A 10th-round pick flew to Tokyo to get noticed. A first-time author flew that story all the way to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. This one is about the outsider road.

Aaron Fischman is an award-winning sports writer and the author of A Baseball Gaijin: Chasing a Dream to Japan and Back, the true story of pitcher Tony Barnette's six years in Japan's NPB and his MLB debut at 32. The book was named a CASEY Award finalist for Best Baseball Book of 2024 and earned Aaron a seat in the Baseball Hall of Fame author series.

In this episode of Leaders & Learners, Tonya McKenzie gets into resilience, identity, the gaijin path, and what it really costs to bet on a story nobody asked you to tell.

In this episode:

• Why an unknown pitcher made the perfect first book

• The 41 saves and 1.29 ERA the league still made him wait on

• How the 2011 Tohoku disaster shaped the story

• From blank page to CASEY Award finalist to Cooperstown

Subscribe for more conversations on leadership, media, and narrative control. New episodes drop on the channel. For the full written breakdown, read CTRL the Narrative on Substack.

Guest: Aaron Fischman | aaronfischman.com | @byAaronFisch on X and Instagram

Host: Tonya McKenzie, Founder of Sand & Shores | sandandshores.com | tmckenzie@sandandshores.com

#Baseball #JapaneseBaseball #ABaseballGaijin #SportsBooks #CTRLtheNarrative #LeadersAndLearners #TonyBarnette #HallOfFame #SportsMedia #Resilience

He was one step from the Major Leagues. Triple-A. The doorstep. Then he got cut.

No backup plan. Negative net worth. Identity shattered.

Most people don’t talk about what happens when the dream dies. Jac Oujo did.

In this episode, the founder of Oujo Wealth Strategies and author of Too Smart to Be an Umpire breaks down:
⚾ The brutal reality of professional sports careers
💰 Why hard work alone does NOT guarantee success
📉 What rebuilding from financial rock bottom actually looks like
🧠 How emotional discipline matters more than talent
📊 Why trust compounds faster than money

This isn’t just a baseball story.
It’s a masterclass in reinvention, resilience, and learning how to win after public failure.

If you’ve ever had to pivot, rebuild, or quietly start over while everybody thought you were “doing fine,” this episode is going to hit different.

👇🏾 DROP A COMMENT:
What’s one setback that completely changed the direction of your life?

And if you’re serious about leadership, business, sports, money, and controlling your narrative:
✅ LIKE
✅ SUBSCRIBE
✅ SHARE THIS WITH SOMEBODY STUCK IN THEIR “WHAT NOW?” SEASON

#Leadership #SportsBusiness #FinancialLiteracy #Baseball #Entrepreneurship #CareerPivot #Mindset #WealthBuilding #CTRLtheNarrative

Eight Candidates. Two Debates. California Governor's Race Roundtable.

California's gubernatorial race has all the ingredients of a political drama. A billionaire self-funding at $132 million. A Fox News host leading in a blue state. A scandal that reshuffled the entire field. And 26% of voters still undecided with the primary weeks away.

Host Tonya McKenzie sits down with scholar and actor Jeff Sneed and author/podcaster Myron Clifton to break down what the debates revealed, who has a real shot in the jungle primary, and what none of these candidates are saying that voters actually need to hear.

SUBSCRIBE. SHARE. CTRL the Narrative.