Present & Purpose: Finding Balance with Jason Heyward

Hey, I'm not going to sugarcoat this.

Jason Hayward is one of my favorite baseball players of all time.

He grew up in Atlanta, which was like a couple of hours from where I grew up.

Always been one of my favorite players.

All the accolades in baseball, he's won, but this conversation isn't that.

This conversation is about the father he is, the presence that he has,

what he's doing in the community, lessons that he's learned,

and just hearing his story his way is awesome.

We're going to wrap it up at the end.

You're going to hear who his goat of baseball is, and it might surprise you, maybe it won't.

And we'll talk about his favorite baseball stadium and his favorite pregame mill as well,

but this is a lesson for leaders to learn about present, to learn about dedication,

to learn about how to really connect with people, to connect in your community.

So without further ado, this is my guy, Jay Hay himself, Jason Hayward.

You're listening to Mick Unplugged hosted by the one and only Mick Hunt.

This is where Purpose meets power and stories spark transformation.

Mick takes you beyond the motivation and intramene, helping you discover your

because and becoming unstoppable.

I'm Rudy Rush and trust me, you're in the right place.

Let's get unplugged.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged.

And today I'm sitting here with one of my baseball goats.

I'm talking about a man who has a multiple gold, gold glove winner,

a world series champion, and just an overall great human being.

His impact it sends beyond the baseball field.

He inspires millions with his dedication and profound insights

in the teamwork and personal growth.

Please join me in welcoming the exceptional, the influential,

the incomparable, Jay Hay, Jason Hayward.

Jay Hayward, how are you doing today, brother?

Great, Mick, I appreciate your man.

I really appreciate that intro.

You know, it's always humbling to hear what others

feel about you, whether you feel or your impact you might have made on them

and then the title is something that I appreciate you having me on today.

Bro, I'm the honor one.

Like I said, I followed your career forever.

I grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, just outside of Greenville, South Carolina.

So when we hear, when we hear superstars, man, and I know it wasn't just baseball,

but I like to tell people you were a prodigy, man.

Like you were a young and doing big things, and a lot of people don't realize how young you were

when you actually got drafted, man, to be drafted at 17 and to move up the ranks.

And I want to talk through a lot of that, but I love asking my guests,

what's there because they're deep purpose into doing the things that you do?

And I know you do a ton off the field.

We're just talking about family before we press record, man.

Like today, why does Jason Hayward continue to do what he does?

Day, I appreciate that question, because to your point,

getting drafted at 17 years old out of high school and getting into college,

I mean, signing to go to school with UCLA.

Baseball and education solved a lot of my intent and my why.

Shoot as high as possible, see where things fall, put my bed foot forward.

And today, 36 years old, 16 years later, majorly career-wise, now having three kids,

being married, I'm tata to my kids.

So that's that's daddy who was flying my wife being from Montenegro.

So like for me, it helps me to say my purpose to them be someone who is dedicated to his craft,

whether that's baseball, whether that's baseball academy in North Austin,

just outside of Chicago.

And then like being the best version of myself fitness wise,

like just maintaining a routine to be able to get home after workouts like I'm doing today.

And then jump on with them where they ask, get them in the pool, whether that's

workout with Messi if he wants to like kind of practice some baseball or golf before he goes

into his lessons.

So I just think it's very important to be an influence.

You know, I was one of the very fortunate people to grow up in a household with both parents,

my brother, Jake Renard, my parents being Ivy League grads, my dad going to engineering

school, right, playing basketball at Dartmouth, which is where my parents met.

So I just want to one day be that conversation that when someone asks my kids like, hey,

like, what were one of the bigger influences for you?

And that could be right there in the household as their tata as their dad and V and I and draw

being their parents.

Man, that's amazing.

And to me, that defines who you are.

And I'm going to say, I'm going to say a word that I think is going to resonate because

what you don't know, Jason, I didn't want to tell you this before.

But I've seen you play probably 15 times because when I say you're one of my goats,

one of my favorites, it's obviously what you do on the field.

But the first couple of times I got to go to a game that you played,

I got to see how you interacted with your teammates, how they looked at you,

the managers, the coaches, and the fans.

And then I got to learn more about your story.

You talked about your parents and family and what they mean to you.

There's one word that I would use to describe Jason Hayward and it is this present.

I think you work incredibly hard to be present for the people that matter to you,

for the people that look up to you.

And that's what drew me to really calling you one of my favorites.

Like, again, what you do on the field is amazing.

That's second to none.

Those stats can speak for themselves.

But when people watch Jason Hayward interact,

when you go to an academy or you go to an event of venue and you see Jason Hayward

and just how he interacts with people and how you're present.

And I'm like, I think that is your superpower, bro.

I really appreciate that.

I really appreciate that.

For anyone watching listening that doesn't know what I want to give them perspectives,

you've seen me play in person 15 times.

That's a lot.

Even over a 16-year career, for somebody to be able to see someone one time,

you get lucky, growing up as a baseball fan.

So the fact that you've seen me 15 times,

I appreciate you showing up and paying attention that way.

But no, I think present is a great way to put it.

And I think I've always done my best to do that.

But winning on the baseball on the playing side has been a big part of that.

I've been on winning teams my whole life.

So just understanding the value of being present with my teammates,

all the people you mentioned coaching staff,

even fans as you get to the professional level,

just not taking it for granted.

And so just I've done my best to enjoy the ride,

enjoy the friendships, enjoy the conraderies,

the ups, downs, which are a part of life.

So yeah, being present is what I've done my best to do.

But I also want to give this insight on from 20 years old,

making my debut to now 36 years old.

I was introduced to this game into the business world

and to the real world very quickly.

And so I had to contain a learn who I could be present for.

Like how many things I can give away of my energy and my space

because you have to do the best to be the best version of yourself.

While also when it's most important,

like give what you can give to those who are most important to you.

So that's something fun and very important to learn along.

And that leads to a question I want to ask you

because again, I've got to see you in person many times

and just how you do that.

And then knowing that your children mean the world to you,

your wife and all your family mean the world to you,

how do you balance that?

Because I know there are a lot of people that are watching

and that are listening that are like, yeah, I own businesses

or I'm a leader within my community.

And I always have a lot of touch points, right?

And you get that.

You have a lot of touch points.

How do you balance and prioritize your presence?

Much like baseball, you have to be real about imperfection.

Like that's a part of life.

And so understanding every situation,

especially stepping outside of baseball into the business world,

into the nonprofit world, into the inner city communities

and really seeing like everyone operates differently.

The structure's not the same.

And so that being said, just do my best to put my best for a forward.

Like take the small victories.

Do my best to getting our comfortable

and realizing, hey, I may need to reach out to this person more

or I may need to go agree with these people differently

versus sometimes you need to sit back

and let other people speak and let other people grow.

So I think just the more situations that I can put myself into

and that I put myself into over time where I'm like,

okay, this is just what I need to look at differently.

This one I realized today, what I did well,

what I could probably improve on.

And then also just, hey, this was just something new.

And the only way to get an understanding of and perspective

or something is just keep showing up.

Keep taking that different phone call.

Keep taking that different meeting.

When someone asks, hey, do you want to do something?

I remember like at 20, 25, I would kind of say,

no, I'm just going to stick to like doing my best to get my foot down

and go making a go-go play in the right field, right?

Which is great.

I've been compensated very well for that over time,

but that's not the end of it.

And so when you ask about the balance,

I think it's getting comfortable with the chaos,

which was like, throws us.

There's always going to be something new,

always going to be something different.

And lastly, just have your anchor.

Like, what are your like, must-have to start your day?

What's your process that you want to have

where there's wake up and have in that cup of coffee,

where there's having that banana and vitamins,

that stretch, that workout.

Maybe you're reading something like whatever it looks like

to the individual.

I think you have your anchor in your structure

and then you're able to deviate from there and just flow alive.

Man, that last part, we have so much in common

because I teach individuals and corporate leaders

that is identifying your must-haves.

Like, I start every single morning

with my list of three must-haves.

Where are the three things that are non-negotiable today?

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And it should be different every day, right?

Because I learned from the day before

what my priorities are going to be for that day.

But we have that in common, man.

And I don't think people understand how important that really is

is having non-negotiate every day.

Like I have three, because I can tolerate three.

But I think everybody should at least have one non-negotiable

every day that they're working on.

What do you think about that?

I love that.

And then for me, it's when you say they fluctuate,

like they may change.

The day before you might have taken something out,

tomorrow, I want to look at this and get caught up

to speed on this.

Or if I don't know something, maybe I need to do some research.

Or if I have a question, right?

Or you may need to get back to someone.

So I really appreciate how having three non-negotiables,

at least picking one at a minimum, just what can you do

to get yourself better to start the day, right?

Like I think that's a nice way to look at it.

And then to kind of give people, I don't want to say

end result because life is, you know, it's not forever.

But, you know, as long as we're living it,

you keep living and it always changes,

just to give people like the result of it, so to speak it.

That's how you build your comfort.

You know, people ask, oh, how do you feel so comfortable

during this?

How do you become so present?

Well, there's a lot of stuff that I don't know

and I will never know.

But the more that we put in our basket

as an individual, the more we say,

oh, today I want to do this,

and I'm not going to let anything stop me from learning this.

So I'm not going to let anything stop me

from figuring this out.

I think the more comfort we build

and there's one day at a time.

One of the other things that I know you do really well

off the field because it shows on the field is decision-making, right?

Like you don't win defensive player of the year,

you don't win multiple gold gloves without decision-making.

Like a lot of people may just look and see,

yeah, you're out in the field,

you see the ball, you go run to the ball.

But there's a lot that goes into that strategy.

I want to go early on and talk about decision-making

because you had a big one at 17s.

Like go to UCLA or do I take this offer?

And talk us through that and how you learn decision-making

and then ultimately how you made the decision

to take the braves off.

Well, just being real,

I feel like I was empowered by my parents.

They allowed me to feel like I had support

in every day or not every day.

But they would, my pops being the college athlete,

my mom being well educated.

They would just make sure, hey, like you want to keep playing baseball.

I'm like, yes, you want to keep going to this workouts.

Yes, you want to keep going to showcases.

Absolutely.

Then I had a decision to make getting to high school.

My pops is like, you can play basketball this winter

or you can do showcases for baseball.

You're not going to do both.

That's going to be a lot.

And I'm being real on like what our means were.

It's like, but you choose.

I go, I think I'm going to do these baseball showcases.

And my mind basketball, I could play and pee.

Right, I'm like, I'll get my fix there.

But I want to continue seeing what I can do

to be the next King Griffey Jr.

to be in Atlanta brave, to be a New York Yankee Derek Jeter.

That's what I was curious about.

That was my non-negotiable at the time growing.

And so then getting to my senior year,

my pops asked me again one more time as he's taking me

to like a workout and he's caught up from Henry County.

He's like, hey, man, like you sure you want to keep doing this?

And I gave him a look I was in, bro.

Like you have to stop asking me that.

Because I'm like, we're here now.

If you're thinking about turning around,

I said, let me out.

Because I'm about to figure my figure out how I can get up there.

He's like, no, I'm just asking me.

I'm just asking.

But coming up to that decision with Atlanta, with the draft,

again, education was a big driver for me.

Baseball was a big reason why I wanted to get my education

to be able to continue progress,

be able to continue moving forward.

Getting into UCLA, my great uncle,

Ken the Washington, played for John and Wooden there,

played basketball for UCLA, came off the bench,

all the things, beat Duke in the national title.

That was my reason for being able to get over to UCLA

and explore them.

I mean, out of the South, you know the South, Mick.

Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama,

Mississippi, everything close by.

For me to get West, I had to have another reason.

And that was family.

And so that was a nice way for me to see the world,

see, hey, like this is not just the South,

see Beverly Hills, see California, see Pasadena,

see the Rose Bowl, get that experience,

get those vibes.

And so I had other things to factor in with my decision,

which helped me out a lot.

So I call American game was in San Diego.

So I also got to see West Coast again and see baseball out there

and see the presentation and the way it was done,

progressing to that next level and what I was hoping to be

a high traffic.

And that was always my mentality,

see how high it can be drafted,

see where things fall.

But you have one goal, see if you can be number one overall

and then work with that mentality and in the fall where it's

supposed to fall and coming down to it,

Atlanta being the 14th pick on draft day.

In my mind, I'm like, well, I hear them.

They say they're going to take me.

There's also a few other teams that say they're going to take

me before them.

There's something that is saying they're going to take me

after them all in the first round.

But I'm like, you know what?

I don't believe in until I see.

I get the phone call from Atlanta.

They say they're going to draft me.

And I'm like, okay, we're here.

Now is my time to make this decision.

My parents again say, no, it's your choice.

It was my uncle, my great uncle in my year.

Can you watch me to say, hey, I think you should go to UCLA.

I think it's a great network for you.

I think it's a great way to grow.

You'll have that after sports.

Respectfully, I've driven up and down the highway.

I've passed her in her field,

been to some baseball games,

been to some playoff games.

And Atlanta watched brazing Yankees in the 90s.

Those are my two teams.

My mom being from New York,

dad being from South Carolina.

I was growing up in Georgia.

So I'm like, no, if I have come this far,

being drafted in the first round,

with things as they are in the Atlanta Braze organization,

I think I'm doing myself for the service for all this time.

I put in to go to college, right?

Because then what are we shooting for after that?

After being drafted 14 overall.

So that went into my decision.

The opportunity to get education after was also in my mind.

That was something that I had to fall back on if I wanted to.

But still to this day,

that mentality has been,

if I need to go back to school, I will.

If there's something that's going to lock me or be a variable

that's a non-negotiable, I'll figure that out.

But I've got a lot of time into my parents

for a lot of time,

and to physically, mentally, losing sleep,

financially, for me to be in a position,

to be drafted in the first round.

And I said, no, let's go do this.

And let's start this process and see what the truth for.

I love it, man.

I love it.

We have this in common, too.

I was not a baseball first round draft pick,

but UCLA was actually my first love.

Although I'm a Tar Hill, and I'm a Tar Hill through and through.

When I'm to select college,

I actually wanted to go to UCLA.

I've been a Tar Hill in a Georgia Bulldog my whole life,

but I wanted to go to UCLA.

Anybody that's 16, 17 that goes out to the campus,

you know why I wanted to go to UCLA.

But with my parents being from South Carolina,

it was like they were never going to see me.

And so I was like North Carolina, it is.

But yeah, that campus is beautiful.

No, beautiful campus.

Like a mile long, right?

You can see the whole thing from both ends.

And then it's like a like to your point,

it's a melting pot, right?

Of people who obviously want to progress,

but also don't mind being in LA.

So coming from the South, do you see that?

You're like, all right, man, well,

if I can go to school here and get better

and learn something on the way

and then still have this to the network, that's great.

But I feel like, I mean, as you know,

and as a lot of people know, our hills and board dogs,

you also have some very strong alums

and cultures there and both of those universities.

Absolutely, absolutely.

You know, I could talk about your career all day, Jason,

but I think your career speaks for itself.

I want to talk to you about the things that people don't see.

Man, the academies, the things that you do in the community,

the passions that you have on the field, but off the field,

talk to us about your academies, the foundations

that you have that you're doing in the community first and foremost.

Well, just to hear what baseball Academy

came about, the idea in 2020,

our name by the name of Donnie the Travis,

who's the head of the nonprofit by the hand club.

And it's, we could say, or whatever, a free plug for them,

this and that, but I just, it's undeniable for me

for the work they've done.

In inner cities with education.

And when they say by their hand, they literally

from pre-K elementary, middle, high school,

college into their profession,

they make sure that the individuals, families are

are loved and given a lot of exposure and taken care of.

So that being said, when it was the first time the world stopped

in unison, you know, in a long time,

but the sports world, right?

That was, I feel like, was one of the two times where

we all said, we don't have anything to do.

So what can we do with our time?

And some Chicago athletes got together.

Sam Ocho, Ms. Shabisky, two former Bears,

Breastown and said, there you go.

See, it's a small world.

It's a small world, especially in the South, man,

especially in the South.

But they reached out and said they were going

over to the West Side of Chicago,

going to the neighborhood in Austin.

And they were going to be a part of healing circles,

addressing the social injustices at the time,

addressing the struggles that families were going through

with COVID.

Everyone was dealing with it.

But then in neighborhoods like this,

we all understand that people live at harder.

I'm going to talk about communities,

Sam is from Nigeria.

And we get on a bus with some of the kids

to live in that neighborhood and we roll through

and Sam's like, wow, this looks like back home

as an African Nigeria.

It looked like his village

with so many places being bordered up.

And I just feel like I have to share

and give it context for what I was shown

and what I kind of live with them for a brief moment.

You know, people come to our games,

people come hang out with us.

We sign autographs, we take pictures,

we play our games, we go home to our families.

This was real light for them.

And so I wanted to be a part of this sport campus,

this dream, this facility,

52,000 square foot in North Austin.

And I wanted to represent them as the baseball side.

We have basketball, we have soccer,

we have e-gaming,

course by the hand is there with the education side,

there's nutrition.

But in my mind, I for sure know baseball,

I've been a part of some inner city endeavors

coming out of Atlanta, lead to legacy there there,

CJ and Kelly Stewart, they've done an outstanding job

starting in 2007 when I got drafted.

So I was able to like see that,

see the time it took to put into that,

but also I was playing baseball.

But I felt like this was my opportunity

to get back and incentive first sport,

get back and having a place to go as a community.

Because when you ride through these communities,

Mick is, they call them food deserts,

right, where you see more liquor stores,

22 at the time, then you see grocery,

then you see healthy foods,

then you even see for like the community come together.

Like I grew up Southern Baptist,

that was kind of my community away from sport.

And things like that, right?

You don't see much of that here in these neighborhoods.

So the intentional sports facility,

Jason Hayward Baseball Academy,

ATHLEE School Program,

for about 40 kids a week,

ATHLEE School-wise, just off of that

for them to be able to come and say,

I have something to do.

I have teammates I can look forward to.

I have a name in Jason Hayward

that is, you know, taking in Chicago as his own

and being a resident.

Of course, being a part of a 2016 team

and winning a world championship,

but that was the beginning of my introduction

to living in Chicago and saying what an impact,

what I see is, I understand people will say it's a big impact,

but what I see is it's a very small impact

in a city that is very hungry

to put his best foot forward in that space.

That's how I got started.

That's how I got introduced to a North Austin,

the community we're in,

where the baseball academy and facility is,

and I have to say being real,

it's when you don't know the space of non-profit world,

when sports are your endeavor,

when that's how you gain your platform,

it feels like a lot of risk taken, right?

Where you're not sure how to go about it,

and I think one of the phrases we use

is like building the plan while it's in the air.

You know, and that's kind of a constant,

but here we are three years in.

We feel like we are now,

I don't want to say starting over,

but we're starting from the new beginning,

and we have our facility,

we have our programs, we have our events,

we have our student athletes

that come in and want to see us,

we have our families,

but now we have more.

And a good way, we have more opportunities,

like dead rows has come through,

until the race has come through.

You talk about the colleges and universities

that come through and want to have their

softball practices, basketball practices,

hosting events,

and so now we are repositioning ourselves

to take on what's next as we grew.

And so that's where we are.

That's kind of like why I wanted to get into it,

because I understood what it was to have education

and support as an incentive to give me somewhere to go,

other than making another tough decision.

I was fortunate enough not to have to make

very tough ones myself,

but I had teammates, I had best friends,

I watched their families,

these kids and Austin have,

I would say less,

like good decisions to make, so to speak,

or less places to congregate

that they can feel safe and trust.

And it's been really, really nice to take

and start this journey with this community

and say I want you, I want to be an option.

I want to give you an option to go and feel safe.

So that's that's JHBA.

And here we are going on year four,

starting off this spring.

Amazing brother.

How can people that are watching

or listening support the nonprofit?

They can donate.

Of course, I feel like people will always say,

oh, well, don't ask too much for money

or don't ask too much for people to donate time.

They can donate time.

They can go to intentional sports.

That's the Instagram for the overall facility.

Jason Hayward baseball academy is my Instagram for JHBA.

But there's a link in both of those handles

that will show you the events going on,

the programs going on,

showing where we're headed and where we like to go,

showing what we've done,

showing how crime rate has gone down

in the surrounding area and made an impact.

And then of course,

donating the time, donate any money.

There are also links to do that as well.

And when I say this, any little thing is awesome.

Whatever someone feels like they can give

is awesome because it's going directly to kids.

It's going directly to families.

When I'm in their training in the off season

and lifting, hitting, seeing like mothers

and aunts and uncles come through some days

just to walk the track.

Just to walk around the turf.

For me, that's amazing because they have somewhere to go.

Right? They have somewhere indoors.

They have somewhere to save somewhere reliable.

And so lastly, seeing kids come through

and have their field days.

I remember field day growing up.

Man, even my senior year in high school,

we were supposed to have a senior trip

and have a counting and they're like,

you know what, we're just going to have a field day.

And we're supposed to go to Disney World

but they're like, no, we're just going to walk across the street

and we're going to go to our football stadium

and you guys are going to have a day,

water balloons this and that.

Well, seeing this facility,

when I show up every day to work out,

seeing the people that come through,

deros and so on,

it feels like United Center vibes.

It's not the United Center.

Michael Jordan didn't play there, right?

But for this community,

I think that's what's special about it.

It's something to take pride in

and it's also hope for a new level of progress.

So that's how people can get involved.

But I just, I have to share the story.

I have to share the vibe.

Because every time I walk in and leave,

I get chills about being humbled

to one, be able to use this space to work out

to my family can come and go and see,

hey, like, this is what we're doing.

This is our contribution.

And then just the kids and the families, man,

just want to continue to get better

and sharpen that for them.

I love it.

I'm going to make sure that we have links everywhere

to support both the facility and your academy.

If you're watching, if you're listening,

I don't ask for a lot of favors,

but I'm going to ask this time,

like, if you can donate financially,

please do.

If you live locally,

if you're a leader, if you're a speaker,

and you're going to be in the Chicago area,

donate some time, all things matter,

because you never know who you're going to touch,

who you're going to inspire.

And I'm proof of that,

just by going to things when I was a kid,

you never know the lesson

that you're going to give someone,

or a small thing that matters.

And for Jason and for everybody

that's a part of the academy,

that's a part of the facility.

It takes a village.

And so all the support that you can give,

I can promise you they're going to appreciate.

And there's nothing that's too small.

Even if you can just be somewhere for 20 minutes,

you never know what that 20 minutes

means to Jason and the staff there, man.

So Jason, I'm going to do my part to help push and promote.

And we'll talk offline,

but when I'm in the area,

I'm going to go donate financially

and also some time too.

Appreciate you, man.

That's huge.

Thank you for bringing it up.

Thank you for asking me about the facility,

the academy, and also,

thanks for showing us love, man.

We appreciate anyone who wants to come by,

come through and we'll do our best to make you feel warm welcome.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

All right, Jason.

I know your time is valuable.

I'm going to get you out of here with my top fire rapid fire.

Let's go.

All right.

Who is your goat athlete growing up?

Hey, my goat athlete.

I had two favorite players.

And baseball, my goat athlete, Eric Jeter,

after another Yankees coming in his rookie year,

his first winning a world series,

even though it was against my braves,

but just the way he handled it, the rest of the way.

No, it's not going to be perfect.

It's not going to always be pretty.

He dealt with New York media.

And then the more over time I learned about the sport,

the more I learned about the tradition,

the Yankees and that expectation.

It solidified it for me.

And fortunately, I've been able to meet Jeep

and play against him, compete against him,

follow his life a little bit after baseball.

So for me, rest in peace, he's kind of like the Kobe

of a baseball for me, because I'm born in 89.

MJ started a little bit sooner than then when I was born.

So I didn't get to follow it the same way I was able to follow

Kobe. So Derek Jeter for me is my goat athlete.

All right.

I love Jeter as a human being,

but I'm a red sock in a brave.

So if he'd have been a red sock,

he would be my great warm sock man.

Great.

Let's go.

When you got to get motivated,

when you got to get pumped up,

what song is in your ear?

What's in your ear buds?

I'm going to say, right now,

it is on one tonight by gunna.

On one tonight by gunna, because this that album,

I feel like it was him having to address a lot of the tough times

that he's gone through, you know,

legally, right?

But I feel like, especially from the south,

I'm sure you can testify on this,

but I feel like you don't see as many artists come out of it

as well as he has.

Even with dealing with the young stuff,

it's, I know we're all torn,

and we want to see great music,

be great music.

We want to see these guys fellowship

and grind together.

But for me, on one tonight is the testament to,

he's like, man, you know what?

Like, I've been politically correct.

I've said my apologies.

I've, you know,

taken some things on the chin,

but right now, I'm on one tonight,

and I got to, I got to go do my thing,

and I got to be, I got to be surgery.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

I love it.

What has been your favorite ballpark

to play in either a home or away?

There's going to be more for me,

more votes for Ridley.

You feel on the North Side of Chicago,

even before being a club for playing there for seven years

as a visitor.

For one, a lot, a lot of first there,

like first-grad slam there,

first two-homer game there.

I think like first like four-hit game there,

something like that, five-hit game there.

A lot of cool firsts, but then just what Ridley is in itself

being able to experience the old clubhouse

on the visit inside,

walking down the turns,

as you get closer to the field,

the more you smell the grass,

the more you smell the history,

the amount of former baseball players

and people and politicians

that have set foot in this cathedral

on the North Side of Chicago for me

was super special to feel.

And then like, once you zoom out,

then you get late Michigan,

then you get Lake Shore,

then you get the Chicago vibes,

you get Ridley Vale,

you get the rest of downtown,

you get the fireworks from Wednesday,

every Wednesday Saturday,

from Memorial Day to Labor Day,

you get the air and water show.

So for me as a whole,

Ridley Field itself just,

they do baseball, right?

That's what Ridley does.

It does baseball, it does it in the neighborhood.

The neighborhood opens up,

people go to their jobs,

the players, the fans come in

and operate and play them on a 20-day game.

The game ends and then everyone goes back

to him during Chicago as it was.

So for me, that's my easy

Ridley Field, is it?

Easy enough.

Easy enough.

What is your favorite ballpark food?

So it's just French toast.

We're talking ballpark foods.

Yeah, when I answer that,

I immediately obviously thought of the player.

Yeah.

Got you, yeah, breakfast food.

It's a French toast, bacon,

scrambled eggs with spinach, pancakes,

maybe maybe there's some blueberries

on the bacon, scrambled eggs,

spinach, fruit before the game.

That's my vibe on getting to the field

and having a good meal

before we go tackle that day game.

I love it.

I love it.

I'm going to get you out of here on this one.

As the story of Jay Hay continues to evolve,

what's one word you wanted that story?

One word.

My story has a continuous to evolve, man.

I'm thinking about being a dad.

I'm thinking about business.

I'm thinking about non-profit.

I'm thinking professional.

What is something to tie all this together?

I'm going to say surprising.

I don't want to say anything.

I think I will go with dedicated.

I want to say dedicated.

That's where I'll leave it because that's

in order to be where I would like to continue to go,

continue progressing in every aspect of my life,

it's dedicated and I think that's

what's going to have to be the constant.

That is you.

I can see that, man.

I can see that.

Jason, brother, you mean more than you'll ever know me.

I can't wait to see what happens in 26 for you, no matter what you do,

where you go, how you do it.

I'm there with you, man.

You know, everybody says they have a number one fan.

Well, that's me for you, bro.

So whatever you doing, I'm there with you, man.

You got to appreciate the love, man.

And I appreciate the hospitality.

I appreciate you being genuine.

Right?

And shooting me straight.

I know you will.

And if you ever see anything where you feel like,

oh, no, Jay, you could have did this different now

that we've formerly met.

It'd be on the podcast.

Let me know.

Let me know, man.

We wouldn't love to trade stories.

Love to trade ideas.

So iron sharpening iron, man.

I appreciate you.

It's been iron to be on.

I appreciate you too.

I appreciate you too.

For all the viewers and listeners, remember,

your because is your superpower.

Go unleash it.

That's another powerful conversation on Mick Unplugged.

If this episode moved you, and I'm sure it did,

follow the show wherever you listen.

Share it with someone who needs that spark

and leave a review.

So more people can find there because I'm really rushed.

And until next time, stay driven, stay focused,

and stay unplugged.