Assistant Scouting Director - Chicago WhiteSox. Vice President - @SouthOakJeep. Dad - Jacoby, Finley & Gunnar. Dreamer of dreams and a travelling man...
🌟 𝐂𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫: 𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐤 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧 🌟
Champion was involved with the MLB Draft Combine, 18U National Team Training Camp, All-American Women’s Baseball Classic, Women’s National Team Development Program, as he crossed paths and provided instruction to more than 500 athletes during the four events.
Cincinnati HC Jordan Bischel emotional as Big 12 POTY Kerrington Cross makes his final AB as Bearcat.
Cincinnati baseball is in good hands. Bischel loves his players.
I got fired from my job, again... a job that I have done for 30+ years.
Because of that, I knew I had to make some decisions.
After feeling sorry for myself, of course, and getting through the darkness - yes, there was a dark moment, or two. I had given my life to something. I’d sacrificed my family and relationships with friends to be on the road. I failed marriages (I mean, that maybe me more than the job, but that’s another story for another day).
Eventually, I started going through the information I’ve presented to players over the last 30 years of playing, scouting, teaching, and coaching baseball both professionally and on the amateur level and realized something…
Here’s what I know:
You’re past prepares you for the future. And every setback prepares you for a comeback.
So, it was time to take the lessons I’d learned, the good and the bad, and put them to use.
I mean, I've spent my life telling kids that it’s through the struggles that you figure out who you are, or that baseball is a game that resembles life in many ways. So yeah, with the adversity I was processing, I had a choice to make. And it doesn’t matter that I believed I was part of the fraternity. It doesn’t matter that I called many of these people friends. It doesn’t matter whether the opportunity will come again. And even more, nobody cares. If I’m going to believe that I am qualified to teach young people about life, then I better live it, and this is the moment when I realized that I had to be who I asked them to be.
What did I do next?
I decided to pick myself up off the ground. I’m not special. I’m certainly not the 1st to be fired. It’s time I have the same passion for something that I ask my players to have for the game.
And… it came out as… a podcast. Specifically one I’m calling The B Spot Podcast.
One that allows me to have conversations about the things that I love. Baseball. BBQ. And Bourbon. Likely a little golf, too. And hopefully, have a little fun while doing it.
The hope is to do a podcast that is a little for the players, and a lot for the parents trying to navigate the baseball landscape. I want to share, laugh, and love with the people who have supported me the most over 30 years.
It’s wild out here in these streets. There are new rules, and the game is changing at a rate we have never seen. We have more information at our fingertips, for sure. Want to throw harder? There is a fix on YouTube. Need to fix the swing? No worries… head over to X and somebody has the answer. And yet, very few people are having conversations about what people who do my former job (as a professional baseball scout) see from the other side of the fence. What do we see, and maybe more what do we hear? And what does it mean?
The job, hey, it’s fun. You are part of a small community of people, and interestingly, one that a limited number of people fully understand. There are guys who are good at this job… and well, there are also some on the other end.
So how did I get here?
I have a passion to help young people through the game of baseball, but not just how to hit, or throw. There’s another part that excites me the most. The mental and emotional skill to be a great teammate, to make the play that’s needs to be made, to handle it if they make the play, but even more if they didn’t get the job done. Subjects that we tend to shy away from. But they’re the things I say to players every day.
And with that, here I am, introducing The B Spot Podcast, coming soon to Spotify, talking baseball, while eating a little bbq, and sipping a little bourbon, which, hey doesn’t sound half bad, right?
Hopefully, I’ll make a difference in the game and honor the mentors who saw something in me, when I’m not sure I actually did.
It’s my way of paying it forward.
See ya at The B Spot! ~~ Boopa
Congratulations to Phil Gulley on his retirement from the White Sox. Never met a guy more loved industry wide. Rags to riches 30 for 30 type story. First met in the fall of 1994. One of a kind. Will miss seeing you at the park. Congrats to you and Karen. Much love and respect.
Touching tribute last night as a Celebration of Life was held for @whitesox scout Bill “Yogi” Young. Dan Fabian and Joe Butler presented framed jerseys with signatures of Sox players to Yogi’s widow and daughter. No. 23 represents Yogi’s years with Sox.
My god, this ball is absolutely destroyed to straightaway center, a walk-off grand slam for the great Harold Baines
Baines had the misfortune of *two* work stoppages during his career. Without them, he’s easily a 3000 hit / 400 HR player and nobody would whine about his plaque
The Tampa Bay Rays are deeply saddened to announce the passing of longtime radio announcer Dave Wills.
A beloved figure throughout the Tampa Bay community and Major League Baseball, he will be missed dearly.
We ( his many friends) are all crushed by the loss of our dear friend Dave Wills.Dave was great person with a heart of gold and a huge talent. My heart goes out to you Liz and the family. Dave lived his dream and excelled in the toughest business to succeed in.🙏⚾️
Loudest and best Sox crowd reactions!
13. 9/17/83. A crowd of 45,646 packed into Old Comiskey to watch the Sox clinch their first postseason berth in 24 years. Harold Baines’ sac fly scored Julio Cruz to win the 1983 AL West sending fans into pandemonium and onto the field! 😳