WEBVTT - The Big Train 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:07.120 Is this a great game or what with the Hall 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.160 of Famer Tim Kirkshon. I'm his son, Jeff Kirkshon, and 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:14.319 we are on location today on a beautiful. 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:16.439 Maryland human July day. 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:21.960 We are at Povich Field, home of the Bethesda Big Train. 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:22.440 Dad. 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:25.840 In this place, this place a specialty, right. 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:29.640 This is the cal Ripken College Summer League, Okay, And 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:32.720 this is where kids from college kids from all over 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:36.760 the country come play here. They live at people's houses 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:40.280 during their time here, they work at camps, and they 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:44.560 play at night. It's a great thing. And this ballpark, Jeff, 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:48.159 means so much to me because I spent all of 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:51.960 my childhood. This was my second home. I played a 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:54.600 million games on the little fields down here and the 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.360 big field here. When I wasn't playing as a little kid, 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:01.360 I was watching the big guys play. In fact, Jeff, 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:03.920 I used to stand right out there while I was 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:05.560 watching the game, and as soon as there was a 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.160 foul ball, there were a bunch of kids, usually me 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.080 and Matt, your uncle. We would run after the ball 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:13.119 and they would give us a dime for every foul 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:15.520 ball that we brought back, because you know, they were 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:19.800 not an unlimited supple. Yeah, balls went flying out all 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:23.199 the time, routinely would hit cars and everything else. But yeah, 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:26.440 and this is where I really really learned about baseball 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:30.640 was watching the older guys play in this ballpark and 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.520 it was absolutely great. And I used to broadcast. Well, 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:37.959 I used to be the public address guy, Matt Uncle Matt, 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:41.720 and I would do the public address for the Industrial League, 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:45.160 you know, the older guys beyond college. There were former 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:48.320 Major leaguers, former pro players that played here, and we 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:53.640 would do the public address. So now, so I remember 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:56.960 one team that played here was called Atlantic Masonry, okay, 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:58.840 and it was a famous team that played here. So 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.440 I would say Lee Off or Atlantic Masonry number two, 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:06.120 Matt Kirchin or whatever whoever it was. But I kept 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.080 calling him since I was only twelve years old. I 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:11.840 kept saying Atlantic Masonry okay because I didn't know the difference. 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:14.640 So jell O Legos, who was the manager of the team, 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:16.600 he comes over to me. I'm twelve years old, and 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:18.760 he goes, son, you're doing a great job with this, 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:23.560 but it's not Atlantic Masonary, it's Atlantic Masonry. So I 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:27.200 learned something about the rock and mortar business when I 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:29.880 was twelve years old. It was absolutely that's. 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:34.600 Better than calling them the mercenaries. That should be completely different, right, 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:35.679 And of course. 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:37.800 Yes, I was gonna say, we got to talk about who. 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:42.760 Got burying the lead. Here, this, of course is Walter Johnson. 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:44.720 Did I ever tell you I went to Walter Johnson 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.560 High School? Yeah, this is the greatest picture of all time. 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.959 Walter Johnson High School is about three miles from here, 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:53.880 and that's where I went to high school, of course. 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:58.320 And here Walter Johnson is speaking with Shirley Povich, one 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.080 of the great baseball was one of the great sports 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:03.680 writers of all time. He's in the Hall of Fame 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:07.880 as a baseball writer. And miraculously, three years ago I 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:11.160 joined the same club as Shirley Povich. You have no 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:13.679 idea what a thrill that was. I spoke to him 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:17.280 many many times late in his career. He wrote until 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:20.639 he was ninety years old. So we have these incredible 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:26.320 statues right behind us, Shirley Povich interviewing Walter Johnson. How 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:26.959 great is that? 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:29.200 It's great, But it's also sad to think this will 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:32.239 be the closest we ever get to interviewing Walter Johnson, 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:37.120 who far beyond any other player has the most mentioned 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:37.920 on this podcast. 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:39.240 Well, it has to be right. 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:42.800 And again, Jeff, I have such a connection to this place. 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:45.600 I've already explained all the games I played, watched and 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.040 umpired here, and I have this connection to Shirley Povich. 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.560 But going to Walter Johnson High School, it was more 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:56.080 than that, Jeff, I've told you this before. Walter Johnson 0:03:56.240 --> 0:04:01.000 died on December tenth, nineteen forty six, and I was 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:05.840 born on December tenth, nineteen fifty six, so ten years 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:09.960 to the day that Walter Johnson died, I was born. 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:12.920 He is buried in Rockville, not far from here, which 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.640 is a town over from where we lived. He used 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:19.400 to live at times in Germantown, one town away. And 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.400 of course he was the greatest pitcher in the history 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:26.080 of baseball, the greatest Washington Senator ever, and did so 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:28.560 much in the community because he was way more than 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:32.400 a baseball player. He was just a part. He took 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.640 part in local government and he made sure people had 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:38.400 what they needed. He was an amazing man, not just 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:39.920 an amazing baseball player. 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:42.200 You know, we have something framed in our basement. Our 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:46.880 basement was formerly completely themed baseball until it was themed 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:50.440 vintage furniture by my mom, who switched everything out to 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:51.239 make her business. 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:53.440 But in there, if you remember, Dad, we got to 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:54.040 was a gift. 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:58.040 It was I believe a receipt of a check that 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:01.480 Walter Johnson cashed or put into his account in a 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:04.960 Germantown bank, Yes, which was interesting. And when I was 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.160 like sixteen, I tried to cash. 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:07.920 It and it didn't work. 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:11.119 I guess it's more for show or they don't accept 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:12.240 checks out one hundred yourself. 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:15.640 Let's not forget our bobblehead arrangement. Here we've got on 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:19.160 this side, we've got the bobblehead of Walter Johnson. Next 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:22.320 to him is Brian Doser, former Major GaX second baseman, 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:25.039 hit a ton of home runs. He played here. And 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:27.800 of course this is my bobblehead, which, as we all know, 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:29.200 is actual size. 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:31.200 I am not a crooked looks a little bit like 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:32.119 Nixon does. 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:35.800 The gray hair is really unnecessary, Old Dad, that was 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:36.679 a touch of gray. 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:39.000 Now we're glad that that was the year you got 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:41.320 the bibblehead. Not as much with your power alleys. 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:46.680 Right, Well, you know our grandchildren, our grandson Carson, he 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.160 has taken at least five of the bobbleheads and just 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:53.280 decapitated me. Arms and legs have been taken off of 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.200 the of course, I don't kiddle with it. 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:59.359 Although the one thing with this bobblehead Dad lacking the 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:01.719 ear hair. It needs a little more ear hair to 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:03.080 make it accurate, you know. 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:06.279 I think the gray hair is plenty and unnecessary. Next 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:09.320 to me to my right is Shirley Povich, the great 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:12.719 sports writer, and next to him is Cal Ripken Senior, 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.640 who I covered when he was a coach with the 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:19.120 Orioles of course late seventies, early eighties, and then when 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:23.080 he was the manager of the team eighty seven through 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:25.039 the early nineteen eighty eight. 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:26.920 This is what this place is all about. 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.080 I had a number of birthday parties here, including I 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:33.440 think it was my twelfth birthday. Dad, and we sat 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:37.000 in the awning that actually is behind us right now, 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:40.240 and it was such a cool memory. Because this place 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:44.200 makes baseball accessible for everyone. Listen, nothing is better than 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:46.040 going to a major League baseball game. But I'd make 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:49.200 the argument is it's even cooler to see these college 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:53.640 baseball players in their summers off staying with people in 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:56.240 the area, Dad and working with the kids at the 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.720 camps and then playing on this field and getting work 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.960 in and then eventually hopefully living the dream of becoming 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:04.680 a major league baseball player. 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:07.440 We're going to talk to Bruce Bruce Adams here. 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:10.760 Short, we have buried the lead here, Jeff. Bruce Adams 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:14.480 is the reason that all of this works. Bruce Adams 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:18.080 is almost ten years older than me. He looks ten 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.800 years younger than me. He is does this out of 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.480 the goodness of his heart. Basically, he's a volunteer essentially 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:28.640 running all of this. He got this stadium built, He 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:33.080 put Povich Field together, He runs the big train here. 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:37.720 And the profits from all this go to building fields 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:41.480 for kids. Yeah, in Montgomery County and around the Maryland area. 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:44.239 I mean, is there a better thing that can be done? 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:47.520 Bruce Adams is the hero of all of this, more 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.800 than Walter Johnson, more than Shirley Povich, more than anyone. 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:54.200 If it weren't for Bruce Adams, this place simply doesn't happen. 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:55.560 And we will talk to him later. 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:57.560 Yeah, And when we pulled up, I saw he had 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:01.680 a little blower. He was cleaning up morel That's the 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:03.880 kind of thing that it takes to be successful, right, 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.160 you're cleaning up the mulch, but you're also greeting the 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:08.680 Hall of Famer Tim Kirkshon to do his podcast today. 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:13.239 I think that is what makes successful people is being willing. 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:15.320 It's like Walt Disney always used to say, like Walt 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:18.240 Disney would walk around Disney World picking up trash. He's 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:20.360 Walt Disney for goodness sake. But you have to be 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:22.560 able to do those things in order to have a 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:26.400 successful company. And clearly, if you're ever in Bethesda, Maryland 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:28.880 in the summer, you've got to go to a big train. 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:29.400 Baseball, right. 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:31.840 And the players that have come through here who have 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:33.760 played in the big leagues, who already told you about 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:36.920 Brian Doser, there have been so many more, including Hunter 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.880 Renfro who had a ton of homers, and the other hunter, 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:42.920 Hunter Brown, who just made the All Star team and 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:45.320 as of the other day was leading the American League 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:49.920 in eer. So great players come through here, really really 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.640 good players play here every summer and it's a wood 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:55.840 bat league because he gets them ready for pro ball. 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:58.760 These are college players here, They're from all over the 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.600 country and I speak to them once a year and 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:04.280 it just does my heart. Good to talk to a 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:06.800 bunch of kids who've got that hungry look in their 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.080 eyes because all they want to do is play pro 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:11.720 ball and someday get to the big leagues. 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:14.320 All right, Dad, we're gonna talk a lot more about 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:16.640 where we're coming live from. But let's get into the 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:18.120 takeaways of Major League base Yet. 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:22.080 The takeaways every week now has to start with dominant, 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:26.600 overpowering pitching, because that's what we see on a nightly basis, 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:30.480 every single night. It's unbelievable. Jacob Mizerowski of the Brewers 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:34.120 the other night, face the world champion Dodgers, pitch six innings, 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:38.120 struck out twelve. So the only other rookie to strike 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.760 out twelve in a game against the defending world champions 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:46.120 was Jim Bibbie in nineteen seventy three. Nobody has a 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:50.040 chance against Jacob Mizerowski and half of the pictures of 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:53.319 the big leagues right now because of the velocity that 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:56.000 we see. And when you take all the pitchers that 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:59.680 pitched in that game that Miserowski started for the Brewers, 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:05.080 their average fastball velocity was ninety nine point one. That's 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:08.559 what hitters are facing these days. And Jeff I'm telling 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:11.200 you we're coming close to a dilemma in the big 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:15.760 leagues that hitters have virtually no chance when a great 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:19.560 pitcher like Paul Skeins or Jacob Degram locates with this 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.880 amazing stuff. And I talked to I talked to twenty 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:27.520 different hitters when I was in San Diego, Rangers and Padres, 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:30.080 and they all acknowledge the same thing. This is the 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:33.280 hardest hitting environment they've ever seen. It's not even close. 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:35.680 In fact, Jake Berger, who as you said, is in 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:38.880 every single episode that we do on this podcast, he 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:40.760 told me he's been in the league five years. He 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:45.000 goes the difference in the stuff we see now compared 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:48.840 to five years ago is absolutely night and day. And 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:52.120 he said, I'm just wondering, where is the pitching going 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:55.400 to be five years from now? I mean, where's the 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:56.840 velocity going to be there? 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.480 Jell Dad, one of our members of our family who 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:01.720 listens to the sh show, messaged us great game or 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:03.320 what dot com if you ever want to message us 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.120 and get in touch, and said, Tim, is this not 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:09.080 the time for the knuckleball and the off speed pitcher 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:12.520 to be successful because things are so the velocity is 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:14.040 so high right now, to have a guy that just 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:17.000 totally throws everybody off, Why aren't we having that right? 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.160 Well, we might, but as Charlie Huff once told me, 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:23.240 great knuckleball pitcher, when I asked him, Charlie, and I 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:25.720 was like twelve years old when I asked him, I said, Charlie, 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:29.040 why do more people throw a knuckleball? And Charlie's a 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:30.480 nice man in the world, but he yelled at me. 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:32.520 He goes, well, why do more people throw one hundred 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:37.000 miles an hour? It's really hard to do, unless, of course. 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:39.040 What we need a catcher that can catch it too, right, 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:42.600 Doug Mirabelly isn't playing Major League baseball anymore. In fact, 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:44.559 I kind of went down a little bit of a 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:48.679 rabbit hole recently. Do you remember when Doug Mirabelly obviously 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:50.840 played for the Red Sox, then he didn't. And they're 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.120 getting ready to play a Sunday night baseball game at 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:56.880 Fenway Park against the Yankees. It's Johnny Damon's return to 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.320 Fenway after the trade that sent him to the Evil 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:02.400 Empire and New York and the Red Sox are saying 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:05.319 we're dead, We're dead. I can't remember who was catching 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.760 the knuckleballer before Tim Wakefield, of course, but he had 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.320 like ten pass balls in seven games. And they're gonna 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:14.440 lose this game on Sunday Night Baseball because they don't 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:15.480 have somebody who can catch them. 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:18.800 So they trade back for Doug Mirabelli. 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:21.360 Who is in a cab trying to get to Fenway, 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.000 and he's telling the cab driver, you gotta drive faster. 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:28.080 I'm catching Tim Wakefield tonight. And he barely made it 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:30.880 to the game, put on a uniform, and caught the knuckleball. 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:33.960 That's how hard it is for knuckleball to be thrown 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:36.560 and to be caught. But back to the original statement, 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.240 jeb I wrote a story this spring for ESPN dot 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:41.920 com that the most important pitch in the game today 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:44.120 is the change up right, and a lot of guys 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:47.360 have an elite change up, including Cherk Scoble, Because if 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:50.040 you could throw a change up at eighty six miles 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:53.080 an hour and you throw a fastball at ninety eight 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:56.160 miles an hour, the hitter has to guess one or 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:58.040 the other, and he can't sit on the change up 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:00.440 because he'll never get to ninety eight if he looks 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:02.319 for ninety eight. It's going to be really hard to 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.800 get to eighty six. So that's why knuckleballers may make 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:08.680 a comeback. But I repeat, Jeff, it's a really, really 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:12.120 hard pitch to throw. But everything is difficult for a 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:14.840 hitter today in baseball, and it's getting close to the 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.120 time or we're going to have to come up with 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:19.440 some sort of solution as to what to do, because 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.839 we're getting close to nineteen sixty eight days where they 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:24.880 said no one could get a hit anymore, and then 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:27.760 they lowered the mount in nineteen sixty nine and back 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:28.600 came the offense. 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:30.679 I always wondered what it would have happened had they 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.599 never done that. And then a guy named Randy Johnson certain. 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:36.840 He would be like seven and a half feet tall up. 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:41.199 There, right, Totally understand, all right. The other takeaway, Jeff, 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:44.040 is that the Blue Jays at this taping had won 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:47.360 ten games in a row to take a healthy lead 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:50.600 in the American League East, and with the A's coming 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:53.280 up this weekend nothing against the A's, there's a chance 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.839 the Blue Jays are going to roll into the All 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:58.920 Star Break with a pretty healthy lead in the American 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:01.320 League East. Now, I didn't not see this coming but 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.040 nobody did. But the American League East has made no 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:07.520 sense whatsoever this year, Jeff. The Orioles were supposed to 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:10.400 be really good and they haven't been all year. The 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.720 Red Sox were supposed to be really good and then 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:15.560 they stopped being and now they're making a little comeback here. 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:17.960 The Yankees had a six and a half game lead. 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.560 They've lost their lead obviously. And the Rays are a 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:24.360 team that you know, really made a run. Now they've 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:26.680 hit a bit of a slow point. So American League 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:30.280 makes no sense whatsoever. And that's why I think the 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:32.960 Blue Jays have a chance to hang around and maybe 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.920 even win the division, because really four teams still have 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:36.680 a chance to win that. 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:38.880 And speaking of the Blue Jays, Dad, we are going 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:40.320 to do the best of all ten. We do it 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.440 every single Thursday episode where you pick a different team 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:46.560 and you name the greatest player to play in that franchise. 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:49.040 And today the Blue Jays is who were picking because 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:51.880 of their hot streak, And I have no idea. He 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:53.920 told me, Dad, you told me who it was ahead 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:55.600 of time, and I had to google it because. 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:56.680 I had never even heard of the name. 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:58.840 And listen, I'm the first to admit I am not 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:02.200 even close to his eligible as probably eighty to ninety 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.160 percent of our listeners, and of course you but I 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:07.160 think a lot of people will be surprised for this pick. 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:09.640 But you're going to defend it, so I absolutely will. 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:11.920 All right. The last takeaway, Jeff, is that my friend 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:16.920 Jeremy Shapp did a documentary on Jim Abbott. Jim Abbott 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.840 is one of the great untold stories in a lot 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:22.760 of ways in the history of baseball. Jim Abbott pitched 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:26.160 in the major leagues, as we know, without a right hand. 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:29.400 He was a really good pitcher, had a great slider 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.840 through a no hitter in the big leagues, and amazingly, 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:36.360 his first spring training he hit a triple in an 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:40.440 exhibition game. Unbelievable with one hand. So I saw him 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:43.440 this spring in spring training and I went up to him. 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.160 We were talking. He's the nicest man in the world. 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.000 I talked to him for twenty minutes. It was just glorious. 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:51.280 So I said, Jim, how about that triple you hit? 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:54.680 And he went like this, Rick Rushell, sinker down. He 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:58.200 will remember the pitch and the location of the pitch. 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:00.560 When he hit a triple in the spring training game 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.600 and what we learned from this amazing documentary done by 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:08.040 Jeremy Shap, who, by the way, is the best journalist 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:11.040 in the business. There's nobody better than Jeremy Shapp. Of 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:15.880 course he learned from his father, Dick Shap. Dick Shap nobody, 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.880 but nobody did a better job interviewing people than Dick 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:23.040 shab and his son is second best on that list. 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:25.600 That's how good Jeremy Shapp is. So you got to 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:29.480 watch this. It's called South Paul and it details the 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.320 story of Jim Abbott, which is one of the great 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:35.240 stories you'll ever see. And I promise it'll make you 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:37.520 cry because it's that emotional. 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:39.840 Yeah, you just threw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium. 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.400 I can't wait. You texted me telling me I gotta 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:44.480 watch this, so it's on my watch list. 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:46.000 So I'm really looking forward to it. 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:48.720 Okay, all right, dad, jumping into the quirk jins, What 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:49.160 do you have. 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.840 For We had an amazing Tuesday night in the Big 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:56.000 League's Jeff Lawrence Butler of the A's hid an inside 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:59.440 the park home run to start the game. Yep. And 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:03.200 on the same night, Patrick Bailey, the number nine hitter, 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:06.600 and the catcher for the Giants hit a three run 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:11.479 walk off inside the park home run. So it's the 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:15.359 first time since nineteen hundred that on the same day 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:20.719 somebody hit a leadoff home run inside the park and 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:25.000 on the same day somebody hit a walk off inside 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:26.000 the park home run. 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:28.879 You said nineteen hundred since nineteen hundred, well you got 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:31.320 to remember, and I'm not saying I mean, that's unbelievable. 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:32.760 That's one hundred and twenty five years. 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:35.960 But remember what parks used to look like, right, Parks 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:38.679 used to be what polo grounds and all these giant 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:40.879 stadiums were. Inside the park home runs. I feel like 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:43.840 we're a little more common, so to speak. So we're 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:46.040 talking one hundred and twenty five year difference. And as 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:48.880 you know, it's no secret I root for the Phillies, 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.960 being outside Philadelphia and being a Philadelphia radio show host. 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:53.920 That was a devastating finish. 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:55.840 To that kit, Right, that was bad. But you're right, Jeff, 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.600 about the ballparks and the way the game was played 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:02.160 in the early nineteen The all time leader for inside 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:05.159 the park homers is Hall of Famer Sam Crawford, who 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:09.560 hit fifty one inside the park homers in his career. 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:13.080 Second on the list is Tommy Leach, who was five 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:15.280 to six and one hundred and thirty five pounds and 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:20.080 could really run. He hit sixty three career homers, forty 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.639 nine of them were inside the park home runs. And 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.480 get this, Jeff. In nineteen o two, he led the 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:30.440 league in homers with six and all of them were 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.760 inside the park home runs. So for as far as 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:38.240 the the A's had gone three thousand and four games 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:42.479 without an inside the park homer. That's the second longest 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:46.040 strout in Major league history without one. The Cardinals had 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:49.480 the longest three thousand, one hundred and sixty eight games 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:53.119 without an inside the park homer. And Bailey is the 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:56.280 first player to hit an inside the park walk off 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:59.760 homer since Tyler nake Win in twenty sixteen, and he's 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:02.200 the third catcher ever to do it. A guy did 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:04.879 at Pat Moran in nineteen oh seven, Benny Tate in 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:08.800 nineteen twenty six. So it was an amazing night for 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:11.800 inside the park home runs. I've never seen We've never 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:12.679 seen anything like it. 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:15.280 You know, I used to do radio in Cleveland, Ohio, 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:19.439 And if I'm not mistaken, is Tyler Naquin reinventing his 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:22.720 career coming up as a pitcher. Yeah, I believe he 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:25.520 is the Lake County Captains who I used to do. 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:27.200 You know, they used to go to their games. 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.480 And I follow him on Facebook and they said we're welcoming. 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:32.560 Back Tyler Natequin, and I thought interesting. He said, he 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:34.679 played outfield here and now he's coming up as a pitcher. 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:35.800 So how crazy is that? 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:38.720 It's all that this morning, Joey Gallow's doing the same thing, Jeff. 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:41.760 It goes back to our original point at the beginning 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:45.800 of the podcast. Hitting is so difficult today. The guys 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:48.879 are giving up because they can't do it anymore, and 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:50.680 now they're trying to become pictures. 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:52.560 I have a quirk chin about a homer. 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:53.080 Oh good. 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:57.680