Andy Hnilo Interviews MLB Player on Mindset & Following Your Dreams: John Baker

Yeah. I want to introduce you to my audience or just to the audience out there. And this is John Baker, really good friend of mine. I take a lot of pride in being in your wedding. I've always taken a lot of pride in being in your wedding. And having you is a really good friend of mine. So, John, if you'd like to introduce yourself, go ahead. Yeah.

All right. My name's John Baker. I played, I think. I don't know, it's weird to say, like, how you're known. You know, actually, I was just taking a class, and you had to Google yourself to find out what your passive digital footprint was. And doing that exercise is, like, super strange because I'm not somebody that does it. Not somebody that describes my background very often, but I used to play baseball professionally. Played in the major leagues for seven seasons. Played 14 seasons of professional baseball in total. Went all over the world because of baseball as far west or east, however you want to call it, to Iraq and Kuwait. Spent time in Haiti, the Dominican Republic. Did clinics throughout Western Europe. Played for three different teams in the big leagues. Played on the east coast with the Marlins in Miami and got to live there for quite a few years. Played on the west coast in Southern California and San Diego for the Padres for a few years. And then I spent my last season in the major leagues in Chicago with the Cubs. And I work in, I guess, in an executive role, I guess you would say, which sounds weird with the Cubs right now while I'm finishing school, but. Yeah. No, you and I met at Cal Berkeley when we were just like little children playing baseball at Cal. And I've always feel. I always felt honored. I know that I said same things at my wedding about you, about how when times were tough for me, you were the kind of person that always, like, stood by me, man. And that's why I'm glad that you're starting something like this and getting your message and your personality out to more people, because the overwhelming response to you generally is people walk away, like, happier and having learned something that they didn't think they were going to know about. So it's good that you're getting this stuff out, and I'm proud of you for doing it.

Thanks a lot. That means a ton coming from you. Yeah. So a little bit about John, and you can tell this story better than I can. John and I went to college together at UC Berkeley. And although I can't remember the exact first time where we met, it just really was very impressive to me that someone who can come into a walk on role and earn a starting spot and then just continue to fight for that starting spot. Because quite frankly, the school didn't have scholarship money invested in you at the time. And you know as well as anybody, you know, if you're not an investment, you have to. You have to fight for playing time, you have to fight for that job, you have to fight for that roster spot. Just to make the team as a walk on is very impressive. It doesn't happen that often. And if you could tell your story about how you went from an unrecruited athlete out of high school, where you planned on going, moving on collegiately, or just going to a college without even playing baseball, I think it was. And then you were seen in a summer league game and then Esky gave you. Coach Esker gave you a shot as a walk on at Cal. So if you could tell the audience just about that story, man, it's amazing. Yeah.

So after I graduated high school in 99, I was kind of committed that I wasn't going to play baseball anymore. I wanted to do political science. I wanted to go to ucla. I'd gotten into school there. My plan was to go major in political science. I'd gotten to an honors program at ucla, and then I was going to go to graduate school and probably law school. I wanted to be a lawyer. And so for me in high school, school kind of was always first. And I came from kind of a pretty. My dad's kind of crazy, great guy, pretty strict and intense and like, expected excellence out of me and anything that I spent any time practicing, you know, he expected it to be excellent. He expected the practice to be really good. And I think this story kind of illustrates that influence, you know, that practice is the most important thing generally. But, yeah, so academics first. But I love playing baseball. I love practicing baseball. I love hitting, I love going to the cage. I love doing all the things I think sometimes that some of the other people didn't like to do. And I felt like it gave me confidence even when I wasn't a heralded baseball player to go out and compete because I really felt like, you know, like, you hear the story about the guy in the front yard shooting free throws, right? And there's always somebody that shot one more. Like, it was my mission as a little kid to be the guy that shot one more, you know, like, I always wanted to do that.

So I leave.

I'm gonna go to school in about. I actually joined a summer baseball team called the Oakland Smoke because they had a trip to Hawaii, and it wasn't that expensive to join the team, and it was like all expenses played on that trip. So the reason I kept playing baseball was because I could go on this vacation. And I kind of made peace with the fact that I wasn't going to play anymore. So I joined this team. I get glasses, which helped me see a little bit better. And I started swinging the bat a whole lot better. And I get a phone call. I had one recruiting offer out of high school, and that was to go to Pepperdine to be a relief pitcher. And I threw like 85, which for people that don't know about baseball is not like the world's best fastball. And so I kind of said, you know, it's going to be cheaper for me to go to UCLA with the academic scholarship that I have, and I don't want to be a pitcher, you know, and I know I'm not that good. I'll never make it to the big leagues like that. And so I ended up, you know, I was going to go to ucla. Well, about two weeks before school started. The guy who took over at Cal at the time, Dave Esker, who was from Pepperdine, who had talked to me there to become and be a pitcher, wanted to see me, had heard about me hitting and wanted to see me hit. So he came to a game at, I think, Laney Junior College. We were playing some random team and he asked the coach if he would let me catch the game. And so I did. I never caught before. And. And so I put gear on and went out and got, I think four hits in that game. Just served him over the shortstop's head to left center field, which was like my patented thing when I was younger. And after that, he said, hey, you know, we can get you into Cal because you got the grades. You want to be a walk on. And, you know, growing up in the East Bay, in the Bay Area, in Northern California, being so close to Berkeley, both my parents went to Stanford. So they were kind of the school that they had the appeal to me because my parents never liked it. I think that's a common impulse amongst teenagers. But I ended up there at Cal and yeah, man, I walked on was like the 40th guy on the team my freshman year. But, man, I really swung the bat well and I could see better and I practiced and I kind of looked around and at the same time I started to mature physically a little bit more. I was getting bigger and stronger. And so all that practice that I had done when I was a Kid, man, like getting up at 5 o' clock in the morning and hitting balls in the side yard, spending extra hours in the batting cage by myself, driving myself after high school baseball practice to a cage and just putting tokens in and hitting. All that practice started to pay off. And all of a sudden when I was physically the same as everybody else, I went from being like looking around and trying to compete to getting to a point where all of a sudden I looked around and I'm like, I'm better than everybody else is here at this one particular skill. Like I can hit better than everybody on our team. And that gave me confidence. And it kind of was a whirlwind after that. You know, my sophomore year, I wasn't even the starting catcher. My sophomore year I won the starting job about halfway through, ended up hitting 330 and making honorable mention all league. And then I came back the next year really confident. I won the batting title in the conference and ended up getting drafted in the fourth round, which if you would have told me that was going to happen when I was 18, I would have laughed in your face because I thought, you know, when I was 21, I was going to be, you know, getting ready to go to my senior college and graduate and start applying to graduate school, not packing up everything I own, hopping on a bus and going to Vancouver, British Columbia and starting like a wild career in professional baseball.

So that's. Yeah, that's 392, right. Junior year.

383. 383.

Okay.

I was hitting, I was hitting that. I think I went. Connor and I went both. I went. I think I went over. I went over four. And the other player on our team, Connor Jackson, that had like, we had the same average going to the last game, he went 0 for 5. And so I beat him by one point. That's how it ended.

Yeah. So I mean, that's just, I mean, to the audience out there, just to make the squad, make a PAC 10 squad out of, you know, out of high school and like recruited, walk on form is extremely difficult. And to go into that, I don't even think you registered. No, you didn't. So you went into that, you played a little bit and then you just, you know, continued to. I think you went to the Cape that summer, right?

Yeah, that was an interesting one too.

The Capricorn is just the most competitive summer collegiate summer baseball league where all the top players go and that really, you know, you stepped your game up and went from, geez, I mean, In a matter of a year out of high school, you went into playing in that competitive league, right? Yeah, right away, Right away into that, into the Cape Cod league. And so that, I mean that's, you know, you, you kind of step. Well, you clearly stepped your game up and, you know, took it to another level. And then that kind of, that gave you the confidence. It's just, it's just, it's that momentum, you know, it doesn't really matter what industry you're in, what sport, whatever you do for a living, getting that victory, that slow moving momentum and that ember inside you to start rolling is really what leads to a lot of people's success. So if you wouldn't mind just telling a little bit about the road with DA's, which was a little bit of a roller coaster because you were somewhat of highly, you know, drafted prospect, but you also had someone in front of you, Jeremy Brown. Right. That it was like, oh, great, now I got another. It was kind of a similar situation or I wouldn't say similar situation because now they do have something clearly invested in you. But you had to. It's just like you told me, and I'll never forget it. It's like, man, I've done this my whole life. I've always had to beat somebody, I've always had to outplay somebody. And so if you wouldn't mind touching on the Oakland A situation.

Well, yeah, sum that up pretty quick. You know, Jeremy was a first round draft pick. He was the, if you've seen the movie Moneyball, he's the guy that falls down at the end. He was the darling of the gm, Billy Beane, who in the movie was played by Brad Pitt. And he was his like, kind of field pick in that draft. And so he got every opportunity. I got a lot of opportunity as well. But a lot of times it was an interesting situation because they kind of pitted us against each other. They kept putting us on the same team and forcing us to compete. And I think that's a really important point in my life because I made a conscious decision. I think a lot of times when people compete, especially within the same industry, a lot of times what you see is that they compete, they want to see the other person fail as opposed to they want to best what the other person's doing. And I think that when you have that kind of competition and you look at it when you want to see the other person fail, I think it's a disadvantage in your kind of point of view as opposed to you want to see that person do as well as they can. So that way for you to beat them, you have to actually do even better than that. And then you're doing better than you ever thought you could do. And I always looked at it that way. I never, I always, I always made it to a point to be somebody that if I was directly competing against somebody, I wanted them to do well. And it kind of spread to the rest of my life. You know, as a player I always wanted to play against whoever they said was the best. You know, like that's what I wanted to see. I wasn't in it to like look for easy wins. I can't remember who said it, but I heard somebody say one time that the definition of a bully is somebody that goes into a competition that they know they're going to win. And that's kind of always what I despised about certain teammates that I had or opposing players or whatever. But it was something that I always really tried to run away from. That kind of evil feeling and that kind of shift in my viewpoint, I feel like opened up a lot more opportunity in my career because I began to want to be in the situations where if I had to succeed to advance, you know, I had to. You have to. There's times in your life where you need to have opportunity. You know, people always say, hey, opportunity is a door. When it knocks, you got to open the door and step through the door. But I think it's a little bit different than that. And I'm not a big, I'm not a huge believer in like the ideas of the laws of attraction. But I really believe that as an athlete, right. If I was going to make it to the major leagues when I was in the minor leagues, I had to be a good left handed batter against left handed pitchers. The only way that I was going to get better at doing that was by doing it more often and like trial and error. So I wanted whoever the best left handed pitcher was. When I was in the minor league and the big leagues, you know, I wanted to face Aroldis Chapman, I wanted to face Randy Johnson. When I was younger, I wanted to know who the best guy was and I wanted to compete against him because that for me was the thrill. And I think that's why I advanced. Where some other people fell off is because I was looking for kind of like that danger and that excitement and other people were just looking to have good numbers and do well where I wanted to. I wanted my team to win, but man, I wanted to be the guy that won the game. And I wanted to be the guy that caught the last ball of the game. I don't know if that's kind of competitively selfish, but I think that that's what I took away from my experience with the A's. I know this isn't like a baseball story per se, but for me it's a really personal one in that it shifted kind of like my view on life. It changed the way it changed who I was as a person.

Yeah, because you constantly saw you challenged yourself rather than. I mean, just. It's an internal victory. It's like challenging yourself and then coming out on top is just something that, I mean, that's something that will stick with you for the rest of your life in any situation. Right. I mean, and just building that. Did you do it for that? I mean, did you get addicted to that feeling of just like that challenge and then. And then just that internal victory?

I think you get addicted to things like it's like people climb Mount Everest, right? We get addicted to like big challenges. Or at least I do. I look at things a lot and I think, okay, well, you think about the odds of it it takes for people to get to the big leagues and you do something like that, or you get to achieve something like that and kind of realize a dream that you had as a kid. And then you look around and you think that, you know, you could do it anywhere, I guess. But the micro of that kind of big journey toward the end of something is just wanting the opportunity to compete. You know, you want that opportunity to compete. Like if you, I guess if you're an actor, it would be like you want just the opportunity to get in front of people and do your thing. You know, you'd want as many, as many, as many times as you can in front of other people to achieve whatever your goal is. And for me, it was. I was just always looking to compete against the best guys. That's what I just wanted to see. You know, I don't want to see the second best or the third best guy I'm going to compete against. I just want to see the best guy. And I think that if you think about that theme, when you move up the levels of a sports organization like that, that's what you're seeing more and more is the best guys. And I think that that kind of. It all ties in.

Before we hit the record button, you said you had an interesting motivational story that you never would have thought that I would have gone direction wise. I love to hear that. So the audience would as well.

So, you know, I have two children. They're five and two. And my oldest daughter, she's five. Her name is Brooklyn. And she's a. You know, she's starting to. She's going to be in kindergarten next year, and she's starting to do some activities. And we kind of realized that a lot of people have this fear of public speaking. You know, it's like when you look up, you Google number one fear for everybody. It's like getting up and talking in front of people. And they offered a. Like an acting program at her ballet school where she does. Where she does her dance lessons. You know, that's her one activity that she does now. She does this acting class. And they do it like a seminar after her preschool ended. And so for three weeks, for five days a week, she went in and she practiced songs, and she practiced a monologue, and she practiced it at home over and over and over again until she memorized, like, a really serious chunk of a paragraph for a little kid, right? I mean, man, we practice all the time. So it comes time for the performance. And the way that they do it in this one is that they perform at the end in, like, a big theater with people sitting in there and the lights down, and they got to walk out into the middle of a stage, you know, little kids, four, five, and six years old, and deliver, like, basically a speech in front of a quiet audience. And so I can tell you as a parent, my God, was I so nervous, you know, like, I'm sweating, Like, more nervous than I was doing anything on my own, playing baseball or whatever. No, Watching your kid have to do anything is a crazy feeling. It was the first time I ever had to experience it, too. So anyway, I'm sitting there in the stands in the audience, and we're watching, and all the kids are doing pretty good. A couple kids forget some of their stuff. Some kids are embarrassed, so they run on the stage and they say something really fast and they run off. And then it comes time for my kid, and there's a delay before she comes out. And when I see her walking out on the stage, I'm like, oh, no. I can tell she's been crying. I can see it in her eyes. She's sad. And if you see a picture of her, she's got glasses. She's a cute little kid, so I can tell she's been sad. But she walks out to the middle of the stage and fighting back, like, clearly fighting back tears that a parent can tell she just Hammers out her whole thing, right? Like, doesn't miss a word, goes all the way through it, whatever, at the end. And then she walks off the stage. So they come out and they do their little musical number and we find out that. And I can still kind of see it. She's in there participating, but you can still kind of see that something's a little bit off. So after the show we go to meet her at the door of the stage and you have to get out of the theater and go all the way around. Like they kind of do it. They want to teach them how real actors do it. And she comes out and she's upset, crying. And so we pick her up and one of the teachers from the class comes over and says, you know, I have to tell you that it was one of the most magical things that I just saw backstage. And you should be so proud of Brooklyn for what she did. And so I'm like, what the hell happened? Why was she so upset? And she said, well, right before she went out onto the stage to do a monologue, she was getting a little bit nervous and she peed her pants. And so she has pee and the butt of her pants is all wet. And fortunately she's wearing all black, so you can't see it, right? But she doesn't know that. So this little five year old girl stands there and the teacher says, sees what happens. She's like, oh, if you don't want to go, you know, like, that's totally okay. You know, you don't have to, you.

Don'T have to do it.

You know, they're really sweet people and they want to give the kid a way out. And my kid looks at the teacher and says, no, I practice this, I'm going to do this. And marches her ass out on stage and spits out a perfect monologue, fighting back all those tears. So for me, it's like, I hear the story. I'm like fighting back tears and fist pumping, you know, like, could you be more proud as a parent than when your kid faces some shit like that, looks it right in the eye and marches out on stage and execute the stuff that she's practiced and believes in her practice and believes in herself. So having that happen, it's an inspirational story. But you don't expect it to go like that. It's something that really inspired me the other day. I was just blown away, man. And I was so proud to be a father of somebody that was strong like that. And you can find that kind of stuff anywhere. Even From a five year old girl that just pissed her pants, man.

That's unbelievable. I've had the pleasure of spending some time around Little B and that's amazing. I can't imagine how that must feel for you and Megan. I'm sure she was there and that's really deep. I wasn't expecting. That's amazing, man.

Yeah, there's a target. So I ran a target right out. She's upset. I went to get her some clothes. We didn't have a change of clothes for her. And I bought her like a WWE replica belt. And I came back, I put it around her waist and I'm like, she's.

Such a champion, dude.

I was like, today's July 8, 2016 Brooklyn and you're the fucking champion of the world.

What'd she say?

What's that? She was happy, you know, she was still a little bit upset, but eventually she got over it and she was cool. She liked her new outfit, we cleaned her off, her parents, no big deal. Stuff happens. But man, like I said, it's just amazing. You can find the place where you can. The places where you can find inspiration sometimes are you find it when you least expect it. And it was something that's a story that I'm going to have to write down and give to her when she gets older because it was an important moment in my life.

Well, thanks for sharing that, man. Seriously, on or offline like that. I'm just glad you shared that with me. That's incredible. Yeah. I mean there are situations that we come across in life and that's your own blood. But there are people that I see just post office, just running around errands, standing up for what's right. And that's really cool to me to see for someone just not whether it's standing up for themselves. And there's so many easy ways to go about just going through the motions out here. There's inspiration in so many different places that we look in our daily lives. And it's always cool when we can let something like that get in there and motivate us to look at things from a different lens. Now that's really cool. That's really cool. Yeah, I mean, it kind of touches on the subject of someone. I've been doing this Facebook live recently on, obviously Facebook. And someone asked me recently who are my favorite speakers, what motivates me? And it's situations that I put in my head daily. Situations that I've been in daily that I do as part of my morning routine, just see like horizons that I've seen from a very dark time in my life. And I see that every morning when I go to my aversion table. And that, that kind of rocks me a little bit because it takes me right back to a point in my life where I was rock bottom. And that's something, that's why I don't really want to move. I mean, I'm going to move, but it's, I don't, it's whatever type of intrinsic motivation is one way that, that I've done some research on what it's called, but just getting it going from within. I don't really listen to motivational speakers. I couldn't stand it when like high school football coaches used to try to motivate us. You know, it's like, what, in my head I would just be like, what about this guy makes him feel that I need to be motivated? Like I, like I needed one person to believe in me in high school. Stu Peterson was his name, ex major leaguer. And once he gave me, took me aside and told me that like, look, you have a chance, but you have potential. But that only means you haven't done it yet. And so you have to work. There's somebody out there in North Dakota working harder than you right now. I mean, we spent full, we spent 2 to 3 hours sometimes car running in my driveway in Palo Alto with him saying that. It bothered me because I heard a lot of. It was like a broken record. But I listened to every word that left his mouth and props to him because that got embedded from that point on. I think I was 15 when I first met him, to just, alright, there's discipline, there's work ethic, there's routine and there's mental strength. He really hammered home these core values for just going about my business and going about my work and just staying focused on the goal. And I'm glad he did. I don't really, I mean, I don't know how this tied in from, you know, being inspired to. But you know, inspiration, motivation, I mean.

It'S almost like picking up a method of thinking. You know, I think like if you think about the scientific method, about how, you know, people make a hypothesis and they try to prove themselves wrong, like what you're talking about. I feel like it's not necessarily classified and I don't know because I haven't read all the psychological literature or how they term things, but what you're talking about is like, he's what taught you that sports mindset and the sports mindset is not just about competition on the field. The mindset and the thing that sports teaches you is that you have to grind it out and practice really hard. That's a big part of it. You got to be willing to put the reps in. And I think that what you really do so well is that you kind of do that. You take that same mindset and you apply it to the things that matter to you in life, because you realize that that's the most effective mindset to use. You apply it to your salatura. You applied it to your modeling career. You applied that to your health after your accident. You learn those values on the athletic field, but where you really learned them, like you just said, is you learned them off the athletic field. You learn those things in training for something, right? You're training for something. Just like if you're building your brand, you're marketing for something. If you're making a new product, you're testing for something, you were training for something, and you're doing the same thing now. But I can see why it's like, that's your apartment's, your stew. Reminds you of the grind.

No, it is the grind. And he was really big on controlling what I can control. That's so true. Whether it was the entertainment industry, it was just, I can only control the food that I put in my body. Staying at home on the weekends, when I had an audition for Toyota on Monday, not going out and partying and playing and getting sunburned. Beach volleyball on Sunday, I was working out, I was eating correctly. You know, you got to take advantage of every little thing that you can in any environment. And like, I, you know, especially out here in. Where just any little. There's not much separation physically. But I knew mentally walking into that room that I was the most prepared there, period. I mean, from when I. When I got my email Thursday or Friday for my audition Monday, hey, guys, you know, casting for Toyota, 2635 Ocean Park Ave. In Santa Monica. I knew. I mean, a lot of people, oh, I got a couple days to screw around. I'll probably tighten it up Sunday night. From that point on, whenever I got it, it was like, game time. That's one thing that athletics has absolutely led into. And, you know, discipline is rewarded. It is. And it doesn't necessarily have to be that victory, but it has to be. It's that mindset that you were able. That willpower, it leads into that momentum and you challenging yourself and going, look. It's a quiet confidence that, look, things happen out of nowhere. When you stay focused and you keep that quiet willpower and you go about your business and you stay strong and focused, things happen. Things happen.

So have you heard like Jocko ideas? Who? Jocko.

I don't know. Is that the Jocko podcast?

Yeah, he's got a podcast. His like tagline is that discipline is freedom, right? Because you're talking about the things that you can control. You have control over yourself, you know, through your own willpower. He's a psycho, man. He gets up at 4:30am every day and he lifts weights. But what he writes about is that he's free because he's completely in control of himself, right? He controls what goes into his mouth. It's not like his urges or his cravings or whatever. He's completely in control of himself. So he's the most free of everybody. He runs his body better than everybody else. It makes a lot of sense to me. That does one and I was thinking about that and I've always done better in life when I've had some sort of extreme regimen going on, whether it be extreme diet or extreme workout program. When I. It's like if you tell somebody all the stuff that you're doing right or all the stuff that you're trying to do and then they laugh at it, then you're doing it right. You know what I mean? You're doing it right. When you describe your tonic and I laugh at you, you're doing it right.

Oh yeah. I love it. When I be working for Speedo Oakley, a lot of other dudes just eating the set food. I'd be over there cracking open a can of sardines and with a spoon, I, you know, using the other end of the spoon as a knife to cut my avocado. And they're like, dude, why don't you just get a knife? I didn't bring a knife.

All right?

I forgot it, alright? And so I'm just cutting it around, scooping around. They're just like, they're laughing. I'm like, I love it, dude. I love it. This is what separates us. And it's just that little, I don't know if you want to call it eccentricity or whatever. It's just. I kind of like just being. Have always like going a different route, not following the cool crowd. I mean, it was just. And that just kind of led into certain things. This is me, this is what I do. I'll probably pop on into the wild again for the 40th time this year tonight. And then just think and just kind of go over some ingredients that I'm kind of bouncing around in my head for my latest products and things. I mean, that's just what I love to do. It is kind of. It's fun being free like that, and I'm very grateful for that. It's just we are in control of every single. Every single thing that we do, Everything that we put in our body, what we do. It's tough out here in Los Angeles. Don't get me wrong. There's a lot of temptation, and I have great friends that are a lot of fun. But as you know, when you get a chance to really do something special, it's tough to go to bed at night sometimes because it's that exciting. So it's. Yeah. So, yeah, man, it's a lot of fun. You know, you've been extremely successful, and it's just a big support from the beginning to me just by just saying, stay excited. I think you said, keep that excitement, keep going. Just keep doing what you're doing. I didn't really. I loved hearing that, but I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I was kind of working nighttime jobs, and with that focus, I worked nighttime jobs. So it would keep any realm of possibility of going out and kind of getting off track out of the way because I was working. And so then I'd be back on the grind Monday, too, and I would just be ready. I'd work as hard as I could. I'd eat the best nutrition possible. But I didn't really. I wasn't maximizing my hours. I was waiting for the phone to ring. That's why I know I'll probably get back into the entertainment industry and I'll do some things. But what I'm doing now, I mean, from 6 to 11:30, 12 at night, 6:00am I mean, I am just on. You know what I mean? And it's a feeling like I used to have that anxiety wondering what it. What's going to happen now. It's just pure excitement all day. Like, there's always something to do that I can control, and there's no uncertainty. You know, it's me. It's all me now. And I love, you know, it's a big responsibility, and I love that. But I mean, it's just, you know, kind of like maybe you can relate just being an athlete, having a family to provide for. It's up to you. Sure, there are other people out there making decisions, but you want to show up to camp in the best shape possible, which I Know you did. I mean, year after year, which you know, you know, from situations where you were the, what, non roster invitee to the Cubs and then they ended up going with you over guitarist. Right?

Yeah, I've kind of been through that basement. Been through every kind of spring training situation. I've been a young guy.

Yeah.

Non roster invite, major league invite. Know I was on the team. Know I was probably going to be the backup. Yeah, I kind of. I've kind of. I've been through. I've been through all that. I think that it's a little bit different in baseball because, you know. Well, I mean, I guess it's not because so much in baseball is actually. Is way out of your control. You know, you could do everything right as a hitter. You could take your perfect swing at the right pitch that the guy threw, you could hit it right on the right part of the bat, and you're out because there's nine other people out there trying to prevent you from being safe. So baseball, you have to really kind of accept that you're not in control all the time. You have to accept it. And then I think when you accept the things that you aren't in control of, it makes it easier for you to, like, really dive into the things that you are in control of and, like, do those things passionately. That's one of the things I learned from playing sports. Like, okay, well, I can't control what happens once I hit the ball, but I can't control everything that's going into my mind as I'm walking up to the plate, you know, and if I have the right attitude as I'm walking up, I'm in the right frame of mind. I'm using the right kind of effort level when I'm hitting, you know, as per the situation, I'm calm, my body's under control and my. And I'm relaxed and my mind's clear and I get the pitch that I want to swing at and I swing. That's literally all I can. That's the only thing I have control over. It doesn't happen. It doesn't matter what happens after the ball leaves my bat because it's all gone. You know, I think that helped me deal with leaving the game of baseball as a player, you know, something I recently did last year, you know, getting released and being like, weirdly. And maybe I'll have regrets of this later, but I drove away from the field the last day of professional baseball after 14 seasons in a row and playing all over the world and I had literally no negative emotions towards it. It was really bizarre. I was driving away, and I'm like, that's about right. It makes sense. When I left the situation going like, you go back through the checklist now. Could I have done this different now, that different now, this. I mean, I took the best information that I could, and I did the best that I could with it. And I know that I put an extraordinary amount of effort into what I was doing. So when they told me, hey, we don't think you're good enough anymore, I kind of went like, all right, makes sense. I realize I'm not performing, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better, and I'm practicing more than everybody else, so I'm going to go ahead and take it to the house and enjoy Northern California for a little bit.

Yeah, that's something I wanted to ask you about. This is your first full. Yeah. First full season without, you know, having to report to spring training. It must be. I know you still went down to Arizona, I believe, and, you know, I saw you. I mean, you were around the Cubs, and, you know, as a. Just kind of, you know, as like a roving instructor and things like that, I wanted to just. And I talked with you a little bit, but I want you to share with the audience kind of like what that was like for you, just mentally to. Was it a relief? Was it kind of like, are you itching to get back? Like, what was it. What was it like to not have to prepare going into spring training, but also, once you got there, was it kind of to walk through that locker room as a coach, as an instructor, but not as a player for the first time? What was that like?

That was super weird. It was super weird because usually when I would go into spring training, at least the last couple years, I was kind of, like, competing for a job or competing to keep a job? So there's, like. There's, like, stress and anxiety that comes with that. And so usually when I would walk into those complexes, there would be this level of, like, you know, you're going to go into competition. You start kind of like, everybody kind of starts standing up a little straighter, you know, and, like, looking around, people start their. People start their posturing, like, body language posturing immediately. And this year when I walked in, there was, like, none of that. You know, I wasn't competing with anybody. So I walk in and, like, I was just happy to see, you know, some of my friends, really, seriously, that was about it. Like, I didn't. I Didn't miss the. I didn't miss the competition. Now, I mean, I should note that I started doing jiu jitsu like two months after I stopped playing baseball. So I kind of filled that void of competition. And I mean, I'm almost a year into doing that now. And so that satisfies like the physical parts, like the animal parts of baseball, you know, like the one I'm batting, the guy's pitch, I'm trying to get him out, you know, like the intensity of competition in practice, just in practice in jiu jitsu is it's people trying to strangle each other. So you do that and then I don't miss the baseball competition. But I kind of, I really enjoyed in spring training this year looking at the game itself from a different perspective because I played for so long that I always looked at it from this player's perspective of being in the present. And you know, I'm just ready to hit whatever pitch comes. I've got the scouting report for the hitters in my head that what I'm catching. And it's like kind of these small day to day tasks that change every single day, right? It changes every day. But coming in and looking at this game, I committed so much of my life and time to this game and I've only looked at it from one perspective. So coming back as a coach or whatever I was last year, an executive advisor, coming back into it like that gave me the opportunity to look at something that I really spent so much time at from a completely different angle. So I think I was too caught up in viewing it from this new space to even worry so much about emotions because the competitive urge was gone from my recreational activity. I could still go and work out at the facility and train, which is. I enjoyed doing that. And then I got to be around baseball, but I didn't have the stress of having to pick up a bat and go hit against somebody. I could just kind of watch and help and it was easy.

Yeah, yeah, you mentioned your job. I think I forget who it was. It may have been Shane Victorino. I was like, I'm Baker's friend. What is he doing? What is his title? It's like, what is he doing here? He just kind of walks around with the fungo and hey, throws bp. So that had to be. I don't know, man. I mean, only, you know, but it's just, it had to be just a world whirlwind of emotion. Just. There's got to be like a little bit of relaxation because there's got to be. I don't know. I mean, in. Out of my. I mean, are you satisfied with your career in the game of baseball and what you've done? I'm curious.

As a player.

As a player, yeah. Yeah, I know.

You realize you started this podcast off. You're talking about how I walked on at freaking Cal. I mean, I walked on at Cal. Like, every day that I played beyond high school was a bonus day of my baseball career, and it lasted for almost 15 years professionally. Like, that's. It blows my mind that. Not that I'm not trying to, like, discount my ability or anything like that, because I think I was. I kind of proved as I got older, you have to have a requisite physical skill set to be able to play at that level. You know, there's not a lot of, like, terrible athletes playing in the big leagues. And I always kind of thought that I was just average to below average of the athletes at the top level of the world competitively. And I have noticed that when I've gotten back in, like, doing a new sport, I'm more athletic than most people are, probably from the years of training or whatever. But not in high school. That's how I didn't feel that way in high school. In high school, I was the kid that just took 7,000 swings off the tee and. And hope you got a hit in the game. You know, we had other kids that were. That were doing different stuff, that were, like, going to Arizona State or going to Boston College or San Diego on baseball scholarships like they were studs, but they didn't approach the practice part of it the same way that I did. And in the end, I think I was kind of proved that. That's the whole, like, that's the secret. You know, the only secret is that you train as much as possible the most efficient way possible. You train as hard as you can, you practice as much as you can, and then when you get to competition, you just have fun doing it. You look forward to it, and you take that anxiety. I used to always tell the pitchers that I would. When they would make a major league debut and they would come in and they would be all nervous. One of the pieces of advice that I would give them, I would go. I would say, hey, you feel the feeling of the butterflies right now and how you're kind of nervous and you see all these people around here? I'd like, step off and enjoy it for a second, because that's why we're doing this. We're not doing this because it's easy. We're doing this because we have to overcome these emotions. It's like, that's the best thing in the world. It's the best part about playing on a national stage or having to deal with the attention of everybody in baseball. You go out and hit, and they put a giant picture of your face on the video board right next to your. It's like 50ft high, your face with a stupid smile.

Put her.

Hey, oh, hey. John Baker hitting 192. He sucks. Everybody boos your huge face. And then you get to the battery box, and you're facing, like, I don't know, you got a bat against Jake Arrieta, or you're facing Clayton Kershaw. Well, everybody's booing you, and you already suck right next to the picture. So those are the things that. That's the one thing I miss about. That's the one thing I miss about baseball. But to answer your original question, I don't have any regrets about how my career turned out. Like, I couldn't be more proud of the time I spent being a professional baseball player. The lessons that the game itself taught me. It's something I'll always respect and love and appreciate.

And as your good friend and brother man, I have to say, going into your homes that you created for yourself, you know, like, that is something that has always inspired me. And, you know, as things are growing for me, it's just, you know, growing. I mean, I say that word very humbly, and, like, I just. I know that's what I want. I mean, you created a home for yourself by just out of your. With your own two hands, in your own mind, you know, and your own belief in yourself and, like, two beautiful daughters. You married your high school sweetheart. Like, it is a story that I've told in Thanksgiving dinner at least twice in front of my family. I mean, they already know, but, like, some people, some guests that we have over probably didn't know you. But, I mean, it's something I really. It's a profound story, and it's beautiful, man. And you did it. And I mean, it's. You know, look at all that memorability behind you. You have a lot of great relationships. And from people that, you know, when you would walk out and, like, players, from just being in the tunnel to the audience out there, I would go to a lot of games and just kind of just wait for Bake, and I'd be with Megan, his wife, after I wait in the tunnel. I mean, there's just so much love dude, when I went to the Cubs, I had. There was, like, a line of players waiting to meet me. I don't know what you told them, dude. They were just like, they're just such good dudes. And that's, like, the baseball spirit in general. These are good guys, as you know. I mean, just a lot of good guys that. Excuse me. That have fought for where they are, that have dealt with a lot of adversity. There's not a lot of. I mean, at least from what I saw, a lot of just really good dudes. The Cubs are a very special example of that. I mean, that clubhouse is unlike. I mean, I've been in a few, but it's just even, you know, the Padres, the A's. Who else have. Is it Dodgers? Just. I mean, these are guys. You're living in a dream. And even in a competitive atmosphere like that, it's just every time that I go there, every time that I'm around there, it kind of, like, just takes me back, and it's something. It's such an incredible time in my life that I spent the most exciting years of my life doing. I'm sorry. Go ahead. What's that?

Those guys better be nice. They're living the dream, man. They should be nice.

Yeah.

Ever. Yeah.

And it's. You know, it's something that. Yeah. So I would. I would often think I would check box scores and I would. In a very, like, you. In, like, just a very, like, really good way. Dude. Like, when you would win, when Jock would win, when. When these people. Like, I just. I literally, like, I didn't. I would never think anything down of any other. Like, it's like, you. It's just in my brain. I want. I wanted to see people succeed. I've always, like, that's it. Like, I don't. I don't have that little heart. Like, it's just not in me. I've always. Like, when you guys did well, it really just made me feel good. So that's. So it's. Yeah. I was just curious on how you felt about your playing career, because I know how I feel about your playing career. What you've done for your family and how. Yeah, it's just. It's just awesome that I couldn't be happier for.

I feel like I probably feel the same way that you feel about your mask. That's a product of so much hard work and so deeply personal to you.

Well, yeah, it's interesting. That's why I love doing these podcasts, because I'm just now I'm right now and I know what I have to do now. But that's why these podcasts. And tomorrow it's fun to look back and really remember where I was and remember the little, the plastic cups that I'd have to run into Whole Foods and the manager would come over, hey, what are you. They're not even for sale. I would just buy a big stack of them. They didn't have a price for them. They came up with 15 cents per little plastic solo cup. They're the clear cups for the honey and the olive oil. I would just buy that or I would just get the big packs of 50 and I'd bring them up to the front. I'd be like, hey guys, I know. Bring the manager over. It's 15 each the same guy. They probably thought I was crazy. But what I would do is I would fill those things with the mask, go over to FedEx, print out a Times New Roman label, slap it on, tape it shut and hope for the best shipping to like Sweden, Germany. And it was just, those are the days like that, like I was just in a moment, like I was, I was selling something. Learning how to run a business from the backwards side, like coming up with the price, selling and then, oh geez, I should probably have a website. Oh man, I should probably come up with a good proper packaging like it was. It's extremely fulfilling because people are responding very well to the product. I mean like genuinely, I get emails every day and it's, it's, that's what keeps this hummingbird going. Lights that keeps that fire just, it's just exciting, you know, it's extremely fun to live a life with excitement and just like giddy, you know, it's, I don't really, but thank you for saying that. If any way I can draw some type of tangent to what you've done. I mean that's awesome.

I want to know what you're eating right now. That's what I want to know.

I just got grass fed rib eye from a place called Gwen on Sunset. I read an article about it. It's this high end butcher shop that's really awesome with. Of course I asked a million questions. They source their meat from Marin and it's just this really amazing marbleized rib eye that I'm going to crush tonight later. But are you talking in general or are you just talking like in general? So I'm an intermittent fast fan. So like. So tonight I'll probably eat, I don't know, 9pm Whatever it is, but say if I eat at 9 tomorrow I'll probably go till 1 or 2. So that's a 16, 17 hour fast. So from 9 until 12 until 1 or 2, we're looking at 16 to 17 hour fast. Going strictly on my morning tonic and bulletproof coffee that I really turn up with. Adaptogenic herbs, Ayurvedic herbs, medicinal mushrooms, grass fed butter brain, octane oil, stevia, cayenne pepper, Ceylon cinnamon, maca tribulus. I mean I'm just astragalus, Hoshou Wu, schizandra spirulina. I mean all these things are just creating this circulation and just all of.

Them in the coffee.

No. So that will part. The last three are in, well, are part of my morning tonic which I do first to kind. I kind of like. That's when I hop in my inversion table, I hang upside down, I let all that rush into my head. I usually have a mask on. Tomorrow I'll probably take it off. I won't, I'll take tomorrow off because.

I did it today.

I do it every other day. But in my inversion table I'm inverted upside down. I'm getting all those amazing amino acids in just Chinese herbs. He shou Wu, gynostemma, let's see, astragalus, beta alanine amino acids, we're talking about glycine, proline, arginine, glutamine, theanine, tyrosine, taurine, astaxanthin, krill oil. There's so much I could go on and on. But the thing is it's my little thing that just gets that circulation going. So I'm upside down and then I come back up. Everything from head to toe is going and then I feed it with that bulletproof coffee and then I'm just good. I mean I'm locked in. I go down, I bang out emails, I start going back in my head on certain R and D research and development. I have this amazing eye serum that I'm working on right now with just. I'll tell you about it. It's my thing, it's just doing my research. It's the calls that I have to do. I have an assistant now that she started her first day of work yesterday. She's awesome, she gets it. I put her through a couple just kind of situations that you know, I told her how to box up the orders and go through our shipping easy machine and I wanted to see if she could pick it up while I ran out and did some errands and she was fine. She came back, she had the boxes all together. She didn't close them because she wanted to make sure that it was packed correctly. I mean, stuff like that is just. It's amazing to me, because once my time is freed up, it's just. It's so much fun. I mean, I want. I want to do this podcast. I want to start making those retail and wholesale relationships all around the world. I mean, we're in 44 countries now. Bank. Dominican Republic just was 44.

I want to know where the doctor is.

Oh, man, I don't have it. So it's this orphanage, actually. Let's see here. So they. All these awesome, beautiful young ladies are. They all took a picture and sent it to me in this. Let's see. Got it right here. Nino's de Cristo, La Romana, Dominican Republic. La Romana. La Romana.

Dude, I live there.

No way.

Yeah.

Really?

Yeah.

What's it like?

Well, I lived at Casa de Campo, which is, like, some ridiculous resort down there when I was playing. But I used to get lunch every day at the Jumbo, which is, like the Dominican Republic's version of Walmart. It's like, everything is at the. Everything is there. It was, like, the one place where we could go to get food and, like, cooking supplies and stuff, you know, without having to buy it on the resort where it was super expensive. Yeah. Laudermanda is like a. I think it used to be, like, in sugar cane production, but it's. I think it's the furthest Toros del Este. So I think it's the furthest team east on the Dominican. But that's where I played. I played in that city for that team, the Toros del Este. And La Romana, Dominican Republic, too.

Funny, man. Text me the name of that. I'm going to ask them if they.

Ask them if they're Toros fans.

Toros fans. Okay.

In fact, it's crazy. They have, like, on the video board at that stadium, right? You're playing, and it's just like, Latin American baseball is completely different, you know? Like, people are just. They're just like, a full band is playing. There's chicks dancing on top of the dugout. Like, the PA is playing. The guy's talking while you're hitting, you know, it's awesome. And guys are just back flipping everywhere. Everyone's having a good time. Like, nobody takes it too seriously, but there's some good players down there. And anyway, like, in the seventh. Seventh inning, we're playing, and I look up, and they play, like, our. Like, the first time I'm there and they play like our. Like we're going to try to come back and score like pump up video on the video board. And it's just people getting smashed by bulls the whole time. Yeah. I was like creeped out. Like I couldn't. I had to like look away, you know, I'm like, my God. Really? Are they putting the. Oh God. Like I just got like a horn like right through his thigh, you know. Yeah. Just bull smashing people. But they loved it down there, man. Yeah. No fun place. Great place to play. In fact, I recommend everybody. If anybody's a baseball fan, one thing that you should do is book a trip, go to the Dominican and go see a game there in the winter league live. It's so much fun to go see live. It's safe. The people are super nice. Really?

Yes. Okay. Maybe that was Venezuela that I was thinking about. That's a little rough.

I think some parts of Venezuela are scary right now, but I'm unsure, you know, it depends on who you know. But yeah, playing baseball down there, you're safe.

Yeah. You ever. You tell me stories, you just have this beautiful like sweet. They just treat you. Yeah. My boy. I have a friend, Henry Wrigley, who is just. He's like a legend down in Venezuela right now. He's got some like Spanish nickname which is just hilarious. Like the Lumberjack in Spanish, whatever that means. Like, I don't know what it is, but he's. He's the Lumberjack. He had this big thick beard and all he did was just pimp, pimp like 450 foot home runs and just slow trot around the bases.

Just. Yeah.

Yeah, man. So it's cool. It's. It's me personally. I mean I just. Just the area code games, the trips around the country playing with who are now still in the major leaguers. Guys like JP Howe, I think he's the. The only one that's still Wolf Feldman. Guys, guys that I played with in other areas. But just like that, traveling around, you know, that tryout situation, that, that, that just that energy that of like that. It was kind of nerves, but it was excitement, you know. Remember that in high school that. Just the tryout format for, you know, the whatever Calhai sports team California, you know, Areaco games. Team. Team 1.

Team 1. That was.

Team 1 was great. My mom. Yeah. Tropicana Field. I mean baseball's brought me so much. Not only mentally, but just life experience, you know, challenging yourself, like you said, mentally and then coming out on top. I mean there are Situations in my head that I relive almost daily, just whenever I'm. You know, that's a situation that gave me an edge in the entertainment industry. You know, sitting around the waiting room. There's no way this guy's ever hit a 450 foot bomb. You know what I mean? But whatever it takes to give you that edge. But, yeah, it's just. It's really good to just hear some stories from you and hear how your mind went through your process because you've done, I mean, had such a great career, but on top of that, you're respected and liked by so many. I mean, I know this because I spent a lot of time with Kalish. Ryan Kalish is a. And outfielded for the Cubs, and unfortunately, he got injured again.

Which surgery. Poor guy.

I know. I've been texting back and forth with him. Me and him are actually going to do. We're going to talk Friday on one of these podcasts. But he's just.

I mean, awesome guy, man.

Just one of the best. And it's just a lot of fun.

That dude's so resilient. I mean, you guys have a lot to talk about, but the amount of. We could set it up right now, the amount of injuries he's gone through and what he's come back from. Like, you're talking about somebody who was in the big league, super young, out for a couple years after, like, a broken neck, doesn't play for a couple of years, makes a major league team, gets hurt again, misses an entire season again, gets called up again. I mean, he's unbelievable. Like, I just. He's somebody I'll never stop believing in. I don't care what give him a bionic leg. That guy. That guy's a good player. He's got an unbelievable mindset, and I think he'll get back to the big leagues, which will be just ridiculous after missing another year again, you know?

Right. It's really. I'm like, you. I don't. I mean, I 100% believe in it. When he told me that he was going under again for surgery, I just. I didn't. I was bummed for him, but I. It's just like, I don't. It's not. I'm not gonna. I would never give up on that dude.

It's just.

He's gonna. He's going to be. He's going to work his way back. He's so Hutch. A good dude. And you know this. For whatever reason, it's just. It's going to happen. It's taking a really, you know, difficult route on his end. I mean, I can't imagine, I've never even heard. I think it's like me and him have talked extensively about it, but like nine or something, like some crazy amount of injuries that he's been through. And you want to talk resilience, man, I mean it's just. That's it, that's it.

Shiny example of how to be resilient.

Exactly. Yeah. It's just you can't. Yeah, he's just, he's got it upstairs and that's, you know, that, that's a lot where a lot of where baseball relies is just having that strong mind and just that will to just, you know, block everything else out but just stay, stay focused on the goal ahead. But he, you know, he's. This was a tough one for him, you know, so can't wait to talk to him. But I do have some questions here for you. I want to know what is something you're really good at that people don't know about?

I'm really good at that people don't know about?

Yeah.

Oh man. I wouldn't say I'm good at the guitar.

I was going to say that.

No, I wouldn't say I'm good. I haven't played enough. Let's see, what's something that's weird about me? Well, I really like combat sports. I mean, I don't know if that's something that's strange, but like I've been boxing again for a couple months now. I've been doing jiu jitsu for 10 months and I'm gonna compete pretty soon in something. So yeah, people know about that. I think I'm gonna, I'm probably gonna compete in jiu jitsu first because you know, why not 35 year old man strap a Giyon, go out and try to strangle someone. Maybe that's my secret, my hidden talent is that bar already said it. So it's not hidden anymore. Yeah, no guitar. I really like to cook. I do really like to cook. My wife cooks a lot. I try to help more in the past than now because I've been back in school. But also I feel like I like my bulletproof coffee recipe. I feel like we crush it and man, I made it the other day without coffee and I used lion's mane mushroom tea instead. And for some reason with like the consistent. And I go 3 tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons of brain octane at all. Because I've been doing the Ketogenic diet now for. I'm in the middle of my third week, man. I don't know, there's something about the sweetness of that mushroom tea and all that stuff that comes together. Put a little scoop of the bulletproof hot chocolate in it. I put brain octane oil, cayenne, cinnamon. I just have it in the middle of the day if I'm feeling. I'm feeling a little low on the day because I've been trying to do the same thing as you. Like intermittently fast. Just bulletproof coffee in the morning and then something at three and then dinner late and that dude that I gotta. I gotta like put that recipe out because it's the best I fuck. I want to make it right now even though it's late. It's the best damn thing ever.

I'm gonna go as soon as we get off. I'm going to get some lion's mane because that's been all. What's your source?

Lion's mane is from when we were at the Bulletproof conference last year. There was a company that sold.

Do you go?

Jing four Sigma. Maybe that's what it is. Is jing better?

I don't even think Jing sells lion's mane. I'm going to find out tonight and I'm going to make that by the end of the week. I'm going to.

I had it as an afternoon bulletproof coffee because I didn't want enough. I didn't want a bunch of. I didn't want a bunch of caffeine. And that lion's mane is. The supposed benefits of it are for learning or studying, which is what I've been doing a ton of right now. So I keep making that over and over again. It's like my study concoction. I have a big glass of that while I'm reading or writing a paper or something.

So that, yeah, lion's mane to the audience out there. There have been a number of studies that they are close to coming to being able to release. I don't want to say it doesn't. Obviously doesn't cross the blood brain barrier, but there have been studies that show that it's supposed to really, really help. Help And Alzheimer's magnesium threonate is another really natural sacs. Magtech has magnesium threonate in it, which is what I take. And that's really. They're starting to find out more and more about lion's mane. And I just obviously went on a tangent there with the threonate. That's just another one that actually Stanford's doing a study on magnesium. Threonate that they're getting close on being able to release, which is just.

Do you take that at night?

I do. I take three caps at night.

Take that calm magnesium at night.

What's that?

Calm magnesium. It's like a drink.

Oh, yeah. I don't like that because it has a citric acid in there. It kind of barks the stomach a little bit.

I like the way it tastes, man. It's like sour.

Oh, no, it's unbelievable. Don't get me wrong. It just kind of barks at the stomach a little bit. I didn't tell you my. I'll tell you my go to meal right now that I just, you know those meals that just. It feels like get absorbed immediately and you're just good. I'm big on a leg of lamb steak. I cut them up into little chunks. I rub habanero. I dice up habaneros. I rub German mustard all over them. Set them aside. Cast iron pan, Applewood bacon, slow. Cook the bacon. Cover obviously set the bacon off, cook the bacon, set the bacon aside, leave the bacon fat in there. Dice up thinly sweet potatoes, broccoli. Trader Joe's has this $1.99 broccoli floret, which is great because it's only the tops which are the most nutrient dense part of the stock or the plant. The stock is just all vegetable cellulose. So what's that? Yeah, it's brutal. Yeah, I just chop it off.

It's like too chewy. That stuff sucks.

My buddy Matt just breaks it off and he just at whole Foods and I'm like, dude, I would do that. But I just feel so bad for the guy that's pimping the stalks and leaving it. Yeah. So I steam that and I'll add a little bit more butter to it. Low heat, slow cooked steam sear little cayenne, little hot sauce, Himalayan salt. And then the bacon is already cooked, so that's aside. And then I'll pull the veggies out. Everything in there. The bacon fat is still probably remaining. I'll add a little bit. Another tablespoon of butter. I sear up the leg of lambsteak $7.99 or maybe $8.99 a pound. It's like, it's a super cheap cut, but it's unbelievable if you get it with the bone in. It still has that marrow in there, that good grass fed marrow. Oh, it's unbelievable. So you sear it up, cover both sides. Lamb. I love the taste of lamb. It has that, I don't want to call it gamey, but has a rich flavor, man.

Yeah, it's a delicious fat flavor.

So you sear it. I mean, I love it super rare. And then you combine it all together. I'll add smoked jalapeno, fermented kraut, probably two avocados. I love avocados. This hot sauce. B R A U S brause, whatever. It's habanero hot sauce. Mix it all together in a fricking dog bowl and I just go to town, dude. Just power it down. It's unbelievable, dude. I mean, everything in there, you have your fermented vegetables, you have your great grass fed protein and grass fed fats. It's a leg of lambstick. So you still have a good amount of fat, grass fed fat in there. You get that good K2, that good, really good Omega 3 fat content. You got the good avocados there, the vitamin A, the vitamin C, the K from the broccoli. I mean it's just the beta carotene from the sweet potatoes. They all blend together. The ack. And yeah, that's my go to meal right now. And I probably have that five nights a week. And then obviously chopping it up with the bacon in there. I mean it is unbelievable.

Dude.

You like to cook so much fat too, man.

That's the thing. That's the thing that people, I think most people don't realize.

Yeah.