"Connecting the Dots of Life" with Eric Wallace, Founder of the Sons of Baseball Foundation

Sports played a major roll in the life and upbringing of Eric Wallace. Little did he know that health challenges in his family growing up and the love of baseball would influence his life in a way that would inspire him to start the Sons of Baseball Foundation that has blessed the lives of hundreds of families. We hope you'll join us to listen to the story of how a passion and the right partners can make a lasting effect on the world. 

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Kirk and Cory Moore

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Transcript

Cory Moore  

Welcome to the Gentlemen Project Podcast. I'm Cory Moore.

Kirk Chugg  

I'm Kirk Chugg. Today we have Eric Wallace with us in the studio. And Eric and I have known each other for a long time, Eric runs a fantastic foundation that many people know about, have participated in and just came up in conversation with an appointment I had this morning with one of the families that you've been able to bless, a cool organization called the Sons of Baseball. Eric is a huge baseball nut. And he's taken that love of baseball and turned it into a labor of love to bless the lives of others. And we're gonna have him tell all about the sons of baseball Foundation. And what that is, but Eric is a fantastic guy. He manages money for a living, and he's a fantastic dad. He's purposeful and had to sit down with him about three, or four weeks ago. And I said, you'd be an amazing guest on our podcast, and he agreed to come on. So thank you for being with us today, Eric, bad to have you.

Eric Wallace  

Thank you, guys. I appreciate being here. And I can't stop that. So let's just

Kirk Chugg  

go right into it.

Cory Moore  

So how many kids do you have?

Eric Wallace  

I have one son, son, Samuel. Yep. Samuel, he's 12 years old. Yep.

Cory Moore  

And so I've got you piqued my interest, just the name sons of baseball's cool by itself. So I have to ask, tell us about sons of baseball, how that all came about and what you do.

Eric Wallace  

I grew up in Portland, Idaho, it's a great, great spot to grow up. I didn't realize how great until I left, had to get out, you know, go to college, went to Rick's college, and then went on a mission. And I went to the University of Utah and finished up my, baseball career, they're the sons of the baseball Foundation, the roots of it started, when I was eight years old, and I had no idea till much later in life, you know, it's always a series of events that create who you are, and help you to make the decisions that you make in life you can't see in the future. But looking back, there are a lot of things that happened to me and a lot of things that I did that created opportunity to start the charity. And it's been a pretty incredible thing for a lot of different reasons. And you know, I'll go into those later in the podcast, said we have two hours, right? Yes, yes. Three for you three, okay. So when I was eight years old, my four-year-old sister was diagnosed with leukemia. Back in the 80s, early 80s, that was pretty much a death sentence, there were not a lot of children, there were just not a lot of survivors like there are today, and the survival rate is much higher. And so I didn't know what that means, or what that meant. At the time. I just knew I got a call. I was in grade school. And then I got called down to the office and I thought I was in trouble because you know, it's a pretty obedient kid. I had a, you know, a dad that commanded and demanded and earned respect. And so I didn't spend a lot of time in the principal's office. So they just said, you need to go to your uncle's house. And my uncle's house was about two houses from the school where I went. I'm an emotional guy, just so you guys know now. So I apologize in advance. We're okay with that. But I went to my uncle's house, and they wouldn't tell me what was going on. They just said your parents would come and pick you up later. And I joke but you know, there were no, there were no feelings back when I was growing up. We didn't talk about feelings that make people leave today.

Cory Moore  

Isn't that true? And many times, we were too poor

Eric Wallace  

to have feelings growing up, but I did realize it so. And so I was nervous. I was old enough to know that something was going on. And it was most likely it wasn't good. My dad came in the car and it was late. It's honestly I think the first time I've ever seen my dad cry. And he just told me that my sister Wendy had leukemia. I just sat there not knowing what it meant. But I knew that it was bad. My mom, you know was devastated. Again, I didn't. I didn't know like, like, I remember asking if you know if she was gonna die. And sorry, I warned you. Having your parents say they don't know. We don't know what's gonna happen. Usually, parents are pretty optimistic. And having them sorted we don't know.It shook me. Obviously. You know, some moments in your life. You can Are you live when you talk about it, and that's one of mine. So, my sister, I will get to the end right now and say that she's still alive. Okay, so happy ending. She survived a was six years of treatment. And you know Christmases for most people, most kids, especially that age eight to 14, was worried about a lot of other things, but ours was, as my sister gonna be with us, you know, as my sister coming home. I'll never forget those like, again, you can go back and you can remember exactly how you felt. And that changed our family, it changed the dynamic of our family. Because I'm the oldest of four, I have three little sisters. And Wendy was, is the oldest of those sisters. So she's just under me. But really, the focus for the next six years was was Wendy was my sister. And not just hospital and bone marrow transplants and spinal taps and treatments. And hospital stays the financial burden that I recognize now that I didn't recognize that caused an enormous amount of stress. Interestingly, I just got back from Wyoming. On Sunday, my parents live in Star Valley, Wyoming. And I took my 12-year-old son ice fishing for the first time. And I am a believer and being present in what you're doing. I sat there and watched my dad fish with my son, who was facing the opposite way on the ice, right? They were in their little worlds, again, trying to be present at the moment. I recognize that as I sat and watch them, and I asked my dad to tell his father's story to my son. And so they turned on the ice, and they face each other. And my dad started telling his story to my son. And again, it's my father who was 16 years old and driving a logging truck, and quarterly in Idaho and went off a cliff rolled his father was killed in the accident. So his father died in that accident. My father's father died in the accident. That changed the trajectory of his life, I bet forever. Going back to the ice fishing. Before I get into, you know, tying this back into the sons of baseball, but I saw that is an opportunity. And I just sat there as my dad told that story. And I'm sitting there thinking the whole time like I'm absorbing it, my son, I'm just I'm proud of my son. He asked me a couple of questions. My dad went into the military told that story told some great stories about basic training. And so it's probably two hours of my dad just kind of, you know, telling his life story on the drive back Sunday from their house, my son, you know, after having this great experience and watching this, he goes mad grandpa sure talks a lot. You know, you asked him one thing, and he talked for two hours. So I'm thinking, all this great wisdom and this great moment. And, you know, my son just you know, wanted to look at his phone after or you know, if he will bring it that day. But yeah, as you guys know that he'll remember that forever. It won't be till later in life where he's like, that was one of the greatest days of my life. We caught one fish. But that was one of the greatest days of my life. But I'm sure you guys could share your experiences that you had that you didn't know at the time would be something you remember forever. Yeah, we all have those, don't we? We do. Sports became my escape. So while my parents, especially me, my dad was focused on paying the medical bills, which I know now as a father and recognize, he worked, he's always been a great example of work. He worked 1012 hours a day he would come home and work he still does that. He's 77 and, you know, has 30 cows and all he does is hay all day and night, you know? And my mom was a great nurturer and told me I was the best and the most handsome and I thought I could do anything. And so I had, you know, the great examples of work and hard work. And also had the belief that I really could do anything that it was if I didn't do something it was on me that I went to the University of Utah after Rick's and played there for a couple of years. And the love of baseball just never went away. I just loved it was just like part of me. So I Love competition and the opportunities that baseball opened. For me, I get back to the name sons of baseball foundation. Baseball kind of raised me sports kind of helped raised me while my parents, again great parents, focus at times on other things. And so as I was looking back I was getting ready to turn 40 For some reason I was feeling my mortality. I've always been called an old soul but I felt old. Like I mentally was I looked at my life I looked at kind of where I was in great relationships people I love people that love me great work I've been very blessed with work. And the strong work ethic of my parents has helped me succeed again with opportunities and hard work. And I started thinking about my bucket list. Honestly, this started as a pretty selfish thing. It didn't. It evolved into something great, but it started as something for me that I wanted to do. Brett Favre, I went on a mission to Wisconsin, Brett and that was the beginning air of Brett Farve I love Brett Favre. I love the way he played the game. The guy was happy. You played happy I played angry. I was not that guy. I was very angry. I hated everybody on the other team. I never liked them. Like I was I wanted them to hurt. I wanted them. I wanted to be punished. Do you know? I wish I would have not been like that. But Brett Farr was the opposite the antithesis of that. And I loved that I just the joy that he had for the game. And he was a good player. And I always wanted to watch him play and I never did. I always said next year, I'm gonna go watch the game next year. And I never did that. It and I had every opportunity there were no excuses for not seeing him play. And I regret it still, it seems like a silly regret. But I regret not watching my favorite football player play. Chipper Jones was one of my favorite baseball players. I'm not had Braves before the sons of baseball foundation, I wasn't a Braves fan. Having the experience Chipper Jones was getting near the end of his career. They said he was retiring like he was going to retire and I just said I gotta go. I have to watch Chipper Jones play. And he was coming to play the Rockies and I had a couple of friends. I said you guys, you guys want to do this like I have to go we'll just make it. Quick Trip we'll stay overnight one night we'll share a room like I don't, I don't care. Like I just want to go to the game. We have to buy the best tickets, or we'll buy the worst ticket. I started it as kind of putting out a Facebook manifesto of, you know, live your life now whoever wants to meet, just be there. And I'm going to try to do one a year, maybe two, and whoever wants to show up. Just come. We'd love to see people in my life. It was actually at this game. It was a crazy game when in extra innings. There were a couple of things that happened during that game that made me reflect on the game. third base coach, he saw my Orioles hat because we were sitting about four rows back on the third base. It looks like he's like Hey, Orioles fan. Like so he points me out of the crowd. Like the game is just starting for gaffer's guy steps in the box. Points me that Oriole's eye contact like that doesn't happen, does it? Like maybe it does. I know I have meant a lot. I doubt that happens that much. Yeah, where there's that, that connection or just the minute where like sucks you into the game. We had a blast. And we became friends with Usher. We were there for three games. And it was actually on the bus ride back to the airport for the flight home that I said, what if we did something different with this? What if we did a charity? Instead of like our plan to just kind of go see every stadium, we can pretty much recreate what happened. We don't know if we get out like I had no baseball connection. I was out of baseball for so long. But I had never really I've never played past college. So I had a couple of friends that got drafted but they were no longer in it. And no real connection with Major League Baseball. You know, I've been blessed in my life. I have a healthy son. Great job. I've been blessed. We can recreate that we can buy the best tickets, we can get them right next to the field. We can't create it. You know, we can't determine if there's a player if somebody will come over. But we can buy jerseys. We can get great tickets, and we can pay for everything. And that would be a fun day. If that's the if that's all that happens. That's a fun experience. That's a fun time. And the guy's John and John and Chad, Chad Christiansen and John Alquist. They were like, yeah, that I liked that. I was gonna make this happen. I had another great friend, Mark Christiansen, he and his wife started a foundation, angels hands, you guys should have marked in here to just an amazing guy. He had kind of a grassroots, and they've grown into something great. And I had gone to his charity several times. And so I went and I talked with him and his wife, John and I went, we said, we're thinking about doing this. But we want to ask you, should we do this or not? Mark was like, yes. And his wife Roxanne was like, no. We want it and we got both. And that was both like the best advice for the reasons why. Mark was like, if you're passionate about it, you should do it. Because you're gonna do a great thing. And Roxane Christiansen was, as she said, Don't do it. Because it's a lot. It's gonna take a lot of your life. Later, I realized that she was saying that just to make sure that, we were committed to doing it. She gave us an out. We had to make a decision, you know, we're, well, we're gonna do it anyway, even though you said no, we're gonna do this. And so again, both were exactly what we needed to hear. I started looking for emails. So I, and can't find the front office and will be emailed on Google. And I look, I research. That's what I do. And I couldn't find anybody.

Kirk Chugg  

So at this point, you weren't thinking about like who you were going to send to the game yet right

Eric Wallace  

now. I just started looking. And I started reaching out to people. And I read an article about the angels. And I found a name and the name is Tim meet. I'll never forget meeting you. I didn't even know if the email worked. I just found an email. I found an article that was like, seven or eight years earlier. And so I didn't even know if it's a good email I just sent Hey, this is what we're trying to do. You know what the angels help us out. I bring back Mark Christiansen and angels hands, angels hands, charity, and angels Hands Foundation. They specialize in rare diseases. So undiagnosed and rare diseases, they raise money to help families and they send them all over the country to these specialists of specialists where there's just a very few kids that maybe have this disease. He said I said we are looking for somebody that likes baseball and would be a good fit for us. Do you know what we do and what we're trying to do? And it's like I immediately said, Nathan? Glad. Right, Nathan glad. Okay. We'd like to meet him. So, we went to the miracle League, a miracle league is also a big part of what we do. But the miracle League is a national charity, based in Atlanta. So Nathan is glad he's on Tik Tok. He's on Twitter. He's on Instagram. You have to go check out Nathan glad he's one of my favorite people in the whole world. I believe he was nine years old at the time. And he has one of the rare forms of osteogenesis imperfecta. I think I said that right, but brittle bone disease. And so Nathan, who has the most amazing parents in the whole world as we were talking with them, his mom said he had to pick out a casket before he was born. Because he was not supposed to be alive. So one of the greatest blessings we're supposed to have in our life, we're making we had to pick out a casket for Nathan before I was born because he wasn't expected to live. He has broken every bone. Once I met the family I reached out with their information to Tim meet and the angels so I'm sorry, backed up there and kind of retired back in again, not knowing we were just going to we plan to buy tickets. Nathan played on the angel's miracle league team. So that's why he loved the angels. We told them we want to, and we'd love for you to be our first family. Right? And again, we had no experience knowing that stuff. So we paid for the flight we paid for their hotel, and it turns pretty crazy. The story I sent I sent this message to Tim meet and the angels somebody called me like two days later, it's like this is I can't remember his name. I think it was Chase. I think this chase from angels. We would love to help you with everything. And we said okay, great. This is what we would like to do. We would like to get jerseys for the family for every family member again me growing up as a sibling of a young girl with cancer. There are so many great things but there's a family there are other kids and they are going through this together a lot of times the focus is on, as it should be 100% The focus should be on the person with a disability or cancer. But I grew up also as the other kid, right, the other kid

Kirk Chugg  

when it kind of gets forgotten. Yeah, the whole process. Yeah.

Eric Wallace  

And so as we were looking at it, what is this going to do for mom and dad? Well, we're gonna pay for everything, we're going to take care of everything. So we're all the logistics, we're going to take care of all the money. So what are parents? What are parents gonna worry about? Of this experience? And so we took care that things during the game, we took care of that, like, we get all the food, we get it, we get everything. So once we told the family, we're gonna take care of everything. We know, angels games. We were just gonna buy it until I heard back from angels. And they said they'd help us we paid for, you know, the jerseys, but they presented them. So we get to the Angel Stadium, really not knowing what to expect. To me, it meets us. He has the jerseys. And they're putting on the jerseys. And Nathan, all the families I put on there. So Nathan, he looks and he does, I'm a real baseball player. I'm a real baseball player. And that made the whole trip worth just him saying that. Yeah, that's awesome. How old was How old was he? Nine. So he's nine. He was very small like he's very, very, very small. After they put the jerseys on, Tim took us and we went straight down, down to the tunnel out onto the field. So we just were this procession of angels, jerseys, and family walking out onto the field. And we went and we stood right next to the dugout, during batting practice. So Mike Sasha was amazing. The coach and all the players were amazing. A lot of players came over. There's a great article and Orange County Register that you can still pull up. It says littlest Angel, Nathan glad. You can pull it up. You can see the pictures from it. And you can read the story about it as a great article about him. As we're coming off the field. Nathan asked, he said he asked Max OSHA so I can kind of play around for me.

Kirk Chugg  

Like I can do everything but this is something I can't control. Right,

Eric Wallace  

right. Mike Sasha is he's great he looks at him as a kid. I hope a couple of players hit a couple of home runs for both of us. That was hilarious. It was a great moment and the family looked like they were playing catch. They get these balls from batting practice and have the balls and he's got these tiny hands and those balls it looks like a basketball and his hands while his dad's holding them and the family's just kind of taking all of the batting practice. It's just different. The closer you get, you can hear it like you hear the ball. The sounds are different when the big guys hit it. So we go from there we go. And we don't know what to expect. We go from there we go. To me takes us in the elevator. He's like, Oh, well, this is perfect timing. And he rips open this box and slides out this picture. It's an autographed picture of Mike Trout. And Mark Trumbo high-fiving on the play after a homerun. So hands this to Nathan's family. So this is for you. We go up and we meet Mark goobers. And who is the radio, you know, the radio guys, the TV guys, for the angels spend some time in the booth with them? And then we go back down, and then we watched the game. The game was amazing. Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo both hit home runs. So the two guys autograph the picture that he's taking home with him, and hit a home run second. That's awesome. So there were fireworks after and we had to stay for the fireworks. It's a long day. You know, going into this, it was one of the most memorable baseball experiences of my life. And I've had some pretty cool baseball experiences. After that, I would say that was my number one. My number one baseball experience of my life. I felt selfish for having that and just being there and letting that family have that experience of me experiencing that through them.

Kirk Chugg  

And then your wheels start turning. Why can't we do this for more families? Yeah, it did.

Eric Wallace  

And again, you never know. You never know the impact that it's going to have on someone else. Like, I didn't know what it meant. I know what it meant to me. But I didn't know what it meant to their family, the glad family. We went back about nine months later, to record a video for them for the charity event that we were going to have just to kind of talk about their experience. And when we walked into the house, they had new family pictures taken and over their couch like the big picture in their living room was them and all of their angel's jerseys. And so the mom and dad were not baseball fans, they didn't grow up loving baseball, like in baseball, but it didn't matter. Right? Because that picture told me everything that I needed to know about expanding the charity or trying to do more with the charity. And so it just got I think I started crying then I'm pretty sure I did. I started crying. As soon as I saw that picture,

Kirk Chugg  

how many families have you served in that way? Sending them to Major League Baseball games. Now, what, nine years later?

Eric Wallace  

Well, we haven't done anything for almost three because of COVID. So that stuff, but before that, it's over. 200. That's for 200. So Oh, wow. Our first year with Nathan, we thought, boy, if we could do, we could do three or four a year, I would that would be incredible. I think we did 14, our first year, 14 families. And we're able to maximize the dollars and every team that we reached out to different levels, you know, they're able to help and not help but

Kirk Chugg  

you probably know most of the major league baseball front office's now,

Eric Wallace  

I think we work with 22. And the others are just because we haven't had families that have gone there. But we do have some amazing, you know, connections with a lot of like, the Giants, the angels, they're, you know, they're like, you know, just give us a date. And like they know. And we have some pretty amazing people, Tony parks, you guys know, Tony is on the radio, who works with the jazz and again, one of my best friends and through this and he is him and Tommy Bradshaw run a lot of our we call them MVP experiences. They're the two main guys. And Tony is kind of the head of that. And he is the most amazing guy, he has his own story of losing two daughters. That's what brought him to us. He loves baseball, but he had two daughters that are born prematurely, and lost them. And he's been able to reconnect through the sons of baseball just by some pretty amazing things during the game, where he's helping other families like this story from

Kirk Chugg  

like the beginning of your you're growing up the way you grew up with baseball, the way that your dad raised you the things that you learned from your parents, your experience with baseball, your experience, as a professional, everything is kind of rolled up into this story of sitting here listening to you tell it, you wouldn't be doing the things that are making an impact to these hundreds of families if you hadn't grown up and been raised the way you were. And you also wouldn't be doing this if you hadn't listened to that voice inside your head saying, you've got to get outside yourself and think about how you bless this world. And if there's a takeaway for anybody that's listening today, you know, look back and create the story of your life. Where did you come from? Why are you the way you are? What personality traits do you have? You are good at running this organization. And it's because you are the person that you are, and probably the best guy to do this job, the love of baseball, the love of people being able to be blessed, like you look at it, and it's just connecting the dots back to your childhood, in your experience with Wendy when she was four years old. Like it's a pretty, pretty cool, incredible story to see all the dots line up.

Eric Wallace  

I had a good idea. Right. And it was the right moment. For me. The most important thing I think of anything worthwhile is is getting, and having people that also want to be part of it, and are special people that become part of it that make it great. So it was a good idea. But the people that have come along like Brad wing it now as President, I'm chairman of the board, right as president, Trump, Trump Perry was just been there. He's always been there, just whatever we can do to help and Brad as well. Amazing, amazing guys. And Tony and Frank Layden and Richard Smith and I could name so many people. It's more of the people that have kind of pushed it along because I've had my ups and downs. You know, I have you get burnout, just like with anything else. And it's the support people that are not supported all the time. They're leading, you know what I mean? And that's, that's really what's made it what it is today is the people that have come along like Bucky dent who would do anything one of the best people I've ever met Mike Sweeney with the Royals, one of the greatest people, he's like, he might be the best person I've ever met. And so when you get those people and Rudy you know, really helps us out with fundraising to with trips to Notre Dame, like I've been to Notre Dame with Rudy, for fundraisers for the sons of baseball Foundation. We just talked to him yesterday about which game are we going to do this year. But it's the people that come along the way, whether they're here for five or seven years, or whether they're here for two months, or whether they're here for one game like Jim Abbott. Jim Abbott has helped us out a lot with the pitcher that threw a no-hitter with one hand. It's people like that, that have made a really what it is. That's awesome. So it goes from a good idea to something special because of everybody. That's what's been involved with it. Yeah.

Kirk Chugg  

Agreed. I can, I actually can identify with that a lot, because the gentleman project was my idea. But without the guy sitting to my left, it wouldn't be anything like it is today. So

Cory Moore  

then Kirk has to keep me going sometimes, too. So Well, man, we could listen to this story even longer. But we're at a time and I'm pretty sure we could go for two and a half, three hours. So I appreciate you telling that story, heartfelt story, a story about really the inner, intertwining of things in your life, that crescendoed into the sons of baseball, and who you are today, and all these amazing people who've supported and helped you lead that cause. So thanks for telling us that story. We always end the podcast with the same question. And that is, what does it mean to you to be a gentleman

Eric Wallace  

I have been when I met Kirk, a special guy. I mean, everybody that knows, Kirk knows that there's something different about him. You know, I like those people in my life. Being a gentleman to me, again, I had a great example of a father is being somebody that you're the people who matter to you, in life are proud of, in your interactions with your family, you know, your children, if your mom or dad is watching, or other people of influence that have spent their time on you. Guys to have to end up being emotional with you. I started being emotional. But would they be proud of you, or the way that you are living your life, or the decisions that you're making, nobody's perfect, and I'm far from perfect, I have so many mistakes of my own, that I'm not proud of. But it's important to me to be a good father, a great father, a great son, and a friend, and so are the interactions in general that I have. Do they do I leave people better? Or worse? Do I take from them? Or do I give it to them? That's what means to me, I am grateful for having that thought. And you put that thought in my head, you know, is Who am I and how it makes you think about how you treat people and the person that you are. And so that's what it means to me is just a constant reminder to be good and to do good things.

Kirk Chugg  

So well, you're definitely what we call a net contributor to society. So thank you for all the work that you're doing. And if people want to engage with donate to or be a part of the sons of baseball Foundation, how did they do that?

Eric Wallace  

You can go to our website son's a baseball.org. I'll give you my email address to whether Yankees fan or not, you know, you have to use my email address. It's N as in Nancy yy, F 74. So New York and New York Yankee fan since birth. 70 four@gmail.com you can send me an email. But yeah, I appreciate the opportunity to be here talking about it.

Kirk Chugg  

Now. Thanks for sharing that that public email is what changed your foundations. Right. So thanks for sharing that with us. Thank you for listening to the gentleman project podcast. Thank you, Eric Wallace, for being with us today and sharing your story about your foundation and your life. Proud to know you're proud to call me a friend. Hope that this story inspires others to do something great with their life. Thank you for listening. If you haven't subscribed to the podcast, that'd be awesome. Appreciate that. Cory, and I look at the downloads every week. And we think Man, this is amazing that we're reaching this many people. So we appreciate you sharing it because it wouldn't be growing without the people who are listening to it, and sharing with people that they love. So thank you for that. I'm Kirk Chugg.

Cory Moore  

And I'm Cory Moore. Have a great day.