Speaker 1: Is this a great game or what with the Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer My dad, Tim Kirchen. I am Jeff Kirchen,
Speaker 1: and welcome to another episode dat. I want to make
Speaker 1: sure everybody who's listening right now took the time to
Speaker 1: listen to Steve Sparks yesterday. He was so great that
Speaker 1: I edit the podcast right, and I listened to it
Speaker 1: basically two times after.
Speaker 2: Just living it.
Speaker 1: And I listen to it on my way home from work,
Speaker 1: which I rarely do because I've already listened.
Speaker 2: To it twice. Right, no need to go on the stream.
Speaker 2: It's that good. I had to listen back to it. Dad, Right,
Speaker 2: hilariously funny, incredibly insightful and a steam head of all
Speaker 2: seam heads. And he's a former player. Amazing, amazing.
Speaker 1: We have a Hall of Fame baseball pitcher gonna be
Speaker 1: joining us next week, next Wednesday, so keep your eyes
Speaker 1: out for that and Debt it is officially.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be May you know what I mean? You
Speaker 2: get by justin Timberlake reference there, of course not what
Speaker 2: does that mean? Is that one of his favorite songs?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's It's gonna be me. It's an in synct reference.
Speaker 1: But the way he says it. It sounds like it's
Speaker 1: gonna be May.
Speaker 2: So it's like a meme. So it's May the first.
Speaker 1: And falling on Jaffiers here, it's May the first.
Speaker 3: And yeah, yes, when you bring up Mordecai three finger Brown,
Speaker 3: I give you the same reaction.
Speaker 2: Don't worry. We both have our strengths and weaknesses. I'm
Speaker 2: a di.
Speaker 3: Wire and you're great at feeding the dogs. I know music,
Speaker 3: you know baseball. This is what makes our podcast great.
Speaker 3: No stress about it.
Speaker 2: Correct anyway, one month of the baseball season, another month,
Speaker 2: I should say, is in the books, right, But more important, Jeff,
Speaker 2: we are taping this today on your three year wedding anniversary.
Speaker 2: Yeah to Emily, and in that time you've had the
Speaker 2: most beautiful little girl McKinley Hope. I am so proud
Speaker 2: of you with everything that you've done and it is
Speaker 2: you sent out a little video to our family this morning.
Speaker 2: It was a little video to McKinley saying this is
Speaker 2: what our lives have been like for the first three years.
Speaker 2: It just brought a tear to my eye. It was
Speaker 2: so good. I'm just so sorry, Jeff that I couldn't
Speaker 2: be there that day three years ago. I'm sorry. Yeah, right,
Speaker 2: you were at the bar having a great time at
Speaker 2: my wedding. That was a tremendous wedding. We had a
Speaker 2: tremendous time. Now what is your I know your plan,
Speaker 2: but tell everyone what your plan is for your anniversary
Speaker 2: night with Emily. Well, yeah, you know my wife Emily.
Speaker 1: She said, the number one thing I want to do
Speaker 1: for our anniversary is for you to record a podcast
Speaker 1: with your So.
Speaker 2: We're doing it. No, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: Actually we're headed to the airport because we're going to
Speaker 1: go back to Las Vegas.
Speaker 2: For those who don't know, I lived in Vegas for
Speaker 2: five years.
Speaker 1: My wife was born and raised in Las Vegas, and
Speaker 1: her parents still live out there.
Speaker 2: So we're doing kind of.
Speaker 1: An extended weekend trip to Las Vegas where we did
Speaker 1: get married and no, Elvis did not perform the wedding ceremony.
Speaker 2: But we're going to be there.
Speaker 1: We're going to be in her parents pool with McKinley,
Speaker 1: our daughter, and just kind of kicking it.
Speaker 2: Taking a couple days off.
Speaker 1: So after when you're hearing this podcast on May the first,
Speaker 1: I am going to be in a pool in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2: It's going to be incredible. I can't wait to get
Speaker 2: a little time away. Well, that's great, job. I remember
Speaker 2: our third anniversary. It wasn't quite as good. I remember
Speaker 2: taking your mom out to my favorite restaurant and I
Speaker 2: really just wanted to whine and dine her at my
Speaker 2: favorite place. And it was a complete disaster. I dropped
Speaker 2: my tray. They had to come in and clean up everything.
Speaker 2: It was just awful.
Speaker 1: If you went to a place with a tray, Dad,
Speaker 1: it can't be that great.
Speaker 2: It was a joke, Jeff.
Speaker 1: Hey, what was the place your dad, my grandfather, the
Speaker 1: original Jeff kershon?
Speaker 2: Pop? What what was the flaming the flaming flaming pit?
Speaker 2: But what was the old country buffet? Face? The other place? Right?
Speaker 1: I remember growing up going there with that and Pop
Speaker 1: thinking this was like fine dining, right, you're a kid.
Speaker 2: It was like they have everything right. It was those
Speaker 2: were the days. So I'm sorry you don't get like
Speaker 2: a luxurious meal out tonight, Jeff. But you're going to
Speaker 2: see Emily's parents, and that's that's more important than anything.
Speaker 2: So I'm all kidding aside, Jeff. I'm really really happy
Speaker 2: for you on such a great day, and I'm just
Speaker 2: so proud of you and Emily and McKinley. Ho so
Speaker 2: can't wait to see you in person again.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Dad, I appreciate that and all kidding aside
Speaker 1: as well, I've googled, and I'm not being silly, I've
Speaker 1: googled restaurants inside Philadelphia International air Airport to find, Like
Speaker 1: you know, it's always that one restaurant you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're not gonna eat there, it's a little too nice
Speaker 1: or whatever. We're not gonna go get a steak dinner
Speaker 1: at the airport, but we want to go to a
Speaker 1: place with a nicer bar and a place to sit down.
Speaker 1: We're actually gonna go to the airport earlier than normal,
Speaker 1: so like a time that you would usually get there, right,
Speaker 1: We're gonna.
Speaker 2: Go there and actually eat dinner.
Speaker 1: So we'll get there three hours before the flight, but
Speaker 1: totally on purpose, not like you where it's it has
Speaker 1: to be done for every domestic flight.
Speaker 2: Dad. Thank you so much for bringing it up.
Speaker 1: But let's dive headfirst into the takeaways.
Speaker 2: What's going on. Well, it was a great month of April,
Speaker 2: March and April. As I've said multiple times on the podcast, Jeff,
Speaker 2: it's been as unpredictable. A first five weeks of the season.
Speaker 2: I think I can ever remember so many crazy, quirky, ridiculous,
Speaker 2: beautiful things have happened so far. Just another reminder of
Speaker 2: why we're doing the show, and now why we're doing
Speaker 2: it three days a week. Is amazing. Stuff happens every
Speaker 2: day if you're paying attention. And maybe the most amazing
Speaker 2: part of April was Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge has played
Speaker 2: in through this is now through Tuesday because we have
Speaker 2: to update because you're traveling tonight through Tuesday, played thirty
Speaker 2: games and he'd reach base sixty nine times in thirty games,
Speaker 2: so the last the only other Yankee to reach that
Speaker 2: many times through thirty games was Luke Garrigg, who reached
Speaker 2: seventy one times in nineteen thirty one. This is what
Speaker 2: Aaron Judge is doing following a season that was arguably
Speaker 2: the greatest season ever by a right handed hitter, and
Speaker 2: he's he's even better this year if that is possible.
Speaker 2: And he just hit home run number three twenty four
Speaker 2: of his career, passing Ted Williams on the list of
Speaker 2: most homer's first ten seasons and tying Frank Robinson on
Speaker 2: that list. I mean, these are enormous names in the game,
Speaker 2: and this is what Aaron this is what Aaron Judge
Speaker 2: is doing on a daily basis. I just hope everyone
Speaker 2: who's watching is understanding what they're watching, because he is
Speaker 2: setting records virtually every day. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: I saw dad, and I want to confirm this. If
Speaker 1: he struck out his next seventy at bats, he would
Speaker 1: still be above like the league average.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jeff, it's if you start playing with the numbers,
Speaker 2: they're really really scary. I mean, the league is hitting
Speaker 2: you like two thirty nine major leagues and he's hitting
Speaker 2: over four hundred, and he's doing it with power, and
Speaker 2: he's doing it with extra base hits and when he
Speaker 2: doesn't get a head, he walks. It's really been breathtaking
Speaker 2: to watch him the first month of the season. On
Speaker 2: a different note, what I love so much about baseball
Speaker 2: is how the light goes on at certain times with
Speaker 2: certain players and you look at what Carson Kelly my
Speaker 2: favorite name. My first daughter's name is Kelly. My first
Speaker 2: grandson's name is Carson Carson Kelly. He's thirty years old.
Speaker 2: He's in his tenth major league season. He came into
Speaker 2: this year with a six eighty one OPS and through
Speaker 2: Tuesday is OPS was one point four one five. The
Speaker 2: light went on. He's now He had fourth for the
Speaker 2: Cubs the other day and the Cubs have a really,
Speaker 2: really good lineup. He has played in sixteen games this
Speaker 2: year and has seven homers. The last Cub catcher to
Speaker 2: hit more homers than that in their first sixteen games
Speaker 2: was Gabby Hartin and Hall of Famer in nineteen twenty five.
Speaker 2: That's what Carson Kelly has done. And he's one of
Speaker 2: million standouts in the month of April because we didn't
Speaker 2: see this coming from him, but something's happened. This doesn't
Speaker 2: happen in the NBA JEF where suddenly somebody is the
Speaker 2: best three point shooter in the league. Well, this guy
Speaker 2: is certainly on the list, and he's had an amazingly
Speaker 2: productive month of April. It has really been fun to watch.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's not a lot of Lynn sanity moments that
Speaker 1: we have right like when Jeremy Lynn just took the
Speaker 1: league by storm.
Speaker 2: We don't have those anymore. Right By the way, Missy Matha,
Speaker 2: one of our producers at ESPN many years ago, did
Speaker 2: a little Jeremy Lynn demonstration on the court on the
Speaker 2: outdoor court at ESPN, and Bruce Bowen, one of our
Speaker 2: analysts at the time, was trying to show everyone how
Speaker 2: you have to guard Jeremy Lynn in order to slow
Speaker 2: him down. So in order to have somebody be Jeremy Lynn,
Speaker 2: I was Jeremy Lynn for an afternoon at ESPN, dribbling
Speaker 2: the ball up the court so Bruce Bowen could show
Speaker 2: everyone this is how you guard Jeremy Lynn. It was
Speaker 2: It was a highlight for me. It was really really
Speaker 2: fun and really cool that I got picked to do this.
Speaker 2: All I had to do is dribble the ball up
Speaker 2: the court, put it between my legs a couple of times.
Speaker 2: It was hilarious. Dad.
Speaker 1: Usually they would get like an intern on the campus, Hey,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be Jeremy Lynn.
Speaker 2: But they got the fifty plus year old at the
Speaker 2: time right baseball analysts to do it, and it was
Speaker 2: one of your prouder moments of your career.
Speaker 1: Hey, a lot of people, I know you don't like
Speaker 1: social media, but a lot of people when that video
Speaker 1: drops it, Hey, Tim can handle, which we know I'm.
Speaker 2: Not like talking about your not the point. I can
Speaker 2: handle I was about a foot shorter than Jeremy Lynn,
Speaker 2: so Bruce Bowen was guarding the guy who's like four
Speaker 2: foot seven. I know that's how you guard him. You
Speaker 2: just put your hands up. You can't go anywhere, all right,
Speaker 2: Carson Kelly, we talked about the light going on, and
Speaker 2: the light still hasn't gone on for the poor Rockies.
Speaker 2: And again, Jeff, I take no pleasure in speaking about
Speaker 2: this because I covered the eight to eight Oriols that
Speaker 2: lost twenty one games in a row, and the game
Speaker 2: is unhealthy when a team is that bad, and the
Speaker 2: poor Rockies were four and twenty five, Jeff. They got
Speaker 2: to April with already two different eight game losing streaks,
Speaker 2: and to my astonishment, two other teams have done that
Speaker 2: in this century two and three Tigers, which I remember,
Speaker 2: and the twenty sixteen Braves had two eight game losing
Speaker 2: streaks before we got to the month of May. Incredible.
Speaker 1: I was really excited, but I couldn't make the stretch.
Speaker 1: They're playing the Braves, well, they Wednesday night, so we're
Speaker 1: recording Wednesday day and Chris Sale is pitching against the
Speaker 1: starting pitcher for is Chase Dolander, right, And when I
Speaker 1: first saw the name. That's how you pronounce it. I
Speaker 1: was hoping you could swing it to dollarder sale dollar.
Speaker 2: But it's not gonna work.
Speaker 1: I'm so desperate to find one that you don't see.
Speaker 1: And I think it needs to be like a Lively
Speaker 1: and a Swift because then you wouldn't really pick up
Speaker 1: on Taylor Swift and Blake Lively drama.
Speaker 2: But I don't know, I would have never come up on, Jeff.
Speaker 2: Just keep trying. Okay, The day you stumped me on one
Speaker 2: of those is probably the worst day of your whole life.
Speaker 2: It means I have corrupted you so badly that now
Speaker 2: you're looking at the box scores in the completely wrong way.
Speaker 2: You're trying to match up names instead of looking at
Speaker 2: who did what and what all of this means.
Speaker 1: And the problem is now I get really frustrated because
Speaker 1: I work days ahead, and when a team is undecided
Speaker 1: on their starting pitcher, I just throw my hands.
Speaker 2: Up, like, how am I supposed to work? If you
Speaker 2: don't tell you the starting matchup is gonna be, you
Speaker 2: get really upset about that? Is that is beautiful? Jeff? Okay, again,
Speaker 2: another takeaway from a the strikeout rate as we know
Speaker 2: is completely out of control, as it has been for
Speaker 2: fifteen years. We're going to break the record again this
Speaker 2: year for strikeouts, and let's be clear, Jeff, part of
Speaker 2: that reason is this is the hardest hitting environment in
Speaker 2: baseball history. I believe that the stuff that pitchers have
Speaker 2: today is just so unbelievably good. The velocity, the secondary stuff,
Speaker 2: the movement. It's just absurd. I say it every night.
Speaker 2: I don't know how anyone gets a hit in the
Speaker 2: big leagues anymore, that's how good the pitching has been.
Speaker 2: But having said that, Jeff, three different players Michael Taglia,
Speaker 2: Ryan McMahon and Brian Reynolds through Tuesday had already struck
Speaker 2: out forty times in a season, and another half dozen
Speaker 2: guys are maybe going to get to forty before we
Speaker 2: get to May, depending on what happens in Wednesday's games.
Speaker 2: Forty strikeouts, Jeff, before we get to May. And again,
Speaker 2: different time, different players, different understand But Joe, I mean
Speaker 2: Tony Gwinn's biggest strikeout season was forty, Joe DiMaggio's was
Speaker 2: thirty nine, Yogi Bears was thirty eight, and we will
Speaker 2: have almost twenty different players striking out thirty or more time,
Speaker 2: thirty eight or more times before we get to May.
Speaker 2: That's the strikeout rate that we're seeing. Well, I have
Speaker 2: a little bit of a strikeout takeaway. Tuesday night, the
Speaker 2: Cubs played the Pirates and didn't strike out the entire
Speaker 2: game for the first time since twenty thirteen against the Athletics.
Speaker 2: Right again, when you see a zero strikeout game by
Speaker 2: it's either team, it's it just leaps off to pay Jeff, what,
Speaker 2: let's see how well you've been listening to old pop
Speaker 2: up all these years?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 2: What is the most famous, least one that we know
Speaker 2: zero strikeout game by both teams in Major League history?
Speaker 2: Don't look it up? Yes, okay, it's a famous game, Jeff, Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's it's.
Speaker 1: It's a Game seven, say yes, Pirate, yes, Game seven?
Speaker 2: Yes, the World Series, Yes, in nineteen nineteen sixty sixty. Right, Well,
Speaker 2: why did we talk about that a couple of weeks ago?
Speaker 2: What was the You have a guest that was related
Speaker 2: to that? Is Roberto Clementi's name came up, Bill Mazeroski's
Speaker 2: name came up. That was it. It was Bill Mazeroski. Jeff,
Speaker 2: you're really getting good at this. I'm so proud of
Speaker 2: you now last one, Jeff on the takeaways, I'm stealing
Speaker 2: from Greg Colly, our baseball producer at Baseball Tonight and
Speaker 2: everything else. So Tim Tawas is now the second baseman
Speaker 2: for the Diamondbacks because of injuries, could tell Marte. So
Speaker 2: Greg insists that Tim Tawa has to get traded at
Speaker 2: some point in his career to the Red Sox. Do
Speaker 2: you understand that just in case he hits a home
Speaker 2: run that he you will have light tower power? Right?
Speaker 1: Is that?
Speaker 2: Do you get it? Is that really bad? Should I?
Speaker 2: Should I be crediting Greg Colly with this? Or is
Speaker 2: this not? It's great? It's beautiful power power power power
Speaker 2: up only in Boston. And let's be clear, my father
Speaker 2: grew up in Watertown. So I know that accent very
Speaker 2: well because every relative I have used to say pack
Speaker 2: your car and the haveit. Yeah, so I know all
Speaker 2: about it. Right.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of Kirkchans in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: In Boston, there's a lot of Armenians. They're all Armenians.
Speaker 2: All the Kirkchins are Armenians. Right. If it ends with
Speaker 2: I an, We'll see you in Watertown. Yeah, they say absolutely,
Speaker 2: all right, Dad? What about any quirkchins you have. There
Speaker 2: were many this week, of course, And so Brandon Nimo
Speaker 2: knocked in nine runs in one game for the Mets.
Speaker 2: That tied the club record for RBIs in one game
Speaker 2: by a Met. He had a one ninety two batting
Speaker 2: average going into the game, So that's the lowest batting
Speaker 2: average in the history of baseball of anyone who went
Speaker 2: on to drive in nine runs in that game. Okay,
Speaker 2: he also drove in nine runs from the sixth inning on,
Speaker 2: so he and Mike Mustakas twenty fifteen are the only
Speaker 2: players ever to have a nine RBI game with zero
Speaker 2: RBIs before the sixth inning. He had nine RBIs in
Speaker 2: a three inning stretch, and only he's one of only
Speaker 2: three players that have ever done that. Think about driving
Speaker 2: in nine runs in three innings, which means he drove
Speaker 2: in as many runs nine in three innings as Shohotani
Speaker 2: had for the season. Shoeotani had nine RBIs going into
Speaker 2: that game, and Brandon Nimmo had nine RBIs in three innings.
Speaker 2: What does this prove, Jeff? It proves the beauty of
Speaker 2: baseball that if you watch it closely, it will just
Speaker 2: make you slap your forehead on a daily basis. So
Speaker 2: the other thing, the Yankees have been setting home run
Speaker 2: records for the entire month of April. So, h Tuesday Night,
Speaker 2: the first three batters in the lineup all hit home runs.
Speaker 2: That's the second time in the month of April that
Speaker 2: the Yankees did that. So they're the only team in
Speaker 2: history to do that twice in the same season. The
Speaker 2: first three batters of the game hit a homer, and
Speaker 2: they did it before we even got to May, and
Speaker 2: they did it in the same month. It's unbelievable. And
Speaker 2: they hit four homers in that inning. So they're the
Speaker 2: only team in baseball that has ever had two four
Speaker 2: home run first innings in any season, and they did
Speaker 2: it before the month of May. And this is so interesting.
Speaker 2: Aaron Judge, of course, was part of these back to
Speaker 2: back to back home runs in the first inning twice.
Speaker 2: And the only other guy that I know that did
Speaker 2: that ever was JJ Hardy, who I told you about.
Speaker 2: He did it as a member of the Brewers. First
Speaker 2: three guys in the order hit homers. JJ Hardy was
Speaker 2: one of them. Went to the Orioles and in one game,
Speaker 2: first three batters for the Orioles hit home runs. JJ
Speaker 2: Hardy was one of them. So, you know, home runs
Speaker 2: in the first thing. The Yankees have done it at
Speaker 2: a historic pace so far.
Speaker 1: I'll edit him, but Aaron Boom was right when he said,
Speaker 1: my guys are savages.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you he was absolutely right. Okay, from home
Speaker 2: runs to triples, Jeff, Mike Trout hit his fifty fifth
Speaker 2: triple the other day, so that tied Starling Marte for
Speaker 2: the most triples among active players. So just to show
Speaker 2: you that the triple has essentially disappeared going into this season,
Speaker 2: fifty five triples was the most Starling Marte among active players.
Speaker 2: That is the lowest mark of any season in Major
Speaker 2: League history. No season has ever started with the career
Speaker 2: triples leader having only fifty five triples. The last time
Speaker 2: before this decade that anyone had, you know, like, fewer
Speaker 2: than seventy triples and was the triples leader was Harry
Speaker 2: Stovey in eighteen eighty five. He had sixty four triples.
Speaker 2: So again, Jeff, this just shows the triple has been
Speaker 2: replaced by the home run. I've told you, Babe, Ruth
Speaker 2: had one hundred and thirty six triples. Right now, the
Speaker 2: active leader is Mike Trout and Starlinge Marte with fifty five.
Speaker 2: Does that amaze you or not?
Speaker 1: What also amazes me, Dad, is baseball seems to be
Speaker 1: the only sport that you can't just say eighty five, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: in eighty five, I would have to ask in eighteen
Speaker 1: or nineteen.
Speaker 2: Jeff, because that's the beauty of the sport baseball. As
Speaker 2: I've said many times, it's the only sport where the
Speaker 2: modern era is defined as nineteen hundred on. That's the
Speaker 2: modern era. That's unbelievable. And that's why you made this
Speaker 2: your life's work because it makes you feel young. Yes,
Speaker 2: you spent your entire career and life in the modern era,
Speaker 2: and I'm proud of you. Lastly, Jose Urina got a
Speaker 2: save for the Mets the other day. He gave up
Speaker 2: five runs and got a save. Jeff, think about that
Speaker 2: for a second. How do you get a save when
Speaker 2: you give up five runs in a game? Well, if
Speaker 2: you pitch the last three innings of a game, no
Speaker 2: matter what the score is, and it says if you
Speaker 2: pitch effectively, you can be credited with a save. So
Speaker 2: I went back to try to find the last guy
Speaker 2: to give up five runs in a game and get
Speaker 2: the save, and Cooper Chriswell of the Red Sox did
Speaker 2: that this year on April to sixth, So it wasn't
Speaker 2: quite as rare as I thought it would be. And
Speaker 2: then interesting, the day after Urania got the save, he
Speaker 2: was designated for assignment. He was essentially cut after recording
Speaker 2: a save in which he gave up five runs. That
Speaker 2: is pretty weird and pretty hard to.
Speaker 1: Do on this date in baseball history, Dad nay the
Speaker 1: first what do you have for us?
Speaker 2: Well, it was a really big day in baseball history
Speaker 2: because this was the date that Ricky Henderson broke Lou
Speaker 2: Brock's stolen base record. Ricky, of course, is one of
Speaker 2: the at least fifteen best players of all time, greatest
Speaker 2: bass dealer ever not a close second, and the greatest
Speaker 2: leadoff man of all time. So let's make sure we
Speaker 2: understand who we're talking about with Ricky Henderson. So he
Speaker 2: and Lou Brock, as I've told you, Jeff became really
Speaker 2: good friends, and Lou and Ricky combined to write a
Speaker 2: little note, little letter that Ricky was going to read
Speaker 2: after he broke Lou Garrety lou Brock's record. So he
Speaker 2: steals third that day at the Oakland Coliseum, and when
Speaker 2: he gets the third, Ricky is so caught up in
Speaker 2: the emotion as he should have been. He pulls third
Speaker 2: base out of the ground, holds it over his head
Speaker 2: and said, today I am the greatest of all time
Speaker 2: and he and lou Brock is looking at him because
Speaker 2: the game begins again, and Luke calls him after the
Speaker 2: game and said, Ricky, what about the letter we wrote?
Speaker 2: And Ricky said it was in his back pocket and
Speaker 2: he said, sorry, I forgot to read it, which was
Speaker 2: just a shame. So I yeah, I just think we
Speaker 2: all need to understand how great Ricky was. And it's
Speaker 2: just so touching that he and lou Brock became such
Speaker 2: good friends even while Ricky was in the process of
Speaker 2: breaking lou Brock's record.
Speaker 1: I think it's so important too, because you know, you
Speaker 1: see like Wayne Gretzky passing the puck off, so to
Speaker 1: speak to Alex Ovechkin, and you know, obviously Lou Garrigg
Speaker 1: was not around when cal Ripkin broke his record, But
Speaker 1: to have respect for somebody who breaks your record, that
Speaker 1: is so important for what sport is all about. I
Speaker 1: think it's really really cool.
Speaker 2: Right, And also on this date in nineteen ninety one,
Speaker 2: same day, Nolan Ryan pitched his seventh and final no hitter. Remember,
Speaker 2: no one else has ever come close to seven no hitters,
Speaker 2: and he did it at age forty four. So after
Speaker 2: the game, a bunch of friends and family were lined
Speaker 2: up waiting to congratulate him, and he came out into
Speaker 2: the hall and he told the assembled friends and family,
Speaker 2: I'll be out a little bit later. I got to
Speaker 2: ride the exercise bike first. So, at age forty four,
Speaker 2: he threw his seventh no hitter, and he got on
Speaker 2: the exercise bike for forty five minutes and made everybody
Speaker 2: wait because the work always came first for Nolan Ryan.
Speaker 2: So when you wonder why he's the hardest pitcher to
Speaker 2: hit in Major League history and the greatest power pitcher
Speaker 2: of all time, that story tells it all. Nolan, as
Speaker 2: I told you before, Jeff, one of the most beloved
Speaker 2: player in Major League history. And we once asked Rance
Speaker 2: Malinix of the Blue Jays years ago, because everyone loved
Speaker 2: Nolan Ryan. Someone asked Rance Malinix once, what would the
Speaker 2: world be like if everyone was Nolan Ryan? Rants Mallanicks said,
Speaker 2: everyone would love each other and no one would get
Speaker 2: a hit. And that's who Nolan Ryan is. Jeff coming
Speaker 2: up next here on is this a great game?
Speaker 1: Or what the greatest players to wear number eleven and
Speaker 1: number twelve. That's from Ozzie to Oral, the greatest Houston
Speaker 1: astro of all time. Another I am a steam head.
Speaker 1: And then, Dad, you said you've queued up a team
Speaker 1: ten that I do not know anything about. I am
Speaker 1: not informed, so I cannot condone what comes.
Speaker 2: Out of my father's mouth. But we'll find out what
Speaker 2: it is. Coming up next.
Speaker 3: Jumping right in, Dad, from Ozzie to Oral, the best
Speaker 3: players at each number, and we are to number eleven.
Speaker 2: This was not easy, Jeff. Carl Hubble War number eleven,
Speaker 2: Edgar Martinez Hall of Famer, like Carl Hubble War number eleven.
Speaker 2: But I am going with Barry Larkin importantly because he
Speaker 2: was a shortstop as opposed to Edgar Martinez, who I love,
Speaker 2: one of the greatest hitters I've ever seen. But Barry
Speaker 2: Larkin did it on both sides of the ball. He
Speaker 2: won three Gold Gloves, he made twelve ball Star teams,
Speaker 2: he won an MVP, he had a War of seventy
Speaker 2: point five, which is pretty darn good for a shortstop.
Speaker 2: Two ninety five lifetime hitter, stole three hundred and seventy
Speaker 2: nine bases ops of eight point fifteen. One of the
Speaker 2: great athletes ever to play shortstop in the big leagues.
Speaker 2: Remember Jeff, he was a great defensive back in high
Speaker 2: school and he could have played football at Michigan, but
Speaker 2: he ended up playing baseball and made a Hall of
Speaker 2: Fame career out of it. So I'm going with him
Speaker 2: as my greatest number eleven.
Speaker 1: I love it, Dad, From Ozzie to Oral, Who's the
Speaker 1: best player to wear number twelve?
Speaker 2: Right? I think this is relatively easy, With all due respect,
Speaker 2: it's Roberto Alomar, three hundred lifetime hitter, two hundred ten homers,
Speaker 2: eleven hundred and thirty four RBIs, four hundred and seventy
Speaker 2: four stolen bases, and Jeff. He was the best player
Speaker 2: on two championship teams for the Blue Jays, the team
Speaker 2: that repeated ninety two to ninety three. He was their
Speaker 2: best player on those teams. I think he's the best
Speaker 2: defensive second baseman that I've ever seen. Now again, Bill
Speaker 2: Mazerowski holds all the records, and I didn't see Bill
Speaker 2: Mazerowski well enough, but when it came to throwing arm
Speaker 2: range everything, I'm not sure I've ever seen a second basement. Defensively,
Speaker 2: who was better than Roberto Alamar And I went to
Speaker 2: do a story on it once, Jeff he had a
Speaker 2: great sense of humor, so I went to Puerto Rico
Speaker 2: for Sports Illustrated to do a story on him when
Speaker 2: he signed a huge contract to go to the Or.
Speaker 2: So we go to lunch at TGI Fridays in Puerto Rico, okay,
Speaker 2: and it's a very leisurely lunch and he's dressed in
Speaker 2: a sweatsuit, as he should be. So we walk out
Speaker 2: of TGI Fridays in Puerto Rico, which of course is
Speaker 2: Roberto Alomar's home country, and we're standing there and a
Speaker 2: lady comes up to him and gives her gives him
Speaker 2: her valet ticket and says, can you go pick up
Speaker 2: my car? She thought he was parking cars at TGI Fridays.
Speaker 2: It was the funniest thing. He laughed out loud, and
Speaker 2: before he explained to her. He explained to her, I'm
Speaker 2: not a valet, I don't work here, And after she left,
Speaker 2: He looked at me and he said, I could buy
Speaker 2: this entire chain of restaurants if I water, because he
Speaker 2: had just signed this enormous contract. It was just a
Speaker 2: beautiful look into Roberto Alomar, who was an amazingly good player.
Speaker 1: The polo I'm wearing right now, Dad, this red polo.
Speaker 1: I was wearing it once with khaki pants inside of
Speaker 1: a target, right twice. Someone came up and asked for
Speaker 1: where twice. Yeah, it's swear understandable. Gotta be careful. Red
Speaker 1: with khaki in a target, don't even think about it.
Speaker 1: It's like blue with khaki and a best buy. What
Speaker 1: are you doing to yourself? You're just asking for it?
Speaker 2: Got it all right, Dad?
Speaker 1: I think the best of all Tim this week needs
Speaker 1: to be the Houston Astros, given who our amazing guest
Speaker 1: was yesterday, Steve Sparks.
Speaker 2: Steve Sparks, of course, is the radio color broadcaster on
Speaker 2: the Astros games, and if you're driving along listening to
Speaker 2: games on XM Radio, please tune in and listen to
Speaker 2: him and Robert Ford's great by play guy. They are great.
Speaker 2: He is so good. So yes, we're doing the best
Speaker 2: of all Tim. The best player in the history of
Speaker 2: each franchise. We're picking the Houston Astros this week, and
Speaker 2: this was not easy either because Craig Bigio is in
Speaker 2: this group very very close to the top. But I'm
Speaker 2: going with Jeff Bagwell instead played his entire career like
Speaker 2: Bigio did for the Astros lifetime two ninety seven hit
Speaker 2: or four hundred and forty nine homers, fifteen hundred and
Speaker 2: twenty nine RBIs ops Jeff of nine to forty eight. Jeff,
Speaker 2: he scored fifteen hundred runs and drove in fifteen hundred runs.
Speaker 2: That is really hard to do. He's a Gold Glove
Speaker 2: first baseman. He won an MVP, of course, he won
Speaker 2: a Rookie of the Year. And he was a great
Speaker 2: soccer player Jeff in college and he was one of
Speaker 2: the best base runners in the game, not because he
Speaker 2: was one of the fastest guys on the field, but
Speaker 2: he was such a great base runner because he had
Speaker 2: such great feet. So all you young people we talk
Speaker 2: about all the time. One reason Jeff Bagwell was such
Speaker 2: a great baseball player is he was a great soccer
Speaker 2: player at the University of Hartford. And you could make
Speaker 2: a case. You certainly can make a case Bagwell's one
Speaker 2: of the ten best first basement of all time, but
Speaker 2: others will tell you he's one of the five or
Speaker 2: six best first basement of all time. That's how good
Speaker 2: Jeff Bagwell was. And for me, he's the greatest Houston
Speaker 2: astro ever.
Speaker 1: You know, one of these weeks that I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: an all jefft team.
Speaker 2: I already know.
Speaker 1: I got Bagwell and Ken first and second base, and
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna rifle through them one of these days,
Speaker 1: the all jeft team, because I think it'd be I think,
Speaker 1: do you think, right off the top of your head,
Speaker 1: with the all Jeff team beat the All Tim team.
Speaker 2: We need to get our friends at Stratamatic on this.
Speaker 2: That's a really good question.
Speaker 1: First name Tim or Timothy, first name Jeffer, Jeffrey, two
Speaker 1: different teams, one game, maybe maybe even a five game
Speaker 1: series we'll do. I want to put this, I want
Speaker 1: to put a pin in this, Okay, And I think
Speaker 1: that would be really really fun.
Speaker 2: To do with your all Tim team.
Speaker 1: I'll come up with my all Jeff team and we'll
Speaker 1: go back to our friends at Stratamatic and have them
Speaker 1: run it and see which team is better.
Speaker 2: All right, we'll do that for next week. And Jeff,
Speaker 2: you are becoming a steam head right in front of
Speaker 2: my eyes, And couldn't be prouder that my son is
Speaker 2: starting to ask these questions. What's the all Jeff team?
Speaker 2: What's the all Tim team? All right, we'll do that
Speaker 2: for next week.
Speaker 1: Okay, prouder or disappointed that I'm stooping down to your
Speaker 1: level either.
Speaker 2: Or I've corrupted you. Jeff. I'm sorry. I feel like
Speaker 2: I've corrupted some of our listeners and our viewers also.
Speaker 2: But it's a good corruption, Jeff, when you have a
Speaker 2: little bit of fun with a beautiful game like this.
Speaker 2: This is why we're on the air, Jeff, this is
Speaker 2: why we're doing this, to make sure that people understand
Speaker 2: what a wonderful, beautiful game this is dead.
Speaker 1: Speaking of steam heads, I am a seam head our
Speaker 1: new segment.
Speaker 2: If you want to submit a submission, all you got
Speaker 2: to do is.
Speaker 1: Email me Jeff at Great Game or dot com, send
Speaker 1: me a voice memo. Third to forty seconds, end it
Speaker 1: with I'm Jeff Kirchen and I am a seamhead.
Speaker 2: Obviously your own name, but explaining in that first part
Speaker 2: what makes you a seamhead? Dad?
Speaker 1: Today, Joey Malik, I have to say, Joey Malick sent
Speaker 1: you a bit of a seam heead moment back in
Speaker 1: two thousand and nine to the Baseball Tonight program, and
Speaker 1: he is now sharing that with us. He said, you
Speaker 1: ended up sharing this on the air before we get
Speaker 1: to it, though, Dad, he said, last week you had
Speaker 1: David Firstman on for the segment like me. David is
Speaker 1: a professional scrabble player.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, okay.
Speaker 1: And he had noted that David, or excuse me, he
Speaker 1: had noted that Dustin Aclee had twelve letters in his name,
Speaker 1: twelve different letters. While impressive, he came up with Buck
Speaker 1: Showalter has thirteen. And he adds that his favorite shortest
Speaker 1: word in the English language containing all the letters in
Speaker 1: Yankees is moneymakers. Really, so the shortest word in the
Speaker 1: English language that you can spell Yankees.
Speaker 2: Out of is money maker. So pretty neat.
Speaker 1: So he added all of that to the email Dad,
Speaker 1: And he also funny fact his dad went to high
Speaker 1: school with Carl Ravitschit's dad.
Speaker 2: Really, Jeff, I keep telling you one of the beauties
Speaker 2: of baseball is there are connections all over the place,
Speaker 2: do you know? I asked people all the time. Do
Speaker 2: you know this guy?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I played with him in winter Ball. Oh I
Speaker 2: played with him in Bakersfield. So you're telling me Buck Showalter,
Speaker 2: who I spoke with yesterday, has more letters in his
Speaker 2: last name without a repeating letter than anyone. Is that
Speaker 2: what you're telling me? Now?
Speaker 1: I believe it is in his first and last name,
Speaker 1: Buck Showalter, thirteen letters the most without repeating.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm gonna call Buck and tell him that because
Speaker 2: yesterday he and and I had the stupidest conversation ever. Now, Jeff,
Speaker 2: I need to share this with you. Okay. It's a
Speaker 2: pet peeve of mine. And I was slapped on the
Speaker 2: wrist the other day at Baseball Tonight. Okay, I do
Speaker 2: not understand when the trainer goes to the mound to
Speaker 2: check on the pitcher who is injured, we call him
Speaker 2: the athletic trainer. I mean, seriously, Jeff, what else is
Speaker 2: he he's what? Is he a dog trainer, an elephant trainer?
Speaker 2: Of course, he's an athletic trainer. And I think it's redundant.
Speaker 2: So when I brought this up to the assemble guys
Speaker 2: of Baseball Tonight off camera the other day, our boy
Speaker 2: Bushy there, who is one of the producers on the show.
Speaker 2: He said, my dad is an athletic trainer, and he
Speaker 2: is offended. If you just say a trainer goes to
Speaker 2: the mound, you have to call him an athletic trainer.
Speaker 2: So I was corrected on this, and that's okay. I
Speaker 2: needed to learn. I just don't think you send a
Speaker 2: personal trainer to the mound and say I think we
Speaker 2: need to do some lunges before you make this next pitch.
Speaker 2: I still think you just send the trainer to the mound.
Speaker 2: That's how I always referred to that guy who went
Speaker 2: to the mound to make sure the pitcher's all right.
Speaker 2: Is the trainer? Well, now I stand corrected. He is
Speaker 2: the athletic trainer. Well, good to know. Good to know.
Speaker 1: Along with the MLB, these are things I'm logging that
Speaker 1: I don't screw up. Okay, Well, let's get back to
Speaker 1: I am a seamhead. You and I could go off
Speaker 1: all on our pet peeves here. So back to our
Speaker 1: new friend, but not so new to you Dad. You've
Speaker 1: been in touch with him before he sent you this submission.
Speaker 1: Joey Maleck is a seam head.
Speaker 4: Let's listen on June twenty seventh, two thousand and nine,
Speaker 4: in a game between the Boston Red soft and the
Speaker 4: Atlanta Braves. Marktsee, George Kataris, and Casey Kouchman all played
Speaker 4: in the same game, the only three players in the
Speaker 4: history of baseball whose surname started with kot Now. I
Speaker 4: pointed this out to Tim and he even referenced me
Speaker 4: by name on Baseball tonight that night, so I can
Speaker 4: definitely say I'm Joey Malick and I am a seamhead.
Speaker 1: I love dad that sixteen years later, and you remember
Speaker 1: him sending this in right.
Speaker 2: Oh, I remember like it was yesterday. I remember putting
Speaker 2: it on the air that night. I've written a bunch
Speaker 2: of things over the years, and I've included Joey Mallick's
Speaker 2: name in there, and I double checked, and unless I've
Speaker 2: gotten something wrong, they are still the only three players
Speaker 2: Mark Kotsee, George Katerras, and Casey Kotchman to start their
Speaker 2: names with kot I checked this morning, and unless I've
Speaker 2: missed somebody, it still goes sixteen years later. How about that.
Speaker 2: It's pretty incredible.
Speaker 1: Sixteen years later, it stays true and it's back on
Speaker 1: I am a seam head for is this a great.
Speaker 2: Game or what again?
Speaker 1: If you want to submit, it's really easy. Record a
Speaker 1: voice memo on your phone and then email that voice
Speaker 1: memo to me Jeff at great game dot com.
Speaker 2: Dad, I have no idea what you have planned for
Speaker 2: Team ten, so I'll let you take it from here.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, Jeff, again, this is the theme of
Speaker 2: the week. It's your wedding anniversary. You and Emily were
Speaker 2: married three years ago. The day we're taping this, August
Speaker 2: April thirtieth, twenty twenty two, is the day that you
Speaker 2: got married. So I have and I think you've heard
Speaker 2: part of this before, the All Romance team as a
Speaker 2: tribute to you and Emily. The catcher is Rick Sweet.
Speaker 2: First baseman is Ryan court Court, young lady, at least
Speaker 2: you did in the thirties and forties when you were dating. Yeah, right,
Speaker 2: Ryan Bliss, Thank you for that, Jeff, it was unnecessary.
Speaker 2: Ryan Bliss is the second baseman. Jonah Bride, my new favorite,
Speaker 2: is the third baseman. Joe Sparks is the shortstop. And
Speaker 2: of course we had Steve Sparks on, but I needed
Speaker 2: a shortstop. Bobby Valentine is one outfielder. Bo Allread is
Speaker 2: another outfielder. I never heard of this guy, but I
Speaker 2: looked him up. Beauty McGowan is one of our outfielders
Speaker 2: and our pictures are my favorite. Slim Love, Ron Darling,
Speaker 2: Richard Lovelady, Brian Woo Woo, a woman I was never
Speaker 2: any good at that Mark Church, which is where you
Speaker 2: get married, and my favorite and this is a tribute
Speaker 2: to you, Jeff, Buddy Groom. That's a great one, Buddy Groom,
Speaker 2: who's almost sixty years old. And I've told you, Jeff,
Speaker 2: I just want Buddy Groom to come out of retirement
Speaker 2: and face Jonah Bride in one at bat. It was
Speaker 2: the greatest moment of our entire lives, your life, my life,
Speaker 2: everyone's life.
Speaker 1: Dan, you blew it again? What bo Jackson? Bo Bo.
Speaker 2: Dad, I'm going to take so many messages now, Oh
Speaker 2: my gosh, he blew it again. But Bo spelled b eau,
Speaker 2: not b oh, I'll tell you. And like you haven't
Speaker 2: made something stretched farther than that, right, Look, your stretch
Speaker 2: with Chris Sale today was so bad, so don't talk
Speaker 2: to me about stretching. That was worse than anything Willie
Speaker 2: McCovey ever did. And his nickname was stretch. That was
Speaker 2: worse than the kircheins against the Celtics down Please please,
Speaker 2: all right, Joe, we need to end this. You've got
Speaker 2: a meeting. Let's go. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So next week, I said it at the top of
Speaker 1: the show, a Hall of Fame baseball pitcher will be
Speaker 1: our guest.
Speaker 2: Can we not tell people who it's gonna be? No,
Speaker 2: well we can, I mean, who cares? It's our show?
Speaker 2: Do we want to tell him? Yes, We've got Tom Glavin,
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame pitcher on next week, and he's gonna
Speaker 2: talk a lot of hockey with us, because we don't
Speaker 2: know anything about hockey. He's gonna talk golf with us,
Speaker 2: He's going to talk a lot of baseball with us.
Speaker 2: He was so so enlightening on so many different topics,
Speaker 2: and he made us laugh out loud several times. Make
Speaker 2: sure to tune in for that.
Speaker 1: That'll be this coming Wednesday, and then of course episodes
Speaker 1: on Tuesday and Thursday as well. So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Speaker 1: three episodes a week. Don't miss a single one. Subscribe
Speaker 1: wherever you're listening right now, whether it's on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube,
Speaker 1: plenty of places you can listen right on our website,
Speaker 1: great Game.
Speaker 2: Or what dot com, and we'll see you next week.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening, and as always, thank you for
Speaker 1: being a part of our family.