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Speaker 1: From the Berkshires to the sound from wherever you live

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Speaker 1: in MLB America. This is Inside the Parker. You give

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Speaker 1: us twenty two minutes and we'll give you the scoop

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Speaker 1: on major League Baseball. Now here's Baseball Hall of Fame

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Speaker 1: voter number seventy six, Rob Parker. Welcome into the podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Rob Parker, and we have another great

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Speaker 1: spring training edition of Inside the Parker coming your way.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk with former Major League pitcher la Troy Hawkins

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Speaker 1: about some of the rule changes and his visit to

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Speaker 1: spring training. Also Gene Fruth, who is a photographer and

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Speaker 1: put out an unbelievable coffee table book about a year ago.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk more about what she's doing this year, that

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Speaker 1: and much more. Let's go to lead off. It's getting

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Speaker 1: rot off and to keep him on Rob's hot take

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Speaker 1: on the three biggest stories in Major League Number one. Yes,

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Speaker 1: it is spring training. We will take a little pause

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Speaker 1: from spring training because it's the WBC, the World Baseball Classic,

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Speaker 1: and it is underway. My goodness, Team USA doesn't kick

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Speaker 1: off until Saturday when it takes on Great Britain. But

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Speaker 1: the last time we saw the Americans in the WBC.

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Speaker 1: They were champs. They claimed the tournament crown back in

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Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. After three straight editions of playing just five

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Speaker 1: hundred ball from two thousand and six to two thirteen.

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Speaker 1: Finally everything clicked and they won the championship or the

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Speaker 1: crown six years ago. This time around, I don't know

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Speaker 1: about you, but man, what a loaded lineup. It's like

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Speaker 1: an All Star Game lineup. The likes of Mike Trout,

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Speaker 1: Mo Mookie Betts, Nolan Arronado, Paul Goldschmidt all playing for USA.

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Speaker 1: And this will be great to see if the United

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Speaker 1: States can once again win the World Baseball Classic. The

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Speaker 1: last time we saw at the USA pulled it out.

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Speaker 1: And here's another opportunity with some great players, star players.

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Speaker 1: I mean, this is great. This ain't the NBA All

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Speaker 1: Star Game where nobody wants to play, Are you kidding?

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Speaker 1: There aren't enough spots for Team USA with all the

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Speaker 1: stars who want to play. So while buckle up, get ready.

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Speaker 1: The World Baseball Classic is underway. Number two. If you're

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Speaker 1: a New York Yankees fan, you are absolutely thrilled by

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Speaker 1: the outing that Garrett Cole had against the Saint Louis

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Speaker 1: Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon, Garrett Cole looked unhittable. Seven strikeouts

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Speaker 1: in three and the third innings. If the Yankees are

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Speaker 1: ever gonna get there and win a championship has been

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Speaker 1: since two thousand and nine, they have hitting. I know

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Speaker 1: they've added some other pieces this past offseason, but when

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Speaker 1: they signed Garrett Cole, they need that guy to be

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Speaker 1: this kind of guy come postseason, have a lights out

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Speaker 1: run through the playoffs where the Yankees know when he's

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Speaker 1: penciled in the starting lineup to pitch, that they're gonna win,

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Speaker 1: that they're gonna win, and he's gonna be that. He

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Speaker 1: still has dominant stuff. We haven't had or haven't seen

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Speaker 1: enough of it. Good stuff, very good stuff. But he

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Speaker 1: needs a dominant season where he's back to that guy

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Speaker 1: that looks unhittable and for the hitters is unhittable. Number

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Speaker 1: three we know, we know, we've heard all the stories.

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Speaker 1: The Saint Louis Cardinals are expecting Jordan Walker, their number

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Speaker 1: one prospect, to start the season at Triple A. We

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Speaker 1: get it. He's only twenty years old. He's an outfielder

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Speaker 1: in the third baseman and they just have him penciled

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Speaker 1: in for triple A. But guess what he's done in

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Speaker 1: nine spring training games. He's slashing four twenty nine, four

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Speaker 1: twenty nine and eight fifty seven. We're twelve hits, two

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Speaker 1: of them doubles and three home runs. He's the hit

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Speaker 1: of spring training. Literally, we get it. He's not gonna

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Speaker 1: play third base. They got Nolan Arnaudo already at third base,

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Speaker 1: so we get that. But he could play the outfield.

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Speaker 1: He could dge. He's twenty. He's going to be a

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Speaker 1: star for the Saint Louis Cardinals. Why wait, find a

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Speaker 1: spot when a guy is this promising and super encourage

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Speaker 1: him with the way that he approaches the playing. You know,

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Speaker 1: some people are already saying, is he gonna be the

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Speaker 1: new Albert Pools? What? Yeah? He has been that impressive.

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Speaker 1: So if I'm the Saint Louis Cardinals and the guy

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Speaker 1: earns his way to start the season in the big leagues,

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Speaker 1: they should let him play. Put him on the roster.

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Speaker 1: Let this kid play. Do not stimy a kid who's

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Speaker 1: ready for the show. Here comes the big interview. Listen

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Speaker 1: and Larry, it's so good. All right, now, let's welcome

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Speaker 1: into the podcast. Gene Fruit, What a photographer she is,

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Speaker 1: and it is International Women's Day on this Wednesday when

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Speaker 1: we record the podcast for Thursday, and it's also Women's

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Speaker 1: History Month, so it only makes sense to have Jean,

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Speaker 1: who put out an unbelievable coffee table book called Grassroots

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Speaker 1: Baseball Grassroots Baseball. I have it. I enjoyed it and

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Speaker 1: if you have picked it up this still time. It

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Speaker 1: came out last baseball season. But Jean, welcome to the podcast.

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Speaker 1: How are you. Oh, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, it's International Women's Day in International Women's History months,

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Speaker 1: so hello to all those ladies and women and girls

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Speaker 1: out there in baseball and in photography. I'm excited to

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Speaker 1: play a part, no doubt. And let's talk about before

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Speaker 1: I keep talking about how great your book was, what

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Speaker 1: are your plans for this year? Let's the what's the

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Speaker 1: focus and do you have anything coming out or are

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Speaker 1: you working on a new project this year? Yeah? So

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Speaker 1: I'm working with my cound my co founder of Grassroots Baseball,

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Speaker 1: Jeff Idolson, and we have a new project, Grassroots Baseball Women,

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Speaker 1: and we're telling the stories of women in baseball, past, present, future,

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Speaker 1: on the field, off the field, and for you you know,

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Speaker 1: you know, being in our industry, in baseball, you know,

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Speaker 1: there's so much exciting, you know, stuff happening for women

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Speaker 1: in baseball on the field, off the field today and

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Speaker 1: all the way back from the AAGPBL, the All American

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Speaker 1: Girls Professional Baseball League. We've been doing interviews with those

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Speaker 1: women in the past. We're interviewing women who are playing

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Speaker 1: baseball right now in minor leagues, executives in the game,

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Speaker 1: and then the future girls that are coming up playing baseball.

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Speaker 1: That's really fun to watch and so we're telling a

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Speaker 1: lot of stories and the project will run for three years.

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Speaker 1: I remember being in little league and there was one

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Speaker 1: girl in our little league when I grew up in

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Speaker 1: New York, the Saint Albans Little League, and her name

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Speaker 1: was Rochelle and she pitched struck me out. I had

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Speaker 1: to live it down, but she was good period. So

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Speaker 1: I have seen women who and girls who all play baseball,

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Speaker 1: not softball, but actually baseball. So that's is interesting. It

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Speaker 1: really is your next chapter. But for people who don't know,

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Speaker 1: tell everybody again about you know, the big coffee table

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Speaker 1: book that came out last baseball season. Yeah, what that entails.

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Speaker 1: So Grassfoods Baseball. My first book came out in twenty nineteen,

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Speaker 1: Grass Foods Baseball, where legends began, and that was baseball

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Speaker 1: around the World, the amateur game around the world. And

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Speaker 1: each chapter opened with a legend who told his story

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Speaker 1: about what it was like growing up playing baseball. Hank

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Speaker 1: Aaron im mobile Alabama, Tony Perez for Cuba, Nolan Ryan

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Speaker 1: for Texas, Ricky Henderson for Oakland, California, and I paired

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Speaker 1: these just terrific essays that they all wrote contributed to

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Speaker 1: the book about what it was like growing up playing

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Speaker 1: you know, and like Ricky told a great story about

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Speaker 1: growing up in Oakland, California, and how he wanted to

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Speaker 1: play football and his mom wanted him to play baseball.

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Speaker 1: So after that book, the great story that is, and

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Speaker 1: he wanted to get into the Hall of Fame. Can

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Speaker 1: you imagine that? A great story? And he said the

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Speaker 1: only reason he played baseball was his mom had the coach,

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Speaker 1: baseball coach picking him up and in the back seat

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Speaker 1: of the car was a hot chocolate and a glazed donut.

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Speaker 1: So he thought, Okay, baseball is not that bad. I'll

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Speaker 1: play baseball. What a great story. Yeah, and so that book,

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Speaker 1: you know it really we had some nice success with it,

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Speaker 1: and I wanted to grow Grassroots Baseball into something more

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Speaker 1: and we were at a place in our lives to

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Speaker 1: give back, and I reached out to Jeff who just

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Speaker 1: announced his retirement from the Baseball Hall of Fame, and

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Speaker 1: we co founded Grassroots Baseball as a give back to

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Speaker 1: the sport, inspiring and telling stories and giving equipment to

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Speaker 1: young players. And we decided to start are not for

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Speaker 1: profit along Root sixty six and for three years we

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Speaker 1: spent we spent documenting the game, the amateur game along

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Speaker 1: Root sixty six from downtown Chicago all the way to

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Speaker 1: Santa Monica and it was just a great journey and

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Speaker 1: we did clinics with kids. Hall of famers joined us,

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Speaker 1: and that's how the second book came about Grassroots Baseball

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Speaker 1: Root sixty six, and that came back out this past

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Speaker 1: baseball season. Well, it's a beautiful book, it really is.

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Speaker 1: How can people get that? Still? You can get it

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Speaker 1: on Grassroots Baseball dot org. You know, we sell it

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Speaker 1: on our website and Amazon also has it. So yep,

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Speaker 1: and Grassroots Baseball Where Legends Begin. They did a second

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Speaker 1: reprint of that, so that's also available. Our guest is

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Speaker 1: Gene Fruit from Grassroots Baseball and she's working on a

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Speaker 1: new project about women in baseball, and I was reading

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Speaker 1: something about are you guys talking to women from Canada, Cuba,

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Speaker 1: Dominican Republic, Japan, Korea, Uganda and even Europe all it's

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Speaker 1: really incredible the project, I can women playing baseball. Girls

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Speaker 1: playing baseball is all around the world. I mean, Japan

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Speaker 1: has a league. Girls are playing baseball. They're playing our

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Speaker 1: own little league, you know, all girls teams all the

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Speaker 1: way up through high school and professional baseball. And it's

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Speaker 1: just really inspiring to see the level of baseball in

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Speaker 1: some of these countries and places like Uganda, places like

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Speaker 1: Dominican Republic, Cuba. So yeah, so we're hearing the stories now,

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Speaker 1: we have boots on the ground, and it's really been

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Speaker 1: inspiring to just you know, see what's out there, just

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Speaker 1: not only in the United States, but you know, all

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Speaker 1: around the world. On International Women's Day, Jane Fruit came

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Speaker 1: through with a Grand Slam home run the ninth thing.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us for the information.

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Speaker 1: I look forward to that next book coming out and

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Speaker 1: for real grassroots baseball. If you love baseball like I do.

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Speaker 1: Go pick it up. I'm telling you it's fantastic, not

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Speaker 1: only for yourself, but you'll wind up buying it to

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Speaker 1: give to another family member or friend who loves baseball.

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Speaker 1: It really is that good. Thanks Jane Prefect your pleasure.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for all. Here comes the big interview.

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Speaker 1: Listen and Larry, it's so good. All right, now, let's

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Speaker 1: welcome into the podcast former major league pitcher la Troy Hawkins,

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Speaker 1: who had an unbelievable twenty one year career in the

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Speaker 1: major leagues and pitched him one thousand and forty two games,

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Speaker 1: tenth most in the history of the game Latroit. What's happened?

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Speaker 1: And welcome to the podcast. Buddy, what's up our? All

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Speaker 1: is good? All is good? Now. I know you were

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Speaker 1: down in spring training. I know you're gonna go back.

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Speaker 1: What are you thinking of new rules, the pitch clock,

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Speaker 1: the ban on the shifts, and the bigger basis. I'm

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Speaker 1: a little half and half on the new rules. The

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Speaker 1: pitch clock. I like it simply because it was following

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Speaker 1: out minor league organization last year and seeing the games,

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Speaker 1: seeing the same rules applying the minor leagues. The games

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Speaker 1: didn't go faster, didn't disrupt the hitters or the pitchers.

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Speaker 1: All they did was talk to guys not to do

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Speaker 1: all that extra stuff they do before they get ready

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Speaker 1: to hit. And you know, when they received the ball back,

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Speaker 1: it just spent the game up just a little bit

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Speaker 1: with the basis, just talking to the guys. The guys

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Speaker 1: that stole basis before, or the same guys are gonna

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Speaker 1: continue to steal basis. The guys that didn't steal basis,

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Speaker 1: those four extra inches will not entice them to steal basis.

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Speaker 1: The one rule that I'm not I'm not big gone

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Speaker 1: is the taking a shift out. And I know they

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Speaker 1: didn't completely take the shift out, but they made some

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Speaker 1: adjustments to it. And being a picture, I wanted to say,

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Speaker 1: why did they If I can't hit the outside corner.

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Speaker 1: It's not like they're gonna move the plate or make

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Speaker 1: the plate wider for me. They're gonna make me make adjustments.

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Speaker 1: And I think they just completely bailed out the hitters

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Speaker 1: to make an adjustments. And I understand why they did it,

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Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean I like I hear you and

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Speaker 1: that's a picture that makes sense. But this is the

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Speaker 1: problem I had with the ridiculus shifts and four guys

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Speaker 1: on one side of the bag. LaTroy is like, guys

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Speaker 1: will hit the ball straight up the middle and there's

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Speaker 1: a third baseman standing there, like, those should be hits.

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Speaker 1: We need more base runners, we need more action on

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Speaker 1: the basis. Guy pull the ball in the hole and

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Speaker 1: the third baseman is in the short right field, or

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Speaker 1: a second baseman is pulled all the way over. That

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Speaker 1: took away hits that naturally would be hits. And I

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Speaker 1: think that's why I'm okay with it. You still can

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Speaker 1: move people over. You just can't have four people on

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Speaker 1: one side, right, And that's true, But why not make

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Speaker 1: the hitters making adjustment. There's a whole open side that

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Speaker 1: you can use that they refuse to use. And I

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Speaker 1: know talking to hitters, to hitters say, well, it's just

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Speaker 1: not that easy. Well, when you learn to play baseball,

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Speaker 1: and wasn't that easy you learn to do it. But

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Speaker 1: in three or four years, baseball is gonna say hitching

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Speaker 1: is watered down. They're not gonna make home play big.

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Speaker 1: I mean, right, but if I'm if I'm throwing my

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Speaker 1: fastball consistently four inches outside and every other p is

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Speaker 1: doing it, they're not gonna say, you know what, let's

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Speaker 1: make the game easier for the picture, make the desk.

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Speaker 1: Maybe that type of adjustment is easier for the picture

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Speaker 1: than it is for a hitter. But all I know

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Speaker 1: is there's a lot of real estate if you're a

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Speaker 1: left hand pool hitter hitting the ball to left field.

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Speaker 1: And some of the best hitters, the best hitters to

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Speaker 1: ever played this game, were not dead pool hitters. They

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Speaker 1: were hitters that sprayed the ball all over the field.

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Speaker 1: And if you're able to do that, you don't have

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Speaker 1: to worry about the team shifting on you. You You don't.

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Speaker 1: But why should I play my third baseman at third

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Speaker 1: base and you hit the ball to third base three

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Speaker 1: percent of the time. It doesn't makes sense. I want

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Speaker 1: to play my defense where you hit the ball that consistently.

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Speaker 1: I hear you as a picture. Home plate wasn't widen?

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Speaker 1: Greg Maddox like, right move without four inches? Greg Maddox

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Speaker 1: like he used to pitch. Yeah, and I and I

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Speaker 1: get it too. I understand why they did it. I do.

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Speaker 1: That doesn't mean I like it, but I understand it.

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Speaker 1: And that's what people don't understand. You cannot like something

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Speaker 1: and understand why it's being done, and I get it,

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Speaker 1: no doubt. I tell people majorly baseball and baseball in general,

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Speaker 1: they already have my love, they have your love, they

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Speaker 1: have everybody that work at MLB bro love because that's

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Speaker 1: what we love. They're reaching for that next generation. And

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Speaker 1: if they're gonna get that next generation, they're gonna have

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Speaker 1: to make some They're gonna have to make some adjustments

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Speaker 1: to the way the game is played. And I get that,

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Speaker 1: and I understand what the old heads are saying too.

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Speaker 1: But if we look at history, every game has changed

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Speaker 1: to to to a certain extent, every game is evolved,

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Speaker 1: and baseball is one of those things that have continued

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Speaker 1: to evolve. As you are still the best team in

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Speaker 1: the world or no, we've always been the best team

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Speaker 1: in the world. Um, I think the best team in

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Speaker 1: the world. I think started taking it serious like they

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Speaker 1: did and um for the four years ago and we

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Speaker 1: won it all. And I think we're gonna continue to

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Speaker 1: have that type of passion for the WBC because everybody's

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Speaker 1: trying to get over here to play baseball. Not a

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Speaker 1: lot of Americans getting trying to go somewhere else to

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Speaker 1: play baseball. So we're taking it serious. Now. I know

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Speaker 1: that you know, baseball's a marathon and not a sprint

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Speaker 1: as good long season between now and October, but give

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Speaker 1: me your early prediction on who you see coming out

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Speaker 1: of the American League and who's coming out of the

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Speaker 1: National League to meet in the World Series. Let me

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Speaker 1: think about that, because everybody looks good on paper and

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Speaker 1: screen training. Man, everybody looks great. I mean coming out

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Speaker 1: of the National League. I would have to say I

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Speaker 1: like the Padres too, Rob, but I'm just not I

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Speaker 1: just can't, like really just say, I just can't really

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Speaker 1: pick them. I'm gonna have to go with the Dodgers

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Speaker 1: just because the dominance that they had in that division

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Speaker 1: for so many years. They've only won one World Series,

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Speaker 1: but they do continue to dominate. I do like what

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Speaker 1: I do like that San Diego last September showed them that, hey,

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Speaker 1: you know what, you're not the bully in this division anymore.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna we're you know, we're fighting back. And I

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Speaker 1: love the fact that they knocked him out of the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: That was money and coming out of American League. Am

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Speaker 1: I to go with the astros Man and Dusty we trustee? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I gotta go with the Castros. I would love to

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Speaker 1: say my Minnesota tweetings, but we have to we have

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Speaker 1: to stay healthy. If we cannot stay healthy, we're probably

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Speaker 1: the one team in the league that if we lose

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Speaker 1: two guys, two of our starters in previous years, we

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Speaker 1: hadn't done a great job having guys to step right in,

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Speaker 1: and it depends on who we lose. Hopefully we lose nobody,

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Speaker 1: but if we can stay healthy, we could be there.

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Speaker 1: We can make the playoffs. I don't know how far

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Speaker 1: we advanced, but we have to stay healthy. But in

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Speaker 1: Dusty we trustee. So I'm going I'm rolling with Johnny

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Speaker 1: Baker to repeat, and I'm I'm not going to say

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Speaker 1: he's gonna ride off into the sunset talk about what

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Speaker 1: it means for MLB BRO to have a partnership with

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Speaker 1: Major League Baseball. Pretty fascinating stuff. Oh yeah, just a

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Speaker 1: great you know, great for MLB BRO and the partnership

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Speaker 1: with Major League Baseball. We got a lot of good, young,

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Speaker 1: hungry guys out there covering baseball, and Rob's done a

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Speaker 1: great job of putting age together something that's gonna be special,

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Speaker 1: and it's gonna be um, It's gonna start a whole

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Speaker 1: new legacy. All right, LaTroy, always a pleasure, my man.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much. The great LaTroy Hawkins join us

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Speaker 1: here on the inside the Parker Podcast. Now bring in

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Speaker 1: the closer. Here's why MLB it's better than the NFL

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Speaker 1: or NBA, and it isn't even close. Reason number five

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty five why Major League Baseball is better

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Speaker 1: than the NBA and better than NFL. It's simple. Anybody

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Speaker 1: can play any size, any shape, any height, and we're

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Speaker 1: seeing that with the start of the World Baseball Classic

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Speaker 1: because players from all over the world are taking part

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Speaker 1: in the Classic. And the one thing about baseball, guys

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Speaker 1: have been small, Guys have been really big. Guys have

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Speaker 1: been tall. You know, Aaron Judge is like a football

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Speaker 1: tight end. We've had small players like Freddie Pottek who

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Speaker 1: used to play shortstop for Kansas City. Kyler Murray's not

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Speaker 1: that big, the NFL quarterback and he was a first

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Speaker 1: round picking baseball. So any size, any shape can play

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Speaker 1: Major League Baseball. We can't say that for the other sports.

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Speaker 1: If you're not a certain height or wait, it doesn't

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Speaker 1: work in basketball. I'm football, you know, I'm six foot

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Speaker 1: four and people see me on airplanes, are like, oh,

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Speaker 1: did you play in the NBA? Did I play in

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Speaker 1: the NBA. I'm small in the NBA at six four,

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Speaker 1: that's not tall. If you're six to eight, you got

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Speaker 1: an NBA body in height. And then the NFL. Are

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Speaker 1: you kidding? That might be a little soft around the middle,

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Speaker 1: But I can't play in the NFL. The NFL you

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Speaker 1: gotta have speed, size, strength only, and you gotta be

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Speaker 1: a little looney in order to play football. So everybody

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Speaker 1: can't play football. But watch the World Baseball Classic and

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Speaker 1: see all the different baseball players from the round the world,

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Speaker 1: size and shapes, colors, whatever you want to do. Baseball

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Speaker 1: is an international game and anybody can play. That's what's

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Speaker 1: awesome about it. In the words of New York Team

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Speaker 1: TV legend the late Bill Jorgensen, thanking you for your

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Speaker 1: time this time until next time. Rob Parker out. He

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Speaker 1: can't get it. This could be an inside the Parker.

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Speaker 1: See you next week, same bad time, same bad station.