Speaker 1: Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Speaker 1: Washington Broadcast Center. Jack Armstrong, Joe Getty, Armstrong and Getty
Speaker 1: and He Armstrong and Yetty.
Speaker 2: We are live at Sutter Hell Park for opening day
Speaker 2: of A's baseball. They take on the Cubs tonight.
Speaker 3: First pitch, seven oh five.
Speaker 2: I'm looking at the American flag.
Speaker 3: It looks like we've got a light wind blown out
Speaker 3: to left center where it is four oh three.
Speaker 4: The wall.
Speaker 1: Tell me about the short porch again, you.
Speaker 3: Got a short Do we have a short porch?
Speaker 2: That sounds very what's the number on the right hand side,
Speaker 2: so the left it's four twelve out there in the
Speaker 2: left field three eighty there. How do they come up
Speaker 2: with that?
Speaker 1: What do you mean? How far to make it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, because every stadium is different. Do you sit around
Speaker 2: discuss let's have a like a really short right field.
Speaker 2: That'd be kind of fun prices, No, I wouldn't.
Speaker 1: Perhaps we can discuss that with Ken Corrik, the A's
Speaker 1: play by play announcer. Ken. First of all, welcome, it's
Speaker 1: great to talk to you. How are you. Thanks, guys,
Speaker 1: it's great to be with you. So you have one
Speaker 1: of the hardest jobs in the world to get every
Speaker 1: major league ballpark, you've got, you know, eighteen guys starting
Speaker 1: on the field, you got four to six umps, depending
Speaker 1: on you know, whether it's the playoffs or whatever. You
Speaker 1: have one play by play guy for the home team
Speaker 1: and one for the away team. And I'm looking at
Speaker 1: your your resume. You've been busting your butt a long
Speaker 1: time to get this gig, haven't you.
Speaker 5: Well, thanks, I appreciate it, and I've been very fortunate,
Speaker 5: believe me, to do this. I never thought i'd have
Speaker 5: one day in the big leagues, let alone thirty four.
Speaker 5: So it's you know, it doesn't get old, that's for sure.
Speaker 5: I think tonight looking out on the field, when the
Speaker 5: players get introduced, they come out on the baselines. I mean,
Speaker 5: I buy into all those traditions of opening days. So
Speaker 5: I've had a charmed career, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: What do you think the experience will be?
Speaker 2: That's different from you know, your normal sized major league ballpark,
Speaker 2: which is like forty fifty thousand, compared to playing here
Speaker 2: at Cutter Health, which.
Speaker 3: Is more like nineteen thousand. That's that's completely.
Speaker 5: Actually, it's a lot less than that. It's more like fourteen,
Speaker 5: even with the lawn steely, so it is it is
Speaker 5: less Yeah.
Speaker 1: So wow. I don't know.
Speaker 5: I don't know exactly. I think we're into a certain degree.
Speaker 5: We're venturing into the great unknown here. But I think
Speaker 5: there's gonna be a lot of energy at the ballpark.
Speaker 5: I know it'll be packed, and I think the weather's
Speaker 5: going to break and it'll be fine for the first
Speaker 5: pitch at seven oh five. And I think once the
Speaker 5: game starts, it's still baseball. It's still ninety feet to
Speaker 5: first base, it's still sixty feet six inches from home
Speaker 5: plate to the pitcher's mound. But it is certainly a
Speaker 5: much more intimate atmosphere than what we're used to at
Speaker 5: a big league ballpark. I think it's going to be fun.
Speaker 1: Well, and Ken is a guy who's been going to
Speaker 1: major league games in minor league games, and heck, I
Speaker 1: stop and watch highst I love baseball so much, having
Speaker 1: been to many Rivercats games in this very stadium. The
Speaker 1: feeling of you are part of the game, and you
Speaker 1: you just you're involved, you want to cheer, you want
Speaker 1: to shout. It's not like you know you're a mile away,
Speaker 1: you're flipping through your phone it just isn't that way here.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking it might be really energizing for the players.
Speaker 1: I hope the region turns out and supports the athletics,
Speaker 1: and you know, I'd love to see that synergy going
Speaker 1: where the fans and players feed off each other. I
Speaker 1: think there's a good chance of it. I'm excited about it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you're right.
Speaker 5: I think you will see and I think the players
Speaker 5: are looking forward to that, and I know they feel
Speaker 5: they've been welcomed very warmly here. Many of our guys
Speaker 5: have been to at least a couple of Kings games
Speaker 5: so far. The Kings have been very gracious with that.
Speaker 5: So I think you're right. I think there will be
Speaker 5: that intimate feel. It's a little bit like a spring
Speaker 5: training setup, although the games will be a lot more intense.
Speaker 5: So yeah, games don't mean anything. I mean, this is
Speaker 5: the real thing out here tonight.
Speaker 2: Well, we've been talking to We're on what is it,
Speaker 2: seventy stations across the country and been saying, hey, wherever
Speaker 2: you live, if you got a favorite team and they're
Speaker 2: playing the A's, fly out here to watch the game,
Speaker 2: because I'm looking at the worst seat might be that
Speaker 2: one right.
Speaker 3: There, and it's still a great seat.
Speaker 5: You'd be thrilling advance, right, get your tickets in advance
Speaker 5: because they're going quickly. I can tell you that.
Speaker 2: Here's my number one question is so A stands for athletic.
Speaker 2: You got an elephant from mascot?
Speaker 3: What gives?
Speaker 5: Well, that's it goes back to almost the beginning of
Speaker 5: the American League, which was in nineteen oh one. The
Speaker 5: A's were a charter member of the American League, and
Speaker 5: the A's were considered because of the way they played
Speaker 5: and the great players they had on their team early
Speaker 5: in the twentieth century that they were considered kind of
Speaker 5: a white elephant, And so I think that's where the
Speaker 5: whole elephant thing came from.
Speaker 1: That's a good story. Yeah. So, Ken Cork, the A's
Speaker 1: player by play announcer, is on the lines his thirtieth
Speaker 1: season with the A's, which is just really really amazing. Ken.
Speaker 1: I know, like all baseball fans, you're a fan of
Speaker 1: great play by play guys through the years. Can I
Speaker 1: hit you with a couple of names and just give
Speaker 1: us your impression, your take as a pro Would you
Speaker 1: do that? Absolutely?
Speaker 5: Let's start up my alley there, man, Yeah, let's start
Speaker 5: with Vin Scully. Well, Vin Scully is on a pedestal.
Speaker 5: He stands above everyone else. We're all kind of imitators.
Speaker 5: When anyone compares one of us to Vin Scully. I
Speaker 5: grew up listening to him, so I grew up in
Speaker 5: La So he's set the standard for us. One of
Speaker 5: the great thrills of my life was getting to know him.
Speaker 5: So I think he is considered by far the god
Speaker 5: when it comes to baseball play by play, by pretty
Speaker 5: much every one of us in the business. I would
Speaker 5: say it's unanimous in terms of how we all feel
Speaker 5: about Vin.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I probably shouldn't have started with the Chuck Berry
Speaker 1: of rock and roll asking about so where else you
Speaker 1: can go? You can't go any higher than that. As
Speaker 1: a Chicago guy, I gotta ask you Ken. How about
Speaker 1: Harry Carey.
Speaker 5: Well, it's a very interesting story with Harry and I
Speaker 5: spent four years working part time for the White Sox,
Speaker 5: so when Harry was working for the Cubs, and Harry
Speaker 5: was one of the great entertainers in the history of
Speaker 5: the game. And one thing that people don't realize about Harry,
Speaker 5: because I guess you could say that he was a
Speaker 5: bit of a caricature.
Speaker 1: In his final years.
Speaker 5: He was a very good play by play guy in
Speaker 5: his days with the Cardinals, so he was very solid,
Speaker 5: fundamentally great entertaining. Nobody sold baseball and nobody sold as
Speaker 5: much beer as Harry. And the other thing I need
Speaker 5: to mention you guys are probably aware of this, but
Speaker 5: Chris Carey is part of our broadcast team on radio
Speaker 5: and television again this year. And Chris is Harry's not grandson,
Speaker 5: he is his great grandson. So we have ties in
Speaker 5: Ara's family. And it's interesting that the Cubs, of course
Speaker 5: will be here tonight with the tide to Harry.
Speaker 1: And you know, just as in a side can. I
Speaker 1: grew up in Chicagoland, as I said, and I was
Speaker 1: a big Cubs fan, but my dad and I would
Speaker 1: watch Socks games because Harry Carey and Jimmy Piersoll were
Speaker 1: so incredibly entertaining together. They really they were like David
Speaker 1: Letterman was to late night TV in that they threw
Speaker 1: aside some of the traditions and conventions of it and
Speaker 1: would just talk about the game more like fans didn't.
Speaker 1: We found that really refreshing back in the day.
Speaker 5: Jimmy Pearsow was one of the all time baseball characters,
Speaker 5: and it was a pretty good player in his own right. Yeah,
Speaker 5: but Harry would broadcast from the bleachers that really at
Speaker 5: Kimiski Park, Right, It wasn't it wasn't a shock when
Speaker 5: you would see Harry doing the games out there with
Speaker 5: his shirt off, broadcasting their games and shorts on a
Speaker 5: nice summer day out there at park had thirty fifth.
Speaker 1: In shields down there, right, can I'll give you a
Speaker 1: thousand bucks to do that, five thousand.
Speaker 5: That's the site that nobody wants to see.
Speaker 2: Hey, I'm a casual baseball fan. Are there any new
Speaker 2: rules this year I need to know about? I heard
Speaker 2: I'm talking about golden the bat or various clocks and
Speaker 2: various anything I need to know?
Speaker 1: Second?
Speaker 5: This year, no, as a couple of new rules that
Speaker 5: are very esoteric. So on, the game is pretty much
Speaker 5: the same. The big change happened a couple of years
Speaker 5: ago with the pitch clock, and that really has changed
Speaker 5: the game for the.
Speaker 2: Better or the worst in your opinion. I know it
Speaker 2: made the game shorter, so you think it was a
Speaker 2: good idea.
Speaker 5: I think it's better, I really do. I think fans
Speaker 5: like it. I think the tempo of the game has
Speaker 5: gotten better.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree. As a fan. I love it
Speaker 1: partly because I think it's going to save the game
Speaker 1: in this fast paced time we live in. And I've
Speaker 1: talked to both players and umpires in particular, who are
Speaker 1: just you can keep your energy up so much better
Speaker 1: everybody and and fans. There's not interminable time between pitches.
Speaker 1: You start looking at your phone, you lose it.
Speaker 2: No, you're on the edge of your See, Derek Jeter
Speaker 2: didn't need to loosen up every single padding thing he
Speaker 2: had on his body every single pitch and tighten it
Speaker 2: back up again.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 5: It helps the broadcasters during those fourteen to two games too.
Speaker 1: I'll bet I bet Ken one more question, at least
Speaker 1: for me? How did the A's look in spring training?
Speaker 1: How do you feel about the team for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: I think they're improved.
Speaker 5: I certainly believe that, and they're embracing higher expectations. We
Speaker 5: just flew back from Seattle last night and they split
Speaker 5: the four game series against the Mariners, a team that
Speaker 5: has the best starting rotation in the American League. They
Speaker 5: could have won all four games. Every game was a
Speaker 5: great game in the as.
Speaker 1: They have a lot of power. They've been seven home runs.
Speaker 5: Tyler Sodism, who's from down in Turlock, by the way,
Speaker 5: one time is number one pick, had three homers up there.
Speaker 5: So I think they have a better ball club and
Speaker 5: if things break right in the second half of the season,
Speaker 5: they could be in contention.
Speaker 1: For a wild card.
Speaker 5: Oh and there's no great prognosticator, but I'm enthused about
Speaker 5: their club.
Speaker 1: And there's no better story in sports and especially baseball,
Speaker 1: about an overachieving, smaller market team, maybe a lower payroll
Speaker 1: that goes out there and whoops, a little butt can't
Speaker 1: wait for it. Ken Correck, the legendary a's played by
Speaker 1: play announcer Ken. Great to talk to you. I hope
Speaker 1: we can do it again. That'd be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: Thanks you guys, Thanks for having me our pleasure.
Speaker 2: So we're out at the ballpark. It's raining, yes, So
Speaker 2: they just spent all this time working on the field
Speaker 2: announce raining. They got to be thinking, we have to
Speaker 2: do this again and we cover it back up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what they're mowing right now. I'll bet
Speaker 1: they drag that tarp out in a hurry. Depending on
Speaker 1: the forecast. Is. You know, not to go all meteorologists
Speaker 1: on you, but there are breaks in the clouds. I
Speaker 1: have a feeling this is a brief squall.
Speaker 2: He gave one of the best answers there. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: remember that forever for a variety of things. Yes, so
Speaker 2: he's the announcer. You said, how's the team.
Speaker 4: Going to be?
Speaker 3: He can't say, oh, suck. I don't have any idea
Speaker 3: what they're gonna be like. But he's never gonna say
Speaker 3: that no matter what.
Speaker 1: Right right.
Speaker 2: I like him saying they're embracing expectations, higher expectation. That's
Speaker 2: what I'm gonna say about us from now on. How
Speaker 2: you feel about things? I'm embracing higher expectations.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, improved, definitely. How was the show today, honey?
Speaker 1: My wife asked me usually if she didn't listen. Uh,
Speaker 1: definitely improved.
Speaker 2: We're embracing higher expectations.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, you know, with all due respect to Dodgers fans,
Speaker 1: you know it's a storied franchise. If you grew up,
Speaker 1: watch and listen to whatever that's good.
Speaker 2: For you, buy the championship.
Speaker 1: Be true to your school. At the same time, though,
Speaker 1: I remember when the Kings had their their great playoff
Speaker 1: runs and all to be the winning underdog is.
Speaker 3: The sweetest thing in sport. It's the best thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just really rooting for that.
Speaker 2: It's raining pretty good right now, Yes it is, yeah, Yes,
Speaker 2: pretty good rain right there. And you can't I could
Speaker 2: use the most last couple of weeks, you haven't been
Speaker 2: able to go by the weather forecast because I've I
Speaker 2: don't know how many times my phone has been saying
Speaker 2: zero percent chance of rain. Is the rain? We're down
Speaker 2: on my head?
Speaker 1: Here you go here? He goes about the meteorologist liars.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, I was going to go there. I
Speaker 2: just I don't know what it's going to be like
Speaker 2: all day long. I hope it clears off. Anyway, we
Speaker 2: got more on the way. Hey, you got any question
Speaker 2: about any of this? Because we're out at the ballpark,
Speaker 2: we could answer for it.
Speaker 3: I've been trying to hot dog.
Speaker 1: Oh jeesez he's loud.
Speaker 2: I'm hoping there's a hot dog somewhere I can eat
Speaker 2: before before we leave here. Man, five o'clock somewhere more
Speaker 2: on the way stay here is touring out here at
Speaker 2: Sutterhill Park. That's where we are for opening day of
Speaker 2: the A's in Sacramento.
Speaker 1: The tarp is back on the infield.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 1: It's a brief band of showers. I've consulted the radar.
Speaker 1: We should be fine for tonight's festivities.
Speaker 2: I hope you're right.
Speaker 1: It's fun talking to Ken Corrick. You know, I'd failed
Speaker 1: to do the math to his thirty fourth year in
Speaker 1: the major leagues doing play by play, and his first
Speaker 1: gig was in the minor leagues in nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 1: He's got some years under him. He sounds fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you brought up the fact that he's got, you know,
Speaker 2: one of the hardest jobs to get in all of announcing.
Speaker 2: That's true. I've known some hell in America. I've known
Speaker 2: a few people that have those jobs and nobody ever
Speaker 2: leaves them. So not only they are only how many
Speaker 2: baseball teams are there, maybe you know Hunton thirty two
Speaker 2: something like that, So there are thirty two of those
Speaker 2: jobs in the country, right, and most people keep them
Speaker 2: for decades, right, So there's like one opening per decade.
Speaker 1: Well, and it's somewhat like our gig, although there are
Speaker 1: more jobs like this than there are that in that
Speaker 1: it's a really cool thing to do for a living,
Speaker 1: and if you're successful at it, you make pretty good money.
Speaker 1: And so there are hundreds of thousands of people who
Speaker 1: want that gig and are working hard to get it
Speaker 1: all the time. So yeah, I can't even imagine. There are,
Speaker 1: you know, thousands of guys who probably probably we're about
Speaker 1: as good as Ken back in the day, who he
Speaker 1: either out talented or out worked or outlasted. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: you know, I kind of admire a guy who's gone
Speaker 1: through the grind like that.
Speaker 2: So this is where the river Cats play. I assume
Speaker 2: you know that I have not been to a Rivercats
Speaker 2: game in years. I'm ashamed to say. Ah, I think
Speaker 2: the last time I was here when we were riding
Speaker 2: around in the cart shooting the hot dog cannon. Oh really,
Speaker 2: how many years ago was that?
Speaker 1: Oh forever? Yeah, yeah, we were.
Speaker 2: Shooting the T shirt cannon at people and the hot
Speaker 2: dog gan, which is really fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I used to bring my son Judy, and I
Speaker 1: went to a head full of games. I used to
Speaker 1: bring my son back when he lived here. Now and again,
Speaker 1: it's our hours, you know, you start a game at
Speaker 1: seven o five and we got to be up at
Speaker 1: four o'clock in the morning anyway. But yeah, it's going
Speaker 1: to be back. It's gonna be super exciting to have
Speaker 1: the A's here. I hope it all works out. I
Speaker 1: hope they have a good season because I think, you know,
Speaker 1: the regional embrace him like crazy. But who knows.
Speaker 2: And somebody just told me that on stub Hub there
Speaker 2: they bought a ticket for tonight. So they sent me
Speaker 2: a picture of what what's the seat like? It looked
Speaker 2: like for you'r And I sent him a picture what's
Speaker 2: it look like for more sitting because we're up in
Speaker 2: the broadcast booth. They bought a seat right underneath this.
Speaker 2: Oh just now. But they said the stub Hub ticket
Speaker 2: was one hundred and forty seven dollars to park the park.
Speaker 2: The ticket to get in one that bad. One hundred
Speaker 2: and forty seven to park.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: I said for the season. They said, no, just for tonight,
Speaker 2: so they're going to try to figure some other way
Speaker 2: to park.
Speaker 3: So I have no idea what the parking situation is
Speaker 3: going to.
Speaker 1: Be, Like, yeah, wow, I'm blown away by that. I'm
Speaker 1: used to getting screwed at certain NFL franchises.
Speaker 2: Games park far away and it's your chance to explore
Speaker 2: West Sac.
Speaker 1: Yes, you meet some interesting new people.
Speaker 2: Exactly, make a friend, exactly. Hi, tell me about your life.
Speaker 2: I want you to give me your phone in your wallet.
Speaker 2: It's like no, no, no, we'll get to the robbing me.
Speaker 2: I want to know about your life. It's like the
Speaker 2: Norm MacDonald joke. A stranger is just a friend you
Speaker 2: haven't met yet. Unless they have candy, then they're probably
Speaker 2: a pedophile.
Speaker 1: Oh come on now, West Sac. It's a beautiful place
Speaker 1: to live. Working shop Jack, come to us. Sure a
Speaker 1: baseball game. I have a close ro cool lives in
Speaker 1: a beautiful neighborhood in West Sex.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah yeah. Cool view from here though. We're
Speaker 2: looking at the bridge, the bridge that raises up for
Speaker 2: the boats to go on it Ice Street bridge you
Speaker 2: call that, I guess, uh Tower bridge, Tower bridge, Okay,
Speaker 2: And you can see the buildings and everything like that.
Speaker 2: Cool view from here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So come on out. Support to your local team
Speaker 1: for three years.
Speaker 2: I hope it stops pouring. Three years, the A's are
Speaker 2: going to be playing here.
Speaker 1: You man.
Speaker 2: It's going to kind of start to feel like it's
Speaker 2: our team by then, isn't it with our team?
Speaker 1: Why are you're taking our team away. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: a bit of a band aid being ripped. Yeah, feeling
Speaker 1: I think it.
Speaker 2: Uh, we got more on the way. Is the rain
Speaker 2: lighting up? I don't think so.
Speaker 1: It will. It will have faith, armstrong and getdy.
Speaker 2: We're out of the old Ballpark Center Health for the
Speaker 2: opening of the A's tonight and we're out here already
Speaker 2: and it's pouring rain.
Speaker 3: But it's supposed to stop and clear off and it'll
Speaker 3: be fine tonight. But so that's take Me Out to
Speaker 3: the ball Game? Want you to hear this.
Speaker 2: This is the first known recording of take Me Out
Speaker 2: to the ball Game.
Speaker 3: Oh really, from nineteen oh eight. Here we go listen
Speaker 3: take Me up to the Ball Game?
Speaker 4: And record.
Speaker 1: Went bait.
Speaker 2: Okay, So there were verses oh wow, and they ended
Speaker 2: up just using the course that caught off.
Speaker 1: I'd listen to the whole thing. How long is it?
Speaker 3: I don't know. It's like it's like dark sided movement.
Speaker 1: It's like it's oh, it's concept album.
Speaker 3: Anyway.
Speaker 2: What I thought was interesting that neither of the two
Speaker 2: dudes who had written that had ever been to a
Speaker 2: baseball game. They didn't know what they were doing. They
Speaker 2: just threw it together. This songwriters and it says Saron Wikipedia,
Speaker 2: it's comment at ballparks, a throw in your team's name.
Speaker 2: Oh wait a minute, seat of home team now. But
Speaker 2: it made me think of this biography of Babe Ruth
Speaker 2: that I read over the Christmas break because I wanted
Speaker 2: to read something that had nothing to do with.
Speaker 3: Any of the stuff we talk about.
Speaker 1: So just a quick aside that that was like the
Speaker 1: hip music, that style at the time. That was the
Speaker 1: people were so dumb back then, that was my point.
Speaker 1: That's right, ben.
Speaker 2: AnyWho, So so I did some research to figure out
Speaker 2: what is the best biography of Babe Ruth ever written?
Speaker 2: And I figured that out and I listened to it
Speaker 2: and really damned interesting story. None of us have ever
Speaker 2: seen We have no idea what Babe Ruth really looked like.
Speaker 2: We certainly don't know what he looked like playing. There's
Speaker 2: no video of it. There's not even really any pictures
Speaker 2: of him when he was in a prime So there's
Speaker 2: like one picture ever of when he was like twenty
Speaker 2: years old or even twenty five.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, yeah, so none of us have seen Babe Ruth.
Speaker 3: We've only seen the old fat man.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's kind of what we picture, but that's
Speaker 2: not what he looked like during the heyday of like
Speaker 2: fifteen years of his prime.
Speaker 1: Right, It's like if you'd only seen pictures of Elvis
Speaker 1: posts nineteen seventy three, that.
Speaker 3: Is exactly right. Yeah, that is exactly right.
Speaker 1: Sod be like, what was the big deal?
Speaker 2: So they have to explain on what a just a giant,
Speaker 2: strapping fit man he was. And he grew up in
Speaker 2: an orphanage horribly rough life. I mean just dad was
Speaker 2: a drunk and mom was horrible, and dad drank himself
Speaker 2: to death and all these different things. He grew up
Speaker 2: in an orphanage and they spent a lot of time
Speaker 2: killing time playing the version of baseball that was hot there.
Speaker 2: And he just dominated orphanage baseball. And so they got
Speaker 2: him into some rec leagues and they'd take him around
Speaker 2: and play, and he was so dominant in these rec
Speaker 2: leagues that people would come out to watch him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he would.
Speaker 3: Pitch and hit, so he would be the dominant pitcher.
Speaker 2: Nobody could hit him. And then he'd go up to
Speaker 2: the plate and hit a home run, which nobody hit
Speaker 2: home runs at the time, nobody even tried it. Wasn't
Speaker 2: a strategy, so they didn't have fences. They didn't even
Speaker 2: really have a leg for it. That wasn't it'd be
Speaker 2: like if all of a sudden, you know, playing pool.
Speaker 3: It was the point was to be to shoot the
Speaker 3: cue ball off the table.
Speaker 1: So I've done that.
Speaker 3: Okay, Well we're gonna have to change the rules and
Speaker 3: rethink this, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Because everybody they swung down on the ball to try
Speaker 2: to get it into play, and then you'd run around,
Speaker 2: and it was all the strategy of the game until
Speaker 2: he came along, and then he swung up and headed
Speaker 2: as far as he could and every single play. So
Speaker 2: he becomes popular in these rec leagues. People got a
Speaker 2: word of him. Scouts came to watch him, and he
Speaker 2: signed with the Red Sox I think when he's like seventeen,
Speaker 2: and they were mostly interested in his pitching. But he
Speaker 2: did pitching end hitting, and he refused to do one
Speaker 2: of the because he liked doing both so much. But
Speaker 2: he would do both in lots of games, like Shoeyotani does. Now,
Speaker 2: what do cyber metrics say about us pitching and hitting
Speaker 2: back in the twenties, And he was just so dominant
Speaker 2: at both there's never been as great as show. Heyotani.
Speaker 2: As you know, the playing field is more leveled now
Speaker 2: because there's so many talented players. There weren't that many
Speaker 2: talented players where there really weren't any practically other than him,
Speaker 2: So he just was so dominant on both ends. It
Speaker 2: was like a circus freak performance, right. So when he
Speaker 2: would go around to different towns, everybody would come out
Speaker 2: to watch, and they would put markers out and it
Speaker 2: was usually like they started putting in fences later, but
Speaker 2: they didn't even really have fences. You were just playing
Speaker 2: in a field and the ball would stop rolling at
Speaker 2: some point and then they'd put a stick in the
Speaker 2: ground and say, this is how far bab Ruth d it.
Speaker 2: And he had the right now at every park that
Speaker 2: there was because nobody had ever even tried to do it.
Speaker 3: Before, and he hit the ball so far as really
Speaker 3: quite entertaining.
Speaker 1: Wow, that is really cool. Yeah, I'd known that there
Speaker 1: weren't fences in the early days, but yeah, that's funny.
Speaker 1: I don't know about Hanson behind us here, our executive
Speaker 1: producer also played baseball and coaches, but yeah, they always
Speaker 1: taught us hit down, hit you don't want to swing
Speaker 1: up on it. Oh no, opercot blah blah blah. And
Speaker 1: now they've done all the physics experiments at all, and
Speaker 1: Babe Ruth had it right. Swing up. Interesting, You get
Speaker 1: the right rate of spin on the ball and the
Speaker 1: rest of it to get out another All the guys
Speaker 1: have opercuts.
Speaker 2: Now, I remember hearing a least the home run Tommy,
Speaker 2: let's sort of say it's very simple. You swing down.
Speaker 1: That is probably true. Swinging for the fences, yeah, because
Speaker 1: the home run is just so much of a part
Speaker 1: of the game now, which I'm not a big fan of,
Speaker 1: you know, the other just to get a little baseball
Speaker 1: y on you. As I watched this crew of what
Speaker 1: is that like a dozen people working meticulously manicuring the field,
Speaker 1: I've always wondered what it's like to play on a
Speaker 1: field this great, because we'd show up for high school
Speaker 1: games and the first thing you did as an infielder,
Speaker 1: you'd walk out there and look around and think, oh God,
Speaker 1: I am going to catch a ball in the teeth.
Speaker 1: Are the testicles one guaranteed today because they're rutted and
Speaker 1: rocky and crappy, and look it sounds.
Speaker 2: So smooth, which would you prefer.
Speaker 1: It's tough to choose, really tough to choose.
Speaker 2: I like chewing.
Speaker 1: I do like chewing. You can get a tooth replaced
Speaker 1: more quickly or easily than a test Nobody can see
Speaker 1: testicle damage, right, and and generally, if you double over
Speaker 1: clutching at your yards, I mean, that's a different look
Speaker 1: than holding your hand up to your bleeding mouth. It's
Speaker 1: just a different thing. So I don't know that's a
Speaker 1: good question, Jack various player of player.
Speaker 2: Another.
Speaker 3: I like this one. Now you got the window open.
Speaker 2: Now got natural sound here from the ballpark. This is
Speaker 2: what it sounds like here.
Speaker 1: You can't tell players that program. We'll close the window again.
Speaker 3: Evidently, got you.
Speaker 2: They're starting to set up the concession stands and stuff
Speaker 2: like that. But still I have yet to see a
Speaker 2: hot dog, and I want to have a hot dog. No,
Speaker 2: they're not.
Speaker 1: They don't serve hot dogs out of stands to the workers.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I've had a lot of hot dogs that tasted to
Speaker 2: me like they've been full. Boy. Yeah, that's not the
Speaker 2: freshest hundred percent of beef hot dogs.
Speaker 1: I do you remember when it was I took Declan
Speaker 1: to a forty nine Ers game for a Christmas present,
Speaker 1: and it was a getting back to work weekend, and
Speaker 1: it took four and a half hours to get to Candlestick,
Speaker 1: and uh, and we missed the first half except for
Speaker 1: the last play of the first and I said, all right,
Speaker 1: that's all right, son, I said, well, let's get a
Speaker 1: hot dog. And I wolf down a hot dog and
Speaker 1: I was all stressed out and it gave me an
Speaker 1: upset stomach. And I talked about it on Monday during
Speaker 1: the show, and the good folks at Alpine Meets heard
Speaker 1: that segment and were.
Speaker 2: Horrified by it. Oh and I do remember.
Speaker 1: That, And and to punish me for that, they sent
Speaker 1: me cases of Alpine meats that were so good, Oh
Speaker 1: my god, hot links and the foot longs and brats
Speaker 1: and stuff like that is absolutely fantastic. And I am
Speaker 1: going to guard a gorge on the ballpark food tonight.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna eat a fair amount.
Speaker 2: So Sweitch to talk topic briefly, because we've gotten a
Speaker 2: lot of texts on this. What I should say, Oh
Speaker 2: yeah to crazy weirdo progressive hippie nut jobs who get
Speaker 2: angry because I drive a Tesla, Because I've seen a
Speaker 2: lot of these videos. We played one early. Can you
Speaker 2: grab that one? Michael?
Speaker 1: You know what?
Speaker 2: My one is a shame shame clip. This is some
Speaker 2: guy in a cyber truck who drove by one of
Speaker 2: the anti Tesla rallies over the weekend. All right, So
Speaker 2: if you sort of stuff that, I just decided how
Speaker 2: you you should handle that. We have some different ideas.
Speaker 2: I suggested maybe going with some sort of I care
Speaker 2: about climate change to try to out progressive them, see
Speaker 2: how they do it. A number of people suggested I say,
Speaker 2: I say them trans right off the bat. Somebody says,
Speaker 2: up the ant he sorry, I'd love to chat with
Speaker 2: you about this, but I'm.
Speaker 3: Running late to meet my pastor at Chick fil a.
Speaker 1: I like that one.
Speaker 3: Put a Biden Harris sticker on the back. That's not
Speaker 3: a bad.
Speaker 1: Oh wait a minute, I'd confuse them. Yeah, how about
Speaker 1: what do they call it when you you talk your
Speaker 1: kid out of being gay? What's that called again? Instead
Speaker 1: of meeting my pastor at chick fil a, you say, hey,
Speaker 1: I got to get my son to gay conversion.
Speaker 3: Oh god, that's horrible.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm just trying to be you know, trying to
Speaker 1: inflame people.
Speaker 2: I think I actually need to have a set line
Speaker 2: to go with.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying, have a line ready, because you
Speaker 1: might get flustered in the moment or get really pissed
Speaker 1: off or whatever. It might be good to have.
Speaker 3: Well, the flustering part will be am I about to
Speaker 3: be in a fight?
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, because some some some lesbian can scream up
Speaker 2: bums at me all day long.
Speaker 3: Yes, I want no if I'm actually gonna get.
Speaker 1: Well right, I don't think physical prowess and screeching like
Speaker 1: a lunatic at Tesla's don't not not on mass. I
Speaker 1: mean there might be some overlap. It's like when I
Speaker 1: said nobody owns an electric car. You were off that day,
Speaker 1: and I was right and raving about there's nobody owns
Speaker 1: an electric car who can lift one hundred pounds over
Speaker 1: their head. And we and we did. We did get
Speaker 1: a couple of calls or whatever it was, or emails
Speaker 1: from from guys, but it was just that's a handful
Speaker 1: of guys who said, yeah, dude, I was in Special
Speaker 1: Forces and all, I just think it's cool technology. So yeah,
Speaker 1: there are a few out there, but I think mostly
Speaker 1: it's gonna be angry. Senior citizen you know Granola's now
Speaker 1: you get it from both ends from some people. Some
Speaker 1: guy rolled coal on me over the weekend. I was
Speaker 1: driving my Tesla. He's in a big Diesel truck and
Speaker 1: tried to smoke me out his head my windows down.
Speaker 2: I think I assume he was a truck guy that
Speaker 2: hates electric cars as opposed.
Speaker 3: To the hippies who hate elon.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, that's an odd look for a
Speaker 1: hippie talk about, you know, very small overlaps. But no,
Speaker 1: that's probably it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't look. I own just a gas hog
Speaker 1: of a super powered suv. Okay, But I don't care
Speaker 1: what your fuel source is. I don't care if you've
Speaker 1: got a nuclear reactor under the hood, or it's electric
Speaker 1: or hydrogen. I just I don't don't care at all.
Speaker 1: And I don't quite get people or that into it.
Speaker 1: I mean, nobody's making anybody do anything much anymore. There
Speaker 1: are subsidies and stuff like that. I just I don't
Speaker 1: get that as a hill to fight somebody.
Speaker 2: I don't get angry about what other people drive war
Speaker 2: or listen to. But I guess that puts me in
Speaker 2: a minority. No, I might not want to listen to
Speaker 2: what you listen to, or wear.
Speaker 3: What you wear.
Speaker 2: But I don't care what you do. It makes I
Speaker 2: certainly couldn't get mad about it. Yeah, I just it's
Speaker 2: so hard for me to get in that headspace.
Speaker 1: The closest I come to that is there is a
Speaker 1: model of car that if you get behind it, you're
Speaker 1: behind a bad driver one percent of the time. Let
Speaker 1: me try to guess one hundred percent of the time.
Speaker 1: And special Forces guys, you can write all the emails
Speaker 1: you want. You are no exception. If you're driving one
Speaker 1: of these, you're a terrible track. But I probably shouldn't
Speaker 1: say it. Why not because they might like sponsor stations
Speaker 1: or at all. I can't.
Speaker 3: You're not knocking the car, You're knocking the drivers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, No, you gotta say it's not a great car.
Speaker 2: Everybody wants to know.
Speaker 1: It's a very small car made by a very big
Speaker 1: auto company based in Japan. I will leave it there.
Speaker 2: Why would people who drive a Toyota Echo or whatever
Speaker 2: it is not that? But why would they be worst drivers?
Speaker 2: On average?
Speaker 1: Then? I don't know why. I've just observed that it's
Speaker 1: true science. I will exactly. I will leave it to
Speaker 1: wiser men than me. You've more gifted in the ways
Speaker 1: of science.
Speaker 2: You've done the research, You've connected the dots.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's one hundred percent correlation. You are driving
Speaker 1: too slow, you're in the left lane. You don't use
Speaker 1: your signal, you clog up traffic.
Speaker 3: Is there a certain is there a certain nationality that
Speaker 3: tends to drive this car?
Speaker 2: Is nothing to do with it.
Speaker 1: No, it's it's Wienie hood, which knows no national boundaries.
Speaker 1: Only weenies drive that car.
Speaker 2: Okay, we got more from the Oh yeah, we open
Speaker 2: the windows again so you can hear the bull horn.
Speaker 3: We're in the pronouncer. Oh man, new Organ's gone around.
Speaker 4: It's fine.
Speaker 3: There's a little kid over there a way after him.
Speaker 3: He's happy. He's having a good time. Eat an ice
Speaker 3: cream cone.
Speaker 1: Oh look at they just got chocolate all over his
Speaker 1: fast How there's the window clothes?
Speaker 3: More on away next.
Speaker 4: Armstrong Andy.
Speaker 1: West.
Speaker 2: Virginia has become the first state to ban artificial food dies,
Speaker 2: which should make food healthier for the baby you had
Speaker 2: with your cousin. New Yorker's making incest jokes about the South,
Speaker 2: not cool, inappropriate, not digging it, not inaccurate, but inappropriate.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we didn't say it was inaccurate.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: We are alive at Sutter Health. If we decided we'd
Speaker 2: come out here, somebody decided for us.
Speaker 1: In the parking at the hospital, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: The baseball park where the A's will be playing for
Speaker 2: the next three years.
Speaker 3: That's a long time.
Speaker 1: Yeah. It reminds me of the plot of like a
Speaker 1: weeper movie that my wife would enjoy, but I wouldn't
Speaker 1: so much. If I'm going to be here for three
Speaker 1: years and I care about you so much, but I've
Speaker 1: got to leave at the end of three years. And
Speaker 1: then the three years comes and everybody cries a bunch
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. Well, that's a joy. It Well
Speaker 1: it lasts, though, Jack, That's the lesson here. Wow.
Speaker 2: So for the people that work for the team, did
Speaker 2: a lot of them get rid of their homes or
Speaker 2: apartments in Oakland and move to Sacramento with the idea
Speaker 2: that in three years will be moving again or did
Speaker 2: most people quit and you get all new people owner
Speaker 2: it's not.
Speaker 1: A horrible commute depending, No, I could. I could picture
Speaker 1: a lot of those people living in Fairfield or stuff
Speaker 1: like that, you know, places like that.
Speaker 2: And when they go to a city. Did they hire
Speaker 2: all new people or did the I don't know, if
Speaker 2: they give you the option.
Speaker 1: Yeah, probably. What what is the total personnel count of
Speaker 1: a Major League Baseball I don't know.
Speaker 2: We're looking at what a wonder the rebosas have any nine?
Speaker 5: Ten?
Speaker 1: What is that? Ten?
Speaker 2: Groundskeeper people down there with the with squeegee squeegering water
Speaker 2: off the tarp. Are all those people making full time
Speaker 2: like raise of family salaries? Is that a part time job?
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Or all the people around here and now most of
Speaker 2: these people work for the stadium. Probably we're seeing around here, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: no matter who's here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember when, for instance, I can't answer the
Speaker 1: full time part time question, but I remember when Major
Speaker 1: League Baseball made the terrible decision which I have harshly criticized,
Speaker 1: to move Was it the All Star Game out of Atlanta? Yeah?
Speaker 1: After Brian Kempton legislature made perfectly reasonable adjustments to voting. No,
Speaker 1: it wasn't. After COVID J How that? How that costs
Speaker 1: so many good, hardworking people so much money?
Speaker 4: Strong, Strong, You're ready.
Speaker 2: Yeah, here's your host from the ballpark for final thoughts,
Speaker 2: Joe Getty.
Speaker 1: Let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew
Speaker 1: to wrap up the show. There he is Michael Angelow
Speaker 1: in the control room. Michael final thought.
Speaker 2: I think you guys got to be the first people
Speaker 2: to run across the field.
Speaker 1: Uh for the new season, you know, for the athletics.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna strip down on the street. It's a small park.
Speaker 2: You can probably get on TV.
Speaker 1: So much of homiting Katie Green are esteemed to use
Speaker 1: woman as a final thought.
Speaker 2: Katie Jack, did you decide on a personalized plate or
Speaker 2: said Cyberbeast.
Speaker 3: I haven't yet.
Speaker 2: I do like the idea of doge, but I feel
Speaker 2: like at some point I'm provoking.
Speaker 1: I'm just looking for a fight. Well, you've already gone
Speaker 1: pretty far down that road. Commit completely.
Speaker 4: Jack.
Speaker 1: A final thought.
Speaker 2: I have a feeling I'll be out here on a
Speaker 2: handful of times, definitely for home games. To be able
Speaker 2: to see major League Baseball this close to my house,
Speaker 2: in a stadium this small, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: My final thought. Having watched everything all at once, Everywhere
Speaker 1: You Go or whatever that movie is about parallel universes
Speaker 1: for the second time, if I could go to a
Speaker 1: parallel universe, it'd be the one where I became a
Speaker 1: baseball announcer. Oh cool, because I've always wanted to do that.
Speaker 1: Love the game so much.
Speaker 2: Armstrong and Getty rabit aboutnother grueling four hour workday.
Speaker 1: So many people, thanks so little time. Go to Armstrong
Speaker 1: in getdy dot com for the hot links, for the swag,
Speaker 1: pick up an AMNG sweatsher for goodness sake, Let's keep
Speaker 1: everybody on the crew and drop some note something we
Speaker 1: ought to be talking about. Send us the link mail
Speaker 1: bag at armstrong in Getty dot com.
Speaker 2: I haven't decided if I'm coming tonight or not, but man,
Speaker 2: I'm wanting a hot dog? Is that going to be
Speaker 2: the determining factor? See you tomorrow? God bless America.
Speaker 1: I'm Strong and Getty is the biggest posies game of
Speaker 1: all time. It's a huge disaster, but nobody's ever done
Speaker 1: anything about it. No, No, that's not what I was told.
Speaker 1: And we do not have to live like this. In fact,
Speaker 1: we cannot live like this. I'm ganna call my lawyer.
Speaker 4: Garnjie Dantea's screaming stop.
Speaker 1: It it is over. It is over, and when it's over,
Speaker 1: it is over. It is over. Bye Bye, Armstrong and
Speaker 1: Getty