Photo illustration The Globe and Mail. Source photo Chris Young/The Canadian Press
You would think, Jose Bautista admits, that he’s had more than enough chicken for one lifetime: His father was an entrepreneur who spent many years as a poultry farmer. Yet here he is, the new promotional spokesperson for a Mary Brown’s Chicken menu item known as the Batter’s Box. Truth is, the sponsorship stuff is just a side-hustle. Since leaving professional baseball in 2018 – even if the official retirement, on a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, didn’t happen until last year – he’s been focused on raising his girls, who are now 13, 11, 10, and almost three years old. Earlier this year, he became the new principal owner of the Las Vegas Lights FC of the United Soccer League. He spoke with us from his home in Tampa.
How long have you been a fan of soccer?
Over 20 years. Growing up, I followed the World Cups and stuff. But when I got more free time, after I graduated college and signed to pro ball, I started watching sports from a different perspective. And also, learning that my family ancestry hailed from a little town close to Barcelona, I became more of a fan of the sport and particularly that team [FC Barcelona].
What is the most unexpected thing so far that you’ve learned about being the principal owner of a pro sports team?
How many different moving parts that running a professional sports franchise entails. Ninety-nine per cent of them I had never even thought about before. I thought I knew a lot about sports and sports as a business, but this has been a complete learning experience, and an eye-opening experience.
Alright, so, this Batters Box promotion features six pieces of chicken with three flavour options: you’ve got your original, spicy and honey BBQ. Which one’s your favourite?
Well, full disclosure, prior to this year I never had tasted Mary Brown’s chicken. So, part of my due diligence obviously was to taste the product. I had the original. I accessorized with the sauces, but I didn’t try the other flavours that the chicken may come in.
You’ve got your work cut out for you, then.
I’m looking forward to getting back into town and trying the different flavours that the box comes in, for sure. And I do love chicken.
Do you have a favourite author?
I did get into audiobooks a lot during COVID, and there was one author that I was following. He’s more of a self-growth kind of motivational author. Ryan Holiday.
That’s the Daily Stoic guy who wrote Ego is the Enemy, Stillness is the Key, and others. What did you like about him?
Where the world is today and our generation and how we consume information, sometimes I feel like we’re losing track of the basics of humanity, decency and what really makes us tick. Without getting too philosophical, he kind of finds a way in, to kind of reboot and come back to the basics, as it applies to being self-driven, self-motivated and always looking for personal growth. Just kind of going into modern ways of using old-school ideas, philosophies and techniques to keep growing as a human.
Do you have a favourite character in fiction?
I wouldn’t say I have a favourite character, but I’ve been watching a lot of medieval shows. Right now I’m watching Black Sails – a pirate show. Even though I may not be getting 100-per-cent true information, I do kind of like the historical aspect of those kinds of shows. I guess part of it is learning history and understanding history, why we are the way we are.
Any others you’ve enjoyed?
Oh, there’s so many that I’ve kind of forgotten their names. I could go back into my Netflix history real quick if you want to. [Pause. Reads aloud.] So, I’ve watched The Empress, Vikings, Valhalla, Cathedral of the Sea. Barbarians, Frontier, Rise of Empires: Ottoman. The Last Kingdom, The Last Czars, The Letter for the King, Roman Empire. Yeah, there’s a bunch.
Is there any historical figure you’d like to meet?
Maybe, specific to the Dominican Republic, I would like to meet the father of our country, the equivalent to George Washington. His name was Juan Pablo Duarte. That would be very interesting, knowing about Dominican history and how much change there was in the dominance of our island, or parts of our island in different periods of time. It must have been a crazy time to navigate China, become independent, with limited resources – being an island and being so small, against superpowers like Spain and Haiti. I would love to have a conversation with him.
Is there an invitation you would like to receive?
It would be cool to go with a particular political leader – it doesn’t matter who, necessarily, just somebody that holds a certain position, whether it’s a Canadian prime minister or a U.S. president – but go on one of those trips to space that are tourism-based, you kind of go up for a few hours and come back down. Maybe that sounds a little crazy scary, but fun at the same time. Maybe that type of environment will get people’s guards down and you’d have a pretty cool conversation.
What podcasts are you listening to these days?
I go for human performance stuff. I wear a device – Whoop, so they have a podcast. But it’s typically human performance/biohacking kind of stuff: Ben Greenfield, Andrew Huberman, Rhonda Patrick, Peter Attia.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would run faster.
What is your greatest achievement?
To date, being able to become a provider for my family.
What is your greatest extravagance?
I think it would be real estate. We have two vacation homes. Well, technically one, another one is in process. One’s in Florida, the other’s on a lake in Georgia. But I like having a nice big, cool house to live in. And I do like watches.
What’s your favourite sport to watch?
Football – soccer, for sure.
Do you have a favourite sport to play?
Obviously, baseball is my No. 1 love and always will be. But in retirement I’ve gotten into a little bit of golfing – not as often as I’d like – and some biking. Road cycling and a little bit of trail mountain biking. Not real true mountain biking. Here in Florida, it’s pretty flat. There are some decent trails that I can go on. I tried mountain biking in Pennsylvania once, and I’m not built for that. I’m built for more flat terrain. Steep hills – that’s just a whole different animal.
What’s the hardest part of retirement?
How to fill that void of the team camaraderie environment that I had for my whole life, basically. Just being in the trenches with the guys on a day-to-day basis, just figuring out how to beat the competition.
Is there a talent that you would like to have?
I’d love to be able to play the drums. I’m not very a musical person when it comes to actually performing or understanding how to read music, or the technical aspect. But I did end up getting a drum set, and hopefully time will slow down a little bit as these projects become more independent of me, as I beef up the staff. Then I can take some lessons and be good at playing the drums.