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Discipline and Breakthrough to the Majors 0:03 But I did say you're going to see a different person this year. They were like, how so. I said, whether I lose my first game or win my next 14, you're not gonna know a difference. And I believe God has given me an0:15 opportunity to handle success for the first time in my life. I lost my first game, and I won my next 14.0:20 Oh, man.0:21 And blown away by it. Right? And just that whole journey of of becoming a Christian and releasing all of life's junk.0:35 That's0:39 Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz sharing about his need to truly surrender and commit his life to Christ. You're gonna hear his inspiring story today as he shares how God was working in his life for many0:50 years. Welcome to Focus on the Family with Jim Daley. I'm John Fuller.0:55 John, I had this conversation recently at a men's golf event in Wisconsin, and we had a really good time together hearing John Smoltz's story about his career and family and spiritual1:07 journey. I really appreciated the spiritual depth and thoughtfulness and vulnerability that he shared in front of a group of about 60 guys who attended the golf outing. This discussion1:19 is very timely because the World Series is about to begin, and John is the lead analyst for Fox Sports covering the game so you can watch him on Fox. I hope you enjoy1:31 the conversation as much as I did. I believe there will be a lot lot of good takeaways for you. John Smoltz is Major League Baseball's lead1:42 game analyst for Fox Sports. He also former pitcher for the Atlanta Braves. How many years were you with the Atlanta Braves?1:50 Go 21 years.1:51 21 years. That's such a long time. You have, let's see, 200 wins, 150 saves. Is that right?1:59 Yep. 213, 1 54.2:02 8 time all star. Mhmm. 8 time all star. That's pretty good. And world series champion in 19 95. I think you went to the world series 5 times.2:12 Yeah.2:12 No. That's good. That's good. When you lost, the other team would say they played tough.2:19 They did. Yeah. We lose every game by 1 run. It doesn't matter, but you lose by 1, it's painful.2:24 Wow. And Cy Young award winner with over 3000 strikeouts? Yeah. That's amazing. That is so good. Recipient of the Roberto Clemente award. That's a2:36 prestigious award for pitchers.2:38 Well, that 1 is the most important in my mind, the most important award you can win. You only win it once. Only 1 player can win it. And it2:50 embodies the work you do away from the field, on what Roberto Clemente meant and what his mission and what he was trying to do. And, obviously, that's how he ended up passing away, in3:02 in his endeavors to make life better for other people. So that that 1 to me is, probably the the 1 I'm most proud of because it really has nothing to do with stats.3:13 Yeah. It's about the heart. Yeah. And, you know, John, I think the, the big thing here, we're at a men's golf event, and you look at all of that. I love the last point3:24 here, which is husband and father who loves Jesus.3:29 Mhmm.3:29 So, you know, as guys, we just we dial into titles, achievements. I mean, every guy wants to be that sports guy to win the World Series, throw the,3:41 touchdown pass in, the Super Bowl, whatever it might be. You start thinking about that like at 7, 8, 9 years old. And in fact, that's when you started to think about baseball. You were, like,3:53 7.3:54 I did. Yeah. I grew up in a musical family. That's a legit picture. My mom and dad both played the accordion. They were accordion teachers. That's how they met. It's what they did. Family business was pretty strong when4:04 it came to the accordion players. They had some world renowned players and my uncles, and so it was a lot of pressure on me. Third generation accordion maybe fourth generation accordion4:16 player. My dad, was in a band for over 60 years. And I'll tell you the the 1 thing about it is, you know, I was 4 in that picture, played till I was 7. I won a couple4:28 trophies. I don't remember a lot of it, but they did not put the pressure on me to teach them teach me themselves. They let somebody else, which you think about as a parenting lesson, most of us would have taught our4:40 children what we know. And they let somebody else do that, which I thought was brilliant now looking back having children. But, yeah, I I played it. It was disciplined. I had to practice. It was not easy.4:53 But fortunately, they allowed me to put it down at the age of 7. Don't know where this came from, but I told my mom that I was gonna be a Major League Baseball player when I grew up. You know, I knew what I wanted to be,5:04 and my mom is a full blooded Italian that really knew nothing about sports. My dad had gone to the seminary, but then didn't finish the seminary because then if he did, this5:16 conversation would be really weird, and and was a businessman. And then, of course, he played in in in the band. But they let me do it, and I pursued it from5:28 7 years all the way through high school. I'm a I'm a self taught baseball player, self taught basketball, golf, football, everything's self taught, and they just gave me the opportunity. I think they thought that it5:39 would fade away, and I'd return back to the accordion.5:44 That was their desire for you.5:46 That was their desire. And, it you know what? They they let me do it, and I and I'm very thankful for it because it could have been an easy decision not to.5:56 Now as a junior hire, did you ever get that date with the girl because you were playing the accordion?6:02 No. No. I'm gonna tell you I'm gonna tell you I know we're gonna get into this, but my dad taught me a lot of things. And 1 thing he told me is is not ashamed or afraid of who he was. My dad was a, 1 of the greatest6:14 salesman. He owned his own business, but he drove me to school in a red Maverick that was painted for an adding machine that he was selling in his business.6:27 Picture a red Maverick with the coil on top of the hood a roof and all the numbers added on. He would drop me off at school and thought that was the funniest thing he's ever done. When, of course, playing6:38 accordion wasn't rough enough on me, getting dropped off in that at high school6:44 was not fun. Yeah. I've gotta ask then. Did you borrow the car on your first date?6:47 No. No. No. No. No. That6:49 Your date kinda went what?6:51 He had a horn and a speaker system. He had everything that you could have to, I think, embarrass his children and have a good time with it. But he was a self promoter, and he promoted himself as he7:03 drove the car around town.7:06 That's interesting. Yeah. I think for guys again, the ability to get to where you achieved, you know, being a Major League Baseball player, a lot of young boys think about7:18 that and dream about it. But to get there, I mean, the cost of that, the intensity to do that, I see that in your golf game. We finished a round of golf. You came back to the putting green and spent, like, an7:30 hour putting balls while we sat there and watched you. Is that I mean, that kinda commitment to wanting to make your game better, did that start at 7?7:38 It started at 4. Honestly, it started with the accordion. I know it sounds a little cheesy, but it it I had to put in all this kind of time and dedication and practice. And my dad showed me the way without ever saying7:49 it. He showed me that he was never you know, he was he's 1 of the hardest worker I I ever knew, and so it started really early. And so I put in the work and and the time, and and this is the thing that I think is lost in8:00 today's I mean, we're in a different time with kids and technology and social media and everything, but I blocked out anyone and anybody that was not for my dream. So in high school,8:12 you have all those pressures, and I eliminated parties. I eliminated I I looked at it that in life that what I was trying to accomplish was such a low percentage success rate that why not eliminate everything that8:24 would eliminate me from getting to that point? So I I viewed everything as a hurdle. And when you're hurdling, the goal is to jump over the hurdle as much as you can. Sometimes you hit them and sometimes you don't. And I8:35 just basically with with looking back now, 58 years old, the hand of of god was on my life of protection in so many ways, and I'll say it like this. I was intentional in what I wanted and what8:47 I avoided. I was very intentional in my upbringing, how my parents brought me and the moral fiber and the character they taught me. All of that's good, and all the dreams and aspirations are good. But if you're not8:59 intentional in staying away from the things and the distractions, you get sucked in just like the world sucks you in in so many different ways. I'm 58, and I'm not exaggerating this at all, and this is why I look at9:11 God's hand in my life. I lived in a business for 24 years including spring training. It's not the greatest lifestyle. There are a lot of distractions. There are a lot of potholes. There are a lot of things that can pull9:23 you away from your faith. I was not always a Christian in my baseball career, but I've never been in a compromising situation in my life. I've never been offered a drug. I've never been in a place9:34 where you would think that exists every day in our sport. And so the intentionality was 1 thing, but then also god's hand was another. And I look back and my children have experienced9:46 10 times more things in life than I I've never seen anyone do drugs. Now what's the odds of that? And so I'm in a locker room of 25 different personalities. And what I learned9:58 was when you establish your circle, when you establish your foundation and your character, those circles don't intersect with other parts of life that might be cool, the going out guys, the drinking10:10 guys, the guys that might be doing drugs. They don't intersect, and so that protection served me well. I am a goal oriented, dream oriented, shoot for the stars type guy, but10:22 I was too consumed for the longest time with the outcome. And I learned in my faith how to separate that and not be attached identity wise to what I was and who I was and what10:34 I did. So that whole journey when I think back to playing the accordion as a little nerd, it served me well. You know? It served me well. My parents gave me guardrails, to kinda10:45 navigate life. And and luckily, you know, I avoided most of the stuff that could have derailed it.10:51 You packed so much in there. We're gonna unfold some of that. But with the big leagues, what was that break? How did you get in? What happened?10:58 So, my senior year, I was very disappointed on where I got drafted. I'm a hometown kid, Lansing, Michigan, and the Tigers drafted me in the 20 second round.Trade, Closer Role, and Locker Room Integrity 11:11 Frustrated by that. I thought I was gonna be first through third round. I was having a really good senior year. And so the way it works is you get drafted and you're the product product of the team until you go to your11:23 first class in college. And so I always told my dad I said, dad, I'm not going. I'm not going. So I'm gonna go sign with Michigan State, sign Leonard tenth, gonna play basketball and baseball at Michigan State.11:34 And now I go on my journey. I had a little chip on my shoulder and had even a better summer of baseball. And the Tigers, you gotta understand there's some history there. My grandfather worked on the grounds crew for over11:44 13 years and worked in the press room. My dad and uncle both had jobs there. So tigers were kind of my team growing up, and they brought me in to negotiate this contract. And they brought me in thinking putting a tiger11:56 uniform on me, meeting my heroes, that would do it. Well, they offered me 15000 dollars, and they put a piece of paper and said, look. We want you to look at this. Don't don't give us an answer right now. Take it home.12:07 Think about it. And, we got in our LTD station wagon, and I told my parents, well, I'm going to college. So my dad acted as my agent, and we negotiated for 4 weeks. Monday12:19 morning, I would do my I'm gonna be at my first class at Michigan State. Sunday night at 9 o'clock, I signed a contract with the Detroit Tigers, and I ended up getting first round money. My dad negotiated the whole12:30 thing. They were not happy about it, but they finally got to that end game. And so I I go I I actually work out with the big league club for a month afterwards because there's nowhere to go. Usually, you're supposed to12:41 go to rookie ball. I navigate the first couple years of my career. We're not very good with Detroit and the minor leagues. We were not very good as an organization, and I get traded to the Atlanta Braves. Single12:52 handedly, the worst day of my life when I got that note, and I didn't realize it was gonna be the greatest break of my life. Yeah. And the best drive of my life was driving from Glens Falls, New York to Richmond,13:03 Virginia. Because I think in life, so many times you're faced with things and you gotta make a decision. What are you gonna do and how are you gonna deal with it? And I had about a 12 hour drive by myself. My dad offered13:14 to fly down. I said, no. I gotta do this myself. My goal was to play in the major leagues when I was 7. That goal had not been shattered. But when you've been traded, my view was I wasn't wanted. But13:26 then I had to realize as I got closer to Richmond, somebody else wanted me, and that was Atlanta. And it gave me the greatest opportunity to pitch at a young age in the big leagues, and I never looked back. So that was a13:36 huge part.13:37 You had a funny 1 when, I think it was the coming out of the bullpen as a closer.13:42 Yeah.13:42 And they would play the music for you. And you had to select the music, but you didn't really care. No. And you told the PR team whatever.13:51 Yeah. So this is that new way and out. Now it's commonplace. Right? Everyone has a walk up song. So I had just moved from starter to closer, and I was trying to learn this new position. I wasn't happy about it. I'm just14:00 gonna dive in head first and figure it out. Well, they came to me in spring training, and they said, hey. Listen. We're doing something new this year, and we're gonna give everybody the chance to pick their walk up song.14:10 So when you come to the plate, the song that really gets you motivated and ready to hit or when you come to the mound. And I said to them, I said, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. And they said, no.14:21 Really. Everybody's kinda getting into it. And so what's your song? And I said, I don't have a song and I don't need a song. And I literally said, I played the accordion when I was little. So what do you You you told14:32 them that?14:32 I told them. I said, you ain't gonna you're not gonna play Lawrence Welk when I get out to the mound. So they I said to him verbatim, I will not be thinking about a song. Play whatever you want. I won't I I won't even14:43 hear it. I'm coming out of the bullpen trying to get 3 outs before they tie the game. I will not be thinking about a song. And they were a little they were like, can't believe it, but I just I didn't give them a song. So14:54 I literally, for the first month and a half, didn't I was locked in. Never heard the song. Never heard what they were playing until this 1 particular day, come in to the15:06 the to the mound and dancing queen's playing on the loudspeaker. I had the CD. Abba's 1 of my favorite bands. It's not that it wasn't a cool song. It's just not a cool song to come in to close the15:18 game on. So in my mind and the the on deck hitter's kinda laughing, and he should. And I'm thinking, alright. Somebody made a mistake. Well, I get the 3 outs luckily, and they come running down and they were15:30 apologizing. They said, we, you know, we didn't think you're coming in or we hit the I said, you made your point. I'll get a song. And that's when Thunderstruck was born. And,15:41 That's a good 1.15:42 I'll be honest. I got into it pretty much. It it became the thing.15:47 Your song.15:47 Yeah. It became my song. And Maddox used to go in. We didn't have the most technical sound system in the locker room, but in the clubhouse, he would go in when I would come in the game and turn it up as loud as he could15:59 as in lightning would play on the scoreboard and the place went crazy. And I did. I ended up digging it, and, it worked out well. But I owe it all to dancing queen.Surrendering to Christ: Beyond Good Works 16:08 Yeah. That's good. That's good. I think you made a good choice. What do you guys think? Yeah.16:15 Hey. Allow me to interrupt for just a moment here to say how much we appreciate you watching. Now if you find value in this content, subscribe by clicking below. It'll be a big help to us. Let's go ahead and return to16:27 the show.16:28 Hey. Let me ask you, spiritually, where are you at through all this? I mean, this is heavy stuff. Yeah. I mean, the big contract and things like that near16:36 So I I was a Johnny b. Good. Tell me what to do, and I'll do it. Right? Mhmm. Good old Catholic boy growing up, private school, and I just always wanted to be and, liked and accepted. And so I was a rules16:48 rule follower and very, very much a rules follower, oldest child. And I thought being good was good enough. You know, I thought that if you're a good person, you know, what could be bad about being a good person?17:00 Yeah.17:00 And, you know, the biggest thing I realized in my first 4 years, I had some really great mentors trying to pour into my life. In baseball, when you walk in the locker room, there's 3 or 4 different groups of people17:11 waiting to capture you. And back then, hundred years ago, the Christians were waiting to see who they could get. Right? And then the party guys were waiting to see who they could get. There's all these different sections17:23 of the clubhouse that you would try to be accepted by. Well, luckily for me, you know, Jose Alvarez, a big supporter of he works for Links now, and he was17:35 always a solid Christian, Marty Cleary and Sid Bream, and they always poured into my heart. And I'll never forget being challenged. See, I'm the 1 that I'm the 1 that went to, baseball chapel every17:47 single time. That was our church. We couldn't go to church because we had a game every Sunday. So baseball chapel was our church. I'm the 1 that prayed the prayer 500 times. I wanted to make sure, triple check, double17:57 check. I was always doing the things that were surface lever level to make me feel okay, but it really never was vertical. It was all horizontal. Right? So I was living my life in what it would be a good person's18:09 mold, but I was having some inconsistencies and I'll never forget Sid Bream catching me off guard saying, you need to look at how you're living your life. I was like, wow. That's bold. I mean, I18:21 don't smoke. I don't drink. I don't go out. I mean, I got all these don'ts. But what he was really challenging me with is this, you know, a vertical relationship versus a horizontal relationship. And I asked this 118:31 simple question in 19 95. So my first year is in 19 88. And in 89, I made the all star team, and I was kinda going back and forth, you know,18:43 success, not success. To me, if I was successful, I was honoring God. If I wasn't, I was letting him down. Like, it was really a kind of a warped way to think about, you know, the gifts he's given me and the tools I18:55 have. It's all up to me. I can do this. And so in 19 95, I asked our chaplain at the time, I said, you know, I've I've prayed the prayer. You've told me what it means to be a Christian, how to walk this walk.19:08 And I said, but let me ask you a question. I said, what prevents me from living my life the way I want to live it? And then I'll have an age that I'll turn I'll turn my life over to Christ? Like, what what prevents me19:19 from getting to my let's just say it's 38. And he gave me an answer that was real simple. He said nothing prevents you from getting that that in your life with 1 tiny exception. You may not get to19:31 your target date. So why take that chance? And it was just the simplest connection for me to say, I'm gonna put all my trust in Jesus, and I'm gonna give him all the junk that I'm trying to carry in my backpack, and I'm19:43 just gonna release it. And it freed me up in a way that, I I honestly tell this story verbatim. 19 95, we won the World Series. This is after 95. So 19 96, I knew I was a different19:55 person. And I didn't go into detail with the reporters on how different I was gonna be, but I did say you're going to see a different person this year. And they were like, how so I said, whether I lose my first game or20:07 win my next 14, you're not gonna know a difference. And I believe God has given me an opportunity to handle success for the first time in my life. I lost my first game and I won my next 14.20:16 Oh, man.20:17 And, blown away by it. Right? And just that whole journey of of becoming a Christian and really understanding the freedom of just releasing all of life's junk, I20:29 was carrying it on a backpack, and I was freed up on the mound to do some things that and I think to not conflate it is like being a Christian doesn't guarantee success or smooth road. And but it just so happened that my20:41 introduction to that right away started with success.20:44 Yeah.20:44 I won the Cy Young. I'm having a dream year. I'm 4 and o in the postseason going into the last start against the New York Yankees, of which that I've completely blocked out of my mind and forgot that we lost 1 to nothing20:55 on an unearned run-in 142 pitches. But21:00 Yeah. You might wanna forget about that.21:02 But I was dealing with things differently for the first time, in my life.21:08 Let me ask you this because I think people listening, you're saying something. Last year, we had about 292000 people come to Christ Mhmm. Through focus on the family. And I just wanna sit here for a moment because21:20 you you said something that most people think about. If I'm good enough, won't that be good enough? So let me give you that opportunity to make that clear distinction21:32 why works is not what it's about. And, you know, listening to you at 4 years old playing the accordion, you were a man built to21:40 work Yeah.21:41 In that way. You had your goals. You were driving toward it. You're the kind of personality that I think this issue of God's gift of eternal life21:53 Mhmm.21:54 Must be in that context really hard.21:56 Yeah.21:56 Because I am pretty good, you're thinking to yourself. So give it that best shot for the listeners who haven't fully given that over yet.Show more In this video 0:00 Discipline and Breakthrough to the Majors11:00 Trade, Closer Role, and Locker Room Integrity16:00 Surrendering to Christ: Beyond Good Works22:00 Grace, Family Trials, and God's Strength in Weakness30:00 Lessons for Men: Warrior Faith and Fatherly Blessing
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