I chatted with Slade Heathcott on the phone for nearly an hour. He's a cool cat. Not only that... he's honest, emotional, sincere and most of all, passionate. Passionate about his life, about his son, about baseball and about what's next. I hope you realize something about this young man. When baseball ended for him... he didn't end. Slade was just getting warmed up. He's alive and well and ready for his next thing... making a difference. What you're about to read is the most opened and honest interview we've ever done here at BYB. And it's provocative. The main topic is minor league baseball and a behavior against these young players so controversial and wrong, it needs to be not only be exposed, but corrected immediately.
Listening to Slade speak about the way minor league ballplayers are treated, and doing my research for the past few weeks, the information that's out there is disappointing, shocking and almost criminal in my humble opinion. We are talking about young athletes that are taken advantage of because they have a dream to play baseball. And the owners know this... and in my opinion they take advantage just to line their own pockets. It's the equivalent of cattle. It's a farm system to them... literally. It's disgusting. You'd almost question where we live in the world. But this is America, land of the brave, home of the free. But in this case, minor league athletes are treated so badly, the abuse almost feels like they're not free. It must stop now.
I loved every minute of this interview with Slade. Check this out...
He's making life changes involving being a pilot, as well as working on other project, one of them being a 501c3 called More Than Baseball, or MoreThanBaseball.org. A not for profit that is making people aware of how minor leaguers are treated in a Major League baseball world. It was eye opening. I let him speak... and speak he did.
Slade Heathcott: Do you know how much a 6 year guy gets paid as a minor leaguer? Today’s estimate is $12,000. That’s less than a hot dog vendor at that player’s major league stadium. I want you to think about that. How do you live on that? You don’t. It’s not enough for training. It’s not enough for good food.
Casey: Are you kidding me?
Slade: No man! Let’s not forget that minor league baseball players are athletes. They are the farm team of the Bigs. Without feeding and helping to protect these minor leaguers correctly, you end up with a lot of broken down minor leaguers that just don’t survive in the game or never make it to the pros.
Casey: But how long has this been going on and what can be done about it?
Slade: We decided to put together More Than Baseball. The goal is to find a way to get all 30 Major League teams together to be able to raise money to help minor league players. Enough with the friction between players and owners and enough with controversy. The goal should be to get these teams help, through community, through fundraising, be it affiliates or otherwise to improve the lives of minor leaguers.
Casey: It just seems so crazy to me because as I know from my sons. I mean, my 16 year old plays baseball and all his coaches talk to him about is solid training and good nutrition. So it makes a ton of sense. That nutrition is fuel.
Slade: Nailed it. We need to get them good food, not fast food. Heck, even if there was a deal between the team affiliate and restaurants and stores around that area where their minor league park was. Like maybe 15% off a healthy meal, that could help their bank account and still allow them to get better food for their bodies.
I am trying to nail down something with a group called “Get your Elements”. Food that’s packed with nutrition for these young players. Without solid nutrition, how do you think these guys will perform on the field? They currently eat fast food. Imagine the talent pool if these young players were eat right and had the money to train better.
Casey: I love that. Maybe teams could team up with big stores. Harris Teeters, or Shop Rite or restaurants.
Slade: Yup. But not only that. These players also need better equipment. We need to get them better equipment rather than a minor league player or a player’s parents buying it for them. Good bats and better helmets, or extra training.
Think about baseball for a second. It’s not like they come out to a 7 PM game at 6 and just run around the outfield and they’re ready to go. It’s a 10-hour day. Players are playing every single day. There are early workouts, Cages, hitting the field for BP. Minor Leaguers are athletes. Does it make sense for them to ride a bus for 10 hours and find a Wendy’s at 10pm because they don’t have enough money to eat good food?
If owners collectively agreed to bump up their $12,000 minimum salary, even that would help. How much better would a team’s farm be if owners and teams took the time and money to feed their players properly instead of weeding out the crop.
Casey: True. How did it effect you early on?
Slade Heathcott: My first year in Charleston for the Yankees minor league system I made $6600. That didn’t cover my training costs. But thank god I was represented so that was taken care of. For a lot of players, they don’t even have that. Their parents are paying for it. There are tons of fans out there that love this game but have no idea what’s going on with the minor leagues. It’s bad. We need to educate them.
Luckily, guys like Tony Clark, Xavier James are on board to say “Hey, let’s look at this, let’s raise money and let’s try to improve the minor leaguers conditions."
Casey: Well that's really good.
Slade: Yup. Hopefully we can bring the game together. Check out MoreThanBaseball.org . There's a lot to read and learn. I hope your audience checks it out. It's exciting. I'm energized by it.
Casey: I can tell, I love it. Let's change gears. Your debut at Yankee Stadium and as a Yankee in the majors. I want to know the feeling and I want to know how it all went down.
Slade: May 20, 2015. Well, that night I ran for Mark Teixeira in the 9th inning. This is how it happened that night before. I got back to my place. I was feeding my son and I was with a bunch of guys… Bryan Mitchell, some others. I didn’t really have my cell on me at that moment. One of the guys says “Hey, Jacoby Ellsbury went down.” I didn’t think anything of it, but in the mist of that, I had missed calls on my phone. I called back Dave Miley who was trying to call me. Great guy... really great dude.
“Pack your bags, you’re going to New York,” Dave said.
I said “Stop messing with me, man'". He said he wasn’t and I was shocked. I packed and went.
Casey: Love it. It just happens that way. Just like they say. What's it like to put on the pinstripes?
Slade: Standing there in that uniform is amazing. Looking around me, there is literally nothing like putting on pinstripes. A center field debut. CC Sabathia is on the mound. There's nothing like that. Nothing.
**Quiet**
Casey: You're getting emotional right now.
Slade: I am. And even more than wearing them was that home run in Tampa.
Casey: You read my mind. Tell me about that.
Slade: Tampa Bay. 2015. Top 9. I had no intention of going in. I was literally filling water cups for my teammates. It's what I did as a young player. Make sure the big guys are hydrated. Joe calls my name.
I think it was Chris Young that was supposed to be batting and Brian McCann's on first. I assume I'm running for McCann and I start stretching. But no, I’m hitting. I was like "What?"
I got no swings in and John Ryan Murphy is literally telling me what Brad Boxberger throws. Well, the boss man upstairs wanted that moment to happen for me. But that wasn't the best part.
I hit it and I'm running around the bases in a Yankee uniform and all the guys, my teammates... guys like ARod, they are all going crazy. It's hard as a teammate to not do anything as a player, but when you do something like that home run, it's amazing to see the guys support you like that.
Casey: Damn, that's awesome. I never heard that story behind the scenes. What else can we talk about?
Slade: I can talk all day. But look, I'm on a mission to do different things now in my life and I'm going to. Only what's impossible is possible. Like this pilot stuff I'm doing.
Casey: I was just gonna ask you about that. Tell me what got you into this pilot stuff. You're flying planes?
Slade: Well, I knew I wanted to be a pilot before baseball was even gonna happen for me. I knew I wanted to join the military. I wanted to fly fighter jets. I always did and so it's going to be reality for me. I want to fly in a fighter jet. In 2011 and 2012, I would wake up and fly in Tampa and then I went to the field and played. Now I'm not playing ball so I'm going back to get CFI, 10 rating, 7 months and I'll be busy, it will go through the summer, but I'm gonna do it.
Casey: What else do you want to do in your life. You seem full of energy right now.
Slade: Ah man, I have a bucket list. And listen to this. I want to climb Mount Everest. And on the other side of it, I want to open an orphanage. I know, the 2 don't even go together and the orphanage sounds weird, but I'm so committed to it. I have made it my mission to serve in my life. My life is to dedicate and serve. I also want to do things that I've only thought about and dreamt of before. Like running my first half marathon. I hate running but I'm going for it. I want to raise money for non-profits. I want to help others. I just want to do it all.
Casey: OK, I'm exhausted. Ha!
Slade: Ha. This is me, man. Real deal.
Casey: Any last words?
Slade: We can’t always control the cards we’re deal. We can you control what we’re playing.
Ladies and Gentlemen... Slade Heathcott is my buddy. I love this dude. He's inspirational and has more energy than anyone I know.
I hope you enjoyed this interview. Slade, thanks for taking the time.
