Chasing James Mims

Brian Johnson (00:00.032)
So just like

Chad Sowash (00:17.391)
Welcome to Talent Chasing, where we bring together the worlds of major leagues, sports, and corporate talent to amplify real world stories and experience in finding, retaining, and motivating the best talent for your team. I'm Chad Sowash, Recruitment Tech Advisor and Angel

Brian Johnson (00:35.07)
And I'm Brian Johnson, retired Major League Baseball player and scout and entrepreneur. And I'm excited to say we have James Mims on the show today, another entrepreneur. Welcome, James.

Chad Sowash (00:45.005)
Yeah, yeah.

James Mims (00:46.582)
All right, thank you.

Brian Johnson (00:51.764)
All right, good to have you here. Let me give our audience a little background here. James is coming to us today from Los Angeles, California. He's born and raised there. James' story is a little unique. Let me set the stage for you. Imagine you're a senior in college and you have an idea. It's a unique idea, simple idea, but no one has ever done it. Imagine that you don't want to go to work in the corporate

You don't want to go work for some business, even though you just got your degree, you are about to get your degree at a great institution, University of Southern California. You play a little baseball there, but didn't quite work out. You got your degree. You're ready to head out to the world and you have this idea. What do you do? Do you scrap your idea and convince yourself is crazy? It'll never work. You know, I'm sure other people have had this idea. Why even bother? Because I don't want to deal with it.

possibility that won't work out or do you go for it? Our guest today, Mr. James Mims went for it. 40 years ago, he started this Mims band product and 40 years later, it's still going today. So again, welcome James Mims. Did I miss anything in the introduction?

Chad Sowash (02:05.552)
Wow.

James Mims (02:09.938)
No, that was great. I need to carry that one with me. I appreciate it. That was it.

Brian Johnson (02:13.728)
Yeah, absolutely. Please tell us your story. Start from the beginning. What other people were involved? Where did this idea come from? Where were you at? You know, a lot of our audience are people who are in the business world, who may have had ideas along the way. My wife has 30 ideas that are in her notebook that have never seen the light of day. Tell us the story about MIMS bands.

Chad Sowash (02:34.656)
Yep.

James Mims (02:38.101)
Well, just as you alluded to in the beginning in introduction, I was a senior at USC, didn't want to go into corporate America, played baseball, wore wristbands, grew up at Dodger Stadium. My godfather, the late Jim Gilliam, who was a roommate of Jackie Robinson, who was a first black in baseball. Just a little backdrop.

Chad Sowash (03:02.895)
Mm -hmm.

James Mims (03:06.752)
It just came to me, Brian, just as, just like that. It was kind of eerie when I think about it. I just sat there and said, man, what would it be like to have your own wristband with your autograph is what I thought about initially. I was like, no, that's not personal enough. And I said, well, let's try a picture. And Dusty, who I've known forever since I was 12 years old, was the first person I

Brian Johnson (03:31.978)
So explain who Dusty Baker was in that day?

James Mims (03:34.899)
Dusty Baker was on the tail end of his career with the Oakland Athletics. And he was in limbo if he was going to get a contract that year because he had just come from San Francisco, went to Oakland, and Oakland was trying to think if they were going to resign him. So immediately I thought of him. He wore wristbands his whole career. So I drove out to his house, had a sample made up, and I showed it to him and he laughed.

Chad Sowash (04:05.179)
James Mims (04:05.425)
And he was like, like James, was like, and it was hand -stitched. So if you can imagine.

James Mims (04:13.919)
and you'll be able to see the beginning and you'll be able to see the end. And from the very beginning, before it being hand stitched, it was unbelievable. And then, 1985, cost me $175 to get

So my sister was my seed money because I'm still a student and She gave me 175 so I went to Dusty's house I showed to him again. I said he laughed and then I said hey man You got to think you got to think beyond this and Dusty who is a Very entrepreneur. He was the first one to wear a Japanese manufactured glove in the big leagues with Mizuno So he was the first one to kind of come over and do something completely different than everyone else Rawlings McGregor's

Brian Johnson (04:58.784)
Yeah, that was a big deal back then.

James Mims (04:59.847)
That was huge. So he looked at it he said, hmm, he said, okay, let's see if we can tweak it a little bit. I said, by spring training, we'll be good. And I said, how many of you guys do you think would wear it? He said, I don't know. Let me wear it first and see where it goes from there. March comes around, no, February. Then March comes around, spring training started in late February at this time. They were in Palm Springs.

They were still separated between Palm Springs and Arizona. And Spring training is where everyone gets ready for the season, just to get a little backdrop. So I drive down to Palm Springs, I see Dusty and it's a little better than it was initially. So he was like, whoa, he kind of looked at him and said, okay.

Brian Johnson (05:47.21)
So you brought a new one, an updated version.

James Mims (05:48.657)
Yeah, an updated version. So he looked at it. So Michael still hand stitched.

Chad Sowash (05:53.487)
Was it still hand stitched? Was it still hand stitched? Okay.

Brian Johnson (05:57.125)
Who is your seamstress? Were you the seamstress?

James Mims (05:59.686)
I was not. So there was a company in downtown LA, that's where the clothing district is here. And I just found someone and the lady was sure she could do it. I mean, she would like stand fast, I can do it, I can do it. For me then, in my eyes, it looked great being hand done. So he looks at it. So Michael Davis, who was his teammate, Carney Lansford,

Chad Sowash (06:19.307)
huh.

James Mims (06:29.465)
Tony Phillips, they all kind of congregate over the desks because he said he calls them over, look at this. So they're all looking. And Michael Davis like, man, I gotta have him. And Carl Nielanshaw, who doesn't even wear wristbands. Man, that is unique. I said, you guys have to now visualize yourself. So Tony Phillips, so three immediate recruits. And I'm thinking.

Okay, now can I get three done? I had one done, now can I really do this? Because I didn't have a plan as far as everyone saying yes. In my mind, it was just going to be Dustin, kind of see where it went from there. So, all of a sudden I have three guys. And I'm excited. I mean, I'm like a kid in a candy store, so I said, okay, Dustin, that's enough right now. Let me get started on these guys, and then I'll be back. So, come back to LA, and then that's how it started. So those were my first

four guys it was Dusty, Michael Davis, Carney Lancer and Tony Phillips and if you google any of those guys those guys were studs they weren't like Hall of Famer but they were in a different class than the guys who were obviously below them just your the guys who anyone in the big leagues to me are stars just to get there is a journey but to elevate your game as you're in it these guys were in that

Chad Sowash (07:31.779)
Wow.

Chad Sowash (07:39.504)
Mm.

James Mims (07:54.926)
just to give you a backdrop as

Brian Johnson (07:56.16)
Let me push pause in the story real quick, but pick it up from where you're left off. So remember where your pin is. But I like how you talked about this was an opportunity for them. How did you sell it? You sold it as something for them to market themselves. Can you go a little bit deeper about that?

James Mims (08:11.437)
Yes, one of the things that I had talked about with Dusty was individualism. In baseball at the time, it was all about the different companies. It was never about the player. Anything that you saw done, it was about a company. And my concept was everyone needs to know who these players are. This is a chance for them to advertise themselves because on the field, baseball is very, very strict. It's black and

Chad Sowash (08:17.583)
Mm -hmm.

James Mims (08:40.119)
These are the things that you can do. These are the things that you can't do. And if you do these

Brian Johnson (08:44.702)
You have to you have to market the Nike swoosh. You have to market the Reebok logo and the Converse logo or the Mizuno logo. I'm sorry. Keep

Chad Sowash (08:50.501)
Mm -hmm.

James Mims (08:51.81)
That's okay. So back in the day, B, when you mentioned those names, they weren't even in the game yet. So in the game at that time, was just Adidas, Puma, and Nike was in the infantry stage getting introduced into baseball. So baseball, if you went against the rules, you'd have a little slip in your locker with the amount of the fine, and you paid it. And if you had to dispute it, you'd go through the players association. They would try to fight it for you. But again, if it's on the field,

they really don't have a fight because there are rules that are in play. So my idea again was to give individualism to the players who really needed it in baseball because again, baseball was very, very regimented. that, and I appreciate you Brian asking that because that's a piece that I would not have introduced even though I knew conceptually in my mind that's what it was. So again, I appreciate you mentioning

So that's where the concept came from, again, individualism, and that's what I wanted to give the players.

Chad Sowash (09:53.807)
Well, you had a

Brian Johnson (09:54.048)
Yeah, which is really unique and I'll throw it over chat here real quick, but it's really unique because at that so the big three in the United States, right? Football, baseball and basketball. Football and basketball do a great job of marketing the players. The WNBA is on the upswing and doing great now. Why? In large part because they're marketing their players. Baseball has never done a good job of marketing their players. So even more important, your idea of giving these guys 40 years ago an idea and an opportunity to market themselves is

Chad Sowash (10:08.549)
Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Chad Sowash (10:23.309)
And you had standards that you had to abide by by Major League Baseball, right? So those standards said nothing around being able to wear wristbands. No. You found a loophole.

James Mims (10:33.206)
No, absolutely nothing. well, was really bigger than a loophole. But understand, this is 1985, 1986. There's no internet, there's nothing. And when you think about the NIL right now, think about that. That was me then. So I really have contributed to what is happening now in amateur sports.

Chad Sowash (10:53.125)
Mm

James Mims (11:02.409)
There should never be a time when you can't advertise yourself. There should never ever be a time in any sport where you can't because you are the sport outside of being in a broad context, but if it was out the players, there's nothing going on. So yeah, it was a loophole that I took clear advantage of. I didn't know it at the time, but I did know that once I started getting players and I started having more conversations about how they thanked me as we were going along.

Chad Sowash (11:16.229)
Yeah, yeah.

James Mims (11:29.0)
Like, okay, this is a little bit more than what I thought. That was just a great idea, I thought at the time, but had no idea that it was going to be what it has become.

Chad Sowash (11:39.195)
Well, and we've lost sight of that in the corporate world where the talent in corporate America without that talent, you can't ideate new product. You can't create new product. You can't sell the product. can't actually have any customer service or generate revenue at all. Right. And we've lost that in corporate America. And, you know, that's why I think this podcast is so great, because we can look towards sports where guys like you were like, look, without the talent,

That team doesn't exist, right? Without the talent, the league doesn't exist. My big question for you is, what was your business model? You wanted to give these guys an opportunity to wear themselves, to be able to promote themselves, but what was your business model at that

James Mims (12:26.353)
My business model, first of all, was I wanted to get it patented, which I did. That was crucial. The second part of my business model was to get them in the stadiums. And I thought it was a great idea. It was fan friendly. Everyone wants to have their favorite player. And the fans' favorite players aren't necessarily the top echelon guys. It really isn't. It's a guy who they could relate to. So if it's a catcher. Brian had his own...

Chad Sowash (12:31.771)
Nice.

James Mims (12:54.035)
fan base every player has their fan base every player garners at least a minimum of 10 ,000 votes during the all -star game for whatever reason if they're on that ballot they're gonna get some votes someone is voting for so this is going to reach Whoever that fan is of that particular player so that was my concept and not in a million years Should I ever think that it wasn't going to get into the stadiums because I felt like What better idea you know I wanted to do promotional nights

Chad Sowash (13:06.703)
Yeah? Yeah?

James Mims (13:24.014)
in the stadium, in the gift shops around different stadiums, because sometimes they're not affiliated with the teams. That was my concept.

Chad Sowash (13:32.621)
So were you working with the players to kind of give them a cut of it? Were they like a part of the business? How did that work? Because it seems like you were really close with these guys.

James Mims (13:42.586)
Well, I was only close with Dusty and I really had to give him kudos because he really opened up his book for me and one of the things that he told me from the very beginning was players don't like other players making money off of them. So in my mind, I took that in there when I had conversations with players. So to be monetized, they were like, look James, we don't want any

just supply us with the product and we're fine. He said, because this is not just about us as a player, this is about us being unified and understand Chad, at this time, baseball had on an average, it was about 12 % blacks in baseball at that time. So we wanna hold onto that thought. About

Chad Sowash (14:31.925)
Mm -hmm. Okay.

Brian Johnson (14:34.08)
Compared to today, James, what's the comparison today? Give them that

James Mims (14:36.624)
It is about it's about four to five percent. What they do now to try to buck to blow that statistic up is That they're going to take the big league roster. I'm talking guys who were in the big leagues at 12 % not on the roster. I'm talking about on the team physically well now they take the 40 -man roster and they include any blacks that are on that in their number throughout for baseball so averaging

Chad Sowash (14:54.415)
Yeah,

Brian Johnson (15:00.541)
James Mims (15:05.454)
five to six players, black players per team.

Brian Johnson (15:10.208)
But yeah, so but actually in the big leagues, I'd say it's probably one to two, one to three in actuality on the Major League roster. Well, I'd say one to two. Yeah, yeah, good point.

James Mims (15:19.885)
Yep. So, so what happened, and again, this wasn't a black product. This was a product that I was introducing to every player who was interested. It just so happened to be that the black ball players came towards me because we were alike. They had no idea. Some of the guys didn't even know that I knew Dusty. I just showed them the product conceptually and they just started coming on board.

Chad Sowash (15:31.237)
Mm -hmm.

James Mims (15:49.28)
So when I started going into more depth about my idea and what I wanted to do with the product, they were all on board. Just the fact that I was a black vendor in baseball, which, and I had mentioned before in an interview that I have done, the first and only in the history of baseball. History. Verifiable. History.

Chad Sowash (16:12.249)
Wow.

Brian Johnson (16:15.712)
Still to this day.

James Mims (16:16.567)
Still to this day, if I were to ask Brian right now, how many black vendors did he ever encounter? One. And second, the only ones that he probably encountered worked for one of the larger companies, be it a Nike, be it a Grubop. They were employees of that company. But as far as just being your own and the head of it, the only

Chad Sowash (16:34.288)
Gotcha.

Brian Johnson (16:43.124)
And pretty cool to hear that other black players during that time rallied around you and embraced you and really supported you and you supported them. Tell me what were the factors that came out for how you picked guys you wanted to have? Because you didn't really care about who was a big star, who was a small star. You had a unique idea as to who you wanted to wear this wristband. What were your guidelines?

James Mims (17:11.04)
Great question. Just a good human being. And I tend, I went with my gut. Whatever I felt initially is what I went with. They had to be a good human being, someone who could really have a conversation outside of baseball, and someone who really could appreciate what I was bringing to the table as far as individualism is concerned. Those were the criteria's. And when you hear my roster, I don't care

what anyone says about some of these guys, it is basically what they gave me. That's all that I could go by. Now who they were, who they turned out to be outside of that, I couldn't control. But when I met them and I dealt with them, they dealt with me in a way that made me feel good about embracing them and bringing them on. out of the 145, 146 guys that I had, every one of them

Every single one has always been a quality human being towards me. And some of these guys were Brian's teammates and we'll go into more depth as to who they were, as how he saw them, but that's how they were. And I want to give a little more backdrop as far as being the first. And I don't compare myself with any of the guys, but I mentioned Jackie Robinson, who my godfather was a roommate of, was a first black. Kurt Flood.

Chad Sowash (18:23.674)
Mm.

James Mims (18:40.555)
who was the first to challenge the reserve clause in baseball basically opened the door for free agency. His son and I played Little League Baseball together and I'm dating myself but when I go back and I think about that, we're talking about 1970, 1971 when he was in the thick of challenging this reserve clause which basically you could not go from one team to another.

You were married to that team and irregardless of whatever your statistics were, you didn't like to sit anymore, you were stuck, couldn't move. So that's what the reserve clause did in Major League Baseball. So when I think about those two gentlemen, while I'm not in their class, but I am the first. And to know that I have a connection to each one of those gentlemen in this sport to me separates me

any other than their in the history of sports period there's no one who has that type of connection when you talk about the first in their sports so that's a little more backdrop when I when I talk about being the one in the only backdrop I wanted to inject that

Brian Johnson (19:55.796)
Yeah, I appreciate that great, great backdrop. A little me expand a little bit more on Kurt Flood. So Kurt Flood was born and raised in Oakland, California, where I'm from. So I've always learned about him, but Kurt Flood was the superstar. He was on the St. Louis Cardinals who, who in baseball during those days, Stan Musial was his teammate. they were winning world series left and right. They were one of the best organizations in all of baseball. Kurt Flood was one of the main stars of that time.

So imagine a player at the top of peak of their game, LeBron James, whoever, Messi, whoever you want to say. And then they stop and fight in a legal battle to make sure that they are given freedom to market themselves like James was talking about. And remember baseball was on the cutting edge. Baseball was the first one or was one of the first leagues to have a black player. Now the reserve fighting the reserve clause, allowing players to be free.

Chad Sowash (20:38.853)
Mm -hmm.

Brian Johnson (20:50.75)
No matter what sport, but this is just baseball. Kurt Flood fought baseball. so Kurt Flood put his career on the line. He was at the top of his game, making a really good amount of money back then. He goes in and he loses the lawsuit. Baseball black balls, Kurt Flood. Kurt Flood goes from being a star from the penthouse to the outhouse. He can't find a job. He's kicked out of baseball. Later on, another guy, Andy Messersmith, he would also

the labor laws, Major League Baseball Union supported him, he won that case. But it wouldn't have happened if Kurt Flood hadn't done the first one. So anyway, just want to give a little backdrop on that. Kurt Flood allowed for free agency, all these big contracts for these players, allowing them to market themselves, to do these things for themselves. That doesn't happen without Kurt Flood, not just in baseball, but in every sport around the globe that we see today. That doesn't happen without Kurt Flood.

James Mims (21:48.488)
Great job.

Chad Sowash (21:48.77)
Amazing.

Brian Johnson (21:50.388)
Yeah, I just want to say that before we have you go back and continue on with the rest of your story, being the first lot of challenges that go with being the first no matter what it is. Chad asked about the business aspect. He asked about compensation for the guys. I know you set up a little bit of compensation deal for guys to go to their charity along the way. Can you give Chad a little bit more detail on how you set that

James Mims (22:13.57)
Yes, that came along later with basically the newer generation. A lot of them were charity based. They had their own charities or someone who they were fond of that they would donate money to during the course of the year. So a lot of the players wanted their proceeds to go to their charitable endeavors. So that's exactly what I did with quite a few guys. Rajay Davis, Chris Davis.

Those are the guys who I think of immediately who had given me names of their charitable endeavors. So I always wanted them to know that, wherever you wanted to go, excuse me, that's where it would go. But a lot of guys, didn't have charities. They just say, James, you keep it. I want you to keep giving us the product because that's what we want. So this is going to allow you to make a little money. So be it. This is a unique product. The history, I want to be part of history.

Not too many guys wore it. I chose my guys. I've turned down a bunch of guys. But the key to a chat? I chose them. No one chose them for me. Each one basically was interviewed and talked to by me.

Brian Johnson (23:27.424)
So before you continue on with your story, I don't know if I hit the criteria of a good human being, but I had the wristbands myself. So I want to show everybody. There's mine with my signature, my face. Yeah, no facial hair. I had actual hair back then. Say no to drugs was kind of the big thing back then. Nancy Reagan started that. So then the other one, the blue one here. So we had lots of different colors, different ways to do it. So again, I was honored to wear it. It was funny

Chad Sowash (23:32.795)
There it is.

Chad Sowash (23:37.988)
It's like a baby face Brian Johnson right there.

Chad Sowash (23:46.607)
Yeah, yeah. -huh.

Brian Johnson (23:57.544)
I tell the stories that I used to turn mine upside down so that it was a little bit hidden because I was so, I thought that the product was so cool that all these big stars were in it. I wanted to kind of earn my way first. I felt like I didn't deserve to wear these wristbands first. So I turned them under at first and then I got a couple of good years in me. And then I was like, okay, I can turn them up now. can wear them proud. I can be amongst these other guys. So it gave me a little confidence too. So thank you for picking me.

James Mims (24:25.242)
Thank

Brian Johnson (24:25.748)
Continue on with your story as you go. We got the foundation set where the idea came from. I'm sorry, go ahead, Jack.

Chad Sowash (24:29.967)
Wait a minute while you're talking about that though, because he's talking about scarcity. Scarcity is a good thing for business. Right. And then and then you have everybody's like I want my own memes bands. Right. So so was it like a flood of you know baseballers coming to you and saying hey look can you hook me up. And then at that point I mean I talk about look hey I only have so much bandwidth so I can only do so much. How did you turn them

James Mims (24:37.962)
Right.

Chad Sowash (24:59.417)
because I mean that had to be worse than like getting smacked on a first

James Mims (25:03.918)
Well, that's a good, that's a very, you know, I've never been asked that's a good question. I will.

Brian Johnson (25:04.169)
No.

James Mims (25:10.938)
I will tell you this story. This is how they turned themselves down. Let me start with one to who I walked up to, had the same conversations with and how they responded. So I'm in non -friendly Anaheim state and Brian can understand this. It is

Chad Sowash (25:15.162)
Ha ha

Chad Sowash (25:22.22)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

James Mims (25:34.854)
I don't get political so I won't but anyway, it's the worst place for someone that looks like me to be But it's the place where I had to do business So I was never welcome at that stage. So imagine I'm out here amongst the fans trying to introduce my product, right? So

Brian Johnson (25:57.768)
And remember this is days with no website. had to get on the ground. had the boots on the ground. You had to walk around and tell people about your product. Go ahead.

Chad Sowash (26:00.229)
Yeah.

James Mims (26:04.898)
You have to get it in

George Brett, who I loved from afar. Never met the guy, but just who I saw as a player. And being from Southern California, I'm like, this is gonna be a shoe. And he wore wristbands like it fits. So he's coming through. So I walk up to him and he kind of side -eyes me. And I'm like, okay, this may not be too good, but I'm not stopping, right?

So I walk up to him and I introduce myself. I told him the guys that I had. And he turned around and looked at me, never said anything, and just kept walking.

James Mims (26:50.54)
So I kind of put that one away. was like, you know, maybe it's a little too much, but he could have said something, but it was nothing. I was like, all right.

Next home stand. You got the Minnesota Twins coming in. Kirby Puckett, wristband guy, right from Chicago, South Side. I'm from LA. Grew up in South Central LA. There's a lot here. The only thing different, you're Chicago, I'm LA. So I walk up to him, introduce myself. Would love to have you be a part of the family. And he looked at

and said, no, I'm good. Now, his wristbands were just a little diamond called Saranac's. That was the only other wristband company in the business. It was a little diamond and it said Saranac on it. Nothing personal, nothing. And I am starting to like really get kind of like, okay, you know, is this thing gonna work? Now, I'm gonna take you to the National League Park. I'm gonna take you to Darjeet Stadium.

James Mims friendly, that's like my home.

Brian Johnson (28:02.728)
And I'm sorry, real quick, I don't know if we've heard that part. Why were you able to get into the stadium and why were you have that relationship with Dodger Stadium?

James Mims (28:09.693)
Well, Darja Stadium, because I had been at that stadium since I was 10 years old, and Ruth Ruiz was a classmate of mine at USC, and she just so happened to be in the PR department. So Ruth knew what I was doing way back in college, and I told her. So she told me, if I ever need to get into the stadium, James, it's not a problem. Just let me know, call ahead, and I'll get you a pass. I had carte blanche there, no problem. So I'm in the stadium. Amongst the players feeling

Chad Sowash (28:35.596)
Nice.

James Mims (28:38.116)
Okay, I'm like really a business person. So the same introduction that I made to those two gentlemen in the American league, I make to the same, to different guys obviously in the national league. So the Cincinnati Reds were coming through town. Now I knew Eric Davis, but I didn't know Eric Davis. We grew up in the same neighborhood, new people alike. So Eric Davis to me was

the very bonds in that era. Without injuries, bar none, hall of famer. Just to give you an idea of who he is. So he walks over and he looks and we have a conversation. That's how I started. I didn't show him anything, didn't tell him anything. Then I showed him the product. His eyes look like a Christmas tree. Now, Kirby Puck is not a better ball player than he is. George Brett is more established.

Chad Sowash (29:12.09)
Mm -hmm.

Brian Johnson (29:17.002)
Best player.

James Mims (29:38.159)
But I look at Kirby Puckett, Eric Davis, they're equal. Eric to me is a better ball player, my personal opinion, but I'm just telling you, stature -wise, within baseball rounds, they're like, unbelievable. James, would love to do it. Where do I need to sign? boom, boom. I'm thinking, okay, is there something between the American League and the National League? Now there's some, I'm gonna keep going. I'm gonna give you one more, chat. So the next homestand, you got the Montreal Expo's coming into

Chad Sowash (29:49.343)
huh, yeah.

James Mims (30:08.314)
Tim Reigns. Tim Reigns is like the dude. Stolen base champ, all of that. Switch hitter, unbelievable person. He walks up. Very approachable. We have a conversation, same introduction. James, would love to do it. I'm two for two in the National League now. I'm 0 for 2 in the American

Started really I started really understanding that the American League players as a whole were completely different than the National League guys That's it. That was my cue as to where I should go and where I should not go not fan for it not James Mims friendly in Anaheim very friendly at Dodger Stadium And that's where my recruiting took place most in Dodger Stadium

as opposed to Anaheim

Chad Sowash (31:06.191)
Now was Fred Claire the GM at that point? was he, he? So he was in PR though, right? In marketing and PR at that

James Mims (31:09.791)
No, that came later.

James Mims (31:16.025)
At that time, was a vice president of baseball. Now, Fred Claire and I go back when I was 12 years old, I sold programs at Darjeet Stadium. Up on the club level, and the club level is where all of the executives, so I used to see Roy Campanella come through there, I saw Dean Crosby come through there. I mean, you name it, everyone came through this

So I've known Fred Claire since I was 12. Always come up and spoke, if you ever need anything, James, don't hesitate, blah, blah, blah. I was like, okay. So.

Brian Johnson (31:55.36)
The infamous, anything you need, I got you. Like my door's always open, same one, yeah, yeah. Don't say that unless you mean

James Mims (31:59.466)
Right, well, you if you tell me that my door is always open, guess what I'm gonna do? Right. Okay, I'm gonna. Thank you. So, as I'm on my entrepreneurial journey, Fred Claire, first of all, he congratulates me, but then he says, James, I'd like to set up a meeting with you. Like, okay. I'm thinking he's gonna help, he's got something to offer. Now, let me back up a little

Fred Claire wrote me a letter of recommendation to get into USA. So that's a little more backdrop as to how well I have known Mr. Claire. So in this meeting, he has Sam Fernandez, which is a team attorney.

Chad Sowash (32:39.44)
Yeah.

James Mims (32:53.225)
And again, I'm not sure what's going on here. I'm still thinking he's face to face with the artist data. So I'm thinking now he's gonna give me something really good. So he says to me, this is how he started. He said, James, he said, I'm having you here because I don't want you to get in

Brian Johnson (32:56.298)
This is Face to Face at Dodger Stadium.

James Mims (33:14.868)
And I'm saying to myself, and at this time he's Mr. Claire. He's still Mr. Claire because he hasn't said anything yet, so he's still Mr. Claire. So I said, okay, what do you mean by that? And he said, well, you you've got seven of our nine starting players wearing your product. And I said, yeah. He said, well, you know, you have them in blue hats and I'm seeing where this is going. And I said, yeah. I said, but they don't bear any logos. And he said, well,

You know, it's a very slippery, slow Major League Baseball is going to look at this. And I said, I said, now he's Fred. I said, Fred.

Please don't do that. I said that's insulting to my intelligence. You don't. I

Brian Johnson (34:00.446)
How old are you at this point?

James Mims (34:04.405)
Oh, I'm 23.

Chad Sowash (34:06.651)
Wow. No, 23 years old. Tell him the VP of baseball operations.

James Mims (34:08.373)
Yeah, 23.

Brian Johnson (34:10.1)
And he brings a lawyer to try to intimidate you a little bit. Yeah, go

James Mims (34:13.193)
Yeah, little old me. So I said, Fred, I said, don't do that. I said, the product has been patented. You don't own blue. The only thing that I cannot do is put logos in it. He said, well, James, why don't you show the players at home? And I said,

Brian Johnson (34:33.834)
Yeah iron in the shirt. Yeah, that'd be the same same effect as it in the baseball uniform.

James Mims (34:37.896)
I said, I said, really? I said, Fred, I said, I'm disappointed. I got up and I left. So as I'm leaving, there's a gentleman by the name of, my goodness. Anyway, he was a reporter for the Pasadena Star News and that's where Fred Claire started. He said, and he was a fan of the product. Mark is his name.

And he said, he said, James, is everything okay? And I have had conversations with him before he wants to do an article. And I told him what happened. said, I would love to do an article on that. He said, would you be willing to talk? I said, yeah. He said, well, who's you meet with? Fred Claire? He said, do you think Fred Claire? I said, I don't know. Fred Claire turned down the opportunity to give his side. And I gave my side of what took place. And our relationship went from, I'll do anything for you, letter of recommendation to now being

because I didn't go along with what he felt I needed to do regarding my product. That is my Fred Claire story. went from, I just believe that all of sudden he felt like I was looking, when you're looking up to someone, they tend to be a little more, hey, anything you need, anything you need, but as soon as you feel like you started to look eye to eye, the conversation completely changes, personality changes, and that's what happened with Mr. Claire.

Chad Sowash (36:07.909)
So that being said, within the rest of Major League Baseball, which is a huge corporation, mean, LA Dodgers is not small, don't get me wrong, but I mean, the whole of Major League Baseball, it's a huge corporation and that could not have been easy. How did you navigate those waters so that you didn't have bumpy Fred Claire kind of waters in the midst?

Brian Johnson (36:07.925)
Mm -hmm.

James Mims (36:32.559)
have the players.

The players then didn't know how much power they had because they were so suppressed. Major League Baseball had a way of just shutting you down, not giving you a voice. again, hence why the product, why I had the product, because I wanted them to have a voice. I had so many players on the Dodgers, it would have been very difficult for them to do anything other than acquiesce in this moment. You're not going to tell a Steve Sachs, Pedro Herrera, Mike Sosia, Michael Day. I mean, the list goes

Chad Sowash (36:41.231)
James Mims (37:05.253)
You're not going tell those guys what they can and can't do. It didn't go against the rules of Major League Baseball. They've never been fined for this product. So what can you say in our organization? You can't tell us anything. So I knew if I had multiple players on each team, it was going to be mute from the front office. Now, Dusty got a little

Chad Sowash (37:23.6)
Mm -hmm.

James Mims (37:27.504)
from Sandy Alderson. Dusty was called into the office asking him what was he wearing on his wrist. Now again, Chet, this is 1986. He was called into the office.

Chad Sowash (37:40.409)
Wow.

Brian Johnson (37:45.182)
No social media, the only people who had access to the audience, to the public were the reporters and the organization.

Chad Sowash (37:50.639)
Yeah. Mm -hmm. Wow.

James Mims (37:51.331)
That's it. So it was garnering attention then because Dusty had something that had never been seen. There was nothing they could do. It didn't go against any contractual agreements within the organization. It didn't go against any agreement against Major League Baseball. It was not even in the rules as far as the Players Association. They had never seen it. So this was all new to everyone.

And as we talk a little bit more, you'll see why this product still to this day is on this who's who and how can I and where did it come from and where is it now sort of

Brian Johnson (38:35.966)
Yeah, the one last piece on that, the shoe companies had a role in the game at this point, too, as they do today, right? Nike wasn't as big, but Reebok was starting to make some noise. When I wore my wristbands, had a contract with Reebok. Reebok got mad at me because they wanted me to wear their wristbands with their logo on it. And I had it wasn't a big deal, but I had a conversation like, no, my contract with you is for shoes. didn't say anything about wristbands. Wristbands are something that

that I am allowed to do if I want to, I would rather promote myself and this great little product instead of, you you guys got plenty of exposure. You don't need that. And so it was over with. But that was another piece of it that I'm sure most of the guys heard from the shoe companies that they had endorsement deals with as well. But we got Fred Claire. We got all the foundation set. Take us going forward what the journey of Mims Bams was after

James Mims (39:33.377)
Well, I want to piggyback real quick on what you mentioned about a company come up to you, Reeboks, you basically to wear ours and not the ones that you were wearing, meaning your bags. Brandon Phillips had a very similar conversation with Under

Brian Johnson (39:49.738)
So Brandon Phillips, it was a long time second baseman, all star, great player for Cincinnati and several other teams. Okay, go

James Mims (39:57.165)
Correct. And Under Armour came up to him and said, you know, we don't want you wearing those wristbands, we want you wearing ours. And this is when Client Tracks went from just shoes from head to toe. Head to toe meaning whatever you could wear on the field, they wanted you in it with their logos on it. Brandon Phillips told

Take that agreement out of my contract. I'm not wearing Under Armour. I'm wearing my own. I applaud him when he told me that. That to me was next level.

Chad Sowash (40:37.486)
Mm -hmm.

James Mims (40:38.527)
That was so different than anything that I had ever heard during that time, because when Brian was playing, it wasn't a head -to -toe thing. Like he said, wristbands were throw -ins. They just threw them at you, but it wasn't part of what the agreement was. All of a sudden, as my product started getting bigger and bigger, now there were clauses for wristbands in these players' contracts. So I went to piggyback what Brian said. So kudos to Brandon Phillips for actually telling them, hey.

Take this out of my

Brian Johnson (41:10.204)
And last little buffer on the Brandon Phillips story. Brandon Phillips was in the 2000s. He's in the he's social media is well into our world at this point. The players are starting to mature as far as what can I get out of this? What I can build my audience. I can build my brand. I can add to this. So Brandon Phillips is a great illustration of the maturation process of the athlete as an entrepreneur and a marketer of their own

James Mims (41:37.599)
Right? So, it was challenging me to answer your question. There were a lot of stadiums that would not allow me in, even though they saw my product on the field. They treated me just like any other quote unquote fan, though I was a businessman, a fan of baseball, but I'm a businessman and I had a viable product on the field.

And the first encounter that I had was in Cincinnati. I didn't know Cincinnati in Kentucky. I had no idea that they are close. I flew into Kentucky and I'm thinking, my goodness. And I drive over a little bridge, Coventry Bridge, whatever that bridge is, to get over into Cincinnati. So I go to Cincinnati. I'm excited because I got Eric Davis, Barry Larkin, Cal Daniels, Lenny Harris. I have like five guys on the team. My first trip and I'm going to deliver their product in person.

Chad Sowash (42:22.872)
Yep.

James Mims (42:33.481)
So I get to the stadium, I go to the front office, I tell them who I am, and they said, we can't allow you in the stadium.

Okay, why not? Well, you don't have a password. said, exactly, that's why I'm here. And they said, I said, this is the product, these are my players. said, no, I said, can you call the PR department? No, we can't do it. So this was the day where the cell phones were bricks. They were huge. So I'm thinking, man, so I had to call Eric. Eric Davis.

So I called Eric and Eric said, where are you? said, I'm outside the state. He said, what are you doing outside? I said, they won't let me

Chad Sowash (43:17.391)
That's the Trump card right there. You just played, you just played the Trump card.

James Mims (43:18.749)
Yeah. Yeah, he did. But I didn't know it at the time. was just, you know, that's my dude. So the security guard said, well, he doesn't own the stadium. And he started just like berating. And I said, first of all, you're making it real personal. That's not going to happen. We're going to nix this conversation because it's going to go in a whole different direction that you can say what you need to say, but you're getting a little personal. So Eric comes out. And said, what are you guys doing?

And now this guy, Mr. David, I said no, tell him what you just told me. Tell him that you just told me he doesn't own the state and who does he think he is. Tell him what you just said to me. And the guy was like wow. I said yeah, now you're not saying anything. I said you're Barney Fife. Move to the side. So Eric takes me in there. So the PR guy comes down. I won't use profanity, but he gave them some explicit, I mean he would let into them. And these were his exact words.

Brian Johnson (44:13.716)
Who did, Eric to the PR guy or the PR guy?

James Mims (44:15.93)
know, Eric Davis lived to the PR guy because I tried to get a phone call into the PR guy. He didn't pick up the phone. He said, you have a bunch of these white guys coming to the stadium that have nothing to do with delivering product or anything else. If you ever don't allow him into this stadium when he's here, it's going to be an effing problem. Are we clear? No, are we clear? Boom, that was

No issues. So now I have all my guys coming out. You know, I'm able to talk to them a little bit, tell them what's going on, give them their product. And to this day, Eric is like one of my best partners. But that said a lot to me. That meant a lot. And it said a lot. And I hold that dearly because he didn't have to do that. And the fact that he did and did it in a way that it needed to be done for the time.

Kudos. Now, I go to San Diego and this gentleman, his name was Mr. Beck. He was the head of the PR at the

Unbelievable. I go to his office He knows the product He says James anytime you're in town You can come into my stadium. You will have a pass. You're waiting. Just give me a day in advance and it's yours This man made me feel so He was the first one to do that and he left from the pod race and then he went to the Marlins that did the same thing when he went to the Marlins So when I tell you there's good and bad in this story

There's more bad, quote unquote, I should say, than it was good. But I want to give kudos to the guys who really understood what I was up against and what I was trying to do. Now I've been following around clubhouses as if I was going to steal something. Now again, Chad, I've been a majorly clubhouse since 10 years, since I was 10. There's nothing in here that I want, that I need, that I just couldn't get. But the fact that that was happening, it was uncomfortable.

James Mims (46:27.044)
and it was not necessary. But again, when I'm the only one in there, meaning someone that looks like me, who is a vendor that they've never seen before, I took a lot of bullets. I took a lot of bullets, and I took a lot of... It was a lot when I really step back and I think about what I had to endure. Luckily, I was thick -skinned enough.

to endure and then I just kind of let the players know what was happening. I mean, it happened in San Diego in Brian's first year. It just so happened

I can't remember, someone talked to the equipment guy at the time and he kind of eased around me, but know, eyes were on me there everywhere that I was. There were eyes on me as if I wanted to do something, but I'm giving a product away. That's the only reason that I've been there. So that's, you know, there's so many more stories, but those are the ones that come to mind immediately. The good, bad, and the not

Brian Johnson (47:34.762)
So fast forward a little bit. Great story. really appreciate it. Fast forward a little bit. You get sued by the Major League Baseball Players Association. Now, I was on the executive board of the Major League Baseball Players Association. I was on the licensing committee. I was on the committee that certified agents. So I was heavily involved in there. Then we had a guy named Michael Weiner who was going to take over for Don Fear. Michael Weiner passes away due to cancer.

James Mims (47:43.35)
Yes.

James Mims (47:53.876)
Okay.

Brian Johnson (48:04.02)
Tony Clark is going to be his number two guy. Tony Clark is going to mentor under Michael Weiner. Michael passes, pressures put on for Tony to take over the reins of Major League Baseball Players Union, be the face of the union, be the leader of it as a former player. Smart guy, great teammate of mine in Detroit with the Tigers. But Tony has no idea how to do this job. tough, tough gig that he walks into. So during his reign, some

James Mims (48:08.13)
Right.

Brian Johnson (48:33.778)
random lawyer with there's a bunch of labor lawyers that that consist of the legal team from the Major League Baseball Players Union some little random lawyer did the same thing to you James from what I understand as the guy as the as the PR guy and or the the stadium guy in Cincinnati flexed his muscles try to get rid of you try to shut you down even though you were the only black vendor tell us that

James Mims (48:52.305)
Yes.

James Mims (48:59.647)
Yeah that was um now 1986 up until like 1992 I had over 130 guys

Okay Chad, hold that number, 130. At this time it was 2010, 2011, I had 32 guys. 130, I got 32 guys. Website, everything. I'm with the time. So at the time, website, social media,

Brian Johnson (49:31.392)
So 130 previous guys, 30 current guys.

James Mims (49:42.609)
It's festering. It's just everywhere. So I get the email from the Players Association telling me that I am infringing on the players. I ignore it. I'm like, this has got to be a joke. mean, infringing on the players, how could I do that? Right? So I ignore it. Another one comes. a little more heat on this one. This was

Okay, you know, this is a cease and desist. Now we're giving you a week. I'm thinking, okay, like what's going on? So the first phone call that I made is to, is to Barry Bonds because he's very astute, good businessman. So I called him said, Hey, B, like, can you tell me more about the agreement with the player association as far as licensing is concerned?

And he kind of broke it down and said what it was. And he said, it's a group thing. It's not an individual thing. It's a group thing. And if you get more than X, Y, and Z, but he said, James, a group basically is guys that you're recruiting in a room all at the same time. And they all agree. These are individual agreements. They just happen to make up a group, but that's the gray area. OK. So I call. I finally returned the phone call now to this player association.

And this guy says to me, yeah, his name is Tim Slavin. Yeah, Tim Slavin. And on the call with him is Bobby Bonilla, who wore the

Brian Johnson (51:15.84)
Put his name out

We put Fred Claire out there, we gotta put Tim Slavin out there.

Brian Johnson (51:32.18)
Bobby Bowe is working at the Players Union these days.

James Mims (51:34.415)
Right. So I say, hey, B, like, what's going on here? And he said, James, this is, this is Tim Slavin. So this guy Slavin gets on the phone. He said, what took you so long to call? I said, hey, man, who in the F do you think you're talking to? I said, I'm not an F 'ing kid. I said, are you kidding me? And Bobby Lee was like, calm down. I said, no, I'm not F 'ing calming down. I said, why are we on the phone? I said, you were on the product. So why are we here?

I said, that's 1987, 88. So why are we here in 2011 talking about cease and desist? Like, I'm not understanding here. So this guy says, well, you know, they're our player. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, No, they're not your players. I said, that's your problem. You're in an area that really, you don't even know how to navigate through, because this is something that you're not even privy to or understand conceptually where this whole idea came from. And secondly, how am I now just hearing from you? I didn't hear from.

Marvin Miller, I was on a tail end of Marvin Miller, so I went through Marvin Miller, Führer, was it, who was the third one? There was a third, no, those are.

Brian Johnson (52:42.986)
Yeah, Marvin Miller started the Players Union long time ago, started, began at the founder. Donald Fehr took over for him. Then Michael Weiner was taken over for Donald Fehr, but then he passed and then it was Tony.

James Mims (52:50.243)
Okay.

So I said, I go through three executives, leaders of the union, and then this fourth one, I'm here? And he said, well, you know, we want to kind of work with you. I don't need to work with you. I'm working with you by giving your players individualism. They're your players. These are individual players. I'm giving them what they deserve and what they need. I said, I'm still not understanding this whole legal thing about cease and desist. Well, you have more than three players. I don't

I said, have you talked to the players? We don't need to. Why not? I said, well, let's just get the player on the phone. No, didn't. Yes, we do. Let's get the player on the phone. So we're going back and forth. And he said, well, James, you're going to find yourself in a legal bind. Fine. Put me in a legal bind. Click. I hang up. That's exactly how it Boom. Done.

Brian Johnson (53:37.824)
Nice. Mic drop.

James Mims (53:40.011)
So yeah, that's exactly what it was. So they kept coming. They kept coming and they kept coming. And then they got PayPal to cut off my ability to take orders. Now I'm pissed.

Brian Johnson (53:55.402)
All out of effort to go after a little guy.

James Mims (53:58.444)
Yeah, now this is a players association, not Major League Baseball, the players association. People often get that mixed up, James, you're a super Major League Baseball. No, the players association.

Brian Johnson (54:13.886)
the antithesis of Major League Baseball are the owners. Major League Baseball players union are the players.

Chad Sowash (54:29.349)
You think they'd be sticking up for a guy like James since they all were wearing his stuff and he was helping them promote their name, image, and likeness? I mean, since the

James Mims (54:36.952)
Right. didn't understand. Yes, that exactly. So I didn't get it. So when that happened, now I call them. I make another phone call and I tell them, if you don't have this little thing taking off my ability, I said, because all of these aren't your current players. You're now cutting on my ability to sell product that I've had since 1986. And now this is an avenue.

in order for me now to give checks to these guys. You better figure it out. So they sent another letter cutting off their current players that I had and allowing me to have the previous generation of guys. So then we're going back and forth. So now I'm on the phone with my players. I'm on the phone with my players telling me what's going on. They're like, what? So they started making phone calls. So all of this is going on. And in the midst of all of this, I'm now legally, now I'm in court.

I am in court with the Players Association over what? So my first date in court, we're allowed to speak. I don't know any court lingo. I'm just speaking in layman terms. So the first thing I said to the judge, I said, look, I'm gonna keep it real simple. So I showed them covers. I said, here's a product. That's the product. This is 1986. That's the product, right? So I showed them

And I showed them another one. I showed them, this is the product, this is 1987, right? I'm showing them. This is 1989, I'm showing them. I said, help me understand.

Brian Johnson (56:13.745)
Precedents, lawyers, judges love precedents.

James Mims (56:17.01)
So I said, here's another one, right? This was, I can't remember the year this one. And I showed them this. So I'm just showing them all this product now.

Chad Sowash (56:17.509)
How'd they do?

Brian Johnson (56:27.038)
Nash, for those of you on audio, James is showing several different magazine covers. Remember, magazines are what we used to have when we didn't have social media. But national, world -renowned magazine covers have James' product on

Chad Sowash (56:28.899)
Sports Illustrated.

James Mims (56:41.908)
seven covers of Sports Illustrated. And I said, if this is in 1986, we're in 2011, isn't there a statute of limitation? Isn't there something here? Why am I here over the same product with the same entity? And she just, and he's looking, the attorney's looking at me and she said, that's a great question. And she looks at him and he says, well, because we have an agreement with the players.

Chad Sowash (56:49.38)
Chad Sowash (56:56.761)
Mm -hmm.

James Mims (57:09.62)
And I said, has that agreement changed since 1986 until now? And he said, we have an agreement. He just stuck on that, whatever legal jargon he was using. I said, this is ridiculous. I said, it's a waste of the court's time. It's a waste of my time. It's a waste of this player's time. Why are we here when I have clearly shown you this is the exact product? And the people in the courthouse, there were other companies in there just kind of looking like, it doesn't make sense.

So she said, James, you make a very, very valid point. She said, are you representing yourself? I said, I have to in this case because no one else can speak on this better than me. It's real simple to me. You're complicating it. They're complicating it. It's simple. Is this the same product or not? Yes or no? It's that simple. If it is, then why am I here with the same product in 2011 that wasn't here in 1986? I don't understand.

Chad Sowash (58:04.143)
Wow, wow, wow. Well, apparently you came out on

James Mims (58:07.272)
Well, it took a while and they tried to break me. And the only reason that I came out on top is because this is the conversation that I had with Tony.

James Mims (58:22.068)
There was an article written by Bob Nightingale, USA Today, who I've known since 86. They never know who you know, but the pen is mightier than the

He said, Jay, I'm going to write an article for you that will have them back up. And he said, now I have to reach out to Tony Clark. I said, that's fair. I said, I don't know him. I know who he is because he played with a, I said, he played with a partner of mine in Detroit. And, but I don't know him. He said, okay, so I'm going to reach out to him. He reached out to him a couple of times, no return call. So all of sudden now it's my story. My story is out there.

and what moved me to tears were the players that came and spoke up on my behalf, both current and

When that article came out two days later, I'm now on the phone call with Tony

James Mims (59:29.657)
And on this phone call, I'll never forget it, I was emotional and I said, dude, you guys tried to break

James Mims (59:38.777)
And why? And for

Brian Johnson (59:42.816)
And this is Black Man Speaking to a Black Man.

Chad Sowash (59:42.949)
Yeah.

James Mims (59:46.345)
And I said, look man, I said, I don't want to do black on black crime. But I said, I will. And let me explain to you what I mean by

from Dusty to Andre Dawson to Tim Rains, Tony Gwyn, Ozzie Smith, Eddie Murray, you name it. All of these guys are going to come in court and speak on my behalf. And to top that off, I'm going to have Ben Scully, whose son was my best friend in high school who I've known since 1977.

Chad Sowash (01:00:14.917)
Wow.

James Mims (01:00:27.052)
and actually did a piece on Game of the Week on these wristbands, he has too told me that he would come to court on my behalf. Now the sad part of this is it never happened on anyone else's watch except for yours. And you just happen to be black. I said, Tony, they're setting you

Those were my words, and that's what I felt. Because how is it that I go this whole time, this whole time with more players then, than now, then all of sudden I'm here.

Chad Sowash (01:00:58.285)
Brian Johnson (01:01:01.162)
Did he hear everything before that and then heard that last point or was he listening the whole time?

James Mims (01:01:06.211)
That's a great question. Now, because we were not face to face, B, I can't tell you how attuned he was. But what I did take away from that conversation is that he had a better idea as to who I was. Secondly, he had to admit on that call that he was a fan of the product and could not wait if he made the big leagues to have that product and wear

Chad Sowash (01:01:16.489)
Mm -hmm.

James Mims (01:01:36.303)
And then I said to him at that time, so explain to me why you allow this to happen on your watch. And you knew then when you were a And I said, what year was that, Tony? He gave me the year. This is 2011, we're talking 1990, whatever it was. And we're here.

Chad Sowash (01:01:37.317)
Cheers.

Chad Sowash (01:01:52.096)
Mm -hmm.

James Mims (01:01:54.636)
And I said, I'm not your average person. I said, I'm not your average person. I know exactly what that licensing agreement states. I know every year that the players don't read it. They just sign it to get their check. But I now have full knowledge of what that agreement says. Now, if we want to go round and round with this, we can. But understand, it's not going to be good for the Players Association because you're not playing with someone.

who is not well astute as to what is in the body of that

Chad Sowash (01:02:29.947)
Amazing. I'm going to, well, that's, that's obvious, James. mean, for goodness sake, starting from ground zero all the way up and then getting all these, these players, not to mention this next pivot I'm going to make. You're part of Tops Project 70. How, what is it? Number one and number two, how did you get

James Mims (01:02:30.977)
Not your

James Mims (01:02:46.509)
Thank

James Mims (01:02:50.965)
Unbelievable story on that one too. A friend of mine, Chris Mack, out of New York. You know how people, tell you, I'm gonna do this, I'm going to do this. we're gonna do this. I've heard that like my whole time. Well, six years previous, we were at a Clippers game and he introduces me to his friend Tim who has contacts within Tops. And we just started talking about the product and he said, you know, there's something coming down the pike.

You know something I'll keep your name, you know the forefront of my mind. I'm like, okay, you know, you you say okay you move

So this project comes along with Tops. And they introduced me to Tops. Now, mind you, Tops sent me a Dear John letter in 1987 when I tried to go get in a deal with Tops to say, if you send in five of these rappers, you can get one of these wristbands. They sent me a Dear John letter, you know, no, we're not interested because you're not licensed by Major League Baseball.

30, 40 years later, here I am doing a project with TOPS. That's how I got it. They called me, I got on a conference call, we would love to have you be part of it, and voila, here I am. What are the odds? I mean, it was,

I still can't believe it.

Chad Sowash (01:04:20.598)
Perseverance, perseverance. You were there.

James Mims (01:04:22.388)
Man, to me was the pinnacle, I thought. The Tops?

Chad Sowash (01:04:30.388)
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He thought, he

Brian Johnson (01:04:31.656)
Yeah, there we go. He thought. Take us, take us to the next piece. And by the way, the top special edition things that you designed were amazing. They're beautiful. If anybody gets a chance to see them, they're a bunch of different ones. Look them up. Memes Bams on Google, Google Memes Bams. You'll find all the information there. But this last step, tell us about James Memes and the Memes Mams going to the Hall of Fame of all places.

Chad Sowash (01:04:59.757)
Wow! Wow! Come on, man. Come on, man.

Brian Johnson (01:05:01.258)
Cooperstown, New York. Tell us that story.

James Mims (01:05:06.186)
man I I'm trying but that one I got a phone call from Lonnie who was Dave Stewart's

Brian Johnson (01:05:09.171)
Now don't cry.

James Mims (01:05:23.431)
And she told me, I've never met

Brian Johnson (01:05:25.618)
And let's back up a little Dave Stewart was a great player, great pitcher, Hall of Famer should have been not in there yet. Went on to become a GM, a pitching coach in the major leagues, amazing career. His wife, he was also a great agent, player agent. He goes back into baseball to be a general manager and has to divest himself of his player agency. He gives it over to his wife, who's brilliant. And she has taken that agency to another level and

That's who Lonnie Stewart is. I think Stewart is the last name. I can't remember. Anyway, Lonnie is Dave Stewart's

James Mims (01:05:56.86)
Yes. Right. And in a good human being, Stu is like salt of the earth. So I've never met her. And she said, James, I told that committee that this wing of this Hall of Fame could not be without Memz bands being included.

James Mims (01:06:21.64)
Tony Clark concurred and then I get a phone call from the Hall of Fame.

James Mims (01:06:32.188)
And I'm glad that they said something, but this just goes to show you how under the

product is, but it was a very impactful product. And I'm proud to say that because when you look at the amount of players and how many black ball players that I had and how many blacks are in baseball, my product is a direct link to the digression of blacks in baseball. It's a direct link. We're talking average of five to six players per team. And on those teams, I had most of the four or the

like virtually none. There is a direct correlation. That's a whole other story and a whole other topic about how it got from here to here. But to go back to the Hall of Fame piece, it went full circle and it confirmed what I thought from the very beginning. And the beauty of it to me, the most, was when I got there, it showed the glove that my Godfather wore.

in the World Series in 1965, along with the wristbands. And I had no idea that it was going to even be there. And at this time, my sister who gave me the C -Bunny had just died, suddenly. So I was in a whirlwind of emotion, should I go, should I not go? And then I talked to Brian.

Brian Johnson (01:07:45.971)
Ooh.

Chad Sowash (01:07:46.093)
Wow.

James Mims (01:08:10.157)
And he said, man, you gotta go just on that alone.

So the pinnacle for sure, but what I'm sharing today is really a snippet of my complete story, but at least it gives you a backdrop as to perseverance for one. Believing in what it is that you have. I really believe that I'm a case study for any college. If I were to go speak to them.

And fourth and foremost, it's for anyone that looks like me that is aspiring.

be an entrepreneur or to play baseball. My dream was to be in Major League Baseball. While I did not do that, I am in Major League Baseball with my product. So I feel just that. I mean, who can say

Chad Sowash (01:09:01.689)
You're in the Hall of Fame.

Brian Johnson (01:09:05.832)
in the Hall of Fame forever.

Chad Sowash (01:09:06.115)
You can. You can.

James Mims (01:09:07.405)
Forever. Right, I mean, forever. That is like the pinnacle. And without guys like Brian and all the other guys who allowed me and trusted me with something as valuable as their

I can't,

You know, can't say thank you enough and I reached out to all of my guys I haven't even posted on social media that I'm even in there because I'm still waiting to hear back from some of the guys who I've reached out to But I have reached out to every guy That wore the product that I could find I Think I'm still short maybe like 20 guys. I'm only gonna give it like another two weeks and then I'm going to post But it's the pinnacle dude when yeah, I mean the Hall of Fame it would

Chad Sowash (01:09:57.12)
yeah.

James Mims (01:09:57.379)
I mean, go figure.

Chad Sowash (01:10:03.858)
All I can say

Chad Sowash (01:10:09.647)
James, thank you so much for coming on the show. That's James Mims. mean, literally, he's the father of name, image and likeness. Mims bands. And James, here's the thing that I can't wait for. I can't wait to see your story come to a Netflix series. That's what I want because there are nooks and crannies. We got so much great stuff just on this podcast. We're a little bit over an hour for God's sakes. This deserves a whole series. I don't know, maybe two, three seasons. I don't know.

James Mims (01:10:12.909)
Thank

Chad Sowash (01:10:38.491)
Brian, thank you so much for bringing James on. James, thank you so much. Again, perseverance is just a little part of this. Thank you for coming on. If somebody wants to learn more about James Mims, Mims bands, the Project 70, where would you send

James Mims (01:10:58.753)
Just to Google, the website is something that I'm working on because it really needs to match the history. So I'm working on that right now. So I will figure

James Mims (01:11:13.173)
Maybe by October, they will be able to reach us at MimsBands .com. With a Z, -I -S -B -A -N -D -Z as in zebra .com. Or they can just Google. There's plenty of information out there as well. So thank you.

Chad Sowash (01:11:26.253)
Excellent, James.

We appreciate it. Don't be a stranger. Let us know when the when the big motion picture of the Netflix series coming in so we can so we can watch that. Have you come back on the show for goodness sakes. Anything to say, Brian, as you show us your your Mims bands.

Brian Johnson (01:11:46.762)
Yeah, man, it's a great story. Thanks for coming on and share with us. Really appreciate you giving all the detail. We love it all on this show. So thanks for being

James Mims (01:11:56.103)
I appreciate you having me. Thank you. And I want to say this real quick, a real funny story. That home run, the little piece that the clear in here, Brian Johnson, I'm gonna tell you a quick little story on

Brian Johnson (01:12:07.358)
The best part of the show, by the

James Mims (01:12:08.82)
You're right. was, Brian and I lived together for that period of time when he hit this home run. But at this time, yeah, I'm in Hawaii and I asked Brian to leave tickets for a fellow friend of mine who I worked

Chad Sowash (01:12:17.355)
No shit.

Chad Sowash (01:12:26.309)
James Mims (01:12:28.125)
When I got back to the hotel and listened to my messages, my guy named Ty, he said, jeez, did you hear me? He said, I can't believe I got tickets for this game. When he hit that home run, my phone lit up. And when I got back into town, Brian was like the dude. And it's funny, Brian was trying to get out of a speeding ticket in San Francisco. He got pulled over.

He throws up his hands in the air trying to give a cop like, this is me. is, you know, just did this for the city. Man, that, unbelievable. I had to give that little tidbit on that. I lived with this dude during that time. Crazy.

Chad Sowash (01:13:08.565)
That's awesome.

I didn't get a ticket. Well, we're going to end on that one. Brian didn't get a ticket. Big surprise. Listener, thanks so much for listening and we will be back again very soon with, I can't say that it's going to be another Hall of Famer, but I can definitely say some interesting discussions and just some fun times. Thanks again, guys.

Brian Johnson (01:13:13.024)
I didn't get a ticket.

James Mims (01:13:35.901)
I appreciate you having me. Thank you. You too.

Chad Sowash (01:13:38.319)
Take care.

All

James Mims (01:13:47.901)
Thank you, man. Appreciate it. B, as always, dude, I'm glad you have me on.

Nah, thank you dude.

James Mims (01:13:59.729)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, just let me know. I will definitely, definitely do that. Thank you for the allegory.

James Mims (01:14:16.283)
I've been trying. I've been trying to get people to tell my story. I've just...

James Mims (01:14:28.263)
Mm, it's gonna, it's gonna happen.

James Mims (01:14:41.435)
Wow. Enjoy. Have a good rest of your day, guys. Thank you. Appreciate it. Bye -bye.