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still eyed sports psychology with suspicion. It cut against the grain of macho athletes to admit fears and struggles. Coaches might preach “mental toughness,” but it was expected that athletes should be able to summon that state on their own. Kalkstein spent a few years coaching baseball and golf at


northwood university in Texas (where he still lives with his wife and two sons). He scrambled to get a toehold in the world of sports psychology, calling youth leagues, high schools, and colleges to pitch workshops on team cohesion and goal-setting. He got a smattering of work with individual athletes, “but nothing really big and nothing that allowed me to think, ‘Hey, I can make a living doing this.’” It was through some part-time


work scouting for the Houston Astros that he finally got his break. Astros scouting director Dan o’Brien was taken with Kalkstein’s approach to the game. When o’Brien was hired in 1997 as the Texas Rangers’ assistant general manager, he convinced his bosses to hire Kalkstein in a hybrid role. Technically, his title was “video coordinator,” but it also involved scouting, and to his delight, work with athletes on the mental side of the game. In time, he was shifted to a full-time role in “performance


in SPrinG TrAininG 2002, Kalkstein met Terry Francona, who had just been hired by the Rangers as a bench coach. The first day, Kalkstein was catching for Francona on a back field while Francona hit grounders to pitchers and infielders. Francona asked Kalkstein to help him learn the names of players. A friendship began to form. Francona would prove an exceptional manager. Though he did


part with the Red Sox after a disappointing finish to the 2011 season, his legacy is unquestioned. Arriving in Boston in 2004, he led the Sox to two World Series titles after that little 86-year drought. Francona was credited with


being the ultimate player’s manager in Boston. He had his players’ backs at all times. He also navigated the sometimes perilous world of the Boston media with considerable aplomb. Without question, one of


There is ace left-hander Jon Lester, a cancer survivor, talking with Kalkstein after Lester’s father was diagnosed with cancer.


Boston Globe, May 26, 2008


Francona’s secret weapons in Boston was Don Kalkstein. In Red Sox Rule: Terry Francona and Boston’s Rise to Dominance, author Michael Holley writes that in the championship year of 2007 “before every game he’d talk with Don Kalkstein, whom he trusted as much as anyone in the organization.”


Francona’s blessing made it easier for players to seek Kalkstein


enhancement.” The field was then beginning to gain greater acceptance, thanks largely to the late Harvey Dorfman, who had worked with the oakland A’s and the Florida Marlins when they won World Series titles. His book, The Mental Game of Baseball: A Guide to Peak Performance, had become popular with players. His theories gained so much traction that he was ultimately hired by uber-agent Scott Boras to work with his clients. Kalkstein refers to Dorfman as a “mentor” and a “pioneer,”


and credits him for “trailblazing for people like myself.” With the Rangers, Kalkstein developed his signature style—


a complete immersion in the culture of the team. He was there at home and on the road. He flew with the players, stayed in the same hotel. At the ballpark, he hung out in uniform: hitting fungos, throwing batting practice, playing cards in the clubhouse. He felt that relationship-building was fundamental to getting professional athletes to trust him. If he could be around the team through thick and thin, through the boredom and the grind of a long season, “I had a better chance in assisting an athlete…to perform on a consistent basis.” **


out. “Don’s like one of the family here,” said Kevin Youkilis in a 2006 Herald story. “He’s always here. You talk to him on a normal basis every day. You talk to him about everything. You become like friends.” Rob Bradford observed Kalkstein in action and said that he


was remarkably skilled in picking his spots. “I’ll tell you what he’s great at: accepting his bounds with players, knowing when to talk with them, knowing when not to talk with them, just making himself available,” said Bradford. The specifics of his work are hard to pin down. But a review


of articles paints an intriguing portrait. There is Josh Beckett crediting Kalkstein for helping him focus


by convincing him to keep a journal about his pitching (Boston Herald, February 22, 2008). There is ace left-hander Jon Lester, a cancer survivor, talking


with Kalkstein after Lester’s father was diagnosed with cancer (Boston Globe, May 26, 2008). And there is David ortiz, sequestered with Kalkstein outside


the clubhouse after an angry outburst with the media. ortiz had been in a dreadful slump for weeks following allegations he had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in supposedly anonymous survey testing six years earlier. After venting to the


14 TRIANGLE TRIANGLE 3 Vol .Vol. 83


83, No.No. 1


PHOTO BY: MIKE IVINS/RED SOX


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