Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of Assis. A great game
Speaker 1: or what with the Hall of Famer Tim Kirkschen. I'm
Speaker 1: his son, Jeff Kirkshin and Dad. Just last night, you
Speaker 1: and I went to a baseball game together.
Speaker 2: All right, but it was more than you and me, Jeff.
Speaker 2: We went with beautiful Emily and we went with McKinley,
Speaker 2: and she got an ice You got some ice cream
Speaker 2: and a helmet. Of course, pop out broke down and
Speaker 2: bought her a You know, a stuffy Philly fanatic. How
Speaker 2: could you not buy one of those while you're at
Speaker 2: the game. And it was for Als, of course, the
Speaker 2: Phillies do als night better than any team in baseball.
Speaker 2: It was just another rewarding night for me at the
Speaker 2: ballpark to see how much support ALS is getting. I
Speaker 2: thought it was really cool, Jeff, last night that Aaron
Speaker 2: Nola came back from paternity leave to make a start
Speaker 2: on Louke Gerrett day. Of course, he lost his uncle
Speaker 2: to Luke Garrick's disease. He pitched very well. The Phillies won,
Speaker 2: so overall, a great night. And you met one of
Speaker 2: my friends, one of my friends, Michael Brown, who has
Speaker 2: ALS is fighting it so bravely has the one of
Speaker 2: the great mottos ever, zero days to waste. So it
Speaker 2: was a rewarding night for you too, agreed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Michael Brown now a friend of mine, friend of
Speaker 1: yours before, friend of mine too. We're gonna go get lunch.
Speaker 1: We have some mutual friends, our buddy Matt Calper, and
Speaker 1: so we're gonna go to the Collegeville Bakery, one of
Speaker 1: our favorite spots here in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and grab
Speaker 1: some lunch. Met his whole family, met his wife, and
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's so important, And Michael and
Speaker 1: I talked about this last night. It can be really
Speaker 1: really hard when you are spending time with somebody with ALS.
Speaker 1: There's a communication breakdown from time to time there. But
Speaker 1: it's so important to remember and if there's one even
Speaker 1: zero point one percent of a blessing of having a
Speaker 1: member of our family diagnosed with ALS. I learned so
Speaker 1: much about the disease and I understand that IQ and
Speaker 1: the mind is just as sharp as ever. And it
Speaker 1: can be hard for ALS patients because they feel like
Speaker 1: they're being spoken to differently. You know, they're being spoken
Speaker 1: to like they're not still in there. So that can
Speaker 1: be really difficult. So talking to Michael Brown, you know,
Speaker 1: just talking baseball, it's former college baseball player.
Speaker 2: It was so.
Speaker 1: Special to meet his whole family and watch a Phillies
Speaker 1: win at that too.
Speaker 2: That was really cool, right, And it was so special
Speaker 2: because you know, Milt Thompson, former Philly, Dicky Knowles, former Philly,
Speaker 2: Gary Matthews, Junior Sam full were all there last night,
Speaker 2: and it really matters when former big leaguers, big leaguers
Speaker 2: show up just for you know, the cause of this
Speaker 2: to support. So it was really good and it was
Speaker 2: a good game and everyone had a good time. So
Speaker 2: we move on from lou gerrig Day, which was a
Speaker 2: smashing success at least in Philadelphia. And just another reminder,
Speaker 2: Jeff who louke Gereg was beyond on being unbelievably courageous
Speaker 2: and durable and strong. You know, he's the greatest first
Speaker 2: basement of all time. There's really maybe not even a
Speaker 2: close second, and you can make a case he's on
Speaker 2: the Mount Rushmore of hitters of all time. But the
Speaker 2: most important number about him is in games in which
Speaker 2: he played, his team won sixty one percent of the
Speaker 2: games that he played in. That's the highest number of
Speaker 2: any position player playing x number of games. Derek Jeter
Speaker 2: second on that list, fifty nine percent. It just shows
Speaker 2: you while that guy played again, he was on great teams.
Speaker 2: One of the reasons those teams were so great was
Speaker 2: because of him. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And it was an incredible, powerful day at the ballpark.
Speaker 1: And if you didn't have a chance to listen to
Speaker 1: our episode with our friend Boog Shambi, make sure to
Speaker 1: go back and listen to our Lou Garrig Day special
Speaker 1: which released on Lou Garrig Day and was really neat incredible.
Speaker 1: All right, Dad, let's jump into our takeaways across Major
Speaker 1: League Baseball. We got a lot to talk about, right.
Speaker 2: Of course, Jeff. We talked three weeks ago how bad
Speaker 2: the American League is. Well, that's starting to change. We'll
Speaker 2: get to the Mariners in a minute. But the Guardians
Speaker 2: are starting to play well again, Jeff, through two and
Speaker 2: a half games up in their division at this taping.
Speaker 2: The pitching has been awfully good.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Joey Cantillo, Gavin Williams, two guys that not everybody knows.
Speaker 2: Those guys are really good. Cantillo really has a good
Speaker 2: idea how to pitch Gavin Williams has a great curveball.
Speaker 2: Travis Bazana has come up, you know, Australian kid, number
Speaker 2: one pick for the for and he's come up and
Speaker 2: they have taken off since he's gotten there. He hadn't
Speaker 2: been there very long, but an eight thirty eight ops
Speaker 2: at this moment. And I think the Guardians are now
Speaker 2: even though the White Sox are right there, the Guardians
Speaker 2: have become the clear favorites in that division now because
Speaker 2: of how poorly the Tigers and Royals of plays. So
Speaker 2: just another tip of the cap to the Guardians, who
Speaker 2: small payroll, lose players, lose players to suspension. All this
Speaker 2: and Stephen Vote, who's a wizard of this, keeps everyone
Speaker 2: together and they keep on winning. You lived in Cleveland,
Speaker 2: you see the same thing, right, Jeff? Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know one could say that that is a football town.
Speaker 1: That's how they would describe themselves, to be completely honest.
Speaker 1: But you know I lived in the years of Lebron
Speaker 1: James and the NBA Finals champions twenty sixteen. I was
Speaker 1: there in Cleveland with my first radio job, and I
Speaker 1: mean that city is starving for a World Series. They
Speaker 1: really really are. I mean it's been years. You talk
Speaker 1: about length of curses for lack of a better term,
Speaker 1: When they lost the World Series in twenty sixteen, the
Speaker 1: drought between the Cubs and the Indians of that time
Speaker 1: was like well over one hundred and sixty years. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was crazy. It was the World Series of drought,
Speaker 1: and obviously the Cubs came victorious, breaking incredible streak of
Speaker 1: World Series less years. But I will say, Dad, I
Speaker 1: think I love to see the Guardians win. I think
Speaker 1: it's a great program. I think Jose Ramirez, Dad, you
Speaker 1: and I have said this from the beginning, is the
Speaker 1: most underrated superstar in the game, and it's not close.
Speaker 1: He's a first ballot Hall of Famer, right, yes.
Speaker 2: And he's gonna if he keeps us up another five
Speaker 2: years and just continues to be a great player for
Speaker 2: five more years, he's gonna end up potentially being the
Speaker 2: greatest Cleveland Guardian or Indian of all time, passing maybe
Speaker 2: even Bob Feller. Well we'll see about that, okay. Jeff
Speaker 2: Jacob deGrom won his one hundredth game the other day,
Speaker 2: so he is now one hundred and sixty nine is
Speaker 2: his record, So it's almost six hundred winning percentage, got
Speaker 2: a two point six y one era, has averaged eight
Speaker 2: ten point eight strikeouts per nine innings, which is amazingly
Speaker 2: high for a starting pitcher. He's won two Cy Young's
Speaker 2: five All Star Games, and you know, people have asked
Speaker 2: me all the time after those spectacular seasons, is he
Speaker 2: a Hall of Famer. I'm not ready to answer that
Speaker 2: right now, because you know, he's only won one hundred games,
Speaker 2: but he's got a war very similar to that of
Speaker 2: Johan Santana, who is a borderline Hall of Famer, even
Speaker 2: though he gets very little support at the moment. But
Speaker 2: we'll just open it up to our listeners and our readers, like,
Speaker 2: what are we gonna do with Jacob de gram as
Speaker 2: we move ahead here? Because one hundred wins as the
Speaker 2: starting pitcher is not getting you in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: But you look at the other dominance that low era
Speaker 2: double Cy Young's strikeout rate. I mean, he was as
Speaker 2: good a picture. He was the best pitcher in the
Speaker 2: game for three four years, I would think. So it's
Speaker 2: a very interesting case with him. But when you look
Speaker 2: at the career numbers at the moment, they kind of
Speaker 2: stack up with Steven Strasburg and you know Corey Klueber,
Speaker 2: Zach Wheeler, Brandon Webb, and you know those guys are
Speaker 2: not Hall of Famers. Well, but you know this guy
Speaker 2: has a chance. But he's in his mid to upper
Speaker 2: thirties now and he's only got one hundred wins. So
Speaker 2: all those injuries that worked against him. But I'd just
Speaker 2: be interested to see what our really sharp listeners and
Speaker 2: viewers think about this.
Speaker 1: You know they are always sending us great things online.
Speaker 1: Maybe they can, you know, sense in comparisons to some
Speaker 1: other borderline or current Hall of famers. Let us know,
Speaker 1: great game or what dot com we want to hear
Speaker 1: from you?
Speaker 2: Right, So, Jeff, we know how much pitching has changed
Speaker 2: in the big leagues today. We have openers, we have
Speaker 2: starters who are only allowed to go eighty pitchers. So
Speaker 2: Richard Lovelady, what a name for a baseball player. He's
Speaker 2: on our All Romance team and everything else. But from
Speaker 2: May fifteen to twenty three, he had a five appearance
Speaker 2: stretch where he saved a game, next appearance, he started
Speaker 2: a game, then he saved a game in his next appearance,
Speaker 2: started a game in his next appearance, and then saved
Speaker 2: a game in his next, so he went save, start, safe, start, save.
Speaker 2: I mean, how do we explain that this is what
Speaker 2: the opener does? Okay, but it also shows the flexibility
Speaker 2: of these guys that they tell you're Richard, we need
Speaker 2: you to start tomorrow. You're only gonna go throw one inning,
Speaker 2: but we need you to start, and then tomorrow you're
Speaker 2: gonna have to close. I mean, this is the way
Speaker 2: the game works now, and you don't have to like it,
Speaker 2: but this is how teams are setting up their bullpens
Speaker 2: and their rotations. Right, how are we going to cover today?
Speaker 2: And Richard Lovelady for at least a five appearance stretch,
Speaker 2: did it in a very unique way? Safe start, safe, start,
Speaker 2: say crazy?
Speaker 1: See that too often? Yeah, definitely. And we just saw
Speaker 1: a Sunda Night baseball game together, Dad, and it was
Speaker 1: a bullpen game, and we're thinking, how are you saving
Speaker 1: a bullpen game for Sunday night baseball. It's a big
Speaker 1: national game. But it's it's to them, to managers, to teams,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what day of the week it is.
Speaker 1: They have to make that happen. So you run into safe,
Speaker 1: start safe, start safe.
Speaker 2: This isn't exactly a takeaway, Jeff, but I was talking
Speaker 2: to my friend Jeff Bradley the other day, really good
Speaker 2: baseball writer in his day. I work with him at
Speaker 2: ESPN the magazine, and he went on to make it
Speaker 2: start a new business. He makes baseball gloves for kids,
Speaker 2: not for adults, just for kids. And they're really high
Speaker 2: quality gloves that help a kid teach teaches a kid
Speaker 2: how to catch a ball better because a lot of
Speaker 2: our kids really don't even know the mechanics of catching
Speaker 2: the ball. But the gloves he makes really help a
Speaker 2: kid learn how to play the game. But he said,
Speaker 2: My point is, he said an interesting thing to me
Speaker 2: when I called him the other day that he just
Speaker 2: finished an order of fifty ambidextrous gloves, no fifty yes,
Speaker 2: and he sold all fifty of them and had to
Speaker 2: or are fifty more Ambidextro's gloves. And he's selling these
Speaker 2: to kids who are under twelve and under. I mean,
Speaker 2: he's just selling them to kids. These aren't high school
Speaker 2: seniors who have this ability to throw with both hands
Speaker 2: and can pitch, you know, in high school. He's doing
Speaker 2: this for twelve year old Does this surprise you at all?
Speaker 2: There are this many parent slash kids who want their
Speaker 2: child to be able to throw with both hands.
Speaker 1: I mean, it definitely surprises me at that My parent
Speaker 1: mind just came into maybe if they have a right
Speaker 1: handed and a left handed child, they could kill two
Speaker 1: birds with one stone by buying one of these, because
Speaker 1: I know, even now, Dad, how pathetic is this. The
Speaker 1: toys and the clothes we buy McKinley we tried to
Speaker 1: buy as of late, since we're finding out we're going
Speaker 1: to have a son any day, we try to find
Speaker 1: something that could fit both of them, vibe wise, like
Speaker 1: we got McKinley a Phillies jersey and we got here
Speaker 1: the traditional pinstripes as opposed to like a pink one,
Speaker 1: which is the one she wanted to wear, because body
Speaker 1: won't be looking as good in a pink Billies jersey
Speaker 1: when he is three years old, right, So maybe they're
Speaker 1: using it as a Hey, you know, I want my
Speaker 1: son or daughter to be able to experience both sides,
Speaker 1: or I have a right handed and a left handed child,
Speaker 1: go big well.
Speaker 2: By the way, McKinley is the best dressed two year
Speaker 2: old girl in the history of two year old children.
Speaker 2: The way the way Emily dresses are every day is
Speaker 2: just immaculate. It's amazing. And when I walk around with
Speaker 2: her and taking a where are I went this week,
Speaker 2: she outdressed me by one hundred miles and she's only
Speaker 2: two years old. Not the point, Jeff, I just found
Speaker 2: it interesting that parents are looking at ambidextrous children here
Speaker 2: at a very young age. I'm decided if that's good
Speaker 2: or I'm sure it's not bad. But let's just see
Speaker 2: if it works. Because Jeff Bradley was a little bit
Speaker 2: surprised that he sold fifty gloves very quickly and had
Speaker 2: to order fifty more.
Speaker 1: Incredible. All right, Dad, are you ready to jump into
Speaker 1: the game changer of the week.
Speaker 2: Yeah? The game changer is well, it's a game changer,
Speaker 2: but it's more of an American League changer because right
Speaker 2: now the Mariners have figured it out. As you remember,
Speaker 2: Jeff and I was there, they came one game away
Speaker 2: from going to the World Series last year for the
Speaker 2: first time. George Springer of the Blue Jays hit a
Speaker 2: monstrous home run and helped send the Mariners home. But
Speaker 2: at this moment, that the Mariners have won eight games
Speaker 2: in a row, finally we're starting to see the Mariner
Speaker 2: team that we thought we would see from opening Day
Speaker 2: on and it just hasn't happened. Well, it's happening now.
Speaker 2: And since May the first, Jeff, they have hit forty
Speaker 2: seven home runs. That's the most homers of any team
Speaker 2: in the Major leagues. And Jeff, we've learned this. You've
Speaker 2: got to hit the ball out of the ballpark if
Speaker 2: you're gonna win games today, like it or not, that's
Speaker 2: how you win these days, because as Boot Shamby was
Speaker 2: telling us, and I've been told this for years, it's
Speaker 2: a lot easier to maybe hit a home run every
Speaker 2: fourth to fifth, sixth at bat, then stream three hits
Speaker 2: in a row against a really good pitcher in today's game.
Speaker 2: So forty seven homers since May one. Julio Rodriguez, their
Speaker 2: star center fielder, has eleven homers since May the first,
Speaker 2: Tyan Kyle Schwarber for the most in the major leagues
Speaker 2: at that time. But it's been so much more than them,
Speaker 2: it's been like the whole team. Cole Young, you know,
Speaker 2: he's got thirty RBI's already. Luke Railey's kind of not
Speaker 2: come out of nowhere, but he's got thirty one RBIs
Speaker 2: eight ninety two ops and they've done this, you know,
Speaker 2: without cal Rawley, who's been on the injured list for
Speaker 2: a couple of weeks now with an injury, and you
Speaker 2: know he wasn't hitting at all before he got hurt.
Speaker 2: What if he comes back, Jeff and really starts to
Speaker 2: swing the bat, that's really going to change the game
Speaker 2: for the Mariners and for everyone else. But more important, Jeff,
Speaker 2: their pitching is great, which we all knew going into
Speaker 2: the season, absolutely great. In this eight game winning streak,
Speaker 2: they've allowed a total of eighteen runs. And you know,
Speaker 2: the five starters they can throw out there when everybody's
Speaker 2: healthy is absolutely filthy. And even Emerson Hancock, who wasn't
Speaker 2: one of their four best pitchers to start the season,
Speaker 2: he's off to a great start. So I really really
Speaker 2: like where the Mariners are now. Too all early to say, oh,
Speaker 2: they're going to run away with this division, but finally
Speaker 2: we've seen the Mariners. They have changed the American League.
Speaker 2: And if they keep playing like this, Jeff, they could
Speaker 2: change the game because they could go into October in
Speaker 2: theory as the team to beat. Am I right about
Speaker 2: this now.
Speaker 1: And they're a fun team. They were so enjoyable in
Speaker 1: the playoffs last year. It was one of those teams
Speaker 1: where if you didn't have someone running, you wanted to
Speaker 1: see the Mariners in it and win it. Because anytime
Speaker 1: a team is droughting a city hasn't had one in years,
Speaker 1: you love to see that. So I'd love to see
Speaker 1: them make a deep run again. Really fun and they're
Speaker 1: a great game changer, especially for the American League.
Speaker 2: Right and one of those forty seven homers, and we'll
Speaker 2: talk about this later in the podcast, was hit by
Speaker 2: Patrick Wisdom. Patrick Wisdom played last year in Korea. He's
Speaker 2: shit a lot of home runs at his major league career,
Speaker 2: but this is the first one he's hit this year
Speaker 2: after coming back from Korea. So Patrick Wisdom is what
Speaker 2: we're going to play with on Team Tim. Let's see
Speaker 2: if anyone could figure that out. There are only two options,
Speaker 2: so we'll figure that out as we go along. We'll
Speaker 2: have a Team Tim a little bit later today.
Speaker 1: Our Game Changer is brought to you by our friends
Speaker 1: at Game Changer, the number one youth sports app that
Speaker 1: helps you coach smarter, connect live and replay the action.
Speaker 1: Learn more at GC dot com right now. In fact, Dad,
Speaker 1: one of our nieces Juliana, was actually playing in the
Speaker 1: softball Championship all the way in California, and Emily and
Speaker 1: I who you know, she's forty weeks pregnant at this
Speaker 1: point pretty much were unable to make it out there,
Speaker 1: so we watched it on Game Changer. How cool is
Speaker 1: that from across the country.
Speaker 2: It's so perfect. That is so cool. I probably saw
Speaker 2: every one of your little league games when you were
Speaker 2: a kid because I helped with the team. I helped
Speaker 2: coach the basketball team. So if we had had this
Speaker 2: twenty years ago when you were twelve, I could have
Speaker 2: watched all your games.
Speaker 1: It would have been so great. So our parents and
Speaker 1: coaches can take advantage of it. Right now, go to
Speaker 1: GC dot com. Okay, dad, let's jump into the cork Jins.
Speaker 1: What do you have for us?
Speaker 2: All right, this is a little old. This was on Sunday,
Speaker 2: But the Yankees scored thirteen runs in one inning the
Speaker 2: other day on Sunday, and they went down they they
Speaker 2: had the minimum batters in the other eight innings combined.
Speaker 2: It was just like nothing we've ever seen. So they
Speaker 2: are the one of two teams in history, joining the
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one Blue Jays to score ten runs or more.
Speaker 2: In an inning, the Yankees scored thirteen and not have
Speaker 2: a hit in the rest of the game, second team
Speaker 2: since nineteen hundred to do that. They're the first team
Speaker 2: since the two thousand and nine Red Sox to score
Speaker 2: ten runs in an inning before an out was recorded.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just unbelievable. And they're the third team
Speaker 2: ever to score thirteen runs in one inning and not
Speaker 2: score at any other point before or after in the
Speaker 2: game Phillies at the Reds in two thousand and three,
Speaker 2: Braves at the Astros in nineteen seventy two. So to
Speaker 2: say the least, that was a historic inning. Jeff thirteen batters,
Speaker 2: and my friend Kevin Connors from ESPN texted me he's
Speaker 2: said eighteen batters went to the play. I didn't even
Speaker 2: double check. Eighteen batters went to the plate in that inning?
Speaker 2: Does that mean the Yankees batted around twice? So? I
Speaker 2: how do you feel, Jeff, I'm not sure how do
Speaker 2: you feel about batting around? What is batting around? To you?
Speaker 1: Batting around is there has to be nine I'm sorry ten,
Speaker 1: it has to be the tenth person because you've batted around,
Speaker 1: not batted the whole lineup. So you have to get
Speaker 1: to the tenth because now we're around in the lineup.
Speaker 1: We're back to the beginning here. We are, so to
Speaker 1: me that that wouldn't do it. You would need a
Speaker 1: guy to bat three times in the inning to bat
Speaker 1: around twice. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2: Right? Yes? Yes, totally agree. I'm with you on that. Again,
Speaker 2: there's no right or wrong answer there. It's an interpretive
Speaker 2: stat but I think batting around means you bat ten
Speaker 2: batters in an inning, not just nine.
Speaker 1: Okay, I mean, let's open it up really fast, Great
Speaker 1: game or what dot Com. If anybody disagrees and can
Speaker 1: make an argument with that, let us know. You can
Speaker 1: message Tim or myself directly on our website, Great game
Speaker 1: or what dot Com. I mean. You can also follow
Speaker 1: us on social media at great game or what. We've
Speaker 1: got videos up there behind the scenes, and of course
Speaker 1: subscribe to us on YouTube because we're really pushing out
Speaker 1: the video end of this podcast. We'd love for you
Speaker 1: to watch us instead of just listening. Now, we love
Speaker 1: those who listen to We get it. We got busy lives.
Speaker 1: But if you do all three, let's do it. Why
Speaker 1: not check it out at Great game or What.
Speaker 2: Speaking of a lot of runs being scored. The Giants
Speaker 2: the other day scored in eight of their nine innings
Speaker 2: against the Rockies. So the last team to score in
Speaker 2: eight of nine innings was the Orioles against the Yankees
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four. The last team to score in
Speaker 2: all nine innings, I mean they bat they're the visiting
Speaker 2: team where they could be the home team and went
Speaker 2: on a walk off at the bottom of the ninth
Speaker 2: to a score run in all nine innings was the
Speaker 2: Rockies against the Cubs on May fifth, nineteen ninety five. Jeff,
Speaker 2: does that sound like a long time to you? That was?
Speaker 2: You know, that was thirty one years ago? Right? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I thought it would have happened since then. But again,
Speaker 1: this is what makes the game so confusing to me.
Speaker 1: I mean, I was only two years old at that time. Dad,
Speaker 1: how long time ago? Podcasts would be way less interesting
Speaker 1: if we were hosting it at nineteen ninety five, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have much.
Speaker 2: To say, right, I agree, Jeff. All right, the Angels
Speaker 2: aren't very good, Jeff, but they've hit five Grand Slams
Speaker 2: this year. I shouldn't put you on the spot because
Speaker 2: I have a chance to embarrass you. What do you
Speaker 2: think the record is for most Grand Slams by a
Speaker 2: team in one season? So the Angels are at five
Speaker 2: and we're about at the third pole. So multiply it
Speaker 2: by three, let's say, which is highly unlikely, but that
Speaker 2: would be fifteen Grand slams. Are you over under? I'll
Speaker 2: give it to you that way, over under fifteen Grand
Speaker 2: slams being the most in one season of all time
Speaker 2: by team.
Speaker 1: I think you just showed your cards, which you said,
Speaker 1: multiply it by three, highly unlikely, fifteen Grand slams, So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say under.
Speaker 2: Yes, under is the answer. I gave it away, Jeff.
Speaker 2: That's well fourteen. The two thousand A's hit fourteen Grand slams,
Speaker 2: the two thousand and six then Indians hit fourteen Grand Slams.
Speaker 2: I'm fascinated by Grand Slams because a lot of teams
Speaker 2: hit them others, don't they come in bunches? Pretty crazy?
Speaker 2: Speaking of pretty crazy, Jeff. In Seattle the other night,
Speaker 2: at the bottom of the seventh inning, Jared Young was
Speaker 2: the first baseman for the Mets and Cole Young was
Speaker 2: on first base for the Mariners, and the first base
Speaker 2: coach for the Mariners was Eric young junior. So we
Speaker 2: had a young in the first base coaches box, a
Speaker 2: young on first base, and a young as the first
Speaker 2: base forever young, right.
Speaker 1: Forever, forevery young.
Speaker 2: I want to be.
Speaker 1: For ever young. Great song, Great song.
Speaker 2: Jeff, you can really sing, man, And I do not
Speaker 2: understand how you're able to do that being my son, because,
Speaker 2: as we've talked about many times, I'm just so unskilled
Speaker 2: in everything, playing an instrument, singing art, you know, carpentry, anything.
Speaker 2: I'm just so bad. Thank goodness, I can feed the dogs.
Speaker 1: You know, you got one thing you can do, and
Speaker 1: you're and baseball. You're really good at baseball, Dag. Give
Speaker 1: yourself a little more credit in that.
Speaker 2: All right, last thing comes. This is a viewer mail
Speaker 2: from Bill Flannagan, who's become a really frequent He's like
Speaker 2: one of our best guys now on the podcast. And
Speaker 2: I knew Bill and Dallas a million years ago. So
Speaker 2: he sent this to me the other day. He said,
Speaker 2: let me tell you what the podcast has turned me into.
Speaker 2: Oh no, okay, So clearly we have corrupted Bill Flannagan,
Speaker 2: so hero and I don't even know if this is true.
Speaker 2: He just writes, Tim, see if you can name the
Speaker 2: two players in Major League history who spelled their name
Speaker 2: Cody but with a K, so ko d y, and
Speaker 2: he gives me these big clues. Both of them have
Speaker 2: played for the Twins, and both of them were born
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety.
Speaker 1: Six, so Lemons is one of them.
Speaker 2: I know Cody Clemens is absolutely right, and you'll never
Speaker 2: get Cody Funderberg, but he just pitched a couple of
Speaker 2: years ago, so I remember him. So I like this.
Speaker 2: This is not great that I got this right, but
Speaker 2: I got this right. But it just made me think
Speaker 2: about Bill Flanagan. Sure, his wife says, Bill, can you
Speaker 2: mow the law today or something? And he says, honey, sorry,
Speaker 2: I have to look up all the Cody's in baseball history.
Speaker 2: He spelled their name with a K. I'll be back later.
Speaker 2: How do you think, how do you think that's going
Speaker 2: to work at the flattage house? Probably not too good, right, if.
Speaker 1: You've somehow managed to stay married all these years whilst
Speaker 1: having to do things like that. So yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously he can use us as the excuse, but your
Speaker 1: excuse is your job. I guess. I guess that's the
Speaker 1: best excuse for you. That was our Quirk Gins, what
Speaker 1: do you have for on the state in Baseball History?
Speaker 2: June the fourth, Yeah, June the fourth, two thousand and nine,
Speaker 2: Randy Johnson won his three hundredth game, came in Washington,
Speaker 2: beat the Nationals five to one. I was there that night.
Speaker 2: And let's just be clear, as much as we talk about,
Speaker 2: you know, Sandy Kolfax and Warren Spahn and Lefty Grove
Speaker 2: and all these incredible left handed pictures of all time,
Speaker 2: you could certainly make a case at least that Randy
Speaker 2: Johnson is the greatest left hander. I would still say
Speaker 2: it's Lefty Grove, but you know, it's a debatable point.
Speaker 2: As far as intimidating pictures of all time, Randy Johnson's
Speaker 2: near the top of that. Listen, Jeff, We've got to
Speaker 2: get him on the podcast because he's not just a
Speaker 2: great pitcher Hall of Fame pier. He's a great photographer
Speaker 2: now and his stuff has shown at the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: So when I when we go to the I when
Speaker 2: we go to the Hall of Fame this year, Jeff,
Speaker 2: I am gonna go to Randy and say can we
Speaker 2: get you on the podcast? Hopefully he'll say yes.
Speaker 1: I think he will. I mean, I've seen so many
Speaker 1: interviews with him online. I also saw an interview with
Speaker 1: John Montefusco online, who's still out and about and doing things.
Speaker 2: Dad.
Speaker 1: I saw it immediately after you brought up the story
Speaker 1: of you making your own John Montafusco jersey, and respectfully,
Speaker 1: I hope this comes off right. You know, if we're
Speaker 1: talking about a player you watched growing up, he might
Speaker 1: no longer be with us. And I type it in
Speaker 1: on YouTube and he did an interview on a podcast
Speaker 1: in May of twenty twenty six. John.
Speaker 2: I made sure John Montafusco was still alive because if
Speaker 2: he died, I would have known that because he was
Speaker 2: my favorite pitcher with the Giants. And I'm people didn't
Speaker 2: hear this. I with your with your grandmother's help, I
Speaker 2: made up my own John Montafusco jersey. It was absolutely
Speaker 2: rediculously ironed on the number twenty six. It was terrible,
Speaker 2: but it was That's what I did. That's what I
Speaker 2: did in high school when I was completely lost in
Speaker 2: my life and all I cared about was baseball. And
Speaker 2: here it is fifty years later. Nothing has changed. Thing
Speaker 2: has changed, all right. This is a sad but jet.
Speaker 2: But on this date in twenty fourteen, Don Zimmer died.
Speaker 2: Don Zimmer is maybe the toughest player that I've ever
Speaker 2: met in my life. Remember, I can't believe I'm going
Speaker 2: to tell you this, but Zim got hit in the
Speaker 2: head when he was a player, and it just it
Speaker 2: knocked him out for the rest of the year. And
Speaker 2: he was in a coma. And he woke up like
Speaker 2: days later and thought he had been out for like
Speaker 2: half an hour and he had been knocked out for days.
Speaker 2: He lost twenty eight pounds, He had to relearn how
Speaker 2: to walk and talk because he got hit in the
Speaker 2: head with a pitch. But and he comes back the
Speaker 2: next year, and I'll never forget that. Zim looked at me. God,
Speaker 2: he was a tough man, Jeff. He looked at me,
Speaker 2: and he said, when I came back. And he's in
Speaker 2: the minor leagues at the time, he said, when I
Speaker 2: came back, he said, you know what they did. They
Speaker 2: threw at me again. They threw at him back then
Speaker 2: because they knew he's going to be gun shy. We're
Speaker 2: going to throw at him and we will completely make
Speaker 2: him useless at the plate because he'll be afraid because
Speaker 2: he'll be thrown at him. You know what he said,
Speaker 2: I moved even closer to the plate. That's Don Zimmer
Speaker 2: for me. That's what the old tough guys were all about.
Speaker 2: He wasn't the most talented major league player, but he
Speaker 2: was a good shortstop. He played on some good teams,
Speaker 2: was a really good manager. And Jeff I could say
Speaker 2: this without hesitation. He had one of the great influences
Speaker 2: in my life. When I was covering the eighty two
Speaker 2: Rangers for the Dallas Morning News, he was the manager
Speaker 2: and the team was terrible. Well I didn't know that
Speaker 2: going into the season because it was my first year
Speaker 2: in Texas on the beat. So they had lost eleven
Speaker 2: games in a row in May and I strolled into
Speaker 2: Zim's office and he looks at me because I have this,
Speaker 2: you know, this haggard look on my face, and he goes,
Speaker 2: what's wrong with you? I said, Zim, I must tell you,
Speaker 2: covering this team hasn't been as much fun as I
Speaker 2: thought it would be. And then he looks at me,
Speaker 2: and I'm quoting here he goes, I quit complaining. Look
Speaker 2: at you. You're young, you're good looking, you got your
Speaker 2: whole life in front of you. Look at me. I'm old,
Speaker 2: I'm fat, I'm bald, I'm ugly. I got a plate
Speaker 2: in my head, and I've got this team to manage.
Speaker 2: I'm the one with the worries. So quit complaining and
Speaker 2: just recognize how fortunate you are to be covering major
Speaker 2: League baseball at that time. At Jeff, I really didn't
Speaker 2: need anyone to tell me how lucky I was at
Speaker 2: that point in my life to be doing exactly what
Speaker 2: I wanted to do. But when Zim let me have
Speaker 2: it that day, good naturedly, but he was right. I've
Speaker 2: never forgotten that, and I always remember that despite all
Speaker 2: the hard work and everything else, it's still I don't
Speaker 2: care how corny to this sounds a privilege and an
Speaker 2: honor to cover major League baseball after all these years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Dad, I keep looking over to my right because
Speaker 1: I have a picture of me and Don Zimmer when
Speaker 1: he was with the at the time, I believe they
Speaker 1: were still the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The picture was
Speaker 1: taken on August ninth, two thousand and four, my first
Speaker 1: ever time at Fenway Park, where you surprised me for
Speaker 1: my birthday, and he has his hat off and I
Speaker 1: can't help. I remember him making a joke about how
Speaker 1: he had no hair left, and you're in the back
Speaker 1: laughing as if that was the joke he just made.
Speaker 1: You know what, on YouTube, I'll put the picture over
Speaker 1: me talking about it right now that it's I mean,
Speaker 1: you are laughing, typical Tim Kirkston chuckle. It's great, it's great.
Speaker 1: And he was in the dugout, the visiting dougout.
Speaker 2: Zim once told me as nineteen eighty two of covering
Speaker 2: the Ranger and just for fun, because he was such
Speaker 2: a fun loving guy, even though the toughest son of
Speaker 2: it which I've ever met in my life. He looks
Speaker 2: at me and he were right next to the batting
Speaker 2: circle and he says to me, okay, you and me
Speaker 2: right now, both of us in this circle, only one
Speaker 2: of us comes out alive. Who's going to win?
Speaker 3: And I'm like, Zim would crush me. He would crush
Speaker 3: my bones in like five seconds. He would throw me
Speaker 3: into the stands from there. That's how much stronger he
Speaker 3: was than me, even though he was only you know,
Speaker 3: five inches taller.
Speaker 2: But I'll never forget Don Zimmer and what he meant
Speaker 2: to me in my career. But more important what he
Speaker 2: meant to baseball. He was an all time baseball man,
Speaker 2: got married at home plate in Elmira, New York. As
Speaker 2: a minor leaguer. Nobody personified the love of the game
Speaker 2: really more than Zim. So rest in peace, Don Zimmer.
Speaker 2: Twelve years ago, on this day we lost him and
Speaker 2: a terrible loss for the game. So on this day,
Speaker 2: Jeff in nineteen twenty six, Bill O'Donnell was born. Now,
Speaker 2: Bill O'Donnell was a great broadcaster doing the Oriole game,
Speaker 2: and he did a bunch of other sports, but I
Speaker 2: grew up listening to him on the Orioles game. So
Speaker 2: when I went to the University of Maryland, one of
Speaker 2: my dear friends there, Joe McCreary, told me that while
Speaker 2: we're in college, he goes, Bill o'donald's my all time
Speaker 2: favorite broadcaster. And Joe was very discerning, meaning he didn't
Speaker 2: love everybody. So when I started covering the Rangers, I
Speaker 2: mean the Orioles, like four years after graduate, three years
Speaker 2: after graduating from college, I told Bill O'Donnell on the
Speaker 2: bus once. I said, by the way, one of my
Speaker 2: college you know friends just thought thinks you're the greatest
Speaker 2: broadcaster of all time. I didn't want a favor. I
Speaker 2: never asked for favors from anyone, and he said, oh really,
Speaker 2: He said, why don't you get me his address? And
Speaker 2: Bill O'Donnell wrote a five page letter to my friend
Speaker 2: Joe McCreery just to thank him for being such a
Speaker 2: great fan, not just a Bill O'Donnell, of course, but
Speaker 2: of the Orioles and of baseball. Yeah, that's how things
Speaker 2: used to work in the late seventies and early eighties.
Speaker 2: Doesn't work that way anymore, but I'm still taking I
Speaker 2: Bill died years ago, but I just loved being around
Speaker 2: him early late seventies, early eighties in Baltimore. He was
Speaker 2: such a great broadcaster and such a great friend. Five
Speaker 2: page story to a knucklehead he's never met in his life.
Speaker 2: Pretty cool. Huh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's so special. And I think the joint love
Speaker 1: of baseball creates connections like nothing else. I mean, take
Speaker 1: Michael Brown we mentioned at the top of the show. Dad, Like,
Speaker 1: just sitting talking about his baseball college career was so
Speaker 1: much fun for me. I got to talk to him
Speaker 1: about what position he played, and how good these players
Speaker 1: are on the field right now that we're watching. I mean,
Speaker 1: baseball bonds people together in ways that I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: we're biased, but I just don't feel like other sports
Speaker 1: do it quite as detailed as baseball does. Maybe I'm wrong,
Speaker 1: probably take some heat, but I do think that at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, baseball bonds people beautiful.
Speaker 2: Well, that's why we love it so much. And on
Speaker 2: this date in nineteen ninety three, Aaron Nola was born.
Speaker 2: Aaron Nola, who we saw pitch the other night in
Speaker 2: Philadelphia on lou Garret Day, probably honoring his late uncle
Speaker 2: who died of als. Pitched really well. So Happy Birthday
Speaker 2: to Aaron Nola. And on this date in nineteen ninety eight,
Speaker 2: Surely Povich died. One of the great sports writers of
Speaker 2: all time. He's in the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown
Speaker 2: for baseball writing. I got to know him because he
Speaker 2: wrote until he was early, like ninety one years old
Speaker 2: for the Washington Post, and I sat next to him
Speaker 2: numerous times of games. He I saw Babe Ruth. He
Speaker 2: covered Walter Johnson, and he told me, and you know,
Speaker 2: you don't have to believe this, since we get Walter Johnson,
Speaker 2: I ever tell you. I went to Walter Johnson High
Speaker 2: School in every episode. But he told me one day,
Speaker 2: he said, I I saw Walter Johnson, I saw Bob Feller,
Speaker 2: I saw Nolan Ryan. I saw all of them, and
Speaker 2: nobody threw harder than Walter Johnson. Now do I believe that? No,
Speaker 2: I don't. But again, we've been over this jet. This
Speaker 2: thought that Walter Johnson was throwing eighty one miles an hour,
Speaker 2: I don't think. So we can add a whole lot
Speaker 2: more to that velocity. But Shirley Povich was one of
Speaker 2: those guys I read in the Washington Post growing up,
Speaker 2: and I always wanted to be a baseball writer, and
Speaker 2: he was one of the reasons why.
Speaker 1: All Right, Dad, the alpha best. So we're going through
Speaker 1: the alphabet on the best last name of each letter
Speaker 1: when it comes to pitching and batting. So today, Dad, alphabet,
Speaker 1: We're on t K. Do you want to start batter?
Speaker 1: Shall we?
Speaker 2: Yes, We're gonna start with alk line. He made eighteen
Speaker 2: All Star teams. He won ten goal gloves for me
Speaker 2: after Roberto Clemeny. He's the greatest defensive right fielder ever
Speaker 2: for me. Not he won the Clemeny Award one year,
Speaker 2: which is as prestigious, an award that anybody can win.
Speaker 2: He won a batting title when he was twenty years old, Jeff,
Speaker 2: and he once told me that he was a better
Speaker 2: basketball player in high school than he was a baseball player.
Speaker 2: And he won a batting title in the big leagues
Speaker 2: at age twenty. But just another reminder, though, Jeff, the
Speaker 2: athleticism it takes to play basketball transferred to his baseball career. Footwork, conditioning,
Speaker 2: hand eye made him a better baseball player. And I
Speaker 2: used to love to talk to al k Line. Every spring.
Speaker 2: I'd go to Tiger Town and he'd be sitting there
Speaker 2: and I would always nestle up next to him and
Speaker 2: just talk to him because I was I revered him.
Speaker 2: It's al Calne. I saw Alan Trammell again, Hall of Famer,
Speaker 2: Tiger shortstop, and we were talking about you know, kids
Speaker 2: today and everything else. And Alan is incredibly supportive. But
Speaker 2: when we got to talking about the people that came
Speaker 2: before us, Alan tramill looked at me and he goes,
Speaker 2: Trust me when I tell you this. When I went
Speaker 2: to the Tigers, I got to know all about al Kline,
Speaker 2: meaning he did the research and then he went to
Speaker 2: talk to al Kline all the time because he knew
Speaker 2: one of the greatest Tigers ever, maybe the second greatest
Speaker 2: Tiger ever after Ty Cobb, would be able to teach
Speaker 2: Alan Trammell something I really believe in that, Jeff, those
Speaker 2: who came before us serve a very, very valuable purpose.
Speaker 2: Do I overstate that? Do you think, Jeff?
Speaker 1: No? I don't think so at all. And I always
Speaker 1: go back to that Ted Williams story that you tell
Speaker 1: so often was not only did players want to talk
Speaker 1: to Ted Williams about hitting, but Ted Williams wanted to
Speaker 1: talk to the players about hitting. So even when he
Speaker 1: was well past his career, well into retirement, very much
Speaker 1: in his AARP era, if you would say, he still
Speaker 1: wanted to talk about hitting with these players and ask
Speaker 1: them questions. He was still being a student of the game.
Speaker 1: I think that makes such beautiful players. And something that
Speaker 1: Michael Brown told me Dad that I thought was really interesting. Again,
Speaker 1: our friend we got to hang out with during lu
Speaker 1: gerrig Day is he's He was a catcher in college
Speaker 1: and he told me, you know, I was I was
Speaker 1: commending him. I said, catchers, are you gotta have a
Speaker 1: lot up here? It's not just physical ability of getting
Speaker 1: down and throwing guys out. But you got to be
Speaker 1: able to work both sides, meaning you got to know
Speaker 1: what the pitchers are doing. You got to know what
Speaker 1: the batters are doing, and you got to know what
Speaker 1: your fielders are doing. And then he stopped me, and
Speaker 1: he says, well, Jeff, there's a reason why a lot
Speaker 1: of managers are former catchers. And he's right, right, like,
Speaker 1: because they know the game so well. But to your point, Dad,
Speaker 1: players who are innately curious and want to hear about
Speaker 1: the al k Lines of the world, the Sandy c
Speaker 1: Facts of the world, the Walter Johnson's of the world.
Speaker 1: They have a curiosity of the game that only makes
Speaker 1: them better at the game. It's absolutely true.
Speaker 2: When we see a young player today, especially Jeff, who
Speaker 2: loves to ask a lot of questions and loves to
Speaker 2: go talk to people and pick their brain, that's when
Speaker 2: we know we have a player moving forward because he's
Speaker 2: curious and he's interested and he wants to get better.
Speaker 2: Our pitcher is Sandy Kofax. He won the cy Young
Speaker 2: three different times, he won an MVP, he won the
Speaker 2: Triple Crown of Pitching three different times. He was the
Speaker 2: World Series MVP twice. He's a four time World Series winner.
Speaker 2: Jeff his career in the postseason fifty seven innings, pitched
Speaker 2: zero point nine to five ERA in fifty seven innings.
Speaker 2: So when we talk about what one pitcher would you
Speaker 2: take to pitch one game in Major League history, I've
Speaker 2: mentioned Bob Gibson multiple times. The numbers suggests maybe you
Speaker 2: have to take Sandy Kofax because of how great that
Speaker 2: he was. And never forget Jeff his last four years
Speaker 2: and then he retired because his arm was killing him.
Speaker 2: He was ninety seven and twenty seven. He was seventy
Speaker 2: games over five hundred in a four year span, and Jeff.
Speaker 2: We don't care about wins and losses anymore, sadly for
Speaker 2: our pitchers because the game has changed so much. Richard
Speaker 2: Lovelady perfect example. But Jeff ninety seven and twenty seven.
Speaker 2: Then in respective too.
Speaker 1: Earlier in the show, when we mentioned Jacob de Grom
Speaker 1: just got his hundredth win, he was one hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty nine. Okay, now I'm not faulting Jacob de Grom.
Speaker 1: Don't take this the wrong way. I'm saying we're talking
Speaker 1: about this guy only one hundred wins AND's had a
Speaker 1: pretty good darn start to his career at this point.
Speaker 1: And he was ninety seven and twenty seven.
Speaker 2: That's crazy, right. And I told you, Jeff, we saw
Speaker 2: Sandy Kofax at the World Series last year and we
Speaker 2: had a really nice chat with him, Carl Ravits, Eduardo
Speaker 2: Perez and I at the elevator. You know, we've been
Speaker 2: all over how big Sandy's hands are. They're historically big.
Speaker 2: I told you his sleeve length that's thirty seven, which
Speaker 2: is ridiculously long. But that was the night he also
Speaker 2: told us I wear a size fifteen shoe. Fifteen. Here
Speaker 2: he's talking to me and Rabbi, who are wearing a
Speaker 2: seven and a half shoe, and Sandy Kofax, who's not
Speaker 2: that big, he's not a huge man, wears a fifteen shoe.
Speaker 2: Whatever works. Just take it and run, Dad.
Speaker 1: I want you to tell before we move on from
Speaker 1: Sandy Kofax, talk about sitting next to him on the
Speaker 1: bus in Cooperstown.
Speaker 2: Well, I've told this a million times, Jeff. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: tell it again because you asked me. All right, after
Speaker 2: I was honored by the Hall of Fame on a Saturday,
Speaker 2: I go the next day Sunday on the bus to
Speaker 2: the Hall of Fame induction for the real players, not
Speaker 2: the writers. Okay, so I'm on a bus and it's
Speaker 2: like all Hall of Fame and me that's it. So
Speaker 2: there's one seat open on the bus and this regal,
Speaker 2: elegant looking gentleman comes up to me and says, can
Speaker 2: I sit next to you? And it was Sandy Kofax,
Speaker 2: and I went, oh my god. Now I had met Sandy.
Speaker 2: I had interviewed Sandy. We weren't particularly close because he's
Speaker 2: three thousand miles away, but we knew each other. So
Speaker 2: Sandy could be a little prickly if you ask him
Speaker 2: a stupid question, who why did you retire when you did?
Speaker 2: You know, tell me about your great curveball. So I
Speaker 2: had to pull an audible and I asked him. I said, Sandy,
Speaker 2: how could you dunk it easily when you were at
Speaker 2: the University of Cincinnati Because I told you, Jeff, he
Speaker 2: was a great, great high school and college basketball player.
Speaker 2: So now his eyes just light up and I immediately recognized,
Speaker 2: Thank goodness, I asked the right question. And that's when
Speaker 2: he said, look at my hands, Look how big they are,
Speaker 2: and then he said, look how long my arms are,
Speaker 2: and he said, and I could really jump, he said,
Speaker 2: and in lay up line when he was in high
Speaker 2: school in college, he would be the last guy to
Speaker 2: come out and he would be the first guy to
Speaker 2: duncan in lampline. And then we talked about basketball, Jeff
Speaker 2: for fifteen minutes. The entire ride from the Oda Saga
Speaker 2: Hotel to the Hall of Fame induction, fifteen minutes we
Speaker 2: only talked about basketball Lakers today's style of play and
Speaker 2: it was great. But why was the great Jeff? Because
Speaker 2: I asked him a question that maybe he hasn't been
Speaker 2: asked in forty years, and he was intrigued exactly.
Speaker 1: And sometimes it's the best to ask somebody about something
Speaker 1: they haven't been asked before. It always is. That's what
Speaker 1: we do with our interviews here. Speaking of next week.
Speaker 2: It's what we try to do on our show for sure.
Speaker 1: Next week we have Steve Sparks coming back talk about questions.
Speaker 1: That was a fun time. He's going to join us
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, So make sure you're chimed in for that.
Speaker 1: Three cards in the bathroom, Dad, what do you have?
Speaker 1: You went to your basement bathroom with a card collection. There,
Speaker 1: you pick out three cards, you tell us three stories,
Speaker 1: hit us.
Speaker 2: Okay, this is Scott McGregor. I covered him when he
Speaker 2: pitched for the Orioles. He threw a shutout in Game
Speaker 2: five of the eighty three World Series in Philadelphia to
Speaker 2: win the World Series for the Orioles. A completely different time,
Speaker 2: a completely different pitcher. He had a great curveball, he
Speaker 2: had a great change up. He didn't throw very hard.
Speaker 2: He threw across his body, you know, as severely as
Speaker 2: almost any pitcher I've ever seen. But people had a
Speaker 2: hard time hitting him, had a hard time picking it up.
Speaker 2: He was a really good pitcher for a long time.
Speaker 2: And this has been confirmed by George Brett. He was
Speaker 2: George Brett's high school teammate in southern California. Growing up,
Speaker 2: he and George Brett were on the same team, and
Speaker 2: George Brett told me, without hesitation, the best hitter on
Speaker 2: our team was Scott McGregor. Wow, not George Brett. How
Speaker 2: about that, Jeff.
Speaker 1: That's incredible.
Speaker 2: Just another reminder, are better athletes than we think they are.
Speaker 2: You take the bat out of their hand for ten years,
Speaker 2: no one's going to be able to hit. But when
Speaker 2: he was in high school. George Brett said he was
Speaker 2: better than I was. How about that? Okay, Number two
Speaker 2: is talking about good hitters. Pedro Guerrero, former Dodger, played
Speaker 2: for some other teams. Man. He was a ferocious right
Speaker 2: handed hitter who could really hit. Now, he wasn't and
Speaker 2: not a critician, wasn't a great defensive player. And I
Speaker 2: hope I don't hurt new feelings here, but this is
Speaker 2: a famous story. The Dodgers, who were not a great
Speaker 2: defensive team, went through a very difficult defensive stretch at
Speaker 2: one point, and Tommy Lessorta, the affable, hilarious, mischievous manager
Speaker 2: of the Dodgers, is furious because they played another poor
Speaker 2: defensive game. So he says to Peter Guerrero in a
Speaker 2: team meeting after the game, Pedro, what are you thinking
Speaker 2: Before the pitcher throws the ball at Pedro says, please
Speaker 2: don't hit it to me. That's what he said, which
Speaker 2: is at every one in the room. Every one in
Speaker 2: the room laughs. Okay, and then Losorta he still is bad,
Speaker 2: but he says, all right, what's the second thing you're
Speaker 2: thinking about? And he said Peter Guerrero says, don't hit
Speaker 2: it to Sacks. Steve Sachs was the second basement. Now,
Speaker 2: let's be clear, Steve Sachs was a really good major
Speaker 2: league hitter, and he had some yips issues which did
Speaker 2: not help his defense. But apparently the entire clubhouse just
Speaker 2: burst into laughter, not once, but twice, including Steve Sacks.
Speaker 2: And that's one reason why the Dodgers were so good
Speaker 2: for all those years. They had a great clubhouse, and
Speaker 2: Tommy Lasorta was a big reason for that, as was
Speaker 2: Steve Sacks, Peter Guerrero, and a bunch of other guys.
Speaker 2: And the third one is Christian Javier. Pretty darn good
Speaker 2: major league pitcher for some time, still pitching, struggling a
Speaker 2: little bit now, not as good as he was in Houston.
Speaker 2: But Jeff, I'm always fascinated by, you know, how pitchers
Speaker 2: get guys out. This is a short, stocky little guy.
Speaker 2: You know, he'd done them long arms or anything else.
Speaker 2: And Dusty Baker, who managed him in Houston, always told me.
Speaker 2: He said, he's got a disappearing fastball, and you know,
Speaker 2: I'm curious what does that mean? And Dusty explained, hitters
Speaker 2: just can't see it coming out of his hand, and
Speaker 2: they can't understand why they can't see it, which confuses
Speaker 2: a hitter even more. At least he can tell Billy
Speaker 2: Wagner is like shooting it out the middle of his
Speaker 2: chest or whatever. But when a hitter is up there
Speaker 2: saying I can't see this pitch and I don't know
Speaker 2: why I can't see this pitch. That was the success
Speaker 2: of Christian Hobber in his prime. And what game did
Speaker 2: he start, Jeff, famous game that he started that you
Speaker 2: went to.
Speaker 1: Thank you for bringing up such an unpleasant subject. Why
Speaker 1: don't you give me a paper cut lemon juice in it?
Speaker 2: Will close?
Speaker 1: Close the combined no hitter in the World Series Philadelphia
Speaker 1: against Houston. Yeah, in Philadelphia.
Speaker 2: I was at the game, right, Yeah, and so was
Speaker 2: I Jeff. Yeah. So that's really good.
Speaker 1: All right, Okay, Team Tim, let's wrap up today's episode.
Speaker 1: What do you have?
Speaker 2: Okay? So I teased it earlier when Patrick Wisdom came
Speaker 2: back and hit a home run for the Mariners, first
Speaker 2: home run in the Big leagues since twenty twenty four?
Speaker 2: Did you guess what maybe the Team Tim is this week?
Speaker 2: As we tease it with Patrick Wisdom.
Speaker 1: The All Smarts team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they also I mean the other way, the All
Speaker 2: dentist team, the All tooth team. But we're going with
Speaker 2: the All smart team. I think we've done this before.
Speaker 2: This is not the stuff is not easy, Jeff, but
Speaker 2: I'm doing the best I can. So the first baseman
Speaker 2: is Harry Bright, the second baseman is Dave Brain. That's
Speaker 2: real name, Dave Brain. Gosh, I have to look that
Speaker 2: one up. Bobby Witt is the shortstop, perfect Patrick Wisdom
Speaker 2: is the third baseman. Dwayne Wise is one outfielder, Bill
Speaker 2: Sharp is another, and I really struggled to find a
Speaker 2: third outfielder, so in the absence of having an actual
Speaker 2: smart name, I went with Socrates Brito, who actually played
Speaker 2: for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Socrates Brito And again there's a
Speaker 2: real fudge here. John Smart, that's easy, is our one
Speaker 2: of our pitchers. But our catcher is Mike Ivy, but
Speaker 2: you have to pair him up. It's only works when
Speaker 2: he's with Brandon League, who pitches in relief. So it
Speaker 2: would be Ivy, League, Smart, all that stuff, and our
Speaker 2: manager would be Johnny keene k e E n E.
Speaker 2: So that's the team tim for the week. It's a
Speaker 2: tribute to Patrick Wisdom's first home run in a couple years.
Speaker 2: Funny Guy went to Stanford. Smart Guy. Love that guy.
Speaker 2: So we just wanted to, you know, give him some
Speaker 2: props for being back with the all Smart team.
Speaker 1: Well, do yourself favor, go to Great Game or what
Speaker 1: dot Com right now, submit a team Tim that we
Speaker 1: can use. If there's anything you want us to go
Speaker 1: through or have Dad, you know you have an idea
Speaker 1: for Dad. We're always looking for great Team Tim suggestions
Speaker 1: and honestly, Dad, this has become such a big part
Speaker 1: of our show. It was such a goofy part in
Speaker 1: season one, respectfully, and now it's like every day every
Speaker 1: episode they need a new Team Tim. So if you
Speaker 1: have any ideas and suggestions or you have your own
Speaker 1: team Tim, Great Game or what dot Com message us?
Speaker 2: Jeff, do you think that's why to offer this to
Speaker 2: our guests because of what Bill Flannagans said earlier in
Speaker 2: the podcast. Look what the podcast has done to me. No, honey,
Speaker 2: I can't. I can't join you for dinner tonight. I'm
Speaker 2: trying to come up with a Team Tim based on
Speaker 2: players who have so few value in their last name.
Speaker 2: That one came up this week. Ken herback, Ken Herbank,
Speaker 2: Joe Kmack. Oh my gosh, we've corrupted an entire country
Speaker 2: of listeners.
Speaker 1: They are welcome to blame me personally and show this
Speaker 1: clip to their wife or husband for that matter, because
Speaker 1: I want to get some team tim's from members of
Speaker 1: the family. So let us know great game or what
Speaker 1: dot com?
Speaker 2: All right, dad?
Speaker 1: Well, no baby, we're on baby watch here for baby
Speaker 1: body nothing yet, So I'll keep everybody updated. And of
Speaker 1: course we have a great fill in who's going to
Speaker 1: fill in for me if I'm in the hospital holding
Speaker 1: my wife's hand and I can't be on the podcast.
Speaker 1: My sister Kelly is planning on stepping up to the
Speaker 1: plate and hitting it out of the park, and so
Speaker 1: make sure you're listening. So, I mean, this could be
Speaker 1: my last episode for you know, I might not be
Speaker 1: on on Monday.
Speaker 2: We'll see, I don't Jeff, just take care of the baby.
Speaker 2: We'll take care of the podcast. Okay, sounds good to me.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for watching and listening, and of
Speaker 1: course thanks for being a part of our family.