Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 2: When the Orioles are back at Dodgers Stadium, it's hard
Speaker 2: not to remember nineteen sixty six in the World Series,
Speaker 2: the Baltimore Orioles sweeping Sandy Cofax, Don Drysdale, Morey Will's
Speaker 2: and the Dodgers, and a twenty year old right hander
Speaker 2: that would eventually find himself in the Hall of Fame
Speaker 2: pitched a complete game shutout in Game two of the
Speaker 2: World Series, outdueling his hero Sandy Cofax, and that is
Speaker 2: the one and only Hall of Famer Jim Palmer. Jim,
Speaker 2: thanks a lot for the time appreciating.
Speaker 1: Well, you're welcome. Well, let's get something straight. That's a
Speaker 1: long time ago. That's what sixty two years ago. I
Speaker 1: was twenty, Sandy was thirty. I didn't now duel him.
Speaker 1: You know, he threw I think twenty three of the
Speaker 1: first twenty seven pitches for strikes. It was nothing, nothing
Speaker 1: going into the fifth inning, and we had two routine
Speaker 1: five walls to center field. And well, I mean, like
Speaker 1: today it's bright, it was kind of you know, you
Speaker 1: know how la can be a little bit. I was
Speaker 1: slightly overcast, but Sonny and he just dropped him. And
Speaker 1: then after the whole world because it was the World Series,
Speaker 1: knew that he couldn't catch a fly ball, he picked
Speaker 1: it up and threw in the dugout. So we ended
Speaker 1: up winning six to nothing. And I tell people all
Speaker 1: the time, because you know, I grew up in New York,
Speaker 1: I was you know, I was adopted. I was a
Speaker 1: Yankee fan. But when I moved to California, obviously you're
Speaker 1: you're a Dodger fan. I used to go to the
Speaker 1: Coliseum when I went to high school. I moved over
Speaker 1: to Arizona and went to high school in Arizona, and
Speaker 1: the Dodgers actually brought me over. They wanted me to
Speaker 1: go to SC for a year, and I went to
Speaker 1: Rod Dato's backyard barbecue.
Speaker 3: He was coaching at SC. They wanted me to go
Speaker 3: there for a year.
Speaker 1: They signed Jeff Torborg instead of me in nineteen sixty four,
Speaker 1: and as it turned out, I said, well, you can't
Speaker 1: give me a contract.
Speaker 3: Oh no, no, we can't do that.
Speaker 1: So I ended up signing with the Oils, and so
Speaker 1: then we arrived at the World Series, and of course
Speaker 1: the Dodgers, and you know, they beat the Twins at sixty.
Speaker 3: Five, beat the Yankees in sixty three.
Speaker 1: They were all about you know, basically Drysdale and Kofax.
Speaker 1: And you also had Mari Willis who had stolen one
Speaker 1: hundred bases. Tommy Davis, who would eventually play with US,
Speaker 1: is one of the I mean, if you go back
Speaker 1: and look before he broke his ankle, I mean what
Speaker 1: he hit three forty and hit I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: he could outrun everybody on the team except Willie Davis.
Speaker 1: So but they didn't have a great, you know, a
Speaker 1: great offensive team. And but for us, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: watching Drysdale Cofex didn't pits the first game because of
Speaker 1: the Jewish holidays, so Don started, and Brooks and Frank
Speaker 1: Robinson hit home runs in the first inning, and I go,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, maybe we haven't actually have a chance
Speaker 1: to be competitive in this World Series. Dave McNally started
Speaker 1: for US. He's I had won fifteen games that Mack
Speaker 1: had won thirteen. But he was a couple of years older,
Speaker 1: so I think they wanted more experience. Plus he was
Speaker 1: left hand and had a great pickoff move. And the Dodgers,
Speaker 1: you know, they they they beat you by one run
Speaker 1: because of Kovax Drysdale and their speed. So I ma
Speaker 1: Jabowski came in in relief and struck out eleven Dodgers
Speaker 1: in six and two thirds innings. And I'm you know,
Speaker 1: at twenty I'm sitting there and I'm going all I
Speaker 1: want to do tomorrow is not embarrassed myself because I
Speaker 1: was pitching against Kofax. I mean, I knew how good
Speaker 1: Sandy was, and I you know, I mean he turned
Speaker 1: out it was his last year at age thirty because
Speaker 1: of Elbro problems. He was like twenty seven and nine
Speaker 1: with a one seventy some me or a with three
Speaker 1: hundred innings and three hundred strikeouts.
Speaker 3: I mean, he was Sandy Kofax.
Speaker 1: And I just went out there and Willie Davis helped
Speaker 1: me win. And I always tell people, I wonder what
Speaker 1: have been late to try to beat Cofax nothing and
Speaker 1: nothing in the seventh inning because I had never pitched
Speaker 1: a shutout in the major leagues before.
Speaker 3: So again set to set the record straight.
Speaker 1: The Kofax pitched very well. Sandy pitch gray and he
Speaker 1: was one of the you know, one of the one
Speaker 1: of the one of the greatest pitchers ever. And I
Speaker 1: tell people about hitting off them. And you know everybody
Speaker 1: talks about tunneling now, where you throw pitches out of
Speaker 1: the same tunnel, the same release point. I was on
Speaker 1: deck and Andy Etchebarn thought about swinging at three high fastballs,
Speaker 1: but he couldn't get the bat going, and I could
Speaker 1: hit a little bit of one of my first game
Speaker 1: in the big leagues with a home run off at
Speaker 1: Jim out and then he throws me the first fastball
Speaker 1: and it exploded. It was like fastball came up to home,
Speaker 1: played in the lobby and ended up in the upper
Speaker 1: mess as an aid. So I said, but you know,
Speaker 1: I use Frank Robinson's our sixty one. So I said,
Speaker 1: I better choke up a little bit. He threw me
Speaker 1: to exactly the same pitch, except it was his curveball,
Speaker 1: and it ended up in the lower basement. And I'm
Speaker 1: going now I understand why Sandy Kofax is Sandy Kovax.
Speaker 3: That's amazing.
Speaker 2: Jim Palmer is our guest. And when you look out,
Speaker 2: I know there's been some remodel to Dodger Stadium, but
Speaker 2: it's essentially the same field when you look out from
Speaker 2: your vantage point here in the Orioles broadcast booth. Can
Speaker 2: you visualize those moments? Can you visualize twenty year old
Speaker 2: Jim Palmer out there?
Speaker 3: Well, that's a long time ago.
Speaker 1: Like I said, but you know, Tradri Gibson is pitch
Speaker 1: a young, you know, rookie pitcher, and you sitting behind
Speaker 1: me on the bus coming out to what do we
Speaker 1: call this now? Dodger I mean I call it Dodger
Speaker 1: Stadium vs. Ravine, whatever you want.
Speaker 3: To call it.
Speaker 1: And I said, he took his headsets off. I said, Trey,
Speaker 1: you kind of might might as well do is what
Speaker 1: I did when I was twenty, you know, puts your
Speaker 1: first shutout, ever goes. This is only going to be
Speaker 1: his fifth start in the big leagues, not as much
Speaker 1: pressure because it's not a World Series. So what do
Speaker 1: you think he said, geez, it sounds like a good idea.
Speaker 1: Accept The difference now is he averages seventeen pitches per ending.
Speaker 1: But just imagine he averaged fifteen. If you do the math,
Speaker 1: nine times fifteen is what one hundred and thirty five.
Speaker 1: They don't let pitchers throw one hundred and thirty five pitches.
Speaker 1: And you know my first start that same year was
Speaker 1: up in Fenway. I hit a home run, strike out, eleven,
Speaker 1: walk seven. I only had two starts in spring training
Speaker 1: and everybody got hurt, and I threw one hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy seven pitches. And they asked our pitching coach, Harry
Speaker 1: the Kaperkinaho was a great left handed pitcher for the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: who was our pitchy coach in Baltimore, and he said,
Speaker 1: he said, that's a lot of pitches. He said, yeah,
Speaker 1: we want to get that pitch count down into the
Speaker 1: one forties. And that's what they allowed you to do.
Speaker 1: So the game's evolved, you know obviously, as you know
Speaker 1: you cover the Dodgers. You know now and after winning
Speaker 1: two consecutive World Series, if you don't have a good bullpen,
Speaker 1: you're not going into September and October in the postseason
Speaker 1: and have a chance to win. So the game has evolved,
Speaker 1: and that's just the way it is.
Speaker 2: Since I have one of the greatest right handers of
Speaker 2: all time with us, three times cy Young Award winner,
Speaker 2: a man that's in the Hall of Fame. What about
Speaker 2: Otani and what he's doing. I would love to hear
Speaker 2: from you what you think about what he's doing.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's funny last year or two years ago,
Speaker 1: when you know what, he stole fifty nine and hit
Speaker 1: fifty four home runs. So only time that's ever happened,
Speaker 1: you would have said he's a better hitter than a pitcher.
Speaker 1: Now and last year he probably would have said the
Speaker 1: same thing. Now you're saying, boys, he's really good at
Speaker 1: both of those things. You know, it was interesting when
Speaker 1: he was with the Angels, Mike Soshi was managing and
Speaker 1: I Sosia actually hit off me and we were talking
Speaker 1: one day and he said, you know, he reminds me
Speaker 1: a little bit of you, and I said, well, thank you,
Speaker 1: that's kind of that's an ultimate compliment.
Speaker 3: I said.
Speaker 1: The difference is I didn't stand on the third base
Speaker 1: side of the rubber, and that's where show he used
Speaker 1: to stand. Now he's in the middle and you stand.
Speaker 1: You know, you had to understand the pitching rubber is
Speaker 1: twenty four inches homeplate seventeen inches, So if you're standing
Speaker 1: on the right hand side of it, third base side,
Speaker 1: you're already three four inches off the inside corner, and
Speaker 1: you're throwing one hundred miles per hour and trying to
Speaker 1: hit the outside corner. You know what kind of stress
Speaker 1: that puts on your arm made some more sense to
Speaker 1: the to my ear, where you stand in the middle
Speaker 1: and if you want to go inside to a righty
Speaker 1: or you know, a way to a left, he just
Speaker 1: take your shoulder about an inch and you have a
Speaker 1: direct line. So he's made that change. Of course, he's
Speaker 1: you know, had a couple of elbow operations. But he's
Speaker 1: a unit.
Speaker 3: We all know. He's a unicorn.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's the maybe the best player that ever
Speaker 1: played that you know, from a dual standpoint, I hear
Speaker 1: that Babe Ruth was really good. He had a long
Speaker 1: time record for pitching in the shutout. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean Joey and just to listen, it's guys like him,
Speaker 1: I mean all the great players. It's you know, the
Speaker 1: Freddie Freddie Freeman's of the world. Has just got his
Speaker 1: twenty five hundred hit and it's hitting three thirty three
Speaker 1: with runners and scoring position for his career, which is
Speaker 1: an unbelievable number.
Speaker 3: That's what baseball is about. I don't care if you're
Speaker 3: a Dodger fan or whatever.
Speaker 1: These guys now, because of interleague play, get to come
Speaker 1: to Baltimore every other year or vice versa. You get
Speaker 1: to see the greatest players in stadiums around the world,
Speaker 1: and that's what keeps baseball alive. And when you get
Speaker 1: somebody like him, and I actually read I was reading
Speaker 1: on an article yesterday about the Uttardo method, which is
Speaker 1: when he was a kid, there was a teacher, I
Speaker 1: think maybe a teacher and junior high school in Japan
Speaker 1: that said, you need to have a focus in He
Speaker 1: gave them this plan of having sixty four things to
Speaker 1: improve yourself and get.
Speaker 3: Better and whatever.
Speaker 1: And obviously that Hutardo plan or a Rotto her h
Speaker 1: A R A d A Plan worked pretty well for
Speaker 1: Showy because and again he started when he was probably
Speaker 1: twelve thirteen years old, and we all started. I started
Speaker 1: in you know, in Whittier. I played in the Golden
Speaker 1: State League when I was ten, and then went to
Speaker 1: Beverly Hills and played Little League and Pony League, Babe
Speaker 1: Ruth League out in Arizona and all that.
Speaker 3: So we all start.
Speaker 1: But it seems like he had a pretty good plan
Speaker 1: early and he's he's really been able to accomplish that
Speaker 1: because it's it's kind of all, you know, we all
Speaker 1: can set goals, but how do we get to the goals?
Speaker 3: We want to arrive at I.
Speaker 2: Would say, Jim Palmer, he had a pretty good plan.
Speaker 2: He's in the Hall of Fame, one of the greatest
Speaker 2: right handers, a lifetime era under three Jim special to
Speaker 2: be here, special to share you with Dodger fans that
Speaker 2: remember the sixty six World Series, and obviously fans that
Speaker 2: even didn't see it know how great you were. So
Speaker 2: thank you for the time, really appreciating.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and maybe they could give me a clue. As
Speaker 3: Vinny used to always.
Speaker 1: Say, late arriving, early departying, how do you get out
Speaker 1: of the parking lot here?
Speaker 3: You didn't have to worry about that, Jim, Well, not
Speaker 3: back then.
Speaker 2: Thanks a lot for the time.
Speaker 3: Oh you're welcome. My pleasure.