Going Deep with Mark Teixeira

This episode is sponsored by Culligan Water

In the latest episode of The Adrenaline Zone, hosts Sandy Winnefeld and Dr. Sandra Magnus sit down for a fascinating chat with MLB legend and Georgia Tech alumnus Mark Teixeira as he shares his inspiring journey from playing wiffle ball in his Maryland backyard to becoming a major league powerhouse. Along the way, Mark emphasizes the importance of developing a love for the game, stating that if you have the talent, everything else will follow.

Mark shares insights on his transition to first base, comparing it to being a point guard or center in basketball—avoiding errors and being dependable for the team. His versatility in positions, from shortstop in his youth to third base in college, eventually led him to find his stride at first base in the majors. His dedication and adaptability were crucial in his development as a five-time Gold Glove winner.

Dealing with injuries is an inevitable part of professional sports, and Mark learned this early on when he broke his ankle in college. He underscores the significance of not letting injuries become a crutch but rather using them as an opportunity to grow stronger. His approach to injury management and recovery played a pivotal role in his 14-year MLB career.

Mark's transition from college to professional baseball was marked by a strategic decision to prioritize education over an immediate professional career, despite being projected as a top pick. This choice, although it led to him being drafted in the ninth round initially, ultimately paid off as he was drafted in the first round after his junior year at Georgia Tech. His experience highlights the value of making informed, long-term decisions.

Playing in New York, Mark experienced the intense scrutiny and pressure unique to the Yankees. He explains that while the media attention and fan expectations can be overwhelming, the support and excitement when winning in New York are unparalleled. His thick skin and ability to focus on his performance helped him thrive in this high-pressure environment.

Mark's achievements include being one of the most prolific switch hitters in MLB history, a skill he developed from a young age. He advises against switch hitting today due to the complexity and specialized pitching in modern baseball. However, his commitment to mastering both sides of the plate speaks to his dedication and love for the game.

The evolution of technology and data analytics has significantly impacted baseball, and Mark discusses how this shift has introduced new strategies and challenges for players. While some players benefit from the advanced information, others may find it overwhelming. Mark believes that when used correctly, these tools can enhance the game and player performance.

After retiring from baseball, Mark returned to Georgia Tech to complete his degree and has remained actively involved in supporting the university's athletics. His efforts highlight the importance of education and giving back to the community that shaped his career. Mark's reflections on the current state of college athletics, particularly the implications of NIL deals, provide a thoughtful perspective on the future of sports.

Today’s episode offers a deep dive into Mark Teixeira's career, his approach to challenges, and his passion for baseball. His journey from a backyard player to an MLB star is filled with lessons on resilience, adaptability, and the importance of loving what you do. As you will hear, Mark's story is a testament to the power of dedication and making thoughtful choices in the pursuit of greatness.

If you enjoyed this episode of The Adrenaline Zone, hit the subscribe button so you never miss another thrilling conversation, and be sure to leave a review to help get the word out to fellow adrenaline junkies.

Transcript

Mark Teixeira: I loved playing. I put the time in to develop my skills. That's the first thing, is just develop the love for the game. And if you have the talent, everything else kind of flows from there.

First base is a little bit like being a point guard, a little bit like being a center. Don't mess up, don't make turnovers, no false starts, no bad snaps. And I felt like I could be somebody at first base that my teammates could count on.

Before I even started my professional career, I figured out how to deal with injury. it's not if, it's when.

God gave me a gift to hit a baseball, and I'm thankful for that. If you don't have that pre-wiring, you won't be able to do it.

Sandy Winnefeld: Mark Teixeira played Major League Baseball for 14 seasons, transitioning from college ball his junior year, where he played at Georgia Tech and won the Dick Houser trophy as the national collegiate baseball player of the year.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: After spending only one year in the minor leagues, Mark was promoted to the majors by the Texas Rangers in 2003. While in the MLB, he also played for the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Angels and New York Yankees.

Sandy Winnefeld: His list of accomplishments is pretty amazing. He was one of the most prolific switch hitters in Major League Baseball history and still holds the record for most games with the home run from both sides of the plate.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: And Mark was a three time All Star, won five Gold Glove awards as a first baseman, and of course won a World Series with the Yankees.

Sandy Winnefeld: And how about this? After he retired after the 2016 season, Mark finished his college degree and has been involved in real estate and other businesses.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: Before our first pitch with Mark, many thanks to our sponsor for this season, Culligan.

Sandy Winnefeld: Culligan's drinking water systems deliver the superior filtration and refreshing hydration you need to fuel your high performance lifestyle. Culligan: water you love.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: We caught up with Mark at his home in Texas.

Welcome to The Adrenaline Zone, and we are delighted to have you as our guest and are really looking forward to this Georgia Tech laden conversation.

Mark Teixeira: Super excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

Sandy Winnefeld: Hey, Mark, really good to see you again. Last time I saw you was actually in Texas, where you are now. So we like to start with our guests, kind of like, where did it all begin? Where did you start your baseball career as a kid? And sort of how did it shape your trajectory to Georgia Tech?

Mark Teixeira: So I grew up playing wiffle ball in the backyard in Smyrna Park, Maryland. And I tell people, if you want to learn how to hit a baseball, go outside with a little skinny yellow bat. When you're three or four years old and you have your dad or your friends throw you wiffle balls in the wind, the ball's moving all over the place. And that's how I learned how to hit. And so growing up in Smyrna Park, Maryland, it was, backyard baseball was where it all started.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: And you fell in love with it from the start, huh?

Mark Teixeira: I did. My dad played baseball at the naval academy. My mom grew up in a baseball family. Her father played semi pro baseball. A couple of her brothers played college baseball. And so it was just a family game for us. And I remember some of my very first memories going to old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore and watching Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken and some of those great Orioles teams.

Sandy Winnefeld” So I didn't realize that your dad was a naval academy baseball player. So we have something in common then because both our parents went to the naval academy and we both went to Georgia Tech. So I think we got the better end of the deal. But not by much.

Mark Teixeira: We probably had more fun, Sandy, I'll tell you that much.

Sandy Winnefeld: No doubt. No doubt.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: So you were drafted in the 9th round straight out of Georgia Tech. And so that's sort of a big step. Did you have any doubts about jumping? I think out of junior year into the big leagues and how that was related to where you fell in the draft and what were the risks involved. Did you have a backup plan? I mean, that's a big leap from junior year right into the–

Mark Teixeira: So I was drafted in the 9th run out of high school at Mount St. Joseph High School in Baltimore, Maryland. And that's kind of a funny story. So I was projected to be a top 10 pick in that draft. And I had had some teams call me early on. I had the Boston Red Sox called me. They had either the 9th or 12th pick. I can't remember exactly what pick it was, but they had called me and said, “Hey, we want to take you in the first round. I know you're going to Georgia Tech. If you think you're going to sign, you got to let us know. We want you to agree to this contract.” First of all, that was illegal back then. Now you have slotted signing bonuses. I say, “Well, first of all, that's illegal, and just draft me and we'll negotiate, but I'm sure we'll come to an agreement.” Well, they didn't like that answer, and they went out and told every other team that I was going to go to Georgia Tech and I wasn't going to sign. And so I dropped all the way from the 9th or 10th pick, down to the 9th round. And of course, lo and behold, the Boston Red Sox drafted me because no one else was going to draft me. And that was a very quick conversation. I said, “Nope. Not going to sign with you guys. I will go to Georgia Tech.” And had three of the best years of my life and was drafted in the first round after my junior year. And it all started.

Sandy Winnefeld: And eventually you got to torment them as a New York Yankee. So what's fair, what goes around–

Mark Teixeira: Come tell you, that was fun. I remember that the very first home run I hit at Fenway, I believe it was off of Tim Wakefield. And I just kind of remember as my, in my second year, I was playing for the Texas Rangers, and I'm running around the bases going, man, it felt good to hit a home run at Fenway. It definitely felt good to give it back to the Red Sox.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: Oh, my gosh, that's– Wow. That's sort of like a dirty pool on their part, wasn't it?

Mark Teixeira: A little bit. But you know what it does? I feel like everything that happens to you in life, you either make an excuse, you make it a crutch, or you make yourself better from it. And for me, I learned the business of baseball at 18 years old, and I learned to not take it personally. I learned that I have a very small window that I'm going to play this game and I'm going to do my best and make as much money as possible and have as much fun as possible and not let people ruin my baseball experience.

Sandy Winnefeld: So, Mark, you spent one year in the minors, which doesn't happen very often. It's kind of a signal of, “Okay, the force is strong in this one.” But what that meant is you got elevated to the majors pretty quickly. And what kind of an adjustment was that being a rookie in the majors? Did it take a while to settle in? And I know there are huge differences between being in the minors, riding buses and things like that, and being in the majors. Talk us through that phase of your career.

Mark Teixeira: Huge difference between minor league baseball and major league baseball. A lot of the reasons that you said, better travel, better lodging, you get treated better just across the board. There's a reason that they use the analogy of the minors and the majors in a lot of walks of life because there's a huge jump from a lifestyle standpoint. But more importantly, baseball in the major leagues is completely different. In the minors, as a hitter, I would face maybe one or two pitchers a week, maybe that we're going to make the majors. Not become starters or all stars, just make it to the majors. And you face those guys, and sometimes you made out, you go, “Man, that guy's pretty good. I don't have to face him every day.” Well, guess what? In the major leagues, you do face him every day, and you're facing not only guys like him, but guys that have been doing it for 10, 15, 20 years, and they're smarter than you, they're more experienced than you. So it took me a while. It took me about two months. My first two months in the big leagues, I really struggled. Then I started learning, all right, how they're going to pitch me, how I need to prepare strike zones a little bit differently. So it did take me a while to get my feet under me and the big leagues.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: Just real quick to follow onto that. In the minors, of course, the big dream is to go to the majors, and so you're playing with people, but you're sort of competing with them simultaneously to get that look from the big league to come up. How does that dynamic work?

Mark Teixeira: It's an extremely interesting and stressful and tension filled locker room because on the one hand, you're spending a lot of time with these guys and you want them to do well as teammates. On the other hand, there's only one spot that opens up at a time on the big league roster. And so, say an outfielder goes down while all the outfielders at Double A or Triple A are looking at each other saying, who's taking his spot? And if you have a bad week, I have, maybe a better chance of going up next time around. And it creates an issue on some teams. Now, that being said, everyone understands what they're there for. Minor leagues are a development tool for the big league club. So I bet if you ask general managers and scouting directors and player development directors, they like that competition. They like everyone looking at each other in that locker room, sizing each other up and saying, “I'm going to be better than you, because when that call comes, when someone does get hurt, when someone does need to get called up, it's going to be me, not you.”

Dr. Sandra Magnus: It's probably similar to the wait period we have in the office. When we're in the office, we're trained up, and we're all waiting for flight assignments. Sounds like a very similar dynamic.

Sandy Winnefeld: Well, and I would imagine there's not much you can do to hurt the other guys’ chances other than do well yourself. So it's all on your shoulders, right?

Mark Teixeira: Exactly. And I think that's what keeps us sane, is that there's not a lot of– There's nothing. It's not like basketball, I cannot pass to you. In football, I can maybe run in a different direction and maybe not give you a chance to block for me. In baseball, you're playing against the other team, and you don't need your teammates as much, and so there's going to be less bickering because of that.

Sandy Winnefeld: You also, if I remember correctly, were not a call up, per se. You made the majors right out of training camp your second year, so it wasn't like you were in that holding bin. You actually made it out of training camp, right?

Mark Teixeira: I did. But I'd be lying to you if that first year, that one year that I was in the minor leagues, at the end of the year, I'm waiting for that call up, watching the manager. I don't know. I'm sure I had a cell phone, but it probably wasn't very good. Those days where every other call got dropped because there was no service anywhere. But late in the season, and those managers were walking around, and I'm thinking about who's going to get called up. And I wanted that call up that first year in the minors, but luckily I got it in spring training the next year.

Sandy Winnefeld: Very cool.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: So you had an impressive 14-year major league career, primarily with the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees from that time. What are some of your most cherished memories? And you probably can't comment on which team you like the best or not, but you probably have special memories from all of the teams that you played on.

Mark Teixeira: I absolutely do. And there's two things I'll tell you. One, from a team perspective, bar none, winning the World Series, the 2009 Yankees. I have a half, you can see behind my left shoulder here. I have a half size World Series trophy. And I look at that thing every day, and it's special. There is no doubt that that was the culmination of years of hard work and a long season, and you're with your teammates, and winning a World Series in New York is really cool. Wearing those pinstripes and having those fans behind you is just something I'll always remember. And then personally, there were three home runs that I hit that still gives me chills a little bit that when I hit those home runs, I think, “Oh, my gosh, I can't believe I just did that.” And the first was my very first home run. So Texas Rangers 2003, Ted Lilly's on the mound. We're at home. He's pitching for the Oakland A's. I'm batting right handed. He hangs a curveball, hits a home run to left field, and I'm running around the bases saying, “Oh, my goodness, I just did a home run in the major leagues.” And I'm just kind of playing that back in my mind, of this little kid, that– I was still a kid inside. And here I am hitting the home run in the majors.

A couple years later, 2005, my first all star game. Dontre Willis is on the mound, left handed again. I'm hitting right-handed. Hit an opposite field home run in the all star game, and I'm running around the bases, almost like watching myself from outside of my body, running around the bases in an all star game midsummer classic. I can't believe I just hit a home run in the all star game. And then a few years later, I'm in the World Series Game 2, Pedro Martinez pitching for the Phillies, batting left handed, hitting a home run to right center in Yankee Stadium, running around the bases going, “Wow, I just hit a home run in the World Series.” So those were the three, and they were against a good pitcher. And there's hundreds of really cool experiences, but I'll remember those three home runs. Those really stand out.

Sandy Winnefeld: So how about a few minor things, like winning five Gold Glove awards? You were like one of the best defensive first baseman of your era. What did it take for you to achieve that level of excellence in a particular skill position on the field?

Mark Teixeira: A lot of hard work, a lot of concentration. So I tell people first base is a little bit like being a point guard, a little bit like being a center. Don't mess up, don't make turnovers, no false starts, no bad snaps. And I felt like I could be somebody at first base that my teammates could count on. And I came up when I was a kid, I was a shortstop. Yeah, everyone when you're a kid, the best player on the team always plays short, right? So I started getting bigger in high school, all the college and pro scouts tell me you're too big to play shorts. I've been. I'm not particularly fast, so there's Cal Ripkins and Corey Seagers of the world that can play shortstop at 6-3, 6-4, and big guys, I couldn't. So they said, “You're going to be third base.” And so I moved to third base my senior year of high school, moved to third base all during college, and I wasn't necessarily that good. I was probably an average third base when I was serviceable. It wasn't until my rookie year in the big leagues. We already had two third baseman on the roster. Hank Blaylock was around my age, and he was a better third baseman than me. So Buck Showalter told me in spring training, “Hey, you better get some outfield gloves, and you better get a first baseman glove, because we're going to get you at bats, but you're going to play more than one position.” And it just stuck. Once I started playing first, it just stuck. And I worked really hard at it. I still kind of can't believe that I won five Gold Gloves as a first baseman, because in my mind, I'm still a shortstop. I'm still like that little kid with the best player on the team playing shortstop. And every now and then in spring training, I would go and take ground balls at short just for fun. And, I just loved it.

Sandy Winnefeld: At first base, tell me which is harder for you? Third base is its own hot corner, but against the left handed hitter, first base is a hot corner. So a hot ball like that, or when somebody hits the ball somewhere else in the infield, and you have no idea whether that shortstop or third baseman is going to throw one in the dirt in front of your face or over your head or something like that. Which is more stressful for you?

Mark Teixeira: That's the latter. When a big lefty hits one hard to me, I know that I had a ton of time. So I can knock that ball down, I can bobble it. Even if I bobble it, I'm going to have time to knock it down and get over first base and get that out. When guys are throwing balls in the dirt, throwing balls into the runner, that was one thing I had to learn. I had to learn when to jump off the base and make that tag. But the hardest play for me was an in-between kind of ground ball that the second baseman probably could get. And if he can get it, it's a much easier play than me ranging in that second base hole, backhanding a ball, spinning and throwing it to my pitcher on the run. So that was every now and then it happened, maybe three, four times a year, a ball would get through that three, four hole. And I go, “Man, I should have had that one. I should have gone and gotten that one.” Because getting in front of that second baseman too much and trying to make a really tough play thrown to the pitcher, that's not an easy play.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: You commented that you picked up first base in the majors. Is that rather unusual to have somebody start with a brand new position at that level as opposed to kind of grooming themselves all the way up and just easing into it?

Mark Teixeira: Probably before me, it was very unusual. Now, it happens all the time because all of these players are told to be versatile. You can look at a guy like Mookie Betts. So Mookie Betts is an MVP. He was an outfielder. He's now playing some second, he's playing some short. You look at some of the best, DJ LeMahieu, really good utility player. A lot of times these guys show up to the ballpark,there's an injury, but they need that bat in the lineup. So the manager will go, “Hey, can you play left field?” “Yeah, I can play. It's baseball. I can go play left field.” So it's like, I remember when Magic Johnson, I used to watch the Lakers and Celtics growing up. ‘80s, NBA was the best. And I remember when Magic Johnson had to play center because Kareem got hurt. If you all remember that, I mean, Magic Johnson understood how to play center because he's a basketball player. And I think for us,it's tough to pitch, it's tough to catch. Other than that, you should be able to play baseball. You should be able to play every position. And I think it's happening way more now where guys are multi talented, they get to the big leagues, and wherever there's a spot, their bat is going to be in the lineup. And you need to learn how to play that position.

Sandy Winnefeld: It's kind of like Ryan Zimmerman for the Nats. I mean, storied career at third base. They want him in the lineup for his leadership and his bat, but he can't throw the ball from third base anymore, so they make him a first baseman, and he played really well.

Mark Teixeira: Bryce Harper, another good example. Yeah. Bryce Harper is now the first baseman of the Phillies. This is a Hall of Fame caliber talent. And it's like, “All right, you're going to play first now because you got a bad elbow.”

Sandy Winnefeld: Could have knocked me over with a feather on that one.

So let's talk a little bit about the other side of the game, the hitting piece. We have a few questions for you on that. First of all, you played with and alongside some greats like Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols. You're all really good hitters. You had to face the toughest pitching on the planet. Who were some of the toughest pitchers you had to go up against that just were so hard that were baffling to take on.

Mark Teixeira: If you look at the numbers, guys like Justin Verlander owned me. Justin Verlander, because he could put the ball wherever he wanted. And I hit a home run off him on an inside fastball in Yankee Stadium. And for the rest of my career, I was looking for inside fastballs, and he never gave me another one. So, of course, that was a surprise. But Verlander can read you. Yeah, he could read you and understood what you had to get you out. And still, in his 40s is still getting people out. James Shields, for a different reason, cutter change up. And, you know, for a left, when I was hitting left handed and right handed, too, if you could throw a cutter in on my hands hard and then throw a soft change up that faded down and away, and as the balls coming to you, I'm not sure which one it is until it's halfway there and in your mind, you got to make that decision. I could never tell between his cutter and his change up, and those are two majorly different pitches, so he gave me a lot of trouble.

But I would rather face those guys than Mariano Rivera. And I played with Mo for five years with the Yankees. And the reason that Mariano Rivera was so good, I believe I was one for nine with a broken bat single off him in my career before I joined him as a teammate. His cutter breaks the computer in our head, what allows us to hit. We are trained. I can't teach you how to hit. It's just ingrained in you. When he throws that cutter and it's so hard and it cuts so late, it breaks the software. Nobody understands how to hit it. And that's why he was so dominant for so long. So I just never wanted to face that guy.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: Well, you talked about batting left, batting right, so you were a switch hitter throughout your whole career, so that seems like it would be kind of difficult. And did you start out practicing with left and right side hitting as a kid, out of curiosity, or was that something you intentionally developed? And how do you be effective from both sides of the plate? What advice do you have?

Mark Teixeira: Well, the first piece of advice to anybody now is don't be a switch hitter. It is extremely difficult. And the advanced scouting reports and the way that pitchers learn how to throw multiple different pitches, I don't believe switch hitting is as much of an advantage as it was 20 years ago when I started in the big rooms. So that's the first piece of advice I'd give is pick one side, left or right, and just get really good one way. But back to my original comment about growing up an Eddie Murray fan in Baltimore. I watched Eddie Murray and in the backyard playing wiffle ball, I was like, “Well, Eddie Murray hits left handed. Let me hit left-handed also.” Naturally right handed. And my dad found out really quickly, they're like, “Man, this kid's got a pretty good left handed swing.” So in batting practice, we would try, and every now and then in a game, if, say I'm eight years old and we're winning by six or seven runs, I'd go up there and I'd hit left handed. But it wasn't until– And some coaches were extremely supportive and would say, “Hey, Mark. Yeah, go ahead, go hit left handed a couple at bats this game.” Some, “No way. We need you getting hits every time right handed.” And didn't let me hit left handed.

My dad, when I was 13 years old, we were about to start that season, I believe I was in 8th grade, and my dad called the coach of the kind of the select team in our area and said, “If you want Mark to play on your team, you got to let him hit, you got to let him switch it.” And the coach said, “Okay, no problem.” And at 13 years old, I started switching full time because it was– I don't want to say– I mean, it was easy, but hitting right handed against competition in Maryland was easy in 8th grade. So I wanted a challenge and I wanted to see if I could do it. And probably by the end of high school, your junior, senior year, I was even from both sides. It took three years to really get comfortable from both sides of the play. And in my big league career, my stats are very similar. Now. I have more power left handed, and I hit for better average right handed. But if you take those advanced stats and OPS and all these other things, runs created are pretty similar to both sides of the play, which I'm proud of.

Sandy Winnefeld: One of the things I like to ask hitters, Major League baseball hitters, has to do with comparing hitting a baseball to landing on an aircraft carrier at night. And I think you and I have talked about this a little bit.

Mark Teixeira: And I read your article. Yes, I read your paper.

Sandy Winnefeld: I've asked Adam Laroscia's same question. And you talked a moment ago about, we can't teach you to do this. You talked a moment ago about halfway to the plate, I have to decide. Can you talk us through that? It's not parallel processing. It's three dimensional. It's vision, it's spatial awareness. And a decision to swing based on a whole lot of other factors talk us through that sort of physiological brain experience of hitting a baseball at the major league level.

Mark Teixeira: The only thing I can tell you, Sandy, is that God gave me a gift to hit a baseball, and I'm thankful for that. If you don't have that pre-wiring, you won't be able to do it. The greatest athletes in the world, I mean, Michael Jordan's probably the best example, greatest athlete maybe of all time. For me, physical gifts, running, jumping, shooting, competitiveness, focus, all that stuff couldn't make it to the big leagues because it is so hard to hit that baseball. So at a certain point in time, I could tell when a ball was released from a pitcher's hand and I had a bat in my hand, I could put the barrel of the bat on the ball. And as I got stronger, those balls started getting hit harder and further. And, again, I can't explain how it's done, but I knew at my best, I had a swing for the tee. I put the ball on the tee, and I take 100, 200 swings before a game, get my swing right, and then I needed the timing. You have to time up the pitcher, and I had to take that perfect swing where the ball is in a perfect place. If any of those issues were off, if my timing was off by just a hair, if my swing was off by just a hair, if it wasn't a strike, if the ball is not in the middle part of the plate, but on the edges, it was going to be a bad result. So, I can't believe that it's possible to be able to hit a baseball as well as we do, because I just can't explain it. I can't teach anyone how to do it, and not many people can.

Sandy Winnefeld: Well, one of the language centers are on the left side of the brain. That's all I can say there.

Mark Teixeira: It's hard to describe.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: I was just going to go back to something you said about your stats. The way big data is available now and the way technology is advanced, some of that's kind of creeped into analytics in baseball. How do you think that's affecting the game and how people plan the games or how people tactically arrange things during the games? Surely it's had an effect.

Mark Teixeira: It's a great question. So I, contemporaries of mine, so guys that I played with or against that are now coaching or in front offices, it is an entirely new world. It's a new language. I can imagine the first group of scholars or academics that went from basic writing and filing to now everything is on a computer. Or basic computer scientists, when they realized that AI was going to be able to do half of their job, there's this huge shift, and I think the guys, the players that understand how to use it to their advantage– I know what the advanced scouting report means, I know what those numbers mean, and I'm going to make myself better because of that. I think they're at a huge advantage. But there's also another group of players that it's information overload.

And back to your analogy, Sandy, of landing on an aircraft carrier at night. You wouldn't want 15 different people telling you things as you're trying to land. You need to be very clear, calm. You need to have your focus. And so I think there are a certain amount of players and coaches where it's information overload and it's actually hurting them. But I believe at the end of the day, it's a good thing for baseball when used properly because I think it makes us all better. I think it will make the game of baseball a better product when we all have as much information as possible and we use it to our athletic advantage.

Sandy Winnefeld: Shifting to sort of a different topic. If I remember correctly, you moved from the Rangers to the Yankees.

Mark Teixeira: Rangers, Braves, Angels, Yankees.

Sandy Winnefeld: So you did end up in that place called New York and a completely different environment, different fans, different media. We always, as fans, hear that it's a real pressure cooker for a player. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But talk to us about that shift and what it was like to play in pinstripes when it's got a reputation for being a tough spot for a player.

Mark Teixeira: For good reason. I don't believe that anyone is prepared to play in Yankee, to be a Yankee, to play in New York until you actually do it. A lot of, “Oh, I'd be fine, no big deal.” When I would struggle in Texas with the Braves, with the Angels, one or two reporters would come up to me, “Hey, Mark, how are you feeling? What's going on?” And there was actually a little bit of a care. And generally most of the beat writers for those smaller market teams generally care about those teams. There's a reason that they're covering those teams. They're their fans and they enjoy the game and they want to go to a World Series. You ask any beat writer, they want to go to the World Series and cover their team in the World Series. That's how their careers are made. So and so covered the Texas Rangers for the World Series, that's now a national story that he's writing. So it can go from that to, you struggle in New York and there's 50 media members coming up to you, 49 of which could care less about you or your family or your, your personality or what you're going through because they have to sell papers. Maybe it's not selling papers anymore, they need clicks.

Sandy Winnefeld: And they're competing with each other.

Mark Teixeira: It is a different animal. The fans that cheer you one day or booing you the next day– Now listen, when it's good, there is nothing better. There is nothing better than New York fans when you're winning and a million people show up on Broadway to do a parade after you win a World Series. That is a rush that I will never forget. But the other side of that coin is tough, and luckily, I had more hits than misses, but it's not for everybody.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: Yeah, you have to grow thick skin, don't you? Kind of isolate yourself from it?

Mark Teixeira: No doubt.

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Dr. Sandra Magnus: So, this is a podcast about risks. So I want to turn the conversation there a little bit, because there's a lot of risks. I mean, professional sport, no matter what your sport is, there's always an injury possibility. And that just doesn't affect you personally. It affects your career as well. So, did you have a lot of trouble dealing with injuries, and how did you handle them and overcome them?

Mark Teixeira: I had injuries. I can look back when I can say, luckily, I broke my ankle very, very badly my junior year of college. So the fifth year, I was coming off being the national player of the year, Georgia Tech, we were ranked number one in the country. I was ready to break every record at Georgia Tech, NCAA like I felt so great going into that season. The fifth or 6th game of the year, I went out for a pop up. I was playing third base, the shortstop, left fielder, and I all collided. I broke my ankle, and I had major surgery. I had two screws inserted in my ankle. And so before I even started my professional career, I figured out how to deal with injury. it's not if, it's when.

If you are a professional athlete long enough, you will get hurt. Maybe Cal can be the only one that can say he didn't. But by the way, Cal played through injuries, he didn't have anything catastrophic– He didn't tear his ACL or break his arm or anything like that, but he played through injuries during the streak. So, for me, whenever something would pop up in my big league career, I dealt with it. And I kind of had a rule. If I'm going to hurt the team by playing, I would tell the trainer and tell the manager, “Hey, listen, this hamstring is killing me. I'm not going to be able to play first race. I'm not going to be able to run. I can barely swing. This is just not a good situation for me. I'm going to hurt the team.” If I was injured, but I could still give the team something that my replacement couldn't like, “Hey, I think I could probably get you a hit today, or I can actually play first base fine. It's just swinging where this hurts.” I was going to go out there and play, and I played through my share of injuries.

Sandy Winnefeld: So another thing, Mark, that's common knowledge about professional baseball is it's a grueling, it's a marathon, not a sprint. And it's a 162-game season. You got training camp before that, day games, night games, constant travel. How did you take care of your body and avoid burnout over that timeframe? That had to be its own skill set.

Mark Teixeira: There's no doubt. And so a few things. I understand the importance of sleep. So I would sleep as much as possible. I would steal naps whenever I could. I got married at a young age, my wonderful wife, who I met at Georgia Tech, we married in the year before I made the big one. So I was 22 years old when I got married. So I wasn't going out and doing some of the things that a few of the other players were doing and hurting that sleep. But then also I learned the tricks to take care of my body. Ice baths. So now cold plunges, like everyone's got a cold plunge. “Oh, you don't have a cold plunge in your house. What's wrong?”

Sandy Winnefeld: I don’t.

Mark Teixeira: I started playing. You just go out into the snow in Colorado.

Sandy Winnefeld: There you go. Yeah, just dive into a bank.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: I did that once and that was sufficient. But go ahead.

Mark Teixeira: A nine game in Dallas in the middle of summer and it's 100 degrees, and I would get into the cold tank with buckets full of ice and get my body temperature down and my legs would come back the next day feeling great. Massage, acupuncture, all of these little things that maybe on their own don't help you that much. But you sleep well, you eat well, you do the ice bath, you get a massage, you get acupuncture, you see a chiropractor regularly. Those little things allowed me, I might have lasted nine or ten years, not 14. And so I figured that out pretty young.

Sandy Winnefeld: Just a quick side question. I've been in a couple of NFL away locker rooms, and they were unbelievably atrocious. A professional sport, the pinnacle of the sport. And the visiting locker rooms are horrible. For you, were the away locker rooms able to support the kind of an ice bath or something like that if you needed it?

Mark Teixeira: Most of them were. The difference between our sport and NFL is that in the NFL, you fly in the night before, play the game, and you're good. So that the week of preparation that you have, that's when you're getting all of your rehab and you're getting all of the rejuvenation techniques during that week. But at a certain point in time, the major league baseball players association, our union, got together and said, “These guys are playing every single day. We have to have decent locker rooms.” So all of the new stadiums, anything that was built after 1990 had a really nice visitors locker room that could take care of those things. Now when I play in Fenway, when I play in Wrigley, those lots feel really small. And those clubhouses are tough. You're not getting a lot of rehabilitation at Fenway and Wrigley.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: Well, that rule makes sense when you consider you actually go and plant yourself in a city for three, four days and then you go to another city and you're rarely getting a chance to go home to the home turf and rehabilitate.

Mark Teixeira: Absolutely.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: Yeah.

So have to comment, Georgia Tech retired your number 24 jersey. So how did that feel and how memorable was that ceremony? That had to be pretty special.

Mark Teixeira: Yeah, number 23. In the back of my mind, it was always something that I wanted to do was graduate from Georgia Tech because at Georgia Tech, and I love this rule, an athlete cannot have their jersey retired unless they graduate. And so I left after my junior year. I left after my junior year and I had 40 or 41 hours remaining to get my degree. And I said, maybe someday, I don't know, I'm probably going to be in my 50s or 60s when the kids are out of the house. And I have a year, year and a half when I'm going to go back to Georgia Tech and do it. My wife would probably think I was crazy, but we crossed that bridge and we got there. Luckily in 2020, Georgia Tech opened up online learning as a result of COVID and a lot of students being either stuck in different countries or not wanting to physically come back, so they opened online learning. And so a window opened up for me to take a bunch of classes online. And also, so I took my first semester completely online, and then I took the next two semesters basically online. But I would go into campus and go into the classroom one week a month, and we worked that out with Georgia Tech. They were great. President Angel Cabrera and the dean of the business school and everybody at Georgia Tech was just incredible, allowing me to do that. But when I saw my jersey retired, that number 23, just so many great memories came back, and my wife and I were standing there. And I was 18 years old when I went on to Georgia Tech’s campus. To be able to have my number on that outfield wall forever and no one else wearing number 23 is pretty cool.

Sandy Winnefeld: I know this for a fact. You're the only athlete from Georgia Tech to have this happen. You may be the only one in NCAA history who had his graduation family reception in a room named for you at Georgia Tech that you actually sponsored, that you donated, essentially. So that's pretty cool, that makes it even better.

Mark Teixeira: And for me, Sandy, what Georgia Tech did for me, for my family, like I said, my wife and I and our three wonderful children, we have three teenagers. So time does fly. But everything, my career started at Georgia Tech. My adult baseball career started at Georgia Tech, and being able to give back to Georgia Tech athletics is something that I'm proud to do, and I'm blessed to have had the career that I had to be able to give back to Georgia Tech. And if I get to use those facilities every now and then for a party, then that's great. I'm glad that they made it available for me.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: I have to ask real quick. When you were back on campus attending class, did the students have any idea who you were and that they had a major league player in the class and it was-

Mark Teixeira: So the first day or two when I was online, it was really weird because most people online, I can probably, from a distance and through a screen, I could probably look like I'm still young, so no one really said anything when I was online. Until later in the semester when we would be talking about some sort of case study or whatever, and I would talk about a life experience, they'd be like, “Wait a second, dude. How old are you?” Like, “Well, I'm actually 42 years old.” But then when I walked into class those next two semesters, I think 90% of the students had no idea who I was. Now, their parents might be baseball fans and Braves fans and understand who I was. And I bet most of them thought I was some sort of TA or administrator that was observing the class. Until again that first or second time, we had some sort of class presentation and I started talking about my experience or whatever, and, like, “Okay, now I'm starting to get it.” But it was really cool. I loved it. It was challenging and rewarding all at the same time. And I'm so glad that I did it.

Sandy Winnefeld: So you're not just Mark, the former baseball player returning to Georgia Tech. You actually are supporting Georgia Tech athletics beyond baseball and a lot of other ways, and you've got some feelings about how the NCAA is doing business. Talk to us through kind of what you're doing now for the school and your thoughts on intercollegiate athletics.

Mark Teixeira: Yeah. So I'm on two boards at Georgia Tech. Number one, the Georgia Tech Foundation, which, Sandy, you and I are both members of that board. So that's really a board that is there to be stewards of the endowment at Georgia Tech. And I'm on the real estate committee. I'm actually the chair of the real estate committee, so really enjoy that part of Georgia Tech service. And all of the philanthropic funds that go into Georgia Tech run through the foundation, so it is a really exciting place to be. And the other board that I'm on is the Georgia Tech Athletic association. And what I've started to do or what I've been doing the last few years on that board is really to help guide Dr. Cabrera, our president, and Jay Batt, our athletic director, on the ever changing landscape of athletics.

I tell people when I was in college, now, as a baseball player, I wasn't football or basketball, but I was a top ranked baseball player. I didn't have more than $40 in my pocket at any time, and I was happy as a clam. I wanted for nothing in college. Fast forward 25 years with NIL, there are top baseball players that are making $10,000, $20,000, $30,000, $50,000 a year in NILmoney, and I still don't understand why that's good for athletics as a whole. It's good for the kids that are making the money, but for athletics as a whole, I know we're not putting the genie back in the bottle, but it's really difficult to try to raise so much more money in an athletic department. Almost every athletic department is hand them out. There's probably 10 or 15 out there. Think of the Ohio states and Michigan and Texas and Texas A and M, Georgia, Alabama. those schools are making plenty of money and they're going to be fine. Everybody else, the Georgia Techs of the world, we run at a deficit every year and we have to go raise that money just to make ends meet. And now we have a great fundraiser base. We're in the city of Atlanta. We have a lot of great things going for us.

But at a certain point in time, if the NCAA goes to pay for play and the numbers get too crazy, we're essentially creating professional teams and professional leagues. I don't know how that's good for swimming and diving. I don't know how that's good for rowing. I don't know how that's good for women's lacrosse because those programs don't have Heisman trophy winners. They don't have March madness that's on CBS, even the college World Series in Omaha. It's a big deal. So you could see how college baseball players would ask for some more money. But I think there's hundreds and thousands of athletes that are probably going to end up being hurt by these new rules of NIL and paying players.

Sandy Winnefeld: Your father's alma mater and my father's alma mater, the naval academy, they don't get to do NIL and they don't get the transfer portal. Other than people leaving, nobody can come in. So it's even harder for them. So you're absolutely right.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: I was a division two soccer player in college, so it was a completely different experience than what happens in division one schools. And yeah, it's interesting because it's becoming more big business in the big division one schools.

Mark Teixeira: And here's my argument. True NIL where, listen, if you're the Heisman trophy winner and you want to go beyond a commercial or sign autographs, you should absolutely get paid. That is true compensation for name, image, and likeness. But an 18-year-old left guard that's going to go sign to play power five football, nobody knows who they are. I don't know who our left guard is at Georgia Tech. So the 18-year-old who's redshirting that is not going to play probably for two or three years, if ever, is not only asking for the full scholarship, but now NIL money on top of it. That's what doesn't make any sense. If you perform and you're winning championships on March Madness, and you're cutting down the nets, you know what? I get it. That kid is marketable. Caitlin Clark from Iowa. Absolutely. She is marketable. 95%, 99% of everybody else in college athletics isn't marketable. And so this NIL is just pay for play, which most schools are not going to be able to keep up with.

Sandy Winnefeld: There are sort of two pathways into baseball going back to your amazing career. You can either go right out of high school, which you could have done, but chose not to for the reasons you've explained, or you can go through college, but they all are just starting out in that professional game, and many young people dream of making it to the majors. What advice would you give to a young kid, 18, 19-year-old kid, maybe 15-year-old kid, who wakes up in the morning and says, I want to be a professional baseball player.

Mark Teixeira: So, first of all, I would tell everyone to go to college just because of life experiences, the maturing, and to be able to have that backstop if it doesn't work out, because guess what? It's probably not going to work out. That's the first thing I would tell everyone, to go to college. Now, there's a handful of high school kids right now that are making millions of dollars as a first round draft pick. You know what? I get it. I understand you're ready to start your major league career. Go ahead. Everybody else, I would say go to college. But for me, there's a few things. You've got to love the game, because if you don't love the game, you're not going to practice it enough or play it enough to get good and to build your skills. So there are athletes out there that are just so incredibly talented. LeBron James. My guess is if LeBron James picked up a basketball his freshman year, high school, first time he ever played, my guess is he'd still be LeBron James. As a baseball player at a young age, you need to hit, you need to take ground balls, you need to get on that pitcher’s mound and start throwing. You need to develop your skills. So if you don't love the game, if you don't develop a joy for playing and watching, by the way, you're never going to want to be out there enough over the next 3, 5, 10 years of your life to get the reps that you need.

I mean, I remember as a kid growing up in Maryland, we had a basement, and we had the old cinder block foundation in the basement. And I took a lacrosse ball, a really bouncy lacrosse ball and my glove, I would throw the ball against that cinder block wall, and I would just pick balls. And that's how I learned my hand work. Now do that for hours as a kid. As I got older, I got a tee and a net, and I would hit balls, hit wiffle balls off the tee, into the net in my garage when it was cold in Maryland, and I couldn't go outside and play. So I loved playing. I put the time in to develop my skills. That's the first thing, is just develop the love for the game. And if you have the talent, everything else kind of flows from there.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: Wow. We're kind of closing out on our time. And I have to tell you, this was really super interesting to hear your story and just listen about some of the subtleties and behind the scenes things that we don't really have access to when we watch the game. So thank you very much for being with us.

Mark Teixeira: Well, thank you. And next time, I'm going to interview the two of you about flying planes and being an astronaut, because that's way more cool than playing baseball every single day for 14 years of your life.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: I don't know. I think everything's an adventure in different ways.

Sandy Winnefeld: No, it's really cool, Mark, to be able to interview a friend, a fellow Georgia Tech alum and somebody who actually reached the pinnacle of something, whatever it was. It happened to be baseball, in your case, but really, really achieved greatness. So thanks so much for joining us today.

Mark Teixeira: Thanks for having me, Sandy and Sandra.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: That was Mark Teixeira. I'm Sandra Magnus.

Sandy Winnefeld: And I'm Sandy Winnefeld. Thanks again to Culligan for sponsoring this episode of The Adrenaline Zone. Your high performance lifestyle deserves high performance water. Learn more culligan.com.

Dr. Sandra Magnus: Check us out on social media. Our handle is very simple, @theadrenalinezone, and share us with your friends.

Sandy Winnefeld: We'll see you next week for another episode of The Adrenaline Zone.