great week and we'll see you real soon.