Speaker 1: Is this a great game or what with the Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer Tim Kirkshin, I'm his son, Jeff Kirkshin, And Dad,
Speaker 1: you clearly did not let me know that we were
Speaker 1: going to be wearing suits on today's episode. All right,
Speaker 1: Jo and I are both usually wearing the same quarterzip.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Well, now I've got a backwards hat and you're in
Speaker 1: a suit, right.
Speaker 2: And my shirt is on properly, which I'm happy to
Speaker 2: report oud of you. We'll get to this in the takeaways.
Speaker 2: But I came straight from something we're doing on YouTube
Speaker 2: called The Sports Reporters with Jeremy Shapp and Howard Bryant
Speaker 2: and Doug Lanville myself, and we kicked around the Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame voting that from the Special Committee on Sunday,
Speaker 2: and I had to get dressed up for that, and
Speaker 2: then I went straight from that to trying to clean
Speaker 2: up the house as we are preparing for Christmas. With everything,
Speaker 2: I didn't even have time to take my tie off.
Speaker 2: So I did all this work with my tie on,
Speaker 2: and now we're doing the podcast. So no worries here. Jeff,
Speaker 2: I'm sorry I've outdressed you, but that is standard anyway. Correct.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean definitely standard. You definitely outdressed me
Speaker 1: on this show. But I want everybody to know that
Speaker 1: growing up with a dad who could do TV from
Speaker 1: his office, the amount of times I've seen you in
Speaker 1: a shirt and tie and jacket and khaki shorts making
Speaker 1: breakfast before I go to school, or sending us off
Speaker 1: for the day, or whatever it might be, this is
Speaker 1: a very common occurrence in our household.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Jeff, back when, back when we moved to
Speaker 2: the new house down the street, I kept our rider
Speaker 2: mower and I used to mow our lawn and then
Speaker 2: I would drive the rideror mower down the street and
Speaker 2: mow Nana and pops lawn. But since I was always
Speaker 2: doing TV every morning, because there were like ten shows
Speaker 2: and ten hits, I got more hits than ty Cob
Speaker 2: on a daily basis, I would often just leave my
Speaker 2: coat and tie on or my tied shirt on and
Speaker 2: drive down the street on the Ryder mower and mowed
Speaker 2: Nana Pop's lawn. And you're too young to remember Green Acres,
Speaker 2: but that's what Oliver Wendell Douglas did. In the ridiculous
Speaker 2: beginning of that He's driving a tractor around while he's
Speaker 2: wearing a coat and tie, so I'm sure I looked
Speaker 2: a lot like Eddie Albert from The Great Green Acre Show,
Speaker 2: very underrated of the sixties.
Speaker 1: Well, my mom, your wife made you give up mowing
Speaker 1: the lawn, so no lawn mowing will be done in
Speaker 1: a suit, said Tim, We're gonna start hiring somebody. You
Speaker 1: don't have the time or to worry about that, And
Speaker 1: she kind of looked at that as a birthday gift
Speaker 1: to you, even though it was something you didn't want
Speaker 1: to give up. But speaking of your birthday, your birthday's tomorrow, dad,
Speaker 1: your last day of being sixty eight years old.
Speaker 2: That's right, December the tenth. It's a birthday I share
Speaker 2: with Emily Dickinson, which is pretty cool, one of the
Speaker 2: great poets of all time. Also, I share with Carlos
Speaker 2: Rodan and Nestor Cortes, both of whom were in the
Speaker 2: Yankees rotation at the same time. And I saw Carlos
Speaker 2: Rodin during the playoffs and he walked by, and I
Speaker 2: was talking to Aaron Boone and I said to Booty,
Speaker 2: you know, Carlos and I share the same birthday, and
Speaker 2: Booney looks at me and he goes, yeah, fifty years apart.
Speaker 2: Thanks Booty, I really appreciate it. And we watched the
Speaker 2: Bills against the Bengals at your brother in law, Mark
Speaker 2: Keenahan Kelly's house the other day, and Joe Burrow, quarterback
Speaker 2: for the Bengals, also born December the tenth, and we
Speaker 2: had a debate who's more handsome, kind of in the
Speaker 2: rugged sense of it, Joe Burrow or me? And to
Speaker 2: my surprise, I lost, but I thought I might that one.
Speaker 1: He I don't know. The girls love Jef.
Speaker 2: It was a joke. Joe Burrow is really him?
Speaker 1: Well, might you know another person born on December tenth
Speaker 1: is the very famous Melville Dewey. You might give him
Speaker 1: a run for his money. Do you know Melville Melville
Speaker 1: Dewey Dad? Uh No, Well, he was born in eighteen
Speaker 1: fifty one and he was the creator of the Dewey
Speaker 1: decimal system.
Speaker 2: So uh really you might.
Speaker 1: Have him beat. But you both are probably equally as
Speaker 1: nerdy as each other.
Speaker 2: And we're the same age tomorrow too. Never mind. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so I'm very excited about uh no. And because of
Speaker 2: Joe Austeremeier, one of our best listeners in and he
Speaker 2: sends in a lot of great stuff. He suggested that
Speaker 2: we do a podcast a Team tim on the players
Speaker 2: who share the same birthday, much like I share the
Speaker 2: same birthday with Carlos Rodon and with Nestra Cortes, among others.
Speaker 2: So later on in the podcast, we'll have the team
Speaker 2: tim with shared birthdays at each position from some famous players.
Speaker 2: I enjoyed putting it together, and it was Joe's idea.
Speaker 2: He gave it to me. I stole it from him.
Speaker 1: Dad over the weekend. So we just moved into a
Speaker 1: new house and we have been chomping at the bit
Speaker 1: to entertain. This is what my wife and I love
Speaker 1: to do so so much, and in our new house.
Speaker 1: It's a big part of the reason why why we
Speaker 1: built this house was because we wanted to have a
Speaker 1: more entertaining space. And we had a Christmas cookie decorating
Speaker 1: party Dad with let's see, eight adults and five kids,
Speaker 1: right And I'll tell you right now if I I
Speaker 1: mean that party was five days ago and I'm still
Speaker 1: finding little piece of little sprinkles on the floor and
Speaker 1: we cleaned up really and I still across the entire
Speaker 1: first floor and seeing glitter and sprinkles and it was
Speaker 1: a mess. It was so fun, but it was a messy.
Speaker 2: I can imagine it, speaking of a mess. We just
Speaker 2: put our as I just told you, all of our
Speaker 2: Christmas stuff up today, a bunch of trees, and even
Speaker 2: though they're fake here and there, we've got pine needles
Speaker 2: all over the house now. So I have to, among
Speaker 2: many things today, vacuum the entire second and third floor
Speaker 2: of our house because it's just filled with stuff that
Speaker 2: has been pouring all over the place from the Christmas stuff.
Speaker 2: But our tree looks great. I told you, Jeff, we
Speaker 2: bought a fake tree last year, first time we've ever
Speaker 2: had a fake tree, and it was so big that
Speaker 2: I am too incompetent and too small to put it together.
Speaker 2: So we had to pay somebody. We had to pay
Speaker 2: somebody to put our tree up in our house. It's
Speaker 2: a tree that's roughly the size of one you would
Speaker 2: see in the set of Montgomery Mall. Okay, it's way
Speaker 2: too big for our house, but it's a great tree.
Speaker 2: And it took those guys last year, two kind of
Speaker 2: tree experts, two hours to put it up. So this
Speaker 2: morning the tree guys had to come back. They sent
Speaker 2: three people and they put that tree up in ten minutes, Jef,
Speaker 2: ten minutes, not two hours. I walked downstairs from doing
Speaker 2: you know the what I was telling you the sports reporters,
Speaker 2: and banged the tree is already done. I was so
Speaker 2: happy that it didn't take two hours.
Speaker 1: Well, if it took them two hours to do it
Speaker 1: last year, you would have had to start on Labor
Speaker 1: Day to get it up. And if you did it
Speaker 1: by yourself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it would have been a disaster if I attempted that, because,
Speaker 2: as you know, I'm terrible with my great hands, Yef,
Speaker 2: I'm terrible with my hands when it comes to building anything.
Speaker 2: You have great hands. I don't know where they came from,
Speaker 2: but God bless you, Jeff.
Speaker 1: I came from Uncle Matt, your brother.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I was pretty good at this. Mom is
Speaker 2: she is at the moment putting the rest of the finishing.
Speaker 2: I bring all the stuff up, I put it all
Speaker 2: where it belongs, and then Mom comes along with, you know,
Speaker 2: with the creative finishing touch.
Speaker 1: She jushes it. That's her favorite word this time of year.
Speaker 1: Just a little there, little there. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you saw, but she's also she texted me. She texted
Speaker 1: me asking about a new rug in her living room.
Speaker 1: She thinks the rug in the living room is too small.
Speaker 1: She wants to get a bigger one and texted me
Speaker 1: a picture of a rug. And I'm just here to
Speaker 1: tell you, Dad, I couldn't care less about what the
Speaker 1: rug look. I don't have That's not my thing. But
Speaker 1: on the text was my wife Emily, and she is like, oh,
Speaker 1: beautiful colors, and this is great so they can discuss that.
Speaker 2: She asked me about the rug too, And of course
Speaker 2: I was absolutely no help on this because I'm so
Speaker 2: bad at so many things. But it comes to home
Speaker 2: decorating and then cleans up everything and gets everything in
Speaker 2: it in its place. But mom and just swings through
Speaker 2: and makes it all great. Our house is going to
Speaker 2: look so good for Christmas. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And not only do you not care about rugs, you
Speaker 1: don't care to cut a rug either. Not a great
Speaker 1: dancer over there, You're working on its.
Speaker 2: Worst dancer ever. Okay, Jeff. Please.
Speaker 1: The big news of the week, obviously Sunday night, we
Speaker 1: had another Major League baseball player announced to be on
Speaker 1: the ballot for the twenty twenty six Cooperstown National Baseball
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. This is very exciting news.
Speaker 2: Right, So Jeff Kent made it to the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 2: and I'm gonna I'm going to try not to be
Speaker 2: critical of anyone because this has nothing to do with anything.
Speaker 2: But on this Sports Reporters thing that we did, Jeremy Shaff,
Speaker 2: doug Landbill Howard Bryant and myself, we had the best time.
Speaker 2: It was I thought a really interesting interview. We had
Speaker 2: fun doing it. But the last question that we were asked,
Speaker 2: and we went about a half an hour, was Okay,
Speaker 2: Jeff Kent got into the Hall of Fame. That was
Speaker 2: the last question. Now, because Jeff, there's a point to
Speaker 2: be made here, and I don't want to be difficult
Speaker 2: or critical, but the last twenty years, Jeff, more often
Speaker 2: than not, we talk about who doesn't get in the
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame rather than who gets in the Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame. And that's always troubled me. We should first
Speaker 2: be celebrating that Jeff Kent got in the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 2: whether you believe it he should be or not. And
Speaker 2: again I voted for Jeff Kent every year. But on
Speaker 2: this Sports Reporters thing we did, which ran on YouTube,
Speaker 2: we talked, of course about Clemens and Bonds first because
Speaker 2: they didn't even get five votes, Jeff, which means they're
Speaker 2: not up for this ballot three years from now, because
Speaker 2: you have to get at least five votes. They will
Speaker 2: be up for one in thirty thirty two. But if
Speaker 2: they don't get five votes on granted, things could change,
Speaker 2: you know, the voting procedure could change, But if the
Speaker 2: same procedure is in place and they don't get five
Speaker 2: votes in twenty thirty two, then they will be off
Speaker 2: all of those ballots. So it was that's what we
Speaker 2: talked about. And then of course Bonds and Clemens always
Speaker 2: turned into Pete Rose. So that's mostly what we talked
Speaker 2: about instead of maybe Jeff Kent getting in and what
Speaker 2: the ballot was like. It's the point is, Jeff, it
Speaker 2: was a really difficult process. We went over this last week.
Speaker 2: Jet look at those eight guys on the list. I
Speaker 2: could make a case for seven of them being Hall
Speaker 2: of Famers, and only one of them got in, and
Speaker 2: he was the only one to really get close. Carlos
Speaker 2: stel Gotto got nine votes out of sixteen you need twelve, Okay.
Speaker 2: Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy got six votes each. They
Speaker 2: missed by six votes. That's a lot to miss by
Speaker 2: when you got to get twelve out of sixteen. So
Speaker 2: it just shows you again how difficult it is to
Speaker 2: get a seventy five percent vote. So when you looked
Speaker 2: at this, Jef, what was your overall thought?
Speaker 1: Well, number one thought was I'm so glad to have
Speaker 1: the second Jeff in history join the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: We've got Jeff Bagwell and Jeff Kent. Only two Jeffs
Speaker 1: in the Hall of Fame. There are now I match you, Dad,
Speaker 1: because there are only two Tims in the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: Tim Rains and Tim Keith Right, two Tims and two
Speaker 1: Jeffs in the Hall of Fame. So now unfortunately there
Speaker 1: is Tim Kirkchin in the Hall of Fame on the
Speaker 1: side for the writers. So I kind of lose this
Speaker 1: argument when it says who has more Hall of Famers
Speaker 1: When you yourself have been honored by the National Baseball
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, don't don't give me that look, don't
Speaker 1: be humble. Just let me say that I'm proud of
Speaker 1: you and that you're amazing and you deserve There are.
Speaker 2: Two Tims in the Hall of Fame, and there are
Speaker 2: two Jeff's in the Hall of Fame and you looked
Speaker 2: it up. Is that correct?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I was not going to get Tim Keith honestly, Jeff.
Speaker 1: I think he was inducted sixty five years ago.
Speaker 2: Jeff, I'm so proud of you for even looking that up.
Speaker 2: You're starting to think like me, although I've warned you
Speaker 2: many times that it's not healthy to start to think
Speaker 2: like me because I'm not always thinking about the right thing. Jeff.
Speaker 2: You know, the team Tims have really thrown me off
Speaker 2: for this last two years. I just feel I got
Speaker 2: to come up with something every But that's good, Jeff.
Speaker 2: You got two Tims, so what else surprives anything else?
Speaker 2: All right, let's get the Bonds and Clemens since we
Speaker 2: have to do that. Yeah, last week, just give me
Speaker 2: your thoughts on Bonds and Clemens getting fewer than five
Speaker 2: out of sixteen votes when twelve are needed sixteen votes,
Speaker 2: they got fewer than five. What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 1: Well? I kind of said this last week, and I
Speaker 1: took a little flak, as noted, But I think that
Speaker 1: something that's going to be hard to ignore one day
Speaker 1: is the fact that there are question marks surrounding players
Speaker 1: in the late eighties to mid two thousands, and there
Speaker 1: always will be players that are in the Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame have been questioned, right, And so I think at
Speaker 1: some point, if you walk through the museum, you will
Speaker 1: see Pete Rose, you will see Alex Rodriguez, you will
Speaker 1: see Roger Clemens, you will see Barry Bonds, all across
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame, just not in the Black Room.
Speaker 1: So they're being honored, they're in there, so to speak,
Speaker 1: they're just not in the Hall of Fame, if that
Speaker 1: makes sense. But I think one day we're just going
Speaker 1: to have have to have another special convening of the
Speaker 1: minds because my generation grew up with these players as
Speaker 1: our heroes. I was born in nineteen ninety three, so
Speaker 1: the earliest I can genuinely remember baseball genuinely is like
Speaker 1: the Yankees of the late nineties winning some World Series. Right,
Speaker 1: How old was I at the World Let's see what
Speaker 1: year was that, Tino Martinez.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were like five years old.
Speaker 1: It was five, right, And that's my first true memory
Speaker 1: of baseball. And then you go into Mark McGuire, you
Speaker 1: go into Sammy So's, so you go into Barry Bonds.
Speaker 1: Barry Bonds You've said it on the podcast, so I
Speaker 1: feel comfortable saying this is arguably the greatest position player
Speaker 1: of all time by the statistics. Right.
Speaker 2: No, what I've told you before, Jeff is he's the
Speaker 2: greatest hitter I've ever seen. We have to we have
Speaker 2: to throw out everything else, and we know what we're
Speaker 2: talking about there. He's the greatest hitter I've ever seen.
Speaker 2: And if you're asking who are the three greatest hitters
Speaker 2: of all time? For me, this is my list, nobody else's.
Speaker 2: It's not right. It's mine, Babe, Ruth, Ted Williams, Barry Bonds.
Speaker 2: That's it. That's the list, that's the order. Barry Bonds
Speaker 2: is not the greatest position player ever because as great
Speaker 2: a defender as he was, Willie Mays was even a
Speaker 2: better defender than Barry Bonds was. And that's why I
Speaker 2: would put Willie Mays ahead of him, in part because
Speaker 2: Willie Mays apparently did it in a cleaner way than
Speaker 2: certainly a clean way, but cleaner way than Barry Bonds.
Speaker 1: So, and I just think there's going to be a time,
Speaker 1: Dad where writers of my generation. So I'm thirty two now,
Speaker 1: so we'll have to be patient. We'll just say we're
Speaker 1: having a special convening of you know, this new group
Speaker 1: of writers, and we're going to address the steroid Era.
Speaker 1: We're not going to call it the you know Veterans
Speaker 1: Committee or anything. It's gonna be the Steroid Era Committee.
Speaker 1: And we're going to say we let them all in,
Speaker 1: and we let none of them, and what are we
Speaker 1: doing now? And I think it's just going to happen,
Speaker 1: and it's going to be a long time from now,
Speaker 1: ten twenty years, but we have this conversation every year.
Speaker 1: Eventually they're going to get in now. That's my firm belief.
Speaker 1: Whether they want to. A lot of them have said, like,
Speaker 1: I don't really care. I've kind of lost my hope
Speaker 1: on that. And whether they're around or not, they're going
Speaker 1: to be in evention.
Speaker 2: Well, Jeff, we need a nationwide conversation about this. What
Speaker 2: do we do because this really thorny, difficult, controversial problem
Speaker 2: has been flipped into the lapse of the writers and
Speaker 2: people say, you guys, figure this out. Well, we're the
Speaker 2: first to tell you we're not good enough to figure
Speaker 2: this out. Neither is any other group out there. I'm
Speaker 2: very proud of the work that the Baseball writers does.
Speaker 2: But it's really hard to look at your ballt these
Speaker 2: days and figure out what to do because I'm not
Speaker 2: comfortable being the moral arbiture on all things. But that's
Speaker 2: what you have to be among many other things. So,
Speaker 2: and you know, Jeff, getting back to the whole character clause.
Speaker 2: You know, as far as character goes, Don Mattingly and
Speaker 2: Dale Murphy are like at the top of my list
Speaker 2: of all the guys that I've covered over the years,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure I've ever met two guys who cared
Speaker 2: more about playing the game properly, carrying themselves and conducting
Speaker 2: themselves the right way. Their numbers are really good, but
Speaker 2: I don't think in either case they're one hundred percent
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame numbers. But if the character clause works
Speaker 2: against certain people, why can't it work for certain people?
Speaker 2: That was part of the discussion we had today on
Speaker 2: the sports reporters. And when you hear that jet, what
Speaker 2: as a young person do you think.
Speaker 1: This is the worldwide debate, especially in the age of
Speaker 1: social media. Dad, You know, you see players all the
Speaker 1: time who say, I didn't sign up to be you know,
Speaker 1: anybody's hero. I signed up to play basketball or baseball
Speaker 1: or football or whatever. But then you see guys like
Speaker 1: Shaquille O'Neil. I think Shaquille O'Neil is a great example
Speaker 1: of for some arguably the greatest center of all time.
Speaker 1: Maybe I don't know. I don't wanna talk basketball because
Speaker 1: it's not my field of expertise, but he was a
Speaker 1: menace out there on the court. He was scary. Nobody
Speaker 1: wanted to guard Shack. But he's also like the greatest
Speaker 1: guy off the court when it comes to still to
Speaker 1: this day, going into walmart in buying bikes for kids
Speaker 1: or engagement rings for young men who they see in
Speaker 1: the Jeweys Shore.
Speaker 2: I mean, these.
Speaker 1: Videos are documents, and he knows this is part of
Speaker 1: his gig. He says, this is I'm famous, and these
Speaker 1: are things I have to do. This is part of
Speaker 1: the deal when you become an NBA player, And he
Speaker 1: preaches that about our players every day, and I do
Speaker 1: think they owe something and I think character, Dad, you're right,
Speaker 1: should count in a way. And I'm not gonna listen
Speaker 1: any names, but I know because I ask you privately,
Speaker 1: because this was one of my favorite questions to ask
Speaker 1: you as a kid, was, Hey, this is he a
Speaker 1: nice guy. But as a kid, that meant something to me.
Speaker 1: And when you would tell me a player was maybe
Speaker 1: not the nicest guy out there, that would make me
Speaker 1: feel differently about the player. And I think it should.
Speaker 1: And when you talk about you know, Don Mattingly and
Speaker 1: you're like, he's one of the best guys in the league,
Speaker 1: I think that should count in his favor. And there's
Speaker 1: no doubt about that. Dad, There's no doubt that this
Speaker 1: should count in people's favor.
Speaker 2: Well, Jeah, And it shouldn't just count for a child
Speaker 2: like you were, It should count for adults also. But
Speaker 2: if you know, never forget. Jim Dwyer, who I covered
Speaker 2: with the Orioles, once famously said, you know, heaven is
Speaker 2: for good people. The Hall of Fame is for baseball players.
Speaker 2: And he didn't mean it. He didn't mean it like
Speaker 2: all baseball players are bad or good, or everyone who
Speaker 2: goes to Heaven is good all that stuff. He was
Speaker 2: just trying to make a point that there's some bad
Speaker 2: guys who made it to the Hall of Fame, and
Speaker 2: this is what we have to deal with as voters,
Speaker 2: and it's a very difficult process. No sympathy required. I
Speaker 2: have friends of mine who have given up their vote
Speaker 2: because they don't want to deal with this. They don't
Speaker 2: feel comfortable dealing with this, they feel hypocritical dealing with this.
Speaker 2: I'm not giving up my vote because it's that important
Speaker 2: to me, But I will tell you I encourage anyone
Speaker 2: to sit down with a Hall of Fame ballot. Sit
Speaker 2: down with that ballot that those guys had to look
Speaker 2: at the other day. Eight guys, and you only get
Speaker 2: three votes, Jef. That three votes is really hard to
Speaker 2: figure out. And that's why only Jeff Kent got in.
Speaker 2: But Jeff Kent. Jeff again, most home runs ever buy
Speaker 2: a second basement, most RBIs ever buy a second baseman.
Speaker 2: And his slugging percentage was five hundred. Jeff. The only
Speaker 2: other second basement in history who had a career on
Speaker 2: base percentage I mean slugging percentage of five hundred is
Speaker 2: Rogers Hornsby, who is, at least for me, the greatest
Speaker 2: second basement of all times. So that's why I voted
Speaker 2: for Jeff Ken. I think he was a better defensive
Speaker 2: player that people gave him credit for, but it just
Speaker 2: for some people, it's just odd that he was on
Speaker 2: the same team with Barry Bonds and Jeff kenson the
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame at Barry Bonds. Is that bothers some people?
Speaker 2: And I certainly understand that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Dad, it's sad too because Jeff Ken as
Speaker 1: many as home runs as he hit as the second baseman,
Speaker 1: he's still not the home run leader. Last name K which,
Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, is that Harmon Killerbrew it is?
Speaker 2: It's kay, Yes, Jeff, you're doing really well here.
Speaker 1: And wait, hold on, is Carlos stel Gatto D?
Speaker 2: Yes, Carlos stell Gotto is D And.
Speaker 1: He was up on the ballot and he didn't get
Speaker 1: enough votes. But we need to get more of these
Speaker 1: alphabetic alphabetical leaders into the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: Day right, right again. Carlos Stelgatto might have been the
Speaker 2: guy who missed out on having four spots that you're
Speaker 2: allowed to vote for because he got nine votes. He
Speaker 2: missed by three. Maybe if you could have voted for four,
Speaker 2: Carlos Delgado will be in. There are enough people who
Speaker 2: believe Carlos Delgado is the best clean player not in
Speaker 2: the Hall of Fame. And we talked about this last week, Jeb.
Speaker 2: But I think it's important these special committees are designed
Speaker 2: for people such as Carlos Delgado, who is only time
Speaker 2: on the Writer's ballot. He didn't even get five percent
Speaker 2: of the vote, which knocked him off of the ballot
Speaker 2: by rule. But remember there were thirteen Hall of Famers
Speaker 2: on the ballot the one time he went on the
Speaker 2: Writer's ballot thirteen. So he went on at a really
Speaker 2: bad time, and he deserved a second chance, and he
Speaker 2: got it, and he didn't make it to the Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame. But he's going to get another chance in
Speaker 2: three years, so we can re examine his numbers, because
Speaker 2: they are pretty darn impressive. As I told you, Jeff
Speaker 2: Homer's RBI's ops. He's one of fourteen players that have
Speaker 2: those levels in the history of baseball. Pretty darn good.
Speaker 1: All right, well, we have to take a minute to
Speaker 1: say sorry to our neighbors to the north in Canada.
Speaker 1: They've had a rough month. I'm not trying to be
Speaker 1: funny or kitchy here, but you know, you lose to
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Dodgers, that monster team. You'll almost take
Speaker 1: him down in the World Series. And then Carlos Delgatto,
Speaker 1: who spent you know, ten seasons plus in in Toronto
Speaker 1: and he doesn't make the World Series. So to Blue
Speaker 1: Jays fans out there, we hear you, we feel you.
Speaker 1: We've got family in Canada. I know Uncle Craig right now, Dad,
Speaker 1: your cousin, we feel for you. I'm sure it was
Speaker 1: tough not seeing in. But Carlos Delgatto will go in.
Speaker 1: Am I wrong in.
Speaker 2: Saying that there?
Speaker 1: You'll make it?
Speaker 2: Someday he will be a Hall of Famer. And just
Speaker 2: because Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy didn't make it and
Speaker 2: a lot of people were hoping that they would, they
Speaker 2: still have a shot to do this someday. And because
Speaker 2: each of them got at least six votes, it's possible
Speaker 2: they'll be on the same ballot three years now. We'll see.
Speaker 1: Let's move forward on this date in baseball history. Today
Speaker 1: is December the ninth, not December the tenth. Your birthday,
Speaker 1: even though I think we had an episode come out
Speaker 1: on your birthday last year, doesn't matter. December the ninth,
Speaker 1: what do you.
Speaker 2: Have this day? In nineteen sixty five, this was a
Speaker 2: famous trade. The Red sent Frank Robinson to the Baltimore
Speaker 2: Orioles for Milton Pappis, Jack Balchin and another pitcher another player,
Speaker 2: and it turned out to be one of the great
Speaker 2: trades in Oriel history. The general manager of the Reds
Speaker 2: felt that Frank Robinson was getting old. And what he
Speaker 2: did in nineteen sixty six he won the Triple Crown,
Speaker 2: He won the MVP, making him then the first player
Speaker 2: ever to win the MVP in both leagues, and they
Speaker 2: won the World Series year and Brooks Robinson famously Well,
Speaker 2: Brooks Robinson told me, Frank Robinson taught us how to win. Jeff,
Speaker 2: is not a greater compliment that you could say anyone
Speaker 2: that that guy came to our team and taught us
Speaker 2: how to win. That covers everything, interestingly. And Frank Robinson
Speaker 2: is one of the most underrated players of all time.
Speaker 2: He never led the league in any category in any
Speaker 2: season other than the year that he won the Triple
Speaker 2: crowd and then he led the league in average home
Speaker 2: runs and RBIs isn't that weird?
Speaker 1: That is crazy to think about. If you're going to
Speaker 1: do it all, do it all. If you're not going
Speaker 1: to do it, don't do it.
Speaker 2: That's insane, right, Pretty good? So that's Frank Robinson. Great
Speaker 2: trade for the Orioles ended up turning them into a
Speaker 2: superpower in the sixties. This day. In nineteen ninety two,
Speaker 2: Greg Maddock signed a five year contract with the Braves,
Speaker 2: and Jeff google Greg Mannox's statistics and look at those
Speaker 2: numbers that he ran up as a member of the Braves.
Speaker 2: Because when people ask who's the greatest free agent signing ever,
Speaker 2: Greg maddox is in that conversation. I mean he won
Speaker 2: four Cy youngs in a row soon after signing with
Speaker 2: the Braves, Do I have that right? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Well, ninety two with the Cubs free agent signing ninety
Speaker 1: three Cy Young, ninety four, Cy Young, ninety five Cy Young.
Speaker 1: So his first three years in Atlanta he wins to
Speaker 1: say young after winning it in Chicago.
Speaker 2: Right, That's how great, That's how great. Greg maddox was
Speaker 2: speaking of free agent signings on this date. In twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three, shoheo Otani signed for ten years, seven hundred
Speaker 2: million to go to the Dodgers. And we were in
Speaker 2: Las Vegas, Jeff for your Let's see, this was winter meetings.
Speaker 2: When was the Yeah, so.
Speaker 1: That would have been McKinley's baptism, my daughter's baptism, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: because it was December's right around your birthday obviously the
Speaker 1: day before.
Speaker 2: Right, right, that's so cool. Yeah, that's how I remember.
Speaker 2: We were in Las Vegas when it was officially announced
Speaker 2: that Shoe had signed with the Dodgers. So that was famous.
Speaker 2: On this date, in nineteen sixty five, branch Ricky died.
Speaker 2: Branch Ricky, of course, is one of the great executives
Speaker 2: in the history of baseball. Of course, he signed Jackie
Speaker 2: Robinson and brought him to the big leagues in nineteen
Speaker 2: forty seven. He also was the guy, you know, credited
Speaker 2: with inventing the farm system in baseball, which is the
Speaker 2: lifeblood of many organizations today. So branch Ricky was pretty great.
Speaker 2: Who played branch Rickey. Let's see if you remember in
Speaker 2: the movie forty two, which was a great movie by
Speaker 2: the way.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, such a great movie. I can't remember.
Speaker 2: Famous actor, Jeff famous actor.
Speaker 1: Okay, don't tell me because this is this is where
Speaker 1: I need to shine, Okay, branch Ricky. Oh was it
Speaker 1: Harrison Ford? Yes, very, I'm glad you got that. Yes, yeah, incredible,
Speaker 1: now dad, did you know that? On this date, also,
Speaker 1: Larry Bird ended his streak of fifty nine consecutive free
Speaker 1: throws made back in nineteen eighty seven, fifty nine.
Speaker 2: Is that right?
Speaker 1: Yeah, on the State nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 2: That's so good. I think I have this story correct.
Speaker 2: That Dan Shaughnessy, our dear friend who's been on our
Speaker 2: podcast before, one of the great sports columns in America,
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame baseball writer. He used to cover Celtics,
Speaker 2: of course, and he was Larry was on the court
Speaker 2: before the game and he was, you know, shooting free throws,
Speaker 2: getting ready for the game, and Shaughnessy said something like,
Speaker 2: I'm writing a story about your free throws, and so
Speaker 2: don't mess it up. Don't miss one tonight, whatever you do.
Speaker 2: And I believe that was the night that Larry Bird's
Speaker 2: streak ended. And when he missed it, I believe he
Speaker 2: looked at Dan Shotsy like, this is your fault. You
Speaker 2: told me before the game, don't mess up my story
Speaker 2: by missing a free throw, and then he missed a
Speaker 2: free throw. Yeah, Larry is until Steph Curry came along,
Speaker 2: Larry is the greatest shooter I've ever seen. And he
Speaker 2: doesn't have the range of Steph Curry, but you know,
Speaker 2: twenty feet and in. I'll take Larry with just about
Speaker 2: anyone in the history of the sport. That's how great
Speaker 2: Larry Bird was.
Speaker 1: Now, Dad, that was a great follow up story. But
Speaker 1: I'm shocked. And the one reason why I brought this
Speaker 1: story up was because I thought you were going to
Speaker 1: talk about Kelly kirkshin.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, well, well we better since Yeah. So, Kelly
Speaker 2: in high school made fifty four out of fifty six
Speaker 2: free throws her senior year. She broke the school record
Speaker 2: for consecutive free throws twice within the same season. The
Speaker 2: record was nineteen. She made thirty two in a row,
Speaker 2: missed one, looked over at me at the scorer's table
Speaker 2: and goes, oh my god, how did that happen? What
Speaker 2: am I going to do? Now? Well, then she made
Speaker 2: twenty in a row after that, breaking the record again,
Speaker 2: and then missed one and made the final one. So
Speaker 2: she made fifty four out of fifty six free throws
Speaker 2: her senior year. The lesson here is Kelly is five
Speaker 2: foot two and she was I think the greatest female
Speaker 2: free throw shooter in the history of Montgomery County. And
Speaker 2: I still give her a hard time about that, and
Speaker 2: I embarrass her daily. But it's okay.
Speaker 1: I think you played in Montgomery County too. What was
Speaker 1: your stat line your senior year for free throws?
Speaker 2: I don't remember, Jeff, and.
Speaker 1: Not nearly as good, respectfully, I mean respectfully, four out
Speaker 1: of fifty six.
Speaker 2: Absolutely not ninety nine percent of the NBA free throw
Speaker 2: shooters have never made fifty four out of fifty six.
Speaker 2: That's what your sister did.
Speaker 1: Pretty good, all right, Dad, Let's wrap up today's episode
Speaker 1: with a very special Team ten that we talked about
Speaker 1: at the top of the show. When it comes to birthdays, tomorrow, Dad,
Speaker 1: is your sixty ninth birthday, Early birthday to you. I'm
Speaker 1: excited because this weekend you're coming to our new house
Speaker 1: and you're going to celebrate birthday, Christmas, the whole thing
Speaker 1: with us. It's gonna be great.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be great, and you're gonna put us to
Speaker 2: work and we're gonna do some good stuff around your
Speaker 2: house and it's gonna be great. All right. So, Joe Austebier,
Speaker 2: our friend from Saint Louis who comes up with some
Speaker 2: great ideas, why don't you do a team tim of
Speaker 2: players who share the same birthday. So this isn't like
Speaker 2: these are just ones that I know and things that
Speaker 2: tickle me They're not necessarily the best at each position,
Speaker 2: but I think it's I think we have to start
Speaker 2: at first base with Frank Thomas and Jeff Bagwell, what
Speaker 2: is what do they share, Jeff, besides a birthday?
Speaker 1: Well, didn't they win the MVP in the same year.
Speaker 2: Yes, and they are the same age, so they're not
Speaker 2: sharing a birthday ten years apart. They were born exactly
Speaker 2: the same day and they both won the MVP in
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety four. Our second basement is Harris and Ian Kinsler.
Speaker 2: So I told you this story once that Ian Kinsler
Speaker 2: came up to me once and he said, I know
Speaker 2: something about statistics that you don't know. I can't wait
Speaker 2: to tell you. So he said, last night, he said,
Speaker 2: Willie Harris and I hit a home run in the
Speaker 2: same game, and we're playing the same position, and we
Speaker 2: share the same birthday. And he said, that's the first
Speaker 2: time in Major League history that that had ever happened.
Speaker 2: And he was right. So yes, Willie Harris and Ian
Speaker 2: Kinsler are second baseman because they share the same birthday
Speaker 2: and they hit a home run get in the same
Speaker 2: game at both playing the same position. I love that
Speaker 2: third base is Max Munsey and the other, Max Munsey,
Speaker 2: who is active with the Oakland A's, and they're not related.
Speaker 2: It's kind of an unusual name, don't you think, Jeff,
Speaker 2: and they share the same birthday.
Speaker 1: It's funny, don't you say, make any sense that they
Speaker 1: not only have an unusual name, but they also have
Speaker 1: the same birthday.
Speaker 2: Right right, and they're not related. I love it. The
Speaker 2: shortstop and I find this interesting. Carlos Carrea, of course,
Speaker 2: used to be the shortstop for the Astros, and then
Speaker 2: he left by a free agency and he was replaced
Speaker 2: by Jeremy Payinam and they share the same birthday. So
Speaker 2: Correa leaves, the guy who replaces him has the same birthday. Now,
Speaker 2: of course, Korea is back on the Astros. He plays
Speaker 2: third base. Pay you play shortstop every day, so the
Speaker 2: same birthday is playing shortstop and third base every day.
Speaker 2: I don't know why I get such a kick out
Speaker 2: of these things, but I do so. Joe Ostermeier, he
Speaker 2: also sent in that Ken Griffy Junior and Stan Musial
Speaker 2: share the same birthday and they're two of the greatest
Speaker 2: players of all time to left handed hitting outfielders, and
Speaker 2: they're both from DeNora, Pennsylvania. To Jeff, what are the
Speaker 2: chances of that two players that great from the same
Speaker 2: hometown and share the same birthday many many years apart. Amazing.
Speaker 1: That's my favorite birthday share right there, and it's gotten
Speaker 1: brought up on the show before because the same town,
Speaker 1: small town. I mean, you just got to name the
Speaker 1: day after them at that point and switch off a
Speaker 1: year after year.
Speaker 2: Right right. Our second outfielders are Ozzy and Jose Canseco,
Speaker 2: who of course are twins, so of course they're born
Speaker 2: on the same day. We used to joke. Dan Shaughnessy
Speaker 2: used to joke all the time that Jose was much
Speaker 2: better than his brother, even though his brother was a
Speaker 2: major leaguer and hit a few home runs, that they
Speaker 2: Jose should just put on Ozzie's uniform after and at bat,
Speaker 2: and then he would get like, he would get like
Speaker 2: eight at bats every day, pretending to be his brother
Speaker 2: because he couldn't tell the difference between the two. I
Speaker 2: don't think he'd get away with it. Only Dan would
Speaker 2: think of something light that, right, So I had to
Speaker 2: come up with a third outfield group. So I had
Speaker 2: to go looking for, you know, outfielders, so Richie Zisc
Speaker 2: and Babe Ruth shared same birthday. I picked the greatest
Speaker 2: player ever, Babe Ruth and Richie's this. Do you remember
Speaker 2: the Steve Russian thing on RICHIE'SISC? Now, remember remember when
Speaker 2: he we found out that the pope is a White
Speaker 2: Sox fan at RICHIE'SISC used to play for the White Sox.
Speaker 2: As Steve Russian said, this is the only pope ever
Speaker 2: that would say use this line, take your What did
Speaker 2: he say, take your risk with Ricky Richie's Richie, Yeah,
Speaker 2: that was I think that's what he said. Right, it
Speaker 2: was so bad? All right, Willie Mays and Jose Altuveay
Speaker 2: share the same birthday. Now, Jeff, you need to tell
Speaker 2: us what that birthday is, because Steve Spark's our dear
Speaker 2: friend mentioned Jose Altuvey's birthday.
Speaker 1: Is any number twenty seven, So he's he's February the seventh, right, No, no, no.
Speaker 2: He remember his height is the same as his birthday.
Speaker 1: His height as what Jeff, oh oh oh.
Speaker 2: Oh, May the sixth, Right, May the sixth is Jose
Speaker 2: al Tuve is five to six born on May the sixth,
Speaker 2: and he shares the same birthday with Willie Mays wow right,
Speaker 2: and Mickey Mantle and Juan Gonzalez shared the same birthday.
Speaker 2: They both won multiple MVPs. Who Else Shares a Birthday?
Speaker 2: Former guest on our podcast Who Else Shares a Birthday?
Speaker 2: With Mickey Mantle? Think Jeff early on he wore a
Speaker 2: seven in his name always because he was born on
Speaker 2: the same day as Mickey Mantle wore a seven in
Speaker 2: his name. Our greatest number, thirty seven ever.
Speaker 1: Keith Hernandez, Yes, oh that was it right. Took me
Speaker 1: a second. Lots of clud we said early on, I
Speaker 1: was thinking Eduardo, and I'm like.
Speaker 2: No, yeah, Jeff, that was good. You got it, very good.
Speaker 2: All right. Our pitchers, we have a bunch of pitchers here.
Speaker 2: Of course, we have the Rogers twins who pitched. Taylor
Speaker 2: and Tyler Rogers twins pitched in the major leagues. Obviously
Speaker 2: they share the same birthday. Of course, we had Homer
Speaker 2: Bailey and Ryan Dempster, who on May the third, twenty twelve,
Speaker 2: started a Major League game against each other on their
Speaker 2: shared birthday. That had never happened before. And as Ryan
Speaker 2: Depster said, that's my only contribution to the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: I'm in the Hall of Fame because they took my
Speaker 2: glove or my scorecard from that game, because Homer Bailey
Speaker 2: and Ryan Depster started a game each other on their
Speaker 2: shared birthday in twenty twelve, and the last one, of course,
Speaker 2: since this is the theme of the day, Carlos Rodon
Speaker 2: and you, Nestra Cortez tenth, there you go, sharing it
Speaker 2: with me.
Speaker 1: And Tim Kirkshin with a sixty five mile per hour
Speaker 1: strike right down the middle. If you had to throw,
Speaker 1: if I gave you an hour to warm up, how
Speaker 1: fast do you think you could throw a ball?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I told you when I was sixty five years old,
Speaker 2: you threw sixty five. I was able to throw my
Speaker 2: age at age sixty five. Now that's certainly nothing to
Speaker 2: brag about, but you asked me a question, and I
Speaker 2: don't know what I could do today because I'm almost
Speaker 2: sixty nine years old. But when I was sixty five,
Speaker 2: I threw a baseball at the same speed as my age, you.
Speaker 1: Know, and a lot of people have the goal of
Speaker 1: hitting their age in golf. I just don't know if
Speaker 1: I'm going to play the same way I'm playing now
Speaker 1: when I'm one hundred and eight, because that's usually where
Speaker 1: I'm landing.
Speaker 2: These stakes, right yeah, Jeff, You're you're gonna have to
Speaker 2: do well. We're all gonna have to play pretty late
Speaker 2: if we're going to shoot our age. But never mind.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: So that's the all shared team tim for baseball. And
Speaker 2: we've got the Winter meetings this week and we've got
Speaker 2: Christmas coming up. We're gonna have some special stuff. What
Speaker 2: are we going to have for Christmas? Jeff? For special
Speaker 2: stuff on the podcast, we.
Speaker 1: Are going to put together what we did last year
Speaker 1: as well, which was one highlight moment from each of
Speaker 1: our interviews for the season. So I'm going to start
Speaker 1: compiling putting those all together for all of you, and
Speaker 1: it's going to be really special. So make sure to
Speaker 1: be on the lookout for our little Christmas gift back
Speaker 1: to you. All right, Dad, get back to the people
Speaker 1: setting up your Christmas decor, and just be careful on
Speaker 1: those ladders, all right, Jeff.
Speaker 2: They only spend about an hour and a half in
Speaker 2: here helping us put up the tree and doing some
Speaker 2: things that I'm simply not capable of doing. But the
Speaker 2: rest of it, I have been very, very helpful in
Speaker 2: this whole process, and I just love to look at
Speaker 2: the house the first night when all the lights are up,
Speaker 2: all the trees up, everything else. It's gonna be great.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. As always, thanks for
Speaker 1: being a part of our family. M HM