Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 1: It's the Dodgers and Brewers getting said for first pitch,
Speaker 1: and it's on a national stage. Joe Davis will be
Speaker 1: joined by aj Prazinski and Adam Wainwright, who spent his
Speaker 1: entire career with the Saint Louis Cardinals. Thanks a lot
Speaker 1: for the time, appreciated Adam.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 3: All right, let's lead it off right here.
Speaker 1: I tap into Freddie Freeman as my baseball compass, so
Speaker 1: I said, hey, I'm talking to Adam Wainwright today.
Speaker 3: What's the first thing that comes to mind?
Speaker 1: And he said, it's not anything baseball related, it's all
Speaker 1: the work that.
Speaker 3: You've done off the field. Oh. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's we've we've uh, you know, we've been given
Speaker 2: cool platforms and uh, it's just just it would be
Speaker 2: a shame to not use it for good, you know.
Speaker 2: And so we've been able to have a lot of
Speaker 2: great opportunities to help a lot of people in the
Speaker 2: eat and that's uh, I'm glad you recognize that.
Speaker 3: That's cool.
Speaker 1: That's the one thing that he said, everything that you've
Speaker 1: done off the field seems to be your legacy just
Speaker 1: as much as anything you did on the mound.
Speaker 3: Well, that's the legacy that.
Speaker 2: I would prefer to have almost you know, it's the
Speaker 2: opportunity to go out and make a difference in the world.
Speaker 2: We just don't have very long to do that, you know,
Speaker 2: this very finite world. Do we live in a very finite,
Speaker 2: very finite profession, especially where we only get three or
Speaker 2: four years to actually do something that matters maybe and
Speaker 2: for most of the people, and then you know, we.
Speaker 3: Might get ten or twelve. I was lucky to have more.
Speaker 2: And so we have to use our time wisely and
Speaker 2: to the most of to the best of our ability
Speaker 2: to get cool things done for.
Speaker 1: People to need some of the fun stuff that you've
Speaker 1: done to generate money for people overseas. And you know,
Speaker 1: less fortunate is the fantasy football charity event that you
Speaker 1: had when you played, And Freddie said that is that
Speaker 1: still going?
Speaker 2: Yeah, still doing, still still chugging along. Well, it's a
Speaker 2: lot harder when you get outside the game to generate
Speaker 2: the same kind of interest. You know, even if you
Speaker 2: have great career doesn't really matter. I mean, you got
Speaker 2: to be there and be you know, with the people
Speaker 2: a lot, and and we're still we're still chugging a
Speaker 2: long though. We're still doing a lot of great things.
Speaker 2: I think big league impact through fantasy football events, karaoke events,
Speaker 2: top golf, sporting plays. You know, we've raised thirteen million
Speaker 2: dollars so for people in need food, feeding people and
Speaker 2: giving them clean water and basic essential needs. And that's
Speaker 2: all really rewarding at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: Adam Wainwright is our guest before first pitch between the
Speaker 1: Dodgers and Brewers. Clayton Kershaw is dealing with some of
Speaker 1: the stuff that I'm sure you dealt with after you retired.
Speaker 1: You went through so much to continue to pitch into
Speaker 1: your forties. He found a way to come back from
Speaker 1: a couple of different injuries to continue to go out
Speaker 1: his own way. How important do you believe it was
Speaker 1: for him, like you, to go out on your own terms.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, so, I mean, just you still want to
Speaker 2: have regrets, you know, you don't want to look back
Speaker 2: and and say I wish I would have played one
Speaker 2: more year. You know, you give it everything you have
Speaker 2: and and players I remember, uh, Jeff Soupond told me
Speaker 2: one time play as long as you can, you know,
Speaker 2: because you can't come back into this game ten years
Speaker 2: after you get done and go back in and play
Speaker 2: in Major League Baseball.
Speaker 3: Just not how it works.
Speaker 2: So our bodies are are are a lot of a
Speaker 2: certain amount of time, you know, and you got to
Speaker 2: you got to grind through some injuries, and you gotta
Speaker 2: play through hurt, and you got to learn how to
Speaker 2: get the job done sometimes when you feel like crap,
Speaker 2: And that's just part of it. That's part of being
Speaker 2: a pro. And I always love that part of it.
Speaker 2: You know, Like if I could, if I could get
Speaker 2: my team to believe that no matter what, I was
Speaker 2: gonna go out there and fight, no matter how I felt,
Speaker 2: they knew I was gonna compete my butt off.
Speaker 3: You know, that was a win for me right there.
Speaker 3: How much mutual respect do you and Clinton have for
Speaker 3: each other?
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know about from his side. I have
Speaker 2: lots of respect for him. From my side, I think
Speaker 2: we're you know, he's a he's a good friend of mine,
Speaker 2: and uh, he was one of the guys I told
Speaker 2: him this.
Speaker 3: He hated.
Speaker 2: He always hated went out because I'm a hugger and
Speaker 2: I'm a words of affirmation guy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's he's not so much.
Speaker 2: And so he would be like, gosh, I hate when
Speaker 2: you do this, but you know, I always love to
Speaker 2: tell him, like, listen, man, you're one of the guys
Speaker 2: that pushes me to be better.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: They're one of the guys that when I go into
Speaker 2: the gym, I know I got to.
Speaker 3: Get that third fourth set when I don't want to.
Speaker 2: You know, you're one of the guys that I get
Speaker 2: up early to do this stuff for and and and
Speaker 2: put those extra sweat you know, beads on your forehead
Speaker 2: because I know guys like him were doing it, you know,
Speaker 2: And so I always was chasing him. I wanted to
Speaker 2: be the cy young guy every year. He just never
Speaker 2: would let me because he kept having a one ady
Speaker 2: r a you know. And and uh, and I see
Speaker 2: guys when the cy young now, I'm like, man's because
Speaker 2: they don't have Clayton Kershaw and his prime to go
Speaker 2: up against. You know, Max Schurz are in his prime,
Speaker 2: royality and his prime like a bunch of my years.
Speaker 3: I'm like that could have won, you know.
Speaker 2: And today, but uh, it was always so fun competing
Speaker 2: against Clayton. He's just as as great a competitor as
Speaker 2: there's ever been in our game. He he made me
Speaker 2: go to bed early and wake up earlier, you know,
Speaker 2: just to try to compete with him. So I'll always
Speaker 2: be appreciative of him that.
Speaker 1: You both were for Uncle Charlie. Did you ever look
Speaker 1: at the curveballs and the similarities. I know you're a
Speaker 1: right hander, he was a left hander. But was there
Speaker 1: any parallels.
Speaker 2: Well, I think we used uh, we used them similarly.
Speaker 2: I mean his uh, his curveball was such a contrast
Speaker 2: to his fastball though. You know, he's he's coming hard
Speaker 2: in the fastball, hard end with that nasty slider, and
Speaker 2: and that was probably like ninety percent of the time
Speaker 2: you were going to see fastball slider.
Speaker 3: And then all of a.
Speaker 2: Sudden, you know, he'd pop that that straight over the
Speaker 2: top like he's throwing a washer into a five gallon
Speaker 2: bucket curveball, and you just can't even it looked so
Speaker 2: different out of his hand. You can't look for that
Speaker 2: because you had to be ready for ninety four ninety
Speaker 2: five in heavy and so it just was such a surprise.
Speaker 2: Everybody was always out front of it. Mine, you know,
Speaker 2: they kind of knew it was coming. Eventually you faced me,
Speaker 2: You're gonna see a curveball most likely, and uh and
Speaker 2: I never had Colayton's great fastball really, so we used them.
Speaker 2: We used them similarly to get them off our fast
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: He he.
Speaker 2: He did it as more of like a like a
Speaker 2: there's no way you can look for this. I did
Speaker 2: it as a I need to get you out with
Speaker 2: my heater, so I want you to try to hit
Speaker 2: this curveball. And if you try to hit this curveball,
Speaker 2: most likely you're gonna get out. So that so then,
Speaker 2: you know, it kind of played in my favor that way.
Speaker 2: But as I got older and I lost my heater, U,
Speaker 2: the curveball wasn't that much of a contrast anymore.
Speaker 3: It became very hard. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I know Clayton Halls used to talk about change
Speaker 1: up envy, but he never wanted to compromise just his
Speaker 1: other pitches by throwing that pitch. Did you ever have
Speaker 1: anything any change up envy or any other pitch envy?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I always.
Speaker 2: I always wanted a great change up and I had
Speaker 2: an absolute banger of a change up every spring training
Speaker 2: that I got.
Speaker 3: Lots of outs with. I got lots of outs.
Speaker 2: In spring with my change up every year, and it
Speaker 2: was always with a new grip and a new swagger.
Speaker 3: I always I called it my devastator.
Speaker 2: And ever go into every year like really confident to
Speaker 2: throw my Devastator. And I'd come out of the first
Speaker 2: game of the season and I would have thrown one
Speaker 2: or two, you know, and it's like, dang it. I
Speaker 2: thought I was gonna throw twelve or fifteen of them,
Speaker 2: you know, And so I did a little bit. But
Speaker 2: the same thing he said, you know, I knew that
Speaker 2: I could get you out with my sinker and my
Speaker 2: curveball and my cutter. He knew he could get you
Speaker 2: out with his four seamer and his slider and his curveball.
Speaker 2: And you know, what you don't ever want to do
Speaker 2: is give up extra base hits or put yourself in
Speaker 2: a bad count throwing your fourth best pitch if you
Speaker 2: don't have confidence in it.
Speaker 3: Hey, before I let you go.
Speaker 1: One thing that Clayton always talked about, especially towards the
Speaker 1: end of his career, is just go out there and
Speaker 1: compete with what you have.
Speaker 3: That's something you did as well.
Speaker 1: Is there anybody or any few guys in the game
Speaker 1: that stand out to you now that have that same type.
Speaker 3: Of compete that you and Clayton had.
Speaker 2: Well, my favorite guy to watch is Zach Wheeler. You know,
Speaker 2: I just love I love watching him pitch. And he's
Speaker 2: an actual pitcher, you know, he goes out there and competes.
Speaker 2: I mean guys like Trek Scooble. They're so great because
Speaker 2: he has he has the mindset to go along with
Speaker 2: the stuff. There's tons of guys of our in our
Speaker 2: game that have stuff. There's tons of guys that throw
Speaker 2: upwards one hundred miles an hour now, uh, but they
Speaker 2: don't have that dog inside of them, you know. And
Speaker 2: and Zach Wheeler and uh and Terrek they're they're they're
Speaker 2: my probably my two favorite guys because they're.
Speaker 3: Just out there.
Speaker 2: They're putting their cajonas on the line every pitch. You know,
Speaker 2: they're they're they're out there just fighting like dogs.
Speaker 3: And I love that. You know, as a pitcher, if you're.
Speaker 2: Not competing your tail off of your team, I don't
Speaker 2: really know what you're doing out there.
Speaker 3: I love it. Adam Wayne right is our guest.
Speaker 1: So much reaction from guys that you overlap with, guys
Speaker 1: that you never faced. How much does that make you feel, like, hey,
Speaker 1: some of these guys remember old wayno here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's always good to come back and see face,
Speaker 2: as you know, and and and and I've started to
Speaker 2: get to the age where where guys are like I
Speaker 2: loved watching you growing up, you know, and that kind
Speaker 2: of stuff, and that that makes me feel special because
Speaker 2: I know I had those guys too. And when I
Speaker 2: played golf with Lavin and Maddox the other day, and
Speaker 2: you know, I had them sign my scorecard at the end,
Speaker 2: and they were kind of like, what the heck? And
Speaker 2: I was like, Bro, I'm still a huge fan, you know,
Speaker 2: Like you know, I've patted my game after y'all, so like,
Speaker 2: I don't think you should ever lose that fandom of baseball.
Speaker 3: Adam, thanks a lot for the time.
Speaker 1: I'm a little kid right now because watching you do
Speaker 1: your thing so impressive and so much respect. Even though
Speaker 1: you wore that cardinal red and beat the Dodgers in
Speaker 1: thirteen and fourteen, we all remember those days. But what
Speaker 1: you stand for off the field from your peers and
Speaker 1: what they shared with me obviously speaks for itself.
Speaker 3: So thank you so much for your time. Thank you
Speaker 3: very much for saying that