This story is part of Peak, The Athletic’s desk covering the mental side of sports. Sign up for Peak’s newsletter here.
Eric Hosmer played 13 years in the MLB for four teams: the Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs. These are the three best leaders he played with:
Salvador Perez, Royals catcher
He was the ultimate lead-by-example guy.
Salvador was leading at a young age, and it was because of the joy and the energy he played with.
He not only came to the field and caught for 140 games every season, he came with such energy and joy. That joy and energy he played with was infectious, and it didn’t matter it was a random Tuesday in the middle of the season.
He had the same intensity.
When you see your catcher giving that kind of energy and not complaining, it just sets the tone. If it was 100 degrees and I’m playing first baseman, there was no way I could complain after seeing his energy.
He was aware of everything on the field. He was all about protecting his guys, and everything was for the team.
For the eight years we played together, he was consistent each and every day.
Raul Ibanez, Royals outfielder
He came to the Royals during the 2014 season via trade. He was 42 years old at the time.
Raul kept guys ready. Every fifth inning, he’d be like: Come on now, guys. We’ve gotta go down to the cage and get ready. This reliever pitched two days in a row so you’ll probably face this lefty.
He just kept everybody so mentally focused and in the game.
In 2014, he gave a speech to us. We were playing against the White Sox, and we were in the crappy clubhouse they have on the visiting side.
He basically talked to us about what opposing teams thought of us: Did we realize how good we were? Did we realize other teams fear us?
For us to hear that was so important. We were all young on that team, and Raul had just gotten done hitting ninth-inning homers for the Yankees a couple of years before.
It just clicked for all of us: This guy’s a legend so if people really do think of us like that, maybe we’re really good and we should play with some confidence.
I’ll never forget that speech.
We lost in Game 7 of the World Series that year, which was awful. But I remember all of us were thinking about Raul and that it could be his last game. We all just respected his career so much that we not only wanted to win for ourselves, but we wanted to send him off in the right way, too.
Jason Kendall, Royals catcher
When I got called up to the majors in 2011, Jason Kendall was put on the 60-day injury list. I think he had injured his shoulder. But he was still in the training room all the time.
After his career, he stuck around Kansas City. Every homestand, he would be in the clubhouse and hit me groundballs at first. And then every time I would go in after batting practice, he would be in the weight room.
I would always end up in the weight room, and he and I would have 20- or 30-minute conversations every day.
He gave me so much advice. Not only as an individual, but also about how one day I was going to be a leader on the team.
The biggest thing I learned from him was the importance of connecting with guys off the field. To get dinner with guys on the road or grab lunch before a game.
It was my third or fourth year in the big leagues, and I remember going up to him in the weight room to tell him: I think it’s time. I think I’m ready to start being that leader.
He really just gave me validation early in my career.
— As told to Jayson Jenks