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Could Relegation Work in Baseball?If MLB adopted a promotion and relegation system like European soccerEliminates tanking$12 billion input into the leagueKeeps fans engaged all seasonExpands opportunities for new marketsChallenges include financial structure and the difficulty of transitionThe Pitch Clock and Modern Game ChangesRothschild discusses how the pitch clock has improved pace Pitch clock has changed the rhythm of the gameWhile fans seem to enjoy faster gamestraditional tempo and strategic breathing room for players have diminishedBob Gibson used to pitch 1.5 hour games Stopping The Shift -We have legislated things in baseball, that we have causedMaury Wills did not need these rulesChanging Incentives in BaseballModern analytics have shifted player priorities.Skills like bunting and base stealing declined because players were not financially rewarded for these skills. Players will develop the skills that they are paid forMental Performance in the GamePitch Clock has put a rush & stress in the game with hitters & pitchersThe importance of mental coaching, visualization, and repeatable mechanics, Rothschild brought Harvey Dorfman as a mental coach for the Rays organizationSo much information across MLB gives wealth of knowledge of competing teamsHitters get uncomfortable with the unknownABS and the Future of UmpiringAutomated Ball-Strike technology may remove some personality from the gameLarry shares stories of Umpires - "Your day will come & you have to earn it"Larry believes ABS is necessary in today's data-driven environmentHow many less manager ejections will there be with ABS Joe West & other umpire stories The Tropicana Roof Rings RulesRays Stadium and Tampa's FutureRothschild hopes the Rays remain in Tampa Tropicana Roof & what wind speeds are still safe to continue the game?Governor DeSantis has given 22 acres to the Rays for new stadiumLarry stresses new stadium should honor local baseball legends like Al Lopez and Lou PiniellaLarry strongly recommends a visit to the Tampa Baseball Museum at the home of Al LopezImportance of Minor League BaseballReducing minor league teams risks losing baseball's deep connection to small-town America.An alternative: integrating college baseball more directly into the development system.Baseball's future depends on maintaining strong community connections & preserving the passion that has long defined the gameThanks for listening to BaseballBiz On Deck - www.baseballbizondeck.com You've been listening to Part 2 of the interview with Larry Rothschild, twice a coach with World Series winning teams the Marlins and the Reds plus he was manager of the inaugural Tampa Bay Devil Rays Baseball Team, pitching coach for the Atlanta Braves, Florida Marlins, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, and San Diego Padres. click here & Listen to Part 1 of the interview with LarryIf you enjoyed this show, go ahead like and subscribe to BaseballBiz On Deck. You may also find BaseballBiz on Deck, on YouTube at iHeart Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, and at baseballbizondeck.comYou can find Mat at matgermain.bsky
What separates good athletes from elite performers? It's not just talent—it's mental discipline. In this episode of Most Valuable Agent, Sean Casey, former MLB All-Star and performance coach, breaks down the mental game of baseball and how mastering your mindset can transform your performance on and off the field. Sean shares how Harvey Dorfman's book, The Mental Game of Baseball, completely changed his approach to the game, giving him a sixth tool—the ability to stay calm, focused, and confident under pressure. He reveals how mental toughness helped him go from being overlooked in high school to becoming one of the best hitters in the country. ___ What You'll Learn from This Episode: ✔️ Why 80-90% of baseball is mental—but few players train their mindset ✔️ How Sean Casey used visualization & breathing techniques to stay locked in at the plate ✔️ Lessons from Ken Griffey Sr. & the legends of the game that shaped his career ✔️ Why players fail at showcases—and how to dominate at game time ✔️ The power of self-belief & outworking the competition Unlock the Mental Edge to Dominate in Baseball & Life! Sean Casey isn't just talking theory—he lived it. If you're an athlete, coach, or competitor looking for an edge, this is the episode to watch.
John talks with Todd Stottlemyre — former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher, 3-time World Series Champion, high-performance coach, entrepreneur, speaker, investor, advisor, author of the books Relentless Success: 9-Point System for Major League Achievement and The Observer: A Modern Fable on Mastering Your Thoughts & Emotions, proud husband and father of five. Listen to this episode to learn more: [00:00] - Intro [01:22] - Todd's bio [05:16] - Todd's family and background in baseball [08:57] - Lessons learned from baseball legends [11:33] - Pressure to match his father's legacy [14:43] - Why shielding kids from failure backfires [15:50] - The value of struggle in growth [18:04] - Story about Todd's daughter proving herself in business [22:54] - Happiness vs Joy [24:08] - Winning the World Series with the Blue Jays [26:53] - Building a championship team [30:09] - Applying a champion's mindset to business and leadership [35:07] - Dropping ego for team success [38:36] - The Golden Rule: Love others as yourself [39:45] - Todd's experiences with adversity and how it affected his baseball performance [42:08] - Lessons from mindset coach Harvey Dorfman [45:30] - The Championship Statement [48:40] - Outro NOTABLE QUOTES: “If you're going to dig ditches, the only thing I want for you is to become the best ditch digger you can possibly become.” “You can either be Daddy's little princess, or you can be boss, but you can't be both.” “In the last hours with my father, I promise you, we didn't talk championships. We weren't talking baseball. We weren't talking about, you know, money or anything else. It was love, and it was about being in the moment.” “Failing is important. We actually need to fail because that's when the opportunity to learn presents itself. You don't learn a thing by doing it right. You only have an opportunity to learn when you do it wrong.” “If you don't know what you want to do, and you don't know where you want to go, when life throws you a set of circumstances, you're going to get buried in those circumstances.” “What happens when the world throws you a set of circumstances that are out of your control, and Mommy and Daddy can't make you happy any longer? You actually have to go through it, learn from it, and figure out how to move forward. So, let the kids learn that emotional IQ.” “The name on the front of the uniform is a lot more important than the name on the back of the uniform.” “Championships are won through getting uncomfortable, growing, and coming together as a team.” “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, take others with you.” “Today, we have a reaction problem, and if we can teach people to respond versus react, you'd see a much different outcome.” “Love your neighbor as if it were yourself. If we could all follow the Golden Rule, wouldn't we have world peace?” “Words are shallow; actions are deep.” “The beautiful thing about your first step is you might learn not the ‘how to,' but it's a lesson, and then it continues to move you forward.” “The reward is the process.” USEFUL RESOURCES: https://toddofficial.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddstottlemyre/ https://www.instagram.com/todd.stott https://www.facebook.com/todd.stottlemyre https://x.com/ToddStottlemyre https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKJCB98_92Se0jK08SdmuRw Relentless Success: 9-Point System for Major League Achievement (https://a.co/d/gZU8r8I) The Observer: A Modern Fable on Mastering Your Thoughts & Emotions (https://a.co/d/dy4tSSW) CONNECT WITH JOHN Website - https://thejohnhulen.com Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnhulen Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/johnhulen X - https://x.com/johnhulen LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhulen YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLX_NchE8lisC4NL2GciIWA EPISODE CREDITS Intro and Outro music provided by Jeff Scheetz - https://jeffscheetz.com/
In this episode of The Mental Performance Mastery Podcast, Brian continues a tribute series to one of his mentors and a mental performance coaching icon, Harvey Dorfman. Al Leiter pitched in Major League Baseball from 1987-2005, was a 2x All-Star, a 3x World Series Champion, and New York Mets Hall of Famer. Leiter worked closely with Harvey and attributes a lot of his success over his career to his work on the mental game with Harvey. In this episode Al & Brian discuss: The moment Al knew he needed help with mental performance The 3 day think tank that Al and Harvey at his house in Prescot, Arizona Getting clarity on your job as a pitcher Being mentally and physically prepared to execute a pitch What made Harvey so special in Al's eyes The listen and call you on your shit balance Professional athletes need and want to hear the truth Getting down to straight talk How you feel vs. how you behave Harvey's two two processes for development Controlling what you can control Self-promotion vs. doing the work as a mental performance coach Al's advice for mental performance coaches Conversations, Content and Careers - The Life and Legacy of Harvey Dorfman is a series in which Brian interviews former players and staff who had their careers positively impacted by Harvey. Go inside the conversations, the content and the careers forever changed by one of the greatest mental performance coaches who ever lived. Check out Harvey's Books on Amazon
In this episode of The Mental Performance Mastery Podcast, Brian continues a tribute series to Harvey Dorfman, one of his mentors and a mental game of baseball coaching icon. Joining Brian today is Sean Casey. “Case” played Major League Baseball from 1997-2008, was a 3x All-Star, a Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer, hit .302 for his career, and says he would have NEVER made it to MLB without daily reading one of Harvey's books and working with him during his career. In this episode Sean & Brian discuss: The three keys to keep it simple See The Ball, Be Easy, Hammer It Getting and grading your best looks at the plate 1-5. Pison, The World's First Cognitive Performance App and Wearable How what you measure improves Working with Sean and his Breakthrough Pro Program Conversations, Content, and Careers - The Life and Legacy of Harvey Dorfman is a series in which Brian interviews former players and staff who had their careers positively impacted by Harvey. Check out Harvey's Books on Amazon
In this episode of The Mental Performance Mastery Podcast, Brian kicks off a tribute series to one of his mentors and a mental game of baseball coaching icon in Harvey Dorfman. Conversations, Content and Careers - The Life and Legacy of Harvey Dorfman is a series in which Brian interviews former players and staff who had their careers positively impacted by Harvey. Go inside the conversations, the content and the careers forever changed by one of the greatest mental performance coaches who ever lived. Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak Check out Harvey's Books on Amazon
Smart Agency Masterclass with Jason Swenk: Podcast for Digital Marketing Agencies
Could your ego be standing in the way of your agency's success? Do you want to perform at peak level but struggle to break through an invisible ceiling? It might be time to reinvent and put energy into a mindset that helps you get there. There are a lot of people claiming to know the “secret to success” but most ignore the core issues of the mental game. Today's guest has been the coach to pro athletes, public figures, and leaders by helping them improve performance by starting with improvements to their mental game. Todd Herman is a global leader, speaker, author, and mentor who helps amazing talent, like Kobe Bryant, reach a new level in their careers. He coaches elite pro athletes, leaders, and public figures on the topics of performance, strategy, mindset, and execution. Todd is an insider in the thought process of not only elite performers but legends in their fields. In this episode, we'll discuss: Overcoming ego death by developing an alternate persona. Separating the different sides of your identity. Being authentic and intentional as your identity superpower. Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio | Stitcher | Radio FM Sponsors and Resources Dot & Co: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by Dot & Co, client management specialists that will help digital marketing agencies keep their clients happy. With the help of their knowledgeable account managers, agency owners can step away from the day-to-day and focus on driving results. Check out dotandcompany.co/smartagency and get 20% off your first month working with them. The Path of the Mental Coaching Game Todd got his start in 1997 coaching high school football players and got really good results by helping them with their mental game. Back then, mental game coaching wasn't really an industry, a market, or even a niche. Nevertheless, he got results and parents started reaching out to pay for private coaching lessons. Since his coaching career started in the world of sports and being a big believer in mentorship, he reached out to Harvey Dorfman, a giant in the mental game industry. With Harvey, he got to go behind the scenes and see what it's like to work with professional athletes. This is how he started moving more into the world of peak performance and mental game coaching. Since then, Todd has improved his methods and moved on to coaching Hollywood and Broadway talent, and top CEOs. Whatever his clients are trying to conquer, he usually goes back to the principles of the inner game, strategic game, and execution game. With this, he builds programs and systems to tackle their goals. As Todd's coach, Harvey had a huge impact on his career. His best advice was that you don't need to act a certain way in order to deliver value. He didn't need to be the kindest or the most aggressive or appear a certain way to help his clients. He just needed to be honest and use everyday words, without the need to posture with big words. Overcoming Ego Death by Developing a New Persona Todd met Kobe Bryant when the athlete reached out to his coach Harvey while going through a difficult time due to a public scandal. It was 2003 and Harvey described it to Todd as Kobe's “ego death” or an identity challenge. Harvey referred Kobe to Todd at that time, as he specialized in that kind of crisis for athletes. As Todd explains, when an athlete needs to step into a new world or new type of challenge, like a college athlete going to a professional league, they need to shed some of their old identity. The longer it takes them to do that, the greater the chances they'll never succeed in that new area. At that time, Kobe was going through a moment that forced him to shed his image as a young, naïve player. This was the source of his crisis and he needed to figure out a new identity to get back in the game. Todd worked with him to cultivate a new image of Kobe, both ON and OFF the court. With Todd's help, Kobe developed an aspirational persona of a stone-cold killer who never gives up -- The Black Mamba. Naming the persona is an important part of the process that helps people tap into their alter ego. Kobe attributes his moment of clarity to the movie Kill Bill where he discovered the black mamba and instantly felt inspired and connected to it. Developing Your Own Alter Ego Persona People tend to think they can get to the same success level by modeling their life exactly like celebrities. In reality, the idea is to look at them as sources of inspiration. If you take Kobe and The Black Mamba as the source for your alter ego, you won't see similar results. An alter ego has to inspire you with its attributes and qualities; then customize that to your current ambitions. Any person looking to build their alter ego should be very honest about what they want. The problem is that many people don't know how to articulate it. This is the basis of the alter ego you end up creating. In Kobe's case, the black mamba was created to help him get through a very specific moment in his career. It was meant for a specific role -- not every aspect of his life. If you think about the roles in your life, which one is giving you the most challenges and struggles? Which one do you feel the most trapped by? There should be some element of playfulness and creativity in building your persona. If you're an agency owner who's feeling trapped, what's an area in your life where you could be more playful? The Importance of Separating the Different Sides of Your Identity The black mamba was only one part of Kobe's identity created exclusively for the basketball court. This is how we should approach high-performance alter egos. They are meant to help us excel in a specific area where we're struggling and remain separate from other facets of our lives. Your alter ego helps you reach very specific goals in one area but it is not who you are. If you're an agency owner, maybe you need an alter ego for that side of your identity. Maybe you need an alter ego for being an author or podcast host. Seeing yourself as just an entrepreneur is what makes it so difficult for some people to exit the business and give up control. This mindset gets in the way of agency growth because owners don't know who they are outside of the business. As human beings, we love to attach labels to ourselves and label others, as well. Labels can be very empowering. However, when you're about to make a shift make sure you have the right narrative of yourself. For instance, Todd recommends switching the entrepreneur label to “I am entrepreneurial”. This way, if you sell your agency you don't lose your identity. An entrepreneurial nature is something you can take anywhere, into anything. Being Authentic and Intentional as Your Identity Superpower Nowadays we hear a lot about authenticity and how it's the best way to succeed. However, Todd believes there's an argument to be made about the results you get when you adopt a persona that helps you get ready to perform at the level you want to be. Todd believes intentionality with identity is a superpower. If you're a public speaker, the person who's on stage catching the audience's attention won't necessarily have the same energy as the one answering their questions after you leave the stage. And that's okay. In a study conducted at the University of Minnesota, a group of grade 1 and 2 kids were tasked with grabbing a set of keys and finding the correct one to open a padlock. In reality, the test was about resilience. The key was not there but how long would it take them to give up? The second part of the test included the same exercise but this time, the kids got to dress up as either Batman or Dora the Explorer. The time they spent trying to open the door increased drastically. In their normal clothes, they gave up quickly. However, as a dressed as a character they had a mindset shift. That is the power of an alter ego. As you step onto the stage, in front of a camera, or whatever your platform -- adopt the identity of a winner or a fighter who gets the job done. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? If you want to be around amazing agency owners that can see what you may not be able to see and help you grow your agency, go to Agency Mastery 360. Our agency growth program helps you take a 360-degree view of your agency and gain mastery of the 3 pillar systems (attract, convert, scale) so you can create predictability, wealth, and freedom.
The Recruit-Me Athletic Scholarship Podcast with Brent Hanks
Inspiration can come from anywhere. I saw a tweet that had a clip of an interview with the host, Ed Mylett, interviewing Sean Casey, a former MLB player and now a host on the MLB Network. You can find The Ed Mylett Show on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube. The 1 hour and 6 minute interview is named How to Overcome Rejection & Failure and WIN! w/ Sean Casey & Ed Mylett. What attracted me to this interview was that @TJHannam10 highlighted a line from the interview that stated "I want to play college baseball, Dad", "They're not coming, Sean..GO ON OFFENSE". The mention of wanting to play college baseball caught my recruiting eye and when I listened to the first 20-30 minutes of the interview it told a very relatable story for many, many student-athletes in not only baseball, but in any recruiting situation. This interview gives you, not only recruiting lessons, but life lessons and inspiration. The shownotes below have a link to the Ed Mylett/Sean Casey interview. Also, click on the FREE Recruiting Power Pack link and the Recruit-Me.com link to get more free and inexpensive recruiting resources. The Ed Mylett Show: Sean Casey Episode Recruit-Me.com Recruit-Me 3.0 Athletic Scholarship System FREE Recruiting Power Pack QRRecruiter.com promo code RecruitMe5 CollegeCoachesOnline.com promo code RM123 Listen to Past Episodes of The Athletic Scholarship Podcast The Baseball Bluebook The Art of Hitting .300 by Charley Lau The Science of Hitting by Ted Williams The Mental Game of Baseball by Harvey Dorfman
Andrew Saltman is a businessman and host of the podcast and reads 50-75 books a year for the past 5 years. 1. Flourish was written by Martin Seligman 2. Life Force was written by Tony Robbins 3. How To Get Rich was written by Felix Dennis 4. The Mental Game of Baseball was written by Harvey Dorfman. - Andrew's Social Media Links - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewsaltman369/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carbon.capital.1/ Website: https://www.floridamb.com/
Heroic: https://heroic.us (← Get your first 14 days free) Heroic Coach: https://heroic.us/coach (← Join 12,500+ Heroes from 110+ Countries!) Today's Heroic +1 features wisdom from Harvey Dorfman's "Coaching the Mental Game". Get more wisdom in less time (including Big Idea highlights of "Coaching the Mental Game" and an Antifragile 101 masterclass) with a Heroic Premium membership. Start a FREE 14-day premium trial here: http://heroic.us About Heroic: Heroic integrates ancient wisdom, modern science, and practical tools into a beautifully-designed app to help activate your best. Premium Heroic members have access to 600+ of the absolute greatest personal development books distilled into 25-min PhilosophersNotes and 50+ hour-long masterclasses on all areas of a flourishing life. SUBSCRIBE: https://bit.ly/3EF3hQs #coaching #mentalperformance #mindset #antifragile #peakperformance #personaldevelopment #heroic
Heroic: https://heroic.us (← Get your first 14 days free) Heroic Coach: https://heroic.us/coach (← Join 12,500+ Heroes from 110+ Countries!) Today's Heroic +1 features wisdom from Harvey Dorfman's "Coaching the Mental Game", Alex Pang's "The Distraction Addiction", and Stephen Covey's "Primary Greatness". Get more wisdom in less time (including Big Idea highlights of "Coaching the Mental Game", "The Distraction Addiction", "Primary Greatness" and a Learning 101 masterclass) with a Heroic Premium membership. Start a FREE 14-day premium trial here: http://heroic.us About Heroic: Heroic integrates ancient wisdom, modern science, and practical tools into a beautifully-designed app to help activate your best. Premium Heroic members have access to 600+ of the absolute greatest personal development books distilled into 25-min PhilosophersNotes and 50+ hour-long masterclasses on all areas of a flourishing life. SUBSCRIBE: https://bit.ly/3EF3hQs #wisdom #learning #growth #personaldevelopment #heroic
本集節目由「板橋 Jason Jiambi」贊助播出
Gandhi, the Gita, Bagger Vance, and YOU In our last couple +1s, we've had fun hanging out with some world-class peak performance coaches: Harvey Dorfman and Phil Stutz. What did they teach us? They tell us that it's ALL ABOUT focusing on the PROCESS of TAKING ACTION rather than the unhealthy obsession on the OUTCOMES. They, of course, are not alone in this perspective. We talk about it in one of my all-time favorite +1s called “Did I Win? How to Sink a $1m Putt and Do Other Great Things.” Short story: Lanny Bassham worked with a golfer who hadn't won in a while. Lanny told him to not even think about winning a tournament. Instead, they developed a protocol. His job was to EXECUTE that protocol every shot of every round he played. Fast forward a few tournaments. It's the final shot on the final hole on the final day of the tournament. Our golfer steps up, executes his protocol and makes the putt. Then his wife runs onto the green and leaps into his arms. His response? “Did I win?” I just got goosebumps typing that out. I've told that story COUNTLESS times. And it gets me EVERY SINGLE TIME. Imagine stepping up for a $1 million dollar putt and being SO FOCUSED on the PROCESS that you're OBLIVIOUS to the OUTCOME. Boom. That's how it's done. Then there's Gandhi. He tells us the same thing in his own words. In Eknath Easwaran's FANTASTIC biography Gandhi the Man (check out those Notes!), we learn that Gandhi liked to say: “The goal ever recedes from us. The greater the progress the greater the recognition of our unworthiness. Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.” BOOM. That's how it's done. Where'd Gandhi get that wisdom? From his bible, the Bhagavad Gita (check out those Notes!) where we learn the fact that: “The awakened sages call a person wise when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about results.” I could go on and on and on. I'll leave it at that for now. Actually… Let's bring it back to the 21st century and hear how Steven Pressfield puts it in The War of Art (check out THOSE Notes as well!). He tells us: “The professional has learned that success, like happiness, comes as a by-product of work. The professional concentrates on the work and allows rewards to come or not come, whatever they like.” btw: Pressfield actually wrote a book on the subject that became a movie starring Will Smith and Matt Damon. Ever heard of The Legend of Bagger Vance? Did you know that that movie is basically the Bhagavad Gita on a golf course? Yep. In the Gita, a wise god (Krishna) advises a reluctant warrior (Arjuna). In The Legend of Bagger Vance, a wise caddy (Bagger Vance) advises a reluctant golfer (Rannulph Junuh). “Bagger Vance” “Bhagavad Gita.” Get it? So… Quick check-in… What do YOU want in your life? More Energy? More Productivity? More Connection? Awesome. What can you do RIGHT NOW (!) to take ONE STEP toward to achieving it? Get on that. Release attachment to outcomes. Repeat. All day. Every day. ESPECIALLY… TODAY. +1. +1. +1.
On Action, Action, and More Action In our last +1, we hung out with one of the friendliest guys in baseball (The Mayor Sean Casey!) and his legendary coach Harvey Dorfman. I want to spend a little more time with Sean and bring another legendary coach to the party—MY coach, Phil Stutz. It's funny because when Sean told me the story shout how Harvey RUTHLESSLY focused on the process goals NOT the outcome goals, I immediately thought of Phil. As we've discussed, Phil says the same thing in his own way. He says that most people focus on the OUTCOMES in their lives when they should be focused on the ACTION they are taking in pursuit of their desired outcomes. The way he frames it is to imagine pearls. You can spend all your time COUNTING how many pearls you have (or don't have!)… Or… You can ignore the counting and simply focus on STRINGING THE NEXT PEARL. Over and over and over again we focus on what needs to get done right now. What's important RIGHT NOW? Do it. String the next pearl. Over and over and over and over again. You do that enough time and you know what happens? You get a LOT more of the outcomes you've been wanting. And… Somewhere along the way you learn that the REAL prize is knowing how to flip the switch and get into action—showing up as the best, most Heroic version of yourself. Not someday… Today. Let's do that. +1. +1. +1. Let's go! P.S. I love pearls. I have one on my desk at all times to remind me of the wisdom from this +1 on How to Make a Pearl and this wisdom from this +1 on The Pearl in My Pocket.
Who Cares? Work Your Protocol, Hero! One of my new dear friends is a guy named Sean Casey. Sean is a former Major League Baseball player. He was an All-Star who played first base. They called him “The Mayor” because he chatted up EVERYONE who made it to first base. He was SUCH a nice guy that Sports Illustrated declared him the friendliest guy in baseball. I met Sean through a mutual friend named Brian Cain who happens to be a longtime student of mine AND one of the world's best mental toughness coaches. We'll talk more about Cainer and his wisdom soon. For now, I want to talk about a story Sean told me about his playing days. It goes something like this… Once upon a time, while playing with the Cincinnati Reds, Sean was having an insanely great season. It was summer time and he was batting near .400—which, if you know anything about baseball, you know is an insanely hard thing to do. Then… Sean went 0 for 12. Now, going 0 for 12 is never a good thing for a professional baseball player but going 0 for 12 after starting the season THAT strongly is especially painful. So… Sean called a guy named Harvey Dorfman. Harvey was that era's greatest mental toughness coach. Btw: Check out our Notes on his GREAT book called Coaching the Mental Game AND check out our full collection of Notes on a TON of mental toughness books—which, for the record, is probably my favorite category on Heroic! Now… Sean tells Harvey that he's struggling. “I'm 0 for 12, Coach!!” Harvey doesn't care about those stats. All he wants to know is if Sean is executing the protocol they committed to. Sean tells him, “Yes! Of course. I'm doing exactly what we've talked about. I'm hitting the ball hard. And guys are just making great plays.” Dorfman listens a little longer then he says something along the lines of (perhaps with a little profanity !): “Why in the HECK are you calling me?! We have nothing to talk about. Quit looking at the results and keep on dominating your protocol.” Click. Call over. Haha. Of course, that story has nothing to do about Sean or baseball or batting .400. It's all about YOU. Are YOU going through a rough patch? Not feeling very energized or productive or connected? PERFECT. I love ya ( ) and… Ultimately, I don't care about those things. What I do care about is this: Are you working your protocol? Do you know who you are at your best in your Energy, your Work and your Love? Are you recommitting to being that best version of yourself every morning? Do you know what virtues that best version of you embodies? Are you recommitting to showing up with those virtues every morning? Do you know what specific things you DO when you're most on fire? Are you recommitting to those things every morning and then ACTUALLY DOING those things every day? Yes. I get it. Life can be incredibly challenging. AND… Love ya ( ) but… Life doesn't need to be THAT hard. And the process of showing up as your best self is DEFINITELY not THAT complicated or THAT hard. It all comes down to this: Know who you are and what you do when you're at your best. Then recommit to being that version of yourself and doing those things you do when you're on. Every. Single. Day. Not someday. And definitely not only on the days when you really feel like it. TODAY. That's the only way to move from theory to practice to mastery so we can change the world together. Day 1. All in. Let's go, Hero!!
Todd Herman is a Peak Performance Coach, International Speaker, and WSJ Bestselling Author Of The Alter Ego Effect: The Power Of Secret Identities To Transform Your Life. Todd has been entrenched in the world of elite performers for over two decades working with the highest achievers in Sports and Business to help them achieve their most ambitious goals. Simply put, Todd Herman helps ambitious people do hard things. Todd provides a lot of great insights in this episode: How he got started, sharing his early experiences with Harvey Dorfman, Roger Clemens, and Ryan Smith Why we need to stop 'old school' practices like the MLB "Is his wife hot?" How Scandinavian countries are ahead of the curve on performance coaching How performance coaching can be a proactive and enhancing pursuit instead of a reactive That we should reframe coaching (leadership) as being a verb not a noun - and that it is not an additive process but more a subtractive process of the ego Why helping athletes enjoy the process of growth is a key definition of a successful coach What needs to change so that athletes can get the true benefits of sport The bottom line is that Todd has built his career on helping athletes and leaders create the optimal identities to achieve elite performance. Safe to say, Todd is an advocate in the fight against the ‘old school' coaching mentality and you too can join us by sharing with your fellow coaches!
In this episode of The Mental Performance Daily Podcast Brian discusses a chapter from The Mental ABC's of Pitching by Harvey Dorfman. The chapter on “Execution” is one that Brian has all of his baseball and softball pitchers and pitching coaches listen to on a weekly basis as it helps to simplify and clarify the importance of controlling what you can control and executing one pitch at a time. You can access Brian's recording of this chapter on The Mental Performance Podcast episode on “Execution” from The Mental ABC's of Pitching by Harvey Dorfman here. You can purchase The Mental ABC's of Pitching on Amazon here. Brian mentions a podcast episode he recorded with 2021 MLB All-Star Pitcher Corbin Burnes of The Milwaukee Brewers. You can access that podcast here. If you are a baseball player or coach join Brian's FREE Baseball Masterclass at BrianCain.com/baseball Mental Performance Daily with Brian Cain is brought to you by Soul CBD. Go to mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off your order. That's mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off. Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories, strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak Be sure to join Brian's email list at BrianCain.com/join so that you can stay updated and in the know when it comes to Brian and the forefront of mental performance training. If you are a coach looking to master mental performance coaching, the missing link in your clients and athletes performance, join Brian's MPM Coaches Insiders List and receive his best strategies for coaching mental performance and save $200 off his MPM Certification Course when it opens this fall. Mental Performance Daily with Brian Cain is brought to you by Soul CBD. Go to mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off your order. That's mysoulcbd.com/cain15 for 15% off.
In this episode of The Mental Performance Podcast Brian reads a chapter from The Mental ABC's of Pitching by Harvey Dorfman. The chapter on “Execution” is one that Brian has all of his baseball and softball pitchers and pitching coaches listen to on a weekly basis as it helps to simplify and clarify the importance of controlling what you can control and executing one pitch at a time. You can purchase The Mental ABC's of Pitching on Amazon here. Brian mentions a podcast episode he recorded with 2021 MLB All-Star Pitcher Corbin Burnes of The Milwaukee Brewers. You can access that podcast here. You can also access Brian's Mental Performance Daily Podcast here. If you are a baseball player or coach join Brian's FREE Baseball Masterclass at BrianCain.com/baseball Brian Cain, MPM, the World's leader in Mental Performance Coaching brings you practical tips, techniques, stories, strategies, meditations and motivations every day that you can use to close the gap from where you are to where you want to be with The Mental Performance Daily Podcast. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast, leave us a review and engage with Brian on social media @BrianCainPeak Be sure to join Brian's email list at BrianCain.com/join so that you can stay updated and in the know when it comes to Brian and the forefront of mental performance training. If you are a coach looking to master mental performance coaching, the missing link in your clients and athletes performance, join Brian's MPM Coaches Insiders List and receive his best strategies for coaching mental performance and save $200 off his MPM Certification Course when it opens this fall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sean “The Mayor” Casey played MLB from 1997-2008 with The Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox. Casey, a 3x MLB All-Star has a career batting average of .302, hit 130 HRs and drove in 735 RBI. In 1995 Casey's Jr. year of college at the University of Richmond, the left handed hitter won the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) conference triple crown hitting .461. The 2nd-round-pick of the Cleveland Indians in 1995, Casey was named the friendliest player in baseball in 2007 by Sports Illustrated in a players poll.. Along with his nice and friendly personality, Casey was also a fierce competitor and one of the best left on left hitters, always hitting over .300 against hall of fame left handed pitchers. Casey was and still is an avid student of mental performance. In his current career as an analyst across MLB Network's programming, he will frequently talk about the mental side of the game and his work with two icons in the field, Harvey Dorfman and Dr. Bill Harrison. In this podcast we talk about… Why and how to keep the process bigger than the end result and mechanics The importance of watching positive video of yourself as a hitter and not getting lost in the mechanical breakdown The role confidence plays in hitting success Simplifying your approach at the plate with 3 simple strategies The power of positive mental imagery Using fear and negative energy as chips on your shoulder and motivation And much more… You can engage with Sean Casey on instagram @TheMayorsOffice and with Brian Cain @BrianCainPeak Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Dad Edge Podcast (formerly The Good Dad Project Podcast)
Todd Stottlemyre Todd Vernon Stottlemyre is an entrepreneur, business coach, author, and Major League Baseball player. During his youth, Todd watched his father, Mel Stottlemyre, pitch for the New York Yankees. After Todd retired from baseball in 2002, he developed a passion for the stock market and co-founded a hedge fund in 2010. Since 2010, Todd has been co-running this business, writing books, and telling his story to listeners around the world. Managing Your Thoughts and Emotions Today, Todd is a husband, father, and self-made business and life coach who learned how to turn guilt into joy by one simple action - letting go. He shares valuable life lessons as well as emotionally captivating stories that demonstrate how he took control of his emotions and began living his life more intentionally. Todd recalls the guilt he carried with him for 12 years of his life and how he hated the man he saw in the mirror. Through a family loss, emotional baggage, his journey to fame, and the life-changing words of Harvey Dorfman, Todd was able to abolish the guilt he carried with him and live a more intentional, thoughtful life. For the show notes and exclusive links mentioned in this episode go to https://gooddadproject.com/manage-thoughts-emotions/. Join the Free Dad Edge Facebook Group at https://www.gooddadproject.com/group. Apply for The Dad Edge Alliance at https://gooddadproject.com/alliance. Watch this interview on YouTube https://gooddadproject.com/youtube. Follow us on Instagram at @thedadedge! FREE RESOURCE – 21 Days to an Extraordinary Marriage
"What book has helped you grow professionally?" - LinkedIn Twitter Feed. Our picks "Never Eat Alone" - Keith Ferrazi and "The Mental ABC's of Pitching" - Harvey Dorfman
If you want to be great at something, find someone who’s the best at it and learn from them.” -Todd Herman Full disclosure: I am a huge Todd Herman fan. I met Todd during one of the darkest times of my life, and my connection to him has had a substantial positive impact. This man owns real estate in my mind when it comes to mentorship, and for good reason. His digital book, The Definitive Guide on Finding & Becoming a Mentor is the most underrated piece of literature on the subject I have ever read. In this episode of Community Made, the two of us sit down to discuss the many myths of mentorship, Todd's framework for finding a great mentor, his personal playbook on how to be a great mentor, and the many benefits that can be found in mentoring other people... Reviewer of the Week: Christy Burch Select Links and References The Definitive Guide on Finding & Becoming a Mentor Seeking Wisdom by Peter Bevelin Contagious by Jonah Berger Give and Take by Adam Grant Luxy Hair Coaching the Mental Game by Harvey Dorfman 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing How to Get a Meeting with Anyone The 90 Day Year
Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Stitcher Subscribe on Google Play Quotes We expect our players to be tough, to play hard, and to compete but also be leaders in our school and community. We care about them as people more than we care about them as players. Kids start throwing in January and then all summer, so we completely shut arms from August until fall break halfway through October. Then we start our long toss program. We’ve seen a huge benefit from doing this and it’s been tremendous for our program. If a kid comes into our program and they haven’t left as a better man, we haven’t done our job. Any rule that you put into place, you have to be willing to lose your best player. Consistency is a big deal to us. Nothing infuriates me more than wasted time at practice. We play music, we have fun, and we don’t have 4 hour practices just to say we practiced for 4 hours. We’re going to be fast paced and get after it. Resources Vanderbilt University Energy leadership- Bruce Schneider The mental game of baseball- Harvey Dorfman Contact @davidsharp455 Facebook IG d4sharp D4sharp@gmail.com Website and Social Media sites for the show www.aotcpodcast.com Twitter @aotc_podcast Facebook Ahead of the Curve Coaches Facebook group Instagram aotc_podcast
Harvey Dorfman was one of the world’s leading mental training experts. Major League Baseball described him as a “pioneering sports psychologist.” He earned World Series rings as the mental skills coach for both the Oakland A’s and Florida Marlins. In this book, he covers the A to Z of mental discipline. Big Ideas we explore include Carpe momentum (seize the task at hand!), the peak performance cycle (approach + results + response), the blind men (and their elephant), and Percussus Resurgo (“Struck down. I rise again!”).
Harvey Dorfman was one of the world’s leading mental training experts. Major League Baseball described him as a “pioneering sports psychologist.” He earned World Series rings as the mental skills coach for both the Oakland A’s and Florida Marlins. In this book, he covers the A to Z of mental discipline. Big Ideas we explore include Carpe momentum (seize the task at hand!), the peak performance cycle (approach + results + response), the blind men (and their elephant), and Percussus Resurgo (“Struck down. I rise again!”).
One of the best college softball coaches in the country, Florida State's Lonni Alameda, sits down with Brian on this episode of the Peak Performance Podcast... Discover... The impact that the late, great Harvey Dorfman had on Lonni. Florida State's core values and how they came up with them. The idea of a "One More Board." Coach Alameda's unique answer to The Million Dollar Question. and more... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Brian talks with former Major League Baseball player and Peak Performer Eric Byrnes, the day before they both compete in IronMan Arizona. Byrnes recently came out with a Documentary on his journey from a Major League field, to 8 IronMan competitions as well as The Western States 100. Watch Eric's Diamond To The Rough Documentary Follow Byrnes on Twitter @byrnes22 Follow Byrnes on Instagram ebyrnes22 You will learn about... What drove Byrne's to professional baseball and a career in sports broadcasting Byrnes' unique path to professional baseball Byrnes' thoughts on the Mental Game and exactly what it means to him The similarities of playing in a Major League Baseball game and competing in an IronMan Byrnes' thoughts on success and what it is to him PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION Byrnes: It's not about the reward. The reward is a process. Once you understand that the reward, the money, the belt buckles, the metals, everything comes easier. Cain: Welcome to another edition of the Brian Cain Peak Performance Podcast. Today our guest, Eric Byrnes, was one of the most electrifying players of his time in Major League Baseball. His all out all the time approach made him a fan favorite and a player whose hustle, drive, effort, and energy was emulated by high school and college players and programs all over the country. A 2013 inductee to the UCLA Hall of Fame, Byrnes always brings the juice. [Bring the juice!] Cain: Whether it's playing in the outfield for the Diamondbacks, A's, Orioles, Rockies, or Mariners, working as an analyst for Major League Baseball Network, or in his endurance race career having completed eight Iron Man triathlons - it will be his ninth in two days from now - and the Western States 100 Mile Mountain Race. Be on the lookout for a documentary about his journey into the world of extreme races called From the Diamond to the Rough which follows him through the Western States 100. You can learn more about Eric at www.Byrnes22.com and on Twitter at @Byrnes22. Please welcome to the Peak Performance Podcast Eric Byrnes. Eric, thanks for joining us man. Byrnes: I need some more Brian Cain in my life. Can I get that intro every morning when I wake up out of bed and just get ready to charge? Cain: We'll create that as an alarm that you can play. Right now mine pops up and says “where is the beef jerky” as a tribute to Jocko Willard. But we can get that to pop up and play for you. Eric, if you would, give us kind of your journey from St. Francis High School in northern California to where you are today now. Byrnes: Well it's pretty simple. Basically I grew up in Portola Valley which is a small town in northern California which is I'd say probably more known for a lot of the pioneers of the silicon valley either grew up there or at least settled there in the Portola Valley Woodside area. So baseball or even sports in general wasn't very popular. But I had this dream and vision of (when I was a kid) doing two things. One of them was playing professional sports and the other one was talking about professional sports. I used to sit around with my buddies and we would just debate whatever - football, baseball, basketball, tennis, this and that, whatever it was we were so passionate about it and we just let it eat. We fed off of sports talk radio. That was something to us. KNBR 680, the sports leader, was it for us. To make a long story longer here I ended up going to St. Francis which was kind of a leap of faith for me because kids from my area there weren't a lot that went to St. Francis which was known back then as the premier sports school really in the Bay Area. They had De La Salle across the bay. You had Serra which was where Barry Bonds went, Jim Fregosi, Lynn Swann, Tom Brady. And then Bellarmine was also a good one. But St. Francis arguably was the best of the best when it kind of came to all around sports. So I ended up going there and playing football my freshman year. At the time - think about this, you're a freshman in high school. I don't even think I had gone through puberty yet. I'm just trying to kind of make my way. I'm in a school with I think there was one other kid from my grade school that went there. All these other guys played Pop Warner, they were all friends and whatnot. It was really kind of a lonely place and I was just kind of trying to find my way. Athletically I have never seen anything like it in my life. Everybody were good athletes. So after football season it was time to make a decision whether or not I was going to play basketball. I realized that if I have any chance of being good here for the first time in my life I'm like I need to focus, narrow my focus a little bit. The decision I made (because basketball ran well into baseball season) was hey look I'm not going to play hoops - which my claim to fame (and still is today) probably my greatest athletic feat was scoring 56 points in an eighth grade basketball game. Not kidding you. I worked with Tom Tolbert at KNBR 680 who played in the NBA for like 7-8 years. I always would give Tolbert crap because he had never scored 56 in a game. But anyway I ended up going. I went to the tryouts. Think about this. I told this story at St. Francis the other night when I went back and showed the documentary Diamond to the Rough. There were 50 kids - 50 - going out for a baseball team for 15 spots. Think about that. Cain: This is a freshman. Byrnes: This is high school freshman baseball. There are 50 kids. You know what our tryouts were? Play catch for five minutes. When you get them playing catch we're going to take half of you and we're going to put you in the outfield. You are going to catch I think it was maybe 1-2 fly balls, then we are going to put you in the infield, maybe it was 4-5 grounders, and that was it. Backed up with a pitching machine that was spitting balls out in every which direction and you get five swings. Then after that it was like okay. I went in the outfield. I think I clanked one of the balls I was supposed to catch. I go in the infield, beat at a ball or two. I was just so nervous. Then I get to take a couple swings off the pitching machine, foul a c couple off, swing and miss, pop a ball up, pop another one up. “Alright Eric thanks for coming to and we'll see you, the results will be posted tomorrow in the gym.” So I went to the gym the next day and I just knew I didn't make it. There is no way. How could I have possibly made the team? I told my mom. I said “look I'm almost positive that I'm going to get cut from this team, I can't take this, I want to go to Woodside High School, I'm transferring.” It was just too much for me. It was too overwhelming. The competition was too good and the opportunity was too scarce. A lot of life is having opportunity and if you don't have the opportunity to prove yourself … So I went through the next day and posted on the outside gym wall was all the names of the guys that made it. So I'm looking kind of huddled around. I'm looking from a distance. It's like “Ryan, Brendan, Bryan, Matt,” all the way down to the bottom. Fifteen names. “Chris” was the last name. No “Eric.” I said “it's cool, I prepared myself for this, I'm going to Woodside High School no problem.” But guess what? I'm going to look at every one of these 15 guys and I'm going to mark them and I'm going to go out and prove that there is not one of these guys that was a better baseball player than I am. I went back to look at the names, scan the names, make sure exactly who the guys were. I get to the last name and it was “Chris Byrnes.” B-y-r-n-e-s. I'm like “Chris Byrnes? No way there is another Byrnes here, this doesn't make any sense.” Did he screw up the first name? Did he screw up the last name? What is going on? So I went sprinting after the freshman baseball coach as he was walking away and I'm like “Coach Ferrera, Coach Ferrera!” He turns around and goes “what can I do for you, Chris?” I go “nothing I'll see you at practice.” That was it. That was all I needed to know. I went from thinking I was getting cut from the freshman baseball team and having to transfer schools to obviously making the team. Cain: 0:08:01 felt standard. Byrnes: And my career kind of took off from there. Cain: Wow. How about that. So you go from making it as Chris Byrnes and seeing the freshman team then you end up getting drafted out of high school - so you obviously had a good career at St. Francis - and then made the decision to not sign pro with the L.A. Dodgers but go on to UCLA. A lot of players that are listening to this or parents or coaches that are listening to this there is always that debate of if you're a high school kid do you sign and go and start your pro baseball career and get those extra three years of minor league baseball under your belt or do you go to college? Depending on who you talk to you are going to get a different answer - sometimes it's a dollar figure amount, other times it's a life experience amount, an education reason. Why did you choose to go to UCLA instead of signing pro baseball straight out of St. Francis High School? Byrnes: I think it's pretty simple. First of all for people listening to this - and I imagine that a lot of the people that are actually listening are young guys that are trying to find a way. I can't tell you how important the mental side of baseball is and what that did for me. I just think that my parents instilled in me at a very young age what the most important thing in the world was family first and then education. I knew I had a dream of wanting to play professional sports but I also knew that there was going to be a time and place for it. My belief in myself and my confidence in myself - this was sort of where the mental game kind of really comes in is that you've got to be willing to walk. You've got to have this ultimate belief in yourself that this is not going to be - when I was a 38th round draft pick out of high school, a 38th round draft pick? I should have been a first round draft pick. Then I got drafted again in the fourth round by the Houston Astros after my junior year where a lot of people would sign. I met with the scouting director of the Houston Astros at the time and he had come back to Cape Cod to watch me play for a week. After the week he was like “hey Eric I'd like to take you to breakfast” and we're trying to negotiate a contract. The average of the round back then was like $150,000. So they had made an original offer of $90,000 which is nowhere even near the average of the round. Their excuse was that they had given too much of the money to Lance Berkman who they had drafted in the first round. Great choice and great guy to give a lot of money to, right? But apparently it affected their second, third, and fourth round draft picks. Ironically none of us ended up signing. Here was my thing. It wasn't about the money. I knew that $90,000 - and then you pay taxes on a bonus which is like $45,000. Even if it was $150,000 and you told me I'm going to walk away with $75,000 I'll go blow $75,000 in a weekend. That wasn't going to change my life. I understood that. I knew that. What I wanted was an organization that believed in me, that said “hey Eric look we're going to give you every opportunity to succeed.” That is what I needed. Sure enough I went to breakfast and it was the scouting director and one other guy. They sat there and they said “hey here is the deal, we gave all our money to Berkman, we've been watching you play for a week now, we think you're a circus act in the outfield, you pull the baseball way too much, you can't hit the ball the other way, you're fast but you run funny and really awkward, so here is our $90,000 offer take it or leave it at this point but it goes off the table tomorrow.” I'm like wow. Cain: That is what they said? Byrnes: I said “so hold on let me get this straight, you guys are telling me that you are going to basically offer me way less than the average of the round and then on top of that--” I said “hold on guys this isn't about the money so what do you want me to do?” I said “you want me to sign with an organization that already doesn't believe in me for the minimal value of the round and I'm going to start with my back against the wall knowing your guys' feelings about my game.” Where in the manual of being a scouting director when you're trying to sign a player does it say “let's go ridicule him and demean him and then monetarily show him we don't have any support for him either” and think that that person would sign? “You guys can go fuck yourself.” I got up and walked out. That was it. That was the last time I ever spoke to the Houston Astros. Cain: So you go back to UCLA for your senior year and then go on and get drafted and make your way up to the big leagues. Talk a little bit about that mental game or that belief that you had in yourself. Let me slow down here I'm all jacked up. What is the mental game to you, Eric? What is the mental game of baseball? Byrnes: Confidence. Belief in yourself. It kind of goes back to the story that I just told. I don't respond the way I did without the confidence and without the belief in myself. Even going back to my freshman year I don't go back freshman year of high school and having that “I'll walk, I'll transfer schools, I need an opportunity, I need to play, I am going to be a professional baseball player.” I didn't tell a lot of people. I told my mom. That was it. I kept it really low. I wasn't parading around with a megaphone to all my friends. But when I was 13 years old my dad used to throw me in batting practice all the time. He knew nothing about baseball. Absolutely zero. He was a fourth degree black belt in kenpo karate. He'd take me out and we'd go to the town center of Portola Valley and just throw BP days and days and days. Just all day. Eventually when I was 13 I was like there is only so much BP he can throw me. My parents are like “hey we got you a” - they thought they were all clever but they were like “we got you a birthday present, his name is Mike.” I'm like “what do you mean his name is Mike?” “We got you a new friend for your birthday, Mike.” I'm like “what?” Iron Mike. Cain: Oh yeah. Byrnes: So down below where we lived, our house the way it was situated was kind of up on a hill, and then down below in part of the property you couldn't really see was a batting cage with an Iron Mike machine. When I was 13 years old I cranked that thing up to 90 miles per hour, throwing as fast as it could throw. At first I had a tough time - foul balls off, foul balls off, foul balls off - and eventually *poof* I was ranking it, right? Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam! Well guess what? When I got to face - I was a sophomore in high school. I had just got called up to varsity. I didn't start with varsity when I was a sophomore. I got called up to varsity to face Dan Serafini. Dan Serafini was a first round pick out of Serra. He threw 92 miles per hour from the left side. A nasty little sink. There were 50 scouts in the stands, maybe more. I went there to face him. Everyone else 0:15:53 sample for right? Cain: Yeah. Byrnes: And I'm like no problem *whap whap whap* three bullets off of Dan Serafini. Barely anyone else was touching him. It's repetition. It is a skill that was developed through hard work. Even during football season - I played football through high school but even during football season before school in the morning I'd still bang 50 balls before I went to school. I got home at night, the sun is going down, dark, whatever, I'd put on a few lights we'd put up in the cage, boom, just 50 more. Didn't overdo it. I just loved to hit. Well guess what? Guess what that created? Confidence. So when I got there against Dan Serafini as a sophomore in high school still not sure if I - I'm barely going through puberty at this point and I'm hitting bullets off of 92 mile per hour fastballs when no one else is touching him. Now you've got 50 scouts in the stands going “huh who is this kid?” I think people need to remember when it comes to the mental game confidence is created and developed through work. It's like a test. Imagine studying for a test - and you know those tests. I went into several where I wasn't prepared for the test and what sort of confidence did I have going into that test? So long as I did my work and I studied for that test and I was ready for that test I was confident. My mental game was exactly where it needed to be. It's the same thing with the process of going up and playing in the big leagues. People go “are you nervous?” Yeah of course you are going to be nervous. This is natural nerves. But guess what? Were you scared? Not one bit. I prepared myself for that day. I prepared myself. Cain: So you've got eight Iron Mans. You're doing your ninth here in two days. What is the prep? Is it the same thing with going in and doing an endurance race whether it's the 100 mile race or an Iron Man where you've done the preparation, you've done the training with run, bike, swim? Is it the same thing with the preparation in terms of you having done the work to go prepare for an Iron Man triathlon? Byrnes: Exact same thing. It's not any different. There is no natural transition from playing professional baseball to going into the endurance world. Physically there is very little translation between the two. But psychologically very similar because it's all about doing the work and doing the work that gives you confidence to go out there and have your best race on that given day. That's it. It's as simple as that. That is what drives me I think in the training. Part of it is that fear of knowing that that test is there. That test is coming up. It's what eventually got me going in school is I knew that in order to go to college I was going to have to do the work to do well on my test to get me into a good school and it all kind of became part of the plan. Ironically as I got older I became a much better student than I ever was at a younger age. Cain: Talk about being a student for a second. One of the things you mentioned earlier off the air was how there was a time in your life where you just kind of were devouring books and you had a group of guys where you would go through Heads-Up Baseball and then talk about that. Talk a little bit about the importance of leaders being readers and for the people that are following this what are some of the best books that you like to read. Byrnes: Wow. Yeah. One of the first books I really dove into and read probably 50 times over through the course of my entire baseball career was The Mental Game of Baseball by Karl Kuehl and Harvey Dorfman. Karl ended up being a mentor of mine when I played with the Oakland A's and then even after. He was with the Indians at the time and I was with the Arizona Diamondbacks but we would have a weekly call that we had scheduled. We would schedule it at different times on different weeks but man it was so incredibly beneficial having that somebody there to sort of balance some ideas. It's funny because sometimes when I was rolling we wouldn't even talk about baseball. I sort of let him dictate the conversations. But ironically I had - well I wouldn't say ironically. There was no coincidence that I had my two greatest years in the big leagues when I was checking in with Karl on a weekly basis. Unfortunately at the end of 2008 I think was when he got sick and he ended up passing away. It hit hard and it hit fast and I still miss him dearly to this day but the lessons that he taught me in my life and my career are just invaluable. The other one was Heads-Up Baseball by Ken Ravizza is another one that I dove into with Scott Seal - a buddy of mine. We were roommates at UCLA and then he ended up transferring to Fullerton and he played there. We got into pro ball at the same time. During the offseason we just trained together, lived together. We'd go through books specific to baseball. We would read the hitting books be it Charlie Lau's book or Ted Williams' book. It was funny because the one thing I think that I always did a good job at was digesting the language that spoke to me because not everything is going to speak to you so you have to be able to throw out a lot of what you hear in this game but digest the key things. So since then as far as books I don't know where to start. But one of the latest ones that I would recommend everybody read - and you'll have to read it multiple times. The great thing about books now too - because of all the training that I do I go just about all audiobooks. But Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay Self Reliance is something that I could dig into every single day. The overall message of making decisions on your own and not necessarily conforming to the societal norms - it's also not saying be an anarchist but it's an incredible message. So much to take in. I think the parallels - and it was written however long ago but these parallels are incredible and it's amazing how relevant it still is. The Scholar was the latest one that I read of his. I can't get enough of Emerson. It's amazing to me how relevant Emerson and his writings still are to this day. Cain: I just started reading a book about stoicism and it goes back to Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus and these guys who were writing back in Ancient Greece. The book is called The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday. It's awesome. It's a one page a day read. Very short. Talking about stoic we think of stoic as somebody who is not emotional, somebody who is just kind of there. Their idea of stoicism is somebody who is so in control of themselves that they never let their emotions get the best of them, that they have the self control, that they quickly identify what they can control, what they can't control, and they only focus their time and energy and attention on things they can control - which is a lot of what I have learned through Heads-Up Baseball and Ravizza but I didn't realize it goes all the way back to the freaking Greeks. It's written in a language that you can tell it's ancient times but Ryan Holiday does a great job of translating that to making sense for what you're doing today. It's pretty cool. Byrnes: I'll check it out. Cain: Ryan Holiday. It's The Daily Stoic. Other pieces of the mental game. You talked about the confidence that comes from preparation. What about routines? What are some of the routines that you had to help you go one pitch at a time, Eric? Byrnes: I was very routine oriented. Before preparing for a game I had my whole routine of stretching that I would do. We're talking (let's say) 35 minutes before the game where it was the stretching to the sprints to jumping over the laundry basket in the club house. I did not go outside to sprint I think hardly ever in my big league career because what happened is as you start playing and you're seeing all your peers there it's what you see today - which is I don't know if it's BS or not. It depends what side of the fence you're on when it comes to fraternization but you see a bunch of guys playing grab ass out in the outfield. Well look I was there to play baseball and prepare myself for a game. I don't need to catch up with this guy and see how the family is doing and everything else. And the guy on the other team. I wasn't interested in that. So I felt like that was always a distraction to me so I would actually do my sprints underneath, in the tunnel, in the batting cage so long as it was available. I would jump over laundry baskets too and I had a whole routine of doing that. Then I would hit off the tee and it would just be five balls the other way, pull five balls, finish with five balls up the middle. And then I'd throw too so I'd just grab some balls in the cage and I'd throw 10-15 balls whenever I felt like. Then I'd make sure I'd finish about five minutes before the game so I still had that *breath* alright physically I know I'm ready. Mentally let's get here and let's do it. Cain: Awesome. Mental imagery. Anything you used at all in terms of visualizing yourself playing well? Maybe it was something you'd do at night before you'd go to bed or during the day when you're at the stadium kind of visualizing yourself taking at bats off the guy who is going to be pitching you that day? Byrnes: All the time. Every single day. That was another part of my routine that I would do. I would do it after the tee work. I would mentally have a vision of that pitcher that we were going to face that day and I would start with fastball. I'd go fast ball away ball, fast ball away strike, boom. So I'd imagine fastball away, just taking it. Nice soft hit ball. Fastball away strike. Bam. Shooting it the other way. Fastball middle, down or up, we're at ball. Okay fast ball right there. Boom. I'd just imagine low line drives. Fast ball in ball, fast ball in. Boom. Drop the hit. Homer. Same thing. Curve ball down on a wide ball, curve ball outside corner, boom, base hit right field. Curveball middle down in the dirt. Good take. Next one. Curve ball middle. Boom. Base hit out the middle. Curve ball inside. Take it. Curve ball inside. Homer. Same thing with the change up. I would do that every single day. It started - here is another book I would recommend. I'm trying to think. It was I want to say The Mental Game of Tennis but that's not right. Cain: The Inner Game of Tennis. Byrnes: Inner Game of Tennis. The Inner Game of Tennis is one of the first mental books I read. When I was a kid I was a big time tennis player. You want to talk about you think baseball players have - like that tennis game especially at a young age and you're on that island by yourself, that's heavy. So through The Inner Game of Tennis I learned the points of the visualizations. So I would play the match the night before. I would go sit in this chair in our living room. My mom would always help me with it. She was like “okay just go ahead and visualize your match.” Well I was playing against these ridiculously good tennis players. There were like - geez - Michael Jessup, Cory Guy, Misha Palecek, Ryan Walters. All four of these dudes went on. Palecek, Walters, and Jessup were like 1, 2, 3 at Stanford. Cory Guy was the number one player at Santa Barbara. All of them went on to play professional tennis in some capacity. These are a lot of the guys that - I was competing against these dudes. Cain: Yeah. Byrnes: It was just super heavy and we did a lot traveling or whatever but that is where I learned the mental side. Then I slowly transitioned that. I'm like “okay if I can envision playing these matches why can't I envision what the game is going to look like tomorrow in baseball, what my at bats are going to look like?” So I started doing that. I truly believe that is where my baseball career really took off in a sense is when I was about 12 in All Stars and going through that mental imagery of doing it. Again when you stand at the box - what did I say? What is the mental game? That game is confidence and belief. But what gives you confidence and belief is that fact that you have done the work. Well guess what? When I got in the box I had already been there. I had already done it. I'm comfortable. I had seen it. Cain: Did you do the same thing when you were getting ready to run an Iron Man? Do you see yourself crossing the finish line already and all that? I know that you have already done eight but when you go back to doing your first one was it the same process seeing yourself crossing the finish line and all that? Byrnes: I did it yesterday sitting in the float tank. A float tank is this tank filled with whatever. Now I like putting myself in positions - when I can find that quiet time I went through the whole race, went through the beginning, what is it going to be like jumping in. I don't care how many you do. The best never stop preparing. It's not like - if I didn't have a little anxiousness and a little fear - that is normal. You want that. That is why I do these. If I lose that it's not going to have the same luster. Am I more comfortable because I have eight under my belt? Of course I am. Of course I am. But I also still know that in order to get my best result I need to go out there and run through this. What is it going to be like? There is going to be a lot of contact in the swim. Imagine and visualize and even feel for every stroke I'm going to come down and I might get hit. Or what is happening when the guy is grabbing on my legs behind me? Am I going to kick him off or am I going to relax? I went through it. Then getting on the bike and visualizing the transition. What exactly do I need when I get out of the water? When I actually get out of the water I am going to unzip the top of my wetsuit. I am going to take my watch off. I like to keep it clean. If you pull everything over the watch and the thing is stopping and everything - boom, watch off, wetsuit top off, but I'm going to keep everything on waist down. They have wetsuit strippers there that actually will take the whole thing off but I want to keep mine on because I‘m going to have some little booties. I'm going to get a good run to grab my transition bag, get in the transition where I'll have my helmet, short little socks and my bike shoes ready to go. But guess what? I'll have a towel laid out too. I'll have a towel in there so I can take the booties off without getting grass all over my feet so when I put on my socks there is not going to be grass sitting there for the next nine hours or whatever it's going to be. All of that is prepared for. All of that is thought of. The bike computer is going to be on the bike. There is just so much. The nutrition, making sure the nutrition in the bottles are lined up. You need to be very meticulous about that. Then I visualize the bike. Ideally in the first loop of the bike that we have tomorrow I want to control my effort. I've had a tendency to go out guns blazing and then progressively each lap get slower. It usually happens anyway but I'm going to try to ride as consistently as possible through the entire 112 miles which then I believe will allow me to have my best run and ideally my best run I've ever had in an Iron Man. So it should be fun. Cain: Yeah. Sounds like you're - and I haven't viewed your documentary From the Diamond to the Rough which is unbelievable and anybody listening to this has got to check that out. From the Diamond to the Rough. If you'd let them know where they can get that that would be great. In that you talked a lot about the joy is in the process. What does that mean? Byrnes: So the reward. We like the reward don't we? The reward is one of the reasons why we do what we do in any industry. It's your payday. It's making your money. In the endurance world it's a medal at the end of an Iron Man. It's a belt buckle at the end of the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. That is the reward. For my kids they love it. It's the trophy. They're out there and they're playing. It's a trophy. So when we're kids I don't think - we know the reward is there and we think we're chasing the reward. When you're in baseball and you're playing baseball and you think you're chasing the money and everything and then I got to endurance sports and it was like I thought I was chasing the medal and the fact that I could say “oh I've done eight Iron Mans” and everything else. I think it really hit me when I did the Western States 100 that it's not about the reward. The reward is the process. I think that once you understand that the reward, the money, the belt buckles, the medals, everything comes easier. But that is simply a result of you fully embracing the process. So going forward here, man, I just did an article yesterday. I talked to Susan Slusser from the San Francisco Chronicle. They're going to do a big story about Diamond to the Rough and it's interesting because when I was explaining that to her - and every time I explain it as I explained it to you today it rings so true yet I think sometimes through the course of your life you don't get it and you don't understand it. But guess what? It hasn't changed. It hasn't changed since you were nine years old and you're running around a little league field or you're running around a soccer field or anything else. We thought we were chasing the trophy but we weren't chasing the trophy. The absolute reason why we do it is because of the exhilarating emotional feelings that we get from being out there, being out on the racecourse, being out on the baseball field. That is what life is about. That is living. That's it. Cain: When you cross the finish line of those Iron Mans or of the Western States 100 you carry a jersey of a former Arizona State football player, Pat Tillman. Could you talk a little bit about your relationship with Pat and then why you carry that jersey, why that is so important to you? Byrnes: Well Pat played for - he went to Leland High School in San Jose at the same time I went to St. Francis. We would watch him (I'm not kidding you) and we would just gawk. From his junior year. Junior year, senior year. It was just like is this guy for real? He was an undersized dude that just - I mean he was blowing dudes up on defense/ He was given the football and was just running around guys, he was running over guys. It was like how often is it that you get a group of high school kids in this totally uncomfortable state in your life, all this testosterone and macho bravado and everything else, where you could get a group of high school kids that were playing on the best high school football team in the area. We'd look at a guy on this other team and go “that dude is the baddest dude I have ever seen.” He had blond locks flowing out of his helmet. So basically what happened is I think the first time we met was we saw him at a Leland/St. Francis volleyball game. A buddy of ours - we were scared to go up to him. We were like “dude that's Tillman over there, that's Tillman over there.” So a buddy of ours by the name of Zach Wahls was like “I've got to go, I've got to do it” and he went up, walked across the gym, he was like “hey Pat I'm Zach Wahls I go to St. Francis, football player, I just wanted to meet you and say how much we respect you” and this and that. That was pretty cool to see because just like 4-5 years later Zach Wahls was the sixth round draft pick of the Arizona Cardinals after going to Dartmouth and playing for four years and Pat Tillman was the seventh round draft pick of the Arizona Cardinals after going to ASU and playing for four years. Then they roomed together with the Cardinals here. Cain: How about that. Byrnes: In 1998 when I first signed with the A's and I'd come and like - man I'd do anything to hang with the - I'm low level minor leagues. I'm the bottom barrel structurally and I'm hanging around some NFLers with Pat and Zach. My time actually getting to know Pat was very limited. I spent very little time with him hanging out with him. The times that I did you could tell there was something just special about him. Then he ended up obviously after 9/11 deciding to walk from football and join the Army Rangers. From there I wanted to do the same thing. I was just like everybody else that was emotionally moved by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. We wanted to fight. Pat did an interview. He was like “what have I done, my great grandfather fought in World War I, my grandfather fought in World War II, my dad fought in Vietnam,” he was just going through it. He was like “what the hell have I done.” [Tillman: My great grandfather was at Pearl Harbor and a lot of my family has given up - has gone to fight in wars, and I really haven't done a damn thing as far as laying myself on the line like that and so I have a great deal of respect for those that have and what the flag stands for.] Byrnes: You could tell. This was the day after 9/11 when he did this interview. I had the same feeling. I always had these visions. Mike Seal who happens to be in the condo right now staying with me, him and I have always talked about being Navy SEALS. That was always our fascination. But guess what? Here I was after 9/11 just busting into the big leagues. Was I willing to give it all up to go to Afghanistan and fight for our country? I wasn't. I didn't have the balls to do it. You know what? Pat did. It's a shame of how it ended because it didn't have to. The whole thing with the friendly fire and the cover up and everything else was disgusting but in no way does it diminish the sacrifice that he was willing to make for the sake of your ass and mine. A couple years ago - a couple years, 10 years ago now in 2006 when I was with the Diamondbacks I got a call from Richard Tillman, Pat's youngest brother, and he knew I had always talked well about Pat, pumped Pat up, and he knew how close Zach and I were and he invited me out to the statue unveiling out at the new stadium in Glendale. There was a group of only about 50 family members and friends for the statue unveiling and I was fortunate enough to be there and watch it and really got close with the family - Marie his widow, Kevin his brother who he went to Afghanistan with who also was an Army Ranger, Richard, and a couple of his best friends, this guy Ben Hill and Dallas Carwood who were running the foundation at the time. I basically at that point knew that I was all in with doing whatever I could do to make sure that the next generation of kids knew exactly who Pat Tillman was and the sacrifice that he made. It's not to diminish sacrifices of other people and other 18 year old kids that are signing up around the country to go serve our country but there is something to say when you don't have to go and you're at the height of your NFL career and you have a multimillion dollar offer on the table and you walk. That was something special and I just want to continue to celebrate that and celebrate the foundation which has gone on to do some really good things with education and providing scholarships for military members and their families and basically grooming these people to be game changers in society - which is exactly what Pat was. Cain: That's awesome. I had the privilege to run the Pat Tillman race one time at Arizona State. For people that are listening to this it's a short 5k race but there are probably 25,000-30,000 people that show up a Arizona State Sun Devils Stadium for that race they do every year. If you're looking for something to get you going and something to remind you that we live in the greatest country in the world show up for that race. It's unbelievable. Walk it or do it but it's something that you've got to do. If you're listening to this podcast go online right now and Google “Pat Tillman Race Arizona State University,” find out when it is, and go smash it. Go do it because you are going to get a lot out of that experience and that opportunity. Eric, last question for you here. I really appreciate your time today. It's been fantastic. One of the most fun podcasts we have ever done. 40 years old, eight Iron Mans in, Major League Baseball career, been an analyst, you've got a book that you've written that is going to be coming out that I can't wait to read - it's going to be off the charts. You've got a documentary. You're married. You've got children. How do you define success for you right now? In baseball it's easy. It's a statistical thing. Everybody can determine if you have success based off of numbers. How do you define success in your life right now? Byrnes: A successful person - and I feel like I'm having success. I'd say I'm winning (I'm not sure that that's the right word) when I'm able to embrace the moment. We don't live in the moment today. It's very difficult sometimes and we're so consumed with social media and we want everything quick and we want everything fast and it's the Millennial generation. And I get it. I live this fast paced life. I have a lot of things going on. But you mentioned I have three kids. I have a 5, 6, and 7 year old. I'm married. I do everything I can to be a good father, good husband. And then I have a job that is 3,000 miles away. So I live in California at Half Moon Bay about 20 miles south of San Francisco but I have a place in New York City and MLB networks is in Secaucus, New Jersey right across the river about 15 minutes away. My life is constantly in flux. We have a place in Tahoe as well. We're about to go up too after this and spend just about all the winter there. You mentioned the documentary. That has been a lot and dealing with that and going through the editing process and everything else. Not to mention the training that goes into the Iron Man races and the 100 mile run. What I've learned through all of it is that you can only be in one place at one time. So if we are sitting here and doing the podcast I need to be here. I can't worry about these 15 other things going on. I've noticed that I have the most success in my life when I am able to bring it to the now and I think that is what matters is to embrace the moment. It's as simple as that. As simple as that. Cain: Awesome. Eric Byrnes, you are off the podcast hot seat my friend. Fantastic. Again you can get more Eric Byrnes at www.Byrnes22.com and on Twitter at @Byrnes22. Eric, thank you for your time. You were off the charts. Thank you. Byrnes: Thanks dude. One last thing for the film. The documentary. Cain: Yes. Byrnes: This is not a monetary play for me. I'm not doing this to make money off this thing. There is a special message in there that is very family oriented. One of the things that Susan Slusser when she was doing the article yesterday she was like “I just was amazed by the doc, I just figured it was going to be this athlete vanity piece and it's anything but that.” If there is one thing that I would recommend to people it's go to www.Vimeo.com/OnDemand/DiamondToTheRough. Watch this documentary. I think it hits so many different people on so many different levels that the only thing I care about on this is I want eyeballs to see it. Again this is not a monetary play thing. This isn't an ego thing or anything else. There is a message within that documentary I think that will resonate with a lot of people and it could help change somebody's life. Cain: What is the message, Eric, that you want people to get from the documentary? Byrnes: It's about the process. It's not about the reward. It's about embracing everything that is important in your life that helps you enjoy that process. It's about family. It's about giving your kids every opportunity to succeed. It's about setting an example for your children and influencing them and not force-feeding them anything but allowing them to make their own decisions. But guess what? You have a 100% responsibility to set that example for them, lead them to the right direction, and let them find their own path. One of the main ones is you'll always need to have an idea of what is next and find what is next and find your happiness, find your zone, find something that is going to motivate you each and every single day. I think really the last one is do something physical that will help. When you get out and do something physical - it doesn't have to be a 100 mile run. Not even close. I don't care if it's walking around the block twice. Get outside. Clear your mind. Clear your head. As a kid that grew up with severe ADHD I can tell you even now with all the information that is coming - I've got a buddy of mine that scans brain tissue. He could show me a brain of an ADD kid without exercise indoors and it looks like a tiny little penny. Imagine 20 minutes of moderate exercise after being outside that ADD kid's brain is lit up like a freaking giant pancake. We're not any different. Some people are more extreme. Maybe people with ADD are more extreme in what that can do for you. This is something that - the idea and thoughts that people are cancelling PE is disgusting to me. The lack of physical activity amongst our youth is disturbing. But again the overall message is enjoy the process and embrace the moment. Cain: I thought it was awesome that you're - the career transition piece too. Byrnes: It's big. Cain: As a pro athlete it's all of a sudden you're - the quote the guy says in there which I think is beautiful, he says “you're a dragon slayer and now there are no dragons to go slay.” Whether you are an athlete, whether you are a - if you are in the military - 0:52:08 did the same thing that when his Navy SEAL days came to a close that there were some dark times. He had to find out what is next - like the shirt that you are wearing in the documentary. For him it was taking a dry erase marker and writing down his goals on his bathroom mirror so he could see them. He said that is kind of what got him going away was seeing something, having a vision, having a tangible past and I'm going to go and attack. Whether it's preparing for a game, preparing for a seminar, preparing to go to combat, or preparing to wake up and make your kids breakfast what is your task for the day that you're going to sign your name with excellence on and go out there and keep moving forward? Having worked in athletics there are a lot of guys that when that career ends there are some dark times because everything you've always done - hitting a ball, running, diving, making a catch - that doesn't necessarily translate to what you're going to do now for the rest of your life to be successful. However who you became and who you needed to become to be successful as an athlete, that same process, that same mindset, that same drive, that same attention to detail will help you if you take that with you into what you do. Byrnes: Right. Cain: So it's trying to figure out how do you help guys to channel that. Byrnes: That's awesome dude. Thanks Brian. Cain: Awesome Eric. I appreciate you. Byrnes: That was outstanding. Thanks again.
Long-time fans of the National Pastime have known Moyer's name for more than 25 years. That's because he's been pitching in the bigs for all those years. With his trademark three pitches - slow, slower, and slowest - the left-handed Moyer is a pinpoint specialist whose won-lost record actually got better as he got older -- from his 20s to his 30s and into 40s. He's only a few wins shy of 300 for his amazing career. But this is where the book takes an unusual turn. Moyer was just about finished as a big leaguer in his mid-20s until he fatefully encountered a gravel-voiced, highly confrontational sports psychologist named Harvey Dorfman. Listening to the "in-your-face" insights of Dorfman, Moyer began to re-invent himself and reconstruct his approach to his game. Moyer went on to become an All-Star and also a World Series champion. Yogi Berra once observed that "Half of this game is 90% mental." And Moyer's memoir proves it. Jamie Moyer turned 50 this past fall, and by all accounts, he has now finished his big league career. He started pitching in the majors in 1986.
Just Tell Me I Can't: How Jamie Moyer Defied the Radar Gun and Defeated Time is pitcher Jamie Moyer's memoir, (written with Larry Platt). Longtime baseball fans have known Jamie Moyer's name for more than 25 years because he pitched in the big leagues through four different decades beginning in the mid-1980s. Moyer's won-lost record actually got better as he got older. He is only a few wins shy of 300 for his career. Just Tell Me I Can't provides a frank, intimate look at the mystery and mastery of pitching. Moyer also reveals the powerful teachings of Major League Baseball's best kept secret, sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman. With Dorfman's guidance, Jamie Moyer began to reinvent himself in his mid-20s and went from being a marginal big leaguer to one of the winningest pitchers of all time, a Major League All-Star and a World Series champion.Recorded On: Thursday, September 12, 2013
In this episode, we discuss how to plan and run practices that are focused on developing fundamental baseball skills. Our guest is Bob Byrd, long time youth baseball coach in Florida and co-founder of Baseball Excellence.com, one of the great internet resources for select baseball coaches. The interview with Bob is full of great information and advice. We also discuss how coaches should help players set individual goals for the upcoming season. Guidelines for effective goal-setting and a process for setting individual goals are reviewed. Finally, a book titled "The Mental Game of Baseball", by Harvey Dorfman and Karl Kuehl is reviewed. This book should be on the shelf of every serious high school baseball player.