WEBVTT - Maddon Love With Baseball 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:07.200 Is this a great game for what with Tim and 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:11.600 Jeff Kirkshin It is our spring training addition, And Dad, 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:14.880 we are back in the basement of my house in Pennsylvania. 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:16.239 Thank goodness too. 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:19.040 I missed being this close to you while recording the podcast. 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:21.640 I'm so happy I'm this close to you, Jeff, because 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:24.560 we've had some technical issues and when I'm two hundred 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.680 miles away from you, it terrifies me. But I am 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:31.080 really excited about spring training, Jeff. Yeah. And of course 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:34.000 our guest today is Joe Madden. 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:36.840 Dad, when we talked about doing a spring training special episode, 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:38.920 the first guy that came to mind for you was 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:43.080 Joe Madden because he's a longtime MLB manager, Right, he 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:46.239 was a minor league baseball player, and he just has 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:47.600 an approach to the clubhouse. 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:50.520 It's so fitting for a spring training episode. 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:53.239 Right, And that's why spring training is so great? Is 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:56.760 it so different than the regular season. It's not important 0:00:56.800 --> 0:00:59.680 how many games you win in spring training. It's just 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:02.800 a matter of getting your team ready to go. So 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:06.640 this is my forty fifth spring training and one of 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:10.680 the rights of passages, I get my baseball writer's car 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:15.200 and I just received it. Yesterday. Let me see, I'm 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:16.120 very excited. 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:19.399 This is fancy. So you get a new one of 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:20.600 these every single. 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:22.720 Year, every year. So I've been a base I've been 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:25.240 in the Baseball Writer for forty five years. And what 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:26.640 number am I down to? 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:28.200 I was gonna say twenty two? 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:32.080 Yes, when I first started, Jeff, I was number eight 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:36.000 hundred and eighty one, stop it, yes, And now I'm 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:39.840 down to twenty two. So that means only twenty one 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:44.679 people out there have been doing this longer than I have, 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:49.440 like continuously and still have a Baseball Writer card today. 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:53.360 Ross Newhan of the La Times, I believe, is still 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:57.440 number one. You know, Dan Shaughnessy, Jason Stark, Peter Gammon three, 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:00.320 and my mentors. They're all ahead of me. But twenty 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.440 two is pretty good. So a few years ago, maybe 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:06.840 ten years ago, Mark Trumbo and Peter Borges, who were 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:09.440 both on the Angels, I'm not sure exactly what year 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:14.680 is not important, they really got interested in everybody's number 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.480 on their card. So they saw me in the clubhouse 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:19.000 one day and they came up to me and said, 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:20.799 can we look at your card? And I was down 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:23.720 to like fifty eight, and they went boy, that is 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:27.119 really low. I've never seen a baseball player who had 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:32.640 any interest whatsoever in anybody's number on their baseball writer's card. 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:35.079 But it means something to me because to go from 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.120 eight eighty one down to twenty two is really good. 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:42.400 Forty five years of covering spring training, and as. 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.160 A kid growing up, this was like always. 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:46.880 Our spring break trip as we would either end up 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:49.760 in Florida or Arizona because we could kill two birds 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.320 with one stone. We could be with dad during a 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:55.440 very busy time in your career, in your job, but 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.880 also we get to enjoy some really awesome places. So 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:00.800 forty five spring trainings nineteen. 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:02.639 Eighty By the way, I had nothing to do with this, 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:05.160 but just to show you how things have changed, the 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:09.920 Oakland A's had one hundred different players in camp. One hundred. 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:13.240 So there was a guy named Scott Meyer who was 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.640 a non roster catcher. He wore number one hundred in 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:20.280 spring training. I've never seen anyone with a three digit 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:24.680 number before or after, because now if you have too many, 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:27.080 you'll maybe be over one hundred. Some guys are like 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:32.399 eighty seven A and eighty seven B, which we've made 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:35.240 the joke when you're eighty seven. B You're not even 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:40.280 the best number eighty seven, you know, But I really 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.800 target nineteen eighty two because that was my first year 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:46.400 is a full time, full time brand guy. And as 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:50.600 I've told you, Jeff, everything changes when you're the number 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:54.320 one beat guy from your newspaper, like all the responsibility 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:56.480 is on you. So eighty two, I'm covering the Texas 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.200 Rangers for the Dallas Morning News, and I'm sure I 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:02.760 told you the story, Jeff. But three weeks into spring training, 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:08.120 Mickey Rivers, the hilarious center fielder for the Rangers who's 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.600 making four hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year, comes 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:13.240 up to me in spring training. I've known him for 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:16.320 three weeks and he goes, Tim, can you loan me 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:21.200 two thousand dollars? I said, Mick, I'm making twelve thousand 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:25.159 dollars a year. I don't have two thousand dollars to 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:27.560 my name. So Buddy Bell, who was the star of 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:30.680 the team, he whispered to me later he said, look, 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.560 everyone loves Mick, but don't ever loan him any money 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:39.520 because you'll never get the money back. Also, Jeff, back 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:42.880 then and things have changed so much, in Pompino Beach. 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:47.240 They had Municipal Stadium, which was a dinky, little rickety 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:52.080 little tiny little ballpark, and they had a half field 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:55.680 right next to it. And that was the extent of 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:59.279 Major League spring training for the Texas Rangers. They had 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:03.880 one full sized field and then a half field. That's 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:07.560 all they had. Now you look at these spring training facilities, 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:10.960 you know, they're all shared, they're all brand new. Mean, 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:14.080 you get like nine diamonds to yourself in spring training. 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:19.000 It's unbelievable how work actually got done back then because 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:23.560 there were so little, there were so few, you know, facilities, fields, 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:25.440 everything else, batting cages, everything else. 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:28.559 Well, you look at like the Phillies in clear Water. 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.920 It's just unbelievable the amount of space they have, the 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:33.919 amount of fields, right, it's incredible. 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:37.359 It's a perfect example. So Ron Darling broadcasting now with 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:39.960 the Mets, used to play with the Rangers in eighty two. 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:42.240 They traded him at the end of the eighty two 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:45.239 spring training, one of the worst trades in Major League history. 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.480 Not the point, so Ron recently told me that they 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:50.919 would get their running in by running like through the 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:53.680 trees and everything else. And he said, he said, we 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:57.239 all found a short cut where you can cut through 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:00.960 and everyone thinks you've run a by two miles. And 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:03.159 he said, sometimes we would just sit on a bench 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:07.279 and rest because we knew we're way ahead because we 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.120 took a shortcut. That's how things worked at eighty two 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:12.840 and a little bit later. A little off the topic, 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.520 but Sid Fernandez was a picture for the Mets in 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.800 the eighties and they had just opened a new facility 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.080 in Port Saint Lucie where the Mets still trained today. 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:26.920 And now it's gigantic, sprawling, it's beautiful, But back then 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:29.760 it was built like in the middle of a swamp, 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:32.360 in the middle of the woods, and the players had 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.440 to do their running like through the woods, like through 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:39.120 a path through the woods. And one day Sid Fernandez 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:44.680 ran into a warthog who chased him out of the woods. 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:48.360 And he comes screaming out of the woods, like terrified, 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:52.760 there is a monster in there because a warthog had 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:54.080 chased him out of the woods. 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:55.839 Do you know what the warthog's name was? 0:06:58.360 --> 0:06:58.839 Is this buddy? 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:02.800 Timowon with it? Boomba, you are a. 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:07.440 Pig, Tom Boomba. Watch that movie A million times million 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:10.640 you It was great. All right, eighty four. I loved it. 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:15.000 It was so good. Mitch Williams first spring training in 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.160 Major league camp. He was with the Rangers, and he's 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.800 the wildest pitcher of all time. Mitch Williams gave up 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:26.960 more walks than hits aloud in his career. Think about 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:29.440 that for a second. No picture with that many innings, says, 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:34.200 ever come close to allowing more walks than hits aloud. 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:38.000 So that first spring training Mitch Williams is pitching to 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:41.640 the veterans and he he strows so hard, but he's 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:45.040 so wild everyone's afraid to face him. One pitch, it 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:48.320 missed the cage and it hit the tire that you 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:50.520 roll the cage up. It hit the tire and went 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:52.680 like one hundred feet in the air. Then he hit 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:56.000 Alan Banister right in the middle of the back. This 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:59.440 is his teammate, of course, And Buddy Bell and Larry 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:01.480 Parris said, I'm not doing We're not batting. We're not 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:05.040 batting against him. He's not ready to pitch major league 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.960 batting practice. So they they quit. They said, we're not 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.400 hitting against him. He's going to kill us. So I 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:14.240 asked Mitch about it later and Mitch said, yeah, I 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:16.960 think that was the right move. I really didn't want 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.320 to kill one of my teammates in my first major 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:22.560 league camp. Good call. Mitch, by the way, had a 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:26.320 brother named Bruce, and Mitch Klay and Bruce pitched professionally, 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:29.360 not in the big leagues, but professionally, and Bruce apparently 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:34.760 threw harder and was wilder than Mitch Williams, if it's possible. So, 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:38.480 as Mitch one soldby said, we'd go outside like we 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:42.599 were like teenagers, fourteen, fifteen, sixty years old, and we 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:45.520 play catch at the front yard, me and my brother Bruce, 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:48.360 and he said, and mothers would come running out of 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:52.360 their house screaming at their little children. Get off the street. 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:58.480 The Williams boys are playing catch. So just to show 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.760 you how, just to show you how unimportant wins and 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:04.920 losses are. In spring training, I think it was eighty four, 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.720 it's not important which year. But Paul Splittorff, who's a 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:11.320 wonderful man and a really good pitcher, was at his 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:14.800 the end of his career with the Kansas City Royals 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:17.880 and the Rangers. My team are playing the Royals in 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.960 a game late in spring training, and Paul splid Orf 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:24.200 is pitching to make the club, even though he's a 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:27.920 veteran's he's on his last leg. So Larry Parrish tells 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:30.880 his teammates, here's what we should do. We should all 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:36.199 make outs on purpose. That way, it'll make Paul Splittorff 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:40.320 look really good. Then he'll make the team and we 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:43.800 face them the first week of the season, so we'll 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.400 get to face him in a game that actually matters. 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:49.000 So let's do that, and then we'll light him up 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:52.120 when the regular season begins. So when people say, oh, gosh, 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:55.880 they lost another spring training game, people don't care if 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:58.280 you lose a spring training game. You're there not for that, 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:02.240 You're there for other things. The rules are also so 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.920 lax in spring training, Jeff. At least they used to be. 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:08.120 You know, you could get tickets to games and people 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:11.320 didn't even check you coming in. So one year, this 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.359 is eighty nine. I want to say I left tickets 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:18.000 for a family friend. Ron Petrello, still a friend. I 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:20.480 haven't talked to him in a long time. But Ron 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:23.240 was a big Pirates fan, and the Orioles were playing 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:27.440 the Pirates in a game at RFK Stadium in Washington. 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:31.360 It's the final exhibition game, so I leave tickets for Ron. 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:35.040 He gets there and they don't have his tickets, and 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:37.920 they're so embarrassed that they don't that they give him 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:42.280 a pass much like my pass. They can get him 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:47.000 on the field before the game. So he's down on thee. 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:48.599 This is the guy who's supposed to be sitting in 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:50.560 the stands, but he's got a pass where people are 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:52.400 telling him you can go wherever you want with that. 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:55.480 So he goes out on the field watching his favorite team, 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:58.720 the Pirates, and then the game starts. This is an 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:03.280 exhibition game, but the game begins and Ron Patrella is 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:07.000 in the Pirates dugout. During the game, he's like sitting 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:10.720 right next to Jim Leland and then looking at him 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:12.960 and I said, Ron, didn't they know that you weren't 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:14.959 supposed to be there? And he goes, well, no one 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.760 even asked because it was so relaxed. He said, I 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:20.520 think they thought I was like the son of one 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:24.200 of the owners. So he watched an entire exhibition game 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:28.760 from the Pirates dugout and he loves the Pirates. So 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:32.000 I write this in the paper the next day at 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.400 the Baltimore Sun because I'm the Orioles beat writer. So 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:38.360 it goes in Oriole notes this little bright, funny thing 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:41.400 about Ron Petrella. So Ron goes the next day to 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:45.400 the real opening day, the real game at Memorial Stadium, 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.200 and he's sitting next to the guy and the guy says, 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.440 did you see that story of the paper today about 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:54.400 that guy who got to spend the entire game in 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:57.200 the dugout? And Ron said, yes, that was me. 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.120 I always say ignorance is bliss when it comes to this, 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:04.720 Like you remember that time we were at the the 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:07.280 American Girl Doll Store. Oh yeah, yeah, So we were 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.640 shopping in the I believe it was Atlantago, Chicago. We're 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:14.839 in Chicago and it's in the mall. Big glass windows 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:18.320 separate the mall from the American Girl Doll Store. And Dad, 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:22.160 with my cousins, his nieces, they're all shopping, I mean 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.360 hundreds and hundreds of dollars of stuff, and Dad doesn't 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:28.360 realize where the store ends and where the mall begins. 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:32.600 So here they are getting their American Girl doll's hair done, and. 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:35.160 We look out on the outside of the windows. 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:38.120 We see Dad in the mall with thousands of dollars 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:39.120 of American. 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:41.000 Girl doll clothes and we're going. 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.920 Keep backing here, you're shoplifting, and he's like, what, what 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:44.400 was it? 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:48.880 Eleven hundred dollars worth of American girl stuff in my 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:52.080 bag and he did not know we had not paid for. 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:53.840 It, And that's how he got in the dugout. Because 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:56.400 if you don't know you're doing something wrong, then you're 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:57.680 usually innocent on it. 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:01.760 Good point, Jeff, So, Jeff again, spring training is so 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:06.920 great just because it's so different long bus rides, especially 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.760 in Florida. So one of my favorite stories is Brian 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:13.240 Anderson used to play for the Indians, now broadcaster for 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:15.839 the Tampa Bay Rays. Brian's one of the funniest people 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:19.280 in the world. But he's taking a trip from winter 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:23.079 Haven to Vero Beach. It's like a three hour ride, 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:25.760 and he gets about an hour into it and realizes 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:29.600 he forgot his spikes, his hat, and his glove. Now 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:32.880 back in winter Haven, all right, Back then, you know, 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:35.760 you can't just turn around, and they don't bring equipment 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:39.040 bags with all sorts of extra stuff. So Brian Anderson 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:42.160 told me, in full uniform, as soon as he got 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:45.360 to Vero Beach he had to get in a car 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:48.880 and drive to go buy the equipment that he didn't have. 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:54.520 So he went into a Walmart in full uniform and said, well, 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:58.520 it's a Walmart. They have everything. They have tires, they 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.800 have produce, they must have a baseball glove. So he 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:05.360 went in there and bought a baseball glove at Walbart. 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:07.880 It was enormous, he said, it was almost as big 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.600 as Greg Maddox's gloves. Greg Maddox wore the biggest glove 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:14.880 ever and maybe the greatest fielding pitcher ever. But Brian 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:18.040 Anderson said, yeah, I pitched five innings and no surprise, 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:22.280 I got five comebackers in a game wearing a glove 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.200 that costs twenty eight dollars that I bought at the 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:29.240 Walbart like two hours earlier. This is what happens in 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:33.160 spring training. And speaking of buses, years ago, you've asked 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.800 me many times about my favorite nicknames in baseball. There 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:41.120 was a Rockies pitcher named David and his nickname was Diesel, 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:44.280 So I said, how did he get the name Diesel? 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:48.160 So the Rockies were on a spring training trip and 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:51.960 the bus driver got sick and he couldn't drive. So 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:55.840 David Lee said I'll drive the bus. So now he's 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:59.400 driving the entire team in the spring training bus, having 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:03.120 never riven a bus before. And then they they're they're 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.760 getting low on gas, so he pulls off and he 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:09.400 announces to the entire team, we got to stop for Diesel. 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:11.560 And that's how he got his name. That's how he 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:14.960 got it, Diesel Lee. I'll never forget it, just for 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:18.240 that alone. And Alex Corr, of course, the manager of 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:21.760 the Boston Red Sox, he used to tell me that 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:24.440 he said, I was an I four guy, and I said, 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:26.520 what does that mean? You know, this is years ago. 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:28.320 I didn't know what that meant. He goes, oh, I 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:31.760 took all the trips on I four in Florida, which, 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:35.120 if you don't know, Jeff, the I four Highway in 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:38.040 Florida like cuts all the way frough. It's the most 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:40.880 crowded road in the history of roads. But if you're 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:44.000 gonna take bus trips in Florida, you almost always have 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:47.000 to go on the I four. And Alex core who 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:50.320 for the most part, was not an everyday player, so 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:54.320 he took the trips in order to give the everyday 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:56.520 players a day off so they didn't have to go 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:58.840 on this monstrous road trip. He said, I only had 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:00.880 one rule. If I'm going to make a trip like that, 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:03.920 I need four at bats when I get there, because 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.520 I needed to make sure that I get my work 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:10.160 in and it's worth me driving on I four all 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:14.000 that time. So again, greatest spring training stories ever. And 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:17.120 my favorite part, Jeff about spring training is you get 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.280 to meet your new teammates for the first time. So 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:23.240 I've told you about Michael Cadyer. Remember Michael Kadyer. You 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:27.000 met him at the Coach's convention in January. What a 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:31.400 great guy. So Michael Cadire is a magician, I mean 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:35.560 literally a magician. He can do card tricks that I saw. 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:37.880 Now I don't know anything about magic. I'm just telling 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.400 you I watched what he did, and I could have 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:44.280 watched a thousand times and not figured out what he did. 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:50.240 So in spring training one year, Luis Castillo joins the Twins. 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:54.200 Luis Castillo has never met Michael cadyr before, and now 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:57.760 they're sitting right next to each other because that's where 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:00.000 their lockers are. And Michael Cardire is the all time 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:03.000 I'm best teammate. And when you asked, you know, the 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:05.439 guys on the Twins used to say, what do I 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:08.200 need to know here? And the manager and the coaches 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.440 would say, Michael Kadire, just do what he does, act 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:13.520 like him and you're gonna be fine. That's how great 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:17.840 he was. But one day, Michael Kadyre does a card 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:23.760 trick for Luis Castillo, and it is so unbelievably good 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:29.800 that Luis Castillo was afraid of Michael Cadyre, like, how 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:32.520 could you do that? Like it was like some you know, 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:36.000 black magic view kind of thing, and it spooked him 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:39.880 so badly that the next day when he came into 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:45.760 spring training, he had moved his locker across the clubhouse 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:48.480 because he didn't want to sit next to Michael Kadyre. 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.520 And it spooked him that much. Yeah, and that's that's 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:55.080 what can happen. So Michael Kadire also told me a 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:58.520 story about Jeremy Guthrie, who's one of my favorite people. 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:00.919 He used to ride his bike everywhere. Okay, he used 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:03.560 to ride his bike to the ballpark during the regular season, 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:07.800 but always in spring trading. So one day Jeremy Guthrie, 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:12.080 pitching for the Rockies, pitches the game. Then he gets 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:17.320 on his bicycle in full uniform, and according to Michael Kadire, 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:21.800 he put his glove on the handlebars, just like we did, 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:22.720 Jeff when we. 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:23.640 Were kissing Sandlot. 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.760 Yeah, and that's exactly what Michael Kadyre said. It was 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.720 like a scene out of the Cell. Guy pitched five 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:32.880 innings in an exhibition game and then he drove his 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:37.720 bike back to the facility in full uniform with his 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:40.960 with his glove on the handlebars. I just I just 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.919 love it. Gotta be careful with this one, Jeff. Okay. So, 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:47.960 the same Twins team that Michael Kadyre was on, they 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:51.840 got a new player from Japan. His name was Nishioka. Okay. 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:55.000 So he comes to camp and everyone is going to 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:57.600 try to get used to, you know, dealing with the 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:00.119 guys from another country. They want to make him feel well. 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:02.200 And was it a little less common at this time 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:03.679 like today. 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:09.080 Yeah, so many Japanese players today and they all speak 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:12.960 some form of English, but apparently Isoka didn't speak English. 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:16.960 So they go to Dinard Span it's one of the 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:20.359 best guys in the game, and they tell the Twins 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:24.000 teammates tell Dinard Span, you need to go over and 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:29.080 introduce yourself. To Nioka and welcome him to the team. 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:32.240 So Dinard says, okay, I will, of course I want 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:34.600 to welcome him to the team. So he goes over 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:40.360 to the locker of the guy that he thinks is Okay, 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:45.520 but it's not Nioka. Sodannart Span very respectfully says, my 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:49.320 name is Denard Span I play center field for the Twins. 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:52.720 I'm your new teammate. It is really nice to meet you. 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:56.480 And he said, do you speak English? And the guy 0:19:56.520 --> 0:20:00.520 who he thought was in Ishioka's name was rach and 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:03.200 Ray Chang goes, of course I speak English. I'm from 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:11.200 Kansas City. So the entire clubhouse like burst into tears 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:16.200 because they got that one all mixed up between Mishioka 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:19.199 and ray Chang. I hope no one takes offense to that. 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:23.480 Cann Now everyone in the room howled with laughter. But again, Jeff, 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:28.000 the big difference in spring training is just how much 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:31.800 more stuff there is to use. I mean, there are 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:35.399 the equipment that we have that you know, measures launch 0:20:35.440 --> 0:20:39.119 angle and spin rate. It's it's absolutely amazing. And as 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:42.199 rich Donnelly, who did a million spring trainings, did the 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:44.840 Washington Senators in the late sixties when I was a 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:48.720 Senators fan. Was with Yeah, was with the Rangers in 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:51.399 eighty two when I first got there, so I got 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:54.280 to know rich well. He just said, uh, you know, 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:57.720 I just can't see Ted Williams in spring training running 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:01.320 around with a parachute on his back, because that's what 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:03.400 guys do every once in a while. And he said, 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:05.920 I just can't see Babe Ruth jumping over a bunch 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:09.200 of orange cones, which is what we do. To me. 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:12.920 That just shows you how much spring training has changed. 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:16.119 But the bottom line is, Jeff, spring training is still 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:19.720 the best time of year, my favorite time of year. 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:24.080 Nobody's lost any games yet. All the rookies look great, 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:27.320 all the veterans look good. They haven't gotten hurt yet. 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:30.840 Everyone's in a great mood. The weather's here, springs coming, 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:34.240 warm weather. It's the greatest time ever. Whether it's Babe 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:37.520 Ruth days or days today. I can't wait to get 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:38.120 to spring. 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:40.600 Training, Dad, those are great memories of spring training for you. 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:42.480 I have a couple that I wrote down and I 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:44.400 wanted to share. First of all, one of the first 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:48.440 ones I really remember was being in Arizona when your 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:50.920 alma mater, University of Maryland with. 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:55.720 Steve Blake and Juan Dixon. Dixon was on that team. 0:21:56.200 --> 0:21:59.800 They won the national championship while we were in Arizona, 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:01.160 and I remember watching. 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:03.840 The game with you on like the time, Mom. 0:22:03.600 --> 0:22:06.320 And Kelly in our hotel room. Now, Pison made that 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:09.880 amazing three with plenty of time left on the shot clock, 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:13.600