Baseball Chatter – Ozzie Guillen – 07/17/18

Our friend and host of the Pitches Get Stitches Podcast, Joel Gullo, texted me the other day to let me know he wasn’t going to have his podcast because he was visiting Chicago and Wrigley Field.

I told him to have a great time and then warned him about the ‘rats in the bathrooms’

In my defense, I learned about the bathrooms at Wrigley from former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. He is the one who embedded a mental image that will stick for the rest of my life.

You are going to take batting practice and the rats look bigger than a pig out there…I think the rats out there are lifting weights. It’s a museum. They like to come to Wrigley Field. I don’t say people don’t like to come here. I say Ozzie doesn’t like to come here.Ozzie Guillen

These long horse trough-looking things have enough room for about 15 dudes to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and freely pee in whatever direction it happens to go.

Guillen hated going to Wrigley Field even though it was right across town and the locals will tell you that the White Sox play on the bad side of the tracks, not the Cubbies.

It wasn’t the neighborhood Ozzie complained about though, it was Wrigley Field he hated. He hated that place.

Guillen was great at speaking an almost unintelligible combination of Spanish, English, and profanity, but it didn’t matter which language he used, he got his point across loud and clear.

I love it when the game starts, but before the game and after the game, it’s the worst field in baseball. Everybody around Chicago feels the same way. They don’t have the guts to say that. Go ask the players. They have to go to their batting cages and hit there with 20,000 rats.Ozzie Guillen

One of my favorite memories was when Bartolo Colon went missing. He was sent to Triple-A for a rehab start but he never showed up and nobody knew what happened to him. When a reporter asked Ozzie if he knew where to find Colon, Ozzie replied,

I worry about Colon because Colon was a big-time Michael Jackson fan. He might watch the TV and cry all day long. Maybe he’s in L.A. at his funeral, because I can’t find him. When he gets to Charlotte, Oney will call me and say he’s there. Nobody knows how big of a Jackson fan Colon was. I’m serious. He might be depressed a little bit.Ozzie

Ozzie’s career as a player consisted of 16 seasons, American League Rookie of the Year, American League MVP, three All-Star teams and a Gold Glove.

As a manager, Ozzie was named Manager of the year, coached one All-Star team, won a division title, and won the World Series after almost 100 years. He was the first Latino manager to win a World Series title.

Early Years

When Ozzie entered baseball he was 19 years old. He was quite small for ballplayer at 5’11 and just 102 pounds. He didn’t act like it though, Watch:

Finding Escobar

Ozzie Guillen found Eduardo Escobar ten years ago when he went to watch his son play baseball in Tucson, Arizona. Escobar was the backup shortstop to Ozzie’s son Oney Guillen. Ozzie, who was managing the Chicago White Sox at the time, says Escobar was the best infielder on the team and couldn’t believe he was sitting on the bench.

Escobar was drafted in the 36th round and on the verge of getting cut from the team, which would have forced him to return to his hometown, a dangerous town in Venezuela. Knowing this, Ozzie called in a few favors.

First, he asked Kenny Williams to send him to the rookie-level Pioneer League in Great Falls, Mont., in and then to the Arizona Fall League. It wasn’t because Ozzie thought he was the best baseball player, he felt like he was saving a kid’s life.

Ozzie: Hey, Kenny, can we send this kid to Arizona (Fall League)

Kenny: OK, why? Venezuela?

Ozzie: Oh, no. If you send this kid to Arizona, you’re going to save his life. If he has to go back to Venezuela, where this kid comes from, it’s very dangerous. Kenny, you come from Oakland. I come from Caracas. You have to believe me when I tell you: If this kid goes back home, it’s not going to be good for anyone. If he goes back there he’s not going to play baseball. He’s not going to do anything. He’s not good enough to play in the winter league, and he’ll be hanging around on the streets. It could be dangerous.

The full story of how Eduardo Escobar (@escobarmaracay) turned into @OzzieGuillen ‘s greatest discovery. #mntwins #WhiteSox https://t.co/GAGkfdeW4b

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) June 30, 2018

Players Are Family

“My players are family, and them and my family are more important than anyone else, The players appreciate the way I feel about family. A lot of managers push their players toward baseball and not enough toward family. Baseball isn’t going to be around forever, but family will be.”

Ozzie likes people to show up on time, play hard and don’t complainAJ Pierzynski on playing baseball for Ozzie Guillen.

A.J. Pierzynski touched upon his relationship with his former manager @OzzieGuillen #WhiteSox @SouthSideSox @SoxOn35th pic.twitter.com/YcGPbOdlla

— Thuzio (@Thuzio) July 3, 2018

Ozzie and David DeJesus talk about their favorite White Sox/Cubs memory

Ozzie Talks World Series

Guillen talks about the 2005 World Series title and what he thought about Bobby Jenks the first time he saw him. What about his future as a major league manager? And what has become of his former teammate Sammy Sosa

Are managers like Ozzie a thing of the past?

Dugouts will probably have safe spaces before we get another kick-ass manager like him in baseball.

They just don’t make them like they used to. Cheers to Ozzie – The best manager baseball ever had.

As we all know, Ozzie tends to say some things that aren’t politically correct, He gets himself in trouble here and there. He doesn’t play the corporate game. He’s a baseball player, and that’s what endears him to people and also upsets people at times. I think he’s a heckuva manage.Aaron Rowand