Did you recognize the wisdom we heard from Clint Hurdle to end last week's episode? Can we truly learn from each other? Are we willing to drop our egos and lock arms together? Welcome to In the Bolton with Mark Dewey brought to you by developing Contenders Ministries. You're listening to the Fight Laphee's network. Thank you for joining us. If you happen to miss last week's episode of In the Bolton which was the first one for the 2026 season and the first one in about three months so it would be surprising. I want to let you know how I ended that episode. Toward the very end I quoted from a former manager of mine Clint Hurdle. I quoted actually from words he wrote in the book that was released a little over a year ago by him. The title of which is Hurdleisms, Whit and Wisdom from a Lifetime in Baseball. I quoted in particular from Hurdleism 8 which reads this way quote, let's drop this old school versus new school debate. In Baseball and Life we waste too much energy arguing old school versus new school instead of asking what can we learn from each other. Let's all just be in school together. Stop taking sides and start learning together. True progress happens when we drop our egos, lock arms and commit to understanding different perspectives end of quote. Right after reading those words my final words of last week's episode were these. What a novel idea. Actually it's one of those old school ways of doing things. And so I want to ask you, are you the type of person who believes such things to be true? Are you the type of person who is willing to participate in that kind of dialogue? I will say this, you are not that kind of person. If you are unwilling or unable to consider the possibility that something new can be beneficial. Beneficial to people, beneficial to institutions to bring it home, beneficial to baseball players, organizations and the game at every level. In other words, you're not that kind of person. If you are truly mad as in angry, as in tradition, regardless of whether you can explain why it's there or not. If you're stuck in the past and think nothing will ever get better. But also, you are not that type of person. If you believe that if it isn't new, it isn't valuable. If you think that since your generation hasn't bought into an idea, nobody should let alone seriously consider it to be important and beneficial. In other words, if you are mad as in outside your mind. But if you are the type of person who has a desire to truly learn, we can talk. And that's what I want to do. Not only today, but throughout this season of In the Bulpiv. I want to go back several years, like this is the eight years now, back in 2018, Chris Hook, who has been the big league pitching coach for the Brewers since 2019, Chris Hook and I became pitching coordinators for Milwaukee. And one of the first things we did and we had this done before we went to spring training was to put together a guide for our pitching coaches. It's a player development guide as it regarded pitchers and what we expected out of our pitching coaches. And this guide had three sections. The first common principles, the second common practices and the third common parameters. Now, I had the responsibility of writing the common principles portion of the document. I do not recall if I've ever brought this up in any past episode of In the Bulpiv. But I will say this, it is likely that I will speak about it often during the 2026 season of In the Bulpiv. Along those same lines, it's hard for me to recall what I've said on a podcast over the last six years. There are many things that I don't recall whether I did or didn't talk about them in the Bulpiv. But even if I did, there's a distinct possibility that you have not listened to all the previous 257 episodes. It's also possible that if you have and congratulations, let me know that's an amazing feat that even if you have and even if I did speak about something, you may not remember it. And even if you do, I do not believe it will hurt and it will likely actually prove valuable to hear me say some of these things again. I may be repeating some things today and I may do so every Monday when a new episode drops, but no apologies are necessary. Back to the common principles portion that I wrote back in 2018. A large portion of that section was devoted to leadership and I used the word leadership as an acrostic to describe the principles we wanted to embrace, teach and live out as pitching coaches. So today I want to read the first three paragraphs, hence the first three letters or those covering the first three letters, L, E and A. The very first paragraph leaders love. And I wrote that we as coaches are high test Oster on males and when we use a word like love and we use it to talk about leading men, it can make us a bit squeamish, but I said it shouldn't. And then I said it may help to clarify what is not meant by love. And I want to underwrite it is engaging into the eyes of one of our pitchers, nor even wanting to sit down with him for a beer. It does involve three principal things. First, it means we desire the best for him. Second, we help him strive to achieve the best. And then finally, we don't stop at wanting or working for his best. We are also willing to sacrifice for him. And then I wrote, we do these things regardless if the pitcher is a prospect or not, if his stats are stellar or in the cellar. The final sentence, this is summed up succinctly by the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The second paragraph, leaders engage. And I wrote here that we have to be involved. We have to be engaged in lives. We have to be engaged in learning. We are to invest in our pitchers. We are to invest in learning how to better help them develop. And I wrote that undertaking such tasks with joyful passion is required of us. I wrote that if we don't care about the person we are leading, our leadership will be poor at best. And let me say now looking back on it, that was probably an understatement. I continued, listening to him is essential in developing a relationship and gaining trust. If we don't listen, we cannot learn. We cannot learn about a person. We cannot learn about a subject matter. And I said, an absence of the desire and willingness to continue learning our craft disqualifies us for it. And I said, we need to ask questions, not to trick or trap others, but to tap into them, to tap into their knowledge and wisdom, but most of all to tap into their why. I concluded this paragraph by writing, we are to engage in life long learning. And then I wrote in his early 80s, after spending six decades in this game, Dr. Green was asked, are you old school or new school? He responded like a true leader, quote, I'm in school. End of quote. Now for those of you that never had the privilege of knowing Dr. Green, let me give you a little bit background about him. First of all, his son, Charlie Green, Dr. Green is also Charlie Green. His son was a former Major League Baseball player. When I worked with the Brewers, he was the field coordinator and catching instructor. He is now the big league bullpen coach. But Dr. Charlie Green, his father would come to spring training and instructional league each year until he got to where physically he just couldn't do it anymore. So I got to spend a lot of time around him. Dr. Charlie Green is a Hall of Fame coach at the collegiate level. He also worked professionally. And he was again at this time in his early 80s when somebody asked him that question. And what did he say? I'm in school. I'm 80 some years old. I'm in the Hall of Fame at the collegiate level as a coach. I've been in professional baseball. I've watched this game for so long, but I'm still in school. I know I can still learn. That's just fabulous. Now the third paragraph that I want to talk about today, leaders adapt. I wrote this to be worthy of being followed. We must lead the way and making changes in order to work and function better. We should be thoughtful and willing to change when shown a better way. This is not the same thing as being controlled or conformed by fads and the whims of others. Whether they be quote unquote experts or newly signed pictures. I continued by writing these words, whether an idea is a century old or found in the latest blog post, we must chew the cut or ruminate. This helps us to avoid two ditches. First, getting a taste of something and immediately spitting it out as disgusting. And let me just interject here. That is, I think the danger for those that are my age. That's the danger. But then there's another one to swallow every idea put on our plate without exercising discernment. I wrote to conclude this paragraph as leaders, we adapt in order to do our job better and help others improve at theirs. Obviously, I believe what I wrote in these three paragraphs or I would not have written it. But I also believe that these three paragraphs are an accurate, I don't know if it's the best word, but an accurate exposition on the words that my former manager Clint Hurtle wrote in his book that I quoted for you earlier. Also, I sincerely believe that if we love, engage, and adapt as I described in those paragraphs, we are truly interested in pursuing what is true, good, and beautiful. Something that is often overlooked or maybe forgotten is that one of the reasons baseball is the greatest game in the world is because it is the most beautiful game in the world. And as we seek to know, teach, and live out what is true and good, the beauty will remain. The beauty can even increase. But as we tenaciously hold to our individual or generational ideas of what is true and good, as we do so refusing to examine them closely, objectively, the beauty of the game will continue to decrease. If you are involved in baseball at any level and in any position, it is vital to keep this in mind. For that fact, if you are a fan and you're not involved, you don't have a son playing, whatever, it's still vital to keep this in mind. Something else that is vital and you're going to say maybe that, well, of course, everybody knows this, I'm not sure that they do. It's vital to keep in mind to understand that the objective of the game is to win. It's not win at all costs, it's not win as the end all be all of why you're a part of the game. It's not as if losing makes you a loser, but it is true nonetheless that the object of playing the game is to win. And again, you might say, well, that's obvious. Well, it's obvious according to the official rules of Major League Baseball. In the first section, rule one, it reads the objective of the game. Rule 1.02 reads, quote, the objective of each team is to win by scoring more runs than the opponent. End of quote. So, obvious, right? I'm not sure that it is. Well, I was still involved in the game as a pitching coordinator. It was not on only one occasion that after a game in which one of the pitchers that I was there to watch did not do a very good job that I came in afterwards and this pitcher was all excited about his spin rate or his induced vertical movement or whatever it might be. And again, I get it. You're talking about minor leaguers, you're trying to develop and they see this is something moving in the right direction. I get that. I don't have a problem with that per se except there was nothing it appeared about we just lost. I just did not do my job in order to help us win. That was apparently absent. Here's another story. Back in 2007, I was pastoring a church in Michigan and I became the varsity baseball coach at a local high school, heart high school. And so as I got this position, I thought, well, I need to know high school rules. I've not been around high school baseball for a long time. So I got the high school rulebook for the state of Michigan and I read through it. And then we had one of our first meetings. It might have been our first meeting sitting in the gym because this is like February and Michigan. So you're not going to be outside. And I read the opening of the high school rulebook. And I said, anybody notice anything? Everybody's looking at me like no coach. What? In this rulebook, there was no statement about the objective of the game being to win. That was a long time ago. Yes, I get it. It was only high school, but that's still a big, this big issue. About 10 days ago or so, I saw a video. You're going to hear an audio portion of that. And this video included a man who is very familiar with developing winners, very familiar with being a winner and very familiar with winning. And he and his wife were teaching their young children lessons about sports. In particular, they were riding in their car going to a race of some sort, maybe a cross country race. And after assuring their children that regardless of how they performed, they would be loved and their parents would be proud of them. After doing that, they were taught a very clear message by their father and mother. No, but the goal is to win. Also have fun. No, you want to have fun. You will have fun. The goal is to win. Don't get it twisted. Win. Beat them down. All of them. You beat them down. You run faster. You hear me. You finish first. That's what we do. We finish first. Dominate. Beat them, baby. No prisoner. Dad, I have no idea what that means. Dominate. That means you beat them. And prisoners. You beat them. Kind of. And then you smile and shake their hand afterwards. All right. You got it. So I have watched and listened to that several times. And every time I hear this conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Derek Jeter and their children, it brings me tremendous joy. What a great conversation. Derek Jeter lived it. And now he is teaching it to his children. The objective is to win. Yeah, yeah, you're going to have fun, but don't get your priorities out of whack. You're here to win. Old school and new school are demonstrating they are both in school when they understand whatever arguments are to be had better be had in order to enhance player development to help the players improve to help the team improve to help the organization improve to become winners. And there is one thing every person involved in the game needs to understand about what comes before becoming a winner and winning. For that matter, what comes with it and what also follows it. Learn to deal with failure because it's coming. I don't care how good you are, how good you think you are, you're going to fail. And there's going to be times when you feel like you're not going to get out of it. That's just part of it. So have a strong support group that you can go to and lean on, but understand that failure is a part of it. Derek Jeter is one of the most successful athletes in history. Yet he also failed more than most. As he said, failure quote is just part of it. End of quote. And he said it's important quote to have a strong support group you can go to and lean on end of quote. That statement is true in life just as it is true in the game of baseball. And if you are a music fan as I am, you might be thinking right now about Bill Withers, lean on me. If you are knowledgeable about scripture, Galatians 6-2 may have just come into your mind. And if you are like me with an appreciation of music and scripture, like me, you may be asking yourself this question. Was Bill Withers thinking about Galatians 6-2 when he wrote and sang his song, lean on me? I don't know. I think about it a lot though. In life and baseball, the support can come from parents, friends, family, teammates, coaches. There's a lot of different places. And it can come from many different people with a great variety of knowledge from extreme knowledge to almost no knowledge about the game. But I believe something is missing in particular in professional baseball. And it's a major problem that I saw when I was still in the game. And it regards the young people coming into the game who are very, very learned. Young people who can do amazing things with computers and numbers and all of that, and yet had never played the game at any significant level. One of those stories I may have told in the past I'm going to tell again now. There is a young man who came into the Brewer's organization as an intern. At the time I was the assistant pitching coordinator. My boss Reed Nichols assigned me the task of overseeing the Trackman program because we had not used it for the most part yet. And we were bringing it in. And so he had me oversee that. And one time during the winter, I went up to Milwaukee. And this young man who was an intern gave a presentation about Trackman. This young man then turned from an intern to an employee. To my knowledge still is an employee of the Milwaukee Brewer's. And this young man helped me immensely during my time as an assistant pitching coordinator and a pitching coordinator. In his name is Nick Davis. Nick Davis is a graduate of MIT. So he is at no loss of intelligence. But Nick Davis was a man who also had a good background. And what I mean by that is this. He had played a little baseball at MIT. His father at the time was a pitching coach in the Cardinals organization. Then for I think a year or two was the big league pitching coach for the Mariners. And last I knew was the pitching coordinator for the Braves. And Nick's father was very good friends with Brent Strom. A very long time successful respected pitching coach at all levels, including the big league level. Strom he was again one of those guys still is. But I remember using Nick as an example or an analogy. And then I realized you know I've been using Nick. I should tell Nick what I'm doing. So in spring training in 2019 Nick and I were in the same room together. And I said to Nick, you know, I've been using using an example. I think it's only fair that I tell you what I'm doing. So let me ask you a question. Nick, how did you feel when you failed that math exam? I said, what would your response be? He said, I would ask you what math exam are you talking about? I said exactly. You have never failed a math exam. You may be never got as low as the 95 on a math exam. I don't know. But here's the problem. Here's the disconnect. You and all those other guys that are really, really smart math physics, whatever it might be, you have never failed in what you do best. I said, but the vast majority of people who have ever put on a professional uniform, what they do best is play baseball. And every single one of them, including every single man with a plaque in Cooperstown has failed and failed miserably, failed in front of tens of thousands of people. And there's the disconnect. Now, I don't know if I said this to Nick, I probably did, but that's not necessarily a problem from my perspective. The problem is when people don't realize it's a problem. When they think it doesn't matter. But when those who have failed have failed miserably, failed in front of tens of thousands of people, failed and worked through it, failed again and again. Then like Derek Geter got up and succeeded. Therefore, demonstrating they are winners when those kinds of people are no longer welcome in the game. And instead when 20 something year olds or 30 something year olds who have a lot of information, don't have that common connection. That's a problem. It's a huge problem. And at least from what I can see, it's a problem becoming more and more apparent in the game. So I ask you again, are you the type of person who believes such things? Are you the type of person who is willing to participate in such dialogue? Are you ready? Are you ready to address the problems? Are you ready to drop your ego? Are you ready to seek learning more and more about the game of baseball, regardless of your age or experience? If so, I invite you to join the conversation. And by that, I don't mean simply listening to me. Contact me. Contact me with your questions, your comments, your thoughts, your ideas. You can do so by going to our ministry website, developing contendersministries.org and send me an email that way. I am on x at in the bullpen FLX, FLX, FLF. I'm on Facebook. I have a personal Facebook page and an in the bullpen Facebook page. Some of you listening have my email and phone number. If you want to engage in the conversation and by that, I mean if you would like to be a guest on an episode of in the bullpen, convince me, convince me as to why you have something to offer our listeners. I will say this just as a heads up, you are not going to convince me. If your attitude reflects the attitude of a man that I read on x this past week, he wrote this quote, you have truly become irrelevant when it comes to baseball, evolve or become that guy shouting at the clouds. End of quote, if that's your approach, don't bother contacting me. However, I encourage you to contact me if your mindset is more like Kevin Wilson, a former professional baseball player and a current Hening coach. He also wrote something posted something on x last week. And if this is you, you will likely convince me that you are a guest in which our listeners will benefit from. This is what he wrote quote, in today's game, good managers slash coaches have open minds, can embrace and translate the analytics to players and understand the human side of managing and mentoring. That last part is the most important end of quote. Indeed it is. And so I have another question, are you serious about that, which is most important? But that's a conversation for another day. Join us next time for In the Bullpen on the Fight Laugh Feast Network. Thank you for listening.