Speaker 1: Is this a great game or what another podcast? Tim
Speaker 1: and Jeff Kirkshin thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1: And we are recording this episode from Citizens Bank Park.
Speaker 2: So if you hear music or you hear.
Speaker 1: Background noise, we are at the ballpark. Lou garreg Day
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, we did a live stream show here
Speaker 1: on all of our social media's they still live there,
Speaker 1: so if you want to go see it on YouTube, Facebook,
Speaker 1: or Twitter, please.
Speaker 3: Go and do so.
Speaker 1: And lou Garrig Day has been such a great day
Speaker 1: because we're raising awareness for als and we talked to
Speaker 1: some incredible people.
Speaker 2: Right it was really important today Today. We spoke to
Speaker 2: Sam Hillier today who talked about his father who died
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one. We talked to Aaron Nola the
Speaker 2: Phillies who lost his uncle in twenty twenty one. We
Speaker 2: talked to Mike Piscotti who lost his wife in twenty eighteen,
Speaker 2: and we talked to Brandon Crawford, who's so close to
Speaker 2: the Piscatti family. And at the end of this episode,
Speaker 2: instead of having one long interview with one person, we're
Speaker 2: going to take the best of the interviews that we
Speaker 2: did today, all of it ALS related and it was
Speaker 2: just a wonderful day at the ballpark. And I really
Speaker 2: have to thank the Phillies because pregame they mentioned and
Speaker 2: honored my brother Matt. And that's ultimately, Jeff, why you
Speaker 2: and I are doing this. We lost Uncle Matt to
Speaker 2: ALS in September of twenty three, so it's been a
Speaker 2: really important, really emotional, really powerful day. But it was beautiful.
Speaker 1: Also during the live stream, we replayed the great interviews
Speaker 1: from Sarah Langs, who is an amazing mind in baseball,
Speaker 1: a statistician, and she is battling ALS. That's in our
Speaker 1: last episode of this podcast, a bonus episode that was
Speaker 1: released on Friday. And Boog Shambi, who has dedicated so
Speaker 1: much of his time in honor of his best friend
Speaker 1: Tim Sheehe, who passed away from ALS through the organization
Speaker 1: Project main Street. So if you want to go back
Speaker 1: and listen to those, you can. We've got a lot
Speaker 1: of great coming up. But let's talk while we're here
Speaker 1: for lu Geig Day. Let's talk about lou Gaig the player.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's the greatest first baseman of all time. Jeff,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure there's even a close second. If he
Speaker 2: hadn't gotten sick. Remember he died at age thirty seven.
Speaker 2: If he hadn't gotten sick, he would have retired as
Speaker 2: the all time RBI and run scored leader. He won
Speaker 2: an M two MVPs. He won a Triple Crown. He
Speaker 2: hit for the cycle twice Jeff four times. He had
Speaker 2: a two hundred hit forty homer season. The only active
Speaker 2: player who's ever done that even once is Ronald Lucuna
Speaker 2: last year. Of the top six RBI seasons in baseball history,
Speaker 2: he has three of them. He had more RBIs than
Speaker 2: games played five different times. He's the first American league
Speaker 2: player ever to hit four homers in a game, and
Speaker 2: they came consecutively. He hit twenty three grand slams, which
Speaker 2: was the major league record un till Alex Rodriguez broke it.
Speaker 2: He stole home fifteen times. But more important than any
Speaker 2: of this, Jeb is that he was the captain of
Speaker 2: the Yankees because he showed all of them this is
Speaker 2: how you play the game. Nobody personified the game being
Speaker 2: played more properly than Lou Garrett, and mainly because of
Speaker 2: his toughness and his durability. He played in two thousand
Speaker 2: one hundred and thirty consecutive games, which is unbelievable, and
Speaker 2: he was all about winning. The only player in Major
Speaker 2: League history that ever hit four hundred homers and his
Speaker 2: winning percentage in games he played was over six hundred
Speaker 2: was Lou Garrett four hundred and ninety three homers and
Speaker 2: a career winning percentage of six seventeen and one of
Speaker 2: the great nicknames ever, the Iron Horse that sums up
Speaker 2: everything we need to know about Lou Garrett.
Speaker 1: You can go to Great Game or what dot com
Speaker 1: to see all the resources we've talked about for ALS
Speaker 1: awareness and Luke Gerrig Day, And once again a big
Speaker 1: shout out to the Phillies for helping us do the show,
Speaker 1: the live stream from there and this show as well.
Speaker 1: But we have a podcast loaded up takeaways from this week.
Speaker 2: In Major League Baseball. Well, given it's lou Gerrig Day
Speaker 2: that we're still talking about, you have to go to
Speaker 2: Aaron Judge first because he's doing stuff that Lou Garrig
Speaker 2: did back in the thirties. So Judge had twenty six
Speaker 2: extra base hits in May. The only Yanchores ever to
Speaker 2: have more in any month was Joe Demaggio nineteen thirty
Speaker 2: seven and lou Gerrig of course, in nineteen thirty Aaron
Speaker 2: Judge had fourteen homers and twelve doubles in the month
Speaker 2: of May. The only player ever that has had fourteen
Speaker 2: homers and twelve doubles in any month was Albert Bell
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety five. And going into Sunday, Judge had
Speaker 2: fifteen homers in his last twenty five games. And the
Speaker 2: lesson here, Jeffs. You know how many times he got
Speaker 2: asked in April, what's wrong with him? Is he ever
Speaker 2: going to come out of this slump? And then he
Speaker 2: has one of the best months we've ever seen. He
Speaker 2: will be the player of the month for May.
Speaker 1: I just want to add it was like right after
Speaker 1: his first career ejection, at this kind of do.
Speaker 3: You think there's maybe something subconscious or just beautiful?
Speaker 2: No, it's the beauty of baseball. It happens all the time,
Speaker 2: all right. He was the hottest player in baseball in
Speaker 2: the month of May. There were others who were close.
Speaker 2: Corey Seeger had an amazing month also. He went into
Speaker 2: Sunday with a fourteen game hitting streak, and he had
Speaker 2: eight homers in eight games. And with all the great
Speaker 2: shortstops we have. I still think he's the best shortstop
Speaker 2: in baseball, even though there are younger, maybe even more
Speaker 2: athletic guys. But Corey Seeger is amazing. And speaking of amazing,
Speaker 2: Luis Arrives, We've talked about him multiple times. He joins
Speaker 2: the Padres. He had four four hit games in the
Speaker 2: month of May. Even Tony Gwinn never had four four
Speaker 2: hit games in any month, and Tony Gwynn is mister
Speaker 2: Podre and should be. That's how good Luisa Rise has been.
Speaker 2: So he's now got eighteen four hit games in his career. Now,
Speaker 2: I know Reggie Jackson was a different player as a slugger.
Speaker 2: He struck out all the time. But Reggie had fifteen
Speaker 2: four hit games in his career. Arise he has eighteen.
Speaker 2: He's already got more than Carlton Fisk and Sammy Sosa
Speaker 2: and a bunch of other really good players. And by
Speaker 2: the way, Christian Yelich of the Brewers had his fifth
Speaker 2: five hit game last week. Wow. So, Edgar Martinez one
Speaker 2: of the greatest hitters I've ever seen, he never had
Speaker 2: a five hit game. Christian Yelich already has five of them.
Speaker 2: That amazes me. And the last thing I take away,
Speaker 2: and this is a dear to my heart, Jeff, we
Speaker 2: had two pitchers, Ranger Suarez, your wife Emily's favorite player,
Speaker 2: and Kevin Ginkle both got hit by line drives and
Speaker 2: had to come out of the game. I just want
Speaker 2: everyone to understand how dangerous this game is to play.
Speaker 2: And if anyone ever actually threw a pitch in a
Speaker 2: major league game and watched the ball whistle by them,
Speaker 2: they would never throw another pitch in a major league
Speaker 2: game for any reason. It is that dangerous. So every
Speaker 2: time I see a pitcher get hit with a line drive,
Speaker 2: reminds me of my favorite story that I've ever written
Speaker 2: in my life, The Fear of the Ball story. The
Speaker 2: hitters fear, the fielders fear fear, but the pitcher's fear
Speaker 2: also because that ball gets back.
Speaker 1: To you faster than you can throw it in and
Speaker 1: jokes aside, that's part of the reason why I couldn't
Speaker 1: keep playing the game. And honestly, the fear of the
Speaker 1: ball it runs, whether your kids in or in Major
Speaker 1: League baseball, it's a It's a real thing. I mean,
Speaker 1: look at Bryce Harper. Just the other day a ball
Speaker 1: got thrown kind of he said, I just didn't want
Speaker 1: to get in the face.
Speaker 3: Nothing's worse than getting hit in the face.
Speaker 2: Well, what right, And he's one of the toughest guys
Speaker 2: to play the game, right. But the difference is if
Speaker 2: Bryce Harper did get hit in the face, he would
Speaker 2: sit out and then he would come back and he
Speaker 2: would be great, where every other human being would say no, no, no,
Speaker 2: I'm not doing that anymore. So, So, Jeff, the game
Speaker 2: Changer of the Week is quite literally a game changer
Speaker 2: because we finally found a way to take the Negro
Speaker 2: league stats and incorporate them into the major league stats.
Speaker 2: This was a three year process. It was a seventeen
Speaker 2: person committee led by John Thorn, my friend who's the
Speaker 2: baseball historian for Major League Baseball. Nobody, and I mean
Speaker 2: nobody understands the history of the game better than John Thorn,
Speaker 2: and I had to chat with him about this. And
Speaker 2: what makes this all work is this was done accurately,
Speaker 2: Meaning if they looked at something and go, well, we
Speaker 2: can't tell if that's a double or a triple, or
Speaker 2: a walk or a strikeout, then they're not using it.
Speaker 2: They're only using what they could prove. And all those geniuses.
Speaker 2: And I mean this in the nicest way. At Seamheads
Speaker 2: and Retro Sheet and the Elive Sports Bureau, they put
Speaker 2: all those numbers together and now they matter. So now
Speaker 2: Josh Gibson is the all time batting average leader, ahead
Speaker 2: of Taycob at three seventy two. Josh Gibson now has
Speaker 2: a higher OPS than Babe Ruth, a higher slugging percentage
Speaker 2: career than Babe Ruth. And look, I'm okay with this
Speaker 2: because the Negro leagues has been left behind in so
Speaker 2: many ways, and now it really means something so much more.
Speaker 2: Now we know really how great Josh Gibson was. Not
Speaker 2: to mention so many others because we were able to
Speaker 2: prove it statistically.
Speaker 1: You know, I just have to say, because when that
Speaker 1: announcement came out and it went across social media, I
Speaker 1: saw one comment and I don't even know the guy,
Speaker 1: but he just wrote, well should my little league stats
Speaker 1: be put in there?
Speaker 2: Too?
Speaker 1: And I'm here to tell you, Mike or whatever your
Speaker 1: name was, you weren't good enough to play major league baseball.
Speaker 1: These guys in the Negro leagues, most of them, a
Speaker 1: lot of them, were good enough to play major league baseball.
Speaker 3: But they weren't allowed to.
Speaker 1: That's the difference, right, your stats from your eleven year
Speaker 1: old you game, They're not going to be put in
Speaker 1: there because you're not good enough to play major league baseball.
Speaker 2: And I step off by So people will say negro
Speaker 2: league players didn't play against major league players. Well, of
Speaker 2: course there's a flip side of that. Major league players
Speaker 2: didn't play against me legally. I am totally okay with this.
Speaker 2: And now when you ask me who's the greatest catcher
Speaker 2: of all time, it's always been Johnny Bench. I may
Speaker 2: have to go to Josh Gibson now that we've proved
Speaker 2: a bunch of things statistically.
Speaker 1: Truly is a game changer for the stats of the
Speaker 1: history of Major League baseball. You got any quirk gins
Speaker 1: for us this way?
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is why cork gins are so much fun
Speaker 2: to do. There's a guy named Jeremiah Estrada who pitches
Speaker 2: for the Podres. He's only twenty five years old. He's
Speaker 2: got a bright future, but he's banged around a little
Speaker 2: bit here and there, moved around. He recently struck out
Speaker 2: thirteen batters in a row. That is a major league record.
Speaker 2: Now again, he did it over three relief appearances, which
Speaker 2: is a little bit easier to pitch an inning here,
Speaker 2: another inning here, and then two innings here. But he
Speaker 2: still struck out thirteen consecutive batters. Now, what the beauty
Speaker 2: of baseball is that every great NBA record, you know
Speaker 2: how much I love basketball is held by Will Chamberlain,
Speaker 2: or Michael Jordan, Lebron James, and Steph Curry. Not so
Speaker 2: that maybe you haven't even heard of did something that
Speaker 2: Will Chamberlin never did. But Jeremiah Estrada did something that
Speaker 2: no one has ever done in baseball history. Although I
Speaker 2: must say Tom sever in his nineteen strikeout game, Hall
Speaker 2: of Famer Tom Seaver, he struck out ten in a row.
Speaker 2: He's a starting pitcher. He struck out the last ten
Speaker 2: batters of the game. Now, with all due respect, that's
Speaker 2: slightly more impressive to strike out the last ten of
Speaker 2: a complete game.
Speaker 1: Then he struck out every batter in the seventh, eighth,
Speaker 1: and ninth inning after pitching how many pitches he would
Speaker 1: think it would start that way?
Speaker 2: That was Tom sever all right. The Cardinals made an error.
Speaker 2: Defense is so good these days. Cardinals made an error
Speaker 2: in twelve straight games the last team to go twelve
Speaker 2: in a row, or the A's in twenty fifteen, they
Speaker 2: made an error in fifteen games in a row. Speaking
Speaker 2: of strikeouts, Paul skeens, who's going to be on the
Speaker 2: show every week because he's been on every week since
Speaker 2: the day he came up. He struck out nine batters
Speaker 2: on his twenty second birthday, so we looked this stuff up.
Speaker 2: So he has the most strikeouts on his birthday of
Speaker 2: any picture in the history of the Pirates and he's
Speaker 2: only made four starts in his life for the Pirates.
Speaker 2: He's also the youngest player ever to strike out nine
Speaker 2: batters on his birthday. The Elias helped me with that,
Speaker 2: as they should have also, Jeff, I'm amazed when anyone
Speaker 2: gets a hit anymore. The other day we had three
Speaker 2: pitchers taken no hitter into the sixth inning. Three so
Speaker 2: I looked up the last time three pitchers have taken
Speaker 2: a no hitter into the sixth inning on the same day.
Speaker 2: It's happened two other times this year. This is where
Speaker 2: we are now, Jeff. The pitching we see on a
Speaker 2: daily basis is absolutely breathtaking. The stuff is virtually unhittable.
Speaker 2: It's why the league's hitting two forty three guys took
Speaker 2: a no hitter into the sixth inning, and it's happened
Speaker 2: two other times this year. Shoe Hee Otani stole his base,
Speaker 2: very round number. So I looked up the most stolen
Speaker 2: bases in a career for a pitcher, and now, granted,
Speaker 2: not all one hundred came as a pitcher, because it's
Speaker 2: the DH now and he was a D. He stole
Speaker 2: most of them as a D eight not the point
Speaker 2: wild Bill Donovan since nineteen hundred has the most deals
Speaker 2: ever for a pitcher career with thirty four. The only
Speaker 2: players who have ever made fifty starts in their careers
Speaker 2: and stolen one hundred bases or someone named Joe Rogan
Speaker 2: didn't know that? Is that a talk show name?
Speaker 4: Joe?
Speaker 1: Yeah, this podcast is just a little bit bigger than ours,
Speaker 1: only a little bit.
Speaker 2: So it's Joe Rogan, it is sho Hey Otani, and
Speaker 2: of course it's Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth stole one hundred
Speaker 2: and twenty three bases. So if I hear one more
Speaker 2: time that he was some big, fat, unathletic guy, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna scream, because Babe Ruth could run one hundred and
Speaker 2: thirty six triples, one hundred and twenty three stolen bases,
Speaker 2: and the last thing, Jeff, and again, I just love
Speaker 2: names in the box score. As you know, the Blue
Speaker 2: Jays have really really struggled scoring runs this year, and
Speaker 2: the last two pictures they used the other day in
Speaker 2: an eight to one loss to the Pirates was little pop,
Speaker 2: so little pop or the last two guys. And that's
Speaker 2: unfortunately where the Blue Jays are right now. They have
Speaker 2: very little pop.
Speaker 1: I just want to thank all of our great, great
Speaker 1: entries for qurictions at Great Game or what dot com.
Speaker 3: People send them all the time.
Speaker 1: But I have to apologize because we are on location
Speaker 1: as you might be able to hear a little different.
Speaker 1: I don't have my list, so I'm gonna gather you
Speaker 1: have my word to everybody who sends those questions, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna gather some of the best ones for next
Speaker 1: week's episode, because I feel like some people hear the
Speaker 1: quotions to say, maybe they're gonna read mine right as
Speaker 1: we've read them in the past.
Speaker 2: I encourage people to send it in. I love these things.
Speaker 2: It's what separates baseball from the other sports.
Speaker 3: Great Game or what dot com.
Speaker 1: You can scroll down there's an entry form, or you
Speaker 1: can always hit us up on social media. Our social
Speaker 1: media manager Madi Away, he sends us over to me
Speaker 1: as well, great game or what wherever.
Speaker 3: You do social media.
Speaker 2: So this date in baseball history Jeff again a regular
Speaker 2: feature on our podcast. Nineteen sixty four. Sandy Kofax through
Speaker 2: his third of what would be four no hitters. I
Speaker 2: want to ask Frank Robinson, one of my dear, dear friends.
Speaker 2: I asked him. I said, how'd you do against Bob Gibson?
Speaker 2: And Frank said, oh, I hit him good. I said,
Speaker 2: how'd you do against Juan Marisha? Oh I hit him good.
Speaker 2: I said how'd you do against Don drysdaleas oh I
Speaker 2: hit him good. I said how'd you do against Sandy Kofax?
Speaker 2: And he went, oh, nobody could hit that man. That's
Speaker 2: when I knew how great Sandy Kofax was also happy
Speaker 2: sixty seventh birthday today to Tony Payne, former catcher and
Speaker 2: Tony Payne was a really good player and a really
Speaker 2: good defensive catcher. But he holds the distinction of the
Speaker 2: most games caught in Major League history nineteen hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty without ever catching a no hitter. You know, Jeff
Speaker 2: Torborg is caught four, I think, and there are other
Speaker 2: guys who caught multiple no hitter three four no hitters,
Speaker 2: Tony Payne in nineteen hundred and fifty and never calling.
Speaker 2: Darren Erstat is his fiftieth birthday today. Darren Erstaut of
Speaker 2: the Angels had two hundred and forty hits in the
Speaker 2: year two thousand. He was also a punter at the
Speaker 2: University of Nebraska. So I went to him once and
Speaker 2: I was doing something on football players and who played baseball,
Speaker 2: and I said, well, you and Kirk Gibson, all right.
Speaker 2: Kirk Gibson, of course, was wide receiver All American at
Speaker 2: Michigan State. And Darren Erstat yelled at me, don't you
Speaker 2: ever compare me to Kirk Gibson. That guy was an
Speaker 2: All American wide receiver. I was a punter. And to
Speaker 2: me that was just beautiful, how much respect he had
Speaker 2: for someone who got hit on every single play like
Speaker 2: Kirk Gibson did. And last thing a sad thing. But
Speaker 2: Don Zimmer, my dear friend Don Zimmer, former Major leaguer,
Speaker 2: former Major league manager, coach, and a guy that taught
Speaker 2: me so much about the game. He died ten years
Speaker 2: ago today, and Zim had one of the great moments,
Speaker 2: one of the great epiphanies in my life. I was
Speaker 2: covering the eighty two Rangers. I'm like fourteen years old.
Speaker 2: I don't even know what I'm doing yet, but I
Speaker 2: love baseball and it's all I've ever wanted to do.
Speaker 2: But the Rangers, managed by Don Zimmer, were awful. So
Speaker 2: I stagger into his office in the middle of May.
Speaker 2: The team had lost ten games in a row, and
Speaker 2: Zim looks at me and he goes, what's wrong with you?
Speaker 2: I said, Zim, Well, I gotta tell you I'm not
Speaker 2: having as much fun covering this team as I thought
Speaker 2: I would. And he looks at me and he goes,
Speaker 2: I quit complaining, and I'm quoting here. He says, look
Speaker 2: at you. You're young, you're good looking, you got your
Speaker 2: whole life in front of you. He said, look at me.
Speaker 2: I'm old, I'm fat, I'm bald, I'm ugly. You got
Speaker 2: a plate in my head and I've got this team
Speaker 2: to manage. I'm the one with all the worries. You
Speaker 2: should be feel fortunate every day of your life that
Speaker 2: you are covering major League Baseball. And from that moment on,
Speaker 2: even though I thoroughly appreciated where I was before, then
Speaker 2: when Zim yelled at me and said quit complaining and
Speaker 2: cover the sport, that was a real turnaround for me.
Speaker 3: What year was at age? You said, eighty two?
Speaker 2: Eighty two.
Speaker 1: So fast forward twenty two years later I met Don Zimmer.
Speaker 1: You remember you remember the story of course at Park
Speaker 1: my first ever time seeing the Boston Red Sox.
Speaker 3: It was two thousand and.
Speaker 1: Four and he was was he managing the race, He
Speaker 1: was a co coach of the race. And we walked
Speaker 1: by the dugout and I had the opportunity to say,
Speaker 1: playball on the field. It was the coolest thing as
Speaker 1: a little eleven year old on my birthday.
Speaker 3: And there's a photo.
Speaker 2: I have it at home.
Speaker 1: I have it at home too, and you are I
Speaker 1: can hear your laughter in a photo because he has
Speaker 1: his hat off and he's probably making a joke about
Speaker 1: his head and his head made it into a title
Speaker 1: of your book, right right right.
Speaker 2: They put his head on a quarter. It was called
Speaker 2: a zim headcore. So instead of being like like a president,
Speaker 2: it adds Zibb's head on there. It was just it
Speaker 2: was just prices. We love him.
Speaker 1: Here we go, it's in the cards. We're going to
Speaker 1: open up a pat. Well, we didn't open it this
Speaker 1: time because we're on location. We're on location, all right,
Speaker 1: First card here, Chicago Cubs.
Speaker 2: Who we got that. That's Nico Horner. Really smart guy,
Speaker 2: baseball IQ off the charts with Brian Butterfield was a
Speaker 2: coach there with the Cubs. He whispered to me one day,
Speaker 2: he said, I think they're going to fire me after
Speaker 2: the season, but he said, and I won't be happy
Speaker 2: about that, but I will be happy to know that
Speaker 2: I worked with Nico Horner of the Cubs. That's how
Speaker 2: much an influence a young player on he made on
Speaker 2: him because of his understanding of how to play the game.
Speaker 2: We have guys who overpower the sports jet with their
Speaker 2: physical gifts. That kid can do that, but he also
Speaker 2: really knows how to play.
Speaker 3: Here's Jordan Romano of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 2: So, Jordan Romano is Canadian. So I always call him
Speaker 2: Jordan Romano because that's how we would say it in
Speaker 2: our country. But in Canada they pronounced Jordan Romano, so
Speaker 2: he pronounces his name Jordan Romano and everyone who does
Speaker 2: the team broadcasters call him Jordan Romano because he said,
Speaker 2: that's how you pronounce my name. So I'm gonna call
Speaker 2: him Jordan Romano from now on me too.
Speaker 1: I mean I was a little nervous. I was pronouncing
Speaker 1: it wrong in the first place. Here we go, next
Speaker 1: step for the Detroit Tiger Tigers. Eduardo Rodriguez, right, well,
Speaker 1: that's an old baseball card.
Speaker 2: He is now with the Diamondbacks. He is injured, he's
Speaker 2: coming back. I'll never forget the story that Alex Cora
Speaker 2: told me when and when e Rod as they call him,
Speaker 2: was on the Red Sox and they had a great
Speaker 2: thing going in twenty eighteen. They won the World Series
Speaker 2: that year, and they're getting towards the end of spring
Speaker 2: training they're going to open on the road, and Eduardo
Speaker 2: Rodriguez says, I want to take the whole team out
Speaker 2: for dinner, everyone like, including clubhouse kids, everyone. That's how
Speaker 2: much team building meant to him. Then he got the
Speaker 2: bill and Alex Cora had to step in and say, look, Rod,
Speaker 2: I know you want to pay for this whole thing,
Speaker 2: but you could pay for some, but you're not doing
Speaker 2: all of it. That was a great team building thing
Speaker 2: by Ira.
Speaker 1: You know, I worked for the Frederick Keyes, the then
Speaker 1: Class A Low A team for the Baltimore Orioles, and
Speaker 1: he was on the team the summer.
Speaker 2: I covered him, right, And that's those were the years
Speaker 2: that you were like running as what a sausage or
Speaker 2: a sauce packet.
Speaker 1: Pack You were the sausages. I was the Taco Bell
Speaker 1: mild sauce packet. That this is what we debase ourselves.
Speaker 1: That's kirkcheins for Okay, so we've got we've got a
Speaker 1: Boog here, not our buddy Boog is Boog Powell, right,
Speaker 1: we got Boo Boog's on the show.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 2: Boog Powell is one of my favorite players growing up
Speaker 2: watching him. He won the MVP in nineteen seventy in
Speaker 2: the American League. Earl Weaver told me that Boog weighed
Speaker 2: three hundred pounds the year he won the MVP. Boog
Speaker 2: was an enormous man. But for as big as he was,
Speaker 2: he had great hands and great feet. And of course
Speaker 2: he runs Boog's Barbecue right now at Camden Yards. It's
Speaker 2: the greatest barbecue in the American League. And I was
Speaker 2: always told that after games Boog would go back to
Speaker 2: his house in Baltimore playing for the Orioles, and he
Speaker 2: would fire up the grill at one o'clock in the
Speaker 2: morning and go out there and grill steaks and chicken
Speaker 2: and hamburger is a drink beer until like four o'clock
Speaker 2: in the morning, and people would come over and join him.
Speaker 2: The first basement for.
Speaker 1: The Orioles, that's amazing. And last but not LEAs Heraldo Perdomo.
Speaker 2: He's the shortstop for the Diamondbacks who made it to
Speaker 2: the World Series last year, and he hit ninth in
Speaker 2: the order, and not many people know how good a
Speaker 2: player is, but Tory Lavello, their manager, told me this year,
Speaker 2: we funneled everything, all the signs, everything we do defensively
Speaker 2: through Horado Perdomo. So when you look at the struggles
Speaker 2: they've had this year and you say, how can they
Speaker 2: miss their nine hitter that much? Not only was he
Speaker 2: a really good nine hitter, but he ran the infield
Speaker 2: and that is incredibly important on a major league team.
Speaker 1: So it's in the cards now. We actually go through
Speaker 1: all of the cards live on the show. Oh, meaning
Speaker 1: like you can actually see them now. I know, if
Speaker 1: you're listening to the podcast, then you can't see but
Speaker 1: if you go onto YouTube then you most definitely can
Speaker 1: see them. Now today our show is being recorded from
Speaker 1: Citizens Bank Park, which is so cool. But you texted
Speaker 1: me on your way to the park saying, Jeff, I've
Speaker 1: got a team I want to put together for the
Speaker 1: best of all tim This team is all of the
Speaker 1: greatest number fours in celebration of the greatest number four,
Speaker 1: Lou Garet, right, because once you get.
Speaker 2: You know, I know every from one to fifty five,
Speaker 2: I know the greatest player of all time for each
Speaker 2: uniform number, at least in my opinion, I call it
Speaker 2: from Ozzy like Ozzie Smith to Oral Oral Herscheizer one
Speaker 2: to fifty five. So you get to four and you
Speaker 2: just give up because it's Lou Garrett. There is no
Speaker 2: close second. So that's the end of the competition. But
Speaker 2: I knew there were a bunch of guys who wore
Speaker 2: number four who aren't on the list, so I made
Speaker 2: up a team.
Speaker 3: Well, I just have one question.
Speaker 1: As a man who's been married just over two years,
Speaker 1: my wife will get mad at me because I remember
Speaker 1: the the iron shot I had on the seventh hole,
Speaker 1: but I forgot to take out the trash. Does my mom,
Speaker 1: your wife ever get mad that you remember these things?
Speaker 1: But sometimes she slip up as a as a partner
Speaker 1: and a husband.
Speaker 2: Does she ever get mad? Is what you're asking me.
Speaker 2: But married forty years, we go to a party and
Speaker 2: I come home and I've had the most ridiculously pointless
Speaker 2: conversation with half the people there, and then she says, uh,
Speaker 2: what'd you think of the chandelier in the living room?
Speaker 2: You know? And I don't even remember what the living
Speaker 2: room looks like, let alone the chandelier. So yes, it's
Speaker 2: selective retention, Jeff. You retain what you're interested in. And
Speaker 2: I'm interested in uniform numbers and I always have been.
Speaker 1: Or the best thing is is mom will be like,
Speaker 1: how's how's his mom doing? Talking about the person you
Speaker 1: talk to for an hour. Oh we didn't ask how's
Speaker 1: his wife?
Speaker 2: We don't know. We just talked about the eighty six
Speaker 2: orioles or what right. Unfortunately for men, that's how it works.
Speaker 2: All right, Oh, let's go to your list. So Yati
Speaker 2: or Maline is the catcher, he's going to be a
Speaker 2: future Hall of Fame or wearing number four. Luke Gerreic
Speaker 2: is the greatest number four of all time. Bobby Gritch
Speaker 2: is the best second BA baseman for me, he's a
Speaker 2: borderline Hall of Famer. If you asked me should he
Speaker 2: be in, the answer would be yes. Paul Molitor, who
Speaker 2: began his career as a third baseman, he's my third baseman.
Speaker 2: And to leave Carney Lanceford out, Believe me, that was
Speaker 2: not easy. I had to put two shortstops on because
Speaker 2: I couldn't pick between Joe Cronin and Luke Applin because
Speaker 2: they're both Hall of famers. The entire outfield are Hall
Speaker 2: of famers wearing number four, Melott, Duke Snyder, and Ralph Kiner,
Speaker 2: and it's really hard to find a number four who pitched. Okay,
Speaker 2: Kyle Drebek pitched for four years wearing number four, but
Speaker 2: he wasn't great. Blake Snell won two Cy Young Awards
Speaker 2: wearing number four. And my favorite part because I had
Speaker 2: come up with the team, but I said, well, I
Speaker 2: need a manager of what's the first thing in came
Speaker 2: to my Earl Weaver, my favorite manager of all time
Speaker 2: ward number four. So now I've got an entire lineup
Speaker 2: and a manager to wear. Lou Garrick's number League in lid's.
Speaker 1: We put all the major League Baseball teams in a
Speaker 1: lid here and it.
Speaker 3: Has every major league team on it.
Speaker 2: Very cool is And today the New York Mets, oh boy,
Speaker 2: bad bad timing. The poor Mets. They lost four games
Speaker 2: in May that they led into the ninth inning, four
Speaker 2: in one month. Most teams won't lose four of those
Speaker 2: in one year. They did in one month. That's why
Speaker 2: they're in a lot of trouble. But the good thing
Speaker 2: happened is on Saturday they retired Darryl Strawberry's number eighteen.
Speaker 2: And even though Darryl Strawberry got himself in his own trouble,
Speaker 2: he should be in the Hall of Fame. He was
Speaker 2: an amazing player, especially as a young player, and he
Speaker 2: definitely belongs in the New York Mets Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: He won four rings as a baseball player. One of
Speaker 2: the greatest power hitters I've ever seen. It's still amazing
Speaker 2: me though after all these years, Jeff, the Mets have
Speaker 2: never had an MVP. In all their years nineteen sixty
Speaker 2: two on, they've never had a player win the MVP,
Speaker 2: and Strawberry probably should have came really close a couple
Speaker 2: times to win, but even he didn't.
Speaker 1: So in a minute, you're gonna hear some of the
Speaker 1: best moments of our interviews from our Lou Garrig Day
Speaker 1: live stream, because we wanted to make sure if you're
Speaker 1: listening on the podcast, you didn't have a chance to
Speaker 1: catch the stream. It's still living on our social media
Speaker 1: you can check it, but we wanted you to get it.
Speaker 3: On the podcast feed as well.
Speaker 1: But before we get to those best moments, and there
Speaker 1: were quite a few incredible ones, I want another story
Speaker 1: from you about Uncle Matt.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm going to try to do this without weeping.
Speaker 2: But Uncle Matt was a great college baseball player and
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one he was diagnosed with ALS, and
Speaker 2: in October that year, he was asked by Ross Natoli,
Speaker 2: the baseball coach at Catholic University, to throw out the
Speaker 2: first pitch at the only fall date of the season,
Speaker 2: a doubleheader at Mount Saint Mary's. The Matt, because of
Speaker 2: his als, could barely grip a baseball, but he relearned
Speaker 2: how to throw a baseball and he went out there
Speaker 2: that day and before he went to the mound, they
Speaker 2: gave him a Catholic University jersey with M. Kirchin two
Speaker 2: his number on the back, and he went to the
Speaker 2: mound and threw an athletic strike. He turned to his
Speaker 2: right and his immediate family to children others. We were
Speaker 2: all wearing M. Kirkchin two jerseys. And then he looked
Speaker 2: further to his right and all forty seven players on
Speaker 2: the Catholic University team or wearing M. Kirkchin jerseys with
Speaker 2: number two on the back. And of course they went
Speaker 2: out there and swept a double header that day. Later
Speaker 2: on that year, I threw out the first ball at
Speaker 2: a Nationals game, and Matt, who could barely put a
Speaker 2: glove on his hand, somehow figured out how to do
Speaker 2: that because his hand no longer work, and he caught
Speaker 2: the first pitch from me. It was just unbelievable how
Speaker 2: an als patient could do that. And because of all
Speaker 2: of this, Catholic University, led by Ross Natoli, named an award,
Speaker 2: the Matt Kirchin Ultimate Teammate Award after my brother, and
Speaker 2: that hangs in our house and it hangs at Catholic University.
Speaker 2: And this is the kicker to it all. Joe at
Speaker 2: York Pennsylvania this year, Kathy Ugh is in a playoff game,
Speaker 2: and it's a really big game, and they're down seven
Speaker 2: to nothing, they're down eight to three, they're down nine
Speaker 2: to six in the bottom of the ninth inna and
Speaker 2: they come back to win the game. And the two
Speaker 2: biggest stars, the first one was Zach Burton, who is
Speaker 2: the first winner of the Matt Kirchin Ultimate Teammate Award.
Speaker 2: He was the first hero. The second hero was Justin
Speaker 2: McCarthy who drove in two runs to win the game.
Speaker 2: And Justin McCarthy wore number two, my brother's number, and
Speaker 2: Ross sent me a text and said, Matt is still
Speaker 2: with us. He was with us us today. How great
Speaker 2: is that?
Speaker 3: Amazing?
Speaker 1: We're so excited to bring in multiple guests today. This
Speaker 1: is not the first time we've done this. We did
Speaker 1: this for our Mother's Day show. We brought in two
Speaker 1: great guests with amazing moms. But today we're going to
Speaker 1: bring in the guests we talked to at lou Garrig Day.
Speaker 1: Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies, Brandon Crawford of San
Speaker 1: Francisco Giants now Saint Louis Cardinals, and Sam Hilliard is
Speaker 1: going to be joining us. Mike Piscotti is going to
Speaker 1: be joining us. All of these moments are are kind
Speaker 1: of our highlights, I guess from our live stream show
Speaker 1: that we did this past week, right.
Speaker 2: And they will make you laugh and they will make
Speaker 2: you cry. These were powerful moments from people who have
Speaker 2: experienced ALS firsthand. It's well worth a listen.
Speaker 1: So today, in our interview portion of the episode, we
Speaker 1: have a lot of interviews to go back and forth between,
Speaker 1: so I thought to make it easier for you and
Speaker 1: so you can get the most out of each one,
Speaker 1: I would kind of take us between each and every interview.
Speaker 1: So Sam Hilliard was the first one we spoke to
Speaker 1: on our live ALS Lu Garrig Day show, and he's
Speaker 1: a professional baseball player in the Rockies system and his
Speaker 1: dad passed away from ALS and he had some incredible
Speaker 1: stories to tell.
Speaker 2: Sam, you and your dad grew up watching games in
Speaker 2: Texas because that's where you lived, and then you came
Speaker 2: back with the Rockies and played a game in Texas
Speaker 2: and he saw you. What was that night like for you?
Speaker 6: Yeah, that night was incredible. You can't talk about that
Speaker 6: night without talking about how amazing the Rangers organization was
Speaker 6: for doing that. During the COVID year, nobody was supposed
Speaker 6: to be in the state. Um, you know, at that
Speaker 6: point the disease is progressing. We didn't know how much time,
Speaker 6: you know, he had left, and they were like, yeah,
Speaker 6: since you guys live in the area, they can come
Speaker 6: and watch you play. It was opening day actually, twenty twenty,
Speaker 6: so my dad and my mom and my fiance at
Speaker 6: the time, you know, my wife were the only stands
Speaker 6: in the stadium and just looking up there and seeing
Speaker 6: my dad up there in his chair watching. He's usually
Speaker 6: the dad that like paces around the stadium, goes and
Speaker 6: stands in the outfield. I can't get still, so I
Speaker 6: know it was probably killing him in that aspect, but
Speaker 6: it was really cool. I think I struck out four
Speaker 6: times that day, which is a sidelt.
Speaker 2: But we don't need to talk about that, Sam, Sam.
Speaker 2: When you meet someone, anyone that comes up to you
Speaker 2: for the first time and says a family member has als,
Speaker 2: what is your message? Your first immediate message to that person.
Speaker 6: Probably give him a hug man, you know, just say
Speaker 6: I'm sorry and we're in this together, because I know
Speaker 6: that's kind of what you're going through. And they're all different, right,
Speaker 6: everyone progresses at different speed. Everyone has a different journey,
Speaker 6: but I just want to tell them like, hey, I'm sorry,
Speaker 6: there's nothing I can say to help you. Just know
Speaker 6: that I'm here for you. Give them a hug, I'm
Speaker 6: praying for you, and hang in their type of message,
Speaker 6: you know, something like that.
Speaker 1: There's such relief though, Sam, And I'm sure you feel
Speaker 1: this way too. There's almost like a barrier that's put
Speaker 1: down when you're talking to somebody who's been through it.
Speaker 1: And you could liken this to cancer, you could liken
Speaker 1: this to so many terrible diseases. Right when you're in
Speaker 1: front of somebody who knows right, there's almost there's a
Speaker 1: defense that you can let down because even though you
Speaker 1: say there's nothing I can say, Sam, I would say
Speaker 1: to you like, you know, like we don't need to
Speaker 1: say anything. Just look at in your eyes. You know
Speaker 1: what it's like firsthand. We know what it's like firsthand.
Speaker 1: And so your comfort in your words to somebody they
Speaker 1: do speak volumes and your work that your organization does
Speaker 1: is incredible and for you to come onto the stream
Speaker 1: today it really does mean.
Speaker 2: A lot to us.
Speaker 3: We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: And last thing for me, Sam, And after your dad
Speaker 2: was diagnosed. Were you did you become even more curious
Speaker 2: about who lou Garrig was and what happened to him.
Speaker 6: Yeah, definitely, you know, whenever I found out it was
Speaker 6: also referred to as Luke Gregg's des Obviously, being in baseball,
Speaker 6: I'm aware of the greatness that is Luke Geregg and
Speaker 6: how amazing he was and what a great duty was
Speaker 6: as well. But yeah, it made me a little bit
Speaker 6: more interested in over the years kind of learning a
Speaker 6: little bit more about him and the way he handled
Speaker 6: it is just like kind of eye opening. He's such
Speaker 6: an incredible man, and you know he's gone too soon,
Speaker 6: but an incredible man. Incredible baseball players.
Speaker 1: One player we had join us live was Aaron Nola
Speaker 1: of Philadelphia, phil He's starting pitcher. His uncle passed away
Speaker 1: from als and he was able to join us. It
Speaker 1: was an off day for him, thankfully, so he had
Speaker 1: the chance to swing by where we were live streaming,
Speaker 1: and I think it's really amazing what he thinks the
Speaker 1: purpose of a baseball player.
Speaker 3: When it comes to off the field should.
Speaker 2: Be take a listen, all right, Aaron. So we're obviously
Speaker 2: here on lou garreg Day and just tell us what
Speaker 2: it's like having lost an uncle to ALS. What it's
Speaker 2: like for you as a baseball player to play on
Speaker 2: lou garreg Day with your uncle fast in your mind.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's tough.
Speaker 8: I mean I kind of got into he got diagnosed
Speaker 8: in October twenty fifteen, and I really didn't know too
Speaker 8: much about ALS. I had a girl I went to
Speaker 8: high school with, or our sister school that I knew
Speaker 8: her dad had got diagnosed with ALS when I was
Speaker 8: early in high school. So I didn't really know too
Speaker 8: much about it. And then my uncle get in diagnosed
Speaker 8: in twenty fifteen, I started to learn about it a
Speaker 8: little bit more.
Speaker 7: And obviously it.
Speaker 8: Was my dad's sister who was married to him, so
Speaker 8: we were really close, and my dad's whole family's super close,
Speaker 8: so it was obviously hard for all our family and
Speaker 8: to be able to be with Philly and how much
Speaker 8: they do with ALS. Here, we got to meet a
Speaker 8: lot of them who have it, and they get were
Speaker 8: able to come in the clubhouse and talk to us,
Speaker 8: and we got to meet the ones that have had
Speaker 8: it for you know, a couple of months, the ones
Speaker 8: that it's only affected their arm for thirteen fourteen fifteen years,
Speaker 8: which is crazy because you really don't know how long
Speaker 8: or how quick it's going to affect the body, right,
Speaker 8: So I think that's one of.
Speaker 7: The hardest parts too.
Speaker 8: So my uncle had it for several years and he
Speaker 8: did good and you know, as best as he could.
Speaker 8: But the biggest thing that I saw in him and
Speaker 8: anybody who has the disease is their attitude was right.
Speaker 8: So the determination that they're gonna beat this illness is
Speaker 8: you know, second to none, and that's a common theme
Speaker 8: that I see. And all the ones that get diagnosed
Speaker 8: with it.
Speaker 2: Tell us more about Uncle Allan. What kind of guy
Speaker 2: was He?
Speaker 8: Very smart, did finances, very very smart, very nice, loved.
Speaker 7: His wife, loved his family.
Speaker 8: It was obviously tragic that he come down with it,
Speaker 8: and that's the hard part about als. You just don't
Speaker 8: know who's gonna come down with it, and to see
Speaker 8: him go through it, it.
Speaker 7: Sucks, right, But.
Speaker 8: He obviously handled it at Bessie he could, And it
Speaker 8: was hard for Maya Maree and his wife to deal
Speaker 8: with that because I can only imagine how hard it
Speaker 8: is to be able to, you know, have to deal
Speaker 8: with that as it goes. As the disease gets so worse, right,
Speaker 8: it take over, the bioa took over his body, had
Speaker 8: to be in a wheelchair and obviously losing losing words
Speaker 8: that you have to get a monitor. But she she
Speaker 8: is a rock star. She still is.
Speaker 7: But it is stuff.
Speaker 1: I think the attitude that you brought up that a
Speaker 1: lot of ALS patients have, you're spot on it. I mean,
Speaker 1: my uncle so resilient, and you know, you look at
Speaker 1: these you look at your uncle, you look at my uncle,
Speaker 1: you look at these other patients, and you think to yourself,
Speaker 1: I don't think I would have that within me. But
Speaker 1: he always said, good pardon. He always said that, you know,
Speaker 1: this is going to be harder on you guys than
Speaker 1: it's going to be on us. And that always shocked
Speaker 1: me because we're not the ones with this debilitating disease.
Speaker 2: But he was always so.
Speaker 1: Conscious of how he's going to be strong throughout this.
Speaker 1: And it's amazing to hear that your uncle was that way.
Speaker 1: And I hear so many patients that are just.
Speaker 8: Yeah, but can't we take some away from that? I
Speaker 8: know of illness that doesn't have a cure, and were
Speaker 8: we go to our day to day life and we
Speaker 8: have a bad day or.
Speaker 7: For us a bad game that doesn't.
Speaker 1: I'm upset I stubbed my toe or only got five
Speaker 1: hours of sleep us.
Speaker 2: So, Aaron, when you do meet ALS patients and they
Speaker 2: do come into the clubhouse, I mean it connects you
Speaker 2: even more given what your uncle went thru.
Speaker 8: Absolutely, Yeah, because I have a family tied to it.
Speaker 8: I experienced them. My whole family experienced a loved one
Speaker 8: that had it, So we were around it. We know
Speaker 8: what it's like for them, we know what it's like
Speaker 8: for family members, for friends. So meeting them and their
Speaker 8: family members and their friends, I kind of understand it.
Speaker 9: Right.
Speaker 2: You're donating one thousand dollars for every strikeout this year.
Speaker 2: Tell us about the people who want to help, what
Speaker 2: they can do and where they can donate to help
Speaker 2: this cause through you.
Speaker 8: Yeah, So I do it through Bigly Impact. So I
Speaker 8: had never done this before. I obviously donated. I've done
Speaker 8: the ALS Room that chapter. I'm looking to get more
Speaker 8: nationwide with it than the Big Chapter this this year
Speaker 8: and coming years. So Kyle Gibson, when he was here
Speaker 8: in twenty twenty one, mentioned the Adam wagin Wright's Big
Speaker 8: League Impact Organization and what we could do. And I
Speaker 8: never really heard about it or knew about it. And
Speaker 8: he said he donated to a couple of charity of
Speaker 8: his from team wins and a.
Speaker 7: Strikeouts kind of do it. You can do whatever you want.
Speaker 8: So I just thought to myself, that's a really cool
Speaker 8: way to give back to them and to raise awareness
Speaker 8: to raise the money for that kind of stuff. So
Speaker 8: I started that in twenty twenty two doing that for
Speaker 8: LS as well, so.
Speaker 7: And up the money a little bit this year.
Speaker 8: So I just think it's a really cool way for
Speaker 8: you know, having for strikeaouts and for a team wins
Speaker 8: to raise.
Speaker 2: That when you punch you out eleven guys, do you
Speaker 2: ever stop yourself? Sure? I really help today. Not only
Speaker 2: do we win the game and I pitched really well,
Speaker 2: but I really helped a good gause.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I just think going back to.
Speaker 8: The days that they have compared to the days that
Speaker 8: we have, right, you know, yeah, eleven strike ten, eleven
Speaker 8: strike God day is good, But it doesn't really matter
Speaker 8: where does that? Where do I want to make more
Speaker 8: of an impact than there? I want it to be
Speaker 8: somewhere else or some other people in right, And so
Speaker 8: that's als for me.
Speaker 7: And I think that's more important for me to do
Speaker 7: that and for us to do that.
Speaker 8: We can use our platforms as baseball players to help
Speaker 8: other people.
Speaker 1: Thanks to Aaron Nola for taking some time to join
Speaker 1: our live stream. Back on lou Garrig Day, Brandon Crawford
Speaker 1: of the Saint Louis Cardinals formerly of the San Francisco Giants,
Speaker 1: he also joined us. You're going to hear a bit
Speaker 1: of that interview coming up, But right now we've got
Speaker 1: Mike Piscotti. His son is Stephen Piscotti, a professional baseball player,
Speaker 1: and Mike's wife. Steven's mom died of als, and there
Speaker 1: was quite an incredible thing that happened after Steven came
Speaker 1: back to the major leagues after his mom's succumb to als. Mike,
Speaker 1: there was such an inspiring moment that happened after the
Speaker 1: loss of your wife. When your son Stephen returned to
Speaker 1: Major League baseball, he hit perhaps not just the biggest
Speaker 1: home run of his career, but one of the biggest
Speaker 1: home runs in.
Speaker 3: History in the sense of what it stood for.
Speaker 1: He hit a home run his first game back after
Speaker 1: losing his mom.
Speaker 3: Can you take us back to that time?
Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, it was, you know, clearly one of
Speaker 9: those times seeming the scene you get back to work,
Speaker 9: you know, and so they they sent him back. He
Speaker 9: was on a playing to Boston and you know they
Speaker 9: were playing the Red Sox, and uh, we just expected
Speaker 9: to join the game kind of you knows, you know,
Speaker 9: emotionally drained a bit, and uh, you have the.
Speaker 4: Night off and maybe just playing the next day. And
Speaker 4: it turns out there was a bit of a rain
Speaker 4: delay in that game, and uh, Bob Meldoyne, We look
Speaker 4: at Stephen says, hey, well, you know, how about you playing?
Speaker 4: He said, well, okay, so in a game he didn't
Speaker 4: really expect to play. Bob just decided to put him
Speaker 4: in there and get him.
Speaker 9: Right back on the horse. And you know when he
Speaker 9: when he hit that ball, you know we're watching on
Speaker 9: the lives, right, and uh, it's just stune you right,
Speaker 9: I mean you're just sitting there amaze. What do you
Speaker 9: think you think maybe maybe there was a little extra
Speaker 9: help there, right.
Speaker 6: Uh we called it.
Speaker 9: We called it the Heavenly Homer. Right. And when you
Speaker 9: hit the ball and you don't hit it out of Boston,
Speaker 9: you know you could have hit it out of the park, right,
Speaker 9: it was fabulous that I did want to tell you.
Speaker 9: You know, that game was delayed. It was delayed five innings.
Speaker 9: And this gentleman in the game lay just from Detroit
Speaker 9: working for some software company. He comes to a game, right,
Speaker 9: he's standing in the garage. It costs from Fenway, and
Speaker 9: that ball as it leaves Fenway goes into the garage
Speaker 9: and is rolling around, and he picked up the ball
Speaker 9: and he had no idea about it.
Speaker 6: Next day he goes to work and he's doing a presentation.
Speaker 9: He leaves off the flight show with him in the ball, right,
Speaker 9: and the people go, you know what, that ball?
Speaker 2: Pretty cool story, right, Mike meant a.
Speaker 9: Lot, big moment, and you know it's something that's always
Speaker 9: still from a little bit further away.
Speaker 2: Right, Mike, as a former player yourself and a coach
Speaker 2: and the father of a major leaguer. I mean, that
Speaker 2: story is unbelievable. But stories like that or similar happen
Speaker 2: in baseball all the time. How can we explain, Lane,
Speaker 2: how the game allows amazing things like that to happen.
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's funny. We had a we had a fundraiser
Speaker 9: just recently out there. Jak Sell has gone through a
Speaker 9: similar experience when he thought one of his parents, I'm sorry,
Speaker 9: I don't remember his parents, I mean made his mom too,
Speaker 9: and it wasn't but one of the very first bets
Speaker 9: he comes back to the home run and it happens.
Speaker 9: Toby Morny, thank you. We opened our eyes and.
Speaker 6: Yeah, thanks about the experiences every.
Speaker 1: Going on our final of the live guests that joined
Speaker 1: us for the live stream of Saint Louis Cardinals, Brandon Crawford,
Speaker 1: and we also had Boog Shambi and Sarah Langs on
Speaker 1: the show. But you might have heard those during our
Speaker 1: bonus episode that we released this past Friday ahead of
Speaker 1: lou Garrey Day to help raise awareness. So if you
Speaker 1: miss those interviews, make sure to go back to our
Speaker 1: most recent episode, which was published this past Friday as
Speaker 1: a bonus episode. But Brandon Crawford, formerly of the San
Speaker 1: Francisco Giants where you might know him a little bit better,
Speaker 1: has a great connection actually with our last guests you
Speaker 1: just heard from and the entire Piscotti family. Let's hear
Speaker 1: from Brandon Crawford.
Speaker 2: We just got off the phone with Mike Piscotti and
Speaker 2: he made us laugh, but he made us cry. Also,
Speaker 2: explain your connection to ALS, especially through the Piscotti family.
Speaker 10: I mean, the Piscotti family is kind of the reason
Speaker 10: we got started in the you know, fundraising and trying
Speaker 10: to make some money for ALS research. So Steven and
Speaker 10: the Piscotti's are from Pleasanton, so am I and my
Speaker 10: dad had known them. I think through like maybe our
Speaker 10: sisters softball or something like that. There's some sort of
Speaker 10: connection where we got to know them. And when GRETCHENM.
Speaker 10: Piscotti got diagnosed, we we just we're interested in trying to,
Speaker 10: you know, make some money for for this research. And
Speaker 10: we had started doing a golf tournament I think a
Speaker 10: couple of years before that, and we decided to like
Speaker 10: kind of designate the golf tournament for for fundraising efforts
Speaker 10: for for ALS research.
Speaker 2: Right well after my brother was diagnosed, I got a
Speaker 2: call from Mike Piscotti, who I had never met in
Speaker 2: my life. I got a call from Mike Crawford, your father,
Speaker 2: who I had never met in my life. And this
Speaker 2: is what it's all about, isn't it, Brandon, that people
Speaker 2: recognize there's a connection here. I have to help. Is
Speaker 2: that how you see this?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 10: Definitely, And I mean my dad is a big reason
Speaker 10: for this. For the Louke Eric Day I think he was.
Speaker 10: He was part of the committee to get this thing going.
Speaker 10: And it's just the people that you meet once you
Speaker 10: get into you know, any really any sort of fundraised
Speaker 10: fundraising effort. But it's it seems like there's so many
Speaker 10: connections in baseball with ALS, obviously Louke Gerrig being one
Speaker 10: of the big ones. But then you know, once we
Speaker 10: once we started making like trying to make money for
Speaker 10: for the research for ALS, we just met so many
Speaker 10: more people that have connections through baseball and just made
Speaker 10: some great relationships through that. So we've raised about nine
Speaker 10: hundred thousand dollars between those two, between those two groups,
Speaker 10: and so we're trying to we we don't have it
Speaker 10: like seven stone yet, but we're planning on doing a
Speaker 10: golf tournament in November to you know, get that get
Speaker 10: that number over a million.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, keep it wrong sounds great.
Speaker 2: Do you play golf left handed.
Speaker 5: Or right handed? Right handed?
Speaker 2: And that this is beautiful, Jeff, I've asked him and Evance,
Speaker 2: like John Grubb a million left good left in a
Speaker 2: hitter from the past, play right handed? Is it because
Speaker 2: it's a right handers game, it's hard to find left
Speaker 2: handed clubs. I mean, it's odd you're a left handed hitter,
Speaker 2: but you play golf right now?
Speaker 10: If that would be a my cropper question, because when
Speaker 10: I started playing golf when I was young, he gave
Speaker 10: me right handed clubs. I don't know if it was
Speaker 10: to not mess up my baseball slang or it was
Speaker 10: just way easier to find right handed clubs. But but yeah,
Speaker 10: since since I started playing as I was right handed
Speaker 10: and playing golf is a broad a broad term.
Speaker 1: Because I was gonna ask you, how do you perform
Speaker 1: at your own charity?
Speaker 5: Hit I hit the golf ball. We don't know where
Speaker 5: it's gonna go.
Speaker 2: It's a diabolically difficult game. Brandon, thank you so much
Speaker 2: for joining us today on such an important day in
Speaker 2: baseball history, Luke Gerrig Day. We can't thank you enough
Speaker 2: for bringing more awareness to this devastating disease.
Speaker 5: I'm happy to be part of it. So thank you, guys,
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thanks for going out of your he was texting, He's like,
Speaker 1: I'll jump ahead of the bus.
Speaker 3: I'll make sure i'm there early.
Speaker 2: So for going out of your way.
Speaker 3: To be here on a game day, especially We appreciate you.
Speaker 2: Good vibes, good vibes.
Speaker 3: Look at you, Dad, good VIBESU.
Speaker 2: That's like it, That's what we need, especially today.
Speaker 5: Yes, definitely, thank.
Speaker 1: You to all of our amazing guests who joined us
Speaker 1: at our livestream lou Garrick Show. If you want to
Speaker 1: check out the whole show, you can on our social
Speaker 1: media at Great Game or what. And I mean this
Speaker 1: kind of concludes Dad and wraps up at least for
Speaker 1: this season. We're always raising awareness for ALS, being that
Speaker 1: it affected our family so much, but for this season,
Speaker 1: it has wrapped up our kind of three episode weekend
Speaker 1: run for ALS. What was the takeaway for you throughout
Speaker 1: Luke Garrick Day, Well, it.
Speaker 2: Was just the stories that I heard. Sam Hilliard's story
Speaker 2: about his father being in the ballpark when he wasn't
Speaker 2: even allowed in a major league park in twenty twenty
Speaker 2: because of COVID, the Mike Piscatti story about his son Steven,
Speaker 2: who hit the home run, you know, four days after
Speaker 2: his mother died. I mean, these are the stories that
Speaker 2: I will never forget the rest of my life. And
Speaker 2: this is why baseball is the greatest game. It gives
Speaker 2: us the best stories. That when you hear them, you
Speaker 2: say to yourself, I know, I'll never forget that story
Speaker 2: as long as I live.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think for me sitting down with Aaron Nola
Speaker 1: and seeing in his eyes how much he missed his uncle,
Speaker 1: and for me, you know, losing your brother, my uncle,
Speaker 1: I just I feel so connected with him, for lack
Speaker 1: of a better term. And he mentioned something that he
Speaker 1: noticed every time he talks to a patient who has als,
Speaker 1: their hope and strength and resilience is unbelievable. He says,
Speaker 1: their determination to beat it is something that he sees
Speaker 1: so commonly amongst these patients, and it really just it
Speaker 1: really just put a light bulb in my head to
Speaker 1: think about all the way back when lou Garrig retired
Speaker 1: and he said, I consider myself the luckiest man on
Speaker 1: the face of the earth. Had that resilience and strength,
Speaker 1: and even up until your brother, my uncle passed away,
Speaker 1: he had that strength and resilience.
Speaker 3: And it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1: I had such a great time putting these shows together, Dad,
Speaker 1: it was it was probably in honor of my life.
Speaker 1: And for as long as we do this podcast, I
Speaker 1: will remember these episodes forever.
Speaker 9: Well.
Speaker 2: Thank you Jeff, it was an honor and to honor
Speaker 2: to do it on Luke Gerrit Day.
Speaker 1: And thank you for listening as always, and we appreciate
Speaker 1: you and thank you for being a part of our family.