Speaker 1: Be sure to catch live editions of the Ben Maller
Speaker 1: Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific, Ka boom.
Speaker 1: If you thought four hours a day, minutes a week
Speaker 1: was enough, I think again. He's the last remnants of
Speaker 1: the old Republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats
Speaker 1: crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich
Speaker 1: pill poppers in the penthouse the clearing House of Hot
Speaker 1: takes break free for something special. The fifth Hour with
Speaker 1: Ben Maller starts right now. It is audio poetry in motion,
Speaker 1: unless it's not. We are in the air everywhere, coast
Speaker 1: to coast, border to border and beyond the magic of podcasting, because,
Speaker 1: as you know, the four hours on the overnight during
Speaker 1: the week not enough. We do this now eight days
Speaker 1: a week. This our Friday podcast, and it is an
Speaker 1: interview podcast. We didn't do one last week because we
Speaker 1: gave political predictions, which of course went wonderfully unless they didn't.
Speaker 1: But this week we are back at it with our
Speaker 1: interview Fridays, and yet again we're gonna welcome in from
Speaker 1: west of the four oh five David Gascon making his
Speaker 1: way in here. He's right there. There is and uh
Speaker 1: over here on the west side, yes, west west of
Speaker 1: the four oh five, and we have today Gascon, a
Speaker 1: guy that I have known for ever and ever and
Speaker 1: ever and ever and ever and ever, and one of
Speaker 1: my former producers. This is actually someone that made a
Speaker 1: name for himself after leaving your show. One of the
Speaker 1: many people that have crossed my cross my path that
Speaker 1: have gone on and been very charismatic and charming on
Speaker 1: the radio and haven't had fascinating careers. And I know
Speaker 1: that bothers. You guesscon when you hear about people that
Speaker 1: have just magnetic personalities and do wonderful things that have
Speaker 1: have crossed my path. Here, I'd say more along the
Speaker 1: lines of slingshotting past you. Well, uh, I am excited.
Speaker 1: So David Vasse for those of you maybe not in
Speaker 1: l A, David, if you're in l A and you
Speaker 1: listen to radio, you know who David Vasse is because
Speaker 1: he's been on Dodging Talk for years and he's been
Speaker 1: on radio. He was the producer of the Petrols and
Speaker 1: Money Show. He did the Ben and Dave Show, one
Speaker 1: of the iconic nine nineties radio shows back in the day.
Speaker 1: But more recently, David Vesse has been the host of
Speaker 1: Dodger Talk pregame, does the pre game, the postgame show
Speaker 1: on k l A c a M five seventy Dodger Radio.
Speaker 1: And he's also on television. He fills in on the
Speaker 1: TV network for the Dodgers. He's on MLB network. He's
Speaker 1: a renaissance man, is what he is, a guest on
Speaker 1: David vs. A renaissance man. He's like a Swiss army knife,
Speaker 1: and he knows where all the bodies are buried in
Speaker 1: my life. He knows many of the early stories because
Speaker 1: he was around in the old days, the old l
Speaker 1: A radio wars back. And then he's also a disciple
Speaker 1: to the great Joel Mcdonalton l A radio icon. Did
Speaker 1: you ever know Joe McDonald did past unfortunately? Okay, the
Speaker 1: big Nasty He hosted Afternoon Drive and it was it
Speaker 1: was great with DUCKR. Corn for years did it by himself,
Speaker 1: worked at like every radio station in l A. And
Speaker 1: he was the the Mike Francessa of the West Coast,
Speaker 1: the beacon of l A sports radio. And so I
Speaker 1: worked with Joe for a few years and knew him
Speaker 1: for a long time, and so I say was it
Speaker 1: was around him, and so I'm excited to talk to him.
Speaker 1: He did Dodger talk. They win the World Series this year,
Speaker 1: so this is a way to suck up to him. Oh,
Speaker 1: he likes to bust my balls gas gun. This guy
Speaker 1: VSA likes to take shots me, which is gratuite his
Speaker 1: cheap shots by him. How does it fill? He doesn't
Speaker 1: live west of the four or five, though I don't think.
Speaker 1: Uh wait a minute, I think he does. He lives
Speaker 1: out I don't see where he lives, but he lives
Speaker 1: in the San Fernando Valley, which I believe is west
Speaker 1: of the four olds. The reason why he might be
Speaker 1: north enough where the four or five has already ended,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. I gotta look at the map. Keep
Speaker 1: but yeah, look at your electoral map and find it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So before we get into of s a cameo cameo
Speaker 1: cameo dot com. You want to personalized video message, We're
Speaker 1: on cameo. Look my name up, Ben Maller and we've
Speaker 1: done a number of those. We'd love to do one
Speaker 1: for you if you want for a special event. He
Speaker 1: got a birthday, a wedding, an engagement, you name it. Kid,
Speaker 1: you just want me to rant and rave the ridiculous,
Speaker 1: most ridiculous one I did with somebody wanted me to
Speaker 1: praise the Lakers, so I had to do that. It
Speaker 1: was awkward, was cringeworthy, that was terrible. That's on cameo
Speaker 1: that's available to you. Uh. And also all the social
Speaker 1: media channels Ben Maller on Twitter, Ben Mallard Show on Facebook,
Speaker 1: Ben Maller on Fox, on Instagram, and remember very important,
Speaker 1: Every Wednesday, on our Facebook page Ben Maller Show, I
Speaker 1: will pose questions for our Sunday mail Bag. So if
Speaker 1: you want to get a question in usually Sunday mail Bag,
Speaker 1: we do it there. And guess God, you're available on
Speaker 1: Twitter and Instagram. Right, You're not on Facebook, but you're
Speaker 1: on Twitter and Instagram. Don't forget Benny versus the Penning tonight.
Speaker 1: If you're listening to the Sucker first thing this morning
Speaker 1: or at the middle of the day, that's right, Benny
Speaker 1: versus the penny marginal NFL handicapping. And I want you
Speaker 1: to know guesscon that I have purchased It probably will
Speaker 1: not be here in time for tonight, but I have
Speaker 1: purchased something that will make it seem much more professional
Speaker 1: and I had a pretty good idea of what it is. Yes,
Speaker 1: I was not planning on doing this, but I was
Speaker 1: bullied into it because my wife watched the video and said,
Speaker 1: why does guess looks so much better than you look? Um.
Speaker 1: I tried to tell you that last week, but you
Speaker 1: weren't having any of it. So I'm a simple man,
Speaker 1: a mule, that's what you are. I don't need bells
Speaker 1: and whistles and all that. I said that, there's nothing
Speaker 1: wrong with driving a Toyota camera goods from point A
Speaker 1: to point B. You're just gonna make sure that it
Speaker 1: actually has the paint on, no chips, the windshields not cracked,
Speaker 1: the windshield wipers work. It's fine, We're not We don't
Speaker 1: need all the bells and whistles, but we need to
Speaker 1: look aesthetically please appeasing at times. Well, I like that.
Speaker 1: You didn't like kind of wait until I got said thing.
Speaker 1: You just went for it, so you then looked amazingly
Speaker 1: better than I did. And you, you know, just it's
Speaker 1: a little lokward. Well no, actually, to be frank with you,
Speaker 1: I had ordered said divide it's back in July, and
Speaker 1: it was defected ahead to return it and it took
Speaker 1: me three and a half months to get it back.
Speaker 1: But well, yeah, well I I I purchased said device
Speaker 1: because I don't even know it will be the right device.
Speaker 1: It might be I got the wrong one, but it
Speaker 1: it should be here in a couple of days, so
Speaker 1: it's I ordered it from a different place. That We've
Speaker 1: been very vague here we have we have Vessey standing by,
Speaker 1: So why don't we stop talking here? Right, we'll we'll
Speaker 1: welcome in the man of the hour. See how many
Speaker 1: times he bust my balls here and give it up
Speaker 1: now to David Vasse from Dodger Radio and he joins
Speaker 1: us now on the fifth Hour with Ben Maller and
Speaker 1: David Gascon and David Vasse welcome, and so how did
Speaker 1: the Dodgers winning the World Series change your life? David
Speaker 1: absolutely has not changed one bit. There's nothing that has changed,
Speaker 1: nothing at all. But everyone, I've had people email me
Speaker 1: because I like to you know, Dodger fan and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. You're around the team. You've been around the
Speaker 1: team for how many usually been doing this? By the way,
Speaker 1: this was my ninth season that I finished being part
Speaker 1: of the Dodgers Radio broadcast. Nine seasons my god, it's
Speaker 1: you're now do you get next year over your tenth
Speaker 1: so you get like a gold watch or something like that.
Speaker 1: When you reach the tenure mark. What kind of prize
Speaker 1: do you get? Um? You know what, maybe a free
Speaker 1: Dodger dog. I think that's about it. Yeah, well they
Speaker 1: give those out anyway, though, I think that exactly nothing special.
Speaker 1: I just do my job, put my head down. I
Speaker 1: didn't swing a bat, I didn't catch a ball, I
Speaker 1: didn't throw a pitch. I'm just along for the ride
Speaker 1: to bring it to people that are listening, to get
Speaker 1: their excitement, to calm their panic, like there was after
Speaker 1: the Dodgers went down three games to one in the NLCS.
Speaker 1: I I just calmed everybody down and let them new
Speaker 1: and let them know the Dodgers were coming back. Yes see,
Speaker 1: I do the opposite as you know of essay, because
Speaker 1: we worked together that I believe that sky is falling
Speaker 1: radio being the alarmist when it comes to sports panic.
Speaker 1: Sports panic is a good kind of panic. I don't
Speaker 1: think panicking like a like a like election panic and
Speaker 1: like real world panic is not constructive. But like I
Speaker 1: like being a panic peddler when it comes to sports.
Speaker 1: I was convinced when the Dodgers fell behind the Braves
Speaker 1: and they were done, they were not going to come back.
Speaker 1: Now do you do you really believe they were going
Speaker 1: to come back? Essay? Or were you? I really did?
Speaker 1: I really did. I felt like the Braves as it
Speaker 1: proved out to be within on pitching, and the longer
Speaker 1: that series went, the better chance the Dodgers had to win,
Speaker 1: because I mean, who were their pictures. I can't even
Speaker 1: tell you who they were outside of Max Freed. The
Speaker 1: other guys were pretenders here to death. They got away
Speaker 1: with it the first time. But the Dodgers are so
Speaker 1: good that they see you a second time when your average,
Speaker 1: and they take advantage of you. And that's exactly what
Speaker 1: they did. And by the way, Mookie Betts changed that
Speaker 1: whole series when he made that great catch and forced
Speaker 1: Ozuna to come off the bag early, and everybody I
Speaker 1: talked to it felt like that catch, that play changed
Speaker 1: the entire momentum of the series. How great is it, though,
Speaker 1: that Mookie Betts in one year, David Vasse has justified
Speaker 1: that forever contract the Dodgers gave him by making key
Speaker 1: plays in the World Series, and so now he can
Speaker 1: just kind of hang out for the next decade. He's
Speaker 1: got he's got the forever contract, he's got the World
Speaker 1: Series and so even if he doesn't pan out, you know,
Speaker 1: five six years from now, I think most Dodger fans
Speaker 1: they'll be upset, but they won't be like really that
Speaker 1: in you know what I mean? They won the World
Speaker 1: Series day. How many big time free agents of the
Speaker 1: Dodgers brought in a last thirty years that we're supposed
Speaker 1: to be the guy that would be the final piece
Speaker 1: to win the World Series and they've been abject failures.
Speaker 1: They didn't didn't get there, didn't finish the line. So
Speaker 1: I mean it's gotta be pretty good for Mookie here.
Speaker 1: You agree with me? Or do you think it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter that they'll still go, you know, go rogue on him. Well,
Speaker 1: number one, there's a reason why he's Mookie Betts and
Speaker 1: you're Ben Mallard because now we understand, how dare you? Yeah,
Speaker 1: we understand the way Ben Mallard thinks one good show
Speaker 1: and one good podcast he could coast the rest of
Speaker 1: the week. That's not Mookie Betts. Mookie Betts what makes
Speaker 1: him special is that no matter what he did, he
Speaker 1: comes to play. This guy already had a championship ring,
Speaker 1: he already has an m v P. But he played
Speaker 1: like he was as hungrier than any guy on that
Speaker 1: Dodger team. And that's why they committed that many years
Speaker 1: and dollars because they knew he would not have that
Speaker 1: Ben Maller attitude or a Davy Johnson managerial up of attitude,
Speaker 1: and he would bring the the A game every year.
Speaker 1: How dare you you're gonna rip lunch with Davy? Come on, man,
Speaker 1: Davy Johnson, the legend, Dodger legend man. A few guys
Speaker 1: could take a nap on the bench better than Davy
Speaker 1: Johnson managing the Dodgers. That guy an all time greatness. Ben.
Speaker 1: You know this. Everybody talks about how the Dodgers hadn't
Speaker 1: one in thirty two years. A big reason why was
Speaker 1: so many ownership changes, managerial changes, GM changes. There was
Speaker 1: so much instability. I mean, you hired a guy like
Speaker 1: Davy Johnson who cared more about his golf game than
Speaker 1: he did about the baseball team. Then he hired a
Speaker 1: mediocre manager and Jim Tracy because time by time out, Jim,
Speaker 1: all right, So you did that to trigger me and
Speaker 1: It worked because one of my good friends over the years,
Speaker 1: the great Jim Tracy, who was a manager of Great
Speaker 1: Ben Tracy. He he invited me to stay at his
Speaker 1: house in Pitch for of course by that time it
Speaker 1: was because let go by the that See, there's a
Speaker 1: guy that respected before other people did. You don't respect
Speaker 1: the Mala brand, Vessey, But Jim Tracy, former Dodger, Rockies
Speaker 1: and Pirates manager, there's a guy that got it. There's
Speaker 1: a guy bonding you know when I did your job
Speaker 1: essay very briefly years ago. There's a guy could hang
Speaker 1: out with, have a meal on the road, catch up
Speaker 1: with it. That's a good man. Do not trash Jim Tracy.
Speaker 1: That is blasphemy, David Vasse, How dare you the epitome
Speaker 1: of mediocrity? Jim Tracy and his dinner Canions obviously did
Speaker 1: not hold in high regard either. So that's how he
Speaker 1: kept his jobs. That's how he kept other jobs. Is
Speaker 1: being kind to the media, and uh, that only gets
Speaker 1: you so far. You gotta get some wins. It's all
Speaker 1: about wins and losses. Mallard. Not I understand. You can
Speaker 1: go around Vessey could be a jerk to everybody, but
Speaker 1: you know he wins the show on the you know
Speaker 1: doing this. What do you do like seven million commercials
Speaker 1: on that Dodger talking my guy, when I did it,
Speaker 1: I did like three every I mean, you are unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Vest say, I used to rip and you know I listen.
Speaker 1: We love sponsors, but we have We've had John Sterling
Speaker 1: on the podcast because if you've ever heard a Yankee
Speaker 1: radio broadcast, the first like ten minutes is nothing but billboards.
Speaker 1: But my maid, Vestse, you go playing a day brought
Speaker 1: to you by your water lists, you know up you
Speaker 1: know whatever heater or whatever heater. That's right, you got
Speaker 1: in and out over here. I mean, you got a
Speaker 1: million sponsors everything. My god, it's uh my, my head
Speaker 1: is spinning listening to that Vesse. When you during the
Speaker 1: Dodger season, when you're you're bouncing from sponsors, do you
Speaker 1: ever miss make a mistake, Vesse and give the wrong
Speaker 1: sponsor tack? Have you done that? I've never done that, Ben,
Speaker 1: That's why they keep coming back for more. And by
Speaker 1: the way, you have never said no to any sponsors.
Speaker 1: So let's not play that game. Oh no, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: absolutely a sponsor whore. And I would you know, listen,
Speaker 1: I need a waterless that put your health in danger.
Speaker 1: One that's not true body Solutions slash Body Shape or
Speaker 1: a great sponsor. By the way, they still owe me
Speaker 1: like twenty dollars, So if they want to send that money,
Speaker 1: I would still accept that money. That I think there
Speaker 1: we haven't on the record. They put out the A
Speaker 1: p D for that. I think it was one of
Speaker 1: the salespeople that embezzled the money, if I remember correctly,
Speaker 1: is that true? Best I remember that the money vanished.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to indict anybody that's alleged. All right now,
Speaker 1: bigger highlight of David Vasse's radio career hosting Dodger Talk,
Speaker 1: producing the Petrols and Money Show, or producing the Ben
Speaker 1: and Dave Show. I would it's very close, but I
Speaker 1: would say hosting Dodger Talking, owning things for myself? What
Speaker 1: would be the highlight all right between? All right, forget that,
Speaker 1: producing Petrols and Money or the Ben and Dave Show,
Speaker 1: a regional, iconic l a radio show from the nineties. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's tough. That's tough. I don't know. You don't want
Speaker 1: to rip. I know, I listen, I know because Petrols
Speaker 1: will give you a crap and you don't want to.
Speaker 1: You don't want to say the Ben and Dave Show.
Speaker 1: So you're gonna say Petrols and money. You're gonna trash
Speaker 1: Ben and Dave to my face because that's the power
Speaker 1: the p has over you. I'll say Ben in Dave
Speaker 1: because I know Petro's will not be listening to this. No,
Speaker 1: no, no no, I'm gonna send him the clip. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: cut this out. And and by the way, I say,
Speaker 1: if I don't send it, one of my minions in
Speaker 1: the mouther of Militia will make sure that Petrol's hears
Speaker 1: about this, and it's fully aware that trash. What the
Speaker 1: highlight was in my career hosting Dodger Talk or hosting
Speaker 1: Bruin Talk during the years, Well, that's just depressing. Although
Speaker 1: that's as bad as that's as bad as hosting Dodger
Speaker 1: Talk during the Jim Tracy years. I disagree, man, because
Speaker 1: I would bring this up essay so I learned and
Speaker 1: I believe this is human nature. It's a product of
Speaker 1: human nature. And I want to see if you can
Speaker 1: verify this because when I did Dodger Talk back in
Speaker 1: the day, with the great Ross Porter, let's play baseball trivia.
Speaker 1: And then years later, a few years ago, I filled
Speaker 1: in on the Red Sox version, like you know, the
Speaker 1: post game show Red Sox Review, and I from l
Speaker 1: a hosting talk beloved professional radio icon called in out
Speaker 1: of the bullpen an emergency. So anyway, here's the point.
Speaker 1: When the hometown team won, there wasn't as big a reaction.
Speaker 1: There wasn't there weren't people all worked up. They didn't
Speaker 1: want to, you know, call in and talk, which is
Speaker 1: which is weird. But when the team would lose, oh,
Speaker 1: fire this guy, you know that, you know, Bob and
Speaker 1: Redondo Beach or whatever. People would lose their their lunch
Speaker 1: when the team of the I was it still like
Speaker 1: that all these years later for you? I said, when
Speaker 1: you host Dodging Lodgers have won a ton the last
Speaker 1: you know, obviously the last decade they've been very good.
Speaker 1: But when the team loses and they go on a
Speaker 1: rough patch, is it easy? Is your job easier because
Speaker 1: my job was easier when the team would be losing.
Speaker 1: You know what, Then you're right, the calls do flood
Speaker 1: in when the Dodgers do lose. And keep in mind
Speaker 1: They've won a hundred games twice in the last three years,
Speaker 1: but those few times that they do lose, everybody's to blame.
Speaker 1: Dave Roberts should be fired. The emotions are just completely
Speaker 1: out of whack. But I will say this, during your
Speaker 1: Jim Tracy Dodging Talk years, there was a lot more
Speaker 1: of those nights than there were for me. So that's
Speaker 1: probably why your opinion is slanted. You were there, like
Speaker 1: I said, during the leanest times of Dodger baseball. You
Speaker 1: don't have to pile on vest I'm aware the team
Speaker 1: sucked when I was doing that, but that's Adams, Joe
Speaker 1: Cory's last Yeah, that was pretty weak, the Joe Torre room.
Speaker 1: But I I also he listened to Dodger Talk between
Speaker 1: twenty two thousand nine and two thousand and eleven. I
Speaker 1: can guarantee you that was that the dark period for
Speaker 1: Dodger talk. What about that Grady the Great the Grady
Speaker 1: Little era? Is that a great era? The Grady Little
Speaker 1: ear that was? That was dicey. That was very dicey. Yeah. Now,
Speaker 1: my second favorite Dodger manager of all time, the great
Speaker 1: Bill Russell, who took over for the sort of another winner.
Speaker 1: This guy, great guy. Part of those seventies Dodgers. See
Speaker 1: anybody that's wanted to a great player, great player, not
Speaker 1: a great manager. Really couldn't connect with a lot of
Speaker 1: diverse type of players. Now the player with the players
Speaker 1: with a problem. Listen Bill Russell, great baseball man, Dodger icon,
Speaker 1: wonderful manager. He got a rough shake. You know, they
Speaker 1: didn't give him the greatest team in the world. Players
Speaker 1: had bad attitudes. You want me to go on, I say,
Speaker 1: Mike Piazza while he was the manager, Oh my god,
Speaker 1: well were you. I was there. You were there that day,
Speaker 1: wasn't you. It was sports radio night. Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: That was the first night I ever covered a Dodger game,
Speaker 1: Mike Piazza's last game. And I walked into the clubhouse.
Speaker 1: The Dodgers had lost that game, and Todd zill is
Speaker 1: almost crying in his locker, and I was thinking to myself, Wow,
Speaker 1: these guys really do care if they win or lose game.
Speaker 1: Little that I know, they had told him that he
Speaker 1: was going to Florida with Mike Piazza. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: that was the most surreal night. Uh. And I was
Speaker 1: out there in those days. I was there every night
Speaker 1: at Dodger Stadium for years. I was like thirty years.
Speaker 1: I was out of every Dodging and not so much
Speaker 1: any yes, literally and figuratively, mainly in the press box food.
Speaker 1: I would be uh be eating the press box food.
Speaker 1: But but no, I remember that night because it was
Speaker 1: a big deal for for the station we worked at.
Speaker 1: It was sports radio night. They gave out these headphones.
Speaker 1: It was a sellout crowd. They were playing. I think
Speaker 1: it was like the Montreal expos I I remember correctly. Um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, they there was a buzz that they were
Speaker 1: trading Piazza and all that stuff, and then it came
Speaker 1: down and I remember Piazza was wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins
Speaker 1: jersey when he when he left the last time he
Speaker 1: left Dodgers Stadium, he was wearing a Penguins jersey. And
Speaker 1: do you know this, Ben, he still Harbor's resentment towards
Speaker 1: the Dodgers. He never even tweeted out a congratulatory uh
Speaker 1: tweet to the Dodgers for winning the World Series. But
Speaker 1: the Mets they donate, you know, five thousand dollars to
Speaker 1: a dog charity, and he's all over it. Dogs need
Speaker 1: love to But yeah, I can't understand that Piazza I
Speaker 1: got even the guys today. Maybe I'm wrong on this vessay,
Speaker 1: but I would say Piazza was such a huge presence.
Speaker 1: He's bigger than anyone currently on this Dodging team. They
Speaker 1: just won the World Series. Like, he was such a
Speaker 1: mega star and it was different. It was a long
Speaker 1: time ago, but his presence in the l A sports scene,
Speaker 1: I mean he was up there like a Lakers star,
Speaker 1: Mike Piazza. Yeah. The reason why was because Magic Johnson
Speaker 1: had just retired. The Lakers were not very good, and
Speaker 1: when Mike Piazza was a rookie and ninety three, and
Speaker 1: you're a hundred percent right. At that point in time,
Speaker 1: the Lakers did not have a star. They were very good.
Speaker 1: People weren't going to their games, and Mike Piazza and
Speaker 1: Eric Harros were the two biggest stars in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: Women would follow them on the freeway back to their
Speaker 1: home in Manhattan Beach. And that's how No Dodger ever
Speaker 1: has that going on right now, I can guarantee you that.
Speaker 1: So I would say, to a certain extent, you're right then,
Speaker 1: but these guys have something Piazza never got and that's
Speaker 1: a World Series championship with the Dodgers. Yeah, no, I
Speaker 1: I get it, but I mean that, and they were convinced.
Speaker 1: I remember living in the past, man, it was great.
Speaker 1: Now we're talking about Bellinger, seeger Well, Jim wet Up,
Speaker 1: Jim Tracy. Man, what do you want that's in the past?
Speaker 1: You in context the type of people that you suck
Speaker 1: up to. I didn't know. I didn't suck up the
Speaker 1: pia That was your the big nasty, the great Joe McDonald,
Speaker 1: late great Joe McDonald. He was in the he was
Speaker 1: in the Mike Piazza camp. He was a p I'm
Speaker 1: saying Jim Tracy was your guy, Joe McDonald and myself
Speaker 1: Mike Piazza guys. So there's the disparity of who we
Speaker 1: associate ourselves with and who you associate yourselves with. We
Speaker 1: associated ourselves with greatness. You associated to yourself with mediocrity. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: I was also Mond to see that was my guy. Yah,
Speaker 1: that was great, Mandy. He's got a kid with the
Speaker 1: Royals now, John Green, I think that trade worked out better.
Speaker 1: No no, Mondy was great. Bazuoka for an armed, exciting
Speaker 1: ball player, he had that little wow. I mean, he
Speaker 1: had that little glitch where he couldn't hit the breaking
Speaker 1: ball low in a way he kept swinging at. But
Speaker 1: other than that, if you didn't throw that pitch, Mondy
Speaker 1: was ill be sure. I'll be sure to tell Sean
Speaker 1: Green next time I see him that you thought it
Speaker 1: was a bad trade. And I think you said about
Speaker 1: Sean I'll let him know. None of us I like
Speaker 1: Sean Green, but Mondy, I mean, that was my guy.
Speaker 1: And he kept changing teams. He went to the Blue Jays,
Speaker 1: he played with the Yankees. He actually got so upset
Speaker 1: with the Yankees. He they were playing the Red Sox
Speaker 1: at Finway and he left. He took a car and
Speaker 1: drove back to New York. He got so upset with
Speaker 1: the with Joe Torrey. At the time, he was he
Speaker 1: was very very and then who was I was the
Speaker 1: guy when he stop for a d U y in
Speaker 1: Glendale here in Los Angeles. All he told the police
Speaker 1: officer was well, the other part of that story, which
Speaker 1: I we allowed to tell that part of the story
Speaker 1: and out because I was in the clubhouse when when
Speaker 1: that news came down, and I thought, wow, I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, Mandy, if he needed a shoulder massage.
Speaker 1: I was there to give her old Mondes shoulder. I was,
Speaker 1: but but well, no, he supposedly the legend is and
Speaker 1: I I didn't witness this firsthand, but I was in
Speaker 1: the clubhouse and there was a buzz. He shows up
Speaker 1: and he I believe, he tossed the paperwork to Derrek Hall,
Speaker 1: who's now the like the CEO of the Diamondbacks, but
Speaker 1: he was a Dodger PR guy, and like told him
Speaker 1: to take care of this. He handed the paperwork from
Speaker 1: the d U I and told him go take care
Speaker 1: of this. And uh, who else Dave? Remember Dave Hansen?
Speaker 1: Come on one of the hands. I was one of
Speaker 1: the hands. Talked. He's a great guy. How's he doing?
Speaker 1: I haven't talked to him in years. He was coaching.
Speaker 1: He coached for a bunch of different teams for years.
Speaker 1: He was a hitting coach for the Angels and the
Speaker 1: Mariners and the Diamondbacks and and all that. What's he
Speaker 1: up to these days? He actually helps kids. He's a
Speaker 1: hitting coach for kids down in uh southern Orange County.
Speaker 1: And he was a roving hitting instructor for the San
Speaker 1: Francisco Giants. Last time I checked, but I'm not sure
Speaker 1: if the analytically inclined far on anxiety kept him around. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's not a he's not a Poindexter's. He just knows
Speaker 1: how to play baseball. That's not something that's valued anymore. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it sounds like you're on my side fast day. When
Speaker 1: it comes to analytics. It sounds like you're like, hey,
Speaker 1: this whole analytical thing, man, this is not the way
Speaker 1: to go, right, A little balanced, everything in moderation, right, exactly,
Speaker 1: everything in moderation. You know, the analytical world accused the
Speaker 1: old school baseball people are being too set in their
Speaker 1: ways towards that end of the spectrum. Yet the new
Speaker 1: wave analytical people, as evident by Kevin Cash is poor
Speaker 1: decision to take Blake Snell out of Game five of
Speaker 1: the World Series. They are very set in their ways
Speaker 1: and each they're more dug in on on their analytics
Speaker 1: than baseball people are as far as uh evaluating with
Speaker 1: their eyes and with the scouts. Because I know Tony
Speaker 1: LaRussa he was doing analytics in a notebook with Dave
Speaker 1: Duncan when he was managing the Oakland A So they
Speaker 1: were doing that way before computer programs were coming out. Hey,
Speaker 1: that's a Are you having as much fun now as
Speaker 1: you did when you first started with the Dodgers and
Speaker 1: with KA l C. Yeah, yeah, I am. I I
Speaker 1: still enjoy it. I love going best part of my
Speaker 1: day is going into the clubhouse and interacting with the
Speaker 1: players and finding ways to connect fans with those guys
Speaker 1: and humanizing those guys because so many people viewed them
Speaker 1: as the you know, cartoon characters and people that aren't
Speaker 1: real human beings, and guys like Don Mallard take shots
Speaker 1: at athletes all the time, but no regard for It's
Speaker 1: just a job, essay. It goes with the territory. It's
Speaker 1: gotta criticize, you can't. I can't be a suck up
Speaker 1: like you twenty four hours a day. When somebody saw
Speaker 1: I have to give tough love, that's what I do. Listen,
Speaker 1: I'm convinced. I I had fired Dave Roberts seven times,
Speaker 1: I had traded Kershaw twelve times, and because of that,
Speaker 1: they finally went out and one they responded, They responded Vessey.
Speaker 1: So now all of a sudden, Dave Roberts is a
Speaker 1: great manager. Kershaw is an October performer, right, And according
Speaker 1: to you, no I would still trade Kershaw and I
Speaker 1: would probably fire Roberts, but they did win, so that's good.
Speaker 1: All right. Well, at least you're consistent. I like that. David,
Speaker 1: speaking of consistency, like, how hard is that for you
Speaker 1: not to be a Homer Because you get a lot
Speaker 1: of guys, it doesn't matter if it's in l A
Speaker 1: or Anheim or San Diego, like a lot of guys
Speaker 1: waving the pompons that work for the team on radio
Speaker 1: or on television. There's that flying line you gotta take
Speaker 1: between being in you know, a journalist or radio guy,
Speaker 1: a TV guy, and being a full fledged fan. But
Speaker 1: we get too much of that these days. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: not something that I grew up with. Uh, with broadcasters
Speaker 1: like Don Drysdale, Vince Scully, Chick Hearne, Bob Miller, Ross Porter,
Speaker 1: those guys were never Homers. That's not something that we
Speaker 1: were brought up on here in Los Angeles. We don't
Speaker 1: want that. That's for other small towns where they're broadcasters
Speaker 1: are the Harry Carey's, the Hawk Harrelson's where they're trying
Speaker 1: to be the Homers. They love that over there in Chicago.
Speaker 1: That's not something that I grew up listening to with
Speaker 1: those Hall of Fame broadcasters, transcendent broadcasters. They would let
Speaker 1: you know in their own way that they thought the
Speaker 1: team wasn't playing well or a particular player may not
Speaker 1: be fitting with the team. So I may be more
Speaker 1: blunt than those guys were, but that's I'm not a
Speaker 1: play by play guy that work for the team. I
Speaker 1: obviously have to walk a fine line. But fans are
Speaker 1: not dumb. They can see what is right, what is wrong,
Speaker 1: who's not playing well, And if you're going to continue
Speaker 1: to pretend like things are not occurring, then you're not
Speaker 1: gonna be garnering much credibility with those listeners. So that's
Speaker 1: that's what I grew up on. And I try to
Speaker 1: be constructive whenever I do feel like there's a shortcoming
Speaker 1: on the team. Um, and there's always that fine line,
Speaker 1: and some fans think I'm a homer. Sometimes the team
Speaker 1: believes I'm too critical, so I guess I'm doing my
Speaker 1: job if both sides have an issue. Yeah, there's always
Speaker 1: good nights that'll text bend randomly. I think in particular
Speaker 1: last year when the Dodgers got beat by Washington, that
Speaker 1: series was over and I'm driving home and listen to
Speaker 1: k L a C. Because he's covered up like he
Speaker 1: naturally is, and he and yeah, and I'll say, hey,
Speaker 1: Vass is a red ass Tonight'll ask why. I'll be like,
Speaker 1: he's just he's taking shots at every color. It's coming
Speaker 1: up with some stupid ship. Yeah, I mean, especially like
Speaker 1: call I mean that's another thing when people are driving home,
Speaker 1: like you Gascon, where you're listening to these callers, if
Speaker 1: they're if they're not making sense and they sound ridiculous,
Speaker 1: am I going to pretend like they're a tremendous caller
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna be Wow, that is unbelievable. Point that
Speaker 1: you just brought up that maybe Clayton Kershaw should play
Speaker 1: left field instead of pitch And there's no way I
Speaker 1: can do that, and nobody's turn off the radio. But
Speaker 1: now that's what I do, though, best is I make
Speaker 1: every crappy caller I baffling, you know, just wonderful, amazing.
Speaker 1: See that's the secret to my successful say, that's the difference.
Speaker 1: I can take a crap caller and mold them into
Speaker 1: an average caller. Who who would you say you've done
Speaker 1: the best work with Genie and Medford. Yeah, yeah, Genie was. Ye,
Speaker 1: Genie was a fine woman, alcoholic and uh, we love
Speaker 1: Jennie and yeah, that's a good call. Like Jennie started
Speaker 1: calling the show because she vasse. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you know the story, but Jeannie was one of my
Speaker 1: regular calls. She died a couple of years ago. But
Speaker 1: she started calling the show because she got arrested for
Speaker 1: for calling nine one one because she would drink a
Speaker 1: lot of wine and get lonely and wanted someone to
Speaker 1: talk to. So she'd call nine one one to talk
Speaker 1: to the nine one one operator and then they're like, hey, uh,
Speaker 1: you know you can't do that. So they rested her
Speaker 1: and they told her just call a radio station, and
Speaker 1: so she started she started calling me. And that's the legend. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there you go, helping helping one life at a time.
Speaker 1: Who's the most how many regulars? And we used to
Speaker 1: have when I did it with Ross back and then
Speaker 1: we had Jeane and Redondo Beach that used to call
Speaker 1: every Dodger talk. You would get a call and he
Speaker 1: would be the expert, had all the answers. Do you
Speaker 1: still have that scene? Remember him? Yeah? Jeane was Oh
Speaker 1: my god, he might Redondo Beach. I don't know what
Speaker 1: happened to him. Um, I do have a few. David
Speaker 1: in Alhambra, um who is uh so he's he's loyal.
Speaker 1: Is Abelle in in Buena Park, I have, I have her. Um.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to recall who else is a is a guy? Um?
Speaker 1: Somebody in San Francisco. We have a listener in San
Speaker 1: Francisco that calls all the time as well. So yeah,
Speaker 1: we have our regulars. I got you, and now before
Speaker 1: I cannot have as Tom Ben not impressed with those regulars. No,
Speaker 1: that does not move the hell. I mean, you gotta
Speaker 1: get Genie and Medford. You gotta get your Genieume ever
Speaker 1: Pete in Pittsburgh, Lance the bust Drive, I have them.
Speaker 1: I just told you who they are. But They'm not
Speaker 1: gonna sit here and rip my collars like you. I
Speaker 1: humiliate the callers. I embarrassed it because they embarrassed me.
Speaker 1: They disappoint me every time they call these people. But
Speaker 1: that happens to me too. I take that that one
Speaker 1: too many phone calls, like I mean, maybe I shouldn't
Speaker 1: have taken that all. Then I have to go to
Speaker 1: the well one more time to feel good. About myself
Speaker 1: and then always disappoints. You're right, You're like me. You're
Speaker 1: like you. You prepare all you know, day, all night
Speaker 1: for the show. You're all excited. You get to be
Speaker 1: on the radio, and then you know, some slap dick
Speaker 1: calls up and ruins the show, and you're like, what
Speaker 1: why did I spend all my time preparing? And then
Speaker 1: at this guy, you know, two minutes sabotage my work?
Speaker 1: How dare you sabotage my That's how I look at it, Vesta.
Speaker 1: You get ready, you want to do a professional job
Speaker 1: on the radio, and then some drunkard calls up and
Speaker 1: just you tumble off the cliff exactly right. What's next
Speaker 1: for you? I mean, you've been doing this for quite
Speaker 1: a while. What's what's next on the horizon for you?
Speaker 1: What do you want to do? I don't really know,
Speaker 1: you know, this is uh, this is the mountaintop for me.
Speaker 1: So I'm not sure where I go from here. But
Speaker 1: eventually I'd like to spend more time with my family.
Speaker 1: For sure. Being on the road a lot, it's not
Speaker 1: conducive to having two young kids. So eventually I'd like
Speaker 1: to find something that can fulfill all of that and
Speaker 1: find that balance at home. Was this what you always
Speaker 1: wanted to do, though, or was it something else? No, Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is my dream job. This is what I always
Speaker 1: wanted to do. Host Dodger Talk and travel with the team,
Speaker 1: or you know, do something similar to this with the
Speaker 1: Lakers as well. So yeah, these it was the Dodgers
Speaker 1: or Lakers that I that I wanted to be with
Speaker 1: on a daily basis. So would you consider producing for
Speaker 1: the Ben and Dave shows more of like an internship
Speaker 1: more as like just like yeah stepping Yeah, not something
Speaker 1: that prominent. Great, It's listen. When I met Vesta, he
Speaker 1: was pushing shopping carts at Costco. This guy has. This
Speaker 1: guy's alleged he has risen from the mean parking lots
Speaker 1: at Costco and has dominated the l A radio landscape
Speaker 1: for for decades. Right, I mean this is a long
Speaker 1: You've had a long run before. You did the Dodger
Speaker 1: Talk with the Petrols and Money Show and the Ben
Speaker 1: and Dave Show back in the day and all that.
Speaker 1: Now you also do television, right, and you're a TV guy.
Speaker 1: Not only are you on the MLB network, right, you
Speaker 1: fill in on the Dodgers. Can I've seen you on
Speaker 1: there a few times. You've been in studio providing witty commentary,
Speaker 1: and you know, how often do you do the TV stuff?
Speaker 1: Do you like TV more than radio? Because I like
Speaker 1: radio more than TV. I've done a little TV, but
Speaker 1: I like radio. Do you like TV more than radio?
Speaker 1: Because TV people get paid more of esse. I would
Speaker 1: say that's the greatest gain of doing television for sure. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I started to back up Alana Rizzo a
Speaker 1: couple of years as being the sideline reporter on sports
Speaker 1: Net l A and I do reports for MLB Network.
Speaker 1: You're right then, so I appreciate you keeping tabs monitoring
Speaker 1: my my movement. But yeah, it's great to have that
Speaker 1: type of exposure. And you know, it's both are different mediums. Uh.
Speaker 1: I would say television is great in short spurts. You
Speaker 1: can't you don't have the full blank canvas that you
Speaker 1: do on radio. But TV has its perks. Two, because
Speaker 1: when I was doing TV, the players would definitely uh
Speaker 1: not stop messing with me. Kershaw one time did some
Speaker 1: football stance and started punching me in the or pushing
Speaker 1: me in the chest while I was on the air.
Speaker 1: David Freese was put a helmet on my head, so
Speaker 1: it was. It's it's always interesting. I'll say that they
Speaker 1: have it's their canvas to mess with me more than
Speaker 1: my canvas to paint fascinat. Have you ever gotten caught
Speaker 1: in a in a mix up like we've had back
Speaker 1: in the day with Rob Dibble and Lou Panella and
Speaker 1: ship like that with managers and players and journalists and reporters. Wow, No,
Speaker 1: you know everybody is so pc these days. That doesn't
Speaker 1: happen anymore. I've never seen that either a player will
Speaker 1: just be short with them, but I've never I've never
Speaker 1: been through anything close to that. That would be phenomenal
Speaker 1: if that happened, but the personalities are not like that anymore.
Speaker 1: I don't know if i'd want to back you in
Speaker 1: a fight against Milton Bradley, though, I'll be honest, No
Speaker 1: Ben knows this. I was Milton Bradley guy. We used
Speaker 1: to talk a lot when he played for the Dodgers,
Speaker 1: but unfortunately he had some other demons that he uh,
Speaker 1: he couldn't hide anymore. My god, Milton got I was
Speaker 1: in there one day. He got so upset with Jason Reid,
Speaker 1: who was the Dodger beat writer, at the time, and
Speaker 1: he was screaming at him and Mike, but it was fun.
Speaker 1: That was kind of the tipping point for sure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: back in the day though, essay before everything did become people.
Speaker 1: I blame social media because without social media, because everything
Speaker 1: on social media right away it's in your face on Twitter,
Speaker 1: you know, like two seconds later. But I remember, uh,
Speaker 1: Johnny Oates, the Rangers manager, he got into it in
Speaker 1: the locker room when I was in there years ago randomly. Uh,
Speaker 1: well remember the the Matt Williams thing when Matt goll
Speaker 1: upset with me, got in my face and uh and
Speaker 1: and had me kicked out. And they've been Tony Phillips
Speaker 1: back in the These are all old references, Vessey, but
Speaker 1: I remember there were several like heated confrontation situations in
Speaker 1: locker rooms. But he does not seem like it was
Speaker 1: like very You're right, mellow. They don't want to they
Speaker 1: don't want to stir the pot too much. Where are
Speaker 1: the hotheads in baseball vasse? Where have they all gone? Exactly?
Speaker 1: I don't I'm not sure. I total arusa being back
Speaker 1: in Chicago. He'll make some people uncomfortable. I remember being
Speaker 1: a reporter just covering all the teams in l A.
Speaker 1: Ben and Bobby Valentine was the manager for the Mets,
Speaker 1: and I was in his office after a game at
Speaker 1: Dodgers Stadium, and I guess he felt like I had
Speaker 1: my microphone too close to his face, and he actually
Speaker 1: pushed my microphone back. That's a close up with dust
Speaker 1: stuff I've had. I remember Jim for Gosie, the late
Speaker 1: Jim for when he was managing the Phillies, and this
Speaker 1: was after they got to the World Series and lost,
Speaker 1: and he was so the Phillies would come out to
Speaker 1: the West Coast and just get their face bashed in
Speaker 1: by the Padres and the Dodgers, like every year they couldn't, couldn't.
Speaker 1: They were confounded by playing in the and by the
Speaker 1: time they would get to l A after losing in
Speaker 1: San Diego, for Gosie was spitting mad, screaming at reporters,
Speaker 1: screaming at his players, like you never see that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff anymore, the hotheadness. Yeah now, but now, Vasse though,
Speaker 1: how is your Aaron Boone was fired up a couple
Speaker 1: of times towards umpires, but you don't see that towards reporters.
Speaker 1: They just hire they seem to hire just mellow guys
Speaker 1: that it used to be. I'll go there. It used
Speaker 1: to be back in the day, you'd hire a mellow
Speaker 1: manager and then you'd hire a hothead, right, you go
Speaker 1: from hothead like that's why the Yankees kept bringing back
Speaker 1: Billy Martin, because they'd hire a mellow guy and then
Speaker 1: that didn't work, so they bring in the hothead, Billy Martin.
Speaker 1: And it used to be that was the formula. Now
Speaker 1: they all kind of hire the same guys. You just
Speaker 1: it's like you change one chair and you and you
Speaker 1: put in another chair that looks exactly the same, but
Speaker 1: maybe it's a little bit, you know, the color is
Speaker 1: off a little bit, but it's almost the same. There's
Speaker 1: no there's really they're all the same type of manage.
Speaker 1: As you said, Larus is the exception of the rule
Speaker 1: because he's old, but all these other guys are. They're
Speaker 1: all kind of wired the same way. They're pretty mellow,
Speaker 1: and they go by the book and that's it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no one. There's no emotional moves being made in baseball
Speaker 1: these days, before the game, during the game, or after
Speaker 1: the game. It's all very measured and that's a product
Speaker 1: of the front office is really taking control of pregame
Speaker 1: planning and also who they want to work with. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was it was Azzi in the last hothead manager
Speaker 1: might have been Yeah, that's a great call. It might
Speaker 1: have been Ausi g in. Don Mattingly's even a mellow guy.
Speaker 1: You would think he'd be a guy that get fired up.
Speaker 1: He's even when he used to want to send messages
Speaker 1: to his players through the media, he would do it
Speaker 1: in a very measured way as well. Yeah, well ask
Speaker 1: you this now with COVID this year and you covered
Speaker 1: the team, but it's a lot different. You couldn't go
Speaker 1: in the locker room, right, you were banned from You
Speaker 1: didn't have the access. I was on a different tier. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was on a different tier. Players and staff were
Speaker 1: on the first two tiers, and uh, broadcasters like myself,
Speaker 1: Rick Monday, um, guys like that, Joe Davis and orl Hirschheiser.
Speaker 1: We were only confined to the press box and our
Speaker 1: broadcast booths, and I couldn't even be in the same
Speaker 1: broadcast booth with Rick Monday. The Dodgers did a great
Speaker 1: job of trying to keep everybody safe and separate, and
Speaker 1: they really accomplished a lot of things. So I have
Speaker 1: to give the Dodgers props for for doing a lot
Speaker 1: of good things to keep everybody that was doing their
Speaker 1: job they're safe. So yeah, that's that. That was the setup.
Speaker 1: Even when I went to Texas, I was only allowed
Speaker 1: to be in the press box. So when the Dodgers
Speaker 1: won the World Series, that's as close as I got.
Speaker 1: And we had a headset in the clubhouse, so guys
Speaker 1: like Mookie Betts and Corey Seeger put on the headset
Speaker 1: and I would talk to them from my broadcast booth.
Speaker 1: So how how much more difficult? Obviously it was a
Speaker 1: lot different, lot a lot more difficult. Like your job
Speaker 1: is to be around the players and to to do
Speaker 1: all the interviews of essay and all that, and you know,
Speaker 1: I I'd watch you be in the clubhouse all the
Speaker 1: time and booking guys to do your pregame interviews and all. So, like,
Speaker 1: how how much harder was it this year? Because you
Speaker 1: still had to do that stuff, right, They didn't tell
Speaker 1: you not to do that. You still had to interview
Speaker 1: the players. It was like on zoom calls, right exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I got a lot of help from one of the
Speaker 1: Dodgers pr people. His name's Wan Dorado. He deserves a
Speaker 1: lot of credit because he would be my my guy
Speaker 1: to ask these players every day whether or not they
Speaker 1: could do a zoom pregame interview with me. So I
Speaker 1: give him a lot of credit for delivering for me.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's the way I would do it. Then
Speaker 1: my pregame interviews would be over zoom. And I guess
Speaker 1: the good part is I could not only play it
Speaker 1: during our radio pregame show, but also posted on our
Speaker 1: social media and people could see the players and us
Speaker 1: do this interview together. So there was good and bad
Speaker 1: to all of it. But I would say that's the
Speaker 1: positive where it could be used on different platforms and
Speaker 1: and the fans could get a peek inside of just
Speaker 1: how we do these pregame interviews. Now have I say.
Speaker 1: I talked to a buddy of mine who covers baseball
Speaker 1: on the East Coast who's convinced. He swears that it
Speaker 1: is never going back to the way that it was,
Speaker 1: that baseball is gonna take advantage even when they get
Speaker 1: a placebo and the coronavirus is just a memory and
Speaker 1: it's just a seasonal thing that they're the media restrictions
Speaker 1: are going to be in place. Do you you buy
Speaker 1: that or do you think it will go back to
Speaker 1: the way that it had been for forever and ever
Speaker 1: and ever As far as access to the clubhouse, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm talking about media access and just having the freedom
Speaker 1: to go into the clubhouse whenever you want before the
Speaker 1: games and after the games. That they're gonna gonna lock
Speaker 1: that down and it's not going to go back to
Speaker 1: the way that it had been. Yeah, I could see that,
Speaker 1: because I know there have been talks um part of
Speaker 1: this new collective Bargaining Agreement negotiation going on um that
Speaker 1: there is a possibility that it could be closed off
Speaker 1: to the media before the games completely and only allowed
Speaker 1: in after games. Because if you remember, Ben, when we
Speaker 1: first started, you can go inside the clubhouse two separate
Speaker 1: times before the game started. You can go into the
Speaker 1: clubhouse before batting practice, and they also would allow you
Speaker 1: to go back in after batting practice. And uh, within
Speaker 1: the last ten years, they stopped media from being allowed
Speaker 1: to go back into the clubhouse after the team came
Speaker 1: off the field for their batting practice. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: could see. I could see this prompting some questions about
Speaker 1: how much access does the media really need? And I
Speaker 1: think that conversation was going on even before COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: hit and all the restrictions. Now, David, we must mention
Speaker 1: here you are not only on the Mallard radio treat,
Speaker 1: the Petro's radio treat, but you are on the big
Speaker 1: Nasty l a radio legend. I mentioned him earlier, the
Speaker 1: great Joe McDonald. How much fun would Joe have Big Joe? Now,
Speaker 1: with everything going on in the world, can you imagine
Speaker 1: the kind of nonsense and for vality that Big Joe
Speaker 1: in l a radio icon if he was still with us?
Speaker 1: My god, this why if he was only around and
Speaker 1: think about the nonsense he did back in the day,
Speaker 1: and now you were around him forever. Ust you learned
Speaker 1: from him? But think about what he would have done
Speaker 1: with with the politics and the coronavirus and the Dodgers
Speaker 1: and all the nonsense. This would have been his mona, Lisa,
Speaker 1: it would have been if he would have Uh, he
Speaker 1: would have been kind of the wave that I think
Speaker 1: we need to rock. So much political correctness, and he
Speaker 1: obviously wasn't shy to share his political views. I'm sure
Speaker 1: he would have a lot of fun with the political
Speaker 1: season going on and everything that's taken place the last
Speaker 1: four years, and we definitely missed his voice because I
Speaker 1: know a lot of people didn't believe this, but at
Speaker 1: times he was the voice of reason in his own
Speaker 1: bombastic type of way. So yeah, he would. He would
Speaker 1: have a fielding with a lot of stuff that's going
Speaker 1: on in the real world and in sports, and he
Speaker 1: definitely was my mentor and night I miss him. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know this, Bend, but I
Speaker 1: do pay tribute to Joe. At the end of every
Speaker 1: Dodger talk show, Yeah, what do you do? I'm normally
Speaker 1: doing my show. By the time you get done with Dodgers,
Speaker 1: I gotta gonna be finished. I know that's true. I
Speaker 1: I text you like any time a Dodger game goes late,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, Hey, what time you gonna get off?
Speaker 1: Because talking if I talk about the Dodgers and I'm
Speaker 1: not even on in l A, We're not clear to light.
Speaker 1: What's the point of talking about the Dodgers. I gotta
Speaker 1: so I gotta wait until you get done. And then
Speaker 1: I remember that one game in San Francisco a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, you ended like at two in the
Speaker 1: morning or so. It was ridiculous. It was like the
Speaker 1: entire show is that's not my fault. I don't want
Speaker 1: to end that true in the morning, that's just the
Speaker 1: way the game went. No, but it affects my life,
Speaker 1: so I don't like that. So what what do you
Speaker 1: do to honor the great Joe McDonald? Well, if you
Speaker 1: remember when he hosted the UH the McDonald Douglas Show,
Speaker 1: he would always sign off by saying, so you like
Speaker 1: in a loud, loud, long drawn out way, and that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's my O to Big Joe. After he passed away,
Speaker 1: I always wanted to find a way to pay tribute
Speaker 1: to him, and some people have caught it. Not a
Speaker 1: lot of people have. So I just thought I'd still
Speaker 1: you in on that and I haven't forgotten him, and yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the way I that's the way I pay tribute
Speaker 1: to him at the end of every show. That's a
Speaker 1: great tribute. And I had the interesting UH life where
Speaker 1: I worked with Hacksaw and Joe and Hacksaw were like
Speaker 1: blood rivals, right sports radio wars in southern California, So
Speaker 1: I saw both sides of it. But Big Joe was
Speaker 1: He's like the Frances I loved you, Ben, Ben, he
Speaker 1: loved you for sure, he really liked you. No, no,
Speaker 1: we did. We had it. We had one beef, but
Speaker 1: we became very good friends. Everybody has a pief with
Speaker 1: show everybody. But you found your way back. Yes, I
Speaker 1: found my way back in the good graces there. And
Speaker 1: do you still talk to Doug Crecorn, the Great Dougcorns?
Speaker 1: You still talked to him today? I talked to him
Speaker 1: at least twice a week. He's enjoying retirement in the
Speaker 1: beautiful Naples community of Long Beach. I gotta get him
Speaker 1: on the podcast. I don't know if you would do it.
Speaker 1: I get Oh, that would be great. We gotta get
Speaker 1: tell him. I want to put him on the podcast.
Speaker 1: He used to say nice things back in the day,
Speaker 1: and he actually listened, like you. Yeah. The biggest fans
Speaker 1: that I know of, maybe the only two fans you
Speaker 1: have that I know of, are Rick Monday and Duck Riccordian.
Speaker 1: That's right, the great Rick. We gotta get Monday on
Speaker 1: here too. Monday is great. Don't don't wow. I think
Speaker 1: he's the closet listener. I don't believe he wanted me
Speaker 1: to disclose how much he likes your show. I know,
Speaker 1: I hear that a lot from people are like that.
Speaker 1: I don't really you know, they can't admit it. It's
Speaker 1: like Trump, they can't admit they like it, but they
Speaker 1: kind of, you know, like whatever. So anyway, all right,
Speaker 1: well listen, ve'sse We thank you. You're an amazing person,
Speaker 1: human being. And now it's your off season. So when
Speaker 1: does off season Dodger talk start next week? Or when
Speaker 1: is this? When is this? Yeah, I'm not sure. We're
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out. A lot of sports are
Speaker 1: starting to hit at the same time now, with U
Speaker 1: c l A Football, the Clippers starting up around Christmas time,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna find time for sure to ride this wave.
Speaker 1: The Dodgers winning the World Series for the first time
Speaker 1: in thirty two years. It's awesome. And just in case
Speaker 1: anybody from the Dodgers is monitoring this, what ring size
Speaker 1: do you have? When they get that word, what size
Speaker 1: ring do they need to get your SA? Do you
Speaker 1: know your rings? I do not know. I haven't had
Speaker 1: my ring my ring finger size since I was married
Speaker 1: nine years ago. All right, but you are willing to
Speaker 1: have your ring size for the proper world see ring. Yes,
Speaker 1: And everybody seems to be more concerned about whether or
Speaker 1: not I'm getting a ring than I am about it because,
Speaker 1: like I said, I always say it's about the players,
Speaker 1: and I actually feel like they hand out too many rings.
Speaker 1: Ben it should be more limited than it is these days.
Speaker 1: It's about the players, it's about the play by play broadcasters,
Speaker 1: the front office. That's who it's about. Now, that's bullcrap.
Speaker 1: David Vasse needs a World Series ring. I know you're
Speaker 1: being the good guy in all that FSA. You deserve one.
Speaker 1: They give these things out and that's the proper etiquette.
Speaker 1: You've been with the team, you've been traveling with the
Speaker 1: team for a decade. You've paid your dues, you've made,
Speaker 1: you've been polishing turds at times. These guys haven't exactly
Speaker 1: been great all the time, and you've you've pumped them
Speaker 1: up and you've done You've done your job. So they've
Speaker 1: got to give you a ring. They don't give your ring.
Speaker 1: That's an injustice and heads are gonna roll. You should
Speaker 1: get a ring, my man, and if not, we will
Speaker 1: start a go fund me campaign and or either that
Speaker 1: or you can go I'm sure next year fans are back,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna definitely be at this game beast when
Speaker 1: they give out the fake rings, you know, the replica ry.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I was there. Yeah, I'll be there. Yeah.
Speaker 1: That's a great night, man, that is I will definitely.
Speaker 1: Oh man, that is awesome. All well, thank you, Muss.
Speaker 1: They enjoy your off season. I appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, thanks for having me. Be sure to
Speaker 1: catch live editions of The Ben Meller Show weekdays at
Speaker 1: two am Eastern eleven p m. Pacific