Category Archives: Life
Jinxing teams on the podcast?
Former NHL forward Stephan Lebeau joined the podcast in February, and we discussed his hockey career and the prospects of seeing the Montreal Canadiens win another Stanley Cup. In closing, we wished the Canadiens luck in the 2020-21 NHL season. At the time, they were 9-4-2 and were the second-place team in the division. Since the episode aired, they have won just once (losing six of seven, including five in a row) while dropping back-to-back games to the lowly Ottawa Senators. They have since fired their coach. What a turnaround… or did we jinx the Habs? (Similarly, when the Pittsburgh Steelers were 11-0, my guest Adrian Brijbassi talked about their chances of going undefeated. After that episode aired, Pittsburgh won only one game and was eliminated in the playoffs by…. Cleveland!! Ouch!)
The K.P. Wee Podcast, Episode 7: Former Dodger General Manager Fred Claire
The K.P. Wee Podcast, Episode 7: Former Dodger General Manager Fred Claire
Fred Claire is a former General Manager for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a role he held for 29 years from 1969 to 1998.
Following his time working in professional baseball, he started his own business management consultancy for professional sports and entertainment.
He is a founding partner at Scoutables.com, which offers daily scouting reports on every player in Major League Baseball based on recent performance.
Fred shares memories from his Dodger days and offers advice to students and other young people who want to get into sports.
He also talks mentorship and discusses his new book with Tim Madigan (which was released in July 2020) titled Extra Innings: Fred Claire’s Journey to City of Hope and Finding a World Championship Team.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [2:52] Fred on his passion for mentorship
- [4:10] Getting started in the sports industry
- [6:58] Practical steps young people can take to find a mentor in the sports world
- [9:02] Fred’s encounter with a young Tony Robbins and his brother
- [13:44] Trading players as a General Manager
- [21:44] Fred on the Dodgers’ incredible attention to detail in every aspect of training
- [25:44] How Fred figured that the Dodgers would win the 1988 championship
- [28:10] Fred’s cancer journey at City of Hope—the story behind the book Extra Innings
- [34:35] Parting advice to students and other young people on chasing your dreams
Key Quotes by Fred:
- “Whatever I can do to help others, guide others, educate others, and inspire others—whatever it is—I get great satisfaction from that.”
- “I’ve always been struck by people, including professional baseball players, who simply had a determination that they were going to reach their goals, and may or may not reach it, but at the end of the day knew that they did the best that they could.”
- “Words themselves carry great meaning. It doesn’t have to be receiving something in return, because what I found in life is that, many times, those things come later.”
- “I think it’s a fair statement that the Dodgers have invested more money and more people in analytics than any team in baseball.”
- “Never, ever be afraid to get a second opinion. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to help a number of people get a second opinion at City of Hope. I just think that’s so important because one’s life can be at stake.”
Follow Fred Claire on Twitter @Fred_Claire / Connect with Fred on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/fred-claire-1605a01
For more information about the book Extra Innings, please visit https://www.tinyurl.com/FredClaireExtraInnings
If you enjoyed the intro music, please follow Roger Chong on Twitter/Instagram: @chongroger
Podcast episode #18: Baseball Hall of Fame discussion with Jason Takefman
As mentioned in the episode, I very rarely discuss sports with others because they simply don’t want to hear anything other than their own opinions. So, it was a good chance to talk about them with Jason Takefman. It is, after all, my own platform to voice my opinions.
Do they even proofread anymore?
I’m sure the writers meant Boston, Buffalo, Philadelphia, PITTSBURGH, Washington and all three New York teams—with those last three teams being the ones in the NY metropolitan area, which are the Rangers, Islanders and NEW JERSEY.
Or, at the very least, the three NY teams might be the Rangers, Islanders and BUFFALO—if the writers are referring to teams by state specifically. In either case, they left out Pittsburgh and mentioned Buffalo and New Jersey separately. If I were a Penguins fan—and I’m not—I’d be upset about the omission.
Doesn’t anyone proofread anymore? After all, the credits reference one ESPN writer and the AP.
Challenging times, but I did it…
The year 2020 has been challenging for everybody, of course, and I’m not going to downplay that.
For me as a writer, it has been tough because I am one who relies on being out of the home in order to have the creativity to write — and motivation to do my research and keep writing.
Being stuck indoors hasn’t helped. I had a Barry Bonds manuscript that was due on December 1, 2020. I couldn’t finish and asked for an extention. I was given until December 24th. Finally, with the week of December 21st being a reduced work schedule thanks to the Christmas holidays, I was able to compelte the manuscript at last today, Wednesday, December 23rd. The manuscript and photo information have been sent to the publisher. What a relief!
