WEBVTT - Save, Start, Save, Start, Save, WHAT? 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:07.960 Welcome back to another edition of Assis. A great game 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:10.200 or what with the Hall of Famer Tim Kirkschen. I'm 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:13.560 his son, Jeff Kirkshin and Dad. Just last night, you 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.480 and I went to a baseball game together. 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:19.840 All right, but it was more than you and me, Jeff. 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.400 We went with beautiful Emily and we went with McKinley, 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:26.480 and she got an ice You got some ice cream 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.319 and a helmet. Of course, pop out broke down and 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:32.400 bought her a You know, a stuffy Philly fanatic. How 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:34.519 could you not buy one of those while you're at 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:37.280 the game. And it was for Als, of course, the 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:41.080 Phillies do als night better than any team in baseball. 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:44.400 It was just another rewarding night for me at the 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.760 ballpark to see how much support ALS is getting. I 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:51.920 thought it was really cool, Jeff, last night that Aaron 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.760 Nola came back from paternity leave to make a start 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.640 on Louke Gerrett day. Of course, he lost his uncle 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:02.560 to Luke Garrick's disease. He pitched very well. The Phillies won, 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:05.760 so overall, a great night. And you met one of 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.960 my friends, one of my friends, Michael Brown, who has 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.600 ALS is fighting it so bravely has the one of 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:16.640 the great mottos ever, zero days to waste. So it 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:18.840 was a rewarding night for you too, agreed. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.920 Yeah, Michael Brown now a friend of mine, friend of 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.759 yours before, friend of mine too. We're gonna go get lunch. 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.479 We have some mutual friends, our buddy Matt Calper, and 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:29.720 so we're gonna go to the Collegeville Bakery, one of 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:33.640 our favorite spots here in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and grab 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:35.760 some lunch. Met his whole family, met his wife, and 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:38.440 you know, I think it's so important, And Michael and 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.720 I talked about this last night. It can be really 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:46.000 really hard when you are spending time with somebody with ALS. 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.360 There's a communication breakdown from time to time there. But 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:53.559 it's so important to remember and if there's one even 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:56.320 zero point one percent of a blessing of having a 0:01:56.360 --> 0:02:01.360 member of our family diagnosed with ALS. I learned so 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:06.080 much about the disease and I understand that IQ and 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.200 the mind is just as sharp as ever. And it 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:11.000 can be hard for ALS patients because they feel like 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:15.120 they're being spoken to differently. You know, they're being spoken 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:18.639 to like they're not still in there. So that can 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:20.840 be really difficult. So talking to Michael Brown, you know, 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:23.720 just talking baseball, it's former college baseball player. 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:24.680 It was so. 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:27.720 Special to meet his whole family and watch a Phillies 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:28.919 win at that too. 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:31.680 That was really cool, right, And it was so special 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:35.720 because you know, Milt Thompson, former Philly, Dicky Knowles, former Philly, 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:39.320 Gary Matthews, Junior Sam full were all there last night, 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:42.480 and it really matters when former big leaguers, big leaguers 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.080 show up just for you know, the cause of this 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:48.960 to support. So it was really good and it was 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.440 a good game and everyone had a good time. So 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:54.000 we move on from lou gerrig Day, which was a 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:58.160 smashing success at least in Philadelphia. And just another reminder, 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:02.120 Jeff who louke Gereg was beyond on being unbelievably courageous 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:05.440 and durable and strong. You know, he's the greatest first 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.200 basement of all time. There's really maybe not even a 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:11.280 close second, and you can make a case he's on 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:14.960 the Mount Rushmore of hitters of all time. But the 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:18.360 most important number about him is in games in which 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:22.640 he played, his team won sixty one percent of the 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:26.040 games that he played in. That's the highest number of 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:30.640 any position player playing x number of games. Derek Jeter 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:34.000 second on that list, fifty nine percent. It just shows 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:37.840 you while that guy played again, he was on great teams. 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:40.600 One of the reasons those teams were so great was 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:42.400 because of him. Yeah. 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:46.800 Absolutely, And it was an incredible, powerful day at the ballpark. 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:48.800 And if you didn't have a chance to listen to 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:52.360 our episode with our friend Boog Shambi, make sure to 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.720 go back and listen to our Lou Garrig Day special 0:03:55.760 --> 0:04:00.600 which released on Lou Garrig Day and was really neat incredible. 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:05.520 All right, Dad, let's jump into our takeaways across Major 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:10.000 League Baseball. We got a lot to talk about, right. 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:13.520 Of course, Jeff. We talked three weeks ago how bad 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.160 the American League is. Well, that's starting to change. We'll 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:18.279 get to the Mariners in a minute. But the Guardians 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:20.279 are starting to play well again, Jeff, through two and 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.039 a half games up in their division at this taping. 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:24.960 The pitching has been awfully good. 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:25.160 You know. 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:29.239 Joey Cantillo, Gavin Williams, two guys that not everybody knows. 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.200 Those guys are really good. Cantillo really has a good 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:36.400 idea how to pitch Gavin Williams has a great curveball. 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:40.040 Travis Bazana has come up, you know, Australian kid, number 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.400 one pick for the for and he's come up and 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:44.640 they have taken off since he's gotten there. He hadn't 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:47.240 been there very long, but an eight thirty eight ops 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.680 at this moment. And I think the Guardians are now 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.600 even though the White Sox are right there, the Guardians 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:57.880 have become the clear favorites in that division now because 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:01.120 of how poorly the Tigers and Royals of plays. So 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.240 just another tip of the cap to the Guardians, who 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:08.720 small payroll, lose players, lose players to suspension. All this 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:12.200 and Stephen Vote, who's a wizard of this, keeps everyone 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:15.240 together and they keep on winning. You lived in Cleveland, 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.920 you see the same thing, right, Jeff? Yeah. 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:21.559 You know one could say that that is a football town. 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:24.719 That's how they would describe themselves, to be completely honest. 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.640 But you know I lived in the years of Lebron 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:31.680 James and the NBA Finals champions twenty sixteen. I was 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.159 there in Cleveland with my first radio job, and I 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:37.560 mean that city is starving for a World Series. They 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:39.920 really really are. I mean it's been years. You talk 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:42.680 about length of curses for lack of a better term, 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:45.920 When they lost the World Series in twenty sixteen, the 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:51.240 drought between the Cubs and the Indians of that time 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.200 was like well over one hundred and sixty years. I mean, 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:57.000 it was crazy. It was the World Series of drought, 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:01.960 and obviously the Cubs came victorious, breaking incredible streak of 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:06.200 World Series less years. But I will say, Dad, I 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:10.040 think I love to see the Guardians win. I think 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:12.359 it's a great program. I think Jose Ramirez, Dad, you 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.080 and I have said this from the beginning, is the 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:17.400 most underrated superstar in the game, and it's not close. 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:21.200 He's a first ballot Hall of Famer, right, yes. 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.400 And he's gonna if he keeps us up another five 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.760 years and just continues to be a great player for 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:31.240 five more years, he's gonna end up potentially being the 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:35.520 greatest Cleveland Guardian or Indian of all time, passing maybe 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:39.719 even Bob Feller. Well we'll see about that, okay. Jeff 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:42.400 Jacob deGrom won his one hundredth game the other day, 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:46.080 so he is now one hundred and sixty nine is 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:49.080 his record, So it's almost six hundred winning percentage, got 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:52.440 a two point six y one era, has averaged eight 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:56.120 ten point eight strikeouts per nine innings, which is amazingly 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:58.960 high for a starting pitcher. He's won two Cy Young's 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.880 five All Star Games, and you know, people have asked 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:06.039 me all the time after those spectacular seasons, is he 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:08.640 a Hall of Famer. I'm not ready to answer that 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.760 right now, because you know, he's only won one hundred games, 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:15.040 but he's got a war very similar to that of 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:18.640 Johan Santana, who is a borderline Hall of Famer, even 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:21.280 though he gets very little support at the moment. But 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:25.440 we'll just open it up to our listeners and our readers, like, 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:28.040 what are we gonna do with Jacob de gram as 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:30.160 we move ahead here? Because one hundred wins as the 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:32.840 starting pitcher is not getting you in the Hall of Fame. 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.680 But you look at the other dominance that low era 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:38.960 double Cy Young's strikeout rate. I mean, he was as 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:41.480 good a picture. He was the best pitcher in the 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:44.840 game for three four years, I would think. So it's 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.280 a very interesting case with him. But when you look 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:49.640 at the career numbers at the moment, they kind of 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:53.080 stack up with Steven Strasburg and you know Corey Klueber, 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:56.240 Zach Wheeler, Brandon Webb, and you know those guys are 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:58.720 not Hall of Famers. Well, but you know this guy 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:01.400 has a chance. But he's in his mid to upper 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:04.440 thirties now and he's only got one hundred wins. So 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:07.240 all those injuries that worked against him. But I'd just 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.520 be interested to see what our really sharp listeners and 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:11.800 viewers think about this. 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:14.480 You know they are always sending us great things online. 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.400 Maybe they can, you know, sense in comparisons to some 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:21.240 other borderline or current Hall of famers. Let us know, 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:23.040 great game or what dot com we want to hear 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:23.640 from you? 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:28.040 Right, So, Jeff, we know how much pitching has changed 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:30.760 in the big leagues today. We have openers, we have 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.880 starters who are only allowed to go eighty pitchers. So 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:37.480 Richard Lovelady, what a name for a baseball player. He's 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:41.000 on our All Romance team and everything else. But from 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.800 May fifteen to twenty three, he had a five appearance 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:49.520 stretch where he saved a game, next appearance, he started 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:53.400 a game, then he saved a game in his next appearance, 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.080 started a game in his next appearance, and then saved 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:01.280 a game in his next, so he went save, start, safe, start, save. 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:04.720 I mean, how do we explain that this is what 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:09.000 the opener does? Okay, but it also shows the flexibility 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:12.520 of these guys that they tell you're Richard, we need 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.199 you to start tomorrow. You're only gonna go throw one inning, 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:17.440 but we need you to start, and then tomorrow you're 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:19.760 gonna have to close. I mean, this is the way 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:22.400 the game works now, and you don't have to like it, 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:26.400 but this is how teams are setting up their bullpens 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:29.600 and their rotations. Right, how are we going to cover today? 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:33.400 And Richard Lovelady for at least a five appearance stretch, 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:37.520 did it in a very unique way? Safe start, safe, start, 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:38.600 say crazy? 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:41.560 See that too often? Yeah, definitely. And we just saw 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.360 a Sunda Night baseball game together, Dad, and it was 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:48.200 a bullpen game, and we're thinking, how are you saving 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:51.000 a bullpen game for Sunday night baseball. It's a big 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:55.440 national game. But it's it's to them, to managers, to teams, 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:57.200 it doesn't matter what day of the week it is. 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:00.000 They have to make that happen. So you run into safe, 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:05.160 start safe, start safe. 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:10.199 This isn't exactly a takeaway, Jeff, but I was talking 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:12.800 to my friend Jeff Bradley the other day, really good 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:16.040 baseball writer in his day. I work with him at 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:20.839 ESPN the magazine, and he went on to make it 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:25.560 start a new business. He makes baseball gloves for kids, 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.959 not for adults, just for kids. And they're really high 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.600 quality gloves that help a kid teach teaches a kid 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:35.040 how to catch a ball better because a lot of 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:38.240 our kids really don't even know the mechanics of catching 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:41.120 the ball. But the gloves he makes really help a 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:43.880 kid learn how to play the game. But he said, 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:46.320 My point is, he said an interesting thing to me 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:49.200 when I called him the other day that he just 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:56.040 finished an order of fifty ambidextrous gloves, no fifty yes, 0:10:56.760 --> 0:10:59.720 and he sold all fifty of them and had to 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:04.840 or are fifty more Ambidextro's gloves. And he's selling these 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.400 to kids who are under twelve and under. I mean, 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:11.560 he's just selling them to kids. These aren't high school 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:14.760 seniors who have this ability to throw with both hands 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.120 and can pitch, you know, in high school. He's doing 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.520 this for twelve year old Does this surprise you at all? 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:23.160 There are this many parent slash kids who want their 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:25.480 child to be able to throw with both hands. 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:28.880 I mean, it definitely surprises me at that My parent 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:32.160 mind just came into maybe if they have a right 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:35.080 handed and a left handed child, they could kill two 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:38.040 birds with one stone by buying one of these, because 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:40.600 I know, even now, Dad, how pathetic is this. The 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:44.960 toys and the clothes we buy McKinley we tried to 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.080 buy as of late, since we're finding out we're going 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:49.920 to have a son any day, we try to find 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:53.040 something that could fit both of them, vibe wise, like 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:56.360 we got McKinley a Phillies jersey and we got here 0:11:56.440 --> 0:12:00.960 the traditional pinstripes as opposed to like a pink one, 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:04.120 which is the one she wanted to wear, because body 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:07.920 won't be looking as good in a pink Billies jersey 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:11.520 when he is three years old, right, So maybe they're 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:13.760 using it as a Hey, you know, I want my 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.480 son or daughter to be able to experience both sides, 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:18.760 or I have a right handed and a left handed child, 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:20.800 go big well. 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.800 By the way, McKinley is the best dressed two year 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.760 old girl in the history of two year old children. 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:30.000 The way the way Emily dresses are every day is 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:33.160 just immaculate. It's amazing. And when I walk around with 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.160 her and taking a where are I went this week, 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:38.040 she outdressed me by one hundred miles and she's only 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:40.480 two years old. Not the point, Jeff, I just found 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:44.640 it interesting that parents are looking at ambidextrous children here 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:46.960 at a very young age. I'm decided if that's good 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:49.280 or I'm sure it's not bad. But let's just see 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:51.880 if it works. Because Jeff Bradley was a little bit 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:55.360 surprised that he sold fifty gloves very quickly and had 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:56.920 to order fifty more. 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.760 Incredible. All right, Dad, are you ready to jump into 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:01.000 the game changer of the week. 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:05.040 Yeah? The game changer is well, it's a game changer, 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.520 but it's more of an American League changer because right 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:11.280 now the Mariners have figured it out. As you remember, 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:14.120 Jeff and I was there, they came one game away 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:17.720 from going to the World Series last year for the 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:20.240 first time. George Springer of the Blue Jays hit a 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.760 monstrous home run and helped send the Mariners home. But 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:27.520 at this moment, that the Mariners have won eight games 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:30.520 in a row, finally we're starting to see the Mariner 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:33.640 team that we thought we would see from opening Day 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:37.440 on and it just hasn't happened. Well, it's happening now. 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:40.280 And since May the first, Jeff, they have hit forty 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:44.280 seven home runs. That's the most homers of any team 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:47.400 in the Major leagues. And Jeff, we've learned this. You've 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:49.760 got to hit the ball out of the ballpark if 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:52.199 you're gonna win games today, like it or not, that's 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.080 how you win these days, because as Boot Shamby was 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:57.760 telling us, and I've been told this for years, it's 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:00.840 a lot easier to maybe hit a home run every 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.319 fourth to fifth, sixth at bat, then stream three hits 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:08.720 in a row against a really good pitcher in today's game. 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:12.880 So forty seven homers since May one. Julio Rodriguez, their 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:17.520 star center fielder, has eleven homers since May the first, 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:20.720 Tyan Kyle Schwarber for the most in the major leagues 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:23.600 at that time. But it's been so much more than them, 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.320 it's been like the whole team. Cole Young, you know, 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:29.760 he's got thirty RBI's already. Luke Railey's kind of not 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.600 come out of nowhere, but he's got thirty one RBIs 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.320 eight ninety two ops and they've done this, you know, 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:40.800 without cal Rawley, who's been on the injured list for 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.160 a couple of weeks now with an injury, and you 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:45.440 know he wasn't hitting at all before he got hurt. 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.480 What if he comes back, Jeff and really starts to 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:51.120 swing the bat, that's really going to change the game 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:55.200 for the Mariners and for everyone else. But more important, Jeff, 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.160 their pitching is great, which we all knew going into 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:01.680 the season, absolutely great. In this eight game winning streak, 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:06.400 they've allowed a total of eighteen runs. And you know, 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:09.280 the five starters they can throw out there when everybody's 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:13.960 healthy is absolutely filthy. And even Emerson Hancock, who wasn't 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:16.560 one of their four best pitchers to start the season, 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:20.080 he's off to a great start. So I really really 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:23.400 like where the Mariners are now. Too all early to say, oh, 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.000 they're going to run away with this division, but finally 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:29.120 we've seen the Mariners. They have changed the American League. 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.120 And if they keep playing like this, Jeff, they could 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:35.160 change the game because they could go into October in 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:38.200 theory as the team to beat. Am I right about 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:39.000 this now. 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:42.280 And they're a fun team. They were so enjoyable in 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:44.600 the playoffs last year. It was one of those teams 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:49.000 where if you didn't have someone running, you wanted to 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:53.440 see the Mariners in it and win it. Because anytime 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:56.680 a team is droughting a city hasn't had one in years, 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:58.560 you love to see that. So I'd love to see 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.000 them make a deep run again. Really fun and they're 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:03.560 a great game changer, especially for the American League. 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.520 Right and one of those forty seven homers, and we'll 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:10.440 talk about this later in the podcast, was hit by 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:15.040 Patrick Wisdom. Patrick Wisdom played last year in Korea. He's 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:17.440 shit a lot of home runs at his major league career, 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:19.720 but this is the first one he's hit this year 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:25.800 after coming back from Korea. So Patrick Wisdom is what 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.080 we're going to play with on Team Tim. Let's see 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:30.920 if anyone could figure that out. There are only two options, 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:33.400 so we'll figure that out as we go along. We'll 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:35.600 have a Team Tim a little bit later today. 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:39.200 Our Game Changer is brought to you by our friends 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:43.200 at Game Changer, the number one youth sports app that 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:45.880 helps you coach smarter, connect live and replay the action. 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:51.080 Learn more at GC dot com right now. In fact, Dad, 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:55.400 one of our nieces Juliana, was actually playing in the 0:16:55.520 --> 0:17:01.080 softball Championship all the way in California, and Emily and 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:03.480 I who you know, she's forty weeks pregnant at this 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:06.400 point pretty much were unable to make it out there, 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:08.399 so we watched it on Game Changer. How cool is 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:10.160 that from across the country. 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:15.480 It's so perfect. That is so cool. I probably saw 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:17.719 every one of your little league games when you were 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:20.919 a kid because I helped with the team. I helped 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:25.440 coach the basketball team. So if we had had this 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:28.680 twenty years ago when you were twelve, I could have 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:30.120 watched all your games. 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:32.800 It would have been so great. So our parents and 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:35.280 coaches can take advantage of it. Right now, go to 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:39.720 GC dot com. Okay, dad, let's jump into the cork Jins. 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:40.639 What do you have for us? 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.160 All right, this is a little old. This was on Sunday, 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.800 But the Yankees scored thirteen runs in one inning the 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:49.240 other day on Sunday, and they went down they they 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:52.760 had the minimum batters in the other eight innings combined. 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:56.080 It was just like nothing we've ever seen. So they 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:58.919 are the one of two teams in history, joining the 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:03.800 twenty twenty one Blue Jays to score ten runs or more. 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:07.040 In an inning, the Yankees scored thirteen and not have 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:09.560 a hit in the rest of the game, second team 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:12.960 since nineteen hundred to do that. They're the first team 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:15.840 since the two thousand and nine Red Sox to score 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:20.000 ten runs in an inning before an out was recorded. 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:23.480 I mean, it's just unbelievable. And they're the third team 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:28.120 ever to score thirteen runs in one inning and not 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:32.080 score at any other point before or after in the 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:35.200 game Phillies at the Reds in two thousand and three, 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:39.240 Braves at the Astros in nineteen seventy two. So to 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:44.120 say the least, that was a historic inning. Jeff thirteen batters, 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:49.280 and my friend Kevin Connors from ESPN texted me he's 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:53.240 said eighteen batters went to the play. I didn't even 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:56.440 double check. Eighteen batters went to the plate in that inning? 0:18:56.880 --> 0:19:03.120 Does that mean the Yankees batted around twice? So? I 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:05.720 how do you feel, Jeff, I'm not sure how do 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:08.920 you feel about batting around? What is batting around? To you? 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:13.600 Batting around is there has to be nine I'm sorry ten, 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:17.240 it has to be the tenth person because you've batted around, 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:19.639 not batted the whole lineup. So you have to get 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.199 to the tenth because now we're around in the lineup. 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:25.080 We're back to the beginning here. We are, so to 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:28.560 me that that wouldn't do it. You would need a 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.480 guy to bat three times in the inning to bat 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:33.520 around twice. Does that make sense? 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:37.000 Right? Yes? Yes, totally agree. I'm with you on that. Again, 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:39.480 there's no right or wrong answer there. It's an interpretive 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:44.520 stat but I think batting around means you bat ten 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:46.760 batters in an inning, not just nine. 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.360 Okay, I mean, let's open it up really fast, Great 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:52.200 game or what dot Com. If anybody disagrees and can 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:55.160 make an argument with that, let us know. You can 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:58.880 message Tim or myself directly on our website, Great game 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:01.440 or what dot Com. I mean. You can also follow 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:04.080 us on social media at great game or what. We've 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:06.840 got videos up there behind the scenes, and of course 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:10.400 subscribe to us on YouTube because we're really pushing out 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:12.280 the video end of this podcast. We'd love for you 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:15.000 to watch us instead of just listening. Now, we love 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:17.639 those who listen to We get it. We got busy lives. 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:19.960 But if you do all three, let's do it. Why 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:22.240 not check it out at Great game or What. 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:31.719 Speaking of a lot of runs being scored. The Giants 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:35.399 the other day scored in eight of their nine innings 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:38.960 against the Rockies. So the last team to score in 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:42.880 eight of nine innings was the Orioles against the Yankees 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:46.200 in twenty twenty four. The last team to score in 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:49.479 all nine innings, I mean they bat they're the visiting 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:51.800 team where they could be the home team and went 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:53.520 on a walk off at the bottom of the ninth 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:56.720 to a score run in all nine innings was the 0:20:56.800 --> 0:21:01.280 Rockies against the Cubs on May fifth, nineteen ninety five. Jeff, 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:03.800 does that sound like a long time to you? That was? 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:08.639 You know, that was thirty one years ago? Right? Yeah? 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:12.199 I thought it would have happened since then. But again, 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:14.320 this is what makes the game so confusing to me. 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:16.720 I mean, I was only two years old at that time. Dad, 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:20.240 how long time ago? Podcasts would be way less interesting 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:22.040 if we were hosting it at nineteen ninety five, I 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:23.000 wouldn't have much. 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:27.400 To say, right, I agree, Jeff. All right, the Angels 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:29.880 aren't very good, Jeff, but they've hit five Grand Slams 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:32.480 this year. I shouldn't put you on the spot because 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:34.320 I have a chance to embarrass you. What do you 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:37.800 think the record is for most Grand Slams by a 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:42.240 team in one season? So the Angels are at five 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:45.879 and we're about at the third pole. So multiply it 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:49.760 by three, let's say, which is highly unlikely, but that 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:53.320 would be fifteen Grand slams. Are you over under? I'll 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:56.679 give it to you that way, over under fifteen Grand 0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:59.640 slams being the most in one season of all time 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:00.280 by team. 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:02.760 I think you just showed your cards, which you said, 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:06.879 multiply it by three, highly unlikely, fifteen Grand slams, So 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:08.040 I'm gonna say under. 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:11.480 Yes, under is the answer. I gave it away, Jeff. 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:17.600 That's well fourteen. The two thousand A's hit fourteen Grand slams, 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:22.240 the two thousand and six then Indians hit fourteen Grand Slams. 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:25.280 I'm fascinated by Grand Slams because a lot of teams 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:28.120 hit them others, don't they come in bunches? Pretty crazy? 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:31.560 Speaking of pretty crazy, Jeff. In Seattle the other night, 0:22:31.560 --> 0:22:34.760 at the bottom of the seventh inning, Jared Young was 0:22:34.800 --> 0:22:39.320 the first baseman for the Mets and Cole Young was 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:44.200 on first base for the Mariners, and the first base 0:22:44.280 --> 0:22:49.040 coach for the Mariners was Eric young junior. So we 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:52.119 had a young in the first base coaches box, a 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:55.720 young on first base, and a young as the first 0:22:55.760 --> 0:22:57.600 base forever young, right. 0:22:57.520 --> 0:22:59.680 Forever, forevery young. 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:01.680 I want to be. 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:04.680 For ever young. Great song, Great song. 0:23:04.640 --> 0:23:07.879 Jeff, you can really sing, man, And I do not 0:23:08.080 --> 0:23:11.440 understand how you're able to do that being my son, because, 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:16.040 as we've talked about many times, I'm just so unskilled 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:21.600 in everything, playing an instrument, singing art, you know, carpentry, anything. 0:23:21.640 --> 0:23:24.600 I'm just so bad. Thank goodness, I can feed the dogs. 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:27.239 You know, you got one thing you can do, and 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:30.280 you're and baseball. You're really good at baseball, Dag. Give 0:23:30.320 --> 0:23:31.680 yourself a little more credit in that. 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:36.879 All right, last thing comes. This is a viewer mail 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:41.119 from Bill Flannagan, who's become a really frequent He's like 0:23:41.160 --> 0:23:43.760 one of our best guys now on the podcast. And 0:23:43.840 --> 0:23:46.600 I knew Bill and Dallas a million years ago. So 0:23:46.800 --> 0:23:50.040 he sent this to me the other day. He said, 0:23:50.560 --> 0:23:54.280 let me tell you what the podcast has turned me into. 0:23:54.440 --> 0:23:59.440 Oh no, okay, So clearly we have corrupted Bill Flannagan, 0:23:59.560 --> 0:24:02.360 so hero and I don't even know if this is true. 0:24:02.600 --> 0:24:05.639 He just writes, Tim, see if you can name the 0:24:05.720 --> 0:24:09.640 two players in Major League history who spelled their name 0:24:09.760 --> 0:24:13.639 Cody but with a K, so ko d y, and 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:16.760 he gives me these big clues. Both of them have 0:24:16.880 --> 0:24:19.960 played for the Twins, and both of them were born 0:24:20.040 --> 0:24:21.600 in nineteen ninety. 0:24:21.280 --> 0:24:23.560 Six, so Lemons is one of them. 0:24:23.600 --> 0:24:26.600 I know Cody Clemens is absolutely right, and you'll never 0:24:26.640 --> 0:24:29.840 get Cody Funderberg, but he just pitched a couple of 0:24:29.920 --> 0:24:34.760 years ago, so I remember him. So I like this. 0:24:34.760 --> 0:24:36.800 This is not great that I got this right, but 0:24:36.840 --> 0:24:38.800 I got this right. But it just made me think 0:24:38.840 --> 0:24:43.480 about Bill Flanagan. Sure, his wife says, Bill, can you 0:24:43.520 --> 0:24:47.000 mow the law today or something? And he says, honey, sorry, 0:24:47.600 --> 0:24:51.639 I have to look up all the Cody's in baseball history. 0:24:51.680 --> 0:24:54.600 He spelled their name with a K. I'll be back later. 0:24:54.920 --> 0:24:56.600 How do you think, how do you think that's going 0:24:56.680 --> 0:25:00.160 to work at the flattage house? Probably not too good, right, if. 0:25:00.119 --> 0:25:03.359 You've somehow managed to stay married all these years whilst 0:25:03.520 --> 0:25:08.520 having to do things like that. So yeah, I mean, 0:25:08.760 --> 0:25:11.520 obviously he can use us as the excuse, but your 0:25:11.560 --> 0:25:14.000 excuse is your job. I guess. I guess that's the 0:25:14.000 --> 0:25:16.679 best excuse for you. That was our Quirk Gins, what 0:25:16.680 --> 0:25:19.560 do you have for on the state in Baseball History? 0:25:19.640 --> 0:25:23.720 June the fourth, Yeah, June the fourth, two thousand and nine, 0:25:23.880 --> 0:25:27.080 Randy Johnson won his three hundredth game, came in Washington, 0:25:27.160 --> 0:25:29.640 beat the Nationals five to one. I was there that night. 0:25:29.760 --> 0:25:32.760 And let's just be clear, as much as we talk about, 0:25:33.000 --> 0:25:36.119 you know, Sandy Kolfax and Warren Spahn and Lefty Grove 0:25:36.200 --> 0:25:39.040 and all these incredible left handed pictures of all time, 0:25:40.240 --> 0:25:42.679 you could certainly make a case at least that Randy 0:25:42.760 --> 0:25:45.840 Johnson is the greatest left hander. I would still say 0:25:45.840 --> 0:25:48.520 it's Lefty Grove, but you know, it's a debatable point. 0:25:48.520 --> 0:25:52.920 As far as intimidating pictures of all time, Randy Johnson's 0:25:52.960 --> 0:25:54.720 near the top of that. Listen, Jeff, We've got to 0:25:54.720 --> 0:25:57.880 get him on the podcast because he's not just a 0:25:57.880 --> 0:26:01.360 great pitcher Hall of Fame pier. He's a great photographer 0:26:01.359 --> 0:26:04.440 now and his stuff has shown at the Hall of Fame. 0:26:04.520 --> 0:26:06.280 So when I when we go to the I when 0:26:06.359 --> 0:26:08.159 we go to the Hall of Fame this year, Jeff, 0:26:08.280 --> 0:26:10.320 I am gonna go to Randy and say can we 0:26:10.359 --> 0:26:12.440 get you on the podcast? Hopefully he'll say yes. 0:26:13.200 --> 0:26:16.200 I think he will. I mean, I've seen so many 0:26:16.280 --> 0:26:19.520 interviews with him online. I also saw an interview with 0:26:19.640 --> 0:26:25.399 John Montefusco online, who's still out and about and doing things. 0:26:25.480 --> 0:26:25.720 Dad. 0:26:25.800 --> 0:26:28.399 I saw it immediately after you brought up the story 0:26:28.440 --> 0:26:31.800 of you making your own John Montafusco jersey, and respectfully, 0:26:31.800 --> 0:26:33.679 I hope this comes off right. You know, if we're 0:26:33.720 --> 0:26:36.400 talking about a player you watched growing up, he might 0:26:36.560 --> 0:26:38.479 no longer be with us. And I type it in 0:26:38.520 --> 0:26:40.720 on YouTube and he did an interview on a podcast 0:26:40.760 --> 0:26:43.680 in May of twenty twenty six. John. 0:26:44.160 --> 0:26:47.159 I made sure John Montafusco was still alive because if 0:26:47.160 --> 0:26:49.040 he died, I would have known that because he was 0:26:49.080 --> 0:26:53.119 my favorite pitcher with the Giants. And I'm people didn't 0:26:53.160 --> 0:26:55.960 hear this. I with your with your grandmother's help, I 0:26:56.040 --> 0:26:59.720 made up my own John Montafusco jersey. It was absolutely 0:26:59.680 --> 0:27:03.840 rediculously ironed on the number twenty six. It was terrible, 0:27:04.119 --> 0:27:06.080 but it was That's what I did. That's what I 0:27:06.119 --> 0:27:08.439 did in high school when I was completely lost in 0:27:08.480 --> 0:27:11.639 my life and all I cared about was baseball. And 0:27:11.680 --> 0:27:15.840 here it is fifty years later. Nothing has changed. Thing 0:27:15.880 --> 0:27:19.680 has changed, all right. This is a sad but jet. 0:27:19.720 --> 0:27:23.359 But on this date in twenty fourteen, Don Zimmer died. 0:27:23.840 --> 0:27:28.280 Don Zimmer is maybe the toughest player that I've ever 0:27:28.400 --> 0:27:31.879 met in my life. Remember, I can't believe I'm going 0:27:31.920 --> 0:27:33.959 to tell you this, but Zim got hit in the 0:27:34.000 --> 0:27:38.760 head when he was a player, and it just it 0:27:38.840 --> 0:27:41.840 knocked him out for the rest of the year. And 0:27:42.040 --> 0:27:44.960 he was in a coma. And he woke up like 0:27:45.160 --> 0:27:48.080 days later and thought he had been out for like 0:27:48.400 --> 0:27:52.160 half an hour and he had been knocked out for days. 0:27:52.240 --> 0:27:55.600 He lost twenty eight pounds, He had to relearn how 0:27:55.640 --> 0:27:59.159 to walk and talk because he got hit in the 0:27:59.280 --> 0:28:03.600 head with a pitch. But and he comes back the 0:28:03.640 --> 0:28:06.680 next year, and I'll never forget that. Zim looked at me. God, 0:28:06.720 --> 0:28:08.960 he was a tough man, Jeff. He looked at me, 0:28:09.000 --> 0:28:10.920 and he said, when I came back. And he's in 0:28:10.960 --> 0:28:12.760 the minor leagues at the time, he said, when I 0:28:12.840 --> 0:28:15.200 came back, he said, you know what they did. They 0:28:15.240 --> 0:28:18.120 threw at me again. They threw at him back then 0:28:18.160 --> 0:28:21.240 because they knew he's going to be gun shy. We're 0:28:21.280 --> 0:28:24.960 going to throw at him and we will completely make 0:28:25.040 --> 0:28:27.480 him useless at the plate because he'll be afraid because 0:28:27.480 --> 0:28:29.080 he'll be thrown at him. You know what he said, 0:28:29.359 --> 0:28:33.240 I moved even closer to the plate. That's Don Zimmer 0:28:33.280 --> 0:28:36.560 for me. That's what the old tough guys were all about. 0:28:36.600 --> 0:28:38.880 He wasn't the most talented major league player, but he 0:28:38.920 --> 0:28:41.800 was a good shortstop. He played on some good teams, 0:28:41.920 --> 0:28:44.720 was a really good manager. And Jeff I could say 0:28:44.760 --> 0:28:48.400 this without hesitation. He had one of the great influences 0:28:48.480 --> 0:28:50.960 in my life. When I was covering the eighty two 0:28:51.120 --> 0:28:55.400 Rangers for the Dallas Morning News, he was the manager 0:28:55.600 --> 0:28:58.200 and the team was terrible. Well I didn't know that 0:28:58.280 --> 0:29:00.800 going into the season because it was my first year 0:29:00.840 --> 0:29:04.160 in Texas on the beat. So they had lost eleven 0:29:04.240 --> 0:29:07.520 games in a row in May and I strolled into 0:29:07.600 --> 0:29:10.840 Zim's office and he looks at me because I have this, 0:29:11.240 --> 0:29:13.600 you know, this haggard look on my face, and he goes, 0:29:13.640 --> 0:29:16.600 what's wrong with you? I said, Zim, I must tell you, 0:29:17.560 --> 0:29:20.360 covering this team hasn't been as much fun as I 0:29:20.440 --> 0:29:22.480 thought it would be. And then he looks at me, 0:29:22.560 --> 0:29:24.920 and I'm quoting here he goes, I quit complaining. Look 0:29:24.920 --> 0:29:26.880 at you. You're young, you're good looking, you got your 0:29:26.920 --> 0:29:29.360 whole life in front of you. Look at me. I'm old, 0:29:29.440 --> 0:29:31.840 I'm fat, I'm bald, I'm ugly. I got a plate 0:29:31.840 --> 0:29:34.520 in my head, and I've got this team to manage. 0:29:34.800 --> 0:29:38.479 I'm the one with the worries. So quit complaining and 0:29:38.640 --> 0:29:42.400 just recognize how fortunate you are to be covering major 0:29:42.480 --> 0:29:45.880 League baseball at that time. At Jeff, I really didn't 0:29:45.920 --> 0:29:48.800 need anyone to tell me how lucky I was at 0:29:48.840 --> 0:29:51.400 that point in my life to be doing exactly what 0:29:51.440 --> 0:29:53.840 I wanted to do. But when Zim let me have 0:29:53.920 --> 0:29:57.760 it that day, good naturedly, but he was right. I've 0:29:57.800 --> 0:30:01.240 never forgotten that, and I always remember that despite all 0:30:01.280 --> 0:30:03.680 the hard work and everything else, it's still I don't 0:30:03.680 --> 0:30:06.400 care how corny to this sounds a privilege and an 0:30:06.440 --> 0:30:09.240 honor to cover major League baseball after all these years. 0:30:09.440 --> 0:30:11.840 Yeah, Dad, I keep looking over to my right because 0:30:12.000 --> 0:30:15.920 I have a picture of me and Don Zimmer when 0:30:15.920 --> 0:30:18.080 he was with the at the time, I believe they 0:30:18.080 --> 0:30:21.000 were still the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The picture was 0:30:21.040 --> 0:30:24.440 taken on August ninth, two thousand and four, my first 0:30:24.560 --> 0:30:27.480 ever time at Fenway Park, where you surprised me for 0:30:27.600 --> 0:30:31.959 my birthday, and he has his hat off and I 0:30:32.000 --> 0:30:35.360 can't help. I remember him making a joke about how 0:30:35.360 --> 0:30:37.720 he had no hair left, and you're in the back 0:30:37.800 --> 0:30:40.960 laughing as if that was the joke he just made. 0:30:41.120 --> 0:30:44.800 You know what, on YouTube, I'll put the picture over 0:30:44.880 --> 0:30:47.520 me talking about it right now that it's I mean, 0:30:47.600 --> 0:30:52.720 you are laughing, typical Tim Kirkston chuckle. It's great, it's great. 0:30:52.760 --> 0:30:54.600 And he was in the dugout, the visiting dougout. 0:30:56.080 --> 0:30:59.479 Zim once told me as nineteen eighty two of covering 0:30:59.480 --> 0:31:01.800 the Ranger and just for fun, because he was such 0:31:01.800 --> 0:31:04.080 a fun loving guy, even though the toughest son of 0:31:04.120 --> 0:31:06.600 it which I've ever met in my life. He looks 0:31:06.600 --> 0:31:08.440 at me and he were right next to the batting 0:31:08.480 --> 0:31:11.440 circle and he says to me, okay, you and me 0:31:11.800 --> 0:31:14.600 right now, both of us in this circle, only one 0:31:14.600 --> 0:31:16.840 of us comes out alive. Who's going to win? 0:31:16.920 --> 0:31:21.120 And I'm like, Zim would crush me. He would crush 0:31:21.200 --> 0:31:24.280 my bones in like five seconds. He would throw me 0:31:24.400 --> 0:31:27.440 into the stands from there. That's how much stronger he 0:31:27.560 --> 0:31:29.440 was than me, even though he was only you know, 0:31:29.560 --> 0:31:30.600 five inches taller. 0:31:30.640 --> 0:31:33.480 But I'll never forget Don Zimmer and what he meant 0:31:33.480 --> 0:31:36.280 to me in my career. But more important what he 0:31:36.400 --> 0:31:40.440 meant to baseball. He was an all time baseball man, 0:31:40.600 --> 0:31:44.360 got married at home plate in Elmira, New York. As 0:31:44.400 --> 0:31:48.000 a minor leaguer. Nobody personified the love of the game 0:31:48.080 --> 0:31:52.440 really more than Zim. So rest in peace, Don Zimmer. 0:31:52.520 --> 0:31:54.920 Twelve years ago, on this day we lost him and 0:31:55.040 --> 0:32:03.600 a terrible loss for the game. So on this day, 0:32:03.720 --> 0:32:07.640 Jeff in nineteen twenty six, Bill O'Donnell was born. Now, 0:32:07.680 --> 0:32:11.840 Bill O'Donnell was a great broadcaster doing the Oriole game, 0:32:12.000 --> 0:32:14.440 and he did a bunch of other sports, but I 0:32:14.480 --> 0:32:17.280 grew up listening to him on the Orioles game. So 0:32:17.320 --> 0:32:19.600 when I went to the University of Maryland, one of 0:32:19.600 --> 0:32:23.720 my dear friends there, Joe McCreary, told me that while 0:32:23.720 --> 0:32:27.680 we're in college, he goes, Bill o'donald's my all time 0:32:27.720 --> 0:32:31.080 favorite broadcaster. And Joe was very discerning, meaning he didn't 0:32:31.120 --> 0:32:34.240 love everybody. So when I started covering the Rangers, I 0:32:34.240 --> 0:32:38.000 mean the Orioles, like four years after graduate, three years 0:32:38.040 --> 0:32:41.600 after graduating from college, I told Bill O'Donnell on the 0:32:41.600 --> 0:32:45.320 bus once. I said, by the way, one of my 0:32:45.560 --> 0:32:49.600 college you know friends just thought thinks you're the greatest 0:32:49.600 --> 0:32:52.400 broadcaster of all time. I didn't want a favor. I 0:32:52.680 --> 0:32:57.040 never asked for favors from anyone, and he said, oh really, 0:32:57.160 --> 0:32:59.080 He said, why don't you get me his address? And 0:32:59.240 --> 0:33:03.880 Bill O'Donnell wrote a five page letter to my friend 0:33:04.200 --> 0:33:08.280 Joe McCreery just to thank him for being such a 0:33:08.400 --> 0:33:11.760 great fan, not just a Bill O'Donnell, of course, but 0:33:11.880 --> 0:33:16.160 of the Orioles and of baseball. Yeah, that's how things 0:33:16.280 --> 0:33:19.480 used to work in the late seventies and early eighties. 0:33:19.560 --> 0:33:22.920 Doesn't work that way anymore, but I'm still taking I 0:33:23.240 --> 0:33:26.040 Bill died years ago, but I just loved being around 0:33:26.080 --> 0:33:29.600 him early late seventies, early eighties in Baltimore. He was 0:33:29.800 --> 0:33:33.280 such a great broadcaster and such a great friend. Five 0:33:33.320 --> 0:33:36.160 page story to a knucklehead he's never met in his life. 0:33:36.280 --> 0:33:38.200 Pretty cool. Huh. 0:33:38.440 --> 0:33:40.920 Yeah, that's so special. And I think the joint love 0:33:41.040 --> 0:33:45.480 of baseball creates connections like nothing else. I mean, take 0:33:45.560 --> 0:33:48.520 Michael Brown we mentioned at the top of the show. Dad, Like, 0:33:48.880 --> 0:33:53.040 just sitting talking about his baseball college career was so 0:33:53.160 --> 0:33:54.800 much fun for me. I got to talk to him 0:33:54.800 --> 0:33:57.719 about what position he played, and how good these players 0:33:57.760 --> 0:33:59.680 are on the field right now that we're watching. I mean, 0:34:00.000 --> 0:34:03.920 baseball bonds people together in ways that I mean, listen, 0:34:03.960 --> 0:34:06.640 we're biased, but I just don't feel like other sports 0:34:06.680 --> 0:34:10.920 do it quite as detailed as baseball does. Maybe I'm wrong, 0:34:11.760 --> 0:34:15.399 probably take some heat, but I do think that at 0:34:15.400 --> 0:34:18.600 the end of the day, baseball bonds people beautiful. 0:34:18.920 --> 0:34:21.359 Well, that's why we love it so much. And on 0:34:21.360 --> 0:34:23.960 this date in nineteen ninety three, Aaron Nola was born. 0:34:24.120 --> 0:34:26.799 Aaron Nola, who we saw pitch the other night in 0:34:26.840 --> 0:34:31.760 Philadelphia on lou Garret Day, probably honoring his late uncle 0:34:31.800 --> 0:34:35.480 who died of als. Pitched really well. So Happy Birthday 0:34:35.560 --> 0:34:38.839 to Aaron Nola. And on this date in nineteen ninety eight, 0:34:38.880 --> 0:34:42.880 Surely Povich died. One of the great sports writers of 0:34:42.960 --> 0:34:46.200 all time. He's in the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown 0:34:46.320 --> 0:34:49.080 for baseball writing. I got to know him because he 0:34:49.200 --> 0:34:53.240 wrote until he was early, like ninety one years old 0:34:54.239 --> 0:34:57.319 for the Washington Post, and I sat next to him 0:34:57.400 --> 0:35:01.040 numerous times of games. He I saw Babe Ruth. He 0:35:01.080 --> 0:35:04.480 covered Walter Johnson, and he told me, and you know, 0:35:04.520 --> 0:35:07.320 you don't have to believe this, since we get Walter Johnson, 0:35:07.400 --> 0:35:09.200 I ever tell you. I went to Walter Johnson High 0:35:09.239 --> 0:35:12.480 School in every episode. But he told me one day, 0:35:12.520 --> 0:35:16.400 he said, I I saw Walter Johnson, I saw Bob Feller, 0:35:16.600 --> 0:35:19.480 I saw Nolan Ryan. I saw all of them, and 0:35:19.560 --> 0:35:23.000 nobody threw harder than Walter Johnson. Now do I believe that? No, 0:35:23.239 --> 0:35:25.759 I don't. But again, we've been over this jet. This 0:35:25.880 --> 0:35:28.839 thought that Walter Johnson was throwing eighty one miles an hour, 0:35:29.280 --> 0:35:31.319 I don't think. So we can add a whole lot 0:35:31.400 --> 0:35:34.759 more to that velocity. But Shirley Povich was one of 0:35:34.800 --> 0:35:37.319 those guys I read in the Washington Post growing up, 0:35:37.440 --> 0:35:40.120 and I always wanted to be a baseball writer, and 0:35:40.200 --> 0:35:42.200 he was one of the reasons why. 0:35:43.360 --> 0:35:46.200 All Right, Dad, the alpha best. So we're going through 0:35:46.239 --> 0:35:49.760 the alphabet on the best last name of each letter 0:35:50.160 --> 0:35:54.200 when it comes to pitching and batting. So today, Dad, alphabet, 0:35:54.320 --> 0:35:57.080 We're on t K. Do you want to start batter? 0:35:57.440 --> 0:35:57.920 Shall we? 0:35:58.880 --> 0:36:02.200 Yes, We're gonna start with alk line. He made eighteen 0:36:02.440 --> 0:36:05.920 All Star teams. He won ten goal gloves for me 0:36:06.360 --> 0:36:10.280 after Roberto Clemeny. He's the greatest defensive right fielder ever 0:36:10.480 --> 0:36:13.560 for me. Not he won the Clemeny Award one year, 0:36:13.600 --> 0:36:17.000 which is as prestigious, an award that anybody can win. 0:36:17.640 --> 0:36:22.280 He won a batting title when he was twenty years old, Jeff, 0:36:22.440 --> 0:36:25.439 and he once told me that he was a better 0:36:25.480 --> 0:36:28.920 basketball player in high school than he was a baseball player. 0:36:29.400 --> 0:36:31.320 And he won a batting title in the big leagues 0:36:31.360 --> 0:36:35.319 at age twenty. But just another reminder, though, Jeff, the 0:36:35.440 --> 0:36:43.280 athleticism it takes to play basketball transferred to his baseball career. Footwork, conditioning, 0:36:43.480 --> 0:36:47.480 hand eye made him a better baseball player. And I 0:36:47.600 --> 0:36:50.560 used to love to talk to al k Line. Every spring. 0:36:50.640 --> 0:36:53.399 I'd go to Tiger Town and he'd be sitting there 0:36:53.440 --> 0:36:55.880 and I would always nestle up next to him and 0:36:56.000 --> 0:36:58.399 just talk to him because I was I revered him. 0:36:58.440 --> 0:37:02.440 It's al Calne. I saw Alan Trammell again, Hall of Famer, 0:37:02.800 --> 0:37:06.360 Tiger shortstop, and we were talking about you know, kids 0:37:06.400 --> 0:37:09.440 today and everything else. And Alan is incredibly supportive. But 0:37:09.800 --> 0:37:12.160 when we got to talking about the people that came 0:37:12.200 --> 0:37:14.600 before us, Alan tramill looked at me and he goes, 0:37:15.040 --> 0:37:16.839 Trust me when I tell you this. When I went 0:37:16.920 --> 0:37:20.920 to the Tigers, I got to know all about al Kline, 0:37:21.000 --> 0:37:23.719 meaning he did the research and then he went to 0:37:23.800 --> 0:37:27.080 talk to al Kline all the time because he knew 0:37:27.640 --> 0:37:30.520 one of the greatest Tigers ever, maybe the second greatest 0:37:30.560 --> 0:37:35.520 Tiger ever after Ty Cobb, would be able to teach 0:37:35.600 --> 0:37:38.840 Alan Trammell something I really believe in that, Jeff, those 0:37:38.880 --> 0:37:42.760 who came before us serve a very, very valuable purpose. 0:37:42.800 --> 0:37:44.600 Do I overstate that? Do you think, Jeff? 0:37:45.000 --> 0:37:47.760 No? I don't think so at all. And I always 0:37:47.800 --> 0:37:50.439 go back to that Ted Williams story that you tell 0:37:50.520 --> 0:37:53.960 so often was not only did players want to talk 0:37:54.000 --> 0:37:58.160 to Ted Williams about hitting, but Ted Williams wanted to 0:37:58.200 --> 0:38:01.480 talk to the players about hitting. So even when he 0:38:01.600 --> 0:38:06.200 was well past his career, well into retirement, very much 0:38:06.320 --> 0:38:10.440 in his AARP era, if you would say, he still 0:38:10.480 --> 0:38:12.920 wanted to talk about hitting with these players and ask 0:38:13.040 --> 0:38:15.960 them questions. He was still being a student of the game. 0:38:16.360 --> 0:38:19.120 I think that makes such beautiful players. And something that 0:38:19.160 --> 0:38:22.040 Michael Brown told me Dad that I thought was really interesting. Again, 0:38:22.360 --> 0:38:24.520 our friend we got to hang out with during lu 0:38:24.560 --> 0:38:27.520 gerrig Day is he's He was a catcher in college 0:38:27.560 --> 0:38:29.400 and he told me, you know, I was I was 0:38:29.400 --> 0:38:31.719 commending him. I said, catchers, are you gotta have a 0:38:31.760 --> 0:38:34.960 lot up here? It's not just physical ability of getting 0:38:35.000 --> 0:38:37.160 down and throwing guys out. But you got to be 0:38:37.200 --> 0:38:39.320 able to work both sides, meaning you got to know 0:38:39.400 --> 0:38:40.880 what the pitchers are doing. You got to know what 0:38:40.920 --> 0:38:42.520 the batters are doing, and you got to know what 0:38:42.560 --> 0:38:45.279 your fielders are doing. And then he stopped me, and 0:38:45.320 --> 0:38:48.000 he says, well, Jeff, there's a reason why a lot 0:38:48.040 --> 0:38:50.960 of managers are former catchers. And he's right, right, like, 0:38:51.320 --> 0:38:54.160 because they know the game so well. But to your point, Dad, 0:38:54.560 --> 0:38:57.880 players who are innately curious and want to hear about 0:38:57.880 --> 0:38:59.880 the al k Lines of the world, the Sandy c 0:39:00.200 --> 0:39:02.000 Facts of the world, the Walter Johnson's of the world. 0:39:02.160 --> 0:39:04.480 They have a curiosity of the game that only makes 0:39:04.520 --> 0:39:07.520 them better at the game. It's absolutely true. 0:39:08.760 --> 0:39:11.600 When we see a young player today, especially Jeff, who 0:39:11.640 --> 0:39:14.200 loves to ask a lot of questions and loves to 0:39:14.239 --> 0:39:16.839 go talk to people and pick their brain, that's when 0:39:16.880 --> 0:39:19.560 we know we have a player moving forward because he's 0:39:19.640 --> 0:39:23.160 curious and he's interested and he wants to get better. 0:39:24.120 --> 0:39:28.320 Our pitcher is Sandy Kofax. He won the cy Young 0:39:28.480 --> 0:39:31.560 three different times, he won an MVP, he won the 0:39:31.560 --> 0:39:34.680 Triple Crown of Pitching three different times. He was the 0:39:34.680 --> 0:39:39.480 World Series MVP twice. He's a four time World Series winner. 0:39:39.880 --> 0:39:44.800 Jeff his career in the postseason fifty seven innings, pitched 0:39:45.360 --> 0:39:50.560 zero point nine to five ERA in fifty seven innings. 0:39:50.560 --> 0:39:53.640 So when we talk about what one pitcher would you 0:39:53.760 --> 0:39:57.080 take to pitch one game in Major League history, I've 0:39:57.080 --> 0:40:01.200 mentioned Bob Gibson multiple times. The numbers suggests maybe you 0:40:01.280 --> 0:40:04.239 have to take Sandy Kofax because of how great that 0:40:04.360 --> 0:40:07.720 he was. And never forget Jeff his last four years 0:40:08.560 --> 0:40:10.799 and then he retired because his arm was killing him. 0:40:10.840 --> 0:40:14.440 He was ninety seven and twenty seven. He was seventy 0:40:14.719 --> 0:40:18.640 games over five hundred in a four year span, and Jeff. 0:40:18.840 --> 0:40:22.719 We don't care about wins and losses anymore, sadly for 0:40:22.800 --> 0:40:26.720 our pitchers because the game has changed so much. Richard 0:40:26.760 --> 0:40:32.000 Lovelady perfect example. But Jeff ninety seven and twenty seven. 0:40:32.640 --> 0:40:33.799 Then in respective too. 0:40:33.840 --> 0:40:36.760 Earlier in the show, when we mentioned Jacob de Grom 0:40:36.840 --> 0:40:39.319 just got his hundredth win, he was one hundred and 0:40:39.360 --> 0:40:44.280 sixty nine. Okay, now I'm not faulting Jacob de Grom. 0:40:44.520 --> 0:40:47.840 Don't take this the wrong way. I'm saying we're talking 0:40:47.880 --> 0:40:49.640 about this guy only one hundred wins AND's had a 0:40:49.640 --> 0:40:53.120 pretty good darn start to his career at this point. 0:40:53.400 --> 0:40:55.560 And he was ninety seven and twenty seven. 0:40:55.640 --> 0:40:59.040 That's crazy, right. And I told you, Jeff, we saw 0:41:00.239 --> 0:41:02.759 Sandy Kofax at the World Series last year and we 0:41:02.800 --> 0:41:05.600 had a really nice chat with him, Carl Ravits, Eduardo 0:41:05.640 --> 0:41:08.319 Perez and I at the elevator. You know, we've been 0:41:08.360 --> 0:41:11.919 all over how big Sandy's hands are. They're historically big. 0:41:12.000 --> 0:41:15.239 I told you his sleeve length that's thirty seven, which 0:41:15.280 --> 0:41:18.040 is ridiculously long. But that was the night he also 0:41:18.200 --> 0:41:22.359 told us I wear a size fifteen shoe. Fifteen. Here 0:41:22.400 --> 0:41:24.640 he's talking to me and Rabbi, who are wearing a 0:41:24.680 --> 0:41:27.759 seven and a half shoe, and Sandy Kofax, who's not 0:41:27.960 --> 0:41:31.640 that big, he's not a huge man, wears a fifteen shoe. 0:41:31.680 --> 0:41:34.799 Whatever works. Just take it and run, Dad. 0:41:34.840 --> 0:41:36.759 I want you to tell before we move on from 0:41:36.840 --> 0:41:40.040 Sandy Kofax, talk about sitting next to him on the 0:41:40.040 --> 0:41:41.120 bus in Cooperstown. 0:41:41.880 --> 0:41:44.399 Well, I've told this a million times, Jeff. I'm gonna 0:41:44.400 --> 0:41:47.160 tell it again because you asked me. All right, after 0:41:47.239 --> 0:41:49.480 I was honored by the Hall of Fame on a Saturday, 0:41:49.760 --> 0:41:52.560 I go the next day Sunday on the bus to 0:41:52.920 --> 0:41:56.120 the Hall of Fame induction for the real players, not 0:41:56.239 --> 0:41:58.960 the writers. Okay, so I'm on a bus and it's 0:41:59.000 --> 0:42:02.200 like all Hall of Fame and me that's it. So 0:42:02.320 --> 0:42:04.840 there's one seat open on the bus and this regal, 0:42:05.040 --> 0:42:07.879 elegant looking gentleman comes up to me and says, can 0:42:07.920 --> 0:42:10.680 I sit next to you? And it was Sandy Kofax, 0:42:10.719 --> 0:42:13.480 and I went, oh my god. Now I had met Sandy. 0:42:13.600 --> 0:42:17.160 I had interviewed Sandy. We weren't particularly close because he's 0:42:17.200 --> 0:42:20.239 three thousand miles away, but we knew each other. So 0:42:21.040 --> 0:42:23.120 Sandy could be a little prickly if you ask him 0:42:23.120 --> 0:42:26.600 a stupid question, who why did you retire when you did? 0:42:27.200 --> 0:42:29.520 You know, tell me about your great curveball. So I 0:42:29.560 --> 0:42:33.360 had to pull an audible and I asked him. I said, Sandy, 0:42:33.800 --> 0:42:37.160 how could you dunk it easily when you were at 0:42:37.160 --> 0:42:39.680 the University of Cincinnati Because I told you, Jeff, he 0:42:39.760 --> 0:42:43.680 was a great, great high school and college basketball player. 0:42:44.080 --> 0:42:48.120 So now his eyes just light up and I immediately recognized, 0:42:48.280 --> 0:42:51.440 Thank goodness, I asked the right question. And that's when 0:42:51.480 --> 0:42:53.919 he said, look at my hands, Look how big they are, 0:42:54.239 --> 0:42:56.239 and then he said, look how long my arms are, 0:42:56.440 --> 0:42:58.719 and he said, and I could really jump, he said, 0:42:58.719 --> 0:43:01.040 and in lay up line when he was in high 0:43:01.080 --> 0:43:03.680 school in college, he would be the last guy to 0:43:03.760 --> 0:43:06.480 come out and he would be the first guy to 0:43:06.600 --> 0:43:10.800 duncan in lampline. And then we talked about basketball, Jeff 0:43:10.880 --> 0:43:15.320 for fifteen minutes. The entire ride from the Oda Saga 0:43:15.360 --> 0:43:18.880 Hotel to the Hall of Fame induction, fifteen minutes we 0:43:18.960 --> 0:43:22.960 only talked about basketball Lakers today's style of play and 0:43:23.800 --> 0:43:26.360 it was great. But why was the great Jeff? Because 0:43:26.400 --> 0:43:29.200 I asked him a question that maybe he hasn't been 0:43:29.280 --> 0:43:32.880 asked in forty years, and he was intrigued exactly. 0:43:32.920 --> 0:43:35.680 And sometimes it's the best to ask somebody about something 0:43:35.680 --> 0:43:37.480 they haven't been asked before. It always is. That's what 0:43:37.520 --> 0:43:40.840 we do with our interviews here. Speaking of next week. 0:43:40.640 --> 0:43:42.680 It's what we try to do on our show for sure. 0:43:43.000 --> 0:43:45.920 Next week we have Steve Sparks coming back talk about questions. 0:43:46.400 --> 0:43:49.279 That was a fun time. He's going to join us 0:43:49.280 --> 0:43:51.920 on Tuesday, So make sure you're chimed in for that. 0:43:52.840 --> 0:43:55.399 Three cards in the bathroom, Dad, what do you have? 0:43:55.760 --> 0:43:58.239 You went to your basement bathroom with a card collection. There, 0:43:58.800 --> 0:44:01.280 you pick out three cards, you tell us three stories, 0:44:01.560 --> 0:44:02.000 hit us. 0:44:03.000 --> 0:44:06.360 Okay, this is Scott McGregor. I covered him when he 0:44:06.480 --> 0:44:10.520 pitched for the Orioles. He threw a shutout in Game 0:44:10.640 --> 0:44:14.160 five of the eighty three World Series in Philadelphia to 0:44:14.320 --> 0:44:19.000 win the World Series for the Orioles. A completely different time, 0:44:19.160 --> 0:44:22.120 a completely different pitcher. He had a great curveball, he 0:44:22.120 --> 0:44:24.640 had a great change up. He didn't throw very hard. 0:44:24.719 --> 0:44:29.080 He threw across his body, you know, as severely as 0:44:29.120 --> 0:44:32.040 almost any pitcher I've ever seen. But people had a 0:44:32.080 --> 0:44:34.799 hard time hitting him, had a hard time picking it up. 0:44:34.960 --> 0:44:37.880 He was a really good pitcher for a long time. 0:44:38.000 --> 0:44:41.319 And this has been confirmed by George Brett. He was 0:44:41.400 --> 0:44:46.200 George Brett's high school teammate in southern California. Growing up, 0:44:46.239 --> 0:44:48.640 he and George Brett were on the same team, and 0:44:48.719 --> 0:44:52.040 George Brett told me, without hesitation, the best hitter on 0:44:52.080 --> 0:44:56.120 our team was Scott McGregor. Wow, not George Brett. How 0:44:56.120 --> 0:44:57.000 about that, Jeff. 0:44:57.040 --> 0:44:57.800 That's incredible. 0:44:58.560 --> 0:45:02.799 Just another reminder, are better athletes than we think they are. 0:45:03.280 --> 0:45:05.520 You take the bat out of their hand for ten years, 0:45:05.719 --> 0:45:07.480 no one's going to be able to hit. But when 0:45:07.520 --> 0:45:10.239 he was in high school. George Brett said he was 0:45:10.280 --> 0:45:13.680 better than I was. How about that? Okay, Number two 0:45:13.880 --> 0:45:18.160 is talking about good hitters. Pedro Guerrero, former Dodger, played 0:45:18.160 --> 0:45:21.799 for some other teams. Man. He was a ferocious right 0:45:21.840 --> 0:45:25.120 handed hitter who could really hit. Now, he wasn't and 0:45:25.200 --> 0:45:28.400 not a critician, wasn't a great defensive player. And I 0:45:28.400 --> 0:45:30.279 hope I don't hurt new feelings here, but this is 0:45:30.320 --> 0:45:33.040 a famous story. The Dodgers, who were not a great 0:45:33.080 --> 0:45:36.839 defensive team, went through a very difficult defensive stretch at 0:45:36.880 --> 0:45:41.920 one point, and Tommy Lessorta, the affable, hilarious, mischievous manager 0:45:42.000 --> 0:45:45.360 of the Dodgers, is furious because they played another poor 0:45:45.560 --> 0:45:49.600 defensive game. So he says to Peter Guerrero in a 0:45:49.680 --> 0:45:53.480 team meeting after the game, Pedro, what are you thinking 0:45:53.760 --> 0:45:58.840 Before the pitcher throws the ball at Pedro says, please 0:45:58.920 --> 0:46:03.600 don't hit it to me. That's what he said, which 0:46:03.640 --> 0:46:06.160 is at every one in the room. Every one in 0:46:06.200 --> 0:46:10.560 the room laughs. Okay, and then Losorta he still is bad, 0:46:10.640 --> 0:46:13.440 but he says, all right, what's the second thing you're 0:46:13.480 --> 0:46:16.759 thinking about? And he said Peter Guerrero says, don't hit 0:46:16.760 --> 0:46:20.279 it to Sacks. Steve Sachs was the second basement. Now, 0:46:20.320 --> 0:46:23.640 let's be clear, Steve Sachs was a really good major 0:46:23.719 --> 0:46:28.640 league hitter, and he had some yips issues which did 0:46:28.680 --> 0:46:33.040 not help his defense. But apparently the entire clubhouse just 0:46:33.160 --> 0:46:37.560 burst into laughter, not once, but twice, including Steve Sacks. 0:46:37.840 --> 0:46:40.360 And that's one reason why the Dodgers were so good 0:46:40.680 --> 0:46:43.040 for all those years. They had a great clubhouse, and 0:46:43.080 --> 0:46:46.400 Tommy Lasorta was a big reason for that, as was 0:46:46.440 --> 0:46:50.480 Steve Sacks, Peter Guerrero, and a bunch of other guys. 0:46:51.480 --> 0:46:55.279 And the third one is Christian Javier. Pretty darn good 0:46:55.360 --> 0:46:58.480 major league pitcher for some time, still pitching, struggling a 0:46:58.480 --> 0:47:01.320 little bit now, not as good as he was in Houston. 0:47:01.560 --> 0:47:05.080 But Jeff, I'm always fascinated by, you know, how pitchers 0:47:05.120 --> 0:47:08.200 get guys out. This is a short, stocky little guy. 0:47:08.719 --> 0:47:11.040 You know, he'd done them long arms or anything else. 0:47:11.280 --> 0:47:15.279 And Dusty Baker, who managed him in Houston, always told me. 0:47:15.320 --> 0:47:19.640 He said, he's got a disappearing fastball, and you know, 0:47:19.760 --> 0:47:24.600 I'm curious what does that mean? And Dusty explained, hitters 0:47:24.880 --> 0:47:28.719 just can't see it coming out of his hand, and 0:47:28.760 --> 0:47:32.920 they can't understand why they can't see it, which confuses 0:47:32.960 --> 0:47:36.200 a hitter even more. At least he can tell Billy 0:47:36.200 --> 0:47:38.640 Wagner is like shooting it out the middle of his 0:47:38.760 --> 0:47:41.000 chest or whatever. But when a hitter is up there 0:47:41.040 --> 0:47:44.440 saying I can't see this pitch and I don't know 0:47:44.560 --> 0:47:47.960 why I can't see this pitch. That was the success 0:47:48.239 --> 0:47:51.680 of Christian Hobber in his prime. And what game did 0:47:51.719 --> 0:47:55.799 he start, Jeff, famous game that he started that you 0:47:55.920 --> 0:47:56.279 went to. 0:47:56.640 --> 0:47:58.759 Thank you for bringing up such an unpleasant subject. Why 0:47:58.800 --> 0:48:01.040 don't you give me a paper cut lemon juice in it? 0:48:01.160 --> 0:48:01.840 Will close? 0:48:02.280 --> 0:48:06.759 Close the combined no hitter in the World Series Philadelphia 0:48:06.840 --> 0:48:09.640 against Houston. Yeah, in Philadelphia. 0:48:09.719 --> 0:48:12.920 I was at the game, right, Yeah, and so was 0:48:12.960 --> 0:48:14.759 I Jeff. Yeah. So that's really good. 0:48:15.000 --> 0:48:18.440 All right, Okay, Team Tim, let's wrap up today's episode. 0:48:18.440 --> 0:48:19.000 What do you have? 0:48:19.719 --> 0:48:23.480 Okay? So I teased it earlier when Patrick Wisdom came 0:48:23.560 --> 0:48:25.960 back and hit a home run for the Mariners, first 0:48:25.960 --> 0:48:29.319 home run in the Big leagues since twenty twenty four? 0:48:29.840 --> 0:48:32.840 Did you guess what maybe the Team Tim is this week? 0:48:33.120 --> 0:48:36.480 As we tease it with Patrick Wisdom. 0:48:36.400 --> 0:48:37.560 The All Smarts team. 0:48:38.440 --> 0:48:40.560 Yeah, they also I mean the other way, the All 0:48:40.880 --> 0:48:43.640 dentist team, the All tooth team. But we're going with 0:48:43.719 --> 0:48:46.960 the All smart team. I think we've done this before. 0:48:47.160 --> 0:48:49.520 This is not the stuff is not easy, Jeff, but 0:48:49.840 --> 0:48:52.120 I'm doing the best I can. So the first baseman 0:48:52.239 --> 0:48:57.600 is Harry Bright, the second baseman is Dave Brain. That's 0:48:57.800 --> 0:49:01.279 real name, Dave Brain. Gosh, I have to look that 0:49:01.320 --> 0:49:06.400 one up. Bobby Witt is the shortstop, perfect Patrick Wisdom 0:49:06.640 --> 0:49:11.360 is the third baseman. Dwayne Wise is one outfielder, Bill 0:49:11.640 --> 0:49:15.600 Sharp is another, and I really struggled to find a 0:49:15.680 --> 0:49:19.320 third outfielder, so in the absence of having an actual 0:49:19.560 --> 0:49:23.920 smart name, I went with Socrates Brito, who actually played 0:49:24.239 --> 0:49:30.680 for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Socrates Brito And again there's a 0:49:30.719 --> 0:49:34.080 real fudge here. John Smart, that's easy, is our one 0:49:34.080 --> 0:49:38.319 of our pitchers. But our catcher is Mike Ivy, but 0:49:38.520 --> 0:49:41.480 you have to pair him up. It's only works when 0:49:41.520 --> 0:49:45.000 he's with Brandon League, who pitches in relief. So it 0:49:45.040 --> 0:49:48.799 would be Ivy, League, Smart, all that stuff, and our 0:49:48.840 --> 0:49:52.840 manager would be Johnny keene k e E n E. 0:49:53.160 --> 0:49:56.319 So that's the team tim for the week. It's a 0:49:56.360 --> 0:50:00.520 tribute to Patrick Wisdom's first home run in a couple years. 0:50:00.800 --> 0:50:04.240 Funny Guy went to Stanford. Smart Guy. Love that guy. 0:50:04.600 --> 0:50:06.719 So we just wanted to, you know, give him some 0:50:06.800 --> 0:50:10.400 props for being back with the all Smart team. 0:50:10.719 --> 0:50:12.759 Well, do yourself favor, go to Great Game or what 0:50:12.880 --> 0:50:15.600 dot Com right now, submit a team Tim that we 0:50:15.640 --> 0:50:18.480 can use. If there's anything you want us to go 0:50:18.560 --> 0:50:21.560 through or have Dad, you know you have an idea 0:50:21.600 --> 0:50:24.200 for Dad. We're always looking for great Team Tim suggestions 0:50:24.200 --> 0:50:26.919 and honestly, Dad, this has become such a big part 0:50:27.000 --> 0:50:29.000 of our show. It was such a goofy part in 0:50:29.040 --> 0:50:32.520 season one, respectfully, and now it's like every day every 0:50:32.560 --> 0:50:34.480 episode they need a new Team Tim. So if you 0:50:34.520 --> 0:50:37.640 have any ideas and suggestions or you have your own 0:50:37.680 --> 0:50:40.120 team Tim, Great Game or what dot Com message us? 0:50:40.400 --> 0:50:43.480 Jeff, do you think that's why to offer this to 0:50:43.600 --> 0:50:47.040 our guests because of what Bill Flannagans said earlier in 0:50:47.080 --> 0:50:51.800 the podcast. Look what the podcast has done to me. No, honey, 0:50:52.040 --> 0:50:55.319 I can't. I can't join you for dinner tonight. I'm 0:50:55.360 --> 0:50:57.759 trying to come up with a Team Tim based on 0:50:58.239 --> 0:51:01.160 players who have so few value in their last name. 0:51:01.239 --> 0:51:05.480 That one came up this week. Ken herback, Ken Herbank, 0:51:05.600 --> 0:51:09.800 Joe Kmack. Oh my gosh, we've corrupted an entire country 0:51:09.880 --> 0:51:10.560 of listeners. 0:51:10.640 --> 0:51:13.360 They are welcome to blame me personally and show this 0:51:13.440 --> 0:51:17.680 clip to their wife or husband for that matter, because 0:51:17.880 --> 0:51:20.440 I want to get some team tim's from members of 0:51:20.480 --> 0:51:22.080 the family. So let us know great game or what 0:51:22.200 --> 0:51:22.720 dot com? 0:51:23.000 --> 0:51:23.600 All right, dad? 0:51:23.640 --> 0:51:26.040 Well, no baby, we're on baby watch here for baby 0:51:26.080 --> 0:51:29.360 body nothing yet, So I'll keep everybody updated. And of 0:51:29.400 --> 0:51:31.520 course we have a great fill in who's going to 0:51:31.560 --> 0:51:34.960 fill in for me if I'm in the hospital holding 0:51:34.960 --> 0:51:37.279 my wife's hand and I can't be on the podcast. 0:51:38.000 --> 0:51:40.400 My sister Kelly is planning on stepping up to the 0:51:40.440 --> 0:51:43.600 plate and hitting it out of the park, and so 0:51:43.680 --> 0:51:46.239 make sure you're listening. So, I mean, this could be 0:51:46.320 --> 0:51:49.239 my last episode for you know, I might not be 0:51:49.280 --> 0:51:49.880 on on Monday. 0:51:49.920 --> 0:51:54.680 We'll see, I don't Jeff, just take care of the baby. 0:51:54.800 --> 0:51:58.239 We'll take care of the podcast. Okay, sounds good to me. 0:51:58.440 --> 0:52:00.279 Thank you so much for watching and listening, and of 0:52:00.280 --> 0:52:02.080 course thanks for being a part of our family.