- [Narrator] Barry Zito was among

Major League Baseball's eliteas a Cy Young award winner,

but he was quick to credit his work ethic

and perseverance for his rise to the top.

Off the field,

Barry enjoyed the spoils thatcame with worldly success.

It completed his identityas a baseball player.

In 2007 after signing the richest contract

ever given to a pitcher,

Barry's career began to take a down-swing.

The Giants advanced tothe World Series in 2010,

but he was left off the post-season roster

due to unreliability on the mound.

Fans began to turn on him.

In his book, Curveball,

Barry recounts the highsand lows of his career

and how he finally foundpeace and true fulfillment

after chasing fortune and fame.

- Barry Zito joins us now,it's great to have you here.

- Nice to see you too.

- You know, we know youas a baseball player,

but you really grew uparound the music industry.

Tell us a little bit about that.

- I did yeah, we always joked

how did an athlete come outof this creative household?

My father was a conductorarranger for Nat King Cole,

and my mother was a backup singer for Nat

and they actually met doing that together,

and then my sister ended up going

to Berkeley school of music

so there was just all kindsof music in the family.

- Your mom really had an interesting life,

I mean she went from beingin the music industry herself

to being into a religious role,

she was involved in kinda new-age faith,

tell us a little bit about her background.

- So she was raised ina Christian household

with three siblings in San Diego

and her mother, in the sixties,

had a spiritual experience andshe documents it in her book,

and it was where an ancient being,

a Hindu being named Babaji,

came and visited her and told her

that her purpose was tostart a new-age church.

So she divorced her husband

who ended up holding agrudge the rest of his life,

and she started this new church.

- How did your mom's involvementin church and her role,

she actually became a pastorat one point, impact you?

- Yeah, so that was thechurch I grew up in.

And you know, she was beinga pastor with her mother.

And for me, you know,

I didn't really understand alot of the beliefs growing up,

I just went to Sunday school and kinda,

and I always heard Jesus talked about,

but the way it was talkedabout in that particular church

didn't involve the crucifix,you know, didn't involve sin,

didn't involve "I actuallycan't do this on my own."

And so what I learned isthat it was all up to me

the circumstances of my life,

and how am I going to do this.

- You went on to have just anincredible career in baseball

and I mean, everything youput into it really paid off,

I mean, you got to thepinnacle of the whole thing.

What was life like for youwhen you were at that place?

- It did, in a worldly waythere was huge payoffs,

and you know, financial, youknow, freedom I guess they say.

It was really incredible,the highs were very high,

but the lows were so lowthat I never could predict

how it would just rock my foundation

and realize that I didn't have one,

but I ended up trying to chase my identity

all over the streets of Hollywood,

trying to buy the biggest mansions

and the fastest cars tofill this hole in my heart

that never got filled by that stuff.

- Sometimes it's justbecause you can, right?

So 2007, you signedthis enormous contract,

2008 your performance starts to plummet,

what happened?

- Yeah, it actuallyplummeted in 07 a little bit,

but eight is when itjust went off the cliff

and I started out the season 0 and 8

with an ERA for all thebaseball fans over seven

so it was a disaster.

And what I was doing wastrying to validate the money

because I was takingthe credit my whole life

for everything I did.

And so then I was like, I need to justify.

And of course, looking back,

if I had that perspective that I have now

I can't take the credit for any of this,

this is all just gifts from God

and I'm just gonna keepthrowing this ball.

I mean, I think my career wouldhave went much differently.

- What was it like for you,

because the crowd is cheering one day

and then not very graceful the next,

how did that impact youas a player, as a person?

- You know, I was notable to have, kind of,

a steady foundationthrough the ups and downs

so I just rode the rollercoasterwith everybody else

and if they were saying I was the greatest

I was like, yep, here Iam, who wants an autograph?

And if they said I'm the worst,

I didn't leave my house untilit was time to go to the field

so I was letting everybody define me

and not the one personwho should be defining me.

- And that all began to happen because

Amber entered your life, your now wife.

- That's right.

- [Interviewer] And what wasit that attracted you to Amber?

- This sounds crazy butI always felt the impulse

that I was going to marry and settle down

with a good mid-west southern woman.

You know, I was raisedin southern California

but she just had a wholesomeness,

a whole heart that was infectious.

And even when I first met her,

I was like, just blown away,

and we actually didn'tgo on our first date

until a year and a half later.

But I knew something,there was friction here

and this is real.

- So she was the one who firstgave you the word of God,

I mean what was that like?

- You know, it's funny, Italk about this experience

being left off the roster in 2010.

- [Interviewer] Yeah,the world series roster.

- The world series roster.

- That had to hurt.

- Yes, oh it hurt, yeahmy soul, it hurt my soul.

And so that kinda crackedme open spiritually

and I think that really opened,

let the soil be kindof ready for the seed,

and then in came Amberabout six months later

said lock up all thosebooks you're reading,

you need to read this one.

And I was at that point ready,

because I thought I coulddo it myself my whole life

but finally I said I can't do it alone.

- So during that timeyour mom had gotten sick

and you gave her some advice

before the advice was really active

in your own life in asense, tell us about that.

- Yeah, so my mother, you know,

she was actually ill for many years

but she was in a Mexicanhospital and it was in 2008.

While I was playing,

I went down from SanDiego and visited her,

and she said, "I'm so tiredof trying to heal myself

"and trying to think theright way to heal you know,

"and I just wanna give it to God."

And I said before I was a believer,

I said you have to surrender this,

you have to give this up.

And she did, and thenext morning she said,

"Wouldn't you know, I waspastoring a new-age church

"my whole life and now I believe in Jesus

and I've given my life to him."

And she died two weeks later.

- And then your dad,

who had been such apowerful force in your life

for your athletic career andwanted that for you so badly

but was not himself walkingof any other walk other than

let's do what we do and be successful

and take advantage of everything,

he came to Christ as well.

- He did, yeah, and againmy dad was very headstrong.

He actually was raised with abunch of shame from, you know,

how he was conceived as ababy through wedlock and rape,

but anyways, monthsbefore he died, he said,

"I'm giving it to Jesus,I can't do it myself."

- It's like when God was ready to paint

the brush of your life,

he just took the whole family.

- It's incredible.- He said come on.

- That's mindblowing, I know.

I go, okay God, I thoughtI had you figured out

but of course I don't.

- And your dad was,

of course as we talkedearlier the musician,

today you are retired, you havea wife, two beautiful kids,

and you are in music, what are you doing?

- Yeah, I got to retire inNashville playing triple a,

really enjoyed the gamebefore I walked away,

and so I went right intoco-writing country music there,

released a little songwriting album,

- Awesome.- And learning production,

I mean, having such a fun time.

- And it's supposed to be.

- Life's supposed to be fun, right?

- Yes, it is.

The book is called Curveball,

you'll remember it bythis wonderful cover.

It's available wherever books are sold.

We have just skimmed the surface,

so you're gonna wanna get your own copy.

Thank you Barry, sowonderful to have you here.

- Thank you so much.- Bless you.