Dunn Muramaru - 2025 ABCA Hall of Fame Inductee

[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the ABCA's podcast. I'm your host Ryan Brownlee. Our sponsor is Core Energy Belt, the trusted source of professional baseball players in both Japan and the USA. With over 700 professionals, including two former MVPs, relying on these belts, Core Energy has established itself as a leader in performance and durability. I've been wearing their belts for a while now and the added back support has made a noticeable difference both on and off the field. They offer free shipping and a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. Go to corenergybelt.com and use code ABCA2025 to save 15 on your first purchase. I'll repeat that go to Core Energy Belt and use the code ABCA2025 to save 15% on your first purchase. This episode is sponsored by Netting Pros. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time. Netting Professionals specializes in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for backstops, batting cages, dugouts, BP screens and ball carts. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen turf, turf protectors, dugout benches, dugout cubbies and more. Netting Professionals is an official partner of the ABCA and continues to provide quality products and services to many high school, college and professional fields, facilities and stadiums throughout the country. Netting Professionals are improving programs one facility at a time. Contact them today at 844-620-2707 or infoettingpros.com visit them online at www.nettingpros.com or check out NettingPros on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. Make sure to let CEO Will Minor know that the ABCA sent you. Now on to the podcast. Dun Muramaru has had a profound impact on Hawaii baseball during his nearly 50 year coaching career. The 2024 National High School Baseball Coaches association hall of Fame Inductee has led the baseball program at Mid Pacific institute in Honolulu, Hawaii for nearly 40 years. Since 1987, he has led the Owls to five state titles and won over 600 games throughout his nearly 50 year coaching career. In addition to his five Hawaii state titles and six state runner up finishes, his teams have also won 14 Interscholastic League of Honolulu championships while finishing second six times. Muramaru was honored as an ABCA Diamond Sports High School Division 3 Regional Coach of the Year in 2012. He's also been named the Hawaii State Coach of the Year on four occasions and the ILH Coach of the Year 12 times. Let's welcome Dunn Muramaru to the podcast. [00:03:07] Speaker B: Foreign. [00:03:10] Speaker A: Muramaru ABCA hall of fame. 37 years coaching at Mid Pacific Institute. Almost 50 overall, but five state titles and almost 615 career wins. So, Dunn, thanks for jumping on with me. Sure took us a while to get connected. Yeah, life gets in the way. So it took us a little bit to get connected, but congrats on the honor. This is awesome. [00:03:33] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you very much. [00:03:35] Speaker A: Any challenges with coaching over in Paradise? [00:03:39] Speaker B: Not really. I mean, whenever I see people doing indoor practices, I kind of laugh. The only time I do indoor practice, when it is storms, you know, and then most of the time we're just, you know, making sure the field gets dry. But, you know, there's not really that much challenges. I think maybe kids go surfing and have other things to do. Maybe, but not really we can practice much as we like. [00:04:06] Speaker A: I mean, that's part of the culture, though, isn't it, for you all having other things to do, dealing with distractions. But that's part of the culture, isn't it? [00:04:13] Speaker B: That's right. Yeah. But it's. It's okay. I don't. I don't see anything wrong with it. I mean, we can do anything we want. Our facility has a weight room. It has batting cages, you know, locker room. So, you know, we just have a good time over here. [00:04:35] Speaker A: Love it. You've sent over 100 players to play at the next level. You've never had an issue with getting kids recruited by the States. [00:04:46] Speaker B: It's just a long way away, so. Only lately, with all these travel balls and all that stuff, I think the kids get seen a little bit more. But ever since the COVID I think we've had more players jump on these travel teams, and we have a Legion program. And sometimes it gets a little tricky managing both the Legion and the travel ball situation. [00:05:21] Speaker A: I. I was at Iowa for a while, but I would. Would always see Hawaii. Hawaii native kids at, like, the Arizona Fall Classic. [00:05:31] Speaker B: Well, yeah, they. They have. These have two teams. I think Dwayne Eldridge used to bring up a team, Hawaii Gold and Blue, but now I think there's a couple other groups that bring them in, so they kind of water down the talent a little bit. Before, it was pretty exclusive going to the Arizona Fall Classic, but now it's getting a little watered down. [00:05:57] Speaker A: Mid Pacific Institute. Is that regular curriculum than other schools, or is it different? [00:06:03] Speaker B: It's a private school. It's a private school. And then maybe about 10 years ago, we added an elementary school. We used to be at dorms. We had a dorm, and the dorm was right next to our baseball field. And I remember I used to steal power from the dorm to run our pitching machines. But since then we've had our, you know, we had many, many improvements. So it's not too bad. [00:06:30] Speaker A: How long did it take you to get your improvements? [00:06:35] Speaker B: Well, I started there. I started coaching 86. We had a dugout put in around 89. It was just one big flat area. And then I think in 95 I went to the windward side, collected banana stalks and went to the windward wide eye side and picked up rocks and made an emu and made about twenty something thousand dollars. And then we built our batting cage and we took out that big tree and. Right. And you know, since then, you know, we've been making improvements. [00:07:10] Speaker A: What was your inspiration for that type of fundraiser? [00:07:14] Speaker B: The parrots, parents, you know, because we had. We had a batting cage that took us an hour to put up. It was in, it's in. We had to put the poles up and we had to run this. The ropes through it. And then we put the poles up and sometimes they'd pinch your hand and. And then we took the batting or the pitching machine out, aimed it and it took about an hour. Then the dorm kids started stealing our ropes. So we had to lock it on there. And it was kind of funny how we did it. We stuck eye bolt through the pole and then we got a big washer. Drilled a holding washer. And then we tied it onto the ropes and then we locked it with the p. Locker locks that have the key in the back. I mean it was, it was a circus. [00:08:08] Speaker A: How come you had to take it down? [00:08:11] Speaker B: No, we had to take the net down. [00:08:13] Speaker A: Yeah. So with every use though, do you have to put it up and take it down every time you used it? [00:08:19] Speaker B: Yeah, because it was outdoors. It was just outdoors. I mean, and it rains a lot in. In Manoa. We're right next to the university. So that. So the old guys come back, that left man comes back and they see the batting cage and then I tell them by myself, I set up the cage with three. I set up the cage, put out the balls and everything for like takes me about 15 minutes by myself. And the kids are just grumpy. You know, the older ones come in and they say, wow, the guys are so lazy, you know, because they remember it took about an hour to put up the old cage. [00:08:53] Speaker A: You guys have 21 sports there. Do you have many multi sport athletes that play baseball? [00:09:00] Speaker B: Not really. We don't have football. We used to have football. We don't have football anyway. It kind of takes away some of the athletes. But I think we have one player that plays basketball. It's. I mean I think now I think to be a multi sport athlete you gotta be a good athlete. You know, I think baseball is kind of like golf, you know, you got practice all the time. It's a skill sport, you know. [00:09:31] Speaker A: So yeah, that's that thing that always comes out with the NFL draft. And I like, you know, this guy played three or four sports in high school. But it's like, okay, they're predisposed to being able to play three or four sports. And in high school where some guys that such a skilled sport, especially get past your sophomore year, if you want to have a chance to go to the next level and you're not a great athlete, you better focus on it. [00:09:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean you got to be, you know, if you, if you're not running the 60 under six five or you know, your vertical is not 30 something inches, you know you're gonna have to have some pretty good skills. [00:10:12] Speaker A: You've won five state championships. Do you talk much about winning state championship with the players? [00:10:18] Speaker B: Not really. How's Catholic? Because that never ever entered my mind honestly when I was, I was at Kalani High School, private school, public school and they won one in 1970. They had some really good players. They had like three major leaguers, Olympian on that team. But I got there after all those guys left and I coached for about 10 years and state tournament was never even in our, in my mind. Then I went to where I am now at Mid Pacific and we had won like three games in the previous two years. So that was kind of like the farthest thing from our mind. But I remember Legion, we took, we made Legion teams so we could catch up during the summer. And we accidentally won a state championship in 86. You know, they ran the tournament wrong I think and we won it. And since then, you know, I think the Persona of our team got better. I mean just the culture got better. And then in 90 when we won the first one, that was, that was something else. I mean our school never did before and we played at Rainbow Stadium and the place was packed and had so much mid pack guys. It was so, it was so neat. I still remember that for a high. [00:11:45] Speaker A: School coach going to a program like that where they've only won three games the year before, where's the first place you focused, try to get things changed. [00:11:56] Speaker B: I don't know where to start. I mean I think basically lifting weights. We had to get stronger in order to compete. And then you teach them to do the things right, just doing the right way, like playing catch, pitch, throwing strikes, putting a ball in play and. Yeah, and just those things, those real basic stuff, and then hopefully get enough talent to, you know, to compete, because. [00:12:28] Speaker A: You'Re training right now. But back then, not a lot of schools were lifting back then. [00:12:34] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, we had. We had to lift. [00:12:36] Speaker A: I mean, so what program, you know, for somebody that may be having to do it on their own, what type of program are you running them through? Because you're going early morning lifting, right? [00:12:47] Speaker B: Sort of. We just make them work like football players. They just got to get stronger. Their whole, you know, clean squats, hicks, just your basic lifts, I mean, and get them as strong as you can and then, you know, lead, long toss and all that other stuff. But you got to compete in the weight room, too. So we put up all their. Their weights, you know, the max weights and stuff, and it makes a big difference. I mean, they don't like to see themselves on the bottom of the list. So they work hard. That's the motivation itself. [00:13:27] Speaker A: How long does it take you to teach somebody to clean? [00:13:30] Speaker B: Not that long. I mean, I mean, we have a kind of, a lot of leeway there. I mean, as long as they don't. They don't. They're not getting. Not getting dangerous, you know, so. Yeah, I mean, you know, keep it. [00:13:48] Speaker A: I'm a clean fan. I think it's a great exercise. It's technical lift. But our guys that. That enjoyed it. They really enjoyed it. They were good at it. I mean, it's a. It's a process like anything else. I think the good thing with high school kids is, like, you're really not going to screw them up. Like, just get them on some sort of a program. Just get them on a program, right? [00:14:07] Speaker B: And then you got to make them lift until they feel that they feel bad if they don't lift. You know, I remember. I remember a long time ago when I. When I went to the ABCA and I saw Kerry Rosenbloom of Wichita State talking about lifting. And he said, those guys, they left eight times a week. And I was thinking, eight, there's only seven days in a week. So I'm thinking it must be lifting before games and stuff. And sure enough, that's what he said. He said, the guys feel funny if they don't lift before. And I kind of took it from there. But, I mean, we don't live eight times a week. But I mean, you know, it's not, you know, it's not where you can lift too much. I mean, as long as they have a feeling that they got to live. [00:14:53] Speaker A: You can acclimate to anything. And I was right in that time playing, I played at Evansville against Wichita, so we always followed Kerry stuff. And so I would lift before games because I knew Wichita's guys were, were lifting before games. And I, my best seasons were once I started to do that, like. And I don't think people ask enough of themselves physically. I think people get to that point and then they back off. I don't think they ever really get to that threshold of, of pushing where your maximum is. I just don't think people push themselves enough. [00:15:25] Speaker B: Yeah, and, and so they get bound up. I, you know, they hardly ever get wound up too tight so they can't do stuff. I mean, so most kids are just so loose that we need to get them a little tighter. [00:15:38] Speaker A: Do you feel like your skill sets changed much over the years, coaching wise? [00:15:43] Speaker B: Yeah, it's better. [00:15:45] Speaker A: What's better? [00:15:47] Speaker B: Just the teaching part. Like, when I first started, I thought, okay, I'm going to teach, I'm going to tell them how to do stuff and let's see if it works, you know, So I say, okay, try this and, and try this, try this if it doesn't work. And, and then now it's kind of like, I know, like, okay, I gotta do this. Okay, try this. And I put them on the side, let them go. I work on somebody else and I keep looking at what they're doing and, and then they come back. So, okay, let's try it again. And you know, it's, that part is better. And I, I think I have more ways to teach stuff like fielding ground balls and stuff. I'm a big fan of Kaino Correa. I mean, I get to see him every year and we have this kind of, kind of neat thing like he does stuff that I intuitively know, but he puts a label to it. And it's so funny, once I told him, you know, Kainoa, I think that's wrong. And he goes, you're right. And it was, it was a 50, 50 ball where I said, you know, I think you gotta receive it and, or, and not, not shorten it up. And, and he said, you're right. And I said, and he told me later, he says, because it's a 50, 50 ball, so whatever you're more comfortable comfortable with, that's how you would feel that ground ball. So I mean, I mean it goes on and on. I, I, I just have so much respect for him. And you know, my son went to Puget Sound because he was going to go there. I mean, he was going to coach there. And then he left to go Northern Colorado. So, like, oh, gosh. [00:17:28] Speaker A: But it worked out for Kai, though. Yeah, he made, he made the right choice. I saw him this summer. I went, I was at the Division 3 World Series, so I saw the Guardians place. So I got a chance to talk to Kai for a while. A wonderful person. [00:17:42] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, he's a super. And yeah, I coached against his grandfather and his dad, so that was kind of neat, too. [00:17:51] Speaker A: So what are you trying to get done with your guys in training right now, in practice. [00:17:57] Speaker B: Right now? Our hitting, we try to shorten them up a little bit. A lot of times they're a little longer, they're not strong enough to be long, so we shorten them up. We try pepper a lot more and get them their fielding, getting their reads off the bat better, their base running, getting your starts from third, working on the delay, steel reeds and stuff like that. You know, just trying to clean up stuff. Oh, the first and first and second bun situation. You know, I've added so much stuff since then just by watching Jerry Weinstein once on the YouTube video. And I said, wow, that's kind of neat. So I tried it and it's real different where the shortstop runs and he crosses over and he goes all the way to first and they crisscross and stuff. It was kind of neat. And I found out that when we did that, the runners get confused, the defense, so, so, like, you know, they wouldn't get that good jump to third and then the batters would get confused too. So if they were bunting to first, they change and bunt to third and they'd pop it up. And so I saw a lot, you know, there's a lot of things that happened that I never foresaw happening, you know, doing those things. So, yeah, those things take a long time to teach. So that's what we're kind of doing now. [00:19:18] Speaker A: Have you, how'd you pull the trigger on that in games? Like, okay, it's, it's time for us to do this where we're gonna have the middle infielders crisscross. [00:19:25] Speaker B: We just have signs or call it out and stuff. [00:19:29] Speaker A: Like, I know just because you do it in practice doesn't mean you're, you're gonna have the guts. [00:19:33] Speaker B: Yeah, we practice calling it out in practice. Yeah, we Practice it like 5, 4, cross or 63 cross or something, 60 cross, crowner, that kind of stuff. So, I mean, I think, I think we have the most different first and second plays. And then we also tell them you gotta watch when they slash or something like that. You know, this. It's kind of like football where they, you know, you have your play and then the counter play and the counter of the counter and that kind of stuff. But for me, that's fun. But yeah. [00:20:05] Speaker A: How long does it take you to lay out Pepper for them? I don't anymore and I know, I know. I love. You know, you get a kid that's probably never seen that before, I still think there's a lot of value to it. But most of the kids that come show up to you or never played Pepper before. Yeah, but where it might be dangerous in the beginning, honestly, because kids are like. [00:20:29] Speaker B: We kind of explained to them why you. Pepper is part of the fielding and stuff. I told them when I played our guys, the guy we used to play with, I used to play only with the infielders because outfielders don't throw strikes, but guys throw curveballs and knuckleballs and stuff and still have to one bouncing back to them. And so in our batting cage we have a little scoreboard and then, you know, they, they count how many consecutives and then we put it up on the board and then we put the guy's name down and then we had, we had them getting like sub sandwiches or something or free sub or something like that every month. But it's getting kind of expensive and I got, I got surgery and stuff, so I wasn't around. So yeah, we kind of. That kind of went to the wayside a little. But we have a scoreboard up there. [00:21:20] Speaker A: So if we were struggling offensively, we went to Long Pepper for our first round of batting practice. We would go to Long Pepper. [00:21:29] Speaker B: We do that before practice. [00:21:32] Speaker A: How much time do you have pre practice with them? [00:21:35] Speaker B: Whenever they come? I start practice at three. Like right now it's great. But we can only practice twice. When we can practice twice, we can lift weights, but we can only practice twice. I think when the season starts we have, let's see, we start class gets over around three. But some kids, they have free periods, so they come and I'll work with whatever they got to work on. But we do a visualization at the start. So about, you know, on Saturdays and Sundays, I, I come if they practice at 8, we. They come at 7 and we work on, you know, stuff like Kai does, you know, with those, with the Pitching machine balls and shoot them. And then they work on things like that. I mean, whatever they want to work on, we work on it. And if there's something that I need for them to work on, I'll work with them. [00:22:30] Speaker A: You have set visualization that you have them. Do they do the same everyday visualization? [00:22:34] Speaker B: Oh, no, no. One of our coaches, he's in charge of that, so he does different ones. He has one for pre game. He has one for pitchers and stuff. Yeah, I started doing a long time ago when I saw Robiza, Ken Roviza. So, yeah. And you know, the kids at the beginning, they kind of think it's a lot of hope. He's kind of hokey. And then they see, wow, skiers do it. These Olympic guys do it, maybe, but there's something to this stuff. So. And then I think it was one of our players. He's with the Mets now, this white young. He's a AAA guy now, shortstop. And he asks our coach to, can you make him a video? I mean, a tape for him? I said, you can get him on. I said, you can get everyone on YouTube and stuff. But he goes, ah, nah, nah, nah. I want to hear coach Scott's voice. [00:23:30] Speaker A: So I still send the one out that I used with our players. I'll still have guys ask for it. Even though I haven't coached in forever, I'll still have guys reach out and ask for it. [00:23:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I had to figure out what the whole thing was about, you know, So I did it and I'd fall asleep and stuff. And then I try and kind of figure it, what. What it really does, you know, but there's different. Different results from different types of visualization. So, yeah, we just try to figure out everything that we do. [00:24:03] Speaker A: I thought we usually did it post practice or I'd send stuff for them to listen to at night. And I. I felt like it allowed them to actually get a decent night's sleep. Like that was selfishly, as a coach, I knew they were going to have a hard time getting to bed. The one that I would send progressive muscle relaxation techniques. I felt like even if it's just they get a better night's sleep, they're going to perform better just. Just by getting a better night's sleep. [00:24:28] Speaker B: Well, that's a good idea. [00:24:32] Speaker A: Was coaching. Was coaching in high school always the going to be the option for you or you were going to try to do something else? [00:24:41] Speaker B: Well, I had the opportunity to coach at hpu, you know, and they asked me, and then I thought it Was a step down because we had better facilities. And, you know, I enjoy what I'm doing, you know. You know, I, I really do enjoy what I'm doing because I work with the seventh graders, eighth graders, ninth graders, and, you know, it. For me, that's what I like to do. I mean, it's fun. [00:25:09] Speaker A: Ikigai. [00:25:11] Speaker B: Huh? [00:25:11] Speaker A: It's a Japanese term for. For find your passion. [00:25:14] Speaker B: Oh, and we go with Kaizen. [00:25:19] Speaker A: I, I, yeah, well, Kaizen's another one too, because a continual, continuous improvement. [00:25:24] Speaker B: Yeah. And then that other one, Koto Waki. [00:25:28] Speaker A: What's Kotowaki? [00:25:30] Speaker B: I know one of our players that went away is basically improvement, getting very improvement. But he had on his shirt. I mean, what is that? So I looked it up, and I've had my sensei is this guy, Carlton Hunter. He's in the Houston hall of Fame. You know, he was a player there, and then he was on the first team from Houston that went to the College World Series. And so he ended up playing with the Nankai Hawks and stuff. But, you know, every time I talk to him, I feel like I'm Luke Skywalker and he's Yoda. Like, I mean, he always tells you, you gotta prepare, you gotta prepare. So this one time, this other great coach in Hawaii, you know, he was coaching us, and he went off to the mountain and playing third base. And then I know he wants to change the pitcher, but then he didn't have him warmed up. So he talks for a little while. Umpire comes out, he walks off the mound, and then he stops. He starts talking to umpire. I was like, why is he talking about him? Talking to him about that. Then he stops. And you know, the kind old KG Fox kind of coach, he stops. He goes, hey, you know what? I'm gonna change the pitcher. Meanwhile, the pitch had all that time to warm up. So I told my sensei, right, Carlton Hunter, I said, hey, this is what he did. And he looks at me, you know, real stern. He goes, you know, I told you to prepare, right? And I go, yeah. So if he had prepared, he wouldn't have to stoop to those kinds of tricks, you know, but inside him, that's a good trick. I'm going to use it later on, you know, But I mean, those, those are the kind of stuff that he would, he would teach me, you know, and I got to play for him. And it was, it was something else. It was really good. [00:27:12] Speaker A: Is that how you all got connected because you played for him? [00:27:16] Speaker B: Yeah, a couple years. He was in, he was in Japan. He Was coaching the Nankai Hawks. And then he got sick. I think he had cancer or something. So he came back and that's why he came back. And he's actually from our school. You know, he went to school at Mid Pacific, but we, we thought he was this Asian Caucasian guy because he was Hunter. So we thought it was Carlton Hunter. Yeah. And then when he came out, like a small Japanese guy, like that was kind of funny. [00:27:47] Speaker A: Easier, more difficult to coach kids now with the changes in society. [00:27:52] Speaker B: Yeah, a little bit. They're not tough. They're not, they're not, they're not resilient. I guess the word is there's. You have to explain stuff to them, you know, and then you have to be nicer. You can be like hardcore. You can't be old school. I mean, there's some guys you can. Those are the guys that, you know that they can do it. Like. Like that kid, white, young. I mean, he's with the, he's with the Mets. I mean, he's 5 foot 7 in all of 150. And he's competing in Mauricio and Jet Williams and Acuna up there. And you know, when he plays, they play him as short. They play a lot of guys, the second and center field. So I mean, but those guys are getting all the, you know, all the cred and stuff. And so I, I just hope he ever makes it to the bigs. I'm flying out my guy. Watch him. I got to see him work in Arizona with Craig Wallenbrock for a week. Two sets of one week periods and, you know, he just works. I mean, that's not a kid. Like, you know, when he was a junior, he hit.211, I think, for us. And his senior year he. Everything clicks. He becomes player of the year in our league. He goes to Pepperdine. And so I asked him, how did you get to go to Pepperdine? He goes, well, you know, I went to their camp. I did pretty good. No, no, that can't be it. So when do you go to the camp? He goes, oh, I was there kind of early. Like the coach was sweeping up, asked him if I needed, if he needed help. I go, that's how you made it. So now his freshman year, he gets invited to the Cape Cod League, right? So, and I looked him up and he's like temporary. So I go, oh, Cat. He's gonna be there like two days. And he comes home, he ends up, he ends up being a starting shortstop. He ends up making the all star team. And he Goes to that one of the All Star Games and Cape Cody comes back and tells me, you know what's so funny? Because all these guys from Arizona and all these big schools, you know, juniors and seniors, they ask me, hey, what's your approach? And he's thinking, I should be asking them guys what the approach is, you know, and he just, he's, there's no way he should be where he's at now. I mean that honestly. But he's a. Aaa I mean, and you know, I, I'm just amazed. He comes, he comes down, he, guess what? He works, he calls me. He, he works out at our field now because he's back home. And he goes, oh, what time are you coming tomorrow? Tomorrow's Christmas. He goes, yeah, okay, what time? 8 o'clock. Okay, let's go. So come at 8 o'clock Christmas Day. [00:30:34] Speaker A: So that toughness, environment, genetics, mix of both. [00:30:41] Speaker B: Who, him? Yeah, no. His grandfather was one tough guy. He was a principal at Waipahe, one of the tougher schools, and he used to be a football coach. And I used to watch the grandfather coach because he coached my brother. I just watched him, his techniques and stuff. A tough guy, you know. But I don't know, I guess that rubbed off. I mean. Yeah. [00:31:07] Speaker A: How do you keep kids accountable now? I mean, it's not like the old days where you can maybe get them at, get after them like you used to be able to in the old days. How do you keep kids accountable now? [00:31:17] Speaker B: We just make sure that. We make sure that they own the program a little bit more. Like we talk about, hey, this is what you guys need to do if we want to be really good, you know, you guys have to be accountable. Like yesterday we cleaned up the whole facility, you know, so they took some time, they cleaned it up. Yeah, it's got to be there. It's got to be their decision to do stuff. You know, I said, I can come here and do this, but if you guys start doing it, then it's going to be more meaningful for you. Think we have a couple kids that one of them beats me to the facility in the morning sometimes, you know, and, you know, he, he talked to the kids the other day where we had practice at 1:00 and, and they had, they finished school 11:30. So, you know, I expect them right to be there a little early and doing some stuff. They come at five to one. So I told them, you know what, I don't feel like practicing today. You guys can all go home. I mean, I, I guess Nicely. And then so I had to go outside because I was so mad. I had, I still have a boot on, you know, from my ankle surgery. But I lined the field at that day I was so pissed off I had to go get paint and I lined the field with the boot on and stuff. And I, as I went out of the facility, I saw the players. That one kid was talking to them. So the next day we had an optional practice. They were there before I came and I went there at 6:30 and then the kids somewhere there at 6 and they ran their own practice. So you know, that made me feel a little bit better. We don't have that much talent but I think we can throw strikes and you know, do stuff right. I think we have a good chance. [00:33:08] Speaker A: Well, and it's a more enjoyable experience too. I don't think players always understand that like when you're doing everything right, the coach is going to be more enjoyable to be around as well now. [00:33:17] Speaker B: Yeah, like, like you're, you know, like last year we had 12 kids get expelled from our school in the middle of the season. I don't know if you heard about that. But so we, it was right before the season started and it was devastating. I mean, you know, and so we basically played with JV guys. Well, the fourth tonight. Battery JV guys or backup players. We had a good team last year. I mean on paper I thought we had a chance to go to the state and duo. So we, we lost 12 guys and then. Yeah, so we start off three and three and then, and then we won the next six. So we ended up tied for first with two other team and people just wondering like, you know what. Honestly, somebody up there was helping us out. I swear they're helping us out. I mean there are things that I was doing. There's no way that you're supposed to grow and things are happening. But anyway, so we have a two game playoff, right. With the other two teams and we lost the first one. So we're out. And so then we have a. What do they call a league tournament, a double elimination tournament. And the winner of that plays the regular season champion. They go to the state. So we didn't do too well in that either. You know, one, two, barbecue and we're out there. But it's because, you know, it finally caught up to us. But the kids, the kids did so well. I mean I was so proud of them, you know, and then the parents are just outstanding, you know, they're just outstanding. [00:35:04] Speaker A: And you know, ask you about parents if you have many parent issues. [00:35:08] Speaker B: Yeah, we, we. Well, I'm at the issues because they don't come talk to me. You know, they kind of talk behind your back and stuff. But, you know, whatever. I mean, heck, I don't care now. I mean, now that I got this honor, like, you know, I got some cred now, right? You know, I mean, I, I, I'm just, I really, to this day, I'm still flabbergasted that I got this thing. [00:35:35] Speaker A: Like, why, though? I mean, if you look at, if, if you look at what you've done over your lifetime of coaching, your coaching career, like, you've done a lot. Like. And that's why I appreciate interviewing our hall of Fame inductees because they are so humble. Like it. But I think that that's part of getting into is, is that humbleness. Like, I think you have to have that. I think it's hard to get in. There's a lot of guys that have never gotten in that probably deserve to get in. But, you know, in the back of your mind, why they haven't gotten in? Because they haven't handled. Always handled things the right way either. [00:36:05] Speaker B: Well, I mean, the first year I ever coached, I probably did everything wrong. I had to see the vice principal. I had to see the ad, and it wasn't for those guys. If it was now, I'd be done. Okay. I mean, I did not so good things. And so now when I look back and I look now, what's happening is. It's like, I can't believe this stuff is happening. Honestly, you know, just. I'm just being honest. Straight up honest. I mean, it's nice, but, you know, it's. [00:36:41] Speaker A: I mean, what motivates you to keep going? Because you love it. [00:36:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I like, I like it. I like it. I joke with people that I golf and I fish. So the guys that are not so good on my team know how I know how they feel. Oh, goodness gracious. [00:37:02] Speaker A: Have you had to adjust with technology at all? [00:37:06] Speaker B: You know, that's kind of funny. I have that with that pocket radar. Okay. And I just do it just so that I calibrate myself. Like, I would tell. I tell my coach, I think I got this guy, he's about 82, and then he click it on, they go, oh, pretty close. That was 79 or what? He said 81 or something. I saw about one or two off. You know, I just have to see the first one and I, you know, and, you know, even exit velocity, I can tell if they gotta get jammed I don't know if he sits off them at a bat. I mean, you know, it's not. It's not rocket science. I mean, long time ago, I thought that a guy that throws a heavy ball. Yeah. Was a big guy. Was always a big guy. You know, he threw a heavy ball. You know, when you hit him, it's like hitting a rock. And so I just theorized that the guy that is big and he throws the ball hard and you hit it, it feels like a rock. Probably doesn't have good spin rate, you know. And then when the thing came out with all this stuff, hey, I was right. I mean, you know, that was kind of the idea. Like, guys that. That throw the ball at really well and a lot of high spin rate, like degrom like that, they get hit and the ball flies off their back, you know. And then once a while you get guys like Nolan Ryan, who just is so strong and, you know, he just blows them by and they don't hit too many home runs off him. [00:38:35] Speaker A: But that's why they have allowed those guys to throw, pitch up in the zone a lot more. Those high spin. Right guys. Like, I think that's been the benefit because it used to be just pitch down, pitch down, pitch down. I think that's been the benefit of the metrics now is like, okay, that guy shouldn't try to pitch down because if he does and somebody makes contact with it, it's going to go out of the ballpark. So I think it's. It's allowed them to use their arsenal a little bit better by what's telling them, because kids don't always listen to coaches. [00:39:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, that's right. Yeah. [00:39:05] Speaker A: Here's what the data saying. You may not want to listen to me about this, but here's what the dad is actually saying. So I guess this is the way you may want to do things. [00:39:14] Speaker B: Yeah, but I mean, I've never had a kid that chew in the 90s, never, ever. [00:39:20] Speaker A: So it's not necessary. [00:39:22] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, yeah, that's what I try to tell the kids. I said, you know, kids are so in love with Velo. I'd ask them, how do you do this summer? Oh, I hit 88. I go, well, how many first pitch strikes? Well, I don't know. I mean, you know, so, yeah, that's how I was laughing when the Nationals have that sign in their bullpen. We don't care how hard you throw. All four. That was kind of funny. I kind of laugh. I want to put that up in our Bullpen. [00:39:56] Speaker A: Is that your biggest philosophy pitching wise is get the first, get the first strike? [00:40:00] Speaker B: Yeah, get them over. I mean, if you pitch when the player doesn't, has, has like, what do you call like, it's not a. When the pitchers, the hitters doesn't have that pitch that they know it's coming, like 2o fastball, they won't hit the ball. Well, I mean, most guys, they'll hit a pitch that they know what's coming. Like the first pitch. Fastball. Like I know when one of our schools, punahou won seven state championships in a row, they change up every hitting count and we know it's coming and then we still can't do anything away that, you know. And I keep telling the kids, you know, you gotta try to change because I said when I played, fastball is fastball. You know what fastball looks like? Curveball looks, you know what the curveball looks like. But the change of the team looks like the fastball. And so I keep telling when you watch a guy warm up in the pen, you know, in the bullpen, watch what he throws. I said when I played, I used to get worried if he chose to change up a lot because that, that one is like, you don't know if that's the right. You know, you're swinging at the good pitch. [00:41:08] Speaker A: That's pitching. Baseball is a change up. It's the best pitch in baseball. [00:41:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:41:13] Speaker A: What are some things you've kept over the years? Team wise, individual, defense wise? What are some things you've kept over the years? [00:41:21] Speaker B: Getting a glove out early, making good throws, getting a cutoff man, getting ball to the opposite field. Work on bunning a lot. And that's another, that's another skill that needs to get worked on. I mean, I don't like to watch major league guys bun because he's bun, it's poorly. [00:41:46] Speaker A: So where do you start with your bump mechanics? [00:41:50] Speaker B: We tell them to catch the ball, they pick up the ball early, follow the ball in, you know, and some guys are more talented. They get good I hand skills so they can bunt a little bit better. And you know, I demonstrate because I can bun, you know, and they, they always look at this old guy and I bunt the law on the third baseline. And then they go, oh, that's how you're supposed to do it. This is how you do it. And you just bun it down. There was funny. My son is left handed and I was. And he's pretty fast. So when he was playing for us, I said, hey, you Gotta work on your bunt on third base. And he goes, he tried to do it a couple times. Dad, I can't do it. Okay, give me the bat. So I bunt left handed. I bun on the line and that was so lucky. And after that I walked away and he, after that he started, he started working on his body. If dad can do it, I can do it too then. And I'll say, oh, thank goodness I put it down in game. [00:42:44] Speaker A: Do you manage from the dugout or you coach third base? [00:42:46] Speaker B: I gotta go on third base. [00:42:48] Speaker A: There's coach third base forever. [00:42:50] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Because you cannot get the feel of what's happening in the game from there. And then you can, can do so much stuff out there. That's why I had two, I had two ankle replacement surgeries this on this past year. And I'm almost finished with this and I, it's going to be touching goal whether I make it up there with a boot on, you know, because At High School 1, in the beginning of this month, I went up in a boot. So I was kind of like that guy was that Angus Young of ecdc. Okay. You know who that is? [00:43:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm a big music guy. [00:43:28] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. [00:43:28] Speaker A: Dave girl had to do it too. Dave girl broke his leg one, one, he, he, he toured with a boot on too. But yeah, I know acdc. [00:43:35] Speaker B: Oh yeah, that was one of my jokes up there in high school. And. Yeah. [00:43:41] Speaker A: So anyway, what would you like to see for high school going forward? High school baseball besides players being a little bit more resilient? And by the way, I think that's a narrative. I have younger kids. I think it's a narrative with society where things are supposed to be easy. I think we have to reverse that narrative for young kids. Like life is supposed to be challenging. I think once we reverse that narrative for younger kids growing up, that life's supposed to be challenging. I think kids will become more resilient and not happening. I, I'm gonna keep throwing it out there. I don't, I don't keep throwing it out there. [00:44:14] Speaker B: You know, when they, when they make bats, no sting, you know, I mean that's, I, I played high school baseball with, you know, Gary Carter kind of helmet, you know, and wood bats. I mean, I played with wood bats when I was, I have 20, what, 27ish, 27 ounce bat. And if you hit a junk, the thing would sting. Right. And you learn not to hit the ball inside or hit the end, you know, and it was funny. We were at the Louisville training With that Louisville Experimentals place in la. And then you're talking about that sting thing. And then one of the guys said, oh, yeah, I just let my son use the one that stings. That they gotta learn that. Yeah, if you hit it junk, it's gonna hurt, you know, so. Yeah, so, yeah, it's. And, oh, before, when we first started at my school, we didn't let them use batting gloves. So we just taped the blisters. Tape them, Let the blisters bleed. Okay. When the blisters bleed, then I'll put. You can put something on it, you know, and. But then we got. You know, we got some kickback from the guys, you know, like, this is. [00:45:27] Speaker A: It makes sense. Figure out with bats that sting, where to get this ball in the sweet spot. But then the other thing, once you have gloves on all the time, it's like kids that use that wear shoes too early. Like, you lose feel with batting gloves on your hands all the time. You lose feel for the barrel. Where with young kids, when I'm still working with them, I'll make them take their batting gloves off every once in a while just to feel the barrel out in their fingertips. [00:45:52] Speaker B: Yeah, but their hands are so soft that they get blisters and stuff. So that was one of the reasons, because, you know, we'll hit like four or five hours and, you know, if they just hit without the gloves, they get blistered. They still get blisters with the batting gloves on. So. Yeah. [00:46:11] Speaker A: Who's the best high school player to come out of Hawaii? [00:46:18] Speaker B: Good question. Well, I like a guy right now, Isaiah. I like him. He's not the best guy that came out, but I like the way he plays. I like. I like his character. He just got married last week. You know, he's. He's. He makes us proud. You know, he makes us proud of that. I don't know. My good friend Mike Lum was pretty good with the Reds, you know, Glenn Sakata, that's my other friend. You know, they're all good players. I mean, yeah, somebody's gonna. Somebody's gonna get me for this. [00:47:05] Speaker A: How many assistants have you had over the years? [00:47:08] Speaker B: I don't know. I have one. Craig Hayashi, he's been with me 36. He's probably the best pitching coach in our state. And then Scott Muramoto, he's been with me 34 years. He's coached everywhere from intermediate. He's. He's done visuals. He does the media productions. When we go to Kauai, he's the. He's the scorekeeper, recruiter, you know, and it was so funny. We had a celebration and I lost my. Lost my place in my speech, and I skipped right over him, you know, and then like, crap. And then after is how come we didn't mention him? I go, I did. Who saw my speech? And they go, no, you didn't mention him. And I look back like, oh, crap. I skipped over him when I lost my place in the. So I had to apologize. I even sent him a copy of that section that I missed. But, yeah, those two guys, they've been with me a long time, and, you know, they have my back. And that's the thing. [00:48:10] Speaker A: Loyalty is a big one in it. Is that probably the most important thing for assistance is loyalty? [00:48:17] Speaker B: I think so. And being able to show up. [00:48:21] Speaker A: Availability. [00:48:23] Speaker B: Yeah, I think. I think that's getting lost nowadays. There's so many other things to do. [00:48:30] Speaker A: And it's a discipline thing, too. [00:48:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:48:33] Speaker A: Showing up every day, putting the work in. That takes some discipline to do that. [00:48:38] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's always that. That thing. Like, you. You see a kid, he goes, shall I fix them? Yeah, I gotta fix them. You know, it's kind of like that, you know, it's like, ah, I gotta put it. Oh, I got it. Okay, I have to take some. I gotta fix them. So, yeah, it's not that thing. And then after, I just got. Heck, I just go fix them and stuff. [00:48:58] Speaker A: So coaching the young guys that. That charge your batteries a little bit when you did, the younger ones have. [00:49:05] Speaker B: A kid right now. He's a. He's a. He's a brother of one of our seniors. So the white young takes ground balls with us, right? And then couple other college guys come back and take ground balls. I hate Fungo. Yeah, I'm hit him. And then the other day, I go, just. I looked around because he was feeding me balls. Next thing I know, he's out there sticking ground balls like, yes. You know, and it's just so neat. They just. And those things, they just remember, you know, they remember, oh, I worked out. [00:49:37] Speaker A: He'll love baseball forever because of that one moment. [00:49:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:49:42] Speaker A: You know, those teeny moments, small things like that. He'll be involved with baseball forever because of that one moment. [00:49:49] Speaker B: But see, I was lucky when I grew up, I had this coach, Pop Eldridge, and he's like, he's the greatest coach ever. I think he. He had. He had a sign, like, in. When we played, it was not like, literally he could steal. So, like, nine, ten, seven, eight, you could steal. So I get on, I steal second, still third, still home, right? I mean, just like nothing. Yeah. And his steel sign was cross arms, cross legs. So I remember I got on first once and I looked at him and nothing's crossed, right? So I don't run, and I come back in after the inning, right? And then he had nicknames for everybody else. Half done, right? So he calls, hey, Half Done, how come you didn't run? And I said, nostalgic. You didn't have your arms crossed or your feet crossed? And he points to his eyes, he goes, I had my eyes crossed. And he never really scolded us, but he'd embarrass us. We were pitching junk. He'd come out to the mound and hug us and kiss us on the mound. And it's like this grandfather guy. And like, oh, we used to be so scared of him kissing us on the mouth. You know that. You know, it was. It was. And. And he. He taught us how. Lovely. Yeah. I used to hate to go to Japanese school because I missed practice. You know, I. So I had to go one hour and come back and practice later. I mean. But, yeah, I used to love playing. I mean, and it was funny those days. I pitched six innings every day, every game I picked six innings, you know, and my arm used to come sore in the fifth every time the elbows come sore. But I just pitched. And I remember one game, it all came sore. And we were leaning 7 0, and then my elbow hurt again. So I told nostalgic, hey, you know, nostalgia. My arm's sore. I can't pitch right. So nobody else pitches right? So we end up losing, right? Eight, seven. He'll talk to me for the next two weeks and talk to me and. And I was one of his favorites, right? So two weeks later, I had the runs. I had stomach flu or something. I went to the game, right? And I pitched. I pitched the whole game. I mean, stomach flu and everything. Go to a bathroom, Michael Jordan. [00:52:03] Speaker A: You had your flu game? [00:52:04] Speaker B: Oh, no, no. But he won his. We lost like, 15 or nothing or something. But after that, I guess he was trying to teach me, you know, hey, don't quit. That's what I think. I mean, I didn't know any better, you know, but, you know, I got. I got all the coaches that I played for in one in Hawaii, a lot of great ones, you know, like Kitamura, he. He. He taught me how to think outside the box. I was playing third once, and in facing this great hitter, best hitter league, and then he Told me, hey, come in pitch. And I went, what? So I go out and pitch, right? I throw a couple balls, you know, over the middle. And he goes, what are you doing? I said, you told me to pitch because I'm warming up, right? It was, brother, I told you, come in here. So he walked the guy, he had this thing that he didn't want. The pitcher throwing four wide ones and then coming back and trying to throw strikes. And those are the kind of things that I would never think of doing, you know. And those guys, they were those kind of guys and I got, I was so lucky to play for them because I never played college ball. I just played semi pro in Hawaii. [00:53:15] Speaker A: What can American culture learn from Far east culture? [00:53:20] Speaker B: You know that, that show Mr. Baseball with Tom Selleck? You know, I asked a couple guys and they said that's kind of close. It's pretty close. And we have Japanese guys that always come to work out at our field because of Don Nomura. He was Hideo Nomo's agent. So he called me up and we got two. Well, we have now we have four Yakut swallow guys working out. What I noticed about them is their hips. They work a lot of the hips. That's like the number one thing. They work their hips a lot, you know, even, even kicking a soccer ball around. So they use that, the hips to, you know. Yeah. [00:54:03] Speaker A: Ichiro's machine, he used to take with him, that, that hip mobility machine with him everywhere. [00:54:09] Speaker B: Oh yeah, that seemed like when I think Darvish came once a couple times. And Norihiko Aoki and I remember him, he was hurt but he'd work his hips and Kawasaki, the guy from Toronto, he came, they just work out. And it's so neat watching the guys work out. And me, I'm just like a kid in a candy store just watching these guys work out and trying to figure out what they're doing and stuff, you know. And it was so funny. A lot of those guys smoke. Yeah. [00:54:40] Speaker A: And it's, that's a big part of the culture still. [00:54:47] Speaker B: I watched this one guy, this minor league catcher and he, he'd swing. The coach was there. Well, I think one of the assistants was there and he made him swing one handed for an hour. I was watching. Oh my God, one handed swings for an hour. He was just hurting, you know. [00:55:08] Speaker A: They spent a lot of time, MVP behind the sock net, the flip screens, doing a lot of one handed stuff. [00:55:15] Speaker B: And it was, was funny that this guy, Masaki Koike came, he is from the Bay Stars and his Teammate was Daisuke Matsuzaka. So that's when you know the. You know the. Who's that? Will Ireton. He's Shohei's interpreter. But that's when he was playing. So he would interpret for me when I was talking to Koike. So I think we kind of helped him with his career. But anyway, he. You. We're asking him about Daisuke because they won the Koshin series. And we asked him how many pitches did you guys have? He said he just fed one. So Daisuke pitch every game. I mean basically, you know, and no, he threw. I think he threw against one of the top team, P.L. gakuen. He threw 15 innings. He threw 300 pitches. Next game, he closed the next day and then he threw a perfect. He threw a no hitters the. The championship game, you know. And it's like they used to call him a monster, right, because of that. I mean. But I mean it's just. It's just different. I think it's a lot different now too though. [00:56:28] Speaker A: The training's different. [00:56:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I think so. Like my. My sensei, Carlton Hunter was in Japan at that time and he. He tried to get them not to work as hard like become so tired to the game. So he. But then he got sick. So he only was able to coach like a year and a half maybe. And he was trying to change the way they. They do things so they're more. They're more stronger for the game instead of being so tired. So. [00:56:57] Speaker A: Yeah, but do you have a fail forward moment? Do you have something you thought was going to set you back but looking back now helped you move forward? [00:57:06] Speaker B: Look. [00:57:09] Speaker A: Everybody'S got to answer this one. Could be personal or professional. [00:57:13] Speaker B: Try that again. [00:57:14] Speaker A: So it's a fail forward moment. Something you thought at the moment was going to maybe set you back. But looking back now, it helped you grow and move forward. [00:57:26] Speaker B: Oh. [00:57:30] Speaker A: We'Ve had some great answers this one. [00:57:33] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know. Ike's kind of. [00:57:37] Speaker A: What about last year? I mean, you had 12 players suspended. Is that a fail forward moment? Because maybe you use some guys or you learn from it and grow as a program. [00:57:45] Speaker B: I guess so. [00:57:46] Speaker A: You know, you probably weren't expecting to win any games last year, were you? I mean you're a competitor, so you're gonna expect to win. [00:57:55] Speaker B: But yeah, you know, last year this. Well, this past year I did my first. What do you call? Invocation. I had to. I did that. I. And it's the first time I ever went and talked to every team. We have A tournament, Kitamura tournament. And I talked to every team about the incident. You know, I asked the coaches if I could talk to your players because they were ragging our players. Like, you know, what's your. What's your superpower? That was one of the. The kids made a video and it was just a bad video and it got out somehow, but, you know, what's your superpower? And they were ragging our kids. So I remember going to each team and talking to them about what happened and don't let that ever happen to you and that kind of stuff. Maybe that's. I guess that would be it because, you know, I've never done that before. I've never talked to the other teams about stuff. I've never did an invocation. I've never. And then I remember our senior, Our senior game at the end as a tribute to the 12 guys. We never. I never told anybody what we're gonna do. I just said, oh, just when we're finished, we just stand there and I. What I do is I throw the pitch to the kid and they hit it and they run around the bases and then we give them the ball or something. So we had the 12 guys. And then the 12 guys are kind of like they weren't even at the place, you know, they weren't allowed on campus. So I remember having a dozen balls and I, I just shoot the ball into the net in that home plate. And then I could hear somebody, what is he doing after the second one? I then saw parents crying and stuff because they knew what was happening, you know, So I threw all 12 into that net. Thank goodness I threw the ball into the net. But yeah, yeah, this year, because that's. [00:59:52] Speaker A: A situation completely out of your control that you don't have. But you handled it great. But I mean, that was something completely out of your control, and you handled it great. [01:00:02] Speaker B: Well, I think our coaching staff was unbelievable. You know, we went to Kauai and our assistants did a heck of a job. You know, just the team building process. We saw they showed the American ice, that kind of stuff. And there's a lot of team building stuff. And I was kind of. I just stepped back and let them do it, you know, I think this was one of those years, was just something. It was. It was the worst and the best of times, I guess you could say, you know, and, you know, it's really weird. I got voted coach of the year, you know, and we never made to the state, you know, and. But I, you know, I told the parents this is a. This is a. This is a kind of a program award. It's not for me because without everybody else, you know, that wouldn't have happened. Yeah. But I guess. I guess that would be it because, you know. Yeah. [01:01:07] Speaker A: Learn from it. [01:01:09] Speaker B: Well, I hope it never happens again. Tell you, you know, and I rather not learn from stuff like that, but. Yeah, but it made me a better person, I think, you know, and I. Yeah. And I think our program got some respect. We always had respect, but I think a deeper appreciation maybe. But we really don't talk about anymore, you know, like, you know, it was just something happened and it's part of. [01:01:40] Speaker A: Forgiveness too and grieving and forgiveness and growing and. Okay, it happened. Let's learn from it and. And now it's time to turn the page and we got to get on to the next thing. [01:01:50] Speaker B: Yeah. One of the things that came out, we. We always had gray uniforms. That's all. We don't have anything else. It's gray uniform, one uniform. So this year we're getting a white and it says owls instead of Mid Pacific. So the guys are all in shock. You know, the, the alumni guys. A white uniform like. [01:02:14] Speaker A: So any other shout outs you want to give? I know you only get three to five minutes up there on the stage in D.C. any other people you want to recognize before I let you go? [01:02:28] Speaker B: I recognize as much as I could on that in that six minutes. I know that. I think our parents, Chris and Patrick Kobayashi, Ed and Heidi Sniffin, they're really instrumental on what's happening. Michelle Miyamoto, she's always been a. Helpful for us that if I miss somebody, I. Yes. And Condo. Kelly Keraki, they've been my good friends that, you know, they always. Behind our program. Somebody else. Somebody else. [01:03:08] Speaker A: I know somebody else. I got you. I can always. I'm gonna edit. I'll. I'll edit that out if we. We got time here. [01:03:21] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Other parents, I mean the, the facilities guys at Mid Pacific, angel, they. Angel, they. They do a lot of stuff for us. I think in the last last month or so they just really helped us out. So I'm drawing a blank right now. [01:03:53] Speaker A: That's all right. Hey, you mentioned golf and fishing. How long have you been involved with golf and fishing? Because I mean, obviously you're in good shape. Like you're still doing it at a high level. I think you got to have things as you get older to keep you engaged. But how long have you been fishing and golfing? [01:04:08] Speaker B: I just golf. I. I just golf. So I don't suck. [01:04:12] Speaker A: So like I'm terrible at it. I would. It's one of the most frustrating things for me of all time is I wish I was a better golfer, but I'm not. [01:04:19] Speaker B: I. I don't want to be a good golfer. No, it's like, I think 80, long time ago said he wants to play a coach that is a good golfer. That means he spends more time on the golf course and less time fishing. I mean, last, last time coaching. So I always remember that. So the only reason I golf is because my friend guys golf and they called me up so I get to see them. But I fish. We throw. We throw what we call lua poles. Those are big poles, like 13 foot feet. And it's kind of like driving standard. Like not everybody can do it, you know. And it's a conventional reel, so, you know, we throw it. It takes a little skill to throw it out there without anything backlash and stuff. And so we catch. I guess they call up jack crevels or the jacks, you know, and those go. I think the record is like 191 pounds, but I've caught one like 30 pounds. That's a fight in itself. And, and I haven't caught1 since 2001, so that's been a while. But you know, we go fishing for that. And bonefish. The bonefish you make. What do you call? We make fish cake. We scrape the meat off of it. That's another thing. It's just a chore fish cake. And if you catch moi, that's the great fish to eat, you know. So I mean. Yeah, it's kind of like when you throw the pole, it's kind of like hitting the driver, you know, you can throw the thing, like the good guys can throw the thing over a hundred yards, you know. So I mean that. And we throw the line out and we sit the back on our chairs, well, 10, 15, 20 minutes and hope the fish don't bother us or we talk. Sorry, you know, and we go like 5:00 in the morning. So we're home by 8:30, you know, and it's. [01:06:14] Speaker A: That's a mental health thing too. Getting out on the boat, getting out there fishing. Just check. Checking out for a while. And that's. [01:06:21] Speaker B: Oh, no, it's not on the boat. It's from the shore. From the shore. From the shore. So the only thing I regret about the ABCA convention is that I'm missing our New Year's Day fishing out. Like we always go New Year's Day, like Four in the morning, we go out to the beach, we catch our first fish, we kiss it and throw it back in. You know, we catch and release that first fish, and usually it's a small little fish, you know, and that's good because you don't want to waste that one. Well, one year I caught a pretty good sized moy, which is a good eating fish. I had to kiss it and throw that thing back. Oh, it's so painful. [01:07:05] Speaker A: Oh, goodness. I know you mentioned it earlier, but what does this really mean for you, going into the ABC hall of Fame? [01:07:15] Speaker B: This is just an honor. I mean, maybe validation and doing the right thing. I don't know, it's. It's still like, wow. I see all these people and I go, wow. I'm one of the guys that, you know, it's. I don't know, it's kind of like you. You watch Major League Baseball, you think, oh, wow. And then now you're one of those guys kind of, you know, it's just. It's. I don't know. It's hard to explain. I. It's. It's nice. Like, I'll enjoy it and then, you know, and like, I always tell myself, like, you're only as good as your last. Last game, your last practice, and, you know, and, you know, enjoy it, you know, and everything, but then I gotta get. Get on with it, you know, and, you know, like, I'd love to win with this group that we have now. They work so hard, you know, and, you know, they're not the most talented guys. I don't think anybody will, you know, play Division 1 baseball, but, you know, it's just fun to have them. When you can teach them, they're listening, they listen, and then when they tell them to do something, they do it. And, you know, they're not athletic enough to do the great things, but they might surprise you. Yeah. [01:08:43] Speaker A: I mean, chemistry. Yeah, it carries a lot. [01:08:47] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. But I'm a realist too, you know. I know. I know what we can do or we can do. And I'll figure out a way. I just try every time. I just figure out a way, you know, figure out how we can do this. And I found that I think we're gonna have to use more in future pitch, you know, and just maybe do what Detroit did. That was kind of interesting. I was watching that a lot. [01:09:15] Speaker A: Fan of. Of all of it, the art of all of it, making it work and. And figuring out things and pieces. Like, I'm a big fan of people that are Willing to think out of the box to, to give you a chance to win. [01:09:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I, I mean, I think that's what I had a hard, you know, what I had a hard time doing was going from being the underdog to the favorite. That was kind of hard. That was a transition that I had a hard time doing. Like I'd be running bunting, running first and second one out and stuff like that. And now I won't do that because I don't want to take the bat out of our guys hands and stuff, you know, and then that's, that's a whole different mindset as a coach. And that was one of the things I had a tough time working with and going back and forth with that. I don't think that's talked about too much. [01:10:06] Speaker A: It's part of adjusting though, as a coach with your roster. It was difficult for me too because I wanted to play a certain way. But if your team isn't capable of playing that way or it's not good for them, then you have to be able to make adjustments. [01:10:20] Speaker B: But then, you know, that's what experience comes. Hopefully you have enough experience to use the right method and the right, you know, things. [01:10:28] Speaker A: So, Don, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it, sir. I'm looking forward to seeing you. DC Coffee? What's that? [01:10:37] Speaker B: You drink coffee? [01:10:38] Speaker A: Do I drink coffee? [01:10:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:10:40] Speaker A: I don't, I don't. I drink a lot of caffeine in the morning though, but it's just not coffee. All right, why are you coffee? You're coffee. No, my family is, my family is coffee snobs. [01:10:54] Speaker B: But I, I, I, I don't even know. Whenever I take Kona coffee up to the mainland and stuff, I don't even know what I'm buying. I have to ask somebody. [01:11:04] Speaker A: I know it's good though. I do know Kona coffee is, is good. All right, thank you, sir. Good luck at safe travels. See you next week. [01:11:13] Speaker B: All right, see ya. [01:11:15] Speaker A: Congrats again to Coach Muramaro on this well deserved honor. Best of luck to him as he continues a great career. Thanks again to John Litchfield, Zach Hale, Matt west and Antonio Walker in the ABCA office. For all the help on the podcast, feel free to reach out to me via email, rbrownleebca.org Twitter, Instagram and TikTok coachbabca or direct message me via the MyABCA app. This is Ryan Brownlee signing off for the American Baseball Coaches Association. Thanks and leave it better for those behind you. I was not for learning and you know that way Yep Wait for another. [01:11:59] Speaker B: Day. [01:12:03] Speaker A: And the world will always return. [01:12:07] Speaker B: As your life is never for yearning and you know that face Wait for another. [01:12:23] Speaker A: Day.