Speaker 1: Is this a great game or what with the Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer Tim Kirkchen I'm his son, Jeff Kirkshin Dad,
Speaker 1: we only have two weeks left of the regular season.
Speaker 1: This is the most exciting time of the year.
Speaker 2: In all of sports. But across Major League Baseball things
Speaker 2: are tightening in these races and we're going to jump
Speaker 2: into it.
Speaker 1: But there's one team that nobody is talking about, and
Speaker 1: that is my daughter, McKinley Hope's T ball team. She
Speaker 1: starts te ball at just over two years old.
Speaker 2: Dad two nights, so when.
Speaker 1: This episode drops, we will have already had our first
Speaker 1: heavy air quotes here game.
Speaker 2: But I'm so excited to be coach Dad out there.
Speaker 3: Jeff, it's wonderful and proud of you for being the
Speaker 3: coach of your daughter's team. The question is she taller
Speaker 3: than the tea? Because I think there should be something
Speaker 3: in place. If you're not taller than the tea, you
Speaker 3: can't play t ball yet. Have you checked that out?
Speaker 3: Because I know, I know this worked when you were
Speaker 3: a kid. You couldn't play till you were eleven because
Speaker 3: you were tall as the t.
Speaker 1: Is she as tall as the t It's arguable you
Speaker 1: know they build adjustable t's now that are a little
Speaker 1: bit smaller for the little ones. So we've been practicing. Well,
Speaker 1: we always swing a bat in the basement. You know,
Speaker 1: we have a bat and tea and balls down here,
Speaker 1: but I just brought them out to the backyard. We
Speaker 1: were ground or we were taking grounders. But the hardest
Speaker 1: thing for her to understand is, you know, we're trying
Speaker 1: to teach her to run to first base, but she
Speaker 1: would hit the ball and then she would try to
Speaker 1: go get the ball. So she didn't realize the offense
Speaker 1: defensive end of things. If you're hitting, you don't want
Speaker 1: to get near the ball, right and if you're defending,
Speaker 1: you want to get the ball.
Speaker 2: So we're going to.
Speaker 1: Work through that tonight at our very first T ball
Speaker 1: heavy quotes.
Speaker 3: Again game, Well, I can't wait. What about my shirt, Jeff?
Speaker 3: What do you think?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 1: I recognize that shirt because I very selfishly I'm going
Speaker 1: to take credit here. I texted that link to that
Speaker 1: rowback shirt with dinosaurs on it to Kelly, your daughter,
Speaker 1: my sister, and I said you got to get this
Speaker 1: for pop up for Father's Day from Carson because Carson,
Speaker 1: your oldest grandson, loves dinosaurs.
Speaker 2: And it's a great polo. The brand is awesome.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a great comfortable shirt I wore and as
Speaker 3: a tribute to Carson today, cutest kid ever, first grandson,
Speaker 3: a first grandchild have ever had. He asked me the
Speaker 3: other day, pop up, when you got married? Were the dinosaurs?
Speaker 3: Were their dinosaurs you got married?
Speaker 4: It was forty forty two years ago.
Speaker 3: No, but I told him there are dinosaurs today because
Speaker 3: I happened to be one of them. I again, Jeff,
Speaker 3: I did not know this till about a week ago.
Speaker 3: Why the Doobie Brothers are called Doobie brothers? Did you
Speaker 3: know that that?
Speaker 1: It never surprises me when you tell me something like
Speaker 1: how you.
Speaker 3: Adult w not know the answer to why they're called
Speaker 3: the Doobie Brothers.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, isn't it due to marijuana?
Speaker 3: I would think, So that's what I was told, all right.
Speaker 3: I did not know that, Jeff.
Speaker 1: So all right, let's well, maybe you were just smoking
Speaker 1: too much of the reefer when you were at University
Speaker 1: of Maryland College parking in the seventies.
Speaker 3: Simply no, simply not happening, Jeff, all right, Listen, I
Speaker 3: every week I come up with a team Tim Jeff
Speaker 3: and you know they're fun. I enjoyed doing them this week.
Speaker 3: It garnered a lot of attention, and I'm really surprised.
Speaker 3: We remember last week we had the all female baseball team.
Speaker 3: You know, names that sound a little bit more female
Speaker 3: than male. Okay, right, and we haven Moni Mack and
Speaker 3: we have Carol Hardy Kim Battist. You you heard him.
Speaker 3: So I got a bunch of suggestions from people. Did
Speaker 3: you read some of these? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think I don't think this is bo Jackson level mistake,
Speaker 1: but we did miss a very big one.
Speaker 3: Well, we missed Christy Matthewson. Right, that's the biggest That's
Speaker 3: the biggest one we missed. A pointed that out right.
Speaker 2: The biggest one we missed I thought was Jackie Robinson.
Speaker 3: Jackie, Yeah, that's that, that's true. We missed Jackie rob
Speaker 3: of this is I come up with one of these
Speaker 3: ridiculous lists, and everyone that said something in has something
Speaker 3: that's better than what I put on the list.
Speaker 2: I forgot.
Speaker 3: And Nolan Ryan's real first name is Lynn Okay, l
Speaker 3: Y and n Now he goes by Nolan, so we
Speaker 3: can't call him Lynn Ryan. But the great don't you
Speaker 3: find it odd that the greatest power pitcher of all
Speaker 3: time his real first name is Lynn and he struck
Speaker 3: out fifty seven hundred batters.
Speaker 1: I mean, and then when you think about Christy Matthewson,
Speaker 1: Sandy Kofax, a lot of female names in those spincers.
Speaker 3: That was terrible. Jeremy shapp our dear.
Speaker 4: Friend who now apparently this podcast like he's got better
Speaker 4: things to do with his life.
Speaker 3: He mentioned Granny Hamner. Granny Hamner at shortstop, we could
Speaker 3: have used him and Willie weinbab my dear friend from ESPN.
Speaker 3: He said, well, the sports writer for the team has
Speaker 3: to be Shirley Povich. So oh yeah, I left out
Speaker 3: a lot of names, And thank you to everyone for
Speaker 3: not necessarily correcting me, but adding important names that we
Speaker 3: forgotten to that point, Jeff, somebody called in and said,
Speaker 3: how could you leave Babe Ruth out and name? But
Speaker 3: but Jeff, listen, I've given this a little bit of thought.
Speaker 3: I want you to answer the question. Are more guys
Speaker 3: named Babe who go by the name Babe than women?
Speaker 3: I think more men go by babe. I know they
Speaker 3: are baseball players. Babe Ruth, Babe Herman Babe Dolgren, Babe Adams,
Speaker 3: and a bunch more going by Babe Okay football players,
Speaker 3: Babe Laffenberg, Babe Parilli. I grew up watching him play
Speaker 3: and with girls. I mean, we have Babe Didrison Zaharias,
Speaker 3: who's the greatest probably female athlete of all time. But
Speaker 3: I think there are more babes who are men than women.
Speaker 3: Is that possible that we're right about that?
Speaker 1: I think I don't know enough babes. You just listed
Speaker 1: every babe and I didn't know most of them. I
Speaker 1: know Babe Herman. I always thought that was a weird
Speaker 1: name though, because Babe Ruth, he's George Herman Ruth. And
Speaker 1: then there's a babe I'm eighteen ninety five, and then
Speaker 1: born in nineteen oh three is Babe Herman. So there's
Speaker 1: no like one would think, oh, what a cool thing,
Speaker 1: we'll call him babe. No, they're unrelated because Babe Ruth
Speaker 1: was eight years old when Babe Herman was born, So
Speaker 1: there's no way. I mean, he hit a lot of
Speaker 1: home runs, but he didn't start at eight years old,
Speaker 1: that's for sure, right, all right.
Speaker 3: The other thing that from last week, Jeff, is that
Speaker 3: I said again that Get Smart is my favorite sitcom
Speaker 3: of all time and that will never change. And I
Speaker 3: actually showed my Get Smart lunch box, which I received
Speaker 3: as an adult.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we had a little bit of a show and
Speaker 1: tell session, and you were such a little proud little
Speaker 1: sports writer walking up there. Hey, guys, today I brought
Speaker 1: in my Get Smart lunchbox.
Speaker 3: I got five emails from friends saying they heard about
Speaker 3: my Get Smart lunchbox. Three of them are wondering where
Speaker 3: can they get one. This is what we've done. And
Speaker 3: Jeff I mentioned Bill Chuck on the air. He's a
Speaker 3: baseball guru. He's a lunatic in the best possible way.
Speaker 3: As a thing called billy Ball. You need to subscribe.
Speaker 3: He's got some good stuff on there. So he texted
Speaker 3: me about the time. He said, do you remember when
Speaker 3: Maury Wills, who was the MVP of the National League
Speaker 3: in nineteen sixty two, appeared on Get Smart? He said,
Speaker 3: do you remember the episode? And I said, well, of
Speaker 3: course I do. He got killed in the episode. He
Speaker 3: got a banana in the mail. This is how this
Speaker 3: is how all the chaos killed all the control agents.
Speaker 3: If you received a banana in the mail, you were
Speaker 3: the next to be killed by a killer gorilla. So yes,
Speaker 3: And what I didn't know a Bill Chuck reminded me
Speaker 3: is that the Maury Wills's name in Get Smart in
Speaker 3: the one episode is Roberts, and the manager of the
Speaker 3: Dodgers is Dave Roberts, who was also a base steeler.
Speaker 3: So we had a lot of we had a lot
Speaker 3: of reaction to last year last week's podcast, and it
Speaker 3: was all stupid, but it was all really fun.
Speaker 1: And I mean rumor is that Dave Roberts has received
Speaker 1: a couple of packages with bananas in the mail to
Speaker 1: Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 2: We're not sure what that means. But Get Smart fans no, right.
Speaker 3: Well, they know they got to put it together here quickly,
Speaker 3: all right, Jeff, those are just a few reactions from
Speaker 3: last week that I got a mile chuckle out of
Speaker 3: more than a mile chuck.
Speaker 2: Well, Dad, let's jump right into the takeaways.
Speaker 1: Then. First of all, before we get there, all of
Speaker 1: these emails we're getting is through Great Game or what
Speaker 1: dot com. That's where Dad is able to access those emails.
Speaker 2: So if you ever have a.
Speaker 1: Question, Dad, I just I've said it before, I said.
Speaker 2: It multiple times.
Speaker 1: I love that you're able to now have this direct
Speaker 1: line with members of our family that want to listen
Speaker 1: and want to chat with you.
Speaker 2: So, great game or what dot com?
Speaker 1: Scroll down and I'll say, you know, reach out to
Speaker 1: us or whatever it's there, you can find it and
Speaker 1: message us there.
Speaker 2: All right, takeaway, stab, what do you have? All right?
Speaker 3: Well? Cal Rowley leads to takeaways again. How many times
Speaker 3: do you think he has led the take this year?
Speaker 3: Five more? What do you think?
Speaker 1: I think there's at least two titles of episodes that
Speaker 1: involve him, right, he has been huge this season.
Speaker 3: Well, this time he tied through Sunday Mickey Mantle with
Speaker 3: the most homers in a season, fifty four by a
Speaker 3: switch hitter, Mickey Mantle, Jeff, He's the greatest switch hitter
Speaker 3: of all time. So it got me to thinking, I
Speaker 3: did this pretty much off the top of my head.
Speaker 3: So I don't want anyone screaming at me, even though
Speaker 3: you're allowed to. There's a Hall of Famer at every
Speaker 3: switch hitting Hall of Famer at every position from what
Speaker 3: I can tell, Catcher, So this is a team tim
Speaker 3: top of my head, Ted Simmons, Eddie Murray at first base,
Speaker 3: Frankie Frish or Roberto Alomar at second base. Ozzie Smith
Speaker 3: is my shortstop. I'm going to pick one at each position.
Speaker 3: There are multiple guys. Alfield, a third base, of course,
Speaker 3: is Chipper Jones. Altfield is Pete Rowe, Mickey Mantle to repeat,
Speaker 3: the greatest switch hitter of all time, and Tim Raids,
Speaker 3: who was a great, great, great player. And that doesn't include,
Speaker 3: of course, Carlos Beltron and Lance Berkman, who I think
Speaker 3: both someday will be in the Hall of Fame. I
Speaker 3: think they both belong. And I did not think of
Speaker 3: a pitcher. I figured it out. I was very proud
Speaker 3: of myself. Mordecai three Finger Brown was a switch hitter,
Speaker 3: and I'm sure there are others switch hitting Hall of
Speaker 3: Fame pitchers, but he's the first one I could think of,
Speaker 3: and I stopped right there. And also Jeff Vita Blue,
Speaker 3: a non Hall of Famer but a great pitcher in
Speaker 3: his day, is still the answer to a very fun question,
Speaker 3: who is the last American League switch hitter to win
Speaker 3: the MVP? The answer Vita Blue in nineteen seventy one,
Speaker 3: but no one really knew because he is the pitcher.
Speaker 3: But that was pre designated hitter, so he had to bat.
Speaker 2: Dad.
Speaker 1: I think that's a great team, Tam, And I know
Speaker 1: you kind of did it on a whim there, but
Speaker 1: I think it's fantastic.
Speaker 3: Well, it's important and it's relevant because people ask me today,
Speaker 3: is Cal Rawley the greatest switch hitting catcher of all time?
Speaker 3: Well he might be someday, but we have a switch
Speaker 3: hitting catcher at least one Ted Simmons in the Hall
Speaker 3: of Fame. So yeah, I enjoyed putting that together at
Speaker 3: the last minute. Jeff. The A's can really really hit.
Speaker 3: They don't pitch very well, and obviously they're not going
Speaker 3: to the playoffs, but I saw this. I got a
Speaker 3: kick out of this. So Sunday Jacob Wilson, Nick Kurtz,
Speaker 3: who is an amazing player. He's got over thirty homers
Speaker 3: and eighty RBIs. Only two other A's rookies have ever
Speaker 3: done that, hose Can Seko and Mark maguire, and they
Speaker 3: both won the Rookies of the Year that year. Brent
Speaker 3: Rooker and Colby Thomas, the two through five guys in
Speaker 3: the order on Sunday for the A's all hit home
Speaker 3: runs and that's the I'm shocked to hear this. It's
Speaker 3: the first time that the A's can say that since
Speaker 3: nineteen thirty when Mulebaas, Mickey Cochrane, Al Simmons and Jimmy
Speaker 3: Fox all did it from the two through five spots
Speaker 3: in the orders. That's a long time. Given how good
Speaker 3: the A's were Carne Lanford, you know, Conseko Maguire, David Henderson,
Speaker 3: they never did that. I was really surprised to hear that. Also,
Speaker 3: speaking of really good catchers, Sal Perez of the Royals
Speaker 3: hit home run number three hundred and drove in his
Speaker 3: one run number one thousand. Remember we went over this, Jeff,
Speaker 3: how one thousandth I have a lot of trouble saying.
Speaker 2: That one thousand. It's not easy.
Speaker 3: Not easy. Yeah. So George Bratt is the only other
Speaker 3: Royal with three hundred homers and one thousand RBIs and
Speaker 3: the only catchers to get there in their first fourteen years,
Speaker 3: like Sal Perez, are Mike Piazza for me, the greatest
Speaker 3: hitting catcher ever to play in the Major leagues, Johnny Bench,
Speaker 3: greatest catcher ever and in the Major leagues, and Yogi
Speaker 3: Berra's second greatest catcher in Major League history, according to me,
Speaker 3: not to anybody else. Josh Gibson. It might be the
Speaker 3: greatest catcher of all time now that we've taken the
Speaker 3: Negro league stats and brought them in. Those numbers are
Speaker 3: just ridiculous. But sal Perez just another step towards making
Speaker 3: it to the Hall of Fame. So, Jeff, on Sunday,
Speaker 3: the Mets won a game they had lost eight in
Speaker 3: a row, and Pete Alonso hit a three run walk
Speaker 3: off homer. He's got five walk off homers now, most
Speaker 3: by any Met ever, and I think it was very
Speaker 3: fitting that he hit the three run homer because he's done.
Speaker 3: He's in a lot of home runs, especially in the
Speaker 3: right center field like Sunday to break things open. And again,
Speaker 3: I'm a big believer, Jeff. One swing, one event can
Speaker 3: turn the fortunes of a team. So let's just see
Speaker 3: if the big hit by Pete Alonso turns the tide
Speaker 3: for the New York Mets. It might who knows.
Speaker 1: I know, Mets fans are completely tortured, and they do
Speaker 1: have a day off on Monday night, so obviously this
Speaker 1: is released on Tuesday. So they'll play tonight at home
Speaker 1: against the Padres, who you know, another playoff team right there,
Speaker 1: and a potential matchup. You never know how things are
Speaker 1: gonna fall when it comes to the playoffs. The NL
Speaker 1: wild card is just nuts right now. So is the
Speaker 1: AL wild card for that matter.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be a great final. Two weeks Anthony Rizzo
Speaker 3: last one announced his retirement. So Anthony Rizzo is one
Speaker 3: of my favorite players, really good guy. And Jeff, remember
Speaker 3: he caught the final out on a ground ball to
Speaker 3: that Chris Bryant to third for the final out of
Speaker 3: the twenty sixteen World Series. Cubs win for the first
Speaker 3: time in a million years. And you remember what he did, Jeff,
Speaker 3: after he caught the out, caught the ball at first.
Speaker 3: I mean, this showed incredible court awareness. He put the
Speaker 3: ball in his back pocket.
Speaker 2: That's right. And I remember I was at that game,
Speaker 2: I remember, right.
Speaker 3: And I thought that was amazing self awareness to understand
Speaker 3: that this is a historic ball and it's staying with me.
Speaker 3: So he put it in his back pocket. He ran
Speaker 3: in and jumped on the dogpile. It was pretty cool.
Speaker 3: So Anthony Rizzold not a Hall of Famer, but he
Speaker 3: had a really really good career and among the odd
Speaker 3: things that he did, so he hit over three hundred
Speaker 3: homers and got hit by a pitch over two hundred times.
Speaker 3: So he and Don Baylor are the only players ever
Speaker 3: to have three hundred homers and two hundred hit batters
Speaker 3: in their careers. And you know, let's keep in mind,
Speaker 3: you know, Mickey Mantalou we mentioned earlier, got hit by
Speaker 3: a pitch thirteen times in his entire career, and it's
Speaker 3: just this guy got hit all the time and it
Speaker 3: didn't seem to bother him, just like he didn't bother
Speaker 3: Don Baylor. I'll never forget seeing Anthony Rizzo in spring
Speaker 3: training maybe five years ago, still with the Cubs, and
Speaker 3: he interviewed him and I said, so what now, and
Speaker 3: he looked, this is spring training. He looks, and he
Speaker 3: looks at me, and he goes, all right, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: go see if I can still hit this spring, because
Speaker 3: this is how hard the skill of hitting is. Jeff.
Speaker 3: Every spring he went to spring training, much like Aaron
Speaker 3: Boone did, wondering am I still going to be able
Speaker 3: to do this even in the prime of his career.
Speaker 3: That's how hard hitting a baseball is.
Speaker 1: Dad, did you see the note from a member of
Speaker 1: our family, Eric Hibbler?
Speaker 3: Yes, I did, and I it said, tell everyone what
Speaker 3: it said, Jeff.
Speaker 1: So, he's a music teacher and a massive Chicago Cubs fan.
Speaker 1: And well, Anthony Rizzou was in the stands. This is
Speaker 1: so neat at Wrigleyfield on Saturday, just hanging out with fans.
Speaker 1: He had a jersey with all these signatures in the
Speaker 1: back of it. I assume we're fans signing his jersey
Speaker 1: because he loves he the Cubby fans. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: massive and they Eric sent us a kind of a
Speaker 1: cork gin here, which is really neat. He said, only
Speaker 1: two players have three hundred home runs and have struck
Speaker 1: out a former MVP while on the mound.
Speaker 2: Those two day Ruth and Anthony Rizzo.
Speaker 3: Right, and that was cool. That was absolutely priceless when
Speaker 3: he struck out Freddy Freeman, who laughed out loud because
Speaker 3: it's a blowout game and everything else said it was
Speaker 3: a good curveball that Anthony Rizzo threw. So Eric, thank
Speaker 3: you so much for that. And look, I'm not disputing,
Speaker 3: but I didn't check with Frank from the Elias on this,
Speaker 3: and we have to be accurate on things like this.
Speaker 3: But I did go back through Jimmy Fox's career. Jimmy Fox,
Speaker 3: of course, hit five hundred homers and then pitched for
Speaker 3: the Phillies at the end of his career in nineteen
Speaker 3: forty five. And I went back through this morning, through
Speaker 3: every pitching appearance by Jimmy Fox, just to make sure
Speaker 3: that Eric was right, wasn't. I wasn't questioning you.
Speaker 4: Eric.
Speaker 3: I'm sure your son is exactly right, but I have
Speaker 3: to be sure, so I hope this is true. But
Speaker 3: if it is, what a cool dough and it is.
Speaker 1: Shout out to his son Grant, and thank you Eric
Speaker 1: for listening and for sending us stuff in.
Speaker 2: We love it. Next on is this a great game
Speaker 2: or what?
Speaker 3: Dad?
Speaker 2: We'll get into more quark gins.
Speaker 1: We have another team, tim, because this seems to be
Speaker 1: the popular thing that everybody wants, including.
Speaker 2: On this state baseball history. It's all coming up next.
Speaker 1: All right, Dad, what are your quark chins going into
Speaker 1: this week?
Speaker 3: Okay? Well, you know how much I love James Wood
Speaker 3: and his dad, Kenny Wood, so this pains me to
Speaker 3: bring this up, but you know, stats are stats, History's history.
Speaker 3: James Wood became the first player two hundred strikeouts this year.
Speaker 3: He did it in one hundred and forty four games.
Speaker 3: That's not the major league record for fewest games to
Speaker 3: two hundred strikeouts. Chris Carter one hundred and thirty seven
Speaker 3: games as the record holder. But James Wood recorded his
Speaker 3: twenty sixth hat trick, so twenty six times this year
Speaker 3: three or more strikeouts in the game. That ties the
Speaker 3: major league record held by Joey Gallo and Mark Reynolds.
Speaker 3: We mentioned this a couple of weeks ago. We have
Speaker 3: to update it because that's our kind of our responsibility,
Speaker 3: at least with the quirt Chins. And speaking of strikeouts, Jeff,
Speaker 3: this is so amazing. But Aaron Judge of course passed,
Speaker 3: just passed Yogi Berra on the all time list, and
Speaker 3: then he passed Joe DiMaggio on the all time list
Speaker 3: for the Yankees, so he's got the fourth most home
Speaker 3: runs in the history of the New York Yankees. Now, look, Jeff,
Speaker 3: you know when I make these apples and oranges comparisons,
Speaker 3: that's exactly what they are. It doesn't matter. But it's
Speaker 3: still amazing to me that Aaron Judge hit more home run,
Speaker 3: has hit more homers than Joe Demagio, but he has
Speaker 3: almost one thousand more strikeouts. Than Joe Demaggio had in
Speaker 3: his career, and Judge has maybe ten years left. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's how good he is. There's no telling how many
Speaker 3: home runs he's going to hit. And I'm still amazed
Speaker 3: by this after all these years. Joe DiMaggio never his
Speaker 3: strikeout high in a season is thirty nine. That's the
Speaker 3: most he ever And by the way, in nineteen forty one,
Speaker 3: the year year he hit in fifty six straight games,
Speaker 3: he struck out thirteen times. So I used that in
Speaker 3: a notes column in the eighties. In the eighties Jeff
Speaker 3: at the Dallas Morning News, and I'm not going to
Speaker 3: say who it was, but one of my broadcast friends
Speaker 3: got a little bit confused and he saw what I wrote,
Speaker 3: and he said on the air, this is hard to believe.
Speaker 3: But the year that Babe Ruth hit sixty homers nineteen
Speaker 3: twenty seven, the only struck out thirty times.
Speaker 5: So he got the sixty homer mixed up with the
Speaker 5: fifty six game hitting street.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean it's a natural mistake. But Joe
Speaker 3: Demaggio never struck out more than thirty nine times in
Speaker 3: a season. And Aaron Judge, and I'm only pointing this
Speaker 3: out Jeff to show the difference in the pitching that
Speaker 3: we see today. Twenty seventeen, Aaron Judge set the major
Speaker 3: League record, which still stands, of course, for most consecutive
Speaker 3: games with at least one strikeout at thirty seven. So
Speaker 3: DiMaggio's strikeout high was thirty nine, and Aaron Judge struck
Speaker 3: out in thirty seven consecutive games. Pretty incredible.
Speaker 2: That is pretty incredible, all right.
Speaker 3: Speaking to the Yankees, Luis Heal had an interesting line
Speaker 3: the other day, six innings, pitched no hits, and they
Speaker 3: took him out after six innings, which is not a
Speaker 3: surprise anymore that a guy has taken out with a
Speaker 3: no hitter going. But he also had four walks in
Speaker 3: that game. He had two while pitches at a bock,
Speaker 3: which I thought was kind of odd. A guy pitches
Speaker 3: six no hit innings, but he walks for guys, shows
Speaker 3: two wild pitches, and has a box. So I checked
Speaker 3: with Frank from the Elias and I said, Frank, tell me,
Speaker 3: has anyone ever had a line quite like this? And
Speaker 3: Frank rode back, No, not since the mound was moved
Speaker 3: to its place in ninety three, of course, Jef, that's
Speaker 3: eighteen ninety three where they moved the mound to sixty
Speaker 3: feet six inches and so no one has other than
Speaker 3: Louise Heel has ever done that. And you don't even
Speaker 3: need two wild pitches, you only need one in that
Speaker 3: and he got two. So that just shows you how
Speaker 3: odd that was. And speaking about odd, jeff Yvonne Herrera,
Speaker 3: catcher for the Cardinals, got hit by a pitch twice
Speaker 3: in consecutive games. Two hit by pitches. Then the next
Speaker 3: game he got hit twice. Again. That sounds like a lot.
Speaker 2: Right, it does. Sounds painful, r all right.
Speaker 3: So Willie Castro did that last year. I was surprised.
Speaker 3: And the last guy to do that before that was
Speaker 3: Derek Dietrich in twenty nineteen. So it's a bit odd,
Speaker 3: but I you know, we we had a lot of
Speaker 3: hit by pitches in this season and a lot of
Speaker 3: hit by pitches of the show, so we thought we'd
Speaker 3: bring it up. And the last one, Jeff Cody Clemens
Speaker 3: hit three home runs in a game. That is Roger
Speaker 3: Clemens's son, So I checked. Roger Clemens gave up three
Speaker 3: homers in a game seventeen times and four or more twice,
Speaker 3: so Cody Clement. I was just wondering how it compared
Speaker 3: to his famous father's home runs. You know, Clemens for
Speaker 3: is one of the great pitchers of all time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was funny.
Speaker 1: I actually interviewed Cody Clemens at spring training when he
Speaker 1: was with the Phillies, and I thought it was so funny.
Speaker 1: And the first thing we remarked about was the fact
Speaker 1: that how many times is my dad.
Speaker 2: Talk to your dad? We thought that was really really
Speaker 2: great and both in the same position. And also, Dad,
Speaker 2: if you were calling.
Speaker 1: I know I've told this on the podcast before, but
Speaker 1: when I talked to Dicky Knowles, I said, how many
Speaker 1: times have.
Speaker 2: You chatted with my dad? And you guys go way back?
Speaker 1: So here I am interviewing him and you interviewed him
Speaker 1: a million times.
Speaker 3: Yes, the early eighties Dicky Knowles, Yeah, really really enjoyed him.
Speaker 3: He's a funny dude and he does some really good
Speaker 3: things to help people who need help. Good for Dickie, even.
Speaker 2: Even he joked about it.
Speaker 1: Early eighties Dicky Noles to today Dicky Knowles are two
Speaker 1: very different interviews, and I definitely got the easier one
Speaker 1: of the two.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was afraid of Dickey knowles in the mid eighties,
Speaker 3: believe me.
Speaker 4: But that's another story for another day.
Speaker 2: What did you just get up to get d Did
Speaker 2: you go get baseball cards or something?
Speaker 3: What is Jeff? I'm we're gonna do this very organically,
Speaker 3: and you didn't even know this is coming, as you know, Jeff,
Speaker 3: down in the downstairs basement. In the basement there's a
Speaker 3: bathroom and I went in there and I just said,
Speaker 3: all right, I'm going to pick out three cards and
Speaker 3: we're going to use him on the air this week.
Speaker 3: I don't care what three they are. If I don't
Speaker 3: have a story, we're not using it. Boy, did I
Speaker 3: ever get lucky? So the first one is Jim Dwyer.
Speaker 3: So I covered Jim Dwyer when he played for the Orioles.
Speaker 3: He was a really good pinch hitter. He was a
Speaker 3: he could really hit, but he didn't play every day
Speaker 3: because he hit left hand and he didn't play much
Speaker 3: against left handers. But the note on him is he
Speaker 3: told me once when he plays golf, he carries certain
Speaker 3: clubs that are left handed and others that are right handed,
Speaker 3: and he hit some shots right handed and some shots
Speaker 3: left handed. That's pretty weird, don't you think, But.
Speaker 2: I mean, does he do it in the sense of convenience?
Speaker 1: Like there are times when I'm playing golf and I
Speaker 1: get myself in a situation where I wish I was
Speaker 1: left handed because I'm I'm gonna hit a tree or
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hit what or is it really like one
Speaker 1: hundred yards out?
Speaker 2: I like hitting my fifty.
Speaker 3: Six here, just more comfortable hitting some shots left handed
Speaker 3: and other shots right handed.
Speaker 1: So maybe I should try that, yeah, Because I mean,
Speaker 1: have you ever thought about.
Speaker 3: Adam done? Adam Dunn's wife asked after his terrible, terrible,
Speaker 3: terrible season, have.
Speaker 4: You ever considered batting left handed? And he said, no,
Speaker 4: that's not how it works, all right.
Speaker 3: The second one, this is incredible. This is R. J.
Speaker 3: Reynolds who played for the Pirates million years ago, and
Speaker 3: when I was so I got to know the Pirates
Speaker 3: really well nineties because they were always in the playoffs.
Speaker 3: But R. J. Reynolds went to R. J. Reynolds High School,
Speaker 3: I believe in North Carolina. So what are the chances
Speaker 3: of a guy who goes by his initials. R. J.
Speaker 3: Reynolds went to R. J. Reynolds High School. I mean,
Speaker 3: that would be like my name being Walter Johnson. And
Speaker 3: I went to Walter Johnson High School. Speaking of which, what.
Speaker 2: Jeff, That just like blows my mind.
Speaker 1: And there was a guy when you were wearing a
Speaker 1: Walter Johnson sweatshirt who thought your name.
Speaker 2: Was Walter Jratz Jef.
Speaker 3: I went to miss Sandwich shop wearing my fleece pull
Speaker 3: over with Walter Johnson on it, and he said to
Speaker 3: me name and then he looks at my shirt and
Speaker 3: he goes, so you are Walter, And.
Speaker 4: I said, know that that's the school I went to.
Speaker 4: I don't walk around with with sweaters with my name
Speaker 4: on them.
Speaker 1: Well, one of my favorite like connections between school and
Speaker 1: kid is my cousin Lane Kirkchen, your niece.
Speaker 2: She went to Jones Lane.
Speaker 1: And her second grade teacher was Missus Jones, right, so
Speaker 1: she had Lane had Missus Jones at Jones Lane, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, It's just like Kelly Kirkchen had miss Kelly in
Speaker 3: the fourth grade. So what you were supposed to do
Speaker 3: was give your teacher's name and then your last name.
Speaker 3: So so Kelly says Kelly because it's the teacher Kirkchin.
Speaker 3: And three times she got corrected by the person saying no, no.
Speaker 2: No, I don't want your name.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't want your name. So Kelly Finance. My
Speaker 3: teacher's name is miss Kelly, and my last name is Kirkchin.
Speaker 3: Kelly Kirchin. All right, last one. Jeff is one of
Speaker 3: my favorite players I ever covered. Mitch Williams. I picked
Speaker 3: out three names. I got Jim Dwyer, RJ. Reynolds, and
Speaker 3: Mitch Williams. So Mitch Williams is, you know, one of
Speaker 3: the hardest throwing closers ever. He was a very successful closer,
Speaker 3: but he was also one of the wildest pictures of
Speaker 3: all time. Jeff, go back and look. He gave up
Speaker 3: more walks than hits aloud in his career. I mean,
Speaker 3: he was so hard to hit because he had great stuff.
Speaker 3: He threw hard, and he was the wildest man in
Speaker 3: the world. Although he told me once that his brother Bruce,
Speaker 3: his older brother Bruce, was a pitcher also and he
Speaker 3: was wilder than Mitch was.
Speaker 2: Wow. So Mitch saying something, Miss Mitch Williams nickname was wild.
Speaker 3: Wild saying right, he said. He famously said he said,
Speaker 3: I pitched like my hair is on fire, and that
Speaker 3: was almost a literal distinction. So Mitch Williams told me once.
Speaker 3: He said, I said, your brother Bruce was wilder than you.
Speaker 3: He goes, yeah, well, we would play catch in the
Speaker 3: front yard in the high school. In high school, he said.
Speaker 5: Like parents would come running out of their house and
Speaker 5: scream to the kids get off the street. The Williams
Speaker 5: boys are playing.
Speaker 2: That's amazing.
Speaker 4: Only Mitch Williams would share a story like that.
Speaker 3: I love it. Okay, So those are my baseball cards
Speaker 3: from nowhere, Jeff. I just picked it. I just picked
Speaker 3: them up this morning. I'm just wid in there and
Speaker 3: went to the bathroom, said I'm picking three hour. We're
Speaker 3: going to use it on the podcast. And those were
Speaker 3: the three Jim D RJ. Reynolds and Mitch Williams. How
Speaker 3: great is that?
Speaker 1: I love that, Dad, and I love that. You kind
Speaker 1: of surprised us with that.
Speaker 2: We haven't done it. It's in the cards in a while,
Speaker 2: and that was a little bit of a take on it.
Speaker 3: I start doing this every week now, Jeff. Three cards
Speaker 3: from the bathroom. How about that?
Speaker 2: It has.
Speaker 1: That's a great ring to it for a segment. Dad,
Speaker 1: three cards from the bathroom.
Speaker 3: All right, I got it.
Speaker 1: As long as you don't do the show from the bathroom.
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be a successful segment, right, right.
Speaker 3: Okay, Jeff, this date in baseball history is that? Right?
Speaker 3: Is that? Where we are?
Speaker 2: What do you have on today? September the sixteenth?
Speaker 3: Okay, On this date in nineteen eighty eight, Tom Browning
Speaker 3: pitched a perfect game for the Cincinnati Reds. Tom Browning
Speaker 3: was a really good the late Tom Browning was a
Speaker 3: really good pitcher, had a great change up and through
Speaker 3: a perfect game in the major leagues. And I'm going
Speaker 3: to tell you the story again though, Jeff. In nineteen
Speaker 3: ninety two years later, he is pitching for the Reds
Speaker 3: and they are in the World Series and they are
Speaker 3: playing in Oakland, and his wife is pregnant and she's
Speaker 3: ready to give birth any second. But he's at the game.
Speaker 3: He's in full uniform and then he and he's a
Speaker 3: starting pitchers, so chances are they won't need him. But
Speaker 3: the game goes late, it's going to extra innings, and
Speaker 3: Louke Penela calls down looking for Tom Browning and he's
Speaker 3: not in the bullpen because he has left as he
Speaker 3: should have to go be with his wife who was
Speaker 3: giving birth to their first child. And he went and
Speaker 3: he went to the hospital in full uniform. So the
Speaker 3: next day I asked him, I said, Tom, did anybody
Speaker 3: ask you, like, what are you doing in the hospital
Speaker 3: in a full uniform? And he said, I think they.
Speaker 5: I guess they think thought I was just like a
Speaker 5: really big fan of the Reds. He came straight from
Speaker 5: the bullpen to the hospital and everything turned out well
Speaker 5: with his wife.
Speaker 3: We love that.
Speaker 1: A dear friend of mine, Donnie, he says that he
Speaker 1: has his own problems with grown men wearing jerseys.
Speaker 2: It's kind of a hymn thing.
Speaker 1: I don't have a problem with it, but I would
Speaker 1: have a problem with a grown man wearing a full
Speaker 1: baseball uniform doesn't play for the team right to a game.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's for fans. Let's keep the pants
Speaker 1: on the players.
Speaker 2: You can wear the jersey though.
Speaker 3: I'm good with that, all right on this dage. In
Speaker 3: two thousand and seven, Jim Tomy, one of my favorites,
Speaker 3: hit home run number five hundred of his career. Of course,
Speaker 3: he hit over six hundred home runs before he was done,
Speaker 3: and he was a big Cubs fan. He grew up
Speaker 3: in Illinois and he loved, loved Dave Kingman. So when
Speaker 3: he was like, I don't know, eight, nine, ten years old,
Speaker 3: somehow right before the game, Jim Tomy somehow got over
Speaker 3: the rail and went into the dugout, like five minutes
Speaker 3: before a major league game, to go up and say
Speaker 3: hello to Dave, and Dave give.
Speaker 4: Me it had to say, look, kid, you got to
Speaker 4: get out of here.
Speaker 3: The game's going to.
Speaker 4: Start in five minutes. But I just love how resourceful.
Speaker 3: Jim Toby was that he could get down into the
Speaker 3: Cubs dugout at say hello to Dave Kingman, his baseball hero.
Speaker 3: And now, all these years later, over six hundred homers.
Speaker 1: I mean, it is impressive too, because even Jim Tony
Speaker 1: as a kid was probably very big something. He's not
Speaker 1: like this, probably a big, little dodgy kid who's sneaking through.
Speaker 1: I mean he's probably seven years old, five to six.
Speaker 4: Right, it's a big kid, yes, all right.
Speaker 3: On this date in nineteen twenty four, Hank Peters was
Speaker 3: was born Jeff Hank Peters was the general manager of
Speaker 3: the Orioles during the time that I covered them late seventies,
Speaker 3: early eighties, but mostly eighty six through eighty nine. I
Speaker 3: got along famously with Hank. He was very helpful to me,
Speaker 3: a very gentleman and a very kind man. And I'll
Speaker 3: never forget.
Speaker 4: He worked for Edward Bennett Williams, who was the most
Speaker 4: one of the most demanding owners ever, because Edward Bennet
Speaker 4: Williams was one of the great lawyers.
Speaker 3: In the history of the law practices and one of
Speaker 3: the biggest figures in the history of our country as
Speaker 3: far as barristers go and everything else. So Hank told
Speaker 3: me that they're at the podium after the nineteen eighty
Speaker 3: three They're at the podium with the World Championship trophy
Speaker 3: up in the air, and Edward Benet Williams whispers to Hank,
Speaker 3: I'm worried about next year, seeing we just won the
Speaker 3: World Series and you are worried about next year. Oh,
Speaker 3: I just love it. Born on this date in nineteen
Speaker 3: fifty eight, Oral Hersheiser, my dear friend, one of the
Speaker 3: great pitchers ever, had one of the great eighty eight
Speaker 3: seasons ever. And so he told me the story. He
Speaker 3: wins the cy Young in eighty eight and he's he's
Speaker 3: the MVP of everything in the postseason because everything he
Speaker 3: did just turned to gold and the Dodgers, of course,
Speaker 3: won the World Series. So he told me he got
Speaker 3: invited to the White House for a special baseball night.
Speaker 3: And he gets out of you know, the car that
Speaker 3: brings him to the White House, and he's greeted by
Speaker 3: like a marine there who's like jacked out in his
Speaker 3: marine outfit, and he's that marine is there to make
Speaker 3: sure everyone gets out of their car and gets into
Speaker 3: the White House correctly.
Speaker 4: An Oral Seizer who's a mischievous sort, looks at the
Speaker 4: looks at the marine and says, I'm a little short
Speaker 4: on ones.
Speaker 3: Can I get you later?
Speaker 4: He was gonna tip, He's gonna tip. It's gonna tip
Speaker 4: a marine at the White House for opening up his.
Speaker 3: Car door, and the marine, to his eternal credit, looked
Speaker 3: at Oral Herscheiser and said that'll be enough.
Speaker 4: Mister cy Young like what back out of which.
Speaker 3: Was absolutely great. So, Jeff, since it is Oral Hersheiser's birthday,
Speaker 3: I came up with the team tim for this week.
Speaker 3: Can you guess with the word Oral will spell it
Speaker 3: O R A L instead of E L.
Speaker 2: Can mere talking about Dental High Gi.
Speaker 3: Yes, the All Dental All and Slash Teeth team. Our
Speaker 3: catcher is Chad.
Speaker 2: Moehler m O E L L e R.
Speaker 3: Never heard of this guy, but I looked him up.
Speaker 3: Robert Brush played one game at first base in nineteen
Speaker 3: o seven, So now we have a molar and a brush.
Speaker 2: Never heard what did he do after that game?
Speaker 1: He went over to the factory to help build the
Speaker 1: model t Who knows one fay time job.
Speaker 3: I'm Jeff, I'm looking for a first basement for Team
Speaker 3: tim an outcome, I said, I wonder if anyone's ever
Speaker 3: named Brush? So I look up Brush. Robert Brush one
Speaker 3: game in nineteen o seven. Love it? Hey check a basement?
Speaker 3: Who knew Lewis Drill played second base. There's a guy
Speaker 3: who played in the Big league for the last name Drill.
Speaker 3: Patrick Wisdom is our third baseman. Rocky Bridges is our shortstop,
Speaker 3: because of course Bridges go in your mouth again, huge, huge,
Speaker 3: huge stretch here. Shinsu Chu spelled choo, but for our
Speaker 3: purposes at h E W w okay, Mark Witton spelled
Speaker 3: w h I T e N, which really also sounds
Speaker 3: like whiton, which we do with our teeth. Right. So
Speaker 3: Mark Witten is one of our outfielders. Hit four home
Speaker 3: runs in one game and gets stretched and cast far.
Speaker 3: Cap Anson is one of our is. He was more
Speaker 3: of a first baseman, but he played the outfield a
Speaker 3: bunch of games in the outfield, so he's one of
Speaker 3: our outfielders. Charlie Root is one of the pitchers. And
Speaker 3: I needed to combine the other two pitchers is because
Speaker 3: they actually faced off against each other more than once
Speaker 3: in the major leagues, Matt Kin and Yvonne Nova. So
Speaker 3: we had a pitching starting pitching matchup of Nova Kane. Jeff,
Speaker 3: I the first time it happened, it was maybe the
Speaker 3: greatest day of my whole life, other than when you
Speaker 3: and Kelly were born. I mean, Nova Kane are starting
Speaker 3: against each other in a major league game.
Speaker 2: Dad, I think that's good.
Speaker 1: But I do think there's one maybe person that we're
Speaker 1: missing in.
Speaker 2: The pitching staff.
Speaker 3: Yes, give me.
Speaker 2: Doc Ellis, doc doctor, all right.
Speaker 1: Doc kellis a doctor is a you know, while they're
Speaker 1: a dentist called doctor.
Speaker 3: Well yeah, but there's also Doc Mattic and Doc Kramer.
Speaker 3: We have a few docs. I see what you're going, Jeff.
Speaker 2: Look, I was just trying to add to the pitching stack.
Speaker 3: And I'm sure when we send this out tomorrow, all
Speaker 3: sorts of people are going to call back with better
Speaker 3: ideas that I have, but I'm all for it. Look,
Speaker 3: this is not We're just trying to have a little
Speaker 3: fun with this. If you get better my list, I
Speaker 3: love it. Please, this is not the list. It's just
Speaker 3: a dumb list that I came up with. The all
Speaker 3: Dental slash Teeth team in honor of Oral Hersheiser's birthday.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 1: Well, Dad, thank you for another great episode. A little
Speaker 1: teaser here, Dad, I, your son, have created my very
Speaker 1: own Team Tim, and I'll give it to you on Thursday.
Speaker 3: All right, now, are you gonna give me any clues
Speaker 3: to see if I can come up with a better
Speaker 3: version or are you completely on your own for Thursday?
Speaker 3: Because I'm happy to leave this in your hands. Jeff,
Speaker 3: that's Jeff, I think. No, no, no, no.
Speaker 2: Here's your clue. Here's your clue, and I want you
Speaker 2: to here. Here's what we'll do.
Speaker 1: I'll give you a clue and you create a team
Speaker 1: based upon this clue. Okay, and if you miss, if
Speaker 1: you miss what the subject is, that's fine. We'll have
Speaker 1: two team Tims. Jeff Kirkchin in high school. That's all
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, think about me in high school.
Speaker 2: I don't say anything.
Speaker 3: No, I already got it. It's the all dork team.
Speaker 3: Is that it?
Speaker 1: I said, Jeff Kirkshon, not Tim Kirkshon in high school.
Speaker 4: Ah.
Speaker 2: Okay, Nat, I love you, and you have been set.
Speaker 1: Up for life as a statistician and a career baseball man.
Speaker 1: But I was not on the hood of my car
Speaker 1: playing playing APBA with my future dentist.
Speaker 3: Okay, I was you, Jeff. I told you don't be
Speaker 3: like me. You can be way better than me. You
Speaker 3: are way better than me. You are a million times
Speaker 3: more talented than I am. The stuff that I know
Speaker 3: is pointless. It is useless, but people seem to enjoy it.
Speaker 3: So we're going to keep throwing it out there. All right,
Speaker 3: the all Jeff, I know what it is. Jeff. We're
Speaker 3: going to take all the parts that you played in
Speaker 3: high school in the school plays. We're going to use
Speaker 3: those names to come up with a baseball team and
Speaker 3: our left field there's going to be nicely Nicely Johnson.
Speaker 1: I'm yeah, because right he played for the uh he
Speaker 1: played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, onto the Planets.
Speaker 3: Nicely john cyber Jeff Kirchin in high school. That's a
Speaker 3: great clue. I'm going to come up with my own list.
Speaker 3: But you're on the clock, Jeff. You are doing the
Speaker 3: team Tim on Thursday. It's going to be called the
Speaker 3: Team Jeff.
Speaker 1: Okay, the Team Jeff on Thursday. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening, and as always, thanks for being a part
Speaker 1: of our family.