Speaker 1: If you thought four hours a day, minutes a week
Speaker 1: was enough, I think again. He's the last remnants of
Speaker 1: the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats
Speaker 1: crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich
Speaker 1: pill poppers in the penthouse. The clearing House of Hot
Speaker 1: takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with
Speaker 1: Ben Maller starts right now that it does a special
Speaker 1: furlough edition of the podcast, The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller.
Speaker 1: As we are back at it again because four hours
Speaker 1: are not enough. In the middle of the night, we
Speaker 1: are doing this eight days a week. Well, actually not
Speaker 1: this week. It's not eight days a week. More on
Speaker 1: that in a different podcast. But this of course a
Speaker 1: spin off. As you know, you've downloaded the podcast of
Speaker 1: the Ben Mallory Radio Show, and as you also know,
Speaker 1: it's only available in the podcast format wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcast, powered by the I Heart Podcast Network, number
Speaker 1: one for podcasting and for better or worse yet again,
Speaker 1: joined by David Guest, Yes in the house and happy
Speaker 1: to report that even Apple iTunes has featured sports podcasts.
Speaker 1: The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallor is front and center
Speaker 1: amongst the masses too. How nice is that? Yes, I
Speaker 1: saw that and I thought, no way, there's no way.
Speaker 1: I mean, jeez, there's a billion podcast. But we actually
Speaker 1: got some some feature love, which makes it seem like
Speaker 1: it's kind of worthwhile. But' coming to do this crap?
Speaker 1: So uh that's uh, that was that was pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Now this is an interview podcast. This can be what
Speaker 1: our interview podcast where we are not really like we're
Speaker 1: hanging with friends. We'd like to call it hanging with friends,
Speaker 1: not really interview. That's very formal and all that. But
Speaker 1: I'll tell you who we're gonna talk to you in
Speaker 1: a minute before we do that. Shameless promotion. Shameless promotion. Uh,
Speaker 1: if you've not signed up for a cameo, what are
Speaker 1: you waiting for? I'm on cameo. You can get a
Speaker 1: special personalized video message. Not free, not very much. I'm
Speaker 1: cheaper than everyone else. Uh that matters, Uh Fox anyway,
Speaker 1: Uh so cameo dot com and then just type my
Speaker 1: name in Ben Maller and uh I would love to
Speaker 1: do that. I did a couple of last weekend for
Speaker 1: Father's Day. Uh did several for for p One's big
Speaker 1: fans of the show, which was pretty cool. I also
Speaker 1: did my first personalized message guests. Somebody wanted me to
Speaker 1: just do my nicknames somebody on camera and I tried
Speaker 1: to point out. I was like, you know what, I
Speaker 1: can do that for you. I can run down the nicknames,
Speaker 1: but we don't have the sound effects. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: in my home studio. I don't have access to the
Speaker 1: sound effects. But that that was kind of eat and
Speaker 1: we've got some really positive reviews. People really seem to
Speaker 1: enjoy the cameo things. So check that out and and
Speaker 1: just follow follow me on Twitter, Ben Maller on on
Speaker 1: that and Instagram, Ben Maller on Fox, and please click
Speaker 1: on those videos I link out. Some video was sporadically
Speaker 1: from monologues, little clips. You can get to see what
Speaker 1: it's like when we're making the hot dogs and get
Speaker 1: those views up. Share them with your friends those videos,
Speaker 1: tell them to watch. It does help us out as well.
Speaker 1: And then Facebook Ben Mallard Show, Ben Mallor Show, and
Speaker 1: how can people reach you a Gascon? Same thing on
Speaker 1: Twitter at David JA Gascon. I need to crack the
Speaker 1: egg with cameo, So cameo at David J Gascon. You
Speaker 1: need someone to pop your Chariot Virginize. I will say
Speaker 1: I got some inside intel that you also did a
Speaker 1: special birthday video on camera on cameo. I cannot talk
Speaker 1: about that. The cameo thing is a private thing between
Speaker 1: me and the fans, and I can't get any further
Speaker 1: than that. So I'm on there as well, and then
Speaker 1: on Instagram Att and Dave Gascon. But yeah, I think
Speaker 1: I think the biggest reason that we were on front
Speaker 1: and center with the podcast on alp iTunes is the responses,
Speaker 1: the reviews and the ratings from from you the listeners.
Speaker 1: You guys have been active on it, so I appreciate that. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: I mean it seems like the most benign thing, like
Speaker 1: who the funk cares about the reviews on a podcast?
Speaker 1: But the people that run podcast networks give up. They
Speaker 1: really care. It's a big deal. It's not some harmless thing.
Speaker 1: And so again, if you haven't done that yet, review
Speaker 1: review obviously we prefer positive reviews, five stars, that would
Speaker 1: that would certainly help us out. But yeah, it is.
Speaker 1: It's really cool. I was like, Wow, that's like it's
Speaker 1: like the real podcast, Like people are getting getting promotion.
Speaker 1: I think that's more promotion than my radio show has got.
Speaker 1: It's more advertising for this podcast, which is a weekend podcast.
Speaker 1: Then we've gotten for the radio show. But but let's
Speaker 1: not see we're playing Grabaus now, Guests, We've got to
Speaker 1: get right into it. So this is a conversation with
Speaker 1: I'm so excited to have this guy and I met
Speaker 1: him several years ago at Dodger Stadium when the Yankees
Speaker 1: were in town. John Sterling the voice of the New
Speaker 1: York ke Yankees. How important does that sound? How big
Speaker 1: does that sound? John is one of the great characters
Speaker 1: in broadcasting. He has tremendous work ethic. He has been
Speaker 1: calling games since before I was alive. He started out
Speaker 1: in the early seventies calling NBA games for the Washington
Speaker 1: Actually was a Baltimore Bulls even before they were in
Speaker 1: Washington in the NBA, and he's worked for multiple NBA teams.
Speaker 1: He had a stint in Atlanta. He's been a long
Speaker 1: time New York broadcaster. He's from New York. But he's
Speaker 1: known for his signature home run calls, right, I mean, guys,
Speaker 1: that's what he's known for. Guests and all the trades. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and a bomb by Rod you know that kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: and I'm so excited to talk to him because, first
Speaker 1: of all, I love broadcasters. I'm a radio geek and
Speaker 1: know the art of baseball play by play is one
Speaker 1: of the hardest things. You have so much time to kill.
Speaker 1: You're not just calling balls and strikes. You have to
Speaker 1: fill the time, and there's an art to it. When
Speaker 1: it's done right, I feel like it's great. And John's
Speaker 1: a wonderful storyteller. But I remember the old days on Fox.
Speaker 1: We had Frank Pollock, the late great Frank Pollock, the
Speaker 1: big cod piece may rest in peace, and Frank and
Speaker 1: I we had this bit that we worked out together
Speaker 1: on the on the weekend show where we would do
Speaker 1: the Yankee roll call and whatever the box score was
Speaker 1: the Yankee day that get the Yankee game that day.
Speaker 1: Frank would go on the archive and pull out all
Speaker 1: the different home run calls, Uh, Georgie juiced it or
Speaker 1: juiced one or whatever he said, and he go through,
Speaker 1: you know, the gambino and those were the players at
Speaker 1: the time, and so I we loved it. It was
Speaker 1: a good bit. People liked it that they were listening
Speaker 1: to you like positive feedback on that. But that was
Speaker 1: John Sterling so we're gonna have a conversation with John
Speaker 1: obviously will regain as John, we welcome you in here,
Speaker 1: and uh, why don't we start with this? How are
Speaker 1: you holding up during the pandemic? Well, it certainly is
Speaker 1: the craziest year of any of all lives. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: you do what you have to do. When I go out,
Speaker 1: mask and gloves and I'm hanging in there, I'm hanging
Speaker 1: in there. I get to see uh, my kids and
Speaker 1: my family, um, every now and then, and now every
Speaker 1: day I talk on the phone to friends and I
Speaker 1: tell him family, and I tell him one thing. If
Speaker 1: we don't get the virus, we've won. So so far,
Speaker 1: so good, And now it looks like I'll be going
Speaker 1: back to work in a few weeks. Be sure to
Speaker 1: catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at
Speaker 1: two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
Speaker 1: and the I Heart Radio app. That's great, and you've
Speaker 1: been been around for a while. Is is there anything
Speaker 1: that this kind of reminds you of in your life
Speaker 1: experience when you were younger or is this totally its
Speaker 1: own entity and it's not close to anything anything that
Speaker 1: comes to mind that you said, well, this is kind
Speaker 1: of like what happened, you know, back in the days,
Speaker 1: anything like that. No, Um, I've I've often said that
Speaker 1: not only is this the craziest year of our lives,
Speaker 1: and I've got a few years on me, but there's
Speaker 1: there's no one nothing in second, there's nothing close. Um
Speaker 1: to think that you can't go out and call up
Speaker 1: your friends and family and say let's have dinner at
Speaker 1: such at such place and so um, No, this is
Speaker 1: this is the wackiest by far. And I don't think
Speaker 1: it's over yet. Um. You know, all these sports are
Speaker 1: trying to come back, but you know, the minute they
Speaker 1: get a few people who have the virus, um, they're
Speaker 1: gonna need a tremendous amount of testing. That's the biggest thing.
Speaker 1: Testing And if someone tests and positive, they'll be quarantined
Speaker 1: for us as long as it takes. That got read
Speaker 1: somewhere where in baseball anyway there. If you test positive,
Speaker 1: you quarantine and then you have to test negatively in
Speaker 1: two tests before they let you come back. So it's
Speaker 1: it's gonna be such a battle and hopefully we can
Speaker 1: get through it. Hopefully we we're gonna have the sixty
Speaker 1: game season and the playoffs culminating in the World Series,
Speaker 1: and I hope be sure to catch live editions on
Speaker 1: The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven
Speaker 1: pm Pacific. Yeah, well, what is your John, what is
Speaker 1: your level of concern? I mean, you're you know, because
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to be in the middle of this somewhat.
Speaker 1: I know there's some reports that the broadcasters at first
Speaker 1: are going to travel with the Why don't we start
Speaker 1: with it? Is that true? Or have you gotten the
Speaker 1: message with it from the Yankees? Are you gonna be
Speaker 1: on the road, Are you gonna be doing the games
Speaker 1: in a different location. No, as far as I know,
Speaker 1: no broadcasters in any sport are going to travel, or
Speaker 1: they try to reduce it as few people as possible
Speaker 1: at the ballpark. So we'll do the home games from
Speaker 1: Yankee Stadium, which is open and much better for you
Speaker 1: than being in a closed studio. And we still have
Speaker 1: to work out whether we'll do the away games from
Speaker 1: the stadium off a monitor, which I hope, or if
Speaker 1: we'll go to the s studios in um in Stanford, Connecticut.
Speaker 1: But then you'd be inside and there's a much greater
Speaker 1: chance to catch it if you're inside. So that that
Speaker 1: has to be worked out, and we have we have
Speaker 1: about a month to work it out. So we're gonna
Speaker 1: try be sure to catch live editions of The Ben
Speaker 1: Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven p m Pacific.
Speaker 1: So so, Johnneth, let's say like the season starts in
Speaker 1: late July, and then in like sometime in late August,
Speaker 1: baseball the powers that be said, okay, we're gonna let
Speaker 1: the broadcasters travel. Would you have apprehension about that or
Speaker 1: would you be okay with it? Now? I'm a person
Speaker 1: doesn't have a lot of apprehension when I go out
Speaker 1: in old mask and gloves. And if I don't think
Speaker 1: we have to worry about that, I don't think they're
Speaker 1: going to do that. And I think there is going
Speaker 1: to be the oddest season. And by the way, I
Speaker 1: have no idea how they're gonna play football. And um,
Speaker 1: I can only tell you one thing I told us
Speaker 1: to a buddy the other day. Are they going to
Speaker 1: tell the offensive lineman not to breathe on the defensive lineman?
Speaker 1: I mean, these be a moss trying to you know,
Speaker 1: destroy each other, you know, six six How can they
Speaker 1: How can they do all that without breathing on each other?
Speaker 1: So and and in basketball too. I mean, you know
Speaker 1: you've heard this when you played, I played all my life.
Speaker 1: I heard it plenty. Get up at them, get in
Speaker 1: his shirt. So I don't know how they're gonna do that,
Speaker 1: but um, I guess they can do it. If they're testing.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of testing. But if they're testing a
Speaker 1: few times a week works, and someone comes down with
Speaker 1: the virus so that they larrantine, I guess that's the
Speaker 1: way to do it. Fox Sports Radio has the best
Speaker 1: sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
Speaker 1: shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And the other thing to John about this is we've
Speaker 1: seen in college where there's been a bunch of college
Speaker 1: football players that have tested positive. They didn't test positively
Speaker 1: at practice. It was out, you know, going to clubs
Speaker 1: in the bars and things like that. So which is
Speaker 1: you know, you know, you've been around the baseball game
Speaker 1: and professional sports, you guys, and the players go on
Speaker 1: the road. They like to go out and enjoy whatever
Speaker 1: city they're in. So, and is this going to continue
Speaker 1: where guy's gonna have to stay in their hotels. Are
Speaker 1: they gonna be willing to do that? John, You've been
Speaker 1: around a lot of athletes over these you think they
Speaker 1: can do it. I really don't know. In fact, I
Speaker 1: is funny to bring it up. I read UM something
Speaker 1: about basketball that they're going to all go to Orlando
Speaker 1: and they're not going to be able to leave the
Speaker 1: hotel and they're gonna find hotels that have dining rooms
Speaker 1: and they and they want them to eat in their rooms. Hey,
Speaker 1: it's very tough if you're a player, broadcaster, writer, or
Speaker 1: whoever to go to a place and stay in a
Speaker 1: hotel and stay there for a couple of months. So, UM,
Speaker 1: I guess that's it with a guy. And I have
Speaker 1: not read what the procedure is on baseball, UM, but
Speaker 1: I gather it'll be about the same. Um. I guess
Speaker 1: they could go out. UM. You know there are there
Speaker 1: are a lot of worries, and you guys know that
Speaker 1: you hear it and read it and you're on the
Speaker 1: air every day. How about the fact that the virus
Speaker 1: UH did not attack UM a lot of the states Florida, Arizona,
Speaker 1: Texas and now it's hitting them with a force. And
Speaker 1: everyone tells me, I'm sure you've heard the same thing
Speaker 1: that once the weather gets cold, that the virus is
Speaker 1: going to come back. So I think you guys know
Speaker 1: already what we need. We need a vaccine, We need
Speaker 1: medicine or a vaccine, and so we can look get
Speaker 1: on them with our lives. And I don't know what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen. We've never been through this before, but there
Speaker 1: are a lot of health regulations to be enforced if
Speaker 1: this thing is gonna work. I think the biggest thing
Speaker 1: that was testing. If you test and you find someone
Speaker 1: who has the virus, they get quarantine. John, I guess
Speaker 1: the one thought behind all this, And you mentioned the
Speaker 1: testing with Major League Baseball. I guess it is a
Speaker 1: twofold question. But when you see them playing overseas in
Speaker 1: Korea and nothing's being done between the league and the
Speaker 1: MLB PA, do you feel like Major League Baseball they've
Speaker 1: lost any kind of momentum being the only game in
Speaker 1: town with obviously NASCAR are taking the stage, golf taking
Speaker 1: the stage, and the UFC man, do you feel like
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball missed the boat on an opportunity to
Speaker 1: capture more fans in a in a shorter period of Telly.
Speaker 1: I think it certainly it was a black mark on
Speaker 1: baseball that the owners and the players couldn't come together.
Speaker 1: In fact, the thing that I thought would be great
Speaker 1: for baseball if they had gone to the new rules,
Speaker 1: which they haven't, UM, would have been to have sixteen
Speaker 1: teams in the playoffs and in each league you would
Speaker 1: have had quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, the championship series, then
Speaker 1: the two winners go to the World Series. I thought
Speaker 1: it would have been that baseball would have occupied center
Speaker 1: stage for that month of October. They're still going to
Speaker 1: have the playoffs. Then. I'm not one of those, though,
Speaker 1: who jump on this and say, Wow, people are not
Speaker 1: gonna come back. They're throw with baseball. They're throw are
Speaker 1: the owners, They're throw are the players. Um, Baseball is
Speaker 1: fabulous and it's been a fabulous game for over a
Speaker 1: hundred years, and it's not gonna stop. The Major League
Speaker 1: Baseball has so many young players who have such brilliant
Speaker 1: futures and that's going to continue. People are always going
Speaker 1: to play it and people are to come out to
Speaker 1: watch it. So that that doesn't work me, I'm sorry
Speaker 1: though that they couldn't um forget their own problems are
Speaker 1: the problems in this country. We've we've had a hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty thousand people die from this virus, and we
Speaker 1: have whatever the number is, thirty forty million out of work.
Speaker 1: I wish they had thought of that, but you know,
Speaker 1: it's a business, and businessmen want to make the best
Speaker 1: business decisions possible. I guess well, speaking of the business, John,
Speaker 1: I guess the one thing that I have in mind
Speaker 1: is that even though it's a truncated schedule as opposed
Speaker 1: to a hundred and sixty two, we get sixty games.
Speaker 1: Um with the way that the season is going to
Speaker 1: be a line now, sixty games in seventy days is
Speaker 1: the is the best case scenario Dodgers Yankees in the
Speaker 1: World Series? Or do you feel like no matter who's
Speaker 1: in the Fall Classic, that's still a win if they
Speaker 1: can get back on the field and play at least
Speaker 1: the sixty games and get the postseason in um in
Speaker 1: long agoray uh. I am the definition of Oscar Hammerstein's
Speaker 1: cock eyde optimist. I mean I see the good side
Speaker 1: of almost everything, almost and the sixty game season is
Speaker 1: going to make the game very important from the start
Speaker 1: of the finish. Um. You know, Washington in their first
Speaker 1: sixty games they won the championship. They had a terrible record,
Speaker 1: they were well under five hundred, and if that would
Speaker 1: happen again, they wouldn't make the playoffs. Um. I received
Speaker 1: a very big honor last winner from the Baseball Writers Association.
Speaker 1: So I was on the dais and also on the
Speaker 1: dais was Uh, it was Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers
Speaker 1: who was getting the in National League's MVP Award, and
Speaker 1: that we kidded on the dais about, Hey, you know
Speaker 1: it would be great Yankees, said, Dodgers in the World Series.
Speaker 1: And he said, great, I'll sign up for that. So, um,
Speaker 1: you don't know. First of all, I don't know how
Speaker 1: anyone could predict a sixty game season, which has never
Speaker 1: been played before. You know, that's been always the beauty
Speaker 1: of baseball, day by day, grind through the months and
Speaker 1: changing your lineup and changing players. And with the Yankees,
Speaker 1: you know, players going on the on the d L
Speaker 1: and uh, that's all gone. You better start playing your
Speaker 1: best right away, and then the playoffs are going to
Speaker 1: be great because their playoffs and people love them. And
Speaker 1: you know, one year the Yankees about no, I don't know,
Speaker 1: three or four years ago, the years old blend in.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I wish I could pick it out for you.
Speaker 1: But anyway, they didn't make the playoffs. And and the
Speaker 1: Yankees have made the playoffs I think two times in
Speaker 1: the last twenty five years, which is exceptional in this
Speaker 1: day and age where you don't keep the same team,
Speaker 1: not close. Um. Anyway, I went home after the last
Speaker 1: game and I watched all the playoffs and I was
Speaker 1: just amazed in in every stadium it was filled, and
Speaker 1: in every stadium that people are rooting from the first
Speaker 1: bitch on and I thought, boyd is baseball looked great. So,
Speaker 1: you know, I think we'll see that. Even though it's
Speaker 1: a sixty game season, you know, someone's going to get
Speaker 1: through the playoffs. And you know, obviously I hope it's
Speaker 1: the Yankees, but but we'll find out. But I don't
Speaker 1: I think baseball will become completely reinvigorated if they're able
Speaker 1: to play the sixty games and if they're able to
Speaker 1: have the playoffs. Well, and John, just the piggyback off
Speaker 1: something you said. I know you're aware of this, but
Speaker 1: I think it needs to be highlighted the people, and
Speaker 1: I I'm upset with the owners and the players, but
Speaker 1: I'm gonna watch. Obviously work in sports radio, and so
Speaker 1: I I things to talking about. But there were stories
Speaker 1: going back a hundred years ago of columnists writing stories
Speaker 1: about how baseball was dying. And it's like every every
Speaker 1: year somebody, you know, several people make this claim. I
Speaker 1: guess it just won't die, John, because people, the writers
Speaker 1: have been trying to kill it, some of them for
Speaker 1: a hundred years, literally a hundred years. It's crazy. Well,
Speaker 1: of course, nowadays they have nothing else to write, so
Speaker 1: they have to write features. And I read the same
Speaker 1: things you have, and I don't worry about it at all. Baseball,
Speaker 1: you know. They they also said that when free agency
Speaker 1: came in, that would be the ruination of baseball, only
Speaker 1: the big teams would win, YadA, YadA, YadA. Well they
Speaker 1: were a hundred percent wrong. It can't be more than
Speaker 1: they were a hundred percent wrong. Since then, base ball
Speaker 1: has um become an eleven billion dollar business. And uh
Speaker 1: so baseball is actually, um, you know, bigger than ever.
Speaker 1: And uh you can't stop the fans, the fans who
Speaker 1: are the game. I love it. And then I gotta
Speaker 1: listen to those writers. I mean, the writers are writing
Speaker 1: for themselves. They have to write something. You might as
Speaker 1: well write a very strong anti baseball column. But it
Speaker 1: doesn't happen. And I was there in where we went
Speaker 1: through the same thing. Um, I think baseball if they
Speaker 1: ever would give it a chance, if they hope the
Speaker 1: players in and management come to an agreement for a
Speaker 1: long contract and then simply build the game. And the
Speaker 1: game has all these fabulous ballparks, all these different ballparks.
Speaker 1: Everyone is um different unto themselves, and um, it's been
Speaker 1: a great rebirth I think in in baseball. So you know,
Speaker 1: I'm really not worried about the everlasting effect. You know,
Speaker 1: we have to get rid of the virus, and that's
Speaker 1: that's really the job we have to do, get rid
Speaker 1: of the virus and and get on with our lives. John,
Speaker 1: speaking of that, I mean, you've done a lot and
Speaker 1: seen a lot. But growing up, was was baseball your
Speaker 1: first love or was it another sport? Um? No, I
Speaker 1: have a great ability. Um, what I like, I absolutely love.
Speaker 1: What I don't like, I totally ignore. It's like I
Speaker 1: put up a wall and it's I guess an emotional
Speaker 1: psychological wall, and what I don't like goes on that
Speaker 1: other side of the wall. And so when I was
Speaker 1: a kid, um, I love basketball, baseball, football, and hockey.
Speaker 1: And now that I've put a little years on, I
Speaker 1: love baseball, basketball, football, hockey, so um. And I love
Speaker 1: the you know, the the what they call now the
Speaker 1: the Great American Songbook, which is to me is just
Speaker 1: good music. But you know, Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sarah Brown, YadA, YadA.
Speaker 1: So the things I like I absolutely adore, and I
Speaker 1: adore baseball and the other sports was four that I mentioned.
Speaker 1: And I played tennis all my life too. I played
Speaker 1: basketball all my life. And so what I like I
Speaker 1: like so um. I won't you know how people say,
Speaker 1: well throw with baseball. Never not me. I could watch
Speaker 1: a game every day and I do. I actually have
Speaker 1: for the past thirty eight years. Yeah, John, you've had
Speaker 1: you had that iron man streak of calling Yankee games
Speaker 1: over five thousand consecutive games that you had, which is well,
Speaker 1: actually actually they were all wrong on that, but I
Speaker 1: didn't correct him. I didn't get anything out of it,
Speaker 1: and I never thought of it as a streak. I
Speaker 1: never thought going to the ballpark, and I'm gonna add
Speaker 1: another game to the streak. I honestly never thought about it.
Speaker 1: But actually the streak began in the beginning of November
Speaker 1: when I did my first Atlanta Hawks basketball game, and
Speaker 1: from then on in November, I never missed a game
Speaker 1: until last summer and I was really sick coming back
Speaker 1: from London, and I after a couple of games at
Speaker 1: City Field, I took four days off and then added
Speaker 1: the four days of the All Star breaks at eight
Speaker 1: days off. I got well and made every game from
Speaker 1: from that point on. But yeah, I made every game.
Speaker 1: And in um Atlanta, there were five years when I
Speaker 1: was doing the Hawks and Braves where I was doing
Speaker 1: about two in twenty games a year. So I never
Speaker 1: missed one, and I never missed one with the Yankees.
Speaker 1: I took a couple of days off in my first
Speaker 1: year to put my sister to rest, and so I
Speaker 1: don't recall. I don't think of that as missing games.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, well, and anyway, I did make a point.
Speaker 1: Until last All Start break in July, I hadn't missed
Speaker 1: a game in thirty eight years. You mentioned you mentioned
Speaker 1: called the Braves games, and as I remember they were
Speaker 1: not particularly good many of those years in Atlanta when
Speaker 1: you were calling the Braves back then before they had
Speaker 1: that run in the nineties, So what is what's the
Speaker 1: big difference? Obviously the Yankees every year they have good teams,
Speaker 1: and they make the playoffs most years, and you've got
Speaker 1: a bunch of World Series rights. Like as a broadcaster,
Speaker 1: what's the difference calling a game when you got like
Speaker 1: the Braves of the eighties that were pretty miserable and
Speaker 1: compared to some of these Yankee teams, how what's the difference? Like, well,
Speaker 1: one thing, when I got to the Yankees they were terrible,
Speaker 1: and one they were awful, And then they hired book
Speaker 1: Show Walter as manager and Gene michael is general manager,
Speaker 1: and they started building their team. And then in ninety
Speaker 1: nine four that quickly from nine they had a six
Speaker 1: game lead when that stupid strike was called or whatever
Speaker 1: it was called labor problem and which did nothing for
Speaker 1: the game at all, did nothing for the owners, et cetera.
Speaker 1: And since then the Yankees have been just terrific. Ninety
Speaker 1: five they made the playoffs and and then Joe Torrey
Speaker 1: came aboard and and they had that great run in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Tory was the manager and they won an eighty two.
Speaker 1: They won the West in eighty two, and in eight
Speaker 1: three they had five six game leader where the Dodgers
Speaker 1: and then Horner and Chamblis, the two power guys on
Speaker 1: the corners, got hurt and they lost the pet at
Speaker 1: eight three by one game. And then Joe Um had
Speaker 1: a team that went five hundred and eighty four. May
Speaker 1: got fired and then they really went bad until Bobby
Speaker 1: Cox brought him back in the early nineties. I was
Speaker 1: gone by then, but the difference Um now give a
Speaker 1: great line from Lindsay Nelson when he was doing the
Speaker 1: Mets at the beginning and they're losing a hundred games
Speaker 1: a year. Someone said him, how do you do the game?
Speaker 1: And Lindsey Nelson said, I never forgot it. He said,
Speaker 1: you make the game that day important. So that's what
Speaker 1: you try to do. Obviously, it's much easier to do
Speaker 1: a winning team. Every broadcasting wants to do a winning
Speaker 1: team because you sound better. You're giving the fans good
Speaker 1: news instead of instead of bad news. So Um, you
Speaker 1: know when you're When you have a good team and
Speaker 1: your independent race, the games take on even more importance
Speaker 1: and I guess that's the difference. But in baseball now
Speaker 1: you have a lot of games, and if you're a
Speaker 1: lousy in Um in June and you know you're out
Speaker 1: of the Pennant race, you've got a lot of games left.
Speaker 1: So you know, I try That's what I do. I
Speaker 1: followed the Lindsay Nelson advice, and I try to make
Speaker 1: the game that day important, John, since we've had some
Speaker 1: downtown with no games being played, like Ben and I
Speaker 1: talked a couple of weeks ago about one of the
Speaker 1: features with McGuire and so so the summer of when
Speaker 1: when you reflect on on that year, what McGuire did,
Speaker 1: what's Socia did with Griffy and the hunt for a
Speaker 1: little while, what are your thoughts on it? You know? I,
Speaker 1: if I had a vote, which I don't, for the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, I would vote for Clemens and and
Speaker 1: obviously Bonds and and Sisa and all the Rafael Palmero,
Speaker 1: all the people who were and I guess properly accused
Speaker 1: of taking steroids. I think that was just part of
Speaker 1: the game. They've had other problems in baseball, and they'll
Speaker 1: have problems in the future too, So I don't look
Speaker 1: down as much not the people who took steroids. A
Speaker 1: lot of people were doing it to stay in the
Speaker 1: major leagues. The money is so much different than the
Speaker 1: minor leagues, and the the living is so much different,
Speaker 1: And you know, I just kind of accepted it as
Speaker 1: as part of the game. Uh. You could point out
Speaker 1: Alex Rodriguez too, who was a friend of mine. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to give up on him as a friend
Speaker 1: because he took steroids at some point. So, um, I
Speaker 1: I kind of look askance at the home run records
Speaker 1: set for that reason, but you know, that was part
Speaker 1: of the game, and they still had to do it
Speaker 1: and other people. You know what I do think I
Speaker 1: think that there were more people taking the juice than
Speaker 1: we even knew of. I think an awful lot of
Speaker 1: guys did it, and and um John just to follow up,
Speaker 1: and I mean, there's there are guys in the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame that are suspected of doing steroids. So it's like,
Speaker 1: my I was of the mindset, you shouldn't let any
Speaker 1: of these guys in. But then they started letting sporadic
Speaker 1: players who had accusations against them, like Plug Rodriguez and
Speaker 1: Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell, guys like that. So so
Speaker 1: now you're like you're excluding certain people but not other people.
Speaker 1: Just seems wrong to me the way that this has
Speaker 1: been handled by the baseball writers. What do you think
Speaker 1: about that? I I agree. I mean if they did
Speaker 1: it on the field, other guys were on the field
Speaker 1: and they weren't able to do it. And so a
Speaker 1: guy was that good, I mean Roger Clemens one, and
Speaker 1: he didn't do it all because the steroids. So I'm
Speaker 1: with you. I will tell you one story though, tell
Speaker 1: you how naive I am. Um. I got to be
Speaker 1: friendly with the Charlie Naggy, the right hander of the Indians,
Speaker 1: and uh, it was now a pitching coat somewhere. And
Speaker 1: I used to walk in in Cleveland. Instead of walking
Speaker 1: all the way around long walk to the clubhouses, I
Speaker 1: would walk through left field. Uh. They opened up an
Speaker 1: area and then they close it right underneath what it
Speaker 1: would be the pennant porch down the left field one anyway,
Speaker 1: And so I'm I'm walking down and Charlie is out
Speaker 1: there shagging, and he say, come on, did j Alice talk?
Speaker 1: Come on? So we went over to the side, sat
Speaker 1: on you know, the the front level of the boxes
Speaker 1: and were just schmoozing, as they say, and Naggie told
Speaker 1: me something. He said, you know, Naggie was tall, but
Speaker 1: he's very slim. And he said, look at me, you know,
Speaker 1: and he said, I'm pitching. Um. These guys are coming
Speaker 1: up and they had the biggest, strongest looking guys. It
Speaker 1: scares the depth out of you. And now I realized
Speaker 1: what he was talking about. That he was saying, these
Speaker 1: guys come up who all of a sudden that had
Speaker 1: very inflated bills, and he was giving that that happened before,
Speaker 1: before it became public. And I look back and think, boy,
Speaker 1: was I naive. I thought he was just talking about
Speaker 1: having to face all these big, strong guys. But now
Speaker 1: I realized what he was saying. John, you uh, you
Speaker 1: turn a happy two in July four July? Correct? Right? Um?
Speaker 1: With what you've done professionally, is there anything else that
Speaker 1: you want to accomplish or you want to do given
Speaker 1: the fact that you have so many chapters to this
Speaker 1: belong book. Well, my I obviously do not believe in retirement.
Speaker 1: And you know there are people my heroes like um,
Speaker 1: like mel Brooks and Tony Bennett and Carl Reiner who
Speaker 1: are in their nineties and are still working and will
Speaker 1: not retire. But actually, my next thing I have to do.
Speaker 1: I have to get my three youngest kids through college.
Speaker 1: They're entering their sophomore year this coming year. My eldest graduated,
Speaker 1: and so I've got to get these kids through college.
Speaker 1: That's the first step, and then we'll we'll look at
Speaker 1: what's gonna go on. But I don't feel my age,
Speaker 1: and when you use that numbers, it sure is scary.
Speaker 1: But I I feel the same way that I felt
Speaker 1: the past thirty years or so. And as long as
Speaker 1: I have held and as long as I have my pipes,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep on working. So with that being said,
Speaker 1: I'm curious, can you can you hint for me and Ben?
Speaker 1: Can you hint any kind of any kind of quarantine
Speaker 1: home run call that you have in the can for
Speaker 1: John Carlos Stanton or anybody else in the Yankees lineup
Speaker 1: for the Stuff something season. Well, I don't have anything
Speaker 1: in the can. Well, I just do him live. But
Speaker 1: it's a good story, and maybe a good story to
Speaker 1: end this this interview on Well, I I did burn,
Speaker 1: baby burn, and all of a sudden it became a thing,
Speaker 1: and you know, a bomb from a Rod Robbi kind,
Speaker 1: don't you know, and all that nonsense, and it's become
Speaker 1: a big thing. And now I have to do it
Speaker 1: for every player on the Yankees, and it's a home run,
Speaker 1: which is very tough. So when the Yankees got Stanton
Speaker 1: during the winter um, I called up Burlitz and I
Speaker 1: asked for the Italian teacher at Burlitz and I am
Speaker 1: a gal came on, the lovely, wonderful gal, and I
Speaker 1: said to her, I explained to her what I did
Speaker 1: with the nonsense that I did, and I said, I'm
Speaker 1: looking for something in Italian, Uh, for Gencarlo. And I said, now,
Speaker 1: if you want to think, I don't know if you're
Speaker 1: old enough for this. Gal's name was Linda more Lowe,
Speaker 1: and I said, I don't know if you're old enough.
Speaker 1: But years ago Ronzoni came up with a very quick
Speaker 1: um logo and uh, that's kind of what I'm looking for.
Speaker 1: And I I said, they said Ronzoni sono boni in
Speaker 1: in the words Ronzoni is so good. And so in
Speaker 1: a couple of days she came back and she gave
Speaker 1: me one and I used that usually for Gencarlo. So
Speaker 1: when he hits a home run, it is high, it
Speaker 1: is far, it is gone Giencrlo no ci proto farlow,
Speaker 1: which means Gian Carlo, you can't be stopped. And and
Speaker 1: uh a writer, a friend of mine, Pete Caldera, writes
Speaker 1: for the Bergen Record and sings a good singer, and
Speaker 1: he knows I love the same music as he does.
Speaker 1: And he gave me one for non de mendic car
Speaker 1: um non do medic car that ball short travel far
Speaker 1: Gean Carlo anyway, So that's what I do for John Carlo.
Speaker 1: And and is it nonsense? Yeah, but I mean it
Speaker 1: sounds good and people love it, and I'm very fortunate
Speaker 1: that they do. It's entertaining. Now when did that? Did
Speaker 1: you do that in Atlanta? Or is this a Yankee thing?
Speaker 1: Did this start with the Yankees? Well, in Atlanta, I
Speaker 1: did a whole bunch on Dominique. I mean that was
Speaker 1: my We became really good friends, and he loved the
Speaker 1: stuff I did. Don Manique is mono fique. And so
Speaker 1: I've kind of done it over the years, but only
Speaker 1: every now and then. And then it's become, as I say,
Speaker 1: a thing, a cottage industry with the Yankees, and you
Speaker 1: know it's a it's a different thing. Uh. And you
Speaker 1: know you can say to me, John, some people don't
Speaker 1: like it. What are you gonna do? Some people don't
Speaker 1: like everything. Yeah, well that's absolutely true. And I gotta
Speaker 1: I can't not talk to you and asked. When I
Speaker 1: was growing up, one of the reasons I fell in
Speaker 1: love with baseball was this Weekend Baseball with Mel Allen.
Speaker 1: I read that you worked with Mels. That true back
Speaker 1: in your career. Yes. Yeah, I was at w m
Speaker 1: c A in New York doing three hour talk show
Speaker 1: every night, and the Yankees were on the station, and
Speaker 1: I was also doing that's where I did the Nets
Speaker 1: and Islanders basketball and hockey as a very busy little boy.
Speaker 1: And uh. And during the fall, I was doing Morgan
Speaker 1: State football out of Baltimore, So I mean I was
Speaker 1: really working. But anyway, and the Yankees all of a
Speaker 1: sudden started making the playoffs seventy seventy seven, seventy eight,
Speaker 1: and uh and um, this is all now. You guys
Speaker 1: know this because you're on the air. Being on the
Speaker 1: air is not important. Selling the spots is important. As
Speaker 1: you know, the first thing you have to do is
Speaker 1: sell the soap, and so they sold long pre and
Speaker 1: post game shows and they hired Mel to go on
Speaker 1: with me, and he was a lovely gentleman and we
Speaker 1: got to be very good friends, and we had we
Speaker 1: had a really good time. And after one of the
Speaker 1: World Series victories, we did a show and George Sheinbrenner's office,
Speaker 1: and we've kept bringing in all these big guests, including Cavalry,
Speaker 1: Graham and um. And for years later, even when I
Speaker 1: got the Yankee job and Mel would see me, said
Speaker 1: we we got to get a tape of that. We
Speaker 1: had all these starts on. We never did get the tape,
Speaker 1: but anyway, UM, yes, I did work with Mel and
Speaker 1: it was a big thrill, awesome. Don't forget. Don't forget that.
Speaker 1: I grew up listening to Mel Allen. He was one
Speaker 1: of my heroes. Not my only one, but he was
Speaker 1: one of them. Yeah, he was one of my heroes.
Speaker 1: So I love this weekend baseball every week it was
Speaker 1: must watch television before cable and internet and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: So I loved it too. I love seeing all the
Speaker 1: ballparks and uh, and I love Mel. I'm not I'll
Speaker 1: give you a cute Mel Allan story that you love.
Speaker 1: I don't know. It was seventy seven seventy eight Yankees
Speaker 1: and Dodgers, that's for sure. And I had a buddy
Speaker 1: who you listen to regularly over the years, Dick Stockton,
Speaker 1: and we would meet at a restaurant very late called
Speaker 1: Christo's and it was right off like mom and between
Speaker 1: Lex and Third, great old steakhouse gone now of course,
Speaker 1: and you could have dinner there in the early hours
Speaker 1: of the morning. It was great. So after one of
Speaker 1: the World Series games, I met Stockton at Christo's. Well,
Speaker 1: the Dodgers came in, you know, three or four of
Speaker 1: them were their rives, and one of them was Don
Speaker 1: Sutton for Cleo Alabama. And that was the first time
Speaker 1: I met him, and then we really became friends. Uh
Speaker 1: as he got into broadcasting after his career. Anyway, Don
Speaker 1: Sutton came over to the table and he said, you know, Mel,
Speaker 1: you know I'm a big fan of yours. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm an Alabama boy, and and would you come over
Speaker 1: to the table and say hello. They all want to
Speaker 1: beat you. And uh, mel Allen had come in. Layton
Speaker 1: was sitting with us, and Mel Allen went over and
Speaker 1: was very gracious, and they all loved it. You know,
Speaker 1: an Alabama boy coming over to speak to an Alabama boy.
Speaker 1: So I thought that was a great story. That was
Speaker 1: off the record, you know, no one was there, didn't
Speaker 1: make the newspapers, and I thought it was very nice. Well,
Speaker 1: that's great to hear. John will let you go. We've
Speaker 1: kept you for a long time here. I appreciate it. Continued,
Speaker 1: good health, good luck with the Yankees this year, and
Speaker 1: we'll talk to you down in the line. Thank you.
Speaker 1: I hope you do talk down the lot. I'd love it.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, appreciate it.