Speaker 1: Is this a great game or what with the Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer Tim Kirkshon. I'm his son, Jeff Kirkshon, and
Speaker 1: we are on location today on a beautiful.
Speaker 2: Maryland human July day.
Speaker 1: We are at Povich Field, home of the Bethesda Big Train.
Speaker 3: Dad.
Speaker 2: In this place, this place a specialty, right.
Speaker 3: This is the cal Ripken College Summer League, Okay, And
Speaker 3: this is where kids from college kids from all over
Speaker 3: the country come play here. They live at people's houses
Speaker 3: during their time here, they work at camps, and they
Speaker 3: play at night. It's a great thing. And this ballpark, Jeff,
Speaker 3: means so much to me because I spent all of
Speaker 3: my childhood. This was my second home. I played a
Speaker 3: million games on the little fields down here and the
Speaker 3: big field here. When I wasn't playing as a little kid,
Speaker 3: I was watching the big guys play. In fact, Jeff,
Speaker 3: I used to stand right out there while I was
Speaker 3: watching the game, and as soon as there was a
Speaker 3: foul ball, there were a bunch of kids, usually me
Speaker 3: and Matt, your uncle. We would run after the ball
Speaker 3: and they would give us a dime for every foul
Speaker 3: ball that we brought back, because you know, they were
Speaker 3: not an unlimited supple. Yeah, balls went flying out all
Speaker 3: the time, routinely would hit cars and everything else. But yeah,
Speaker 3: and this is where I really really learned about baseball
Speaker 3: was watching the older guys play in this ballpark and
Speaker 3: it was absolutely great. And I used to broadcast. Well,
Speaker 3: I used to be the public address guy, Matt Uncle Matt,
Speaker 3: and I would do the public address for the Industrial League,
Speaker 3: you know, the older guys beyond college. There were former
Speaker 3: Major leaguers, former pro players that played here, and we
Speaker 3: would do the public address. So now, so I remember
Speaker 3: one team that played here was called Atlantic Masonry, okay,
Speaker 3: and it was a famous team that played here. So
Speaker 3: I would say Lee Off or Atlantic Masonry number two,
Speaker 3: Matt Kirchin or whatever whoever it was. But I kept
Speaker 3: calling him since I was only twelve years old. I
Speaker 3: kept saying Atlantic Masonry okay because I didn't know the difference.
Speaker 3: So jell O Legos, who was the manager of the team,
Speaker 3: he comes over to me. I'm twelve years old, and
Speaker 3: he goes, son, you're doing a great job with this,
Speaker 3: but it's not Atlantic Masonary, it's Atlantic Masonry. So I
Speaker 3: learned something about the rock and mortar business when I
Speaker 3: was twelve years old. It was absolutely that's.
Speaker 1: Better than calling them the mercenaries. That should be completely different, right,
Speaker 1: And of course.
Speaker 2: Yes, I was gonna say, we got to talk about who.
Speaker 3: Got burying the lead. Here, this, of course is Walter Johnson.
Speaker 3: Did I ever tell you I went to Walter Johnson
Speaker 3: High School? Yeah, this is the greatest picture of all time.
Speaker 3: Walter Johnson High School is about three miles from here,
Speaker 3: and that's where I went to high school, of course.
Speaker 3: And here Walter Johnson is speaking with Shirley Povich, one
Speaker 3: of the great baseball was one of the great sports
Speaker 3: writers of all time. He's in the Hall of Fame
Speaker 3: as a baseball writer. And miraculously, three years ago I
Speaker 3: joined the same club as Shirley Povich. You have no
Speaker 3: idea what a thrill that was. I spoke to him
Speaker 3: many many times late in his career. He wrote until
Speaker 3: he was ninety years old. So we have these incredible
Speaker 3: statues right behind us, Shirley Povich interviewing Walter Johnson. How
Speaker 3: great is that?
Speaker 1: It's great, But it's also sad to think this will
Speaker 1: be the closest we ever get to interviewing Walter Johnson,
Speaker 1: who far beyond any other player has the most mentioned
Speaker 1: on this podcast.
Speaker 2: Well, it has to be right.
Speaker 3: And again, Jeff, I have such a connection to this place.
Speaker 3: I've already explained all the games I played, watched and
Speaker 3: umpired here, and I have this connection to Shirley Povich.
Speaker 3: But going to Walter Johnson High School, it was more
Speaker 3: than that, Jeff, I've told you this before. Walter Johnson
Speaker 3: died on December tenth, nineteen forty six, and I was
Speaker 3: born on December tenth, nineteen fifty six, so ten years
Speaker 3: to the day that Walter Johnson died, I was born.
Speaker 3: He is buried in Rockville, not far from here, which
Speaker 3: is a town over from where we lived. He used
Speaker 3: to live at times in Germantown, one town away. And
Speaker 3: of course he was the greatest pitcher in the history
Speaker 3: of baseball, the greatest Washington Senator ever, and did so
Speaker 3: much in the community because he was way more than
Speaker 3: a baseball player. He was just a part. He took
Speaker 3: part in local government and he made sure people had
Speaker 3: what they needed. He was an amazing man, not just
Speaker 3: an amazing baseball player.
Speaker 1: You know, we have something framed in our basement. Our
Speaker 1: basement was formerly completely themed baseball until it was themed
Speaker 1: vintage furniture by my mom, who switched everything out to
Speaker 1: make her business.
Speaker 2: But in there, if you remember, Dad, we got to
Speaker 2: was a gift.
Speaker 1: It was I believe a receipt of a check that
Speaker 1: Walter Johnson cashed or put into his account in a
Speaker 1: Germantown bank, Yes, which was interesting. And when I was
Speaker 1: like sixteen, I tried to cash.
Speaker 2: It and it didn't work.
Speaker 1: I guess it's more for show or they don't accept
Speaker 1: checks out one hundred yourself.
Speaker 3: Let's not forget our bobblehead arrangement. Here we've got on
Speaker 3: this side, we've got the bobblehead of Walter Johnson. Next
Speaker 3: to him is Brian Doser, former Major GaX second baseman,
Speaker 3: hit a ton of home runs. He played here. And
Speaker 3: of course this is my bobblehead, which, as we all know,
Speaker 3: is actual size.
Speaker 2: I am not a crooked looks a little bit like
Speaker 2: Nixon does.
Speaker 3: The gray hair is really unnecessary, Old Dad, that was
Speaker 3: a touch of gray.
Speaker 1: Now we're glad that that was the year you got
Speaker 1: the bibblehead. Not as much with your power alleys.
Speaker 3: Right, Well, you know our grandchildren, our grandson Carson, he
Speaker 3: has taken at least five of the bobbleheads and just
Speaker 3: decapitated me. Arms and legs have been taken off of
Speaker 3: the of course, I don't kiddle with it.
Speaker 1: Although the one thing with this bobblehead Dad lacking the
Speaker 1: ear hair. It needs a little more ear hair to
Speaker 1: make it accurate, you know.
Speaker 3: I think the gray hair is plenty and unnecessary. Next
Speaker 3: to me to my right is Shirley Povich, the great
Speaker 3: sports writer, and next to him is Cal Ripken Senior,
Speaker 3: who I covered when he was a coach with the
Speaker 3: Orioles of course late seventies, early eighties, and then when
Speaker 3: he was the manager of the team eighty seven through
Speaker 3: the early nineteen eighty eight.
Speaker 2: This is what this place is all about.
Speaker 1: I had a number of birthday parties here, including I
Speaker 1: think it was my twelfth birthday. Dad, and we sat
Speaker 1: in the awning that actually is behind us right now,
Speaker 1: and it was such a cool memory. Because this place
Speaker 1: makes baseball accessible for everyone. Listen, nothing is better than
Speaker 1: going to a major League baseball game. But I'd make
Speaker 1: the argument is it's even cooler to see these college
Speaker 1: baseball players in their summers off staying with people in
Speaker 1: the area, Dad and working with the kids at the
Speaker 1: camps and then playing on this field and getting work
Speaker 1: in and then eventually hopefully living the dream of becoming
Speaker 1: a major league baseball player.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk to Bruce Bruce Adams here.
Speaker 3: Short, we have buried the lead here, Jeff. Bruce Adams
Speaker 3: is the reason that all of this works. Bruce Adams
Speaker 3: is almost ten years older than me. He looks ten
Speaker 3: years younger than me. He is does this out of
Speaker 3: the goodness of his heart. Basically, he's a volunteer essentially
Speaker 3: running all of this. He got this stadium built, He
Speaker 3: put Povich Field together, He runs the big train here.
Speaker 3: And the profits from all this go to building fields
Speaker 3: for kids. Yeah, in Montgomery County and around the Maryland area.
Speaker 3: I mean, is there a better thing that can be done?
Speaker 3: Bruce Adams is the hero of all of this, more
Speaker 3: than Walter Johnson, more than Shirley Povich, more than anyone.
Speaker 3: If it weren't for Bruce Adams, this place simply doesn't happen.
Speaker 3: And we will talk to him later.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And when we pulled up, I saw he had
Speaker 1: a little blower. He was cleaning up morel That's the
Speaker 1: kind of thing that it takes to be successful, right,
Speaker 1: you're cleaning up the mulch, but you're also greeting the
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer Tim Kirkshon to do his podcast today.
Speaker 1: I think that is what makes successful people is being willing.
Speaker 1: It's like Walt Disney always used to say, like Walt
Speaker 1: Disney would walk around Disney World picking up trash. He's
Speaker 1: Walt Disney for goodness sake. But you have to be
Speaker 1: able to do those things in order to have a
Speaker 1: successful company. And clearly, if you're ever in Bethesda, Maryland
Speaker 1: in the summer, you've got to go to a big train.
Speaker 2: Baseball, right.
Speaker 3: And the players that have come through here who have
Speaker 3: played in the big leagues, who already told you about
Speaker 3: Brian Doser, there have been so many more, including Hunter
Speaker 3: Renfro who had a ton of homers, and the other hunter,
Speaker 3: Hunter Brown, who just made the All Star team and
Speaker 3: as of the other day was leading the American League
Speaker 3: in eer. So great players come through here, really really
Speaker 3: good players play here every summer and it's a wood
Speaker 3: bat league because he gets them ready for pro ball.
Speaker 3: These are college players here, They're from all over the
Speaker 3: country and I speak to them once a year and
Speaker 3: it just does my heart. Good to talk to a
Speaker 3: bunch of kids who've got that hungry look in their
Speaker 3: eyes because all they want to do is play pro
Speaker 3: ball and someday get to the big leagues.
Speaker 1: All right, Dad, we're gonna talk a lot more about
Speaker 1: where we're coming live from. But let's get into the
Speaker 1: takeaways of Major League base Yet.
Speaker 3: The takeaways every week now has to start with dominant,
Speaker 3: overpowering pitching, because that's what we see on a nightly basis,
Speaker 3: every single night. It's unbelievable. Jacob Mizerowski of the Brewers
Speaker 3: the other night, face the world champion Dodgers, pitch six innings,
Speaker 3: struck out twelve. So the only other rookie to strike
Speaker 3: out twelve in a game against the defending world champions
Speaker 3: was Jim Bibbie in nineteen seventy three. Nobody has a
Speaker 3: chance against Jacob Mizerowski and half of the pictures of
Speaker 3: the big leagues right now because of the velocity that
Speaker 3: we see. And when you take all the pitchers that
Speaker 3: pitched in that game that Miserowski started for the Brewers,
Speaker 3: their average fastball velocity was ninety nine point one. That's
Speaker 3: what hitters are facing these days. And Jeff I'm telling
Speaker 3: you we're coming close to a dilemma in the big
Speaker 3: leagues that hitters have virtually no chance when a great
Speaker 3: pitcher like Paul Skeins or Jacob Degram locates with this
Speaker 3: amazing stuff. And I talked to I talked to twenty
Speaker 3: different hitters when I was in San Diego, Rangers and Padres,
Speaker 3: and they all acknowledge the same thing. This is the
Speaker 3: hardest hitting environment they've ever seen. It's not even close.
Speaker 3: In fact, Jake Berger, who as you said, is in
Speaker 3: every single episode that we do on this podcast, he
Speaker 3: told me he's been in the league five years. He
Speaker 3: goes the difference in the stuff we see now compared
Speaker 3: to five years ago is absolutely night and day. And
Speaker 3: he said, I'm just wondering, where is the pitching going
Speaker 3: to be five years from now? I mean, where's the
Speaker 3: velocity going to be there?
Speaker 1: Jell Dad, one of our members of our family who
Speaker 1: listens to the sh show, messaged us great game or
Speaker 1: what dot com if you ever want to message us
Speaker 1: and get in touch, and said, Tim, is this not
Speaker 1: the time for the knuckleball and the off speed pitcher
Speaker 1: to be successful because things are so the velocity is
Speaker 1: so high right now, to have a guy that just
Speaker 1: totally throws everybody off, Why aren't we having that right?
Speaker 3: Well, we might, but as Charlie Huff once told me,
Speaker 3: great knuckleball pitcher, when I asked him, Charlie, and I
Speaker 3: was like twelve years old when I asked him, I said, Charlie,
Speaker 3: why do more people throw a knuckleball? And Charlie's a
Speaker 3: nice man in the world, but he yelled at me.
Speaker 3: He goes, well, why do more people throw one hundred
Speaker 3: miles an hour? It's really hard to do, unless, of course.
Speaker 1: What we need a catcher that can catch it too, right,
Speaker 1: Doug Mirabelly isn't playing Major League baseball anymore. In fact,
Speaker 1: I kind of went down a little bit of a
Speaker 1: rabbit hole recently. Do you remember when Doug Mirabelly obviously
Speaker 1: played for the Red Sox, then he didn't. And they're
Speaker 1: getting ready to play a Sunday night baseball game at
Speaker 1: Fenway Park against the Yankees. It's Johnny Damon's return to
Speaker 1: Fenway after the trade that sent him to the Evil
Speaker 1: Empire and New York and the Red Sox are saying
Speaker 1: we're dead, We're dead. I can't remember who was catching
Speaker 1: the knuckleballer before Tim Wakefield, of course, but he had
Speaker 1: like ten pass balls in seven games. And they're gonna
Speaker 1: lose this game on Sunday Night Baseball because they don't
Speaker 1: have somebody who can catch them.
Speaker 2: So they trade back for Doug Mirabelli.
Speaker 3: Who is in a cab trying to get to Fenway,
Speaker 3: and he's telling the cab driver, you gotta drive faster.
Speaker 3: I'm catching Tim Wakefield tonight. And he barely made it
Speaker 3: to the game, put on a uniform, and caught the knuckleball.
Speaker 3: That's how hard it is for knuckleball to be thrown
Speaker 3: and to be caught. But back to the original statement,
Speaker 3: jeb I wrote a story this spring for ESPN dot
Speaker 3: com that the most important pitch in the game today
Speaker 3: is the change up right, and a lot of guys
Speaker 3: have an elite change up, including Cherk Scoble, Because if
Speaker 3: you could throw a change up at eighty six miles
Speaker 3: an hour and you throw a fastball at ninety eight
Speaker 3: miles an hour, the hitter has to guess one or
Speaker 3: the other, and he can't sit on the change up
Speaker 3: because he'll never get to ninety eight if he looks
Speaker 3: for ninety eight. It's going to be really hard to
Speaker 3: get to eighty six. So that's why knuckleballers may make
Speaker 3: a comeback. But I repeat, Jeff, it's a really, really
Speaker 3: hard pitch to throw. But everything is difficult for a
Speaker 3: hitter today in baseball, and it's getting close to the
Speaker 3: time or we're going to have to come up with
Speaker 3: some sort of solution as to what to do, because
Speaker 3: we're getting close to nineteen sixty eight days where they
Speaker 3: said no one could get a hit anymore, and then
Speaker 3: they lowered the mount in nineteen sixty nine and back
Speaker 3: came the offense.
Speaker 1: I always wondered what it would have happened had they
Speaker 1: never done that. And then a guy named Randy Johnson certain.
Speaker 2: He would be like seven and a half feet tall up.
Speaker 3: There, right, Totally understand, all right. The other takeaway, Jeff,
Speaker 3: is that the Blue Jays at this taping had won
Speaker 3: ten games in a row to take a healthy lead
Speaker 3: in the American League East, and with the A's coming
Speaker 3: up this weekend nothing against the A's, there's a chance
Speaker 3: the Blue Jays are going to roll into the All
Speaker 3: Star Break with a pretty healthy lead in the American
Speaker 3: League East. Now, I didn't not see this coming but
Speaker 3: nobody did. But the American League East has made no
Speaker 3: sense whatsoever this year, Jeff. The Orioles were supposed to
Speaker 3: be really good and they haven't been all year. The
Speaker 3: Red Sox were supposed to be really good and then
Speaker 3: they stopped being and now they're making a little comeback here.
Speaker 3: The Yankees had a six and a half game lead.
Speaker 3: They've lost their lead obviously. And the Rays are a
Speaker 3: team that you know, really made a run. Now they've
Speaker 3: hit a bit of a slow point. So American League
Speaker 3: makes no sense whatsoever. And that's why I think the
Speaker 3: Blue Jays have a chance to hang around and maybe
Speaker 3: even win the division, because really four teams still have
Speaker 3: a chance to win that.
Speaker 1: And speaking of the Blue Jays, Dad, we are going
Speaker 1: to do the best of all ten. We do it
Speaker 1: every single Thursday episode where you pick a different team
Speaker 1: and you name the greatest player to play in that franchise.
Speaker 1: And today the Blue Jays is who were picking because
Speaker 1: of their hot streak, And I have no idea. He
Speaker 1: told me, Dad, you told me who it was ahead
Speaker 1: of time, and I had to google it because.
Speaker 2: I had never even heard of the name.
Speaker 1: And listen, I'm the first to admit I am not
Speaker 1: even close to his eligible as probably eighty to ninety
Speaker 1: percent of our listeners, and of course you but I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people will be surprised for this pick.
Speaker 2: But you're going to defend it, so I absolutely will.
Speaker 3: All right. The last takeaway, Jeff, is that my friend
Speaker 3: Jeremy Shapp did a documentary on Jim Abbott. Jim Abbott
Speaker 3: is one of the great untold stories in a lot
Speaker 3: of ways in the history of baseball. Jim Abbott pitched
Speaker 3: in the major leagues, as we know, without a right hand.
Speaker 3: He was a really good pitcher, had a great slider
Speaker 3: through a no hitter in the big leagues, and amazingly,
Speaker 3: his first spring training he hit a triple in an
Speaker 3: exhibition game. Unbelievable with one hand. So I saw him
Speaker 3: this spring in spring training and I went up to him.
Speaker 3: We were talking. He's the nicest man in the world.
Speaker 3: I talked to him for twenty minutes. It was just glorious.
Speaker 3: So I said, Jim, how about that triple you hit?
Speaker 3: And he went like this, Rick Rushell, sinker down. He
Speaker 3: will remember the pitch and the location of the pitch.
Speaker 3: When he hit a triple in the spring training game
Speaker 3: and what we learned from this amazing documentary done by
Speaker 3: Jeremy Shap, who, by the way, is the best journalist
Speaker 3: in the business. There's nobody better than Jeremy Shapp. Of
Speaker 3: course he learned from his father, Dick Shap. Dick Shap nobody,
Speaker 3: but nobody did a better job interviewing people than Dick
Speaker 3: shab and his son is second best on that list.
Speaker 3: That's how good Jeremy Shapp is. So you got to
Speaker 3: watch this. It's called South Paul and it details the
Speaker 3: story of Jim Abbott, which is one of the great
Speaker 3: stories you'll ever see. And I promise it'll make you
Speaker 3: cry because it's that emotional.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you just threw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium.
Speaker 1: I can't wait. You texted me telling me I gotta
Speaker 1: watch this, so it's on my watch list.
Speaker 2: So I'm really looking forward to it.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, dad, jumping into the quirk jins, What
Speaker 1: do you have.
Speaker 3: For We had an amazing Tuesday night in the Big
Speaker 3: League's Jeff Lawrence Butler of the A's hid an inside
Speaker 3: the park home run to start the game. Yep. And
Speaker 3: on the same night, Patrick Bailey, the number nine hitter,
Speaker 3: and the catcher for the Giants hit a three run
Speaker 3: walk off inside the park home run. So it's the
Speaker 3: first time since nineteen hundred that on the same day
Speaker 3: somebody hit a leadoff home run inside the park and
Speaker 3: on the same day somebody hit a walk off inside
Speaker 3: the park home run.
Speaker 1: You said nineteen hundred since nineteen hundred, well you got
Speaker 1: to remember, and I'm not saying I mean, that's unbelievable.
Speaker 2: That's one hundred and twenty five years.
Speaker 1: But remember what parks used to look like, right, Parks
Speaker 1: used to be what polo grounds and all these giant
Speaker 1: stadiums were. Inside the park home runs. I feel like
Speaker 1: we're a little more common, so to speak. So we're
Speaker 1: talking one hundred and twenty five year difference. And as
Speaker 1: you know, it's no secret I root for the Phillies,
Speaker 1: being outside Philadelphia and being a Philadelphia radio show host.
Speaker 2: That was a devastating finish.
Speaker 3: To that kit, Right, that was bad. But you're right, Jeff,
Speaker 3: about the ballparks and the way the game was played
Speaker 3: in the early nineteen The all time leader for inside
Speaker 3: the park homers is Hall of Famer Sam Crawford, who
Speaker 3: hit fifty one inside the park homers in his career.
Speaker 3: Second on the list is Tommy Leach, who was five
Speaker 3: to six and one hundred and thirty five pounds and
Speaker 3: could really run. He hit sixty three career homers, forty
Speaker 3: nine of them were inside the park home runs. And
Speaker 3: get this, Jeff. In nineteen o two, he led the
Speaker 3: league in homers with six and all of them were
Speaker 3: inside the park home runs. So for as far as
Speaker 3: the the A's had gone three thousand and four games
Speaker 3: without an inside the park homer. That's the second longest
Speaker 3: strout in Major league history without one. The Cardinals had
Speaker 3: the longest three thousand, one hundred and sixty eight games
Speaker 3: without an inside the park homer. And Bailey is the
Speaker 3: first player to hit an inside the park walk off
Speaker 3: homer since Tyler nake Win in twenty sixteen, and he's
Speaker 3: the third catcher ever to do it. A guy did
Speaker 3: at Pat Moran in nineteen oh seven, Benny Tate in
Speaker 3: nineteen twenty six. So it was an amazing night for
Speaker 3: inside the park home runs. I've never seen We've never
Speaker 3: seen anything like it.
Speaker 1: You know, I used to do radio in Cleveland, Ohio,
Speaker 1: And if I'm not mistaken, is Tyler Naquin reinventing his
Speaker 1: career coming up as a pitcher. Yeah, I believe he
Speaker 1: is the Lake County Captains who I used to do.
Speaker 2: You know, they used to go to their games.
Speaker 1: And I follow him on Facebook and they said we're welcoming.
Speaker 2: Back Tyler Natequin, and I thought interesting. He said, he
Speaker 2: played outfield here and now he's coming up as a pitcher.
Speaker 2: So how crazy is that?
Speaker 3: It's all that this morning, Joey Gallow's doing the same thing, Jeff.
Speaker 3: It goes back to our original point at the beginning
Speaker 3: of the podcast. Hitting is so difficult today. The guys
Speaker 3: are giving up because they can't do it anymore, and
Speaker 3: now they're trying to become pictures.
Speaker 2: I have a quirk chin about a homer.
Speaker 3: Oh good.
Speaker 1: Justin Turner of the Chicago Cups just hit his two
Speaker 1: hundredth home run. It happened in minnesot And here's the
Speaker 1: quart chin of it all, Dad. The home run was
Speaker 1: caught by a Cubs fan in Minnesota. That's court gin
Speaker 1: number one. The Cubs fan was named Justin shares the
Speaker 1: same name as him and is also six foot six,
Speaker 1: so he's taller than Justin Turner and When asked how
Speaker 1: did you get the ball, he said, well, when you're
Speaker 1: sitting in the second row and you're six foot six,
Speaker 1: it is kind of easy to catch a.
Speaker 2: Ball coming at you.
Speaker 1: So, his two hundredth home run, and Justin Turner got
Speaker 1: to meet up with him, shake his hand to an exchange,
Speaker 1: probably gave him a bunch of you know, memorabilia and
Speaker 1: swag and signed a bunch of stuff. But how cool
Speaker 1: is that it's two hundred home run caught.
Speaker 3: By a Justin How cool is that that you know
Speaker 3: all this? I didn't even know any of this.
Speaker 1: I told you I had one qurtchin for today. I'm done, guys,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Back to dad.
Speaker 3: All right, So Riley Green of the Tigers, who's a
Speaker 3: really good player, made the All Star team. He's going
Speaker 3: to become the first Tiger to drive in one hundred
Speaker 3: runs this year. He will become since Nick Costiano's in
Speaker 3: two thousand seventeen. That's how long it's been since the
Speaker 3: Tigers had a one hundred rbi guy. But Riley Green
Speaker 3: at this taping had struck out multiple times in six
Speaker 3: consecutive games, six straight games two or more strikeouts. Again, Jeff,
Speaker 3: we talk about the strikeout rate being totally out of control. Now.
Speaker 3: Earlier this year, Luis Robert of the White Sox did
Speaker 3: it in seven games in a row. And I remember
Speaker 3: in two thousand. In Aaron Judge's rookie year. Twenty sixteen
Speaker 3: he struck out again. This is the same Aaron Judge,
Speaker 3: just showing you how difficult the game is. He struck
Speaker 3: out two or more times in nine straight games. Now
Speaker 3: the record is eleven straight games, and that was done
Speaker 3: by Jerry Kousman, who is a pitcher.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he.
Speaker 3: Pitched in the seventies for the Mets. So eleven is
Speaker 3: the record. But a bunch of guys have done nine
Speaker 3: straight games with at least two strikeouts. Dave Duncan, Dave Kingman,
Speaker 3: Tyler O'Neill, Michael A. Taylor, Noah Sindegard another pitcher, Dick
Speaker 3: Ellsworth another pitcher, and of course Aaron Judge. So this
Speaker 3: is where the strikeout rate is now. A really good
Speaker 3: player for the best team in the American League just
Speaker 3: finished six games where he struck out at least twice
Speaker 3: in each, totally fourteen strikeouts, which is more than Luisa
Speaker 3: Rise of the Padres has all season and Riley Green,
Speaker 3: who's a really good player, did it in six games. Also,
Speaker 3: speaking of strikeouts, Brandon Young of the Orioles, in his
Speaker 3: fifth major league start, had an immaculate inning in the
Speaker 3: game against the Mets. He struck out Jesse Winker, Jeff McNeil,
Speaker 3: and Luis Terenz in the fifth inning nine pitches, not
Speaker 3: three strikeouts. Is that an immaculate inning for you?
Speaker 2: Oh, no doubt.
Speaker 3: And we been over this, Jeff. There are people I
Speaker 3: know who think it should not be an immaculate inning
Speaker 3: if somebody makes contact with the ball, like someone hits
Speaker 3: a five hundred foot foul ball down the left field line,
Speaker 3: therefore it is not an immaculate inning. I don't buy that.
Speaker 1: That would be like saying, if someone hit a five
Speaker 1: hundred foot home run down you know, the left field
Speaker 1: line foul, it's not a perfect game because he almost
Speaker 1: hit a home run if he hit it three inches
Speaker 1: shorter right to.
Speaker 3: The right right. Totally totally agree. All right, pictures of
Speaker 3: record in one game this week, this is a stretch
Speaker 3: of all stretch. We had Jansen junk against Brady Singer,
Speaker 3: So we had a junk Singer.
Speaker 2: I had a junk Singer I love that. That's a
Speaker 2: good one.
Speaker 1: I saw that one too, and I thought it was
Speaker 1: too much of a stretch.
Speaker 3: But it was too much of a stretch, Jef, Yeah,
Speaker 3: but you actually saw it.
Speaker 2: I saw it.
Speaker 1: Too, and I mean that's more of a stretch than
Speaker 1: most first basement make Yeah.
Speaker 3: I agree. And Jake Berger, who again is in every
Speaker 3: episode because we love him because he by the way,
Speaker 3: his running speed the other day was twenty nine point
Speaker 3: three miles per hour. Jake Berger is a rather heavy
Speaker 3: set guy, and they're a peace in the league who
Speaker 3: don't think he can run. And I'm telling you, I
Speaker 3: watched him in that three game series. He is almost
Speaker 3: a well above average runner. And I asked him about
Speaker 3: it and he goes, you know, for years, he said,
Speaker 3: in this league, people didn't know that I could run,
Speaker 3: and I got some midfield hits because they thought I
Speaker 3: was some big, fat guy who couldn't run. He goes,
Speaker 3: but now the book's out on me. Nobody. Now they
Speaker 3: rushed the ball to first because they know that I
Speaker 3: can run.
Speaker 2: That's so funny. It's like the best kept secret.
Speaker 1: Like everyone sees him at bat and they the shortstop
Speaker 1: kind of lazies it up.
Speaker 2: And he ends up running it out right.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And I asked him, of course, I always asked
Speaker 3: him about his great matchup, said, because you know, he's
Speaker 3: had the Burger King matchup several times with three different
Speaker 3: guys named King in the Big League. So he told
Speaker 3: me with a great laugh, he said, I was watching
Speaker 3: the MLB network the other day and they had the
Speaker 3: best at bat the five best at bats, you know,
Speaker 3: pitcher batter at bats like of last year, and there
Speaker 3: was no Burger King in there. And he said, he
Speaker 3: called Michael King and said, what about us? How can
Speaker 3: we not be on that list?
Speaker 2: I Burger King on it.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: They get to mention every other week on this show
Speaker 2: for good lord sake.
Speaker 1: Does Yeah, all right, Dad, on this date in baseball history,
Speaker 1: what do you have for us?
Speaker 3: Okay? Nineteen sixty eight, Earl Weaver was named the manager
Speaker 3: of the Orioles and became for me certainly one of
Speaker 3: the five greatest managers of all time. The things I
Speaker 3: learned from Earl Weaver covering that team late seventies, early eighties,
Speaker 3: and then every day with Earl Weaver in nineteen eighty six,
Speaker 3: nobody taught me more about the game than Earl Weaver.
Speaker 3: And the only Earl Weaver story you need to know
Speaker 3: is that he was rough with some of his players. Okay,
Speaker 3: he didn't min mince words with anybody, and they were
Speaker 3: all kind of afraid of him, but they all played
Speaker 3: for him no matter what, partly because they were afraid
Speaker 3: of him, even though he was five to six. So
Speaker 3: Pat Kelly, one of their outfielders, decided, while playing for
Speaker 3: the Orioles, while playing for Earl, that he was gonna
Speaker 3: he was going to join the ministry. So he became
Speaker 3: an ordained minister.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: Okay. So he waits, though for the proper time to
Speaker 3: go tell Earl about this big change in his life,
Speaker 3: and he goes finally find to the moment and he
Speaker 3: says to Early. He says, Earl, I'm gonna walk with
Speaker 3: the Lord, and Earl said, I right, you walk with
Speaker 3: the bases loaded, which typical response.
Speaker 2: From Earl, Dad, did you know that I'm ordained?
Speaker 3: Yes, you are. How many weddings have you done?
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, well, I mean I did one wedding ceremony
Speaker 1: in which I married five couples at one time, So
Speaker 1: I only count that as one wedding ceremony.
Speaker 2: In Las Vegas.
Speaker 1: We did it on the high Roller, which is the
Speaker 1: big Ferris wheel, right, which I know you would.
Speaker 3: Never ride, not a chance.
Speaker 1: Scared of heights way too high, right, I'm even scared
Speaker 1: being this tall?
Speaker 2: How many times be til that joke on this show?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 3: I see I couldn't drink it as a kid. I
Speaker 3: used to get vertigo. Yeah, that was bad, all right.
Speaker 2: Ronnie danger for all right?
Speaker 3: Two thousand and sevens seaking of inside the Park homers.
Speaker 3: On this date, two thousand and seven, each Row hit
Speaker 3: the only inside park inside the park home run in
Speaker 3: the history of the All Star Game.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I was there. I was in the dugout.
Speaker 3: I interviewed him afterwards with an interpreter about running around
Speaker 3: the bases and an inside the park homer. It was
Speaker 3: absolutely priceless. And on this date, in nineteen fifty four,
Speaker 3: Andre Dawson, Hall of Famer, was born. Andre Dawson is
Speaker 3: one of the toughest, strongest players. I've ever seen a
Speaker 3: Gold Glove outfielder hit the ball out of the ballpark,
Speaker 3: and I play this is terribly self serving. I played
Speaker 3: with him in the Celebrity Softball Game in Washington and
Speaker 3: one inning, one inning and again, this is one of
Speaker 3: the great defensive outfielders ever. But you know he's sixty
Speaker 3: years old. When he's playing in the celebrity softball game,
Speaker 3: there was a pretty high pop up and I run
Speaker 3: over to see if I can catch it, but he's
Speaker 3: got it, and the ball hit him in the head
Speaker 3: bound straight off the top, right off his head. So
Speaker 3: I saw his wife the next year at Cooperstown and
Speaker 3: she said that she told him that's it. You're not playing, wow,
Speaker 3: even softball anymore. After getting hit in the head with
Speaker 3: a routine pop up at first base in a celebrity
Speaker 3: softball game, that's.
Speaker 2: Probably for the better.
Speaker 1: Yes, from Ozzie to Oral, my dad is going to
Speaker 1: give you the best player to wear each number from
Speaker 1: one to fifty five in baseball history.
Speaker 2: Dad, we are on too, number twenty seven.
Speaker 3: Yes, and for many years it was Juan Marischal, the
Speaker 3: great Dominican dandy, and then maybe there was also a
Speaker 3: Lad Guerrero in there because he wore number twenty seven.
Speaker 3: But I think we got to turn to Mike Trout.
Speaker 3: Mike Traut's gotta be the greatest number twenty seven of
Speaker 3: all time. I know he's been hurt a lot lately, Jeff,
Speaker 3: and I know, maybe he's not the player he used
Speaker 3: to be, But for an eight year period, people were saying,
Speaker 3: this is the best player we've ever seen. It's really
Speaker 3: closer to ten years that he did it. He finished
Speaker 3: in the top two of the MVP voting the first
Speaker 3: five years of his career, winning the MVP twice. No
Speaker 3: one has ever finished in the top two of the
Speaker 3: MVP voting in his first five full years, even twice.
Speaker 3: He did it his first five years. Wow, that's how
Speaker 3: great Mike Trout was. He's still a really good power hitter.
Speaker 3: So Jeff. At ESPN, Raoul Labanye is used to work
Speaker 3: at ESPN. One of my favorite people ever, and he
Speaker 3: was a teammate with Mike Trout. Mike Trout's the most
Speaker 3: humble guy in the world. And Mike Trout's and VP
Speaker 3: during spring training one year and he looks at Raoul
Speaker 3: Labanya's and he says, I'm going to hit a home
Speaker 3: run in that trash can out there, which is beyond
Speaker 3: the left center field fence at the Angels' spring training facility. Jeff,
Speaker 3: it wasn't a dumpster. It was like a big one
Speaker 3: of those big green cans right, right, but not too
Speaker 3: terribly big right, And like eleven pitches later, Mike Trout
Speaker 3: hit a home run into the trash can. So I
Speaker 3: finally go to him and say, did you you hit
Speaker 3: a homer into the trash can? And he's so humble
Speaker 3: he wouldn't answer the question. Finally I said, look, bon
Speaker 3: just told me you hit one in the trash can?
Speaker 3: Did you or didn't you? He sorried, I hit one of
Speaker 3: the trash can And it wasn't the only time that
Speaker 3: spring that he did it. This is how competitive he is.
Speaker 3: He has to hit a ball into a trash can.
Speaker 3: But I think he's the greatest number twenty seven ever.
Speaker 3: He's going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer.
Speaker 3: And if anyone thinks these injuries has taken away his
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame career, you need to look at those
Speaker 3: numbers again.
Speaker 1: What about number twenty eight, the greatest player of all
Speaker 1: time to wear that number, from Ozzie to Oral.
Speaker 3: What do you got? I got Burt Blylevin. He won
Speaker 3: two hundred and eighty seven games. Okay, he struck out
Speaker 3: three thousand, seven hundred and one batters. That's the fifth
Speaker 3: most strikeouts in major league history. He threw, Jeff, he
Speaker 3: threw sixty shutouts. That's the ninth most ever sixty shutouts.
Speaker 3: So different time, different era, different pitchers. But Greg Maddox
Speaker 3: and Tom Glavin together through sixty shutouts exactly. And Bert
Speaker 3: bly Levin did that by himself, had one of the
Speaker 3: great curveballs of all time and definitely deserving of the
Speaker 3: greatest number twenty eight ever.
Speaker 1: All right, Dad, are we moving on to the blue
Speaker 1: Jays best of all? Tim, I've really been anticipating learning
Speaker 1: about this player who I'm just learning played major League baseball.
Speaker 3: Jefting, No, it's not embarrassing, Jeff. You weren't even born
Speaker 3: when this guy was really really good. Now, look, there
Speaker 3: were great blue Jays. This was not an easy choice.
Speaker 3: Roberto Alomar for a short period is the greatest blue
Speaker 3: Jay ever, but didn't stay there long enough. Roy Halliday
Speaker 3: very much in the discussion. Carlos Delgado an amazing player,
Speaker 3: but I'm going with Dave Steve Pitcher for the Blue Jays.
Speaker 3: He spent fifteen years with the Blue Jays. He made
Speaker 3: seven All Star teams while he was there. He was
Speaker 3: drafted and developed by the Blue Jays. He was really
Speaker 3: the first star player that they ever had. He's the
Speaker 3: only blue Jay ever to throw a no hitter. In
Speaker 3: the decade of the eighties. The only pitcher that had
Speaker 3: more wins than him was Hall of Famer Jack Morris,
Speaker 3: and Dave Steve had one of the great sliders that
Speaker 3: I've ever seen. He was a maniacal competitor, and I
Speaker 3: think baseball kind of has left him out of the
Speaker 3: discussion for certainly among the most underrated pitchers that we've
Speaker 3: ever seen. And this has always struck me. Right handed pitcher,
Speaker 3: great slider. He shot a basketball with his left hand,
Speaker 3: you know, really, Yeah, I've always been fascinated.
Speaker 2: You know how much I love it. So he's amphibious.
Speaker 3: Yes, he can throw a ball underwater. He's amphibious. Yes.
Speaker 3: So Dave Steve for me, is the greatest blue Jay
Speaker 3: of all time. And we're doing this as a tribute
Speaker 3: to the Blue Jays, who are the hottest team in
Speaker 3: baseball as of right now.
Speaker 2: All right, Dad, do you have a Team Tim for us?
Speaker 1: These have been and honestly, Dad, the biggest response from
Speaker 1: our family is the Team Tims. They absolutely love these.
Speaker 1: They always respect with theirs. And I'm going to come
Speaker 1: up with my all Music team next night week. But
Speaker 1: next week, just really fast. Next week is the All
Speaker 1: Star Game, right, so we're going to do a couple
Speaker 1: All Star specials. Tuesday night is the All Star Game,
Speaker 1: and then on Wednesday on the Feed, we'll have Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer Chipper Jones. I mean, when you talk about
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame, when you talk about the Atlanta Brads,
Speaker 1: when you talk about them hosting the All Star Game,
Speaker 1: that's the guy you've got to get.
Speaker 3: And I thought I knew Chipper Jones really well because
Speaker 3: I've interviewed him a thousand times. He told at least
Speaker 3: three stories that I have never heard before.
Speaker 2: Excited for Chipper, But what do we have for Team
Speaker 2: Tim today?
Speaker 3: Okay, So, as a tribute to Miguel Cairo, the new
Speaker 3: manager of the Washington Nets right by the way, is
Speaker 3: a great baseball guy. I wouldn't be surprised if he
Speaker 3: kept that job in Washington for a long time. Been
Speaker 3: around a lot of great managers in his time, a
Speaker 3: lot of great players in his time. I think he's
Speaker 3: perfectly suited for that team and what they're trying to do.
Speaker 3: So he is our second baseman that our catcher is
Speaker 3: Benito Santiago. I was trying to go with all non
Speaker 3: US cities, but I couldn't find them all, so I
Speaker 3: did the best I could. Mike Napoli is the first baseman.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you pronounced the city in Italy
Speaker 3: as Napoli or Nepoli, what do you think it is?
Speaker 1: Well, if they don't have a baseball team, you and
Speaker 1: I are pretty much helpless on fingering.
Speaker 3: It out right. Yes, absolutely, Kelly Paris is the third baseman.
Speaker 3: Houston Jimenez is our shortstop. That's a double one right there. Yes,
Speaker 3: Dallas Williams is one outfielder. Luis Medina or Medina whatever
Speaker 3: we're gonna call it about is from Saudi Arabia. Leon Wagner,
Speaker 3: Leon or Leone is a city in Mexico. Nice, and
Speaker 3: our pitching staff is Alex Madrid, Paul, Moscow spelled Moskau,
Speaker 3: love that, Jose Lima, Peru, Rome Chambers, and Sydney not
Speaker 3: spelled syd nyy but Si d Anywhy Sydney Ponson. So
Speaker 3: that's our all cities team, And every one of these
Speaker 3: cities is huge, So I didn't just pick tiny cities.
Speaker 3: These are all like among the biggest cities in the world.
Speaker 3: And we started with Miguel Cairo because he's the new
Speaker 3: manager of the Nationals. And now we welcome in our
Speaker 3: dear friend Bruce Adams, who is the founder and president
Speaker 3: of Bethesda Community Baseball Club. Bruce, this is Jeff Kirchin.
Speaker 3: You've seen him since he was ten years old. Thanks
Speaker 3: for joining us today.
Speaker 4: Well, this is like a reunion from the birthday parties
Speaker 4: he used to have.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, we already talked about those.
Speaker 1: I mean just right behind us is where we used
Speaker 1: to have pizza and we would play catch.
Speaker 2: This is this is part that's part of.
Speaker 3: That's so what it's all about.
Speaker 4: Mike Vick taught me fun is good and that's what
Speaker 4: we try to do here at Shirley Poe's Field.
Speaker 3: Bruce, when did the idea come to you that we
Speaker 3: need to honor Walter Johnson, Shirley Povich and get a
Speaker 3: collegiate baseball league to play here. When did that come
Speaker 3: to you?
Speaker 4: You didn't come to me in that order. I was
Speaker 4: trying to figure out how to raise money to fix
Speaker 4: fields for kids, and I wasn't getting anywhere. And then
Speaker 4: our family was on a trip for we were doing
Speaker 4: a book for photoors on family baseball vacations, and my
Speaker 4: son was five years old. So he went to the
Speaker 4: visiting team Bullpen because they always gave him balls. And
Speaker 4: he's talking to them about this trip we'd taken all
Speaker 4: over America and the guy says to me, summer college baseball.
Speaker 4: And all I could say was Cape cod That's all
Speaker 4: I knew. And the guy says, no, I played in
Speaker 4: the Shenandoah Valley last year. I said, you're pulling my leg.
Speaker 4: I'm a baseball fanatic. I lived ninety minutes from the valley.
Speaker 4: Couldn't be true. Turned out, we spent the next summer,
Speaker 4: my wife and I. We wrote a piece for the
Speaker 4: Western Posts Honey magazine about the Shenandoah Valley League and
Speaker 4: I just fell in love with it. It was two
Speaker 4: of my passions. It was community and baseball. And that's
Speaker 4: what summer college baseball is all about, is to give
Speaker 4: these guys a chance. You know, in college they play
Speaker 4: with their stupid metal bats, and so summer college baseball
Speaker 4: gives them a chance to play with a wood. That's
Speaker 4: what Major League Baseball wants to see. So it's a
Speaker 4: great opportunity for these guys to develop their talents. Twenty
Speaker 4: five of our guys who played here at Poviche Field
Speaker 4: for the Big Train have made it to the major leagues.
Speaker 4: But the other part of the equation is community.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: The historian Jacques Barzon said that if you want to
Speaker 4: understand America, you got to learn about baseball, and then
Speaker 4: he went on to say, but if you really want
Speaker 4: to learn about baseball, you got to see it at
Speaker 4: a small town kind of format. And so here at Povichfield,
Speaker 4: we've got a small ballpark hold seven hundred people. We
Speaker 4: call it small town charm and big league talent.
Speaker 1: Bruce, I want to ask you about something my dad
Speaker 1: will not bring up because he's the most humble man
Speaker 1: in the world. Talk about what Tim Kirkshin has. He
Speaker 1: has a plaque over there. But it also it comes
Speaker 1: with a program. And we're going to ignore my dad for.
Speaker 2: A minute because I think this is really special and.
Speaker 1: Really cool, and remembering my dad's amazing Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: baseball writing career, how.
Speaker 4: Lucky are we at the Big Train to have a
Speaker 4: friend like Tim Kirchin. I mean, your dad has been
Speaker 4: here every year I go listen to the talk. He
Speaker 4: gives to the Big Train players before the game. When
Speaker 4: he comes each year, it is so inspiring. He tells him,
Speaker 4: you're doing one of the hardest things you can do
Speaker 4: in sports. You've reached an incredible level and you have
Speaker 4: a chance to go even further. So we adore Tim Kirchen,
Speaker 4: your dad. He does our fundraiser each winter. He comes
Speaker 4: out and sees the players and the fans each year.
Speaker 4: And so when we created a summer internship program. You know,
Speaker 4: it's cool on your resume to say Big Train intern, right, right,
Speaker 4: But how cool is it to say Tim Kirchin sports
Speaker 4: journalism fellow.
Speaker 3: I mean, how cool is that?
Speaker 4: So we got a beautiful plaque up on the wall
Speaker 4: right next to Mike Beck and Bill Beck because our
Speaker 4: game operations interns are Veck fellows and our journalism interns
Speaker 4: are Kirchen Fellows.
Speaker 2: Well, it's really neat too, Dad, And I'm going to
Speaker 2: stop here.
Speaker 1: Is the field is named after Shirley Povitch, for goodness sake,
Speaker 1: who was a writer, right, and then we have the
Speaker 1: Tim Kirkchen fellows, which is so neat.
Speaker 2: And this is kind of funny.
Speaker 1: At Alabama, his dad, who I was named after, Jeff Kirkshen,
Speaker 1: there's a Jeff Kirkshin Teaching award. So I remember googling
Speaker 1: my name when Google became a thing when I was ten,
Speaker 1: and I saw who are these people winning a Jeff
Speaker 1: Kirkshen award?
Speaker 2: And what is that?
Speaker 1: Now they can say the Jeff Kirkshin Teaching Award named
Speaker 1: after your dad, and a Tim Kirkshen fellow named after
Speaker 1: you dad.
Speaker 3: And my father neglected to tell us that there was
Speaker 3: an award? Is that right? That's crazy the way you
Speaker 3: have been.
Speaker 4: Hey, well, how many full life bronze sculptures of journalists
Speaker 4: have you seen. We've got Shirley right over our shoulder
Speaker 4: here interviewing with his pad and his pencil, interviewing the
Speaker 4: great Walter Johnson.
Speaker 3: And they look, it's an absolutely.
Speaker 4: Tremendous Toby Mendez, who did the sculptures of all the
Speaker 4: Oil Hall of Famers at Camden Yards, who did teammates
Speaker 4: at Fenway, who did through Good Marshall in Annapolis, did
Speaker 4: these fantastic sculptures here. My partner in building Povich Field
Speaker 4: was John Horsman, and John said he wanted this to
Speaker 4: be a living baseball history museum. So we have murals
Speaker 4: with the history of Walder Johnson and Shirley Povich. Now
Speaker 4: we have these sculptures behind us. Over our other shoulder,
Speaker 4: we have kind of a street sign that shows you
Speaker 4: where the twenty five guys who played for Big Train
Speaker 4: made their major league debuts.
Speaker 3: This is so cool, Bruce. I'm telling you, when I
Speaker 3: go out and meet major league players, I talked to
Speaker 3: every one of them that has played here, and they
Speaker 3: have nothing but great things to say. They always say,
Speaker 3: make sure you said hi to Bruce for me. How
Speaker 3: does that make you feel? That that Hunter Brown is
Speaker 3: pitching in the All Star Game and he asks about
Speaker 3: you every time I see him.
Speaker 4: Thank you. He's these guys are unbelievable. So I'm trying
Speaker 4: to collect a couple of balls and get all their
Speaker 4: signatures on it. I've got the thirteen now, but just
Speaker 4: to a Hunter Brown, what a beautiful human being he is,
Speaker 4: and what an incredible career he's had. And he says
Speaker 4: that some of the change happened here with a little
Speaker 4: bit of tweaking and some growth and development, And that's
Speaker 4: just mind blowing to me. You know, I'm looking at
Speaker 4: Baseball America's top one hundred players in the MLB that
Speaker 4: came out in whatever it was January and February. There's
Speaker 4: Logan Gilbert right near the top, and I'm like, wow,
Speaker 4: a big trained player. And then there's Hunter And we're
Speaker 4: putting Hunter Brown and Jordan Westberg in our hall, in
Speaker 4: our Ripken Hall of Fame this year. They're both in
Speaker 4: that in that top hundred. And it's just a thrill
Speaker 4: to be able to know these guys and know that
Speaker 4: they played here and that we had a little bit
Speaker 4: to do with their development.
Speaker 3: Bruce, we got to let you go because you got
Speaker 3: things to do. But just tell us quickly, where did
Speaker 3: your love of baseball come from? When did it grab you?
Speaker 4: So this is crazy. My dad grew up in Bethesda,
Speaker 4: and there he had a friend whose dad was a
Speaker 4: baseball guy. And so when they were like twelve and
Speaker 4: thirteen and fourteen, the dad picked my dad up and
Speaker 4: drove him down to Griffith Stadium to hang out with
Speaker 4: his son. And the dad was Walter Johnson.
Speaker 1: No, Wow, you don't know this story, dad, Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: is that Did you know that my dad went to
Speaker 1: Walter Johnson High School?
Speaker 3: Wrong?
Speaker 4: I only knew that like a thousand times it's.
Speaker 3: Running joke on the podcast. All right.
Speaker 4: Well, the last thing I want to say though, is,
Speaker 4: you know, these are difficult times and summer baseball ads.
Speaker 4: It's more than baseball. You know. Baseball is our platform,
Speaker 4: but building a stronger community is our purpose. And this
Speaker 4: is a place that we need, these special places where
Speaker 4: people can come together, talk, enjoy themselves, have a good
Speaker 4: time across lines of difference. And surely Povidchfield is one
Speaker 4: of those places.
Speaker 2: Absolutely it is.
Speaker 3: And it's such a thrill for me. Once a year
Speaker 3: I get to throw out the first ball at the
Speaker 3: Big Train. We're gonna do that on Thursday night. I
Speaker 3: can't wait.
Speaker 4: Great. Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1: Guys, Bruce, and we end every show by saying to
Speaker 1: all of our listeners, we call them our family, and
Speaker 1: you're part of our family too. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for being a part of our family. And come visit
Speaker 1: Povichfield for a game soon.
Speaker 2: Thanks first, Thanks guys,