- PNC is proud to support "Business Forward," where local leaders discuss the challenges and opportunities and how we do business in Central Illinois.

(bright music) - Welcome to "Business Forward," I am your host Matt George.

Joining me tonight a very special guest, Scott Spiezio.

Scott has a phenomenal story, longtime major league baseball player, two time World Series champ, and former Fighting Illini.

Scott, welcome to the show.

- Thanks, Matt, thanks for having me on.

- Well, it's kind of funny, 'cause I've always known you, I've known you for 25 years, but I've known you from afar, because I'm three years younger than, or older than my brother, and you and my brother are good friends, and that's how we've always known each other.

So, I appreciate you coming on, 'cause your story's really phenomenal.

- Oh, thank you, yeah, your brother's a awesome dude.

We had a lot of fun in college, and still good friends today.

- Well, I wanna start off with your dad for a second, if you don't mind, because your dad was a stud, still is, but man, he played major league ball, and the question I had, when your dad's also a baseball player, what do you learn from him discipline-wise, and even at a young age, that grit of having to put in the work, what did you learn from him?

- Well, my dad, he is a hard worker.

I mean, that's what he's done his whole life.

His dad was an incredible athlete.

My Grandpa Spiezio, he was an iron worker.

He probably could've went on to play pretty much any sport he wanted to professionally, but there was no money in it at that time, and so my dad really learned work ethic from him.

He learned how to play many sports, but my dad really had some special talent in baseball, and for a little guy, he's about 180 pounds, 5' 10", something like that, he still could hit the ball a long way.

And my dad, unfortunately, after nine years in the big leagues, three World Series with the Cardinals, '64, '67, and '68, he won two as well, went to the Padres, hit the first home run, first RBI, first hit, first run scored, and then ended with the White Sox.

When he was 30, he was asking for, I don't know, maybe $20,000 at the time, and they wouldn't give it to him.

And so he said, "Forget it, "I'm gonna start my furniture store here in Morris, Illinois," which is right outside of Chicago, and for 50 years, he's run that and still has it to this day.

As a matter of fact, we were just on the roof, him and I, the other day, third story, caulking nail holes in the roof that we're popping out of the shingles, and he's almost 82 years old.

But my whole life, all all we did was practice.

We had mounds in the backyard.

He'd throw from close to create back speed for me with high velocity, and then he'd move back and throw me off-speed pitches from the time I was probably three years old.

And then we had stations in the basement when the winter hit, and that's all I did.

And it was cool, because not only did he teach me the work ethic, I saw what he did, too, he loved golf.

He'd go out there and practice for hours, and I'd go, "Why don't you go play?"

And he'd go, "Because I'm not ready to play yet."

(laughs) And so, I saw how he did that, and he became a scratch golfer and had the course record for a while at Morris Country Club here with I think it's 65 or 66, and so I saw that all the time, it was great.

- That's a great story.

Yeah, and what's even fun now is I see pictures on social media of you.

Like we were talking earlier, you'd get to go to these spring training and all these different things that you get to go to and you get to go with your dad.

I mean, how special is that?

- Yeah, the Cardinals are really good about bringing their alumni back, and they've had me at a few events where I've spoke.

I spoke at Christian Day down there, and they let me bring 35 guests with me and gave me a suite for two nights in a row for the games, and it's just been special moments.

And that goes all the way back to when I was a kid, and I was going down to old timers games and reunions for the World Series teams, and I'd see guys like Lou Brock and Bob Gibson and Stan Musial, and I'd sit on their laps, and they'd go, "Eddie, is this kid gonna be good?"

And he my dad would go, "Yeah, he's gonna be better than me."

And they'd go, "All right man, well you better work hard, "'cause you're not competing against the guys "from Illinois, or California, or Florida.

"You're competing against the guys "from Dominican Republic and Cuba and (indistinct) and Japan and Puerto Rico and Venezuela.

And so, they really helped me too.

Some of the times my dad would tell me something, and I'd be thinking, man, that doesn't really make sense.

And he'd keep telling me over and over, and then I'd go down there, and they'd tell me the same thing, and I'd be like, "Okay yeah, that sounds really good, I'm gonna try that."

And my dad would be like, "I've been telling you that for two years," but yeah, it's been really cool.

We just got to go do a Hall of Fame game where my dad represented the Cardinals, and I represented the Angels.

I got a couple hits, which was cool.

I can't run the bases anymore, well, not very fast, let's put it that way.

(Matt laughs) But we had a great time, and it's been an amazing journey that we've had together, and the family's been involved with it, and it's just amazing.

His arm, I don't know how it's still attached.

He had to throw over a million baseballs to me and tennis balls.

He's just been a always there for me, no matter through thick and thin, it's been great.

- Yeah, so let's talk about in 2002, I think there's a couple things in your career that I just remember vividly.

But in 2002, game six of the World Series, you sit there, and you hit a three-run home run, and you've gotta be sitting here...

When you go into the box, walk us through the feeling of number one, being in a World Series, number two, you need a hit.

The team needs you, and that's really one of the biggest sparks of that comeback season.

- Yeah, so, my dad, I gotta give credit to my dad, because he prepared me for that moment my whole life.

And we'd be in the backyard, and every session would end, three two count, two outs, bases loaded, down one, bottom of nine, game seven of the World Series, what are you gonna do?

And so, I'd been in that situation over and over and over.

And then, he also got me into visualization, where I visualized myself in those situations, not only seeing it, but hearing it, feeling it, everything.

So, when I got to playoffs into the World Series, I felt like I'd been there a million times.

And so when I walked up, I wasn't anxious, I had no butterflies, I wasn't fearful.

I always say there's no time for fear, and I didn't feel any pressure.

To me, my dad always said, "Pressure's like being in Ukraine right now."

He always used to say, "Vietnam."

He'd be like, "That's pressure."

So for me, I got up there, and I knew that our team was a team that would come back, plus we had the Rally Monkey, so- - (laughs) That's right.

- So, I got up there, and I just visualized myself before I got up there, I visualized myself hitting the double in the gap, and as I saw the pitches, I got down one and two right away, I kept falling off his fastball, I was actually sitting off-speed, slider change up, and he finally, on the eighth pitch, threw me a down and in pitch, fastball, around 96-97 miles an hour, and I just threw the barrel of my bat on it.

And Tim McCarver was the guy calling it, and he played with my dad in St. Louis, so it was pretty cool.

And later, I heard him saying, "Boy, if you mess up and throw one down "and into Spiezio, it's five-three, "and it's a different ball game," and that's what happened.

He was throwing high and away, throwing down and in, and I put my bat on it, and then it was like a movie scene from "The Natural."

The ball was high, the crowd was silent, everything seemed like it was in slow motion.

I'm running to first, I'm praying on the way down, like, "God please let this go out, push it out."

I'm talking to Gene Autry.

I'm like, "Gene, come on push it out.

"I know you're up there."

(Matt laughs) And I get to first base, and I'm just past first base, and I see Reggie Sanders hit the wall, and the ball go over his head, and then I kind of did a little pump, the only time in my whole career, I did a pump on a home run, and it was just a little one.

Today, somebody would've sat there and thrown the bat up 50 feet in the air and started twirling around and running backwards.

That was the only time I ever did that.

And then I heard the crowd, and it was the loudest thing I ever heard in my life, and then I felt the adrenaline rush, just (exhales), up, like I was five feet off the ground, running around the bases.

And all that preparation in the backyard and my dad saying, "The three two count, two outs," and my mom going, "Do it for the ring, Scott," all that came back.

And it's one of those feelings that you'll never forget, and I think most people that were there or watching it, they'll never forget that moment either, and I knew we were coming back after that.

- Yeah, that's a great story.

And then, now take getting your World Series ring is unbelievably hard to do.

Playing Major League Baseball is unbelievably hard to do.

Then you get a ring.

Now you have another opportunity, and you go to the St. Louis Cardinals, and you're sitting there as a Cardinal.

It's gotta feel extra special too because of your dad.

I didn't know this whole show was gonna be talking about your dad, but if you think about it, the connections to him, being a Cardinal, all those mentors you talked about earlier, Stan Musial, Brock Gibson, everybody.

And then, you're sitting here looking and going, "Wait a minute, I'm a St. Louis Cardinal now.

"How cool is this?

I have Spiezio on the back of my jersey."

- Yeah, and 26 which was his number.

- (laughs) Oh, that's cool, yeah.

It's just one of those amazing stories.

After the Angels, I ended up going to the Mariners.

I blew out my T6 and T7 disc, which is like a car wreck injury, and they told me I'd probably never play again.

And I started drinking for the first time in my life.

And with that, I started making bad decisions.

I got divorced.

I was starting to make worse and worse decisions in my life and ended up not having very good seasons in Seattle, and they released me in 2005, and I thought that might be it.

That might be the end of my career And St. Louis called, I think the pitchers and catchers had already reported to spring training, February 2006.

And my agent said, "Hey, they want you to come down there, "minor league and (indistinct)."

So I went down there thinking I'd be number 90, 89.

I go down there and number 26 is in my locker, and I'm like, "Holy cow."

Seeing that Spiezio with 26 on it, it just was a magical moment, and I thought, man, we're gonna win this thing.

I'm gonna make this team, and we're gonna win it.

So, I went from a bad situation to a great situation, and that year, I really rallied and really focused to have a great season and help the team any way I could.

And by that time, I could play any position.

I was a switch hitter, so I'd back up Pujols sometimes when he needed a day off.

I'd back up Rollins, I'd play second base, left field, right field, DH, pinch hit.

I even pitched one inning, (laughs) and it was just an incredible season.

Now unfortunately, I still was drinking, and that led to what I call a 10-year detour.

But my dad was there for all of it, and he never left my side, my mom and my sisters and everybody as well.

In 2007, one of the cool things the Cardinals did is I had no idea they were doing it, but they invited my dad in his old jersey to come down and present the ring to me.

So here I am, coming up, ready to be called out to get my ring on opening day.

And they say, Mike Shannon, who played with my dad, is on the on the mic, the PA, and he's like, "For this next guy, we have a special guest presenter "for the first time in Major League history, "a father, son have have won with the same organization "and two two rings a piece," and I look back and there's my dad with Pujols and Edmonds talking in his jersey, and I just start bawling.

And I think there was about 47,000 people that were crying that day.

That was an amazing moment that the Cardinals did for us, and it was amazing.

But after that, things started falling apart for me off the field and on the field, and so that was another rabbit hole.

(laughs) - Yeah, I think, Scott though, I think the... And I appreciate you bringing it up, because it was a very dark time in your life.

You talk about it a lot.

You've written about it.

There's a lot of things written.

But I wanna stay positive to it, because here's what happened.

You had a decade of darkness, let's just call it that, and you tell me if I'm wrong.

And you came out of that, and now your sole mission is to make sure that all of these kids across the United States and the world do not fall in the trap that you fell into.

So, there's not a better spokesman in the world if you think about it.

And I've heard you speak.

I've heard you do so many great things, and here's what it is, here's how I look at it, all right?

I look at it as it's your mission, it's your job for the rest of your life.

You were blessed.

You got two rings.

Your dad got two rings.

You're given a second chance.

And here, you've got all these kids that want to hear from you, including what you did for my son's team this past year.

You filmed a video at the beginning of their season, and by the way, I don't think I ever told you, they ended up 51 and 10.

- Wow!

- And they're one of the top teams in the Midwest.

And what happened was, we would refer, "What did Spiezio say?

"Visualize, get up there and and visualize the at bat.

"What would Spiezio say?"

And that's a true story.

And I think that's the impact that you don't necessarily hear or realize all the time that you have by turning your life around.

- Aw, thank you, Matt.

I really appreciate that.

Like you said, I feel that God gave me a second chance, and I feel that he didn't put me through that.

He let me go through it.

I always say, "He doesn't give you "more than you can handle."

And with family support and true friends, like your brother, Dave Owen, Andy Kortkamp, guys from Illinois, guys from Morris here, I was able to to strengthen myself after, like you said, 10 years of darkness.

And I wasn't a drinker.

I wasn't a big drinker.

I never saw a drug till I was about 33 and a half years old, and then it got ahold of me after that injury and started feeling depression and feeling sorry for myself.

And the one thing though is I never gave up.

Back from from this game against the Yankees, the first playoff game I ever played, I made a play that I normally would've made, it wasn't an error, but Jason Giambi hit me a one-hop blinder.

It went off my glove into right field.

Next guy, Soriano, hit a home run, and we end up losing the game.

I go back to the hotel, and this fan gets ahold of my number somehow, and he starts leaving me messages, "You blew it.

"Yankees are gonna kill you now.

You guys are done."

And I thought, man he's right.

And then I said, "Wait a second, man.

"I still gotta a pen.

I can write a great ending."

Fast forward to the next game, face the pad at first bat, home run.

We end up winning that game.

We win the next three.

We end up winning the World Series.

And so my whole mindset is, as long as you got a breath, you got a pen to write a great ending.

And, I've kind of felt that way.

I went to 11 rehabs in 10 years.

I'd get some sobriety here and there, and I finally just had to give in and let God take over.

And with that, I felt like I need to talk to as many kids as possible, as many adults as possible, as many parents as possible dealing with kids that are suffering from addictions.

And like you said, that's my mission.

I don't want anybody to go through what I went through or what my family went through.

Sometimes as an addict, you think that you're not hurting anybody, but you are.

You're hurting not only yourself, but you're hurting your family, your friends, your children, your community.

And I had to learn to give up one thing to get everything back, and instead of giving everything up for one thing.

And when you when you think about that, it's pretty incredible how many people are suffering.

And it's an epidemic in this country now, and especially with with fentanyl being introduced, it's a life or death thing.

One person, I've heard many stories.

They tried it one time.

They thought it was a Xanax.

They thought it was a pain pill.

They thought it was an Adderall, and it was fentanyl-laced, and they're not with us anymore.

So, I think it's crucial that we talk about it as much as possible with our kids and be open and honest, and that's what I've done with my kids.

And it went for from my three oldest kids, even my youngest kid, who's eight, my youngest son, from not having the greatest relationships for a while to now being open and honest and being able to talk, and it's just amazing what God's done in my life and in the life of the the people around me.

- And, well you know what's great about that too is you have a platform, and it was driven from that addiction, but now your platform, once you have it, you can really say what you want.

So here you are going into schools, you can talk about bullying.

You could talk about judging and all of these different things that are happening, not just in schools, but on baseball teams and basketball teams and taking care of these kids, taking care of each other, this is your teammate, and so I think that's that platform.

When people use that word a lot of times, I really don't think they know what it means, but this is a perfect example of that.

- Yeah, that's a great point.

For years, I always felt like I had a platform, and I was very involved with Dare when it was still going.

I think some places still use it, but they've moved on to more educational things, programs.

But I always felt like when I was in the midst of my dark place that I blew my platform, like I messed up.

And then I'd feel this guilt and shame, and I had to get past that.

Instead of using that guilt and shame to keep drinking and keep doing things like that, I had to get rid of that and give it up and say, "Let's focus on the here and now.

"Let's forget about the past.

"There's nothing you can do about it.

"Let's move on from here and use that platform "for positive things," and so that's what I've tried to do.

I always try, even with my lessons, I'm very open and honest about things that I've done in the past, and I try to tell them about the dangers of drugs and alcohol and things like that.

And each kid that I have, I invest in them, not only them, but their parents too, and that's the way I feel with whoever I talk to.

I'm trying to invest in them, so that they don't make the mistakes that I made, and they stay on the right path.

- Let's switch gears for a second and talk about leadership, because when you...

I want to talk specific players if you don't mind, because you were around a lot of Hall of Famers and on different teams, some that you played against, but take like a Pujols or a Derek Jeter or somebody like that.

So, if there's young kids, or even high school kids, looking at what a true leader is, what are some of the attributes that they have?

Because most of these kids aren't gonna be pro baseball players or basketball players, so they have to transition into the business world or into college, whatever it may be.

What are some of those attributes that they have that you saw on the field that you just knew when you saw a certain person that they were a winner?

- Yeah, well I would say, one of the biggest things is work ethic.

A guy like Pujols, that you just mentioned, first guy there in the cage, hitting off the tee, maybe not the last guy to leave, but he wasn't right out the door.

He was sitting there talking about the game, thinking over his at bats.

I always tell these kids with the tee, it's not fun to hit off a tee, but you can make it fun.

You can do drills.

Let's see how many I can hit out the back of the net.

Play a little contest with yourself.

He hit off the tees so long that every pitch that was in and around the zone, he had a bat path that was perfect, so he did that every day.

It wasn't like he did it for a few days and then got it, and then he said, "Okay I got it, now I'm good."

He did it every day for the maintenance, and that's the same with Alcoholics Anonymous and NA and all that stuff too, you've gotta put it in the maintenance to make sure that you're on the right path, and that's what he did.

He was a leader with his work ethic and his performance.

Now a guy like Jim Edmonds, he didn't have to work as hard as some of the other guys.

He still worked hard, but he had a lot of natural talent.

But Jimmy would step up in huge situations.

And I remember in the playoffs in 2006, after the first game, he stood up on a table, and he's like, "Ronnie Belliard made a great diving play for us, "and we got him late in the year to play second base.

He made this incredible play, and he got up and did this little speech, and he gave him the game ball.

And I'll tell you what, that went from us thinking do we belong here in the- - [Matt] Yeah, that comradery, right?

- Yeah, yeah.

- So, Scott, we're running out of time, but I just wanted tell you, man, I'm so proud of you.

I appreciate you, I appreciate you speaking out, and this goes a long way with these kids growing up in our community.

So thank you so much for coming on.

- You got it - I'm Matt George and this is another episode of "Business Forward."

(bright music) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) - Thanks for tuning into "Business Forward," brought to you by PNC.

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