WEBVTT - Hey Hey Charley! 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:05.400 Boom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes a 0:00:05.440 --> 0:00:09.200 week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants of 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:12.840 the Old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:15.760 crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:20.160 pill poppers in the penthouse, to clearing house of hot takes, 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:24.040 break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with Ben 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:31.680 Maller starts right now in the air everywhere. We kick 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:37.640 off the Fifth Hour Weekend Podcast with Ben Maller because hey, 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:41.040 the overnight show four hours a night not enough and 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:46.280 eight days a week double barrel action on a Friday 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:48.839 in If you're listening to this show. If you're new, welcome. 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:51.800 We always like bringing new people into the store. We 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:53.720 need to have new customers in the store. It's good 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:55.440 to have you. I'm not gonna blab that much because 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:59.640 this is an interview conversation podcast. We like to bring 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:03.560 in ends to hang out and chat. And we're joined 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:06.200 by a man, David Gascon, who's gonna be on with 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:09.120 me here on the podcast. Gascon And I'm excited about 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:12.880 this one because someone we wanted to get on and uh, 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:16.440 finally we pulled the string on this and made it happen. 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:21.520 We're gonna chat with the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers, 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:26.280 Charlie Steiner is gonna hang out with us. And I've 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:31.280 known Charlie casually for you know, a number of years now, 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:34.000 and I'll see him when I go to these Dodging games, 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.480 hanging out, schmoozing in the press box or whatnot. And 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:39.640 I've actually known Charlie before he was the voice of 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:41.320 the Dodgers. He's been the play by play guy for 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:45.840 the Dodgers for the last I think seventeen seasons. I believe. 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:48.920 I think he's heading into his seventeenth or eighteen season 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:52.040 now as the voice of the Dodgers. He's a National 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.280 Radio Hall of Famer. Charlie Stunner. Many people know him 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.080 more as the Sports Center anchor, depending on how old 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:02.320 you are, right from back in the day. It was 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:05.360 a legend in the in the heyday of ESPN when 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:09.960 that was the place, the mecca of sports television before 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:13.720 everything got watered down in sports media. And also a 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:18.080 boxing guy. Charlie covered synonymous with boxing for so many 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.519 years and all the big fights Charlie Stunner was reporting 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:24.880 on and covering and whatnot, and so excited to have 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:28.120 him in here, just thinking about him. I don't know 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:29.680 if you were like this when you were younger, but 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:31.760 I felt like Sports Center when I was a kid 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:37.040 was appointment TV. It was like finding him, finding you know, 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:40.160 all these guys that were on there. I mean, Linda Cohnes, 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:42.680 she did a lot of you know, stuff with hockey. 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:47.600 But it's still is Keith Olberman, Um Dan Patrick, Tom 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:51.640 Lee or it was a Tommyes was on there, Tommy's yes, Bobby. 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:55.480 There's just guys that were on there from start, Chris 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.600 Berman obviously and Tom Jackson. You know, those guys are 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:02.839 synonymous with the NFL. But yeah, sports that are back 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.200 in the day that was like our our playground, you 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:07.840 know as kids. Yeah, I mean it's you know, the 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:09.799 stone age because you're doing it back in the day, 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:11.880 story you're old, guest gun, you're proving you're old here. 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:16.079 But yeah, I mean we were consuming sports. You Jonesing 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:17.799 as a kid, you were like, oh my god. I 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.799 mean my experience not to go too long with it 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:22.200 because I want to be Charlie in here, but my 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:26.920 experience with sports consumption, like I had to watch this 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:31.080 weekend baseball to get baseball highlights. I remember getting the 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.960 Red and the Green book that they would give out 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:37.560 before the season for the National and the American League. 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:39.560 The American League was read, the National League was green. 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:41.440 They gave these books that that's how you got the stats. 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:43.920 There was, you know, the the internet as it is 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:48.000 today did not did not exist, and so but sports 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.160 Center that was like you got everything in an hour. 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:55.600 Sports Center. You get every highlight, every big story. And 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.720 it was so important to watch that, you know, being 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.560 on the West coast we had it. But I think 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.360 the first sports Center was at four o'clock. I think 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.520 our l a time, California time, and that was big. 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:09.760 And then they'd have the the late Sports Center after 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.720 the games were over. So and Charlie was such a 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.080 big part of that. So anyway, excited to have him on. 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:17.479 Let's give it up now, the voice of the Dodgers. 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:19.840 He got the call a final out of the World Series. 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:22.040 We gotta bring that up. We'll get to that, uh, 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:25.279 Charlie Steiner, And why don't we start with this, Charlie, 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:29.920 you've been calling games from your house over the last 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.160 the last baseball season. What is the experience been like 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:36.520 for you? Uh? And and how different obviously that has 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:38.360 been for everybody, but for you, as a play by 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:41.279 play guy in Major League Baseball, you're sitting in your 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.839 home calling games. Tell me what that's been like. Well, 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:50.039 go back to last July when we were all trying 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.360 to figure out what the season was gonna look like, 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:56.919 and we had a zoom call. And you're not a 0:04:57.000 --> 0:05:00.480 human being unless you've had at least one, uh with 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:05.440 the entire broadcast group in our bosses. Um. And it 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:08.800 was that was three or four days before the first 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:14.120 exhibition game. And upon the completion of the zoom call, 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:17.120 I got a call from one of said bosses and 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:19.839 he said he didn't look happy. I said, well, I 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:24.440 don't know about happy, but I certainly am apprehensive. And 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:28.200 you know I am of that age. Uh. I am 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:32.800 diabetic in these days, who isn't um. So I talked 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:35.200 to my doctor and I said, so, what do you think? 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.520 And he said, as as a fan, I love that 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.719 view and bow back because this is what I what 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:44.960 and who I listened to every summer as a friend, 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:48.960 I'm not so sure. And as as your doctor, are 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:52.799 you out of your mind? Um? And so it was like, well, 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:57.000 that was a slap in the face of reality. Um. 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:00.479 The next thing, I had spoken to Bow and I 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:02.200 wasn't quite sure. Of course, we're going to do the 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:07.160 games out of Dodger Stadium, even on the road, the 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.880 sixty games all from there, and my doctor suggested, you know, 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:15.880 you probably shouldn't. Just don't. Uh. And I called the 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:19.400 next day and I said, I'm feeling really anxious about it, 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:23.960 and and if it comes to I'm just gonna have 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:29.239 to opt out this year. Um. And that was pretty 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:31.599 much the end of the conversation. I'm thinking, well, gee, 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:33.520 that's probably the end of my career. And I got 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:37.039 knocked out by COVID. Next day. They doctors come back 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:43.040 and said, well, what if you did it from home? Well, um, yes, 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:47.039 you know, I didn't think it was technically or humanly 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:51.200 possible to be able to do it, and we did it. 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:55.560 They added two large monitors in what used to be 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.680 my living room. It became the media room, and thankfully 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:00.640 this year it has returned to being the living group 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.600 as I ended up doing the games from home. UM 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.760 and MO was at at Dodger Stadium along with Dwayne McDonald, 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:13.480 our producer and engineer. And it took maybe four or 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:18.760 five days, three of them being exhibition games. UM, to 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:21.960 get it more technically and sentive. You know, MO and 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.600 I when we're calling a game, we're not looking at 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:28.000 each other. We're both looking at the field, and now 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:31.960 our seventeen here we can fill each other's sentences. And 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:34.280 so that was never going to be an issue. And 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:39.720 slowly but surely it seemed to work. UM. And then 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:44.200 fast forward to you know, the playoffs in the World Series. 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:48.880 I finally got a chance to watch the World Series film, 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:51.680 I guess in January. There was no hurry. I knew 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:57.720 the outcome, But most importantly, I watched the highlight film 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:01.840 from the very chair that I announced the World Series 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:06.440 on the very screen that I watched it. And as 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:09.640 I watched and listened to the highlight film, I could 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:13.880 have sworn I was in Texas. So technically it worked. 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:19.440 And I think what's gonna happen down the road in 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:24.040 our industry in general and some teams in particular. I'm 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:29.360 not entirely sure that announcers are necessarily gonna go on 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:32.440 the road for every game. So I think it was 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:37.400 it was weird. I understood the weirdness of it last 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:41.679 year and still even this year, we have a giant 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:45.320 asterisk about how we are living and conducting our lives. 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:47.720 And that was just kind of part of the drill. 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:51.600 And I'll finish up this endless answer with this. The 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.760 very first game I ever called was a Brooklyn Dodger 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:57.680 game in my basement in my home on Long Island 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:01.040 when I was five. And the most some Dodger game 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:05.520 that I broadcast was from my living room at my home, 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:09.800 and they won the World Series and people actually heard it. 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:14.680 So talk about what goes around comes, Yeah, the circle 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:17.560 of the circle of life. I think we we all did. 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:19.720 That is the same thing. I was like you, You're like, 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:21.760 I'm doing play by playing my home and you know 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:23.679 you're the final out of the World Series, and you 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.080 called I want to bring that up, Charlie, because on 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:31.040 the Dodgers flagship a M five seventy, the Dodger Network there, finally, 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:34.360 after all these years, the long suffering Dodger fans got 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:37.719 to hear a radio call of their team winning the 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.800 World Series, and you had a great call. Uh, finally 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.720 the weight is over. Tears of joy let them flow. 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.400 I mean I remember a lot of it. And you 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:51.240 mentioned eighty eight as well. Uh, you've you've had a 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.800 lot of big moments. How concerned, how nervous were you? 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:55.880 Did not screw up in that spot? I mean, you 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:58.640 nailed it, But how concerned were you? Because you you 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.120 can anticipate the Dodges like you're gonna win because of 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.600 the lead they had at the time late in the game. 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:05.680 But what was the what was going through your mind 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:08.120 as it was getting closer to your You're gonna have 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:10.280 to make that call at the end of the World Series. 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:16.559 That morning I called Vin, who with whom we still 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:20.120 have a wonderful friendship. He has been a mentor, a 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:24.440 father like that, You're again the babe Ruth of our business. 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:28.560 So I called him that morning. I said, so, I 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.280 got this if they win to night, I had this 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:35.120 great idea and he said, oh yeah, what's that? I said, 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.720 I have had a line like in a year that's 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:42.600 been so improbable. Uh and he said, I believe it's 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:48.520 taken um and so, and I said, so, you know, 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:51.360 it was one of those you just go you go 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:56.000 to the Grand puba for just not advice. We just 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.400 talked and who was not talking off the ledge, It 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:04.000 was just going in before a big game and talking 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:09.040 to a former player in this case. So what I've 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:12.199 been thinking about. And one of the things you really 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:17.800 don't want to do is uh prepare and write out 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:21.000 a script any of that stuff. You just let it, 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:23.920 let it rip from your head and your heart and 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:27.960 your eyes. And the word that kept going through my 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:32.959 head all day was joy and how much joy this 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:36.680 would bring and how little joy any of us had 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:43.720 experienced that year, And it just all came together. Um 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:47.360 And I was, I was, And you're right, there is 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.800 that nagging fear, old lord, please don't fuck it up. 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:55.640 Um and and and I remember when I had the 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:59.800 Aaron Boone call in two thousand and three, when he 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:03.280 at the game winner and the Yankees walked off against 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:06.200 the Red Sox would go to the World Series, remembers 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:08.360 of the circling the basis, and I had made the 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:10.800 call in the back of my head because it happened 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:16.000 so quickly, I said, please, you know, finished the call cleanly. 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.520 Um And I did with that, and I guess I 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:23.160 did with this too. But you know, again, the story 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:27.400 was obviously the Dodgers had won, and finally there was 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:31.600 something for all of us to be happy about. Yeah, 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:34.240 it was. It was a great call. And you mentioned 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:36.600 you did the Yankee games for for a few years 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:39.400 back in the day. What's the biggest difference. These are 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.520 the two biggest markets in the country, and you know 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:44.480 you're on the on the radio doing Yankee games, you're 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:46.800 doing Dodging games. You've been doing Dodging games for in 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:49.200 almost twenty years now, But what's the what's the big 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:52.840 difference between a Yankee broadcast and a Dodger broadcast or 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:55.959 is it all the same? You know, at the end 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.400 of the day, without sounding high falut the game is 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:03.360 still a game. The moment is still a moment, and 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:06.880 when you go and do what it is we do, 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:09.720 all you can do is the best that you can. 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:14.000 Um You know, in New York, I was working with 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:17.120 John Sterling and it was really to play by play 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:20.960 announcers and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. But 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:22.840 at the end of the day we had a pretty 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:27.320 good broadcast and that was that. And then when we 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.560 came out here to work with mo and this is 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:35.199 you're right, it's gonna be my seventeenth year now, um 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:40.079 are our roles were more clearly defined, and that I 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:44.760 think makes for a cleaner broadcast and and we're very lucky. 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:48.640 Mo and I we become friends, were family, um, and 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:53.160 we're talking about it right after the that night, at 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:58.160 the end of the post game coverage. UM. Because of 0:13:58.200 --> 0:14:02.840 the year that was, you know, so improbable. There's moat 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:06.240 Dodger Stadium and I'm at home, and Dwayne is at 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:11.280 Dodger Stadium. We didn't see one of them. Yet we are. 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:16.240 Our bond, which was always strong, grew stronger because we 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:22.120 persevered all this craziness together. And it was it was 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:25.840 a It became a lot more meaningful than even just 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:29.400 winning a World Series that we've managed to persevere like 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:34.960 everybody else, like every Dodger, like every Dodger fans. Somehow 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:40.720 we got through it. And uh and one, yeah, it was. 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.280 It was great to listen to you. And I couldn't 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.920 tell I did. I thought at one point I thought 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:48.400 you were actually in Texas. It sounded it did sound 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:51.120 like you were. You were there where the World Series 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:53.720 was going on. But I here's the things I want 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:55.320 to tell a story, Charlie. And you probably don't know 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:56.840 this story because it's not important to you at all, 0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:59.280 but it's important to me. So when I first met you. 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:02.280 You were doing Sunday Night Baseball for ESPN Radio with 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.800 Kevin Kennedy. This isn't like the late nineties, and I 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:07.800 actually did stats for you. I don't if you probably 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:09.240 don't remember that, but I did stats for you a 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:13.040 few times. And my shining moment, Charlie, was a Giant 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:17.040 Dodger game on a Sunday night and Ellis Burks was playing. 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:18.760 I think he came up from the Rockies that year, 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:21.720 was playing for the Giants and uh and uh this 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:24.840 was like the Bonds Kent Giants and it was fact 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:29.080 and Brian worked together. Yes, there you go. So Brian 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.240 Bohanan was he had the Dodgers picked him up. He 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:34.560 was the picture. So I found some stat about al 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:37.320 Ellis Burks had this great career, you know, a bunch 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:39.520 of home runs against Brian Bohanna. So I handed you 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:42.320 this like note, right, I gave you this note and uh, 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.080 the like the next pitch after you had gave the stat, 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.720 Ellis Burks hit a home run into the pavilion at 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:50.200 Dodgers Stadium. That was a long time ago, but I 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:52.840 bring that up because it makes me feel good because 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:56.040 I remember it. And how have stats changed because there's 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:58.960 so many more stats now, Charlie, and you're the play 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:00.640 by play guy, and I think I out of baseball 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:03.760 on the radio is more telling stories. But there's a 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:07.720 status of everything these days. So how do you handle that? Ben? 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:11.960 You're absolutely right, Um. On radio it's a much more 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:15.880 of a storyteller's medium. If you know, when you start 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:20.800 talking about war and VIP and this and that, if 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:25.400 you see it on your screen, okay, you kind of 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.800 get it. And even then you need some interpreters say 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:33.120 what does this actually mean? Except some numbers on the radio, 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:36.840 if you start running off numbers like this plus three 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:42.000 minus two, somebody stuck in traffic, it's just gonna go 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:46.160 either over their heads or through the ears from one 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:49.680 side to the other. So for me and for Moe 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:54.400 and again we're we're older. We are less in terms 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:59.160 of broadcasters statistically driven than younger broadcasters. We still stick 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.960 with the story, Um at the end of the day. 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:08.120 And again, I'm proudly an old school baseball guy. Give 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:11.080 me the back of a baseball card. If I haven't 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:13.560 seen a player before, then I can have at least 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:16.960 a pretty good idea of what he is capable of doing. 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:22.320 But you know, the defense of this and and offensive that. 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:27.400 It's like it's still a game played by people. It's 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:31.040 not like my Apple computer is better than your Mac 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:37.399 or your your bell or whatever it is. Um and 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:41.960 it's it's just for me. Let the players play and 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.840 how they play. It's up to us then to describe 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:48.160 what they're doing well or not And does a guy 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:50.359 make a catch or not make a catch based on 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:58.399 some arbitrary statistics to me, not necessarily so. I again, 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:00.760 most been around a long time. I've been around a 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:03.640 long time, and we've seen a lot. Hopefully we can 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:06.440 tell stories pretty well. Be sure to catch live edition 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.159 so the Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:12.760 eleven pm Pacific. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:15.639 talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:18.879 at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:21.960 Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live. 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:25.639 And Charlie speaking of those stories and the history that 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.680 you have for the game of baseball, what about when 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:31.920 you're at the ballpark. I don't know if Ben wants 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:33.520 me to bring this up, and I'll do it anyway. 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:36.040 He hit outcasted me a few years ago to go 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:40.280 to Bakersfield to call minor league baseball, and uh I 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.080 did so, but con took some of his advice about 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:47.400 journaling everything that you do. It's about that story, right. Um, 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:49.879 So it's fascinating to learn about these guys that are 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:52.280 minor leaguers trying to get to the show. But when 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:54.800 you're in the show, what about the interaction that you 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:59.080 have with these players prior to first pitch, when they're stretching, throwing, 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:04.840 limbering up up that it has changed dramatically over the years. 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:08.000 It is and again now you're gonna hear some cranky 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.240 old guys screaming, get off my law and you're rotting kid. 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:17.480 But the reality is the interaction between writers and broadcasters 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:22.640 and players is so significantly different that it was certainly 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.639 when I first started out and the years before I 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:29.359 got into it. That was in a day when you 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:32.800 went back to the hotel after a game and you'd 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:37.600 have a beer with a player who is relatively speaking 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:43.120 of contemporary where the dollar disparity between players and those 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:46.720 who cover them was not so vast, in a day 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:50.879 when now players and their agents can control whatever it 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.480 is they want to say or not say, through their 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:59.200 own social media accounts. So all of that has fundamentally changed, 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:05.520 um and and and for us old guys, that's sad 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:09.760 because part of what it was that drew us to 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.919 calling games was to be able to paint the picture 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:16.560 and get inside the heads of these guys, which doesn't 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:22.440 frankly exist very much anymore now because of the pandemic 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:26.879 and zoom calls and all of that. You don't see 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:32.439 or hear um no matter the newspaper or the radio 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:35.840 station or the network anything different, They're all saying the 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:38.960 same thing based on the limited availability that they have 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:44.400 to the players. So there, it's fundamentally different. And so 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:50.720 what what I'm trying to do, And as this technology 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:54.360 evolves and how the game has changed, it has tried 0:20:54.480 --> 0:20:59.159 to reflect on players or instances that are similar to 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:03.760 what the players are given players in this given play 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:07.840 might have been. So it is different, and I'm not 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:10.080 entirely sure it's going to go back to what it 0:21:10.119 --> 0:21:13.920 once was because of the differences now in time. Then 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:17.800 have you ever had or even recently, have you had 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:23.080 one of those? David Price, Dennis Eckersley, I guess, uh, 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:27.680 you know, And if I have, I don't care. You know, 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:33.000 the player might you know, I can't. That's where it 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:38.280 is fundamentally different. Um, when players tell you they don't watch, 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:42.520 or they don't read, or they don't listen, they are 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:46.719 so full of it. Um, they just are. They know 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:51.840 exactly what's been said and what I think. We all 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:56.840 have to understand what you're doing, Ben, what I'm doing, 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:01.119 what players are doing. We all live in this cohes system. 0:22:01.160 --> 0:22:05.320 The players play and we talk about it. May make 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:10.120 an error and we have to mention it. Um. That's 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:13.080 not to say we're not going to make a mistake 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:15.560 or we're gonna blow a call. But we're all in 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:20.840 this giant ecosystem. And the more we all, all of 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:25.720 us understand it, the better it is ultimately for the customer, 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:28.560 and that's the fan who wants to learn as much 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:32.960 as they can about the game, about a moment, about 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:37.600 a player. But again, that's where it has fundamentally changed 0:22:37.720 --> 0:22:41.720 over the years, and and there's a greater distance between 0:22:42.800 --> 0:22:47.200 media and players, and I think that I've ever experienced, 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:49.280 and I've been doing this a long time now. Well 0:22:49.280 --> 0:22:52.359 with the reduction and travel that that's added some time 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:56.000 onto the time stamp for you do you have an 0:22:56.080 --> 0:22:57.760 end date at all, Charlie or do you feel like 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:01.400 you're well? You know, and the Doggers have been so 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:04.880 unspeakably good to me. The fact that I am not 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:09.600 traveling much anymore. Um, you know, I've been lucky enough 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:13.240 in many ways to walk in the same path that 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:16.520 then did, and then was the first one to start 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:20.800 cutting back on schedule and travel and the road you 0:23:20.880 --> 0:23:22.840 do it a lot. It beat you up, and at 0:23:22.880 --> 0:23:27.200 some point I just said, okay, I this is this 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:29.760 is now not as much fun as it used to be. 0:23:30.000 --> 0:23:32.200 And as I say that, you don't have that much 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:36.879 of a relationship anymore between players, whether it's a you know, 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:39.760 a local bar and whatever it is now. Of course, 0:23:39.800 --> 0:23:44.399 with the pandemic, nobody's going anywhere anyway. So it's still 0:23:44.640 --> 0:23:48.719 fun to call a game, only the discipline has changed 0:23:49.160 --> 0:23:53.639 because the circumstances around us have changed. What's your favorite 0:23:53.680 --> 0:23:57.520 sporting event to call? Oh, I guess the seventh game 0:23:57.560 --> 0:24:01.800 of the World series? Like take all that aside, Like 0:24:01.840 --> 0:24:04.120 a championship is one thing, but I mean, like if 0:24:04.119 --> 0:24:07.600 it's just a regular game or just a regular boxing match, Like, 0:24:07.680 --> 0:24:11.359 what is your favorite event? I've been so lucky. I 0:24:12.800 --> 0:24:17.320 covered boxing in theirs last Golden era. It began with 0:24:17.359 --> 0:24:22.080 Ali and ended with Tyson biting Holy Fields here and 0:24:22.119 --> 0:24:26.639 pretty much every big fight in between. The night of 0:24:26.640 --> 0:24:32.080