WEBVTT - Doing Our Best For ALS 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:08.160 Is this a great game or what another podcast? Tim 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:10.559 and Jeff Kirkshin thank you so much for joining us. 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:14.920 And we are recording this episode from Citizens Bank Park. 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.000 So if you hear music or you hear. 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:20.040 Background noise, we are at the ballpark. Lou garreg Day 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:23.200 twenty twenty four, we did a live stream show here 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:25.480 on all of our social media's they still live there, 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:27.160 so if you want to go see it on YouTube, Facebook, 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:28.640 or Twitter, please. 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:29.640 Go and do so. 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:33.400 And lou Garrig Day has been such a great day 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:35.800 because we're raising awareness for als and we talked to 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:37.160 some incredible people. 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:39.519 Right it was really important today Today. We spoke to 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:42.560 Sam Hillier today who talked about his father who died 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:44.879 in twenty twenty one. We talked to Aaron Nola the 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:48.199 Phillies who lost his uncle in twenty twenty one. We 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:52.680 talked to Mike Piscotti who lost his wife in twenty eighteen, 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:55.720 and we talked to Brandon Crawford, who's so close to 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:58.600 the Piscatti family. And at the end of this episode, 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:02.320 instead of having one long interview with one person, we're 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:04.640 going to take the best of the interviews that we 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:08.000 did today, all of it ALS related and it was 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:10.560 just a wonderful day at the ballpark. And I really 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:15.319 have to thank the Phillies because pregame they mentioned and 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:18.560 honored my brother Matt. And that's ultimately, Jeff, why you 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.039 and I are doing this. We lost Uncle Matt to 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:24.120 ALS in September of twenty three, so it's been a 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.960 really important, really emotional, really powerful day. But it was beautiful. 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.840 Also during the live stream, we replayed the great interviews 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:37.240 from Sarah Langs, who is an amazing mind in baseball, 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:40.680 a statistician, and she is battling ALS. That's in our 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:43.600 last episode of this podcast, a bonus episode that was 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.840 released on Friday. And Boog Shambi, who has dedicated so 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:50.800 much of his time in honor of his best friend 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:54.080 Tim Sheehe, who passed away from ALS through the organization 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.480 Project main Street. So if you want to go back 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:58.600 and listen to those, you can. We've got a lot 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.280 of great coming up. But let's talk while we're here 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.240 for lu Geig Day. Let's talk about lou Gaig the player. 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:06.960 Yeah, he's the greatest first baseman of all time. Jeff, 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.880 I'm not sure there's even a close second. If he 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:14.080 hadn't gotten sick. Remember he died at age thirty seven. 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:16.360 If he hadn't gotten sick, he would have retired as 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:20.800 the all time RBI and run scored leader. He won 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:25.760 an M two MVPs. He won a Triple Crown. He 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.320 hit for the cycle twice Jeff four times. He had 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:34.480 a two hundred hit forty homer season. The only active 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.160 player who's ever done that even once is Ronald Lucuna 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:42.080 last year. Of the top six RBI seasons in baseball history, 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.200 he has three of them. He had more RBIs than 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:49.959 games played five different times. He's the first American league 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.040 player ever to hit four homers in a game, and 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:55.800 they came consecutively. He hit twenty three grand slams, which 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.680 was the major league record un till Alex Rodriguez broke it. 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:02.480 He stole home fifteen times. But more important than any 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.400 of this, Jeb is that he was the captain of 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.720 the Yankees because he showed all of them this is 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:13.000 how you play the game. Nobody personified the game being 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:16.480 played more properly than Lou Garrett, and mainly because of 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:19.440 his toughness and his durability. He played in two thousand 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:24.200 one hundred and thirty consecutive games, which is unbelievable, and 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:27.160 he was all about winning. The only player in Major 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.639 League history that ever hit four hundred homers and his 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.600 winning percentage in games he played was over six hundred 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:36.360 was Lou Garrett four hundred and ninety three homers and 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:39.720 a career winning percentage of six seventeen and one of 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:43.320 the great nicknames ever, the Iron Horse that sums up 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:45.880 everything we need to know about Lou Garrett. 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:47.680 You can go to Great Game or what dot com 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:50.280 to see all the resources we've talked about for ALS 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:52.720 awareness and Luke Gerrig Day, And once again a big 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:56.040 shout out to the Phillies for helping us do the show, 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:58.600 the live stream from there and this show as well. 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:02.000 But we have a podcast loaded up takeaways from this week. 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:04.680 In Major League Baseball. Well, given it's lou Gerrig Day 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.000 that we're still talking about, you have to go to 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:10.040 Aaron Judge first because he's doing stuff that Lou Garrig 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:13.160 did back in the thirties. So Judge had twenty six 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:16.560 extra base hits in May. The only Yanchores ever to 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:20.080 have more in any month was Joe Demaggio nineteen thirty 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:24.159 seven and lou Gerrig of course, in nineteen thirty Aaron 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:27.640 Judge had fourteen homers and twelve doubles in the month 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.400 of May. The only player ever that has had fourteen 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.680 homers and twelve doubles in any month was Albert Bell 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:38.400 in nineteen ninety five. And going into Sunday, Judge had 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.919 fifteen homers in his last twenty five games. And the 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:44.080 lesson here, Jeffs. You know how many times he got 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:45.960 asked in April, what's wrong with him? Is he ever 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:47.640 going to come out of this slump? And then he 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.560 has one of the best months we've ever seen. He 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:52.200 will be the player of the month for May. 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:53.880 I just want to add it was like right after 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:57.320 his first career ejection, at this kind of do. 0:04:57.279 --> 0:04:59.960 You think there's maybe something subconscious or just beautiful? 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:03.680 No, it's the beauty of baseball. It happens all the time, 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:06.240 all right. He was the hottest player in baseball in 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:08.520 the month of May. There were others who were close. 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:12.280 Corey Seeger had an amazing month also. He went into 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:14.560 Sunday with a fourteen game hitting streak, and he had 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.000 eight homers in eight games. And with all the great 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:20.279 shortstops we have. I still think he's the best shortstop 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:23.040 in baseball, even though there are younger, maybe even more 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:26.680 athletic guys. But Corey Seeger is amazing. And speaking of amazing, 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:30.279 Luis Arrives, We've talked about him multiple times. He joins 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:34.480 the Padres. He had four four hit games in the 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:38.840 month of May. Even Tony Gwinn never had four four 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.919 hit games in any month, and Tony Gwynn is mister 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:45.840 Podre and should be. That's how good Luisa Rise has been. 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:50.279 So he's now got eighteen four hit games in his career. Now, 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:53.640 I know Reggie Jackson was a different player as a slugger. 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.560 He struck out all the time. But Reggie had fifteen 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:01.360 four hit games in his career. Arise he has eighteen. 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:06.560 He's already got more than Carlton Fisk and Sammy Sosa 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:08.600 and a bunch of other really good players. And by 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:12.960 the way, Christian Yelich of the Brewers had his fifth 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:16.800 five hit game last week. Wow. So, Edgar Martinez one 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.000 of the greatest hitters I've ever seen, he never had 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:22.360 a five hit game. Christian Yelich already has five of them. 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:25.640 That amazes me. And the last thing I take away, 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.919 and this is a dear to my heart, Jeff, we 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:33.240 had two pitchers, Ranger Suarez, your wife Emily's favorite player, 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.080 and Kevin Ginkle both got hit by line drives and 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.840 had to come out of the game. I just want 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:42.960 everyone to understand how dangerous this game is to play. 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:46.240 And if anyone ever actually threw a pitch in a 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.159 major league game and watched the ball whistle by them, 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:51.920 they would never throw another pitch in a major league 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:54.920 game for any reason. It is that dangerous. So every 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:57.479 time I see a pitcher get hit with a line drive, 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:00.680 reminds me of my favorite story that I've ever written 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.880 in my life, The Fear of the Ball story. The 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:08.359 hitters fear, the fielders fear fear, but the pitcher's fear 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:10.480 also because that ball gets back. 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:12.640 To you faster than you can throw it in and 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:15.920 jokes aside, that's part of the reason why I couldn't 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.240 keep playing the game. And honestly, the fear of the 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.080 ball it runs, whether your kids in or in Major 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:23.280 League baseball, it's a It's a real thing. I mean, 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:24.960 look at Bryce Harper. Just the other day a ball 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:26.880 got thrown kind of he said, I just didn't want 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:27.520 to get in the face. 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:29.000 Nothing's worse than getting hit in the face. 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:31.840 Well, what right, And he's one of the toughest guys 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:33.680 to play the game, right. But the difference is if 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:36.280 Bryce Harper did get hit in the face, he would 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:38.320 sit out and then he would come back and he 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:40.960 would be great, where every other human being would say no, no, no, 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:44.760 I'm not doing that anymore. So, So, Jeff, the game 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:48.120 Changer of the Week is quite literally a game changer 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:51.280 because we finally found a way to take the Negro 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:56.720 league stats and incorporate them into the major league stats. 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.520 This was a three year process. It was a seventeen 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:04.560 person committee led by John Thorn, my friend who's the 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:08.640 baseball historian for Major League Baseball. Nobody, and I mean 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:11.920 nobody understands the history of the game better than John Thorn, 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:14.360 and I had to chat with him about this. And 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:18.720 what makes this all work is this was done accurately, 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.000 Meaning if they looked at something and go, well, we 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.440 can't tell if that's a double or a triple, or 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.240 a walk or a strikeout, then they're not using it. 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:29.880 They're only using what they could prove. And all those geniuses. 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.360 And I mean this in the nicest way. At Seamheads 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:36.199 and Retro Sheet and the Elive Sports Bureau, they put 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:39.920 all those numbers together and now they matter. So now 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:44.959 Josh Gibson is the all time batting average leader, ahead 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:48.679 of Taycob at three seventy two. Josh Gibson now has 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:53.079 a higher OPS than Babe Ruth, a higher slugging percentage 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.120 career than Babe Ruth. And look, I'm okay with this 0:08:56.400 --> 0:09:00.200 because the Negro leagues has been left behind in so 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:04.720 many ways, and now it really means something so much more. 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:08.880 Now we know really how great Josh Gibson was. Not 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:11.600 to mention so many others because we were able to 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:13.080 prove it statistically. 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.080 You know, I just have to say, because when that 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.160 announcement came out and it went across social media, I 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:20.360 saw one comment and I don't even know the guy, 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:24.240 but he just wrote, well should my little league stats 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:25.040 be put in there? 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:25.240 Too? 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:28.480 And I'm here to tell you, Mike or whatever your 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:32.360 name was, you weren't good enough to play major league baseball. 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.280 These guys in the Negro leagues, most of them, a 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:38.760 lot of them, were good enough to play major league baseball. 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:40.400 But they weren't allowed to. 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:44.840 That's the difference, right, your stats from your eleven year 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:47.040 old you game, They're not going to be put in 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:50.600 there because you're not good enough to play major league baseball. 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:52.720 And I step off by So people will say negro 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:55.920 league players didn't play against major league players. Well, of 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:58.520 course there's a flip side of that. Major league players 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:03.640 didn't play against me legally. I am totally okay with this. 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.120 And now when you ask me who's the greatest catcher 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:09.240 of all time, it's always been Johnny Bench. I may 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:11.440 have to go to Josh Gibson now that we've proved 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.040 a bunch of things statistically. 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:15.960 Truly is a game changer for the stats of the 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:18.840 history of Major League baseball. You got any quirk gins 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:19.600 for us this way? 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.160 Yeah, this is why cork gins are so much fun 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.240 to do. There's a guy named Jeremiah Estrada who pitches 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.760 for the Podres. He's only twenty five years old. He's 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:29.880 got a bright future, but he's banged around a little 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.920 bit here and there, moved around. He recently struck out 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.839 thirteen batters in a row. That is a major league record. 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:40.600 Now again, he did it over three relief appearances, which 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:42.480 is a little bit easier to pitch an inning here, 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:45.199 another inning here, and then two innings here. But he 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:50.680 still struck out thirteen consecutive batters. Now, what the beauty 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:53.560 of baseball is that every great NBA record, you know 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:56.440 how much I love basketball is held by Will Chamberlain, 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:59.920 or Michael Jordan, Lebron James, and Steph Curry. Not so 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.080 that maybe you haven't even heard of did something that 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:07.000 Will Chamberlin never did. But Jeremiah Estrada did something that 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:09.960 no one has ever done in baseball history. Although I 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:14.280 must say Tom sever in his nineteen strikeout game, Hall 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:17.520 of Famer Tom Seaver, he struck out ten in a row. 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:21.320 He's a starting pitcher. He struck out the last ten 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:25.480 batters of the game. Now, with all due respect, that's 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:29.040 slightly more impressive to strike out the last ten of 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:30.000 a complete game. 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:33.000 Then he struck out every batter in the seventh, eighth, 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:36.200 and ninth inning after pitching how many pitches he would 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:37.440 think it would start that way? 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:40.439 That was Tom sever all right. The Cardinals made an error. 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:43.480 Defense is so good these days. Cardinals made an error 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:47.600 in twelve straight games the last team to go twelve 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:50.240 in a row, or the A's in twenty fifteen, they 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:54.240 made an error in fifteen games in a row. Speaking 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:56.720 of strikeouts, Paul skeens, who's going to be on the 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:58.960 show every week because he's been on every week since 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:01.920 the day he came up. He struck out nine batters 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.480 on his twenty second birthday, so we looked this stuff up. 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.760 So he has the most strikeouts on his birthday of 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:12.040 any picture in the history of the Pirates and he's 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:15.480 only made four starts in his life for the Pirates. 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:19.200 He's also the youngest player ever to strike out nine 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:22.480 batters on his birthday. The Elias helped me with that, 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:26.240 as they should have also, Jeff, I'm amazed when anyone 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:28.880 gets a hit anymore. The other day we had three 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:33.080 pitchers taken no hitter into the sixth inning. Three so 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:36.959 I looked up the last time three pitchers have taken 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.440 a no hitter into the sixth inning on the same day. 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:42.600 It's happened two other times this year. This is where 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:45.040 we are now, Jeff. The pitching we see on a 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:50.480 daily basis is absolutely breathtaking. The stuff is virtually unhittable. 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.720 It's why the league's hitting two forty three guys took 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:55.760 a no hitter into the sixth inning, and it's happened 0:12:55.800 --> 0:13:00.520 two other times this year. Shoe Hee Otani stole his base, 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:04.760 very round number. So I looked up the most stolen 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.400 bases in a career for a pitcher, and now, granted, 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:10.160 not all one hundred came as a pitcher, because it's 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:12.360 the DH now and he was a D. He stole 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:14.240 most of them as a D eight not the point 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.960 wild Bill Donovan since nineteen hundred has the most deals 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:22.920 ever for a pitcher career with thirty four. The only 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:26.600 players who have ever made fifty starts in their careers 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:29.880 and stolen one hundred bases or someone named Joe Rogan 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:32.000 didn't know that? Is that a talk show name? 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:32.319 Joe? 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.359 Yeah, this podcast is just a little bit bigger than ours, 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:36.800 only a little bit. 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:40.040 So it's Joe Rogan, it is sho Hey Otani, and 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:42.280 of course it's Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth stole one hundred 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:44.480 and twenty three bases. So if I hear one more 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.800 time that he was some big, fat, unathletic guy, I'm 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:50.520 gonna scream, because Babe Ruth could run one hundred and 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.720 thirty six triples, one hundred and twenty three stolen bases, 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.360 and the last thing, Jeff, and again, I just love 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:58.840 names in the box score. As you know, the Blue 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.360 Jays have really really struggled scoring runs this year, and 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:05.120 the last two pictures they used the other day in 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:09.680 an eight to one loss to the Pirates was little pop, 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:14.560 so little pop or the last two guys. And that's 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:18.040 unfortunately where the Blue Jays are right now. They have 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:20.120 very little pop. 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:24.360 I just want to thank all of our great, great 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.320 entries for qurictions at Great Game or what dot com. 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:29.479 People send them all the time. 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:32.360 But I have to apologize because we are on location 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:34.320 as you might be able to hear a little different. 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:37.360 I don't have my list, so I'm gonna gather you 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:40.120 have my word to everybody who sends those questions, and 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:42.000 I'm gonna gather some of the best ones for next 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.560 week's episode, because I feel like some people hear the 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:46.560 quotions to say, maybe they're gonna read mine right as 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:47.480 we've read them in the past. 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.680 I encourage people to send it in. I love these things. 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:53.520 It's what separates baseball from the other sports. 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:54.920 Great Game or what dot com. 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:56.640 You can scroll down there's an entry form, or you 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:58.400 can always hit us up on social media. Our social 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.080 media manager Madi Away, he sends us over to me 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:04.040 as well, great game or what wherever. 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:04.760 You do social media. 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:08.000 So this date in baseball history Jeff again a regular 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:12.600 feature on our podcast. Nineteen sixty four. Sandy Kofax through 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.960 his third of what would be four no hitters. I 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:18.880 want to ask Frank Robinson, one of my dear, dear friends. 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:22.160 I asked him. I said, how'd you do against Bob Gibson? 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:24.960 And Frank said, oh, I hit him good. I said, 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:28.120 how'd you do against Juan Marisha? Oh I hit him good. 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:31.800 I said how'd you do against Don drysdaleas oh I 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:34.880 hit him good. I said how'd you do against Sandy Kofax? 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:39.040 And he went, oh, nobody could hit that man. That's 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:42.120 when I knew how great Sandy Kofax was also happy 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:47.920 sixty seventh birthday today to Tony Payne, former catcher and 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:50.360 Tony Payne was a really good player and a really 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:53.720 good defensive catcher. But he holds the distinction of the 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:57.240 most games caught in Major League history nineteen hundred and 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:01.080 fifty without ever catching a no hitter. You know, Jeff 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.280 Torborg is caught four, I think, and there are other 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:07.440 guys who caught multiple no hitter three four no hitters, 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.600 Tony Payne in nineteen hundred and fifty and never calling. 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:14.720 Darren Erstat is his fiftieth birthday today. Darren Erstaut of 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:18.000 the Angels had two hundred and forty hits in the 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:21.000 year two thousand. He was also a punter at the 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:23.480 University of Nebraska. So I went to him once and 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:27.560 I was doing something on football players and who played baseball, 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:29.800 and I said, well, you and Kirk Gibson, all right. 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:33.120 Kirk Gibson, of course, was wide receiver All American at 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:37.800 Michigan State. And Darren Erstat yelled at me, don't you 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:41.160 ever compare me to Kirk Gibson. That guy was an 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:45.280 All American wide receiver. I was a punter. And to 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:48.920 me that was just beautiful, how much respect he had 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:52.360 for someone who got hit on every single play like 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:55.000 Kirk Gibson did. And last thing a sad thing. But 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:59.240 Don Zimmer, my dear friend Don Zimmer, former Major leaguer, 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.400 former Major league manager, coach, and a guy that taught 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:05.400 me so much about the game. He died ten years 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:09.400 ago today, and Zim had one of the great moments, 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:12.520 one of the great epiphanies in my life. I was 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:15.640 covering the eighty two Rangers. I'm like fourteen years old. 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:17.639 I don't even know what I'm doing yet, but I 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:20.800 love baseball and it's all I've ever wanted to do. 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:24.679 But the Rangers, managed by Don Zimmer, were awful. So 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:28.320 I stagger into his office in the middle of May. 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.919 The team had lost ten games in a row, and 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:33.400 Zim looks at me and he goes, what's wrong with you? 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.040 I said, Zim, Well, I gotta tell you I'm not 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.240 having as much fun covering this team as I thought 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:40.840 I would. And he looks at me and he goes, 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:43.680 I quit complaining, and I'm quoting here. He says, look 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:45.560 at you. You're young, you're good looking, you got your 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:47.399 whole life in front of you. He said, look at me. 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:50.040 I'm old, I'm fat, I'm bald, I'm ugly. You got 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:52.359 a plate in my head and I've got this team 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.600 to manage. I'm the one with all the worries. You 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:59.160 should be feel fortunate every day of your life that 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:02.199 you are covering major League Baseball. And from that moment on, 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.640 even though I thoroughly appreciated where I was before, then 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:09.359 when Zim yelled at me and said quit complaining and 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.520 cover the sport, that was a real turnaround for me. 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:14.200 What year was at age? You said, eighty two? 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:14.760 Eighty two. 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:19.520 So fast forward twenty two years later I met Don Zimmer. 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:22.280 You remember you remember the story of course at Park 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:24.240 my first ever time seeing the Boston Red Sox. 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:25.240 It was two thousand and. 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:27.919 Four and he was was he managing the race, He 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:30.680 was a co coach of the race. And we walked 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:33.840 by the dugout and I had the opportunity to say, 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.480 playball on the field. It was the coolest thing as 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:38.520 a little eleven year old on my birthday. 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:39.679 And there's a photo. 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:41.520 I have it at home. 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:44.439 I have it at home too, and you are I 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:47.400 can hear your laughter in a photo because he has 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:50.000 his hat off and he's probably making a joke about 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:52.679 his head and his head made it into a title 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:54.920 of your book, right right right. 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:59.000 They put his head on a quarter. It was called 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:03.200 a zim headcore. So instead of being like like a president, 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:05.520 it adds Zibb's head on there. It was just it 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:06.880 was just prices. We love him. 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:08.480 Here we go, it's in the cards. We're going to 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:10.439 open up a pat. Well, we didn't open it this 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:13.320 time because we're on location. We're on location, all right, 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:15.440 First card here, Chicago Cubs. 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.640 Who we got that. That's Nico Horner. Really smart guy, 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:22.199 baseball IQ off the charts with Brian Butterfield was a 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:25.040 coach there with the Cubs. He whispered to me one day, 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:27.359 he said, I think they're going to fire me after 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:29.679 the season, but he said, and I won't be happy 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.320 about that, but I will be happy to know that 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:36.280 I worked with Nico Horner of the Cubs. That's how 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:39.080 much an influence a young player on he made on 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:42.640 him because of his understanding of how to play the game. 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.400 We have guys who overpower the sports jet with their 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:48.639 physical gifts. That kid can do that, but he also 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:50.120 really knows how to play. 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:52.920 Here's Jordan Romano of the Toronto Blue Jays. 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:53.080 Right. 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:56.399 So, Jordan Romano is Canadian. So I always call him 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.159 Jordan Romano because that's how we would say it in 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:04.640 our country. But in Canada they pronounced Jordan Romano, so 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:08.840 he pronounces his name Jordan Romano and everyone who does 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:12.440 the team broadcasters call him Jordan Romano because he said, 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:15.040 that's how you pronounce my name. So I'm gonna call 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:18.120 him Jordan Romano from now on me too. 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:20.520 I mean I was a little nervous. I was pronouncing 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:22.680 it wrong in the first place. Here we go, next 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:26.560 step for the Detroit Tiger Tigers. Eduardo Rodriguez, right, well, 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:27.880 that's an old baseball card. 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:30.840 He is now with the Diamondbacks. He is injured, he's 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:33.920 coming back. I'll never forget the story that Alex Cora 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:36.400 told me when and when e Rod as they call him, 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:38.840 was on the Red Sox and they had a great 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:41.600 thing going in twenty eighteen. They won the World Series 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:43.680 that year, and they're getting towards the end of spring 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:46.320 training they're going to open on the road, and Eduardo 0:20:46.440 --> 0:20:49.240 Rodriguez says, I want to take the whole team out 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:53.840 for dinner, everyone like, including clubhouse kids, everyone. That's how 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:56.239 much team building meant to him. Then he got the 0:20:56.240 --> 0:20:59.320 bill and Alex Cora had to step in and say, look, Rod, 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:01.240 I know you want to pay for this whole thing, 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:04.000 but you could pay for some, but you're not doing 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:06.200 all of it. That was a great team building thing 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:06.760 by Ira. 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:09.800 You know, I worked for the Frederick Keyes, the then 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:12.520 Class A Low A team for the Baltimore Orioles, and 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:14.680 he was on the team the summer. 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:17.160 I covered him, right, And that's those were the years 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:20.119 that you were like running as what a sausage or 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:21.840 a sauce packet. 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:24.800 Pack You were the sausages. I was the Taco Bell 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:28.680 mild sauce packet. That this is what we debase ourselves. 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:31.679 That's kirkcheins for Okay, so we've got we've got a 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.000 Boog here, not our buddy Boog is Boog Powell, right, 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:36.800 we got Boo Boog's on the show. 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:37.080 Okay. 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:39.560 Boog Powell is one of my favorite players growing up 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:41.680 watching him. He won the MVP in nineteen seventy in 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:44.400 the American League. Earl Weaver told me that Boog weighed 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:47.760 three hundred pounds the year he won the MVP. Boog 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:50.159 was an enormous man. But for as big as he was, 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:52.800 he had great hands and great feet. And of course 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:57.280 he runs Boog's Barbecue right now at Camden Yards. It's 0:21:57.320 --> 0:22:00.240 the greatest barbecue in the American League. And I was 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:04.119 always told that after games Boog would go back to 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:06.959 his house in Baltimore playing for the Orioles, and he 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:08.960 would fire up the grill at one o'clock in the 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:12.800 morning and go out there and grill steaks and chicken 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:15.879 and hamburger is a drink beer until like four o'clock 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:17.920 in the morning, and people would come over and join him. 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:19.240 The first basement for. 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:22.680 The Orioles, that's amazing. And last but not LEAs Heraldo Perdomo. 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:27.760 He's the shortstop for the Diamondbacks who made it to 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:29.919 the World Series last year, and he hit ninth in 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:32.679 the order, and not many people know how good a 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:35.760 player is, but Tory Lavello, their manager, told me this year, 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:40.360 we funneled everything, all the signs, everything we do defensively 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:43.919 through Horado Perdomo. So when you look at the struggles 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:46.200 they've had this year and you say, how can they 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:48.720 miss their nine hitter that much? Not only was he 0:22:48.800 --> 0:22:51.360 a really good nine hitter, but he ran the infield 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:54.520 and that is incredibly important on a major league team. 0:22:54.880 --> 0:22:57.920 So it's in the cards now. We actually go through 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:00.920 all of the cards live on the show. Oh, meaning 0:23:00.960 --> 0:23:02.480 like you can actually see them now. I know, if 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:05.080 you're listening to the podcast, then you can't see but 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:08.480 if you go onto YouTube then you most definitely can 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:12.120 see them. Now today our show is being recorded from 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:15.920 Citizens Bank Park, which is so cool. But you texted 0:23:15.960 --> 0:23:18.560 me on your way to the park saying, Jeff, I've 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:20.280 got a team I want to put together for the 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:22.399 best of all tim This team is all of the 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:26.400 greatest number fours in celebration of the greatest number four, 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:28.040 Lou Garet, right, because once you get. 0:23:27.960 --> 0:23:31.800 You know, I know every from one to fifty five, 0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:33.960 I know the greatest player of all time for each 0:23:34.040 --> 0:23:36.080 uniform number, at least in my opinion, I call it 0:23:36.119 --> 0:23:40.360 from Ozzy like Ozzie Smith to Oral Oral Herscheizer one 0:23:40.400 --> 0:23:42.720 to fifty five. So you get to four and you 0:23:42.880 --> 0:23:45.000 just give up because it's Lou Garrett. There is no 0:23:45.119 --> 0:23:47.359 close second. So that's the end of the competition. But 0:23:47.760 --> 0:23:50.240 I knew there were a bunch of guys who wore 0:23:50.320 --> 0:23:52.560 number four who aren't on the list, so I made 0:23:52.600 --> 0:23:53.080 up a team. 0:23:53.280 --> 0:23:54.440 Well, I just have one question. 0:23:54.480 --> 0:23:56.600 As a man who's been married just over two years, 0:23:56.880 --> 0:23:58.600 my wife will get mad at me because I remember 0:23:58.680 --> 0:24:01.800 the the iron shot I had on the seventh hole, 0:24:01.800 --> 0:24:04.520 but I forgot to take out the trash. Does my mom, 0:24:04.640 --> 0:24:06.800 your wife ever get mad that you remember these things? 0:24:06.800 --> 0:24:09.240 But sometimes she slip up as a as a partner 0:24:09.240 --> 0:24:09.800 and a husband. 0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:12.480 Does she ever get mad? Is what you're asking me. 0:24:12.560 --> 0:24:14.879 But married forty years, we go to a party and 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:18.480 I come home and I've had the most ridiculously pointless 0:24:18.520 --> 0:24:21.159 conversation with half the people there, and then she says, uh, 0:24:21.600 --> 0:24:23.640 what'd you think of the chandelier in the living room? 0:24:23.680 --> 0:24:25.480 You know? And I don't even remember what the living 0:24:25.520 --> 0:24:28.440 room looks like, let alone the chandelier. So yes, it's 0:24:28.480 --> 0:24:32.840 selective retention, Jeff. You retain what you're interested in. And 0:24:33.000 --> 0:24:36.520 I'm interested in uniform numbers and I always have been. 0:24:36.680 --> 0:24:38.359 Or the best thing is is mom will be like, 0:24:38.440 --> 0:24:40.840 how's how's his mom doing? Talking about the person you 0:24:40.840 --> 0:24:42.879 talk to for an hour. Oh we didn't ask how's 0:24:42.880 --> 0:24:43.200 his wife? 0:24:43.240 --> 0:24:45.240 We don't know. We just talked about the eighty six 0:24:45.280 --> 0:24:49.240 orioles or what right. Unfortunately for men, that's how it works. 0:24:49.280 --> 0:24:50.760 All right, Oh, let's go to your list. So Yati 0:24:50.840 --> 0:24:53.119 or Maline is the catcher, he's going to be a 0:24:53.160 --> 0:24:56.080 future Hall of Fame or wearing number four. Luke Gerreic 0:24:56.240 --> 0:24:58.919 is the greatest number four of all time. Bobby Gritch 0:24:59.000 --> 0:25:01.439 is the best second BA baseman for me, he's a 0:25:01.600 --> 0:25:03.920 borderline Hall of Famer. If you asked me should he 0:25:03.960 --> 0:25:07.080 be in, the answer would be yes. Paul Molitor, who 0:25:07.080 --> 0:25:09.959 began his career as a third baseman, he's my third baseman. 0:25:10.000 --> 0:25:12.919 And to leave Carney Lanceford out, Believe me, that was 0:25:13.000 --> 0:25:16.640 not easy. I had to put two shortstops on because 0:25:16.680 --> 0:25:19.480 I couldn't pick between Joe Cronin and Luke Applin because 0:25:19.480 --> 0:25:23.680 they're both Hall of famers. The entire outfield are Hall 0:25:23.720 --> 0:25:28.840 of famers wearing number four, Melott, Duke Snyder, and Ralph Kiner, 0:25:29.240 --> 0:25:33.240 and it's really hard to find a number four who pitched. Okay, 0:25:33.520 --> 0:25:36.639 Kyle Drebek pitched for four years wearing number four, but 0:25:36.920 --> 0:25:40.920 he wasn't great. Blake Snell won two Cy Young Awards 0:25:41.000 --> 0:25:43.520 wearing number four. And my favorite part because I had 0:25:43.560 --> 0:25:45.520 come up with the team, but I said, well, I 0:25:45.560 --> 0:25:47.520 need a manager of what's the first thing in came 0:25:47.560 --> 0:25:51.320 to my Earl Weaver, my favorite manager of all time 0:25:51.800 --> 0:25:54.800 ward number four. So now I've got an entire lineup 0:25:55.119 --> 0:25:59.119 and a manager to wear. Lou Garrick's number League in lid's. 0:25:59.200 --> 0:26:01.480 We put all the major League Baseball teams in a 0:26:01.520 --> 0:26:03.080 lid here and it. 0:26:03.000 --> 0:26:04.560 Has every major league team on it. 0:26:04.680 --> 0:26:08.080 Very cool is And today the New York Mets, oh boy, 0:26:08.200 --> 0:26:12.400 bad bad timing. The poor Mets. They lost four games 0:26:12.520 --> 0:26:16.560 in May that they led into the ninth inning, four 0:26:16.600 --> 0:26:19.040 in one month. Most teams won't lose four of those 0:26:19.080 --> 0:26:21.520 in one year. They did in one month. That's why 0:26:21.520 --> 0:26:23.320 they're in a lot of trouble. But the good thing 0:26:23.400 --> 0:26:28.240 happened is on Saturday they retired Darryl Strawberry's number eighteen. 0:26:28.320 --> 0:26:31.879 And even though Darryl Strawberry got himself in his own trouble, 0:26:31.920 --> 0:26:33.760 he should be in the Hall of Fame. He was 0:26:33.800 --> 0:26:37.359 an amazing player, especially as a young player, and he 0:26:37.600 --> 0:26:41.080 definitely belongs in the New York Mets Hall of Fame. 0:26:41.119 --> 0:26:43.520 He won four rings as a baseball player. One of 0:26:43.560 --> 0:26:46.880 the greatest power hitters I've ever seen. It's still amazing 0:26:46.960 --> 0:26:49.080 me though after all these years, Jeff, the Mets have 0:26:49.240 --> 0:26:53.159 never had an MVP. In all their years nineteen sixty 0:26:53.240 --> 0:26:55.760 two on, they've never had a player win the MVP, 0:26:56.480 --> 0:26:59.200 and Strawberry probably should have came really close a couple 0:26:59.280 --> 0:27:01.399 times to win, but even he didn't. 0:27:01.680 --> 0:27:03.239 So in a minute, you're gonna hear some of the 0:27:03.240 --> 0:27:06.080 best moments of our interviews from our Lou Garrig Day 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:07.760 live stream, because we wanted to make sure if you're 0:27:07.760 --> 0:27:09.679 listening on the podcast, you didn't have a chance to 0:27:09.680 --> 0:27:11.960 catch the stream. It's still living on our social media 0:27:12.040 --> 0:27:14.040 you can check it, but we wanted you to get it. 0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:15.760 On the podcast feed as well. 0:27:15.800 --> 0:27:18.080 But before we get to those best moments, and there 0:27:18.119 --> 0:27:21.240 were quite a few incredible ones, I want another story 0:27:21.280 --> 0:27:22.520 from you about Uncle Matt. 0:27:22.960 --> 0:27:25.240 Well, I'm going to try to do this without weeping. 0:27:25.320 --> 0:27:28.760 But Uncle Matt was a great college baseball player and 0:27:29.080 --> 0:27:33.600 in twenty twenty one he was diagnosed with ALS, and 0:27:33.640 --> 0:27:37.959 in October that year, he was asked by Ross Natoli, 0:27:38.200 --> 0:27:41.000 the baseball coach at Catholic University, to throw out the 0:27:41.040 --> 0:27:45.200 first pitch at the only fall date of the season, 0:27:45.440 --> 0:27:49.800 a doubleheader at Mount Saint Mary's. The Matt, because of 0:27:49.840 --> 0:27:53.800 his als, could barely grip a baseball, but he relearned 0:27:54.280 --> 0:27:56.960 how to throw a baseball and he went out there 0:27:57.040 --> 0:27:59.120 that day and before he went to the mound, they 0:27:59.200 --> 0:28:04.000 gave him a Catholic University jersey with M. Kirchin two 0:28:04.200 --> 0:28:07.199 his number on the back, and he went to the 0:28:07.240 --> 0:28:11.639 mound and threw an athletic strike. He turned to his 0:28:11.760 --> 0:28:15.800 right and his immediate family to children others. We were 0:28:15.880 --> 0:28:20.119 all wearing M. Kirkchin two jerseys. And then he looked 0:28:20.160 --> 0:28:24.240 further to his right and all forty seven players on 0:28:24.359 --> 0:28:28.840 the Catholic University team or wearing M. Kirkchin jerseys with 0:28:29.000 --> 0:28:31.600 number two on the back. And of course they went 0:28:31.640 --> 0:28:36.080 out there and swept a double header that day. Later 0:28:36.119 --> 0:28:39.120 on that year, I threw out the first ball at 0:28:39.120 --> 0:28:42.360 a Nationals game, and Matt, who could barely put a 0:28:42.400 --> 0:28:46.040 glove on his hand, somehow figured out how to do 0:28:46.120 --> 0:28:49.080 that because his hand no longer work, and he caught 0:28:49.160 --> 0:28:53.320 the first pitch from me. It was just unbelievable how 0:28:53.360 --> 0:28:56.320 an als patient could do that. And because of all 0:28:56.360 --> 0:29:01.600 of this, Catholic University, led by Ross Natoli, named an award, 0:29:02.120 --> 0:29:07.760 the Matt Kirchin Ultimate Teammate Award after my brother, and 0:29:07.800 --> 0:29:11.880 that hangs in our house and it hangs at Catholic University. 0:29:12.200 --> 0:29:14.720 And this is the kicker to it all. Joe at 0:29:14.800 --> 0:29:18.400 York Pennsylvania this year, Kathy Ugh is in a playoff game, 0:29:18.560 --> 0:29:20.880 and it's a really big game, and they're down seven 0:29:20.920 --> 0:29:23.800 to nothing, they're down eight to three, they're down nine 0:29:23.840 --> 0:29:26.920 to six in the bottom of the ninth inna and 0:29:26.960 --> 0:29:29.920 they come back to win the game. And the two 0:29:30.000 --> 0:29:34.000 biggest stars, the first one was Zach Burton, who is 0:29:34.080 --> 0:29:39.680 the first winner of the Matt Kirchin Ultimate Teammate Award. 0:29:40.080 --> 0:29:44.480 He was the first hero. The second hero was Justin 0:29:44.880 --> 0:29:48.960 McCarthy who drove in two runs to win the game. 0:29:49.360 --> 0:29:55.040 And Justin McCarthy wore number two, my brother's number, and 0:29:55.200 --> 0:29:58.520 Ross sent me a text and said, Matt is still 0:29:58.560 --> 0:30:02.240 with us. He was with us us today. How great 0:30:02.320 --> 0:30:02.600 is that? 0:30:02.920 --> 0:30:03.400 Amazing? 0:30:03.840 --> 0:30:07.240 We're so excited to bring in multiple guests today. This 0:30:07.320 --> 0:30:09.000 is not the first time we've done this. We did 0:30:09.000 --> 0:30:10.880 this for our Mother's Day show. We brought in two 0:30:10.880 --> 0:30:13.440 great guests with amazing moms. But today we're going to 0:30:13.440 --> 0:30:15.760 bring in the guests we talked to at lou Garrig Day. 0:30:17.120 --> 0:30:20.640 Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies, Brandon Crawford of San 0:30:20.640 --> 0:30:24.800 Francisco Giants now Saint Louis Cardinals, and Sam Hilliard is 0:30:24.800 --> 0:30:26.720 going to be joining us. Mike Piscotti is going to 0:30:26.720 --> 0:30:29.600 be joining us. All of these moments are are kind 0:30:29.640 --> 0:30:32.200 of our highlights, I guess from our live stream show 0:30:32.240 --> 0:30:33.520 that we did this past week, right. 0:30:33.360 --> 0:30:35.720 And they will make you laugh and they will make 0:30:35.760 --> 0:30:39.000 you cry. These were powerful moments from people who have 0:30:39.240 --> 0:30:44.400 experienced ALS firsthand. It's well worth a listen. 0:30:50.920 --> 0:30:53.920 So today, in our interview portion of the episode, we 0:30:53.960 --> 0:30:56.480 have a lot of interviews to go back and forth between, 0:30:56.520 --> 0:30:59.040 so I thought to make it easier for you and 0:30:59.080 --> 0:31:00.600 so you can get the most out of each one, 0:31:00.800 --> 0:31:03.680 I would kind of take us between each and every interview. 0:31:03.800 --> 0:31:06.400 So Sam Hilliard was the first one we spoke to 0:31:06.440 --> 0:31:09.640 on our live ALS Lu Garrig Day show, and he's 0:31:09.680 --> 0:31:13.560 a professional baseball player in the Rockies system and his 0:31:13.720 --> 0:31:17.680 dad passed away from ALS and he had some incredible 0:31:17.720 --> 0:31:19.920 stories to tell. 0:31:19.920 --> 0:31:23.360 Sam, you and your dad grew up watching games in 0:31:23.480 --> 0:31:26.200 Texas because that's where you lived, and then you came 0:31:26.280 --> 0:31:29.880 back with the Rockies and played a game in Texas 0:31:30.360 --> 0:31:34.120 and he saw you. What was that night like for you? 0:31:35.560 --> 0:31:38.800 Yeah, that night was incredible. You can't talk about that 0:31:38.920 --> 0:31:43.520 night without talking about how amazing the Rangers organization was 0:31:43.560 --> 0:31:46.560 for doing that. During the COVID year, nobody was supposed 0:31:46.600 --> 0:31:49.840 to be in the state. Um, you know, at that 0:31:49.960 --> 0:31:54.320 point the disease is progressing. We didn't know how much time, 0:31:54.680 --> 0:31:58.200 you know, he had left, and they were like, yeah, 0:31:58.960 --> 0:32:01.160 since you guys live in the area, they can come 0:32:01.360 --> 0:32:04.040 and watch you play. It was opening day actually, twenty twenty, 0:32:04.120 --> 0:32:07.239 so my dad and my mom and my fiance at 0:32:07.240 --> 0:32:10.600 the time, you know, my wife were the only stands 0:32:10.680 --> 0:32:14.040 in the stadium and just looking up there and seeing 0:32:14.080 --> 0:32:17.720 my dad up there in his chair watching. He's usually 0:32:17.720 --> 0:32:20.320 the dad that like paces around the stadium, goes and 0:32:20.360 --> 0:32:23.520 stands in the outfield. I can't get still, so I 0:32:23.560 --> 0:32:25.440 know it was probably killing him in that aspect, but 0:32:26.120 --> 0:32:29.720 it was really cool. I think I struck out four 0:32:29.720 --> 0:32:31.960 times that day, which is a sidelt. 0:32:31.480 --> 0:32:36.520 But we don't need to talk about that, Sam, Sam. 0:32:36.560 --> 0:32:39.840 When you meet someone, anyone that comes up to you 0:32:39.880 --> 0:32:43.440 for the first time and says a family member has als, 0:32:43.480 --> 0:32:48.760 what is your message? Your first immediate message to that person. 0:32:50.200 --> 0:32:54.360 Probably give him a hug man, you know, just say 0:32:54.360 --> 0:32:58.440 I'm sorry and we're in this together, because I know 0:32:58.840 --> 0:33:02.840 that's kind of what you're going through. And they're all different, right, 0:33:02.880 --> 0:33:05.960 everyone progresses at different speed. Everyone has a different journey, 0:33:06.720 --> 0:33:10.240 but I just want to tell them like, hey, I'm sorry, 0:33:10.240 --> 0:33:12.360 there's nothing I can say to help you. Just know 0:33:12.440 --> 0:33:14.760 that I'm here for you. Give them a hug, I'm 0:33:14.800 --> 0:33:18.840 praying for you, and hang in their type of message, 0:33:18.920 --> 0:33:19.920 you know, something like that. 0:33:20.080 --> 0:33:22.840 There's such relief though, Sam, And I'm sure you feel 0:33:22.840 --> 0:33:25.800 this way too. There's almost like a barrier that's put 0:33:25.840 --> 0:33:27.840 down when you're talking to somebody who's been through it. 0:33:27.880 --> 0:33:30.160 And you could liken this to cancer, you could liken 0:33:30.200 --> 0:33:32.760 this to so many terrible diseases. Right when you're in 0:33:32.800 --> 0:33:36.280 front of somebody who knows right, there's almost there's a 0:33:36.320 --> 0:33:38.240 defense that you can let down because even though you 0:33:38.280 --> 0:33:41.160 say there's nothing I can say, Sam, I would say 0:33:41.200 --> 0:33:43.480 to you like, you know, like we don't need to 0:33:43.520 --> 0:33:45.960 say anything. Just look at in your eyes. You know 0:33:46.320 --> 0:33:50.080 what it's like firsthand. We know what it's like firsthand. 0:33:50.240 --> 0:33:53.000 And so your comfort in your words to somebody they 0:33:53.000 --> 0:33:56.400 do speak volumes and your work that your organization does 0:33:56.640 --> 0:33:59.680 is incredible and for you to come onto the stream 0:33:59.680 --> 0:34:01.280 today it really does mean. 0:34:01.120 --> 0:34:01.719 A lot to us. 0:34:01.760 --> 0:34:03.000 We really appreciate it. 0:34:03.120 --> 0:34:06.600 And last thing for me, Sam, And after your dad 0:34:06.720 --> 0:34:10.480 was diagnosed. Were you did you become even more curious 0:34:10.480 --> 0:34:16.720 about who lou Garrig was and what happened to him. 0:34:16.800 --> 0:34:20.600 Yeah, definitely, you know, whenever I found out it was 0:34:20.640 --> 0:34:25.480 also referred to as Luke Gregg's des Obviously, being in baseball, 0:34:25.760 --> 0:34:30.000 I'm aware of the greatness that is Luke Geregg and 0:34:30.040 --> 0:34:32.840 how amazing he was and what a great duty was 0:34:32.920 --> 0:34:35.839 as well. But yeah, it made me a little bit 0:34:35.840 --> 0:34:39.360 more interested in over the years kind of learning a 0:34:39.360 --> 0:34:42.360 little bit more about him and the way he handled 0:34:42.400 --> 0:34:46.120 it is just like kind of eye opening. He's such 0:34:46.160 --> 0:34:51.640 an incredible man, and you know he's gone too soon, 0:34:51.719 --> 0:34:54.759 but an incredible man. Incredible baseball players. 0:34:55.239 --> 0:34:59.080 One player we had join us live was Aaron Nola 0:34:59.120 --> 0:35:02.400 of Philadelphia, phil He's starting pitcher. His uncle passed away 0:35:02.480 --> 0:35:05.120 from als and he was able to join us. It 0:35:05.160 --> 0:35:07.920 was an off day for him, thankfully, so he had 0:35:07.920 --> 0:35:10.200 the chance to swing by where we were live streaming, 0:35:10.280 --> 0:35:13.680 and I think it's really amazing what he thinks the 0:35:13.719 --> 0:35:15.640 purpose of a baseball player. 0:35:15.520 --> 0:35:18.160 When it comes to off the field should. 0:35:17.880 --> 0:35:20.799 Be take a listen, all right, Aaron. So we're obviously 0:35:20.840 --> 0:35:24.239 here on lou garreg Day and just tell us what 0:35:24.320 --> 0:35:28.759 it's like having lost an uncle to ALS. What it's 0:35:28.840 --> 0:35:32.080 like for you as a baseball player to play on 0:35:32.200 --> 0:35:35.719 lou garreg Day with your uncle fast in your mind. 0:35:35.760 --> 0:35:36.480 Yeah, it's tough. 0:35:36.560 --> 0:35:39.000 I mean I kind of got into he got diagnosed 0:35:39.040 --> 0:35:42.359 in October twenty fifteen, and I really didn't know too 0:35:42.400 --> 0:35:45.719 much about ALS. I had a girl I went to 0:35:45.760 --> 0:35:49.680 high school with, or our sister school that I knew 0:35:49.840 --> 0:35:53.239 her dad had got diagnosed with ALS when I was 0:35:53.480 --> 0:35:55.560 early in high school. So I didn't really know too 0:35:55.640 --> 0:35:57.800 much about it. And then my uncle get in diagnosed 0:35:57.800 --> 0:35:59.759 in twenty fifteen, I started to learn about it a 0:36:00.000 --> 0:36:00.520 little bit more. 0:36:00.560 --> 0:36:02.600 And obviously it. 0:36:02.480 --> 0:36:07.279 Was my dad's sister who was married to him, so 0:36:07.680 --> 0:36:11.480 we were really close, and my dad's whole family's super close, 0:36:11.520 --> 0:36:15.160 so it was obviously hard for all our family and 0:36:15.440 --> 0:36:17.879 to be able to be with Philly and how much 0:36:17.920 --> 0:36:19.920 they do with ALS. Here, we got to meet a 0:36:19.920 --> 0:36:21.680 lot of them who have it, and they get were 0:36:21.719 --> 0:36:24.120 able to come in the clubhouse and talk to us, 0:36:24.120 --> 0:36:26.120 and we got to meet the ones that have had 0:36:26.160 --> 0:36:28.879 it for you know, a couple of months, the ones 0:36:28.920 --> 0:36:32.680 that it's only affected their arm for thirteen fourteen fifteen years, 0:36:32.719 --> 0:36:36.359 which is crazy because you really don't know how long 0:36:36.680 --> 0:36:38.799 or how quick it's going to affect the body, right, 0:36:38.920 --> 0:36:40.239 So I think that's one of. 0:36:40.239 --> 0:36:42.040 The hardest parts too. 0:36:42.680 --> 0:36:45.960 So my uncle had it for several years and he 0:36:46.040 --> 0:36:49.920 did good and you know, as best as he could. 0:36:50.520 --> 0:36:54.200 But the biggest thing that I saw in him and 0:36:54.920 --> 0:37:00.759 anybody who has the disease is their attitude was right. 0:37:00.920 --> 0:37:06.080 So the determination that they're gonna beat this illness is 0:37:06.600 --> 0:37:10.120 you know, second to none, and that's a common theme 0:37:10.239 --> 0:37:12.719 that I see. And all the ones that get diagnosed 0:37:12.760 --> 0:37:13.120 with it. 0:37:13.280 --> 0:37:15.879 Tell us more about Uncle Allan. What kind of guy 0:37:16.160 --> 0:37:16.560 was He? 0:37:17.600 --> 0:37:24.160 Very smart, did finances, very very smart, very nice, loved. 0:37:24.000 --> 0:37:25.240 His wife, loved his family. 0:37:27.520 --> 0:37:31.279 It was obviously tragic that he come down with it, 0:37:31.480 --> 0:37:34.359 and that's the hard part about als. You just don't 0:37:34.400 --> 0:37:36.319 know who's gonna come down with it, and to see 0:37:36.400 --> 0:37:38.800 him go through it, it. 0:37:38.360 --> 0:37:39.839 Sucks, right, But. 0:37:41.800 --> 0:37:44.239 He obviously handled it at Bessie he could, And it 0:37:44.360 --> 0:37:49.359 was hard for Maya Maree and his wife to deal 0:37:49.360 --> 0:37:51.200 with that because I can only imagine how hard it 0:37:51.239 --> 0:37:55.839 is to be able to, you know, have to deal 0:37:56.320 --> 0:37:59.680 with that as it goes. As the disease gets so worse, right, 0:37:59.680 --> 0:38:02.560 it take over, the bioa took over his body, had 0:38:02.600 --> 0:38:08.840 to be in a wheelchair and obviously losing losing words 0:38:09.120 --> 0:38:12.520 that you have to get a monitor. But she she 0:38:12.640 --> 0:38:14.680 is a rock star. She still is. 0:38:15.760 --> 0:38:16.480 But it is stuff. 0:38:17.320 --> 0:38:20.279 I think the attitude that you brought up that a 0:38:20.280 --> 0:38:23.920 lot of ALS patients have, you're spot on it. I mean, 0:38:23.960 --> 0:38:27.960 my uncle so resilient, and you know, you look at 0:38:28.000 --> 0:38:29.919 these you look at your uncle, you look at my uncle, 0:38:29.920 --> 0:38:32.160 you look at these other patients, and you think to yourself, 0:38:32.560 --> 0:38:35.560 I don't think I would have that within me. But 0:38:35.680 --> 0:38:39.279 he always said, good pardon. He always said that, you know, 0:38:39.360 --> 0:38:41.000 this is going to be harder on you guys than 0:38:41.040 --> 0:38:43.720 it's going to be on us. And that always shocked 0:38:43.760 --> 0:38:46.920 me because we're not the ones with this debilitating disease. 0:38:47.239 --> 0:38:48.520 But he was always so. 0:38:50.200 --> 0:38:53.319 Conscious of how he's going to be strong throughout this. 0:38:53.400 --> 0:38:55.520 And it's amazing to hear that your uncle was that way. 0:38:55.560 --> 0:38:57.200 And I hear so many patients that are just. 0:38:57.200 --> 0:38:59.040 Yeah, but can't we take some away from that? I 0:38:59.160 --> 0:39:03.239 know of illness that doesn't have a cure, and were 0:39:03.239 --> 0:39:04.719 we go to our day to day life and we 0:39:04.760 --> 0:39:05.800 have a bad day or. 0:39:05.640 --> 0:39:07.400 For us a bad game that doesn't. 0:39:07.320 --> 0:39:09.279 I'm upset I stubbed my toe or only got five 0:39:09.320 --> 0:39:10.200 hours of sleep us. 0:39:11.000 --> 0:39:14.399 So, Aaron, when you do meet ALS patients and they 0:39:14.440 --> 0:39:17.600 do come into the clubhouse, I mean it connects you 0:39:17.840 --> 0:39:20.440 even more given what your uncle went thru. 0:39:20.640 --> 0:39:22.920 Absolutely, Yeah, because I have a family tied to it. 0:39:23.040 --> 0:39:26.839 I experienced them. My whole family experienced a loved one 0:39:26.880 --> 0:39:29.560 that had it, So we were around it. We know 0:39:30.440 --> 0:39:31.960 what it's like for them, we know what it's like 0:39:32.000 --> 0:39:35.440 for family members, for friends. So meeting them and their 0:39:35.440 --> 0:39:38.439 family members and their friends, I kind of understand it. 0:39:38.680 --> 0:39:38.799 Right. 0:39:39.200 --> 0:39:43.479 You're donating one thousand dollars for every strikeout this year. 0:39:44.080 --> 0:39:47.160 Tell us about the people who want to help, what 0:39:47.200 --> 0:39:49.799 they can do and where they can donate to help 0:39:50.000 --> 0:39:51.399 this cause through you. 0:39:51.840 --> 0:39:54.239 Yeah, So I do it through Bigly Impact. So I 0:39:54.280 --> 0:39:57.680 had never done this before. I obviously donated. I've done 0:39:57.719 --> 0:40:04.759 the ALS Room that chapter. I'm looking to get more 0:40:04.880 --> 0:40:08.080 nationwide with it than the Big Chapter this this year 0:40:08.080 --> 0:40:10.920 and coming years. So Kyle Gibson, when he was here 0:40:10.960 --> 0:40:14.440 in twenty twenty one, mentioned the Adam wagin Wright's Big 0:40:14.480 --> 0:40:17.880 League Impact Organization and what we could do. And I 0:40:17.920 --> 0:40:19.880 never really heard about it or knew about it. And 0:40:19.920 --> 0:40:23.239 he said he donated to a couple of charity of 0:40:23.280 --> 0:40:25.719 his from team wins and a. 0:40:25.719 --> 0:40:27.799 Strikeouts kind of do it. You can do whatever you want. 0:40:27.920 --> 0:40:30.799 So I just thought to myself, that's a really cool 0:40:30.800 --> 0:40:35.120 way to give back to them and to raise awareness 0:40:35.160 --> 0:40:37.439 to raise the money for that kind of stuff. So 0:40:38.080 --> 0:40:42.080 I started that in twenty twenty two doing that for 0:40:42.600 --> 0:40:43.600 LS as well, so. 0:40:45.640 --> 0:40:48.000 And up the money a little bit this year. 0:40:48.040 --> 0:40:49.880 So I just think it's a really cool way for 0:40:50.360 --> 0:40:52.440 you know, having for strikeaouts and for a team wins 0:40:52.880 --> 0:40:53.640 to raise. 0:40:53.360 --> 0:40:55.880 That when you punch you out eleven guys, do you 0:40:55.960 --> 0:40:59.839 ever stop yourself? Sure? I really help today. Not only 0:40:59.840 --> 0:41:01.759 do we win the game and I pitched really well, 0:41:01.800 --> 0:41:03.240 but I really helped a good gause. 0:41:03.320 --> 0:41:05.239 Yeah, I just think going back to. 0:41:07.000 --> 0:41:09.000 The days that they have compared to the days that 0:41:09.040 --> 0:41:12.560 we have, right, you know, yeah, eleven strike ten, eleven 0:41:12.560 --> 0:41:15.040 strike God day is good, But it doesn't really matter 0:41:15.360 --> 0:41:17.880 where does that? Where do I want to make more 0:41:17.920 --> 0:41:19.840 of an impact than there? I want it to be 0:41:20.000 --> 0:41:22.319 somewhere else or some other people in right, And so 0:41:22.840 --> 0:41:24.239 that's als for me. 0:41:24.320 --> 0:41:28.880 And I think that's more important for me to do 0:41:28.960 --> 0:41:29.920 that and for us to do that. 0:41:29.960 --> 0:41:33.560 We can use our platforms as baseball players to help 0:41:33.600 --> 0:41:34.040 other people. 0:41:34.680 --> 0:41:37.359 Thanks to Aaron Nola for taking some time to join 0:41:37.400 --> 0:41:39.840 our live stream. Back on lou Garrig Day, Brandon Crawford 0:41:39.880 --> 0:41:43.520 of the Saint Louis Cardinals formerly of the San Francisco Giants, 0:41:43.880 --> 0:41:45.440 he also joined us. You're going to hear a bit 0:41:45.480 --> 0:41:47.799 of that interview coming up, But right now we've got 0:41:47.840 --> 0:41:52.800 Mike Piscotti. His son is Stephen Piscotti, a professional baseball player, 0:41:53.200 --> 0:41:58.200 and Mike's wife. Steven's mom died of als, and there 0:41:58.400 --> 0:42:03.440 was quite an incredible thing that happened after Steven came 0:42:03.560 --> 0:42:09.399 back to the major leagues after his mom's succumb to als. Mike, 0:42:09.760 --> 0:42:13.799 there was such an inspiring moment that happened after the 0:42:13.880 --> 0:42:17.520 loss of your wife. When your son Stephen returned to 0:42:17.600 --> 0:42:22.120 Major League baseball, he hit perhaps not just the biggest 0:42:22.120 --> 0:42:24.160 home run of his career, but one of the biggest 0:42:24.160 --> 0:42:25.399 home runs in. 0:42:25.480 --> 0:42:28.359 History in the sense of what it stood for. 0:42:28.520 --> 0:42:30.920 He hit a home run his first game back after 0:42:31.000 --> 0:42:32.160 losing his mom. 0:42:32.280 --> 0:42:33.760 Can you take us back to that time? 0:42:35.560 --> 0:42:41.040 Yeah, you know, it was, you know, clearly one of 0:42:41.080 --> 0:42:43.120 those times seeming the scene you get back to work, 0:42:44.040 --> 0:42:46.680 you know, and so they they sent him back. He 0:42:46.880 --> 0:42:50.640 was on a playing to Boston and you know they 0:42:50.840 --> 0:42:54.280 were playing the Red Sox, and uh, we just expected 0:42:54.320 --> 0:42:57.200 to join the game kind of you knows, you know, 0:42:57.640 --> 0:43:01.000 emotionally drained a bit, and uh, you have the. 0:43:01.000 --> 0:43:02.960 Night off and maybe just playing the next day. And 0:43:03.280 --> 0:43:04.960 it turns out there was a bit of a rain 0:43:05.040 --> 0:43:10.120 delay in that game, and uh, Bob Meldoyne, We look 0:43:10.160 --> 0:43:12.440 at Stephen says, hey, well, you know, how about you playing? 0:43:12.880 --> 0:43:16.439 He said, well, okay, so in a game he didn't 0:43:16.440 --> 0:43:19.799 really expect to play. Bob just decided to put him 0:43:19.800 --> 0:43:20.520 in there and get him. 0:43:20.440 --> 0:43:23.000 Right back on the horse. And you know when he 0:43:23.200 --> 0:43:27.000 when he hit that ball, you know we're watching on 0:43:27.320 --> 0:43:31.920 the lives, right, and uh, it's just stune you right, 0:43:32.000 --> 0:43:36.600 I mean you're just sitting there amaze. What do you 0:43:36.640 --> 0:43:39.800 think you think maybe maybe there was a little extra 0:43:39.840 --> 0:43:40.520 help there, right. 0:43:40.960 --> 0:43:42.279 Uh we called it. 0:43:42.960 --> 0:43:45.440 We called it the Heavenly Homer. Right. And when you 0:43:45.520 --> 0:43:47.360 hit the ball and you don't hit it out of Boston, 0:43:48.120 --> 0:43:50.600 you know you could have hit it out of the park, right, 0:43:53.000 --> 0:43:56.960 it was fabulous that I did want to tell you. 0:43:56.960 --> 0:43:59.520 You know, that game was delayed. It was delayed five innings. 0:43:59.560 --> 0:44:02.840 And this gentleman in the game lay just from Detroit 0:44:03.000 --> 0:44:06.719 working for some software company. He comes to a game, right, 0:44:06.800 --> 0:44:10.520 he's standing in the garage. It costs from Fenway, and 0:44:10.560 --> 0:44:14.240 that ball as it leaves Fenway goes into the garage 0:44:14.280 --> 0:44:16.399 and is rolling around, and he picked up the ball 0:44:17.200 --> 0:44:19.640 and he had no idea about it. 0:44:19.719 --> 0:44:24.120 Next day he goes to work and he's doing a presentation. 0:44:24.320 --> 0:44:27.799 He leaves off the flight show with him in the ball, right, 0:44:28.120 --> 0:44:30.359 and the people go, you know what, that ball? 0:44:31.520 --> 0:44:35.399 Pretty cool story, right, Mike meant a. 0:44:35.360 --> 0:44:39.120 Lot, big moment, and you know it's something that's always 0:44:41.120 --> 0:44:44.319 still from a little bit further away. 0:44:44.600 --> 0:44:48.000 Right, Mike, as a former player yourself and a coach 0:44:48.280 --> 0:44:51.040 and the father of a major leaguer. I mean, that 0:44:51.200 --> 0:44:56.680 story is unbelievable. But stories like that or similar happen 0:44:56.760 --> 0:45:00.239 in baseball all the time. How can we explain, Lane, 0:45:00.760 --> 0:45:04.480 how the game allows amazing things like that to happen. 0:45:05.960 --> 0:45:08.840 Yeah, it's funny. We had a we had a fundraiser 0:45:08.960 --> 0:45:13.200 just recently out there. Jak Sell has gone through a 0:45:13.200 --> 0:45:16.520 similar experience when he thought one of his parents, I'm sorry, 0:45:16.520 --> 0:45:19.720 I don't remember his parents, I mean made his mom too, 0:45:20.320 --> 0:45:23.959 and it wasn't but one of the very first bets 0:45:24.000 --> 0:45:29.120 he comes back to the home run and it happens. 0:45:29.120 --> 0:45:31.920 Toby Morny, thank you. We opened our eyes and. 0:45:33.920 --> 0:45:36.240 Yeah, thanks about the experiences every. 0:45:36.040 --> 0:45:39.920 Going on our final of the live guests that joined 0:45:39.960 --> 0:45:43.480 us for the live stream of Saint Louis Cardinals, Brandon Crawford, 0:45:43.960 --> 0:45:47.759 and we also had Boog Shambi and Sarah Langs on 0:45:47.800 --> 0:45:50.080 the show. But you might have heard those during our 0:45:50.239 --> 0:45:54.000 bonus episode that we released this past Friday ahead of 0:45:54.080 --> 0:45:56.000 lou Garrey Day to help raise awareness. So if you 0:45:56.000 --> 0:45:58.359 miss those interviews, make sure to go back to our 0:45:58.400 --> 0:46:01.680 most recent episode, which was published this past Friday as 0:46:01.680 --> 0:46:04.880 a bonus episode. But Brandon Crawford, formerly of the San 0:46:04.920 --> 0:46:07.640 Francisco Giants where you might know him a little bit better, 0:46:07.960 --> 0:46:11.239 has a great connection actually with our last guests you 0:46:11.400 --> 0:46:15.000 just heard from and the entire Piscotti family. Let's hear 0:46:15.080 --> 0:46:16.120 from Brandon Crawford. 0:46:16.960 --> 0:46:21.480 We just got off the phone with Mike Piscotti and 0:46:21.040 --> 0:46:23.880 he made us laugh, but he made us cry. Also, 0:46:24.680 --> 0:46:30.000 explain your connection to ALS, especially through the Piscotti family. 0:46:31.120 --> 0:46:34.640 I mean, the Piscotti family is kind of the reason 0:46:34.680 --> 0:46:39.359 we got started in the you know, fundraising and trying 0:46:39.360 --> 0:46:45.440 to make some money for ALS research. So Steven and 0:46:45.680 --> 0:46:50.960 the Piscotti's are from Pleasanton, so am I and my 0:46:51.040 --> 0:46:53.000 dad had known them. I think through like maybe our 0:46:53.040 --> 0:46:55.600 sisters softball or something like that. There's some sort of 0:46:55.640 --> 0:47:01.680 connection where we got to know them. And when GRETCHENM. 0:47:01.680 --> 0:47:08.920 Piscotti got diagnosed, we we just we're interested in trying to, 0:47:09.800 --> 0:47:12.319 you know, make some money for for this research. And 0:47:13.440 --> 0:47:15.360 we had started doing a golf tournament I think a 0:47:15.360 --> 0:47:20.040 couple of years before that, and we decided to like 0:47:20.160 --> 0:47:23.960 kind of designate the golf tournament for for fundraising efforts 0:47:23.960 --> 0:47:25.440 for for ALS research. 0:47:25.640 --> 0:47:28.440 Right well after my brother was diagnosed, I got a 0:47:28.480 --> 0:47:31.040 call from Mike Piscotti, who I had never met in 0:47:31.120 --> 0:47:34.560 my life. I got a call from Mike Crawford, your father, 0:47:34.719 --> 0:47:37.520 who I had never met in my life. And this 0:47:37.600 --> 0:47:39.920 is what it's all about, isn't it, Brandon, that people 0:47:40.400 --> 0:47:43.840 recognize there's a connection here. I have to help. Is 0:47:43.880 --> 0:47:45.040 that how you see this? 0:47:45.480 --> 0:47:45.800 Yeah? 0:47:45.840 --> 0:47:49.680 Definitely, And I mean my dad is a big reason 0:47:49.760 --> 0:47:54.279 for this. For the Louke Eric Day I think he was. 0:47:54.480 --> 0:47:57.560 He was part of the committee to get this thing going. 0:47:57.680 --> 0:48:01.120 And it's just the people that you meet once you 0:48:01.160 --> 0:48:07.080 get into you know, any really any sort of fundraised 0:48:07.200 --> 0:48:10.719 fundraising effort. But it's it seems like there's so many 0:48:10.760 --> 0:48:14.839 connections in baseball with ALS, obviously Louke Gerrig being one 0:48:14.840 --> 0:48:18.080 of the big ones. But then you know, once we 0:48:19.160 --> 0:48:21.840 once we started making like trying to make money for 0:48:21.840 --> 0:48:24.439 for the research for ALS, we just met so many 0:48:24.480 --> 0:48:29.479 more people that have connections through baseball and just made 0:48:29.480 --> 0:48:32.279 some great relationships through that. So we've raised about nine 0:48:32.360 --> 0:48:38.400 hundred thousand dollars between those two, between those two groups, 0:48:38.520 --> 0:48:42.840 and so we're trying to we we don't have it 0:48:43.000 --> 0:48:45.279 like seven stone yet, but we're planning on doing a 0:48:45.280 --> 0:48:48.640 golf tournament in November to you know, get that get 0:48:48.680 --> 0:48:49.640 that number over a million. 0:48:49.760 --> 0:48:52.399 Yeah, you know, keep it wrong sounds great. 0:48:52.400 --> 0:48:53.920 Do you play golf left handed. 0:48:53.680 --> 0:48:54.920 Or right handed? Right handed? 0:48:55.040 --> 0:48:57.640 And that this is beautiful, Jeff, I've asked him and Evance, 0:48:57.800 --> 0:49:00.239 like John Grubb a million left good left in a 0:49:00.280 --> 0:49:03.040 hitter from the past, play right handed? Is it because 0:49:03.120 --> 0:49:05.680 it's a right handers game, it's hard to find left 0:49:05.680 --> 0:49:08.600 handed clubs. I mean, it's odd you're a left handed hitter, 0:49:08.680 --> 0:49:09.759 but you play golf right now? 0:49:09.800 --> 0:49:12.040 If that would be a my cropper question, because when 0:49:12.040 --> 0:49:15.279 I started playing golf when I was young, he gave 0:49:15.280 --> 0:49:17.000 me right handed clubs. I don't know if it was 0:49:17.120 --> 0:49:19.560 to not mess up my baseball slang or it was 0:49:19.640 --> 0:49:23.040 just way easier to find right handed clubs. But but yeah, 0:49:23.120 --> 0:49:26.160 since since I started playing as I was right handed 0:49:26.239 --> 0:49:31.560 and playing golf is a broad a broad term. 0:49:31.480 --> 0:49:34.600 Because I was gonna ask you, how do you perform 0:49:34.640 --> 0:49:35.840 at your own charity? 0:49:35.880 --> 0:49:39.680 Hit I hit the golf ball. We don't know where 0:49:39.680 --> 0:49:40.200 it's gonna go. 0:49:40.920 --> 0:49:44.719 It's a diabolically difficult game. Brandon, thank you so much 0:49:44.760 --> 0:49:47.400 for joining us today on such an important day in 0:49:47.480 --> 0:49:50.960 baseball history, Luke Gerrig Day. We can't thank you enough 0:49:51.000 --> 0:49:54.560 for bringing more awareness to this devastating disease. 0:49:54.880 --> 0:49:56.800 I'm happy to be part of it. So thank you, guys, 0:49:56.840 --> 0:49:57.160 Thank you. 0:49:57.239 --> 0:49:59.080 Thanks for going out of your he was texting, He's like, 0:49:59.120 --> 0:50:00.800 I'll jump ahead of the bus. 0:50:00.840 --> 0:50:02.200 I'll make sure i'm there early. 0:50:02.480 --> 0:50:03.839 So for going out of your way. 0:50:03.760 --> 0:50:06.440 To be here on a game day, especially We appreciate you. 0:50:06.480 --> 0:50:08.160 Good vibes, good vibes. 0:50:08.200 --> 0:50:09.840 Look at you, Dad, good VIBESU. 0:50:09.840 --> 0:50:12.000 That's like it, That's what we need, especially today. 0:50:12.080 --> 0:50:16.520 Yes, definitely, thank. 0:50:16.400 --> 0:50:18.359 You to all of our amazing guests who joined us 0:50:18.400 --> 0:50:20.560 at our livestream lou Garrick Show. If you want to 0:50:20.640 --> 0:50:22.480 check out the whole show, you can on our social 0:50:22.480 --> 0:50:25.680 media at Great Game or what. And I mean this 0:50:25.840 --> 0:50:28.239 kind of concludes Dad and wraps up at least for 0:50:28.320 --> 0:50:31.360 this season. We're always raising awareness for ALS, being that 0:50:31.400 --> 0:50:34.080 it affected our family so much, but for this season, 0:50:34.160 --> 0:50:37.240 it has wrapped up our kind of three episode weekend 0:50:37.360 --> 0:50:40.560 run for ALS. What was the takeaway for you throughout 0:50:40.600 --> 0:50:41.759 Luke Garrick Day, Well, it. 0:50:41.760 --> 0:50:45.400 Was just the stories that I heard. Sam Hilliard's story 0:50:45.440 --> 0:50:48.879 about his father being in the ballpark when he wasn't 0:50:48.920 --> 0:50:51.600 even allowed in a major league park in twenty twenty 0:50:51.880 --> 0:50:56.840 because of COVID, the Mike Piscatti story about his son Steven, 0:50:57.040 --> 0:51:00.840 who hit the home run, you know, four days after 0:51:00.880 --> 0:51:02.960 his mother died. I mean, these are the stories that 0:51:03.040 --> 0:51:05.319 I will never forget the rest of my life. And 0:51:05.360 --> 0:51:08.960 this is why baseball is the greatest game. It gives 0:51:09.000 --> 0:51:11.719 us the best stories. That when you hear them, you 0:51:11.760 --> 0:51:14.720 say to yourself, I know, I'll never forget that story 0:51:15.080 --> 0:51:16.000 as long as I live. 0:51:16.239 --> 0:51:19.960 Yeah, I think for me sitting down with Aaron Nola 0:51:20.239 --> 0:51:24.960 and seeing in his eyes how much he missed his uncle, 0:51:25.120 --> 0:51:28.240 and for me, you know, losing your brother, my uncle, 0:51:28.320 --> 0:51:31.200 I just I feel so connected with him, for lack 0:51:31.239 --> 0:51:34.799 of a better term. And he mentioned something that he 0:51:34.880 --> 0:51:38.040 noticed every time he talks to a patient who has als, 0:51:38.520 --> 0:51:43.200 their hope and strength and resilience is unbelievable. He says, 0:51:43.239 --> 0:51:46.320 their determination to beat it is something that he sees 0:51:46.400 --> 0:51:51.359 so commonly amongst these patients, and it really just it 0:51:51.400 --> 0:51:53.120 really just put a light bulb in my head to 0:51:53.160 --> 0:51:56.280 think about all the way back when lou Garrig retired 0:51:56.320 --> 0:51:58.600 and he said, I consider myself the luckiest man on 0:51:58.600 --> 0:52:01.200 the face of the earth. Had that resilience and strength, 0:52:01.480 --> 0:52:04.600 and even up until your brother, my uncle passed away, 0:52:04.680 --> 0:52:06.480 he had that strength and resilience. 0:52:06.560 --> 0:52:08.239 And it's a beautiful thing. 0:52:08.719 --> 0:52:12.200 I had such a great time putting these shows together, Dad, 0:52:12.280 --> 0:52:15.839 it was it was probably in honor of my life. 0:52:15.880 --> 0:52:17.920 And for as long as we do this podcast, I 0:52:17.960 --> 0:52:19.880 will remember these episodes forever. 0:52:20.120 --> 0:52:20.279 Well. 0:52:20.280 --> 0:52:22.200 Thank you Jeff, it was an honor and to honor 0:52:22.280 --> 0:52:23.759 to do it on Luke Gerrit Day. 0:52:23.960 --> 0:52:27.320 And thank you for listening as always, and we appreciate 0:52:27.400 --> 0:52:29.720 you and thank you for being a part of our family.