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See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack
David Pollack ONE-ON-ONE with Jeff Francoeur | What Made Bobby Cox Great?
00:38:58
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- [00:02]
Liberty Mutual Advertisers
And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
- [00:12]
Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
- [00:15]
Jeff Francoeur
Oh, no.
- [00:16]
Liberty Mutual Advertisers
We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
- [00:22]
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.
- [00:24]
Anyways, get a'@libertymutual.com or with your local agent.
- [00:27]
Liberty, Liberty. Liberty, Liberty.
- [00:31]
Jeff Francoeur
Yes, you can. A five minute quick and easy calorie burning workout.
- [00:36]
Dave (Interviewer)
Give it a try. Come join our sweat sesh on TikTok. All right, my next guest. I've known this dude for a very long time. There's a lot of accolades to go with Jeff Francor, two sport high school athlete. And absolutely ridiculously good at both of them. I can attest, unfortunately, because he beat the crap out of us in high school. Stand out for the Atlanta Braves podcaster, broadcaster. But most importantly, and people don't, nobody knows this at home. Most importantly, Lindsay Hopkins ride to school in high school. That's the most important part.
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Jeff Francoeur
I got your. I got your future life there. Safe, sound, on time, the education, the whole deal.
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Dave (Interviewer)
Amen, brother.
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Jeff Francoeur
So.
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Dave (Interviewer)
So obviously Jeff wears a ton of hats, but to me, getting my bride to school safely obviously was a big one. But Jeff, like going back to high school and playing multiple sports. And obviously we'll get to, to the podcast later on too. Like, what did you, what did you, what do you look back on most fondly in your high school career of being at Parkview?
- [01:47]
Jeff Francoeur
Well, first of all, you took your team as far as you could possibly go in football, so kudos to you. It was a great run and we had some, man, we had a lot of great players, a lot of great talent in our county. Coming up, obviously David Green, you know, at South Gwinnett, just so many great players. But what I remember all the time is just playing with my buddies, literally playing with my best friends that I grew up from when I was four or five, six years old playing. And like, those are the memories we take. I'm still on a group text with all my Parkview football guys. I'm on a group text, all my Parkview baseball guys. And, you know, even though I went on, I'm sure just like you to play at Georgia and the NFL and game day and all these different things, I'm just Jeff to them, man. And it's so much fun when I'm around those guys when you get a chance. And so, like, with my kids, man, that's all I want from them. I want them to have the experience of playing with their friends and enjoying being out there. Well.
- [02:43]
Dave (Interviewer)
Well, that's. That's something we'll talk more about, too. But when you talk about having fun playing high school baseball, playing football, like, you had the opportunity, man, to go to Clemson, I don't know that a lot. I make sure. I make sure people remember that. And you thought about it, and what. In what went into the decision to go play football at Clemson or to go play baseball?
- [03:02]
Jeff Francoeur
What.
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Dave (Interviewer)
What was the deciding factor?
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Jeff Francoeur
Well, you can attest to this, man, when you go to high school and the football recruiting in the state of Georgia starts, right? And I had Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden calling, like, man, you get lost in it, right? Like, you're like, this is unbelievable. This is great. Of course, Tommy Bowden, you know, and all these great coaches. But for me, man, baseball had always been my first love. And, you know, my dad, my mom, we talked about it. You know, my mom and dad were educators. My mom taught in Gwinnett county schools for 30 years. My dad was into Kalb county school systems for 38 years. My brother and sister are both teachers now. So, like, to not go to college and get an education, you know, Dave was a big deal for me. I was not used to something like that, so for me to make that decision, but my mom and dad said, you go to college to figure out what you want to do. And I was lucky enough to be able to kind of figure that out and have a chance to play for my hometown team, Braves. Like, you're looking for signs all the time. You know, I'm a man of faith and like yourself. And so you're sitting here, God, show me something. And when the Braves, you know, drafted me, it's like, man, how do I not go for this?
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Dave (Interviewer)
So you're drafted by the Braves. Was it. Was it as easy as it looked? Because watching it, it was like, hey, man, like, Jeff's in the big leagues. Like, it's. It's kind of. It kind of seemed like it happened really, really fast.
- [04:25]
Jeff Francoeur
It did, and too fast. And honestly, my wife and I, we. We laugh. Our. One of our prayers for our kids is that they experience failure, they experience letdowns. They experience it because, you know, my high school story. And when I got to the Braves and. And I breezed through the minor leagues, I got to the big leagues, right? Was on Sports Illustrated two Months into it, and. And it was great until it wasn't. And when it wasn't, I didn't know what to do. I. You know, I was. I was lost, man. I would listen. I'd go get my haircut, and I'd listen to the barber, tell me what I needed to do, you know, like, get your hands up a little bit or. I was so lost, I didn't know how to deal with it. And so, like, that's one of our prayers constantly for our kids, that they would. They would learn how to go through adversity, to get through failure. And it's hard, right? It's hard to watch your kids struggle, man. It's hard to watch your kids out there on the field and they're getting beat up and they. And they're lost, and they feel this. But, man, it is going to make them so much better in the long run. And so for me, that's one thing, Dave. I wish I could have gone back. I wish I would have had a little more failure growing up, because I was not prepared for it. And when it was great, it was great. But, man, when that. When that. When that. When I went down the Valley, man, it was tough to get out of there.
- [05:41]
Dave (Interviewer)
So. So what got you in there? Like, what. What got you in the Valley and why couldn't you? And what was the. What was the hardest part of that struggle, man?
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Jeff Francoeur
You know, Katie, we laugh because that was the year I got married. So I'm always like, man, it's your fault, babe. We got married, and all of a sudden it all is taken, you know? But I look at it as another way, you know, God gave me my soulmate to sit here and work through this with me, man, have someone, because, you know, it's a tough game. You know, that's the one thing. Like, you played football, right? College. Y' all played 13, 14 games. Like, you had all week to kind of decompress, you know, if you had a bad game, okay, 24 hours, you get over it. Baseball is every single day, and you can feel like the greatest player in MLB one day, and you can strike out four times the next night and be the worst player in mlb. And I just wasn't equipped to deal with that, man. From. From a. From a baseball standpoint, from a spiritual standpoint, from a. From just a husband dealing with that, bringing it home, right? Like, Katie want to talk about something else? She was teaching at Mill Creek High School at the time. You know, it's like, I come home, she wants to tell Me about her day, and I'm like, I don't want, you know, I want. It was all about me, right? So it was like trying to find balance in that. And, you know, it just. I did struggle. I don't know why I did. Nothing really changed. My workouts were the same. I just got in a slump and I could not get out of it, and I didn't know how to get out of my own way.
- [07:08]
Dave (Interviewer)
Well, it's. It's interesting that those kind of things happen in our lives, right? And. And as we get older, we start to realize how to handle them, and we start to, yeah, mechanisms, but you can't. You can't go back. And I can't give it to my young. That's why I'm so thankful. I do all these, you know, I'll do speeches and different things at different times. I'm like, you don't understand breaking your neck in your early 20s. Like, there's nothing that better that could have happened to me because I had to slow down. I had to lean on my faith. I had to lean on God. Like there was no other way. Like, and you didn't have another way out. Like, there wasn't anybody that was going to come bail you out. Like, it was on you. And I bet God, man, used that, that, that turn in your life in those moments to grow you closer to him and teach you more about yourself than you've ever learned.
- [07:51]
Jeff Francoeur
You know what? And not only that, like, I got, you know, traded from the Braves, right? Like, I came up and I was thinking I was going to have this chipper Jones play 15 years with the Braves, never leave Atlanta. And it's like all of a sudden, he ships me to New York and then Texas, and then I go to Kansas City. But now, looking back, like, the road he led me, two of my greatest friends, strongest Christian dudes I know, we go on vacation with their families every year. I met him in Kansas City, right? They become my best friends, my teammates, my guys that I leaned on. I would have never met those guys if I was still in Atlanta, right? Like, I would have never made these friendships. So I always tell people it's the same way. Kind of like you, like, you can sit there and feel sorry for yourself and it's okay. We all do that, right? Like, you get the 24 hour rule in my house. That's what I tell my kids. Like, you want to soak for a while, that's fine. But after 24 hours, man, you got to find a way to pick Yourself up. Like you said, lean on your faith, man. You got a guy who's sitting here waiting to talk to you at all times whenever you want. And we don't use it enough, we don't go to him enough. And it's not that he's going to fix all your problems, right. But he's going to give you someone and, and guidance to walk through it and how to walk through it. Yeah.
- [09:01]
Dave (Interviewer)
And those moments of heart are always good for us. When you, when you think about Bobby Cox and yeah, you know that guy you got to meet in the clubhouse and obviously he recently passed. Like what comes to mind when you think of Bobby Cox and is there a great story? Because there's got to be great Bobby Cox stories like got to be.
- [09:18]
Jeff Francoeur
Well, you know, I tell people this all the time. He got ejected from 162 games. I mean when you think about it, that is a, that is a whole season. There's 1, 162 games in a big league season because could you imagine watching the Braves every night and he gets thrown out of every game. I mean that's what he did in his career. But I always tell people this, it's so funny because as I'm coaching my kids, right, I coach my daughter's softball team, my son's football team and all this, I've become an encourager man. Like there's not enough encouragement in today's society. I think about, I watch these other coaches, right, and, and, and a kid might have a great game, they make one mistake and what are they harping on? Dude is that mistake. You gotta fix this. You got, meanwhile, he's done nine great things and they don't point it out. They don't tell him great job. They don't tell her great job. And so I think about Bobby. When people ask me about Bobby, there's no doubt he was a competitor. Dude, he had your back. He was going out there. Every time you got thrown out, he was getting thrown out. But he was the ultimate encourager. That's what my mom, when he died, my mom, that day, she called me and, and she said, you know what I'm going to remember most about Bobby Cox is how many times me and your dad would sit down to watch your game. Protein packed meals in 10 minutes. TikTok's got millions of them.
- [10:34]
Dave (Interviewer)
Could you whip one up in under eight?
- [10:36]
Jeff Francoeur
Probably. But hey, it's not a race.
- [10:40]
Dave (Interviewer)
Grab the recipes on TikTok and start cooking.
- [10:47]
Liberty Mutual Advertisers
And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to Help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
- [10:57]
Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
- [11:00]
Jeff Francoeur
Oh, no.
- [11:01]
Liberty Mutual Advertisers
We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
- [11:07]
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.
- [11:08]
Anyways, get a quote@libertymutual.com or with your local agent.
- [11:12]
Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.
- [11:14]
Jeff Francoeur
Liberty came on tbs, and we could hear in the dugout, you know, come on, Frenchie. Come on, kid, you got it right here. And she was like, he was always encouraging, even in times where you were struggling or you were this. And I told this story, like, I missed a slider by a foot. Like, I had to miss it by at least a foot, and I struck out. So I come back to the dugout, I throw my helmet down, and Bobby turns around. He's like, man, you were right on it, Frenchie. You almost got him. You missed it by that much. And I lost it. I turned, I said, bob, you're so full of crap. I was like, I was nowhere near that pitch. Like, I suck right now. And Bobby was like, no, you don't. You were right there. The next time up, if you have that same swing, you'll hit a double in the gap. And so, you know, I. I put my bat down, I go sit on the bench, and in my mind, I start thinking, well, maybe I'm not that far off, right? Maybe I'm not as bad as I think I am right now. And sure enough, dude, next time up, I had a double in the right center gap, and I get to second base, and I look in the dugout, and Bobby's looking at me, and he just puts his hands up like this. And I remember thinking, there's no way he believed what he was telling me. He knew I missed that pitch by a mile. But in his eyes, he's like, I need to change Jeff's mind frame right now. He's done. If I don't do this, and he's still got three more bats. And I just tell people he was the ultimate encourager. Was he tough? Yes. Would he get on me if I didn't do something right? Absolutely. And he should have. But at the end of the day, man, he was in the fight with you. Every day I think about that. In today's age, with social media and the negativity, look at this error. Look at this play. Look at this missed tackle, you know, on a Sunday. And it's like, what about the great stuff that he did, too? And so that's one thing that I learned from Bobby. And one of the fun stories that you'll appreciate. I got thrown out for the first time as a Brave, and we're in San Diego.
- [13:05]
Dave (Interviewer)
Did you deserve it? Did you deserve it?
- [13:07]
Jeff Francoeur
I did. I told the umpire something I should have told, and I got thrown out. And Bobby, of course, comes out right, dip spit in the umpire's face. He gets thrown out with me. I'd never been thrown out of the game before. It's a fifth inning in San Diego. And so in San Diego, there's long stairs up to the clubhouse. And so, you know, I'm walking slow because Bobby's, you know, 68 years old, man. He's waddling up those stairs, and I'm like, what do I do, Bobby? And he's like, ah, you know, go get in the cold tub, ice your legs, have a few beers, do whatever you need to do. He's like. He's like. And you'll probably get fined 500, $1,000, depending on what you said. He said, or you can do what I do. I send a $50,000 check in at the beginning of the year and tell him whatever's left over, give to charity. And I was like, that's amazing. And I was like, he had already prepared that he was going to get thrown out at least 25, 30 times a year. Like, that was his thing. But it was. But what I loved about Bobby was the next day, right, I'm right back in that lineup, you know, same spot, and you go out and you play ball.
- [14:10]
Dave (Interviewer)
So. So how you talk about how he loved you, how he encouraged you, how did he challenge you?
- [14:15]
Jeff Francoeur
Man, there were times where I'd walk in the dugout, like, if he thought I should have been at second on a ball, right? Or there was a fly ball in the outfield that maybe I didn't run down. He did it the best way. I would come up on deck or in the hole. Like, we would have our bats, you know, and Bobby was right there on the edge, and he would just lean over and he'd say, pick it up, Frenchie. You know what I mean? And it was like, that's all we needed to hear, right? Like, yes, sir. Like, you expect more from me. And whether I agreed with them or not, right? It took my focus to a whole new level. But what I loved is Bobby never did it in front of other people. Man, if he wanted to get on you, you might get A note that said, hey, come see my some, come see me in my office before the game tomorrow when you get to the field, right? And it wasn't yelling, it was this stern. You know, I expect more out of you. I, I, I hold you to a higher standard and you need to, you need to reach his standard because you're not doing it right now. But he did it in the best way where it wasn't. He didn't call you out in front of your teammates. Right. He didn't go to the media. You know, Frank Cor stinks right now. He's got to pick it up. He always had your back and if he ever was going to talk to you, he did it behind closed doors. It was quick, it was to the point and it was firm.
- [15:26]
Dave (Interviewer)
So you, you do a podcast now, Pure Athletes, and y' all talk about obviously youth league sports and, and it's a, it's a big button for everybody. Are those the things that you've implemented, like literally is how, how do you parent now? How do you do the Bobby? How do you still have the ability though to put them in check or to motivate them, but still do it with love?
- [15:48]
Jeff Francoeur
I think like anything first. Like my softball team, the girls know I love them, man, Like I'm in the fight with them. Every ad, I'm cheering them on. They know two things. If you don't hustle and if you're have a bad attitude, you're not a great teammate. I won't stand for that. The parents know that. And I will sit you on the bench. You make an error, you strike out with the bases loaded. You'll never hear me say a word. I'm going to encourage, hey, you got another back coming. You know, let's focus, let's go, let's go back in it because we expect so much from these kids. And you know, my, I'm sure Lindsay, you know, I've known Lindsay forever, but Katie's the same way. Katie has such great perspective because Katie's, you know, we went to high school together, right? Like we graduated together. And she's like, I saw you dominate at the high school level, the county level, the state level, and then saw, and I knew how talented you were, yet I saw how bad you struggled and how, how talented you were. And she's like, now we go up to 10 year old ball fields and there's kids that aren't even a fourth of the talent that maybe we had, right? And, and these parents are yelling at them like they're Supposed to do all this stuff. And so, you know, I preach effort and attitude and being a great teammate, man. It doesn't take anything to be that. And, and especially you, you know this in baseball and softball there's no better sport to be a great teammate because you're going to have days. I was explaining this to my 10 year old son the other day. I'm like, you know how many times I was 0 for 4 with bad games but our team won. I said, how does that look? If I go in the locker room with my head down and, and I'm not smiling, I'm not celebrating a win, right? I said that is just selfish. You look like the worst teammate and no one's going to want to play with you. And because my, my son had a good lacrosse game, right? And we lost our team and I didn't like the way that he was, you know, celebrating and happy at the end. And I told him, you what I call the happy hit guy, right? That's what you were called in a big league clubhouse, the happy hit guy. The guy that got three hits and the team lost by two, you know, and he's walking around smiling, eating dinner, getting in the shower. Meanwhile, the guy that just gave up the three run homer is sitting in the locker next to you. You think he wants to hear that right now? And, and so, so that's my always thing, man. You could always be a great teammate. And the guy right now for the Braves, if you're watching the Braves right now, Dom Smith, the guy that's bench hitting, leading everywhere, what is he known for? He is the ultimate teammate. So what did the Braves do? They brought him to big league camp this year. He didn't know if he was going to make the team or not. He ended up making the team and now he's having huge contributions. If he's not a great teammate, he doesn't get that opportunity again, he's out of the league. But because he's a great teammate and people want to be around him, he's continuing to further their career. And I said that goes in anything. Whether you're going into business or teaching or any of that stuff. If you're coachable and can be a great teammate, man, the sky's the limit.
- [18:39]
Dave (Interviewer)
Yeah, Coach Saban always said you can be an a hole, but you won't last very long around here unless you're a really, really good player. You better be a great player. Otherwise you're going to be, otherwise you're going to be out of here. You Know, this is. This is, I think so good just for parents to hear. To hear stories and to hear they're not alone. Like, we all have frustration. We all have moments where we don't know what to say. Parents are the hardest job on the planet. But, like, listen to what Jeff's saying and try to encourage, because the teammate thing is huge. Like, anybody can do that. And then it takes the. Guess what it does. It takes the emphasis off of me, myself and I. And it puts it on others. It ain't always about you. Like, that's what. That's one of the things these kids. Everything is about them all the time. All right, before I get off Bobby and before. Because we got off Bobby a little bit, like, what about playing golf with Tiger Woods? What about that story? I want to. I would like. I think people will love this.
- [19:34]
Jeff Francoeur
So, dude, this was incredible. I'm 22 years old. I played with Tiger one time already. I'd had the opportunity to play with him earlier that spring. But we're getting down now. 10 days till the season starts, right? And we had a 110 game at the Wide World Sports in Orlando where we did spring training. And Bobby comes to the outfield. I guess Smoltz, he had told him that I was invited to go with him. Adam LaRoche and Smoltz to play 27 holes with Tiger. They had a 145 tee time. And I was, dude, I'm 22. I've been in the big leagues three months. I'm not going up to Bobby Cox and saying, hey, I need the day off, right? Like, my dad would kill me, right? Like, there was no. So I'm sitting there stretching the outfields. 9:30 in the morning, Bobby comes up. He's like, frenchie, why didn't you tell me that you had a chance to play with Bobby or with Tiger today? And I'm like, God, dude, I got a chance two weeks ago. It was unbelievable. He's like, you don't know if this is ever going to happen again. He's like, we got a meaningless spring training game today. He's like. He's like, you should have told me. And I said, don't worry. You've made the lineup up now. He said, look, in two days, we got a road trip to Bradenton. And in baseball, there's a rule that you have to have at least three starters make a spring training road trip, right? Because what they don't want is, you know, fans in Bradenton going to the game, and nobody, one big leaguer Shows up, right? So Bobby's like, I'll make a deal. Two days, we go to Bradenton.
- [21:02]
Liberty Mutual Advertisers
And, Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
- [21:11]
Hey, everyone, Check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
- [21:15]
Jeff Francoeur
Oh, no.
- [21:16]
Liberty Mutual Advertisers
We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.
- [21:22]
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league. Anyways.
- [21:24]
Get a quote@libertymutual.com or with your local agent.
- [21:27]
Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.
- [21:30]
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- [22:00]
Jeff Francoeur
You'll be on that trip. But today, after your first at bat, run through first and act like you hurt your ankle. Just don't go. He's like, don't go overboard. But just kind of, you know, play with a little bit. I'll come running out. I'll take you out of the game. You go meet them and play golf. And I'm like, are you. Are you freaking serious? And he's like, yeah, 100%. So I go over to Smoltzi. They're still stretching. I'm like, dude, I'm in. I mean, I will be right there, 100% in. So that day, I think Chipper had the day off, maybe in someone. So I was hitting, like, third or fourth in spring training. Usually I hit fifth or sixth during the season, but those guys were out. So Bobby moved us up. So I. I ground out. First pitch, dude. I couldn't get out of there quick enough. I run through first base. I started doing my ankle. So Bobby runs out, you know, and he leans down, kind of points to my ankle, and he's like, hey, just remember, you have to limp off the field. You can't go sprinting in the field, you know? So me and him go limping off the field. Dude, I hit the. I hit the where nobody can see me. And I run up the tunnel. No shower, straight. Throw my golf stuff on the little truck thing took me to My car, I get in it, dude, I pull up, those guys are in the first fairway. I bomb my tee shop. We play 27 holes, have dinner at Owl Worth. That night with Tiger and Katie, text me about 4 o'. Clock. And on the little MLB app, it says Frank Cord day to day with a high ankles Ryan. So they put me on the injury report. So the next day we had another home game and I couldn't play. So I took bp. I did everything. So I actually to. To make this funny story and funny, I got to play golf the next day. I didn't play with Tiger, but I got to play the next day because I was injured. And then the next day I made my return in Bradenton versus the Pirates
- [23:47]
Dave (Interviewer)
and played Sarasota, Bradenton, Florida.
- [23:50]
Jeff Francoeur
Yeah, but I remember, like, you want to know what Bobby was? He was like, this is one spring training game. You have a chance to do something that. I mean, I still, I. I got the picture in my basement of me and Tiger on the golf course. You know, like what I mean, he's probably the greatest golfer that's ever lived or the most dominant golfer. And Bobby was like, you know what? But what I tell people is it takes it farther than that, Right? If you had a manager that would do that for you, right now the season starts, you don't think I'm not going to run through a brick wall for that dude? You don't think I'm going to. If I got a bum ankle or a bum arm? You don't think I'm going to do everything I can to fight for win for that man? And so I always say, Bobby, as much as he wanted me to play with him, there was always this motive that he wanted his guys when the season started to give him everything he had.
- [24:38]
Dave (Interviewer)
Well, and you got to be at your best when it's required, right? But what's the. So you come to our golf tournament every year and we're thankful for that. And you can knock the piss out of a golf ball. So what did Tiger teach you? He had to give you some kind of pointer during that lesson or what did you see?
- [24:52]
Jeff Francoeur
So I will tell you this. On hole 17, it's a par. It's a par five there. It's like 650 yards. He's got his own tees, called the Tiger tees at Alworth from the back. So he's got his own tees. And I, I ripped the drive Pollock. I mean, I hammered it. And I'm like. And so he talks a lot of trash. So I turn around and said, catch that? Well, he. Dude, he. He teed it at a little extra higher, and he blew it by me by 30 yards from back.
- [25:19]
Dave (Interviewer)
Further, too.
- [25:21]
Jeff Francoeur
No, same tease, but I'm just saying blew it by me. And he looked at me and said, hey, stick to baseball. But the cool thing is. The cool thing is, is he gave me his driver after the round, and he was like, I think this will fit your swing. You swing obviously, hard like I do. And so, dude, for three years, I used Tiger woods driver, and I told people it had to be the best technology you could ever get, right? Like, Nike's not sending him driver. You get off Dick's Sporting Goods, you know, like, this thing was. Dude, I pounded that driver, but he talked so much crap. I mean, he did not shut up the whole round.
- [25:59]
Dave (Interviewer)
I love that. That. That didn't bother. That didn't bother you because you had heard it, like. But some people, if you did that in golf, to some people, they'd be like, what? Like, you can't. You can't do that.
- [26:09]
Liberty Mutual Advertisers
We.
- [26:09]
Jeff Francoeur
We actually. We, me, Smoltz, and LaRoche took him on three, on one, and we were up two after two holes. Smolty Birdie 1i par 2, part 2. Part 2 is a long part 3. And he actually hit it in the tree, and it dropped in the water. It's a tiny little window. So we go up, too. So we start chirping. He birdies three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and lips out on nine. And beats us two and one on the front.
- [26:34]
Dave (Interviewer)
And you still got the driver.
- [26:37]
Jeff Francoeur
Oh, yeah, I got it. It's cracked now. I cracked the club.
- [26:41]
Dave (Interviewer)
You got to keep. You kept it.
- [26:42]
Jeff Francoeur
It's in my basement down there by the pick, hanging out.
- [26:45]
Dave (Interviewer)
That a boy. I like that. All right, so I'll wrap it up a little bit. I want to ask you about the current Braves. You talked about. You talked, obviously, about one dude. So my buddy was telling me the other day, and I want to know if this is true, because, you know, everybody knows everything. Our manager got kicked out of a game for spearing another player.
- [27:05]
Jeff Francoeur
Yeah, yeah.
- [27:06]
Dave (Interviewer)
Like, legit tackled him.
- [27:08]
Jeff Francoeur
So I will tell you this. Walt Weiss, the Braves manager, is a black belt. Like this dude. You want to talk about putting in the work. He gets the field every day at noon, and he has lunch, and then he goes in the weight room for an hour and a half. And when I mean the weight room, he is pounding. Yet, like, I like this hardcore fan already right now. Yes. So Jorge Solaire, for a lot of people that don't know, most do. He hit the biggest, one of the biggest home runs in Braves history in game six. Yeah, exactly. He's six, six, 250 pounds. Like he's, he could play defensive end in the NFL. I mean, he is a put together. So of course our pitcher, Ronaldo Lopez hits him. So he charges the mouth. Jorge, Jorge Solaire. I mean, Jorge Solaire is a beast. And Walt said, I did not plan on tackling this yacht. But he's like, I got out there and Jorge's a big teddy bear 98% of the time, but he got flipped the switch. And, and so as he's out there, he's like, I saw the look in his eyes and he's like, he's going to kill my pitcher. Like, this is not going to end well. So Walt just said, literally started charging it at Ronaldo Lopez and Walt was like, dude, I just did what came natural. And he form tackled him right, put his head. There's a picture in the, in the locker room now of Walt with his head wrapped. Right? I mean, he's perfect. It's what you teach, right?
- [28:32]
Dave (Interviewer)
Great form. Kept his head out of the contact.
- [28:35]
Jeff Francoeur
Absolutely. He had it wrapped right to the side. And he took Solaire down and, and, and that's what we had Chris Sale on a couple of weeks ago on td. That's what Chris Sale. Kind of like we talk about Bobby Cox. Like, when you see your manager doing that, what are you not going to do for your manager, right?
- [28:51]
Dave (Interviewer)
Like lying.
- [28:52]
Jeff Francoeur
You need me to pitch tomorrow. My arm feels good. You know, you need me to do this and, but do this. So they even got a wine bottle and, and gave him a bottle of wine with, with, with. They got that picture of him tackle him, and they printed out and put it on a wine bottle and gave it, gave it to Walt. So it was amazing.
- [29:13]
Dave (Interviewer)
How good can the Braves be? Can they, how do they maintain this?
- [29:17]
Jeff Francoeur
They got a shot at the Dodgers, right? The Dodgers are everybody's, everybody's measuring tool right now.
- [29:23]
Dave (Interviewer)
I just watched during the playoffs. I'm not a, I'm not a regular season guy, but, but I literally, I remember this playoffs this past year and watching, I'm like, how did you have Freeman, Mookie and Shohei in a row? Like, I remember all of them when they were at other spots and they were the biggest, baddest dudes in the lineup.
- [29:39]
Jeff Francoeur
And then you're not even talking about their, their rotation with Ohtani, Blake, Snell, Yamamoto, who they gave 325 million coming from Japan. So, like, so I did the Dodgers this last year for the playoffs with tbs. Me and Brian Anderson did the Dodgers, Phillies, and I did Dodgers, Brewers. And it was so funny talking to Dave Roberts, their manager, because Dave's a great dude. But Dave was like, man, my job's pretty easy. And I got right this line up on Ohtani's on the mound today, smells on the mound tomorrow, and it was so funny. But I will tell you, sack game four, when Ohtani hit three home runs out there and they beat the brewers, that's one of the loudest I've ever heard of stadium. Like, you know, we're in the booth, and I thought, like, you could hear footsteps. Like, I thought the roof was about to cave in. But I will tell you this, dude, the Braves have a great mojo going. They love each other. They play well. And I think, like, anything. Look, the Braves, that had a nice run. Snit did an unbelievable job. One of my favorite managers ever. But, you know, this man, in sports, sometimes it's good to get a new voice. It's good to get a change. And I think for the braids, getting a few different voices in there has kind of reinvigorated those guys. And they're playing like it right now.
- [30:48]
Dave (Interviewer)
And Snit wouldn't tackle somebody. He wouldn't.
- [30:51]
Jeff Francoeur
And Snit said Snip. Snip was like, if I did that, my neck would be broken. He probably would have picked me up and suplexed me. You know, that's why it takes a
- [31:00]
Dave (Interviewer)
guy like Walt wouldn't have gone, well. So what. What do you just switch gears real quick? What do you love about college football, man? Obviously, we talk about college football a ton here.
- [31:09]
Jeff Francoeur
You know what I love, man, is. Is. And, you know, you're losing it a little bit because of the nil, because everybody just going it. But, like, you know, last year, I was able to take my son and my dad and Katie's dad. We went up to Clemson, lsu, right, and went down on the field before the game. We're sitting there. I'm. Braden was nine at the time, and, you know, they're recruits, so I was holding them up. And when the team started running down the hill, right? Like, I look at his face, and I'm like. And I've. And I've always told. Like, I've told you this. Like, baseball was great for me, but, you know, I've always loved football. I tell people that. They're like, the two And a half hours I got playing high school football. Like I never, for the most part never got that even in a baseball game. Like just that high that you get. And I mean, it's a drug, it's addicting, man. It's so much fun. But I love just the camaraderie, bringing schools together and you know, the, you know, seeing eight teams go to four, seeing, you know, four go to two, and the hype around the games. That's one thing you don't get in baseball, right? Because of every day you don't get the lead in the build up to the game. And you know, like my son, dude, we've been building it up all summer. Like we're going to Clemson, Georgia and actually my son plays at Buford. And we ended up, we had a game that day at noon. So we were going to go after the game and the game got like, the game before us went to overtime. So this game was pushed back 30 minutes and brain just kept saying, dad, we're going to be late. And I'm like, dude, the game's not till 7:30. We got plenty of time. Like we'll get there. But seeing how excited he was all summer and then to get to that, like that's, you know, me and Katie still get up to a Georgia game or two a year with the kids just because it's so much fun, man, to walk around, see everybody tailgating, you know, seeing everybody talk what we got to do to win today, right? Like we got to be able to do this. It's the build up for it. And I don't think there's anything like it. And it truly is still, I know there's money involved today, but. You played the NFL. I played in mlb. You know, there's a lot of people that just show up because they're collecting a paycheck. Like, I know they like it, but like in college you have to love it. Like you have to love it to do it in college, you know.
- [33:21]
Dave (Interviewer)
You know, it's funny you talk about nil. It's kind of like Major League Baseball right now, right? Like it's, there's not really a salary cap. Like, it's kind of a, it's kind of weird, man. It's kind of a frenzy. And you can go.
- [33:34]
Jeff Francoeur
It's a free.
- [33:34]
Dave (Interviewer)
You can afford, you can afford that. Like Dodgers, if they can afford it, they can go do it. I mean, is it. You see those parallels?
- [33:41]
Jeff Francoeur
Yeah. I think what you get scared of, right, is if you're not Georgia, if you're not Ohio State if you're not Alabama if you're not. Some of these schools that have all this money, for the most part, endless money. Let's, let's say what it is. Is it going to get so imbalanced, right, that you're going to only have, you know, 15, 20 teams every year with a chance? And that's been the knock on baseball, right? There has been parody as far as who's won the World Series, but for the most part, you're getting at least seven or eight same teams in the playoffs every year. And the gripe is, right, you go up to Pittsburgh, dude, that is a heavy, rich sports town. Like, you know that with the Steelers, the Pirates were. The Pirates were that for years, man. BNC park is probably the most beautiful park. You have Paul Skeens up there right now, the best pitcher in baseball, right? And they're actually two games above.500 this year. But when the trade deadline comes, can they go pick someone up for 20 million, right? Can they do this stuff? And that's what baseball is fighting over right now. And that's why they're going to get locked out December 1st like the owners want. And I've always gone both ways on this, right? Like, you fight for no salary cap. You do this, I see it a little bit like, can you have a salary cap but then a floor? Because, like, the pirates payroll, think 80 million bucks.
- [35:06]
Dave (Interviewer)
Now, I do know, literally just trying to make money. Literally not trying to compete.
- [35:12]
Jeff Francoeur
No. And that's the problem because of the revenue sharing. You know, that owner's making money. We know that for a fact. And so the fans, why aren't you putting it back in the team, right? Like, why are you not investing that? So I would love a, a floor where it's like, hey, you have to spend 130 million. I think that's what they're talking about, the proposed number somewhere between 125, 130. Because now I look at the Pirates and I'm like, if you add $50 million to, you're adding three or four valued players. Like, now can we see playoff baseball in Pittsburgh? Which would be incredible. Roberto Clemente, you know, Barry Bonds, like, it's a baseball rich town, man. Some of the best. But for the last 20 years, they've been on the outside looking in because they can't do it. That's what I worry about for college football, man. Like, some of these things. We saw it, I talked about it with Josh Brooks. We had Josh Brooks on our Pure Athlete Podcast. And he was talking about, you know, Arkansas just cut out men's and women's tennis.
- [36:08]
Dave (Interviewer)
Tennis.
- [36:08]
Jeff Francoeur
Axed it. And so my question is, what's next? Right? Like, what's, as Josh Brooks will tell you, like, everything in Georgia, their baseball team right now is dominating up there. You know, softballs, going to the super regionals this weekend, basketball, all this stuff. But if he doesn't win in football, none of that matters. You're fired. And so, like, In Arkansas, that ad's thinking, if I don't drop an 8 and 4, 9 and 3 coming up here soon, I'm going to be looking for a new job. So I'll drop tennis. What? Four million bucks. I'll take that money and put it into football. And I get the reason why, man. I get. Football's the money maker. But at the same time, what's going to happen to the rest of the college athletics if this continues to go at this pace? And it's like Ohio State dispense to decides to spend 70 million this year, you know, on their football team. Well, what's Georgia gonna do? They're gonna have to pump that number. Like, you're gonna have no choice. And so there's gotta be some limitations. And that's why I think it's good. There's. It's like. It's like us parenting our kids, right? There's guardrails. We give them guardrails for a reason. You need them. We need guardrails. The Bibles are guardrails. Right. Like, no doubt going in the scripture. Same thing with that, man. There's got to be guardrails at some point. And right now with baseball and with college football, there's nothing. And when it's good, it's good. Right now baseball's up, but at some point, is that going to hit a peak? You know, say the Dodgers one again. Our team's just going to say, man, what's the point of spending an extra 50 million if we know we're just going to lose to the Dodgers?
- [37:37]
Dave (Interviewer)
Yeah, that's crazy. Never. Never even drew that parallel. That's a great one. That was Wes's idea, man. We appreciate your time. Appreciate what you do on Pure Athlete. What y' all got coming up? Y' all got anything good coming up for everybody? I know y'.
- [37:49]
Jeff Francoeur
All.
- [37:49]
Dave (Interviewer)
Y' all talk to everybody, man. It's crazy. Y' all talk to everybody about in the sport.
- [37:53]
Jeff Francoeur
Seems like, yeah, we've got. We've got some good ones, man. Dialed up. We're. We're you know, this summer you, we're going to have some more football guys coming on before the season comes. I know, I think we're going to have you coming back on at some point, which will be awesome, man, because love the perspective. And, and we're doing a new thing with PA baseball. That's really cool. Is, is trying to give these parents some former players and people talk about arm care, right, because you know this, I'm sure from your kids, you know, friends playing baseball. There's 12, 13 year old kids throwing 150 pitches on a weekend now and it's out of control. It's happening everywhere. And you know, you'll hear the coaches say, you know, oh, I'm not going to do that. And then you get in a competitive game, it's like, I'm going to send them out there for one more inning and it's got to stop there. It's, it's going down a dangerous road. So we're really trying to lean into that for these parents and trying to give them some guardrails to help with their kids.
- [38:51]
Dave (Interviewer)
Are you getting to the coaches? Is that the, is that the biggest step?
- [38:55]
Jeff Francoeur
Yeah, yeah, we, we've done it. We've had Tim Corbin, James Ramsey, you know, and we're about to start doing some of these younger players too that just got in the big leagues because you know, perfect game and all this stuff, it wasn't around when I was coming up, right. And a lot of these guys that we've had on, even Matt Olson, Austin Riley, it was just getting started. A lot of These new superstars, 21, 22, 23, they've played in it. And we want to get some dialogue going with them to give perspective of what these parents are facing. And we talk about it all the time, right? Like the numbers of these kids that are going to make it to D1, college or pro, are so minuscule, man, it's so small.
- [39:35]
Dave (Interviewer)
And it's like, it's like when, it's like when you thought you were good at golf and you go play with Tiger woods, you're like, holy, you're horrible. There's levels to this, man.
- [39:43]
Jeff Francoeur
Like you have no doubt I'm a good golfer. And on the scheme of things, dude, I am so far down on the totem pole when it comes to people that could drum me every day. So it's, it's been good, man. I appreciate your support and just trying to continue to speak truth into these parents and give them in coaches too. Right, because you know, you came on ours. There's a coach or two that really poured into you and you are who you are today because of what they did. Those are, those are the coaches we need, not the coaches that can go 60 on a weekend and win a championship.
- [40:13]
Dave (Interviewer)
So the word coach comes with so much credibility. Guess what? I have to. I need you to succeed. There's not relationships like that in life. There's very few like that. So they're going to listen and soak it up and use it. And you can be such a good influence if you choose to keep doing it. Man, we love the way you. I love the way you talk. I love the way you carry yourself, man. We can see, we can see you on tbs. You do the game of the week every week, right? With baseball and.
- [40:41]
Jeff Francoeur
Yep.
- [40:42]
Dave (Interviewer)
So you got what, what you got coming up this week?
- [40:44]
Jeff Francoeur
So I'm off tonight because it's all the kids final. We got awards day, field day and all this stuff. But I'm actually lucky. I'm in Boston next week and I get to do the Braves Red Sox. So not, not much studying for me next week, man. I just get to kind of roll in and do the game.
- [41:00]
Dave (Interviewer)
Fenway was so much fun, by the way.
- [41:02]
Jeff Francoeur
It's awesome.
- [41:02]
Dave (Interviewer)
A couple years ago, that place didn't look like anything has been updated at all. It was awesome. Like so old school.
- [41:10]
Jeff Francoeur
It's the only that Wrigley Field. The only two places that players will tell you. We walk in the locker room. Small. The showers are small. But when you walk out on that field, dude, it's like everything in the world is just perfect.
- [41:22]
Dave (Interviewer)
So cool. Appreciate you, big dog. Thank you so much.
- [41:24]
Jeff Francoeur
Thanks, bud. See you, ma'. Am.
- [41:29]
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