บทถอดความฉบับเต็มของ Coco Crisp’s CRAZY MLB Brawl Story, Studying Manny Ramirez, 2016 World Series

that's the hardest market. 00:05:29 Speaker 1: They be talking so much ship to these kids be talking so much ship. 00:05:33 Speaker 2: Bro. 00:05:33 Speaker 3: My kids don't even call me dad. 00:05:34 Speaker 1: They call me og like shut your punks. 00:05:38 Speaker 3: Yeah, my kids called me. I'm like, bro, I'm your dad. What are you talking about? 00:05:44 Speaker 1: But coaching? Coaching your kids in little league? I mean, how what kind of George does that bring you? 00:05:49 Speaker 2: A lot? You know, it's a learning experience for myself. Coaching other kids can be a little easier at times than your own. Even each person has the individual identity personality, and you learn over the years how to tailor your coaching towards them and still be yourself and coach with your child, your dad, and to separate that dad in the household to on the field coach. It could be a little challenging. I'm very grateful for my two youngest and my older ones as well. Then though they're out the game, my two youngest are still in it that they accept my input still and they well I hear from other dads is like, hey, they're going to stop. It hasn't yet, so I'm still grateful for that. 00:06:35 Speaker 3: I still got my kids here. There's seventeen. 00:06:37 Speaker 1: I keep hearing that too, But hopefully, I just think it's all about the way you present it and how you know when it's dad time and when it's coach time or different times, and just understanding, like putting yourself back in their shoes. Like I would have loved to have my dad coach. He just didn't coach. So I think there's certain ways to do it. But your la roots they run deep. Pop had a quickly split spot. Mom was an athlete. Assist was an athlete. Take the picture of your upbringing. 00:07:01 Speaker 3: Grew up in. 00:07:01 Speaker 2: Anglewood, California during you know, the nineties. It was it was hot, you know, it was I was trying to survive out there. Learning how to walk the streets was a little a little different, you know. But I'm very grateful for for my parents and how they allowed me to focus my energy into into sports and they're there every single game. The quick and split part of it was nice. It gave us that that kind of uh, not rich and not poor can survive, can still get bad and gloves if I needed type of thing. So I'm very grateful for the time that my parents spent, uh financial burden that my sister for sure put on them because the ice skating nights, you know, and and the thing about her, I was just speak on her real quick because she was a better athlete than I was. You know, she was extremely talented, and she ended up breaking her ankle during I forget it is I forget the name of nationals uh. And it just went southward after that, you know, and I kept going. But she could have easily been been the one, but Doug breeding. You know, I'm very grateful. You know, even the environment that that I was raised in, UH, it was still very safe paved towards UH specific goal, and that's to enjoy basically the game that we wanted to do, whether it was my sister in ice skating or myself in baseball. Pretty it's pretty simple and basic for the most part, just surviving the inglewood thing in the nineties. 00:08:45 Speaker 1: You still got your inglewood curly top though, talking about it, Yeah, I know, right, so that's. 00:08:51 Speaker 3: Good, But that's what it was. 00:08:52 Speaker 1: That was that was that was the look of the ninety I remember we came to u C. L A and everyone had the edge uth curly top that was the l A. Look what does baseball represent for LA? And then a kind of a two part question, guys, did you play against any guys that ended up going pro? And who were some of the guys you looked up to? Because LA was a hotbed back of the day for baseball. 00:09:13 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we had There was a lot of talented kids in my little league. About six or seven of us made it to the minor leagues. A few guys that are underneath me. Brian Barden younger than me. Brian Barden, he made it to the big leagues. Brandon Watson was like a year younger than me, made it. Samsung's yeah, made it to the big leagues. We're all in the same little league. And then there was guys that were better than all of us. Talk about being in Inglewood. They chose different life, but just so talented, so fastless crazy arm, speed and strength, hitting home runs left and right. But it was it was a lot of a lot of talent and the inner city playing baseball back in those days. I don't see it as much as as I used to, which is unfortunate. And hopefully with see why and some of the things that you guys are doing and that I hear about, you guys are able to bring it back and revitalize baseball and the inner city Because I played for RBI as well during those times, which was a big key to a lot of our successes as young black men in Englewood. Yeah, those programs are huge. 00:10:26 Speaker 5: I played. 00:10:26 Speaker 4: I played RBI as well living in Houston. It wasn't my main avenue for baseball, but just the fact that it could fill those gaps for us, Like you have to play the other things now as well, you have to play club ball to an extent now, but having an inner city baseball program is huge just to go out there and get exposure. But as I'm thinking about that, as I talked to a lot of young players, players want to know the secret of how do you make it from high school. 00:10:53 Speaker 2: Or youth to the big leagues. 00:10:55 Speaker 4: And I literally tell them, if I talk to ten different big league guys, it's ten different stories and everybody's path is so different, and I want you to dig into. 00:11:04 Speaker 5: Your path a little bit. 00:11:05 Speaker 4: Because you went to four different high schools like you you bounced around a lot at the younger level. What was that challenge for you and how did that prep you for pro ball when that came around. 00:11:17 Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's my dad on quick and split. So I went to Peninsula

High School. But I was we're in We're in my freshman year. So we're in Inglewood and my dad got robbed. They came down the street. It was a little shootout and everything like that, and so we had to move from Inglewood and we moved up to Palace Verdices for like they shootout, had a little shooting, a little shout everything. 00:11:41 Speaker 5: But you don't hear me. Little shootouts happened. 00:11:44 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:11:44 Speaker 6: Yeah. 00:11:45 Speaker 2: It was on a Saturday and we had a little league game. He picked up Dwight, which was our catcher little league catcher. Because my dad would always go pick up other people that that couldn't get a rise. Pretty amazing, uh, my father and doing those type of things. And they're going into the garage at our apartment building in Inglewood. 00:12:07 Speaker 5: On King K. 00:12:09 Speaker 2: And they just I was, I was upstairs in the apartment and they're down about to come up. They're getting some baseball gear out the garage to put in the trunk and they just came up on him. He had just made his run because my dad didn't have it's a family owned business, so you don't have armored cars coming to pick up your cash. Like they get it themselves and have delivered it to the bank anyway. So he's got the money on him and they driving down or they came down the street and they had the guns out. I didn't see it. This is just all what I was told. And they told him to get into the garage, and they weren't going in the garage luckily Dwight. And he's young, he's like twelve. I'm like eleven. He was one year older than me. He actually kicked the hub cap of the car and it distracted him, just took off running and he's zig zagging up and down the up and down the street, and uh, you know, some shots went off and you know, everybody survived. Everybody was good. We kept all the money, you know, and then we went and played a little league baseball game. We won, you know, so you know, shout out to Dwight. 00:13:14 Speaker 5: So from now you bounce around. 00:13:16 Speaker 2: Bounce around. So Peninsula High School. That didn't really work out for me. Out there Academically, it was much different than I was used to. Culture and everything like. That was a struggle for me. I wasn't prepared for it. I came back into Westchester High School, didn't really do the whole coaching. The coaches there they weren't terrible, it just wasn't the right fit. So they went over the same Burner's where my son goes right now. And I got an F N and Spanish class, which is crazy. I think I deserved a D. 00:13:49 Speaker 3: But it's okay. 00:13:53 Speaker 2: But all my other grades are great. I had all a's and b's Spanish class anyway, so you can't play. It's a Catholic school. 00:13:59 Speaker 5: You can't playing. 00:14:00 Speaker 3: They don't play with that with an F, you know. 00:14:02 Speaker 2: So then I had a Swisch schools. I end up going over Anglewood High School and playing with Hirassu Americs who made it to the big

leagues. We had a good year. So that was my fourth high school. That was my path. The good thing about that is I met a lot of people, a lot of different personalities. Peninsula High School. That was all new to me, going from black to the kind of white type of thing you know in the water. So I learned a lot, you know, and that helped me within in the game of baseball, being able to communicate with whoever's coming in Dominican, Latin, and you know, all that type of stuff. 00:14:33 Speaker 4: They end up getting drafted from the seventh round by the Cardinals. How did that prep you for the transition to the miners, Because the miners, for a lot of people, it's a shock. 00:14:42 Speaker 3: Bro. 00:14:43 Speaker 4: When I was young, I thought, you get drafted and you go to pro ball, and it's just this glamorous lifestyle. It's about to be dope, is. 00:14:50 Speaker 3: The ships and what I've seen on movies. 00:14:55 Speaker 4: But you don't know that at the time. You don't know that at the time. What would the transition like you So. 00:15:00 Speaker 2: I didn't have much knowledge about the minor league system at all. Anyway, I thought I was going straight to the big leagues, even at even at eighteen, like you know, it was. It was crazy. I just didn't know that. I was just playing the game of baseball that I loved, and you know, then I got attention. So I had came from Southern University and I ended up transferring to Pierce College. Uh, and then I ended up getting drafted out of there because I ended up in What happened was I ended up in the wood Back League after my first year of college and where I in high school, I had no scouts, nobody looking at me right, sent my tapes out to different colleges. VHA, what were your senior y ninety seven? Yeah, I sent out my tapes and nothing. Coach Kernard gave me a chance out of Southern So I went out there legend yep, YEP, gave me a chance, went out there red shirted because all those transcripts from every place they didn't come in in time, so I had to read shirt my first year. I came back in. I played in the wood Back League and I didn't get out. I mean I hit inside the park home run, triple, double single, but literally didn't get out. Daryl Miller he saw me over there. He pulled me along the side, and then Riggie's brother, Ye, Daryl Miller, he signed me too, but I'm enrolled in a four year at the time, like I said, I didn't even know there was a big minor league system. So he signed me to a minor league deal, free agent deal, ten thousand dollars, which I got to keep. But he didn't take his cut. I got to keep it. They had to avoid out that contract because I was still enrolled as a non I wasn't twenty one, and I was still in the university so my junior year, I was my freshman year, so they had avoid out that contract. Now all of a sudden, where no college wanted me, now, all of a sudden, who did Darren Miller tried to draft illegally, which it wasn't like that, it was just nobody really knew. My parents didn't know. We didn't give him the information that was needed. Maybe he didn't ask the questions that was needed. I don't know. But then I end up transferring to Pierce because now everybody. 00:17:06 Speaker 3: Wanted to see up Pierce south of the Valley. 00:17:08 Speaker 2: And then I do the same thing that I've done everywhere else, hit over four hundred stone base and home runs. And now I get drafted, and I get drafted in the seventh round by the Cardinals. 00:17:19 Speaker 4: And then then pro ball, you get traded to the Indians. At the time, they weren't the Guardians. 00:17:24 Speaker 2: They were the Indians. 00:17:25 Speaker 4: Back end of that good run that they had as the Indians, who were the guys that were still there the superstar players that were still there though too. 00:17:34 Speaker 2: Marvis Scale, Yeah, Jim Tom, which is the nicest guy him and Sean Casey, right, but Jim Tom is one of the. 00:17:43 Speaker 1: Nice nice guy He's one of the nicest, nicest, but he's biggest ship. 00:17:47 Speaker 3: He's a big, big dude. 00:17:51 Speaker 2: Ellis Burks, you know, he wasn't playing. He still wars Risbrands and suited up. It was about getting the game. Terry Mahollan on the pitching side, Travis Fryman, Wow, gosh, I could run through. Matt Lawton was there. But yeah, there's a lot of people that were still there, that Hall of Fame kind of caliber people that I was able to learn from as a rookie. 00:18:13 Speaker 4: And as you're finding your way. We all every player had that one season, that breakout season, that big one for you was in four What clicked for you that season if you can, if you can back that far. 00:18:28 Speaker 2: For me, I think it happened that the part where things clicked in two thousand and one for me, that was in the minor leagues. But I'll talk about the two thousand and four season. Touch on that if you want. But in two thousand and four, it was Luis Garci myself. We had got traded over to the Indians together, and I was supposed to be on the bench and he was supposed to start this game. And they're going to make a decision whether or not or who they were gonna because somebody was coming off the d L, who they were going to send down and who they were going to keep up. Between us two, we both were doing crappy, you know, like hitting two twenty at the time because we're not we used to starting it off the bens. Being young, you have to learn that actually, So he ended up scratching that game. He was sick, something happened. I don't know when I got to start. I ended up going forward for that game and he got sent down. So from from that moment, I just ended up playing every day and playing every day. What had clicked in and twenty two thousand and one I just translated up there. I think one of the biggest things that I learned early on is once Troy Percival was my first strikeout, and it was meeting power with power. 00:19:54 Speaker 3: So he threw too. 00:19:56 Speaker 2: Yeah, so we're Anaheim and

he was my first strikeout. So I learned from that one that I was overswinging and just kind of stay within myself and I took that with what I had in two thousand and one and just kind of went along with who I was. 00:20:10 Speaker 5: Was Was he there then? C? 00:20:12 Speaker 2: Yeah, that was his second year. 00:20:16 Speaker 5: What do you remember about that? 00:20:17 Speaker 4: How many how many brothers was in the clubhouse when when you went over to Cleveland? 00:20:20 Speaker 2: Oh, I don't even know. Ellis low Dog wasn't there yet. That's Matt Lawton CC. 00:20:28 Speaker 5: He was just the young guy. 00:20:29 Speaker 2: Though he was the young guy, but he was CC. He was still CC. He was still C. 00:20:35 Speaker 3: What that means to the fans that don't know he was still c C as a youngster, he was. 00:20:39 Speaker 2: The guy he's I mean, he's the prodigy. He's the guy in the minor leagues that's gonna come up and is a no doubter, gonna be a superstar. And then what happens after that Hall of Famer is to be seen as we see. But it was a no doubter or that he's the guy that's gonna come up there throw one hundred miles prior on the hundreds pits of the game, you know, so, but he was up there. He actually Ellis Burks was supposed to buy me my first suit in the Big league, but he kept procrastinating, you know. So see he ended up taking me out as a second year guy and actually bought me my first big league super uh No, only a couple of years in the league, a couple of years and doing it early. And I never wanted already that guy big money, big money. 00:21:23 Speaker 4: I want to We'll continue on the baseball side, but just on the personal side. What I remember of you as the personality of who Coco Chris was. We called you Coe Belly at the time before you changed your name, But I remember you were the guy that as far as a baseball player, you saw this with NBA guys all the time. You saw this with NFL guys all the time. Coche, you had two rolls. 00:21:47 Speaker 3: Royce's boy was living. 00:21:49 Speaker 5: Did you have two one? 00:21:51 Speaker 2: I have one? 00:21:52 Speaker 5: Just one? 00:21:52 Speaker 2: I want? 00:21:53 Speaker 4: Yeah, Rose Royce, like you was tied into the LA scene. You knew all the people at the time. It's like you were the guy in baseball that still lived somewhat of a Hollywood style lifestyle, and I feel like you had all the connections to Hollywood at the time. How did you get those connections and how much did you want to bring that lifestyle into being a baseball player. 00:22:21 Speaker 2: So so yeah, yeah, yeah, good old days. Yeah, party hard, play hard. Right, This is how did I get those connections. So how I got that connection was I was out at I forget what club was in Hollywood on one night and it was my cousin's birthday, Big Rob, and I was like, let's, you know, let's have fun. You know, this is a credit card, you know, let's have some fun. We had way too much fun, and not to my knowledge, like when I

got that bill, I could have bought another rose. 00:23:00 Speaker 3: Oh I was hot that it hurts. 00:23:03 Speaker 2: I was hot. I mean you got champagne flying everywhere. I'm like, okay, cool, this is fun. I'm having a good time. But man, yeah, so that's how I got known. Because now all the don't don't don't do this to get known. This is an accident, okay, But now all the promoters or club promoters, they're like, hey, this guy is spending all kinds of money. Let's make sure that he gets in, he gets a table. So it was a good thing. Is from a good thing. You know, we had a lot of fun that night. But that's how That's how it ended up happening to where it was like over the top where people call me and then I have their numbers. I'm like, yo, we're coming, and then we're in like but it was from that it was stupid. 00:23:48 Speaker 3: It was, oh, what. 00:23:53 Speaker 2: A waste of money. I'm talking about Okay, some thousands, but guys, dog, you put some zeros on that. I was confus used. 00:24:01 Speaker 5: You know what this sounds like. This sounds like the person. 00:24:03 Speaker 3: Who's into uh. 00:24:06 Speaker 4: Free climbing or going out their skiing all the time, and then they go out there and break their leg and they can't wait. 00:24:11 Speaker 5: To get on the slopes again because you didn't stop. I didn't stop going out. 00:24:15 Speaker 2: I did not stop going out. That is very true. But I didn't have that that was happening. It was you know, it was happening, but not like that. Oh we had to get that there. 00:24:27 Speaker 4: We'll we'll get back to the baseball side. The time in Boston set the same for us. They Johnny Leeves from New York. You step into those shoes in Boston, y'all had a y'all had a really good run for a couple of years that you were there. Tell us about the transition to Boston and your experience there. 00:24:45 Speaker 2: Well, coming from Cleveland, so it's a smaller market than a New York or Boston, so there was a huge transition with learning that lifestyle versus being in Cleveland playing the game. You go out, they got one street that's a night life you know, sixth Street or ninth Street. Talk about nightlife again, right, but there's like one streets. You go there, it's like four or five bars, maybe three on one side, three on the other type thing that. 00:25:11 Speaker 3: Are good, that approved. 00:25:16 Speaker 2: And then you go to Boston and everybody knows everything about the team, the history of the team, uh, how the team's supposed to be playing, how you're supposed to be playing, how all your kids' names, mama names. They know everything, right, So that was an adjustment that that I end up welcoming over time you sit down to eat and people are coming up to you. I'm I'm not on social media or anything. I'm more of a. 00:25:46 Speaker 3: You're not because I look for you the other day. 00:25:48 Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, yeah, but go out and stuff like that, but you know, kind of low key sort of. So that was an adjust just being out and about in that city. Playing for the team. Baseball is baseball. The Johnny Damon filling his shoes. I mean Johnny Damon's obviously had the long hair, he had the iconic everything going on. I'm coming in with just a name, so I'm just like, who's this guy coming in? This young guy coming in to fill johnny shoes? So for me, I didn't feel no pressure doing that. I was just gonna come in and play. So unfortunate that early on it is probably like the first week or something like that, I ain't a breaking my finger this one right here, and then that hindered me because I played with a broken finger. So I wasn't able to give the city the healthy version of me, which was tough. But I did enjoy Boston. I enjoyed the fan base there. I enjoyed learning them from Cleveland, learning how to move in that sitting circle, and then going to Boston and learn how to play in a big market. 00:26:55 Speaker 4: What's the difference of the Boss experience because you hear players speak very differently about their experience in Boston with the expectations that come with it, especially coming from Cleveland. You get two thousand and seven, I mean, you leave off plans center field. That's a lot of responsibility that's put on you. What was your personal experience of with the Boston fan base and plan with the organization that had that much history history. 00:27:17 Speaker 2: I guess I was just dumb. I don't know. I didn't put any pressure on myself. I just went out there and tried to be myself. I think that's the way that I did it everywhere. And I just went out there and just tried to be who I was as a human being and as a baseball player, and the fans liked me. I didn't perform for them, is I wish I could have during that time, but they still showed me love, like they didn't show me any hate. And I hear guys have the opposite kind of affection shown to them, and for me, it was nothing belove. I think what also helped was the fight when I got into the Boston you know, for some reason, they really embraced me. They didn't they they say they were embracing me, right, and they weren't dogging me for hitting two sixty or whatever the heck I hit there. 00:28:13 Speaker 3: But after that. 00:28:14 Speaker 2: Fight, it's like they loved me, you know, And it wasn't the intention to get into a fight for love. But you. 00:28:23 Speaker 4: Never had something, never had that back down in you, like, take us through that moment, relived that moment with us to see it. 00:28:29 Speaker 3: I know, we talk us through this. 00:28:31 Speaker 2: Is it true? 00:28:31 Speaker 6: Your dad was the boxer back in the day. 00:28:33 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, my dad. 00:28:36 Speaker 4: So yeah, hold on, pauses, why were you so pissed? Is there any history of that? You tell us the whole paint the whole picture for us. 00:28:45 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:28:47 Speaker 2: So, so the game before this one, I got on first base and I stole second, or I was

intending to still, so I slow second and Jason Bartlett, he was playing shortstop for the Rays, and he dropped his knee in front of the bag and I'm sliding in head first. So I'm like, I said really nicely. I was really nice. I was like, dude, like, don't do that. That's not nice, right, It's exact words. 00:29:18 Speaker 5: Like yeah, exactly. 00:29:21 Speaker 2: But he didn't say nothing back to me, and so I kept saying nice words to him. And then and I was like, okay, next time, I get on in my mind, so I'm oh, in my mind, I'm gonna still again. So I don't care how I get on walk hit by pitch and I don't even get hit by pitches and could be in a switch here and all, and so I ended up getting on. So now in my mind, I am seeing red. I I'm not sliding. I'm glad that this ended up happening, to describe it. But if he would have covered the bag, he didn't, and it was a similar situation score all that stuff, So he's spposed to be covering. But I was just gonna run at him, tackle him like full on. That's where I was. And it's crazy. Glad it didn't happen, because this has been disastrous. But I was just gonna tackle him. Then, you know, everybody, whatever happens, I've been happening right, That's where I was. But then he had even more cover And I'm grateful for Bartler for doing that because it actually saved me, but even more covered. He was playing second base for the Rays and ended up being a teammate later on on with me in Oakland. Uh, And I was still furious, but now I dimmed that way down. I slid in the second base hard. I could have been safe, but I was. That wasn't my intention. My intention was to do harm, which was terrible, you know, looking back at it, because it's just the truth, competitiveness, the truth. Because I was like, you try to hurt me, I'm gonna hurt you. Back to attack anyway. So after that, Madden comes out and starts japping at Terry Francona and Tito and and so I get up on. 00:30:56 Speaker 3: Top steps so don't talk to him. 00:30:58 Speaker 2: He talked to me, you know, he didn't have and to deal with it. And now I point at the shortstop. I was like getting the so we're chirping. Then he walks back. After the game, get the interviews and they say, you get hit by pitch yeada YadA. I said, hey, well things have to be tacked for tactic, you know whatever. I sitting in an interview. I go up to the weight room and we both teams work out in the same weight room, and uh, Carlos Pain is up there and we're teammates as well, and he's like, Poppy, what are you doing? They gonna hit you with the ball like in his accident. I can't go too deep into it, but he's like, they're gonna hit you with the ball tomorrow. I was like, all right, this is what is you know, and we're close, you know. So he's letting me know what's gonna happen. So I call my dad. My mom says I called her, but I still believe I called my dad. I called him. I said, Dad, tune in tomorrow. They hit me with this pitch, I'm charging the mount. He's like, all right, make sure you swing first. 00:31:53 Speaker 3: I said. 00:31:54 Speaker 2: I said, all right, that's I said, that's real. And so next next day comes and walk into the first thing I do is walk into Tito's office and I say, hey, if they hit me with this pitch, I'm gonna charge the mount. And he was like, okay. That was That was pretty much it. I just wanted to make sure that he knew what was about to happen. He can have somebody ready because I'm about to get kicked out the game right now. I didn't think this is my first plate appearance this day. I didn't think that they were gonna do it. The first plate appearance. I thought they were gonna hold over my head, you know, and last that bad I had me thinking. But I'm like, okay. My instinct is, if you watch it back, is to get out the way. I'm always trying to get out way. But I ended up letting it hit me. And now my dad says, swing first, but you see James Shilds breaks his hands. There's no way I could swing first. I'm like, oh, baby, duh oh, and then I proceed to get my butt whooped underneath the pile. Mister Johnny Goumes, former teammate, come over there with the hammer fist. Carl Crawford slides in, grabs some braids. 00:32:58 Speaker 5: But the counter right there was nice. 00:33:00 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I'll take that. It's been a different story if it got hit. But you know what, the guys came in there. Sean Casey came in there, real tough. I end up buying him. He's really in the ww E or F or whatever it is, and so I bought him like a poster. And you know, the guys came in there to have my back a little bit. But yeah, it was like, hey, part of the game. 00:33:25 Speaker 4: But that gets you love with the fan base going out there fight for your team, and you think about the guys that in the clubhouse. 00:33:30 Speaker 5: You had, Poppy was in there, You was in there. 00:33:34 Speaker 4: Manny Pedroia, and then you mentioned Tito at the top, like what was that dynamic because I remember Boston it was just this gretty like it's a completely different identity to that team than any other team in the league. 00:33:46 Speaker 5: What was that identity of that team? 00:33:47 Speaker 2: It was just go out there and play, get your work in. You're supposed to be a big leader. You find a time to get your own work in. You go out there and you play the game. 00:33:57 Speaker 6: You know. 00:33:57 Speaker 2: It was a real free, free coaching type of atmosphere. Yeah, we had drills and fly balls and all those things, especially in the spring training, but we didn't have no team stretch. You go out there and you get ready on your time, be a pro, be a pro. And you had a lot of guys Manny, Manny. He'll go into I went in to do a like a commercial and he's in there hitting, you know, to talk about like the the uh, the Kobe Bryant kind of stories that you hear all the time about him outworking people. I didn't even know that was a thing. I didn't know they opened up a baseball field that early to let you in there to

hit. But every every morning he'll be in there hitting. Then he'll come back and hit VP later. But he was always in there hitting. I mean, that's why he was so successful and made him him great. But I didn't know that and that he was doing that every single day. But that was the That was the atmosphere there, open up the field to you get what you need to get done, go out there and kick some butt, you know, play play hard. 00:34:59 Speaker 4: Strong personsonalities of teams that you played for. And going from Boston and getting to Oakland, where I think most people relate to you as far as being an Oakland A that fan base there like very special. Not a lot of people, but the people that are there are extremely passionate a word extreme passion because they're not there anymore. About the Oakland A's what was it about Oakland that really resonated with you when. 00:35:25 Speaker 3: You were there? 00:35:26 Speaker 2: Well, Ricky Anderson is my favorite ball player, Griffy On, Ozzie Smith, and Brett Butler surprisingly is in that mixed you know, bunting hunting. So I learned a lot from him when he was at the Dodgers or whatever in bunting and watching the games. But Ricky was still number one, and I have a lot of family in the Bay Area. It's where I hit my first home run. In my entire life out there Sanla Ball, so just the Oakland. The city of Oakland for me is his family. I've been out there a lot and it was special. Not quite like La because that's my home base, but Oakland was kind of like my second and so to be out there and to be able to play for that team and choose to go there was special. Ricky Henderson was there. I got a chance to play cards with him, talk to him, and just hang out with the guy who I idolized, which was very special. The fan base was electric when we were there because we're winning and everybody has some pretty cool walk up songs, and the fans would get into where it was bout four rage or the careless whisper from Josh Reddick or the old crazy, the old crazy Bernie Lean that you know Bernie Lean. Yep, yep. I brought that to the world. The people still doing it to this day. It's crazy. But it was that atmosphere was more like we're together. Boston was there's they're very passionate fans, but we weren't. It wasn't like family Cleveland. You had a couple people in the stands that you knew and things of that nature. But for me, like I knew some of those guys sitting in the bleachers and go out and you know, have a beer together or something like that. So that that atmosphere for me and when I played there, and also being the veteran guy there was special because of the veteran tag that I ended up having, but also because it was it was more intimate, I guess you would say, with the fans in the field during those those moments, So that was pretty special. 00:37:37 Speaker 4: Do you feel like that connection with the fan base was because y'all were such. 00:37:41 Speaker 2: Underdogs, like because of the whole Moneyball era and. 00:37:45 Speaker 4: The fact that the expectations coming from Boston to Oakland was very different expectations from the fan base on what they want to see on a nightly basis. How much did that play into guys coming closer together? Almost two to prove everybody wrong. You know, you're a smaller market. 00:38:01 Speaker 2: It's the free agents that you get and the moves that are going to be made are going to be a lot different than a Boston. However, with the team that we had there coming out of spring training, in the games, whether it's twenty like eleven, twelve, thirteen, something like that we knew we had, we had players, you know, we knew we had we knew we had pitching, we knew we had teams what we're going to do when we got out there, And we had some people that stepped up, like a Josh Donelson or Reda Hendricks, Reddick Cyspy end up coming over. So we had guys that end up just coming in and making a name for themselves too. But yeah, no, it is much difference, and you do have much different than like a Boston or New York or the Dodgers or a big market team. But for some reason, it was the team chemistry too. For some reason, we just felt like a team, like a team like we're going out there playing hard together, and we felt like we can win. And I think a huge part of that is, yes, the fans that talked about that connection, but fifty winning is lies in that locker room. And I think we had a strong bond in there with you coming over at the time. Then you got I was really big. Oh yeah, you're a big for me, baby. 00:39:22 Speaker 5: Yeah, my god, I agree. 00:39:25 Speaker 2: Having Bob Melvin there like he was, he was a great leader over there. 00:39:29 Speaker 3: True. 00:39:29 Speaker 5: True, you went to the playoffs in twelve. 00:39:31 Speaker 4: We went to the playoffs together in thirteen and I'm getting knocked out by Detroit, like, but that run there, making it to the playoffs with that team, it felt. It felt different than making it to the playoffs with any other words. 00:39:41 Speaker 1: Such a loyal fan base, particularly when you're winning. I mean, there's still some people that are gonna support you when you're losing. I know how it was with Golden State. But when you're winning, you're touchable, you're accessible, and you feel like you're a part of Oakland, Like they really make you feel like you're at home. And I think that's across the board in all sports that have a good run in Oakland. 00:39:59 Speaker 6: Sure, for both you were because I feel like that was probably right around the time where analytics became super Fountain and the A's were the poster for analytics. To what did you what in your career to maybe either manager or coaches kind of tell you two different approaches or was that prominent in Oakland too? 00:40:18 Speaker 2: It didn't really touch my game as much analytics as far as my career baseball, and I think that sort of for me ended up happening once I got onto the coaching side of it, and I had to

learn the analytics side of it as well as still has that old school mentality. But as far as me personally, it wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't a part of my journey. 00:40:48 Speaker 6: Uh. 00:40:48 Speaker 2: During during my career, I hated it. 00:40:51 Speaker 5: It was the worst. 00:40:52 Speaker 4: It was terrible for me because I remember I was I was playing in Arizona and I was playing every day. 00:40:58 Speaker 3: I was planned every day. 00:40:59 Speaker 4: End up having an injury in twenty twelve that took me off for a significant amount of time. And then that offseason I got traded to Oakland and I remember I got traded to Oakland. 00:41:09 Speaker 2: I looked at the depth chart and I said, well. 00:41:12 Speaker 4: They got Coco and center, they got Cesspidis and left, and they got Reddick and right, and they're all coming off of really strong ears. 00:41:21 Speaker 5: I'm like, they about to Oakland me. 00:41:23 Speaker 4: I'm like, they're literally bringing me over when I was an everyday player. You're bringing me over because Coco had an injury history, and so okay, we'll bring him over so that if Coco gets hurt, then we'll have. 00:41:36 Speaker 5: You to put in there every day. 00:41:39 Speaker 4: But if he doesn't, you turn into a platoon guy and you come in and now you'll face lefties, and now we'll mixmatch you and Coco. We'll mixmatch you in Reddick from time to time, whatever it may be. But you kind of got to get in where you fit in. After you have that label on you. The toughest thing in the world to do is get that label up off you. So it was something that I knew. When I got traded over there. I called my agent. I was like, you got to get me out of here. This is not a good place for me. I do not want to go there because there's not a spot for me there. You want to go to a team everybody wants to play and you go out there to the field. You want to go out there and play. After you get there, we make the best of it. Me and Coch had a great time. But for my career, I thought it was terrible from the get go because I knew the system that they worked in in Oakland tough. 00:42:30 Speaker 2: And you just coming off some good yeah. 00:42:32 Speaker 4: Coming out really good years and just see an injury that took me out for a long time. But injury was shoulder. The wall made the catch. Fighting with the wall, you always lose that fight. 00:42:42 Speaker 3: Yeah, walls and ground and always. 00:42:44 Speaker 2: Lose that fight. They start padding it after after the injury. Yeah, that and taking me out too, dang Wall. 00:42:51 Speaker 1: So traded back to Cleveland an organization started with fourteen years ago, and your final season ended up being a really memorable one. 00:42:58 Speaker 3: You guys go to the World Series. 00:43:01 Speaker 2: Yeah about that, Yeah, it was in Oakland. Then. Just talked about the injuries going against the Wall, and I have a scar now, but I ended up having to have next surgery after my career. Going in

get the ball changed my whole whole career. 00:43:14 Speaker 3: You know. 00:43:15 Speaker 2: I was coming off the twenty twenty year and everything like that. The next year running to the Wall and they near paralyzed myself, right, So when from here to quickly this way, you know, trying to compete against the best players in the world and you're not at your peak was tough. So I'm still fighting saying no, I need to be out there playing, you know, because inside I still believe that. But now looking back, I can see that I was. I was falling off, you know, and the organization probably did the right move for the organization. So towards the end of Oakland, that journey, which was a blessed journey. Still, there was some some moving around some pieces and asked to be traded, not because of the the this more business side of things, right, I still love Oakland, but I asked to be traded to see if I can go somewhere and finish off my career the way that I felt inside me that it should be finished. And I'm very grateful that they were able to do that for me and get me to Cleveland, the place where I started in the big leagues at least, and have that final year, that journey through the playoffs and making it to the World Series. 00:44:31 Speaker 5: You know. 00:44:32 Speaker 2: So that just kind of concluded that I wish we would have won. 00:44:35 Speaker 1: It takes back to that incredible Game seven. Take us back to that Game seven. 00:44:41 Speaker 2: Yeah, the first time I'm playing on my birthday. Yeah, lost on my birthday. Fault, it's my faults. Yeah, no, it was. It was a crazy game. But prior to that, because I had a shoulder injury, I went into and again told Terry, which he wouldn't have done if I wouldn't came in there. Most likely it took me out the game. That last at bat of of the the game would have been my bat and uh that year, I think I led the league in bad average with guys in the scoring position and clutch situations type of thing. But I went in there. I said, hey, if there's a situation where a guy's on second base, I don't have a good arm anyway, But now my arm's hurt too. If there's a situation where you need a guy to be thrown out and I'm on the field, take me out, I'm okay with that. Showing off that situation happen, right, And then I don't get the last It could have been the same result. Who knows, right, I could have struck out, could have hit a home run. I don't know, but but you will never know. It was a great game. Rose hit that home run. Mother nature came down and changed the dynamic. We had had them against the ropes, and then mother nature came. They go in there, have a little hour rob pep talk, and they get back in it, and and they come back and rally. They did a great job, you know, not giving up. We didn't give up either, but they just got the best of us. You know, we got that second place ring still better than today. It still looked better than my, my, my championship ring that I got for Boston. Though it's crazy.

Yeah, a few years have passed. Every year things just get bigger and bigger, but it's still yeah, it's still second place and it's still means more. 00:46:22 Speaker 1: Though, when do you know that it's time to go? The mind may be sharp, but you're also a very intelligent person. When do you know, like, Okay, maybe it's time. 00:46:33 Speaker 2: M hmm. Prior to that injury, I was like, I'm gonna play till I'm fifty. 00:46:38 Speaker 3: How old were you when you got that injury? 00:46:40 Speaker 2: Thirty four? I think thirty four. But I was still still good. My Lais was good. I was rolling. And then after the injury and things started turning going downhill for me. I did get some offers to come back and after the sixteen year and play, but I just knew my body. I could have went back, made some more money. My kids are getting older. I already missed my older two And that's like the toughest part of of there's a lot of tough parts of the game. You go face Pedro Martinez, that's tough, but you don't talk about like you watched Naked and Fred or along the first thing they say is miss my kids, miss my family, you know, so people don't talk about that part of it and having to sacrifice time spent, you know, seeing kids first step and step on video or something like that. So my younger two, I missed my older two to an extent, you know, it is there when I could be there. But then the younger two, I'm like, okay, you know, my body's felling a little bit now, and I got contracts, offers to go back and play, but I'm not gonna play. Well, I'm hurt. You know, I need an elbow surgery, next surgery. You know, I could have powered through, made a couple more million. Maybe I don't know, but I chose to step away. And I'm very grateful that not not a lot of guys get it. Some guys get it. And I'm one of those guys that I feel very grateful that I was able to choose, choose, you know, instead of getting kicked out. And probably if I would have took that, if I would have went back, they probably have gave me. Probably would have gave you know, they'd be like, okay, kid, you know it's time. But yeah, you had. 00:48:31 Speaker 1: Three different stops. Success with every stop you made. Is there one team that you kind of hang your hat on that you know that you say that was my team? 00:48:39 Speaker 3: It's tough. 00:48:40 Speaker 2: I would I would say I wouldn't hang my hat on Kansas City. I had two shoulder surgeries there and I just didn't spend a lot of time. But the other three is a toss up. It's a toss up, you know. I got my first taste in the big leagues with Cleveland. Finished up in Cleveland. It's very special. I was able to get some priceless veteran knowledge and tutorage from on Marvis Scale and Toma and Burks and guys like that, so it's hard not to put their name in the mix. Boston won the World Series. I learned a lot being in that type of environment how to be a veteran, which allowed me to transition hopefully be a decent veteran in Oakland, Oakland, Like I said, I have roots out there, you know, family ties. Ricky's my favorite baseball player, and plan out there was special because I was the veteran and we made I was a veteran guy and we made runs through the playoffs. Uh so those three are are equal in different ways. You know, so I can't say I can I think all three of those special My journey. 00:49:43 Speaker 3: Was wass you got any Ricky stories? 00:49:45 Speaker 2: The only one that I have that everybody talks about when he talks about in third person is when we're in spring training, because typically he doesn't he or he hadn't with me, like we're playing cards doing certain days. This is normal. You know, he's the normal guy, which is awesome. But there was one time we're in spring training and and we're running bases and Ricky was gonna run some basis saying, hey, rick you shouldn't do that. He ain't got no spikes on Ricky. Look, He's like, we don't need no spike Ricky float. That was the only time, you know, that was the only time that he got. 00:50:21 Speaker 5: Floats. 00:50:21 Speaker 2: I was like, oh, that's dope, he does and I used that and stuff like. That was his line. But he moved, he moved a little bit. But yeah, it's like, you know, he don't need spike Ricky float. I love that's. 00:50:38 Speaker 3: Quick hitters first seem kind of let us know favorite ballpark. 00:50:42 Speaker 2: PNC and worstall park. It was I need the metro Dome. Metro Dome, When did you break in the league. You're looking at me like Kevin looked like old boy. It's like, dam it was uh two thousand and two, what mess? 00:51:00 Speaker 3: What city is at? Minnesota? 00:51:02 Speaker 5: Minnesota? 00:51:03 Speaker 2: Minnesota? And you tried to dive on that stuff. He was getting burned up, burnt up. I did like a Maggie though, Yeah, but it was tough to see. 00:51:12 Speaker 3: Get lost a lot, right. 00:51:13 Speaker 2: The lighting was terrible. 00:51:14 Speaker 3: What uh baseball mo was there? It was an angel. 00:51:19 Speaker 2: Kies right, the rookie. 00:51:21 Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, the smartest pitch you ever faced. 00:51:25 Speaker 2: You know, I probably hmm a lot of options, grinky. That's the first thing that came to my mind. You know why I want to follow the dumbest pitches, Natti single pitch. It has to go to my weakness. I just say, Weavers change up for me was the nastiest pitch, funniest teammates don't be leaning up like I mean, yeah, I don't know. I guess you're up there. You go back and forth. It was just throwing jabs, taking jabs and and just being quick with it. You know, I just I'll probably say. 00:52:01 Speaker 1: I got a question because obviously, I mean, I know how it is on the on the basketball side, but you guys are kind of joscelying for like you said you would. They would play games with different pictures with Obviously you guys made a friendship better. 00:52:13 Speaker 3: It was. 00:52:13 Speaker 1: It was there ever some time, Honestly, either you guys looked at each

other like, man, fuck this dude. 00:52:17 Speaker 4: If it was, it would have been for me to be like that to him because he was the every day, because he was the every day. 00:52:21 Speaker 2: But no, I never did because. 00:52:23 Speaker 4: It was never the player, like you understand what a player, you understand the competition. 00:52:28 Speaker 3: It was. 00:52:29 Speaker 5: It was the organization. 00:52:30 Speaker 4: And I actually had a great experience in Oakland, had a great experience with the fan base. 00:52:34 Speaker 5: It was before I even stepped in the room. 00:52:37 Speaker 3: You just need the business. 00:52:38 Speaker 5: I knew the business of it. 00:52:39 Speaker 2: But that never gotten the way of your friend. 00:52:42 Speaker 4: No, no, no, I was never out there like crashing to the wall like no, that never even crossed my mind. And me and kick me and Coke kicked it hard. I say hard, like it was on the. 00:52:52 Speaker 1: Side of the San Francisco side, San Francisco side. Yeah, there's a pep Oakland spots though we used to dunk off just a letter story. 00:52:58 Speaker 4: Got a baseball players and know about those spots where were out of tightest clubhouse you talked about your connection tightest clubhouse you were part of. 00:53:08 Speaker 2: Probably the Oakland clubhouse. Probably probably those guys. Yeah, Kansas City was actually low key. We're pretty close too. We would be sitting down there. That's probably the closest I've been to. The pictures on a ball club usually it's just position players. I'm with the position players pictures too. You know, maybe in Oakland do little some people, you know, some guys limb but over there, like I was close with Grinky and and Dave and we've been playing World of Warcraft in the clubhouse that stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll be in their pre game, you know, when it's our downtime and we've been there playing World of Warcraft. Funny story is, I don't know how funny it is, but it's a unique story. Is after I left Kansas City and I'm facing the Grinky, I hit a ball down the line against them, and the umpire called it fair and fould end up being a double right. But during that commotion and when they're trying to figure it out, Greenky walks down to home plate and he says, hey, I finally got my paullot in the level eighty mid game. I'm like it, call me off guard. I didn't know what to saynds like good and I'm a double off them, but a community into warcraft, and I was like, man, we compete right now, brother. 00:54:27 Speaker 3: Bench clearing brawl. Who do you want in your side? You get three people you could either play with or against. 00:54:33 Speaker 2: Well, I'm gonna have to get Sean Casey for sure because he was out there. He was like the first person out there during my my brawl. I don't know how he'll do, but he big, hurt, he big. I'm gonna go with, and then then probably Gary Sheffield. He's strong. 00:54:50 Speaker 4: Chef has been full of times. Jeff is a common answer. Clubhouse playlist. I know you ran it in Oakland. What was your to in a clubhouse playlist? What type of what type of music? 00:55:02 Speaker 2: It was mainly hip hop right for the most part. 00:55:04 Speaker 3: For me. 00:55:05 Speaker 2: I mixed some some alternative type of stuff in there, but it was more like what was hot, Probably some stuff that ain't nobody ever heard of that I thought was hot? You know that I that I throw on there and then next thing, you know, everybody's saying, you know, singing along because I've repeated it all the time, I guess. But but it was mainly like just a hip hop mix. You know, I can't I can't really say any specific. It'd be some random people and mixed in there too. 00:55:34 Speaker 3: One guess you would like to see on All the Smoke Baseball? 00:55:39 Speaker 2: Who's some characters? 00:55:41 Speaker 3: Uh? 00:55:42 Speaker 2: You know, I would. I would say Ramier as many. 00:55:48 Speaker 4: I think he has as he has a he's still working with cool personality. 00:55:52 Speaker 3: Still you said, I've seen it. 00:55:54 Speaker 4: He's still it's a young kid that I don't know how young he is, but he looks like a young kid to me is give and like hidden instruction and man, it goes with him and literally locks in and it's genuinely taking advice from him on what he's doing wrong with this swing. 00:56:08 Speaker 2: It's like, bro, you know you call the. 00:56:10 Speaker 3: Flamer on the great. 00:56:13 Speaker 2: It's crazy. 00:56:13 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:56:14 Speaker 2: Many. The only thing is, I don't know how he's gonna be. I don't know because he's like a parrot his personality. He'll be good. 00:56:20 Speaker 1: Yeah, you gotta put some oil in the first. Well, Coco, man, we appreciate your time. Congratulations on a long, successful career. 00:56:28 Speaker 3: Man. 00:56:28 Speaker 2: Thanks, thank you for good Man, Thank you, thanks. 00:56:32 Speaker 3: Oko, Chris, all the smoke baseball. See you guys next week.