WEBVTT - Tommy John 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:05.480 Boom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes a 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:09.280 week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants of 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.920 the old republic a sole fashion of fairness. He treats 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:15.800 crackheads in the Ghetto Cutter the same as the rich 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:20.240 pill poppers in the penthouse, the clearing House of hot takes, 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:24.079 break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with Ben 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:32.800 Maller starts right now, nine nine in the air. Everywhere. 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:38.720 The weekend is back upon us. Happy Friday. Friday Friday, 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:45.280 another addition of the Fifth Hour with Ben Maller, because hey, 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:47.919 four hours a night in the overnight or not enough. 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:51.239 We thank you for finding the podcast, subscribing to the podcast, 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:54.320 telling friends about the podcast. We do this eight days 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:59.360 a week in a spinoff of the Overnight Show. An 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:01.880 overnight show, so every Friday we try to catch up 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:05.640 with someone that we like or someone that we know, 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:08.679 and it's a chance to do something we don't normally 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:11.000 do in the overnight. We don't normally do that, we 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:13.800 don't have an opportunity to have people come and hang 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:15.160 out with us. We're on the middle of the night. 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:20.160 Management wants us to do a show around calls and 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:22.000 and hot takes and so that's what we do. So 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:23.840 this is a chance to get out of our Norman 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.559 this week. I am excited. Now. I am a baseball guy. 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:32.200 I'm a baseball guy, and I remember as a kid 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:35.720 watching baseball. This is the guy we have on today. 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.720 Is a person that I watched as a kid. He 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.400 was at the end of his career, but is someone 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:45.160 that is in a very small, very small group of 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:48.720 people in the history of the modern world that has 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:52.640 had a medical procedure named after them. And I am 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:58.560 referring to Tommy John. Now, if you're of a certain age, 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:00.240 you know who Tommy John is. But if you're younger, 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.280 you're like, I know Tommy John, Tommy John surgery. Yeah, 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:08.120 he's the guy that was patient zero for Tommy John surgery. Obviously, 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:11.359 and that has become the norm if you have an 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:15.600 arm injury. Tommy John surgery is just a routine procedure. 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:19.440 But it wasn't. It was an exploratory procedure when Tommy 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.160 John was pitching. Played twenty six years in the big leagues, 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:25.840 a lot of years with the Yankees. Pitched mostly with 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:29.120 the Yankees, the White Sox, and the Dodgers, along with 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.839 some other stops along the way and when games he's 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:36.080 not being in the Hall of him I'm actually gonna 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:39.040 make my pitch here because wins twenty six years. People 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:40.960 say that's not enough, but I will make my pitch 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:45.320 to Tommy the man himself. Why. I think he's got 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:47.720 a strong case to get in for the Veterans Committee 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:49.560 for the Hall of Fame. And we'll obviously get to 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:53.440 the medical procedure as well. So I am excited to 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:58.200 talk to a baseball legend of my youth, someone I 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:00.560 grew up watching. I was watching this Weekend Baseball and 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:04.400 Tommy John would change teams. Mel Allen was in twib notes. 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:07.520 We'll talk about Tommy John is on the move, and 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:10.640 we are joined by the man, the myth, the legend himself, 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:12.560 the great Tommy John, joining us here on the fifth 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:17.080 Hour with Ben Mallory. Tommy, welcome, and let's start with this. 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:19.200 How have you been What have you been up to 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:23.400 here recently? How long is the show? Do you have 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:27.120 enough time? Oh? We have endless amounts of time. Tommy, 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:31.440 please come on, this is a podcast. We can go forever. Okay, December, 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:39.040 I contracted COVID and my wife the same thing. We 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:45.480 both had COVID and I fell out of bed, hit 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:50.280 my head on the end table, on the on the nightstand, 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:54.440 cut my head open, Take me to the hospital, patch 0:03:54.560 --> 0:04:00.160 me up. Three days later I fall again. They I've 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:07.320 been to the hospital. This this happened five times. And 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.120 you know, as I'm getting, as I'm getting over COVID 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:20.239 and all that, um, I contracted a thing called gian 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:25.520 Barre syndrome. And if you look it up, gian Barre 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:33.720 syndrome paralyzes your lower extremities. Wow, you've had a tough 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:38.280 time here recently. And then um, well it's just you know, 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:44.839 but I'm over it now. And despite what Dr Fauci says, 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:48.599 I'm not going to get vaccinated because I've got all 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:53.720 the antibodies and in my body. And my wife had 0:04:54.279 --> 0:05:04.159 COVID also, and she had pneumonia with her. But you know, so, 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:05.800 so what was it? I mean, tell me, iously, you're 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:07.960 you're a little older now, you you play a long 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:10.799 time in the big leads. How how bad was your 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:14.400 experience with COVID or obviously you said you had a 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:16.920 lot of side effects. You filled down a lot. I mean, 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.760 how you've been sick before. I'm sure at other point 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:22.360 in your life, like, how does this rank among other 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:27.280 illnesses that you had? Well, let me put it to 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:36.160 you this way. I came within a phone call of dying. Wow. 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:42.400 My wife. My wife called the hospital out here and said, 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:51.680 you gotta he's gotta have because they worked attacking the problem, 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:54.320 you know. Oh well, yeah, he's okay, so send him home. 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:57.400 To send him home. They finally said, you know, look 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:02.480 if we can't keep him here, so we're gonna send 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:08.440 him to a nursing home in Banning. Wow. And my 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:11.960 wife gets on the phone and shell calls a doctor 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:18.080 at usc Keeck Medical Center and gave him all my 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:25.000 all my information and she and he said, whoa, he's 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:29.960 got a blood clot someplace. So they sent a in 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:36.640 an ambulance for me from Indio to check, which is 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:44.039 about hour and minute drive. I get in, They take 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:49.240 me right into the operating room. They put a capital 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:55.120 uh through my growing into my lungs and I had 0:06:55.160 --> 0:07:00.320 two huge blood clots on both lobes of my my line, 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:06.960 upper and lower. Wow. And once they broke it up, 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:10.000 all of a sudden, my breathing came back and I 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:15.200 so I had this lady that is my wife. She 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:19.080 saved my life because if I would have listened to 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:23.840 the hospital here in tom Springs, I probably would be 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:31.160 dead right now. Wow, I mean you weren't kidding, Tommy. 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:33.000 You were not kidding when you when you said you 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:35.440 had a lot to say. That is uh, that is 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.520 an amazing roller coaster. I did not I got when 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:41.160 I was very excited, you know, I'm I'm really I 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.080 was looking forward this. I did not expect that. I 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:46.600 had no idea that any of this happened to you. 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:49.520 I feel so terrible that you had to go through that, Tommy. 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:57.280 That's horrible man. But you know, um, like I said, 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:02.040 Cheryl and I both have the handad bodies in our system, 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:08.080 and so um yeah, all the all the craft that's 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:14.040 going on now, I just I shake my head and 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:21.640 you know, yeah, it can't be that tough. It really can. Well, um, 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:25.000 it's always tough to transition. I I I know, I 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:27.400 want to talk baseball talk. I don't know, you know, 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:33.320 I mean, is that okay? Alright? Alright? Um, I guess. 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:34.880 I mean you've been through a lot of medical stuff 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:37.280 here recently. How much how much baseball do you still 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:40.240 watch these days? And you played like almost thirty years 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:44.240 in the big leagues. None I watched none. Yeah, and 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:51.480 why is that? It's not the game that I played? Yeah, 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:55.840 and you play You've got all these computer geniuses and 0:08:55.920 --> 0:09:00.839 the analytics and all this. I would have a manager 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:05.079 or a pitching coach call one pitch for me and 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:09.200 make me throw it. I'd walk off the mound, throw 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:14.520 my glove at him and say see you later. I'll 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.440 pitch the way I want to pitch, the way I 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:21.920 feel I have to pitch, not the way some numbers 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:27.360 said that. You know, yeah, at plus who was it? 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:30.640 Um might have been last year how to shut out? 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:35.560 And he got two out in the seventh inning and 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:39.520 they pulled him out of the game. You would have 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:41.240 put you you would have tried to pull me out 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:44.240 of the game with a shutout and two outs in 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:46.680 the seventh inning. There would have been a fist fight 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:52.400 on the mountain. Yeah, and you but you know, it's 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:57.880 just it's not played the same way. Yeah. And what 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:01.120 about when did the You'd be the perfect guy to 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.080 ask to because you played in the sixties and the 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:05.640 seventies and the eighties, when would the when did the 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:08.520 hundred pitch thing become the barometer where if you get 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:10.840 around a hundred pitches, you gotta get out of the game. 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.199 You can't be in the game anyway. Was that around 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:16.960 in your days or did that start you know, started 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:20.520 a little a little after me, okay, And I don't 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:24.080 know why. Maybe they looked at the number of pitches 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:28.360 that the guys threw and when they started to fall 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:32.440 you know, when they're pitching abilla, they started to fall off, 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:38.160 and it was around the hundred pitch mark. I but 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.840 you know how to get out of that now it's 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:49.640 through the hundred pitches. Yeah, I threw a baseball off 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:53.400 the mound to a catcher every day I was on 0:10:53.480 --> 0:11:00.280 the field. I didn't pitch the night threw And the 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:05.760 more you throw like that, the more you your I 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:12.040 get stronger. Yeah, what's the most get stronger? How do 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.959 you how do you get your arms? It's not lifting weights, 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:18.920 it's not doing bands, it's not doing towel drills, it's 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:24.760 not doing all this. It's throwing a baseball. Yeah, what's 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:26.599 the most time? What's the most pitches? You know? I 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:29.360 don't know, they didn't really, I guess keep pitch counts. 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:31.040 Earlier in your career, I would think, but what's the 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:33.960 most pitches you were called throwing roughly like a ballpark 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:43.480 figure in it. Wow, that's it's like double what they 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:48.080 more than double what they do the days. And what 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:50.199 about now you pitch twenty six years in the big 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:52.920 things and so now the big thing. And I loved 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.280 your I agree with you on analyst. I'm not totally 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.559 against analysts, but I think there has to be field 0:11:57.600 --> 0:11:59.120 of the game that has to be part of it. 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:01.480 And it's got two are to analytics. But when you 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:03.880 would get through the third time through the order, like 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:06.079 you know, that's that's always the big thing these days 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:08.400 with the people freak out when you go through the 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:11.280 third time through, Like what was your mindset back in 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:14.160 those days, because now it's like people start losing their 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:16.200 mind when you have to get to that third time 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:23.160 through the order. No, I'll knew what I threw these guys. Um. 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:25.800 I had a manager back with the White Sox. His 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:31.559 name was Eddie Stanky. He knew nothing about pitching, nothing, 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:36.200 but he called me in I I pitched the game 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.600 against the Yankees. He called me into the office the 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:43.160 next day and he said, young man, sit down here, 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:46.840 and I went, oh god, what did I do? He said, 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:50.360 let's go over last night's game. Okay, what do you 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:55.800 first hit? Or what do you do? Uh? Grounded the 0:12:55.840 --> 0:13:02.320 short stop. What was the count? Uh? Uh? And I 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.720 couldn't get four or five innings and I couldn't go. 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:09.600 He said, Okay, we're gonna do this again. You should 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:12.280 be able to go through first hitter to your last 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:18.760 hitter and go. The count was three and two and 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:23.400 and that showed me there that I can face you 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:28.560 four times. And just because I'm facing you four times 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:31.520 doesn't mean that you've got a better chance to hit 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:36.800 hit me. It's if I make good pitches, it's going 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:39.560 to be the same. You're gonna have a hard time 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:44.360 hitting me. Yeah, but if I make mistakes. If I 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:48.120 make mistakes, then whether it's the first time or the 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:53.000 fifth time or whatever, you're going to hit the ball hard. Yeah. 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:55.240 And it's always that guessing game, right. I mean, you, 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.000 as the picture have the advantage because you know the 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:59.240 hitter doesn't know what's coming you. You know what you're 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:02.960 gonna pitch, so you have the you know. And the 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:11.679 thing that I did is I I um, if I 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:17.480 got you out and I got you on sinkers and 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:20.400 your your third time up and I hadn't thrown you 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:26.000 a curveball yet. Why would I throw you a curveball 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:29.360 If I'm getting you out with sinkers away? You have 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:35.840 not adjusted to my pitches. You know, pitching is adjustment. 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:39.160 You throw a sinker away and the right hander goes 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:42.560 out there and maybe doesn't hit it, but goes after 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:46.280 it blowing away. Okay, now you gotta get him back 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.640 off that, so you gotta throw something up and end 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:55.840 middle end curveball in you know you you you gotta 0:14:55.960 --> 0:15:01.880 keep him away from the outside corner. And uh, it's 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:07.680 just it's just keeping track of what you of what 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:12.160 you're doing. You know, you faced the guy two times 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:16.920 you go slinker. You're throwing in fifteen pitches all slinkers, 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:19.600 and now you go out and you throw him a 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:24.080 got off a curveball. It's probably gonna take it because 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:28.160 he hasn't seen it. So why would you throw him curveball? 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:30.880 First pitch, second pitch? You throw it where you got 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:38.520 two strikes. So yeah, yeah, for sure, I'm right. I'm 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:40.000 right there with you. I mean, you know better than 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:41.960 any but you did it. You lived the life for 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.280 for all those years and and and since you've retired, 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.240 you know, back in the eighties. Now it's gone completely 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.560 the opposite where they like they have this defeatist attitude 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:52.280 with pictures where if you get to a hundred pitchers, 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:53.720 you gotta take you out of the game, and if 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:56.480 you can't go third times through the lineup. Be sure 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.200 to catch live editions of The Ben Miller Show weekdays 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:03.280 at two am. But isn't it more of an issue Tommy, 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:05.440 where it's like the the pictures today when they're coming 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.400 up in high school and in college and the minor leagues, 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:11.000 they're they're taught this, like this is what they know, 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:15.520 right you were You were not taught this? You Yeah, well, 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:19.840 you're absolutely like they're they're taught three times through, they're done. 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:27.600 So when you lower the bar of expectations, you will 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:34.000 pitch to those expectations. Yeah, for sure. Um, and now 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:35.560 some of the other things, and you say, don't watch 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:37.600 baseball anymore. It's a different game. But I know you're 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:41.000 aware that they added a a ghost runner. They're gonna 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.440 get rid of it next year, they say, but they've 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.000 the last two years here they've had a ghost runner 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.240 in extra inning stuffy that just a runner magically appears 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:51.280 at second base when you get to the tenth inning. 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:56.920 It's very, very bizarre. And what was the reasoning on that, Well, 0:16:56.960 --> 0:16:59.000 they didn't want the games to go They thought the 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:01.040 games are going too long long, and they said they 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:06.040 you know, they used how is that, I think I'm 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:14.160 part called more strikes. Yeah, the strike zone, Yo, strike one, 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:19.359 strike two, ye, strike three, You're gone, let's go boom 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:24.680 next guy. But they've got the strike zone so tight. Uh, 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.880 it's just you know, and then they then they want 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:34.320 the games to go along quicker. Well that's hard to do, yeah, 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:36.120 but it's it's almost like they want both things though, 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:39.560 because they want, you know, for television, for the for television, 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:41.240 they need to sell commercial times, so they need the 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:42.920 games to go a certain amount of time. But then 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:45.479 they also say, well, it's like the pace of the 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:48.240 game and all that. But I'm right there. You know, 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:50.480 obviously you're biased time because you're pitched as a strike. 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:52.320 You want the bigger strikes. But I agree. I think 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:54.480 one of the biggest problems with baseball is every hitter 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:58.320 now you get paid to walk. That's as big as thing. 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:00.880 You know, home runs and what the read true outcomes 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:04.400 to baseball? Home run, walk, strike out for hitters these days, 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:08.320 that's the analytical crowd and and nobody. And the other 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:10.439 thing is nobody ever chokes up on the bat, Tommy. 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:12.960 This this drives me insane. When you have you know, 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.560 runner on third base and you know, two outs, runner 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:17.720 onund segment whatever, they don't just choke up trying to 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:19.439 get a base in. They're still trying to hit the 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:23.320 ball to the upper deck. It drives me nut to drive. Yeah, 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:30.080 you're absolutely correct, Yeah, it's it's frustrating. Um So, now 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:32.280 you you came up with Cleveland, correct. I mean I 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:35.560 think of you as a Dodger and a Yankee, you 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:37.080 know when I was, you know, a kid, but you 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:38.880 you can't play with the Yankees. You mentioned the White 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:41.960 Sox the Cleveland Indians last week and asked they will 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:44.480 no longer be the Cleveland Indians. They're changing their name 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:48.440 to the Cleveland Guardians. As someone that came up with 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:52.600 the Cleveland Indians, Tommy, what was your reaction to that news. 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:58.359 I just this whole thing is is so screwed up. 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:04.920 Uh M. A Indian is an Indian. There's nothing racial 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:10.639 about it. That's what they are. They're in India. You 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:16.360 know a guide born in India. He's an Indian. Yeah, 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:21.840 you're an Indian. Uh, You're you have Native American blood 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:25.120 in you. You're an Indian. It doesn't mean that you're 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:29.359 going to scalp somebody for peace's sake. But I think 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:33.520 I think he's got to get his head out of it. 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:39.720 But too, I'm not a big fan Rob Manford. You 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:43.200 the community, I'm right there with you. I'm right he's done. Boy, 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:45.320 We've I've sent a lot of nights Tommy on the 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:50.400 overnight ranting and raving about Rob Manford the commissioner of 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:54.479 of Baseball. So yeah, but I don't see it changing anytime. 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:56.280 A lot of stuff going on right now. It just 0:19:56.440 --> 0:20:00.200 is yeah, wild, But I think we're on the the 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:01.880 same page on some of that. So when when I 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.280 was when I was younger, you remember you played with 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:08.520 the Yankees, uh and in the Dodgers. As I said, 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:10.560 when I was a kid, and you played for the 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:13.600 Yankees in the eighties and the seventies with with George 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:17.560 Steinbrenner as the owner, I heard amazing tales as a 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:20.159 kid about you know how crazy George Steinbrenner was as 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:22.000 an owner. How wild he was when you were playing 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:24.200 for the Yankees. You do you have a really good 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:27.159 story about George Steinbrenner. Is that all media hype and 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:29.680 it's not true the way it's portrayed and the way 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:36.159 I read it as a kid. Nope, it's true. So 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:41.200 really what it was the Bronze When I was where 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:45.879 it was, I uh oh. We were in Fort Lauderdale 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:51.600 with the Yankees trained in Fort Lauderdale and Hank Steinbrenner, 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:59.320 Hank ran George's horse farm up in o'calla Lada. Hank 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:03.600 was out are saying, these salaries are so high there, 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:07.080 this is that, And I said, hey, who talk to 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:10.000 your old man. He's the one running the prices up. 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:13.800 He hands out these big contracts. He said, I know 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:17.359 he doesn't have an F and clue. And I said, 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:21.879 now you said that I didn't. But George was a 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:26.080 football man. He didn't play football. He was like a 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:30.720 student manager in college or something, and he hung around 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:37.960 the football teams and coaches, and he tried to run 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:42.520 a baseball team like you do a football team. Well 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:49.440 in football, you know, it's kind of set in stone 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:58.399 what you do, and and he uh, if you go 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:06.119 back on the nineteen one World Series Game six, Yankee Stadium, 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:12.399 I'm pitching. I give up the first run of the 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:16.159 World Series that I gave up in the top of 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:20.880 the fourth inning. Yeah, fib and the fourth inning they 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:28.960 pinched it for me. I'm going crazy. And I find 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:35.920 out later from a guy that was like a I 0:22:36.200 --> 0:22:42.640 and the Sky. For the Yankees, Steinbrenner's rule was get 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:47.120 a lead early and then go to the bullpen. Win 0:22:47.240 --> 0:22:50.919 it out of the bullpen. And Bob Lemon, being a 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:54.399 good trooper, he wanted to get a lead. So the 0:22:54.440 --> 0:22:57.840 score was tied one to one. Bob or the fourth 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:01.959 we had two runners on two out, pitcher coming up. 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:10.960 They pin ship for me and I asked women, I said, um, 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:14.680 who who's coming in? He said George Fraisier. I said, 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:19.440 shut lim Frasier. Haven't gotten anybody out all series. You're 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:22.160 going to don't tell me out a minute And I said, well, 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:26.800 I'm just telling you he hasn't gotten anybody out. And 0:23:26.840 --> 0:23:29.760 then who would you bring in? I said, well, you're 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:33.880 taking out your starter, which is your night's best pitcher, 0:23:34.400 --> 0:23:39.960 the day's best pitcher, and you're saying that it's the 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:42.720 seventh or eighth inning. Who would you bring in in 0:23:42.760 --> 0:23:45.520 the seventh or eighth inning of football game? I bring 0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:49.119 Gaussie Gin. Then I'd bring gassie Gin right now. But 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:52.640 he can't go all the way. Uh. He goes two 0:23:52.720 --> 0:23:55.240 or three innings, and then you go to the next 0:23:55.280 --> 0:23:58.520 guy and then you work your way through the ball game. 0:23:59.240 --> 0:24:01.399 If you're going to you're going to manage like that. 0:24:02.160 --> 0:24:08.160 But that was how George, George would have these um 0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:12.119 Fox like they do. Well, we're gonna we're gonna run 0:24:12.119 --> 0:24:16.639 the fullback over left tackle. Uh, he's not real good. 0:24:17.160 --> 0:24:23.360 You know. Well that's football and baseball is totally different, pitching, 0:24:23.600 --> 0:24:27.560 hitting and all that. But that's the way George ran 0:24:27.640 --> 0:24:33.040 the game. And he he just he was very demanding. 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:41.640 But I like the guy I played for him. Again, Yeah, 0:24:42.520 --> 0:24:45.600 yes I can't because he's dead. Well, that's true. That 0:24:45.640 --> 0:24:48.159 would be That would be amazing, though, Tommy, if you 0:24:48.280 --> 0:24:50.640 came back and pitched and he came back and owned 0:24:50.640 --> 0:24:54.000 a team, that would be uh, I would be yeah. 0:24:54.119 --> 0:24:56.440 Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller 0:24:56.520 --> 0:25:00.119 Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on 0:25:00.160 --> 0:25:03.320 Fox Sports radio and the I Heart Radio app. Hey 0:25:03.359 --> 0:25:08.399 it's me Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast, 0:25:08.560 --> 0:25:12.280 Inside the Parker for twenty two minutes of piping hot 0:25:12.359 --> 0:25:16.240 baseball talk featuring the biggest name to newsmakers in the sport. 0:25:16.480 --> 0:25:19.879 Whether you believe in analytics or the I Test, We've 0:25:19.880 --> 0:25:24.280 got all the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, 0:25:24.359 --> 0:25:27.359 So do yourself a favor and listen to Inside the 0:25:27.400 --> 0:25:30.840 Parker with Rob Parker on the I Heart Radio app 0:25:31.119 --> 0:25:34.720 or wherever you get your podcast. So, So, now this 0:25:34.800 --> 0:25:36.720 is why So in those days and you played in 0:25:36.760 --> 0:25:39.840 the days where you know the guys that the players, 0:25:40.240 --> 0:25:42.360 even though you respected the other player, right, you were 0:25:42.400 --> 0:25:45.280 not buddy buddy with the You had rivalries, right, guys 0:25:45.280 --> 0:25:47.040 that weren't and you weren't hanging out with each other 0:25:47.119 --> 0:25:49.719 all the time. That's the perception I had you. You 0:25:49.800 --> 0:25:52.960 lived the life. But you went from the Dodgers to 0:25:53.040 --> 0:25:57.120 the Yankees and they were a pretty big rival. How 0:25:57.200 --> 0:26:00.800 how awkward was that going from from l A. You 0:26:00.880 --> 0:26:03.880 pitched in a World Series with the Dodgers against the Yankees, 0:26:03.920 --> 0:26:05.480 and then you ended up going to the Yankees and 0:26:05.520 --> 0:26:08.520 pitching against the Dodgers in the World Series. How how 0:26:08.560 --> 0:26:19.040 odd was that? Um? I called friends that I knew, Uh, 0:26:19.119 --> 0:26:25.760 in the league, who's got the best endfield? The offensive endfield? 0:26:26.520 --> 0:26:32.280 And everybody said, well the Yankees. Um, you know, Chamblis, Randolph, 0:26:32.440 --> 0:26:38.840 Bucky Dent and Nettles there. The Brewers are good, but 0:26:38.960 --> 0:26:43.119 the Yankees are better. Okay, all right? Because I wanted 0:26:43.160 --> 0:26:45.480 guys that could field the ball because they're going to 0:26:45.600 --> 0:26:49.240 get a lot of balls hit to them. And so 0:26:49.480 --> 0:26:56.560 that's how I made my choice. And and like I said, 0:26:57.000 --> 0:27:03.280 I would do it again. But it's just I don't know. 0:27:05.320 --> 0:27:10.840 Stif was a character, a big character. But the guy 0:27:10.880 --> 0:27:14.280