110. What I Learned Facing Curtis Granderson

Hey. Hey. Welcome back to Friday Bullpen Sessions. My name is Andy Neary, and this is episode 110. I'm excited about this one. We're going to have some fun with this one because if you're a baseball fan, you are going to love this episode. You may have heard me talk about this story in the past, but if you haven't, I'm going to open the curtain a little bit on one particular event that happened during my college baseball career that I'm excited to share with you. And more importantly, the lesson that. Two lessons, actually, that came out of this particular moment. You see, I'm going to share with you the lessons I learned today by facing Curtis Granderson. Now, again, as I said, if you're a baseball fan, you probably remember that name. Curtis Granderson spent a very, very long career with. I'm going to get. I'm not even going to be able to name all the teams he spent time with, but early in his career, it was the Tigers. He came up in the Tigers organization. He played with the Yankees. I think he won a World Series or two with the Yankees. I know he spent time with the Milwaukee brewers, the New York Mets, the Florida Marlins. There's probably others I haven't named, but at the end of the day, Curtis Granderson has had an amazing career in baseball. He's now retired. He's won a couple World Series. He damn near, I think, won a batting title or two. I mean, he's. He actually had a very, very extraordinary MLB career. And if you know Curtis Granderson and you want to share this episode with him, feel free. He is one of my dream interviewers on the Bullpen Session. Interviewees, I should say, on the Bullpen Sessions podcast. But I want to take you back. That's the Curtis Grannerson we know today whose career is over. Heck, he might end up in the hall of Fame someday. I want to take you back 20, 25 years. It was my senior year at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and I was having an extraordinarily good year on the mound.

I've shared with you that. I've shared these stories at length. My first two years at UWM were a struggle. My freshman year was okay. My sophomore year was a disaster.

And I was able to turn around my career at UWM the last two years. My junior year, we made the NCAA Tournament. I had a good year as a starting pitcher. But I also knew that if I really put it together my senior year, I would give myself a shot to play at the next level. And so by the time I was slated to face Curtis Granderson, things have been going pretty well. You see, Curtis Granderson played at the University of Illinois Chicago and UIC was in the same conference with the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, the Horizon League. And my senior year, Curtis was a freshman and we were playing UIC in Milwaukee at the famous Hank Aaron Field. For all my UW alumni out there, God bless the Hank. UWM no longer plays there. In fact, they played there up until this year when they finally moved to a much nicer stadium. But if you are from the Milwaukee area, the Hank, Hank Aaron Field, let's be honest, is not in a good part of town. In fact, when I first started playing at uwm, we often had a contest of what would happen more during a baseball game. Would there be more home runs or ambulances flying by? So needless to say, we were not in the nice part of town, but we were playing UIC at the Hank and I was pitching one of the Saturday doubleheaders. So in college it might be different today, but back then you played a four game series against every team in your conference. The Friday night game was a nine inning game, Saturday was two sevens, and then Sunday you wrapped up with another nine inning game. So I was going one of the two sevens. And so that day I remember, I still remember it was a bright sunny day, it was beautiful spring day in Milwaukee. I felt good, I was on. And UIC was one of our rivals at the time. We were at near the top of the conference along with uic, along with Butler University who went on to join the Atlantic 10 and now the Big East. So they, they are no longer with the conference. But it was typically at that point in time uwm, UIC and Butler fighting for the top spot. So this was a big series and.

That Saturday.

Was one of those moments where everything was just clicking for me. And I just remember every, anywhere I wanted to put the ball, I could any pitch. Todd Ludwig, my catcher called, I threw and I just had. I don't know if you've ever had those moments, whether it's in sports or just somewhere in your life. You just felt so in flow that you already knew the result before it happened. And that's one of those moments I think about the basketball players that know the balls going in the hoop. Do you hear about the, the NBA hall of Famers like Jordan and others who say that the hoop looks so big that night. That's how it felt for me on the mound, like anywhere I wanted to put the ball I could. And.

What happened was by the time the sixth inning, the fifth inning of a seven inning game had come to a completion, I had a perfect game going.

So through five innings, not one UIC batter had got on base. By that point in the game, I had faced 15 batters, the minimum, and I had gotten all 15 out. And if you ever pitched in a baseball game now I'm going to tell you, not counting the no hitters in little league and stuff like that, but in high school, college, I mean, at some point in the game, people are now aware something big is happening, right? There's a no hitter there, in this case, a perfect game going on. And one of the rituals, one of the superstitions in baseball is you don't talk about it right in the dugout. You don't say a word in the dugout. You leave that pitcher alone. Like if you look in a dugout of a during a baseball game and there's a no hitter going on, no one's sitting around that pitcher. And that's how I felt. I'd come in between innings, I get my three up, three down, and like every by about the fourth or fifth inning, people started leaving me alone.

Well, I go back out for the six day and I don't know if I have my history correct, but I think I got the first two guys out pretty quickly. So we're literally down to four outs to a perfect game, and up comes this little freshman.

Named Curtis Granderson.

Now, I use the phrase little freshman, not to demean his size or whatever, but what I am referring to is as a pitcher, when you look at a lineup, the lineup you are facing, there are certain batters you know you need to be aware of. There are certain batters you know you need to be careful with. Hell, sometimes there's batters you just need to flat out pitch around. But Curtis Granderson wasn't one of those guys. He was a freshman. He was new to the college game. In fact, if I recall, he was even wearing goggles at the time. I might have that wrong, but he was a little lefty, freshman, lefty. That didn't pose a threat at that time. And so.

He stands up, he gets up to the plate. I'm getting my signs from Luddy and I can't remember what the count was, but I threw one of those fastballs, the inside fastballs as I talked about earlier, where I knew exactly where it was going to go. It went exactly where it was supposed to go.

But what happened was Curtis Granderson swung, made just enough contact and I will say aluminum bat contact.

To plop that ball right over the third baseman.

Perfect game, no hitter, over.

Now, here's the lesson that I learned the by the time that game was over, you see, what I haven't shared with you yet is when Granderson got that hit and the perfect game, the no hitter were all now a distant memory, I actually let the game slide away from me. You see, not only did I give up that hit, I ended up giving up a couple runs that inning. And when all was said and done.

We ended up losing the game.

And when I look back at that day.

It'S not the fact Curtis Randerson got broke up my no hitter, that really sticks with me. It's the fact that when Curtis Granderson broke up my no hitter.

I failed to let the negative momentum get the best of me. You see, my mind was not in the right place after that hit.

Occurred. I wasn't as focused after that hit. After the no hitter was over, I let a couple run slide get by. I let a couple runs across the plate. I let UIC grab all the momentum. And instead of winning a game with a one or a two hitter, I actually lost the game. And I realized in that moment that when happens and you have a certain expectation at that point, by the sixth inning, damn it, I wanted a perfect game.

But the second it didn't happen, instead of minimizing the damage, I let it get away from me. I let one negative thing bleed into another, bleed into another. And before you know it, it was this massive momentum that for six innings was with me now, was against me. And had I been stronger mentally, had I been more focused, I promise we would have won that game. Instead of ending the year, I think I was eight and four on the mound, I would have been nine three instead of being four in one in the conference as a pitcher, I would have been 5, 0 and probably one pitcher of the year. All because a Curtis Granderson got one hit off me that ended a perfect game and my focus was eliminated. So that's the lesson I want to leave with you today. Now, the second lesson is about Curtis Granderson, mind you. I said when I faced him that day, that spring afternoon at the Hank in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he was an unknown freshman.

But two years later, his junior season at uic, something clicked. Now, I was already gone by this point, but something clicked, something inside him realized that he was good, that he realized how great he could be. And his junior season was one of the best seasons we had seen in college in a long, long time, I think he hit damn near.500. He ends up becoming a second round pick of the Detroit Tigers and the rest is history. He ends up having a long term career at the major league level, like I said, winning a couple World Series. I think he participated in a couple all star games.

And it was just years before he was this little known freshman who broke up my no hitter.

So my lessons for you today from this story, thank you for giving me the chance to share. It is number one, don't have any expectations. Because when something.

Ends up going the way you didn't plan it.

When you allow the frustration of not achieving the original intended expectation, really bad things will happen. Instead of achieving success, maybe not at the height you expected, you actually will end up with failure like I did that day against uic. And the second lesson.

Today, you may not be the best today, you may be mediocre. But if you just keep going, if you just put in the work off the field when nobody's watching, like I'm sure Curtis Granderson did at UIC his sophomore, his junior year, one day it's going to click. And when it clicks and when you get that clarity and you get that confidence, the rest is history. It is game over at that point and everything you want in your life will happen.

So take from somebody who lost his focus. Take it from somebody who it took 40 years to find that clarity, that confidence. You know what happens when clarity and confidence collide? Massive action happens. Go make it happen today. And if you are not exactly where you want to be right now, just keep going. Because that day is coming when it's going to click for you. And it's just a matter of consistency, It's a matter of persistency and it's a matter of patience. Go make it happen today.