(energetic piano music)

- Well, his grip on the ball was unique.

That's how Barry Zito's father knew

his son was destined forgreatness, and he was right.

Barry grew up to signa $126 million contract

with the Giants.

That's the largest ever givento a pitcher at the time.

Take a look.

(tranquil guitar music)

- [Narrator] Barry Zito wasamong Major League Baseball's

elite as a Cy Young Awardwinner, but he was quick

to credit his work ethic and perseverance

for his rise to the top.

Off the field, Barry enjoyed the spoils

that came with worldly success.

It completed his identityas a baseball player.

In 2007, after signingthe richest contract

ever given to a pitcher,

Barry's career began to take a downswing.

The Giants advanced tothe World Series in 2010,

but he was left off the postseason roster

due to unreliability on the mound.

Fans began to turn on him.

In his book, Curveball,Barry recounts the highs

and lows of his career,

and how he finally foundpeace and true fulfillment

after chasing fortune and fame.

- Please welcome to The700 Club, Barry Zito.

Barry, it's wonderful to have you here.

- Thanks.- What a great book.

Boy, you have, that's an effort I know,

to outline a whole lifeworth of experience

into one book when you've had

so many experiences as you have.

Go back, if you will,to your early childhood,

because your dad realized early on

that you had a unique grip.

I have a baseball with me,

show us what the norm isand what your grip is.

- Yeah, so I picked up abook, when I was seven,

my father put in front of me called

The Art of Pitching by Tom Seaver,

and there was pictures of curveball grips,

but of course they wereright handed pictures.

And so, I just gripped in left handed.

So, I think I gripped in backwards.

So, this is the normal waythat people throw a curevball,

if you will, like this.

Or, for a right-hander likethat, off this middle finger.

But for me, I gripped it this way,

and I split the seam here.

And I just had bettercontrol of it the whole time,

and never met anyone, from that point on,

who threw it like me.

- So your dad knew that youwere destined for greatness,

or that certainly wasthe hope of his heart.

Talk a little bit about yourrelationship with your dad,

'cause it was complex.

- It was, yeah.

My father was an incredible jazz musician,

who conducted and arrangedfor Nat King Cole.

- [Terry] Wow.

- He met my mother.

She was a back up singer for Nat,

but then he left New Yorkand became a talent manager.

And eventually, was telling these people

how to become successful,and he knew the culture

of success, and he knewthe signs of failure,

as he told me.

And so, when I came along at seven,

we lived in San Diego and hejust knew how to teach success.

Even if it was in--

- [Terry] Passed that on to you.

- Yeah.- [Terry] Right?

- Even if was in somethinghe didn't know about,

and so, he always wastelling me be a champion.

- Yeah

- You can be a millionaire.

You can have anything you want,

and so these worldly thingswere starting to appeal

even at the young age.- [Terry] Sure.

Well, that's the dream of the world.

So, you're a Cy Young Award winner,

you get this incrediblecontract that you sign,

and all the things that yourdad talked to you about came.

You had the success.

You had the adulation of fans.

You had the money.

What did that do to you?

- Yeah, it was very difficult,because I didn't have

any foundations spiritually growing up.

So baseball, in a lot of ways, was my god.

I was defined by it.

I even felt that I had toearn my father's approval

and love from pitching well.

Of course, he didn't mean that,

but that's how I interpreted it.

So when I had this hugesuccess, as a young adult,

I thought I had created it all,

and I took credit for everything.

But underlying was this fearof how do I repeat this.

- [Terry] And, forevery athlete, it seems,

there comes the momentwhere the performance

starts to slide a little bit.

That happened for you.

It's amazing to me, inathletics especially,

how the crowd that rantedand raved for you one day

is booing the next.

It's painful to watch that.

(Barry laughs)

What is it like to walk through it?

- It is, it is tough.

I think I took it all very personal.

- [Terry] Sure (laughs).

- And thought they were all booing me.

You know, like they wanted me to go home

and have a hard night's sleep,

but I had an all aboutme mindset as a kid,

and growing up, and beingtold, "You're so special.

You're different than the rest."

Which is great short term game,

but long term I feltsuperior to other people,

kind of in a subtle way.

And so, when I had this huge contract

and all this attentionI did not know how to

shoulder the weight.

I was never grateful for any of it,

so I was like, "This is all because of me,

and now I have to figurethis out on my own."

- You took some pretty drastic measures

to get your mojo back,if you will (laughs).

Talk a little bit about the gold bar

scenario (laughs) that you share.

- So, I had many spiritualhealers growing up,

and as an adult.

Lots of therapists until they didn't work,

and I'd go get the next.

So, I found one and wewent to the East Coast,

and we ingested this pill that had been

from bacterial excrement, and the bacteria

had ingested gold themself.

And then the excrement, it was this thing

that was supposed to grow my brain.

Stage four brain growth,which was this new thing, so.

- [Terry] Wow.

- It made me feel very euphoric.

It reminded me of these crazy drugs

I used to do in high school.

That was just one of the thingsI tried as I was searching.

- In 2010, you were leftoff the World Series roster.

That had to hurt.

- That was the demise ofmy ego, in a lot of ways,

and my spiritual paradigm crashing.

Which I think we all need.

We need our spiritual paradigm to crash

to really know how solid is this.

But, yeah, I was makingalmost 20 million bucks,

much more than anyone else on the team,

yet I couldn't play.

I wasn't good enough,and I watched them win

a World Series that I actuallygot paid to lead them to.

- [Terry] Wow.

- And that kind of wasthe beginning of the end,

but then the beginningreally started after that.

- You're so right about that.

Sometimes the thing thathas falsely sustained us

and held us up has to go away for us

to come to the place that you came to.

- Yes.

- How did find what youwere actually looking for?

- So, I found footing initially after

this destructive event in my life.

I went home to Los Angeles.

No one was calling.

No one wanted to hang out,

like they did for years.

I entered into a 12step program, actually,

for codependency.

I was obsessed with others opinions of me,

because I was always definedby my father's opinion.

And so, step two of thatwas willing to admit

there's a power greater than me,

and that's something Iactually never could say,

'cause I was raised in this kind of

Eastern I am my own god,- [Terry] You're it.

- Kind of thing.- Mhmm, right.

Right, so how did youactually find Christ?

- So, my wife Amber and Istarted dating that year,

and I heard her praying to agod that was like a friend,

like a loving father, andI'd always prayed to a force

(laughs) that was no personality.

So that kind of planted the seed,

and about eight monthslater I was surrounded

with the Barnes &Noble's self-help section

on the bed, like I was for years,

and she said, "Honey, lockthe books up and read this."

And she gave me a Bible.

- [Terry] Had you ever read it before?

- No, never read it.

Always heard about it.

- [Terry] Yes, sure.

- Started attending Biblestudies with our chaplain

with the Giants, andabout three months later

I came to Christ, andafter trying probably ten

practices and religions through the years,

I finally stopped at the truth.

- Today, you and Amber are married.

You have two beautiful kids,and you're pursuing music.

I mean, the gift from yourdad was actually passed on.

- [Barry] It was, yeah.

I've been waiting mywhole to go into music.

- [Terry] Wow.

- [Barry] And it's beensuch a gift to be able

to pursue song writing, and production,

and all these things that I love so much.

- [Terry] Yeah, and your lifehas changed dramatically.

- My life has changed, andI'll tell you one thing.

God delivered this 2012 World Series after

that whole turbulent experience,

where I got to go pitch in game one of the

World Series in San Francisco,and to lead my team.

And it was so funny, 'cause I said--

- [Terry] The way you wanted to.

- How I wanted to always, but it's funny

'cause I stopped needingthe redemption of the world?

- Yeah.

- And, wouldn't youknow, I finally got it.

- But, it's just sobackwards how it happened.

- [Terry] Yeah.

It's an amazing story, folks.

We are just skimming the surface.

There's so much more to it.

It's all right here in hisbook just released last week,

by the way, Curveball.

Get a copy.

It's available wherever books are sold.

What a wonderful story.

Thank you so much.

- Thanks so much, Terry.

- Thanks for sharing with us today.

- Absolutely.