Why MLB Player Cory Gearrin Is Becoming A Digital Creator & Writing On Twitter

Welcome to the Digital Writing podcast, where we talk about using writing to capture, keep, and monetize attention. If you're looking to build an audience, start a business, and scale yourself online, you're in the right spot.

Thanks everyone for coming. If you don't know Corey, Corey is a former, as of a year ago, year, year and a half ago, former Major League baseball player turned prolific writer on Twitter. Also has a really cool newsletter called Higher Gear. I'll throw it in the chat if you haven't checked it out. But about it's basically the intersection of business and sports, which we'll talk a little bit about today. Gary or Gary. Corey. Corey. Anything else you want to share with people? Like maybe. Maybe share like teams you played for? A fun fact of playing mlb.

Yeah. So I was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 2007. Just kind of my hometown team. I grew up in East Tennessee, so I got drafted out of college after my junior year. I spent the first half of my career basically with the Braves. Professional baseball career, you're kind of under team control for six or seven years. You don't have much option. It's just like, go be good and kind of follow the path. And after my first. What was. I was drafted in seven. So first seven years, 2014 was my last year in Atlanta, and then I was with the San Francisco Giants for the next four. Um, and then I hit that free agency period of my professional career, which I was a relief pitcher. So that basically means you're kind of a hired gun towards the end of your career. You start getting traded pretty often, which was not my wife's favorite thing. But we bounced around a bit with. We were with Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Bays, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees. Yeah. So I ended up playing for eight organizations and in total. But the bulk of my career was in Atlanta and then San Francisco and then free agency kind of did its thing. So we did that. And then after we had our daughter in 2020, I finished my final season 21 was my first year, retired, pivoted away from playing and really started leaning into writing and sharing and kind of moving into that next phase of life. And that's kind of brought us here. So it's. It's been an exciting experience. Tons of amazing stories from my professional career. Things that I never expected to get to partake in. I was not an incredibly talented baseball player initially, but a lot of the same strategies that helped me excel through baseball have really proven to relate to my writing experience as well. So it's been a Fun journey through sports, but it's been equally interesting leading into this next phase of life.

So how. How does a professional baseball player of 15 years start writing on the Internet? What. What was the first thing you wrote that made you go, this is the thing I want to do?

Yeah, that's a good question. So I've always been kind of a prolific reader. I love to read. I have a pretty wide breadth of reading interest, so I've always enjoyed writing kind of. I think there's. It's a pretty common pairing. I think if you appreciate words, you appreciate reading and learning, getting to express that yourself is kind of a natural direction to head. But that being said, writing in public was not something I was ever comfortable with, which is a very different experience and a different skill set. You know, writing for an audience versus kind of writing for yourself can look a little different. Um, so one of the. One of the things that was always a challenge for me as a professional athlete, and I think it's pretty common among professional athletes, and I would imagine for most people, is I always viewed writing in public really, as a liability. And it was kind of sold to me that way as a professional athlete, that social media or the Internet can hurt your career. Um, and really what was behind that is it can probably hurt organizations more than it hurts athletes. Right. Like, they view it as a liability. So it's kind of pitched to athletes is, well, if you put this on and it goes badly, then there might be a big issue. Right. And so that, to me, always seemed like a risk not worth taking in terms of leaning into writing and sharing more. And so I decided to hold off during my professional career. But once I stopped playing, it seemed like there was less of a risk for me in terms of my employment. And so I started leaning into it. And it helped that I had some friends who had started to lean into the space as well, and I was able to kind of ask them about their experience and the benefits and potential drawbacks. And honestly, I was amazed that, like, the downside was incredibly small from what I had kind of been told early in my career.

I think.

Well, just real quick. So I do want to dig into your friends and how other writers that you have seen start to write other athletes that have kind of been doing the same thing. But I think it's worth. It's such a shame because the idea of if you could have been writing and capturing your major league experience as you got traded from team to team, it's. So athletes are the prime example of the type of Person who should be riding on the Internet because they have all these incredible stories, insights that people would be fascinated to hear, and you just don't get that. Like, my favorite thread of yours, and we'll link to it in the show notes, was your story about your first major league plane ride. And I think every athlete has stories like that. And so many of them think, one, I can't share it because I could get in trouble, or two, that it's just not that interesting. You know, how did you come to the, I guess, conclusion of, hey, I should go out and start sharing these stories? Where. Were there any particular athletes that inspired you that are writing or where did that kind of come from?

Yeah, so I'll say, you know, I think part of the culture and professional sports and probably in lots of industries is this kind of like clubhouse culture. Like, what happens in here stays in here. And there are certain things that. That makes sense for. Right. But it's not everything. And to your point, the. The interest level is tremendous, both, you know, looking back, I wish I had documented it more. Right. And I was encouraged by people kind of along the way. They were close to me. They're like, oh, you should write this stuff down and, like, write a book eventually. But, like, that idea versus sharing it in almost real time, you know, relatively real time, in terms of, like, hey, this just happened. Like, isn't this, like, an interesting. Or like, hey, I just took this from this experience, like, in terms of creating a community and really leveraging the role that you're in for the greatest effect on your community. It's a huge mess for athletes, and nowhere near enough athletes are leaning into these opportunities. But one of the benefits that I had is a good friend of mine through baseball was Sahil Bloom, who I trained with during the off seasons.

No way. I didn't know.

Yeah, absolutely. So he and I trained at the same facility in Hudson, Massachusetts. I'd gone up there when the place was really just getting started. It was like in 2009, and he had just gone to Stanford to kind of start his career there. And so we knew a lot of the same people. We had spent time together and connected. And while I was out in San Francisco, he was out there, obviously, after school. He'd started his professional career, and so we've always stayed in touch. And when he first started leaning into writing and doing what he's doing now on a massive scale, you know, we'd started talking, and he was telling me kind of what his goal was and what he was building, which really struck my interest. He's someone who's very thoughtful individual, very knowledgeable, and we'd always share those kind of high level conversations over the years. And so as I saw him start to do what he was doing and connecting the dots and really seeing the value, add that leaning into community and not only sharing what you're doing, but like figuring out how to do it well, how to really connect with people, crafting the message and the value that brings not only to the community that you're impacting, but how you think. Right. Like really clarifying your vision and how you understand your experiences, that's tremendously important. And then subsequently, I don't know if you know Baird o', Neill, who's a great contributor online. So Barrett was my host brother. We lived together in the same house when I met Sahil. So Barrett and Sahil grew up relatively close to each other in terms of the Massachusetts area. But I've known Barrett forever when he was in high school, before he went to school. And as I started to really lean into writing, I leaned on both those guys tremendously in terms of just seeking insight into, like, how do you do this well, what does writing well look like? And you know, that led me to you guys as well and really just trying to explore the community and trying to craft a message and a skill.

I love this idea of writing being your impact multiplier. Right. You said you have all this experience from playing, but otherwise it kind of just sits in your head versus all these people that could find it interesting and learn from it. And I mean, you can imagine if you were sharing stories of your minor league career and minor league struggle, mistakes, reasons, whatever, how many minor league baseball players would be fascinated to hear, hey, how do you avoid all these classic mistakes or troubles or be on the lookout for this? Or here's what I would have done differently. And we, the way we talk about this in shift 30 is like the two year test, which is towards the end of your career. If you could write a letter to yourself two years earlier, of all the different things that you wish you would have known then there are thousands of people on the Internet and really in baseball and wherever who would find that extremely valuable. So I think what you're doing is just so smart and fun for you. Right? You get to distill what you did and learned and it's nothing but pure upside.

Yeah, I totally agree. I think one of the exciting things about sharing online is you get the opportunity to one experience what that whole process is. Right. Starting to multiply your impact and reach out and connect. But also, like, there are real world impacts to bringing transparency and understanding online. I'm on the board of an organization called Advocates for Minor Leaguers. And this is a group in Minor League Baseball that's seeking to create change. A lot of people don't understand Major League Baseball has an antitrust exemption in their sport. It's unique in business, really, but definitely in sports. And so minor leaguers are very underpaid. So that's been that way for a long time. They don't make anywhere close to minimum wage. Living conditions have been horrible. Food's been terrible for a really long time. But there starts to be change. And the reason that there's been change is there start to be transparency online, particularly on Twitter, where players are starting to peel back the curtain and say, like, hey, this is what my experience is. This is the food that we're eating. This is where we're sleeping. This is what my paycheck looks like. And this kind of transparency and sharing, it's led to actual change. Like now Major league teams are paying for housing now, even now, minor leagues are sitting down with the New York mets. And the U.S. senate Oversight Committee is, like, looking into kind of changing this antitrust exemption that happens in Major League Baseball. This all starts from very grassroots, like on the ground, individuals sharing online. And that relates directly to writing and leaning into sharing our experiences. It's how change happens.

Yeah, that I want to double click on that because I think oftentimes people underestimate, you know, everyone's like, well, who. Who wants to listen to what I have to say? You know? But if a lot of people all start sharing their perspectives, suddenly things start changing. There was a viral trend that happened like, maybe a year or two ago where authors started being transparent about their book advances on Twitter. And all of a sudden, all these authors were coming forward, being like, this is what I got paid to write my book. And immediately you saw this massive discrepancy between what white authors were getting versus black, brown, and other minority authors. And it was like, clear as day. And everyone was like, we had no idea that this was going on. Until everyone starts going, well, this is what I got, and this is what I got. So I think that's awesome. And I'm curious, now that you're on the creator side, you've overcome the fear. Now you're the one who's creating. You know, are. Do you see other people now coming to you and going, just like you were going to Sahil, you know, they're like, corey, how do I get started? What's this like?

Yeah, for sure. And I think that's. That's probably my favorite part of this whole experience is I think you start with thinking that, well, I'm alone. And they're like, I'm going to be an imposition. But there's. There's been such, like, a community, an openness to the community in terms of reaching out. Like, the people that have been very forthcoming with, like, hey, these are tools that are really helpful. These are books that have been really helpful. Like, this is what I'm doing, or, let me connect you with somebody that I know. That's been one of my favorite parts about this whole experience is the network, the community. It's very, very positive. And I think going into it, I expected it to be, you know, more negative. I think that the idea about Twitter and writing online and kind of all the platforms is there's this underlying culture of negativity. And I don't think that's been the case at all. Like, I would say it's. It's almost been the opposite. You know, there's always going to be some. But, you know, my experience in baseball kind of has lended itself to that as well. Like, yeah, sometimes you're going to get booed, but, like, you just keep moving. Like, that's not the majority of the time, and it's not really worth your attention. You know, Like, I think you lean into where the value is and the values and the community and the sharing. And I've definitely had. It's been amazing to me that people who've reached out and said, hey, I'm interested in doing this, or people who've just said, like, hey, I've been reading your stuff. And they're. They're individuals that I would have never expected, you know, my insights to come across their radar. But it has an impact, and the reach is tremendous, and understanding that is very valuable.

Yeah, I want to dig into those new opportunities that you've kind of been exposed to. But before we move on from that, I like this idea of almost breaking the seal, where when one person starts writing about their minor league experience, like you've had, or whatever it is, there's a rush, and a lot of them are going to be reaching out to you, saying, hey, I want to do X, Y and Z. So it doesn't have to be baseball specific. But if you were advising an athlete who's had a. Whether it's a massive, prolific career or just a regular awesome major League, professional career, who wants to start sharing? How do you get them to overcome those mindset kind of bottlenecks that you were able to overcome? And how would you advise them now?

Yeah, I mean, I can speak from my experience, and my experience has always been, like, just start. You know, I think as an athlete, you have this really high bar that you feel like you have to meet, especially as a professional athlete, like having gone from being a kid playing Little League all the way to the highest level. Like, your standards start to move up more and more as your skills kind of begin to elevate. And that's a good thing, but it shouldn't apply to everything that way. You need to apply that same vision of, like, hey, the most important thing was just getting started. And then you, like, grow as you go. And it's important to have that growth mindset, but you can't put that high bar that's a barrier to entry at your starting point. Right? Like, get started. Start connecting with people. Like, figure out what your path is going to look like. But the most important thing is to go and to grow. Basically, just have that. Have that vision and lean into it and find, like, what matters to you. Start there. What's something that's important to you that you feel like, you know? And that was my first. My first post that really gained traction. That kind of spurred me on. It was just my story. I basically just started by saying, hey, I started here. I got to here. Here's a couple of things that I learned along the way, and they were meaningful. And I think it resonated because it was authentic. You know, it was like, these are really the things that I took. They were important to me. And if they're important to you, they're going to be important to somebody else. Like, we're not islands here. You know, like, there are other people who have similar experiences, and you're going to find your people. So get started, be authentic and be open to, you know, growing along the way.

It's. It's so funny how many times that that is the answer. It's like, what was the thing that started the journey? I literally just told people what I experienced. You know, it's a. It's not rocket science, right?

It always feels. Yeah, it always feels like there should be some secret. And the secret is in the stuff that no one wants to talk about, which is the consistency and the authenticity and the showing up. And like, yeah, that's. It's hard to do because it's mundane and it's not sexy. And, you know, but it's. It's the rest that's the recipe. Right? But it's not a. It's not a, you know, a magic concoction. It's like everyone's going to find their own way, but kind of the path looks similar, but you're going to have your own unique journey, for sure.

I think the key point of what you just said there was for so many athletes, they step into writing and they feel like such an unqualified beginner. But the easiest way to overcome that is just talk about the thing that you're an expert in, which is your own story. Right? You, yes, maybe you're a beginner writer, but if you just shared, hey, here's my path to where I am now. You're no longer a beginner writer. You just shared your entire story, and you've kind of broken that, overcome that initial friction, and guaranteed, if I were to guess what your next piece of writing was after that, it was probably answering like, three or four questions people had about your story of, oh, wow, that sounds like an interesting time. And then you latched onto that and said, well, why don't I go write about that time and that time? And then that compounds and compounds. And then before you know it, you're no longer a beginner. You've shared your entire story and mistakes and lessons and everything. And now you're. People are looking up to everything you're doing. And so if there's an athlete listening who says, how do I start writing if I'm a complete beginner? Talk about the thing you're an expert in, which is your career.

Right? And I think, you know, one of the things that really struck me, and it was a lesson I had to learn in baseball, and I've shared this since on. On Twitter. It was this idea that, like, I think we expect someone to come along and say, like, you're a writer or you're a professional baseball player, or you're like, you kind of expect it to be bestowed upon you, like a college degree. And whether that's because of the path we kind of all get put on between, like, well, I got to graduate this, graduate that. We kind of expect to be, like, told this is what you are. But the reality is, like, if you decide you're a writer and this is something you want to do, then you're. That's what you are. Like, you get to set those terms. And now what it looks like is going to be different for every person, but leaning into owning that identity, which kind of removes that fear and uncertainty. And, like, do I measure up? Like, all those kinds of things that tend to be the impediments that get in our way. I had to do that in Major League Baseball. I got to the major leagues, I still didn't feel like a major leaguer. I had to get to a place where I was like, no, this is who I am. I'm not waiting for someone to give me a contract or tell me you made it or whatever. There's a certain level of stepping into the role and owning it for yourself that you have to do in any field. Right. And that's much more about the individual and taking ownership of your life. And writing was no different. I felt like I had to overcome that same barrier to a place where I was like, no, you know what doesn't. I'm not published on this platform or that platform. Like, it's in the act, it's in the doing that you find that identity. It's not in whoever decides to say, this is what you are, that's what you're not. So it's. And that was very freeing for me.

That's a hard. That's a hard one for people to internalize. And that's a. It's a big unlock, too. And it's a skill. Right? You have to build. You have to internalize that. You have to build that skill. I want to ask too, like, has anything really tactically changed about your writing now that you've been doing it and you've been at it? We see you've used typeshare templates, which is amazing. But have you noticed, like, your storytelling ability or the way that you structure and communicate to people has changed?

Yeah. You know what? Using those templates really was a huge unlock for me. I think my first thread that I posted, I didn't use any kind of, like, template or anything. I was just very authentic with it. And it hit. Right. And so I'd done a little bit of, like, looking into, like, how do I show this to be effective? But it was really long and. And I'm thankful that people, like, stuck with me through the story. Ideally, it's because it was authentic and engaging, but moving forward and looking like, how do I do this? Consistently starting to use templates to say, like, oh, this is a really effective way to structure how I'm going to tell this story was incredibly helpful. Some of the reading that I've done and I've tried to continue to educate myself, reading writers that I appreciate, reading, their method, like, how they Use language, How do they use structure, things like that, just to hone in on improving what I'm doing. One of the things that they talk about is like, and this is a practice I've started to do is, you know what, if you have a favorite writer, like, write their stuff, Just write exactly what they write. Like, kind of just that muscle memory of, hey, this is the kind of structure, this is the kind of flow. This is the kind of language. And I think the templates that are on that platform help with that. Like, it helps kind of, hey, these are impactful methods of communicating on this platform. Or if you're writing an article or if you're trying to do an atomic art, like, whatever it is. And that. That really opened a lot of doors for me, and I saw immediate impact. That was the other thing. The first time I wrote using a template and really starting to focus on the structure, I saw crazy growth and crazy feedback. And that, to me, was an unlock that was like, wow, this really matters because I hadn't changed. It was formatting that. It changed. And so if I can combine those two consistently, you know, my growth can just be exponential.

Yeah. There's such simple things, but once you see them, then you just. You remember them forever and they stick out. It's been. It's been really cool. I mean, I've read a bunch of your stuff, and I see it surface in my feed all the time. And I also feel like out of nowhere, I don't know when this happened, but like, six months ago, I just started seeing tons and tons of professional athletes writing on Twitter. And I don't know if my feed was just serving more to me or if. If that's just a growing trend. But have you. Have you noticed, like, even other sports, like, are you seeing the same thing?

Said it seen the same thing in.

Terms of just seeing more athletes start to come to Twitter and start doing that.

Yeah. So I think. I think what's really interesting is that a lot of the things that are happening in sports right now are relative to what's happening in terms of writing and sharing online. Athletes are starting to understand the value of owning your brand, understanding the value of connecting with community, building a community, starting to, you know, share and grow your reach. Right. Which historically have been through the teams. You've always had this, like, middleman or through a, you know, a publishing distribution kind of platform like your. Your magazines or newspapers or whatever. You know, the Internet's been around for a while. That's. That's nothing new. These platforms have been around for a bit. Like, that's not new. But the understanding in terms of individuals recognizing the power that they can have, the reach that they can have, and getting back to the earlier point of really leveraging their opportunities while they're in it and maximizing their potential long term by growing these communities and leaning in. I think that has changed. The culture in sports has changed and it's really been led by guys in the NBA, guys in the NFL who've kind of stepped out beyond just the sport. You're starting to see more and more athletes become bigger than the sports that they're in. And that's an important thing to recognize happening. And I think you see it more and more on social media. And I know on Twitter I've had more and more athletes reaching out and that have been coming onto to my feed as well. I'm like, oh, wow, I didn't even know this guy was doing this or this woman was like starting to connect in this way. But it's happening and I don't think it's going to be changing anytime soon.

Yeah, I think the rare one is actually the athletes doing the writing. You see a lot of them with YouTube channels or Instagram, Snapchat, because that's. It feels like that's where the athlete should be. But the athlete who. I think writing is an even bigger multiplier than video or any other content because it just, it develops almost a more intimate relationship. You can feel exactly the way they tell the story in a more captivating way. So I think that. Yeah, go ahead.

And another thing I would say is like, broadly, it's really interesting how many athletes go, okay, I want to own my own ip, you know, like the ones that you said, Corey, that are starting to move in this direction. The first thing they think to do is like, well, then I'm going to start like a tequila company or I'm in a. Or I'm going to sell physical T shirts. Right. They still kind of think in the analog world and I'm sitting here and I'm like, could you imagine if LeBron James had a paid newsletter? That's a 99.9% margin business. Like the. I think there's still this massive unlock for athletes, for Mute, for musicians, for all these people where the. When they start to think of ownership, they immediately go to like physical products and stuff. And it's like you're missing the biggest opportunity here. Like, why would you not go create digital products that you own the whole thing? And so I guess as A segue to that. Like, I'm curious how you're thinking about it. And now that you're out of playing professional baseball and you've got a newsletter and you're moving in this direction, like, what are some of the things down the road that you're thinking about?

Yeah, I mean, one of the big reasons I wanted to lean into this space was kind of, you know, piggybacking off that insight is because I recognize the value and how many different kinds of doors it can open. And this really has been an exploratory period of my career. Like, I was on this path, very singular path, very focused in terms of, like, getting to the major leagues, getting to the highest level, maximizing that opportunity. But then once you're done with that, it's really kind of all the doors are open. Right. So, like, where. Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? And what's been so exciting about writing and sharing online is that you're able to connect with so many people in so many different areas. And I've had opportunities open all over the place, both from the media front, from within baseball, outside of baseball, investing, venture capital stuff, all because, hey, you're sharing from this area of expertise that actually relates. I think that's what people discount as well, is you think that your thing only works in a certain stream of thought or a certain industry, and it doesn't, and people are looking for that range. People actually want one. People that are able to think clearly and communicate clearly, which I believe sharing on Twitter and writing online on any platform exhibits better than any other platform. I think talking more about the Instagrams or the YouTube, whatever, I think the insight that you gain into the individual through writing and through the written word kind of cuts through a lot of the things that feel more polished. Right. Like an edited video or things like that. Like, those tend to not feel like you're getting direct insight to the individual. But my experience has been people tend to value the written word differently than they do other forms of media. And so it's been really interesting to me. I've kind of tried to be open to lots of different pathways forward, but I've definitely become much more interested in the investing world. It's funny you mentioned the newsletter thing with athletes, because even the insights that I've gained in terms of, okay, what does it look like to write and to write well and then to turn it into a business and to monetize it online, There are tons of private companies, even in tech and space, like that, that have no idea about these kind of conversations, um, that like, that's real value add. Um, and they, they have audiences, they have emails, they have all kinds of stuff that they don't realize the opportunity that they have. Just like professional athletes, just like kind of people in all industries, like you have this opportunity, um, and this is what this environment looks like. So I've really just tried to be leaning into a lot of different areas and it's been really exciting. I mean, I'm actually at a ESPN studio right now, which I got an opportunity to come in and work here because of my writing online. They saw. And so this is just a lot of saying yes and being open to the next possible opportunity.

It's a passive exposure to all of those. And your writing has basically become your new agent, right? It's out there on your behalf getting deals for you, exposing you to new opportunities. And I think that's almost a little mental model some athletes can use where you, you have an agent when you're, when you're full time, and then now you got to go create your own and send them out into the world to find you all those new opportunities. Because so many athletes probably think, oh, I finished my playing career. It's like I go into coaching and that's the only way I can continue to use my skill set from my sport in the same way. But no, if you simply go right about your experience, you become the ability to invest, the ability to coach. I mean, the ability to start a newsletter. Right? Every new opportunity comes from just putting your ideas out there. So I think just double clicking on.

That point is important and thinking clearly also, you know, going back and thinking on your experience and if you do this in real time, it makes it so much easier. You know, I do feel like I'm having to do some like, self work and reflection on a lot of the experiences I have to. I wish I had started back then and kind of done it side by side with my playing career. But as you think through those experiences and as you think through like the lessons that you learned and how you communicate that clearly, like that's a direct reflection of the application in other ways. You know, when you get to the heart of like, what it is that got you through whatever your experience was or your expertise, like that will apply broadly.

It's universal.

Yeah, it's a universal application, but you have to do the work. You have to do that work and really think it through and be able to communicate it to other people. Like this is, this is What I experienced this is, like, the value of what I went through. And I think people will be amazed at how that resonates. Yeah.

I mean, there's a reason why big companies go, you know, we want this athlete to come in and talk to us, right? It's like, it's not that that athlete knows anything about B2B software. It's that, you know, team building and confidence building and skill competency. Right? These are all universal things. You just developed it in one area, but if you can communicate it and think through it clearly, you can articulate it to a bunch of different audiences. So I think that would be a really cool. If it resonates, that'd be a cool thread for you to write, Corey, about A, the universality of skills and all the different ways you can apply it. But B, what Dickie said, that writing is your. Is your digital, infinitely scalable agent out there working for you 24 hours a day. 7. I feel like that would help athletes, like, wrap their head around. This is. This is why it's valuable for me.

Yeah, absolutely. It's funny because I know this is another opportunity that kind of came about just organically through, you know, this conversation. So I've been writing and sharing and really reaching out and trying to connect with people in my community and beyond and just kind of sharing. I think that's the other thing is, like, this openness to sharing what you're doing. I think it's one thing to say, like, I'm sharing about my past experiences, but also leaning into that. Well, like, no, I'm writing. I'm a writer. I'm sharing. I'm trying to create these opportunities and grow this community. I did that. I mentioned earlier that I came up with the Atlanta Braves. I'm now living back in the Southeast. I'd reached out to a mentor of mine who works in the front office there and kind of told him a bit about my experience since retiring. A lot of it was just saying, like, hey, this is what I'm going through. This is what I've been doing. These are the challenges that I've seen. This is what I would like to do. And it led to a conversation about creating a program within Major League Baseball and starting with the Atlanta Braves to educate players on this. So it's, hey, how can we teach players to, one, take control of their playing careers while they're in it? Right? But also, like, introduce them, like, the value of networking, like, if you're interested in a certain kind of business, like how sharing your experiences that you're going through here and relating it to what your passions and interests are, like how to grow that network organically while you're in it, as you're coming up through it. And we're moving forward with that thing. And it happened very organically because you're just sharing. It's an openness to say, this is who I am, this is what I'm doing, this is what I'm passionate about. And then finding new people. And people can sense that people want to be a part of those kind of experiences. And so it's. I. I mean, it served me incredibly well and I continue to lean into it. And I think the value is just really getting started in terms of growth and opportunity.

So.

Cool.

So what are you. Maybe share a little bit to wrap things up for people. What are your plans for your newsletter? How often are you publishing? How's that going? And is that something that you want to keep prioritizing or how are you thinking about it?

Yeah, for sure. So I think obviously, eventually monetizing kind of what I'm doing online is a goal of mine. Right now I'm really just focused on growing and improving with my writing. I actually just got back from being abroad. I was in Egypt for a stretch doing an event for mlb, which actually came about through my writing. Got on the radar. So been doing some international travel, got back and diving right back into writing and getting the newsletter pumping out. So the goal is to continue to grow, to continue to improve, keep working on my skills and connecting and looking for opportunities. But kind of at the same time, I started a MBA program through University of North Carolina that I'm kind of doing side by side in terms of trying to grow my business acumen and understand kind of just structural things. So it's just a lot of growth. Honestly, a lifelong learner, it's something I really enjoy. I think that's been a big part of my experience and leaning into this community and writing is. It's constant. Like, it feels like every time I sit down to write, I'm learning something about myself, about how it works, connecting with people constantly who are just full of insight. It's. I can't think of a better way to spend each day is just getting to share and learn from others. So that's a lot of what I'm doing moving forward, but definitely excited about potential, essentially being able to turn it into a lifestyle funding kind of situation where I can really start to see it grow in a really healthy way.

And I think two points on that are if we go down this agent where your writing is now, your agent, you don't have to pay them. You don't have to pay them 10% or 20% of whatever it was for them to go find all those new opportunities and you can play this sport forever. Right. You can be riding for 57, however long you know that your, your playing career wraps up and you don't have to just go in coaching or whatever it is.

It's.

Start exposing yourself to all these new opportunities and you're, you're a testament to what's going to happen. And think about how quickly, relative to your 15 year MLB career that you're, you're writing and the opportunities that have come from that have come in just the last year now compound that weekly, daily, monthly, yearly for the next 15, 20.

Right.

It's pretty exciting where things could end up.

Yeah. And I think, you know, to your point, one of the things from just in sports in general, right. Is so many times athletes are kind of put in this like, well, you're the athlete, someone else will handle the business, someone else will handle the pr. Just focus on your thing, which you kind of understand as you're an athlete. But then as you mature and get older, you're like, oh, these are all things like, I really should have an understanding at the very minimum about. Right. But that tends not to be the case. And so once you're done playing, you're kind of left in a space of like, well, now how do I do that? Right? So if you can start earlier and you know, I don't know how much you guys keep up with baseball, but it's actually a big story in baseball right now. Freddie Freeman, who was with the Atlanta Braves and went to the Dodgers, went through free agency this last year and come to find out his agent didn't tell him every deal that was on the table. He ended up taking a deal that he didn't really want. And now it's like this big drama thing and he fired his agent. The reality is like, that probably happens more than people realize, both in professional sports and other industries. And I think we're just at a place in time socially where people are leaning into taking more control of their lives and saying like, if someone's going to have a say, I want to have that say. It's my life. And it's also something that I can do. And I think that's been a big growth point for me is leaning into saying like, okay, this is something that other people told me they were going to handle. And I kind of just went along with that for a really long time. But it actually is something that we can all take ownership of. And this is an excellent example of how that happens. You know, putting your work out there, letting it speak for you, and then being. They're not really being a middleman. Right. It's, hey, I will decide what opportunities I get to pursue, what options I want to, you know, go for or not. And then seeing how fulfilling that can be and how empowering it can be, it's. It's pretty amazing. I wish I'd learned it 15 years ago.

Me too. Me too. If I could have started younger, I would have. We got to get you an accord of ship 30, Corey. That would. That would be a lot of fun. You go through and write some atomic essays. If you're ever up for it, we'll. Obviously, you're invited.

I'll definitely do that. I think I tried to get in the last one and I missed it by like a day or two. So I'm going to get in the next.

All right, we'll get you in in August. I'll DM you. We'll take care of it. That's awesome.

That sounds great. Cool.

Well, Corey, this is awesome. I really appreciate you taking the time. Where can people go to follow you on Twitter? Subscribe to your newsletter? Any of that good stuff? What do you want to send them?

Yeah. So on Twitter, I'm Corey Guerin. C O R Y G E A R R I N I'm on LinkedIn, Instagram, like you guys referenced. The newsletter is higher, dear. Uh, so it's kind of a cross point between some deep dives that I'll do based on, you know, my background in sports, but also just more. More generally talking about what's happening in sports and business and just sharing insights from things that are kind of coming across my radar that are really interesting. You know, I have a pretty deep background in professional sports, but even on the inside, I was on the executive board for the Major League Baseball Players Association. Like I said, I'm involved on the board of the Advocates for Minor Leaguers. So a lot of what I'll talk about is kind of, you know, no pun intended, but like inside baseball, like kind of what's happening under, you know, the undercurrents that most people don't recognize in terms of changes that I've just had a ton of insight and experience with. So you want to hop in plenty of sports stuff, but also things that are more, you know, higher level business interests. Super cool.

Thanks for making the time, Corey. Despite you being busy and at espn, I appreciate you hopping on.

Yeah, I appreciate it, guys. Thanks for having me.

Cool, Corey. Talk soon. All right, everyone, that's it for today. We will see everyone next week and have a good weekend.