Speaker 1: And now, an exclusive interview with David Basset for Dodger Talk.
Speaker 2: Reyes on two and one.
Speaker 1: Taylor.
Speaker 2: Fly ball to left. And deep. And done!
Speaker 1: Chris Taylor, a walk-off home run. The Dodgers are walking
Speaker 1: off to San Francisco. They win the wild card, 3-1.
Speaker 1: Here comes Taylor to the plate. They are mobbing him.
Speaker 1: The crowd is going crazy. The Dodgers advance to the
Speaker 1: National League Division Series with one mighty swing.
Speaker 2: By Chris Taylor. That's how it sounded on that October
Speaker 2: night at Dodger Stadium. Chris Taylor with one of his
Speaker 2: great playoff moments in a Dodger uniform. That was against
Speaker 2: the Cardinals in the 21 wildcard game. And Chris Taylor
Speaker 2: is going to be celebrated tonight at Dodger Stadium, rightfully so.
Speaker 2: And we'll be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. And
Speaker 2: Chris Taylor joins us now. Chris, thanks a lot for
Speaker 2: the time and congratulations on a great career.
Speaker 3: Thanks, Bessie. I appreciate that, and I'm excited to get
Speaker 3: back to Dodger Stadium tonight and watch a game. It
Speaker 3: would be a new perspective for me, but I'm excited
Speaker 3: to go with my family and just soak it all in.
Speaker 2: I know the last couple of years when we did interviews,
Speaker 2: I held back trying to celebrate your career because you
Speaker 2: still had a lot left, but Now that you are
Speaker 2: officially retired, I can just go all in and celebrate
Speaker 2: some of the great moments you had in your great career.
Speaker 2: Did you ever believe when you got traded from the
Speaker 2: Mariners to the Dodgers in 2016 and you showed up
Speaker 2: in Pittsburgh that your career would take this arc and
Speaker 2: you would be throwing out the first pitch and being
Speaker 2: celebrated by Dodger fans 10 years later?
Speaker 3: Oh man, I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: That's, that's a tough question. Um, you know, I was
Speaker 3: just at that point in my career, I was just
Speaker 3: so focused on like getting to the major leagues and
Speaker 3: like earning a spot. Um, you know, it'd be hard
Speaker 3: to say. I thought that I would get, um, you know,
Speaker 3: over 10 years in the major leagues with the pretty
Speaker 3: much all with the Dodgers. Um, So, yeah, no, I
Speaker 3: don't know. I always had a lot of confidence in
Speaker 3: myself and always believed I would get there. But I
Speaker 3: don't know if I thought it would happen the way
Speaker 3: I did.
Speaker 2: Do you remember that first day in Pittsburgh, Chris?
Speaker 3: I do. Yeah, I do remember. I remember I was
Speaker 3: able to hit a triple in the left center gap.
Speaker 3: Which kind of took some took some of the pressure off,
Speaker 3: you know. But yeah, I remember joining the team in
Speaker 3: Pittsburgh and, you know, just being pretty, you know, welcomed
Speaker 3: by all the guys and actually like pleasantly surprised how.
Speaker 3: easy it was to fit in and, um, you know,
Speaker 3: kind of just be yourself. And, um, I remember feeling very, um,
Speaker 3: comfortable playing. And I think that's something that Dodgers do
Speaker 3: a great job of is like bringing guys in and like,
Speaker 3: you know, just like go out, do your thing. Don't
Speaker 3: put too much pressure on you. And, um, yeah, no, obviously, um,
Speaker 3: there's a reason they, um, you know, a lot of
Speaker 3: the young guys that get there have so much early success.
Speaker 2: When you're out there on the field before first pitch tonight,
Speaker 2: what do you think your emotions are going to be?
Speaker 2: Because like you said, you were always just about today.
Speaker 2: And that's what made you so good is that you
Speaker 2: were worried about today. You were where your feet were
Speaker 2: and you were in the middle of the grind of a,
Speaker 2: of a career trying to win championships. So when you
Speaker 2: see the montage of all the moments we've talked about
Speaker 2: over the years, How do you think you'll react?
Speaker 3: You know what? I'm going to do my best to
Speaker 3: just soak it all in and just try to enjoy
Speaker 3: a baseball game with my family. The plan right now
Speaker 3: is for my oldest son, Theo, to throw out the
Speaker 3: first pitch to me. So I think I might be
Speaker 3: a little nervous for him, and we'll see how he's–
Speaker 3: how he is emotionally at that time. And, uh, of
Speaker 3: course I'm not going to pressure him to do it
Speaker 3: if he, he's not comfortable, but, uh, I hope he's
Speaker 3: able to, to throw out the first pitch. And, um,
Speaker 3: I think that, uh, that would be really cool, um,
Speaker 3: experience to watch him, um, you know, half his moment, um,
Speaker 3: And then, yeah, I'm kind of just excited to watch
Speaker 3: a baseball game with with my family. I haven't been
Speaker 3: able to do that ever. So, yeah, I'm looking forward
Speaker 3: to it.
Speaker 2: Have you been keeping up with the Dodgers this year
Speaker 2: at all?
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course. You know, we. we still live in
Speaker 3: Manhattan beach. Um, you know, so the Dodgers are, you know,
Speaker 3: the team here and, um, you know, I keep up
Speaker 3: with the guys. I still have a lot of my
Speaker 3: old teammates are still with the team and, um, and
Speaker 3: try to follow them. And, um, yeah, you know, I
Speaker 3: don't know if we stay up till the end of
Speaker 3: the game, you know, that's usually after bedtime for us, but, um, definitely, uh,
Speaker 3: checking the box scores and keeping up with them.
Speaker 2: Chris Taylor is our guest. He's going to be celebrated
Speaker 2: tonight at Dodger Stadium, throwing out the first pitch tonight
Speaker 2: with his family right by his side. Now, I've talked
Speaker 2: to you over the years about my favorite memories, the
Speaker 2: moments that stick out in your career. Fans obviously share
Speaker 2: their moments with you. Hey, I was there in 2021
Speaker 2: or I was there when you did this. What in
Speaker 2: your mind stands out the most as far as some
Speaker 2: of the the moments that you had in your Dodger
Speaker 2: career that, you know, supersede others.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, individually, I think the, the, what you
Speaker 3: referenced earlier with the, the 21 wildcard walk-off, um, that
Speaker 3: was a big one for me, I think mainly because
Speaker 3: it came after such a long slump. Like I had
Speaker 3: struggled the entire second half of the season and ended
Speaker 3: up getting benched before, um, the playoffs and I was
Speaker 3: really like scuffling and somehow was able to, to find
Speaker 3: a barrel and hit that walk off Homer. And then
Speaker 3: that completely, um, you know, turned my whole whole season
Speaker 3: around and ended up having a great, great playoff. Um,
Speaker 3: so that, I mean, that was super rewarding for me.
Speaker 3: And then, um, you know, I think the, uh, The
Speaker 3: things I'm most proud of are the World Series, you know,
Speaker 3: 2020 and 24, being able to win two World Series
Speaker 3: with the guys. It's like there's no feeling that can
Speaker 3: top that. Winning the last game of the year is
Speaker 3: just the best feeling no matter how you get there.
Speaker 3: And that's probably what I'm most proud of.
Speaker 2: What do you remember the most about that 2020 season
Speaker 2: that that bubble run at Globe Life Field in Texas,
Speaker 2: not really having much of a social life, but being
Speaker 2: with your teammates 24-7. Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know, we were stuck in the hotel in Texas,
Speaker 3: you know, basically, I think it was for over a month. And,
Speaker 3: you know, it's, It's fun. You know, you're with all
Speaker 3: the guys and there's like that team bonding for sure.
Speaker 3: But then at the same time, there's like no escape.
Speaker 3: So you're it's just like the one nice thing about
Speaker 3: being home in L.A. is like you get to go
Speaker 3: home to your house. And for me at the beach
Speaker 3: and it's just kind of my safe place away from
Speaker 3: the baseball field where I can like take my mind
Speaker 3: off of it. and in the bubble and everything of
Speaker 3: course is heightened because it's the playoffs and there's so
Speaker 3: much pressure and, um, you know, there really was no escape.
Speaker 3: So it's like, it, it was a month, but it
Speaker 3: felt like two months. And, um, you know, I, I
Speaker 3: think it was a little mentally taxing. Um, but you know,
Speaker 3: obviously it ended with us winning the, our first World Series.
Speaker 3: So there was like a lot of peaks and valleys
Speaker 3: during that postseason. Of course, all worth it to finally
Speaker 3: come out on top.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like winning that World Series with those
Speaker 2: group of players that you went to the World Series
Speaker 2: with in 17 and 18 kind of was a closure
Speaker 2: for all you guys, redemption as far as achieving it,
Speaker 2: even in that type of situation and setting?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I've said this before. I think the
Speaker 3: predominant feeling after we won that was relief. It was,
Speaker 3: you know, because we felt like we should have won
Speaker 3: in 17 and we got back there in 18, weren't
Speaker 3: able to win. And then, you know, 19, we had
Speaker 3: a great team and we're upset by the the nationals
Speaker 3: who ended up winning so um you know i think
Speaker 3: 2020 was just like oh we finally did it like
Speaker 3: we can breathe you know the the monkeys off our
Speaker 3: back and um that yeah that was the main feeling
Speaker 3: even more so than the excitement of winning world series
Speaker 3: it's just like relief of like of uh you know
Speaker 3: getting over the hump.
Speaker 2: Yeah i understand that chris taylor is our guest and
Speaker 2: another part of your career and those teams chris is
Speaker 2: the bond that you guys had and still have to
Speaker 2: this day uh when i think of chris taylor it's
Speaker 2: hard not to think of cody bellinger or Corey Seager,
Speaker 2: or Alex Wood, or Justin Turner. How much does that
Speaker 2: make all of this more special that you form that
Speaker 2: bond with not just one guy, but 10, 15 guys?
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's really nothing like the relationship you'll have with
Speaker 3: your teammates in the clubhouse. And, you know, that group
Speaker 3: you just mentioned, we played together for multiple years and
Speaker 3: we went through.
Speaker 3: Everything I just talked about of like not being able
Speaker 3: to win for a long time and then finally winning.
Speaker 3: And I, you know, when you go, go through that
Speaker 3: and like, it's baseball seasons are long and it's every day. And, um,
Speaker 3: you know, when you go through the experiences you have
Speaker 3: on a team with those guys, you form a special
Speaker 3: bond and, um, I think that's something we'll carry with
Speaker 3: us for the rest of our lives.
Speaker 2: Before I let you go, I got to ask you
Speaker 2: this now, 2018 game seven NLCS in Milwaukee. How the
Speaker 2: heck did you make that catch that catch saved the
Speaker 2: NLCS for the Dodgers? How did you make that catch?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know. Um, You know, I've always said,
Speaker 3: I don't think it was like my greatest catch. I
Speaker 3: think it was obviously a big moment. I still think
Speaker 3: I didn't take the best route. I kind of undercut
Speaker 3: it and had the banana back. And then luckily I
Speaker 3: kind of snow coned it in my glove. Um, but
Speaker 3: definitely like as far as a moment, um, that was
Speaker 3: the biggest defensive moment I've had. Um, but yeah, uh,
Speaker 3: It was a cool experience, though, being in Milwaukee, making
Speaker 3: that catch in Game 7, having my family there to
Speaker 3: witness it, and then, of course, winning and clenching going
Speaker 3: to the World Series. It made it all that much better.
Speaker 2: To this day, Chris, whenever I go back to Milwaukee,
Speaker 2: I always look out there to left field and I
Speaker 2: think about that catch because that is one of the
Speaker 2: moments of being on this ride with you guys that
Speaker 2: I'll never forget. That was... Certainly one of the playoff
Speaker 2: highlights that I've ever seen. So it's awesome. You're coming back.
Speaker 2: Are you signing an official one-day contract to retire as
Speaker 2: a Dodger tonight, Chris?
Speaker 3: I don't know, but I did want to. There's nothing
Speaker 3: else you think of when you look out in left
Speaker 3: field in Milwaukee?
Speaker 2: No, no, I don't see anything else. I just see
Speaker 2: you making that catch. What do you see when you
Speaker 2: look out in left field?
Speaker 3: The big slide out there. You didn't have any bad
Speaker 3: experiences with that slide.
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, the slide. Yeah, that's it. Yes, that's right.
Speaker 2: It's all coming back to me now. I don't remember
Speaker 2: you helping me to the hospital that day.
Speaker 3: I think I, of course, wasn't there to see it,
Speaker 3: but I saw it on Instagram or on TV like
Speaker 3: everybody else, but.
Speaker 2: Okay. Well, thank you for remembering that. I'll remember you
Speaker 2: and you can remember me in Milwaukee.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I can't let you forget that.
Speaker 2: Well, I got to say this. It's so great you're
Speaker 2: coming back. You are always going to be part of
Speaker 2: the Dodger family. And I'm so grateful to you for
Speaker 2: treating me like family and treating my kids like family.
Speaker 2: And it's been a real pleasure. watching your career. And
Speaker 2: I can't believe I'm outlasting you. I can't believe I'm
Speaker 2: still doing this and you're retired. So I'll have to
Speaker 2: digest that tonight as well.
Speaker 3: Thanks. I mean, your friendship means a lot to me
Speaker 3: and it was always a pleasure working with you.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: I'll see you on the beach this summer.
Speaker 3: All right. That sounds good.