Former MLB Exe Leland Maddox “Relationships”

Welcome to the Mike Hartman Show. Mike is a performance coach and former Stanley cup champion with the New York Rangers. Topics on this show are focused around stories, mindset and champions. Mike will also go into details about helping you with your pain points and struggles and finding motivational solutions on how to have the mindset of a champion. Now, here's your host, Mike Hartman.

Welcome to another episode. Today I'm with my really good friend Leland Maddox and Leland was an executive with Major League Baseball. He's a former player himself. He played at a very high level, professional baseball. And I'm sitting here in his office. If you hear banging, those are guys training in the back room. But I have Leland here. He's been one of my closest friends for many years. He actually was acting as assistant general manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Director, player personnel. I think he worked with the Pirates. So many teams and we were just talking about athletes and how to get ready to play. So I'm going to turn it over to Leland. Leland, share with me because you said the million dollar thing I asked you, do you get your guys ready to play? He goes, no, they get themselves ready to play. Leland, it's so great to have you here today.

Michael, good to see you. Thank you so much for coming in and spending time with us at Team Carolina Baseball. We are just a small organization. We like to help young men evolve and self actualize. But basically the foundation of our training is building them to get stronger and faster. Foot agility, stretching the basics that everyone does. However, where we separate ourselves is our methodology on how to fix their swings, how to fix their release points, how to fix their brain types. If we can get them from being passive to aggressive on the field, in between the white lines, great.

So you were in Major League Baseball. What's the big difference? Now you're working with kids. How many years in Major League Baseball?

I was an executive, I was a co general manager, scouting director for the Reds, director of player personnel for the Reds, international director of scouting, player development and scouting for the Cincinnati Reds, assistant GM and once again co general manager of the Reds, scouting director with the Pittsburgh Pirates. So 20 plus years of working with guys like Barry bonds, Ken Griffey Jr. Adam Dunn, just some highlight guys.

So the amazing thing is now I came in here today, this is unscripted, I'm sitting here so I might sound fuzzy in the background. I said, leland, what's your passion? He says, you're looking at it. It's the kids. There's nothing like working with the kids. Why do you Love working with kids so much.

Well, Michael, between you and I, now it's going to be podcast. My passion is helping the youth. The youth. There's so many distractions out there, mentally, emotionally, physically. You know, girls are undefeated for young boys and boys are undefeated for young girls. And oftentimes boys become distracted from reaching their goals because they fall in love and they go through trials and tribulations in their life. So Michael, without telling the world, this is my ministry helping young men evolve and self actualize.

I love it. I love what you do for people. And you know, Leland also helped me. You know, when I was just retired from hockey, I came to Charlotte, North Carolina and the quick story was I was going to the pool and there was a few people there and he came over to me to this pool and he says, hey, I want to introduce myself and my name is Leland Maddox. And I said, hi, Leland. I said, very nice to meet you. And he didn't tell me what he did. I didn't tell him what I did. Next thing you know is, hey, do you want to have dinner at my place tonight? So then I go to his place and I see a couple baseballs sitting on the, on his desk and one was from Ken Griffey Jr. And I said, oh, you're baseball fan? He goes, no, Mike, actually I'm the head scout of the Cincinnati Reds and assistant general manager at that time. I said, you never said that. I said, well, Leland, I'm in the sports world too. He goes, I know, I looked. You looked like a former athlete. Next thing you know, we've been best of friends, we never miss a beat. And he took me in right away. He goes, what do you do? I said, well, I do performance work for athletes. He goes, you want to work with some of my athletes, I'm going to give you some players. And we didn't even know each other. And we have that trust. And the reason I'm saying that is because life is built on relationships. So, you know, I'm going to shut up because they want to hear. Leland. They hear me enough. Leland, how important is relationships with the families that you work with now because you have so many kids that come to your training center here in Charlotte. How important is building that relationship with also the families and the parents?

That's a great question because I, I'm on the same thought process of relationships because I'll share something with you. Susan and John Mondaron, their mother passed away and they asked me to do the eulogy for their mother and their Mother Sally, who's up in heaven now, she asked me to take care of her son and daughter and her grandkids. So, ironically, Susan has three boys and her brother John has three boys. Zach is now in the minor leagues with the Minnesota Twins. Alex just finished at Oglethorpe University. He's going to get his graduate degree. And Adam just got accepted to Tallahassee Junior College, and he runs a 63960. The other three boys are younger, from John's side of the family. But there's six men that I have a chance to influence their lives. But not only that, they are family. What I mean by that is, if I needed something, if they needed something, there's no questions asked. It's the same way you and I are. If you need something, I was there for you. If I need something, you're there for me. Emotional support, financial support, food, shelter and clothing. The basic necessities. This is no fake situation here that we're talking about. This is live. This is life. This is a real live situation. Random, spontaneous conversation. And we just happen to have the same philosophy. Trust is the number one thing. If I don't trust you, I don't want to be around you.

Yes, Unscripted. I'm sitting here literally in his office. He has players coming in and out, and I'm going to share something. Coaches, please listen to this. We work with many coaches, talk about ready to play, everybody wants to win. I watched a couple of Leland's ballplayers leave, and he said this. He goes, I love you. And I said, that's amazing. You don't hear that from coaches. And I mean, you have a guy that was in Major League Baseball and he downplays it. Leland doesn't want to talk about that. He doesn't look himself as being in the Major League Baseball for many years. He looks at about loving the kids. I say, you just told the kids you love them. I love. I love that. Why do you do that, Leland? How do you tell a kid, you know, I love you before they leave? You don't hear that from in this day and age.

So you're gonna put me on the spot asking me why I do that? You see, I'm tearing up. It's my passion. I love kids. I love watching men walk in and out of here, that they have their own mental and emotional problems. Some kids, you don't know, they're depressed. Some kids come from wealthy backgrounds. They don't know what it's like to fight. They don't know what it's like to have grit. So you take these young men and you try to instill some kind of spirituality in them. You don't share, and you don't bombard them with religion. You're Jewish, I'm Christian. None of that matters to us. We don't care about that. We care about helping people maximize their utility mentally, physically, and emotionally, and spiritually. So the love is real. I taught my father how to say I love you. My mother already knew how to say I love you. So when I tell someone I love them, it's not a fake love. It's like, I love you. I love you for who you are, where you are, and where you're going. Because each one of those kids that I love is selfish because they give me way more than I can give them. So that love that I tell them that I love them is like, dude, it makes me feel good to say it, but also to do it. And in return, I get it tenfold. So it's selfish for me to love him.

Yeah. Well, I'm gonna say this. I put. And I don't know if Leland even knows who this is. Big baseball guy. We talk hockey once in a while. We usually talk about life. We don't even talk about sports. When I'm here to visit him, I come to his training center now, and it's quite amazing. I put him in the category of an Adam Graves. Adam Graves is one of the best people I've ever met in my life. And Leland's in the top three with that. The best people. And I got to tell a quick story. You might not remember this, Lena. It was 13 years ago, and you and I went out to eat, okay? And we went out to eat. I tell everybody this story. And there was this guy there, about 6 foot 3, 220 pounds. He looks chiseled. And I said, leland, that guy looks like an athlete. He goes, he is. He's a minor league baseball player. I think he plays here for the Charlotte.

At the time, it was a White Sox.

Charlotte White Sox organization. I said, look at that guy.

He's fit.

And I said, why don't you say hi to him? He goes, ah, I go say hi to him. So Leland walks up, says, hello. And the guy didn't know who Leland was. He didn't recognize Leland. And he says, how you doing? He says, well, not so good. I just lost my job in baseball. I got released from the White Sox today. He goes, oh, you were injured, right? And the guy looked at Leland and said, how the heck did you Know that. He goes, well, I'm with the Cincinnati Reds. I've been watching you. You were hurt. He goes, yeah, but now I'm healthy. And Leland says, you want to come join our organization? I'm sitting there, I've never seen this in any sport. Haven't seen it in hockey. Haven't seen it to this day. The kid sits down and they're talking. He goes, are you serious? He goes, yeah, you're going to join our Triple A team. You work your way up, you'll get some games in the big leagues, maybe, but you have to work. Give me your word that you're healthy. He goes, I'm 100% healthy. Okay, hold on. He walks away. I think you called the other general manager. I'll never forget this.

Can you believe our doctors?

The doctors called the doctors and you did say you have to pass the physical, but right there, he signed on the napkin a letter of intent, and you offered him a two year contract with a year option. And the kid was ready to cry, and he's ready to give you a hug. He said, don't give me a hug. It's you. I know who you are. And timing is everything in life. How? I mean, you remember that story vividly, I'm sure.

Yeah, we were having a meeting there, and it was spontaneous. Like this is spontaneous. You've been bugging me for about six months, asking me to do this podcast, and I've been avoiding you because I've been so busy. My mother just passed a couple months ago, moved into my own place. And timing is perfect because you said this would only be three minutes. And like Michael, he'll talk you into anything.

No, I said seven minutes. It's been 10. But how often do I get Leland sitting here?

You're so full of it. But anyway, to make a long story short, Michael, timing, the way we met at the pool, how you came to my house and we ate, how I watched your kids grow, and I taught your son and daughter how to swim in the swimming pool with my two kids. So timing was everything because you didn't have to like me and I didn't have to like you. So it was at that moment in time. And that's all we have is this moment right now. We don't have the past, we don't have the future. We have this moment in time. So timing is everything to life. It sure is.

And I'm going to say, I'm going to conclude here, because I did say he's got to get back to work here. And he took time out, and I put the mic right in front of his face. He goes, you're kidding me. I said, give me three minutes. I mean, seven. Well, it's been 11 minutes. Because I'm going to tell you, if you ever coaches, if you ever want to emulate anybody, if you ever are out there and you think you know what it is, this man that I'm sitting with there isn't any better, he'll give you the shirt off his back. I've watched him. I don't want to get into his personal stuff. I know he put many, many kids through baseball. Families couldn't afford it. We're not going to go there. Leland, thank you so much for doing this. I just said, here, I'm going to interview. We don't have any notes in front of us. I don't need any notes. Leland is like family to me forever. But I've been asking him, literally for six months. Come on, let's do it over the phone. It's because of COVID We really couldn't come down here. Then I came to his training center about two months ago. I said, you want to do it? He goes, no, I'm busy. And I just stuck the mic right in his face. And it's a pleasure, Leland Maddox. Thank you so much.

As Chick Fil a would say, my pleasure.

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