Unstoppable Spirit: World Series to World Traveler with Jeremy Guthrie

0:00Mick:Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Mick Unplugged. And today I am joined by a titan, a legend, who commanded the mound in Major League Baseball for over a decade, a World Series competitor, and a global ambassador whose impact transcends the game itself. He's building bridges through sports from Peru to China. He's a former Eagle Scout, a Stanford mind, and more importantly, one of the greatest human beings I know. Please join me in welcoming the inspiring, the visionary, the incomparable Mr. J. Guts himself, Jeremy Guthrie. 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 into meaning 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 jeremy how you doing you are very kind mick that is a very kind introduction well beyond what I deserve, but thank you.

1:00It's a pleasure to be with you.

1:01Mick:Well, you know, I can talk trash to you now. You probably don't deserve it because you went to Stanford and I went to UNC and now somehow we're rivals. I don't understand how East coast, West coast, I don't know if we're like nineties hip hop beef now, but I guess we got something that we got to talk about, right? I'll tell you what, it's one of the greatest rivalries in the history of college sports to have that. I mean, it's, it's amazing. Three years now running and it just, the roots are deep in this rivalry.

1:29I can't even imagine these West Coast teams traveling all up and down the Atlantic coast to play conference matchups. It's a college athletics is in a very unique and I would say a broken spot. I'm not a super well-versed and professional person to say that, but as a fan, it's very broken as a fan.

1:50Mick:So it's awful. And for you, like you played baseball, so you understand truly, like, I think obviously football is what controlled all of this, but they didn't think about the other sports, man. And like, like baseball is hard. I would say baseball is probably one of the hardest to, to do this coast to coast traveling because you're there, you've got series that you play. Like, it's not just one game and then you're out, uh, it's multiple days. and then, you know, the day before, the day after, and then you're back at it again, man. Like, it's crazy to think what the baseball players have to go through.

2:27Maybe one of the net positives here will be that college players are more prepared for professional baseball since you get stuck right into the fire riding buses overnight or even in the big leagues having flights that are late with late arrivals. So maybe college baseball players will be more prepared and the work to get to the big leagues will be shortened. Maybe that'll be one of the side effects that no one anticipated, one of the positive side effects.

2:52Mick:Yeah, yeah, we never know. And we'll talk about you being an expert in that in a moment. But but more importantly, you know, I ended that opener by saying just one of the greatest humans that I know is you. Aside from being phenomenal, professional athlete, you're a phenomenal professional human being, bro. And I put that number one for you. And I always ask my guests a question about what's their because, what's their purpose, what's their mission. And I know it changes as we evolve as adults, right? If I were to ask you today, Jay Guts, bro, like what's your because? Why do you continue to do the amazing things that you do beyond baseball and impact the lives that you impact today?

3:36Perhaps my because is a recognition of who we all are, better said. you know, I have a deep faith. I was raised in a home, a spiritual home with a faith tradition. And, you know, I believe in God. I believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior. And when you believe that you're a son of God or a daughter of God, then that means everybody around you is your brother and sister. And if you believe that, then you should treat them as such. And although my sisters and my sister and brothers would probably say I didn't always treat them great, the idea is I have a desire to and so I think that's the the because the because is recognizing who I am and when I see someone walking down the street or hobbling down the street or whatever it might be I try to envision that they are just as important in God's eyes as as me certainly just as much as me if not more and why would I treat them as anything different than such and so that's what's the underneath that's the because and it doesn't mean I'm perfect at it but it means that anytime I make a mistake I'll go back to that well am I treating people as God would treat them am I being a brother that he would expect and ask of me and that's the because amazing man and

4:54Mick:you know talking about your faith which again is one of the reasons I'm connected to you because I don't hide from my faith either. But you did something at 19 that I don't know if I could have done. I'm going to be honest with you, man. Like you drafted professional sports, like that dream, that vision that we all have as children, right? Like we all have that dream at some point to, to make it big and making it big is, is right in front of you. It has happened. And you at 19 go on this two-year mission. Um, talk to us about, I don't want to say the decision because I know for you that decision was easy, right?

5:33Mick:Like you just talked about your because and who you are as a human. But talk about what that two-year mission did for you and what it changed in your life. Well, I really appreciate that. To reflect on those two years, which was from 1998 to 2000, became the foundation of my life that I'm continuing to try to build and live out and enjoy and maximize. and to your point the decision becomes easy when you know the decision is being influenced by something greater than you and so you know you're complimenting me on that decision yet i know that there are millions of listeners that are making important decisions the same that are just as much sacrifice and they're different because they maybe aren't between professional sports and their faith but there's something else whether it's a challenge a weakness or an opportunity There's some decision they're making and it becomes easier.

6:30It becomes doable when you know that it's God that you're doing it with and you know that it's his voice that you're trying to listen to. And so that's why I decided to forego signing with the New York Mets as a senior in high school back in 1997. And a year later, I found myself in Spain preaching Jesus Christ and serving other people. And ultimately, I think the greatest thing opportunity of that two years brought to me in addition to learning of my Savior and better understanding who He is and how I can strive to live the life that He exemplified, was that for two years, I was asked to forget myself and to think about everybody else in the world except me and to see how we could, with my companions, bring a message of hope and peace and how we could teach of Jesus Christ, which would then help them to make important decisions in their life that would bless them the same way that I had felt blessings in my life for trying my best to choose Jesus Christ first, right?

7:30Whenever you, if you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all things are added unto us. Yes. And we don't know what all things are. I warn kids all the time. I said, all things happen to include baseball for me down the road, but that doesn't mean that what you most love or desire is going to be your all things. Maybe it's something you never recognize until later on in life. And so I learned number one, the joy of forgetting yourself of losing yourself, and yet finding yourself through that. Because I was asked to do that. And I practiced for two years. Can I genuinely forget about a potential baseball career?

8:06Can I genuinely forget about a girlfriend who became a wife? Can I forget about in a positive way, my family, and do the things that I feel inspired by God to do? I'll tell you one other lesson that was foundational for my life. And that was understanding the definition of success. As a missionary, our purpose was very clear. Our purpose was to go and invite and help others come unto Christ. That was the purpose. But success is not defined on how many people you help bring unto Christ. Success was defined by our effort and our commitment to that purpose. And so you have this interesting dichotomy.

8:44Your goal and purpose is to bring others unto Christ. And that can be done through faith in him, through repentance, through baptism, and in living, committing yourself to God and Jesus Christ. Yet your success was not going to be measured by how often that happened because of your hard work and the work that you did with God. Your success was going to be defined by your effort to fulfill your purpose. And so you were doing one thing, trying to measure it one way, yet your success was going to be measured a totally different way. And it had helped me learn something I'd learned in high school, which was the definition of success defined by John Wooden, the legendary college basketball coach.

9:26And he said, of course, that success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of the self-satisfaction that you have in making the best effort you can to become the best you're capable of becoming. And so I learned that. I learned that I can control my effort, my focus, my enthusiasm, my resiliency. And when I do that, I can feel successful. And that lesson has paid off in life. It has paid off in baseball. It's paid off in every aspect. And I learned it in a really powerful and unique way as a 19 and 20 year old walking around the streets of Spain, attempting to share a message of Jesus with all who would listen, which frankly was very, very few people.

10:11in 24 months. I spent most of my time talking to people that were, you know, had other things, that had jobs or kids or were in a hurry to go somewhere. And so had I defined my success by, am I making an impact, a visible impact in someone's life? I probably would have felt really dejected, but I came home with a new definition of what success is. And it was ingrained in my heart. And I've tried to live that way ever since.

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11:43Mick:That's beautiful, man. That is beautiful. I'm assuming you took Spanish in high school, right? No, no, don't assume anything. No German. It was really, really bad German at that. Oh, wow. Wow. So you took German in high school. Yeah. I spoke no Spanish. And you chose Spain. Okay. I didn't choose Spain. That was the challenge. I really wanted to go to Japan. My mom's family, comes from Japan. I'm half Japanese. I don't speak Japanese either, but that was a dream of mine. And so I wanted to go to Japan, but I was assigned to go to Spain. And that wasn't a choice that I made. I simply volunteered.

12:17I submitted a resume, said, here's who I am. Here's what I've studied. Here's what I've done. I would like to serve. Send me wherever you will. And they chose to send me to Spain. And so I learned Spanish from the very first word, the first day, spent two and a half, three months learning it in a training center in Utah, and then was shipped off to Santiago de Compostela in Spain and was thrown right into the fire and understood just about nothing for about five months before it kind of clicked.

12:46Mick:Wow, bro. Like, so again, I did make an assumption. I assume that, you know, you would have studied Spanish prior to going to Spain. So So that tells me more about you, just how you immerse yourself into one being the best version of yourself that you can be. But two, I also look at it that that's probably how you took on challenges to write like give me a challenge. I'm going to be fully committed to that challenge. Talk to us a little bit about that. Well, I would say taking on Spanish was one of the earlier challenges of my life. You know, I was really fortunate to grow up in a home that had loving parents and stability.

13:31And so as a young kid, I really can't think too much about really difficult challenges. I'm grateful for that. And I recognize that that's a unique opportunity. But learning Spanish was hugely frustrating. And so as much as I look back now and tell my own children, you should learn Spanish. I'll help teach you. We'll do some class. We'll talk about it after school and spend 30 minutes a day. And they want no part of it. I'm just trying to help them. But it stems from how frustrating it was for me to learn Spanish. And now I have a 19 year old son living in Peru who never wanted to study with me, but is forced to learn it himself right now.

14:05I wanted to quit. I wanted to quit Spanish. being a missionary even after a couple weeks and months was something that went from a really powerful kind of crossroads in my life and decision to one that I'm like, geez, did I make the right decision? Is this really where I want to be? Is this where God wants me to be? Because it sure feels like I'm alone and abandoned and that it's not going well. But I learned, okay, I can only control one thing, and that's how much effort do I put into speaking my language and studying it. So after about two months, it finally clicked. I said, okay, I'm just going to speak Spanish all day long.

14:40Even if I can only say five things, I'll stick with those five things and I'll translate everything else. And that made a big impact. And so my ability to speak went much faster than my ability to learn, to hear and understand because I could put more effort into that. And the listening and the understanding kind of came bit by bit. So I think I was comfortable speaking by about three months into Spain, whereas it took another three or 40 to really be comfortable understanding. But it was a grind. It was hard. People around me were much better. The other 12 missionaries in my class, most of them had taken Spanish.

15:15Some of them had taken significant amounts of Spanish. And so I remember after, I think it was a month and a half, I finally asked, I said, why do we keep taking these verbs like, you know, tenere, to have? Why do we keep taking the verbs and changing the spelling. And they said, what do you mean? I said, like, why is it tango and tienes and tenemos? And they said, that's conjugating. I said, what does it mean to conjugate? They said, what do you mean? We've been talking about this for six weeks. To conjugate, it means you have to say, like, I have something, you have something. In English, it's the same word.

15:46But in Spanish, if I have, it's yo tango. If you have it, it's tu tienes. Like, so that's what we're doing. So anyway, just like they couldn't even comprehend that after six weeks, I didn't know what we were doing And every time we walked in and did a chart with six different ways to say a word, I had no idea what we were doing. But it was a grind. It was difficult and challenging.

16:05Mick:Well, you did it. And I'm proud of you for that, bro. I'm proud of the work that you did out in Spain as well, too, because that's led to other things that we'll get to in a moment. But you come back from Spain, right? Baseball career is ready to resume. So, you know, there's NIL now, so I won't ask you to tell me the bag that Stanford gave you because, you know, Oregon has some great baseball programs out there, too. Stanford, obviously, always elite in baseball. But talk to us about that brotherhood of college baseball and what that was like. I love it. When I went to, you know, I attended BYU as a freshman and played baseball there, and I wasn't very good, and our team was okay.

16:47We were a 500 team. And when I came back, I had an opportunity to transfer to Stanford. And that was thanks to my late high school coach who passed away a year ago. And my father, who really believed in me and wanted me to have more opportunity. And so they bothered the coaches at Stanford and said, you got to take a look at this kid. He could help your program. And they were kind enough to do it. And so I was accepted kind of as a planned walk-on. and they gave me$1 ,000 of money towards, I think it was about$40 ,000 of tuition and living expenses and books at that time, which actually seems pretty cheap now compared to what it costs to go to school these days.

17:27But they gave me very little, but they said, you'll come and be on the team. And so I'm like, fine, I'll take a chance. And I had no idea what I had, two years of not throwing, two years of no lifting weights or exercising or running. I didn't really know what I would have, but it came back pretty quickly. I always attributed that to the hand of God. I can't explain it. I said, I don't know how I can go from 91 miles per hour at BYU, take two years off, don't throw a single ball for two years, lose 25 pounds of presumably muscle that I'd gained in high school. And then within two and a half months, I'm throwing 97 miles per hour.

18:04I said, I have no explanation for that other than just a gift in the hand of God touching my arm and saying, this is what I have in store for you. And so quickly, I was confident, believed I could be a part of the team and earned a spot, you know, from going from a walk on to actually having a role as the Friday starter for a team that eventually became the number one team in the country and who eventually lost in the championship game to Miami in the College World Series in 2001. So it was unexpected. It was a whirlwind. It was really an enjoyable ride. And the camaraderie that you asked about is, I tell people all the time, my teammates at Stanford, from the pitching staff all the way to our elite infield and our outfield that had three major league players in the outfield go on to have good careers in the big leagues.

18:54I just grew a love of baseball. These guys loved baseball. They ate, slept and drank it, but in a good way, in a really kind of productive, constructive way that made me love baseball more, which caused me to just enjoy myself. And when I enjoyed myself, I got much better, which is what do parents and coaches tell their kids all the time? Have fun. And it sounds like a cliche, but the moment I began to have fun in baseball was the moment my talent and career really took off.

19:24Mick:man and it totally took off leading to the big show right um you know most folks don't understand the short tenure tenure of people who actually make it to the big leagues right like we all hear the stories of the grind of minor leagues and we get that a lot but people don't understand And it is very rare that when you do get called up, when you do make it, that you actually stay there, especially for pitchers. Right. Like it is very hard for a pitcher to have over a decade in the big show. But J Guts did, man. Talk to us about, you know, some of the highlights or the things that you're most proud of of your career.

20:14that's a great question and i wish i had the data because when i talk to parents or kids that have the big dream you know dream big and you should always follow your dreams of course but be realistic and you know whether it's a backup plan or whether it's just a safety net to fall on i think one of the greatest things number one that helped me in my career because my career was mirrored that of i'd call it 98 of major league players meaning it had ups and downs It had challenges. It had setbacks. And there are very few that don't. You know, we can think of a couple that are in the big leagues today that I would say they didn't have setbacks.

20:50I'm sure they would disagree completely. But you see the career of Bryce Harper, who is a young man, was on Sports Illustrated as the chosen one and makes it to the big leagues at 19 and is a two time MVP and is chasing, you know, a career that could ultimately end up in Cooperstown. that's a that's a player that really lived up to the expectations kind of in a in a linear way paul skeins today very similar but 98 of big leaders up and down their careers on the brink and somehow they come back from it and so i was you know i was no different in that but you learn through it that if you can keep you know keep grinding and they had to go back to that definition of success in my mind, I had to really lean on that because when your success outwardly is not happening, meaning you have a high ERA, a lot of losses, a lot of home runs and hits allowed, that if that's your only definition of success, it kills careers.

21:48And I don't have the data, but players that make it to the big leagues is a tiny percentage. Players who stay in the big leagues longer than two years is an even tinier fraction of players. And then of course, those who reach tenure is a minuscule number. And so education gave me peace of mind. When I was in my worst moments, I always knew with an education in college, I could fall back and go find a job. And I think that was helpful. I think to know that I had something gave me kind of that, that oomph to keep going. And I've been around enough players that are all in on baseball, which, you know, to their credit, that's, that's the way they live their life.

22:25They're passionate about it. But I know that at some point when it becomes difficult, that the pressure no longer is just baseball, but it's life. It's like, wow, if I don't make it and get a multi-year contract, what am I going to do? I got nothing to fall back on. I have no education. I have no money saved because kids need to know when you get a signing bonus, that money evaporates pretty quickly. If you spend it on anything, you know, you get half of it to start between taxes and an agent. And then, you know, you go buy a car, that's another chunk of it. It just goes really fast. And so a signing bonus is almost null and void for most players, unless they are really wise with their money.

23:05And so I think, um, I think education helped. I was married in my career. My wife was a huge support and most players probably aren't married in the minor leagues. I was. And so no matter what, I always had someone to go back to someone that loved me, someone that encouraged me, someone that believed in me. And that was enormous for a lot of players. That's a parent, a sibling. And if you're really fortunate, it becomes a teammate or a friend, but that's more rare because, you know, baseball, you're competing. You're not, you're not there like in college trying to win a championship necessarily.

23:37You're competing against the other 12 pitchers to take the one job that might become available in middle of July in the big leagues. And so that's a big change as well. Players need to understand money goes fast. If you don't have a plan to fall back on pressure mounts, you're going to be challenged. You're going to fail. And most of the time, you're going to be surrounded by a bunch of guys that understandably are selfishly trying to take the same job that you're shooting for. And that's a tough life. Throw on some bus trips and at the time, 20 bucks a day for food and some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and tuna fish after batting practice.

24:10And you see very quickly why professional baseball will eat you up and spit you out quicker than you can say big leagues.

24:18Mick:There you go. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Well, again, man, I'm proud of the career that you had. I always say, you know, number 11 in your program, but number one in your heart, right? Like that's my dude right there. But I want to talk now about the things you're doing outside of baseball, man. Like you're currently traveling the globe from Peru to China to Cuba, bridging communities through baseball. Talk to us a little bit about that, bro. Well, you know, a lot of it goes back to my time in Spain, first and foremost. That was the first time I really left the country, excluding a quick tournament I had in Canada as a senior in high school.