KING KONGIN MINDSET
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KING KONGIN MINDSET
From Grand Slam To Grind with Creighton Gubanich & Rizzo King Kongin
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A grand slam on your first MLB hit sounds like a fairy tale, but what happens after the stadium lights go off? We sit down with Creighton, a former Major League Baseball player who reached the Boston Red Sox in 1999 and did something only a handful of players have ever done. His story is wild, but the real value is how he breaks down the unglamorous side of chasing a dream: years in the minors, the pressure of spring training cuts, and the moment you realize talent isn’t enough without daily focus.
We get honest about money in professional baseball, from minor league pay to the major league minimum, plus how fast a “big” year shrinks after taxes and real life. If you’re an athlete, a parent, or an entrepreneur, the financial reality check is useful. From there, we dig into the mindset shift that helped him level up, why he resisted having a backup plan, and how injuries eventually forced a hard pivot into a new career chapter.
That pivot turns into purpose. Creighton has spent decades coaching at All-Star Sports Academy, teaching kids ages 6 to 18 baseball skills and life lessons like discipline, consistency, and work ethic. He also co-founded Grand Slam Ideas and builds custom baseball hats through ProBaseballClubhouse.com, including designs tied to MLB debut numbers and logo work that blends creativity with modern tools. If you care about mindset, leadership, personal branding, and building a small business through word of mouth, you’ll take a lot from this conversation.
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Welcome And Meet Creighton
SPEAKER_01What's going on, y'all? Welcome to the King Kong Mindset Podcast. I'm telling you right now, we got some King King soldiers up in the building. And yo, Creighton. Creighton, what's going on, baby? Tell us, tell us about you. Tell us um what company you represent and everything. What's up?
SPEAKER_00Well, Rizzo, appreciate the opportunity coming in here. Uh I work for a company called All-Star Sports Academy. That's my main job. Uh, my secondary job, which is a little bit of a side gig, is with my best friend from high school. Uh, we created a company called Grand Slam Ideas. Out of the park ideas. I like it. Um so Grand Slam is actually uh twofold the way the name came about.
The Grand Slam Debut Story
SPEAKER_00Uh I'm a former Major League Baseball player. Wow. So I played professional baseball from the age of 18. I got drafted out of high school. Local high school kid here out of Phoenixville. Uh got drafted, played professionally for 14 years. Are you serious? Spent a little bit of time at the Major League level with the Boston Red Sox in 1999. And where the name Grand Slam Ideas really kind of stems from is my first Major League hit was a Grand Slam. Oh my gosh. I was the fourth player in Major League history to accomplish that feat.
SPEAKER_01So I don't, yo, this is this is crazy. So my guess, I not not like other podcasts, I don't even uh you know vet them or anything. I just know if they they they King Kong and I see a couple little clips and I know they're doing good in business, I'm gonna invite you on the show. But dang, you are you really grand slam.
SPEAKER_00You King Kong So we uh so things were good, baseball was good. Um my buddy's a teacher. Uh we've been best friends since high school, and um his last name is Syndico, so gubonic syndico ideas, GSI. So it goes off of his last name, my last name, and my first hit the major league level.
SPEAKER_01So um how much money did you can I say how much
Real Pay In Pro Baseball
SPEAKER_01money did you make that year after hitting that home run like that? That year.
SPEAKER_00Unfortunately, um I spent a half a year at the major league level. Back then, back when I played in 1999, the major league minimum was a mere $209,000 for the year. So I walked out of there with about $100,000. Oh my gosh. Today's player. Dang today's player is millions. They are at $750,000 as a major league minimum ball player. Oh, really? Yeah. Wow. So $750. Basically three times the amount, a little more than three times the amount than when I played 25 years ago.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Man. That 100 grand, a lot of things also see my King Kong and mindset shows basically trying to help the next generation and also helping us entrepreneurs out to um us adults, grown folks, right? But um, you know, that hundred grand, I don't know how fast it went for you, but I know a hundred grand goes like this. But the kids and everybody think it's a lot, a lot of money.
SPEAKER_0048% goes right to the government. Yep. So you're left now with about $52,000. And as a minor league baseball player, when I first started, and Chris will tell you, we made $850 a month. Wow. And we got paid per month for only the months of the year that you played. Wow. So any type of signing bonus. So when I got drafted, uh, I signed my contract for $80,000 out of high school. At that time, that was a lot of money. It was actually $60,000 and $20,000 in addition for college tuition because I bypassed college. So $60,000 goes quick because you have to live off that money for a long time. And it took me till I was uh in '99, so I got trained. It took me almost nine years to rise through the ranks to actually get to the big league level. Wow, man, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_01So so then what? So tell us, I mean, after baseball, you you obviously had a plan. So my whole thing is, you know, focus, follow the plan, and then it expands. So can you tell us one of those stories? How you focus on something and you had a plan and it expanded.
Focus Shift That Reached MLB
SPEAKER_00Well, the plan started back in 1997. Wow. I was very happy and content with being a professional baseball player. And as I started to rise through the ranks a little bit, every year in spring training, a new group of guys would come through and they would have cuts. So then the guys that you've been playing with for the last couple years are now getting quote unquote cut and fired, and they're going home. And they're crying. You got young adults who are now crying because their hopes and dreams of being a major league baseball player have been shattered and basically been told, it's time to go home, pack your stuff, and see later. Um so in 1997, my best friend Chad and two other guys, Scott, who lives out in uh Colorado, we decided to go watch the ball drop in New York. It was at that point in 1997 watching the ball drop that I decided I'm gonna have to put forth a little bit more time and effort into what I was doing in order to reach my ultimate goal, and that was to play at the Major League level. Because I was content with just being a professional baseball player. I was single, traveling, I was having a lot of fun, which I'm sure everyone can understand what that means. So there was baseball from seven o'clock at night till 11 o'clock at night, and then there was the other game that was being played after the game. And you're out until two, three o'clock in the morning and you're chasing tail. And after a while it was, alright, man, I need to step up, I need to do something different. Started getting in the weight room a little bit more, started dedicating a little bit more time to my baseball craft, and then within two years I got to the big league level. So that's where it all started. But did I have a backup plan prior to it? Absolutely not. I didn't want a backup plan. Because I knew if I had a backup plan, then I wasn't gonna put all my eggs into one basket and say, This is what I need to do. So after a couple knee surgeries, a couple shoulder surgeries, and you work your way up the ladder, then you work your way down the ladder, I start to realize I can't compete anymore.
Coaching Kids Through Baseball
SPEAKER_00So I retired in 2003 and I started working for All-Star Baseball Academy out of Downingtown, which is where I met uh my boss, Jim Freeman, and that's where it all started. So I've basically been with this company now since 2003, so 23 years now. Um and we teach kids baseball, we teach them life lessons through the game of baseball. Yeah, the ages starting at the ages six through eighteen.
SPEAKER_03Welcome to social media! Welcome to social media call.
SPEAKER_01So you're still in the love of baseball. You know that that was your plan from the start, 1997. You know, and and before that, because you were in high school.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, played all the way up through the age of seven. Yeah. Um and it was just one of those things where my backup plan was hopefully to get become a professional coach.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And then as I started to get into the business, you realized how much of an effect you can have on kids. You know, we've done the numbers and we've run the reports, and you're at about there's there's only seven percent of high school baseball players who actually play beyond high school. So out of those seven percent, okay, from starting or let's just say all the way back to starting at the age of six, less than one percent of one percent ever reached the major leagues.
Grand Slam Ideas And Custom Hats
SPEAKER_00And that's part of the company that I started with Grand Slam Ideas as an offshoot is called ProBaseball Clubhouse.com. I make custom baseball hats for former Major League Baseball players, and I customize them with their what we call their debut number. So in baseball, as you get to the major league level, you are assigned a number in sequential order as to when you got there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um so each player has a specific number as to when they got there. So I customize each hat that I make to that particular debut number of that player.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Dang. So you do the hats like the hat that I have on right now. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Did that for Chris Mitchell? That's the C Mitch pitch. So Chris cunt came to me and says, Hey, I'd like to uh, you know, can you help us out with a logo? And you know, Chris sent us a logo that he kind of put together. Um I went to the creative uh uh uh portion of the business, which is my buddy Chad, uh, who is a teacher. Um, and we looked at the logo, and no offense to Chris, but it looked like his little daughter made it. And we had to kind of redesign it with a little bit of uh uh AI help. Uh we put that in there and say this is what we want it to be. We want it baseball related to show about pitching and and how, and and we kind of gave him a whole bunch of different uh descriptions of the different logos, and that's what he settled on right there. That kind of took off. So we do a lot of word of mouth.
SPEAKER_01Wow. So you're the you're the human AI hat guy, you know. So excuse my haircut right now. I didn't I didn't I didn't go to Philly Fades, so I got the hat on, you know what I'm saying? So whenever I'm not you know cut freshed up by Philly Fades, I got this hat right here, you know what I'm saying? So this this feels good too. I'm telling you that right now.
SPEAKER_00Richardson's and Yupong's there's some good hats that are out there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this is I really love it. We do all custom work. How many do I need, like the minimum, to get this hat right here, like this?
SPEAKER_00One.
SPEAKER_01Huh? One. Okay, but then you know, so I guess 12. So 12 a dozen.
SPEAKER_00Like how much however many you want.
SPEAKER_01Just with that logo right here on the front. And exactly for this hat.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like how can you tell me the price or no? We've got to look it up.
SPEAKER_00You
Pricing And How Custom Orders Work
SPEAKER_00range anywhere from 20, depending on the number that you get, 20 up to 40. So this custom hat right here, which is the less than 1% of 1%, Major League Baseball hat, because we have to put it in the system. We have to cut everything, uh, we have to uh adjust all the different numbers and stuff. This is a $40 hat.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Alright, so I got the King Kong and logo, okay? It's the King Kong and logo, just the logo. And I I want it. What would you do with that? You're gonna put it on like something like this?
SPEAKER_00I could put it on anything. We we have no I want I want to know right now what are you gonna do for me? I can put that I can put it on leatherette. If you want something that is designed with a whole bunch of color, no, just King Kong and the logo.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna give you the logo. And I kind of like this. Like, I want to be like Mitch. Okay, like Mitch P.
SPEAKER_00Oh, we can work something out of the page. Yeah, yeah, so I want that ASAP. Typically, like something as simple as that, you're talking about 25 bucks.
SPEAKER_01Okay. All right, for that.
SPEAKER_00That's really what you're looking at because I'm not really doing any customization on it. Yeah. I'm just gonna make it one time and then I can replicate it left and right. For something like this, I have to keep changing the numbers.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I got it.
SPEAKER_00So I gotta go into the system, change everything so there's time and effort that goes into it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we're not changing no numbers because King Congan is that soldier warrior. You know what I'm saying? More than a conqueror, and that's what you are. I'm I'm proud of you for keep going, never giving up on your dreams and your goals. Baseball, ever since you were seven years old. That kind of rhymed.
SPEAKER_00But uh, but uh, so you're gonna get into some master p and stuff.
Work Ethic Talk And Closing
SPEAKER_00Oh my god. Y'all rap.
SPEAKER_01Yo, yo, now I'm on the winning team. Yo, hold on, hold on. I got a line or two. You you rap? No. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00But listen, I I'm 54, so I grew up on Master P. I grew up on Snoop D. Yeah, man. I'm more in the country now.
SPEAKER_01Oh, country, okay.
SPEAKER_00Some of the some of the rap that's out there right now, I don't understand. It's crazy. It's not, it's not like what we're gonna do.
SPEAKER_01Mitch is in the studio still talking. We didn't even get he's on the next segment. Mitch is in the background, guys. He's freaking talking. He's in the green room right now. I can hear him. Yo, can you can you shut him up real quick? So look, listen, listen, but no, bottom line is I love hard workers. I mean, and that's why every if you're a hard worker, you're coming on this set. You know, I mean, I don't care where you're at. If you're a woman, you're Queen Konging, you know, and King Kong. Women are both, you know. So um you're gonna, you know, keep keep it going and never give up. So hey, I'm gonna do some business with you. Guaranteed. Like right now, I'm gonna send you my, you know, my assistant over there is gonna give you my my logo, and I need that hat, A S A P. And then once I get it, then I'll you know, probably get a couple more like different colors. I think I need different colors for each each shoe. Yeah, yeah, I got yeah, so the shoes have to match the belt. Right?
SPEAKER_02Yo, assistant, yo, assistant, did you get you yo, you can't get accessories Yo, this is the King Tong and so.
