The Baseball and Business Podcast

With the MLB Draft in less than 2 weeks, we've compiled 42 years of MLB playing experience wisdom and condensed it into 10 minutes. These 3 former players together have a trophy case full of accolades but are much more than just great players. They are all great people which is demonstrated by their willingness to selflessly share from their playing journey on the podcast. We've pulled o...

Former pro player Rickey Hill shares from his incredible story which has been turned into a movie called The Hill releasing August 25 starring Dennis Quaid and Colin Ford. He shares of being born with a degenerative spinal disease yet went on to play four seasons in the minor leagues with the Montreal Expos on Episode 70.  Here are some of the highlights from our conversation with Rickey as well a...

Former D1 college player Willie Shaw shares from his journey launching his career with NASA to currently living in Nashville working for a VC backed tech startup while songwriting and singing on Episode 69.  Here are some of the highlights from our conversation… 1. Why he chose to get a knowledge based Bachelor's degree and combined it with a specific skill based Master's degree in Accou...

Former big league vet and Silver Slugger Award winner Michael Barrett shares from his 12 year MLB playing career, coaching in the Nationals organization and getting into business afterwards on Episode 68. Here are some of the highlights from our conversation… 1. The setbacks he faced in the initial years after making it to big leagues by 21 after being a 1st round pick out of high school and how h...

Former pro baseball player Bob Wheatley shares from his journey to becoming an author and specializing in working with individuals on their personal brand after his playing career at USC and in the minor leagues on Episode 67. Here are some of the highlights from our conversation… 1. What Bob did to go beyond what was required which allowed him to maximize his potential and get drafted by the Blue...

2x NL MVP and 7x All-Star Dale Murphy shares from his 19 year big league career, leading his family and using his story to help corporations implement the success principles he's lived out on Episode 66. Here are some of the highlights from our conversation… 1. How Dale and his wife Nancy were highly intentional in their relationship and parenting which led to success not just on the field bu...

Former pro baseball player Dylan Rheault shares from his time on the mound and afterwards working for an athlete centric company along with starting his own company on Episode 65. Here are some of the highlights from our conversation… 1. How treating baseball like a job led to Dylan to adding velocity in pro ball which topped out at 99 mph 2. Why the fastest way to turning the page as a pro athlet...

This month's episode will give you the chance to hear a recent conversation between current & former pro & college baseball players discussing the future of Baseball and Business heading into 2023 on Episode 64. Here are key sections from our conversation… 1. The unique challenges baseball players face in business 2. The quick history of Baseball and Business 3.  The future of Basebal...

Former big leaguer Brandon Beachy shares how switching to pitching led to making it to the highest level and what led to starting a business through the franchise model as his next step after playing on Episode 63. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 1. How Brandon's decision to pivot from a being .300 hitter in college to exclusively focusing on pitching led to getting...

Former college player Kevin Kowalke shares how after building a successful mortgage business for 20 years he made a cross country move and teamed up with a long time friend to pivot into consulting on Episode 62. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 1. Kevin and Luke chat about their paths crossing about a decade ago and how this sparked Baseball and Business to launch 2.  Kev...

Former big leaguer Dirk Hayhurst shares on Episode 61 how he became a New York Times best selling author writing four books, battled anxiety when getting the ultimate call up and his journey on the other side of playing.  Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 1. Why writing is the most useful tip he recommends in helping process outcomes on the field and how he saw Roy Halladay...

Former college player James "J.R." Reid shares on Episode 60 how he is helping big leaguers and high level business professionals navigate the pressure it takes to succeed at the top as a peak performance coach. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 1. Several stories as a D1 baseball player, mentoring athletes while getting his J.D. and MBA at LSU and working as an a...

Former pro player Keenan Long shares on Episode 59 how his company LongBall Labs is helping big league hitters maximize exit velocity by taking guessing out of the equation for when it comes to choosing their gamers. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 1. How a conversation with Joe Girardi in college influenced the trajectory of Keenan’s future as a baseball player and engin...

Former San Francisco Giants prospect Jeff Burke shares how he successfully transitioned into the business world starting his career with a global company on Episode 58. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 1. How not being able to play baseball for the first time having Tommy John surgery led to valuable perspective that benefited him within and beyond the game  2. How Jeff&ap...

Current Tampa Bay Rays prospect and 2019 4th Round Draft Pick Graeme Stinson shares how he has co-founded athlete-centric data storage company StatStak while playing pro ball on Episode 57. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 1. How an arm injury and the 2020 college season being cancelled led Graeme and his former college teammate Eli Herrick to launch StatStak 2. How his ex...

Former D1 college player Jim Convertino shares how he has built a business which now has 700+ pro athletes and entertainers as clients on Episode 56. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 1. Why Jim believes focusing on becoming great at something leads to passion and is how he launched his professional career after graduating from Siena College 2. How the first 15 years of pro...

Former MLB and KBO player Xavier Scruggs shares how baseball set the table for him to launch his second career in sports media on Episode 55. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 1. Why Xavier felt media was the perfect outlet for his second career which has had him working for ESPN, MLB Network Radio and hosting his own podcast 2. Xavier's mindset as he persevered throug...

Former pitcher in the Milwaukee Brewers organization and at the University of Miami Javi Salas shares how baseball has been the precursor to bigger things in business on Episode 54. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 1. Why Javi returned for his senior year after being drafted by the Twins as a junior and how this led to a historic night throwing only the 23rd perfect game a...

2009 World Series champion and former New York Yankees Director of Strength, Conditioning and Performance Coach Dana Cavalea is the featured guest for Episode 53, our last episode of 2020. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation...  1. How after playing one year of college baseball Dana realized his most likely path to the majors wasn't going to be as a player which led to an i...

Former MLB All-Star Russ Ortiz shares from his 12 year big league career and how he went on to start a business, 2GG Apparel, around his passion for golf afterwards on Episode 52. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 1. The common trait Dusty Baker, Bobby Cox, Bruce Bochy and Joe Torre shared as managers that empowered Russ and his teammates to succeed on the field 2. Why Russ...

Former college player and Founder of Baseball and Business Luke Melms shares the vision for the future of B&B through a few updates on Episode 51. Here are a few of the highlights... 1. Luke shares how COVID-19 while a negative event has allowed for an internship to develop for a few college baseball players within Baseball and Business and the opportunity available for this to expand 2. Luke...

Former pro player Brian McAfee shares from his experiences as a student-athlete at Cornell and Duke before being drafted by the Rays and now working at Nike as a Data Scientist on Episode 50. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 1. Brian talks about how he juggled the heavy workload as a student-athlete at Cornell and Duke 2. Brian shares his underdog story of being drafted ou...

Former pro player Branden Berry shares how his dream of playing in the big leagues evolved into helping pro and amateur hitters get an edge working for Axe Bat on Episode 49. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 1. Branden talks about his competitive mindset going into playing at the University of Washington and how it helped earn the opportunity to start as a Freshman 2. Bran...

Former MLB player Jim "The Rookie" Morris shares from his incredible story which Disney turned into a movie and the insurmountable odds he has once again overcome beating Parkinson's since the movie came out on Episode 48. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 1. Jim talks about his difficult first stint in pro ball which led to pursuing teaching and coaching and...

Dave Stevens shares his remarkable story as a legless college athlete who also had the chance to play independent league baseball for the St. Paul Saints on Episode 47. Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation... 0:52 Dave describes the challenges he faced growing up without legs in Arizona and the resilience he gained from overcoming these trials 16:16 Dave recounts his tryout for U...