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00:00Yes, sir. How are you?
00:01Hey, Corey. Nice to meet you. Tony Oliver. Thanks for taking my call.
00:05No problem.
00:07Alrighty. Well, as I mentioned over text, I'm in California, lifelong baseball fan.
00:14I work for an insurance company. This is just something that I enjoy doing.
00:18And I've been a member of Sabre, and I've always enjoyed writing.
00:23And they mentioned, hey, we're looking for people to help out with this biography project,
00:26which, down the line, hopes to have biographies written and published online
00:32for every single major league baseball player, 19,000 and plus.
00:38Currently, there's about 4,000 to 5,000.
00:41And the way that the organization is tackling it is if anybody has a particular desire
00:47on a particular player or a particular team, they kind of work around it.
00:51And then there's also what they call projects.
00:54And I've worked on one of the 95 Braves.
00:58I've worked on one on Venezuelan big leaguers and one on combat games.
01:05And another project that they just kicked off is on players who had one hit in their major league career.
01:12So I was given a list, and I took a look at the list and started poking around Twitter
01:17to see who could I contact and came across yours and said,
01:20this looks to be the guy, this looks to be Corey.
01:26And traditionally, what occurs with this is once they're written, two things will happen.
01:31One, they get published on the website.
01:33And two, they get published both as an e-book as well as printed book.
01:39So eventually, when this is a proof that I'm not entirely sure when this particular project
01:45is looking for a publication, it will be available via Sabre.
01:51Okay.
01:52Awesome.
01:53Well, I've spent some time researching your career and just had a couple of questions.
01:57The first one is, when you were growing up, I understand that your father played football.
02:05What about your mom?
02:06Was she a professional?
02:08Was she a stay-at-home?
02:09No, my mother was a nurse.
02:12So she ended up being, I guess you could say, the head school nurse in the school district
02:20of Madison, Texas.
02:22She's always been a nurse.
02:23That was her goal, to be a nurse.
02:25Excellent.
02:26I particularly love just helping people, apparently.
02:28Awesome.
02:29Is she still a nurse?
02:30Yes, definitely.
02:31She, I think she's, she loves doing it, man.
02:35I've been telling her to kind of hang out.
02:37And she has literally, she could probably not work for three years.
02:42That's how much paid vacation she has.
02:44Wow.
02:47That do much, man.
02:48It kind of drives me nuts.
02:49I wish she would do something.
02:49But, you know, they sit in their ways sometimes, so.
02:53Well, bless her heart.
02:54That's what happens when you have a vocation.
02:56Yeah.
02:57Yeah.
02:59So growing up, who were your favorite players or teams?
03:03And did you play more than one sport?
03:05So I was a, my first love was soccer.
03:09I was very, very good at it.
03:12I played a little bit of basketball, football, and I was in baseball.
03:15My favorite players growing up were Fred, well, really Fred McGriff.
03:20I was a big Fred McGriff.
03:21And I got, unfortunately, I got a chance to play against him in the big leagues.
03:26And I liked Cecil Fielder growing up.
03:28He was a big, but really, really, really big.
03:31Excellent.
03:33When you played against McGriff, did you get a chance to talk to him and tell him how he
03:37was your favorite growing up?
03:39So, apparently, the Braves at the time got wind of me liking Fred McGriff.
03:46So me, for whatever reason, Greg Matic is a big fan of mine.
03:49Like, he took me under his wing, and he was a really good guy.
03:53You know, me, I was very mentally immature.
03:55Physically, I had the tool, but, you know, it was different times, especially coming from
03:59a small town.
04:00So I think those guys kind of recognized that he took me under the wing.
04:03So I kind of probably shared some things about liking Fred McGriff.
04:07And I showed him how I go to play.
04:10They told me to go to the cage in the right field.
04:13And I could hear somebody hitting me and taking batting practice.
04:16And, sure enough, man, it was Fred McGriff taking batting practice.
04:19He had signed a bat for me.
04:21And we just kind of said, talked to him about it again.
04:24It was actually one of the coolest experiences I've ever had.
04:27That's awesome.
04:28That's awesome.
04:30And McGriff is, it's really a crime.
04:32I mean, being the crime dog, it's a crime that he's not in the Hall of Fame.
04:36It's ridiculous, given his consistency and his numbers.
04:39Yeah, I mean, every year, man, somebody has something to say about it.
04:42I just, it's ridiculous, because he has great numbers.
04:45I mean, dude, his name was a crime dog.
04:46He's like, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta make a name.
04:49So, like, everything about this guy was all the same.
04:52Yeah.
04:54All right.
04:56So, in 97, you get drafted.
04:58What do you remember about the day?
05:00What do you remember about getting the call?
05:04Um, I remember not knowing anything.
05:07Like, so, one of the biggest things with getting drafted,
05:09since you're kind of being where I'm from,
05:10was I knew nobody before me that really got drafted.
05:13So, they had the help, as far as agent-wise.
05:16You know, my high school coach, who had, who, who previously had got drafted high,
05:22he told me I was going to go through.
05:24He never really, never tried to help me.
05:27He kind of just left me by myself, um, which was kind of terrible.
05:30But, I just remember, um, sitting at the house.
05:34You know, I didn't really know the, the extent, or really what, what being drafted,
05:38you know, kind of meant.
05:38Like I said, I had no really cool amount.
05:40I knew how to play sports.
05:44Really, I just remember sitting at home and, you know, hoping for a call.
05:47They were like, yeah.
05:48I didn't know, I didn't know I was going to actually go as high as I did.
05:51I didn't really know.
05:51I just knew I was getting drafted.
05:52I didn't know it was significant in some rounds.
05:54I was just pretty much ignorant to the whole process.
05:57I just had no help.
05:58And we're just getting a call, you know, from Braves and saying, hey, you know,
06:04we want to take you.
06:05You know, good luck, and we'll see you pretty soon.
06:07So, and I was, and I was 17 years old, too, so I was kind of pretty young.
06:12Mind-boggling, that's for sure.
06:14Yeah.
06:15Were, were the Braves your favorite team growing up?
06:18Well, they kind of was everybody's favorite team because they were,
06:21the only channels we had to watch was TVS and WGN.
06:24Yep.
06:24So, you know, and obviously Fred McGrimp played for them.
06:28You know, you had Dave Justice.
06:29So I was, I was definitely a Braves fan simply by kind of TV programming.
06:34That's all we had.
06:35I never really had a favorite team growing up.
06:37You know, I spent my time watching the Rangers because that was the closest team,
06:41but I never was a really big Rangers fan.
06:43I was a fan of just certain players that I liked.
06:46I just never, I never had a specific team.
06:48I see.
06:51All right.
06:53So they put you in the minors, and you're in the minors for a few years before you get
06:59your first call-up.
07:00So tell me a little bit about, what do you remember the most in that first batch of years
07:05that you were in the minors?
07:09Um, just, I don't know, man.
07:12I finally saw the world.
07:13Like, again, growing up in Abilene and just, you know, honestly, most of you, you're a typical
07:17black kid.
07:18You never really get out of the city where you live.
07:21That's something like that happens.
07:22So for me, you know, my first, my first experience in baseball after an hour after I got off the
07:29airplane to get drafted, I almost got in a fight with a Dominican dude, which was Wilson
07:34Bennett.
07:35Because I didn't know what a Dominican was.
07:40Yeah.
07:41So they told us, like, I said, hey, guys, there's a place to eat here.
07:47Um, you know, between six and nine, they'll get your food for you.
07:50And I said, okay.
07:51So when I got there, I walked outside.
07:53There was, like, a young kid that had, you know, there was a kid that had a braid shirt
08:00on.
08:01And so I was like, all right.
08:02And I said, hey, man, you know, where do we go eat?
08:04And he's like, just kind of looks at me and starts smiling, kind of, you know, kind of
08:08just smiling.
08:09And I was like, I didn't understand.
08:11I'm like, so another guy comes up.
08:14I'm getting mad because I'm asking this guy three times, you know, what do we do?
08:17So he just keeps smiling at me, not knowing he didn't speak English.
08:20So I asked another guy, which was a friend of mine at the time.
08:23And I said, hey, uh, this guy right here, every time I ask him, you know, what do we eat?
08:27He starts smiling.
08:28I said, I'm about to kick his ass.
08:31That was probably about my response.
08:33He goes, dude, he doesn't speak English.
08:34I said, what do you mean he doesn't speak English?
08:35But the guy looks just like me.
08:38He goes, now he's from the Dominican Republic.
08:40And that was like my rude awakening.
08:42So like, through all those years, it was like, I'd say between, by the time I got called
08:49up in 2001, it was just a culture shock of, you know, different races, white, black, Asian.
08:56I just, like, in my mind, I thought everything was either white, about all ages were the same.
09:01I was white, black, or Asian.
09:03I was like, I don't think that.
09:05Yeah.
09:07And I didn't know the difference between Chinese and Korean.
09:10Obviously, I got to say I have to play in Korea.
09:13But, yeah, just those kind of things, cultural differences, learning about the world, learning
09:17there was more out there than just, you know, small town thinking, learning, like, what real
09:22money actually looks like.
09:23Like, I mean, I didn't know anything about money.
09:25I'm watching kids come up and get drafted.
09:28They're talking about, you know, well, we're going to invest and buy a couple of houses.
09:32I'm like, I didn't understand anything, man.
09:34Like, it was just, what I do, I do, I can play the game.
09:38And, you know, that's kind of my biggest regret was my lack of, I guess, world awareness of
09:45anything.
09:46I was great at what I could do, and I knew what I knew, and I did great in school,
09:49but
09:49that didn't help me at all.
09:50Yeah.
09:51So, it was definitely, now that I'm older, I look back at it, man, it's kind of, it's
09:56very disturbing.
09:56The fact is, I didn't know any better.
09:58So, I do a lot now, I'm trying to help kids now, you know, white, black, or other, to
10:03really understand what's out there, the world and whatnot.
10:08But, I just remember having a lot of, just a lot of ignorance in my life, and it was actually
10:12pretty dangerous, because you didn't know what was out there.
10:16So, but, all in all, it's pretty cool.
10:18Yeah, I think all of the sports, right, baseball included, have improved a little bit there.
10:24I think that, when you think of the NBA, they were perhaps the frontrunners, but then again,
10:29they have a smaller draft.
10:31They only have two rounds, so it's a little bit more concentrated, whereas with baseball,
10:35it's hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds.
10:38I'm from Puerto Rico, so you're, yeah, the story that you mentioned is similar to what
10:45some Puerto Rican ballplayers that came up in the 50s and the 60s experienced, right?
10:49They were, they were black, and yet they didn't speak English, so it was a little bit of the
10:55double whammy.
10:56Well, it was weird, just anytime, like, you know, I had great seats on Thursday before
11:00my injuries kind of set in, so I hit a lot, so I, you know, I hit a lot of
11:03doubles.
11:04I put it on second base, immediately when I got on second base, because every Latin player
11:10would just come up, hey, D-man, safety.
11:12I'm like, and I spoke, I learned Spanish in school, which was terrible, but I picked
11:18up Spanish very fast, and I, like, the Latin players that grabbed me over the call was
11:22college with my friend, so I started speaking Spanish, but these guys, everybody thought
11:26I was, like, Latin, everybody thought I was either Puerto Rican, you know, one day I was
11:29Puerto Rican, one day I was Venezuela, one day I was Dominican, it didn't matter.
11:33Depending on who was the opponent, huh?
11:36You know, most of your middle infielders were Latin players, so I get on second base.
11:40Like, sure enough, here it comes, you know, I'm like, dude, I'm from Texas, so I flip.
11:46You know, it's a lot of work, because I have, you know, my skin is a real dark, it's pretty
11:49copper, especially for my first time, it was super light, so they just, it just, man,
11:54those folks got light.
11:57It's kind of funny, man.
12:00United Nations, United Nations.
12:02Oh, yeah.
12:03And later on, you played in Venezuela.
12:05How was that experience?
12:07Man, I loved it.
12:13Can you hear me right now?
12:14Yeah.
12:15Okay, I just switched my Bluetooth.
12:17I loved it, man.
12:18Venezuela, Mexico, Korea, all the places.
12:20I loved it, because the fans were awesome.
12:23They really loved the game, loved the players.
12:27I wish I went there, and I'll say this with all the places I went to, I wish I went
12:31through
12:31a different mindset.
12:32But I loved it, and the country was awesome.
12:35The country's very beautiful.
12:36It's just a terrible statement.
12:37Yeah.
12:38But it was a place I wished I went to when I was younger.
12:42I had so many injuries from playing that I missed a lot of time playing winter ball.
12:46I had an opportunity to start playing winter ball in 2001, and that's when I first had my
12:50shoulder-ed shoes.
12:52But winter ball is great, especially for young kids, especially for anybody that's been, has
12:57never been anywhere, because you kind of see, you know, it's multicultural, very colorful,
13:02a lot of different influences from different cultures.
13:05The baseball is probably the best, in my opinion.
13:08It was just tough, because you really couldn't do much, just because of what the government
13:13had done to the country, and even the hotels, sometimes you'd have internet, sometimes you'd
13:17have, you know, electricity blackouts.
13:20You know, you stayed in a hotel that was really naughty, but it was a piece of crap, because
13:23you couldn't do anything with it, because the government owned the hotels.
13:27It was just, you saw a lot of greatness that was kind of spoiled by just neglect and just
13:33bad, bad, bad leadership.
13:35Yeah.
13:37Yeah, and my experience is just talking to some of the Venezuelan players, again, for
13:41the bios.
13:42It's heartbreaking when the concept talks about that.
13:45A lot of them have, even the older ones, like Eddie Perez from the Braves, he said, you
13:51know, nobody, nobody from my generation was really expecting to have to settle in the United
13:58States.
13:59Yeah.
13:59They were always looking to go back, so.
14:01All right.
14:03So, you get your call-up for the Braves in 01.
14:06How, tell me about when, where were you when you got the call-up?
14:10Was it the manager?
14:12Was it John Sherholt?
14:15Was it somebody from the team?
14:18So, we were in Orlando.
14:21Hey, Jay, look at the book, though.
14:24We were in Orlando, and I, you know, so I had spent a lot of my time there, you're injured,
14:29off and on.
14:30I was, I had a chance to make the team out of spring, and I didn't, I didn't make the
14:36team out of spring, which is kind of disappointing.
14:38I know Chipper, and I think Chipper and Ryan Jordan fought for me a little bit to do it, just
14:43I was kind of young, super young, mentally wasn't ready, but physically, yeah, I wish
14:48that was probably the best thing for me to do it the first part of the season, then come
14:51in later.
14:52But anyway, I had just gotten off the disabled list, playing a game, and I looked up one
14:58day, and I wasn't in a ladder.
14:59I couldn't understand it, I mean, it wasn't a big thing, I wasn't like, you know, what's
15:01happened to me, but it was just kind of a random time to get a day off.
15:04It was like, it was like one of the last parts of the season, I was like, it's kind of
15:06a random
15:07time.
15:08And the other players kind of knew what was happening, but I didn't, and I was just kind
15:11of sitting there.
15:11And during practice, the manager calls me off, and he says, hey man, we gotta send you
15:18home, we gotta send you out.
15:20And I was like, really?
15:22You know, he's like, yeah, we're sending you to Montreal.
15:26You're not playing today, you're going to Montreal, he goes, you know, John Charles wants
15:29to see you, Bobby Cox wants to see you, so, and that was it.
15:35And again, you know, just kind of being ignorant to the fact of anything, it was just kind of
15:39like, to me, it was just like, alright man, cool.
15:42Like, it's serious, man, like, now that I look back on a lot of stuff, it's just kind
15:46of weird, like, some of my reactions, it was just kind of like, because I just
15:49didn't know any better.
15:50Yeah.
15:51I just, it was just like, alright man, cool, let's do it.
15:53You know, and nervous, definitely, I was nervous as crap, like, again, because I've
15:58never really been on a stage that big, and never really, you know, had anything, an
16:02opportunity to do anything like that, as far as that kind of accomplishment, so, that
16:06was the tough part, but it was, yeah, he, Paul Runge was the guy that called me in the
16:13office, uh, he was a ex-Brave, that, you know, he's been coaching for the Braves for
16:21a while, I don't know who he's coaching now, he used to be at the Astros, like, the last
16:23of my son was at the Astros, but, big time Braves, played like, six or seven years in
16:27the big leagues, and he was a hard-nosed guy, so if he brings you an office, you're kind
16:31of like, whoa, what's he doing?
16:32Yeah.
16:33Yeah, he's not the guy that wouldn't bring you an office.
16:36Wow, that's great, so, you go to Montreal, were they playing in Montreal, or were they
16:40just having a meeting before?
16:41Yeah, we were playing, um, we were playing the Expos at the time, Blackjack Guerrero was
16:45there, um, so I got to experience kind of a historic stadium, it's my first time going
16:49to the big leagues, and I've never been out of the country, so I've never been anywhere,
16:54you know, out of Texas, really.
16:56I think I went to Washington, D.C. on an eighth-grade trip that one time, and that was kind
17:00of the
17:01limit to my world knowledge, so me, you know, having a passport finally, they told us in
17:06spring training to get a passport, and I was like, alright, cool, I got a passport, it's
17:10like ten bucks at a time, and I got, yeah, it was, it was like ten bucks, it took like
17:14three days, got my passport, um, but yeah, head to Montreal, um, but I've never, like I
17:21said, never been out of Texas, really, and, you know, didn't know anything about Canada,
17:25but Canada was awesome, actually, big fan of Canada.
17:28Yeah, Montreal's a beautiful city, I was there many years ago, I'm wishing to go back.
17:33It's very nice.
17:35Alright, so, you got the game against Montreal, then you play a game against Chicago, Sirius
17:41against New York, um, and then a couple games at the end of the season, how, of those, you
17:48started one, with the other ones, you were a defensive substitution, so, tell me a little
17:53bit about watching the game from the bench when you're with the big leaguers, how was
17:58it different than watching the game from the bench before going in when you're in the minors?
18:04Well, you're kind of a small fish in a big pond, and, you know, you're always, especially
18:08at that age, you have kind of a lack of information that we have now, you know, you don't really
18:13know what to expect, like, now these kids, these kids have a jump start at anything in
18:17life if they want to, and if they choose to use it, and at that time, it was more or
18:22less
18:23me just around trying to figure out, do I belong, am I going to play, and we already
18:27just had September 11th, and all that type of stuff, so that was, that was, that was part
18:32of the reason why I didn't play, and then we were in a playoff race, and all these, just
18:35all these things, like, a lot of things going on, like, what am I going to do, it's, you
18:40saying, am I going to make the team next year, just, you know, a lot of it was just nerves,
18:44like, I mentally was not prepared, really, to go to the big leagues, because I just, you
18:49know, I didn't have, I needed more, I think I needed more of a mentor, that's why I said
18:54if I would have made the team out of spring, that would have been awesome, I think that
18:57would have been, like, a lot more beneficial, but like, like I said, you know, injuries kind
19:00of set in, so I had to go to AA and kind of rehab, and I spent most of that
19:03year, actually,
19:04and all, you know.
19:07And that was your shoulder injury, right?
19:09Yeah, that was my, that was my first one, I had, during the, before I even getting
19:12called it before then in my leagues, I had a few other ones, I just had a lot of just
19:15frequent injuries, man, I can't even, it's not really much I can kind of pinpoint on it,
19:19it was just like, you know, I missed, like, if you look at the numbers, like, I had 300
19:24at bats that year, 350, because I just missed so much time, and put up some decent numbers
19:29when I was healthy, just the hard part was just saying consistent being healthy, but, you
19:34know, but, yeah, I definitely wish that I had more, I guess, wherewithal of what was
19:41kind of going on at the time, and maybe some type of, like, guidance, I guess you would
19:45say.
19:45I see.
19:46And you mentioned Chipper, you mentioned Brian Jordan, you mentioned Maddox, were those your,
19:52your, not your best friends necessarily, but your closest ones on the team?
19:56Actually, Greg Maddox.
19:58Maddox.
19:59Yeah, so we were born in the same hospital.
20:01Oh, really?
20:02Yeah, just randomly, so, he was, like, I was funny you said that, because he was, he asked
20:06that, because, like, I actually had a conversation about his name, of the same thing, with somebody,
20:10but he, he was the guy that always tried to show me the ropes, he always has, he would
20:14come and sit by me in batting practice and stuff, you know, Chipper was kind of the same
20:18way, Chipper saw a lot of greatness in me, and he, you know, all these guys, what it
20:21was, they saw a lot of greatness in me, but they knew I was an idiot as a little kid.
20:25And, and I mean, they just knew, I was just, I needed guidance, like, it was like, they
20:29saw the baseball player in me, but it was like, you need to figure this out, you know,
20:33you need to get your head right, and now, but I look back at it now, this is now, I'm
20:38seeing this, but I knew that, like, Chipper would always come talk to me, all these guys
20:41are really nice guys, man, and never had any problems, heck, John Rocker was cool at
20:45the time, all these guys, man, and the only guy I didn't like, and I told him about it
20:50a couple years ago, was B.J. Serhaw, and, and I, because he was,
20:54he was always, like, a meme to me, but he really wasn't, he was just more like, I was
20:58a young guy, and you wanted me to make, you wanted to make sure I was doing everything
21:01correctly.
21:02I see.
21:03And I saw him, and I saw him a few years ago, and I said, dude, B.J., you were
21:06an asshole,
21:06he goes, nope, you were just a young, you were just a young dumbass, and I said, all right,
21:10that was what he said, that was like, that was his response, and then, from that point
21:15on, we shook hands, hugged, and we tossed it out, and it was great, but he ended up being,
21:17like, the best dude ever, but I couldn't stand that guy for, like, three years.
21:22I wonder if when he came up in 86 and 87, the Brewers did the same to him, maybe that
21:28was it, yeah.
21:29He was just, he was kind of that guy that just, he never really, he never really, he
21:36wasn't like, he wasn't the guy that you wanted to joke around and play with, he didn't joke
21:38around and play, he was always, he was, he was kind of like, have you ever seen the
21:41Kirk Gibson special on ESPN, when you talk about him, you talk about the players playing around
21:47a lot, he was that guy, like, I remember Paul Bongo used to get on him all the time,
21:52and, you know, he just cracked jokes and all kinds of stuff, and just, BJ Turner was just
21:55sitting there, he didn't care if he was one of the jokes, he just never said anything,
21:59he never laughed, I was like, this guy sucks, but I did in my mind, because I was trying
22:04to tell, but I just realized, like, he was just that serious about the game, and he'd
22:08come out, you know, prepare himself, if he had to stretch at 3 o'clock, he was out
22:14there at 3 or 245, like, he just, he was just that guy, man, like, now that I'm older,
22:20I'm like, dude, that guy's kind of awesome, you know, but, again, being kind of a young
22:23dumbass, you just don't know anybody, you're just, you want to be cool, and you think you
22:26got some money, and all these other guys got way more than you, and you don't even know
22:29it, you know, he was all business, huh?
22:32Yeah, he was, he was, he was a good guy, he was just intimidating to me as a young guy,
22:36like, I was being outfield, and there was a ball in the air between me and him, he's
22:39like, you gotta catch, you gotta catch, and I'm like, dude, I'm gonna catch
22:42you just, like, chill, like, I can't, I can't play outfield like this with you yelling
22:46at me, and this ball is, you know, 20 feet in the air, he's about to come down, like,
22:51I just need you to, you know, we were, I remember my first flop, all I got, it was Charles
22:54Johnson,
22:55I'll never forget it, it was my first start, I'm playing center field, ball's hitting the
22:59air, it was like a piece of aspirin, like, in my mind, I'm like, oh, this ball's never
23:02coming down, and all of a sudden, I just hear, you gotta, you gotta get, you gotta get,
23:06you gotta get, and I'm panicking, like, what the hell's going on, am I seeing
23:08something different, and it's just Vijay Serhoff, like, yelling at me, like, I'm like,
23:12dude, I'm saying, man, I got it, but damn, you know, it was, like, it was crazy, man,
23:17like, but I remember, like, it was yesterday, I was like, this dude is, yeah.
23:22Talking about having a coach on the field, huh?
23:25Uh-huh, a little too much.
23:27So, um, so then your story's very interesting in that you're, you go back to the minors,
23:33but you go to the minors for a very long time, what kept you going? Because nine years is
23:39a long time between major league appearances.
23:43Man, people ask that question all the time, and honestly, when I look back and say, I didn't
23:46have anything better to do. Like, the testament of me being able to do that is good, because
23:52obviously, I had the skill to be able to say, okay, I'm going to keep playing injury after
23:57injury, so obviously, I was doing something correctly, but I didn't really have a backup plan.
24:02And at my job, I always felt like, I always did, you know, when I was healthy, I did well,
24:06and the opportunities kept coming, because I retired three times because of injuries.
24:11You know, I retired three or four times because of injuries, but, you know, the best thing that
24:15ever happened was I went and played independent ball in Newark, New Jersey, and I got away from
24:24the front office, a guy trying to tell you what to do. They never played ball. I got away
24:28from, you know, just the negativity of pro ball. Pro ball is tough. It's not what people think,
24:34and I mean, that's kind of a different conversation if you ever want to have it, but there's a lot
24:38that goes into it, man, and it's not a great, it's a business, put it like that. And I just
24:45got tired
24:45of the business. I got tired of being hurt. You know, you get tired of worrying about money.
24:50At the time, I went through a divorce, you know, dealing with child support, just a lot
24:54of negatives, but I just kind of kept pushing, and then when I went and played winter ball,
24:59and after I played that year in Newark, I figured out that I love baseball. I figured
25:04out how to be good, and I got my mind, I changed the mindset as opposed to, you know, I
25:10realized
25:10I was good, and I started playing like I was good, and I just stopped caring. I stopped
25:13caring about the front office and who said what and who's thinking this. I stopped caring
25:18about numbers, and I just got back to where I was when I first started playing. I didn't
25:22care about this stuff. It wasn't until the Braves started implementing analytics that
25:26I really started caring about, you know, what I'm doing wrong or right, and so that's kind
25:31of what changed me is just stop caring so much about everybody else, and focus kind of on
25:37me a little bit. Just started playing the game, having fun.
25:40And that served you well because you hit 365 at independent and then had a couple of years
25:44years of more than 300 in AAA and eventually made your way back into the majors.
25:50Yeah, once I had it, once I started figuring out my swing, like I figured out how the swing
25:53works. I figured out that's who, you know, whether it was with, you know, me, Josh Dallas
25:57and a couple guys, but I figured out how the swing works. I figured out how certain things
26:02happen. A lot of it was confidence. A lot of it was stop worrying about other stuff, and
26:07like I said, I just kind of changed a lot of things, but mostly what it was, I just
26:10stopped caring so much. And from that point on, man, it just became go out there, have
26:16some fun, you know, still dealing with a couple injuries, but hey, man, I didn't care. I didn't
26:22care about getting out. You know, it was just go have fun, go try to make it to the big
26:26leagues,
26:27go figure out what you're doing because you know you got to win a ball. Win a ball really
26:29was one of the biggest testaments to helping me out more than anything because I just learned
26:34so much. And then the Angels signed you and they bring it back to the majors. What do
26:41you remember about that game in Oakland?
26:46Nothing at all. I remember, obviously, nobody really understood, understands even now. I'm
27:00like, people think because, you know, what I did sometimes in my leagues, especially winter ball
27:04and stuff, and what I do now, like people think I have a crap in the major league time until
27:08they
27:09go look and they're like, dude, I didn't know that. I was like, no, you don't. So when I got
27:12there, like, so she didn't even really understand. Like, he was like, why don't you have as much
27:16major league time? And I said, well, you know, a lot of injuries, number one, you know, just kind
27:22of, that's how the cards were dealt. I just kind of remember, you know, sitting on the
27:28bench a lot, not being used for what they said they were going to use them for, which
27:31was no big deal. But just in that game, it was just kind of, at that time, I was kind
27:36of mentally defeated because I wasn't getting in a situation where I should have been getting
27:39into. And it just kind of felt like it was almost wasting my time. I should have made the
27:43team out of spring because they were like, whoever has the best numbers out of spring.
27:46It was kind of a rough year, but it was a great year. Obviously, I got called up, but it
27:51was just like, I wasn't really getting used the way I wanted to. Now, my whole, my biggest
27:55goal was I want to get 500 at bats. And I'm watching situations come up where I should
28:00probably go into hitting. I'm not hitting. And so that kind of set in. You know, I can
28:04put in situations that probably weren't conducive. Like, hey, Corey, you're going to start
28:07against, I forgot that lefty's name for the White Sox. A dude's freaking no-hitter with
28:11the sun in my eyes. I'm like, I'm the only person that reaches base, you know, for two
28:14innings. But, you know, it just wasn't in the best situations to succeed, which is
28:18fine. But I just remember that the pitch I got the bat on, because what happened when
28:23I got there, they tried to make me stand tall and change my swing. So I didn't even know
28:28what I was doing. So I remember that day, I just said, you know what, man, I'm just going
28:31to try to do what I normally do, try to go to left field. I got two strikes on me.
28:36I don't
28:37even remember the pitcher's name. Two strikes on me. That was like a little two-seller way.
28:42And I was like, you know, I'm just going to go with this pitch, man. And I did it.
28:44I just almost like I closed my eyes. I'm getting a hit right here. And I just, I got
28:48tired of it. I got tired of being nervous. I got tired of being, you know, most of it
28:53was just nerves. I just, I was trying to function in situations that weren't conducive to me
28:57trying to succeed. But, you know, that's part of the game, too.
29:01Well, that's awesome. And a triple is the rarest of all hits. So pretty amazing that
29:05that was yours.
29:07Well, that's pretty much, that's kind of how my life goes, man. Just random stuff, too.
29:11Like, it wasn't even a surprise to me. Like, people were like, oh, dude, you got a triple
29:14club. Like, yeah, I wouldn't expect anything else. Like, I wouldn't have been surprised.
29:18I wouldn't have been surprised. I wouldn't have been surprised if they're inside the park
29:19home run. Like, it would not have, it just would not have surprised me. Like, that would
29:24have been, all right, well, that's Corey.
29:26Plus, you drove in a run, the only one that the team scored that day.
29:30That is true. That is definitely true. I do remember that. It was like 17 to 1 or something
29:35crazy like that. Like something stupid.
29:38Well, thanks for your time. The last question that I have for you is, looked you up on LinkedIn.
29:43You're working as a hitting coach right now or a hitting tutor. What else are you, are
29:51you doing? I noticed a couple of companies that are mentioned on your Twitter, Primal Baseball
29:56and Apodico. Are you a vendor for them? Are you, do you have a contract?
30:01No, so most of these companies that I have on my site are just friends of mine that I
30:05try to promote because I have a decent following. Basically, my thing is right now, I'm trying
30:10to build a better brand for myself. I do coach. I do coach with an organization here in Houston.
30:14I will be coaching Team USA actually next week. So, I'm getting myself kind of out there.
30:20I'm kind of branching out and doing some things I probably normally wouldn't do. Like I said,
30:23kind of change the mindset because people get set in their ways. A lot of times, that's not
30:27a good thing. So, I'm doing that and trying to, you know, basically working, man. Like
30:31I said, that's what I enjoy doing is helping kids. And I want these, I want kids not to
30:37fall through some of the traps that we're actually talking about right now. And that's kind of
30:41my goal. So, I do that as much as I can. I've done a little bit of some speaking for
30:46kids. Obviously, I help players, major league players sometimes hitting and I coach teams
30:53with them. But I'm trying to branch out and do some other stuff. I don't, you know, even
30:57if it's outside of the baseball world, I just want to do more. Obviously, making more money
31:02would be great. Money is not the issue as far as I just want to have a better impact
31:06and be, do more things that make more sense as opposed to just coaching a team. Like,
31:11you know, I want to be able to help mentor more players and help more parents understand
31:14the game. And there's just a lot that you can do in this game that can help, you know,
31:18number one can help you financially, but at the same time, you know, you can keep making
31:22these kids and understand what's really going on out there. So, I do with my Instagram
31:26lives and stuff, I get to answer a lot of questions from parents and kids. Just try to
31:30mentor, man. Most of it's free, which is no big deal, but, you know, that's what I enjoy
31:35doing. So, you know, if I can give out some knowledge, whether I get paid for it or not,
31:39hopefully I can charge it into something where I can't.
31:41Well, bless your heart for doing that and helping others really, really seek some knowledge.
31:45I do. I just, I really do, man. Cause I just, I look like, kind of like what we're talking
31:49about today. I look back at what I didn't have up top and what it could have done for
31:54me, whether it's, you know, in the athletic world and even financially, like there's, you
31:58know, I made some decisions for the team, especially the Braves that cost a lot of money
32:04because I was doing it for the team and the team knew that I wasn't mentally advanced
32:11to make that decision on myself. Locked them up. And, um, sorry, I'm trying to get the
32:15dogs locked up. But they, they knew, you know, they, they, and it's kind of anything in sports.
32:20They'll take advantage of what they can take advantage of. And, um, you know, so I made
32:24a couple of bad decisions that probably cost a lot of money and it's majorly time that
32:28from the injuries that I wish I wouldn't have, but you know, you live and you learn, you win
32:32some, you learn some. And that's all you can really do, man. You just, I can't look
32:38back and say, what if now it's too late, but I can use the stories that I have now.
32:42Like, you know, these stories, cause I get messages all the time. Everybody can get one
32:44of these once or twice a week, you know, and I ran across the story and I showed my kids
32:49and now my kid wants to do this. I'm like, I'll be cool. That's awesome. So, I mean, it
32:54happened like yesterday, I think the same thing that she mentioned to me about this. I actually
32:59had a couple of conversations with parents about the same, the same stuff we're talking
33:02about. Just, there's a lot, a lot, a lot can be learned, uh, from anybody's success
33:08and struggles. And so I don't mind using my success or my struggles to help somebody
33:13else.
33:14Well, that's terrific. Well, I'm glad we got a chance to connect and I wish you the best
33:18of luck with everything going forward.
33:20Thank you very much, man. Feel free to contact me anytime. I definitely enjoyed the conversation.
33:24Uh, enjoy the talk and, you know, crap. Just let me know.
33:28Thank you. I appreciate it. I really do. And I'll send you, I'll send you the piece
33:33once I'm done with it. It'll probably be about two, three weeks.
33:36Please do. Let me know.
33:37Alrighty. Thanks, Corey. Have a great day.
33:39Thank you very much.
33:39Thank you, too.
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