Speaker 1: And now an exclusive interview with David Bassey for Dodger Talker.
Speaker 1: I am really excited to have our next guest join
Speaker 1: us for the first time over the phone, for the
Speaker 1: first time technically on Dodger Talk. He was a recurring
Speaker 1: guest on the pregame show. He only spent one year
Speaker 1: with the Dodgers, but it was a fantastic year. He
Speaker 1: was part of the first quartet in Dodger history to
Speaker 1: drive in one hundred runs in the same season. That
Speaker 1: was back in twenty twenty three when he hit thirty
Speaker 1: three home runs and drove in one hundred and three
Speaker 1: runs for the Dodgers. And we had a special handshake.
Speaker 1: We connected over me breaking my wrist on the Milwaukee
Speaker 1: slide in spring training and from that point on, the
Speaker 1: magic with the Deadfish handshake took off. And that is
Speaker 1: America's dh JD Mark teen is JD. Great to have
Speaker 1: you on the show. I miss you, Hey, I.
Speaker 2: Miss you too. Man, It's great talking to you. You
Speaker 2: are on Bess. How I'm late.
Speaker 1: Life is good. I have not gone down any slides,
Speaker 1: I haven't broken any ribs. I'm doing okay, thank god.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think you're allowed to go to any
Speaker 2: slides anymore.
Speaker 1: I feel like I have to have some redemption. Maybe
Speaker 1: go on a fishing boat with you, or maybe do
Speaker 1: some some skiing with you. Maybe we can work that out.
Speaker 2: Oh that would be great. I would love nothing more.
Speaker 2: I would love to see than skiing down the slopes,
Speaker 2: especially knowing how fragile you are.
Speaker 1: JD didn't know who the hell I was until he
Speaker 1: saw the slide highlight one spring training moment, and then
Speaker 1: from that point on, Uh, it was. It was a
Speaker 1: great year in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it was a blooper that was being
Speaker 2: run on TV. I remember seeing that. I'd be like,
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, who is that guy? And everyone's like,
Speaker 2: that's David, that's our media guy. I said, I got
Speaker 2: to beat this guy. How do you break your hands
Speaker 2: sliding down a slide? I've never heard of.
Speaker 1: That, dude. It was a fast ride. It was a
Speaker 1: fast slide. I don't know I slowed it down. I
Speaker 1: feel like I did everybody of public service.
Speaker 2: I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1: Hey, JD. Martinez is living his best life. He's fishing
Speaker 1: nearly every day out there in Florida. He was just
Speaker 1: in Park City, Utah skiing and now he's in the ohright,
Speaker 1: oh sorry, sorry, Aspen. Yes, that's uh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I had a lot of homers. I get
Speaker 2: to go to Aspen, a.
Speaker 1: Lot of dingers for JD Martinez to go to Aspen.
Speaker 1: And now he's in the desert for the Desert Smash
Speaker 1: in Lakina starting on Monday. He's a celebrity pickleball player. Now,
Speaker 1: I mean, is that the level of pickleball you're at
Speaker 1: right now where you're a celebrity?
Speaker 2: I mean pretty much. I mean I don't know. I
Speaker 2: mean it's if my back could hold up a little
Speaker 2: bit more, I think I can kind of get good
Speaker 2: at it, but I always run into my back issues,
Speaker 2: you know, And was it for that, I think I'd be,
Speaker 2: you know, out there competing, trying to compete more. But
Speaker 2: I'm excited for it. I'm excited. I know a lot
Speaker 2: of there's gonna be a lot of pros out there.
Speaker 2: There's gonna be a lot of really good players, and
Speaker 2: I'm excited to go and you know, play alongside of them.
Speaker 2: It'll be fun. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Will Ferrell is supposed to be one of the other
Speaker 1: celebrities with JD Martinez. Maybe you could be doubles like
Speaker 1: Krushaw's ping pong tournament.
Speaker 2: I remember that. Yeah, Kershaw kind of Kershaw rigged that
Speaker 2: ping pong tournament so he would win. I know it.
Speaker 1: So who's a better pickleball player? You or Mookie Betts?
Speaker 2: Oh? I don't know. I think I'm gonna have to
Speaker 2: say me. I'm sorry, Smoke. I love him, but I
Speaker 2: think I got them. I'll just play more though. That's
Speaker 2: the problem.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. I mean, how do you have back problems
Speaker 1: when you play pickleball? You barely move?
Speaker 2: I mean, what are you talking about? You got to
Speaker 2: stop bend over. There's a lot of things you gotta do.
Speaker 1: I don't see it.
Speaker 2: A lot of things you do.
Speaker 1: I don't see why this is such a phenomenon across
Speaker 1: the country.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's addicted. It's so addicted.
Speaker 1: Why Why is it because you little ping pong and
Speaker 1: you move around a little bit. I know you're a competitor,
Speaker 1: but what makes you so good to bring your game
Speaker 1: to the desert smash and really want to fly across
Speaker 1: the country to be part of this.
Speaker 2: I mean it's one of those things you know, you
Speaker 2: get invited. It's a cool experience. Uh, you get to
Speaker 2: go alongside and test your test your skills against some
Speaker 2: of the pros out there. So it's definitely a you know,
Speaker 2: nothing I like more than a good challenge. So I'm
Speaker 2: excited to just go out there and see what I went.
Speaker 2: Earlier this year, I went to Dallas for a for
Speaker 2: the same kind of thing, and I got to play
Speaker 2: against Dirk Novisky and Carol Owens and Tifu and it
Speaker 2: was just fun. It's a fun, cool experience. And we
Speaker 2: got to go up against some of the pickleball pros
Speaker 2: like Ben Jons and of course they put me on
Speaker 2: singles against Annaalie Waters, who's probably the best pickleball player ever,
Speaker 2: and I got absolutely demolished. It was a very humbling
Speaker 2: experience for him, and I truly enjoyed it. All right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's just good. It's good fun.
Speaker 1: How did you do against Dirk Nowitzki? I would say
Speaker 1: he has the length on you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Dirk, I got I got him though. I beat
Speaker 2: him though, Yeah, he's got it. He definitely got the
Speaker 2: length on me. But he's it's a little hard for
Speaker 2: him to, you know, bend over, he's so tall, so
Speaker 2: I was able to keep the ball low on him.
Speaker 1: Okay, explain this to me. In pickleball, you always hear
Speaker 1: everybody talk about the kitchen, the kitchen. Can you explain
Speaker 1: to us what the kitchen is in pickleball?
Speaker 2: All right? The kitchen is that little it's like the
Speaker 2: boss that's outlined right next to the net, and in
Speaker 2: the kitchen, you can ever go into the kitchen unless
Speaker 2: the ball goes in the kitchen. Got right. You can.
Speaker 2: You can reach in there, but you can't touch the
Speaker 2: ground in the kitchen unless the ball bounces in the kitchen.
Speaker 2: Once the ball bounces in the kitchen, then you can
Speaker 2: go in there and hit the ball. Then you're allowed
Speaker 2: to You're allowed to go over in the kitchen. It
Speaker 2: just keeps people back so that not everybody would just
Speaker 2: run to the net, you know.
Speaker 1: Okay, so once the ball bounces in the kitchen, that's
Speaker 1: when you can play it. Yeah, exactly, Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you explaining that to me. I I'm going
Speaker 1: to try it one of these days. But I feel
Speaker 1: like I need a bigger challenge than pickleball in my life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't. I don't know if pickleball is a
Speaker 2: sport for you, though, David, this is the issue. You know,
Speaker 2: you're you're a little because you're a little fragile. I
Speaker 2: don't see a lot of athleticism from you. Uh, you're
Speaker 2: gonna need hand eye coordination, reaction. I think there are
Speaker 2: a lot of skills that you don't have. So I
Speaker 2: don't know what kind of a you know, advise you
Speaker 2: to stay away from it. It's got a lot of
Speaker 2: injuries in the pickleball game.
Speaker 1: Okay, thank you. I appreciate your concern. How about fishing
Speaker 1: for swordfish? How about fishing for swordfish?
Speaker 2: Hey, we could go. We could go. I got my
Speaker 2: boat down here and you can come down whenever you want. Oh, man, enjoyable.
Speaker 2: You don't make me feel like.
Speaker 1: I'm on vacation every time I watch you on Instagram
Speaker 1: on the boat. I mean, you are living your best
Speaker 1: life after just basically dedicating your previous what thirty years
Speaker 1: to baseball. I mean, I love that you're enjoying yourself.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. Man, It's been fun. Honestly, I kind
Speaker 2: of pick A and I one adventure to do every month,
Speaker 2: and I try to go out there and do it.
Speaker 2: I'm a dad now, so you know I have that
Speaker 2: currently pushing my daughter around a little a little car thing.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I'm not on adventures, but I'm not on
Speaker 2: my one adventure a month. I come back and I'm
Speaker 2: playing dad for the next three weeks, you know. So
Speaker 2: I try to just enjoy it and make the best
Speaker 2: out of it.
Speaker 1: But that George Clooney beard is still perfectly fine. It
Speaker 1: has not even gotten too long. It is perfect for JD.
Speaker 1: Martinez and you still have your I.
Speaker 2: Keep it clean, yeah, yeah, keep it clean. I got,
Speaker 2: I got, I got a few more white hair than
Speaker 2: it now. But I'm good.
Speaker 1: How since you were known for being a cage rat,
Speaker 1: how liberating is your life now that you don't have
Speaker 1: the burden of having to be America's dh.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, it's amazing. I love it. People are like,
Speaker 2: how are you enjoying it? I'm like, they're like, do
Speaker 2: you miss it? I'm like, I miss the boys. I
Speaker 2: miss everything's feeling good and my body's feeling good, But
Speaker 2: I don't miss the preparation and all that stuff that
Speaker 2: goes into it to get my body ready just to
Speaker 2: go out there and have four back in the game
Speaker 2: and everything I have to do. That's that's definitely a burden.
Speaker 2: You know that's been taking off my shoulders in.
Speaker 1: Twenty three with the dodge. How long would it take
Speaker 1: you to get ready for a game?
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness. I mean I said ever since spot
Speaker 2: like twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, I think is when
Speaker 2: it started. It would probably take me like an hour
Speaker 2: on the training room table and then an hour in
Speaker 2: the gym, and then from there I'm kind of ready
Speaker 2: to start batting practice and get ready to go, you know,
Speaker 2: like get my body moving around.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. I mean, people don't understand that you guys
Speaker 1: show up well before first pitch, not an hour before,
Speaker 1: especially guys like you. And I used to hear Chase
Speaker 1: Suttley at the end of his career showing up at
Speaker 1: noon for a seventy ten game just to get ready.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I mean for me, I was a little
Speaker 2: bit different, you know. I mean, no one really understood this,
Speaker 2: but I was. You know, I would wake up in
Speaker 2: the morning at nine ten o'clock, eat breakfast, and go
Speaker 2: to the cage and do my whole you know, what
Speaker 2: I would work on the night before, what I was
Speaker 2: going to work on that day that I saw the
Speaker 2: night before, I was gonna go and I was gonna,
Speaker 2: you know, go test it out and go to the
Speaker 2: cage for like an hour, hour and a half and
Speaker 2: then go and start my like, you know, go to
Speaker 2: the field around twelve one o'clock and start my day there.
Speaker 2: So my day really started around like nine ten o'clock.
Speaker 1: And and now, do you did you have any withdrawals
Speaker 1: last year your first year out of the game, and
Speaker 1: how did you get over those withdrawals?
Speaker 2: I definitely didn't have any withdrawals, for sure. Zero withdrawals. Yeah,
Speaker 2: my withdrawals was like the guys hanging out with the
Speaker 2: guys in the clubhouse talking crap, like the bus rides
Speaker 2: like that kind of stuff. You know. That was that
Speaker 2: was what I missed. But I'm still able to do
Speaker 2: all that here. You know, I have my whole morning
Speaker 2: routine here that I do, and I started doing, you know,
Speaker 2: doing things I've never been able to do. Last year
Speaker 2: was you know, taking these trips, learning how to free dive,
Speaker 2: learning like you know, just different styles of fishing and
Speaker 2: trying to go and go on like you know, crazy
Speaker 2: adventures where we take the boat. I mean, we did
Speaker 2: a few trips this year. We took the boat one
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty miles out in the middle of nowhere,
Speaker 2: stuck on the boat for three days and just fish
Speaker 2: for three days like some like more hardcore stuff than
Speaker 2: ever been able to do.
Speaker 1: That's amazing.
Speaker 2: It's been. It's been great, dude, it's been fun.
Speaker 1: Next, the Dodger sucked you back in last year when
Speaker 1: we were in Tampa. It was it was out there
Speaker 1: that that you got sucked back in to be the
Speaker 1: mookie whisperer to help him try to get out of
Speaker 1: the season long slump. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean me and MUK go way back,
Speaker 2: so you know, for him, I definitely made the exception
Speaker 2: of coming out and going out there and spending a
Speaker 2: weekend with them and you know, trying to get him
Speaker 2: back on track. It was like, God, a few times
Speaker 2: we did it? Did it? I did it there? And
Speaker 2: then I did in l A too.
Speaker 1: Did you really?
Speaker 2: So? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Help him with? What do you help him with?
Speaker 2: How?
Speaker 1: Why does J. D. Martinez connect with him so much?
Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean I think we both a
Speaker 2: want of trust. He trusts me, uh he you know,
Speaker 2: he values my opinion on everything. And from there it
Speaker 2: was kind of one of those things where we just
Speaker 2: we work well together, and I don't know, I feel
Speaker 2: like I just have a really good understanding of his
Speaker 2: swing and his mind. You know, Mooke's Mooke's you know, unbelievable,
Speaker 2: unbelievable talent, as everybody knows. He's just sometimes this game
Speaker 2: it just derails you sometimes and you need someone to
Speaker 2: you know, lock it back in. You know. Robert, Robert
Speaker 2: was that guy. Robert was that guy for me. You know,
Speaker 2: every time I would get derailed, Robert would kind of
Speaker 2: guide me back in and it was a lot of
Speaker 2: trust that I put into him, and it always kind
Speaker 2: of works. Sometimes you just got to turn your brain
Speaker 2: off and let someone else think for you, cause you
Speaker 2: just get in your own way.
Speaker 1: Mooki's coming to camp earlier than I've ever seen him
Speaker 1: come to camp to work since twenty twenty. Do you
Speaker 1: expect him you know, there's a lot of people that
Speaker 1: expect the beginning of the end last year for Mooki.
Speaker 1: Do you expect him to have you know, more of
Speaker 1: a Mooki type year?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you just the thing with Muke is
Speaker 2: you just you know, you never know, he just turns
Speaker 2: on a switch and all of a sudden, he doesn't
Speaker 2: get out for freaking three months and you're like, what
Speaker 2: the heck just happened. It's like Freddie. You know, they're
Speaker 2: able to just go on these runs where you're like,
Speaker 2: good luck, you know. So for me to see that,
Speaker 2: I always for me, I always expect MOOKI to have
Speaker 2: a great year. You know. I tell him every I
Speaker 2: tell him all the time. I said, Muke, I said,
Speaker 2: there's no reason that you can't win MVP every single
Speaker 2: year because you have that kind of ability.
Speaker 1: And if I mean to you again this year, would
Speaker 1: you answer the phone? Would they be able to suck
Speaker 1: you back into the cage?
Speaker 2: I mean, if Mookie called me, yeah, I definitely would,
Speaker 2: you know, I mean, Muskie's my guy.
Speaker 1: So what what it.
Speaker 2: Always been, We've always had a bigger relationship.
Speaker 1: I wanted I wanted you to be part of what
Speaker 1: they got now. But watching it the last two years,
Speaker 1: do you even watch their games? Did you even watch
Speaker 1: the World Series?
Speaker 2: Yeah? No, The World Series is unbelievable. I mean it's
Speaker 2: kind of it was. It was unreal games with you know, Toronto,
Speaker 2: and it was it was crazy. It was crazy. It
Speaker 2: was just crazy. You know, there were so many times
Speaker 2: you thought Toronto was going to win the game. They
Speaker 2: were just right there and I was like, Oh, if
Speaker 2: they don't score here, they're not going to win this
Speaker 2: type thing. And you know, the Dodgers just you guys
Speaker 2: just had that veteran you know, leadership and presence and
Speaker 2: it's just a veteran club. And you give you give
Speaker 2: those guys with that much talent enough opportunities, they're gonna
Speaker 2: you guys are going to find a way for sure.
Speaker 2: And I think that's what happened.
Speaker 1: Hey, JD. Martinez is going to be at the big
Speaker 1: Smash in Lakenta beginning on Monday, the Desert Smash. But
Speaker 1: I got to ask you when you were at the
Speaker 1: Red Sox and you guys beat the Dodgers. Chris Sale
Speaker 1: did heroic things, including you know, coming out of the
Speaker 1: bullpen in game five, where would you rank with where
Speaker 1: what Yamamoto did in game six and seven?
Speaker 2: Especially unreal, unbelievable. You know, Nadi Valdi was our guy,
Speaker 2: that he was our Yama Moto in that twenty eighteen run.
Speaker 2: But what I mean what Yamamoto did was I mean,
Speaker 2: it was definitely the reason he won the MVP. I
Speaker 2: mean that was ridiculous. I faced him one time in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty, twenty twenty four with the Mets at our
Speaker 2: place and it was freezing, and I remember he was
Speaker 2: throwing himself, like Jesus, how does anybody hit this guy?
Speaker 2: This guy's nasty. He didn't know what the hell the
Speaker 2: ball was gonna do. It was like playing with the
Speaker 2: ball at ninety seven miles an hour.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he is, you know, he is small
Speaker 1: in stature and his hands aren't as big as Pedro
Speaker 1: Martinez JD. But I don't know he found something after
Speaker 1: he came off the IL in twenty four.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was. I mean he was feeling it. He
Speaker 2: felt great. You could see it that he felt great,
Speaker 2: and he just rode that whole wave, you know, and
Speaker 2: he was just he was lighted out.
Speaker 1: Where were you watching Game seven of the World Series
Speaker 1: on a boat somewhere? Where were you?
Speaker 2: Now? No, it was actually watching game on the games earlier,
Speaker 2: like on a boat. Me and alex Avila were on
Speaker 2: his boat. He's got a sixty eight foot Vikings, beautiful boat,
Speaker 2: and we were on his boat watching it. But the
Speaker 2: game seven, I was on my I was on my
Speaker 2: couch with my friends and I was I was standing
Speaker 2: up the whole game. I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: this is crazy. There was I mean, there were so
Speaker 2: many plays the play at the plate that Blue Jays
Speaker 2: had bases loaded, like two three times. You guys had
Speaker 2: bases loaded. No one to get it no longer, you know,
Speaker 2: drive in that last run. And I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: this is not looking good for Toronto. I already see it.
Speaker 2: You can't give these guys this amount of opportunities, you know.
Speaker 2: And it was just I mean, kudos to the Dodgers man,
Speaker 2: and you know what Andrew's been able to do there.
Speaker 2: It's unbelievable the team he's been able to put together.
Speaker 1: Do you think they repeat this year?
Speaker 2: I mean, it's hard to see it. It's hard to
Speaker 2: say no, you know. I mean it's hard to say no.
Speaker 2: It's just one of those things where, I mean, that's
Speaker 2: the lineup, the pitching, Like, there's not many weaknesses the
Speaker 2: Dodgers have. It's just the only weakness that they have
Speaker 2: is that they've been to the World Series, you know,
Speaker 2: the last two years and they've won. So that's a
Speaker 2: lot of wear and tear on the bodies. And that's
Speaker 2: the only downside you you look at when you see
Speaker 2: a team like that, trying to go back and threepeat.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's not a lot of the teams have
Speaker 2: done it. It's so tough with health, you know, you
Speaker 2: got to keep everybody healthy and those those leverage innings,
Speaker 2: those things that you know, like what Yamamoto was able
Speaker 2: to do, we saw it in twenty eighteen coming back
Speaker 2: in twenty nineteen with Rick Porcello and David Price, that
Speaker 2: you could see those guys had to really stretch it
Speaker 2: out in eighteen and they kind of caught up to
Speaker 2: them in nineteen. So that's just that's the hardest part
Speaker 2: about you know, about the playoffs and pushing it that
Speaker 2: long because you don't know, you know, the wear and
Speaker 2: tear you create because you're just so much adrenaline going
Speaker 2: through you in those games.
Speaker 1: Well, he would know. He beat the Dodgers with the
Speaker 1: Red Sox in twenty eighteen. He finished his career with
Speaker 1: three hundred and thirty one home runs, and his most
Speaker 1: magical season was not in Boston. It was right here
Speaker 1: in La in my opinion, just kidding JD. That was
Speaker 1: that was my favorite year. We had so much Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: we had so much fun. And uh uh, I hope
Speaker 1: you come back to La. I hope the Dodgers can
Speaker 1: find a place for you, because you do have a
Speaker 1: lot to offer. But at the very least, the Mookie
Speaker 1: whisperer always has a bat phone for Mookie to call
Speaker 1: to get him back on track. I feel like you
Speaker 1: you're more than Mookie's whisper. You have a lot to
Speaker 1: offer to a lot of guys. JD. So uh, maybe
Speaker 1: when you dock the boat you could go to the
Speaker 1: cache and help guys.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. We'll see, we'll see. I miss I
Speaker 2: miss you too, buddy. I've always been watching I'm watching you.
Speaker 2: I watch all your interviews every now and then to
Speaker 2: see who else. Uh you're giving that debtfish handshake to
Speaker 2: I tried with Conforno.
Speaker 1: It got him going for a week, but you know,
Speaker 1: it can only do so much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel that.
Speaker 1: Now people are talking about my nipples instead of my
Speaker 1: wrist and my dead fish handshake now, Oh no, for real?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah. During the celebration, it went, uh, you.
Speaker 2: Know, with got to be something k did h Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 1: It was that and they showed it on Jimmy Kimmel
Speaker 1: and it became.
Speaker 2: A fan's that's right up K's Alley.
Speaker 1: All right, j D, I can talk to you forever.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: I know it's great to share you again with Dodger fans.
Speaker 1: It was a great excuse to have you on since
Speaker 1: you're gonna be on the West coast. Lakinta, the pick
Speaker 1: A Ball Smash coming up on Monday, and uh, I
Speaker 1: can't wait to see some photos on on your ig
Speaker 1: and uh, man you were. You're a special guy and
Speaker 1: that's why to this day, so many guys still uh
Speaker 1: still miss America's d H.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it, David, thank you, thanks so much for
Speaker 2: having me, buddy.
Speaker 1: We'll do it again soon. JD.
Speaker 2: Thanks a lot, definitely, Man, I'll talk to you later.