Chapter 1: What motivated Dominic Leone to transition from MLB pitcher to content creator?
appreciate you having me on man so good I was texting with Adam Adovino Very excited about your appearance on this podcast.
Yes, good. Okay, I got a hype guy.
Otto's my hype guy.
That's awesome. Everyone should have a hype guy.
You have to have one, right? Who would you say is your ultimate going through life besides your family? Who is your hype guy? Who is your best hype guy? Because how many teams did you play for?
I played for 10 organizations over 12 years.
Okay.
Okay. So there's, there's a lot of hype guys, plenty, plenty of hype guys. Um, you know, if you had to take family out of it, cause I would, I would obviously say, you know, my parents and my wife, um, definitely top of that list. Uh, if I had to think of a, of another player, I'm going to shout out Zach Littell. Zach Littell, everybody. He's a friend of the podcast. He's been on.
I did not see that coming. He's the first one that came to mind. He was I won't say took him under my wing because I don't know if I ever had wings big enough to take a young guy underneath. But in San Francisco, we had a good time together, and he definitely hyped me up a little bit.
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Chapter 2: How did Dominic Leone's baseball career shape his current content creation journey?
One step at a time. We start with a Reed Garrett signed placemat, and we go from there. But you just jumped headfirst. So I remember there was a guy named David Risky who pitched a while ago. And I remember doing a story on him collecting Jordans. and trying to get every edition of Jordan. And he was like, I forget which one was this great white whale, but was, are you that guy?
Like you obviously like you have the Jordan brands in the background.
Yeah. So, you know, obviously number one, you know, I just, I wasn't quite on Jordan's radar when it came to, you know, providing a brand deal.
Can I stop you right there? Can I stop you right there? Because you shouldn't feel bad about that. What I've learned is how difficult it is to actually, for even the top of the top, the top, get these deals. It's gone completely the other way, right?
It has changed so much, even from when I first broke in. I don't know whether... I don't know what the reasoning was for it, but I do know a lot of companies and a lot of brands just stopped, especially baseball stopped really hyping guys up.
Somebody said – I was actually talking to – Oh, Ryan Peppio the other day. Because he's a New Balance guy. And like, wow, congratulations. You survived the cut, the New Balance cut. It's Shohei Itani and Ryan Peppio and Francisco Lindor and everybody else. But he said that Nike had kind of come in because of the uniforms or something. I mean, I don't know.
Maybe I'm talking about Nike. No, no, there's a lot of, you know, it's, there's a lot of change within that market. Um, and, you know, again, with the uniforms and majestic, you know, leaving and Nike coming in and, you know, then it was like, um, honestly the, the cleat rules, uh, there's a whole reason why I have a wall like that.
And it's because the, the cleat rules became, uh, much different. When I first came in, it was like, you had to have the 51% black and, um, you know, it was, uh, you know, kind of standard issue stuff. And so now, um, you know, guys can get more creative guys can be, uh, show a little bit more personality.
And, you know, I don't know if like brands and companies just didn't want to keep up with that and, and really individualized to everybody or, uh, or what it was, but I just think, um, you know, it, it was kind of a win-win where, when, you know, some of those brands, like for instance, in my story, I had Under Armour early on in my career and, It was right when Under Armour was hot.
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Chapter 3: What challenges did Dominic face during his retirement from baseball?
Yeah. You know, he's a humongous sneakerhead and, you know, partnered with them. you know, they put the, the baseball bottoms, the baseball spikes on the cleats or on the, I'm sorry, on the shoe. And so like, I just said, Hey, that's something cool. It's something to stand out.
Like there aren't, there aren't going to be many five, 10 relievers, you know, middle relievers that come out of the bullpen with some sweet, you know, shoes. So I said, why not take a, take a dive into that pool.
Man, there's like an hour I could go off of what you just said, including you hit the sweet spot of one of my, every time we talk about personalities and where baseball's going, how they've sort of daylighted dollars short a lot of times, I immediately go to that 51% thing with the cleats. I had no idea. I remember David Price was the one who told me,
and he's like and i had no idea and it's insane to think that baseball was so rigid for so long what year did it change like 17 18 something like that yeah i i don't remember the exact year i do remember it was when they they installed like the whole players weekend yes like in august where you know they had you know like we got to design jerseys with you know nicknames on the back and um
You know, and I could kind of see the trend coming early on, like 14, 15, 16, when, you know, Mother's Day. You know, that was the thing. It was like Mother's Day, Father's Day, Fourth of July, Jackie Robinson Day. These companies, you know, the big companies, Nike, Under Armour, all these guys would send their athletes, you know, the specialty shoe, you know, the special design.
And then it was like, I think guys just wanted the individuality of it. And so, you know, the league caught word of that and saw that people were, you know, Not breaking the rules, but just we're asking to get a little bit more leniency in the style of things. And next thing you know, yeah, I think it was like 2017, 2018 where it really kind of opened up.
I remember, and even Tony Clark, we grabbed him. And he said, yeah, my 14-year-old at the time, all he looks at is guys' footwear, like in the NBA. And it seemed like such a little thing, but also it was a microcosm of baseball, the problem baseball was having.
And now there's a million other things we can talk about, how they basically tried to disavow or prevent Pitching Ninja from doing his thing, and then they hired him, like all that stuff. Yeah. But I don't want to get too far off track. You are part of the solution.
I appreciate that.
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Chapter 4: How does Dominic Leone plan to engage with his audience through social media?
Ironically, he went to North Carolina, and I had a hometown buddy, Andrew Kerrigan, who went to North Carolina as well at the same time. And so I'd watch college baseball. And that's a whole other story. But, like, no, hearing his retirement story is – like you're right. It's gut wrenching. It's it's, but it's the reality.
And I guess back to your point of like, you know, kind of why I wanted to jump into all this social media stuff is you, you humanize, um, people, you know, like you always say like to the fans, like, Hey, we're humans too. Right.
And, and some of these stories, you know, the, the struggles that guys go through or, um, you know, honestly guys stories that just get lost because they don't get a chance to share them. Um, you know, everyone's, everyone that's played the game has, has their thing, has their niche, has their story.
And, and to be able to share that and, and, you know, relish in those events and those moments with other guys and, and realize that, you know, their story matters too. I mean, that, that's a big, that's a big reason why I wanted to do this. Like reach out, humanize the whole game, right? Show, Hey, I'm a human man. Like I, you know,
I drink beer just like the rest of y'all, you know, you know, and, and, but again, to get back to Daniel's story, like it was, that's all too real. That's all too real. When, when guys have young kids and they're traveling and, um, It's a grind. It's a grind. And I really felt for him when I heard that story.
And obviously the other stuff he went through, I mean, his overall story is just miraculous. And it's just, it's something that like, if you're a young guy in the game, I highly recommend look up his story, read about it. Like if you can reach out to him because that dude went through some stuff and came out on top.
Well, I'm glad you said that, but you also have a story. Like you said, everybody has a story. Everyone's a human being. Your story is there's perseverance there. You have a long time in the game. You have some great accomplishments. And then, like you said, then you get to the point where you just have to say, okay, I'm moving on to the next thing. Mm-hmm. So that was when?
When was the day that you said, I'm calling it quits?
Let's see. It was my last game, so I think it was August 16th, 2024. Somewhere around mid-August 2024. And again, my story is not as gut-wrenching, but... You know, it did feel like a movie. You know, it felt like a movie scene where I'm with the White Sox and we're playing the Yankees. And, you know, I started my outing that night. And I mean, I could just tell my arm is killing me.
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Chapter 5: What insights did Dominic gain from attending the MLBPA Career Summit?
I gave literally everything I physically and mentally could, could, you know, give to the game and, um, you know, now it's, now it's time for, for chapter two.
Yeah. Well, again, thank you for sharing that because so far, as I said, and I mean this sincerely, like we've already touched on, you know, okay. Your, your understanding of the game of the, the personality of the game of. what's important in the game.
You understand you, obviously you've already passed on that instance, which I think that for a lot of players going through now, they don't know how it's going to end, but they, they, but they also know it's okay. And this is one of the things that I sort of want to get to because, um, because I know that, you know, you're now you're diving into, uh,
sort of content creation and spreading the love of the game. This is why we do this. I should mention, I don't want to bury this, your Instagram account, D-L-E-O-N-E 26, correct? That's it. Yeah, D-L-E-O-N-E 26. Yeah. So go check that out, and we'll keep pushing that out there. When did this iteration of you sort of evolve?
So in other words, when you were going through the process of surgery, there is that element of what am I going to do now? Am I going to be a coach? Am I going to do this? Or am I going to do that? When did this come about? Maybe it was just recently. I don't know. When did this sort of come about?
Yeah, so let's step back to the injury, and I'm seeing doctors, and they give me the diagnosis. And again, I had made up my mind at that point already where I was like, I'm done. So I asked the doc two questions. I said, hey, I go, if I don't get the surgery,
um can i play with my kids like is it gonna affect my life at home like am i gonna struggle you know picking them up and throwing them around in the air and having fun and he says no he goes you should be fine he goes you know it's all subjective to you you know what pain is and what um you know discomfort you have but no you should be fine i said okay I said, whew, all right, good.
Now the more important question is, can I still golf? And he looked at me and he said, no, he said, you'll be fine. It shouldn't affect you at all with that. And so I said, thanks, doctor. And I walked out. I said, I'm not getting surgery. So that's the funny answer. But again, you have to look through a lens of reality, right? I was going to be 33 years old that off season.
I was going to have Tommy John surgery, 18 month recovery. I'm going to come back at what 35 after not pitching for a, for a year and a half, two years. And, you know, I don't know about you, but have you looked up the market on what 35 year old relievers, middle relievers make, you know, or where they get job opportunities? they don't in today's market.
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Chapter 6: What are the key differences between being an athlete and a content creator?
again, add in the perspective of give guys a shot to tell their stories. I ran into so many former teammates at that conference that guys that I played in AA with, guys I played in AAA with, guys I played in the big leagues with, guys that I know rode that roller coaster of up-down and dealt with adversity. So I'm like,
it's great to sit around a, you know, a bar top and share a drink and, and, you know, talk about these stories, but man, like these stories are worth hearing as well. It's not just, you know, the guy who's got nine years of big league time and, and has, you know, success at a really high level. It's, it's also guys that,
have one day of service time and they can talk about that day and how special it was to them. Because when you strip it all back, that's the reason we do this. We do it to make the big leagues. We do it to grind. We do it because we love the game. And, you know, I don't, sure, guys have bukus of money in the bank account and have, you know, records and, you know, Hall of Fame stats and whatnot.
But I think at the end of the day, we're all grinding and fighting for the same thing, which is the love of baseball and to stay in the game as long as you can.
So you go to the seminar, which is awesome, and I've known people who've gone to that, and I think you tell me because I haven't been, but the number one thing is it's inspiring, right? You're inspired. You're inspired because a lot of guys, they are looking for direction.
Yes, and I was one of them. You show up, and again, the biggest piece that I took out of it was Number one, it's an unbelievable networking tool, right? You get to go and talk with guys that have been successful post-career. And then a lot of guys that are there are looking. They're looking for inspiration. They're trying to find what's next.
But you realize that you're inspired by the fact that you're part of a fraternity that They said it all weekend. It was like, you're a part of a fraternity that's 23,000 guys deep. And so you're not alone if you're feeling lost. You're not alone if you have no idea what the heck you want to do. You're not alone if you've got great ideas but don't know how to put them in motion for yourself.
So that was the most inspiring thing. Sitting in there and listening to everybody talk, it was like, okay, Number one, I'm not alone. There's tons of people in my corner.
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Chapter 7: How does Dominic leverage his personality in his content creation?
And there's so many different avenues to explore. And, you know, so that's why I like, You know, it can be a little overwhelming, like sitting in those meetings and going like, oh, God, like, what do I do?
Yeah, that's the thing. I think that's one of the challenges, too, is that it's cool because there's so much. You've already done a bunch of great stuff. You've only done it for a few days. A bunch of great stuff, a bunch of creative stuff. But it's like, okay, like... it's a keeping it going and B it's like, there's so much you can do. And what am I going to do today? And I like all of that.
It's, it's really, really interesting. I mean, I, and I really like applaud you because it seems like just going off of what you've posted so far that it's not just, Hey, I'm here. I'm going to talk and you're going to listen. It's understanding the entertainment aspect of it.
yeah yeah i mean you know i'll go back to um you know i'll go back to adam ottavino right and i love otto i played with him in new york and um you know i was his locker buddy and adam will tell you you know i've got a little bit of a personality um you know i i can joke a little bit i can have some fun and Um, you know, I can, I'd like to think I could be entertaining.
Um, you know, and it's funny because I saw him when he got done, jump right into his podcast and, um, you know, his content creation. And I'm like, okay. I'm like, nice. You know, Adam was always like, you know, again, very interesting, very smart guy knows a lot and, and he's jumping in and making fun, cool content. And I'm like, well, you know, I've got the gift of gab, you know, I can,
I can tap into that. And honestly, when you get booed off the mound from 60,000 people multiple times in your career, you go online and you go, what's one more person going to say? Like, like how many people reached out to me over my career and sent me awful messages and my DMS and things about my performance and whatever.
And it's like, okay, now you're going to hate on a, you know, a cooking video that I put out. Like, come on, like, give me a break. Right. So, so again, it's, it's the confidence to just put yourself out there and talk about things that are other than baseball, even though like we're so knowledgeable in that field, but like,
to bring an entertainment aspect to it and to be like, hey, fans, when you're sitting and you're screaming at somebody that they should quit, they suck, they're terrible, whatever, you don't realize the personality that they have or really what they're going through. But also, it's like, they're humans, man. You're like, what do you want me to do?
You want me to come to your, you want to come to your office. Right. And as you're, you know, you know, creating spreadsheets, you know, I'm booing you and heckling you. And, you know, there's actually, there's a funny bit.
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Chapter 8: What future opportunities does Dominic see for himself in the media landscape?
Like, okay.
Appreciate that, yeah.
Yeah, no, I mean, that's my point is that people that – players should understand that. And I think that even – And this is why you're going to go on to do great things. And you're just starting, but you're going to go on to do great things. And I don't know where you want to go. Like if you came away from the seminar and said, I really like to do that. I really like to do that.
Obviously, this is one thing. but maybe it's, Hey, I want to be on MLB network all the time. I don't know. Like, I don't know. Yeah.
Yeah. And that's, that's, that's the beauty of it is like, I didn't set any terms. I didn't set, um, you know, for the first time in my life, I didn't really set any goals other than to just be entertaining and just to be authentic. Right. And, and this world of social media and content creation and, and just media in general, it's like,
You know, where do you want to take it and what opportunities will open up? You know, whether it's I'm calling games or, you know, on MLB Network or if I just continue to stay on social media platforms or if it's a podcast or if it's, you know, I've got a face for radio.
So it's like, you know, you know, anything, anything that, you know, whatever avenue you want to dive into the social media world, it's like, you know. You can pick and choose. You don't have to necessarily lock yourself into one specific role.
This is an unfair question because I'm springing it on you, but is there a non-baseball... It can be anything. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, podcast that you admire?
I admire all of it, to be honest with you. It's... it's such a fascinating platform. Um, I love watching people's content and just the differences and the nuances that people bring to it. Now, again, it's not all good. That's the beauty of social media. If I don't like it, there's probably 50 million people that do like it. You can't look for everyone's approval.
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