Jimmy Scott's High & Tight: The Tisha DeShields Interview

Tisha DeShields was 19 years old when she married then-minor league ballplayer (and high school sweetheart) Delino DeShields.  Little did she know how much her life was going to change.  After 4 kids, a 13-year MLB career and a 17-year marriage, Tisha found herself single again, but very different from that 19-year old girl.  In the Jimmy Scott's High & Tight: Tisha DeShields Interview, we learn quite a bit about this woman and the company she founded, Original Belly Works. 

Part I

This first 18 minutes is going to hook you like a very large fish attracted to the hull of a large fishing boat in very, very deep waters.  Because, at 19, Tisha was in pretty deep.  Her boyfriend, Delino, had been drafted by the Montreal Expos.  She was qualifying for the Olympic trials in track.  He asked her to marry him.  She said yes.  She got pregnant.  End track dreams, begin motherhood and wifedom. 

Tisha talks about the early days, the trade to LA (for Pedro Martinez), adjusting to the million-dollar contrats, her involvement as Delino's wife with free agency, the best things and the most disliked things about being an MLB wife, and her feelings about groupies.  She had me at Hello.

Part II 18:00

Then things changed.  Delino was done with baseball.  Now they had to adjust from him being an active MLB player to retired, regular guy.  How did they change as people?  How did their marriage change?

Then they divorced.  How did the kids (four by now) take it, what were some of the causes of her marriage breakup? 

Besides this, there's Delino Jr., considered at 17 to be a future big-time football or baseball prospect.  What advice does Tisha have about The Life for her son? 

Part III  34:00

In 2005, Tisha had an idea for a business - Original Belly Works.  In a nutshell, or in this case a plaster shell, her company gives pregnant women the opportunity to remember their shape and emotions for a lifetime.  With a kit supplied by Original Belly Works, you pregnant ladies can remember your body in this way forever.  What are the details?  Tisha explains.

Part IV 43:40

Part IV is a great summary of our discussion, because Tisha gets back to where she was and where she is now.  She talks of how she didn't want to be divorced, but how she accepts her place in life.  She ends with a quote that should get plastered like a belly kit all over high school yearbooks around the country: "I'm not exactly where I want to be, but I am where I'm supposed to be." 

After you listen to Tisha DeShields, you'll realize that's a good place for anyone to be.

THE MUSIC

Stevie Wonder - Isn't She Lovely

Lionel Richie - Sail On

Lionel Richie - Easy

Stevie Wonder - Overjoyed

The Commodores - Just To Be Close To You

All background music courtesy of Clara Ponty and her self-titled album, Clara Ponty.