Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talking.
Speaker 1: It was a great birthday for Will Smith. Last time
Speaker 1: we saw him on Sunday, the Babblehead Night the go.
Speaker 1: I had to run a home run and of course
Speaker 1: the family out here to witness dad do his thing.
Speaker 1: Three time World Series champion Will Smith joins us. Thanks
Speaker 1: a lot for the time, appreciate it, of course, Dave,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me on. So, I guess days off
Speaker 1: are not really days off for you. You had to kind
Speaker 1: of walk Dalton Rushing through some some things for tonight's game.
Speaker 2: I guess, yeah, what what do you mean what I
Speaker 2: had to walk him through?
Speaker 1: Well, don't you help him with the game planning first
Speaker 1: start of the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, we already talked. We talked through some stuff,
Speaker 2: tragging the same page, talk to, you know, talk about
Speaker 2: these guys and hopefully get Rookie up to a good
Speaker 2: start tonight.
Speaker 1: After another clutch home run the other day, I started
Speaker 1: to look back at some of the moments you had
Speaker 1: in your career. Is it hard to believe now you've
Speaker 1: been in the league since twenty nineteen, was like yesterday
Speaker 1: you were here following the team around in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's it's yeah, it's been it's felt like
Speaker 2: a long you know, seven years now, I guess. But
Speaker 2: also it's kind of flies by to Yeah, just just
Speaker 2: grateful to be with the Dodgers. You know, we've been
Speaker 2: competitive every year, making the postseason every year, won a
Speaker 2: few World Series. Yeah, it's gone, it's gone really well,
Speaker 2: and you know, just couldn't be We're happy and you know,
Speaker 2: grateful to be here.
Speaker 1: Was that thirty first birthday maybe the most memorable birthday
Speaker 1: you've ever had?
Speaker 2: Uh? Yeah, probably it's most recent, so it's definitely my
Speaker 2: most memorial at this point. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I can't think of another birthday where you had your
Speaker 1: bobblehead night and you're able to do what you've done
Speaker 1: so many times and help the Dodgers win a game.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, usually, you know, sometimes the season hasn't
Speaker 2: even started yet. So yeah, that was that was a
Speaker 2: fun one.
Speaker 1: The other day, What was this story that Dave Roberts
Speaker 1: was talking about how he wanted to give you Sunday off,
Speaker 1: but you convinced him to play you. Is that accurate
Speaker 1: assessment of the way it went down? Uh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think you know, it's still early the year.
Speaker 2: I feel feel good. You know. I think you know,
Speaker 2: his mindset, a front office mindset or whatever is always
Speaker 2: kind of like just slow play it, you know, build
Speaker 2: back up. But uh yeah, I felt good. Just felt
Speaker 2: like I needed to let me know that. You know,
Speaker 2: I was kind of just joking around. I wasn't really
Speaker 2: like totally like fighting, like I need to be in there,
Speaker 2: but I kind of like, you know, I want to
Speaker 2: be in there every game. Uh. And I remember last
Speaker 2: year I didn't play my bibblehead, and I remember giving
Speaker 2: him some grief about that and stuff. But uh yeah,
Speaker 2: I pulled that card. He let me in there, and
Speaker 2: uh turned out all right.
Speaker 1: I guess when his starting catcher is invited to go
Speaker 1: to Augusta with him, you got some pool with the manager.
Speaker 2: Right, yep, that'll help for sure.
Speaker 1: So your golf game is almost as legendary as uh,
Speaker 1: your dramatic home runs lad in games. What what was
Speaker 1: that like going to Augusta with Dave Roberts.
Speaker 2: It was that was an amazing in three days. You know,
Speaker 2: Mookie came with us, you know, Uh, our host was incredible.
Speaker 2: It was it was awesome. You know, the courses in
Speaker 2: such good shape. It was so much fun to you know,
Speaker 2: play it. You know, I've seen the tournament so many
Speaker 2: times and different holes and different shots, and like, oh,
Speaker 2: that's where that was, that's where that was. You know,
Speaker 2: we looked out with the weather, got to see kind
Speaker 2: of the whole every facility in the grounds and all
Speaker 2: that and kind of everything that goes on there. It
Speaker 2: was you know, it's just a special place and uh,
Speaker 2: you know, just just Cloud was able to go at
Speaker 2: least once and hopefully, you know, at some point in
Speaker 2: the future get to go again.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that place is tough to even cover as a
Speaker 1: media member. There's a lottery to be drawn. Could you
Speaker 1: ever imagine that you'd be playing golf where Tiger Woods.
Speaker 2: Is one of the Masters? Yeah, that's you know, that's
Speaker 2: one of those dream courses, you know, the bucket list
Speaker 2: course you want to play, You want to you want
Speaker 2: to see what it's all about. You want to you know,
Speaker 2: at least just go to the Masters and watch the
Speaker 2: tournament even and I know I'll do that at some point,
Speaker 2: you know, after baseball, because that's in April. But uh, yeah,
Speaker 2: it was. It was just really cool. It's kind of
Speaker 2: so you know, it's incredible. You know, the level of like,
Speaker 2: you know, care they put into every single thing, every
Speaker 2: single little detail is the best of the best, you know,
Speaker 2: from from their bushes and stuff to their landscaping, to
Speaker 2: the buildings to just the service. The people are so
Speaker 2: nice there and so like just welcoming and everything. It was.
Speaker 2: It was really cool.
Speaker 1: So can you share with all the golfers out there?
Speaker 1: How Will Smith shot at Augusta.
Speaker 2: The first day was bad. I don't know what I
Speaker 2: was doing. The second day was better. But MOOKI and
Speaker 2: I beat up on docs, so that's all that mattered.
Speaker 1: Yeah, not surprising. Will Smith is our guest three time
Speaker 1: World Series champion.
Speaker 2: There's been a lot of talk.
Speaker 1: Now after the first week of the season about the
Speaker 1: ABS and how it's gone so far, and now we're
Speaker 1: seeing percentages from your standpoint, both as a hitter and
Speaker 1: a catcher, how has it gone in for the first
Speaker 1: time experiencing it in games that matter, Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's it's it's gone. Well, you know, I don't I
Speaker 2: don't know. I think it's good for the game, you know.
Speaker 2: I think honestly the best part about it is I
Speaker 2: think the umpires are more locked in just from the
Speaker 2: get go. You know, just to spring training, I think
Speaker 2: you know, there were a lot less overturned calls because
Speaker 2: they were they were locked in. That's that's the most
Speaker 2: important thing, is you know, just getting the call right
Speaker 2: and you know they're they're trying to do their best too.
Speaker 2: They get that instant feedback, which is great, you know
Speaker 2: for the rest of the game. So I think it's
Speaker 2: I think it's a good thing. I think we've handled
Speaker 2: it pretty well. You got a couple of calls go
Speaker 2: our way using the right situations, so it's just been good.
Speaker 2: It's still kind of learning process and learning different situations
Speaker 2: and all that stuff, but overall we've been pretty good
Speaker 2: at so far.
Speaker 1: Hey, I know you're always in the moment. You got
Speaker 1: the Guardians starting tonight, But ever since the schedule came out,
Speaker 1: it's hard to ignore that your first road trip is
Speaker 1: taking you to Toronto, the scene of where you guys
Speaker 1: dramatically came back to win the World Series. Any concern
Speaker 1: over customs the Mounties when you go back across the border, No.
Speaker 2: No, I'm not concern. I was asked the other day
Speaker 2: if I was actually banned. That was that one kind
Speaker 2: of threw me for a loop thinking it was real.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I did a whole commercial promoting your bubblehead
Speaker 1: going through the security line.
Speaker 2: I know that was that was that turned out better
Speaker 2: than I thought. That was pretty good. That was a
Speaker 2: good a good script. I didn't I didn't have any
Speaker 2: part of that other than just kind of reading the lines.
Speaker 2: But that was good. But no, it'd be fun. I
Speaker 2: know they're gonna want a little payback on us, so
Speaker 2: it should be should be a good series. You know
Speaker 2: they're they're a really good team again this year, so
Speaker 2: it should be you know, fun, fun over there.
Speaker 1: All right, So no concerns over Canadian TSA stopping you
Speaker 1: a little longer. You and ROAs you guys have some
Speaker 1: targets on your back when you go through TSA.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we'll see. Maybe it'll be longer, but no,
Speaker 2: it should be fine.
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot for the time, Congratulations on a great birthday.
Speaker 1: Congratulations on helping the Dodgers win the World Series ease
Speaker 1: and keep it going.
Speaker 2: Yep, thank you,