The Jason Varitek Story: Part 1 | Red Sox Bios

[Music] you he was born in a small Michigan town he was a very good baby raised under the warm Florida Sun baseball on the porch baseball in the pool two home run derby outside baseball outside just we did it all and the star on the fields in Williamsport and Omaha Jason Varitek shortstop Jason Varitek traces his journey to professional baseball on the first half of this special two-part edition of the Red Sox report brought to you by CVS Pharmacy [Music] Jason Varitek story begins in Michigan where his father Joseph and his mother Donna first met at work my dad was reading an application working at a bank and sees this application for this woman it's eight foot five inches and so that led to them meeting because I they want to see what this woman looked like that's eight foot five and then he ends up marrying her on the application was height eight feet five inches instead of five feet eight inches so that was my quick response to hire nine years later Jason was born he was the second of four boys behind Joseph and ahead of jarrod and Justin he was a very good baby but he liked to wake up a lot at night and when he was really little yeah when he could get out of bed you'd never know where you find him in the morning find him in the hallway behind the hamper or did the bed or in the closet because he'd get up in the middle of night wander around go sleep someplace else that was in Romeo where dad was Jason's first pitcher I used to used to play catch remember I have just as you say that I have a memory of learning how to catch pop-ups and you know in the front yard at the house he came up to me one day and said dad won't play catch well I think he kissed the ball so I sister tell you what you take the ball and I showed him up behind the bleachers throw it up in the air and you track that ball and you catch it so you do ten in a row like that I'm gonna go play catch Emily was ten minutes I don't know if he remembers it he came back he says you ready play catch yeah I caught him off so it went from there that's I gave you my word I'm gonna will click it caught everyone I threw at him when Jason was seven his father took a new job and his parents moved the four boys to Florida was extremely tough on them because he had a big family and everybody's all all up in Michigan and you know things change that way holidays and those things for us and I'm sure it was hardest most on them because my dad was really close to his family his brothers and sisters and and and likewise with my mother as Joe and Donna's times got older Jason and his brothers grew closer it was a I guess I'm a mentor a playmate if you would I mean we played you if you could play a sport and create one in the house we found a way to do it together if it was Justin myself for him porch baseball we tore the porch apart I mean place was a mess football basketball hockey in the hallway baseball outside baseball on the side of the house baseball in the pool the football basketball we combine sports when he was younger his work ethic that he had as you know he comes straight home from school and do his homework and then he'd just be playing ball in the back porch that was one big thing he'd just be hitting balls in the back porch I don't know how many how many screens that my dad had a fix coming up Jason bursts onto the national stage Jason Varitek shortstop that's next as the Red Sox report presented by CVS pharmacy continues you perfect day we're going to be ready now live here with the Little League World Championship game from Williamsport Pennsylvania most kids dream of the World Series Jason Varitek first lived it at age 12 his Little League days were spent in Altamonte Springs Florida and his passion stood out at an early age we had a couple other players that were really better skilled than he was coordinated better skill however they didn't have the work ethic to do Jason's effort landed him on the leagues 1984 all-star team a team that marched from Central Florida to Williamsport Pennsylvania we were undefeated all the way to the World Series final Jason Varitek shortstop we were strong up the middle all right what's you know center field shortstop second base pitcher catcher and so you know Jason he was able to play all of those position and play them well for us that we're all involved in we were very fortunate we had a great coaching staff headed by by Jerry Thurston they just really taught us and stressed fundamentals now I ended up playing shortstop part of the time on an all-star team that I'd never played in the infield in my life so it kind of shows you their durability as a coach and talent when our shortstop pitched we needed someone to play short but you know we as the we just played we didn't really have a grasp or an understanding them that it was this Little League World Series you know we just kept playing and and went in and and in in advancing Jason's team dropped the final game of the Little League World Series but life rolled on back in Florida peewee football was just one of the things on the schedule in order to keep track of where we were going because I worked he worked so in there every morning each one had a color and I put their schedule on the calendar so I'd arrange for somebody to take pick them up take them and then we take their kids home and go from one to the other yeah it's the only way we could stay sane my parents are still they're still in the same home and you know that place the whole whole area has grown up a lot you know since then that was kind of a new neighborhood when we first moved into it and it grew tenfold and just the neighborhood itself but just like probably most suburban neighborhoods you know kids outside playing run around and spend a majority of our time outside playing wiffle ball speed hockey football kill the man you name we were outside doing it just playing around I mean we just we played game after game after game you think it like Jared said paper flick football across the family room to real football in the family room to me busting my head open trying to tackle J the baseball on the porch baseball on the pool to homeland derby outside baseball outside just I mean we did it all and that's when Jason first batted left-handed wasn't fair that I hit right-handed so I had to hit left-handed and then it wasn't fair that I hit left-handed you know hey they made me hit back right-handed Jason hit lefty against his brothers to make it fair but his summer league coach saw it as an opportunity so I told my said Jason if you're gonna get to the next level you're gonna have to learn to do things that other people can't do one of those things that you can do is learn how to hit left-handed so that's why we worked on it endlessly that's why he worked on it endlessly I would make him hit one time left-handed one time right-handed he hated it in the beginning absolutely he hated it because he felt like he was letting the team down a little bit because he wasn't mastering it Jason loved to master everything because he was a perfectionist but once he got the hang of it and he saw that he could do it at least semi well on a regular basis he gay he began to get more and more confidence coming up Jason heads to high school give me a full year JV and I actually it worked out real well for me that's next when the Red Sox report presented by CVS Pharmacy continues you [Music] nearly all major leaguers were once stars on their high school team but for Jason Varitek to success took time he attended Lake Brantley High School in Longwood Florida where he still enjoyed multiple sports focus didn't shift only the baseball until I left high school pretty much in high school I play predominantly football baseball I elected not to play basketball my freshman year in high school kind of under the influence that I had a good chance to make varsity baseball and it lasted about half of a tryout before I was on JV so didn't really pan out that way so I kind of missed out a little bit on playing basketball but it now was some of my buddies but Jason used that to his advantage it gave me a full year JV and I actually worked out real well for me because I caught the whole year and because actually are another freshman it was another catcher which is a lot of reason that in play I didn't catch as much in high school like Little League Jason continued to play all over the diamond my sophomore year made varsity I predominately played in the outfield left or right and caught very little you know caught during practice bullpens and and stuff and then my junior year they made the switch to me to third base I caught in played third I pitched and then my senior it was the same and during his senior year Jason and Lake Brantley captured a state title they were down by six runs with two outs it's like a movie down by six runs with two outs in the bottom of the last inning seventh inning as you all know in high school nobody on base and they ended up coming back and winning the state championship it's unthinkable in which Jason had the the RBI to score the first run in that rally and then the RBI to a base hit to win the game unthinkable but that team had more talent than than anybody and other rising stars took notice either first time I learned about Jason Varitek was growing up in Orlando Florida I mean we had a great young high school team coming up but the Lake Brantley team was led by a kid named Jason Varitek who everyone thought would be a superstar in this game I kind of played third like a catch I just block it and so I knew my future was was somewhere else and I had a passion for for catching and that's tech saw me I don't even know if they saw me catch at that point I ended up signing as a catcher and go to college I knew that five is gonna have a future that's what it was gonna be a coming up tech joins the ramblin wreck of Georgia Tech even the coach is like I'm not gonna be there for you no you're crazy the Red Sox report presented by CVS Pharmacy continues after this you a star high school athlete in football and baseball Jason Varitek had plenty of options after graduation he was drafted by the Houston Astros but chose the college route instead well that was like his insurance policy he's going to the one of the finest colleges in the US with an opportunity to play ball and who knows what was to follow but even if he got hurt the following day he had and continued with his studies and that he would end up with a Georgia Tech degree which is a blessing my decision kind of came down to actually it came down to UCF University Central Florida University of Miami and Tech I kind of wanted to get far enough away to kind of be on my own and being in Atlanta to Orlando and I had was able to accomplish both we recruited another kid in Atlanta and and the kid couldn't make a mistake I couldn't make a decision in so I finally said to heck was I don't forget it we made the other guy an offer and and Jason was our was our second choice which is kind of funny story so uh I flew to Orlando went down to Washington play and he was planning a summer base booked up cuz in high school we played third base and hit right-handed but in the summers he was to catch her and it's and he was a switch hitter so he didn't get the plasma tuition in high school it was the right decision for both sides Jason started at catcher as a freshman they had which I didn't know it at the time they'd signed a junior college catcher so he would be a junior who was very well advanced and a real good player he ended up becoming ineligible so we go through our fall season he's probably gonna start I'll probably play some and ends up in the spring I end up playing because he ends up being ineligible an incoming freshman and future big-league teammate joined Georgia Tech and Jason's sophomore year and Jason made an immediate impression how big his legs were big old quads of his Jason's leadership also stood out he didn't know and he was in between classes and he'd have a key to the locker room that nobody knew he'd be the only guy everybody didn't know that somebody actually had another key to the locker room into B Varitek because he'd go into the weight room and work out in between it in between classes or he you know working on his catching or he'd go work on his hitting and he would do different things cuz he had two key because he was working after hours even the coaches like I'm not gonna be there for you you know you're crazy Jason's crazy work ethic earned him his first all-america honors in his sophomore season well he just matured a lot physically and mentally he's the guy that the first guy probably I let call the pitches you know behind the plate by his sophomore year he was calling pitches and and just I think you know just physically and mentally matured a lot of got a lot better as a player of course after their first season together Jason and Nomar traveled to Barcelona to represent the United States on the 1992 Olympic team you know it was the first dream team you know so you know you boom I'll never forget this my entire life walked into it was just a common room that I think it was like an administrative room and the USA Village and walking in and walking out and here comes to Charles Barkley you know you know you know he comes over he introduces himself he really you don't have to introduce who you are but he was awesome it's pretty intense pretty emotional and to experience that with a friend and teammate it was great I mean we went through its it wasn't easy to make that team when we went through a lot to make it the teammates returned to Atlanta and after Jason's 1993 junior season at Georgia Tech he was named baseball America's College Player of the Year the success led Minnesota to select him in that June's draft and he again weighed his options I think the the best decision for me was to go back to school and and it ended up being probably another probably the biggest decision that I ever had to make than a letter in life it's gonna be the best decision Jason knew his senior year at Georgia Tech would be the last of his amateur career and he had more to accomplish he still wanted to take the jackets to their first College World Series but he'd have to do so under a new head coach Danny Hall took over for Jim Morris who left for Miami and during the first series of the year Hall knew he had a special player Jason Varitek is 8 for 10 on the weekend with a home run so after the series was over he comes in to me and he says coach he said what time you're gonna get here on Monday and I set up you know probably one o'clock or so and he said well I need to work on my swing my swings not right so that kind of told me right away that this is a different guy in terms of you know how he knows himself how much he wants to prepare and work to to be the best player possible the preparation paid off Jason was named all-american for the third time and he also received the 1994 Golden Spikes Award given to the nation's top amateur player but it was the team's result that meant the most Jason guided the Yellowjackets to the first College World Series appearance in Georgia Tech history you know we're able to finally break through and get a chance to to go to Omaha and for us we were seem to become my team that was I guess a local favorite they kind of grabbed ahold of of teams that they kind of like and we had kind of a huge local support of everybody that goes just to watch the games in Omaha and know and that was that was awesome [Applause] 17 of the citizen for jason varitek his second here the sentimental favorites reached the championship game against Oklahoma but a late inning close call derailed the title hopes you can see out of corner of your eyes again just to play at the plate we've been third out [Music] like he made it [Music] tagged him in the back they call it safe they end up scoring like six or so more runs that inning and it ended up I kind of lost my temper a little bit Jason obviously was upset he thought he had tagged the guy and so I went out and I just asked him I said to do tagging he goes aw yeah he goes I tagged him so you know you argue it but you know you're losing that argument Georgia Tech lost the game and Jason's amateur career was over but there was plenty more baseball to play a struggle catching I struggled throwing I struggled hitting Jason turns pro as the Red Sox report presented by CVS Pharmacy continues you [Music] Jason Varitek was drafted 14th overall by the Seattle Mariners in June 1994 but contract issues delayed his pro career until 1995 he joined Seattle's double-a affiliate in Wilmington North Carolina but it wasn't a pretty start humiliating I was really humbled I think I always had a humbleness about me anyways but it really was I was extremely overmatched I struggled catching I struggled throwing I struggled hitting and but they unfortunately they spent time with me and allowed me to develop Jason batted just 224 and 104 games that season and he struck out 126 times Seattle send him to the Arizona Fall League and that's where he met Roger Hansen the Mariners minor league catching instructor you come in professional baseball and you have to get ready to handle pitching staff in the major leagues front office general managers other big league players that are making millions and millions of dollars and you have to be the one to be able to handle that entire team because you are the guy catching Jason's offense improved the next summer and he made the jump to triple-a Tacoma to begin 1997 but he still needed work behind the plate came in the spring was throwing great everything was was working and I lost it and I couldn't figure out I started ball started taking off on me sailing cut and you know wasn't carrying to the bag anymore just started just going backwards he came up it was raining we got rained out and you know Tacoma in in April or whatever it was it's not very warm so we're out there we're throwing in the rain so we went out in the pouring rain for I don't know how long it was an hour and a half two hours and just kept working we were just going back and forth trying to trying to figure it out and finally I got mad just yank the ball and Fuu because that's it here's what you do I said I don't know houses I just got I got pissed and you know just launched it as hard as I could and he goes yeah but look at your feet he goes what did you do with your hands and while I was like I got mad I snatched it you know went one hand into the other it freed up my feet he felt like okay I've got something here I got a feel for this I've got an idea okay now we're done we'll pick it up here from tomorrow and go about and do the same stuff where you know you start getting more consistent but luckily he's stuck with me long enough to figure that out and through my temperament that it came out in a funny way but then that's the way I learned so I figured it out Jason Varitek had figured it out but he wouldn't remain in Seattle's organization much longer he switches teams and coasts as we continued his journey to Fenway next time during the special two-part edition of the Red Sox report presented by CVS Pharmacy [Music] [Music]

Channel: Boston Red Sox

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Keywords: red sox, red socks, boston red sox, red sox bios, mlb, baseball, major league baseball, Jason Varitek, tek, varitek, captain, the captain

Id: Nwk2V1f7GL4

Length: 25min 10sec (1510 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 24 2020