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Speaker 1: Welcome back, or actually welcome to all the smoke dugout.

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Speaker 2: Man.

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Speaker 1: I got my brother Nick Swisher here. I appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Doubt we go back we were. I was with Golden

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Speaker 1: State in six to nine or six to eight, and

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Speaker 1: remember but you were with the A's at that time,

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Speaker 1: and we would always cross paths and your energy still

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Speaker 1: stand strong today. That was that we were going on

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Speaker 1: twenty years ago.

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Speaker 2: Yes, sir.

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Speaker 1: And when we started this thing, the first person I said, like,

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Speaker 1: I gotta get swish. I know there's something there with

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Speaker 1: me and him. Let me get swishing. And we're here, man.

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Speaker 1: So I appreciate your time coming out and your willingness

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Speaker 1: to to help me execute these interviews.

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Speaker 2: Man.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, man, I mean what you guys have been doing,

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Speaker 3: uh absolutely, just elevated yourself along with the overall.

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Speaker 2: Anything that you bring on. So I'm just stoked to

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Speaker 2: be here.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't believe that we're here twenty It's gonna

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Speaker 1: be a good time.

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Speaker 2: Man.

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Speaker 1: The man sitting to our right was man, someone I

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Speaker 1: grew up idolizing. I tried his batty stance. It wasn't

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Speaker 1: for me. Fucked me up, but.

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Speaker 2: It had one of the sweetest stance and swings.

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Speaker 1: I remember as a child, got a chance, I ran

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Speaker 1: into them because I had been chasing you down. You

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Speaker 1: didn't know, but I was trying to, like, where is

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Speaker 1: this man that I need to get them on the show.

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Speaker 1: And lo and behold you here man, Welcome to the show,

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Speaker 1: Eric Davis.

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Speaker 2: Appreciate you doing. I'm doing good. Good to see. I'm

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Speaker 2: looking great. Bro, I'm still tricking it. I'm still tricking them.

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Speaker 3: I mean, let's just get right into it right. Serving

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Speaker 3: is a special assistant role in the Reds front office.

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Speaker 3: I do the same thing with the New York Yankees.

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Speaker 3: I guess in a sense, just give us a little

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Speaker 3: bit about that role and kind of define that for us.

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Speaker 2: Well, actually I've improved since just so that's how I

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Speaker 2: know this is. Oh, I'm the senior advisor. I finally

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Speaker 2: got to see that at the table. I feel good

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Speaker 2: about it. Yeah, I'm the highest ranking black executive in

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Speaker 2: our organization. So I feel good about that. Yeah, congradulations.

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Speaker 2: But it's been my eighteenth year and it's been like

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Speaker 2: anything else in life, you got to pay your dues,

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Speaker 2: especially in this sport. Who didn't allow blacks to even

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Speaker 2: participate for a long time. So as a black player

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Speaker 2: trying to get to the other side, you got to

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Speaker 2: be willing to pay your dues, and I was willing

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Speaker 2: to do that. And actually starting with an organization that

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Speaker 2: I started with and having to be able to come

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Speaker 2: back and support them and do things that I've been

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Speaker 2: doing is fantastic.

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Speaker 3: Well absolutely, I mean, you saw the jump to the

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Speaker 3: teammate last year. Obviously, you bring over Terry Francona. You

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Speaker 3: got players like Ellie de la Cruz, who's actually wearing

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Speaker 3: your number. I don't know how the fuck that your

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Speaker 3: number hasn't been retired, but at the end of the.

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Speaker 2: Day, some strange shit, right, I mean.

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Speaker 3: Let's talk about it, right. A lot of young talent

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Speaker 3: on the Cincinnati Reds right now. They made a huge

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Speaker 3: jump last year. I mean, talk to me a little

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Speaker 3: bit about just the overall electricity that someone like an

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Speaker 3: Ellie brings, because it almost makes it seem that we

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Speaker 3: got a little left handed, you know, switch hitting ed

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Speaker 3: coming in there now, because what he's different.

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Speaker 2: I've been on Tito for a long time. I actually

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Speaker 2: signed and play basketball and baseball at the University Areona,

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Speaker 2: so I've had history with that school and then knowing him.

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Speaker 2: He was there when I was actually being recruited there,

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Speaker 2: and then I played with him two years in Cincinnati

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Speaker 2: when Pete Rose brought him over from Montrealfice stuff, so

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Speaker 2: we've known each other for a long time. And then

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Speaker 2: watching him from Afar, you know when he first started managing,

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Speaker 2: how he was doing with the players, and how he

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Speaker 2: moved that whole city at winning championships and all of

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Speaker 2: those things. And it was crazy because when we lost

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Speaker 2: our manager, he was the first one on our list,

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Speaker 2: but you know, he had kind of semi retired and

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Speaker 2: didn't want to do anything because of some health reasons,

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Speaker 2: so we didn't really know if we could get him

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Speaker 2: or not. And so we had him up there and

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Speaker 2: it was a quick phone call and Nick, who was

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Speaker 2: our president, flew down to Tucson, and before we could

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Speaker 2: interview anybody like he was already on the docket. So

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Speaker 2: it made our job easy. Ellie. He asked me about

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Speaker 2: the jersey, he asked me about the number and things,

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Speaker 2: and when you see a kid as talented as that kid,

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Speaker 2: it was easy at least different, And when you're talking

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Speaker 2: about a kid that can do everything like he's at

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Speaker 2: that level, the problem with that is is he's still

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Speaker 2: learning and people don't allow him to learn, and he's

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Speaker 2: he hasn't been around veteran players, so he hasn't he

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Speaker 2: has to do everything. Where we differ is is I

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Speaker 2: had Dave Parker and Ken Griffy, seen Pete Rose with

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Speaker 2: my manager, Tony Perez, with my eating coach, you know

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Speaker 2: what I'm saying. So I was able to blossom into

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Speaker 2: without having to be that then at that time. And

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Speaker 2: and it's difficult for a young kid when you want

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Speaker 2: to do well, especially now where everybody's watching. You don't

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Speaker 2: miss shit. When on TV. Now you rubbed somebody the

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Speaker 2: wrong way, it's news, you know what I'm saying. But

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Speaker 2: what a kid. It's crazy because he wasn't a bonus baby.

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Speaker 2: He was just a regular kid who blossomed into something

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Speaker 2: that kind of took us by storm and stuff. You

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Speaker 2: didn't really know how good this kid was. Uh, But

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Speaker 2: the most important thing for him was was he knew

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Speaker 2: he was a shortstop. And that's a position you have

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Speaker 2: to be confident in. It's like you can't make nobody

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Speaker 2: a point guard. Either your point guard or you're not

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Speaker 2: a point You got shortstop or you're not a short stop.

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Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. He's still he's bled that

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Speaker 2: he loves it. He like so we have to do

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Speaker 2: everything to make sure that he succeeds as a short shop.

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Speaker 1: I got a question though, obviously it's probably an honor

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Speaker 1: for him to wear your NORMALI said, you guys had

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Speaker 1: that type of conversation. But to you, what you meant

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Speaker 1: to that organization bringing a World Series there, the way

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Speaker 1: you represented that organization. Is it hard for you that

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Speaker 1: your number isn't retired at this point?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely. And some players say that they don't care

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Speaker 2: about certain things, but deep down in side, we do. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: we give a fuck, but but like it's out of

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Speaker 2: my control, and actually people talk about it. Yes I

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Speaker 2: did some things, but normally when that happens, it's almost

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Speaker 2: like like you a Hall of Fame type of guy

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Speaker 2: and stuff. But you see other sports blessed guys that

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Speaker 2: didn't play twenty years or didn't have those type of things.

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Speaker 2: But baseball has always been in the sport where we've

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Speaker 2: had to fight for every inch, every nook, every cranny.

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Speaker 2: We had to be better than everybody. Yeah, it kind

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Speaker 2: of bothers me. But when you see a kid like that,

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Speaker 2: that's representing it. It's still keeping Ed forty four alive

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Speaker 2: because everybody still compares him to me. So I kind

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Speaker 2: of still get to weave and bob when he put

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Speaker 2: a cycle to one time and stuff like that. So

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Speaker 2: if I would consume that to anybody, it would definitely

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Speaker 2: be human. Yeah.

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Speaker 3: I mean, bro, I'm waiting for the next badass motherfucker

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Speaker 3: to come through Decky Land where number thirty three. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: and I'm gonna tell my daughter, baby, that's my jersey.

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Speaker 3: That's my name on the back of Swish Wars.

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Speaker 2: Swish War. You know what I'm saying, I don't keep

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Speaker 2: it alive. Yes, I'll be just speaking about you know

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Speaker 2: what you're talking about.

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Speaker 3: Just about there's all those veteran guys that you had,

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Speaker 3: and those guys that molded you and kind of guided

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Speaker 3: you into being the player that you are.

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Speaker 2: Just give me a little bit about the state of

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Speaker 2: the game today. Is the game in a good place

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Speaker 2: right now? Yes? And no, financially it's in a great place.

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Speaker 2: You see what the numbers are for some of these

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Speaker 2: players are getting for it's replicating what it should be about. No,

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Speaker 2: because we've allowed people to infiltrate the game with things

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Speaker 2: that doesn't make the game better. And analytics has been

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Speaker 2: a part of our game for so long, but it's

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Speaker 2: really not the analytical side that's missing our game up.

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Speaker 2: It's the private sector, almost like AAU basketball to a point,

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Speaker 2: everybody's a teacher. They're getting these kids there. Parents are

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Speaker 2: paying these guys who has no resume to do anything,

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Speaker 2: and all it takes is one guide to have success

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Speaker 2: in that whatever you're trying to get them to do,

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Speaker 2: and it blows up. And now this whole era is

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Speaker 2: what instant gratification. It's a microwavable era. So that's what's

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Speaker 2: really driving the swings and one hundred mile an hour

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Speaker 2: throwing and stuff like that. But as an organization, we

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Speaker 2: don't really teach it, like we don't really you gotta

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Speaker 2: do this, or you got to swing a certain way.

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Speaker 2: But more so we do more deprogramming than we do

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Speaker 2: program which is crazy because especially from college, it's worse

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Speaker 2: in college than it is in high school. Right because

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Speaker 2: when you in college you gotta do certain things or

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Speaker 2: you don't play. High school, if you're the best player,

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Speaker 2: you're gonna play regardless and shit like that. But man,

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Speaker 2: you get with some of these quote unquote gurus and

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Speaker 2: people who are talking about us swing and what you

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Speaker 2: was trying to baseball's too tough for all this. It's

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Speaker 2: way too and the people who play it don't talk

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Speaker 2: like that. The people who've gone through the failures don't

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Speaker 2: talk like that. So that's what's hurting the game more

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Speaker 2: than anything in my prospective.

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Speaker 3: Because I was just thinking about this, and I talk

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Speaker 3: about this a lot, the overall development of the young American.

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Speaker 2: Baseball player is not what it used to be because

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Speaker 2: back in the day, all of us in basketball baseball

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Speaker 2: didn't matter.

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Speaker 3: We practiced four or five days a week, played maybe

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Speaker 3: one or two games maybe. Now these young ThunderCats are

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Speaker 3: out there playing four or five games a week maybe,

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Speaker 3: So you're not learning anything. You're just kind of going

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Speaker 3: on the fly. So in my mind, I love what

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Speaker 3: you're saying about that. I think that makes so much

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Speaker 3: fucking sense. But at the end of the day, being

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Speaker 3: able to develop these kids is what we should be

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Speaker 3: focused on. But now you've got PG, you got all

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Speaker 3: these young leagues and stuff, and they chasing rings at eight, nine,

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Speaker 3: ten years old.

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Speaker 2: A mom will come to me and be like, Nick,

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Speaker 2: what do you think about my kid. You think he's

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Speaker 2: got a chance. I'm like, he's nine years old. He

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Speaker 2: ain't even got pubes yet, you know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 2: Like he's still learning, Like he ain't met drugs. You

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Speaker 2: said way better than I do. I'd be like, see,

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Speaker 2: Bobby can't play, Bobbie needs to get his education. You

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Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. But it's crazy because of things

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Speaker 2: that we know now actually from growing up and you

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Speaker 2: growing up in La well actually growing up in LA

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Speaker 2: you growing up in another part of county. You were

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Speaker 2: doing stuff when you was a kid. You didn't know

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Speaker 2: what's gonna lead to that, like picko, run down over

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Speaker 2: the line. You didn't know that that was gonna lead

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Speaker 2: to certain things like we used to play where if

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Speaker 2: you have enough guys, right field would be closed. So

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Speaker 2: I learned to pull the ball right feel closed right

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Speaker 2: right because you didn't have as many guys, so you

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Speaker 2: had to pull it or you was out. So there

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Speaker 2: was so many different things that you did that transformed

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Speaker 2: into your ability to play at the ultimate level. Not

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Speaker 2: knowing when I was nine that that was gonna be

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Speaker 2: because you didn't have ESPN and you didn't have highlights

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Speaker 2: and stuff. Like that. So you didn't do that. You

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Speaker 2: heard Ben Scully on the radio. That was our thing,

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Speaker 2: and he spelled it out so well. You was trying

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Speaker 2: to replicate Joe more than based on what said, not

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Speaker 2: what you saw, but what he said. So that's the difference.

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Speaker 2: These kids don't know how to play three on three

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Speaker 2: where you got to make a maneuver to get to

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Speaker 2: the basket. You gotta have not you can't just dribble,

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Speaker 2: because they were like, man, you're taking too long. Get

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Speaker 2: off the rock. You know what I'm saying. So it

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Speaker 2: was a lot of things that we did that led

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Speaker 2: us down the direction of success. That these kids have

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Speaker 2: no idea what it took or how to get to

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Speaker 2: where they want to go.

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Speaker 3: And also to these young kids out there, they don't

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Speaker 3: know the history of the game. I was in the

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Speaker 3: locker room the other day on the minor league side

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Speaker 3: and I brought up Ron Gad. I was talking about

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Speaker 3: he had the biggest arms I ever seen in my life.

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Speaker 3: And they're looking at me like, who's Ron Gad? And

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Speaker 3: I said, no fucking way, you don't you know what.

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Speaker 3: Go home, google Ron Dad, and when you come back

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Speaker 3: tomorrow you tell me all about it. But I think

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Speaker 3: that's one of the problems with the game is that

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Speaker 3: they don't know the history of it.

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Speaker 2: Well, but look in the clubhouse, and who's going to

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Speaker 2: give him the history such a great right? His dad

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Speaker 2: probably is not there, his mom don't know the history

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Speaker 2: of it, So who's going to give him that? And

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Speaker 2: if you see some of these kids today, especially black kids,

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Speaker 2: they don't have black coaches in the minor leagues. That's

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Speaker 2: a problem. So as a white kid, you have white coaches,

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Speaker 2: so you have someone that you can relate to. As

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Speaker 2: a Latin kid, you have Latin coaches where you have

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Speaker 2: someone to relate to. Who does the hundred green relate

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Speaker 2: to Will Benson? Nobody? Why is that because of analytics?

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Speaker 2: Because the fact that every player knows analytics, because you

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Speaker 2: put the numbers up. I know analytics, I know what

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Speaker 2: my stats are. I not put them up. So the

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Speaker 2: whole terminology behind them is one plus one is always

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Speaker 2: going to be two, and everybody in the room is

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Speaker 2: going to have the consensus of one and one is

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Speaker 2: plus two. We can get to two, probably one hundred

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Speaker 2: different ways, so it's multiple ways of being right. They

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Speaker 2: only got one way to right, so they don't want

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Speaker 2: anybody to say, well, why don't we try it this way?

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Speaker 2: That way don't work because they don't know how to

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Speaker 2: do it. They could never be in the batter's box.

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Speaker 2: I can go to college and get accounting degree, I

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Speaker 2: know numbers, I can do what they do. They could

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Speaker 2: never do what I do. So that's what's scary. They

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Speaker 2: don't want to be in the room where they're not

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Speaker 2: having any advantage. So what do you do? You have

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Speaker 2: to alleviate. You don't want them there, so you're not

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Speaker 2: You say, listen, we've got to get all of these

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Speaker 2: people out the way so that now you ever seen

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Speaker 2: analytic people argue no, because one plus one is two,

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Speaker 2: We're okay, let's go to the next one. Like all

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Speaker 2: of us that center around and we hop notch about basketball.

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Speaker 2: You can tell people different ways to do the crossover.

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Speaker 2: There's a multitude of ways. It's not a multitude of

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Speaker 2: ways of adding for these no and and they're gonna

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Speaker 2: bet the house on what those numbers are.

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Speaker 1: But also analyticsly's got a lot of intangible the eye tests,

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Speaker 1: the under pressure, the count being three two, like just

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Speaker 1: so many shit that they can't weigh. And it's similar

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Speaker 1: in basketball as far as analytics, and I think basketball

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Speaker 1: is taking a little bit of a step back and

291
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Speaker 1: kind of gone back to can this guy actually play

292
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Speaker 1: in certain situations? But that kind of led me to

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Speaker 1: the next question was the decline in black baseball players.

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Speaker 1: I mean, growing up, I can name twenty five black

295
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Speaker 1: stars in the game, and then you can pick and

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Speaker 1: choose who you wanted to be. Like you know, We've

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Speaker 1: talked to Bond Sheffield Mookie about this. I'm interested to

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Speaker 1: hear your your perspective on this and why is there

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Speaker 1: such a lack of black talent in the major league

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Speaker 1: system these days?

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Speaker 2: Because they don't need it. Because the Latin player looks

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Speaker 2: the part. He checks the box. If you go to

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Speaker 2: a game and you see seven blacks out on the field,

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Speaker 2: you think they're blacks, but they're not blacks dif from Cuba,

305
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Speaker 2: Dominican Republic. Yeah, but you bought the ticket already, you

306
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Speaker 2: already in, they got get you already in. So until

307
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Speaker 2: you hear them speak, you don't know what they are.

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Speaker 2: So that checks the box. Well, how do we get

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Speaker 2: them back in? Well, it's it's just like with anything.

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Speaker 2: He who makes the rules, make the decisions. Right, So

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Speaker 2: you have to have black scouts, right, you have to

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Speaker 2: have black coaches in the minor leagues who justify signing

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Speaker 2: this guy. Those are the people who make the decisions.

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Speaker 2: It's about the decision there. See anytime that they keep

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Speaker 2: saying blacks aren't playing, it's the reason they say that

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Speaker 2: so that you won't look for them. But they are playing.

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Speaker 2: They are playing right. But when they get to thirteen

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Speaker 2: to air Jordans, the basketball sneakers, the travel the whole

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Speaker 2: nine yards. Now they're moving see black. It's hard because

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Speaker 2: as a baseball player, every one of us has been

321
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Speaker 2: introduced to the game from a male figure, uncle, grandpa, somebody.

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Speaker 2: But in the eighties the dope game transcended to black man.

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Speaker 2: So either they was dead or they was in jail.

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Speaker 2: So now you leave an these single mothers with three boys.

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Speaker 2: She wants them to go to school. What sports you

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Speaker 2: gonna want your son to play? It's not baseball because

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Speaker 2: there's never been a higher percentage than five percent it's

328
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Speaker 2: ever played college baseball. Like the majority of the brothers

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Speaker 2: come from high school and then we go that route.

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Speaker 2: So it's never been a route for us. Some guys

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Speaker 2: have gone to college but there was never a real

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Speaker 2: route for us. We would go to JUCO and didn't

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Speaker 2: get drafted because they had to win the draft and

334
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Speaker 2: stuff back then, so there was a multitude of ways

335
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Speaker 2: outside of d one. So we never looked. I don't

336
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Speaker 2: won't say never, but ninety five percent of the players

337
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Speaker 2: didn't go to college. But now he's not even continuous

338
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Speaker 2: because if you got an AAU team, you'd be like, hey,

339
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Speaker 2: miss John, this dude gonna be a basketball player. It's

340
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Speaker 2: wing fucked up. He ain't gonna play, you know what

341
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Speaker 2: I'm saying. He a good athlete and stuff like that.

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Speaker 2: So he's gonna convince your mom who's working, that he

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Speaker 2: gonna take care of you. Yeah, so now you on

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Speaker 2: his team, and your little brother's coming, and everybody want

345
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Speaker 2: to be with the big brothers. So now they're going

346
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Speaker 2: to play. The football player and a basketball player that

347
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Speaker 2: we was back then are still there, like they're just

348
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Speaker 2: after they get thirteen. They're going because now you have

349
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Speaker 2: a coach that's saying if you don't play football, you

350
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Speaker 2: can't play. He's not gonna tell that to your daddy.

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Speaker 2: If your daddy in your life, you're gonna be like,

352
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Speaker 2: get the fuck out of here. We're going somewhere else.

353
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Speaker 2: Why But the Moonga like, well, you gotta go because

354
00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:14,000
Speaker 2: if you want to get to school, you gotta do that.

355
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Speaker 2: This is our best way. So they're manipulating the system

356
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Speaker 2: all the way around on why we're not getting an opportunity.

357
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Speaker 2: If you look at California just by itself, it has

358
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Speaker 2: the most major leaguers in the world Dominican include it.

359
00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:34,280
Speaker 2: If you look at Sack and Oakland and all the

360
00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:38,080
Speaker 2: way down through Cali, it's a game of us that

361
00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:42,080
Speaker 2: came out a lot, and it's a lot that even

362
00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:46,000
Speaker 2: didn't make it. It was the It was the it

363
00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:52,879
Speaker 2: was the Dondra of baseball was California, right. So we

364
00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:56,000
Speaker 2: had a winter league team where my scout had a

365
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Speaker 2: winter league team right where all the Reds who was

366
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Speaker 2: from California. We played sc UCLA. We played those guys.

367
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Speaker 2: I was playing with them in the tenth grade. They

368
00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:11,680
Speaker 2: came and got me off the basketball court and used

369
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Speaker 2: to have what you usuld call a bird scout that

370
00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:17,359
Speaker 2: was just looking for talent. Yeah oh I got one, Yeah,

371
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Speaker 2: I'm saying, So they would come get me. I would

372
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Speaker 2: play with the Rids on the weekend I had to

373
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Speaker 2: use wood bats. I couldn't use the loom though, so

374
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Speaker 2: they knew me when since I was fifteen years old,

375
00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:30,399
Speaker 2: that no longer exists. So the opportunities to be a

376
00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:35,640
Speaker 2: multi star players gone so much because they're not down

377
00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:37,040
Speaker 2: there where those players are.

378
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Speaker 1: I also think to the cost, if we take it back,

379
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Speaker 1: if we take it back to what a glove's going

380
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Speaker 1: for these days, what a bat's going for these days,

381
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Speaker 1: like that's.

382
00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:49,040
Speaker 2: Five hundred dollars, gloves three fifty four hundred.

383
00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:51,680
Speaker 1: And then on top of that, travel ball's mad expensive,

384
00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:53,600
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, So to be even put

385
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Speaker 1: yourself in a position to be seen. And I don't

386
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Speaker 1: know how baseball works from that kind of standpoint. I know,

387
00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:00,399
Speaker 1: if you're good enough in basketball, everything's taken care, but

388
00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:03,240
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how that works in the baseball system.

389
00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:06,240
Speaker 1: Then also earlier to another point you made, we don't

390
00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:08,879
Speaker 1: even see it anymore. So we don't even see the

391
00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:11,000
Speaker 1: black star that hey, I might want to be like

392
00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:13,400
Speaker 1: one day on the on the baseball field, they're all

393
00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:16,240
Speaker 1: crossed over, whether it be football or basketball, so we

394
00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:17,920
Speaker 1: don't even see it to believe it anymore.

395
00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:24,560
Speaker 2: Either. It was always expensive Chuck Taylor's was twelve dollars

396
00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:27,400
Speaker 2: when I was coming up, No, shit's like eighty. Now

397
00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:35,679
Speaker 2: Spot built rollings. It was like thirty bucks. But that

398
00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,200
Speaker 2: was a lot for a pair of sneakers. Back then

399
00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:43,320
Speaker 2: especially was like thirty five bucks. It was still a lot.

400
00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:47,639
Speaker 2: But the coaches that we had, they provided the equipment.

401
00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:53,840
Speaker 2: We didn't have like a lot of travel ball. Me personally,

402
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,199
Speaker 2: I never played Little League because literally you had to

403
00:19:57,240 --> 00:19:59,200
Speaker 2: pay to play Little League. You had to have a patch.

404
00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:06,120
Speaker 2: So our little league team won every tournament in southern California,

405
00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,840
Speaker 2: but we couldn't go because we weren't part of the league, right,

406
00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:12,600
Speaker 2: So they tried to take our whole team, and our

407
00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:14,080
Speaker 2: whole team was like now. They was like, well, y'all

408
00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:16,160
Speaker 2: can take our place. And we just put a couple

409
00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:18,040
Speaker 2: of our players on your planers and were like, nah,

410
00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:21,440
Speaker 2: we don't know that shit if our team is not going,

411
00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:25,720
Speaker 2: so we're not going. But like you just there's not

412
00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:29,119
Speaker 2: inner city parks that has Little League. It's parking recreation,

413
00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:31,719
Speaker 2: you know, out rough parking recreation is playing in that

414
00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:36,000
Speaker 2: little area. And if you had a coach that could

415
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,240
Speaker 2: get you in some tournaments, you played in some turnament.

416
00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:42,760
Speaker 2: We won every tournament in southern California, but because we

417
00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:46,080
Speaker 2: have a PATS, we couldn't know. So it's always been

418
00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:49,480
Speaker 2: that way. But you don't need a three hundred dollars

419
00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:52,840
Speaker 2: back to be no hood. No, you don't need a

420
00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:57,720
Speaker 2: four hundred dollars glove. And to your point, there are

421
00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:02,000
Speaker 2: doing scholarships for other players because they need him at

422
00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:05,000
Speaker 2: the draft parties and stuff. They need to say he's playing.

423
00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:08,199
Speaker 2: So all of the young ones, like the cam Cars

424
00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:10,320
Speaker 2: that we saw over the past four years, study they

425
00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:16,320
Speaker 2: were playing in perfect game. They were just getting gifted

426
00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:19,400
Speaker 2: because of who his daddy was or who is such

427
00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:22,080
Speaker 2: and such as what. So they still do it, just

428
00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:26,080
Speaker 2: not as much. But baseball is not about the five

429
00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:30,840
Speaker 2: star player. It's never been. It's always been can I

430
00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:34,280
Speaker 2: turn a C player into a B player? Can I

431
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:37,439
Speaker 2: turn that B guy to a B plus? If you

432
00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:40,120
Speaker 2: look at every team right now, the only got one one,

433
00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:44,399
Speaker 2: maybe two studs. Dodgers won the World Series on a

434
00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:49,440
Speaker 2: backup that started in our organization, real hosts. That's that's

435
00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:52,160
Speaker 2: what championships say. You know what champions there's always an

436
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:56,400
Speaker 2: unsung hero songe stars matches except that, yeah, they gonna

437
00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:01,199
Speaker 2: match each other. Yes, so so base is no different

438
00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:04,760
Speaker 2: as great as the teams that was good. Mark Lempkey

439
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,200
Speaker 2: was MVP the NLCS probably three times. I remember David

440
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,399
Speaker 2: Eckstart followed Yeah, you know yeah, with Sam and and

441
00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:13,000
Speaker 2: all these guys, you got a little bit of thing

442
00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:15,879
Speaker 2: and then you got Mac and you got so those

443
00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:19,879
Speaker 2: those are the black players that were missing. The studs

444
00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:24,479
Speaker 2: are still going to be the studs. But the regular,

445
00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:27,560
Speaker 2: regular players who was playing every day, who wasn't a stud,

446
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:29,639
Speaker 2: those are the guys that's getting shitted on.

447
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,920
Speaker 1: South Central LA. You came up in an influential time

448
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:34,959
Speaker 1: with a lot of talent.

449
00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:37,040
Speaker 2: Uh. They came out of that era.

450
00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,920
Speaker 1: Doctor Dre, John Singleton, Dryl Strawberry, easy E, all kind

451
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:42,720
Speaker 1: of in the same area. What was it like growing

452
00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:45,800
Speaker 1: up in South Central and then seeing people that you

453
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:47,840
Speaker 1: were never whether you knew them or not, kind of

454
00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:49,560
Speaker 1: make something of yourself and get out of there.

455
00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:53,960
Speaker 2: It was easy really because it was only one thing

456
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,680
Speaker 2: that prohibited you from from having success, and that was

457
00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:05,920
Speaker 2: gang bangon. But like you didn't really know like like

458
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:12,159
Speaker 2: like sports transcended problems back then, and I grew up

459
00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:15,720
Speaker 2: on the East Side and stuff but my first the

460
00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:18,359
Speaker 2: basketball team I played with was the Inglewood Signings with

461
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,240
Speaker 2: Byron Scott and Ralph Jackson them, so we like we

462
00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,919
Speaker 2: caught the bus over there. But what it did was

463
00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:29,640
Speaker 2: when we went to Inglewood, like the Inglewood guys had

464
00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:33,080
Speaker 2: our back. And then when they came to the East Side,

465
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:34,920
Speaker 2: when Byron and we would be over there playing the

466
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:37,960
Speaker 2: verbs and stuff over there, niggas and gardens, we had

467
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,159
Speaker 2: his back because we knew all the East Side people.

468
00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:44,800
Speaker 2: So it transcended sports where the shot callers it was

469
00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:48,879
Speaker 2: it was off limits to athletes. You got to pass

470
00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:53,240
Speaker 2: because see, every gang member, every shot caller, they all

471
00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:58,000
Speaker 2: know each other. There's no secrets to gang banging. Why

472
00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:00,159
Speaker 2: because they all went to junior high school together, or

473
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:02,520
Speaker 2: they went to high school together, or some of them

474
00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:05,000
Speaker 2: stay right around the corner from each other, so they know.

475
00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:10,240
Speaker 2: And and half of my family was bloods and half

476
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:13,159
Speaker 2: of them was crips, So you know, you kind of

477
00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:17,399
Speaker 2: there because like where you grew up at is what

478
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:19,760
Speaker 2: you repped and stuff like that. But we wasn't. I

479
00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:21,679
Speaker 2: would have no one, no rag or nothing like that.

480
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,520
Speaker 2: But they knew I did have a problem fighting, so

481
00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:27,280
Speaker 2: I was more scared of my mama whooping, and we

482
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:29,639
Speaker 2: could take in my live of coat for if you

483
00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:32,280
Speaker 2: were gonna take my bomber jack, I want to get

484
00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,040
Speaker 2: whooping with a stintion cords so you don't have to

485
00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:36,159
Speaker 2: fight me every day, dude, till you get tired. And

486
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,760
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. So it really wasn't that

487
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:44,119
Speaker 2: bad because it wasn't gunplay. It was it was fist

488
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:46,920
Speaker 2: to cuffs and and all right, I'll see you next time.

489
00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:48,399
Speaker 2: You go. Well, we're gonna fight again, you know what

490
00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:53,439
Speaker 2: I'm saying. It became crazy like in the as the

491
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,200
Speaker 2: dope game came into the whole thing. So that's when

492
00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:59,600
Speaker 2: the gunplay really came. Yeah, that's when it really got

493
00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:04,000
Speaker 2: bad because they start robbing people. You start, uh, that's

494
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,199
Speaker 2: when the drive bys came in and stuff like that.

495
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:08,480
Speaker 2: We didn't have those problems in the late sixties all

496
00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:10,680
Speaker 2: the way through the seventies, you didn't have that. So

497
00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:12,760
Speaker 2: you just had to fight at the house party when

498
00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:15,320
Speaker 2: you could go to the house party. And shit, it

499
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:16,960
Speaker 2: was mad because you had his bro you know what

500
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,320
Speaker 2: I'm saying. You was gonna give them another day, you know, Yeah,

501
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:20,760
Speaker 2: But you lived to fight the other day. So it

502
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:24,719
Speaker 2: really wasn't a lot of turmoil until after we became

503
00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:29,919
Speaker 2: what we became. Yeah, and the coolest thing about the

504
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:33,919
Speaker 2: seventies and early eighties was the forum club. That was

505
00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:37,720
Speaker 2: the part everybody wanted to enjoy life back then. You know,

506
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:40,560
Speaker 2: you look at what Showtime makers did. They brought fun

507
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,760
Speaker 2: and atmosphere to La Man and everybody wanted to be

508
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 2: a part of that.

509
00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:45,920
Speaker 1: Talk to us what that was about. We've talked to

510
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,760
Speaker 1: basketball players about that. You're the first baseball player that

511
00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:50,440
Speaker 1: brought that up. What was the forum club like back

512
00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:53,879
Speaker 1: in the early eighties with show Time with Magic Byron Scott,

513
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:54,720
Speaker 1: your former teammate.

514
00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:58,240
Speaker 2: It was a problem for the players because they was playing.

515
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:00,800
Speaker 2: It was a lot of times Straw went to the

516
00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:05,120
Speaker 2: form club and they went to the games. You never

517
00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:07,320
Speaker 2: made it in the game sometimes, you know what I'm saying.

518
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 2: And I was really good friends and stuff with Doctor

519
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:14,120
Speaker 2: Buss and those guys. Man that doctor Bush was so man.

520
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:18,199
Speaker 2: He was different and like just on how he viewed

521
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:23,440
Speaker 2: things and and it was never a problem for us

522
00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:25,680
Speaker 2: to be around and stuff like that, even though we

523
00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:29,159
Speaker 2: was baseball players. He kind of enjoyed the difference of

524
00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:32,520
Speaker 2: having us in there and man, come eat at the

525
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:34,159
Speaker 2: big table in the back and we ate at the

526
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:36,239
Speaker 2: table all the time and stuff, and they're saying, you know,

527
00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:38,320
Speaker 2: it was some of the finest women that was in

528
00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 2: the world then, like like you dressed and press and shit.

529
00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:45,879
Speaker 2: Now you had to get g to come in the

530
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:48,160
Speaker 2: form club, you know. So that was the excitement part

531
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,919
Speaker 2: about that thing. And if you was lucky, you you know,

532
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:52,840
Speaker 2: you got blessed if you was lucky every NW and

533
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:53,320
Speaker 2: then you know.

534
00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:58,640
Speaker 1: Let's take it back a little bit because you also

535
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:00,879
Speaker 1: you put up some numbers to twenty eight game. Yes,

536
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,520
Speaker 1: senior year Freemont, you said you met you played with

537
00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:04,159
Speaker 1: Byron Scott.

538
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:04,959
Speaker 2: We all.

539
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:06,600
Speaker 1: I think we all came up in the era where

540
00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:09,800
Speaker 1: to your point earlier, I did football, baseball, basketball, track

541
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:11,639
Speaker 1: and they all helped me play in the NBA. So

542
00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:14,200
Speaker 1: we had a plethora of different sports and skill sets

543
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:16,800
Speaker 1: that would help us with our main thing. What DoD

544
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,200
Speaker 1: basketball mean to you back then? Man, it was everything.

545
00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:23,159
Speaker 1: I didn't sleep with a glove. I didn't want to

546
00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:25,080
Speaker 1: be a baseball player, you know what I'm saying. It

547
00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:27,639
Speaker 1: wasn't my thing. I just did not played everything. I

548
00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:29,680
Speaker 1: actually got recruited to high school to play football.

549
00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:34,720
Speaker 2: Okay, well position wide receivering cornerback and so actually, so

550
00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:37,680
Speaker 2: my older brother and my older sister was there first,

551
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:39,440
Speaker 2: and they was always talking aout. Y'll ain't seen nobody

552
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:44,200
Speaker 2: tell y'all some of my little brother. And at Freemont,

553
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:48,560
Speaker 2: it was always either Drew against Patuna, so dumb the

554
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:50,520
Speaker 2: junior high school, that's where Caspa wearing a lot of

555
00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:53,960
Speaker 2: those guys went, and then all the Batune guys, myself

556
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:56,440
Speaker 2: and Dane saw the one, a lot of guys. But

557
00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:59,240
Speaker 2: Freemont was our whole school, so we had to come

558
00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,640
Speaker 2: and we had to meat. So that was the challenge

559
00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 2: of which side was going to win and which side

560
00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:11,720
Speaker 2: was going to have that battle. So just actually them

561
00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:14,200
Speaker 2: not knowing who I was, it was almost like they

562
00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:17,040
Speaker 2: was like disrespecting me and stuff like that. You know

563
00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:19,040
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, Because I got some stories and we're

564
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,000
Speaker 2: talking about. One of them stories was that where the

565
00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:24,199
Speaker 2: coaches didn't like me because I had terrings since I

566
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,960
Speaker 2: was eleven, and shit, you know, I had a perm

567
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:27,400
Speaker 2: when I.

568
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 1: Was in the sixth grader, Taylor, you know that shit

569
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:32,200
Speaker 1: wet or dry?

570
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:36,200
Speaker 2: No, it was dry. I ain't had no good friend,

571
00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:39,360
Speaker 2: or I wasn't shirt, wasn't leaking and stuff, you know

572
00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 2: what I'm saying. But I've always worked. I worked at

573
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:45,520
Speaker 2: McDonald's during the summertime, I worked at Boys Market, So

574
00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:48,120
Speaker 2: I was a hustler trying to get my money, like

575
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:50,400
Speaker 2: to make it easy for my parents and stuff like that.

576
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,000
Speaker 2: And plus my mother was a sainstress, so we did.

577
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:57,920
Speaker 2: You could get two yards for like five bucks back then,

578
00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:01,280
Speaker 2: and she make a pantsing event and she was so

579
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 2: cuse she would put our initials on them so it

580
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:07,239
Speaker 2: looked like we was really like I was doing that

581
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,240
Speaker 2: in elementary school and stuff like that. So I've always

582
00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:13,920
Speaker 2: dressed the part and had fun and did things. But

583
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:19,440
Speaker 2: the school that I went to wasn't ready for that, right,

584
00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:22,840
Speaker 2: So it was the most Like Freemont High School had

585
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:25,920
Speaker 2: the most major leaguers from any high school in the country.

586
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:31,960
Speaker 2: At some point it was nineteen of them. Damn yeah.

587
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:33,840
Speaker 2: And it goes all the way back to when Freemont

588
00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:36,640
Speaker 2: was all white, when Jean Mark and those guys went

589
00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:39,680
Speaker 2: to Freemont, Sparky Anderson and went to Dorsey High School,

590
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:41,400
Speaker 2: which was at the inner City. That's when our City

591
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,480
Speaker 2: went to Dorsey. Yeah it was all white then, yeah, obviously,

592
00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:49,960
Speaker 2: So so that was the history that's crazy of South

593
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:53,560
Speaker 2: Central was all white in the thirties and the forties

594
00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:58,560
Speaker 2: and then at Willie Crawford and and Chet Lemon and

595
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,600
Speaker 2: Danny Ford and Bible Watching. And it's crazy because Eddie

596
00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:07,200
Speaker 2: Murray and Ozzie Smith was in the district. But they

597
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,800
Speaker 2: built Locke High School in sixty nine and that's when

598
00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:14,680
Speaker 2: they left. So just thank them and George Hendricks and Disco,

599
00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:16,640
Speaker 2: danny Ford, all them guys would have been on the

600
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:20,240
Speaker 2: same high school team. But that's how South Central was.

601
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,640
Speaker 2: Like Paul Blair and those guys went to fucking manu

602
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:25,960
Speaker 2: Ars High School. So it was always so much talent

603
00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:31,240
Speaker 2: down there where our school was like the Goddess. So

604
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:33,920
Speaker 2: they was like really particular about your hair and shit

605
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:36,120
Speaker 2: like this, and I was like, man, I'm been playing baseball,

606
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:38,680
Speaker 2: so they wanted me to cut my hair. I'm not

607
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:42,240
Speaker 2: cut my hair, dude. I was militant back then. It

608
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:44,600
Speaker 2: was always something and stuff like that. I was Samson

609
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,240
Speaker 2: the string with you know what I'm saying. I just

610
00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:52,520
Speaker 2: mumbled that. So it was always something that was going

611
00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:54,760
Speaker 2: on in high school for me always something.

612
00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:56,240
Speaker 1: What was buying Scott's two game?

613
00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:58,600
Speaker 2: Like back then he had the same jump shot at

614
00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:01,040
Speaker 2: twelve as he did when he was with the and

615
00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:03,400
Speaker 2: he was one of the guys that you knew what

616
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:05,760
Speaker 2: was doing day he was going. But you saw that

617
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:08,800
Speaker 2: at the early age because everybody we were still pushing it,

618
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:11,520
Speaker 2: you know, we were still trying to He was just

619
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:15,200
Speaker 2: like the same up, the identical, same way you saw

620
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:20,440
Speaker 2: him shoot at Morningside to a State, to the Lakers.

621
00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:25,720
Speaker 2: He was the same guy. And at Ralph Jackson, J Humphries,

622
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:30,280
Speaker 2: we all played together. But I was a point guard

623
00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,920
Speaker 2: and I kind of mirrored my game after Russell Brown.

624
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:36,280
Speaker 2: I don't know if you remember Russell Brown, not familiarly.

625
00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:38,560
Speaker 2: He was one of the best point guards that came

626
00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:41,160
Speaker 2: out of the city. He came out in like seventy

627
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:46,480
Speaker 2: six and our minor league team was a certain age

628
00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:48,520
Speaker 2: and he was on the juniors and I watched him

629
00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 2: and he went to the University of Arizona and he

630
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:54,440
Speaker 2: probably had what it was the Pack eight at that time,

631
00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:56,440
Speaker 2: so he probably let the Pack eight and assists and

632
00:31:56,440 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 2: stuff like that. So being a traditional point guard was

633
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:02,160
Speaker 2: my thing, and I wanted to do that. So you

634
00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:04,400
Speaker 2: had to find somebody that was in the city that

635
00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:08,080
Speaker 2: showed you how to do that. So what stopped basketball for? What? Stuff?

636
00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:08,320
Speaker 2: For you?

637
00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:12,520
Speaker 1: Pursuing basketball and win? Did that switch for baseball become

638
00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:17,840
Speaker 1: the main thing? Right when I got drafted? Honestly, Yeah,

639
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:19,560
Speaker 1: I tell people all the time.

640
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,080
Speaker 2: Had I graduated high school after basketball, I went to

641
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:25,720
Speaker 2: college because I was in that frame of mind and

642
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:29,000
Speaker 2: I was just all everything in baseball, and the draft

643
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:33,160
Speaker 2: came and that was that first opportunity where I was like, Okay,

644
00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,160
Speaker 2: I might not ever get this again, but I could

645
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 2: always go back to college and play. And then so

646
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 2: when I looked at my mom and dad, they was like,

647
00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:44,520
Speaker 2: it's totally up to you. And I was seventeen years old.

648
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:47,880
Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, let's do it. And I never

649
00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:53,280
Speaker 2: looked back. But had it been right after basketball season,

650
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:55,640
Speaker 2: I would have definitely went to college because I was

651
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:58,000
Speaker 2: in that frame of mind, right, Yeah, you're just keeping

652
00:32:58,000 --> 00:32:59,479
Speaker 2: it rolling. You signed?

653
00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:03,600
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, eighteen stacks, bro, that's it, eighteen thousand dollars.

654
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:07,040
Speaker 2: I was a shortstop then, though, okay, and at that

655
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,840
Speaker 2: time it was only three black shortstops in Major League baseball.

656
00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:15,080
Speaker 2: Ozzie Smith, Gary Templeton, and U had Washington who played

657
00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:19,640
Speaker 2: with a two pick in his mouth right at Kansas

658
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:24,800
Speaker 2: City Royals. So like that was not the glamour. It

659
00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:29,320
Speaker 2: was almost like the quarterback in football. Now, you gotta

660
00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:33,200
Speaker 2: be fundamentally sound. And I wasn't fundamental. I just hit it.

661
00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:39,400
Speaker 2: I'm catching here, yeah, So I was just raw at

662
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:45,760
Speaker 2: it right. And then what they do now, we didn't

663
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:50,240
Speaker 2: have infield coaching. You didn't have hitting coaches, you didn't

664
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:52,960
Speaker 2: have none of that shit. You hope your roommate knew

665
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:55,720
Speaker 2: how to play, so y'all could talk about what y'all

666
00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,920
Speaker 2: needed to do. That's how hard it was for Blacks

667
00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:01,840
Speaker 2: back then, just the whole game in general. Now you

668
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:05,880
Speaker 2: got infield coaches, hitting coaches. It's it's thirteen coaches on

669
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:09,919
Speaker 2: the major league team, so you're getting all the fundamentals.

670
00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:12,200
Speaker 2: And they told me I was too big and powerful

671
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:13,960
Speaker 2: to play shortstop and they moved me to off. I

672
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:17,560
Speaker 2: had never played outfield in my life and I was

673
00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:21,360
Speaker 2: playing Eugene org I started in left field and the

674
00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:23,680
Speaker 2: third d in the center field to pull his hamstring.

675
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,760
Speaker 2: Greg Riddock was my manager at the end of managing

676
00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,840
Speaker 2: the padres in the big leagues. He said, ed, you

677
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:33,120
Speaker 2: go from left to center, and he never came back

678
00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:39,520
Speaker 2: to center field. You won't, I wi it, Deroy pipped him.

679
00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,960
Speaker 2: I did some kind of it. But I just did

680
00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:45,080
Speaker 2: it because I knew how to run a pass pattern,

681
00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:47,359
Speaker 2: so I knew how to track the ball. I could

682
00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:49,520
Speaker 2: jump on the wall because I could reverse dunk. So

683
00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:52,160
Speaker 2: I just took to your point, I took my skills,

684
00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:55,160
Speaker 2: everything that I accumulated. I just took it because I

685
00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:56,359
Speaker 2: had a glove and I took it in the base.

686
00:34:56,520 --> 00:34:57,279
Speaker 2: That would be my next way.

687
00:34:57,360 --> 00:34:59,120
Speaker 3: Not to jump in on you, but I gotta know

688
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,360
Speaker 3: this the young kids out there, how big of a

689
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:05,880
Speaker 3: deal was it for you as a young athlete playing

690
00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:09,240
Speaker 3: all the sports? And now as an evaluator of talent,

691
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:13,240
Speaker 3: you can tell who the specialized kids are way early.

692
00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 2: So how well was it playing all those sports? How

693
00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:18,719
Speaker 2: important was that to you in your overall journey to

694
00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:22,200
Speaker 2: be It was huge, huge, right? But he's specialized at

695
00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:26,320
Speaker 2: like seven, eight, nine years old. It's crazy because because

696
00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:30,880
Speaker 2: what we have now, guys, is we have a sense

697
00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:33,520
Speaker 2: of work. You gotta work, You gotta work, You got

698
00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:35,720
Speaker 2: to put in time, you have to put in time,

699
00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:38,560
Speaker 2: but it's not so much as the time as it

700
00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:42,720
Speaker 2: is to quality, and me playing other sports was giving

701
00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:47,120
Speaker 2: me more quality than working on one sport because I

702
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:51,239
Speaker 2: was always doing something that was pertaining to whatever I

703
00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:54,040
Speaker 2: wanted to do, whether it was basketball, football, or whatever.

704
00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:59,920
Speaker 2: I was still training, but I was training live. They're practicing,

705
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,080
Speaker 2: and I was training live at everything that I want

706
00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:06,080
Speaker 2: to do. So to me, the more you can do,

707
00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:09,640
Speaker 2: the more it takes your mind off of one thing.

708
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:13,600
Speaker 2: And if you don't get it done, that's why these

709
00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:17,239
Speaker 2: kids like don't understand failure. That's why they cry and

710
00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:19,759
Speaker 2: they do a different thing because they're putting all their

711
00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:25,719
Speaker 2: eggs in one back. And out of one hundred and

712
00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:29,560
Speaker 2: fifty years of professional baseball more it's only been twenty

713
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:34,080
Speaker 2: something thousand. A lot of people ain't gonna play. A

714
00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:35,879
Speaker 2: lot of people, a lot of people ain't gonna pray.

715
00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:38,720
Speaker 2: I don't care how hard you work, there was something

716
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:41,520
Speaker 2: inside of you. There was something inside of you that

717
00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:46,319
Speaker 2: you couldn't measure, that drove you, regardless to whether it

718
00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:51,960
Speaker 2: was in aau or or college whatever. Because I heard

719
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:55,120
Speaker 2: you talk about this, I had problems because I was

720
00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:57,719
Speaker 2: light skinned. That was the thing back then, Oh he

721
00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:00,520
Speaker 2: was soft because you was light skinning. Yeah, so you

722
00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:02,400
Speaker 2: had to That's why you probably knock on bugs out

723
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:05,239
Speaker 2: because you had to prove that. I always fighting, always, yeah,

724
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:09,120
Speaker 2: but it was real. It was bullshit, but it was real, right,

725
00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:12,040
Speaker 2: but it was always something. So you had to have

726
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:16,480
Speaker 2: something that gave you that extra that was just going

727
00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:19,520
Speaker 2: past me just going out there dribbling or shooting or

728
00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:20,319
Speaker 2: doing whatever I needed.

729
00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:22,880
Speaker 1: But also too, I mean to your like, I loved

730
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:25,040
Speaker 1: everything growing up, but I found out like my two

731
00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:27,680
Speaker 1: alpha sports for football and basketball, and then I took

732
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:30,680
Speaker 1: one to like sometimes to what Nick was saying, we're

733
00:37:30,719 --> 00:37:33,040
Speaker 1: specializing in such a young age. You don't even know

734
00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:36,160
Speaker 1: if that is right, right, You don't even know because

735
00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:36,800
Speaker 1: you don't give.

736
00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:37,680
Speaker 2: The other shit a chance.

737
00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:39,760
Speaker 1: And I mean, I hate that, And that's a whole

738
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:43,359
Speaker 1: long conversation. But Tony gwyn came up in the same time.

739
00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:47,840
Speaker 1: Many stories with Tony Gwinn was a rookie ball. You

740
00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:50,520
Speaker 1: know what he called me, the baton tied in rookie ball.

741
00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:52,840
Speaker 1: I still remember that.

742
00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:55,960
Speaker 2: He was in like three thirty man, I was in

743
00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:59,399
Speaker 2: like three twenty something, and he he went from rookie

744
00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:03,200
Speaker 2: ball to double. That's a joke. And he was legit,

745
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:05,719
Speaker 2: bro man. He could hit the ball where he wanted

746
00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:07,279
Speaker 2: to when he felt like my daddy told me. He

747
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:09,440
Speaker 2: could also run back in the day too. He was

748
00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:14,640
Speaker 2: a point guard too, and he had some tremendous state

749
00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:19,400
Speaker 2: the loan beas poly so so he was tremendous in

750
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:22,040
Speaker 2: anything that he wanted to do. He could steal be

751
00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:25,400
Speaker 2: He could have hit thirty homers if he wanted to,

752
00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:29,439
Speaker 2: but he just didn't want to. He loved to play

753
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:31,359
Speaker 2: cat and mouse with the pictures and the fol You're

754
00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:34,600
Speaker 2: gona pay right there, You're gonna pay them over there.

755
00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:37,960
Speaker 2: I'm gona hit it over here. But as a right

756
00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:39,640
Speaker 2: hand hereter, we don't get a chance to win too

757
00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:45,080
Speaker 2: many baton titles in any league. And he left too. Man,

758
00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:46,960
Speaker 2: I've been mad at him ever since. I used to

759
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:49,120
Speaker 2: tell every time with the San Diego will run your

760
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 2: answer to that wall and win.

761
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:54,160
Speaker 3: My you know what I'm saying. But he was phenomenal, man,

762
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:57,000
Speaker 3: he was great. We're talking about hitting right. One of

763
00:38:57,040 --> 00:39:00,799
Speaker 3: my favorite things is your iconic batting stats. I'm gonna

764
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:02,959
Speaker 3: give you what I think it was. The hands down, low,

765
00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:05,919
Speaker 3: nice and loose, and they well, you had that cock

766
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:08,160
Speaker 3: coming up in them hands raised up, and you was

767
00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:10,160
Speaker 3: bringing the thunder man. But the one thing that I

768
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,480
Speaker 3: really appreciated about you back in the day is you

769
00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:14,640
Speaker 3: weren't two hundred and thirty pounds, right.

770
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:18,040
Speaker 2: You were so relaxed and the quickness of your back.

771
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:21,000
Speaker 2: You were so loose that you were able to provide

772
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:24,040
Speaker 2: that sort of speed through the ball that equated into power.

773
00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:26,040
Speaker 2: I mean, where did that all come up? Because I

774
00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:29,799
Speaker 2: know you didn't start hitting. How much did you in

775
00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:32,239
Speaker 2: your and in the major leagues? How Now I was

776
00:39:32,239 --> 00:39:35,439
Speaker 2: one sixty five when I came to the big league. Yeah,

777
00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:38,800
Speaker 2: I had them hig top red, Nikey's all broke. Yeah,

778
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:41,760
Speaker 2: but all of my I'm just gonna start with my strength.

779
00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:44,960
Speaker 2: All of my strength came from playing basketball because I

780
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,239
Speaker 2: had such strong hands, from dribbling and doing the thing.

781
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:51,280
Speaker 2: So my forms and everything was super strong. From getting

782
00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:53,120
Speaker 2: the bat from point A to point B is your

783
00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:57,320
Speaker 2: bat speed. I was the fastest guy, so my legs

784
00:39:57,360 --> 00:39:59,080
Speaker 2: were strung. I just had a little waist. I was

785
00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:03,960
Speaker 2: just well, god, but I was six three, right, But

786
00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:07,080
Speaker 2: I didn't hit like that when I was little. I

787
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:09,200
Speaker 2: didn't hit like that in a minor league. I was

788
00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:13,320
Speaker 2: totally closed up, closed off stands. Yeah, and then what happened?

789
00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:18,439
Speaker 2: What shifted that? Steve Carlton, Tom sever Oh, they said

790
00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:26,440
Speaker 2: they're getting in there. Bro. That makes you change yes

791
00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:33,080
Speaker 2: quickly and sliders consistently better pitching. I was good enough

792
00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:35,480
Speaker 2: to get to a certain point. We're all good enough

793
00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:39,200
Speaker 2: to get to a certain point. But what's going to

794
00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:42,239
Speaker 2: allow you to keep moving forward? Right?

795
00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:42,759
Speaker 1: Right?

796
00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:46,600
Speaker 2: Most people are stubborn. They're afraid of change, and change

797
00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:49,840
Speaker 2: is the unknown. But if you want to survive and

798
00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:52,719
Speaker 2: you want to succeed, you have to change something that

799
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:57,360
Speaker 2: and I went from putting one eye on him to

800
00:40:57,440 --> 00:40:59,520
Speaker 2: putting two eyes on That's when I opened up. I

801
00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:02,799
Speaker 2: did AD three sixty hands was up here and I

802
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:05,040
Speaker 2: was like, okay, But when they was bringing my hands down,

803
00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:07,000
Speaker 2: I was getting stuck. I said, well, why don't I

804
00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:09,440
Speaker 2: start my hands here? And it was a short backup

805
00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:11,959
Speaker 2: front to get to that point. So that's what I did,

806
00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:17,680
Speaker 2: and it just clicked and it got to the point

807
00:41:17,680 --> 00:41:19,960
Speaker 2: to where it was comfortable. Well, bro, I know it

808
00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:22,640
Speaker 2: for damn sure look good on TV. I know that, like,

809
00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:26,520
Speaker 2: but you can't do anything tensed and even when you

810
00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:29,600
Speaker 2: talk about how you hit your hands was just like, huh,

811
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:32,960
Speaker 2: now I'm ready to go. That was my mistique was

812
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:35,080
Speaker 2: that they didn't never know when I was gonna pull

813
00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:35,480
Speaker 2: the trigger.

814
00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:38,480
Speaker 3: You played the miners. Tell us about I mean, obviously

815
00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:41,080
Speaker 3: minor league life is one thing. Tell us about some

816
00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:44,120
Speaker 3: of your first memories go from seventeen.

817
00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:46,279
Speaker 2: Years old getting drafted. I do need to know this.

818
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:48,719
Speaker 2: Eighteen grand you got on your draft? What'd you do that?

819
00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:53,239
Speaker 2: What'd you buy? Color supreme? What color? What color? White

820
00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:57,000
Speaker 2: on white? With the cocaine guts? Talk to me? Goodness.

821
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:02,360
Speaker 2: I had to defer about the round, the mirrors and

822
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:04,560
Speaker 2: the fuzzy dice and everything you had. The whole thing.

823
00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:08,200
Speaker 1: Couldn't tell you shit. They didn't have enough money. Put

824
00:42:08,239 --> 00:42:08,799
Speaker 1: no gas in it.

825
00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:11,719
Speaker 2: About the car, but you gouts, whoever gonna ride, gotta

826
00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:13,640
Speaker 2: put something in the tank. This ain't move, and I'll

827
00:42:13,719 --> 00:42:16,759
Speaker 2: let y'all put something. Just tell us a little bit

828
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:20,359
Speaker 2: about of your early memories and prog I actually went

829
00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:21,240
Speaker 2: to Eugene, Oregon.

830
00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:21,920
Speaker 1: Uh.

831
00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:24,080
Speaker 2: It was probably the cleanest city I ever been too.

832
00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:26,960
Speaker 2: It's the greenest, beautiful, most city you ever want.

833
00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:27,080
Speaker 1: To be to.

834
00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:29,320
Speaker 2: That was before Nike and everybody blew up and stuff

835
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:31,919
Speaker 2: like that. Michigan too. I went from there to see

836
00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:35,759
Speaker 2: the Rapids, Iowa, which was a culture shock because I

837
00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:38,319
Speaker 2: had never been around slaughter houses and shit like that.

838
00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:40,319
Speaker 2: That's what they do in the Midwestern You're talking about

839
00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:42,200
Speaker 2: the stink and the smell and stuff like that. But

840
00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:44,799
Speaker 2: it was the only place that I'd ever been in

841
00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:50,240
Speaker 2: my life where black people were sectioned off a small

842
00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:53,520
Speaker 2: town like that. They had like three blocks of black people.

843
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:55,759
Speaker 2: But I'm going with the black people now, I don't

844
00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:57,799
Speaker 2: trust you, know what I'm saying. So me and my

845
00:42:57,920 --> 00:42:59,920
Speaker 2: roommate I can caught a cab and found us a

846
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:04,040
Speaker 2: little the two bedroom hut on top of a dry

847
00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:05,799
Speaker 2: cleaning or something like that, you know what I'm saying,

848
00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:07,279
Speaker 2: where it was furnish the thing. We played like three

849
00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:11,319
Speaker 2: hundred bucks a month and just learning how to deal

850
00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:14,920
Speaker 2: with people from every race. That's the first time I

851
00:43:14,920 --> 00:43:19,080
Speaker 2: saw Dominican guys. Uh. It wasn't a boatload on them

852
00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:20,960
Speaker 2: that you had that they were scattered in and stuff.

853
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,880
Speaker 2: But black guy speaking Spanish that kind of confused me

854
00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:25,319
Speaker 2: and shit like that, you know what I'm saying. But

855
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:28,640
Speaker 2: just knowing how white people. Was the first time I

856
00:43:28,719 --> 00:43:31,160
Speaker 2: was ever called a nigga, And I was like, because

857
00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:33,520
Speaker 2: it didn't happen in Cali. You saw blacks and whites

858
00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:37,440
Speaker 2: was dating and stuff. No, there it was. That's when

859
00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:42,239
Speaker 2: I really saw race segregation on people like not even

860
00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:45,840
Speaker 2: knowing you but didn't like you. Yeah, just judging you already. Yeah.

861
00:43:46,120 --> 00:43:48,080
Speaker 2: I had a fight in spring training. The guy tried

862
00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:49,719
Speaker 2: to white dude tried to rush me in a phone

863
00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:52,720
Speaker 2: booth because I was talking to my dad's cell phone

864
00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:56,359
Speaker 2: wasn't I was on the payphone and somebody whistled at

865
00:43:56,360 --> 00:43:58,080
Speaker 2: his wife and he thought it was me, so he

866
00:43:58,120 --> 00:44:00,000
Speaker 2: tried to rush me something. Talking to my dad, I said, oh,

867
00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:04,120
Speaker 2: on Pops, I'm like, okay, I just had to dot

868
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,440
Speaker 2: this dude. But he actually tried to rush me in

869
00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:09,480
Speaker 2: the phone both. So that's why I knew what racism

870
00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:14,080
Speaker 2: was really real on on on how, when, where, and

871
00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:17,120
Speaker 2: how just because the color of your skin, somebody's not

872
00:44:17,160 --> 00:44:21,200
Speaker 2: gonna like you. I actually went from there to Waterbury, Connecticut.

873
00:44:21,400 --> 00:44:25,640
Speaker 2: Waterbury that's where I really took off, and I had

874
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:29,680
Speaker 2: twenty four homers and stole like sixty basis the time

875
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:33,120
Speaker 2: that double a double a so I played a half

876
00:44:33,200 --> 00:44:35,839
Speaker 2: season Double A and a half season Triple A. And

877
00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:38,759
Speaker 2: so everybody on Triple A. When the season was old

878
00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:40,520
Speaker 2: and they got called, they went to the big leag

879
00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:43,160
Speaker 2: This was eighty three and so I was the last

880
00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:44,600
Speaker 2: dude and he called me in the room and he

881
00:44:44,600 --> 00:44:47,320
Speaker 2: said he d we want you to go to instructur

882
00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:49,319
Speaker 2: league and work on bunt because I used to lead off.

883
00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:52,160
Speaker 2: Said what he said, go work on bunny said. So

884
00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:53,839
Speaker 2: I come out the room and everybody's like, man, you're

885
00:44:53,840 --> 00:44:56,239
Speaker 2: going to big leagues. I was like no, he was like,

886
00:44:56,280 --> 00:44:57,880
Speaker 2: stop blying. I said, now they want me to go

887
00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:01,719
Speaker 2: work on bunton. Right, So I got instruct league. I

888
00:45:01,840 --> 00:45:05,560
Speaker 2: bunt every ball. I don't swing at a pitch for

889
00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:07,440
Speaker 2: two weeks. They was like, no, even just wanted you to.

890
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:10,520
Speaker 2: Now y'all told me to bunt. So so now I'm

891
00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:15,480
Speaker 2: following orders right, count three to two, bunt, bases, loaded bunch,

892
00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:19,120
Speaker 2: whatever the situation. Bunt. They sent me home after two

893
00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:21,000
Speaker 2: weeks and shit, you don't want to be it. That's

894
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:23,879
Speaker 2: what I want. So I was militant. I didn't really right, God,

895
00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:25,480
Speaker 2: y'all knew I was. I was supposed to be in

896
00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:28,680
Speaker 2: exactly where you. Yeah, I was the number one prospect

897
00:45:28,719 --> 00:45:32,160
Speaker 2: in three in two leagues in doublin atriplay the same year,

898
00:45:32,600 --> 00:45:35,640
Speaker 2: and you want me to go bunt? Okay? Is that? Yeah?

899
00:45:35,719 --> 00:45:38,160
Speaker 2: Y'all asked for that, so y'all gonna get it. So

900
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:43,279
Speaker 2: it was never peaches and cream for me. And and

901
00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:46,640
Speaker 2: once I got to the big leagues, Pete Rose saved

902
00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:52,400
Speaker 2: me because when he came over as a player manager.

903
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:54,919
Speaker 2: That was in eighty four. Was that your first year? Yeah,

904
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:57,319
Speaker 2: everybody had me leading off and I tried to bunt

905
00:45:57,360 --> 00:46:00,200
Speaker 2: and I popped it up and he said, kim here, kid,

906
00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:02,200
Speaker 2: He says, sit down and say listen, man, I know

907
00:46:02,280 --> 00:46:05,160
Speaker 2: you can steal bases. He said, he fuck. He said,

908
00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:06,520
Speaker 2: just like he said. But when you can hit that

909
00:46:06,560 --> 00:46:09,399
Speaker 2: motherfuck up in the third decks, the next time you bun,

910
00:46:09,480 --> 00:46:12,880
Speaker 2: it's one hundred dollars. And Pete Roe said that yeah,

911
00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:15,400
Speaker 2: And I was like, okay, I ain't got a hundred.

912
00:46:16,840 --> 00:46:19,480
Speaker 2: The fucking minimum salary was thirty two thousand dollars. Then

913
00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:24,279
Speaker 2: one hundred dollars. That's a lot shit, right, So the

914
00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:26,000
Speaker 2: next day he moved me to fifth and I go

915
00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:28,040
Speaker 2: to Tony Paris was out hitting gout out said talking,

916
00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:29,880
Speaker 2: how do I drive in one hundred runs? And we

917
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:33,040
Speaker 2: sat in the in the cage for two hours and

918
00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:34,920
Speaker 2: he talked to me about how to drive, and that's

919
00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:37,440
Speaker 2: how I learned how to drive in runs. So it

920
00:46:37,719 --> 00:46:41,640
Speaker 2: really takes a village when you're talking about a black

921
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:45,480
Speaker 2: player having success. It's not just you. You have to

922
00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:48,319
Speaker 2: have people that help you along the way. And that's

923
00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:51,719
Speaker 2: what he did for me. But Pete allowed me to

924
00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:56,280
Speaker 2: become me. Everybody else was trying to mold me into Ricky.

925
00:46:56,640 --> 00:46:59,680
Speaker 2: It was only one Ricky Henderson. Yeah, I could hit

926
00:46:59,719 --> 00:47:02,399
Speaker 2: the ball the ballpark, but I wasn't ricking. I could

927
00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:04,920
Speaker 2: steal bases, but I wasn't ricking. No, you got to

928
00:47:04,960 --> 00:47:06,640
Speaker 2: hit the ball on the ground, on the turf and

929
00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:09,520
Speaker 2: use your speed. That wasn't me. So I was trying

930
00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:12,839
Speaker 2: to do that. That's why the first probably two months

931
00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:14,880
Speaker 2: of my big league career, I was struggling because they

932
00:47:14,920 --> 00:47:16,360
Speaker 2: was trying to get me to do something that I

933
00:47:16,520 --> 00:47:21,480
Speaker 2: wasn't doing. And when he came, I did this. There's

934
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:22,320
Speaker 2: so much freedom.

935
00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:24,479
Speaker 3: I feel like a lot of people try to box

936
00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:26,800
Speaker 3: me in as well because I am as hyper and

937
00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:27,359
Speaker 3: off the wall.

938
00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:29,439
Speaker 2: The whole nine. But at the end of the day, baby,

939
00:47:29,440 --> 00:47:31,400
Speaker 2: you ain't got to worry about me. Same thing with you.

940
00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:33,279
Speaker 3: You know, I'm gonna get my shit done there. I'm

941
00:47:33,280 --> 00:47:35,120
Speaker 3: gonna be there every day. I'm gonna be ready to roll.

942
00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:36,759
Speaker 3: And at the end of the day, it's so so

943
00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:39,719
Speaker 3: much power improving people wrong when it comes to that,

944
00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:41,880
Speaker 3: because when Pete came along in your life, it was like,

945
00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:45,120
Speaker 3: you know what, ed b ed. There's something there's something

946
00:47:45,160 --> 00:47:46,760
Speaker 3: to be said for allowing.

947
00:47:46,400 --> 00:47:50,600
Speaker 2: You because somebody has to allow you to do you

948
00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:53,839
Speaker 2: because I've heard, I've actually heard you guys say that's

949
00:47:53,920 --> 00:47:57,600
Speaker 2: not a good place for him yet it's it's it's

950
00:47:57,760 --> 00:47:59,799
Speaker 2: in the NBA. But if they're not playing the way

951
00:47:59,840 --> 00:48:02,520
Speaker 2: that it fits you, what's the point. Like you're not

952
00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:06,480
Speaker 2: gonna prosper doesn't mean you can't play. I can't pray

953
00:48:06,560 --> 00:48:09,640
Speaker 2: the way y'all want me to pay. I gotta get

954
00:48:09,680 --> 00:48:13,520
Speaker 2: somewhere where somebody's gonna allow me to do something. Because

955
00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:16,120
Speaker 2: I remember she was talking about the mo cheeks things.

956
00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:17,880
Speaker 2: Oh man, I think how you want to kick it.

957
00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:20,200
Speaker 2: You said you shoot again. You told you if you

958
00:48:20,239 --> 00:48:22,560
Speaker 2: shoot again, I'm gonna cut as some shit, you know,

959
00:48:22,600 --> 00:48:25,920
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, why I can't shoot? I might put

960
00:48:25,960 --> 00:48:28,320
Speaker 2: the work in. Yeah, I'm doing everything I was supposed

961
00:48:28,320 --> 00:48:29,960
Speaker 2: to do. Nothing. You as the coach, you're gonna tell

962
00:48:29,960 --> 00:48:33,120
Speaker 2: me I can't shoot. Come on, that's that It is

963
00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:37,200
Speaker 2: gonna crush him. Now, I gotta figure out why. Then

964
00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:39,800
Speaker 2: I gotta go somewhere and hope that shit ain't.

965
00:48:39,640 --> 00:48:42,680
Speaker 1: Traveling with me, especially as as a young player too,

966
00:48:42,719 --> 00:48:45,120
Speaker 1: because we're looking for obviously with vets, and we'll get

967
00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:47,440
Speaker 1: into your vets, but you're looking for that guidance. And

968
00:48:47,600 --> 00:48:51,479
Speaker 1: you said, obviously Pete unlocked you and pretty much saved

969
00:48:51,480 --> 00:48:51,839
Speaker 1: your career.

970
00:48:51,920 --> 00:48:52,960
Speaker 2: What was it about him?

971
00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:56,399
Speaker 1: Obviously you knew, you know, the type of baseball player

972
00:48:56,440 --> 00:48:58,480
Speaker 1: he was, the man he was. How would you guys

973
00:48:58,520 --> 00:49:01,040
Speaker 1: relationship You know, he called you every year on your birthday.

974
00:49:01,080 --> 00:49:04,040
Speaker 2: You guys really developed something that was more than just baseball. Actually,

975
00:49:04,080 --> 00:49:07,840
Speaker 2: the goodness of Pete where would cause a lot of

976
00:49:07,920 --> 00:49:10,719
Speaker 2: people like Johnny Bench and those guys not the lock

977
00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:13,759
Speaker 2: like Pete is because see Pete grew up and over

978
00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:18,760
Speaker 2: the line with all the brothers, and it was always

979
00:49:18,840 --> 00:49:20,760
Speaker 2: a question of why he was hanging with the brothers,

980
00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:22,879
Speaker 2: and people would always say because they're the only ones

981
00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:26,360
Speaker 2: here that talk to me. And he knew him, so

982
00:49:26,680 --> 00:49:30,360
Speaker 2: he was everybody gonna be around who makes them feel comfortable,

983
00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:38,200
Speaker 2: and that's how he was. And he knew talent like

984
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:42,440
Speaker 2: he was genuine and if you was good, you was

985
00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:45,520
Speaker 2: gonna make the team to eighty six. We broke camp

986
00:49:45,640 --> 00:49:49,120
Speaker 2: with six rookies and people was like, how are you

987
00:49:49,160 --> 00:49:50,839
Speaker 2: gonna do that? They like, they're the best players. We're

988
00:49:50,840 --> 00:49:53,520
Speaker 2: gonna win, period. So he was like that and then

989
00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:57,160
Speaker 2: people couldn't stand him for being who he was, but

990
00:49:57,360 --> 00:49:59,920
Speaker 2: deep down inside he was that dude. He didn't ca

991
00:50:00,040 --> 00:50:02,680
Speaker 2: here what color you were if you played the game

992
00:50:02,760 --> 00:50:05,920
Speaker 2: a certain way. That's what he was about. Authenticity. Man.

993
00:50:06,000 --> 00:50:08,880
Speaker 3: That is such a fucking great quality of guests. And

994
00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:10,320
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, I didn't know Pete

995
00:50:10,320 --> 00:50:12,560
Speaker 3: had that much swag. Bro I didn't know he had

996
00:50:12,560 --> 00:50:14,640
Speaker 3: that much swag. That's nice to know he was in

997
00:50:14,760 --> 00:50:15,319
Speaker 3: the game he.

998
00:50:19,800 --> 00:50:23,520
Speaker 2: Carried or not if everywhere he went he carried about

999
00:50:23,560 --> 00:50:32,000
Speaker 2: five thousand in a rubber band. I love well. Actually

1000
00:50:32,040 --> 00:50:33,879
Speaker 2: see it was some slacks that we should have when

1001
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:35,800
Speaker 2: we was coming. They was called seamless. They didn't have

1002
00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:37,560
Speaker 2: no pockets on him and Ship like that, so that

1003
00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:40,759
Speaker 2: the ceiling so he couldn't have it. So that's when

1004
00:50:40,800 --> 00:50:42,560
Speaker 2: the pouches came out and you had a bag and

1005
00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:46,239
Speaker 2: like that. But Pete that and some ostros cowboy Boot

1006
00:50:46,239 --> 00:50:49,839
Speaker 2: shouldn't tell him. Ship always had a tin with him,

1007
00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:57,440
Speaker 2: always always had a tiny save Pete. How you get that?

1008
00:50:57,600 --> 00:50:59,839
Speaker 2: He said, two pretty mouchfuckers are supposed to be together.

1009
00:51:03,440 --> 00:51:05,160
Speaker 2: You see, I can't be more pretty than my bro.

1010
00:51:06,280 --> 00:51:08,200
Speaker 2: That's how he looked. He was cool as a fan,

1011
00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:10,120
Speaker 2: he was cool. I love the rescue Pee.

1012
00:51:10,480 --> 00:51:13,439
Speaker 1: Also, another someone who was very inspiration to you early

1013
00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:15,840
Speaker 1: in your career was the late great Dave Parker.

1014
00:51:16,480 --> 00:51:19,080
Speaker 2: How instrumental was he. He was my second dad man.

1015
00:51:19,120 --> 00:51:22,239
Speaker 2: Yeah to us about him our first spring training in

1016
00:51:22,640 --> 00:51:24,960
Speaker 2: eighty four. I'm trying to figure out how I'm gonna

1017
00:51:24,960 --> 00:51:27,400
Speaker 2: introduce myself to him, and that's the cobra, you know

1018
00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:29,520
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, of course. And when he was coming

1019
00:51:29,560 --> 00:51:31,160
Speaker 2: into the locker room, I kind of went up to

1020
00:51:31,320 --> 00:51:32,680
Speaker 2: him and he kind of shoved me up, like I

1021
00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:34,000
Speaker 2: know who you are, kid. I talked to you in

1022
00:51:34,040 --> 00:51:38,680
Speaker 2: a little while, and I was like, damn, I already know.

1023
00:51:39,040 --> 00:51:41,239
Speaker 2: And five or ten minutes lady said come on over

1024
00:51:41,280 --> 00:51:43,160
Speaker 2: here and stuff, and then we started talking and stuff

1025
00:51:43,239 --> 00:51:46,960
Speaker 2: like that. But he told me, he said, listen, he said,

1026
00:51:48,040 --> 00:51:50,160
Speaker 2: I've been watching you, and I know what you can do.

1027
00:51:50,400 --> 00:51:53,480
Speaker 2: He said, but if I ever hear of you doing

1028
00:51:53,560 --> 00:51:55,200
Speaker 2: some of the things that I do, I'm gonna whoop

1029
00:51:55,200 --> 00:51:57,480
Speaker 2: your ass. That's when they had just came off that

1030
00:51:57,640 --> 00:52:00,200
Speaker 2: drug trial and Pittsburg and him and all that, and

1031
00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:04,279
Speaker 2: the clubhouse was happening and stuff, and for him too

1032
00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:08,520
Speaker 2: to see that much in me to instantaneously make that

1033
00:52:08,719 --> 00:52:12,000
Speaker 2: analogy to me. Period. I didn't pay for nothing for

1034
00:52:12,160 --> 00:52:14,560
Speaker 2: like two years stuff. But by the way, that's how

1035
00:52:14,560 --> 00:52:18,759
Speaker 2: it's supposed and all the limo drivers they showed you

1036
00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:22,879
Speaker 2: how it was supposed to be done, and they bought

1037
00:52:22,960 --> 00:52:24,839
Speaker 2: me my stuff. That's what I did to the Barry

1038
00:52:24,920 --> 00:52:28,399
Speaker 2: Larkins and the guys. And the only thing they said

1039
00:52:28,520 --> 00:52:30,360
Speaker 2: do unto others that I have done on to you.

1040
00:52:31,360 --> 00:52:34,239
Speaker 2: And that's where the chain was supposed to keep going

1041
00:52:34,320 --> 00:52:39,759
Speaker 2: and somehow somebody somewhere. When you lose that type of leadership,

1042
00:52:39,880 --> 00:52:43,200
Speaker 2: you lose the bond absolutely. And that's why our game

1043
00:52:43,320 --> 00:52:46,080
Speaker 2: is so diluted and separated, because there is no bond

1044
00:52:46,120 --> 00:52:49,080
Speaker 2: and stuff. But he, man, he showed me everything. He

1045
00:52:49,280 --> 00:52:53,560
Speaker 2: took me there. Willie Starge gave me some of the

1046
00:52:53,600 --> 00:52:58,520
Speaker 2: best advice and and he told me he was that

1047
00:52:58,760 --> 00:53:00,640
Speaker 2: eighty four. He was a hitting coach with the Braves

1048
00:53:00,680 --> 00:53:03,400
Speaker 2: at that time. And he said, listen, that was all

1049
00:53:03,480 --> 00:53:06,239
Speaker 2: out and stuff. And he said listen, he says, he said,

1050
00:53:06,320 --> 00:53:08,960
Speaker 2: did you ever if you ever meet abroad and you

1051
00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:13,880
Speaker 2: take her home, leave her one hundred fifty one hundred dollars.

1052
00:53:14,520 --> 00:53:17,040
Speaker 2: If she ever takes the money, she becomes a prostitute.

1053
00:53:17,120 --> 00:53:20,600
Speaker 2: She could never say you raped her, dang because she

1054
00:53:20,719 --> 00:53:23,520
Speaker 2: took the money. Willie was ahead of the game. This

1055
00:53:23,760 --> 00:53:29,200
Speaker 2: was like in eighty four. Due Willie, I said, can

1056
00:53:29,239 --> 00:53:32,839
Speaker 2: I give her a twenty or ten? I'm only making

1057
00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:36,080
Speaker 2: thirty two. He ain't got no scunya right now. I

1058
00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:38,959
Speaker 2: hain't got no pockets. Can I give her a five

1059
00:53:39,120 --> 00:53:41,160
Speaker 2: or ten or something? He just fell out that. That's

1060
00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:43,080
Speaker 2: how will he was. Man. They were some of the

1061
00:53:43,160 --> 00:53:45,319
Speaker 2: coolest people man and stuff. But they was real because

1062
00:53:45,320 --> 00:53:47,680
Speaker 2: they had gone through and I feel like not to

1063
00:53:47,760 --> 00:53:51,040
Speaker 2: cut you off. That's what across the board professional sport, missus.

1064
00:53:51,120 --> 00:53:55,000
Speaker 2: Now it's about potential in young guys and vets are

1065
00:53:55,440 --> 00:53:58,120
Speaker 2: late twenties. Now, there's no When I came into the NBA,

1066
00:53:58,239 --> 00:54:00,480
Speaker 2: there was thirty eight, thirty nine forty year old dudes.

1067
00:54:00,520 --> 00:54:03,040
Speaker 2: Whether they played or not, they bridge the gap between

1068
00:54:03,080 --> 00:54:06,360
Speaker 2: the players and coaches or getting you your suits or

1069
00:54:06,440 --> 00:54:06,719
Speaker 2: took it.

1070
00:54:06,840 --> 00:54:08,360
Speaker 1: This is how things are supposed to be done. And

1071
00:54:08,400 --> 00:54:11,239
Speaker 1: I feel like now, respectfully, it's the young kids. It's

1072
00:54:11,280 --> 00:54:13,120
Speaker 1: the blind leading the blind. And that's why because they

1073
00:54:13,120 --> 00:54:14,760
Speaker 1: don't know, they haven't gone through anything.

1074
00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:20,120
Speaker 2: And that's the scary part is because they're out there

1075
00:54:20,200 --> 00:54:23,360
Speaker 2: trying to find their way with all of the stuff

1076
00:54:23,400 --> 00:54:27,240
Speaker 2: that's going on and millions of dollars in their pocket

1077
00:54:27,440 --> 00:54:32,120
Speaker 2: and twenties and thirties now that's crazy. So they're going

1078
00:54:32,239 --> 00:54:34,480
Speaker 2: to do the best that they think that they can do,

1079
00:54:36,080 --> 00:54:37,960
Speaker 2: or they're going to get advice from who they think

1080
00:54:38,040 --> 00:54:43,319
Speaker 2: they can get the advice from. And to me, if

1081
00:54:43,560 --> 00:54:46,960
Speaker 2: I'm the president of any organization, I don't want my

1082
00:54:47,120 --> 00:54:49,520
Speaker 2: kids out there naked like that. I don't want Elie

1083
00:54:49,560 --> 00:54:51,799
Speaker 2: Dela Cruz to have to try to figure it out

1084
00:54:52,280 --> 00:54:54,320
Speaker 2: when the whole world is after him. You know what

1085
00:54:54,360 --> 00:54:57,480
Speaker 2: I'm saying, You need some people that's gone through some

1086
00:54:57,600 --> 00:54:59,839
Speaker 2: of the things, and you have to protect these guys.

1087
00:55:00,360 --> 00:55:03,280
Speaker 2: We're not doing a very good job as the league

1088
00:55:03,520 --> 00:55:06,359
Speaker 2: of protecting these kids from everything that's out there.

1089
00:55:06,440 --> 00:55:09,279
Speaker 1: Real quickly, before you go, you mentioned Barry Larkin. You

1090
00:55:09,320 --> 00:55:11,680
Speaker 1: guys were a hell of a duo, and you mentored

1091
00:55:11,760 --> 00:55:14,000
Speaker 1: him the same way Parker mentor Dude, what did you

1092
00:55:14,080 --> 00:55:16,839
Speaker 1: see in Barry early on and what he was able

1093
00:55:16,920 --> 00:55:17,919
Speaker 1: to turn himself into.

1094
00:55:18,120 --> 00:55:22,080
Speaker 2: He was a safe player. And when he came out

1095
00:55:22,120 --> 00:55:24,080
Speaker 2: of Michigan that was the second time we had drafted

1096
00:55:24,080 --> 00:55:25,839
Speaker 2: because we drafted him out of high school in Moler

1097
00:55:26,880 --> 00:55:30,440
Speaker 2: and at kirk Stillwell was the number one pick for

1098
00:55:30,560 --> 00:55:32,600
Speaker 2: us the year before, so he was a shortstop too.

1099
00:55:33,920 --> 00:55:39,480
Speaker 2: And so they're all battling, but I'm not seeing Barry

1100
00:55:39,640 --> 00:55:42,160
Speaker 2: exued himself right. So I told him, I said, listen,

1101
00:55:42,160 --> 00:55:45,200
Speaker 2: I want you to come to Cali with me during

1102
00:55:45,239 --> 00:55:46,920
Speaker 2: the Austine and I took him to the program a

1103
00:55:47,040 --> 00:55:49,839
Speaker 2: right because way he grew up, he didn't see none

1104
00:55:49,880 --> 00:55:52,880
Speaker 2: of that shit. And he'll be the first one to

1105
00:55:52,880 --> 00:55:54,160
Speaker 2: tell you because he said it in his Hall of

1106
00:55:54,200 --> 00:55:57,200
Speaker 2: Fame speech and stuff, and it was like, like, you

1107
00:55:57,360 --> 00:56:00,320
Speaker 2: are more than what you're showing. Why are you like

1108
00:56:00,440 --> 00:56:04,799
Speaker 2: this right? It's because the two biggest home run years

1109
00:56:04,880 --> 00:56:08,839
Speaker 2: ever had, I was hitting behind you and he would

1110
00:56:08,960 --> 00:56:12,440
Speaker 2: just settle for a two ohd single to write, And

1111
00:56:12,520 --> 00:56:14,359
Speaker 2: I'm saying, why are you selling them? Thank you? When

1112
00:56:14,360 --> 00:56:16,120
Speaker 2: I'm finna get these richs. I'm about to take teas.

1113
00:56:16,160 --> 00:56:18,120
Speaker 2: You should have dusted him. Why are you in adusting him?

1114
00:56:18,160 --> 00:56:21,480
Speaker 2: And we had those conversations about dude, take the shot.

1115
00:56:21,520 --> 00:56:23,440
Speaker 2: You ain't got a swing cart, just change your angle.

1116
00:56:24,760 --> 00:56:27,080
Speaker 2: First year he hit twenty, he broke the cardinal record

1117
00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:31,320
Speaker 2: for the actual Reds records for homeless from a shortstop,

1118
00:56:31,440 --> 00:56:33,920
Speaker 2: and then he became the first shortstop to go thirty

1119
00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:39,000
Speaker 2: thirty just because he changed his mindset and he was

1120
00:56:39,040 --> 00:56:42,799
Speaker 2: a safe player. That's what college does to a lot

1121
00:56:42,800 --> 00:56:47,799
Speaker 2: of kids, because you can't really exude individuality when you're

1122
00:56:47,800 --> 00:56:53,440
Speaker 2: in college. And see, actually, what people don't realize is

1123
00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:57,200
Speaker 2: he went to Michigan on a football scholarship and he

1124
00:56:57,320 --> 00:57:01,000
Speaker 2: was telling me some shit about both shimbacks. He come

1125
00:57:01,040 --> 00:57:02,239
Speaker 2: out of Mold in high school when they had a

1126
00:57:02,239 --> 00:57:05,600
Speaker 2: good cour program, and he was like, shit, I'm not

1127
00:57:05,719 --> 00:57:08,120
Speaker 2: tackling these dudes and shit. So he told Bo he

1128
00:57:08,160 --> 00:57:10,080
Speaker 2: didn't want to play no more. So Bo was gonna

1129
00:57:10,080 --> 00:57:16,560
Speaker 2: take his scholarship and he said that. He said to him,

1130
00:57:16,600 --> 00:57:18,200
Speaker 2: he said, why don't you just come watching me play?

1131
00:57:18,320 --> 00:57:21,480
Speaker 2: So when Bo was an athletic director then too, and

1132
00:57:21,800 --> 00:57:24,520
Speaker 2: he actually went and saw him playing. That's how he

1133
00:57:24,600 --> 00:57:26,840
Speaker 2: maintained his scholarship. He was going to take his scholarship

1134
00:57:26,840 --> 00:57:28,720
Speaker 2: away because he didn't play football, but he was impressed

1135
00:57:28,760 --> 00:57:31,000
Speaker 2: what we saw in the baseball field. Yeah, I got

1136
00:57:31,040 --> 00:57:31,480
Speaker 2: the spinish.

1137
00:57:31,600 --> 00:57:35,520
Speaker 3: I've gotten a real great opportunity to meet Barry Mark

1138
00:57:35,600 --> 00:57:37,680
Speaker 3: and uh, we've got a lead going over in Dubai

1139
00:57:37,840 --> 00:57:39,600
Speaker 3: right now, and he's really big on that and the

1140
00:57:39,720 --> 00:57:41,960
Speaker 3: fields named after him and the whole nine. And you

1141
00:57:42,040 --> 00:57:45,480
Speaker 3: want to talk about just like a quality fucking human being,

1142
00:57:45,680 --> 00:57:48,880
Speaker 3: his family, his wife, they're just salt of the earth people.

1143
00:57:48,920 --> 00:57:51,600
Speaker 2: I didn't know he's one of the few college players

1144
00:57:51,640 --> 00:57:55,680
Speaker 2: that I ever seen that got better. Mmm huh, because

1145
00:57:55,840 --> 00:57:58,400
Speaker 2: historically you don't see college players get better. They are

1146
00:57:58,480 --> 00:58:01,080
Speaker 2: what they are, the kind of maxed out once they

1147
00:58:01,120 --> 00:58:03,880
Speaker 2: get to that spot. If you saw what Mark McGuire

1148
00:58:03,920 --> 00:58:06,680
Speaker 2: had forty nine his first year, he didn't get better,

1149
00:58:06,920 --> 00:58:08,680
Speaker 2: he was already doing that. He just did what he

1150
00:58:08,880 --> 00:58:12,480
Speaker 2: did right, right. But he was the first one that

1151
00:58:12,600 --> 00:58:16,640
Speaker 2: I saw that got better. High school kids get better

1152
00:58:17,640 --> 00:58:21,040
Speaker 2: every year. You can see them cling. If if you

1153
00:58:21,200 --> 00:58:23,280
Speaker 2: saw will Clark when he came out of Missippi State,

1154
00:58:23,360 --> 00:58:25,080
Speaker 2: he was gonna hit Yeah, you knew he was the

1155
00:58:25,120 --> 00:58:26,960
Speaker 2: same thing with Paul Meryl. He didn't get better. He

1156
00:58:27,120 --> 00:58:29,800
Speaker 2: just continue what he did in college, right, but he

1157
00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:33,720
Speaker 2: got better. Certain guys that you look at Odob mcdowald,

1158
00:58:33,760 --> 00:58:35,800
Speaker 2: a lot of guys, they were what they were, but

1159
00:58:35,880 --> 00:58:39,760
Speaker 2: they didn't get better. But if you look at all

1160
00:58:39,840 --> 00:58:44,760
Speaker 2: your black players that did this, came from high school

1161
00:58:45,320 --> 00:58:48,440
Speaker 2: interesting because they was able to like they didn't have

1162
00:58:48,560 --> 00:58:51,400
Speaker 2: We didn't have restrictions in heightst gotta be themselves. You

1163
00:58:51,520 --> 00:58:53,760
Speaker 2: could do what you do and that's how you got

1164
00:58:53,880 --> 00:58:55,880
Speaker 2: better and you became what you one because nobody will

1165
00:58:55,880 --> 00:58:57,280
Speaker 2: say if you don't do this, you ain't gonna play right.

1166
00:58:57,280 --> 00:58:58,920
Speaker 2: I'm'na tanke your subject a little bit. I'm'na read a

1167
00:58:58,920 --> 00:59:01,720
Speaker 2: few quotes here real quick. It's an honor to be

1168
00:59:01,800 --> 00:59:05,640
Speaker 2: compared to Eric Davis. I hope Eric is honored. Willie

1169
00:59:05,680 --> 00:59:08,120
Speaker 2: Mays Hank Aaron.

1170
00:59:08,760 --> 00:59:12,840
Speaker 3: Eric Davis has unlimited ability, awesome ability. I don't think

1171
00:59:12,880 --> 00:59:15,760
Speaker 3: he'll be Willie Mays. That would take some doing. But

1172
00:59:15,920 --> 00:59:17,680
Speaker 3: on the other hand, I don't think he has a

1173
00:59:17,760 --> 00:59:21,600
Speaker 3: weakness either. You're talking about two of the most unbelievable,

1174
00:59:22,200 --> 00:59:25,360
Speaker 3: blessed thereat, two of the greatest players we've ever had

1175
00:59:25,400 --> 00:59:27,200
Speaker 3: in our game, and they're talking about you.

1176
00:59:27,960 --> 00:59:32,480
Speaker 2: How does that make you feel? It's crazy, But at

1177
00:59:32,520 --> 00:59:34,080
Speaker 2: the time when I was playing, I thought it was

1178
00:59:34,160 --> 00:59:39,120
Speaker 2: disrespecting Willie Mays. So I was super humble about it.

1179
00:59:39,200 --> 00:59:42,360
Speaker 2: Here's a kid twenty one, twenty two years old who's

1180
00:59:42,440 --> 00:59:45,760
Speaker 2: talking about a guy who's arguably the greatest player of

1181
00:59:45,840 --> 00:59:47,960
Speaker 2: all time, and you're talking about me off a great

1182
00:59:48,080 --> 00:59:52,600
Speaker 2: month and it kind of put a lot of undue

1183
00:59:52,680 --> 00:59:56,880
Speaker 2: pressure on me to become that right at twenty one

1184
00:59:57,000 --> 00:59:59,560
Speaker 2: years old. So I'm like, here, Willie, you' seeing Willie

1185
01:00:00,760 --> 01:00:02,720
Speaker 2: probably would have hit eight hundred homers had did he

1186
01:00:02,960 --> 01:00:05,640
Speaker 2: not went the Candlestick Park. That place was tough to

1187
01:00:05,680 --> 01:00:08,080
Speaker 2: it played against the ocean when they had turf back

1188
01:00:08,160 --> 01:00:10,200
Speaker 2: then too, when it was open and stuff. So I

1189
01:00:10,400 --> 01:00:14,560
Speaker 2: kind of thought it was disrespectful, and I kind of

1190
01:00:14,640 --> 01:00:16,360
Speaker 2: never talked about it or anything.

1191
01:00:16,160 --> 01:00:16,640
Speaker 1: Like that, but.

1192
01:00:18,280 --> 01:00:21,040
Speaker 2: I was kind of boiling inside to because they come on. Yeah,

1193
01:00:21,520 --> 01:00:23,960
Speaker 2: who don't want to be compared to Willie? But how

1194
01:00:24,120 --> 01:00:28,040
Speaker 2: was that going to mark me for life? Because if

1195
01:00:28,080 --> 01:00:30,600
Speaker 2: I don't do something that he was never made this

1196
01:00:31,080 --> 01:00:35,440
Speaker 2: or he was never there. So met two great people,

1197
01:00:36,360 --> 01:00:41,240
Speaker 2: had some great conversations with Hank, And it was crazy

1198
01:00:41,280 --> 01:00:44,640
Speaker 2: because the conversation I had with Hank was about how

1199
01:00:44,720 --> 01:00:48,320
Speaker 2: he survived not what he was doing on the field,

1200
01:00:48,480 --> 01:00:51,080
Speaker 2: but the death threats and all the things that he

1201
01:00:51,200 --> 01:00:53,960
Speaker 2: was going through when he couldn't you doing all this

1202
01:00:54,160 --> 01:00:56,160
Speaker 2: and that you got to get your food out the back?

1203
01:00:57,000 --> 01:00:59,880
Speaker 2: Like what would like? That was my conversation with the

1204
01:01:00,440 --> 01:01:03,760
Speaker 2: What was your mindset? How did y'all do that? What

1205
01:01:04,040 --> 01:01:06,520
Speaker 2: was at stake? And he was like, you guys was

1206
01:01:06,560 --> 01:01:09,880
Speaker 2: at stake even before you were born. Wow, that's what

1207
01:01:10,120 --> 01:01:13,840
Speaker 2: they were talking about because it wasn't for them. It

1208
01:01:14,080 --> 01:01:17,440
Speaker 2: was for the group and people that was coming behind him.

1209
01:01:17,920 --> 01:01:20,640
Speaker 2: And you're talking to the greatest players ever to have

1210
01:01:20,840 --> 01:01:23,320
Speaker 2: that kind of foresight to say that it's not about me,

1211
01:01:24,480 --> 01:01:27,800
Speaker 2: because if I don't do what I'm doing, y'all wouldn't

1212
01:01:27,800 --> 01:01:31,560
Speaker 2: have got a chance. That's what made them special. I

1213
01:01:31,640 --> 01:01:34,240
Speaker 2: mean obviously on the field, you took care of business.

1214
01:01:34,520 --> 01:01:36,760
Speaker 2: The whole line. But just how was life off the

1215
01:01:36,840 --> 01:01:39,400
Speaker 2: field in the crazy eighties? Bro? Because I was born

1216
01:01:39,440 --> 01:01:40,120
Speaker 2: in eighty.

1217
01:01:40,280 --> 01:01:43,800
Speaker 3: And I mean, obviously a great year for sure, But

1218
01:01:43,960 --> 01:01:45,520
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, I'm like, how was

1219
01:01:46,000 --> 01:01:46,760
Speaker 3: in your shoes?

1220
01:01:47,240 --> 01:01:53,920
Speaker 2: It was fun like, but you had to create some

1221
01:01:54,120 --> 01:01:57,080
Speaker 2: form of discipline. And I've always been a discipline aian

1222
01:01:57,200 --> 01:01:59,400
Speaker 2: because my mom and dad was a discipline. I'm gonna

1223
01:01:59,440 --> 01:02:02,240
Speaker 2: have fun, I'm a go out, I'm enjoying myself, but

1224
01:02:02,400 --> 01:02:05,080
Speaker 2: at a certain time, it's like, Okay, it's time to

1225
01:02:05,320 --> 01:02:07,720
Speaker 2: go to work. Yeah, it's freaking time. Yes, and and

1226
01:02:08,160 --> 01:02:11,840
Speaker 2: and that's what I led on was that gift. Now,

1227
01:02:13,080 --> 01:02:15,640
Speaker 2: if we went out as a team and you didn't

1228
01:02:15,640 --> 01:02:18,280
Speaker 2: play well, you can't go the next time because you

1229
01:02:18,360 --> 01:02:20,040
Speaker 2: hadn't figured out how to play a day game at

1230
01:02:20,080 --> 01:02:21,760
Speaker 2: the night game. You gotta run to do that, right.

1231
01:02:22,040 --> 01:02:23,720
Speaker 2: So you got to get your life together first and

1232
01:02:23,760 --> 01:02:27,320
Speaker 2: figure it out. So however you do right. So that's

1233
01:02:27,360 --> 01:02:31,680
Speaker 2: when spring training became the actual narrative on how to

1234
01:02:31,840 --> 01:02:37,640
Speaker 2: go out on day game practice practice bell because you

1235
01:02:37,760 --> 01:02:43,120
Speaker 2: play all day games down here and so Vets boy,

1236
01:02:43,120 --> 01:02:44,400
Speaker 2: you gotta know how to play a day game at

1237
01:02:44,440 --> 01:02:47,479
Speaker 2: the night game. So you gotta drink fast, you gotta

1238
01:02:47,520 --> 01:02:51,200
Speaker 2: talk everything. Everything is quicker because the time is going

1239
01:02:51,240 --> 01:02:54,160
Speaker 2: to exactly. All the cool all the coup points go

1240
01:02:54,200 --> 01:02:55,760
Speaker 2: out the window and stuff. You got to get there.

1241
01:02:55,800 --> 01:02:57,120
Speaker 2: It's something you like. You got to get at it

1242
01:02:58,040 --> 01:03:02,280
Speaker 2: because you're on the clock. So you were everything a

1243
01:03:02,400 --> 01:03:07,400
Speaker 2: day game after night game. I love that Marge shot

1244
01:03:07,640 --> 01:03:10,080
Speaker 2: oh bro, we got to talk about this lady was.

1245
01:03:10,280 --> 01:03:12,800
Speaker 2: I want his perspectives because we saw it as we

1246
01:03:12,880 --> 01:03:15,360
Speaker 2: were young when we sing this. So you know, someone

1247
01:03:15,400 --> 01:03:17,240
Speaker 2: who used to let her dog shit on the field,

1248
01:03:17,680 --> 01:03:20,920
Speaker 2: reportably pissed that you guys swept the a's because you

1249
01:03:20,960 --> 01:03:22,880
Speaker 2: guys didn't. She wasn't gonna be able to make more money,

1250
01:03:23,360 --> 01:03:25,440
Speaker 2: called you and Dave Parker million dollar niggas.

1251
01:03:26,000 --> 01:03:26,120
Speaker 4: Uh.

1252
01:03:26,680 --> 01:03:29,000
Speaker 1: She she didn't want her players to wear earrings because

1253
01:03:29,080 --> 01:03:32,680
Speaker 1: only fruit wear ear rings. It says not too large.

1254
01:03:33,320 --> 01:03:34,960
Speaker 1: What was it like, What was it like having to

1255
01:03:35,080 --> 01:03:36,280
Speaker 1: deal with her say that?

1256
01:03:36,520 --> 01:03:40,840
Speaker 2: Well, she didn't. I can honestly say she wasn't a

1257
01:03:40,960 --> 01:03:44,520
Speaker 2: bad person person. She got a lot of bad advice

1258
01:03:46,040 --> 01:03:49,760
Speaker 2: because she was a woman in a totally dominant man sport.

1259
01:03:51,480 --> 01:03:54,000
Speaker 2: Everybody in the front office was trying to appease her,

1260
01:03:54,520 --> 01:03:58,600
Speaker 2: like no one would stand up to her. She just

1261
01:03:58,760 --> 01:04:02,760
Speaker 2: didn't know because her husband left for the car dealerships. Right,

1262
01:04:04,160 --> 01:04:07,360
Speaker 2: so she turned that into forty nine. It's give me

1263
01:04:07,440 --> 01:04:10,480
Speaker 2: fifty one percent ownership, but it ridk, which was fourteen

1264
01:04:10,520 --> 01:04:15,080
Speaker 2: million dollars at that time. Right. She had no idea

1265
01:04:15,160 --> 01:04:20,320
Speaker 2: what she was getting into. She would say she fired

1266
01:04:20,360 --> 01:04:22,640
Speaker 2: scouts because she said all they did was watch games.

1267
01:04:24,640 --> 01:04:31,640
Speaker 2: D make it make sense? Is there anything else to say?

1268
01:04:32,000 --> 01:04:35,440
Speaker 2: She would she would literally go down to the clubhouse

1269
01:04:35,520 --> 01:04:37,840
Speaker 2: and tell the trainers they're using too much tape. She

1270
01:04:37,920 --> 01:04:41,800
Speaker 2: had no idea, like what the budget was for players,

1271
01:04:41,920 --> 01:04:44,560
Speaker 2: and dang are they say? She's they need this much tape.

1272
01:04:44,600 --> 01:04:47,120
Speaker 2: This is some conversations with the trainers and stuff like that.

1273
01:04:47,520 --> 01:04:49,919
Speaker 2: You're like, what the fuck is going on here? Yeah,

1274
01:04:50,320 --> 01:04:54,600
Speaker 2: but she didn't. She had she had men that stood say, marks, listen,

1275
01:04:54,680 --> 01:04:57,280
Speaker 2: let me explain something to you. This is baseball, this

1276
01:04:57,480 --> 01:05:00,200
Speaker 2: is what's happening. She probably would have been better, right.

1277
01:05:00,600 --> 01:05:03,560
Speaker 2: She truly cared about the team. She just didn't know

1278
01:05:03,680 --> 01:05:07,000
Speaker 2: how to do it. Interesting. I think she didn't even

1279
01:05:07,000 --> 01:05:09,880
Speaker 2: know everybody's name, but she knew my name. Right, I

1280
01:05:10,080 --> 01:05:12,680
Speaker 2: was making more money than anybody. At twenty six years

1281
01:05:12,720 --> 01:05:14,200
Speaker 2: I was the highest paid play in the whole state

1282
01:05:14,240 --> 01:05:19,040
Speaker 2: of Ohio history. That's what Boomer Signs said. And Bernie

1283
01:05:19,080 --> 01:05:21,400
Speaker 2: Cole's always in Cleveland and all these type of guys.

1284
01:05:22,560 --> 01:05:26,520
Speaker 2: So when she called me that I had asked Sharpton,

1285
01:05:26,600 --> 01:05:29,880
Speaker 2: Jesse Jackson in double S in Double ACP was at

1286
01:05:29,960 --> 01:05:33,480
Speaker 2: my house, right, and so they talking to my mom

1287
01:05:33,560 --> 01:05:35,360
Speaker 2: and my dad's over there they talking to him, and

1288
01:05:35,400 --> 01:05:38,320
Speaker 2: I'm saying, what are we gonna wen't gonna do this

1289
01:05:38,400 --> 01:05:40,040
Speaker 2: and do this? So I said, can I ask us something?

1290
01:05:41,320 --> 01:05:43,200
Speaker 2: And it was like yeah, I said, if I take

1291
01:05:43,280 --> 01:05:45,560
Speaker 2: this stance at twenty five years old, my career is

1292
01:05:45,600 --> 01:05:49,959
Speaker 2: probably gonna be over and I'm making two point five,

1293
01:05:51,960 --> 01:05:54,960
Speaker 2: So can can y'all replicate that two point five? And

1294
01:05:55,040 --> 01:05:56,520
Speaker 2: it was like, well, no, hey, we don't have no money.

1295
01:05:56,520 --> 01:06:00,720
Speaker 2: I said, well, thanks for coming. I'm hollering. I'm gonna

1296
01:06:00,760 --> 01:06:02,760
Speaker 2: take my chance as long as my check don't bounce.

1297
01:06:02,760 --> 01:06:04,320
Speaker 2: I'm gonna deal with this the best way that I

1298
01:06:04,400 --> 01:06:07,240
Speaker 2: know how to deal with it. And that's how I

1299
01:06:07,360 --> 01:06:09,480
Speaker 2: dealt with it because I used it against her. Why

1300
01:06:09,560 --> 01:06:11,480
Speaker 2: because she couldn't piss me off no more than what

1301
01:06:11,680 --> 01:06:16,120
Speaker 2: she did, so it fewed me to becoming one of

1302
01:06:16,200 --> 01:06:19,080
Speaker 2: the first two or three guys in any sport to

1303
01:06:19,120 --> 01:06:22,560
Speaker 2: make three million dollars. And when I did that, that

1304
01:06:22,800 --> 01:06:25,480
Speaker 2: was some Azernine type shit. Nobody it was like, you

1305
01:06:25,600 --> 01:06:29,520
Speaker 2: want what? I was like, yeah, yeah, this is what

1306
01:06:29,640 --> 01:06:33,320
Speaker 2: I Yeah, And she gave it to me, and I

1307
01:06:33,440 --> 01:06:35,600
Speaker 2: was probably wondered befo. She said, if I give you this,

1308
01:06:35,680 --> 01:06:37,440
Speaker 2: you're gonna give me a championship. Yeah, I'm gona give

1309
01:06:37,440 --> 01:06:39,040
Speaker 2: you a championship. And I gave her a championship. But

1310
01:06:39,040 --> 01:06:42,520
Speaker 2: I but I gave it. Ain't right you do? Yeah yeah, yeah,

1311
01:06:42,600 --> 01:06:45,760
Speaker 2: yeah yeah. So prior to all of that, I should

1312
01:06:45,760 --> 01:06:48,800
Speaker 2: remind her, you know, I gave you that championship, and

1313
01:06:48,840 --> 01:06:51,840
Speaker 2: that's how I used to use sh But she got

1314
01:06:51,880 --> 01:06:53,960
Speaker 2: bad advice when I got hurt in the World Series,

1315
01:06:54,120 --> 01:06:57,080
Speaker 2: and it was more the general manager than it was

1316
01:06:57,200 --> 01:07:02,880
Speaker 2: her because I tore my kitney and I didn't know

1317
01:07:03,000 --> 01:07:06,080
Speaker 2: we had won until Wednesday. We went on Saturday, I

1318
01:07:06,280 --> 01:07:08,640
Speaker 2: was out of man. They had to put an epidural

1319
01:07:08,680 --> 01:07:10,960
Speaker 2: in my back and my family was there. They kicked

1320
01:07:11,000 --> 01:07:13,200
Speaker 2: my family out the hotel. You know, when your family leave,

1321
01:07:13,280 --> 01:07:14,880
Speaker 2: everybody got to go with Shi when the team lead

1322
01:07:15,840 --> 01:07:19,000
Speaker 2: and I didn't even know we had won, right, So

1323
01:07:19,280 --> 01:07:23,360
Speaker 2: my doctor said I was there for three weeks and stuff.

1324
01:07:23,400 --> 01:07:25,040
Speaker 2: So the doctor said, if do you think that they

1325
01:07:25,080 --> 01:07:27,280
Speaker 2: would fly you home because I think you would heal better.

1326
01:07:27,320 --> 01:07:29,760
Speaker 2: You've been here a long time. I was like, yes,

1327
01:07:30,440 --> 01:07:32,440
Speaker 2: I'm then franchise. Of course they was gonna do this.

1328
01:07:32,520 --> 01:07:38,560
Speaker 2: So my agent called the general manager, and the general

1329
01:07:38,600 --> 01:07:40,600
Speaker 2: manager said he made three million dollars. They didn't get

1330
01:07:40,640 --> 01:07:43,680
Speaker 2: his own damn play, so it started with him. And

1331
01:07:43,880 --> 01:07:46,400
Speaker 2: so I was like, oh, so he said that. So

1332
01:07:46,480 --> 01:07:48,120
Speaker 2: when I called Marge, I don't even know if she

1333
01:07:48,280 --> 01:07:52,680
Speaker 2: knew he had said And she said she didn't know.

1334
01:07:52,760 --> 01:07:54,920
Speaker 2: Nobody would have played and stuff. But Carl Linder, who

1335
01:07:55,000 --> 01:07:58,280
Speaker 2: owns Procter and Gamble, is probably the richest dude in Ohio.

1336
01:07:58,720 --> 01:08:00,720
Speaker 2: He owns forty nine percent. He's one of the solid

1337
01:08:00,800 --> 01:08:03,720
Speaker 2: He don't like, you don't even c called and stuff.

1338
01:08:03,760 --> 01:08:06,600
Speaker 2: But he bought it so that nobody would ever take

1339
01:08:06,640 --> 01:08:08,840
Speaker 2: the team out of Cincinnati. So he had that right.

1340
01:08:09,000 --> 01:08:11,640
Speaker 2: So he he had like three planes and stuff, you

1341
01:08:11,720 --> 01:08:15,640
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. And she said she didn't know nobody.

1342
01:08:15,720 --> 01:08:18,240
Speaker 2: So I rented the plane and center the bill. She

1343
01:08:18,360 --> 01:08:19,800
Speaker 2: took care of it. Yeah, she took care of she

1344
01:08:19,840 --> 01:08:23,080
Speaker 2: ain't had no choice because after I called a press conference,

1345
01:08:23,120 --> 01:08:27,559
Speaker 2: then it was all on the news and why because

1346
01:08:27,560 --> 01:08:29,320
Speaker 2: I had to lie down. I couldn't sit up. I

1347
01:08:29,400 --> 01:08:30,920
Speaker 2: had to lie down. So they had to get the

1348
01:08:31,000 --> 01:08:33,200
Speaker 2: G two's G one's back. Then they weren't G five

1349
01:08:34,000 --> 01:08:36,519
Speaker 2: still player shit shit. But I was laying down the

1350
01:08:36,560 --> 01:08:38,320
Speaker 2: whole way and stuff. I had some stories. They was

1351
01:08:38,400 --> 01:08:45,639
Speaker 2: fine too. I had two nurses had to travel with me. Yes,

1352
01:08:45,800 --> 01:08:48,080
Speaker 2: I had to had to have because I was still

1353
01:08:48,120 --> 01:08:49,640
Speaker 2: in the IVS and all that kind of stuff. So

1354
01:08:49,760 --> 01:08:52,880
Speaker 2: they took me there. The ambulance got me from the

1355
01:08:52,960 --> 01:08:54,919
Speaker 2: private plane and took me to Christ's Hospital.

1356
01:08:55,240 --> 01:08:57,920
Speaker 1: But they said, your your knny looked like someone slammed

1357
01:08:57,920 --> 01:08:58,960
Speaker 1: the tomato on the side.

1358
01:08:58,960 --> 01:09:02,240
Speaker 2: Wal walkers. Do you remember you play? Yeah, talk to

1359
01:09:02,320 --> 01:09:04,960
Speaker 2: us about it. Actually it was the first inning and

1360
01:09:05,080 --> 01:09:08,280
Speaker 2: you played and Willie McGee hit me a slice because

1361
01:09:08,280 --> 01:09:09,960
Speaker 2: I was in left field. And the only reason I

1362
01:09:10,040 --> 01:09:12,160
Speaker 2: was in left field because I tore my knee ligament

1363
01:09:12,560 --> 01:09:15,080
Speaker 2: in April sliding into third base in Philly. But I

1364
01:09:15,280 --> 01:09:17,800
Speaker 2: just it, yeah, just just had him shoot it up

1365
01:09:17,800 --> 01:09:19,200
Speaker 2: the whole time. That's why I was in left field

1366
01:09:19,200 --> 01:09:21,080
Speaker 2: because as you saw it, I had a brave from

1367
01:09:21,120 --> 01:09:25,640
Speaker 2: here to hear it playing, and I dove and to

1368
01:09:25,880 --> 01:09:28,920
Speaker 2: keep from rolling on my shoulder, I dove and my

1369
01:09:29,040 --> 01:09:33,439
Speaker 2: elbow went up under my rear. Cag yeah, oh sh

1370
01:09:33,840 --> 01:09:35,479
Speaker 2: And I just picked the ball up and I saw

1371
01:09:35,560 --> 01:09:37,639
Speaker 2: the baar and I flipped it back into the infield

1372
01:09:37,680 --> 01:09:41,320
Speaker 2: and stuff. So everybody called me here Roy, but I

1373
01:09:41,479 --> 01:09:43,880
Speaker 2: was trying to call time out to tell Barry, but

1374
01:09:44,000 --> 01:09:47,280
Speaker 2: I was yelling, but was nothing coming out. And and

1375
01:09:47,479 --> 01:09:51,439
Speaker 2: so what happened was was the hal bains flew out

1376
01:09:51,439 --> 01:09:52,640
Speaker 2: and I was able to get off the field, but

1377
01:09:52,680 --> 01:09:55,160
Speaker 2: I was supposed to lead off the inning. I'm gonna

1378
01:09:55,160 --> 01:09:58,240
Speaker 2: sit down and catch my breath, and it hit me

1379
01:09:58,360 --> 01:10:01,720
Speaker 2: again and I couldn't get up. And that's when you

1380
01:10:01,840 --> 01:10:06,400
Speaker 2: see that photo of me walking up the stairs. And

1381
01:10:06,720 --> 01:10:08,479
Speaker 2: what's crazy was they put me in the back of

1382
01:10:08,600 --> 01:10:15,080
Speaker 2: a van and drove me past like five five hospitals

1383
01:10:15,120 --> 01:10:16,760
Speaker 2: and my mom and my wife is in the van.

1384
01:10:16,840 --> 01:10:19,840
Speaker 2: But my mom she you know what I'm saying, She

1385
01:10:19,920 --> 01:10:24,080
Speaker 2: wanted them and she motherfucking everybody, you know what I'm saying.

1386
01:10:24,560 --> 01:10:26,599
Speaker 2: But we got a police escort, but they don't put

1387
01:10:26,640 --> 01:10:29,280
Speaker 2: the sirens on until we get to the hospital. So

1388
01:10:29,400 --> 01:10:33,040
Speaker 2: they took me like twenty minutes somewhere from Oakland, and

1389
01:10:33,240 --> 01:10:35,240
Speaker 2: she was trying to get me to fill some papers

1390
01:10:35,240 --> 01:10:36,920
Speaker 2: and I don't know, so my mama cussing them out

1391
01:10:36,920 --> 01:10:38,760
Speaker 2: and everything like that. So that's how I got to

1392
01:10:38,880 --> 01:10:43,640
Speaker 2: that thing. And I don't remember anything until like that Wednesday,

1393
01:10:43,880 --> 01:10:48,360
Speaker 2: and the team left Sunday morning, that's correct, and just left.

1394
01:10:51,040 --> 01:10:54,200
Speaker 3: I mean, listen, this is the part of your story

1395
01:10:54,240 --> 01:10:57,040
Speaker 3: that I did not know. You had non surgeries after that,

1396
01:10:58,160 --> 01:11:00,639
Speaker 3: didn't make an All Star game after that, but still

1397
01:11:00,760 --> 01:11:05,120
Speaker 3: continue to play for the next ten fucking years.

1398
01:11:05,920 --> 01:11:07,880
Speaker 2: How you do that? Desire Bro?

1399
01:11:08,040 --> 01:11:09,680
Speaker 3: I need to bring you with me because I got

1400
01:11:09,720 --> 01:11:12,200
Speaker 3: some boys you need to talk to because that's sort

1401
01:11:12,200 --> 01:11:13,960
Speaker 3: of mentality, is the shit I'm talking about.

1402
01:11:14,280 --> 01:11:21,000
Speaker 2: See, the sports has moved into a place where it's

1403
01:11:21,080 --> 01:11:25,599
Speaker 2: not about the game, and sports has always been about

1404
01:11:25,680 --> 01:11:30,479
Speaker 2: the game, and now it's about everything but the game.

1405
01:11:31,479 --> 01:11:34,280
Speaker 2: Everybody has a brand. Everybody wants to do this and

1406
01:11:34,400 --> 01:11:36,519
Speaker 2: how can I profit off of this and this and

1407
01:11:36,600 --> 01:11:39,320
Speaker 2: this and this and this, And they've individualized the game

1408
01:11:39,560 --> 01:11:45,000
Speaker 2: to fit whatever their criteria. Is. But greatness is about

1409
01:11:45,080 --> 01:11:49,040
Speaker 2: the game, and you love doing what you do because

1410
01:11:49,120 --> 01:11:52,320
Speaker 2: of the game. It didn't matter about the money. People

1411
01:11:52,360 --> 01:11:53,880
Speaker 2: tell me all the time and man, if you played this,

1412
01:11:54,000 --> 01:11:55,519
Speaker 2: you would be making means. I'd say it, but I

1413
01:11:55,600 --> 01:11:58,160
Speaker 2: don't want to because of when I played and what

1414
01:11:58,280 --> 01:12:00,320
Speaker 2: I went through and the people that I was there

1415
01:12:01,439 --> 01:12:04,719
Speaker 2: made it all worth the while. No, it wasn't changing

1416
01:12:04,800 --> 01:12:07,040
Speaker 2: for the world, just going through what I went through

1417
01:12:07,720 --> 01:12:11,880
Speaker 2: to be able to tell that story with the people

1418
01:12:12,040 --> 01:12:16,439
Speaker 2: that helped me get there, watched over me, protected me,

1419
01:12:17,200 --> 01:12:21,840
Speaker 2: fed me, jailed at me, disciplined me the whole nine yards.

1420
01:12:23,840 --> 01:12:28,439
Speaker 2: It's it's it wasn't about the money, because the money

1421
01:12:28,600 --> 01:12:33,360
Speaker 2: wasn't there. So what drove you to be able to

1422
01:12:33,439 --> 01:12:36,479
Speaker 2: say I'm a professional. You love to play the game.

1423
01:12:36,560 --> 01:12:40,000
Speaker 2: You probably pick up game now if you come on,

1424
01:12:40,120 --> 01:12:43,479
Speaker 2: let's go. I don't come on, because when you do that,

1425
01:12:43,680 --> 01:12:47,920
Speaker 2: you love the game. Everything now is specialized training, right,

1426
01:12:48,040 --> 01:12:51,120
Speaker 2: So only one person has to appease you if if

1427
01:12:51,439 --> 01:12:53,679
Speaker 2: you better pick up game with them, Oh that motherfucker,

1428
01:12:53,800 --> 01:12:58,840
Speaker 2: let's go, come on. So there's always more and it's

1429
01:12:58,960 --> 01:13:02,240
Speaker 2: always the game. They've lost the fact that the game

1430
01:13:02,400 --> 01:13:04,400
Speaker 2: is the most important thing. But we was talking about that,

1431
01:13:04,479 --> 01:13:07,080
Speaker 2: bro when we was coming up, bro, the same thing, Like,

1432
01:13:07,720 --> 01:13:09,880
Speaker 2: what the fuck was a brand? Yeah, we didn't even

1433
01:13:09,880 --> 01:13:11,680
Speaker 2: know what that was. At the end of the day,

1434
01:13:11,680 --> 01:13:13,040
Speaker 2: if you took care of what you needed to on

1435
01:13:13,120 --> 01:13:14,519
Speaker 2: the field, that was brand.

1436
01:13:14,439 --> 01:13:16,840
Speaker 1: And if you won, everyone was gonna eat. Take us

1437
01:13:16,880 --> 01:13:18,320
Speaker 1: back to your first at bat real quick in the

1438
01:13:18,360 --> 01:13:19,320
Speaker 1: World Series.

1439
01:13:19,400 --> 01:13:23,599
Speaker 5: Stu off of Stu still talking like this, right, Yeah, Yeah,

1440
01:13:24,280 --> 01:13:27,439
Speaker 5: it was crazy because I had just faced him in

1441
01:13:27,439 --> 01:13:30,760
Speaker 5: All Star Game in eighty nine and I came up

1442
01:13:30,800 --> 01:13:34,280
Speaker 5: in the identical situation and he threw me at first

1443
01:13:34,320 --> 01:13:36,360
Speaker 5: pitch fastball and he threw.

1444
01:13:36,280 --> 01:13:38,200
Speaker 2: Me four splitch and walked him. So when I was walking,

1445
01:13:38,240 --> 01:13:41,040
Speaker 2: I'm like, Stu, damn full spitch. He said, shit, I

1446
01:13:41,080 --> 01:13:44,479
Speaker 2: gave you one. I was like, you know what you did? Right.

1447
01:13:44,880 --> 01:13:47,519
Speaker 2: So when we go a whole year later, remember that

1448
01:13:47,680 --> 01:13:52,080
Speaker 2: game one that's on my mind. First identical situation man

1449
01:13:52,200 --> 01:13:56,439
Speaker 2: on first two outs, identical script, play first pitch fastball.

1450
01:13:56,439 --> 01:14:01,760
Speaker 2: I ain't taking this motherfucker and ate him up. But

1451
01:14:02,040 --> 01:14:04,160
Speaker 2: that was just having a muscle memory. I didn't need

1452
01:14:04,200 --> 01:14:07,320
Speaker 2: analytics to tell me what he was gonna do because

1453
01:14:07,320 --> 01:14:11,360
Speaker 2: I knew it absolutely So just knowing what he was

1454
01:14:11,400 --> 01:14:13,240
Speaker 2: gonna do, because I know he didn't want to deal

1455
01:14:13,320 --> 01:14:16,120
Speaker 2: with me, but he wanted to get ahead of me.

1456
01:14:16,400 --> 01:14:18,720
Speaker 2: And then if I chase whatever, whatever wherever, that was

1457
01:14:18,760 --> 01:14:23,360
Speaker 2: an easy formula. But we knew them more than they

1458
01:14:23,439 --> 01:14:27,040
Speaker 2: knew us. Because Stu pitched in the National League. Honey

1459
01:14:27,120 --> 01:14:30,000
Speaker 2: could bob welch all of their guys. So we had

1460
01:14:30,040 --> 01:14:33,760
Speaker 2: faced those guys before. They hadn't dealt with what we

1461
01:14:34,000 --> 01:14:36,080
Speaker 2: was bringing. So that's why we felt like we had

1462
01:14:36,280 --> 01:14:39,080
Speaker 2: a real good advantage of him. Because if you know

1463
01:14:39,280 --> 01:14:43,440
Speaker 2: eighty eight, the Dodgers did them bad, unfortunately, but hershizes

1464
01:14:43,479 --> 01:14:47,280
Speaker 2: in them. Had it not been for McGuire hitting the

1465
01:14:47,280 --> 01:14:49,640
Speaker 2: homer in the tenth, they would have swept them. And

1466
01:14:49,760 --> 01:14:53,240
Speaker 2: if you look at eighty nine at Earthquake one, if

1467
01:14:53,320 --> 01:14:56,840
Speaker 2: every game was ten to seventh, the Giants put runs

1468
01:14:56,880 --> 01:14:58,400
Speaker 2: on the board. They just didn't have a pitch and

1469
01:14:58,479 --> 01:15:04,400
Speaker 2: and sustained. So we knew that if we got to

1470
01:15:04,520 --> 01:15:06,120
Speaker 2: the seventh with the lead, it was over with the

1471
01:15:06,240 --> 01:15:09,800
Speaker 2: Nasty boys. It was a round and that's how we

1472
01:15:09,880 --> 01:15:11,720
Speaker 2: played the whole. Yeah, that's why we went wire to wire.

1473
01:15:12,560 --> 01:15:14,639
Speaker 2: We was like eighty two and oh after the seventh

1474
01:15:14,720 --> 01:15:16,560
Speaker 2: in or some shit like that. It was crazy. It

1475
01:15:16,680 --> 01:15:19,720
Speaker 2: was just straight. We literally would be playing like we

1476
01:15:19,800 --> 01:15:21,439
Speaker 2: got to have a lead by the sixth in and

1477
01:15:21,520 --> 01:15:24,519
Speaker 2: every night and that's that's a recipe for success for

1478
01:15:24,600 --> 01:15:27,600
Speaker 2: you guys for sure. But we really had three closers

1479
01:15:27,720 --> 01:15:31,639
Speaker 2: with Charlton Dibarren Myers. All of them had closed yeah

1480
01:15:32,800 --> 01:15:37,280
Speaker 2: particular time. Yeah, interesting, man, coolest dudes with everyone. Be

1481
01:15:37,680 --> 01:15:40,800
Speaker 2: coolest a fan, that's dope. He was cool as a fan.

1482
01:15:42,760 --> 01:15:46,040
Speaker 3: Hey, okay, we've talked about some iconic players. Give me

1483
01:15:46,120 --> 01:15:48,840
Speaker 3: your favorite stop and one of your favorite teammates that

1484
01:15:48,920 --> 01:15:51,360
Speaker 3: you had towards the back half of everything when you

1485
01:15:51,479 --> 01:15:52,240
Speaker 3: became the veteran.

1486
01:15:52,400 --> 01:15:57,640
Speaker 2: My favorite stop probably was Baltimore because we had the

1487
01:15:57,680 --> 01:15:59,960
Speaker 2: team nothing but a veteran team and we went wire

1488
01:16:00,040 --> 01:16:02,320
Speaker 2: know why that year, but we like blew three saves

1489
01:16:02,360 --> 01:16:04,240
Speaker 2: against Cleveland that year, but you had to deal with

1490
01:16:04,360 --> 01:16:06,200
Speaker 2: you had third how big homemouch you hit that year

1491
01:16:06,800 --> 01:16:08,400
Speaker 2: twenty eight? Yeah, yeah, yep.

1492
01:16:08,760 --> 01:16:09,600
Speaker 1: But just.

1493
01:16:11,320 --> 01:16:17,040
Speaker 2: Harol Vains was what was my locker mate, and I

1494
01:16:17,160 --> 01:16:19,080
Speaker 2: kind of nicknamed him Sleepy because you know how he

1495
01:16:19,240 --> 01:16:24,600
Speaker 2: was so LEAs, so relaxed, so chill, cool, cool, knowledgeable,

1496
01:16:24,720 --> 01:16:29,320
Speaker 2: so we just talked. I had thirteen years and then,

1497
01:16:30,080 --> 01:16:33,880
Speaker 2: and I'm still getting information from this dude. Cal Ripken

1498
01:16:34,000 --> 01:16:36,320
Speaker 2: was probably the best. He drunk a twelve pack after

1499
01:16:36,360 --> 01:16:38,840
Speaker 2: every game. I love it. By the way, man, when

1500
01:16:38,880 --> 01:16:40,840
Speaker 2: I met Cal, I never knew how big that may.

1501
01:16:40,960 --> 01:16:41,439
Speaker 2: He's huge.

1502
01:16:41,520 --> 01:16:44,519
Speaker 4: He's a monk about six y four, Yes, every bit

1503
01:16:44,560 --> 01:16:47,400
Speaker 4: of that. Maybe five, bro, maybe I shoulders like this

1504
01:16:48,160 --> 01:16:50,439
Speaker 4: two thirty five? Was that the not to cut you

1505
01:16:50,520 --> 01:16:52,680
Speaker 4: off and keep your thought? Was that the random year

1506
01:16:52,680 --> 01:16:54,640
Speaker 4: that out of nowhere Brady Anderson had like fifty two

1507
01:16:54,680 --> 01:16:55,160
Speaker 4: home runs?

1508
01:16:55,520 --> 01:16:57,519
Speaker 2: Was that? Actually that was ninety six, that was the

1509
01:16:57,600 --> 01:17:01,519
Speaker 2: year before. Yes, yeah he went back to hitting eight again.

1510
01:17:02,800 --> 01:17:05,280
Speaker 2: She got his paper. Yes he did, Yes he did,

1511
01:17:05,960 --> 01:17:10,960
Speaker 2: but it wasn't illegal. Right. So, But but just that

1512
01:17:11,200 --> 01:17:13,360
Speaker 2: team at David Johnson, who I think is one of

1513
01:17:13,400 --> 01:17:17,720
Speaker 2: the greatest undermine managers of long time. He was he

1514
01:17:18,280 --> 01:17:21,280
Speaker 2: never had a losing season. Wow, ye impressive, that is

1515
01:17:21,320 --> 01:17:23,800
Speaker 2: to say, right with the Mets, the Dodgers on some

1516
01:17:23,960 --> 01:17:27,000
Speaker 2: high pressure teams. Yeah, never having a losing season. So

1517
01:17:27,080 --> 01:17:28,880
Speaker 2: they never gave him his praise and stuff. But he

1518
01:17:29,120 --> 01:17:32,960
Speaker 2: was such an architecture of knowing veterans and how to

1519
01:17:33,080 --> 01:17:36,200
Speaker 2: treat him importing. Robbie Alamar was probably the smartest player

1520
01:17:36,200 --> 01:17:36,760
Speaker 2: I've ever played.

1521
01:17:36,920 --> 01:17:40,360
Speaker 3: Names instead sides of play both sides of the ball,

1522
01:17:40,439 --> 01:17:44,120
Speaker 3: because he could literally back one through five and do

1523
01:17:44,280 --> 01:17:45,080
Speaker 3: what was required.

1524
01:17:45,439 --> 01:17:51,040
Speaker 2: Wowd hit thirty, driving one hundred, lead off, hit three thirty,

1525
01:17:51,360 --> 01:17:54,639
Speaker 2: steal your forty bad second, get him over, buddy mode.

1526
01:17:54,920 --> 01:17:57,240
Speaker 2: Whatever was required, he could do it at a high level.

1527
01:17:57,320 --> 01:17:59,880
Speaker 2: Raphael palmerrow too right. Yes he was hitting behind me

1528
01:18:00,960 --> 01:18:06,840
Speaker 2: and and and it's something for having protection because when

1529
01:18:06,920 --> 01:18:09,400
Speaker 2: I went there, I had three twenty eight when he

1530
01:18:09,520 --> 01:18:12,240
Speaker 2: was protecting, so you was you was always the protection. Yes,

1531
01:18:12,320 --> 01:18:15,080
Speaker 2: I was always the protection, but I was always having

1532
01:18:15,160 --> 01:18:16,960
Speaker 2: to feel like I had to get it done. So

1533
01:18:17,040 --> 01:18:19,080
Speaker 2: I would chase pictures just for the movement of the

1534
01:18:19,120 --> 01:18:21,479
Speaker 2: team instead of walking and saying that's so I would

1535
01:18:21,560 --> 01:18:23,760
Speaker 2: hit two seventy five or two eighty instead of three

1536
01:18:23,880 --> 01:18:26,120
Speaker 2: twenty because I got to get it in and stuff

1537
01:18:26,200 --> 01:18:29,160
Speaker 2: like that. But it's such a comfort zone when you

1538
01:18:29,360 --> 01:18:32,080
Speaker 2: have that, So when you see that, you be like, shit,

1539
01:18:32,120 --> 01:18:36,760
Speaker 2: I know he's sleeping good at at night, you know.

1540
01:18:37,560 --> 01:18:38,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, I felt that matter feel like when I was

1541
01:18:39,000 --> 01:18:41,479
Speaker 3: in New York my second third year, I hit second,

1542
01:18:41,880 --> 01:18:43,960
Speaker 3: and I had people hitting behind me like Mark to

1543
01:18:44,080 --> 01:18:45,080
Speaker 3: Chery at the time.

1544
01:18:44,960 --> 01:18:47,000
Speaker 2: Who was leading the league. He was a beast. He was,

1545
01:18:48,360 --> 01:18:50,920
Speaker 2: you know, like Robinson Cano, like it's just had the

1546
01:18:51,000 --> 01:18:54,080
Speaker 2: most badass hitters on the planet. So every two ozer count.

1547
01:18:55,520 --> 01:18:57,200
Speaker 3: I ain't missing this one right now because I'm not

1548
01:18:57,280 --> 01:18:59,080
Speaker 3: walking that motherfucker because I don't want to say those

1549
01:18:59,160 --> 01:19:01,400
Speaker 3: dudes behind it with somebody on first base, you know.

1550
01:19:01,560 --> 01:19:04,439
Speaker 2: That's a huge advantage, big time. It's a huge advantage.

1551
01:19:04,600 --> 01:19:08,800
Speaker 1: I'm in high school during the they called the steroid era,

1552
01:19:09,360 --> 01:19:11,680
Speaker 1: but to me, it was some of the best baseball

1553
01:19:12,040 --> 01:19:14,720
Speaker 1: I had ever seen with what was going on. As

1554
01:19:14,760 --> 01:19:17,880
Speaker 1: a player who played it the right way, What were

1555
01:19:17,960 --> 01:19:21,520
Speaker 1: your thoughts during that time as you're seeing your contemporaries

1556
01:19:21,560 --> 01:19:22,240
Speaker 1: do what they're doing.

1557
01:19:22,439 --> 01:19:26,759
Speaker 2: It really wasn't a problem because you didn't know the outcome, okay,

1558
01:19:26,960 --> 01:19:29,200
Speaker 2: because when I got the dodge, Lenny Dyster came from

1559
01:19:29,240 --> 01:19:32,519
Speaker 2: the Mets to Philadelphia, like he was one of the

1560
01:19:32,640 --> 01:19:35,760
Speaker 2: first ones that the league had saw that transformed his

1561
01:19:35,920 --> 01:19:39,840
Speaker 2: body and he went from like one sixty five one

1562
01:19:40,040 --> 01:19:44,160
Speaker 2: seventy to two ten monscle And when we went over there,

1563
01:19:44,240 --> 01:19:46,120
Speaker 2: it was fun, like, look at this mother. He was

1564
01:19:46,160 --> 01:19:51,160
Speaker 2: swown up like we giggled at it. Right, it wasn't.

1565
01:19:51,600 --> 01:19:54,240
Speaker 2: I didn't think that of trying to gain an advantage

1566
01:19:54,320 --> 01:19:58,000
Speaker 2: or not that it wasn't even a thought process. But

1567
01:19:59,720 --> 01:20:04,280
Speaker 2: I didn't didn't care. Shit wasn't illegal. As small as

1568
01:20:04,320 --> 01:20:05,800
Speaker 2: I was. If I'd have thought I could have put

1569
01:20:05,840 --> 01:20:07,760
Speaker 2: on fifteen pounds, I might have used it, but not

1570
01:20:07,920 --> 01:20:10,400
Speaker 2: to help my game and stuff. But it helped me

1571
01:20:10,479 --> 01:20:12,960
Speaker 2: running into these walls. They kept me on for the

1572
01:20:13,040 --> 01:20:15,439
Speaker 2: recovery and in which we do know what it does.

1573
01:20:15,640 --> 01:20:17,320
Speaker 2: But out of all of the guys, and this is

1574
01:20:17,360 --> 01:20:19,320
Speaker 2: where and brother mister roll with me, is they want

1575
01:20:19,360 --> 01:20:22,439
Speaker 2: to pick the guys who had the best years they

1576
01:20:22,479 --> 01:20:26,360
Speaker 2: can choose to say when it was a lot of

1577
01:20:26,439 --> 01:20:29,879
Speaker 2: guys doing it. But because that they was still terrible

1578
01:20:30,320 --> 01:20:33,240
Speaker 2: saying nothing shit didn't help them, so they didn't even

1579
01:20:33,800 --> 01:20:37,320
Speaker 2: so like, but there's guys that they put in that

1580
01:20:37,840 --> 01:20:39,960
Speaker 2: players you know they used and stuff like that. So

1581
01:20:40,120 --> 01:20:42,240
Speaker 2: why you gonna pick and choose? Do these and pick

1582
01:20:42,280 --> 01:20:44,840
Speaker 2: and choose? That's why for me, the Hall of Fame

1583
01:20:44,880 --> 01:20:48,960
Speaker 2: has lost a lot of credibility in what they do

1584
01:20:49,160 --> 01:20:52,120
Speaker 2: and stuff. And I didn't find this out until a

1585
01:20:52,160 --> 01:20:55,120
Speaker 2: few years. It's that the Hall of Fame and Major

1586
01:20:55,200 --> 01:20:58,600
Speaker 2: League Baseball is two separate entities. Major has nothing to

1587
01:20:58,640 --> 01:21:00,519
Speaker 2: do with it. They don't have nothing with how they

1588
01:21:00,640 --> 01:21:04,519
Speaker 2: treated or the whole nine yards. And everybody think it's

1589
01:21:04,600 --> 01:21:06,680
Speaker 2: the league that has something to do with that, but no,

1590
01:21:06,880 --> 01:21:09,559
Speaker 2: that's them on their I didn't know that. Yeah, that's

1591
01:21:09,640 --> 01:21:13,640
Speaker 2: what they're doing to protect whatever they're protecting. But you

1592
01:21:13,800 --> 01:21:15,599
Speaker 2: got all the shit in there for millions of people

1593
01:21:15,680 --> 01:21:18,960
Speaker 2: to come pay money, you know, take pictures with all

1594
01:21:19,080 --> 01:21:21,679
Speaker 2: the bats, the balls, the strikeouts, the pictures, the whole

1595
01:21:22,040 --> 01:21:25,519
Speaker 2: You got a whole wing of Pete Rose everybody going there.

1596
01:21:25,560 --> 01:21:27,840
Speaker 2: So how much money are you making off his stuff?

1597
01:21:27,880 --> 01:21:29,760
Speaker 2: If you don't want him any here, give all this

1598
01:21:29,800 --> 01:21:31,639
Speaker 2: stuff back to his family. You don't have the stuff

1599
01:21:31,680 --> 01:21:33,240
Speaker 2: in there, but you want to make the money off

1600
01:21:33,320 --> 01:21:35,479
Speaker 2: his stuff, But you don't want his plaque to be

1601
01:21:35,560 --> 01:21:39,120
Speaker 2: in there. It's a museum. It's clearly a museum.

1602
01:21:40,080 --> 01:21:42,880
Speaker 3: It's crazy because great people, Because I was thought the

1603
01:21:42,920 --> 01:21:45,880
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame was a story, like a story told

1604
01:21:46,080 --> 01:21:48,599
Speaker 3: of the game, supposed to be exactly right, and there's

1605
01:21:48,640 --> 01:21:51,719
Speaker 3: so many of those players that steroids are no steroids.

1606
01:21:51,760 --> 01:21:52,920
Speaker 2: You still got to hit the fucking thing.

1607
01:21:53,280 --> 01:21:55,160
Speaker 3: You still got to answer the bell every single day.

1608
01:21:55,360 --> 01:21:57,400
Speaker 3: So at the end of the day, regardless of you know,

1609
01:21:57,520 --> 01:21:58,880
Speaker 3: what players might have done.

1610
01:21:59,200 --> 01:22:01,280
Speaker 2: In my opinion, this is just an opinion.

1611
01:22:01,200 --> 01:22:03,360
Speaker 3: That there is a whole grip of dudes out there

1612
01:22:03,760 --> 01:22:05,479
Speaker 3: that should be in the Hall of Fame because you

1613
01:22:05,600 --> 01:22:08,560
Speaker 3: can't tell the story of Major League Baseball without those motherfuckers.

1614
01:22:08,600 --> 01:22:11,640
Speaker 2: You know, if you look at what Mark McGuire and

1615
01:22:11,760 --> 01:22:15,040
Speaker 2: Sammy's so Bro in ninety eight brought the game back

1616
01:22:16,479 --> 01:22:20,120
Speaker 2: ninety six after we came off a lockout in ninety four,

1617
01:22:21,320 --> 01:22:25,679
Speaker 2: so the game was tinkering with bad attendance and everything.

1618
01:22:26,800 --> 01:22:29,920
Speaker 2: So cal breaks the record and then they going on

1619
01:22:30,240 --> 01:22:33,719
Speaker 2: to do what they do millions of people and viewers.

1620
01:22:33,760 --> 01:22:37,000
Speaker 2: They made so much money off that, it's ridiculous. So

1621
01:22:37,080 --> 01:22:40,320
Speaker 2: how can you pocket all that and market all that

1622
01:22:40,880 --> 01:22:43,240
Speaker 2: and then try to destroy all that when you think

1623
01:22:43,320 --> 01:22:43,800
Speaker 2: it's not right?

1624
01:22:43,840 --> 01:22:45,880
Speaker 1: But they leaned into the member chicks dig the long ball,

1625
01:22:46,000 --> 01:22:48,960
Speaker 1: everything like the marketing. They leaned into what was going

1626
01:22:49,000 --> 01:22:50,040
Speaker 1: on at the time, and then.

1627
01:22:51,800 --> 01:22:59,400
Speaker 2: The commercial You knew what was happening, but you still

1628
01:22:59,439 --> 01:23:02,479
Speaker 2: got to hit it. Yep. It's still the most difficult

1629
01:23:02,640 --> 01:23:05,759
Speaker 2: thing in the game to do it. It's hit a baseball.

1630
01:23:06,680 --> 01:23:08,200
Speaker 2: That's the thing right now. Just in the Hall of

1631
01:23:08,240 --> 01:23:10,040
Speaker 2: Fame in general, some guys are in the Hall of

1632
01:23:10,120 --> 01:23:11,120
Speaker 2: Fame that.

1633
01:23:11,240 --> 01:23:13,680
Speaker 3: We know have used but they might have been a

1634
01:23:13,720 --> 01:23:17,240
Speaker 3: little nicer to people than other guys, you know what

1635
01:23:17,280 --> 01:23:20,280
Speaker 3: I'm saying. So it's like it shouldn't necessarily be It's

1636
01:23:20,320 --> 01:23:23,040
Speaker 3: not a player's job to necessarily be nice to people,

1637
01:23:23,120 --> 01:23:25,040
Speaker 3: even though it helps. But the end of the day,

1638
01:23:25,080 --> 01:23:27,560
Speaker 3: it's all about the production on the field. So I

1639
01:23:27,640 --> 01:23:30,439
Speaker 3: find it very interesting the fact that, in my opinion,

1640
01:23:30,520 --> 01:23:32,640
Speaker 3: there are some gentlemen that should be in the Hall

1641
01:23:32,680 --> 01:23:35,200
Speaker 3: of Fame because their numbers say so, but because they

1642
01:23:35,280 --> 01:23:37,679
Speaker 3: might not have had the attitude that everybody wanted, they're

1643
01:23:37,760 --> 01:23:38,000
Speaker 3: not in.

1644
01:23:38,800 --> 01:23:44,400
Speaker 2: Well yeah, but also that the people who are voting,

1645
01:23:45,080 --> 01:23:49,400
Speaker 2: I think they're important and you're not important, so they

1646
01:23:49,479 --> 01:23:53,719
Speaker 2: have a chance of flexing up because they have a vote.

1647
01:23:54,000 --> 01:23:57,639
Speaker 2: I don't think you should even have a vote, because

1648
01:23:58,240 --> 01:24:00,880
Speaker 2: you had nothing to do with my career at all,

1649
01:24:01,600 --> 01:24:04,479
Speaker 2: regardless of whether I spoke to you or not. You

1650
01:24:04,760 --> 01:24:09,400
Speaker 2: have nothing to do with my success or failures. Why

1651
01:24:09,520 --> 01:24:11,280
Speaker 2: do you get to validate Why do you get to

1652
01:24:11,280 --> 01:24:15,600
Speaker 2: say so? Yep? I agree. Why you shouldn't get to

1653
01:24:15,680 --> 01:24:17,920
Speaker 2: validate me because you have nothing to do with what

1654
01:24:18,040 --> 01:24:19,920
Speaker 2: I did or know what it takes to be in

1655
01:24:20,080 --> 01:24:23,280
Speaker 2: your position to begin with. Yeah, and yet that was

1656
01:24:23,320 --> 01:24:26,280
Speaker 2: attributed to Barry. But what people don't realize is Barry

1657
01:24:26,400 --> 01:24:30,400
Speaker 2: had a certain time where he talked every day, spoke

1658
01:24:30,439 --> 01:24:32,320
Speaker 2: to them. As I was there, he spoke every day,

1659
01:24:33,200 --> 01:24:35,400
Speaker 2: but it was on his terms. At his time. He said,

1660
01:24:35,439 --> 01:24:38,639
Speaker 2: from three to four o'clock, I'll answer all y'all questions.

1661
01:24:38,680 --> 01:24:41,720
Speaker 2: If you came in four oh one, he was off dim.

1662
01:24:41,840 --> 01:24:44,240
Speaker 2: The people that called him an ass because they was late,

1663
01:24:45,880 --> 01:24:49,240
Speaker 2: those are the people that said, again, because he don't

1664
01:24:49,240 --> 01:24:50,760
Speaker 2: want to talk. You know, he didn't want to talk

1665
01:24:50,840 --> 01:24:53,920
Speaker 2: to you after you came late. That was the problem

1666
01:24:54,000 --> 01:24:57,120
Speaker 2: with that story. I don't feel like that story told enough.

1667
01:24:57,280 --> 01:25:00,400
Speaker 2: It's not. Sheffield also told us that of how the

1668
01:25:00,439 --> 01:25:04,760
Speaker 2: media treated his dad. Yeah, but he talked every day.

1669
01:25:04,960 --> 01:25:07,519
Speaker 2: He just didn't talk for five hours a day. He

1670
01:25:07,680 --> 01:25:10,880
Speaker 2: wasn't available. If you was late, you missed out, that's

1671
01:25:10,920 --> 01:25:12,920
Speaker 2: your fault. And then he would talk the next day.

1672
01:25:14,080 --> 01:25:16,920
Speaker 2: And if you was late, you missed it again. So

1673
01:25:17,080 --> 01:25:20,479
Speaker 2: why are you mad for your shortcoming? Oh? He was doing.

1674
01:25:20,520 --> 01:25:21,439
Speaker 2: Was just setting boundaries.

1675
01:25:21,640 --> 01:25:25,560
Speaker 1: Come on, tough, tough childhood best friend. We had the

1676
01:25:25,600 --> 01:25:26,760
Speaker 1: honor of sitting down with him.

1677
01:25:27,160 --> 01:25:31,240
Speaker 2: Was it last year? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, some last summer.

1678
01:25:31,320 --> 01:25:34,479
Speaker 1: Daryl Strawberry, both selected in the eighty draft, grew up together.

1679
01:25:35,080 --> 01:25:37,160
Speaker 2: What does Daryl mean to you? He was my backbone

1680
01:25:38,000 --> 01:25:44,000
Speaker 2: because it started when we was twelve and he was

1681
01:25:44,080 --> 01:25:46,240
Speaker 2: playing at Ranch Show and I was playing at Baldwin

1682
01:25:46,320 --> 01:25:49,080
Speaker 2: Hills and we met in the playoff game, and like

1683
01:25:49,200 --> 01:25:51,160
Speaker 2: he had heard about me, and I had heard about him,

1684
01:25:51,160 --> 01:25:52,800
Speaker 2: but I had never visioned that he was going to

1685
01:25:52,840 --> 01:25:56,719
Speaker 2: be six two or twelve like that leader and stuff.

1686
01:25:56,760 --> 01:26:01,439
Speaker 2: And he was just different. He was more so ahead

1687
01:26:01,439 --> 01:26:04,680
Speaker 2: of his time than I was, because he knew that

1688
01:26:04,840 --> 01:26:08,639
Speaker 2: was his dream. It wasn't my dream. And he thought

1689
01:26:08,680 --> 01:26:12,320
Speaker 2: about baseball way more than I did. But he could

1690
01:26:12,320 --> 01:26:17,200
Speaker 2: throw a football seventy yards that he was a good

1691
01:26:17,280 --> 01:26:19,439
Speaker 2: basketball He wasn't a great basketball player. Well, he was

1692
01:26:19,439 --> 01:26:21,479
Speaker 2: a good basketball player, so we could have did whatever

1693
01:26:21,520 --> 01:26:26,360
Speaker 2: he wanted to do. But baseball was his thing and

1694
01:26:26,520 --> 01:26:30,519
Speaker 2: he showed that. I played it because it kept me

1695
01:26:30,600 --> 01:26:32,240
Speaker 2: off the streets and it was the things to do

1696
01:26:32,360 --> 01:26:37,240
Speaker 2: and stuff like that. But our bond was such a

1697
01:26:37,400 --> 01:26:44,080
Speaker 2: bond where even when we was playing Connie Mack, I

1698
01:26:44,160 --> 01:26:47,759
Speaker 2: always bat at first. He batted third. But we always

1699
01:26:48,439 --> 01:26:52,679
Speaker 2: challenged each other to be more than what people expected.

1700
01:26:53,800 --> 01:26:59,519
Speaker 2: And what was crazy was because like when he got

1701
01:26:59,640 --> 01:27:03,799
Speaker 2: drafted that he was He was the black Ted Williams

1702
01:27:03,840 --> 01:27:07,519
Speaker 2: and I was Willie Mays. How do you put two

1703
01:27:07,640 --> 01:27:11,240
Speaker 2: seventeen year old two of the greatest ever played a game,

1704
01:27:12,320 --> 01:27:14,920
Speaker 2: and if you don't reach it, then you was considered

1705
01:27:14,960 --> 01:27:18,040
Speaker 2: a failure. But he could do whatever he wanted to

1706
01:27:18,120 --> 01:27:23,720
Speaker 2: do on the baseball field, throw pitch, run off O.

1707
01:27:23,840 --> 01:27:26,519
Speaker 2: Connie Mac team is seventy nine. We had eighteen guys

1708
01:27:26,560 --> 01:27:30,120
Speaker 2: get drafted and me and Straw was junior. That was

1709
01:27:30,200 --> 01:27:34,840
Speaker 2: Chris Brown and that was at Chris Green. It was

1710
01:27:34,920 --> 01:27:37,280
Speaker 2: a lot of guys that got drafted off that team

1711
01:27:37,840 --> 01:27:42,400
Speaker 2: and me and him was juniors. So we go to Seattle,

1712
01:27:42,520 --> 01:27:47,679
Speaker 2: Washington for the It was a Connie Mac Pacific Regional,

1713
01:27:47,800 --> 01:27:49,360
Speaker 2: so we flew down there. So they took us to

1714
01:27:49,479 --> 01:27:53,320
Speaker 2: this little park and the dimensions was not what we

1715
01:27:53,439 --> 01:27:55,120
Speaker 2: was playing with in Compton, so it was like we're

1716
01:27:55,120 --> 01:27:57,880
Speaker 2: playing here. It was like this shit ain't gonna hold

1717
01:27:57,960 --> 01:28:02,479
Speaker 2: us little too little, so we were like, what's the most, Like,

1718
01:28:02,560 --> 01:28:04,439
Speaker 2: what's the most home runs was hit in the tournament?

1719
01:28:04,520 --> 01:28:09,760
Speaker 2: They said six? We had eight the first night I

1720
01:28:09,920 --> 01:28:12,639
Speaker 2: led the game up power in the tree number time.

1721
01:28:13,520 --> 01:28:19,320
Speaker 2: It was crazy, like in five games, like we had

1722
01:28:19,400 --> 01:28:22,360
Speaker 2: like thirty homers in games or something like that. That

1723
01:28:22,520 --> 01:28:24,240
Speaker 2: after Steve Bulls shelled them beat us. They was from

1724
01:28:24,280 --> 01:28:27,200
Speaker 2: Orange County. It was Steve booth Shell and it was

1725
01:28:27,280 --> 01:28:29,439
Speaker 2: Jeff Beaconship. They had better pitching though they beat us

1726
01:28:29,479 --> 01:28:32,360
Speaker 2: thirteen to ten in the championship game. Just thinking he

1727
01:28:32,439 --> 01:28:35,680
Speaker 2: was sitting to myself thinking how fucking cool would it be.

1728
01:28:36,400 --> 01:28:39,080
Speaker 3: To be best buddies with somebody at twelve years old

1729
01:28:39,200 --> 01:28:41,200
Speaker 3: and for us to live the same life.

1730
01:28:41,720 --> 01:28:42,640
Speaker 2: Like I don't have that.

1731
01:28:43,240 --> 01:28:45,439
Speaker 3: No, not many, That's what I'm saying, Like, I'm just

1732
01:28:45,479 --> 01:28:47,800
Speaker 3: thinking to myself, like how badass is that that you

1733
01:28:47,840 --> 01:28:49,040
Speaker 3: guys could have leaned on each other.

1734
01:28:49,120 --> 01:28:52,040
Speaker 2: It's huge and stuff. But it was a problem sometimes

1735
01:28:52,880 --> 01:28:56,920
Speaker 2: because whatever he was involved, when I was associated with

1736
01:28:57,040 --> 01:29:00,920
Speaker 2: it totally, I didn't think about that. So so the

1737
01:29:01,439 --> 01:29:03,360
Speaker 2: times that he was going through his thing, then people

1738
01:29:03,400 --> 01:29:07,320
Speaker 2: would automatically assume that I was with aociations. So it

1739
01:29:08,280 --> 01:29:12,880
Speaker 2: was tough and that thing because with his first wife

1740
01:29:12,920 --> 01:29:14,280
Speaker 2: and stuff, and me and Do was coming back from

1741
01:29:14,320 --> 01:29:18,200
Speaker 2: a Laker game and we both had five sixty SEC's

1742
01:29:18,240 --> 01:29:20,040
Speaker 2: and mine was white and his was black, and we

1743
01:29:20,200 --> 01:29:26,160
Speaker 2: rolling up to full five. And I was living in

1744
01:29:26,160 --> 01:29:28,759
Speaker 2: Woodland Hills at the time and he was living in Sino,

1745
01:29:29,760 --> 01:29:32,639
Speaker 2: So you know, we got to come around the curve. Shit,

1746
01:29:32,760 --> 01:29:34,559
Speaker 2: he would go back to LA. I would keep going

1747
01:29:34,640 --> 01:29:36,400
Speaker 2: to the curve and shit and going home and shit.

1748
01:29:36,479 --> 01:29:40,519
Speaker 2: So his wife would call the house at two o'clock

1749
01:29:40,520 --> 01:29:42,680
Speaker 2: in the morning, like Eric and drelling. My life was

1750
01:29:42,800 --> 01:29:44,720
Speaker 2: my wife be like, Eric, is sleep? What are you talking?

1751
01:29:45,720 --> 01:29:48,560
Speaker 2: So it was always I didn't think about it. It

1752
01:29:48,680 --> 01:29:50,880
Speaker 2: was always what he was doing I was doing. People

1753
01:29:50,960 --> 01:29:53,040
Speaker 2: thought I was on drugs and shit like that. It

1754
01:29:53,240 --> 01:29:56,479
Speaker 2: was a hindering sometimes and stuff. But to know our friendship,

1755
01:29:56,520 --> 01:30:01,479
Speaker 2: it really didn't bother me. But it bothered me why

1756
01:30:01,560 --> 01:30:03,519
Speaker 2: because it's like, you got to judge me for who

1757
01:30:03,560 --> 01:30:07,599
Speaker 2: I am. And and he was the kind of guy

1758
01:30:07,680 --> 01:30:09,880
Speaker 2: where he would give you the shirt off your back.

1759
01:30:11,120 --> 01:30:14,479
Speaker 2: And uh, I remember when he won the Rookie of

1760
01:30:14,520 --> 01:30:18,640
Speaker 2: the Year. Actually we was in the Forum club and

1761
01:30:19,320 --> 01:30:22,680
Speaker 2: all he talked about was they needed to see me

1762
01:30:22,880 --> 01:30:26,599
Speaker 2: next year. Y'all ain't seen none until y'all see Ed. Y'all.

1763
01:30:26,920 --> 01:30:31,599
Speaker 2: That's the kind of individual. He just won a major award,

1764
01:30:31,680 --> 01:30:33,960
Speaker 2: but he was pubing me at the game like that.

1765
01:30:34,880 --> 01:30:39,160
Speaker 2: That's friendship. That's why we've been through thick and thin

1766
01:30:39,960 --> 01:30:44,479
Speaker 2: on on on life's issues and and and we've had

1767
01:30:44,560 --> 01:30:49,160
Speaker 2: heart to heart conversations that friends can have, and and

1768
01:30:49,560 --> 01:30:53,160
Speaker 2: and sometimes I was wrong and sometimes he was wrong,

1769
01:30:53,840 --> 01:30:58,000
Speaker 2: but it never didn't our friendship because we know where

1770
01:30:58,040 --> 01:31:01,000
Speaker 2: it's coming from, brace of love. Does that relationship still

1771
01:31:01,040 --> 01:31:02,920
Speaker 2: stand today? You guys are still pretty close. I just

1772
01:31:03,000 --> 01:31:03,840
Speaker 2: talked to him the other day.

1773
01:31:04,160 --> 01:31:09,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, You guys both also faced a life altering battle,

1774
01:31:09,800 --> 01:31:12,800
Speaker 1: both being diagnosed with cancer and beating it. You found

1775
01:31:12,880 --> 01:31:16,439
Speaker 1: a baseball sized tumor and went through thirty six rounds

1776
01:31:16,439 --> 01:31:16,840
Speaker 1: of chemo.

1777
01:31:17,760 --> 01:31:23,240
Speaker 2: What was that battle like? It was tough, It wasn't

1778
01:31:23,400 --> 01:31:31,000
Speaker 2: scary because I was misdiagnosed. So we was in Cleveland.

1779
01:31:31,000 --> 01:31:35,000
Speaker 2: I just hear the triple and I came in to

1780
01:31:35,040 --> 01:31:39,000
Speaker 2: score the sacrifice a sacrifice fly and had kind of

1781
01:31:39,040 --> 01:31:42,080
Speaker 2: collided with Sandy and it was safe, and I went

1782
01:31:42,160 --> 01:31:43,519
Speaker 2: in to sit down and they made it three dollars

1783
01:31:43,520 --> 01:31:44,720
Speaker 2: and I went to get up and I couldn't get

1784
01:31:44,800 --> 01:31:46,120
Speaker 2: up in the pain and hit me where was the

1785
01:31:46,160 --> 01:31:49,280
Speaker 2: tumor at It was inside my colon? Oh shit. So

1786
01:31:49,760 --> 01:31:51,439
Speaker 2: I was like that ain't right. I couldn't get up

1787
01:31:51,479 --> 01:31:54,280
Speaker 2: the shelves. So they call the doctors over there there exam.

1788
01:31:54,479 --> 01:31:55,920
Speaker 2: They gave me some pills. I paid the next day,

1789
01:31:57,560 --> 01:32:00,559
Speaker 2: and it was kind of the medication. It was holding

1790
01:32:00,560 --> 01:32:02,000
Speaker 2: it where it was supposed to be. So we ended

1791
01:32:02,080 --> 01:32:06,519
Speaker 2: up going to New York for it was Memorial Day

1792
01:32:06,520 --> 01:32:08,160
Speaker 2: weekend and stuff. So we had a day game and

1793
01:32:08,200 --> 01:32:10,920
Speaker 2: I played the day game and I was in so

1794
01:32:11,120 --> 01:32:14,519
Speaker 2: much pain. The trainers put me on the train back

1795
01:32:14,600 --> 01:32:19,080
Speaker 2: to Baltimore and the ambulance met me at the train

1796
01:32:19,160 --> 01:32:22,280
Speaker 2: and took me to the University of Maryland's hospital. So

1797
01:32:22,439 --> 01:32:26,800
Speaker 2: I was there for eight days and they couldn't tell

1798
01:32:26,880 --> 01:32:29,000
Speaker 2: me why while you were having the pain? No, but

1799
01:32:29,080 --> 01:32:32,880
Speaker 2: they called it an apsets, and I wanted to know

1800
01:32:33,400 --> 01:32:35,240
Speaker 2: how did it get there, but they couldn't tell me.

1801
01:32:35,320 --> 01:32:37,760
Speaker 2: So the chief of staffs, everybody's coming down and they're

1802
01:32:37,760 --> 01:32:39,439
Speaker 2: trying to tell me they're gonna send me back to play,

1803
01:32:40,080 --> 01:32:42,320
Speaker 2: and I was like, no, y'all got to tell me something.

1804
01:32:43,360 --> 01:32:45,320
Speaker 2: So one of my girlfriends, who I was in business

1805
01:32:45,360 --> 01:32:47,400
Speaker 2: where she was from DC. She said, Eric, check out

1806
01:32:47,439 --> 01:32:51,120
Speaker 2: of there and go to John Hopkins. I can call

1807
01:32:51,200 --> 01:32:54,320
Speaker 2: the general manager. I said, I want to go to

1808
01:32:55,240 --> 01:32:58,360
Speaker 2: John Hopkins to get a second opinion. Like they actually

1809
01:32:58,520 --> 01:33:02,360
Speaker 2: stuck a catheter in and tried to drain it. Wow,

1810
01:33:02,960 --> 01:33:04,920
Speaker 2: so that she could have leaked all over my body

1811
01:33:04,960 --> 01:33:09,400
Speaker 2: and surround over yep. So I finally go there. It

1812
01:33:09,560 --> 01:33:13,960
Speaker 2: was like six thirty at night. The first test he

1813
01:33:14,040 --> 01:33:16,519
Speaker 2: did with me was a colonuster. I had been there

1814
01:33:16,600 --> 01:33:18,800
Speaker 2: eight days and they never did a colonox, none of that.

1815
01:33:19,040 --> 01:33:21,720
Speaker 2: The first test that doctor did was a He said, man,

1816
01:33:21,800 --> 01:33:23,560
Speaker 2: you got a tomor in your colon the size of

1817
01:33:23,600 --> 01:33:27,040
Speaker 2: the grapefruit. Yeah, he said it was about that big

1818
01:33:28,240 --> 01:33:30,400
Speaker 2: where it had just large. Damn. It was just I

1819
01:33:30,439 --> 01:33:34,080
Speaker 2: didn't have no symptoms of what I knew the symptoms were.

1820
01:33:34,280 --> 01:33:37,679
Speaker 2: After I started hearing what it was, I had no symptoms,

1821
01:33:37,760 --> 01:33:41,320
Speaker 2: no blood, no nothing. And so the grace of God

1822
01:33:41,439 --> 01:33:43,000
Speaker 2: was that I hit the trip and ran into the

1823
01:33:43,040 --> 01:33:46,360
Speaker 2: catcher that created that thing for me. So that was

1824
01:33:46,479 --> 01:33:50,360
Speaker 2: on a Wednesday, and I called my wife and my

1825
01:33:50,439 --> 01:33:52,799
Speaker 2: mom them and they came out Thursday. I had surgery

1826
01:33:52,840 --> 01:33:56,720
Speaker 2: Friday morning, and so they took out a third of

1827
01:33:56,760 --> 01:34:01,280
Speaker 2: my colon and they said they wanted to take chemo.

1828
01:34:01,400 --> 01:34:02,680
Speaker 2: So I was like, well, see did you got it?

1829
01:34:02,720 --> 01:34:05,120
Speaker 2: Why am I taking chemo? And it was like, cause

1830
01:34:05,120 --> 01:34:07,439
Speaker 2: you're only thirty four years old, could come back. And

1831
01:34:07,560 --> 01:34:10,280
Speaker 2: I was like, okay, can I get a second opinion?

1832
01:34:10,400 --> 01:34:13,800
Speaker 2: So the same doctor that operated on Straw, but I

1833
01:34:13,840 --> 01:34:15,720
Speaker 2: don't know that until afterwards from stuff. That's why I

1834
01:34:15,760 --> 01:34:17,600
Speaker 2: went up there to get my second opinion for he

1835
01:34:17,720 --> 01:34:20,800
Speaker 2: was like, yeah, because of the size in your age.

1836
01:34:20,800 --> 01:34:22,680
Speaker 2: And then I went to UCLA and so they was

1837
01:34:22,720 --> 01:34:24,479
Speaker 2: all saying it. So that's when I agreed to take it.

1838
01:34:26,160 --> 01:34:30,960
Speaker 2: And I took thirty two weeks of chemo. But but

1839
01:34:32,240 --> 01:34:36,439
Speaker 2: what really saved me outside of God, was that Eric

1840
01:34:36,479 --> 01:34:39,360
Speaker 2: Anthony wife is a herbalist at one of my teammates,

1841
01:34:39,360 --> 01:34:42,160
Speaker 2: and she lived in Houston, Man. She cooked me up

1842
01:34:42,280 --> 01:34:45,840
Speaker 2: some herbs, like seven or eight different herbs that my

1843
01:34:45,920 --> 01:34:49,840
Speaker 2: wife was boiling on the stove right and I would

1844
01:34:49,920 --> 01:34:53,519
Speaker 2: drink it every day and I never got sick when

1845
01:34:53,560 --> 01:34:57,400
Speaker 2: I took chemo. I never threw up, I never did nothing.

1846
01:34:57,520 --> 01:34:59,240
Speaker 2: So when I was making a comeback. It wasn't like

1847
01:34:59,280 --> 01:35:02,040
Speaker 2: I was heroic. It wasn't none prevented me. Once my

1848
01:35:02,160 --> 01:35:04,559
Speaker 2: scar held up, I was I'm like, that's good. I'm

1849
01:35:04,600 --> 01:35:08,000
Speaker 2: ready to go. Yeah. Wow. And on the days that

1850
01:35:08,080 --> 01:35:09,840
Speaker 2: I played, I wouldn't play that day to day that

1851
01:35:09,960 --> 01:35:13,519
Speaker 2: I had to chemo, but the next day I would play. Wow, Wow, incredible.

1852
01:35:13,720 --> 01:35:16,000
Speaker 2: So I didn't have got to get those herbs, bro

1853
01:35:16,080 --> 01:35:18,400
Speaker 2: we gotta figure out. But you know what was crazy though,

1854
01:35:18,560 --> 01:35:22,280
Speaker 2: was everybody thought I was a hero, But every time

1855
01:35:22,360 --> 01:35:24,920
Speaker 2: I took chemo, I was in the children's ward. Mmm,

1856
01:35:25,120 --> 01:35:29,200
Speaker 2: with the babies and seeing them. Man, that's heartbreaking what

1857
01:35:29,360 --> 01:35:31,920
Speaker 2: I'm going through. I done lived almost thirty some odd

1858
01:35:32,080 --> 01:35:36,599
Speaker 2: years and I'm doing okay. And to see them who

1859
01:35:36,680 --> 01:35:39,160
Speaker 2: don't have a hope in the world and they're smiling

1860
01:35:39,280 --> 01:35:42,759
Speaker 2: and joking. They made it easy for me. That hurts

1861
01:35:43,000 --> 01:35:45,640
Speaker 2: perspected for sure. They put it in perspective for me,

1862
01:35:45,760 --> 01:35:49,760
Speaker 2: and I was like, I gotta do this just from

1863
01:35:49,800 --> 01:35:54,920
Speaker 2: having conversations with it was like, but that's how it was.

1864
01:35:55,360 --> 01:35:57,680
Speaker 2: It was crazy because they motive v way more than

1865
01:35:57,680 --> 01:35:59,599
Speaker 2: I could have ever moved. If they were your heroes,

1866
01:36:00,240 --> 01:36:02,759
Speaker 2: that's amazing. Quick hitters.

1867
01:36:03,120 --> 01:36:04,760
Speaker 1: First of all, I want to think Brian and e

1868
01:36:04,920 --> 01:36:07,280
Speaker 1: J the MLB Player House for making this happen. My

1869
01:36:07,400 --> 01:36:10,040
Speaker 1: co host Nick has been a great run. First thing

1870
01:36:10,120 --> 01:36:10,720
Speaker 1: to come to mind.

1871
01:36:10,800 --> 01:36:11,240
Speaker 2: Let us know.

1872
01:36:11,680 --> 01:36:16,280
Speaker 1: Favorite ballpark, San Diego, worst ballpark Montreal. The toughest pitcher

1873
01:36:16,360 --> 01:36:17,799
Speaker 1: you faced, Nolan Ryan.

1874
01:36:17,920 --> 01:36:20,960
Speaker 2: Best singular pitch you've ever seen. The best one that

1875
01:36:21,040 --> 01:36:23,360
Speaker 2: I hit was probably a slider off John Smokes. And

1876
01:36:23,520 --> 01:36:26,559
Speaker 2: when I missed was a fast ball that Nolan Ryan

1877
01:36:26,640 --> 01:36:29,479
Speaker 2: threw me that I didn't see. He said, I didn't

1878
01:36:29,520 --> 01:36:30,800
Speaker 2: even see. Sounded good.

1879
01:36:33,680 --> 01:36:38,800
Speaker 1: Funniest teammate Dave Parker, Betch Cleary brawl. Three guys you

1880
01:36:38,840 --> 01:36:39,559
Speaker 1: want on your side?

1881
01:36:39,680 --> 01:36:43,160
Speaker 2: Oh shit, Glenn Braggs. Glenn Braggs, that name for ever

1882
01:36:43,479 --> 01:36:48,559
Speaker 2: strong and end up probably Kevin Mitchell, Kevin with.

1883
01:36:48,960 --> 01:36:49,760
Speaker 1: Or without the goal to.

1884
01:36:51,320 --> 01:37:00,600
Speaker 2: Either or Best baseball movie probably Major League. That's a

1885
01:37:00,640 --> 01:37:00,920
Speaker 2: real good.

1886
01:37:01,840 --> 01:37:03,960
Speaker 1: We had Charlie Sheen for a while and he told

1887
01:37:04,000 --> 01:37:06,479
Speaker 1: us what he did. He took steroids for the movie.

1888
01:37:07,080 --> 01:37:09,599
Speaker 2: By the way, he looked good in that movie. Ye, dude,

1889
01:37:09,680 --> 01:37:14,000
Speaker 2: he was. He was like, he's from Ohio. Yes, he

1890
01:37:14,080 --> 01:37:16,639
Speaker 2: would come to Dodger Stadium in his uniform and sit

1891
01:37:16,720 --> 01:37:21,519
Speaker 2: on our bench. Chuck Wood. All of that hid the

1892
01:37:21,600 --> 01:37:23,519
Speaker 2: flight stuff started with us. Well, by the way, he

1893
01:37:23,600 --> 01:37:25,240
Speaker 2: used to come to u c l A. Because he

1894
01:37:25,320 --> 01:37:27,639
Speaker 2: used to have a party out of Malibu every time

1895
01:37:27,760 --> 01:37:30,040
Speaker 2: we came and he would have like limos for everybody,

1896
01:37:30,920 --> 01:37:38,680
Speaker 2: just boatloads of everything. Charlie was the best bro. It

1897
01:37:38,800 --> 01:37:40,840
Speaker 2: was the best. But it was easy for me because

1898
01:37:40,840 --> 01:37:42,240
Speaker 2: I didn't go to a lot of times because I

1899
01:37:42,320 --> 01:37:46,760
Speaker 2: lived on the other side. See y'all, that's a good luck, right.

1900
01:37:48,360 --> 01:37:52,360
Speaker 2: All of that started with us. That's interesting clubhouse playlist.

1901
01:37:52,640 --> 01:37:54,720
Speaker 2: What was on it my first couple of years was

1902
01:37:54,800 --> 01:38:01,240
Speaker 2: probably the Dramatics Temptations because there was old dudes, and

1903
01:38:01,640 --> 01:38:05,480
Speaker 2: then when I got to lead, it was probably Tupac

1904
01:38:05,520 --> 01:38:09,519
Speaker 2: and w A. Snoop dre all my West Coast lovers.

1905
01:38:09,880 --> 01:38:16,080
Speaker 2: Too short, everybody. Hammer can't touch this. You know what

1906
01:38:16,120 --> 01:38:20,400
Speaker 2: I'm saying. I know you had them pants the hammer comfortable.

1907
01:38:22,320 --> 01:38:25,640
Speaker 2: I worked out with him at Harvard parkuse that was comfortable.

1908
01:38:26,600 --> 01:38:28,600
Speaker 1: Well, Eric Man, thank you for your time, what you

1909
01:38:28,720 --> 01:38:31,800
Speaker 1: did for our childhoods, will you know never be duplicated,

1910
01:38:32,080 --> 01:38:34,080
Speaker 1: and what you've been able to overcome and what you

1911
01:38:34,160 --> 01:38:36,759
Speaker 1: accomplished on the field, was incredible man, and we appreciate

1912
01:38:36,840 --> 01:38:37,200
Speaker 1: your time.

1913
01:38:37,280 --> 01:38:39,280
Speaker 2: Man, Man, I appreciate you guys, and go up to

1914
01:38:39,280 --> 01:38:46,520
Speaker 2: you guys. You apprecize, man, this is a great thing. Absolutely,

1915
01:38:48,040 --> 01:38:50,240
Speaker 2: Eric Davis, Yes, sir,