Tony La Russa: Deaths of my pitcher, mother and friend | Forward Progress

0:00Tony La Russa:When you want your spring break to feel like... And your kid's pool day to feel like... And your hotel bed to feel like... Ooh, and room service to feel like... Because at Hilton, hospitality feels like... Your cabana's ready. Would you like fresh towels? It matters where you stay. Book now at Hilton.com. Hilton. For this day. This episode is brought to you by Nespresso. Introducing Virtuo Up, the latest in a long line of innovation from Nespresso. It's innovation you can touch, sense, and taste in every single cup. With a three-second start, easy open lever, and dedicated brew over ice button, it's even easier to enjoy your coffee your way.

0:52Tony La Russa:Sip for yourself. Shop Virtuo Up exclusively at Nespresso.com. As we wrap up the week, we're bringing you one of the many positive messages from our past interviews. Each Thursday, we're sharing stories of our most watched athletes, celebrities, and leaders. We hope these problem-solving narratives inspire you to tackle obstacles in your own life. This week, Tony La Russa.

1:19Tony La Russa:Your mom passed away at the height of McGuire's record-setting. month in early September, which had to be challenging between dealing with the family issues and being on a front row seat to history. And then fast forward to 2002, your dad passes away, your pitcher, Daryl Kyle, passes away, the team legendary broadcaster and your friend, Jack Buck, passes away. It's the midway point in the season, and you're sitting at your desk What do you do? The night the McGuire hit the home run against the Cubs,

2:01Graham Bensinger:my mother was buried. And one of our owners, a really good friend, David Pratt, who's still my friend, had a plane. And my dad says, look, when this thing in the service is over, you don't spend the time with the family. You get on that plane, get back for that game. So I was there, and I watched him hit the home run. Darrell was tied for first with the greatest teammates we've ever had. Thursday in Seattle, he's pitching. And he's struggling. And it's just, you know, he's not following the game plan. It's about the third, fourth inning. And I go out to get him. I'm thinking he's mad at me because I took him out.

2:37Graham Bensinger:Now it gets to be Sunday after the game. He's pitching Tuesday. I think, you know. So I called Darryl. I said, I want to see you in my office. He comes in my office. And I said, look, man, I don't know why you're upset at me. I mean, you were struggling that day. He says, oh, no, you don't understand. Not you. I'm so embarrassed with the way I'm letting my team down. It's hard for me to look at anybody. I says, Darryl, look, man, you're getting better and better. These guys love you. They trust you. Go out there Tuesday, pitches a game. I mean, this is stuff you can't make up. Beats the Angel, we go into first place.

3:16Graham Bensinger:Earlier that, maybe the day before, Jack Buck gets buried, and there's a picture of there's Darryl in that front row. Fast forward, he dies on Saturday. His wife tells me, this one amazing lady, Flynn, man, I don't know what you told my husband, when he came back Sunday, he's a new man. So I think to myself going back, suppose I'd have been stubborn and played the leader card and say, you know, if you don't want to talk, I don't want to talk. Then this guy would have died and not have known that conversation. So I look back and I think the value of personalizing a relationship when you're a leader, and it's the hardest way to lead because you've got to do it every day if you do it right.

4:05Graham Bensinger:The value is not just you get guys to buy in the team and play. It's that you build that caring and the respect and trust. If I had not been taught that that was a leadership role, I probably would have mugged that chance. Talk about regrets. That guy would have died without knowing what we all thought of him. So what about 2002? Oh, man, it was such an incredibly difficult year. Our guys were just in despair. We voted to play Sunday night because Darryl never missed a start. We played, and the Cubs beat us. We went through about 10 days or two weeks. The club was just, as a leader in our coach, you know, we're thinking, hey, man, I can't be yelling at these guys.

4:46Graham Bensinger:I mean, these guys, they're worrying about Darrell, they're worrying about the family, they're worrying about their own mortality. From the day he died to the end of the season, we won 57 games and won the division. Now that's eerie stuff, man, but that's all true. We went against the Giants, and I was convinced that that team was destiny. We were going to beat the Giants, we were going to the World Series, and we lost to this day. The series in October that I most regret was losing to the Giants because our club deserved to keep going because we were dedicating it to Jack and Darryl.

5:24Tony La Russa:2006 you do win the World Series. You're in your office. Your sister comes in after that Game 5 World Series championship victory. You remember what she says?

5:39Graham Bensinger:Something about my mom and dad maybe? Uh, you're number one. Oh, yeah. That's what my dad would always say. He always told me how good I am. You're the best. I said, my dad won our last place by 10 games. He said, well, you're still the best.

5:52Tony La Russa:That's it for now. But if you're hungry for more In-Depth with Graham Bensinger interviews, head over to youtube.com slash Graham Bensinger. You can dive into our deep library, which includes more than 2 ,000 clips spanning 12-plus years. Thanks again for listening.

6:11Tony La Russa:If you're a content creator, you know the struggle of picking between quality and quantity to grow your channel, especially if you're on a tight budget. But why not choose both? With Storyblocks, you get everything you need to create amazing videos fast. Instead of expensive pay-per-clip pricing, you get unlimited downloads from a library with millions of stock assets for one set price. Go to storyblocks.com slash Spotify to learn more.