Speaker 1: Is this a great game or what with the Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer Tim Kirchen. I'm his son, Jeff Kirkchen And Dad,
Speaker 1: I'm just now returning from a trip to Boston, Boston, Massachusetts,
Speaker 1: where we celebrated my wife and her twin brothers early
Speaker 1: thirtieth birthday, in.
Speaker 2: Which I also you see this shirt? Was that? Say? Uh? Oh? Dad?
Speaker 2: Getting his glasses on Fenway Park established nineteen twelve, that's right,
Speaker 2: home of the Boston Red Sox.
Speaker 1: I bought a shirt because we took a Fenway Park
Speaker 1: tour while we were in town.
Speaker 2: Dad, Well, so cool, you've already done that. How did Emily?
Speaker 2: And how did Emily enjoy it? Oh? Loved it? Thought
Speaker 2: it was so cool.
Speaker 1: I mean, she has become such a baseball fan in
Speaker 1: the last couple of years and hearing the history of
Speaker 1: the game, the history of the Red Sox at Fenway Park,
Speaker 1: and it's so interesting because she's never been to a
Speaker 1: ballpark that is that old, right, so right, it's the oldest, so.
Speaker 2: Open the week the Titanic seg that's how old Fenway
Speaker 2: Park is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's oldest park in Major League Baseball. Wrigley
Speaker 1: Field is next, and then they had a big trivia question,
Speaker 1: and our entire group, eight of us, just kept looking
Speaker 1: at me every time there was a trivia question. What
Speaker 1: is the third oldest baseball park, which is Sonders Stadium, right,
Speaker 1: So I.
Speaker 2: Was able to get that right.
Speaker 1: I kind of I didn't want to start stealing the
Speaker 1: tour guide's thunder here because I knew all of the
Speaker 1: big answers as to what was going on the red
Speaker 1: seat in right field Ted Williams, of course, like I
Speaker 1: didn't want to steal his thunder, but they kept looking
Speaker 1: at me asking me to raise my hand.
Speaker 2: And try to answer the question.
Speaker 1: So I tried to keep a low profile dad on
Speaker 1: the Fenway Park tour.
Speaker 2: Wow, I'm proud of you. What was Emily? What was
Speaker 2: her takeaway? What fascinated her most about the trip to
Speaker 2: the Fens.
Speaker 1: Well, a number one thing was they were setting up
Speaker 1: a stage for the Jonas Brothers concert that night. So
Speaker 1: the most fascinating thing at the moment for her was
Speaker 1: thinking that Kevin Nick and Joe would be at Fenway
Speaker 1: Park that evening. But other than that, we were sitting
Speaker 1: during the tour. We sat in seats that have been there,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna make sure, I come close to the date,
Speaker 1: like the seats have been there since nineteen thirty four,
Speaker 1: the same original wooden seats.
Speaker 2: Which was unbelievable to think of.
Speaker 1: Your dad, my grandfather growing up in Watertown, Massachusetts, absolutely
Speaker 1: sitting in those seats as a high schooler.
Speaker 2: Isn't that crazy? It's crazy that place is so old
Speaker 2: and it's so what did she think of the Green Monster?
Speaker 2: That must have she must have said something, because I
Speaker 2: remember Jared Ratty bigger than she thought it was.
Speaker 1: And we went up and were on the Monster seats,
Speaker 1: which was really cool, and she kind of said, oh,
Speaker 1: if we ever went to a game, we got to
Speaker 1: sit up here, And I said, everybody wants to sit
Speaker 1: on the Monster seats. They're the most coveted seats in
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball arguably. So she loved it. And we
Speaker 1: found out why they built the Monster. Do you know
Speaker 1: why they built the Green Monster?
Speaker 2: Yes, Jeff. They had such a small amount of room
Speaker 2: in which to build the stadium that they had to
Speaker 2: shoehorn it in to the land, and the only way
Speaker 2: to do that was to keep left field really close
Speaker 2: to home plate, and in order to do that, they
Speaker 2: built a thirty seven foot high wall.
Speaker 1: Well, and here's the detail the tour guide gave us too,
Speaker 1: Dad that it wasn't originally a monster, right it usually
Speaker 1: it's not thirty seven feet tall.
Speaker 2: The whole time. They actually built it taller.
Speaker 1: The owner did because there used to be a car
Speaker 1: dealership across the street and home runs.
Speaker 2: Were regularly hit over the.
Speaker 1: Then ten foot wall and crashing into vehicles, and then
Speaker 1: the owner had to pay for the repair of the vehicles.
Speaker 1: That I can't pay for these vehicles anymore, so they
Speaker 1: built the wall up.
Speaker 2: So nobody could hit it over, right. But Mark McGuire,
Speaker 2: I've told you this story before. Jeff famously, during the
Speaker 2: height of his career, hit a ball over the wall
Speaker 2: and it smashed the windshield of a car and went
Speaker 2: right into the guy's front seat. Okay, Now, the kicker
Speaker 2: to the story hit it off of Zane Smith, by
Speaker 2: the way. But the kicker is is that the guy
Speaker 2: had locked his keys in the car. This is like
Speaker 2: late nineties, so we don't have all these gadgets now
Speaker 2: to open up your car from the car dealership. He
Speaker 2: was trapped without his car keys. And then Mark McGuire
Speaker 2: hit a home run that broke his windshield and he
Speaker 2: was able to retrieve his car keys, and then he
Speaker 2: brought the ball somehow to Mark maguire, who's signed it,
Speaker 2: something to the effect of I'm glad I could save
Speaker 2: your car keys or something like that. I mean, that
Speaker 2: actually happened, like it can't happen, but it's true. Jeff
Speaker 2: the Wall, I'll never forget. Jerry Fraley, Hall of Fame
Speaker 2: baseball writer, went there for the first time in nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty six and we're standing on the field at Fenway
Speaker 2: Park before a World Series game. He'd never been there,
Speaker 2: and he looked at me in these typical frails and said,
Speaker 2: do they take that thing down when the game starts?
Speaker 2: That's what he That's how close left field is there.
Speaker 2: And Jeff, I'm going to tell you a story that
Speaker 2: I've never told publicly. But this is wildly self serving,
Speaker 2: but I'm going to tell it anyway. Nineteen eighty six,
Speaker 2: I'm covering the Orioles for the Baltimore Sun and Earl Weaver,
Speaker 2: the famous great manager, irascible Earl Weaver, the Mickey Rooney
Speaker 2: look like. Earl Weaver says to me, he says, you
Speaker 2: think you could throw a ball off the left field
Speaker 2: wall at Fenway Parker. We're standing in the on deck circle,
Speaker 2: so I'm not even throwing it from home plate. But
Speaker 2: Earle starts yelling at me. You cover the team, you
Speaker 2: think you know everything. He's half joking with me. He goes,
Speaker 2: do you think you could throw a ball off the
Speaker 2: left field wall from right here? So I have to
Speaker 2: take him up on it, and I say, yes, I
Speaker 2: think I can throw a baseball off the left field
Speaker 2: wall from the on deck circle, which was closer to
Speaker 2: leftfield wall. It's three hundred and nine feet away. I
Speaker 2: don't even think it's that long technically, so I the
Speaker 2: next day. The next day, I had to put my
Speaker 2: money where my mouth was. Now keep in mind, Jeff
Speaker 2: I got challenged on this by Earl Weaver, the Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame manager, so he was late to the ballpark
Speaker 2: the next day, so Cal Ripken cal Junior's dad was
Speaker 2: in was therefore put in charge of this challenge. And
Speaker 2: I threw a ball off the left field wall from
Speaker 2: the on deck circle, which was roughly a throw of
Speaker 2: I want to say, two n eighty five to ninety
Speaker 2: feet and I hit the wall, and Earl got there
Speaker 2: like twenty minutes later and said, because we bet some
Speaker 2: some ridiculously low amount of money. He looks at Senior
Speaker 2: and goes, well, what happened, and Cal Sor looks at
Speaker 2: Earl and goes, the kid did it. And it was
Speaker 2: really I'm not sure what to make of the story.
Speaker 2: I can't believe I'm going to tell the story publicly
Speaker 2: for the first time in forty years. But Larry Sheets,
Speaker 2: Larry Sheets, who son, Gavin Sheets plays for the Padres.
Speaker 2: Now Larry hears about this bet and he goes, you're
Speaker 2: not actually going to try to throw it off the wall? You?
Speaker 2: And I said, well, yeah, I think I can do it.
Speaker 2: I said, you don't think I can do it. He goes,
Speaker 2: you can't do it. I can't do it, and he
Speaker 2: said if I can't do it, you can't do it. Well,
Speaker 2: of course, Larry Sheets could throw a baseball farther than
Speaker 2: I can. But Jeff, you know in my I could
Speaker 2: still throw a baseball at age sixty eight. I threw
Speaker 2: it off the wall from the on deck circle and
Speaker 2: Earl Weaver had to pay off a loss. And Cal
Speaker 2: Ripken was the umpire in this situation to determine if
Speaker 2: I hit the ball, hit the wall in the air
Speaker 2: or not. And I did.
Speaker 1: It's impressive. It's very impressive. How high up the wall,
Speaker 1: not that it matters, go I'm there.
Speaker 2: There's padding there, Jeff, that goes up about I would
Speaker 2: say eight feet or something to protect the outfielders. I
Speaker 2: threw it above the padding. Wow, I'm pretty sure I
Speaker 2: threw a baseball three hundred feet in the air, which
Speaker 2: I already knew I could do that because I'd done
Speaker 2: it before. So it wasn't like I was taking on
Speaker 2: something that I had no idea what I was doing.
Speaker 2: So that That's my incredibly terrible self serving story about
Speaker 2: Fenway Park. And this is the first time I've ever
Speaker 2: told this to anyone, that I'll tell you this much.
Speaker 1: You have a podcast, now it's okay to tell stories
Speaker 1: about yourself. This was one of the biggest things we
Speaker 1: had to get over when we first started the podcast.
Speaker 2: This isn't just a baseball podcast.
Speaker 1: In fact that now we even say to friends and
Speaker 1: people who listen, this is a father son podcast about baseball. Right,
Speaker 1: The thing that comes first is father and son, and nothing,
Speaker 1: and I mean nothing is more relatable than when you
Speaker 1: are challenged with an athletic competition or a bet.
Speaker 2: You have to try. You have to try it. Absolutely.
Speaker 2: I didn't just get challenged, hip. I got challenged by
Speaker 2: Earl Weaver, who told me you have no chance to
Speaker 2: do no chance, no chance. So I won the bet.
Speaker 2: So you did it? All right?
Speaker 1: All right, well dad, let's jump into Major League baseball.
Speaker 1: Tell us what are your takeaways of what's been going
Speaker 1: on the last couple of days?
Speaker 2: All right, just a few things. Jeff cal Raley hit
Speaker 2: homers forty eight and forty nine. Okay, same game. So
Speaker 2: now he has more multi homer games nine than anybody
Speaker 2: in the history of the Seattle Mariners, including Ken Griffy Junior.
Speaker 2: In one season. He has the most homers forty nine
Speaker 2: of any primary catcher, passing Salvador Perez of the Royals. Okay,
Speaker 2: the only switch hitter who has more homers in a
Speaker 2: season is Mickey Mantle, who had a fifty four and
Speaker 2: a fifty two homer season, and cal Raley may wipe
Speaker 2: all of that out. So we've been talking about this
Speaker 2: all year, Jeff, and there on Sunday, two more homers.
Speaker 2: He did it. It's incredible and he's on his way
Speaker 2: potentially to winning the MVP. But Jeff, I've been asked
Speaker 2: a whole bunch of times is this the greatest season
Speaker 2: ever by a catcher? And I'm sorry, I'm just not
Speaker 2: ready to go there yet. Okay, you know, Johnny Bench
Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy two won the MVP and had a
Speaker 2: war that is significantly higher than cal Rally's, although cal
Speaker 2: Raley hasn't finished with the season yet, okay. And Mike
Speaker 2: Piazza had a war in nineteen seventy seven that is
Speaker 2: significantly higher than cal Raley's, but again, he's not done yet.
Speaker 2: Ops plus Jeff is a real reminder and a real
Speaker 2: interesting statistic. Johnny Bench's ops plus in nineteen seventy two
Speaker 2: was won sixty six, which is essentially what cal Rally's
Speaker 2: is right now, and Mike piazzas in nineteen ninety seven
Speaker 2: was one eighty five. So I'm still not ready to
Speaker 2: call this the greatest season ever by a catcher, but
Speaker 2: it's in the conversation, and it might be if he
Speaker 2: has a great final five weeks. I love the big Dumper.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's hard to take down Aaron Judge when
Speaker 1: you're batt in three twenty four right him, he's having
Speaker 1: a heck of a season with forty home runs himself.
Speaker 2: But we'll see how it shakes out.
Speaker 1: So you're voting for the nl MVP, so no one
Speaker 1: can get mad at you if one or the other
Speaker 1: wins the AL MVP, because it's not up.
Speaker 2: To you, right, And you gotta be careful. You can't
Speaker 2: be telling everyone who you're gonna vote for, because that
Speaker 2: defeats the purpose of a secret ballot. And we you know,
Speaker 2: it comes out in the middle of November, not at
Speaker 2: the end of September. Okay, right. Justin Verlanders struck out
Speaker 2: now has three thy, five hundred and fifteen strikeouts and
Speaker 2: he passed who on the all time strikeout list. Remember
Speaker 2: who you're.
Speaker 1: Talking to here, Jeff Well, I mean it has to
Speaker 1: be proud alum of Walter Johnson High School, Tim Kirkshan
Speaker 1: talking about Walter Johnson, who.
Speaker 2: We try to get into every episode of Is this
Speaker 2: a great Game or what? And we're pretty darn close
Speaker 2: to doing that. Yes, And again, there's no comparing the
Speaker 2: eras Jeff. It's absolutely ridiculous. It's almost apples and oranges.
Speaker 2: But Justin Verlander has twenty six complete games in his career.
Speaker 2: Walter Johnson completed twenty six or more games in eleven
Speaker 2: consecutive seasons, so eleven straight years he had as many
Speaker 2: or more complete games as Justin Verlander has had in
Speaker 2: his career. Not a criticism of Justin Verlander, this is
Speaker 2: the game that we play today, but the durability of
Speaker 2: Walter Johnson needs to be recognized. And with his next shutout,
Speaker 2: Justin Verlander will have ten okay in his career, Walter
Speaker 2: Johnson has one hundred and ten, so with his next
Speaker 2: shutout he will draw within a hundred shutouts of Walter Johns.
Speaker 1: I have a feeling he won't pass him for shutouts
Speaker 1: or complete games in his career.
Speaker 2: He's not gonna app Also, speaking of complete games, Jeff
Speaker 2: I checked today thirteen teams do not have a complete
Speaker 2: game this year, so almost half the teams of the
Speaker 2: major leagues do not have a complete game. The record
Speaker 2: is thirteen teams without a complete game set in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two. So if the thirteen teams that don't have one,
Speaker 2: if there are no more complete games, we will tie
Speaker 2: a major league record. This speaks to a much bigger issue.
Speaker 2: What are we going to do about getting the complete
Speaker 2: game back in the game. I won't see a couple
Speaker 2: back anytime soon. I just found it interesting that we
Speaker 2: have tied a record right now, and maybe if somebody
Speaker 2: completes a game, we won't set we won't keep the
Speaker 2: tying of the record.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is relevant because you know, you mentioned how
Speaker 1: many teams are don't have a complete game yet We're
Speaker 1: coming to the end of the season, and tell me
Speaker 1: I'm wrong. Is September and October the greatest months when
Speaker 1: it comes to all things sports. You've got the beginning
Speaker 1: of the college football season this weekend, You've got the NFL,
Speaker 1: You've got baseball race for pennants, and then the playoffs
Speaker 1: September and October. And then I mean, just selfishly, I'm
Speaker 1: not a summer guy, so I love fall weather so
Speaker 1: like it's just so perfect.
Speaker 2: Right, And basketball the NBA starts, yeah at least, and
Speaker 2: hockey starts in September, and we have the Ryder Cup
Speaker 2: this year. I mean, it's right, It's gonna be an
Speaker 2: absolutely fabulous month. And October is my favorite because it's
Speaker 2: baseball playoffs. It's great.
Speaker 1: And speaking of the Ryder Cup, we should probably tease
Speaker 1: we're gonna have Tiger Woods on the podcast. I'm just kidding,
Speaker 1: Dream Guests, Dream Guests, not a chance. We've only talked
Speaker 1: about Tiger Woods almost as much as we've talked about
Speaker 1: Walter Johnson on this podcast.
Speaker 2: We have a better chance of getting Walter Johnson than
Speaker 2: we do getting Tiger Woods. And Walter Johnson died in
Speaker 2: nineteen forty six. Okay, all right, Jeff. Last thing, The
Speaker 2: Brewers had a tribute to Bob Uker on Sunday and
Speaker 2: it was just beautifully done. We love Bob Buker. Anytime
Speaker 2: we get a chance to talk about him, we should so.
Speaker 2: Jeff nineteen ninety eight. I want to say I made
Speaker 2: a speech at the Brewers mid Winter Banquet and Bob
Speaker 2: Uker was the EMC, and he was the funniest EMC
Speaker 2: in the history of EMC's. He absolutely just wing the
Speaker 2: whole thing, didn't have anything written down, made everybody laugh
Speaker 2: from start to finish, and I made I was the
Speaker 2: guest speaker that night, which was very nice. But the
Speaker 2: story behind that, Jeff, is it was taking place in
Speaker 2: January and I'm flying out of Washington Dulles and I'm
Speaker 2: thinking it's snowing like crazy. There is zero chance that
Speaker 2: this plane is going to take off. So you know
Speaker 2: how scared I am about being late to the airport.
Speaker 2: I said, all right, I know this flight's going to
Speaker 2: be canceled. I gotta go to the airport anyway, because
Speaker 2: I'm making a speech there. I gotta be there the
Speaker 2: night before. So I get to the airport finally, after
Speaker 2: battling my way through the snow, I get to the
Speaker 2: gate and I say to them, are you telling me
Speaker 2: this flight is still on? And they said yes, and
Speaker 2: that flight took off Jeff from Washington Dulles to Milwaukee.
Speaker 2: And I am not making this up. I was the
Speaker 2: only person on the flight. And I mean this thirty rows.
Speaker 2: There must have been one hundred and twenty seats maybe
Speaker 2: more on this airplane. But I said to the stewardess,
Speaker 2: I said, the several stewardess is because there were four
Speaker 2: more stews though there were me on the plane four
Speaker 2: to one. I said, why are we taking off if
Speaker 2: only one person is going? And she said, well, we
Speaker 2: have to be there tomorrow to bring people back, so
Speaker 2: the crew has to go. So I was the only
Speaker 2: person on the plane. I got unlimited snacks and I
Speaker 2: got an entire canna die coke because I was the
Speaker 2: only person on the plane. Did they? Did they?
Speaker 1: When you boarded and you weren't an elite member and
Speaker 1: then a premium member boarding group one?
Speaker 2: It was boarding group two. No, it was the groups.
Speaker 2: It was boarding one, because that's quite what it was.
Speaker 2: Boarding one person.
Speaker 1: That was me boarding Tim Kirkshin. Tim Kirkshin board the plane.
Speaker 1: But they didn't tell you, like, sir, sorry you booked
Speaker 1: the I alt not the window.
Speaker 2: Can you please go into your seae? They told me, thankfully,
Speaker 2: you could sit wherever you want. So only person on
Speaker 2: a gigantic airplane. All right, that's funny. All right, dad,
Speaker 2: What do you have for the Courtins right now? Well,
Speaker 2: a listener named Todd Addington got me curious about something
Speaker 2: Nathan Church of the Cardinals. Todd wrote me and he said,
Speaker 2: Nathan Church scored a run, drove in a run, and
Speaker 2: stole a base before he got his first major league hit.
Speaker 2: He sounds odd to me. Whence the last time it happened? Well,
Speaker 2: I couldn't, so I called Frank at the Elias. And
Speaker 2: as it turns out, as always, Jeffins, none of these
Speaker 2: things are as odd as you think. Because baseball provides
Speaker 2: oddities all the time. So Pete crow Armstrong in the
Speaker 2: MVP race in the National League twenty twenty three did
Speaker 2: the same thing. He get this. He went oh for
Speaker 2: fourteen but scored three runs, drove in a run, and
Speaker 2: stole two bases before he got a hit. So the
Speaker 2: answer Todd, You're very curious, thank you question is Pete
Speaker 2: crow Armstrong in twenty twenty three, and he went fourteen
Speaker 2: at bats without getting a hit, but had all sorts
Speaker 2: of runs, RBIs and stolen bases.
Speaker 1: I forgot that we gave you access to Great Game
Speaker 1: or what dot com if people wanted to ask questions
Speaker 1: to you. So I emailed this question from Todd and
Speaker 1: he emailed me back. Sorry, Jeff, your dad already asked
Speaker 1: me the same question. Now I'm over two on questions
Speaker 1: I've asked Frank from the Elias.
Speaker 2: All right, all right, speaking of the Cubs, no box
Speaker 2: for the Cubs this year, zero box, Okay, balk is
Speaker 2: a relatively rare thing. But and the last time a
Speaker 2: team went through a whole season without a box was
Speaker 2: the Mariners in twenty twenty two and the Rangers in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, So it's less unusual than I thought
Speaker 2: it would be. What I didn't know, Jeff, was I
Speaker 2: looked up the most box ever by a single pitcher
Speaker 2: in baseball history, and Steve Carlton, the greatest picture in
Speaker 2: the history of the of the Philadelphia Phillies, had ninety
Speaker 2: bocks in his career and second most is Bob Welsh
Speaker 2: with forty five, So he had twice as many boks
Speaker 2: as the next guy on the list. The Steve Carlton,
Speaker 2: of course, was left handed. Jeff, he had a good
Speaker 2: pickoff move, so a lot of times when you know
Speaker 2: he stepped to the plate instead of stepping straight to first,
Speaker 2: he got called a bock. Ninety bocks Bob Welsh, second
Speaker 2: forty nine. I was surprised to see that also, Jeff
Speaker 2: through Sunday. The Cardinals, who used to run the bases
Speaker 2: like crazy in the in the crazy eighties, they have
Speaker 2: five triples the whole year. Five triples the whole year
Speaker 2: at the low total of the last team to play
Speaker 2: one hundred or more games in a season and finish
Speaker 2: with five or fewer triples, where the Blue Jays in
Speaker 2: two thousand and seventeen. So there are sixteen individual players
Speaker 2: with at least five triples this year, led by sixteen
Speaker 2: from Corbyn Carroll of the Diamondbacks. So and it serves
Speaker 2: and Jeff, the all time record for triples in a
Speaker 2: season is thirty six by Owen Wilson in nineteen twelve. Now, Jeff,
Speaker 2: Owen Wilson Meet the Parents is an actor, of course,
Speaker 2: and that inspired me, which we'll do in a few
Speaker 2: minutes on is this great game? Or what the All
Speaker 2: Actor slash Baseball team? So you got about twenty minutes
Speaker 2: to come up with your list, I've already got mine made.
Speaker 2: And there's some fun names on the list, say the
Speaker 2: least led by Owen Wilson, one of our three outfielders, and.
Speaker 1: Dan, you know, Owen Wilson is the voice of Lightning
Speaker 1: the Queen, Yes, in the movie.
Speaker 2: Cars right, which I watched this morning with Carson Keenahan
Speaker 2: because he's sick home from school on Monday and I
Speaker 2: had to sit with him till mommy came home. And
Speaker 2: so yes, we were listening to Owen Wilson, right. So, Jeff,
Speaker 2: we had some really cool names this week. We had
Speaker 2: Braxton Fulford of the of the Rockies, faced Braxton Ashcart
Speaker 2: of the Rockies. That's first time A Braxton faced a
Speaker 2: Braxton in Major League history. The pitchers of record the
Speaker 2: other night for the A's and the Mariners were Tyler
Speaker 2: Ferguson and Caleb Ferguson. First time ever that two guys
Speaker 2: whose last name is Ferguson were the pitchers of record
Speaker 2: in the same game, and one that was pointed out
Speaker 2: by many of our listeners who are very clever. Jeff,
Speaker 2: I'm so impressed. We had the Jack Dryer pitch for
Speaker 2: the Dodgers against Gavin Sheets, so we had the dryer sheets.
Speaker 2: In fact, that's so beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, it's not the
Speaker 2: first time this year they faced each other. We recognized
Speaker 2: this before, but every time it happens, I think we
Speaker 2: need to do a shout out for the drier sheets
Speaker 2: or sheets dryer at bat.
Speaker 1: I mean that could be an October matchup too, Yes,
Speaker 1: so we got to keep an eye on that for
Speaker 1: a play off dryer sheets. Which, Dad, if you and
Speaker 1: I were to go head to head on a playoff
Speaker 1: washing of clothes, I think you'd take me down. You
Speaker 1: are one heck of a laundry man. You do not
Speaker 1: mess around in a laundry room, Jeff.
Speaker 2: I I like to do the laundry. Not that I
Speaker 2: enjoy it, I just I just hate the thought. It's
Speaker 2: like old dishes. It's like dish, dirty dishes in the sink.
Speaker 2: Gotta get rid of it. And it's like dirty clothes
Speaker 2: sitting all over the house. Can't do it, get rid
Speaker 2: of them. Let's wash them, fold them and put them back.
Speaker 1: I love doing the dishes, love it, Love it so much.
Speaker 1: I love loading a dishwasher. Don't love unloading a dishwasher.
Speaker 1: And it ends up being my job in the mornings
Speaker 1: before I go to work, So I'm unloading a dishwasher
Speaker 1: at four fifteen. Have you ever tried to unload a
Speaker 1: dishwasher in a kitchen that sits beneath a nursery for
Speaker 1: a baby?
Speaker 2: That's an Olympic sport? No, Jeff, I never, it's dad.
Speaker 1: I have to do one plate at a time. You know,
Speaker 1: normally you would take two plays. It's maybe with one
Speaker 1: hand and they kind of clang and then you put
Speaker 1: them in. Then two plates, right, Nope, it's one one, yeah,
Speaker 1: because I don't want to make too much noise and
Speaker 1: make anybody up.
Speaker 2: Jeff, I taught you to be as quiet as a butler,
Speaker 2: and you're very good at it. So you do work
Speaker 2: around the house without waking up everybody in the house. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And the only thing is I do have very loud footsteps.
Speaker 1: Have you ever been accused of having a loud footstep.
Speaker 2: One hundred and thirty seven pounds this morning, Jeff, No,
Speaker 2: no loud footsteps for me. Good for you. Welcome up
Speaker 2: my shoes. I'm like an elephant over there. Yeah, seven
Speaker 2: and a half shoe, one hundred and thirty seven pounds.
Speaker 2: I don't make much noise. I'm really really nifty on
Speaker 2: my feet.
Speaker 1: On this date in baseball history, Dad, what do you
Speaker 1: have for us?
Speaker 2: All right? Nineteen eighty seven, Paul modlors thirty nine game
Speaker 2: hitting streak ended. It's one of the longest hitting streaks
Speaker 2: in Major League history. Paul Maldor was a great hitter
Speaker 2: that year, and the streak ended at home against the Indians.
Speaker 2: Then the Indians and the Brewers won one to nothing
Speaker 2: in ten innings. Rick Manning came up and pinch hit
Speaker 2: in the game and drove in the winning run. Got
Speaker 2: the walk off single to win the game. With Paul
Speaker 2: Molitor in the on deck circle at County Stadium, and
Speaker 2: Rick Manning told me this later, but I remember when
Speaker 2: it happened. He got booed in his old stadium because
Speaker 2: he hit a walk off single and prevented Paul Molitor
Speaker 2: from getting another at bat that could have potentially extended
Speaker 2: his thirty nine game hitting streak. So Rick Manning one
Speaker 2: of the great funny guys and a great defensive center
Speaker 2: fielder number twenty eight in his prime. He jokingly told
Speaker 2: me I'm the only guy who's ever been booed for
Speaker 2: getting a walk off single to win a game.
Speaker 1: Dad, I have a on this state in Baseball hit story.
Speaker 1: It was actually yesterday, August the twenty fifth. This was
Speaker 1: sent in by Greg Kelly on this date, August twenty fifth,
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, Bill Freehan hit his two hundredth career
Speaker 1: home run.
Speaker 2: Right, which is his total of his career.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he hit one hundred at home and one
Speaker 1: hundred on the road.
Speaker 2: Isn't that tremendous, Jeff? That's beautiful coincidence. Now let's see
Speaker 2: how well you remember the Bill Freean note I had
Speaker 2: last week about nineteen sixty eight.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, and I remember, and that's why it peaked
Speaker 1: my Oh.
Speaker 2: Gosh, who won the side? Who won the MVP in
Speaker 2: the American League in nineteen sixty eight. He won thirty
Speaker 2: one games for the Detroit Tigers. Denny McClain.
Speaker 1: Oh, and they are the only pitcher catcher to fish
Speaker 1: one two one.
Speaker 2: Two MVP voting. How great is that? Bill Freehand? I
Speaker 2: told you very underrated player. Two hundred homers. I did
Speaker 2: not know. I knew he had two hundred. I didn't
Speaker 2: know one hundred home, one hundred road. So good. We
Speaker 2: love to see that, Okay, Jeff? On this date last
Speaker 2: year where Danny Jansen became the first player ever to
Speaker 2: play for two teams in the same game. Played for
Speaker 2: the Blue Jays, game was suspended, joined the Red Sox,
Speaker 2: so he appeared in the box score for both teams,
Speaker 2: first time that had ever happened in Major league history.
Speaker 2: He was very funny talking about that. How many phone
Speaker 2: calls he's gotten, right, And the first thing he did
Speaker 2: is look at the schedule. It said, oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: I got a chance to do this. Do you remember
Speaker 2: who we called last year and talked about this. Remember
Speaker 2: we called Joel Youngblood on the phone. Joel Youngblood's claimed
Speaker 2: the same was what Jeff, he got a hit? Oh?
Speaker 1: He got a hit in two different for two different
Speaker 1: teams on the same Dame to day.
Speaker 2: Right, he was traded and he was in the air.
Speaker 2: He was in the air. He had to take three
Speaker 2: care rides to get to Montreal on time. When he
Speaker 2: got there at nine oh five, ten minutes later, ten
Speaker 2: minutes after arriving in the locker room, they put him
Speaker 2: in a game and he got a hit. And remember
Speaker 2: what Joel Youngblood said, kind of kidding, kind of kidding.
Speaker 2: He said, that guy's trying to break my record. He
Speaker 2: didn't break my record. No one's ever gonna do what
Speaker 2: I did. No one will ever do what I did again.
Speaker 2: And he kind of joked, but he was pretty serious
Speaker 2: that no one's going to get two hits for two
Speaker 2: different teams and two different states in the same day.
Speaker 2: That's what Joel Youngblood did. Also Jeff Birthdays nineteen eighty five,
Speaker 2: David Price was born. I still get a kick out
Speaker 2: of David Price, former Cy young winner, very good major
Speaker 2: league pitcher long time. Had a dog named Astro, which
Speaker 2: I just thought was the funniest thing, so typical. I
Speaker 2: love dogs names. I said, David, what's the deal with
Speaker 2: your dog Astro? What's that from He Goes the Jetsons?
Speaker 2: What else? I said, David, You're way too young to
Speaker 2: know what the Jetson's all. I grew up watching the
Speaker 2: Jetsons cartoon in the sixties. I know who Rastro is
Speaker 2: and all that he goes. I love the Jetsons. I
Speaker 2: watch it all the time. So here we had a
Speaker 2: baseball player born in nineteen eighty five who named his
Speaker 2: dog after Astro from the Jetsons. You find that interesting
Speaker 2: at all? I love it?
Speaker 1: But I mean I thought he was going down the
Speaker 1: theme of what my dogs had been. My first dog
Speaker 1: was Pirate. First dog my wife and I got Pirate,
Speaker 1: and now we have a Ranger after we lost Pirate.
Speaker 1: So I already told my wife we're gonna have to
Speaker 1: keep up the theme with whatever dog we get next.
Speaker 1: And at the rate of likability that Ranger has in
Speaker 1: our household, that could be coming sooner rather than later.
Speaker 2: All right, Yeah, that, Jeff, this is so interesting you
Speaker 2: would bring that up. Guess who was born ten years
Speaker 2: on this date after David Price was born my dog Pirate.
Speaker 2: I'm just kidding who Rangers for it? Oh? No way,
Speaker 2: today is his birthday. So Emily's favorite player Rager Suarez
Speaker 2: that you named Rager your dog after was born on
Speaker 2: this date in nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's funny. She loves Ranger Suarez. It's
Speaker 1: ultimately why we named our dog Ranger. And she saw
Speaker 1: a clip on social media, Dad of a Philadelphia sports
Speaker 1: talk show saying.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know if Ranger has it for.
Speaker 1: You know, a full season. He starts hot and then
Speaker 1: he ends up getting cold. Will he be able to
Speaker 1: do this for a full year kind of thing? And
Speaker 1: she basically said to me, don't don't let them talk
Speaker 1: bad about my guy.
Speaker 2: That's like, oh, I'm so sorry. Ranger Suarez love it.
Speaker 2: That's great. All right, So those are the this date
Speaker 2: in baseball history, Jeff for August the twenty sixth.
Speaker 1: Well, before we get to our team Tim Dad, which
Speaker 1: I know you're really excited for with the actors' team Tim.
Speaker 2: All after Owen Wilson. Right, Owen Wilson. We should quickly
Speaker 2: up that.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow on the podcast, we'll have ad Nan Verk back
Speaker 1: for the second time he's appeared on this show. He's
Speaker 1: got a new book out, It's Ciniphile, and you know
Speaker 1: he is not only great with MLB Network and so
Speaker 1: many other things.
Speaker 2: That guy is so busy.
Speaker 1: He does a great job former co worker with my
Speaker 1: dad at ESPN.
Speaker 2: But he's also a movie buff.
Speaker 1: He's interviewed some of the biggest names, including Robert de Niro,
Speaker 1: which we get to talk to him about that experience
Speaker 1: and so much more so.
Speaker 2: Just he is so far beyond a movie buff. I'm
Speaker 2: not sure I have ever quoted a movie line. And
Speaker 2: I tell you how terrible I am at things, and
Speaker 2: it's all true. But I'm decent at some of the
Speaker 2: movies that I love. I can remember important funny lines
Speaker 2: from them. But I have never thrown a line at
Speaker 2: ad Nan where A he didn't know what I was
Speaker 2: talking about, or B he couldn't figure out what the
Speaker 2: next line was. He is a genius when it comes
Speaker 2: to movies and everything that goes with it. I don't
Speaker 2: know how he does it, but he's a great guest.
Speaker 2: He was on last year with us. He made us
Speaker 2: laugh so hard, and he's gonna make us laugh again tomorrow.
Speaker 1: All right, Dad, let's hear your team, tim A la
Speaker 1: Owen Wilson, the All Actors team.
Speaker 2: Okay, So Will Smith of course is our catcher and
Speaker 2: remember a few years ago in the World Series we
Speaker 2: had Will Smith facing Will Smith. The other Will Smith
Speaker 2: is the relief pitcher Will Smith. So, Jeff, this happened
Speaker 2: to me. I went to Braves camp several years ago,
Speaker 2: and it was the night it was the night after
Speaker 2: or the morning after Will Smith slapped somebody? Who did
Speaker 2: he slap Chris Rock? Slap Chris Rock in the face
Speaker 2: at the Oscars? Was it at the Oscars or the Emmys,
Speaker 2: ascut Oscars? You're right. So the next morning I'm in
Speaker 2: the Braves clubhouse and I'm talking to Will Smith, the
Speaker 2: relief pitcher, Will Smith. And I finished with all my
Speaker 2: work in the clubhouse and I go to do Busters
Speaker 2: podcast and his first question out of the box was
Speaker 2: what'd you think of the Will Smith situation? And I said, boy,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what you're talking about, but I just
Speaker 2: got done talking to him. Well, he meant the slap
Speaker 2: on the face of Chris Rock, and I didn't even
Speaker 2: know about it because I didn't stay up late enough
Speaker 2: to watch the Oscars. I didn't check anything on Twitter,
Speaker 2: so I thought he talked he was talking about the
Speaker 2: left handed pitcher Will Smith of the Braves. Instead, he
Speaker 2: was talking about the actor who slapped another actor. So
Speaker 2: Will Smith is the catcher first great start to a
Speaker 2: team right there. First. Yeah, and that's the best one.
Speaker 2: All right, We're not getting any better that. It's go
Speaker 2: all downhill from here. Anthony Rizzo is the first baseman there.
Speaker 2: The actor Anthony Rizzo appeared in the movie, among others,
Speaker 2: Heartbreak Ridge, So that's good. The first player ever to
Speaker 2: hit four home runs in a Major League game is
Speaker 2: Bobby Lowe. But his nickname is I mean, his first
Speaker 2: real first name is Robert, so we're gonna call him
Speaker 2: Rob Lowe. I know it's a stretch, but that's okay.
Speaker 2: Our third baseman is Russ Johnson. He goes by Russ
Speaker 2: Johnson and Russell Johnson. So we're taking the liberty here.
Speaker 2: Played that the professor Roy Hinkley on Gilligan's Island. Okay again, Jeff,
Speaker 2: I've told you repeatedly I know three things in the
Speaker 2: world baseball, basketball, and sitcom from the sixties. So Roy
Speaker 2: Hinkley is the name of the professor on Gilligan's Island,
Speaker 2: and his real name is Russell Johnson. And by the way, Jeff,
Speaker 2: little known fact the professor who was a genius, went
Speaker 2: to four different colleges in his career. This was said
Speaker 2: on one episode of Gilligan's Island. He went to UCLA, USC, SMU,
Speaker 2: at TCU. How about that. That's incredible. Only I would
Speaker 2: remember something. That stupid shortstop is Jimmy Stewart, famous actor.
Speaker 2: G of course, Owen Wilson is our outfield one of
Speaker 2: our outfielders. Samuel Jackson played eighteen seventy one and seventy two.
Speaker 2: That's about all I know about him. But Samuel Jackson
Speaker 2: we so good, right, legend? And Eddie Murphy played for
Speaker 2: a World Series Championship team in the outfield in nineteen thirteen.
Speaker 2: The Philadelphia A's Mike Myers was a relief pitcher and
Speaker 2: a pretty good one. I see Mike every once in
Speaker 2: a while. And of course, Mike, what's your favorite Mike
Speaker 2: Myers role? Jeff, is it Austin powers By are right? Well?
Speaker 1: I mean, and it's tough because he also Shrek and
Speaker 1: he was the voice of Shrek and that's one of
Speaker 1: the most legendary animated films ever.
Speaker 2: Right, Mike Myer's unbelievably talented guy. Yes. And Eddie Fisher,
Speaker 2: who was an actor back when Nn and Pop were
Speaker 2: growing up. He was also not the same guy. A
Speaker 2: relief pitcher, a pitcher for the White Sox. So that's
Speaker 2: my whole team. Will Smith, Anthony Rizzo, Bobby Lowe, Russ Johnson,
Speaker 2: Jimmy Stewart, Own Wilson, Samuel Jackson, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers,
Speaker 2: and Eddie Fisher. I did that in one morning, Jeff.
Speaker 2: That's pretty good.
Speaker 1: I mean, you had told me that you were working
Speaker 1: on it, Dad, and you know, to me that kind
Speaker 1: of made me a little nervous because you said you
Speaker 1: did it this morning.
Speaker 2: But that was I'm actually very impressed, very impressed. I
Speaker 2: had to take some shortcuts here with Bobby Lowe and
Speaker 2: with Russ Johnson, but anytime you can get the Professor
Speaker 2: Roy Hinkley on the show, that would be good. By
Speaker 2: the way, Mary Anne Saunders, Ginger Grant, Jonas Grumby was
Speaker 2: the skipper, and Gilligan was just went by Gilligan no
Speaker 2: last name, and Thurston Howel and Lovey Howell were also
Speaker 2: on the show, of course, and the famous story there, Jeff,
Speaker 2: which I've told you before. Carol O'Connor really wanted to
Speaker 2: be the skipper on Gilligan's Island and did not get
Speaker 2: the part Alan Hale did. And then the big next,
Speaker 2: big part for Carol O'Connor was Archie Bunker, one of
Speaker 2: the great sitcom characters in the history and maybe maybe
Speaker 2: the most important sitcom character ever, given the controversial role
Speaker 2: that he played.
Speaker 1: So, Dad, there's one I want to add here, yes, please,
Speaker 1: A small role but also a Hollywood director, the aforementioned
Speaker 1: David Price Rhyme's birthday.
Speaker 2: He was on Fast Times at Ridgmond High. Very good, Jeff.
Speaker 2: I had him down here and I just thought I
Speaker 2: should have put it in there. But I saw that
Speaker 2: today in my research, I saw.
Speaker 1: Very small actor, very small role, Jeff.
Speaker 2: There are no small actors, no small roles. That's the
Speaker 2: way I always look at. Isn't that what you used
Speaker 2: to teach me when you were doing parts in high
Speaker 2: school and stuff like that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean listen, any role I played was small
Speaker 1: because all my characters were the goofy, short little guy
Speaker 1: on nicely nice to Johnson, total goofball, Right, Like, I
Speaker 1: played small characters, right, They were big roles, but small characters.
Speaker 2: Thanks for that. Okay, So that's my all actor baseball team.
Speaker 2: Ad Nan Verk joins the podcast tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Dad cannot wait for this one, and I hope everybody
Speaker 1: who's a member of the family is excited to go
Speaker 1: to Great Game or.
Speaker 2: What dot com.
Speaker 1: Dad finally has access to the website so he can
Speaker 1: respond to you directly as will I thank you so
Speaker 1: much for listening.
Speaker 2: As always, thanks for being a part of our family.