Loads of Pressure and Plenty of Decisions: Weaving Through Barry Zito's Career

Today’s Pardon My Take included an interview with one of the great pitchers that we’ve seen since 2000: Barry Zito. The 41-year-old spent the entirety of his career in the Bay Area, the first part with the Oakland Athletics and the latter with the San Francisco Giants. During his chat with Mr. Cat and Mr. Commenter, the trio discussed Zito’s career and various events that took place throughout his time as a player. But one of the biggest moments during his baseball tenure was the off-season heading into the 2007 season, when Zito changed teams and moved from the A’s to the Giants.

Mr. Cat: The other part of your career that was very fascinating was that you were the first big contract, for a pitcher at least. It was a contract that I remember when you signed it, everyone said “Holy Shit. Barry Zito to the Giants.”

Barry Zito: I said that, too.

Mr. Cat: For 126 million dollars. And you talked a lot about the expectations and living up to it. When you signed that contract, like pen to paper, what’s the first thought that comes to your mind? And then going into that next season, it’s always fascinating to me, are you saying like, I’ve already made it, so whatever happens, happens. Or are you trying to live up to it?

Barry Zito: No, that detachment as I call it, where you’re like, you know, you guys come in here, where I’d think you bust your tail as best you can. You can’t take responsibility for what everyone else thinks. But you guys can only do what you do in here, right? That, I think, is a very healthy mindset and what I was doing was, after the Cy Young, all these people love me, and I grew up with a father where I was trying to perform and win his approval, be good at baseball to win his approval, right?

Barry Zito: All of a sudden, I was pitching for all these people, trying to be good at baseball. So, the contract, felt like a daunting, heavy thing that was on my shoulders. I didn’t perceive it as like, oh that’s amazing, I’m gonna go win some games. It was like, Oh Gosh, how do I justify this, how do I prove that I’m worth it every five days? If I do anything short of throwing a CG [complete game] shutout, it’s a letdown.

Mr. Commenter: You just invented Mo Money, Mo Problems right there. That’s what that’s about.

The contract being discussed here was a seven-year, $126 million deal that turned Zito from green and yellow to orange and black. To me, the interesting part about all of this was the timing. Coincidentally, Clayton Kershaw, one of the great regular season pitchers over the last decade, is known for his postseason struggles. Does the pressure have to do with that? Mr. Cat thinks that could be the case:

Mr. Cat: The interesting part to me though is in baseball, because there is no salary cap, I’ve always taken the perspective, like if my team signs someone huge, I’m like I don’t really care because there’s no salary cap. There are some restrictions and owners don’t want to spend endless amounts of money, but it wouldn’t be the same as “Barry Zito took up 30% of the salary cap and now we can’t do anything moving forward.” I’m always like, guys get paid what they get paid. Why be mad at them? Be mad at the owner if you want. That might be kind of a new thing that’s come along recently.

Barry Zito: That’s a really interesting perspective. I mean, because you’re taking that pie chart, right. You’re taking a big slice and they’re smaller for everyone else, but without a cap, you’re right, they can technically do anything they want.

Mr. Commenter: What was the most unnecessary thing that you bought when you got that big, new contract? Like looking back on it there are probably some moves that you made that you were like, wow, that was dumb, but it was fun at the time.

Barry Zito: Well I think, when your ego’s leading, it’s like a bottomless hole. I mean, I bought like 4 GT’s and R8’s, McLaren’s, and I had this house on the top of the hill in Hollywood that was like my main home. I mean, I painted the house purple, way over the top, like orange mirrors on the ceiling, waterfalls in the house, Britney Spears living right under me. I never met her, because she was Britney Spears. In LA, athletes are small fish.

Mr. Commenter: You ever go outside and just start throwing a curve, be shirtless, and wait for her to walk outside, and be like, “Oh sorry, I didn’t know you were coming out, I was just practicing my curveball.”

Barry Zito: Oh hey, what’s up?

Mr. Commenter: With my shirt off, here’s my guitar…

A handful of nice cars and an enormous house are certainly not bad ways to celebrate a nine-figure contract. Those decisions were important, but I’m just sitting here wondering what it must have been like living right near Britney Spears. Anyways, the feeling of officially signing a contract that big has got to be just one of the surreal feelings in the world. One sign of pen and paper, and BOOM, hundreds of millions of dollars coming your way. Of course, there is plenty of responsibility that comes with this. We saw just a few weeks ago Rob Gronkowski being selective with his spending, and it was interesting to learn Zito’s experiences in a similar situation.

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