JANE LEE
News Editor
Shortly after leading his team in a 5:30 a.m. preseason workout, Pepperdine Head Baseball Coach Steve Rodriguez sat down for a session of “10 minutes with…” to talk about watching his players get drafted while reflecting on his own experiences as a professional baseball player, including playing with Jose Canseco.
So what does a college baseball coach do during the summer?
“We did an unbelievable amount of recruiting this summer — between places like Cincinnati, North Carolina, Texas and Denver. We do a lot of that, and then I went on a small vacation with the family — four days in D.C — that was a lot of fun. But then there are camps here at Pepperdine. We have five overnight camps, so summer’s not really a break for us. It’s probably our biggest working time, getting ready for the following year.”
You had nine players drafted this year. It’s obviously an exciting day for them, but what’s it like for you watching them go?
“It’s the bittersweet. You enjoy watching those guys ultimately reach their goal in playing professional baseball. It’s hard because you see these guys when they come in as freshmen, and then they mature so fast over the four years because now they’re going to start their careers. The bitter part of it is that you do all this work with them, and you see them strive and get better. They work so hard to get to what they’re trying to do, and then they leave. It’s a great blessing for us because it means we’re doing our job as coaches and getting them ready for that next level. But it’s always hard to see them go.”
What do you remember about your own draft day in 1992?
“What’s funny is we didn’t have the Internet back then, and we didn’t have a way to hear how we got drafted. I was drafted in the fifth round by the Boston Red Sox, and I didn’t know it. I heard everybody else was getting drafted, and I found out while we were in Omaha (at the College World Series). I didn’t find out until we got to the field that day, and my coach told me I had gone in the fifth round by the Red Sox, and I said, ‘Oh, really?’ It was great news to me because I had been kind of bitter hearing about all these other players being drafted. At the same time, I knew we had a job to get done there, and we got it done.” (He helped lead the 1992 Pepperdine baseball team to a College World Series title.)
What advice do you give to your players who are entering into the Minor League system?
“I’ve actually talked to a couple of our guys about it and not getting sucked into it. It’s an abyss for a lot of careers. They go, and they enjoy being a professional baseball player, but they don’t realize there’s a whole new crop of young guys coming in the year after them who want to take their jobs. They can get sucked into it, and they can throw that title around that they’re a pro baseball player, but the truth is, unless you’re going to be working as hard as the guy that’s in front of you or the guy above you, then you’re not really doing what you’re supposed to do. And I think a lot of people get sucked into the fact that they’re professional baseball players without realizing that it is now a career and your job is to beat out somebody who’s been there longer than you have.”
Between the mascots and quirky games between the innings, a lot of strange things go on at Minor League games. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen in the minors?
“The weirdest thing I saw…well, I was actually involved (laughs). We were in Scranton, Penn., and I was with the Toledo Mud Hens at a Triple-A game. I got into a fight with the mascot. It was a fun fight — not like a big fight. He started running, and I ran after him on the field and tackled him. I guess we got all these rave reviews. I knew the mascot because I had been in Triple-A for awhile, so we were just having some fun with each other. But everybody thought it was the funniest thing that ever happened. I didn’t realize how funny it was at the time, but I came back and our dugout was saying, ‘I can’t believe you did that.’
And when you got to the Big Leagues, did you experience any rookie hazing?
“I guess a little bit. When I was in the Big Leagues, I actually had a very veteran group. We had Jose Canseco and Roger Clemens at the Red Sox, and they really, really took care of the younger guys. You never had to pay for anything, whether it was clothes or food. Whatever it was, they took care of it. It was really great, and that’s what I try to relay to our guys here — that you should never feel a sense of entitlement because you’re older or have been here longer. That’s actually the point when you show your leadership by making the younger kids’ jobs easier. That’s what a leader does. A leader will show and demonstrate as opposed to just telling. And that’s what was great. Having guys like Mike Greenwell and Jose Canseco were phenomenal guys to me. I know Jose Canseco has got a lot of flack for all the steroid stuff, but how he treated me was very professional, and I still consider him my friend.”
Everyone around here knows you as the baseball coach, so what would people be most surprised to know about you?
“I love to cook. I love having our coaches over and cooking meals for them.”
Any favorite meals?
“I have a chicken and sausage gumbo. And I cook a spicy chicken pasta. They’re modified recipes kind of taken from someone else and then modified. But other than that, I’m a pretty simple guy.”
09-06-2007
