Speaker 1: Is this a Great Game or what?
Speaker 2: We are at the Covich Center at University of Maryland.
Speaker 2: I'm with Hall of Famer and alumni of University of Maryland,
Speaker 2: Tim Kirkshon. I'm his son Jeff Kirkschen for our final
Speaker 2: regular season episode of Assist a Great Game or What?
Speaker 3: And usually I wear my Walter Johnson fleece pullover for these,
Speaker 3: but today University of Maryland. I've got my University of
Speaker 3: Maryland hoodie on here. So this is going to be
Speaker 3: the day that we're doing this at Maryland.
Speaker 4: I graduated here in nineteen seventy eight. This is our.
Speaker 3: Thirty third podcast of the year, and each episode we
Speaker 3: mentioned the greatest baseball player ever to wear number whatever.
Speaker 4: It is, So this is number thirty three.
Speaker 3: Eddie Murray former Oriole is the greatest number thirty three
Speaker 3: of all time. I covered him with the Orioles for
Speaker 3: four years more than that. Actually, Mark Hyman, who runs
Speaker 3: the Povidge Center, also covered him in nineteen eighty six.
Speaker 3: And I can't tell you how many times Eddie would
Speaker 3: just like shush us away when we went to.
Speaker 4: Talk to him.
Speaker 3: So the first time I ever I went to spring
Speaker 3: training in eighty six to cover the Orioles for the
Speaker 3: Baltimore Sun. Floyd Rayford, who's on the Orioles, is on
Speaker 3: the plane going to Florida. So Floyd Rayford looks at
Speaker 3: me and I say, Floyd, I'm Tim Kirkchin. I'm going
Speaker 3: to be covering the team this year. He takes one
Speaker 3: look at me and he.
Speaker 4: Goes, Eddie is going to hate you. And I said why.
Speaker 3: He said, your head is too big for the rest
Speaker 3: of your body. Well, I have a really little body.
Speaker 3: I understand that, but I have.
Speaker 4: A seven and an eighth head. I don't have a
Speaker 4: big head. But now I'm all worried going.
Speaker 3: On the plane to cover spring training for the first
Speaker 3: time that my head is too big for the rest
Speaker 3: of my body. And Eddie is going to hate me
Speaker 3: for that. Well he ended up hating me. Maybe not
Speaker 3: for that, but this is what we go through as journalists.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you can tell that this is not that
Speaker 2: he wears the sweatshirt all the time around the house
Speaker 2: and he has a big stain on the front. He
Speaker 2: just realized that he has. And you brought up Walter Johnson.
Speaker 2: We have a listener on our show's name is Carl.
Speaker 2: He is a big, big fan of the show, and
Speaker 2: anytime Walter Johnson comes up on the show, my dad
Speaker 2: sarcastically says, Hey, did I.
Speaker 1: Ever tell you I went to Walter Johnson High School?
Speaker 2: And it's the same, you know, like we all have
Speaker 2: dads and moms out to make the same joke.
Speaker 1: All the time.
Speaker 2: Well, Carl loved it so much he made a shirt
Speaker 2: out of it, and I ever tell you, I went
Speaker 2: to Walter Johnson High School. And I don't know where
Speaker 2: he got your signature there, but he somehow got that
Speaker 2: off the internet.
Speaker 3: And it's become an inside joke on Baseball Tonight and
Speaker 3: all the games that I do with Carl Ravich.
Speaker 4: I just do this to irritate him. He's better when
Speaker 4: he's irritated. I always say, I ever tell you I
Speaker 4: went to Walter Johnson High School? And he he just
Speaker 4: rolls his eyes.
Speaker 3: Now he'll say to me on the air, he'll say, Tint,
Speaker 3: did I ever tell you I went to Walter John's eyes.
Speaker 3: It's a running joke, and somebody liked it enough that
Speaker 3: we have a tea shirt for well.
Speaker 2: And it's fitting to be here because Dad, you and
Speaker 2: I are both Montgomery County Maryland products. I went to
Speaker 2: Quinn s Orchard High School. You went to Walter Johnson
Speaker 2: High School.
Speaker 4: Well, I didn't even know that little paper was called
Speaker 4: the Pitch. I did some work for the yearbook. It
Speaker 4: was called the wind Up.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, And we have a good counsel in any
Speaker 2: other Montgomery County products in the back there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, where'd you go to high school? You went to
Speaker 1: quit Sorchard.
Speaker 2: QO, Let's go and wow WJ represented Wow, that's a
Speaker 2: lot to talk.
Speaker 5: QO.
Speaker 1: After gus So.
Speaker 3: The green fleece that I wear all the time, which
Speaker 3: I didn't wear today because I'm at Maryland, Todd Frasier,
Speaker 3: who does all the Little League games with me, says,
Speaker 3: that's the greatest shirt I've ever seen. I got to
Speaker 3: have one of those. So after the lit League World
Speaker 3: Series is over, I went to WJ and I ordered.
Speaker 3: I got him a fleece pullover that said Walter Johnson
Speaker 3: Wildcats on it.
Speaker 1: It's an extra.
Speaker 3: Large unlike mine, and I send it to him. I've
Speaker 3: never seen him so happy in my life. So Todd
Speaker 3: Fraser has a WJ pullover?
Speaker 4: How about that?
Speaker 2: And this is just to go if you want to
Speaker 2: get to know my dad a little bit better. You know,
Speaker 2: a lot of people he's celebrity, he's a Hall of Famer,
Speaker 2: that's how.
Speaker 1: People view him. But he's so humble.
Speaker 2: He went to Walter Johnson High School, drove there, went
Speaker 2: to their school shop and just bought a sweatshirt and
Speaker 2: then mailed.
Speaker 1: It to him to make sure he had it. Not hey,
Speaker 1: can you guys help me out and hook me up.
Speaker 2: Nope, he just went and bought it himself, which is
Speaker 2: just the kind of guy you are.
Speaker 3: Well, that's the guy that Todd Fraser is. He's the
Speaker 3: biggest twelve year old in the history of the world.
Speaker 3: He was one of our best guests this year because
Speaker 3: this is what we attempted to do. We wanted to
Speaker 3: tap in to Todd Fraser, who played Little League Baseball
Speaker 3: and won the championship at age twelve. We want that
Speaker 3: guy talking to us. We don't want to talk to
Speaker 3: him about the home run that he hit off at
Speaker 3: Roger Clemens in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 4: We're not interested in that.
Speaker 3: We're interested in the Little League World Series of Todd
Speaker 3: Fraser telling us what it was like to be there.
Speaker 3: And that was what we've tried to do with every
Speaker 3: interview here is get the people to explain to us
Speaker 3: what we want to hear from them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and at the end of this interview usually at
Speaker 2: this time we say, oh, our guest today is you
Speaker 2: know whoever it is, whether it's Johnny bench Cowerpken Jr.
Speaker 1: We're gonna kind of turn it around.
Speaker 2: Here and have the students here at the Shirley Povit
Speaker 2: Center for Sports Journalism ask us the questions. So, Dad,
Speaker 2: in fact, we are the guests on our own podcasts here.
Speaker 3: And you're going to be asking the questions and just
Speaker 3: ask as many as you like, no matter.
Speaker 4: What you like, We're going to go through them.
Speaker 1: And so we're going to get to that, of course.
Speaker 2: And Dad, obviously we have to talk about the World Series,
Speaker 2: which wrapped up now when this release is almost a
Speaker 2: week ago, because of only five games in the World Series.
Speaker 2: But so we're going to get there, of course. But
Speaker 2: I want to talk a little bit about your favorite
Speaker 2: moments from the podcast this season.
Speaker 3: Uh, well, favorite moments from the podcast this year. Well,
Speaker 3: we had Scott van pelt On, former Maryland graduate, of course,
Speaker 3: and he does the Baltimore ew better than anyone in
Speaker 3: the world. So we we laughed for thirty five straight minutes,
Speaker 3: I told you. And Scott comes in from the beach.
Speaker 3: He's at the beach, he's on vacation, but he does our.
Speaker 3: He walks off the beach, he's got sun tan low
Speaker 3: all over him, he's got a visor on, and we
Speaker 3: just talked about the Long Oh and Orioles, baseball and
Speaker 3: everything else for at least thirty.
Speaker 4: Five minutes, and we laughed out loud for the entire time.
Speaker 4: A good lesson here.
Speaker 3: You're allowed to have a good chuckle when you're covering sports,
Speaker 3: no matter what you're doing, you should have a good chuckle.
Speaker 3: So Scott Van Pelt was one of my favorites. The
Speaker 3: other thing was I asked a bunch of questions on
Speaker 3: the air, just to try to get people to talk
Speaker 3: about some other part of their life. So we had
Speaker 3: two guests in a row, Cal Ripken and Ryan Zimmerman,
Speaker 3: and I asked Cal Ripkin, like, when's the last time
Speaker 3: you dunked a basketball? And like five minutes later, he
Speaker 3: sends us a picture of him dunking a basketball. That's
Speaker 3: how proud he was that he could still dunk it.
Speaker 3: Then I asked Ryan Zimmerman. I said, when's the last
Speaker 3: time you dunked a basketball? And he said, oh, at
Speaker 3: my fantasy football football draft, he said, there was a
Speaker 3: bet that I couldn't dunk it anymore. So I went
Speaker 3: out in my backyard and I dunked it and I
Speaker 3: won the bet. And then he sent a video of
Speaker 3: him dunking a basketball. So here's a Hall of Fame
Speaker 3: baseball player and the greatest national of all time, and
Speaker 3: all they care about is making sure that we know
Speaker 3: that they could still dunk a basketball.
Speaker 2: And it took us a little bit of prying with
Speaker 2: Cal Ripkins people to allow us to use the photo
Speaker 2: he sent in the YouTube version of the podcast because
Speaker 2: his shorts were rather short at that time that.
Speaker 1: Was the style.
Speaker 2: And he said, I don't know if I want that
Speaker 2: out on the internet, and.
Speaker 1: He said please. It's a perfect moment of the podcast.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite moments.
Speaker 2: We had Jeff frank Corr on the podcast, a long
Speaker 2: time Landa Braves player, really really great athlete, and he
Speaker 2: talked a lot about golf.
Speaker 1: We talked to him a lot about playing golf, and
Speaker 1: one of.
Speaker 2: The best stories of all time was he was in
Speaker 2: spring training Bobby Cox as the manager and he's still young,
Speaker 2: he's still coming up, so he's grinding every day to
Speaker 2: get a spot on that team. And Bobby Cox finds
Speaker 2: out that Jeff frank Core passed on the opportunity to
Speaker 2: play golf with Tiger Woods.
Speaker 1: Passed on it, said nope, and I see you.
Speaker 2: You might have seen the clip on Instagram, very very
Speaker 2: humble brag here it like blew up on our Instagram page.
Speaker 2: I'm the one who runs to social media and I
Speaker 2: have no clue what I'm doing, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: I wake up. We've got a million views on this story.
Speaker 2: And so at great game or what you can follow us.
Speaker 2: Feel free to take out your phones now. I'm totally
Speaker 2: fine with that. But Bobby Cox hears that he passed
Speaker 2: on an opportunity to play golf with Tiger Woods, and
Speaker 2: so Bobby Cox said, no, you got to go, And
Speaker 2: he said, no, listen, Skip, I'm staying here.
Speaker 1: I'm playing.
Speaker 2: He says, all right, how about this, if you put
Speaker 2: a ball in play when you make it to first base,
Speaker 2: maybe just grab your ankle a little bit right when
Speaker 2: you run through first and we'll pull you out of
Speaker 2: the game and we can see if you can make
Speaker 2: it for the round lo and behold, he hits a ball,
Speaker 2: runs through first base, grabs his ankle. Bobby Cox comes
Speaker 2: waddling out, his words not mine and says, oh, takes
Speaker 2: a look at it, pulls him out of the game,
Speaker 2: and he immediately runs to the clubhouse, puts on his
Speaker 2: golf outfit and meets Tiger Woods on the first fairway
Speaker 2: and played eighteen holes with Tiger Woods and the best
Speaker 2: part was on the seventeenth hole.
Speaker 1: He gets Jeff Frank gorgan. It's a text message from
Speaker 1: his wife.
Speaker 2: It's a screen that says it's a report for me
Speaker 2: ESPN and it says Jeff Frank core day to day
Speaker 2: with a high ankle spring.
Speaker 1: And secretly he.
Speaker 3: Knowsn't hurt and the manager allowed him.
Speaker 1: To do this.
Speaker 3: So Jeff Frank Horrer told us that's the first time
Speaker 3: he's ever told that story publicly, and.
Speaker 4: He chose to tell it on our podcast.
Speaker 3: I saw him at the playoffs and I said, I said, Frenchy,
Speaker 3: that was all the things we did in our podcast,
Speaker 3: that was the highlight was your story on Bobby Cox.
Speaker 3: And he goes, I've never gotten that kind of reaction
Speaker 3: on anything that I've ever done that story, like just
Speaker 3: completely blew up.
Speaker 4: That's the point.
Speaker 3: We asked him a question about playing golf with Tiger Woods,
Speaker 3: and that's the story we got. So when you're out
Speaker 3: there talking to people, let's see if we can ask
Speaker 3: a question that might elicit a.
Speaker 4: Different response, a funny response. I had no idea about.
Speaker 1: This story, but that's what we got from Josh.
Speaker 2: And usually Dad, you do you know, in his years
Speaker 2: of covering the sport, he knows the story that he
Speaker 2: wants a guy to tell and has a question that
Speaker 2: leads him to it to make him feel comfortable. But
Speaker 2: he offered this up and it was like the back
Speaker 2: half of the interview, so we didn't even open with this,
Speaker 2: and it was one of our favorite moments of this season,
Speaker 2: so many favorite moments.
Speaker 3: Johnny Bench sang for us, the greatest catcher of all time.
Speaker 4: Sang for us.
Speaker 3: Todd Frazier, who sings like Frank Sinatra even though he's
Speaker 3: twelve years old, he sang for us on the podcast also,
Speaker 3: and what else?
Speaker 4: What other takeaways did you have from the podcast?
Speaker 2: Oh, I mean there was I mean, Aaron Boone was
Speaker 2: unbelievable doing the voice of the Phillies. Dan Baker or
Speaker 2: the PA announcer, and it.
Speaker 1: Was for the Phillies and it was.
Speaker 2: And it's just so funny to think you can be
Speaker 2: as good of an athlete as Aaron boon is, as
Speaker 2: good of a manager as Aaron Boon is, but still
Speaker 2: be able to do some of the best impressions of announcers.
Speaker 2: Or he does everybody's batting stance from when his dad
Speaker 2: was playing, and he did Moses.
Speaker 3: Malone from the free throw line, which you guys are
Speaker 3: too young to understand that Moses Malone was supposed to
Speaker 3: come to this school in nineteen seventy four. That's the
Speaker 3: year I was a freshman at Maryland and in one
Speaker 3: of my classes, whatever Psych one hundred, he had come
Speaker 3: so close to enrolling that they announced the role like before,
Speaker 3: like one of the classes, Moses Malone, and someone had
Speaker 3: to say, he just signed with the Utah Stars, He's
Speaker 3: not coming here.
Speaker 4: But it was announced in a class.
Speaker 3: But Aaron Boone did Moses Malone at the free throw line,
Speaker 3: and I was crying with laughter. And when we're done
Speaker 3: with this, at least a dozen people said to me,
Speaker 3: I had no idea that Aaron Boone had that good
Speaker 3: of a sense of humor, and it's in part because
Speaker 3: we brought it out of him. We told him, we
Speaker 3: don't want to ask you any questions about being the
Speaker 3: Yankees manager.
Speaker 4: You get asked those every day.
Speaker 3: We want to ask you about what you were like
Speaker 3: when you were five years old and at work.
Speaker 2: One of my buddies lifelong Busts and Red Sox fan,
Speaker 2: and he called me after the Aaron Boone episode and
Speaker 2: part of my language because he's from Boston, so this is.
Speaker 1: How they talk all the time. And he said, Gosharon
Speaker 1: Boone was hilarious and I hate him.
Speaker 2: I was like, wow, So even a guy who hates
Speaker 2: Aaron Boone is saying even I hate him, and he
Speaker 2: was hilarious.
Speaker 3: You remember the ice bucket challenge, right, I did one
Speaker 3: of these with Boonie and I threw.
Speaker 4: I had ice thrown, water thrown all over me.
Speaker 3: So Aaron Boone I challenge him to do it the
Speaker 3: next time he's on the road with me. We're in Boston,
Speaker 3: and he goes to the bar keep because you have
Speaker 3: to do it within twenty four hours. He goes to
Speaker 3: the young bar keep at the hotel and says, will you.
Speaker 4: Pour water over cold water?
Speaker 3: Over my head for the ice bucket challenge, and the
Speaker 3: kid who's the bartender goes, well, of course I will.
Speaker 4: You're Aaron Boone.
Speaker 3: I hate your guts, so.
Speaker 4: He poured it over like on the day of a game.
Speaker 3: This is what we got from our podcast, just by
Speaker 3: asking a question that's a little bit different than when's
Speaker 3: Garrett Cole coming off the injured list.
Speaker 2: That's the goal, and you have so many places you
Speaker 2: can get that, especially with the availability of information, whether
Speaker 2: it's on Twitter or whether it's on ESPN or MLB,
Speaker 2: you can find that information. It's the stories that really stick,
Speaker 2: like the one with Jeff frankcor like the one with Kalripken.
Speaker 2: All of these are available on our podcast. You guys
Speaker 2: can rewind back and listen to that. So Dad, let's
Speaker 2: open it up.
Speaker 3: Well, we're gonna do a couple takeaways. First from just
Speaker 3: from the World Series. Freddy Freeman had one of the
Speaker 3: greatest World Series ever. I'm not sure there's a way
Speaker 3: around that. He's the only player ever hit a home
Speaker 3: run in the first four games of any World Series
Speaker 3: counting the previous World Series. Is the only player ever
Speaker 3: did a home run in six straight World Series games.
Speaker 3: He drove in twelve runs in five games, tying the
Speaker 3: record for the most RBIs in one World Series. Bobby
Speaker 3: Richardson had twelve in nineteen sixty two, but he did
Speaker 3: it in seven games. And of course he hit the
Speaker 3: only walk off Grand Slam in the history of the
Speaker 3: World Series.
Speaker 4: That came in Game one. And what happened to you
Speaker 4: the other day at church?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, our audience spans from journalism students like
Speaker 2: yourselves all the way up to some of my mom's
Speaker 2: friends at church. And one of the very sweet ladies
Speaker 2: who's been going to our church for forty years and
Speaker 2: I've known since I was a baby, comes up and says,
Speaker 2: Freddie Freeman hit a walk off home run, and now
Speaker 2: I know what that is because you told me.
Speaker 3: She'd been listening to the podcast, and so she knew
Speaker 3: what a walk off home run was. And I was
Speaker 3: so pleased that we were able to educate her on
Speaker 3: that this is the way it works.
Speaker 4: I was in the years ago.
Speaker 3: I was in the frozen food aisle at the Safeway,
Speaker 3: and this woman from the neighborhood tackles me in the
Speaker 3: frozen food isle and goes, oh my gosh, I love
Speaker 3: the Nationals. I watch every game, I watch every pitch.
Speaker 3: I can't miss it. I love it so much, she said,
Speaker 3: I just started watching. She said, this is how you
Speaker 3: felt your whole life, isn't it? And I said, yeah,
Speaker 3: this is how I felt my entire life. She goes,
Speaker 3: I'm so envious. I finally figured it out.
Speaker 4: She said, I'm fifty five.
Speaker 3: Years old and now I love baseball, and this is
Speaker 3: what this is all about, you know.
Speaker 1: Speaking to journalism students.
Speaker 2: My dad and I were both watching Game three of
Speaker 2: the World Series, and we released the podcast every Tuesday morning.
Speaker 1: And it can be tough. I host some.
Speaker 2: Morning radio shows, so I stay up as late as
Speaker 2: I can during these games, and if it's blowout, I'll
Speaker 2: go to bed in the eighth inning and hope that
Speaker 2: something crazy doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: And sometimes it does.
Speaker 2: But we had to record our podcast before Game three
Speaker 2: in order for it to be ready for our midnight
Speaker 2: release s right after, because we didn't have the time
Speaker 2: to produce it and put it all together, and quite frankly,
Speaker 2: with a fourteen month old baby at home, I'm not
Speaker 2: getting much sleep.
Speaker 1: Passes.
Speaker 2: So Freddy Freeman hits his now six straight World Series game.
Speaker 1: Home run going back to twenty twenty one with the Braves.
Speaker 2: Now he holds the record for most consecutive games with
Speaker 2: a home run in a World Series. And immediately, in
Speaker 2: effort of getting it right, as we do as sports journalists,
Speaker 2: I run downstairs and edit the portion where I had said, hey,
Speaker 2: he now ties the record for five straight games with
Speaker 2: a home run, and was able to edit it in
Speaker 2: time for the podcast to come out. They got it
Speaker 2: happened in the first inning. I don't think I would
Speaker 2: have gotten it otherwise.
Speaker 3: Jeff is a magician with the technology. It's really important
Speaker 3: because I'm the worst of all time at it. And
Speaker 3: that's why it works, is that we have a guy
Speaker 3: who understands all of this all right. The other takeaway
Speaker 3: was sorry, how poorly the Yankees played in Game five
Speaker 3: of the World Series. It's one of the greatest World
Speaker 3: Series games I've ever seen and one of the worst
Speaker 3: World Series games I've ever seen at the same time.
Speaker 3: That fifth inning, the ball that Aaron Judge dropped he
Speaker 3: catches with his eyes closed ninety nine out of one
Speaker 3: hundred times. The ball that Anthony Vulpi messed up at shortstop.
Speaker 3: He is a great defensive shortstop, but made a poor
Speaker 3: decision that made a terrible throw, and then Garrett Cole
Speaker 3: not covering first base on that play. Was just inconceivable
Speaker 3: to me how this can happen. It's one of the
Speaker 3: worst innings ever played in the history of the World
Speaker 3: Series and it came in an elimination game. The Yankees
Speaker 3: are the only team ever to give up five hundred
Speaker 3: runs in an elimination game and they all came in
Speaker 3: the fifth inning and just killed us.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, but that's the truth.
Speaker 1: We have a Yankee fan in the San alright, and the.
Speaker 4: Game changer is.
Speaker 3: Without being corny about this, it just shows you again
Speaker 3: how great baseball is. I've tried to tell people this
Speaker 3: and not many listen. It's the best game ever and
Speaker 3: it always will be. And there is nothing better than
Speaker 3: October baseball. Game three of the Guardians against the Yankees
Speaker 3: was one of the five greatest baseball games I've ever seen,
Speaker 3: And if it had been a World Series game and
Speaker 3: an elimination game in the World Series, it might have
Speaker 3: been the greatest game ever played.
Speaker 4: That's how amazing that game was.
Speaker 3: Game one of the World Series, one of the greatest
Speaker 3: games I've ever seen. I probably said that a good
Speaker 3: four or five times during the postseason.
Speaker 4: And the number of times I just.
Speaker 3: Slapped my forehead during this postseason saying how in the
Speaker 3: world could this happen? Especially in the World Series. I
Speaker 3: did it at least twenty times. That just showed the
Speaker 3: game surprises us. It's so unpredictable and no season has
Speaker 3: been more unpredictable than this. And just look at the
Speaker 3: World Series. I wrote this enormous piece on Aaron Judge
Speaker 3: against Shohei Otani. This is the matchup in the World Series,
Speaker 3: and what happened. They went six for thirty seven with
Speaker 3: one home run. Granted, Otani was hurt for part of
Speaker 3: that played through it, But the point is if this
Speaker 3: had been Lebron against Michael Jordan in their primes, they
Speaker 3: both would have average thirty points a game in the finals,
Speaker 3: they both would have controlled each game no matter what.
Speaker 3: But here, the two best players on the planet this
Speaker 3: year were basically non factors in the World Series.
Speaker 4: That's why baseball is the best game.
Speaker 3: Is the twenty fifth guy on the team might decide
Speaker 3: the game tonight. That can't happen in the NFL or
Speaker 3: the NBA.
Speaker 2: I went to Game two of the NLDS for my
Speaker 2: Philly guys out here, and that was an incredible game.
Speaker 2: As we know, Nick Castianos is the hero tying game
Speaker 2: high run in the top of the ninth, bottom of
Speaker 2: the ninth. It was very intense. And my dad called
Speaker 2: me afterwards and he said, well, is that the best
Speaker 2: playoff game you've ever been to?
Speaker 1: And this is the beauty of baseball?
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 2: I was at luckily Game seven of the Cubs then
Speaker 2: Cleveland Indians when the Cubs broke the curse in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 2: and it's really hard to beat that because of the
Speaker 2: levity of what was going on there. But there were
Speaker 2: so many iconic games. Game three in Cleveland will be
Speaker 2: known as Game three forever.
Speaker 4: Right, everyone in Cleveland. All you have to do is
Speaker 4: just refer to it.
Speaker 3: As Game three. You don't have to ask for anything else.
Speaker 3: They'll all know what that means. And I was there
Speaker 3: for that. It was absolutely breathtake.
Speaker 1: What do you have for on this state in baseball history?
Speaker 3: So we do this every week, and you know, we
Speaker 3: always have great things that happened in baseball, but it's
Speaker 3: November the fifth, so we really have to look for
Speaker 3: some stuff. So today is Icebox Chamberlain's birthday. He was
Speaker 3: born in eighteen sixty seven. This is my favorite nickname
Speaker 3: of Major League history. His nickname was Icebox because he
Speaker 3: he had ice in his veins. He had such courage
Speaker 3: when he went out to the mount. I actually have
Speaker 3: to double check this, and it's said here he had
Speaker 3: austere com in the face of all hostility by the enemy.
Speaker 3: That's how he's referred to. He's a baseball pitcher. He
Speaker 3: wasn't at the bridge at Remagen, but this, this is
Speaker 3: Icebox Chamberlain. So my favorite nicknames? Are you know of
Speaker 3: these that happened years and years ago? My favorite nickname
Speaker 3: ever is you remember my favorite nickname ever?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 1: There's so many.
Speaker 3: There was a catcher named Doug Goosh oh, and he
Speaker 3: spelled his last name gwos d z.
Speaker 4: That was his nickname.
Speaker 3: So his nickname was I Charged because it was like
Speaker 3: you were at the doctor's office.
Speaker 4: And you're reading g w oh d z.
Speaker 3: So that's ice Box Chamberlain and that's Doug Goosh all right.
Speaker 3: So in nineteen forty six, an umpire named Jim Evans
Speaker 3: was born. He's still alive. He was a great umpire.
Speaker 3: So one night we go out in Minneapolis. Mark was
Speaker 3: on the trip with us. It is in nineteen eighty six,
Speaker 3: and we go into this restaurant bar and I'm with
Speaker 3: Mike Flannagan, the late Mike Flanning in, one of the
Speaker 3: great shooters of all time, and there is a basketball
Speaker 3: hoop in the bar. So Flanny and I are shooting
Speaker 3: baskets in the bar and we're like, sorry, I hate
Speaker 3: to be self serving here, but we're running the court
Speaker 3: because nobody can beat me or Flanny in shooting.
Speaker 4: And a couple guys.
Speaker 3: Get really upset at us, and Jim Evans, who's an
Speaker 3: umpire at the time, steps in and like becomes the
Speaker 3: umpire and nearly gets into a fight at a bar
Speaker 3: because we're shooting free throws too well.
Speaker 4: So that's my Jim Evans's story. He's an umpire, almost
Speaker 4: got a fight at a bar.
Speaker 8: All right.
Speaker 3: Last thing today, In nineteen seventy six, Jim Palmer won
Speaker 3: his final or won a cy Young Award on this
Speaker 3: date in nineteen seventy six, and we had Jim.
Speaker 4: Palmer on the air. It was absolutely fabulous. We loved
Speaker 4: him right.
Speaker 2: Jim Palmer was a Ma and you know, he was
Speaker 2: able to give such a good perspective.
Speaker 1: On being a pitcher.
Speaker 2: But it was even more fun hearing him talk about
Speaker 2: when his broadcast partner Kevin Brown had a Jim Palmer impression. See,
Speaker 2: these are the things that nobody else is asking about,
Speaker 2: But Kevin Brown's Jim Palmer impression is spot on right.
Speaker 3: And Jim Palmer never gave up a Grand Slam nearly
Speaker 3: four thousand innings pitch Channel Park gave up two to
Speaker 3: one inning.
Speaker 4: He never gave up one.
Speaker 3: And when we asked him to explain it, it took
Speaker 3: him ten minutes.
Speaker 4: But he went through.
Speaker 3: Every pitch of that day in Cleveland. And you know,
Speaker 3: nineteen seventy four. That's his recall on those things.
Speaker 2: Now, a little self serving here, but I'm gonna ask
Speaker 2: it so you don't have to. Obviously, you were a
Speaker 2: student here at the University of Maryland. What dorm did
Speaker 2: you stay at?
Speaker 3: I lived in bel Air B for four years. I
Speaker 3: don't even know if it's if it's a dormant, is
Speaker 3: it still a dorm right next to the North gym,
Speaker 3: right and that North gym you shot a lot of
Speaker 3: hoops there.
Speaker 4: Oh, every day?
Speaker 1: Yeah, every day you would shoot.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I played basketball like every day in the
Speaker 3: North Gym for four years. I also took basketball like
Speaker 3: three ten. It was a two left. It was a
Speaker 3: two credit upper level elective. I'll never forget this. I
Speaker 3: hope I don't put the university in.
Speaker 4: A bad light.
Speaker 3: I'm taking a coaching basketball course and the power forward
Speaker 3: on the Maryland basketball team took my paper off of
Speaker 3: my desk and copied all the answers on his papers.
Speaker 4: He's on the team, Like, how do we run a
Speaker 4: screen and roll?
Speaker 3: He like took it and copied off of me. I'm
Speaker 3: like some dorky little guy. Yes, basketball at the North
Speaker 3: gym every.
Speaker 2: Day, so we do a best of all tim every
Speaker 2: single week. This is a team my dad puts together,
Speaker 2: and the more obscure the better.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: We've had the fun with my dad's All Hall of
Speaker 2: Fame team, the best Hall of Famers. You gotta go
Speaker 2: every position, including bullpen and starting pitchers. But then we've
Speaker 2: had more goofy ones, like the All Eclipse team and
Speaker 2: the eclips happened.
Speaker 4: It was bad All Fruits and Vegetables team.
Speaker 9: It was.
Speaker 3: It was a really pointless exercise. But I've been doing
Speaker 3: this my entire life. So since today is election Day,
Speaker 3: we thought we would have some fun with the all
Speaker 3: Presidents team. So I've got all the president's last or
Speaker 3: first names here, but I'm.
Speaker 4: Only using one.
Speaker 3: I'm not using four guys named Washington, all right. So
Speaker 3: Russ Nixon and Gary Carter are the catchers, Von Hayes
Speaker 3: and Reggie Jefferson at first, Josh Harrison and Homer Bush
Speaker 3: two bushes at second. Ron Washington is the shortstop.
Speaker 4: John Kennedy.
Speaker 3: There was an actual John Kennedy who played third base
Speaker 3: for the Red Sox in the sixties. He's our third baseman,
Speaker 3: Craig Monroe, Lou Clinton. In the outfield, Willie Wilson's outfielder,
Speaker 3: Michael Taylor, Brian Buchanan or Olfielders are pitchers Whitey Ford, Madison, Bumgarner,
Speaker 3: Lefty Tyler, Reggie Cleveland, Babe Adams, Mudcat Grant, and my
Speaker 3: favorite group are the relievers because Pierce Johnson, who still
Speaker 3: pitches in the Big leagues, he covers two presidential names.
Speaker 3: So does Grant Jackson two names. Reliever with the Orioles
Speaker 3: and Pirates. When I was growing up, JJ Hoover, Brad Lincoln,
Speaker 3: Jermaine Van Buren and my favorite, and he's not a president.
Speaker 3: But there used to be a relief pitcher name Lenn Whitehouse,
Speaker 3: which I always got the biggest kick out of, And
Speaker 3: I talked to him about his bizarre name ones and
Speaker 3: he was not amused. He didn't think it was funny
Speaker 3: when I said, all President's team, Len white House.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: So my daughter is McKinley Kirkchin, named after the President, McKinley.
Speaker 2: And there's a pitcher in the Philadelphia Philly system named
Speaker 2: Kinley McKinley Moore.
Speaker 1: Really McKinley Moore. Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2: And a lot of people asked me, did you name
Speaker 2: it after McKinley Moore, And I said, well, minor.
Speaker 1: League pitcher, all due respect.
Speaker 2: One day he could be great, but I don't think
Speaker 2: we're naming him after McKinley Moore.
Speaker 3: So if Kamala Harris wins, there are a bunch of
Speaker 3: harris'es who might have to join. One is, of course,
Speaker 3: Willie Harris, who in two thousand and eight hit a
Speaker 3: home run against the Nationals. He was with the Nationals
Speaker 3: and Ian Kinsler was playing.
Speaker 4: For the Rangers.
Speaker 3: So after the game, Ian Kinsler knowing how much I
Speaker 3: love all the quirky stats, comes up to me and
Speaker 3: he goes, You're never gonna believe this.
Speaker 4: I'm the only one that knows this.
Speaker 3: Willie Harris and I both homered in the same game yesterday,
Speaker 3: playing the same position, and we have the same birthday.
Speaker 4: That's never happened before. And I checked it out and.
Speaker 1: He was right.
Speaker 3: The second basement of the Rangers gave me a quirk gin.
Speaker 3: So when if Kamala Harris wins, then we'll have to
Speaker 3: put Willie Harris on the team to account for her name.
Speaker 1: A bit of a bummer.
Speaker 2: We did have our schedule to be our guests this
Speaker 2: week on is this is a great game or what,
Speaker 2: but she had to cancel.
Speaker 1: She's been a little bit busy lately.
Speaker 2: Talk about birthdays. You have to tell them the quirk
Speaker 2: jin about your birthday. And the pitchers in the Yankees, yeah,
Speaker 2: during the World Series, I was.
Speaker 3: Born on December tenth, and so was Carlos Rodon, who
Speaker 3: pitched for the Yankees and he started Game two, and
Speaker 3: Nestra Cortes also born on December the tenth, So Cortes
Speaker 3: gave up the homer to will to Freeman to end
Speaker 3: the game when Rodon started the next game. And they
Speaker 3: have the same birthday, which is the same birthday as mine.
Speaker 3: And by the way, Walter Johnson, or did I ever
Speaker 3: tell you I went to Walter Johnson High School. Walter
Speaker 3: Johnson died on December tenth, nineteen forty six, and I
Speaker 3: was born on December tenth, nineteen fifty six.
Speaker 4: How spooky is that? How weird is that?
Speaker 1: Another connection to Wjay?
Speaker 2: There you go, all right, So we have every single
Speaker 2: week our friends at Stratamatic, they're the market leader in
Speaker 2: sports simulations. We have them put together a simulation for us. Now,
Speaker 2: before we get into this, I have to make a
Speaker 2: correction from last week sim So remember we did Judge
Speaker 2: versus Otani.
Speaker 1: We did a.
Speaker 2: Full nine Judges against nine Otannis, one hundred and sixty
Speaker 2: two games. I royally misread when they had sent us.
Speaker 2: I thought they were playing against other teams. No, they
Speaker 2: were playing against each other. Hence why the Otani team
Speaker 2: went under five hundred. If you had nine Otannis, they're
Speaker 2: gonna win one hundred and thirty games easily. But in
Speaker 2: this simulation last week, it actually was the Judge team
Speaker 2: that beat the Otani team.
Speaker 4: Oh, I see.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we were a little baffled at the results of
Speaker 2: Stratt last week, and now it makes a little more sense.
Speaker 2: They called me and said, hey, we had them play
Speaker 2: each other for hundred and sixty two games.
Speaker 4: Maybe I should have read it a little closer to yeah.
Speaker 2: And that's why Judge had five hundred home runs, all
Speaker 2: nine of them.
Speaker 10: All.
Speaker 3: Right, what's this week's sim. We'll have to get this
Speaker 3: one right.
Speaker 2: So with the Dodgers, they obviously are the twenty twenty
Speaker 2: four World Series champions. We took the four best Dodger
Speaker 2: World Series Championship teams and then put them in a
Speaker 2: bracket style in order to see who would be the best.
Speaker 2: So we paired the twenty twenty four World Series champions
Speaker 2: so this year against the nineteen fifty five World Series
Speaker 2: Championship Dodgers, and ultimately the nineteen fifty five Dodgers are
Speaker 2: the ones who took that in just six games. And
Speaker 2: then the eighty one and the sixty three Dodgers ended
Speaker 2: up playing as well. And the eighty one Dodgers against
Speaker 2: the fifty five Dodgers. Now you haven't seen the sim yet, right,
Speaker 2: If you took the nineteen eighty one Dodgers against the
Speaker 2: nineteen fifty five Dodgers. It went seven games, so it's
Speaker 2: hard to predict who would you say is the greatest.
Speaker 3: Well, there were more Hall of Famers on the fifty
Speaker 3: five Dodger team than there was on the eighty one
Speaker 3: Dodger team.
Speaker 2: And you would be right. They won in seven games. Ultimately,
Speaker 2: Gil Hodges four homers, batted three ninety six in that
Speaker 2: World Series. Sim and Duke Snyder for home runs batted
Speaker 2: four hundred and.
Speaker 3: Gil Hodges, who's just got into the Hall of Fame
Speaker 3: a couple of years ago, used to live in the
Speaker 3: neighborhood there in Brooklyn, and he liked me walking the
Speaker 3: streets all the time walking his dog, and people would
Speaker 3: just say, hey, Gil, how you doing that?
Speaker 4: Can't happen today.
Speaker 3: There's no way you're walking down the street and here
Speaker 3: comes Aaron Judge.
Speaker 2: Fernando Valenzuela two wins in that series. Just lost him
Speaker 2: last week or two weeks of terrible loss.
Speaker 4: Fernando Valenzuela.
Speaker 2: Big shout out to Stratomatic market leader and Sports Simulations
Speaker 2: for helping out with that.
Speaker 3: You're interviewing us as opposed to us interviewing Jim Palmer,
Speaker 3: Johnny Bench, Cal Ripken, whatever.
Speaker 2: So fire away, take a step up to the mike,
Speaker 2: introduce yourself, your year, name, and then your question.
Speaker 8: Hey guys, I'm Jack Susan and I'm a senior here.
Speaker 8: So first off, you mentioned names regarding presidents, and I
Speaker 8: think you'd be a really big fan of the current
Speaker 8: University of Maryland bullpen where we have Ryan Van Buren
Speaker 8: and Andrew Johnson there.
Speaker 4: Oh this is great.
Speaker 3: You present something really stupid and you get something else.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 8: So my actual question last semester, when you came to
Speaker 8: visit here, we talked about how you told a story
Speaker 8: during a spring training game about how Jason Hammill and
Speaker 8: JJ Hardy were the best ping pong players that you
Speaker 8: had seen in the clubhouse. So my question is, bouncing
Speaker 8: off of that, what other clubhouse games are any random
Speaker 8: Major leaguer historically good at.
Speaker 3: Well, that's great question. First off, in spring training last year,
Speaker 3: Brewster Grattarol, who pitches for the Dodgers World champion. Now,
Speaker 3: I watched him play ping pong and he was playing
Speaker 3: with both hands, so he had a paddle in each hand,
Speaker 3: and he's hitting some left handed, some right handed.
Speaker 4: It was unbelievable.
Speaker 3: That is the number one game is ping pong. The
Speaker 3: Orioles now have a pool table in their clubhouse. You
Speaker 3: know there are card games going on at all times.
Speaker 3: Number one rule as a reporter, never ever interrupt a
Speaker 3: player's card game. It would be like, you know, Bluto,
Speaker 3: It would be like animal house. You guys playing cards. No,
Speaker 3: you can't do that kind of stuff. So yes, cards
Speaker 3: are a big thing. And in the Cleveland Clubhouse all
Speaker 3: those years, Terry Francona used to play cribbage with his players.
Speaker 3: He and Dustin Perdoria played cribbage every day, and then
Speaker 3: Josh Tomlin joined. So one year Jonathan Papavon, who wasn't
Speaker 3: a very good cribbage player, said can I be in
Speaker 3: on the game? And he was so bad because they
Speaker 3: play for money that Terry Francona told me he built
Speaker 3: a new basement in my house with all the money
Speaker 3: that I won off of Jonathan papavd because he didn't
Speaker 3: know how to play cribbage yet.
Speaker 4: So great question.
Speaker 1: Thank you. All right, step on up. We've got a
Speaker 1: Detroit Lions fan here of course.
Speaker 7: Uh hi, my name's Laura. Thank you so much for
Speaker 7: being here and I'm the hugest Detroit Tigers fan in
Speaker 7: the world. So my question is, there's a good friend
Speaker 7: of ours named Aaron Arnstein who is a huge A's fan,
Speaker 7: and unfortunately his team is moving from Oakland to Las Vegas.
Speaker 7: So do you think the A's will do well in
Speaker 7: Las Vegas? Will they turn things around?
Speaker 4: Well, Jeff, You're in laws live in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2: So I did radio in Las Vegas for almost five years.
Speaker 1: I lived there.
Speaker 2: I met my wife there, She's born and raised out there,
Speaker 2: and I have to say I was there when the
Speaker 2: Raiders got there. I was there when the Golden Knights
Speaker 2: had just started their first season, so got a unique perspective.
Speaker 2: The fans in Las Vegas. They love the Golden Knights
Speaker 2: because they're Vegas born. And think of what you will
Speaker 2: about Las Vegas. They have an incredibly strong united local
Speaker 2: vibe because you know, all of the people who work there,
Speaker 2: live there and service all of us who go party there, right,
Speaker 2: so they all have that common ground of being able
Speaker 2: to be working in the service industry. I was saddened
Speaker 2: to see how little the Raiders were embraced at first,
Speaker 2: and if you still watch a Raiders game, there's a
Speaker 2: whole lot of visiting teams there. However, I feel as
Speaker 2: if there's a different there's a difference when it comes
Speaker 2: to baseball coming. They have the TRIPAA team, they're the
Speaker 2: Aviators and they are loved. I mean, they've had the
Speaker 2: fifty ones before then they became the Aviators in Summerland,
Speaker 2: and so I believe that they will have a successful
Speaker 2: time in Las Vegas. I don't love the choice of
Speaker 2: where the stadium is.
Speaker 1: Being built though.
Speaker 2: Locals don't want to go to Las Vegas Boulevard and
Speaker 2: go to the Strip. But they prove that wrong with
Speaker 2: where they built Temobile Arena for the Golden Knights. So
Speaker 2: hopefully after they've now plowed down the Flamingo, they can
Speaker 2: have a successful time playing on Las Vegas Boulevard. But
Speaker 2: I'm a little skeptical to see, after seeing how they
Speaker 2: embrace the Raiders, if they'll embrace another team moving from California.
Speaker 3: Thank you and thank you for being a Tiger fan.
Speaker 3: So I did the Tigers against the Astro on.
Speaker 4: TV for the wild Cards.
Speaker 3: So I use this on this date in history for
Speaker 3: one of the games on this date in history. Fifty
Speaker 3: years ago, Al Kline the second greatest Tiger ever had
Speaker 3: announced his retirement.
Speaker 4: He got three thousand hits.
Speaker 3: He's the second greatest right fielder defensively I've ever seen,
Speaker 3: after Roberto Clementi. So I take twenty seconds on the broadcast,
Speaker 3: twenty seconds to explain to the Tiger fans fifty years
Speaker 3: ago on this date, the great al Kline announced his retirement.
Speaker 3: The next day, on Twitter, some guy writes in that
Speaker 3: I ruined the broadcast for him for bringing up al Kline.
Speaker 3: He goes, I don't care about al Kline. You ruined
Speaker 3: the broadcast for me. It was a three hour game.
Speaker 3: I took twenty seconds with the Tiger fans to explain
Speaker 3: how great al Kline was, and I ruined the day
Speaker 3: for him. So sorry, this is what Twitter can do
Speaker 3: to you.
Speaker 11: Hey guys, my name is Michael. I'm graduating in December.
Speaker 11: So first, I'm surprised Grover Cleveland Alexander wasn't on the
Speaker 11: on the presidential Kindness.
Speaker 1: That was one. I was like sure that was going
Speaker 1: to be on there.
Speaker 11: So two questions for you, one a real question and
Speaker 11: one kind of a goofy question. The first one being
Speaker 11: the real one, is that I'm going into the job
Speaker 11: market starting now, I'm starting to apply to jobs and things,
Speaker 11: and I'm like kind of scared to maybe do my
Speaker 11: own thing, kind of based on like if I wanted
Speaker 11: to do some social media things, say, I'm scared of
Speaker 11: how people who I know or people who don't know
Speaker 11: me may perceive me. So if there was ever a
Speaker 11: time in your career where you kind of felt like
Speaker 11: a little uh about something, how is that something that
Speaker 11: you got over?
Speaker 4: That's a great question.
Speaker 3: I went on TV really for the first time at
Speaker 3: age forty, so I'm starting all over. I've gone from
Speaker 3: print to TV, even though I never left print. I've
Speaker 3: been a writer my entire life. I'll be a writer
Speaker 3: for the rest of my life. But going on TV
Speaker 3: for the first time was really difficult. I mean, first off,
Speaker 3: I spent a fortune on clothes, I wore more makeup
Speaker 3: than my wife, and I spent a lot of time
Speaker 3: walking around in a circle talking to myself.
Speaker 4: It was not pleasant, but I figured out how to
Speaker 4: do it.
Speaker 3: But yes, you just got to fight your way through
Speaker 3: it and say this is what I got to do.
Speaker 4: This is the new game.
Speaker 3: And Jeffrey, it's a different game now, right with young
Speaker 3: people out there looking for jobs.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean I graduated in twenty fifteen from college and
Speaker 2: I totally understand how you're feeling. I think the one
Speaker 2: piece of advice and I go back and I advise
Speaker 2: students who are just like you and helping them out.
Speaker 2: Number one thing is do something that sets you apart.
Speaker 1: Right, doing a podcast.
Speaker 2: I mean our little setup here, a little baby setup
Speaker 2: took me a couple of years to build. But I
Speaker 2: mean a microphone you can plug right into your computer
Speaker 2: and you're done.
Speaker 1: I mean, you have a podcast. You just got to
Speaker 1: do it.
Speaker 2: And I think what makes it really difficult for young people,
Speaker 2: myself included, is like they always say, oh, I mean
Speaker 2: everybody has a podcast. Well yeah, but if you don't,
Speaker 2: then you're one of the people who doesn't have a
Speaker 2: podcast or whatever it is, whether it's an account. Like
Speaker 2: a buddy of mine who is going to be graduating soon,
Speaker 2: I've been mentoring and he does a TikTok just about
Speaker 2: the teams that he cares about, and he goes very
Speaker 2: niche into the team. So if you love the Yankees,
Speaker 2: go talk about the Yankees. And you don't need to
Speaker 2: be hot take. You don't need to be the guy
Speaker 2: yelling about everything. You can go in deep as long
Speaker 2: as there's a niche audience that wants to hear, just
Speaker 2: start doing it and it'll set you up a part.
Speaker 3: And remember, Vince Scully, the greatest play by play man ever,
Speaker 3: once said, the only thing that will separate you from
Speaker 3: the others is you.
Speaker 4: So you have to be yourself.
Speaker 3: You can take tips and watch the pros work, but
Speaker 3: in the end, you have to be yourself.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna print that out and put that on my wall.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 3: I like that quote.
Speaker 11: So the second question is a goofy one. Yourself kind
Speaker 11: of took it from me earlier. I wanted to spring
Speaker 11: SVP on you and how that kind of started, because
Speaker 11: that's like a strangely enough, it's like a comfort clip
Speaker 11: of mine. If I need to laugh, I pull that
Speaker 11: clip up all the time. So how did you and
Speaker 11: SVP he start the whole the oozed thing for for
Speaker 11: the Baltimore Well.
Speaker 3: First, we're both from Montgomery County, and so we both
Speaker 3: grew up about fifty miles from Baltimore. And I love Baltimore,
Speaker 3: but they speak a different language in Baltimore. And the
Speaker 3: long was the one. So the first one I know
Speaker 3: he threw out Kikoo Garcia on the air on his
Speaker 3: radio show and I just burst into tears.
Speaker 4: And that was the start of the whole thing.
Speaker 3: But it's gotten so big now that I was in
Speaker 3: this safeway not too long ago and this guy like
Speaker 3: tackles me in the in the.
Speaker 4: Safeway and says, he doesn't even say hello.
Speaker 3: He goes, can you please ask Scott Van Pelt to
Speaker 3: tell you who the women's goalie on the soccer team is?
Speaker 3: And of course it's who so so. So he does
Speaker 3: it and we laugh uproariously. We're allowed to have a
Speaker 3: good laugh at this. I was getting a sandwich once
Speaker 3: not too long ago, and the guy in front of me,
Speaker 3: I think he must have recognized me. He's ordering a sandwich,
Speaker 3: and the guy behind the counter goes, what kind.
Speaker 4: Of cheese do you want? And he turns around and
Speaker 4: he looks at me and he goes provalon.
Speaker 3: So I think he ordered a specific cheese just to
Speaker 3: get a rise out of me.
Speaker 4: And then he took a sandwich and he went home.
Speaker 4: This is how it works. I got a text from somebody.
Speaker 4: It's the coach for the Golden State.
Speaker 3: Warriors and Steve Kerr comes on and goes, I can't
Speaker 3: wait to watch Joe Flacco start this week for the Colds.
Speaker 3: So now I got Steve Kerr doing SVP on the air.
Speaker 4: It was ridicuous.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we talked about how we had SVP and he
Speaker 2: came off the beach.
Speaker 1: Was he in Ocean City at the time or he
Speaker 1: was down to Ocean the ocean for sure. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for your question.
Speaker 2: Oh, we've got a good Counsel graduate coming up from
Speaker 2: Montgomery County, another.
Speaker 4: Moco guy, Stefan Diggs, went to Good Council. Yes on Diggs.
Speaker 12: I'm Danny, a freshman and a Good Council graduate. And
Speaker 12: I guess my question for you guys is what's the
Speaker 12: best ballpark food that you guys have I had the
Speaker 12: chance to try?
Speaker 3: All right, First off, I get asked this a lot,
Speaker 3: and I eat in the press box all the time.
Speaker 4: I don't go down into the crowd because.
Speaker 3: They have press box food for us. So I'll just
Speaker 3: I'll have to answer with the best press box food
Speaker 3: I've ever had.
Speaker 4: And I've been to the concession stand.
Speaker 3: There is the broad worst in Milwaukee with the secret sauce,
Speaker 3: and they used to serve those in the press box
Speaker 3: during the game, and occasionally I would eat four brought
Speaker 3: worst during the course of a game, and I weigh
Speaker 3: one hundred and forty pounds, so it just tells you
Speaker 3: how great they were.
Speaker 2: How about you a Dodger dog. I think some people
Speaker 2: think it's overrated. I think it is rated perfectly. It
Speaker 2: is famous, it is delicious. It's hard to mess up
Speaker 2: a hot dog. But something in Los Angeles they do differently.
Speaker 2: Mine's got to be a Dodger dog.
Speaker 13: My name is Ryan Martin. I'm a sophomore here. Thanks
Speaker 13: so much for being here, Tim and Jeff. I wanted
Speaker 13: to go back earlier when you were talking about asking
Speaker 13: athletes questions, to take them out of the ballpark and
Speaker 13: see what they're really like, Jeff said, Tim, for you
Speaker 13: that was based on a bunch of years of really
Speaker 13: getting to know this. But you have to start somewhere,
Speaker 13: and you mentioned starting with Mark Hymen, our director of
Speaker 13: the POVID Center in Baltimore.
Speaker 4: With the Orioles.
Speaker 1: Do you have a story covering the Orioles Clubhouse where you.
Speaker 13: Realize that they're just a twenty something year old athlete,
Speaker 13: just as you are a young reporter covering that made
Speaker 13: you rethink how athletes really are and trying to get
Speaker 13: that deeper story.
Speaker 4: That's a great question.
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, my answer to that question is not a good
Speaker 3: one because I wrote a story on Rick Burlson.
Speaker 4: In nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 3: He was the second baseman and he shared the job
Speaker 3: with Alan Wiggins, and those two didn't get along. So
Speaker 3: he tore into Alan Wiggins so badly in this story.
Speaker 3: And I wrote every word of it, and I wrote
Speaker 3: it correctly. And then he looks at me and he goes, now,
Speaker 3: don't play this like, don't make a big deal out
Speaker 3: of this story. And I had to tell him, Rick,
Speaker 3: I can't help it. I'm gonna send this in and
Speaker 3: they're gonna play it like they play it. So the
Speaker 3: next night I go to the ballpark, as I go
Speaker 3: to the ballpark every day.
Speaker 4: Good lesson.
Speaker 3: When you're critical of anybody, you have to show up
Speaker 3: the next day. So if they have something to say
Speaker 3: to you, you're standing right there. The worst thing you
Speaker 3: can do is write something really critical and then not
Speaker 3: show up for two weeks or a month.
Speaker 4: Then you're really in trouble.
Speaker 3: Rick Burlson screamed at me so loud, for two minutes
Speaker 3: because he didn't like the way that our story made
Speaker 3: a big deal out of his comments. They were inflammatory comments.
Speaker 3: They deserve to be on the front page of the
Speaker 3: sports section. And he absolutely crushed me with everybody watching.
Speaker 3: I thought he was gonna hit me. I did and
Speaker 3: he didn't, thank God. And I've since had a discussion
Speaker 3: with him about that. And I'll never forget this either.
Speaker 3: Mike Flanning in the Late Great Mike Flanning. After it
Speaker 3: was all over, he just walked by me.
Speaker 4: And he said, are you okay? That's what he said.
Speaker 4: A player said that to a writer. That never happens.
Speaker 3: But he saw what happened. He recognized what was going on.
Speaker 3: He recognized it.
Speaker 4: Was probably way over the top.
Speaker 3: But that's a moment where I'll never forget in the clubhouse,
Speaker 3: even though I would love to forget that, but that's
Speaker 3: gonna happen to you once in a while. If you're
Speaker 3: write something, as long as it's fair and as long
Speaker 3: as it's accurate, you really shouldn't have much to worry about.
Speaker 4: But boy, did he scream at me.
Speaker 9: My name is Michael. I am a junior here also
Speaker 9: a good council graduate.
Speaker 1: Wow, all right, another Montgomery County.
Speaker 9: Yes, I wanted to ask about the late Pete Rose.
Speaker 9: Even with his passing, he's still ineligible for the Hall
Speaker 9: of Fame due to being on that permanently ineligible list
Speaker 9: with players like Pete. And then also you can throw
Speaker 9: in shoeless Joe Jackson. Do you think that that should
Speaker 9: extend past their death or that do they have a
Speaker 9: spot in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3: So many years ago, probably fifteen years ago, I was
Speaker 3: asked on Sports Center would you vote for Pete Rose
Speaker 3: for the Hall of Fame if he were eligible? And
Speaker 3: with great hesitation, I said, yes, I would vote for him,
Speaker 3: because I would be voting for him as a player,
Speaker 3: not as a manager, and all the violations that we
Speaker 3: seem to know are him as a manager. So I
Speaker 3: say this on SportsCenter Frank Robinson I see the next
Speaker 3: day and he screams at me. And I know Frank
Speaker 3: Robinson and he knows me. We get along, and I
Speaker 3: finally said, Frank, what are you.
Speaker 4: So mad about?
Speaker 3: And he said, you said that you would put Pete
Speaker 3: Rose in the Hall of Fame. He said he violated
Speaker 3: the number one rule.
Speaker 4: You do not bet on baseball.
Speaker 3: And he said if he ever gets in the Hall
Speaker 3: of Fame, I will never go back to the Hall
Speaker 3: of Fame for any reason. And Frank really loved Pete
Speaker 3: as a player, but talked about the violation that he made.
Speaker 3: So the answer to the question is, I don't see
Speaker 3: Pete Rose getting in the Hall of Fame anytime soon.
Speaker 3: Rob Manford, the commissioner has to leave and a new
Speaker 3: commissioner has to come in and say we're going to
Speaker 3: reopen this. But then it's still going to be up
Speaker 3: to the Hall of Fame to decide if Pete Rose
Speaker 3: is going to be on a ballot.
Speaker 4: They're not just going to put him in.
Speaker 3: He has to go through the process of being on
Speaker 3: about I get asked this question every single time I
Speaker 3: ever make a speech. It's usually one of the first
Speaker 3: five questions I get asked, And now that he has passed,
Speaker 3: it gets asked.
Speaker 4: Even more so.
Speaker 3: It's timing as a player was impeccable. His timing in
Speaker 3: retirement has been terrible, and that's I think going to
Speaker 3: keep him out of the Hall of Fame for quite
Speaker 3: some time. But they never took his hits away, they
Speaker 3: never took his records away, and everybody knows he's one
Speaker 3: of the greatest players.
Speaker 4: Of all time.
Speaker 10: Hey, guys, my name is Justin Corman. I'm a freshman
Speaker 10: here at Maryland. Thank you guys for doing this. Of course,
Speaker 10: being a Marlins fan I'm from Miami can be rough
Speaker 10: at some times. I would love to know your guys'
Speaker 10: opinion on how do you think smaller market teams just
Speaker 10: like the Marlins can compete with the Dodgers, the Yankees,
Speaker 10: these bigger market teams, and do you think that might
Speaker 10: be should implement a salary cap?
Speaker 3: Right, Jeff, you take this because you lived in Cleveland
Speaker 3: for a while, so you watched it.
Speaker 2: I think it's tough, especially with this past World series.
Speaker 2: Right of people were turned off with when it comes
Speaker 2: to Wow, look at how much money these guys are spending.
Speaker 2: When when you're reading things like wow, three guys and
Speaker 2: the Yankees are making more money than the entire Cleveland roster.
Speaker 1: Has made this year.
Speaker 2: So when you think about that, it does make an argument,
Speaker 2: and it does make it difficult, and fans are turned
Speaker 2: off when you're a fan of a team that doesn't
Speaker 2: spend a lot of money. But when you see movies
Speaker 2: like Moneyball, as silly as it sounds. There's an art
Speaker 2: form when it comes to being able to work with
Speaker 2: what you've got. And there's also a big part of
Speaker 2: this is just because you have a lot of money,
Speaker 2: it doesn't mean the players are going to get along
Speaker 2: with each other. You know, you can bring in all
Speaker 2: the best guys, but if you have too many stars, respectfully,
Speaker 2: and you've got too many egos, one hundred and sixty
Speaker 2: two games is a long year. You can't just sit
Speaker 2: your guys and say, all right, now it's your time
Speaker 2: to shine. So living in Cleveland, it was really neat
Speaker 2: to be able to see how they were able to
Speaker 2: lose Francisco Lindor their star and be able to make
Speaker 2: up for it with guys in and around them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, baseball is not going to have a salary cap
Speaker 3: for a long long time. This is why we've had workstoppages,
Speaker 3: why we've had strikes, and it's because the union is
Speaker 3: saying we are not going to put in something artificial
Speaker 3: like that that is going to suppress salaries. But it's
Speaker 3: clear that the system is broken that some team can
Speaker 3: have a three hundred and fifty million dollars payroll and
Speaker 3: another team has a fifty million dollars payroll. There's something
Speaker 3: wrong with that.
Speaker 14: Daniel Stein a sophomore here and I'm from Chicago, So
Speaker 14: between the Cubs and the Bears and the Bulls, it's
Speaker 14: been kind of a rough go lately. So my question
Speaker 14: for you guys is, when you're reporting on underperforming teams,
Speaker 14: how do you balance talking about maybe like a reflection
Speaker 14: of frustration from the fans or the team itself, and
Speaker 14: how do you balance that with more lighter stories and
Speaker 14: things that aren't so depressing.
Speaker 2: Basically, just be happy you're not a White Sox fan.
Speaker 1: At least you're a Cubs fan.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's.
Speaker 3: Really hard to do now. I covered the Orioles in
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty eight for the Baltimore Sun, and of course,
Speaker 3: if you remember, they lost their first twenty one game,
Speaker 3: So that was a challenge of all challenges to write
Speaker 3: about twenty one consecutive losses, which demolished the previous record
Speaker 3: of fourteen straight losses to start a season. So we
Speaker 3: needed to keep our sense of humor through that at
Speaker 3: the same time acknowledging that this has never happened in
Speaker 3: the history of baseball.
Speaker 4: So after loss.
Speaker 3: Number eighteen, Frank Robinson, who Mark news so well. Frank
Speaker 3: invites the writers to go out to dinner in Minneapolis,
Speaker 3: as it never happened before, never happened afterwards.
Speaker 4: I think he just needed.
Speaker 3: Some support from somebody. So we're about halfway through dinner
Speaker 3: and I say to Frank, who was a big kidder
Speaker 3: by the way, I said, Frank, anyone interesting called you
Speaker 3: during this streak you're oh in eighteen and he goes, yeah,
Speaker 3: the President called me today. So I said, Frank, I
Speaker 3: mean it, did anyone interesting call you recently?
Speaker 4: And I pressed him like three times and he.
Speaker 3: Said, damn it, the President of the United States called
Speaker 3: me today.
Speaker 4: I said, Frank, what did he say?
Speaker 3: He said, Frank, I know what you're going through. And
Speaker 3: Frank said, mister President, you got.
Speaker 4: No idea what I'm going through.
Speaker 3: So that's the only way to get through difficult spots
Speaker 3: like that. You have to enter the clubhouse every day
Speaker 3: knowing they don't want to talk to me today because
Speaker 3: of the history that they're making. Scott McGregor, who Mark
Speaker 3: knows very well, he came up to me once after
Speaker 3: fourteen in a row because now all the national media
Speaker 3: is there, and he says, why don't these people just
Speaker 3: go home.
Speaker 4: I said, Scotty, you just got to win one game
Speaker 4: and they'll all go home. So that was a great
Speaker 4: test for a writer like myself to try.
Speaker 3: To tell the story every day, ask similar questions every day,
Speaker 3: and do it without having somebody take a swing at me.
Speaker 4: But you got to report the truth. You got to
Speaker 4: tell the truth.
Speaker 3: You got to be fair and accurate. As long as
Speaker 3: you do that, you'll be fine. But yes, some humor
Speaker 3: has to be involved.
Speaker 6: Hey guys, I'm Jake Cotter. I'm a sophomore here at Maryland.
Speaker 6: I was just wondering. So I was lucky enough to
Speaker 6: have the experience to attend some MLB games as a
Speaker 6: press member myself over the summer. I know, especially early on,
Speaker 6: my sports editor helped me a lot, figuring out all
Speaker 6: the intricacies, introducing me to other press members. Just tim,
Speaker 6: did you have a mentor early on like that in
Speaker 6: your career who helped you out?
Speaker 10: Uh?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I had several.
Speaker 3: But Dan Shaughnessy, who works for the Boston Globe and
Speaker 3: it's the best daily comments in America as far as
Speaker 3: I'm concerned, and a Hall of Fame baseball writer, was
Speaker 3: the baseball writer at the Washington Star when I first
Speaker 3: joined there in nineteen seventy eight, and I already told
Speaker 3: you have to do things your way because the only
Speaker 3: thing that separates you from everyone else is you. But
Speaker 3: you can watch the way the pros do it. And
Speaker 3: the greatest experience I've ever had was going to work
Speaker 3: at the Washington Star and watching those reporters work. I
Speaker 3: listened to the questions they asked.
Speaker 4: I watched the way that they wrote their story.
Speaker 3: I would go to a game with Dan Shaughnessy and
Speaker 3: I would cover the same game as him, but his
Speaker 3: story went in the paper, and I would go home
Speaker 3: afterwards and write the same story based on everything that
Speaker 3: he had said.
Speaker 4: I just tagged around.
Speaker 3: With him, and I had a completely different story, and
Speaker 3: his story was way better than mine. So I watched
Speaker 3: and I learned. I watched and I learned, and from
Speaker 3: that that experience is absolutely critical. What you're doing here
Speaker 3: at Maryland is absolutely crucial to you moving forward, But
Speaker 3: when you get out there, you need to watch the
Speaker 3: way that other people do their jobs. We had a
Speaker 3: guy named Steve Guback who was our football writer at
Speaker 3: the Washington Star, so I asked him. I covered a
Speaker 3: game with him a couple times. I did like a
Speaker 3: sidebar he wrote the game story. So I said, Steve,
Speaker 3: do you want to go eat lunch before the game
Speaker 3: and he goes, oh, I don't eat on game days.
Speaker 3: That's how Tedsi was.
Speaker 4: I don't eat on game days.
Speaker 3: And after the game is almost over, so we're all
Speaker 3: getting together to determine and who's going to write what
Speaker 3: story afterwards? And he said, I'll cover the people like
Speaker 3: I'll talk to everyone. Like you guys do whatever you want,
Speaker 3: but I'm talking to everyone on the team. We were
Speaker 3: wondering what should we interview the helmets or what because
Speaker 3: you're talking to all the people. But yeah, there's an
Speaker 3: intensity to it and you can learn an awful lot
Speaker 3: just by watching the pros do their jobs.
Speaker 1: Hey guys, I'm Eddie.
Speaker 5: I'm a junior here at Maryland, and my question is
Speaker 5: on we've talked a lot about the international presence coming
Speaker 5: to baseball. Show you a tiny big part of the
Speaker 5: World Series. There were a lot of broadcasts that outdrew
Speaker 5: audience from Japan into the US. What are your thoughts
Speaker 5: on just the growing worldwide? And they were handing out
Speaker 5: newspapers of his face that did not happen here. So
Speaker 5: what is just what do you think of the presence?
Speaker 3: Well, sadly, I've never been to Japan, but a bunch
Speaker 3: of my friends have, and they say, it's so crazy
Speaker 3: for baseball.
Speaker 4: You have no idea.
Speaker 3: Bobby Valentine told me we had him on our pod.
Speaker 3: He told me twenty years ago that every everyday player
Speaker 3: in Japan could make a major league team. So if
Speaker 3: anyone questions how good they play the game, how well
Speaker 3: they play the game over there, they play it exceptionally well. Now,
Speaker 3: shohe is an outlier, Yamamoto is an outlier. Each Ro
Speaker 3: Suzuki was an outlier. However, there are so many good
Speaker 3: players over there, and their love of baseball is bigger
Speaker 3: than the love that we have here.
Speaker 4: There was some ridiculous.
Speaker 3: Number nine point five million people watch Game one of
Speaker 3: the world's here a Game two. Because Yamamoto and Otani
Speaker 3: we're in it. We can learn a lesson from the
Speaker 3: Japanese about how you support the game, how you love
Speaker 3: the game.
Speaker 4: And Bobby Valentine said an interesting thing, Jeff, when.
Speaker 3: We interviewed him about why don't more people come over
Speaker 3: here and play?
Speaker 4: He said, what did he say? You remember he said,
Speaker 4: why would they?
Speaker 2: Why would they? I mean, they're stars there, right, And
Speaker 2: have you seen the videos of a high school baseball
Speaker 2: game in Japan. I've never seen a I mean, you
Speaker 2: see high school football games here in Texas and they're unbelievable. Right,
Speaker 2: Why would you go to Japan to play football? Why
Speaker 2: would you go to the.
Speaker 1: United States to play baseball?
Speaker 2: Major League Baseball is amazing, of course, but when you
Speaker 2: see those high school Japanese games and they're in Major
Speaker 2: League Baseball sized stadiums, they clearly love the game.
Speaker 1: And these guys say, maybe I don't want to go
Speaker 1: over there.
Speaker 12: Right.
Speaker 3: They are so revered over there, they get paid exceptionally
Speaker 3: well over there. So again that's what Bobby said, Why
Speaker 3: would you leave? Will you leave so you can be
Speaker 3: Shohei Otani and win the World Baseball class by striking
Speaker 3: out Mike Drout and then win the World Series in
Speaker 3: a two year paid.
Speaker 1: Thank you all so much.
Speaker 2: Thank you to the Shirley Povit Center for Sports Journalism.
Speaker 2: Thank you guys for setting us up and now officially
Speaker 2: you're part of the family.
Speaker 1: So thank you for being a part of the family.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Go to it