BASEBALL COACHES UNPLUGGED

From the Field to the Mic Conversations with a Baseball Coach and Podcaster

• Ken Carpenter • Season 1 • Episode 93

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As a coach, the leap from guiding my own kid's team to nurturing a high school squad was as thrilling as it was daunting; it's a transformation that's as much about the heart as it is about the playbook. That's why I was eager to sit down with Jimmy Filingeri, the head coach at Lourdes High School and the voice behind the Clearing the Bases Podcast. Together, we peel back the curtain on the life of a high school baseball coach, discussing how to foster trust through genuine care, the art of creating a competitive edge in practice, and the subtle yet impactful differences in team selection from one coaching role to the next. Jimmy's wisdom is a treasure trove for anyone stepping up to the plate as a new head coach.

Laughter and candid stories punctuate this episode as we reflect on the evolution of youth sports and the transformative journey from athlete to mentor.  Coach Filingeri shares an amusing tale about his early coaching days, involving my son and a bunting strategy that raised a few eyebrows, showing that the path to coaching success is often paved with unexpected decisions. The episode also touches on the critical role of parents in reinforcing team goals, and we navigate the tricky waters of honest communication with players about performance and playtime.

In the home stretch, we take you behind the scenes of the Clearing the Bases podcast, revealing how a player's parent and an inspirational encounter led to its launch. The conversation shifts from lighthearted banter to earnest dreams as I list my fantasy podcast guests and their unparalleled impact on the game. Wrapping things up, Coach Jimmy and I engage in a lively debate over a fantasy baseball scenario, pitting two iconic Yankee lineups against each other. It's a testament to the enduring admiration and strategic intrigue that baseball instills in us, and a fitting end to an episode rich with insights and the indomitable spirit of the game.

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Speaker 1:

And I got this little Kenra visa and it's a really, really important quote where people don't care how much you know till they know how much you care. So I live by that. I want my players to know how much I care about them and I think through that I develop trust with my players. Welcome to the Athlete One Podcast.

Speaker 3:

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Speaker 3:

If you enjoyed today's show, share it with a friend and don't forget to hit that subscribe button, rate the show and leave us a review. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter, instagram, facebook and Athlete One Podcast. Hi, my name is Ken Carpenter and welcome to Athlete One, a podcast for athletes, coaches and parents. My mission is to bring this group together and learn from those who were successful and have also failed as a player or coach, joining me today. I'm excited to have Jimmy Philingerie, lord's High School Head Baseball Coach and host of Clearing the Basis Podcast Coach. Thanks for taking the time on a Sunday to join me.

Speaker 1:

No problem at all, Ken. I really appreciate you having me.

Speaker 3:

Well, it's mid-January and here in Ohio it's single digits and, like most coaches, you're up there in New York. Are you one of those guys that's wishing to spring, or do you kind of enjoy this cold weather?

Speaker 1:

I hate the cold weather. It is now nine degrees here and I basically am counting the days until spring.

Speaker 3:

Yes, exactly, I'm anti-cold weather and I decided to get a puppy over Christmas and that makes my life brutal.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we actually yesterday had a seventh and eighth grade clinic in the gym at the high school, which you know it's great, I love working with the younger guys and it was a good clinic. But the previous week we did a two-week clinic, so it was the 13th and the 20th, and on the 13th, believe it or not, the weather here was phenomenal. So we switched gears, we got the boys outside, we did the whole clinic outside and I was loving it, and then, you know, to go to yesterday and have it in the gym, you know, kind of put a damper on things. You know, I'd rather be outside.

Speaker 3:

Yes, well, what's easier for you? Coaching a high school baseball or podcasting?

Speaker 1:

That's a great question. I think podcasting is definitely easier. You know, to be able to sit here with guys like you and just talk about baseball. I love it, and not that I don't love coaching. It's that coaching is a lot more work. So you know you have to do all your practice plans. You have to do, you know, all of your paperwork and your preparation and you know all of this stuff that you know it's work. I love it, but it's work Doing the podcast. I just got to talk.

Speaker 3:

And you're pretty good at it, so thank you. Well, you know, since you've been getting into coaching, I'm sure you started as a little liquor and just love the game. But since you've been in coaching, what has been your biggest challenge that you face? Either it's every season you're like, wow, this is the challenge, or what are some obstacles that you run into every season.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's a great question because I could tell you right off the bat it's trying to create competition in my practices. I've always struggled with that and I fight constantly to introduce that into the practices so that every single practice we have some type of competition.

Speaker 3:

Now, when do? When is your season start? When do you? When are you allowed to go full? Go in the gym up in New York.

Speaker 1:

So it's kind of you know, this role as as the head coach at Lord's is new to me. I just got this position in November. So the school that I was at the varsity team was picked in the fall. So it was nice because they were able to, you know, work due to their strength and conditioning, do their winter training and all that stuff because they knew the team Well.

Speaker 1:

Now in Lord's it's a little bit different, because it's a. It's a different league. You play in the New York State Public High School League. You're not allowed to do that. So what we do is we hold clinics and I started my clinics January 7th, the day I got home from the convention. And no-transcript. It's open to everyone, it's not mandatory and it just because you attend does not necessarily mean that you make the team. It's there, come and you know, come and we'll, we'll, we'll. You know, it's just like a clinic, like we just did with the seventh and eighth graders come, we'll, teach as much as we can and tryouts will be in March. So we did start January, but I don't necessarily know if that's the teams yet.

Speaker 3:

Oh, Okay, that makes sense. Well, this kind of leads into my next question what would be the one piece of advice that you would give a first-time head coach?

Speaker 1:

Wow, do your homework. There is not you. You know I mean you. You know your high school coach. You know as much as I do the. You know all of the, the preparation that goes into it is it's, it's a lot of work. So I I forgot who it was, but there was a coach that had a quote. I think it might have been butch chaffin who said this, but it was it was. It hit home with me where he said the only time that I'm nervous is when I'm not prepared. So, as a coach, my advice would be Get as much stuff down on paper. That's what I do. I get as much stuff down on paper I could possibly get on paper. This way, I'm prepared if anything comes up. I have everything. I don't have to start thinking in this and that everything isn't in front of me.

Speaker 3:

I Agree with you on that, because it's uh, you know, I feel like a lot of people that aren't in to the coaching side of things, thanks thinks it's easy to be a coach. You know, they think it's easy to send that guy home when he's round and third, or, but they've really, they really don't Understand Everything that entails being a head coach the paperwork, the grade checks, the Making sure the kids are on time and everything. And and that's the part that Baseball's really coaching baseball is really not that easy.

Speaker 1:

I Agree with you 100%. You know what one of the things to that I would tell coaches at a first-time coaches is do not neglect the mental side of the game. It's so important. I Spend a lot of time with that. I believe and I've said this on my show me in times that you can take a player that may be, you know, marginal talent wise, but has a very good, a strong Mental approach to the game, is going to, in the long run, my feeling, is going to be better than a kid that maybe has a lot of skill and has a very bad approach or a very bad mental outlook. He's gonna suffer more than than the kid who is less talented, my feeling.

Speaker 3:

What's an example of something you do with your mental training? Oh, God.

Speaker 1:

So it's a lot of classroom work. I was fortunate enough to be able to go through mental performance training, so all of the the stuff that I accumulated from that course that I took will call it a course and I use a lot it in a classroom. So what we'll do is we'll do believe it or not. We'll hand out a questionnaire, I'll give out to the players and they'll be able to take the questionnaire and from those answers that they give me, I'll be able to develop a Mental profile on that particular player. Okay, so how does he handle adversity? How does he handle criticism? You know, is he a team player? This will help me to do that, you know. Then then we go through stuff you know like self-talk, we go through goal setting and just really try to explain and hammer home all of these principles that will make you a better player. Breathing you know we do drills to breathe. So you know all of this stuff is very important.

Speaker 3:

We'll go back to your high school playing days and you know you're around my age, so you know it's been a while. But what would you tell yourself? Let's say you're a sophomore or junior in high school again. What would you tell yourself that would benefit today's car players on your team?

Speaker 1:

Okay, this is and I'm kind of glad you brought it up I played high school ball. My freshman year was the last year that I played baseball.

Speaker 3:

Okay so okay, I.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, see how do I explain this. Okay, so I I wrote an article for inside pitch magazine quite a few years ago and kind of explained my journey to becoming a coach when I was younger little league, you know. All the way up to that freshman year I was Starting shortstop on every team I played on. I was the number one pitcher on every team that I played on. So I like to think that I had ability. When I got up to high school back then you know, we're about the same age People looked at sports differently than they do now, so it wasn't a priority, it wasn't Top on a list, it wasn't like like it is now, where parents are pushing kids to play.

Speaker 1:

I had other things that I had to do. I had to work, I had, you know, if I wanted a car, I had it. You know there were many reasons why I stopped playing. But and again, it's one of the things that that kind of frustrates me, but I kind of come to grips with it is I Don't know, and I never will know, was I a good baseball player or was I not? You know, was I good amongst players that weren't very good, or was I good amongst good players. I don't know and I never will. And it kind of drove me and I'm kind of going a little bit off topic, but that's okay it kind of drove me to be where I am with coaching because I said, you know, I didn't get the chance to do, to go as far as I could as a player. Well, as a coach, I'm gonna try and be the best that I could be, learn as much I can, to be the best coach that I possibly can be.

Speaker 3:

And that makes sense. I mean, that's, that's all you can ask for. You know, if you're a player on your team is having a coach that's dedicated to To being the best coach he could possibly be and putting them in a situation where they're have a chance to be successful. And you know, when you, when you talk about your, your coaching experience, what is something that that you've learned, that you think that you know. A lot of times your players don't fully understand about you, that you know about the game, but they're like learning and they're going well. You know this. This guy doesn't quite get us younger guys.

Speaker 1:

That's funny. Number one I believe in and on my show. If you've ever listened to my show, at the end of the show I always say and I got this on Ken revisa and it's really, really important quote when people don't care how much you know till they know how much you care. So I live by that. I want my players to know how much I care about them and I think through that I Develop trust with my player. So when I do maybe introduce a new principal, they know that my heart is in the right place, they know that I'm doing everything that I can to help them and I think that that's that's really really important.

Speaker 3:

And the, the parents, I'm sure appreciate that too.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean I've had a lot of success. You know you hear horror stories about parents and I won't say that I've never had parent problems. Of course we all have. But I think once the parents know that you really care about those players as a person first, before you care about them as a player, it makes things a lot easier to have conversations with them. They know where you're coming from.

Speaker 3:

Right, how do you approach handling tough conversations? You know, let's say, maybe you got a player that's been starting for half the season and he's struggling and the you know you talked about having competition every day and then you got to maybe take that person and you know you got to put him on the bench and give this other guy an opportunity. How do you handle that type of conversation?

Speaker 1:

Being brutally honest, and I think that you know it's only my opinion, but I believe that that's the only way to go, because and I never, ever do something to a kid without a reason. So if you know a player is on the bench, there's a reason why he's there and if I do have that conversation with a parent, I will tell them why. Now are they always going to agree with me? No, no, but you know it could be, you know performance issues, it could be mental, and a lot of times that's what it is. But I don't have any problem, Excuse me, I don't have any problem being brutally honest with a parent and I think if you're not being honest and you're trying to kind of sugarcoat it or, you know, get around it somehow, you're hurting yourself and you're also doing a disservice to the player, because if the parent knows what your reasoning is, maybe that parent can help you, as a coach, get through to the player that, hey, this is what we need to do.

Speaker 3:

Right, I totally agree with you on that. Well, can you share a funny or maybe even an embarrassing moment that you've seen on the baseball field? It can either be with you as a coach, or maybe you don't want to give the name of the coach or player, but you're like, wow, that was pretty funny.

Speaker 1:

Funny, let's see. Okay, the thing that comes to mind is with my son. Now, to me it's funny. I don't know it's not to be funny to anybody else, but to me it was. I got to get it. So my son was started coach with me. He's now 24. So this is going back a couple of years ago. He had just started coaching with me. I believe I was coaching a 14 year travel team and he was coaching first base. I'm coaching third base. Situation came up my number three hitter is up, so I'm giving him signs and I, you know, I give them the month sign. So I see my son at first base and he's, you know, flailing his arms up in the air. You know, shaking his head, and you know I'm looking at him like what, what's the problem? And you know we really can't communicate. He's all the way across the diamond.

Speaker 1:

So anyway, the kid executes the bun, does whatever he has to do and after the inning, going to the dugout and you know, I looked at him and I said what was that all about? Like that's what he looks at me because daddy goes, what'd you do? Lose your mind. So I said why? He said you bunt in number three hitter. So I looked at him and I said then I said he's 14 years old, he's not Alex Rodriguez. I said I need a bun, everybody has to bun, I don't care where he's in the lineup. And it was to me it was funny because he's looking at it through the eyes of somebody watching a major league game where that would probably never happen. But youth baseball is different. That kid, when he, when he gets older, he's not guy, would I mean. I would venture to say that he's probably not going to be a number three hitter, even if he goes to college. So you better learn how to burn now.

Speaker 3:

Yes, and that that's an area where I think is one of the most neglected areas in high school baseball, because you know you take, you go to any indoor facility, all you do is see kids working on their swing and trying to see how far they can hit it. But I think, bunning, if you want to have a good season and have a good team, you got to have guys that can get the ball down.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, like I said to you, we started on winter training or winter clinics, you know, a couple of weeks ago and we've already gone over bunting and we'll I have another session today. We'll bunting in today. We'll bun all the time.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's the only way you need to coach, in my opinion. Well, you know it's funny. You know I asked you to share a story about something that's funny. I can recall I used to umpire before I became a high school baseball coach and I was doing the Beast of the East tournament and I was down in Wheeling, west Virginia, where it's hosted, and I was working with a guy who's a Hall of Fame baseball coach but in the summer he umpires and his claim to fame is he taught Ted Valentine, the NCAA basketball referee, that had the chair thrown across the gym floor by Bobby Knight. He kind of had him as a both as an assistant coach and got him into officiating and um, but I was down there umpiring and I was on the bases and this Bob was behind the plate and a team from New York was there and they were really good.

Speaker 3:

And you know, play happens, they come out, they argue, and I just really believe that the coach was trying to do something to get his team fired up and he thought if he could get thrown out, and it was the 4th of July and you know it's burning hot down there, you know and he argued and he wouldn't quit. And I'm thinking I when is you know, when's Bob going to toss this guy? And finally the guy asked him straight up he goes. Why won't you throw me out? Because he was really using some choice words. And he goes, he goes. I'm a patriot and it's the 4th of July. I'm not throwing anybody out today. And the guy just walked away because I can't even get thrown out. And that was classic, you know. I mean, this coach was so frustrated he couldn't get thrown out. So, but getting back to what we were talking about, you've been around the game long enough. If you could change one thing to make the high school game better, what, what change would you make?

Speaker 1:

Wow, what change would I make to make the game better?

Speaker 3:

Let me give you an example here in my opinion I know for the purist it wouldn't work, but I think there needs to be a double first base. Oh really, because that running down to first and you have that interference call and you know it's impossible to run in foul territory and step on a fair base that's in fair territory. So I always think that there's got to be something there. You know, maybe extend the base something Right To make it.

Speaker 1:

I could see that, but I'm going to I'm going to come back at you on that and I'm going to give you my opinion is that I believe that everything we do is developmental, everything, even at the even, at the even at the varsity level although I do understand that winning is more important at the varsity level than it is at the lower levels. But I would say that we're trying to develop, we're trying to teach. That is something that will not be there when they go to play college baseball. So we as coaches would have to find a way to make sure that we teach. And, a matter of fact, in the seventh and eighth grade clinic yesterday we were going over P, f, ps.

Speaker 1:

You know to get overplay would pitch has to get over and you know again, drill it, drill it, teach them. You know how to hit the corner of the base, not go to the middle of the base, so that you avoid that collision and that type of stuff. So I'll say, in that aspect, I think that we should be just developing them to play it for the next level. I always believe that, whatever level you're you're coaching at, you know. In other words, if you're coaching 10 year olds. You should be coaching them to be 12 year olds, and so on and so forth, all the way up.

Speaker 3:

Right Makes sense. Well, switching gears a little bit here. You're the host of clearing the bases podcast, and tell me how to. How'd you become a podcaster? Because I know how my story started. It was COVID and everything, but how did it start for you?

Speaker 1:

It's really, really amazing to me how this all came about and where it's gone. So this is going back probably about four or five years ago and we were at a tournament as coach of travel baseball and one of my players, dads, said to me hey coach, you know you should do a podcast. And my immediate reaction was you know you're not, so I'm not doing this. So he goes no, no really. He said you have the personality for it. He said you know why don't you just try it? I'm like no, leave me alone, I'm not doing it.

Speaker 1:

So a couple of days later I get an email from him and it had all the information that I would need to start a podcast. He told me what type of microphone to get, what type of programs to use. He explained the whole thing to me. So I called him up and I said you don't understand. I said I am not doing this. So I don't remember exactly how, but he talked me into at least playing a podcast. Talk me into at least playing around with it. So I did and I started recording stuff and I had a hard time doing it. You know, just listening to myself talk I was like this is garbage. Nobody's going to want to listen to this. So I had actually been prior to this. I had been a guest on someone else's podcast and this is going to be a little bit of a long story, so I hope you got some time for this.

Speaker 3:

That's okay.

Speaker 1:

So I believe in the matter, I had gone to a wake and I was at the wake and I ran into my co-host, dave, so he came over to me and he said hey, he said I was listening to the podcast that you were on. He said you did, you know. He said I thought it was great. Da, da, da, da da. So I said oh, thank you. And that said I said yeah, I'm playing around with doing a podcast myself. So he said that's interesting. He said so am I, but he was doing something that was not related to baseball. So I don't know, maybe the next day or something I get a phone call from Dave and he said hey, what do you think about putting this together, you and I? Now, I had known Dave because our boys played youth baseball together and so I knew him from that and you know, I knew his baseball background and I said All right, let's give it a shot, let's see what happens. So that was that. We were playing around, playing around, and you know I felt like not having much success. Now this is going to go back to the mental performance classes that I was taking, so I would go once a week zoom calls with the, the instructor, Jonathan Reinbold, who has become a fantastic friend. He taught me so much about how to teach the mental side of the game, so we were doing the classes and I told him about it. So he said, well, look, he said we're going to use this kind of as your your training about setting goals and he said this is the way we're going to do it. And he, you know, laid it all out. I'll never forget my.

Speaker 1:

My first goal was to have an episode released by September of 2020, right, cause we started in 21. Yeah, so it was by September of 2020. He said that was my first milestone. Well, that came and that went, but he made me refocus and he made me keep going and da, da, da, da da March 2021. I released the first episode and the rest, the rest, is history. So it's a little bit of a convoluted story because it was something that I really didn't think that I would ever do. I thought that maybe we put, you know, an episode or two out there and that would be the end of it. Well, here we are going on three years later and we're still going strong, and that's clearing the basis podcast.

Speaker 3:

And let me ask you this what, what have you learned from your guests? What, what do you? I mean to me, that's the biggest thing I get from hosting a podcast is what I've learned from every guest that I have on the show Really, really, really important.

Speaker 1:

I mean that's really important. The stuff that I've learned from my guest is priceless and there is so much, and you know, there are just so many people to thank because of the guests that that we've had on the show. And I'll tell you we've had not not only baseball coaches but we've had, you know, authors and um. I'll give you a perfect example is we had a guy on from the XL Sports Institute. His name is Bill Ekstrom and when, when it was first presented to me to have him on, I was like, well, what does this have to do with baseball? You know, I I wasn't sure, so I said, you know, all right, let's, let's do it anyway.

Speaker 1:

The worst thing that can happen is it doesn't work out and I say, hey, listen, I thank you, you know, for coming on, but I just don't think this is for our listeners. Well, bill was fantastic and the things that he taught me in that episode regarding um, transactional versus transactional, you know I was like, well, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that, but the way I learned from the way I learned, from the way I learned from the transformational coaches has changed the way I coach just from that one episode. And he's not a baseball guy, so you know, the stuff that I learned from from these people is just incredible.

Speaker 3:

And I really believe that in the three years I've gotten exponentially on your on your show, and you were recently down at the the national ABCA coaches convention and you actually took your show on the road. How was that?

Speaker 1:

Oh, that was awesome. You know again another story. So last year, not not this this past January to one before, so January of 2023. Again, jonathan Reibald, the guy who gave me my mental performance classes, said to me hey, jim, why don't you take your podcast on the road record from the convention? So he hooked me up with it's actually a little recording studio, it's, it's wireless, it's, you know, battery operated. So the transmitter is about I don't know, it's about the size of maybe two inches by two inches. If that big it's, this thing fits into something that looks like it's an eyeglass case. So we did it and I had a ball, I loved it.

Speaker 1:

So I get a call from the ABCA trying to think when it was, it was late, it was probably like October, november and they said hey, what do you think about broadcasting? We're going to have a bunch of podcasters doing this. And I said you know what? I'll give it a shot, it sounds like fun. So I did and just an amazing, amazing experience. The people that I've met, the people that I continue to meet, the collaboration, the it's just it's an amazing experience. I don't know, have you ever been to the convention?

Speaker 3:

I've, yes, I've been to the the ABC. Yes, it's, uh, it's amazing the turnout that they get for that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

So well, you know I wanted that I do a little thing called rapid fire and I'm going to hit you with some questions and see how you, how you do with them. If you can have three people, dead or alive, to be on the clearing the basis podcast, who would they be and why?

Speaker 1:

Wow, okay. So we'll start with with. Number one is Ken Revisah. Okay, because I I believe the mental side of the game is really, really important. I would, you know it's. It's just a shame you know that he's no longer with us, but if he was here, yes, believe me, I would reach out to him and definitely get him on a show. Um, I would say number two is maybe, let's say, tim Corbin. I'd love to have him on the show because he, um, yeah, his record of success and how, you know he climbed that ladder from, you know, coaching in New Hampshire to working his way all the way to, you know, being one of the most recognized and most successful college coaches ever. I would really, really love to have a conversation with him. And then this one is going to be a little bit of a curveball. Okay, so there's a gentleman. His name is Darren Fenster. I don't know if you know who he is.

Speaker 3:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I know who you're talking about. Okay, coach of kids, right? Yeah? Um, I've been following him for many, many, many years and I believe that his teachings and what he talks about are spot on and has shaped a lot of what I do as a coach. Um, I would love to have him on the show. I have reached out to him at times, but you know I understand these guys. They're all very, very busy. It's hard for them to. They must get like a million emails from people, and you know. But I won't stop, though I'll keep trying to bug them until I can get him on, because I really believe that if I can get him on for my listeners, it would be priceless for them.

Speaker 3:

Yes, hey, hate losing or love winning.

Speaker 1:

Hmm, I guess I would have to say I hate losing.

Speaker 3:

I'm right there with you on that one, that's for sure, yeah.

Speaker 1:

I'm because you know and I'll explain it a little bit because when I step on that field I want to win every single time. But I understand that that's not reality. You're not going to win every single game. So we have to take what we can and learn from it so that we can make our players better. But, um, but I do hate losing. I don't like it.

Speaker 3:

Well, I I'm looking in the room that you're you're joining me from and I see Yankee Stadium behind you. All right, so I'm assuming you're a Yankee fan.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yes.

Speaker 3:

How far are you from the city?

Speaker 1:

Um to Yankee Stadium and probably about 45 minutes, Maybe, maybe an hour.

Speaker 3:

All right, so you get a chance to manage your team. What three players would you like to have on your team? And I'm going to give you two groups. Group A Derek Jeter, babe Ruth and Whitey Ford. The other team would have Lou Gehrig, joe DiMaggio and Andy Pettit. What group are you taking?

Speaker 1:

Wow, all right. So let's see, wait a minute. The first one had Babe Ruth, derek Jeter and Whitey Ford. Whitey Ford and the other one had go ahead.

Speaker 3:

Lou Gehrig, joe DiMaggio and Andy Pettit Wow, all in their prime.

Speaker 1:

I think I'm going with number one, and and why isn't that? Well, because the first one, that's that you know I have to go with um, with Derek Jeter, because that's the most recent, you know, in my mind. I watched his whole career, whitey Ford, you know, I caught not only the thing, I caught his career. So I didn't see any of him. Babe Ruth, I didn't see any of it. So I'm going to go by Jeter, okay. So I think that Jeter exemplifies everything that you want in a baseball player. Okay, everything that you want. It's all in one, one package Um, he's a grinder.

Speaker 1:

Um, he's a work. He's just, you know, mentally tough. Um knows the game is baseball IQs off the charts. Um, the the famous play that he made where he got Jeremy Giambi at the plate when he flipped the ball. So I was with Shane Spencer recently and he's the one who threw that ball and we were, we were talking about it and he said that Jeter was where he was supposed to be. His position on that play was supposed to be right behind the pitchers mouth and Shane threw that ball.

Speaker 1:

Jeter recognized that he was gonna airmail cutoff. He recognized it was too high, so he took off to go get that ball and the rest of his history. He made that great play that everybody ooze an oze over. Okay, that right there shows you how intent he was on paying attention to what's going on in the game. How can I help? How can I make this work? We want our players to be like that, and I know that you had three guys in there, but I'm focusing on one, right. Those type of things are those intangibles that we cannot teach. We try, but we can't teach that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, exactly Okay. So what do you enjoy more as a coach? A great squeeze play or a perfectly executed double play?

Speaker 1:

I'm gonna take the squeeze play.

Speaker 3:

Okay, can't beat those. I love those.

Speaker 1:

Right, really exciting. I got a story, if you want to hear it, about that. I got it going back to what we talked about, one thing. So again, this is going back years ago, maybe as many as 10 years ago, maybe even more. I had a kid played for me big kid, he was probably 16 at the time. He was probably about six, two, six, three chiseled big kid. So we're working on bunting and he's given me a half-hearted effort while he's bunting. So I can be what's the word I'm looking for? I can be tough at times.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so I went over to him and I said what do you do, coach? He says I'm a four or five hitter. He says I don't bun. And you can imagine what came out of my mouth. Okay, so you know. So I said to him you know, when you play for me, you blankety, blank bun, damn it. And when dah, dah, dah, dah, you know I lit him up, up and down. All right. So I now see what he did by doing. That was now. My radar was up. So now, every time he's bunting in practice, I'm paying attention to what he's doing and if he takes one rep off, I'm right on him. Okay, so fast forward to.

Speaker 1:

He's a varsity player playing in a game I forgot the implications of the game, but it was an important game runner. On third, bottom of the seventh tie score. His coach gives him the bun sign Okay, squeeze, play. So he gets the bun down, squeezes the guy in and they win the game. So I gave him probably about two, three hours maybe to you know, celebrate, go home, have something to eat. And then I texted him. I said hey, Mikey. I said I thought that we don't bun. So he said coach. He said I knew that I was gonna get this text message from you, he said, and I was dreading it. So I went out to tell him how happy I was. But yeah, so.

Speaker 3:

But you know I forgot to mention after the last question about the Yankees there. I, you know, being in Ohio, we, you know, don't have quite the Yankee fans that you have up your way. But I was at the the bug game or with Cleveland and the playoffs when all the bugs were flying all over and you know that was just one of the craziest games I've ever ever seen in baseball and but it was a fun one because obviously Cleveland won. But you know, I thought I'd share that with a Yankee fan.

Speaker 1:

You know watching that game. I'm looking, you know watching the game and I'm seeing all the bugs. I forgot who the pitcher was. Was it Wells?

Speaker 3:

No, no, it was a right hander. Oh, it was Chamberlain.

Speaker 1:

Yes, it was Chamberlain, so I see the bugs all over him saying to myself you know, I know me. I would have come out of the dugout and say, oh, I can't throw like that. You know, we got to stop the game. He can't do this. And I mean because I remember it had an adverse effect. Right, the Indians wound up winning. Because I don't want to say because of that, but it was a factor.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yeah, I, you know. It's funny is we were right off the first base dugout and there were like no bugs in the stands Right. It was literally just right on the field. It seemed like and but talk about a crazy game, that's, you know, other than maybe a bird getting hit by a ball in the field. You know, you usually don't run into things like that, that's for sure.

Speaker 1:

So you're a Cleveland fan? I assume yes.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, a very frustrated Cleveland.

Speaker 1:

Well, lately, let me.

Speaker 3:

We develop all the players and then the big money teams take them. So you know that gives. Well, let me ask you this Tell the listeners one more time the name of the podcast and look just a little bit about it. And because I think anybody that loves baseball should check out your podcast. And where can we find you on social media?

Speaker 1:

Okay, so the podcast is clearing the bases podcast and it is I'll give you the tagline for it.

Speaker 1:

You know we discuss all things related to the preparation and development of youth baseball players, coaches and parents, and you know that's we are. I really believe that we need to get the word out more about what Younger, younger level coaches should be doing to teach kids fundamentals. Okay, the basics of the game are not being taught and we're getting them at the high school level and having to teach them you know how, how their feet should be positioned when they take a lead off a first base, and I always use that one as an example because it's so simple. It takes 10 minutes to teach them how to do it, but yet nobody does why. You know that drives me crazy, yeah. So, anyway, now you know I'm going to talk about my. That that's what our podcast is about.

Speaker 1:

You can find it anywhere, anywhere, that pod, you know. You listen to podcasts. You know Apple, spotify, even Google podcast, everywhere you can find it. And social media on Facebook I have a personal Facebook page. You can just search my name and it'll come up. There's a clearing the basis page. And on X, formerly Twitter, same thing. I have both clearing the bases and my personal. And what's funny? On Instagram I just have personal. I don't have a clearing the basis Instagram, but you could find me anywhere and if anybody did want to reach out my, you can email me at clearing the bases at gmailcom.

Speaker 3:

Sounds good. Well, it's coach Jimmy Phillan. Jerry, head baseball coach at Lord's High School in New York and host of clearing the bases podcast. Coach, thanks for taking the time to be on the athlete one podcast.

Speaker 1:

Can I can't tell you how much I appreciate you having me on. This was a lot of fun. I loved it.

Speaker 3:

Special thanks to coach Jimmy Phillan. Jerry, and don't forget to check out his podcast clearing the bases. Also, today's podcast was powered by the netting professionals in proving programs, one facility at a time. Contact them today at 844-620-2707 or visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. I'm your host, ken Carpenter, and, as always, thanks for listening.

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