Recently, I "met" Scott Karl via a professional networking group on the web. I emailed to ask Scott if he'd consent to an interview for the site, and much to my delight...he said yes.

Enjoy...

BF: First of all, Scott, thank you so much for your time, this is a real thrill for me.

SK: No problem, Todd, it's my pleasure.

BF: Let's go back to the beginning, Scott, you played college ball at the University of Hawaii, right?

SK: That's correct, that was back in the days before Hawaii got much attention.

BF: In preparing for this interview, I noticed that several former Brewers came through that school – Chuck Crim, Glenn Braggs, Joey Meyer, and then yourself – there's no way a thing like that is a coincidence, the Brewers produced four major leaguers from one school.

SK: Exactly, back then the Brewers had a scout in the area, he was an Asian gentleman who's name escapes me right now. As I mentioned, we didn't get a lot of exposure at that point, so the Brewers were able to grab the guys they wanted. I came along later, I didn't have a connection to Crim, Braggs and Meyer, but you're right, it's unique for a major league team to find that many players at one school.

BF: You were drafted in '92, right?

SK: Yes, that's right, the Brewers took me in the sixth round in '92.

BF: That's got to be a tremendous thrill, tell me about draft day for you.

SK: Actually, in my case, it wasn't really like that, it was more of a business deal. Three teams had been in contact, we had a family friend who was a national cross-checker for the Cubs, we told him these teams were saying I'd go somewhere in rounds 4 to 6, and he told us what the dollar figures were likely to be. When I got the call that it was Milwaukee in the 6th round, I was like, "OK, it's Milwaukee in the 6th", we got it done, and I started my career.

BF: You started out in Helena, then I see the team jumped you all the way to AA, El Paso the next season, that's a pretty aggressive move to take with a young pitcher.

SK: Right, see, a lot of the time they have you work with the team one level ahead of you in spring camp, so that the coaches there get to see you, and so on, that way, if a spot opens on that team, the organization should have an easier time deciding who to go with. In my case, I already knew I'd skip Beloit, but I was scheduled to open the '92 season in Stockton. The guy ahead of me was a pitcher named Tyrone Hill, who was a guy with a live arm, who'd been a high pick ahead of me. That spring, Hill's arm came up sore, so they had me start in El Paso, in his place. I did well enough, that when the time came, the Brewers decided to just let me stay there.

BF: So you reached the major leagues quickly then?

SK: Yes, I made my debut with the Brewers at age 23.

BF: You must have come up right after the strike?

SK: That's exactly how it happened. Playing in the major leagues takes equal parts ability and opportunity, the Brewers were willing to move their young players up, because they preferred to develop their own talent, and that helped me get my chance. That spring, after the strike, camps opened late – they didn't want pitchers to hurt their arms, so they allowed teams to begin the season with 28 players, to add extra pitchers. When that happened, the Brewers took me north, that allowed me to break in when I did.

BF: What do you remember about your major league debut? That has to be a moment you remember forever.

SK: It was in Baltimore, when Camden Yards was just a year or two old. I don't remember who the opposing pitcher was, but I do remember who the first batter was that I faced. I suppose this could be a big trivia question that no one would get, of all things, the first guy in the box was a guy who went to the same high school I did.

BF: Wow, what are the odds of that? Who was that player?

SK: Brady Anderson. I didn't know him in school, he was older than me, and I didn't move to that high school until my junior year, but my coach had been a teammate, and of course a lot of the people I knew there had known Brady. I'm making my debut and he's the hitter...that part was pretty unique.

BF: Out of curiosity, how old were you when you first realized you might have a shot at playing in the major leagues?

SK: My sophomore year in college. You don't really know it for a while, I always went out there and did well, but I never truly noticed that I was just better than everybody I was playing against. My sophomore year, I started to realize I was doing well pretty much every time out, and I was playing at the college level – that was when I started to think it might happen for me.

BF: How would you describe your career with the Brewers, in your own words?

SK: I was never the best guy on the staff, I was never the worst guy on the staff – I was a guy who would make 32-33 starts a year and give you six innings pretty much every time out. I was dependable.

BF: That sounds like Jeff Suppan to me, among current Brewers.

SK: Yes, I think Jeff's a good comparison that way. The difference of course, is that Jeff's been able to do it longer than I did.

BF: Right, did you happen to notice how much money he got?

SK: (laughs), Yes, I did notice that part.

BF: You were with the Brewers when the team changed leagues, that was something that had never happened before, what was that experience like?

SK: Personally, I loved it. I much preferred the NL game, there's so much more strategy involved compared to the AL. I was glad to see that one happen.

BF: I see you were part of the trade that sent Jeff Cirillo to the Rockies, I had forgotten that.

SK: Yes, I was. Dean Taylor had come in as the new GM, he was around the last few weeks of the season, I was the player rep at the time, so I thought I'd go up and introduce myself. We talked briefly a couple of times, then that winter, when the Rockies wanted Cirillo, Taylor looked at things and thought my salary was kind of big, so he threw me into the deal. He made a business decision, I never took it personally, but it wasn't what I wanted.

BF: Wow, they sent you to pitch in Colorado – that's just not nice.

SK: Yeah, things didn't go well for me there. First of all, it's a tough place to pitch anyway, but on top of that, I had developed a genetic condition that limited the elasticity of my ligaments and tendons. I could still throw the ball where I wanted to, and make it move, but my velocity was going, and when that started for me, it went fast. I never had an arm injury in my career, but when that happened, I just lost the velocity. Very few guys can be successful in the major leagues throwing as hard as I was then, the only guy I can think of who's doing it right now is Jamie Moyer. The Rockies traded me to the Angels in late August, then I signed with the Padres and went to camp with them the next spring, but the velocity just wasn't there, so they released me, and that was that.

BF: You pitched for the Brewers for five seasons, from '95 through '99, what are some of your memories?

SK: First of all, one thing I love about the Midwest is, there are no fair-weather fans. Your team is your team, and that's the way it is, no matter what. I loved that as a player, we weren't winning a lot, and that was the time right before Miller Park was ready, but we absolutely had a solid group of fans. I did the winter tour of the state, to help drum up support for the next season, and I remember the first place we drove to had both an American flag and a Canadian flag, I remember thinking, "How far did we just drive?" That's the way it is though, we drove all over the place, because there were fans all over the place – that state loves its team, I'll always remember that.

BF: You just mentioned it, so I suppose I'll ask – the Brewers teams you were part of didn't win a whole lot, what was that like?

SK: It was still a great experience, I loved playing ball, but that part got tough sometimes. We were in it one year, only a couple of games back at Labor Day, but then we just fell apart, and the Indians got red hot.

BF: You just missed Miller Park...

SK: Right, I walked through it while it was being built, but I was traded before it opened. You know, the day the crane collapsed is a vivid memory for me. I was at the park that day, I was just driving away when my wife called, she said, "What happened?! What happened?! They just said there was a big accident there today." I said, "What are you talking about?" Then, I looked over and you could see a huge cloud of dust rising, when we found out that those men had died, everyone was just devastated.

BF: That was a terrible moment.

SK: It sure was, it's just one of those things that should never happen, but that time, it did.

BF: What are your memories of County Stadium?

SK: You know, it was a sign of the times. It wasn't the worst park by any means, but it was time for it to be replaced.

BF: What was the worst park?

SK: That place in Detroit was horrible. Tiger Stadium, there couldn't have been anyone who was sorry to see that one go. Municipal Stadium in Baltimore was a dump, but I never had to pitch there. The worst one ever was probably, "The Mistake by the Lake", in Cleveland.

BF: Did you pitch in that one?

SK: No, Jacobs Field was there when I came up, thank goodness, players used to tell me about that place all the time, years after it had closed. The place held about 80,000 people, but the crowds were usually about 10,000, and it was cold as hell. The condition of the field was never good, and you were out there freezing in this huge, empty ballpark.

BF: OK, other side of the coin, which cities or stadiums did you enjoy the most?

SK: I always liked Boston, I liked the stadium, and I did well there. I liked pitching on the west coast, because my family was there, so Dodger Stadium was a great experience for me. I always liked Wrigley Field too, because of the energy, it's a great rivalry, and the games always seemed to be a home run derby.

BF: You've been out of the game for a while now, have you kept in touch with any of your old teammates?

SK: No, at this point, not really. I did a little at first, but as time goes by, life just gets busy and you lose touch. That wasn't intentional, it's just how things have worked out.

BF: OK, I'm going to just sort of throw this one out there, you can tell me to shove it if you want to, I won't mind. What about steroids?

SK: I never saw anyone doing any of that stuff, and I never heard about any of it either, I can honestly say I have no first-hand knowledge of anyone ever using steroids, from any of the teams I played on. I'm a guy who just does his work, and I didn't get into everyone's business, but I honestly have no knowledge of anyone I played with ever doing that.

BF: I asked you that because you were a pitcher during what is now called, "The Steroid Era", I'll use that to tie into my next question – who was the toughest batter you ever faced.

SK: Frank Thomas.

BF: That one makes sense.

SK: Yeah, the guys who can hit for power and average both are the ones you don't want to face, and Frank was like that. Mike Piazza too, and here's one obscure one who always got me good – Ron Coomer, of the Twins.

BF: OK, the internet has made things unfair, guys like me can look up all sorts of stuff before we talk to guys like you.

SK: Don't I know it.

BF: OK, here comes one. Do you remember an outfielder named Al Martin, from the Pirates.

SK: Yeah, I remember Al.

BF: Scott, Al Martin was 8 for 10 against you.

SK: Really? No way, I never would have guessed that one. It must have been eight singles, I don't remember him doing anything big against me.

BF: We're going to be fair here, Scott, let's talk about the guys you had real success against. Let's talk about Tino Martinez.

SK: Oh yeah, I beat Tino up pretty good whenever I faced him, I think he was my biggest "ohfer."

BF: Yep, Tino was 0 for 17 against you, with a sac fly and a walk – nice job.

SK: I got Paul Molitor pretty good too, in Toronto and also in Minnesota, Robby Alomar too, I always did well with him.

BF: One other thing I saw today, you hit two home runs in one season, that had to be fun.

SK: Right, actually I hit those in back-to-back starts. I hit one in Colorado, then we came home and I hit one in my next start in Milwaukee.

BF: It must have been fun talking trash about that.

SK: The guys will listen to that, but only for a short time, then they'll just tell you to shove it. I didn't get a lot of mileage out of that.

BF: You were wearing number 42 when MLB retired it in honor of Jackie Robinson, was it fun to be one of the last few who will ever have that number?

SK: Yes, I think if they'd have taken it away from those of us who were wearing it at the time, it would have detracted from the moment. It wasn't about any of us, they needed to keep the focus on honoring Jackie, I thought that was handled perfectly. I do have some fun with my kids sometimes, I'll say, "See that number up there...that's Dad's number."

BF: Is there anyone you'd like to say hello to back in Milwaukee?

SK: There aren't any players left who were there when I was, Geoff Jenkins was the last one, but he's gone now. I knew mostly the old guard, I knew Wendy Prieb and Laurel Prieb, and the GM for most of my time there was Sal Bando. One guy who's still there is the team trainer, Roger Caplinger, he came up while I was there.

BF: You see the recent success the Brewers have had, and you saw the huge move to bring Sabathia in to give the team a boost. That didn't happen while you were here, do you care to comment on that?

SK: Yes, actually, I was there five years, and we only made two deadline deals, and those were for guys like Bob Wickman and Julio Franco – solid players for sure, but nothing like Sabathia. Some of those years, other teams around us were making significant deals, which we never did – it was frustrating.

BF: Do you have any involvement with baseball these days?

SK: Yes, I give private lessons, and I also coach youth baseball in my area. I enjoy that a great deal.

BF: How have things gone for you since baseball ended? What are you up to in 2008?

SK: I've been involved in venture capital, but right now with the credit crunch, that's on hold. We may very well get back into that when things get moving, but earlier this year, I became involved with a different company, is it ok to post a link to our site?

BF: I think Brian would allow that for you, Scott, what's the name of your site?

SK: www.themoneytraders.com

BF: Please tell me about it.

SK: It's a currency exchange company, I have a seat on the board. We trade foreign currencies via the Forex market. We were approached by an outstanding trader earlier in the year, he showed us his business plan, and we decided to invest. Investors decide how much they want to invest, understanding that the "pain threshold" is 20%. That is, you know going in that you could lose 20% of your investment if things go bad, which is always possible. The advantage here is that you won't lose more than 20%, even if things do go bad. If you did reach a 20% drop, "everything goes flat." That is to say, your money is pulled from the market, to prevent further losses, while you decide what to do next. Compare that to stock picking, or even just letting things ride in a 401(k) right now, there's a lot of people out there who wish their losses had stopped at 20%, I can promise you that.

BF: How's the business going?

SK: It's going great, and starting to attract some larger investors, because we're making people money, even in this difficult environment. In October, we grossed a 19% return.

BF: That's outstanding.

SK: Thank you. The way we structure things, you don't pay us fees every time you talk to one of us or make a trade, if you make a profit with us, we split it with you, we get 50%, and so do you. You only pay us if you're making money. It's working for our investors, and the business is growing – I'm very excited about this.

BF: A thing like that doesn't happen to a ballplayer by accident, you must have prepared for a career in business.

SK: Yep, I was an accounting major. I've always been fascinated by trading in the markets, it's just a natural interest for me.

BF: Did you see that Bill Castro has been named pitching coach for next season? He had been the bullpen coach for seventeen seasons.

SK: Wow, really? I didn't realize he had stayed out there. That's great news, I wish him nothing but success, we all loved Bill Castro!

BF: Thanks, Scott, I've kept you five minutes longer than I promised.

SK: Yep, it's time for me to take my daughter to school. Good luck to the Brew Crew!