More Than a Game: Baseball, Brotherhood, and Opportunity with Gill Florentino

Moore to Consider (00:01.514)
Welcome to another edition of Moore to Consider. Once again, I keep saying this, I'm a broken record. We talk about everything here that I like and I love. Baseball, football, politics, the law, et cetera. I am being very, very sincere here in saying this is my brother that I have on today, a human being that I love as much as any person I've ever known in my life. How much this man means to me, you'll see clearly in our exchange.

His name is Gill Florentino. He's coaching with the junior college program in New York. I'm going to give you the timeframe. It's 2009. I've just taken a job. I'm coaching my first year at a community college in Virginia. We meet behind home plate during batting practice, immediate energy between us. I go to coach third base. Kid fills the ground ball, throws a light in the ball to cross the field, hits a line drive later, almost kills my second baseman.

kid can really play. So we're crisscrossing one time. I'm going back to coach from the bases and I said, Hey brother, anything I can ever do to help that kid out over there playing third. you like him Coach? I'm like, I love that kid. Let's exchange information. Let's stay in touch. Long story short, I make some phone calls. It helps his kid find a place to play. My brother Gill calls me later and says, Hey, shoot straight up. We're brothers for life. You did what you said you were going to do. You helped my guy.

And I said, well, that's what I do. I try to help kids and he's not, I know you don't understand how much that means to me. Now we're, we're brothers and we've been brothers ever since. And it's been 15 plus year relationship. Now we've done a lot of neat things together. Gill Florentino, my brother, how are you?

Gill Florentino (01:50.372)
First and foremost, I'm amazed today. Anytime I have an opportunity to talk to you and see you, it's a great honor. And I want to shout out to your audience. Thank you for having me today. Man, is extremely humble to have you my presence as usual.

Moore to Consider (02:09.717)
I love you, man. I love you so much. All right. So, and I love your family. You know that too. So, Gill is now in Texas and Gill, you grew up in the Dominican Republic. Tell that story about how you came to the U.S. and baseball and how all that worked together.

Gill Florentino (02:11.502)
Love you.

Gill Florentino (02:20.452)
you

Gill Florentino (02:25.54)
Well, you know, I was extremely fortunate to be in a neighborhood that, know, Ensanche La Fe, which is called La Agustina, which is a neighborhood kind of in the north side of...

Santo Domingo Dominican Republic. You know, I'm a few miles away from Juan Mari Chala Stadium, which is called now back in the days used to be El Estadio Qisqueya. And diagonal to that is there's a Little League field that we pretty much play, you know, on Sundays and Monday through Sunday, actually.

It was like a little elite where D'Angelo Jimenez played Placido Polanco came from David Ortiz, Jose Rigo, Jaron Mora. I think we have two former World Series MVP. Now I think we're up to four Hall of Famers in that field. obviously when we grew up, we were playing.

stick baseball, which is basically we get a broom and we will hit anything that we found in the streets, whether it was a little, our sister's doll that we just took the head off or we will find some tennis balls because they were a lot cheaper to get since they used to come in a pack of six back in the day. We just basically went in the streets and in the middle of traffic, we would stop the game every time a car would pass, but that's just the passing of the game that wasn't

It's all of me by my father who, you know, in Dominican Republic we used to have one game a week, one Saturday, and usually what's the most popular team was the Yankees, you know, against the Dodgers, or the Cardinals. So, you know, we grew up watching those guys and then we...

Gill Florentino (04:14.254)
We had the privilege in our neighborhood to have somebody like Jose Rio, which is the first guy that really made it. And he ended up being the World Series MVP in 1990 for the reds pitcher. I learned how to throw a slider because of Jose Rio, which we call him chival, this is nickname.

We basically went out on the streets, you our parents, you know, we have one TV in the house, so we literally had to go out on the streets and play all day. As soon as we got home from school, hey, you did your homework, just go out, you know, and come home before it gets dark. So, you know.

I had the opportunity to play with these kids, bigger kids. And what we did every day, man, was we played stick ball and we were, it was 20, 25 of us in the streets, literally, and playing. would make gloves out of corn and milk back in the days. You you had like, if I can tell the audience, it's more so like the orange juice from Tropicana.

Milk used to come in those type of cartons. So we were folded as gloves. Most of us, if it was 20, 25 of us, we probably one person had a real glove. So that's why we develop ourself hands by catching anything that there was, you know.

Lemon, baseballs, tennis balls, whatever we found was dolls head. That's what we played catch with and when we were playing the stick ball, that's just what we did. We played all day, seven days a week. The opportunity of that was that on Saturday and Sunday we can play all day because we didn't go to school. But we basically were not allowed to be in the house at the time.

Gill Florentino (06:01.092)
But you know that when that Saturday game game of the week came on, we were just glued to the TV, man. I have some fond memories of watching Pedro Herrera play for the Dodgers, Steve Sachs, Yeager, Dom Mattingly to this day is still the best baseball player in my eyes, I saw and followed since I was a little kid. know, Pete Rose, man, I remember the Saturday game for, you know.

having the Reds, you know, and we just followed the game and we went out and tried to imitate what these guys did. Until I started playing organized baseball more so or less in 85 at the time. You know, I was 11 years old and you know, I was playing kids for 15, 16 and we developed our skill set just by playing with those guys and I wanted them moving to the United States and

in 1994 and to kind of back up a little bit more, we went to Venezuela to represent our league that we used to play for in 1987. We went to Puerto Rico and Panama and Cuba in 1988. What was kind of interesting, we were 14-15 and we were playing against Gazette two years later against us and they were playing in the Major League two years later.

So we just went out and played and we just tried to compete. A lot of times we got beat up pretty bad because, you know, we were at a disadvantage. You know, were playing folks from, yeah, we were playing men. And even with us, I mean, you know, you know, we used to play, remember going to different parts of Dominican Republic out of the city.

Moore to Consider (07:33.027)
playing men. Yeah.

Gill Florentino (07:45.156)
And we would go to San Cristobal and we would play against Raul Mondesi. We would play against Jose Rijo. We would play against Efrain Valdez. mean, guys are literally were already professional baseball players. And then later on, maybe a year or two years, you're playing with these people in the same field. And then they made it to the majors. So that's when I knew I had a chance to play at a D1 level because I was playing against people that, know, you know,

three or four home runs in a game, but I was giving home runs to guys that wind up in the Hall of Fame. But when I played people my age and I played in the States and you had a full season, I was able to have some success in college just because I grew up playing with major league baseball players. And I think that helped me later on in life kind of to scout a baseball player.

because I remember having conversations even when we were little kids about, we knew who did what and who was who. I was defined, my nickname at that time was Road Runner, because was Speedy Gonzales because I was the fastest guy out of the whole group, even though I was playing against people that were four or five years older than me, but I always had.

That's why I wound up playing football too as well because I was just a fast guy. We didn't have a lot of shoes. So, you know, when we walk in the streets, we work barefooted, you know, and we would play and run like that. know, so by the time somebody give you a cleat or some nice sneakers, literally felt like flying, you know. But when we came to the States in 1994, you know,

I got a job immediately. was not playing baseball and I went to a field in Brooklyn, which is called La Sorrilla. And I I was just went to see a friend of mine play and you know, and before the game I started playing catch and I had a coach in the American Reese who saw me. We will play catch from one end to the field all the way to the end. And by the time I kind of warm up and I was

Gill Florentino (10:04.322)
five, six minutes into my warmup and tossing, I would literally would throw from one end to the field to outside to the other side. So everybody was there, was amazed I could do that. But more so to what we talked about, we went out and played every day. None of us, honestly, realistically, none of us at that time when we were nine, 10 years old, we thought we were gonna make it anywhere.

You know, we just literally follow our directions of our parents to go outside and play. So, you know, that's just what we did. We just went outside and played and you play so much. You develop this type of skills and guys specialize. I mean, we would tell ourselves how to be switch hitters. You know, in which the rule for our team was if you were three or four years older than everybody else playing.

Moore to Consider (10:38.098)
Mm-hmm.

Gill Florentino (11:02.668)
If you're right handed, you had to hit left handed. And if you were left handed, you had to hit right handed so we can have a competitive advantage.

You know, so that's how we develop our skills that we just went out and play every day. We, we long toss every day, not because it was something that somebody told us we wouldn't need to do, but that's just what we did. And like, Hey, who has the strongest arm? Can you hit it to this spot? Well, can you hit it to this spot? can you do it on one leg? you know, we're literally, we know that we were just doing drills that

Later on in life, I was going to use even with our own players when we were coaching. But some people, we have some friends, including I'll say his name, Carlos Cabrera, man. Those, mean, that is the best baseball player I've seen never make it to the major leagues. Even when people that we play with or against.

To this day, say Carlos Cabrera is probably the best baseball player that never made it to the Major Leagues. I mean, the guy was sort of complete package. But we had a lot of friends that made it to the majors and a bunch of all-stars. And like I to you before, there's some Hall of Famers now.

Gold Glove, mean, Cy Young, I mean, you name it. But the road to coming from the Dominican Republic not knowing, just getting a regular job to wind up playing Division I baseball. I was already, by the time I got to the States, I was already 19 years old. I wasn't any prospered by any means, but I can play. And I was able to play Division I on college baseball three years.

Gill Florentino (12:57.196)
just because I could play, that I know how to pitch because it's not something that somebody told me. When somebody started teaching me about the game of baseball as far as organized baseball, some type of coaching, we're already 17, 18 years old.

Moore to Consider (13:13.296)
Yeah. You know, we've, we've had these conversations as long as we've known each other. And I've probably mentioned this to you. I've already mentioned it on several shows, something that was impactful to me as an attorney, helping a friend of mine that wanted to do play representation 20, 25 years ago. Mark Reynolds was one of the guys we were working with. He'd worked with me since childhood. He was at UVA. So I spent a lot of time, him, Josh Roupe and some other kids I'd work with. And I would go to games and I got to meet a lot of older scouts.

And I remember this older scout, pitched in the, he pitched with, told me some really great Ted Williams stories. He pitched with the Red Sox in the mid fifties, about six, six. his name was Jim. He's really neat. Just a sweet man. Just a nice guy. So he called me Jackie. He said, one day he goes, Jackie, goes, you know, what's wrong with the kids today? I said, what's that, sir? And he goes, they don't play sandlot anymore.

He goes, when you guys are playing sandlot, like who made the rules? said, either the kid that brought the ball or the kid that kick everybody else's ass. And he laughed. goes, yup. And he said, when did you ever really have an adult involved? I said, yeah, when we started playing organized little league, what did you think of the coach? And I said, he's pretty much the guy that wrote the lineup. That's about all you thought of. We didn't really get instruction. And I think it's missed today. I'm coaching college baseball right now.

as a pitching coach with a junior college in Virginia beach. And it's not to down where kids are today, but they really have no feel for pitching and everything has to, it's not their fault. It's really not their fault. They, and I'm hearing your story about being a kid from really been able to walk and going out and playing up to higher levels of competition and playing with.

devices or instruments that really aren't even a part of the game, anything you could pick up and throw, that builds arm strength. And the idea that you're on a field with other kids, well, who can throw it the farthest? Who can hit it the farthest? Who can run the fastest? You're training yourself in an environment that you're always trying to be a little bit better than everyone else. And the kids today, again, it sounds like I'm downing the generation.

Moore to Consider (15:25.272)
But they're really lost unless somebody tells them what to do. And a lot of what they're being told to do, I think is counterproductive to being a good player. And I think that there's so many reasons why I think I'm right about this. The Dominican Republic is about 2 % of the U S population. makes up 20 to 25 % of major league baseball. So if you have an island.

that's producing anywhere between one fifth and a quarter of the players in the big leagues. And I've been around so many Dominican players and Latin American players in general. They play the game really, really well, you know, but if they're in an environment, warm weather climate, I think so much of it's cultural though, too. Would you not agree that there's some, you grew up there. I didn't, but I know you well. Is there, is there a mindset among the young people? Hey, we're going to go prove to the world where the best baseball players in the world.

Gill Florentino (16:19.684)
Well, me, you know, just two answers to that question. I wanted to tell you first, I'm not even if I'm sure I'm the best athlete in my family ever has. Right? So we, you know, even though I ran the 400 meters, 100 100 meters, I shot the shot, I played football, I played baseball. You know, we were trying to prove ourselves that we can compete with one another.

So what that did was we literally said, hey, you know what? We had a neighbors that me and my brothers were playing against them. And we wanted to show them that we were better than them. And when we got to competition, we literally made it our business to represent our neighborhood well.

So that became how to represent your city and that became how to represent your high school. And then that became when we were, I never forget it. I left Dominican Republic to go to Venezuela. December 3rd, 1987. the, every single player in my team, including a good friend of mine, Juan Lugo was.

who works with me in the cigar company, we were given a flag. So when we were walking, and at the time our airport was, that you literally had to walk about half a mile to get to the plane outside. We literally walked and we joined in. We walked in the steps of that plane with our flag in our hands. Our uniform was our flag. Every time we represented.

Moore to Consider (17:59.113)
Right, right.

Moore to Consider (18:06.421)
Wow.

Gill Florentino (18:11.864)
Dominican Republic International competition and I'm goosebumps because that is the element that is missing from the game today. You stated and you and I had private conversation I told you you I've been a lot of around a lot of baseball minds by far you are the best baseball mind I ever been around.

Moore to Consider (18:31.7)
appreciate that greatly. I'm flattered. I'm flattered.

Gill Florentino (18:36.419)
I'm just telling you and I know that Hector De La Cruz who just won the Korean War series with Robert Pujols and Placido Polanco, they're probably going to be listening to this and I'm going to send them the podcast. But Jack Moore by far is the best baseball mind I've ever seen. You're a person that can spy talent in five minutes. You snap your fingers and you know exactly what that guy needs to be.

Gill Florentino (19:03.48)
I'll tell you that the second part to that question is when we were not good enough, you sat in the bench and you're giving the time to play because we didn't have enough equipment. If we had seven gloves, that means there were two people on our team that were gonna be out there in the field without a glove. Okay?

Moore to Consider (19:13.747)
Mm

Gill Florentino (19:27.724)
So guess what everybody did? Everybody worked their skills on their own because I didn't want to be one, in the bench. Two, I didn't want to have a baseball hit with an aluminum bat and me not having to blow. I think about that for a second.

Moore to Consider (19:43.792)
Yeah.

Gill Florentino (19:44.42)
So once you got a glove and you got the spikes and you got all these things I mean it was the game became so much easier but to your point that we missing that in the game today is and again, we're not downplaying the generation we We have made up baseball player, which is what I I see it is well, you're be a baseball player Okay, what does that entail?

it entails that you're have pitch counts since you, it never, it has, we have taken some of the passion from the game and these kids. We wanna teach these kids the game, the very fundamentals of the game, the physical part of it, and you could probably attest to this, in our neighborhood and when we coach together, we never said this is your assignment.

We played off each other's skill set. Gill, you take care of the mental part of the players. You take care of making sure they go to class. You take care when they're in the field when they don't need to be. Nobody had to tell me that. You knew specifically when, hey, this guy needs to spend a couple of days with Gill. Go up and say thanks to Gill.

Moore to Consider (20:59.537)
Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, yeah. We fed off each other on absolutely. And I'm going to go and I'm going to go ahead and tell that story to everybody. Okay. Gill comes out to the field one day. We're coaching against each other. And a couple of years later, he ends up in Virginia. And when I see him one spring, he goes, you're never going to guess what he goes. I'm coming to you. No way. Yeah. Coming down to Virginia. So he comes to Virginia and now we coach together and I come out to the field one day and I'm very upset because I've just kind of like

I'm riding hard on these guys about going to class, right? And I want to talk about that, that dynamic in a moment, but I'm a coach and you got enough things going on, you know, you're juggling a lot of stuff when you're coaching a junior college program. And I come out and I'm, and he goes, what's up, brother? Gill, was like, what's up, brother? What's what was bothering. I'm like, yeah, guys, the class. he goes, Hey, you want me to speak to them? You want me to speak to them? I'm like, yeah, you speak to them. I'd love that. So you gotta gather everybody together.

And he goes, guys, I grew up in the Dominican Republic. I love my parents. They made about X number of dollars a month in your money. We didn't have a lot. All we had was each other, our family, and we made ends meet. And we valued education. We valued an opportunity to make a better living. And you guys don't go to class? And you said...

I make six figures, I drive a Mercedes. I don't say that to rub your nose in it. I say it that you're living in America where I've come here and had all this success because it's available. And I put in the time to make it. And I'm over there about to cry. And I'm thinking this brother right here loves America and the opportunity far more than these kids do. That's blunt, but that's a fact. I'm sitting there listening to a man who grew up in an environment without the same advantages and he loves this advantage.

And he's looking at these kids and Gill says to him, you guys can't make it to class. You can't make it to class. And I'll say this about all that. I had a kid, he and I both love him to death. Never could find his way to class. He's got the highest IQ of any kid I've probably ever coached. And one day I said to him, this is a true story. said, my first day in junior college was 85 guys in the room. 33 of them made it. I was one of the 33 that made the team. lot of guys just kind of walked in and walked on at this junior college in North Carolina.

Moore to Consider (23:22.391)
And I said, the first day our coach went up and he wrote on the chalkboard, you're going to need 12 hours pass with a two point GPA. Then he complained, he explained GPA and all that. He took the chalk and he went, if you don't make that number, you don't play in the spring. So I asked his kid, I said, how many times do you think he mentioned go to class after that? And the kid looked at me and he goes, probably every day. I said, not one time. He went, what?

I said, he never mentioned, cause here's what we got in my day, I'm old man, get off my lawn. But I'm like, in my day, when the coach said, don't make this number, you don't play. other thing that concerned me was showing up on my dad's doorstep when he just paid for a semester of college and telling him I'm not eligible to play. I didn't want to see that either. And I told the kid, said, you know what's sad? This is a God's honest truth. I lived on the eighth floor of the dorm where I stayed.

And if my coach had come around and actively nailed my door shut, my father would have asked me, why didn't I repel out of the window 80 feet to the ground and go to class? He would have wanted to know why I take a rope and go out the window. That's not, that's not an exaggeration. My father would have never asked me why my coach wasn't telling me to go to class. And I'm telling you, that's a generational thing I could not understand. And I would get the call from the parents, kid failed.

kid had failed in the class and they're like, well, did you tell them to go to class? I'm thinking you raised the kid. I don't know. you know, I, told him, you know, and I think the more emphasis is coaches we put on going to class, the less they did. Cause I think they began to gravitate towards, we're just going to blame the coach and the parent, a parent calling a coach, asking the coach why the kid didn't do better academically never made any sense to me. But, but it is a generational difference.

And I do appreciate greatly that day that my brother Gill told them, you're living in the United States kids. You have every advantage. Why are you not going to class? Why are you pissing away this opportunity? And it meant I'm over there crying because I'm like, my brother loves his country and he loves the opportunity. But I think Pedro Martinez once famously said, we're the most appreciative poor people in the world. Isn't that pretty much what his quote was? Yeah. And I love Pedro.

Gill Florentino (25:39.34)
It is, it is, yes.

Moore to Consider (25:42.026)
Love Pedro, I love Ortiz, you know I'm a Red Sox guy. Manny, love Manny, you know I love all the Red Sox, the Dominican guys that played. And you and Ortiz are very close friends, correct?

Gill Florentino (25:51.822)
Yes, yes, we played in the same league. Again, we, Placido Polanco, DeAngelo Jimenez, you name it. We had good relationship with all those guys, because I think one conversation that I had just how we have a pool host and Placido Polanco was, they complimented me in an award that I got separate from my job.

they complimented me on doing well in corporate America. My response to them was, you guys did your thing. You guys represented as well as my trying to do that at a corporate level. And you know what? think we appreciate the fact that

Whatever whatever opportunity is given to us if we get a first shot we gonna see we're gonna successful next to the guy I mean, but I think that some of the lessons that the game had taught me over the years Which by the way, I am what I am today because they gave my baseball I was able to get a master's degree because they didn't give me baseball I had some of the best relationships I have in my life because the game of baseball so You it's sad sometimes to see the way our game

is gone and the way that things have transpired in the game of baseball and how this all these travel teams that you have. We played the game for two reasons. It was the passion of our youth. We had Major League guys come in the offseason and play in the streets to steal with us. And that was it for no money.

Moore to Consider (27:26.354)
Yeah, yeah.

Moore to Consider (27:41.371)
Mm-hmm.

Gill Florentino (27:46.072)
That was because there was still some guys that didn't make it from our neighborhood that we believed that we were better than some of the guys that got signed. So that was a pride thing. Second part is every time you put that uniform on, you respect the guy next to you. And it doesn't matter if the guy was younger than you, it didn't matter if the guy was a rookie or he was been playing for a long time.

those guys will let you know when you didn't run hard, when you didn't slide, when you didn't call them off. Those guys literally yelled at you. And we had some guys in our teams that became coaches because they saw so much. You know, it was a natural thing for me to be, I mean, it was being part of a team. I'm with somebody who have a great deal of respect, which by the way, when you told that story about...

I played it how we met.

And you know how many people in the game of baseball say they're to do certain things that just don't have no integrity. And that's why, you know, I still have great relationship in the game of baseball and I will always have them. We still cross paths with people that, you you came here a year ago and there's people still that I go places that you and I went together. But I can't have Jack. You're just that kind of person. And when we have relationships in the game of baseball.

We keep them. I can say that I know people for 40 years through the game of baseball. It don't matter where they are. Someone can be in Japan and I still get a text once a month or I get a phone call or I get an email because we connected through this game or ours that was a passion. was a representation of who we was. we had, my father was a very strict guy.

Gill Florentino (29:35.958)
everything that I could do and have flair, we were thinking showboat and show off, you know, that was, and again, in the field, we got to be ourselves. And you know, that is missing. I see some of these guys now, and again, I'm not, no disrespect to the generation, but I come from a place where if you have an opportunity to do something great, you might only get one shot.

And when you had that one shot, you got to take an opportunity, I I didn't make it to the majors, but I'm extremely fortunate to live a lifestyle of luxury for me because where I come from. And every time I need a reminder as to what life is, I go back home. I go back home and I sit in my friend's stool at a mechanic's shop and remind me how happy these people are with so little.

Moore to Consider (30:37.198)
Yeah.

Gill Florentino (30:38.026)
So when I saw you that you were like that, so said our players, you know, we had that conversation. I wanted to make sure these people know, like, listen, you don't know how lucky you are. And, know, to have an opportunity to play, to get some help to play the game of baseball, to go to class as part of your job and then go and play the game you love. I mean, you couldn't pay me enough money to do that.

I remind some folks that good friends too with Simon Sosa and Simon Sosa signed for $3,000.

Julio Franco signed for like $2,500. And I know some guys, they signed for $1,000. And those guys saw it as not as the signing bonus, but they saw it as an opportunity that they had one shot. And some people leave Dominican Republic, and they know they live in this whole slew of people. And those people are banking on you to make it.

Moore to Consider (31:44.386)
Mm-hmm.

Gill Florentino (31:45.494)
for more than one reason, more than just the money. Obviously, you know, everybody wants to get a better opportunity in life. And that's why think this country has provided for me and my family an opportunity to, you know, it is kind of crazy because I always talk about this. I don't, you know, in corporate America, once I get in a war, somebody, when I go to Vegas or I go to Dubai or I go to Mexico or I go to Nicaragua, I just want to be known as a good leader. I don't want to be put in a vacuum, but

This is what this country had told me. I don't want to be a victim. I don't point a finger. The first thing is I have accountability. And I think that's lacking in our game today. Accountability not only for our players, from their parents, and from all such coaches and leaders, because in reality, we lead in this case.

Moore to Consider (32:38.049)
Yeah, you know, I had a really, it's interesting at the same time I meet you, it's followed right behind me having my first opportunity to really coach a Dominican kid that we both dearly love, Ricky Castro. And he was God sent. He was God sent.

Moore to Consider (33:01.162)
First time I meet with him, he speaks very little English. And I look in his eyes and I have this connection to him and I said, son, what do you want from baseball? And he goes, I replaced Jeter in New York. And I go, okay, that's what he said, right? So I'm feeling all this, I really did kind of feel this pressure. And I don't know if I've ever told you this, I was like, I'm taking on a kid who's learning the language. And where I grew up,

was Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, and African-American. It's black-white. That's the world I grew up in. It was about 50-50. And I played on the all-black teams. I played on teams out in the woods in places where restaurants were, down roads. You wouldn't believe how far out the country were. And the black guys took me in. And the only white face at the stadium would be my dad. My dad would come see me play. And that's the world I grew up in. I had really special parents.

You know that I had really special parents. then, and I think we all recognize, we, we, we recognize skin tone, color, language and all that kind of stuff. But I was really taught, I know it sounds cliche, but I was really taught to just be loving of people and see where it takes you. So I have Ricky, but I remember thinking, I don't want to fumble this. I don't want to fumble this kid's life because

But then I, but I really remember the next day I'm like, nah, he's supposed to be with you. He's supposed to be with you. So I had this beautiful guy in the math department and you know, some of the things I've worked uphill against and he is a Naval Academy graduate that flew jets for the United States Navy and he teaches the math section and he comes to me one day and he says, Hey, you know, your Dominican kid. go, goes, Jack, he's scary. Brilliant. Like he's smart, but he's really having problem with the language. I said, what do do?

And he goes, I got a bunch of Mexican kids up in this part of Virginia and they speak Spanish clearly and that can help their Mexican kids. So then I go through all this red tape and I'm fighting the administration. I'm like, look, get the tutoring to this kid. And I struggle with it. So this is this white gentleman that flew jets for the Navy from Colorado or something that loves Ricky and he's trying to help. I look around at people and their motivations.

Moore to Consider (35:21.413)
And he just wants to help Ricky. Long story short, I get Ricky through two years of school where he excelled in every class. I think in six weeks he would speak in English pretty fluently. But where I got, what's interesting, I don't know that I had a Puerto Rican friend till I went to Virginia Beach. Then I met all these Puerto Ricans that were in the Navy. So I had this two friends. First, actually the first Dominican kid I ever worked with was with two Puerto Ricans.

Puerto Rican guy, Freddie Ramos, that was in the Navy, that knew everybody in Pro Ball that was Latin American, and Freddie Torres, who I ended up helping him get his first job in scouting. So I'm working with this Dominican kid, speaks no English, and I'm translating through two Puerto Rican guys speaking Spanish. So Freddie's with the Mets and then with Seattle when I had Ricky. So we're in Hampton, Virginia one day playing, so I go over to Freddie, who's like a brother, and they go up and I said, hey.

Give me all the, give me all the information on Ricky. okay. Okay. Boom. They're at it. Spanish did it did it back and forth back. I don't understand where they're saying that he comes over. Okay. His dad's in DR mom's hairdresser. She, you know, he just tells me everything and he wins Ricky over. So now I've kind of got a translator. Then you come on board and you get Ricky much further down the road on the English thing. But we made that connection.

And then it was so great that you were there with me with Ricky. He goes on to play at Frostburg state, he plays in the world series, plays some independent baseball. And last summer I went out to see him play in the summer league and he's got three Venezuelan kids playing his brother. And it was a really neat team. out in the Richmond area, but the bond never ends. But I remember feeling that.

kind of, if I'm going to take on this Dominican kid with the language barrier, I got to line up the right people. And God sent me you, which we'd already met, but he sent me you to help. But I had Freddie to help. And then you kind of go through life and you start to see this connection with people that transcends race, color, language, transcends all of it. Right. And I, I'll honestly say, I don't know that I've

Moore to Consider (37:36.735)
ever been because I'm a red ass. You know how I am on the field. I'm kind of the tough coach sometimes and I'm certainly tough on umpires. Ricky was the most calming effect I've ever had because I never had to worry that Ricky was going to bring it. Ricky was a player. You know that Ricky was a really good player, but he was such a high energy guy at the same time. He was focused. I never saw him dog anything. You know, he just, he just did what he was supposed to do.

And it was a pleasure to this day. I still run by and see him in Richmond. And you still you still stay in touch with them a little bit too as well, right?

Gill Florentino (38:15.556)
Yeah, kind of usually at least once a month we kind of check one another, you know, like I said to you, know, the games, the relationship that we have formulated in game. mean, you know, you know.

I went to see Plaza de Blanco and was, hey, I'm here in the country. I'm only gonna be here for a couple of days. Come on into the stadium, I go over there. They wanted me to stay at the game, but I just didn't really have a lot of time. So I went with them and the dog out in the claw house. And I got out, but it was like we were the kids again. So I think we've done well enough in life that.

People realize that who is good and who's not good for you. And I feel that the game needs to steal that touch of seeing people that are leaders in their team to have the kind of relationship that you and I had. And it was, again, organically, we didn't tell each other what to do.

Which is new what strength was and we played off that strength and the chemistry that we had showed in our games and it showed in our players. I think that that's the thing that we talked about. I right now it's hard for me to watch a game of baseball.

Unless you have a star player that you really want to see. mean, it's nothing like sitting in a stadium or on TV watching in a bad, bad, bad rebounds. was, know, Ken Griffey Jr. You saw that in your watch.

Gill Florentino (39:56.386)
not doing anything else but watching this guy right now hit this baseball. Or I wanna see an inning on Randy Johnson's pitch or Pedro Martinez or Roger Clements. just, maybe because I'm not from this new wave of baseball players, but I just, there's not a lot of people that I will pay money right now to see. I'll just say that.

Moore to Consider (40:19.902)
You what's interesting is I have this friends very close. I don't think we've had enough. No, actually when we were together in Texas, but Tony Beasley, that was the interim manager, Tony and I grew up together in Virginia. And, when he was the interim manager for the Rangers before they won the world series, he was coaching third again. I went to Boston and in my lifetime, one of the first guys that I ever saw that I was like,

Wow, that's really different was Tony Fernandez. I saw him in AAA and I saw him at 19 make a play up the middle behind second spun and through. I went, wow, that was really pretty. That was graceful. That was different. So I remember him. Then I saw Darrell strawberry at 24 and I saw a strawberry go five for five. And in your mind's eye, when you imagine a one hopper back to the mound, like a one hop ground ball back to the mound, he hit a ball in the right field that if Claudel Washington had moved.

just slightly wrong. It would have gone to the wall. Like that's how hard it was hit. So I saw strawberry good. And then the next guy I ever saw, I saw, saw Griffey Jr. I saw Kinseko hit three home runs in a game. Things I saw live, but the next guy, and I think it's the greatest player I ever saw to the eye was without question, Josh Hamilton. When I saw Josh Hamilton, I'm like, okay, that's different. That's big difference.

So then in 2022, I go to Boston and brother, got to tell you, Zander Bogarts is beautiful playing. He is different. And on TV, I thought he looked like a third baseman playing short. You see him, he's lean and he's fast. And when I saw him, I saw him go four for four. I saw him on a good day, but I watched how he played. Bogarts is like special. Like he's really, really good. So there's been some guys in my life

that seemed to be playing. I saw Pedro throw once live, pretty special. Felix Hernandez is the best stuff I've ever seen live. I saw him once with my boy Josh who got the win that night head to head. But Felix Hernandez was disgusting stuff. It was really, really good. And whether he was 19, I'll leave that up to anybody. You know, just figure out if he was 19th.

Gill Florentino (42:37.476)
I'll you what, I'll reach out to him after this to see if he'll come on your show.

Moore to Consider (42:42.754)
Okay. Okay. And, speaking of stars, you know who I saw in the first week of his career? I had, I had a relative pass away in Phoenix, Arizona in 2001, and I had heard about Albert Pujols. So here's who I saw in one game. I saw Rick Ann Kiel pitch for St. Louis in a good game for him following the playoffs before everything kind of fell apart for him again. But I saw him good against Randy Johnson, who got shell that day for Arizona.

Sitting in right field right below me, cause I was in right field stands was the guy I saw in junior college, Reggie Sanders. Now on Reggie, that's one of my favorite stories. I'm in the dugout for Chowan college and Reggie's taking infield at short. And I looked at our dugout. I'm 24 years old. I'm like, Hey guys, go get the shortstop's autograph. And everybody has a blank face. And they're like, what are you talking about? I'm like the shortstop. They're like, what about him? like, you guys don't see that? And they're like, what? And I'm like,

That guy's going to play in the big leagues. played 19 years, but anyway, Reggie's playing right field and keel against Johnson. Matt Williams was playing that day. had a home run, but I saw Albert Poulhalls and it was his first week, April of 2001. It's his first week in the big leagues. And I thought, I believe me, I was like, the guy's going to be like really good. He's going to be okay. And you and I were together when he hit 700. We, you and I were together.

And he hit 700, I see that on the phone. I'm like, just texted Albert, tell him, tell him congratulations. And what was it? I don't know. After the game, a few hours later, he's like, Hey, shows me the phone. Love you brother. Thanks so much. And I was like, that's really cool. You reached out to him and said, congratulations on 700. And a few hours later he responded and I thought, wow, he got to 700. It was a pointless career. thought he was going to get a 800 if he hadn't had the injuries and the strike. Well, I mean, not the strike, COVID.

COVID heard him on the numbers, but he had a lot of home runs.

Gill Florentino (44:41.892)
I think you know what, know what, those kind of players, yourself, they represent what is good in life. Somebody who takes their craft seriously to go out, play well, you know.

They have respect for their peers and their teammates and they enjoy what they do. And they know, we know, at the very least for me, when I stepped in the field, I knew I was just representing more than myself. I needed to do well to make sure. And to this day, I do it in corporate America. I need to make sure that I do well enough. So somebody that comes from the places I come from, that looks like me and that speaks like me, have an opportunity.

But the very first thing we do is we try to, know, I always recommend players that still to this day reach out to me say, hey, I want an opportunity. I'm not getting signed. I'm not 16 anymore. I want to come to the states and play in college. You know, I always encourage these people to come here because there's a difference when you can have a player that has the skill set to get signed.

that they isn't a juco a year or two years and gets adopted to the American culture. They learn language. They learn how to certain things because you know some things for us, you know, for I say for us Dominican players at the time when I was coming out when I came here, there was seen as a disrespect for some of my teammates, but it's I didn't know no better. You know, there was some things that we did back home that I was just doing what we normally did back home.

If you go to a winter league game and Dominican Republic and you go to a game with Lee says versus I've lost. You got people with that beating the drums and maracas and you know somebody, you know, hits a pop up and they'll do state innovation. I mean, it's there as a rivalry is the next man against you.

Gill Florentino (46:47.35)
You're doing it for them. You're wearing their uniform. You're representing something. You're representing your neighborhood. You're representing where you're from. And that's important to us. But once I came here to college and figured out, I figured out a lot of stuff that made my life a lot easier.

Moore to Consider (47:07.146)
Yeah, I've actually had that talk a lot on the show too. It's an interesting dynamic about culture of the game. Well, let me back up and say this too. I always found one of the most important quotes I ever read was Joe DiMaggio is a poor Italian fisherman. His father never spoke English and his father didn't want him to play baseball because he thought you need to get a job. You need to get an education.

He snuck off to play his brother Vince got to the Pacific Coast League first play I think 10 years of minor league ball never got to the big leagues and then Joe and Dominique his younger brother to play with Williams got to the big leagues but he played on bone spurs. He served during World War II and he comes back born in 1915 he's 30 at the end of the war and he plays a few more years plays until 51 he plays the one year with Mickey Mantle.

And he's playing at the end of his career and I think he was 36. I think that math is right. He was 36 when he retired and a sports writer. I just saw this most powerful thing with sports writers like Joe, I know you're hurting. Why'd you run out that ground ball like that? Why did you run in the gap and catch that fly ball? And he said, because there might be some little boy today that played paid to get a ticket to get into the game. And it might be the only time he ever sees me play.

Take that in brother. I was like, wow. He said, that might be the only time that young man ever sees me play. So his thought process was, ever put bad information out about Joe DiMaggio. Joe DiMaggio is always going to be that guy. Joe DiMaggio plays a certain way. And Yogi Berra was one of the greatest players of all time, all around, no question. People with the, the yogi-isms and the things he says, they kind of miss. Go back and look at the record.

He won 10 world series and he played outfield and catcher. He's one of the greatest players, but he said one time in his rookie year, he popped up and he kind of half asses it to first and the ball drops. He doesn't get second, something like that. And he says he comes in the dugout and DiMaggio after I think he ends up scoring, but he said when he comes back near DiMaggio, DiMaggio is glaring at him. And it was like, don't ever let that happen again. And he goes, I knew exactly what that meant.

Moore to Consider (49:27.561)
Now DiMaggio is 10 plus years in the league. He's been, you know, he's been in the service. He's come back. I think it's 1947 and you know, Yogi Berra said that pop up, I don't run it out. And then the expectation that there are two Italians, one from St. Louis, one from San Francisco. But he said, DiMaggio looks at me and says, don't ever let that happen. He gives him the glare. And he goes, that's when I realized the Yankee way. You don't have fast pop up. You don't do that.

And you look at those stories of those great players. And I think the game is played with energy, not emotion. Emotion can destroy you. You can handle emotion to some degree. But I think what goes on now from the showing up the opposition standpoint, I struggle with. And to me, some of it's showing it up, but I was telling some young kids a few years ago. There's a poster that came out and it's mantle. It's clearly.

Mickey Mantle and his head is down and he's between second and third and he's running out of home run. And the quote below it said, when I hit a home run, I dropped my head and I got around the bases as fast as I could. I knew the pitcher felt bad. I didn't want to show him up. And he hit 536 home runs. You you look at that and you go like, that's Mickey Mantle. Okay. So Mickey's the guy when Elston Howard is the first black player.

that went out on the bus and ate dinner with him because he couldn't eat in an all white restaurant. And he's a white guy from Oklahoma, probably never known a black person in his life. But that's what Mantle's doing. What's on his monument and in the Yankee monuments? Great teammate. And then everything else about him. Great teammate. And to everything I ever hear, he was a great teammate. No question. One other thing I'll say about

about that kind of mindset as players, something you just said about wearing the uniform and how you were taught. I saw Willie Mays who just passed away, God bless Willie Mays, just passed away the age of 93. He was on with Bob Costas on MLB network in the Jackie Robinson studio. And I wanted to show you this. I just got this recently. How cool is this? Jackie Robinson starting lineup.

Moore to Consider (51:48.857)
Found that at a memorabilia store. Pretty cool. anyway, Willie May's on with Bob Costas and Bob Costas like Willie. What was it like to go out on the field and every time you played, you knew you were the best player on the field and Mays like, no, no, no, Bob. No, no, no, no, no. I never thought that he goes, come on, Willie, you know, Bob Costas fan announcer never played the game at that level. Probably no more than literally, but he goes,

You never went on the field thinking you were the best player. goes, uh, this is how we looked at it, brother. If you had a major league uniform on, I had a major league. If we both had, you know, I respected you because you were a big leaguer. don't care what your batting average is. don't want, I don't care what your background was. I never looked at another man on a major league field and thought I was better than them. We were all major leaguers. And I was like, that's Willie Mays saying that that's 660 home runs. That's Willie.

And Willie said, I never looked at another major leaguer and thought he wasn't my equal, even though we all know he was the best player on the field. Now think about that. If Willie Mays, and I think he was being sincere, if Willie Mays was playing the game with the mindset that if you were on the field and you had a big league uniform and I respected that and not thinking I'm better than you, that's pretty cool, right?

Gill Florentino (53:12.152)
Yes sir, mean, you know, I just, think it was knowing that you going to do that, knowing that you were in uniform and you were with pride, but respecting all the people in the field.

You know, and that's kind of why we, you know, I mean, I remember us even coaching against each other, even when that same, um, you know, the first time we met, we literally looked at each other. were like, you know, we, I was a bench coach and you were the head coach and you know, you were coaching third base and I was literally conversating with you back and forth. Um, but it was just, we respected the fact that.

you were in a position to lead men and you know, we were wearing the uniform. But I'll say more to the pride, right? My father. You know, went to a game, remember and. I was. I was, you know, I I kind of hit for the cycle. I think of that game. If not, you know, it was probably maybe a single shot of the cycle in high school and I was pretty pumped up. I was very excited.

You know, and we had a local reporter who used to report in our team and, you know, I was, I probably behave in a way that my father thought there wasn't good enough. So we get home afterwards. We walked the whole time. He doesn't say a word to me. And, he said kindly to me, do you know the reason why the name of your teen is in front and your last name is in the back?

I said, no, I think I never really asked. And my father said, you had an individual amazing game, but your team lost. Your team comes first, and the name of the player comes last.

Gill Florentino (55:21.54)
And it resonated with me because we had a long walk. We probably had a 30 minute walk back home from the field. And that whole conversation was, to this day, it resonates on me because, he's a guy who's excited to see his son play. We hardly ever spend time like that because he worked all the time.

He works six, seven days a week, so he really didn't take three or four hours on a Saturday to go and watch me play, but this particular day he did. And he was pretty disappointed that I was celebrating and I was celebrating my team loss. I mean, that's what I'm thinking. And from that point on, when my team lost, when I was playing or coaching, I was sick to my stomach.

Moore to Consider (56:09.6)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's funny that that first day, I know we've had this conversation privately, but.

And again, I think it's God ordained. It's the universe. It's God. It's God. But I remember seeing you and I'm like, I just love that guy's energy. And then when I saw that kid and you know, as I followed through, sincerely, I was like, man, I love your third baseman. We were just having these conversations and I thought, I love this guy's energy. He definitely knows the game of baseball and I want to remain in contact with them.

I think that whatever our contact is, it's going to go in a really positive direction and support both of us in the future. And it did. And it did. And that's as excited as I've ever been when you told me like, Hey, I'm coming to Virginia. And you were kind of like, would you like to have, I was like, I got your uniform right now, brother. Come on in. Let's go. Let's get the uniform on you. And we did. And, you know, and the thing about the baseball leading to things when you called me a few years ago and we spent all that

fun time together in Vegas. know, Jack, in my career, what I do, I'm getting an award. And there's no one on earth. said, there's no one on earth I'd want more to be there than you. And I was there. I'm like, I'm on a flight. Let's go. So I fly out there and settle everything else when I get out there. We go to Miami the other year with your buddies that lived out in Miami. And we had boys weekend. We had a really good time in Miami, South Beach. And that's what makes the world go around. That's what makes it all worthwhile. And we had Thanksgiving.

together two years ago, I'm down in Texas. So Cory and I were down there in Dallas for the Kennedy assassination, another 60th anniversary and we turned left, went to Houston, we're down to Katy and had Thanksgiving with your family. That was really cool.

Gill Florentino (58:08.216)
Yeah man, I you know I when I got the notification about that you know one of the first people I thought it was you because you know again I was two it's two things to that right A I wanted to pay tribute to a person that I look up to and second I wanted to honor you by inviting you to be there and then I wore the only 100 people got him

So I wanted people to know that this guy let me from the position that he was.

I learned so much about life and about things that we could probably talk about here, but life has become so difficult and not having people being honest and not having people tell you the truth and not having people, not having integrity and not having people.

know, generally care about you is tough for a guy like me, you know, as a people's person. But, know, I wanted to, I wanted my friend and I wanted one of my mentors and I wanted the person that I look up to to be there.

Moore to Consider (59:31.623)
You'll never know how much it meant to me that you invited me to that. And we had a really good time. We had a really good time out the pool and it was 108, I think, at the time and it was on its way to 115. So Vegas is an interesting town, but yeah, we had a really good time in Vegas. And I really enjoyed Miami. South Beach was a lot of fun, especially in April. It a good time to be down there. The weather was good.

Gill Florentino (59:38.083)
Yes, yes.

Gill Florentino (59:57.304)
Yes, it was for my birthday. Yeah. Always. Always. You have an interesting day for our birthday too.

Moore to Consider (01:00:00.261)
That's right. And mine was four days later. So it turned out it was sitting around my birthday as well.

Moore to Consider (01:00:08.525)
Yeah, I I try to stay away from the Hitler thing and remember. Yeah, so my birthday is the same as Hitler, April 20th, but it's also the same day as Luther Vandross, which shocked me a few years ago teaching in college. The young. I'm like, I make that point. I'm like, yeah, my birthday is April 20th. Sadly, I share it with Hitler, but then the saving grace is Luther. And they're like, who's that? I'm like, they didn't know when Prince died. When Prince died, I'm like, class, it's a tragedy because I love Prince. mean,

You know, I'm in that, I'm in that wheelhouse. was, he was the best. love Prince. I who's that? And I'm like, you guys don't know prints. Go ask your parents. How do you not know Prince? So, know, growing up in America, but yeah, yeah, but yeah, April. So we're, we're not far apart on the birthday as well. Well, brother, I love you very much. Love the family. I know we're going to get together again very, very soon. we're going to keep working for everyone listening.

What Gill and I are always trying to do is work towards this utopian baseball thing we want to do where we just get kids out and feel and play. And we're always working towards that end. And I know we'll continue to work on getting kids opportunities to play. Please tell everybody on the way out how they can contact you, what you do business wise and how you can help them in your business.

Gill Florentino (01:01:30.916)
I'm the president or CEO of 14 Season Cigar Company. It's a premium Dominican cigar company. I'm also the general manager of Texas Express Lending and On Exhibitions USA, which is a consulting firm for auto finance. But I also have this work for the Department of Education and consulting basis.

to try to modify education and try to find different avenues to have people be successful. I'm working on a project right now to try to have this school where half of the time on the day people get a textbook but they'll have to be in actually a particular trade. think that we don't do that enough.

their time to prepare our people, our children to the next generation, the next phase of their life, whether it's going to be the new wave or electrical cars. And if we need, we need, we need those people to make sure that anybody, any individual that goes to school, they be engaged to have an opportunity to be successful. So again, you can contact me, my handle on Instagram is La Patana 500.

or you can do at 14 season cigar company or my email at gill at 14 season cigar company.

Moore to Consider (01:02:54.24)
Brother, love you. God bless you and your family. Love you always. This has been wonderful having you on. Everybody listening, God bless, peace, and let's get together again soon. Thank you. Love you, brother.