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Why Alex Cora invited Boston Pops conductor to speak to Red Sox
"It was very eye-opening the way they go about their business, the way they make everything work."
Spring training often stands as the ideal window for managers to try to get their message across to their team before the grind of a 162-game slate begins.
As such, the sleepy days spent in the Florida sun during February and March usually feature plenty of guest speakers and meetings organized by Alex Cora and the rest of the Red Sox staff.
But on Thursday, Cora looked beyond the baseball diamond with his latest guest — inviting longtime Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart to spring training to speak with his team.
Lockhart may not have a high-90s fastball or a high contact rate, but his role as the leader of an intricate operation like an orchestra resonated with Cora.
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“We invited him to come over, talk about leadership, how we can get a group together of different talents, different levels to make it work,” Cora said, per MassLive.com’s Chris Smith. “What they do in his job, in his domain, is amazing.
“You’ve got to be on point on everything. He just had a great talk with the players. It was very eye-opening the way they go about their business, the way they make everything work. And it was a good morning for all of us.”
Speaking to Mac Cerullo of the Boston Herald, Lockhart acknowledged that this is not the first time that he and Cora have collaborated when it comes to topics such as leadership and team-building.
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“When you deal with the Boston Symphony or the Boston Pops you’re dealing with a group of, within their field, elite athletes,” Lockhart told Cerullo. “The same kind of people who have spent five to six hours a day since they were five or six years old perfecting a craft, that brings with it the challenges of building a team out of people who, up until this level, the team was built around them.
“Because everybody here was the star in high school or college and in Triple-A, and all of a sudden there are a bunch of stars, so how do you get people focused on a common goal and mutually supportive?”
Lockhart was far from the only guest who made an appearance at the Red Sox’ spring training facility at Fort Myers on Thursday.
Jon Lester, Pedro Martinez, and David Ortiz also made appearances at camp — with Lester donning Red Sox gear for the first time in nearly 10 years to serve as a guest instructor.
“I’ve obviously grown up and matured since leaving in ‘14, and with that you understand that this game sucks sometimes on the business side of things,” Lester said of returning to the Red Sox, per Tara Sullivan of The Boston Globe. “When you’re in the moment, it can be difficult and it can be hard to understand why certain things happen, what was going through their minds.
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“But the further you get away from the situation, you grow up and you mature and you realize, hey, this game, as beautiful as it is, the business gets in the way sometimes. I was a product of that, but to be back and to be invited here is pretty special. Obviously the history, and my history here, being a part of this organization is cool.”
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