WEBVTT - Cecil Fielder Keeps it REAL on Steroid Era, Crazy 90's MLB Stories, Japan Journey 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:05.600 Man All Star twenty twenty six MLB Philly. 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:08.239 Come on, man, see why would what I appreciate you? Bro? 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:10.800 We got a good one to start. Man, someonhe I 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:16.120 grew up loving one of the more interesting stories in baseball, 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.440 kind of disregarded, went to Japan to resurrect his career, 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:22.439 and came back as one of the most feared sluggers 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.599 MLB has ever seen. Welcome to the show, Cesso Fielder. 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:27.080 Man. 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.640 Yeah, thank you, thank you, thank you. I hate it, baby, 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:33.960 I made it, you made it. I'm on top, I'm 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:34.680 on the smoke. 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:36.040 Let's get it. 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:38.080 You know, when you think of it as a kid, 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.000 the time that you're most locked into whatever sport, it 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:44.120 is that you're a fan of the guys that you 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:46.199 look at and the guys who are on TV that 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.080 are making the name, the posters that you see hanging 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:52.040 up in kids' rooms. For me, you gotta realize I 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.360 was born in eighty three, so you know, nineteen ninety 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:59.360 ninety one, ninety two, seven, eight, nine, ten years old. 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.480 This is when you know you're following the game, you're 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:04.880 seeing the posters up and you remember Cecil Field and 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:08.319 you remember that it was the coast to coast posters 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.600 that were up the slugging era of the early nineties. 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:14.520 Yeah, there you go, big daddy. I think I. 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:18.960 Remember seeing this exact poster right here in a friend's room. So, yeah, 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:21.039 you're talking about the early sluggers of the nineties, you 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:23.160 were right there amongst the top of them. 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.440 Well, you know, I tell you, I in my years 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:28.880 in Toronto, which was you know, in the middle eighties, 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:32.000 you know, we had some hell of a baseball players. 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:35.759 I mean my homeboys. I grew up with Jesse Barfield, 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:36.720 lower with most. 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:38.759 Jesse because I played with the son John Yeah. 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:43.320 George Bell, I mean Willie Upshaw. I mean I had soldiers, 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:45.520 you know. So they they raised me in the game 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:46.800 and they taught me how to play the game the 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:49.800 right way. And then you got my homie, my room 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:53.280 with Fred McGriff, myself, Willie, and then John ol Rude 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:56.400 on the way. There's only one baseball, so you know, 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:58.640 my best bet, I didn't know anything about Japan. I'm 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:00.160 gonna just tell you straight up. I didn't know well 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:01.960 ahead they were sending me, but I knew I wanted 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:04.280 to get my ass out of Toronto, So I called 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:06.559 Cito Gaston who was my hitting instructor. And I said, 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:10.560 see thou, they've offered me a nice little piece to 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:12.120 get out of here and go to Japan. And playing 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.680 at my age, it didn't happen. I was twenty four 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:18.240 years old. So at my age, you know, guys didn't 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:20.200 go to Japan. It was the guys that already finished 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:22.480 their cariss here and then they stepped off. So but 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:25.800 I said, hey, I gotta go because my boy was banging, 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:28.680 Freddy was banging. I wasn't getting enough planning time to 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.240 really show what I had. So I said, yeah, I'm going, 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:33.120 and I went on Japan. And then I did my 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.240 tax free too, right, No, no, no, you had to 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:37.799 pay all you had to pay. But it was nice 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.239 stuff going from this and now this is this. 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:41.600 Was the crazy part about it. 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:44.160 So the young fella was making a buck in a 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:47.440 quarter in Toronto in eighty five, age no age seven. 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.440 I made a buck in a quarter, went to Japan. 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:54.280 I made one point five from a buck in the quarter. 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:58.720 I ran my ass to Japan. The decision, look what 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.800 easy easy. I'm in my agent and the Japanese guy 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.400 would negotiating the contract in Chicago. I remember like it 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:09.240 yesterday and the night before it broke off. Both sides 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.639 was pissed off. So I'm like, where the hell y'all going? No, no, no, 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:15.040 We're gonna finish this shit right now. And everybody left 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:16.799 them came back the next morning. That shit was done 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:19.760 in ten minutes. So, hey, I was in Japan. I 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:21.919 did my thing there and got an opportunity to come back. 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.079 Tigers was in last place, lost over one hundred games 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:28.040 in nineteen eighty nine, so it was an easy fit 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:29.840 for me to come in there. Sparky told me when 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:32.399 I first got there, Hell, we lost one hundred games 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:33.960 last year, so you come here. You can do whatever 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:38.040 you want because it don't matter. Were Terriblething's better than that. 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:41.960 Now, question any similarities to mister baseball Tom Selleck as 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.240 far as just the energy and craziness of the crowd, 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:45.720 he said, hell, no, none of that shit. 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:48.880 I mean no, I mean, I was a wild bearer, 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:51.880 but you know I didn't care. You call me whatever 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:54.120 you want. As long as that paycheck is coming, you 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:57.520 can call me anything. I think my time in Japan 0:03:57.720 --> 0:03:59.440 was just a time for me to hone in on 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:01.880 what I had to do. I had. I had a 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.240 thought process going on. I wasn't gonna stand Japan for 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:06.200 the rest of my career. I was gonna come back 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:09.600 and and rekav it. I had some form, so I 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.560 did it. I did Roy Firestone show at nighteteen ninety 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.080 and we were we were on Roy Firestone. I kind 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.680 of take this from Mr Uh from Jerry Maguire. When 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:22.120 my boy went on Roy Firestone told Roy he wasn't 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:25.520 gonna get emotional. So I get on Roy and Roy 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:27.760 asked me a question that Pat Gillick, who is the 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:31.640 who is the man in Toronto? He said, Pat said 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:33.840 that he got to use two and three players for you. 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:36.800 And I told Roy, I said, Roy, I ain't gonna 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:39.120 get emotional about what past said because he just pissed 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:41.840 off that I'm over here beating the shit out of him. 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:44.160 When I go to Toronto, I beat. I had seventeen ho 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:46.720 runs off trunk. They couldn't get me out. I was 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:48.520 hit him in the fifth deck pimp, and I was 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:50.839 doing everything I could to let him know. Just like 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:52.839 T I said, you better let him know because I 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:56.080 had to. You can't just let me go and act 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:59.160 like I ain't nothing. No, You're gonna respect that you're 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:01.279 gonna respect it because I I was a player. I 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:02.960 told him I was a player from the beginning, but 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:04.599 I just didn't get the opportunity to do it on 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:05.400 a daily basis. 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:07.000 You have to you have to gamble on yourself and 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.840 did you have to trust your ability and like at 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:12.000 some point every player has to have that dog in. 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:12.680 Him at some point. 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.440 Oh and as you see, you know the game, and 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:17.039 I want to ask you even how much you're following 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:18.839 the game now because the game has changed so much 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.160 from when you play to where you know the game 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:24.080 is right now. How much do you follow the game now? 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:26.240 What are your thoughts or how it was? What's the same, 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:28.640 what's different from then and now? 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.720 Well, I think the difference is, Man, we were soldiers. Man, 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:33.800 we went out to play. I mean we didn't take 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.560 days off. I mean I mean, like I said, I 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:39.119 go out there. And I think that's why I earned 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:41.320 the respect from Sparky's I did because Sparky used to 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:43.480 be a hard liner when he was in Cincinnati. I mean, 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:46.640 you know sports code in the lobby, you couldn't go 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:48.960 down with jeans on and when I first got here, 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.159 that's the way it was. But I kind of you know, 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.280 I kind of pushed him a little bit to do 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.200 some things differently. No kids in the clubhouse, no kids 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.320 on the field. I'm like, dude, I got a kid 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:00.520 that want to smell of dirt. Man, But what we're 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:02.960 doing here? He said, says, I gotta tell you this. 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:04.760 I love that old man. That's the only man I 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:07.920 ever cried for that passed away. Other than my people 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:10.280 say that man. That man was a good man. So 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:14.279 he told me that he never had his son in 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.279 his locker room. I told Skip, that's a mistake. 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:16.640 Skip. 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.480 If I if I don't give my kid the opportunity 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:22.559 to smell this dirt and this is what he wants 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.360 to do, then what am I doing. I ain't giving 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:28.560 him an opportunity to be successful. So he kind of 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.720 gave me a pathway to and my other teammates now 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.160 to start bringing our kids around. Let them see the dirt. 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:36.440 You gotta smell that dirt. 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:36.640 Man. 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.359 That dirt is a motherfucker. That dirt can get you somewhere. 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:40.200 Young. 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:43.240 Stand what I'm saying. So I always tell myself that, 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:46.800 you know, that was a turning point where Sparky kind 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:49.360 of calmed down a little because he was a hard 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:51.599 liner man sparky' even had his rules, and his rules 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:53.760 was his rules. So I think we were able to 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.200 kind of soften it up where we can also start 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.760 to wear jeans in the damn lobby of the of 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:02.080 the hotels and not have to listen. Man, if you 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:04.680 wanted to go down and get a paper, you had 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:05.440 to put your shoit on. 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:06.880 Wow, that's crazy. 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:09.080 So I skipped the Brave Row like that for a 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:09.480 long time. 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:11.720 It's a little rough skill. Let's let's change up a 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:13.440 little bit. Let's just have a little fun with it. 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:14.360 And he did. 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:16.880 Okay, let's go back to Cali. I didn't know this 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:18.920 until I was doing my research, but it makes sense now. 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.040 I'll get the chance to talk to you. South Central 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:25.200 La show you're right, la, Eric Davis, Darryl Strawberry, Eddie Murray, 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:27.840 some guys around that area where you did you know them? 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:29.040 You're on different side of town. 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:34.320 When I was a kid, I lived on seventy seventy 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:37.280 six and Dinker, which is right off Manchester. If you 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:39.480 go down Manchester, you should get the seventy Sister's a 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:41.120 little there used to be a little cleaners right there 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:44.080 on the corner and make it right. That was right 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:45.239 in it Piru area. 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:45.640 Right. 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:50.120 So when my mom and dad got you know, my 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:53.040 dad was an army man. So when they got the 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:55.320 opportunity to buy a house and used my dad's g 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.560 I they moved out to Saint Gabor Valley, which was Lapointe, 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:01.920 West Covina. Now I got the Vathos. You know, the 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:04.720 Vathos are there, So again I was in the mix. 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:07.920 But Eric lived on eighty fifth and Figure Roy and 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:10.720 my cousins lived on eighty third and Figure Row. So 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:12.840 we was in there. I mean, we was running and 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:15.280 he knew my cousins of course because they went to Fremont, 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.600 So you know, we we we've been running together for 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:20.360 a long time. I mean Ed is one of my 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:22.760 best friends. I talked to him quite a bit and 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:24.640 he played with me in Detroit for a while. So 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.880 I mean I always say, man, that might have been 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:30.800 the that might have been the O G move that 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:33.120 my dad made of getting me out of South Central, 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:35.559 you know, getting me somewhere where I could shine a 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.120 little bit. Because you know, I don't know if you 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:40.000 know this and what you probably did your research and 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.160 do know that basketball was my first love. 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:46.280 I heard you a little bit about that game. 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:49.360 Come on, Matt, don't get me started on that. Folks 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:53.440 don't know. Look at yourself up stand, Matt. Let me 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:57.520 tell you, my boy. And this goes back to aau 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:00.400 back and you know when we were young, like twelve 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:05.080 and thirteen, like Nigel McGill, Ralph Jackson, all them boys 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:07.760 that went to UCLA, they was, I was running with 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:12.240 them in the summer, right. So when I got to 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:14.200 high school, I went to No Gallas High School. So 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:16.640 when I got to high school, I played four years 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:21.120 of varsity basketball and I played football, and then baseball 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:25.360 was like eh. So my dad rested in peace too. 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:27.720 Old man asked me to go out and play baseball 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:28.160 one day. 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:29.240 So I did. 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:31.520 But in basketball, I was signing every valley player of 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:34.160 the year in nineteen eighty one and they asked me 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:36.319 what positions, But I said I played point guard. He 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:38.640 said nah, yeah, I said, yeah, I did I play 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:40.640 point guard. They said you could You're done. I said, 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:41.960 I'll give it to you any way you want it. 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:45.240 Oh man, I could play. That was my game, man. 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:49.200 And baseball was like I was. I didn't think I 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:52.280 could play baseball because I was. I was green, and 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:56.120 I just out worked everybody. I mean, you know, when 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.320 you when you're an athlete and you don't give yourself 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:01.719 the opportunity to be successful, that's on you, you know 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:03.720 what I mean. I had to work man, because I 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.920 wasn't that good. You know, my coach John Romono, he's 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:09.680 still here talk I talked to him. He's almost eighty 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:13.360 years old, and he always says that, you know, you 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:15.679 chasing that ball in the dark when you had one 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.560 light over the backstop, no lights in the field, and 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:20.400 you chasing that ball and I'm throwing you vp in 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:23.600 the dark. Hey, ain't nobody else out there but me 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:25.880 and him, right And I tell people all the time 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:28.360 that right there kind of helped me get myself together. 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:30.040 Because when you're chasing the ball coming out of the 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:32.160 dark end to the light and you're hitting it, you're 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:32.760 doing something. 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:36.000 What do you think skills you learn from basketball or football? 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.120 That translated, because right now baseball is it's turned into 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:41.360 much more of a country club type sport, a specialized 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:44.679 sports where you're seeing kids only played one sport. But 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:47.720 when you talk to the old school guys, everybody played everything. 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:51.280 It makes you more athletic. Yeah, you can do more things, man. 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:54.199 I mean it helped my footwork, you know, playing first base. 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:57.200 I mean I came up with you know, Cito Gassing 0:10:57.320 --> 0:10:59.680 was a great hitting instructure. He really taught me my 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.040 little lean right, and it helped me get myself but balance, 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.280 I mean everything. I didn't have to use my upper 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:08.480 body strength because I used my legs. I mean, I 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:11.000 mean I didn't need no extra help. If you understand 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:14.760 what I'm saying, no help, because this is one hundred 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:18.600 percent me ain't no help. So I was able to 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:21.440 be athletic. I was able to, you know, figure it out. 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:23.440 I was able to trust my You got to be 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:24.440 able to trust yourself. 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:25.000 When you're a hitter. 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:27.600 You can't be scared. You gotta trust it. If you're 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:30.079 gonna sit on the breaking ball, goddamn it, sit on it. 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:33.200 Don't change up in the middle of that bat, you know, 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:35.240 until you get two strikes and you got to open up. 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:37.840 But you know in pictures, I had them boys on 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:40.360 fright night. They was matter of fact. When I used 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:42.000 to come to town, I used to send cars to 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:43.719 pick up mother for go get him and bring him 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:44.120 over here. 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:46.480 Go get it. 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:53.000 Hey, we didn't care. We went out to play, and 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:55.120 you know, we was all friends off the field, but 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:57.960 when you got on the field, I felt that, you know, 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:01.320 me and Puck rest in peace again, Puck man. I mean, 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.320 we enjoyed. We enjoyed each other. I love the fact 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:07.319 when he come to Detroit, when I went to Minnesota, 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:09.640 he came and got me. I came and got him. 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.880 I mean, and you know, but we got on that 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:13.520 damn field. 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:13.720 Man. 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:15.400 You know, he punched me in the face and I 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.160 probably hit him in the face too, because that's just 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:20.320 the way we went got down. And you know, back 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:21.840 in the day, man, I don't know if you know this, 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.000 but back in the day when we played, you couldn't 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:26.120 come around the bad and cage and be talking to 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:29.520 everybody because the manager would find you. You couldn't talk 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.480 to the other team. That's our seriousness. And I'm gonna 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:34.200 tell you all this story, and this is what I 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:38.160 first got to the big leagues. July July of eighty five. 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:40.400 I get to the big leagues and we having issues 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:43.920 with Boston in Toronto. Bruce Keason that hit George Bell 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:49.120 in Toronto, and the next batter, Ernie Ernie Wit hit 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:51.760 a Grand Slam. So the following week we had to 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:56.040 go to Boston. So we go to Boston and Nippers pitching. 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.280 So Nippers throwing that bell. He missed him four times. 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:02.400 So now George Beller is walking down the first base 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.080 and he chirping at the dugout. The whole damn dugout 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:09.480 charges him right. The ship ends up in center field 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:14.320 and back then, man, I mean, it wasn't no, no, 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:17.320 you better boy. At the corner of my eye, man, 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:19.920 I see this brother running onto the field and he 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:23.680 jumps in the pile. And man, when that damn power 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:28.440 was done, it was Don Baylor at the bottom. I said, 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.280 oh Lord, have mercy. I said, I ain't ready yet. 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:34.720 That was a grown ass man, grown ass man, Rest 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:36.920 in peace, Dom Bator. I love you to death, grown 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:39.880 ass man. That's when I knew that I had to 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:42.280 grow up and be ready, because these boys were serious. 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:43.720 These were men. I'm playing against men. 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:46.679 I'm nineteen, I'm playing against grown ass men and the 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.640 dug out smoking cigarette and they smoke. I mean, I 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:52.320 didn't you know what I'm saying, No drinking, no cussing, 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.079 no fussing, no smoking. And I get to the ballpark. Man, 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.120 they in you know sweet Lucy. These boys drunk sweet Lucy. 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:00.480 And every once in a while, you know, it was cold, 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:02.520 they'd be in the club, I said, kicking a little 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:03.520 shot of sweet Lucy. 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:06.360 You know, sweet Lucy is right now. I don't know who. 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:15.480 Back sweet Lucy. Oh, cutty shark, go find a bottle, 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:18.560 cause that's the nasty ship I've ever seen. They go 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:20.320 back there and take him because shot and come back 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:24.680 up and get ready. It was men's game. It was 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.200 men's game when I came up. It was different. It 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:27.880 was different. 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:30.760 You actually enrolled in UNLV, but before you decided to 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:32.960 take baseball serious. 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.720 You know, I really didn't want to do that, but 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:39.760 I did. My mother was always talking about education, education, education. 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:45.320 And I got drafted by the Baltimore Orioles and it 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:46.640 was late and uh. 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:50.440 They had Eddie Murray and I was. 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:52.200 Like, yeah, that ain't gonna work out because he's gonna 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:56.440 be there for a while. And uh so I ended 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:59.520 up going to U n l V. I really didn't 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:03.720 men doubt. Moore never got Freddy, which I try to 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:06.160 be nice to everybody, but Freddie and I never really 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:08.800 got along. I was a young kid running around in 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:10.480 the city. That was just too much. 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:11.280 It's a lot going on. 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.680 There, too much for it was too much. I mean 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:16.840 back then they were on the street. I mean they 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.320 just was lined up with the first coats on everything. 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:21.040 It was crazy back when I was going to school. 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:27.640 What so anyway, I got drafted in the forefront. I 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:29.840 went back and went to Mount Sack Junior College. I 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:34.680 didn't play, but the basketball coach had me playing basketball 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:38.800 because he was like, says, come on, and I was like, 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:41.760 so I was running with the basketball team. 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:44.520 Remember that story. But compare your game to somebody your 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:45.160 who game. 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:48.400 My whole game. You remember Tyron Knolls, he played at 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:51.960 UCLA then he went to UTEP. If you check out 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:55.960 Tyron Knolls, big, big guard, strong. But I can give 0:15:56.000 --> 0:16:00.359 it to you, I can. Oh, you better ask somebody. 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:03.640 Let him know. I'm telling you, oh my god, that 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:06.200 they had film back then. We're gonna find it. 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:09.440 Oh my god. Listen, Okay, check this out. I gotta 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:11.280 tell you this right, I'm gonna tell you where where 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.160 where I was, where I was. So we we we 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:17.680 in the semi final game in Sports Arena against Monrovia 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:22.440 Sports Arena. Yeah, so we we play against a guy 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:25.600 named Sean Holiday. Matter of fact, Sean All they probably 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:27.800 got a couple of boys to play in the NBA. 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:31.560 Sean Holiday was uh was high school? 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:35.760 All American? Yeah? And Holiday three sons in the NBA. 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:40.360 There you go, okay, Holiday was the man, right. I 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:43.560 dropped thirty one on his ass. I dropped thirty one 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:47.200 on his ass. I dropped thirty one on that ass 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:50.240 in the sports arena back in the day. That's where 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:54.440 we played c IF. So you know I can play man, 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.040 but I just wasn't gonna get the opportunity. I got Pepperdine. 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:00.440 You see Santa Barbara and all the cats. And then 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:04.240 check this out. My off guard, I called him Pistol Pete. 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.640 But Pete Williams played at Arizona and was the Pac 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:11.880 ten rebound champ. Now Pete Williams played, did he play 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:13.480 a little bit in the NBA, But then he went 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:16.560 over to Turkey and play. But Pete, Pistol, Pete man 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:20.719 my off So my starting five me Pistol Pete, who 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:24.840 played Jeff Randol Rest in peace. He went to he 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.359 went to Minnie Campbell to Kansasity Chief talked out and 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.240 Mary went to Milwaukee and Big Randy Downs played at 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:34.919 Colorado Basketball. So again my starting five, we all were successful. 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:35.640 We did good. 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.320 Did Tark recruiture? You have any Tark stories? Now? 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:42.240 My Mount Sack? My Mount Sack coach who was there 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:46.080 at Mount Sack told Tark when I went to U NFV, 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:48.920 you need to let him go out there. Now Tark 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:52.480 Sun was playing point guard, Danny. It wasn't going out 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.919 but Tar. He told Tark get him out there. But 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:57.920 then the baseball coach wouldn't let me go because he 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:01.080 wasn't gonna let me play two sports. But I would 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.840 have loved to go on the court with that team. 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:04.879 Oh you gotta do. 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:06.560 All you gotta do is throw the ball up in there. 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:07.800 They gonna catch it, get it. 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.600 You know. Johnson was there that Yeah, Big RJ was there. 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:14.480 We had a team at U and W at that time, 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:17.640