As a longtime sports agent, Barry Axelrod represented baseball players including Jake Peavy, Jeff Bagwell, and Craig Biggio. He is currently a special assistant to the general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Before participating in a panel on how drugs have changed baseball, he offered his thoughts on the movie Jerry Maguire, how to negotiate, and zebras in the Zócalo green room.
If you could be any animal, which would you choose?
I’d probably choose to be a zebra, just because I like the way they look, and I have a really cool painted wooden zebra hanging in my house.
What’s your worst habit?
Procrastinating, because I want everything to be perfect before I do anything.
What’s the best way to put you to sleep?
If you ask my kids and my friends, I can go to sleep anywhere. Probably a boring meeting. I can tilt back in the chair and go to sleep.
How do you feel about the film Jerry Maguire?
I thought it was entertaining, and even though it purported to be fairly real, it really wasn’t.
What’s your favorite condiment?
Horseradish.
Where would we find you at 10 a.m. on a typical Sunday morning?
Probably walking somewhere down by the beach in Cardiff or Encinitas, California.
If you could have a beer with anyone, living or dead, who would you choose?
If it’s someone I haven’t had a beer with, it would probably be Muhammad Ali. If it’s someone I’ve had one with before and would have one with again, it would probably be Charles Barkley.
What’s your best agent tip for mortals in the midst of negotiations?
Preparation is all-important. And that includes objectivity about the client or person you’re representing and understanding of where the other side is coming from and where their motivations might be.
How did you get into trouble as a kid?
Well I rarely got caught, which was a good thing. But I think my mom, without too much investigation, discovered that I had been drinking underage, and so she got me up on a Saturday morning when it was about 95 degrees out and made me vacuum the house, without ever saying why. She just told me I had to do it, so I knew she caught me.
What’s on your nightstand right now?
Probably the most important thing is my TV remote.