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Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Extra Earning postgame show with Bill Laski.

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Speaker 1: My guest played twelve years in Major League Baseball, nine

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Speaker 1: of them with the Oakland A's, one with the Rockies,

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Speaker 1: one two with the Dodgers, one with the Cardinals. Let's

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Speaker 1: welcome in Mark Allis. Mark, how are you today?

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Speaker 2: I'm doing great, Bill, Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, pleasure to have you. One will spring training again

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Speaker 1: is starting twenty twenty six. Both of us have played

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Speaker 1: in many years of spring training. We still have that itch.

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Speaker 1: I know you do as well as I do. What

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Speaker 1: does spring training mean to you?

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Speaker 3: No, it's a fresh start and you always have hope

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Speaker 3: at the BNA of spring training, you know, and you're

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Speaker 3: always you're always excited to get there and your teammates,

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Speaker 3: your buddies I haven't seen for you know, two or

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Speaker 3: three months. It's always good to get back there and

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Speaker 3: to be with them again.

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Speaker 1: Well, you know, we've had spring training in Florida, We've

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Speaker 1: had it in Arizona. Where did you like put seven

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Speaker 1: spring yet?

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Speaker 2: I loved Arizona.

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Speaker 3: We were living in Arizona at the time, and you know,

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Speaker 3: it just kind of bought an extra six weeks in my.

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Speaker 2: In my own bed and around my family.

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Speaker 3: I only had one one spring training in Florida, and

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Speaker 3: I would say it's probably the best part of Florida

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Speaker 3: in Jupiter with Cardinals. But I much preferred, much preferred Arizona.

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Speaker 3: The commutes are much much closer at Arizona as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you. Arizona. The ballpark seemed they

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Speaker 1: were closer. Florida. You had to get in a bus.

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Speaker 1: It seemed like it was two or three hours one way.

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Speaker 1: In the end you had to go back the other way.

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Speaker 1: Arizona just seemed more friendly, more comfortable, and you could

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Speaker 1: always depend on the weather.

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Speaker 2: Always depend on the weather.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I think Florida might have been a little warmer,

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Speaker 3: at least in South Florida during spring training, which is good.

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Speaker 3: But uh, you know, a little bit less rain in Arizona.

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Speaker 3: And like you said, the ballparks are closer. It feels

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Speaker 3: like there's a little bit more energy maybe in in

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Speaker 3: Arizona spring training as well.

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Speaker 2: I think just because maybe they are quite a bit closer. Uh.

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Speaker 2: The one good news.

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Speaker 3: Is when I was in Florida, I was a veteran,

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Speaker 3: so I didn't have to make all the crappy trips

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Speaker 3: I got to stay home in some of those days

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Speaker 3: and almost like a day off, so it was kind

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Speaker 3: of nice.

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Speaker 1: Mark Allis joined me on the ext runing post game

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Speaker 1: show Let's Go Back in Time. You grew up in

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Speaker 1: Rapid City, South Dakota. You ended up going to University

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Speaker 1: of Florida, a really good college baseball team as well

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Speaker 1: as school. What made that choice for you and how

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Speaker 1: did you enjoy playing that Well?

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Speaker 3: I knew I wanted to play in the College World Series.

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Speaker 3: My Legion baseball team. We would go to Omaha every

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Speaker 3: year and play in the sub tournament. I guess you

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Speaker 3: would call it the Legion Baseball Tournament while the World

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Speaker 3: Series is going on, So we'd always catch a game

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Speaker 3: or two during that time, and that was something I

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Speaker 3: always always dreamed about playing in.

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Speaker 2: It was the College World Series.

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Speaker 3: And to be honest, Florida was by far and away

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Speaker 3: my best offer out of high school. It was like,

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Speaker 3: I think Creighton and Arkansas State were my other offers,

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Speaker 3: So that made the decision pretty easy as well. But

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Speaker 3: I knew I'd have a chance to play in Omaha

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Speaker 3: if I went to the University of Florida, and that's

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Speaker 3: what made the decision pretty easy for me.

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Speaker 2: Obviously. The weather was a huge factor.

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Speaker 3: Coming from South Dakota just such a limited, limited baseball

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Speaker 3: season weatherwise, so that made it very very easy for

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Speaker 3: me to go to Florida.

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Speaker 1: Well, the goal was there, Mark. In nineteen ninety eight,

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Speaker 1: University of Florida ended up going to the College World Series.

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Speaker 1: You guys were number one seed, forty one and sixteen

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Speaker 1: going in there. Andy Lopez was your your head coach,

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Speaker 1: but then again a disappointing loss in Mississippi State in

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Speaker 1: that first round. Tell me a little bit about that experience.

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Speaker 2: It's great.

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Speaker 3: We actually went in nineteen ninety six my freshman year

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Speaker 3: as well, and we had we had a lot of

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Speaker 3: big leaguers on the on both of those teams, but

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Speaker 3: especially in nineteen ninety eight ninety six, we might have

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Speaker 3: you know, taken people by surprise a little bit, but

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Speaker 3: we actually did pretty well. We went to and two

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Speaker 3: in that in that World Series and we lost to

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Speaker 3: eventual championship LSU.

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Speaker 2: And then nineteen ninety eight, you know, the bats were crazy.

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Speaker 3: I think we lost thirteen to twelve and like twelve

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Speaker 3: to ten, you know, in the games of like four

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Speaker 3: and a half hours long.

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Speaker 2: So it was, but it was an amazing experience.

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Speaker 3: We fell short in ninety eight and we think we

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Speaker 3: lost our first two games, and that was probably the

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Speaker 3: year we had our best team. But it's something I'll

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Speaker 3: never forget, something that has kind of gone to a

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Speaker 3: whole new level now with a new ballpark in Omaha

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Speaker 3: and the TV and all that stuff, and it's just

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Speaker 3: an incredible experience if anybody has a chance to go,

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Speaker 3: even as a fan. I've taken my son as a

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Speaker 3: fan to watch Florida play when they won the national championship.

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Speaker 3: I believe it was in twenty seventeen, if I'm not mistaken,

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Speaker 3: and it's it's just it's almost as fun as a

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Speaker 3: fan as it is as a player. It's just such

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Speaker 3: a neat experience. They do such an amazing job there.

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Speaker 1: Well Mark. At the University of Florida, you played third base,

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Speaker 1: and you had a nickname of Ellis Island and it

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Speaker 1: was about the range you had at third base. You've

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Speaker 1: also played shortstop in high school. You eventually were on

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Speaker 1: the best second basement in Major League Baseball. How did

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Speaker 1: you like playing third base the hot corner?

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Speaker 2: I loved it because I wasn't on the bench.

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Speaker 3: We had a junior shortstop, John to Margo, who was

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Speaker 3: a very nice player and he played in the Mets

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Speaker 3: organization for quite a few years. And it is my

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Speaker 3: quickest way to getting on the field.

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Speaker 2: I hadn't.

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Speaker 3: I played shorts of all preseason the fall, and in

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Speaker 3: the preseason I played shortstop. And then I don't remember

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Speaker 3: our third basement was struggling or if he got hurt,

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Speaker 3: and uh, probably two to three weeks into the season,

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Speaker 3: they said you're gonna play third base, Ty, do you

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Speaker 3: played third base?

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Speaker 2: I said, yeah, I can play third base.

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Speaker 3: And went out there and then, uh, with some good

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Speaker 3: coaching and a lot of reps, turned into a decent

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Speaker 3: third baseman and was on the field for the rest

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Speaker 3: of the year at third base.

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Speaker 1: Well, Florida turned out really well. You got drafted in

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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine by the Kansas City Royals, You played

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Speaker 1: two years in minor leagues, and all of a sudden

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Speaker 1: you got traded to the Oakland A's how big of

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Speaker 1: a surprise was that? And all of a sudden, now

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Speaker 1: you're jumping to another organization.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I was.

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Speaker 3: I think it was in January, so you know, right,

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Speaker 3: not long before spring training and I was absolutely devastated.

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Speaker 3: I was with the Royals and I just pictured myself

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Speaker 3: playing for the Royals for the next ten years, you know.

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Speaker 3: And the Royals weren't a great team at that point,

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Speaker 3: but I didn't care. I saw a path towards getting

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Speaker 3: to the big leagues. And you know, the first thing

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Speaker 3: I did when I got traded was look, you know

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Speaker 3: that back in the day, they had like the top

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Speaker 3: ten prospect list I think in Baseball America or something

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Speaker 3: like that, and all the like, there was three or

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Speaker 3: four top prospects with the A's who were middle infielders.

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Speaker 2: I was like, oh, great, here.

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Speaker 3: I go over here to this this organization. I know

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Speaker 3: Miguelta is that shortstop, and I know they have all

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Speaker 3: these prospects coming up with the A's. You know, that's

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Speaker 3: what her mom was there. There's some other guys too,

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Speaker 3: So I was a little bit disappointed. But then I

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Speaker 3: got to the organization. I got to spring training, met

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Speaker 3: Keith Lippman, who was the farm director at the time,

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Speaker 3: and some of the players, and it was just realized

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Speaker 3: that this is a really good place for me, and

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Speaker 3: realized that if you get traded, there's a reason that

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Speaker 3: team trades for you, you know, most of the times because

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Speaker 3: they want you, you know, so I thought that was

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Speaker 3: that was a good thing and worked out really well.

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Speaker 1: Mark Ellis joined me on the Extterting post game show.

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Speaker 1: Of course, in nine years he played with the Oakland

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Speaker 1: A's and it really worked out that year. You ended

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Speaker 1: up going to Triple A and hit two seventy three

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Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty two games. But it all happened

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Speaker 1: on April ninth, two thousand and two, your major league

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Speaker 1: baseball debut, when he got called up. I always asked

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Speaker 1: this question because ninety nine point nine percent of the

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Speaker 1: time players remember it. Where were you, how did it happen?

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Speaker 1: And whoss who told you you're going to the big leagues?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we were playing well. First of all, we were

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Speaker 2: we were in Sacramento.

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Speaker 3: I was sitting with Cody McKay at the time, he

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Speaker 3: was a catcher on our team in Sacramento, and we

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Speaker 3: were watching the We didn't started our season.

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Speaker 2: Yet, the A's we're having opening night.

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Speaker 3: And so we were watching the game at the restaurant

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Speaker 3: at the hotel and Braddy Vallardi got hit by a

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Speaker 3: pitch or something. I can't remember exactly what happened and

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Speaker 3: he get a hit in the hand, and I think

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Speaker 3: Frankie Meniquina was the only other second basement on the

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Speaker 3: on the big league roster, and.

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Speaker 2: Cody was like, Hey, you might be getting called up.

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Speaker 2: I said, what, No way, was the furthest thing from

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Speaker 2: my mind. I didn't even didn't even think about it,

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Speaker 2: you know.

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Speaker 3: So we go out and we start playing wheal for

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Speaker 3: the season in Nashville, and we were playing there and

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Speaker 3: UH had a nice series, and Bob Garon called me

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Speaker 3: into his office and told me that I was getting

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Speaker 3: called up to the big leagues. And I just couldn't

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Speaker 3: believe it, and I got I walked out of the

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Speaker 3: office and went and called my parents and they they're

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Speaker 3: just ecstatic. And then I was on like a six

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Speaker 3: am flight the next day from Nashville to Seattle, and

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Speaker 3: I just got dropped off at the ballpark in Seattle

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Speaker 3: with my seiars sucker suit off walked in. I had

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Speaker 3: no idea why I was supposed to go and ask

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Speaker 3: a bunch of people and they didn't believe me that

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Speaker 3: I was, you know, a big league player. But I

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Speaker 3: had to show my d and call Mickey Morribido and

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Speaker 3: help them get me in the in the ballpark. And

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Speaker 3: now I live just outside of Seattle, so we go

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Speaker 3: to the ballpark every once so while, and every time we.

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Speaker 1: Remark, you know, it doesn't matter how many years played,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't matter how many years you're out of the game.

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Speaker 1: It's that moment in time where we both reach out

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Speaker 1: and you get called up to the big leagues. It's

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Speaker 1: a fascinating time. We know always big leaguers always remember it. Well,

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Speaker 1: it didn't take you long. You got called up April ninth.

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Speaker 1: April eighteenth, you got your first big league hit against

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Speaker 1: the Anaheim Angels. Ramon Or Tease was the pitcher. And

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Speaker 1: June twenty eighth, you hit your first home run against

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Speaker 1: the San Francisco Giants against Jay with Tassic. Tell me

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Speaker 1: about those moments.

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Speaker 3: The first of the the base say, it was a

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Speaker 3: day game and I think Chobby was hurt, and uh,

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Speaker 3: it's the same situation. O Mado Signs was playing and

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Speaker 3: it was a night game. And Art Hall looked at

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Speaker 3: me in the dugout. He said, can you playing third base?

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Speaker 3: I said yeah.

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Speaker 2: So the next day it was a day game.

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Speaker 3: And he said, you're playing third base tomorrow? I said, okay,

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Speaker 3: And I remember my first hit Offermone. It was like

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Speaker 3: a seventy five hopper between short stop and third base

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Speaker 3: and snuck it through there and then the home run

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Speaker 3: was great. But you guys, you know, the Age of

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Speaker 3: the Giants is such a massive series, and especially in

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Speaker 3: the early two thousands it was so far on.

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Speaker 2: The coliseum was packed.

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Speaker 3: And got the home run off Jay with Tassik and

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Speaker 3: who later became a teammate in Oakland, not that year

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Speaker 3: but later on in my career, and we had a

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Speaker 3: good laugh about that.

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Speaker 2: He had no idea that was my first time run,

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Speaker 2: but it was that was good.

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Speaker 3: It was the you know, like you said, those things

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Speaker 3: you never forget and it's just a lot of fun.

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Speaker 1: Well Mark, you know it happened only three hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty times, maybe a little bit more in Major League baseball.

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Speaker 1: We're a hitter hits for the cycle. Of course, that's

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Speaker 1: a home run, triple double in a single. You did

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Speaker 1: that on June four, two thousand and seven at the

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Speaker 1: Oakland Coliseum. It's a tough game. Tell me how you

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Speaker 1: got those hits and what order did they come.

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Speaker 3: I don't know if I remember the order exactly, but

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Speaker 3: I remember, okay, I don't remember the order that was,

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Speaker 3: but the we went into extra innings and I had

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Speaker 3: a ball, I had, I had everything except the single

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Speaker 3: at that point, and I had a chopper down the third,

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Speaker 3: a tough play. Kevin Nucleus was playing third, and he

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Speaker 3: chose to go a short way to second base. There

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Speaker 3: was a runner first base, and it slightly pulled the

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Speaker 3: second basement off the bag. And you know, the crowd

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Speaker 3: was great at Oakland, and they all they're very smart

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Speaker 3: baseball fans, and the official scorekeeper ruled at an air

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Speaker 3: which probably should have been a hit if but if

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Speaker 3: you're going for a cycle, I totally get it. I

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Speaker 3: understand you got to earn that last hit. But we

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Speaker 3: went at extra innings and I think it was JC

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Speaker 3: Rameiro is on the mound, a tough left hander, and

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Speaker 3: I hit.

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Speaker 2: One off the end of the bat into.

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Speaker 3: Center field and I think it even broke my bat,

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Speaker 3: and you know, it fell down softly in the short

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Speaker 3: center field for the single to get the cycle, and

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Speaker 3: the crowd and open was wonderful and the nice standing innovation,

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Speaker 3: and the best part about it is my son was

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Speaker 3: born on June first of that year, so you know,

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Speaker 3: he was three days old and I was able to

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Speaker 3: go hit for the cycle.

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Speaker 2: That was a good memory.

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Speaker 1: Mark Ellis joined me on the Exturing postgame show for

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Speaker 1: a few more minutes. Well, you're a big part of

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Speaker 1: your game was defense. You were a stellar second basement

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Speaker 1: and a big part of that was Ron Washington, who

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Speaker 1: was there. You know, there's a coach, there is a mentor.

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Speaker 1: But what are your thoughts about Ron Washington now he's

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Speaker 1: with the Giants in spring training. Just a great, great

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Speaker 1: teacher of the game of defense. Tell me a little

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Speaker 1: bit about him.

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Speaker 2: He is the best teacher anybody could ever ask for.

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Speaker 3: I got called up to the big leagues was primarily

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Speaker 3: a shortstop, and then it's kind of the same thing.

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Speaker 3: My path Miguel wasn't going anywhere obviously, so my path

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Speaker 3: on that team was second base, and was grabbed me,

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Speaker 3: took me out. We started in spring training, you know,

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Speaker 3: he started working with us, you know, every day in

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Speaker 3: spring training early on the backfields, and then he grabbed

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Speaker 3: me during the season and we'd go out early every

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Speaker 3: day and we would do our drills and everything that

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Speaker 3: I teach kids occasionally now is everything that I learned

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Speaker 3: from Wash you know, and it's so efficient, it's you

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Speaker 3: don't waste any time. And his ability to take what

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Speaker 3: he wants to teach you and have it in your

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Speaker 3: brain and in your body as fast as possible.

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Speaker 2: It's incredible. He is.

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Speaker 3: He's somebody that I know a lot of my career too,

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Speaker 3: and I know he's still doing to this day. I

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Speaker 3: still see him on YouTube or you know, on network

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Speaker 3: every once in a while teaching kids, and it's the

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Speaker 3: same stuff.

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Speaker 2: And it's just he's.

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Speaker 3: A real blessing for the game of baseball and every

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Speaker 3: player that he's ever come across.

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Speaker 1: Well Mark, in twelve years, you only committed sixty three errors.

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Speaker 1: You head over a nine to ninety one percentage in fielding.

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Speaker 1: But I want to go back to two thousand and seven.

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Speaker 1: Consecutive errless games by a second baseman was seventy. You

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Speaker 1: broke the record and you still hold it for the

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Speaker 1: Oakland A's when you look at what Ron Washington did

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Speaker 1: for you and all your repetition of catching the ball,

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Speaker 1: learning different ways, backhands, fourhands, all the different ways that

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Speaker 1: you improved your game. What made you so elite at

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Speaker 1: second base?

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Speaker 3: I think the preparation and this has to do with

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Speaker 3: Wash too. You know, we did the same thing before

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Speaker 3: every single game. It was the same amount of ground balls.

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Speaker 3: It was the same we're doing five here, we're on fourhands,

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Speaker 3: five backhands, you know, the double plays.

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Speaker 2: There's never anything. There's never a.

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Speaker 3: Ground ball that surprised me. And as an athlete, I

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Speaker 3: think if you're prepared that and then you won't be

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Speaker 3: surprised during the game. You can just let your athletic

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Speaker 3: ability take over. And I think that was so great

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Speaker 3: about Wash is that you didn't want to robot. You know,

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Speaker 3: he wanted you to have everything done. So when the

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Speaker 3: game starts, you're not thinking about what I'm going to

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Speaker 3: do on this play and what I'm going to do in.

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Speaker 2: This ground ball.

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Speaker 3: I already know, you know, already know what's going to happen,

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Speaker 3: and you don't think about it. It just your body takes

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Speaker 3: over and it just does it for you. And then

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Speaker 3: you also you have these scouter reports this guy likes.

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Speaker 2: To hit the ball over here.

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Speaker 3: Michael Young and Derek Jeter are the two hardest guys

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Speaker 3: to play defense against for me because they could take

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Speaker 3: that inside pitch and shoot it to my left side,

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Speaker 3: you know, And so those guys were tough, but mostly

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Speaker 3: guys they have tendencies and with our pitching staff, they

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Speaker 3: were so good and so elite that they would put

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Speaker 3: the ball where they were supposed to, put the ball

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Speaker 3: where the catcher called it, you know, So it was

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Speaker 3: Preparation is the biggest key mark.

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Speaker 1: As we finish up here. You know, you have a

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Speaker 1: twelve year career in Major League Baseball, nine with the

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Speaker 1: Oakland A's, Dodgers, Rockies, and Cardinals. When you look over

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Speaker 1: your whole career, what is one thing that you salvage

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Speaker 1: the most.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think a lot of people say it's just

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Speaker 3: the people that we're still in contact with today.

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Speaker 2: My wife and I, you know, we've made.

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Speaker 3: So many friends throughout all these years, and obviously we're

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Speaker 3: in Oakland for the longest period of time, and you know,

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Speaker 3: to the clubhouse staff, the guy your teammates that you

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Speaker 3: played with, there's just so many good people. It takes

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Speaker 3: it takes so many people to run these organizations that

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Speaker 3: you know, you just develop these relationships, and you know,

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Speaker 3: that's that's something that I remember the most. On the field,

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Speaker 3: it's it's getting the ballpark and preparing to play a

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Speaker 3: Major League baseball game that night, and you know, just

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Speaker 3: the just the preparation that I don't think.

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Speaker 2: I wish fans could like go and watch how these

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Speaker 2: guys prepare.

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Speaker 3: Even I think even more so today, the way these

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Speaker 3: guys take care of their bodies and the way they

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Speaker 3: they go about their business, it's it's really impressive. And

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Speaker 3: I think that if fans could see one thing that

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Speaker 3: would that would be a really beneficial to them when

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Speaker 3: they're when they're sitting in the stadium and realize what

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Speaker 3: these guys have done the whole day to prepare for

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Speaker 3: the big league game that night, and they do it

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Speaker 3: one hundred and sixty two times during regular season.

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Speaker 2: I think that would be really beneficial for people.

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Speaker 1: Well, Mark, thank you so much for your time. A

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Speaker 1: rewarding career of twelve years, and I want to congratulate

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Speaker 1: you on that and continued success as a retired player

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Speaker 1: now having fun with the family.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, thank you very much for having me.

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Speaker 1: That was Mark Ellis on the ex runing postgame show.

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Speaker 1: More coming up right here on K and br D.

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Speaker 1: Sports Leader