Former Pirate sends message to YSU baseball during First Pitch Breakfast
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CANFIELD -- Jason Kendall may have spent 15 seasons in Major League Baseball, but for the former Pittsburgh Pirates catcher, baseball has always been in his blood.
Saturday morning, Kendall spoke to a crowded room at Waypoint 4180 in Canfield as part of Youngstown State's "First Pitch Breakfast" after spending an afternoon at a Penguins practice the day before.
"I think more than anything, to go out for those three hours a night and be one and play together," Kendall said, describing the message he had for YSU. "It was 1997, we had a $9 million dollar payroll, I want to say that three-four-fives players on every other team coming in had at least one guy with more (than our) payroll.
"But we played as a team, and we came down to the last three games of the season. If we would have swept the Astros, we would have had a one-game playoff against them. We were in the pennant race all year with a $9 million payroll, so I don't know what their odds are this year, but I know that I walked into (the WATTS) yesterday and there were 25-30 guys playing some ball, and it was so much fun for me to see. That's what I kind of had a conversation with them right now, I said 'Hey, the sky's the limit for you.'"
It's the fundamentals as a team mixed with chemistry that equals success.
"If you go out there and you play the game the way it's supposed to be played, do what you're capable of doing and play as a team," Kendall said. "I said I live three hours from Omaha, it's not far-fetched. I'll come see you guys, you never know in this game."
In 1996, reality set in for the 21-year old rookie, as he walked into the locker room at the now-demolished Veterans Stadium for the All-Star Game, when he looked over and noticed who his locker was next to.
"I was lockered in between Ozzie Smith and Barry Larkin," Kendall said. "Ozzie Smith was a teammate of my father in San Diego, so that part was weird.
"You walk in, I was 21-years old, it was Ozzie Smith's last year, it's something. You try to soak it in, but it goes by so quick."
Jason's father, Fred Kendall, was also a major league catcher, spending 12 seasons in the majors, including a stop to Cleveland in 1977.
Things were different in that era. Jason recalled that his father had to work in construction and for UPS during the off-season, a far cry from the $60m contract-extension that Jason signed with Pittsburgh following the 2000 season.
Baseball is still baseball however, with Jason crediting his father for a lot of his success on the diamond, something he described as an advantage growing up.
"I had the best coach in the world, he was my old man, who was a big league coach, you have a head start growing up in a locker room." Kendall said of his father. "If anybody tells you differently, they're lying.
"That era was a bust your butt era. He played through two strikes and a lock out to, for myself, help get the money that I was fortunate enough to get. Obviously there's a lock out now, but it was a work ethic era and that's where I got mine from."
He started his major league career in cookie-cutter shaped, multipurpose stadium akin to Veterans Stadium, Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Busch Memorial Stadium, and Riverfront Stadium. Despite Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh starting to show its age by the mid-'90s, Kendall looks back fondly.
"I loved it, I loved every part of it, it was fair, I hit a lot of ground balls on that old-school turf, so a lot of those ground balls went through," Kendall explained about the park that was home to the Pirates from 1970-2000. "I'm a sports fan, I loved the fact that the Steelers played there, the Pirates played there, don't get me wrong, PNC Park is something very special.
"The biggest difference at (PNC) for myself playing wise was that left-center was 411-410. I used to hit the ball out at Three Rivers. But it's gorgeous, it's the best ballpark in baseball in my opinion. I might be biased, but it's drop dead gorgeous you got the skyline. You can't beat that place."
Playing as a catcher is one of the more unique positions in the sporting world, with building relationships with the various pitchers being the key ingredient to success.
"It's getting the personalities, your staff, what do they have, what do they have that day, what do they have that day that might work, what do they have that day that you can't use, getting to know them and guiding them," Kendall said. "Guiding them through six-seven innings and then handing it over to the bullpen, and seeing what they have and being able to split the two up.
"Your number one priority as a catcher always will be to get that pitcher to throw as many innings as possible. You can't do anything about pitching, it still and will always be the main part of this game. You don't want them thinking you want to think for them. Let them have their ability to just take over."