Bobby Bones Sits Down With St. Louis Cardinals Superstar, Paul Goldschmidt.
one of the guys on our show was the the announcer for the like the baseball team and so at Texas State at Texas State all right yeah and he was like you guys are going to see Paul go I have your I actually have a small mini helmet on my desk that you had signed somewhere I don’t know how but it’s on my desk right now you bought it at Charity Auction that is exactly what no that is what that is where I got it that’s the only way um I wear it every day uh but no it’s a mini but and it came up because he was like oh I used to call his name out we were like oh yeah you went to Texas State yeah so you we thought it was cool You’ even heard of us I know that’s true who knows I might have heard yall on the radio you know but uh now this what I really remember we would have 6: a.m. workouts and I remember we’d be sitting in the cars like me and my three room mates and how’d you start the show something like good morning or something so we’d try to get pumped up before the coaches would tear us a new one and that’s probably why you’re so successful honest you pumped up that’s probably like the thing that motivated us and uh wow how did you end up at Texas State from cuz you’re from like Delaware Northeast right so I was born in Delaware my parents are both from the Northeast and but we moved to Texas when I was about a year old so I grew up in Texas lived in Dallas area for a few years and then I grew up outside of Houston in the woodlands and so just you know got recruited by a few of the the Texas schools and chose Texas State and uh it was awesome there uh to I was looking back at like the the hard data of your career I didn’t realize you you had been drafted so late when you were drafted and even you went to college right you didn’t go play minor league ball what was we had to go to I had to go to miners after college but I’m saying a lot of like people some folks I know don’t even go to college they go right to yeah they go that’s true yeah they went what clicked was it physically was it mentally M like to be drafted that late the Dodgers draft you Dodgers took me in 49th round which doesn’t even exist anymore just they like done that I think we only do 20 rounds now so so what happened like physically what was it for you that clicked in a way of like oh I’m starting to get this now uh I mean I was always a good player I just think you know every team knew like this guy’s going to need more time if we’re going to draft and we’re going to you know most of the guys that are signing are just very very talented out of high school and they’re just you know we need to get this guy now it’s not even waste going to college but I think you know probably half half of the league are probably college guys and so you know we go to college you continue to mature continue to learn get a lot of playing experience even then I went in the eighth round so there was probably 200 and something guys drafted before me um so I think again same go to the minor leagues and just kind of see what’s happening and continue to get experience that was probably the biggest thing I think I just played every single day as many games as I could continued to just practice and and work as hard as I could and um just wanted to be ready if I got that opportunity uh what was your Ascension did you go rookie ball a double A triaa Majors get sent back like what was that man I I had the I got I got fortunate I went to rookie ball the first year and played pretty well didn’t get called up that year so the next year I went to high a ball and um didn’t get I had a good year but didn’t get called up again and I’m like okay and then I go to doublea the next year and I was having probably the best year of my career and like man I guess they’re just going to let me keep playing and then all a sudden uh I got the call and they said you’re going to big leagues got to skip AAA and uh go up with uh with Arizona we played San Francisco and obviously a day and a moment on there forget did you stay up did you ever go back down no pretty fortunate that uh you know is always I think that’s one of the hardest things when you get caught up it’s like trying to get comfortable you want to get a few hits especially some big hits you’re not going to most guys aren’t going to get up there and just dominate so um you know I definitely had my ups and downs but was able to kind of do enough to uh to stay up one of my best friends you actually had the biggest contract they replaced his biggest contract one of my really good friends is Matt holiday and so he he got sent down like he didn’t come up here of a same like he got set back down we’re going to let the leaves get blown could we edit this out fire them fire them you have we need those guys yeah yeah what so what are they doing blowing water off the field water or just dirt sunflower seeds whatever it is do they not know who you are no they do that’s why they take such good care of the field you know somebody said that they’re the best around like do you just say that every ground or is it like what makes them so good no they do good they don’t even care that the Stars doing an interview they they definitely don’t care about interviews um I think to me it’s just they care about it you can we’re not going have to name names but there’s some places where the grounds crew kind of does their job and they leave and you don’t see them for a few hours or they just kind of like break infield and then you see most places where the ground cuw is always there if something needs attention they’re kind of going overboard like you know sweeping up sunflower seeds which make no uh no effect on the ball do you feel like if you bench press a lot you your swing gets a little tighter I do playing softball yeah of course uh no yeah there’s a point of no return where you know too much bench press is too much but uh I think you also want want strength too so do you ever max out no we the last time I did that was probably in college and uh so no I think not many guys are are maxing out anymore yeah I did that like 3 weeks ago yeah take a guess take a guess uh 500 lb we’ll take it close man we’ll move on with it yeah we’ll take it um a real question so in 22 when you win the MVP do you watch what’s happening as it’s going like you think like okay I’m in the race like do you keep up with that at all I really try not to uh it’s more just like I don’t want to get distracted you know I don’t want oh I’m doing good let’s keep it going or if that adds pressure oh I’m struggling now I need to step it up so for me it’s just really staying in the moment but that year was unique just because you know I went to the all-star game and then going into that last month you know you get asked a lot of questions by the media and I think that’s where I just kind of find everything out and so I knew the last month that you know me and a few other guys we had a chance once you get to that so I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself and uh actually didn’t have a good last month so maybe maybe that was the reason but uh ended up good enough and it was able to win that award what’s a slump for you how many of bats without getting uh a clean hit any hits a clean hit I mean I’ll take any hit I can get but uh I mean you start going you know you go a whole series there three or four games I mean you’re thinking man that was that was over 12 over 13 yeah over 12 I wouldn’t call it a slump maybe double that maybe you get in the 20s you’re like okay this is got to usually be some bad luck once you get in 1520 I mean you can swinging bun or you can find a hole out there somewhere but when you start to to get it there and I think a couple weeks ago I had like 30 that might have been it was if it wasn’t my longest it felt like the longest so what do you do to not think about it or what do you do to break it break it you just keep waiting and and again try not to try not to press and for me is a little bit maybe just have some fun with it but um I think seriously just trying to stay in the moment I mean each day is a new day and try to just keep that mindset and you know we’ve been training for that so same thing when you’re going well you don’t want to show up and just kind of goof off for a few hours and not get ready for the game so try just find that sweet spot of f Focus but still having fun Goldie when you hit one out do you know as soon as you make contact with the bat that it’s it’s gone I would say about 98% of the time yeah there’s the the 2% where you’re like oh that’s going to be close and whether it’s the wind or just the way you hit it and then you’re just kind of watching um but yeah yeah 95 98% of the time you’re like you know it’s gone which even watching other guys they they hit it and I’m like I don’t know and they start celebrating it goes over by like two feet I’m like man how’ you know that but uh every once in a while you get caught uh and then that’s why you got to make sure you’re running and don’t get embarrassed out there and throw out at least get a double um but I don’t know maybe just cuz we’ve done it so much I don’t know why but it’s just like you know like even in BP that’s gone although the worst feeling is when you think you get it and then they catch it and you’re like oh man that’s something’s off today or something like that uh the NBA working a lot of the players with load management right a lot of games not not as many as baseball but you know they’re playing 90 games they run a lot more than us they do run a lot more than you but you you play a lot more how do you feel about load Management in Major League Baseball to keep players healthy or longer well I mean that’s one strategy I think for me when I came up you had to play every day if you didn’t play every day you know you weren’t going to have a job honestly so you know I kind of give our guys a hard time if if they’re taking I mean the play it does it’s not really the Player’s Choice you know it comes from the management or the coaches or whatever and I understand that there’s times to take days off but I think just the whole theory on that has changed a lot I mean what NBA NFL MLB it’s like you you played until you got hurt or until you couldn’t play anymore and so that was kind of the way I was brought up so it’s it’s hard to change my mindset on that and um I think there’s a mental part of that too that’s really good is like man maybe I’m not 100 I mean you’re never really at 100% but maybe I this would be a good day to take off but somehow you go out there and it’s you know it’s almost like you’re just that mental toughness that physical toughness to push through it and um I think that can pay dividends in the long run but there’s also times when you know you got to take days off all right final five Eddie your question can you hear people when you’re on Deck like and I don’t want to give them fuel but but but I remember I went to a Mets game like a long time ago and Mike pza had just dyed his hair like white like blonde and somebody was like cute dip cute dip and one% he heard him but Mike never turned around like can you hear him one and how do you deal with that crap yeah yeah you can hear him and uh you know for me it’s like just that perspective I think there’s times when maybe you can you know get annoyed or whatever usually when you’re struggling and then you know you’re going good you got two hits and a homer like you say whatever you want I’m I’m about to go get my third hit right here but um I kind of just changed my mindset of like just kind of enjoying it and just taking it I mean it doesn’t happen at home obviously they’re cheering for you most of the time and so you go on the road you know those tougher environments and I’m just like it’s fun and and also man I grew up going to a lot of ball games and I yelled at a lot of guys when I was an amateur so I always tell her man this is payback now and so when it happens I’m looking back at my 16-year-old self as I was in in the stands talking trash like all right you deserve this right now and then that kind of just makes me smile and and just try to take it in all right four left who did you play with or against when you first came up where you were like that’s freaking cool I’m on the field with this person well my favorite player was Lance Berkman grown up in Houston so when he got to first base and uh he knew who I was that was pretty cool but I mean then there’s Derek Jeter at the All-Star game I mean that was like everyone’s favorite player um I think those two guys kind of stick out and a lot of times my rookie year was like don’t think about who’s on the mound you know because you’re competing against this guy but I’ve been watching a lot of the guys for 10 plus years and and you knew them and maybe you’re rooting for them or you just know how good they were and it was almost like this mental mind trick to just be like all right he’s just another guy or you know compare them to someone else to try to just you know stay competitive is it cool to be at the mall or someplace and see your like someone wearing your jersey and do you even go up to him sometimes uh no I I usually I won’t go up to him but uh no it is cool and I think especially when it first happens when you’re young and now even now and you just see the kids especially because that’s I still picture myself as a kid and you know I watch baseball and in all sports every night and just wanted to be like those guys so I think when I see those kids and you know used to be autographed now take can I take a selfie with you or can I take a picture but uh you know you walk away like man that that was really cool cuz I could you know see myself in their in their shoes all right final two questions uh you you play a lot of baseball you play a lot of baseball here but where is your it’s going to be difficult question possibly where do you like to play that’s not here I mean wherever I play well what but you’re you’re go what what stadium do you like like aesthetically or you hit well in I haven’t I haven’t played well there but I do like when we go to Philly you talk about fans talking trash they’re’s they’re as good as anyone and uh so I kind of try to just enjoy that energy that that those stadiums bring and with them kind of you know being in the World Series a couple years ago and being so good that that placees out a lot of energy it’s a good place to hit you know no one wants to go to the stadium where there’s not as many fans and then also as a hitter where the outfield’s huge you know um if you got you know the ball where the ball flies or the pitchers you know probably hate going to like the coolest field where the ball just flies out yeah but so uh I mean anytime we can kind of feel that adrenaline feel the crowd feel the big game whatever it is you know that’s fun because with 162 games we’re not feeling that every day and there are some games as much as we don’t want to admit it that can just kind of feel just kind of a little bit more boring and so when we can get that adrenaline um for whatever reason whether it’s the fans the stadium sometimes it can be the other team or something that’s happened uh it’s always fun that way all right last question the the culture in Sports NFL especially NBA you’re seeing it I don’t know if it happens much in baseball but like after a game where players will trade jerseys has that ever happened with you guys uh I I saw it the last couple years but uh not as much right no not as much and when we had Albert P and yotti or Molina the guys were coming across hey can we trade jerseys or or after the game because of that culture I know you probably don’t know this uh so I was the youngest member ever in the radio hall of fame you’ll be in the Hall of Fame one day for sure I’m going to trade you my microphone first you get to have this what you give me what you’re going to want is a baseball bat cuz that’s the best collectible we also debated what the best collectible was for me it’s baseball bat for sure all right here we go this is a Hall of Fame I’ve never given away a microphone before to of course my hero it’s the only time I’ve ever done this they still there you go Paul Go Cards hey go cards look this that’s awesome card Go Cards let’s go all right and we really appreciate the time awesome throw that away as soon as we leave all right there no chance this thanks this cool
Bobby & Eddie sit down with Cardinals superstar, Paul Goldschmidt.
Watch the full episode of “Too Much Access – St. Louis Cardinals”.
