Speaker 1: Is this a great game or what with the Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer Tim Kirkshin. I'm his son, Jeff Kirkshin, And
Speaker 1: this is our second week doing three episodes back to
Speaker 1: back to back in a week. So today we're gonna
Speaker 1: get takeaways Quirtchins on a crazy Baseball weekend. Tomorrow because
Speaker 1: the NFL Draft is coming up this week, we're gonna
Speaker 1: have Mel Kiper, who obviously is just a character of
Speaker 1: all characters, Dat and an NFL expert in a draft
Speaker 1: expert for ESPN.
Speaker 2: Right, can't wait for Mel? Way?
Speaker 3: Do you listen to how weird Mel is? But weird
Speaker 3: in a really good way?
Speaker 1: And then of course another episode on Thursday to get
Speaker 1: you through your work week. So wherever you're listening right now,
Speaker 1: make sure to hit that subscribe button, whether it's on
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, you name it, we're there. And
Speaker 1: you can also listen at Great Game or what dot com,
Speaker 1: Share the podcast with a friend. Easter weekend is behind this.
Speaker 2: Dad.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, and I think a lot of families go through this,
Speaker 1: there was some sickness in the Kirkchten family, so we
Speaker 1: were unable to all be together. We were supposed to
Speaker 1: be doing this episode together. But Dad, in natural dad fashion,
Speaker 1: I get a weekend at home when I was supposed
Speaker 1: to be traveling. So what did I do? Did I
Speaker 1: go out and play golf with friends?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: Did I spend extra time with the family? Kind of
Speaker 1: What I did was completely repainted the playground in my
Speaker 1: backyard because when my wife found out that we aren't
Speaker 1: traveling this weekend, she said, time for projects.
Speaker 2: Jeff.
Speaker 1: I completely redid our playground, sanded it, stripped it, repainted it,
Speaker 1: and then I redid the border that the playground sits
Speaker 1: on and brought in all new mulch.
Speaker 3: Jeff, I'm gonna ask you again, are you sure you
Speaker 3: are my son? Because as we've acknowledged from the poor
Speaker 3: Pop Pop segment on this podcas cast, that I stink
Speaker 3: at so many things. All I tried to do for
Speaker 3: Easter weekend was put a picture of Brooks Robinson, a
Speaker 3: poster of Brooks Robinson into a frame. A child could
Speaker 3: have figured this out and I couldn't, so I had
Speaker 3: to give it to your mom my wife, Kathy, who
Speaker 3: of course did it in five minutes, did it perfectly.
Speaker 3: Whereas you were out painting and putting together an entire
Speaker 3: playground in your backyard.
Speaker 2: I am so honest to god, Jeff's so proud of you.
Speaker 3: I just don't know how you're so good at this
Speaker 3: when you are my son.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I did make a standard dad mistake, though, and that
Speaker 1: was completely underestimating how much mulch we would need. I
Speaker 1: think every man and woman who has done any yard
Speaker 1: work has done that. We got twenty bags, Dad, and
Speaker 1: I went back get this. I went back to the store.
Speaker 1: I got twenty more bags, right, and then I laid
Speaker 1: out twenty bags and I'm going back after we record
Speaker 1: the podcast to get twenty more. So Dad, not only
Speaker 1: did I miss it, I missed times three. R Think
Speaker 1: about how bad that is, Jeff.
Speaker 3: I've done it before, I've multiplied it by four and
Speaker 3: still not had enough, Which is why I don't do
Speaker 3: the mulch anymore, because I'm not very good at it
Speaker 3: and I'm really bad accounting.
Speaker 1: You ever look at it and you're like, oh, if
Speaker 1: I just doubled what I did, that would be good.
Speaker 1: And now I was completely wrong. So that was my
Speaker 1: Easter weekend. To everybody else who celebrated, a happy Easter
Speaker 1: to you, and we're excited.
Speaker 2: Dad.
Speaker 1: Let's dive right in because you said before we even
Speaker 1: started recording, this was a crazy weekend in baseball, and
Speaker 1: you are not prone to hyperbole, Dad, So I'm excited
Speaker 1: to hear what you have for the takeaways.
Speaker 3: Well, we have to start with Friday at Wrigley Field.
Speaker 3: The Cubs beat the Diamondbacks thirteen to eleven. Sixteen runs
Speaker 3: were scored in the eighth inning. That's the most run
Speaker 3: scored in any inning in the history of Wrinkley Field,
Speaker 3: which of course goes back over one hundred years. It
Speaker 3: was insane. It was the first nine inning game, nine
Speaker 3: inning game ever in which both teams scored at least
Speaker 3: ten runs from the seventh inning on. So the Diamondbacks
Speaker 3: got ten runs in the top of the eighth, the
Speaker 3: Cubs got six in the bottom of the eighth to win.
Speaker 3: So the Cubs became the seventh team ever to give
Speaker 3: up ten runs in one inning in a game and
Speaker 3: still win.
Speaker 2: The game, which is incredible.
Speaker 3: But the interesting part, the most interesting part to me
Speaker 3: was that the official score in the game gave the
Speaker 3: victory to Ryan Presley, who pitched the ninth inning for
Speaker 3: the Cubs in a save situation. He comes into the game,
Speaker 3: I had thirteen to eleven. He pitches the top of
Speaker 3: the ninth, which in any case is a save. Instead,
Speaker 3: the official scorer gave him the victory because he thought
Speaker 3: that Ethan Roberts, who had gotten the last out of
Speaker 3: the top of the eighth, therefore would have made him
Speaker 3: the winning pitcher. Because the team took the lead in
Speaker 3: the bottom of the eighth, The official scorer used his
Speaker 3: discretion here and gave the save to a no save
Speaker 3: in the game.
Speaker 2: He gave the win to Ryan Presley because he.
Speaker 3: Didn't feel like anyone deserved the victory for the Cubs
Speaker 3: who had pitched in that eighth, And he do follow this, well.
Speaker 1: It's because and correct me if I'm wrong. Ethan Roberts
Speaker 1: only faced two batters. The first batter he faced, he
Speaker 1: gave up a solo homer and then he got one out.
Speaker 1: So he pitched one third of an inning, gave up
Speaker 1: one run, and recorded one out. So the official scorer
Speaker 1: has the discretion to determine was it a win outing,
Speaker 1: was it an outing that deserved the win? And I
Speaker 1: think it was a great call. Some people might say, oh, overreach,
Speaker 1: but because technically yes, he was the pitcher of record
Speaker 1: when they came back and won, but he didn't do
Speaker 1: he gave up a run, he.
Speaker 2: Got one out.
Speaker 1: I don't think he put in the work to deserve
Speaker 1: the win. So I love the call on the official scores.
Speaker 3: The official score has the discretion to decide win or
Speaker 3: save in that situation. So I got three different text
Speaker 3: messages Jeff, just from friends of mine saying have I
Speaker 3: ever seen this before?
Speaker 2: And the answer is I have.
Speaker 3: Many years ago, Mariano Rivera was going for the all
Speaker 3: time save record and he was in a similar spot
Speaker 3: and the official score gave him a victory because no
Speaker 3: one else before him pitched effectively.
Speaker 2: Enough to get the victory.
Speaker 3: And marianno greatest guy in the world, said hey, I'd
Speaker 3: rather have the save than the victory. But they gave
Speaker 3: him the victory nonetheless, So these things can happen.
Speaker 2: Just another reminder.
Speaker 3: Official scorer job is very difficult, and when you asked
Speaker 3: the official scorer to give more discretion to something, I'm
Speaker 3: not sure that's always a great idea. The game should
Speaker 3: tell you exactly who's the winner and who gets the same.
Speaker 1: You know, I know I'm jumping ahead, Dad, but and
Speaker 1: we talked about when we wanted to talk about Max Freed,
Speaker 1: but I think we have to talk about it here
Speaker 1: now that we're talking about official scorers.
Speaker 2: Right, yes, right now, this is it.
Speaker 1: So Max Freed actually lost a no hitter in the
Speaker 1: eighth inning, but he really lost it in the sixth inning.
Speaker 1: Let me explain. So the Yankees were playing at Steinbrennerfield
Speaker 1: against the Rays, and Max Freed gave up an error
Speaker 1: in the sixth inning. Paul Goldschmid the first basement, tough
Speaker 1: ball to him running to first is the fastest guy
Speaker 1: in major leagues, in the major leagues right now, and
Speaker 1: Chandler Simpson for the Rays, and they ruled it initially,
Speaker 1: the official scorer ruled it an error in the sixth inning,
Speaker 1: so we can continue. He's got a no hit bid
Speaker 1: between the top and the bottom of the eighth inning.
Speaker 1: The official score changes that error into a hit. So
Speaker 1: Max Freed lost his no hit bid while he wasn't
Speaker 1: even on the mound.
Speaker 3: Okay, Jeff, look, first off, I watched the play with
Speaker 3: Paul Goldschmid, who's an excellent defensive first baseman. I would
Speaker 3: have scored that a hit initially because it was a
Speaker 3: tricky second hop, not an easy play, And if you
Speaker 3: watch where Goldschmidt was on that play, he has ranged
Speaker 3: way towards second base. Max Freed, great fielding pitcher, would
Speaker 3: have really had to move in order to beat Chandler
Speaker 3: Simpson to first base. He might be the fastest player
Speaker 3: in the league. He's three point nine from home to
Speaker 3: first in the minor league.
Speaker 2: So what I would have looked at was, even.
Speaker 3: If gold Schmid had handled that cleanly, would he have
Speaker 3: been able to get it to Max Freed on the
Speaker 3: run to beat Chandler Simpson to first I would have
Speaker 3: scored it.
Speaker 2: A hit at Jeff.
Speaker 3: Again, the official scoer has the discretion to change his
Speaker 3: call at any point during the game, and you can
Speaker 3: change it after the game once it is reviewed. It
Speaker 3: was just a cumbersome situation that Max Freed lost his
Speaker 3: no hitter without giving up a hit.
Speaker 2: But normally, Jeff, it's the other way around.
Speaker 3: Normally, a guy's got a no hitter and suddenly, I mean,
Speaker 3: he's given up a hit and they change it to
Speaker 3: an error in order to you know, project his no hitter,
Speaker 3: which you shouldn't do. But Bill Matthews in this case
Speaker 3: made a decision that he made a mistake earlier in
Speaker 3: the game that should have been scored a hit. I
Speaker 3: know it's tricky, but I am all for the official
Speaker 3: scorer doing what he did, because again, it's a really
Speaker 3: really hard job.
Speaker 2: When you examine that play, I think it's a hit.
Speaker 1: Let's move on more takeaways from the crazy weekend in
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball.
Speaker 2: What do you got? Well?
Speaker 3: Yoshi Ya Yamamoto of the Dodgers is off to an
Speaker 3: amazing start. Dodgers, of course, are still at least through Sunday,
Speaker 3: behind the Padres, who are really good. But Yamamoto, he
Speaker 3: first five starts thirty five strikeouts, one point zero zero er.
Speaker 3: So the last Dodger to have an ERA that low
Speaker 3: with that many strikeouts through five starts was Fernando Valenzuela
Speaker 3: in nineteen eighty one, which was arguably the greatest start
Speaker 3: to a season by any pitcher ever. And that was
Speaker 3: Valnzuela's amazing nineteen eighty one season. Just a reminder how
Speaker 3: good the Dodgers starting pitching is. And Yamamoto is, who
Speaker 3: was good last year then got hurt, He's even better
Speaker 3: this year. And then they're the Brewers, the relentless aggressive Brewers.
Speaker 3: Jeff Sunday, they stole nine bases in one game.
Speaker 2: Okay, Jeff. There are two teams.
Speaker 3: The Tigers and the A's, who don't have nine stolen
Speaker 3: bases this year, and the Brewers did it in one game.
Speaker 2: Jeff.
Speaker 3: We're trying to bring the athleticism back into the game
Speaker 3: by making the bases bigger, and the you know, the
Speaker 3: the rule where you can't throw over, you know, the
Speaker 3: to first base more than twice without it being a back.
Speaker 2: All that stuff. It's working. But this is how the
Speaker 2: Brewers play.
Speaker 3: They put they put pressure on you all the time
Speaker 3: with the way they run the bases. Also, Euhanio Suarez,
Speaker 3: I got a kick out of this. He plays, Jeff
Speaker 3: for the Diamondback. So he's at the plate the other day.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you saw this, but a pitch
Speaker 3: went in the dirt and then kind of bounced up
Speaker 3: in the air.
Speaker 2: While Euhanio Suarez is at.
Speaker 3: The plate, he reflexively takes his right foot and dribbles
Speaker 3: the baseball on his foot like two or three times,
Speaker 3: and and then using his left foot, he kicks the
Speaker 3: ball over towards the dugout. You know what this shows me, Jeff?
Speaker 3: It shows me that he used.
Speaker 2: To play soccer. And one reason that he's.
Speaker 3: A good Major League baseball player is his feet really work.
Speaker 2: I'll never forget.
Speaker 3: I did a story on omarvus Scale, you know, thirty
Speaker 3: years ago, about being this unbelievable great defensive shortstop. So
Speaker 3: I went to see him in Seattle in the off
Speaker 3: season on Super Bowl Sunday, by the way, And while
Speaker 3: I was talking to him for this story, we go
Speaker 3: out into his garage and there's a soccer ball in
Speaker 3: his garage and he takes the soccer ball and just
Speaker 3: dribbles it on his foot for like three minutes without
Speaker 3: losing it. And I said, Omar, when's the last time
Speaker 3: you did that? He goes, I haven't dribbled a soccer
Speaker 3: ball in ten years.
Speaker 2: Three minutes. He bounced it.
Speaker 3: Off his foot because he could because he had such
Speaker 3: great feet. Another reminder, so that Jose I Glaciers guy,
Speaker 3: the great singer who's also a really good baseball player,
Speaker 3: Omar Viscale told me.
Speaker 2: And I thought Omar had the greatest hands I've ever
Speaker 2: seen on anyone.
Speaker 3: He said, Jose Glaci's hands are just as good as mine.
Speaker 3: But the reason I'm even better than him defensively is because.
Speaker 2: Of my feet.
Speaker 3: So never ever ever lose track on a baseball player.
Speaker 2: How important his feet are. And we saw that from
Speaker 2: Ujanio Suarez.
Speaker 1: Does it make any difference that Eu Hennio Suarez and
Speaker 1: Omar Viskel have all of the vowels in both of
Speaker 1: their names or is that not relating?
Speaker 2: I am so proud of you.
Speaker 3: I taught you about Ujenio Suarez and all the vowels,
Speaker 3: but I did not recognize that Omar Viskell had all
Speaker 3: the vowels too.
Speaker 2: Jeff, boy, I have of your favorite guys. I have
Speaker 2: corrupted you so badly.
Speaker 3: All right, last thing, Jeff, Yesterday at Fenway Park Monday,
Speaker 3: at Fenway Park, they started a game at eleven ten,
Speaker 3: which they do once year at Fenway Park.
Speaker 2: It's a special.
Speaker 3: Day and they start a baseball game at eleven ten.
Speaker 3: And I only bring this up because Dustin Pedroia one
Speaker 3: of your favorite players, because you're about the same height
Speaker 3: as Dustin Pedroia. He used to show up Jeff to
Speaker 3: every game eight hours before the game began, so if
Speaker 3: it's a seven pm start, he would be there at
Speaker 3: eleven am. David Ross was once a teammate of his
Speaker 3: and David Ross is going out for breakfast at eleven
Speaker 3: o'clock in the morning, and he lives in the same
Speaker 3: neighborhood as Dustin Pedroya. He sees Perroi and he goes,
Speaker 3: where are you going? He goes, I'm going to the ballpark,
Speaker 3: and David Ross goes, It's eleven o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 2: The game is in eight hours.
Speaker 3: The point is when the Red Sox played that eleven
Speaker 3: AM game, when Pedroia was there, he would get to
Speaker 3: the ballpark at three o'clock in the morning. He would
Speaker 3: alert all the clubhouse guys and all the security guys.
Speaker 2: I'll be year at three in the morning. You better
Speaker 2: be here for me. How about that, Jack?
Speaker 1: I love that that work ethic is next level from paint.
Speaker 3: That's what he needed to do in order to be
Speaker 3: ready to play. Get their eight hours in advance.
Speaker 1: Let's jump into the quirk gins from the weekend.
Speaker 2: What do you have?
Speaker 3: Well, that thirteen to eleven game was an entire quirk gin,
Speaker 3: but we also kind of had one Sunday where the
Speaker 3: Reds beat the Orioles twenty four to two, and Noel
Speaker 3: v Marte and Austin Wins of the Reds, the eight
Speaker 3: and nine hitters in the game drove in thirteen runs.
Speaker 3: So the last time any eight nine hitters drove in
Speaker 3: that many runs was the famous August twenty two to
Speaker 3: two thousand and seven game when the Rangers beat the
Speaker 3: Orioles thirty to three, and Jared Salto, Lamachia and Ramon
Speaker 3: Vasquez in that game combined for fourteen RBIs out of
Speaker 3: the eight and nine spots in the order. And that game,
Speaker 3: of course was also played at Candod Yards.
Speaker 2: Which I got such a big kickout of. So in
Speaker 2: that thirty to three victory, Wes Lyttleton, if you remember.
Speaker 3: Got the save, which we've got such a kickout of
Speaker 3: because his team won the game by twenty seven runs,
Speaker 3: and he got the save because he pitched the last
Speaker 3: three innings of the game effectively, and by rule, you
Speaker 3: get the.
Speaker 2: Save for doing that.
Speaker 3: And yesterday, I mean Sunday, Randy Winn of the Reds
Speaker 3: got the save, his first career save, and he gave
Speaker 3: that his team won by twenty two russ, which I
Speaker 3: just how is he ever going to forget his first
Speaker 3: career save out of the game which is t won
Speaker 3: twenty four to two. And the other thing, of course,
Speaker 3: which was mentioned to me several times by my dopey friends,
Speaker 3: and that's why I love them, is so the battery
Speaker 3: at the end of that game was Randy Win and
Speaker 3: Austin wins.
Speaker 2: So that was our battery at the end of the game.
Speaker 2: People asked me if I noticed that. The answer is,
Speaker 2: what else do I notice?
Speaker 3: Those are the only things I really care about, our
Speaker 3: goofy crazy things like that.
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of I want to shout out jj Elliott,
Speaker 1: who messaged us on Instagram at great game or what.
Speaker 1: You can see exclusive videos and more on our Instagram page, Dad,
Speaker 1: he said. Saturday in Baltimore, Hunter Green pitched against Brandon Young,
Speaker 1: making his MLB debut. This is the newbie matchup. It's
Speaker 1: Young against Green. You know when somebody is green to something,
Speaker 1: all right?
Speaker 2: I thought that was pretty great.
Speaker 3: Look anytime that our listeners and our viewers are adding
Speaker 3: to the show, you can count me in Young and Green.
Speaker 2: I like it. That's good, all right.
Speaker 3: Also this week, Jeff the Pirates won a game one
Speaker 3: to nothing. O'Neil Cruz led off the game with a
Speaker 3: homer and that was the only run scored. In the
Speaker 3: game one to nothing on a home run hit.
Speaker 2: By the first batter of the game. The Pirates have
Speaker 2: been around for well over one hundred years, and that
Speaker 2: is only the second time a Pirate player ever let
Speaker 2: off a game with a homer and they ended up
Speaker 2: winning that game one to nothing.
Speaker 3: Carlos Garcia did it nineteen ninety three against the Marlins.
Speaker 1: And for me, O'Neil Cruz is the only player in
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball history that I can think of that
Speaker 1: has a name better if it were switched, he should
Speaker 1: be Cruise Oz. Every time I see his name, I think,
Speaker 1: just doesn't feel right to me.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, he was named after Paul O'Neill. That's
Speaker 3: why he's got the first name, O'Neil Cruise.
Speaker 1: That's so cool. I didn't know that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And speaking of Cruise, Jeff Dylan Cruz of the
Speaker 3: Nationals different spelling, crws great young prospect. He went sixty
Speaker 3: at bats this year, sixty played appearances this year without
Speaker 3: an RBI, and then he drove in four runs.
Speaker 2: In one game.
Speaker 3: So I checked with Frank at the Elias. When's the
Speaker 3: last time anyone went sixty played appearances into a season
Speaker 3: without an RBI and then got four.
Speaker 2: Of them in the next game.
Speaker 3: Ridolfo Castro did that for the Pirates in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: He was the last guy to do it. But things
Speaker 2: like that jump out to me speak, all right.
Speaker 3: So, Jackson Holiday hit two grands hit his second Grand Slam.
Speaker 3: Remember of the Orioles, So Frank Robinson. Frank Robinson played
Speaker 3: six years for the Orioles. He only hit two Grand
Speaker 3: Slams in six years. Frank one of the great home
Speaker 3: run hitters of all time. But he hit both those
Speaker 3: Grand Slams in the same game against the Set in
Speaker 3: nineteen seventy. I mean, what are the odds of that?
Speaker 3: In fact, Frank's final thirteen seasons he only hit two
Speaker 3: Grand Slams total, and they both came in the same game.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. And Jackson Holiday's only twenty one years old
Speaker 1: and he's done it twice for the Orioles, right on
Speaker 1: this date in baseball history, Dad, what do you have
Speaker 1: for us?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 3: Well, in nineteen seventy, Tom Severs struck out nineteen San
Speaker 3: Diego Padres in a two.
Speaker 2: To one victory. First up, Jeff. Nobody finishes a two
Speaker 2: to one.
Speaker 3: Game these days, right, there's always a reliever to pitch
Speaker 3: the ninth. But the point is Tom Seavers set a
Speaker 3: major league record with ten consecutive strikeouts.
Speaker 2: In that game.
Speaker 3: The point is with the last ten batters he faced.
Speaker 3: Think about that for a minute, talk about being strong
Speaker 3: at the end. The last ten batters of that game
Speaker 3: against Tom sever struck out. So he struck out the
Speaker 3: last guy of the sixth inning and then struck out
Speaker 3: the side in the seventh, eighth, and ninth. That's how
Speaker 3: great Tom Seaver was. We will be talking about him
Speaker 3: later in this week when we talk about the greatest
Speaker 3: mets of all time.
Speaker 2: And last thing, Jeff.
Speaker 3: From this date, April twenty second, Tito Francona's birthday. He
Speaker 3: is sixty five years old. I want to say today,
Speaker 3: so a happy birthday to Tito. We had him on
Speaker 3: the on the podcast just about a year ago this
Speaker 3: time when he was retired manager. Now he's the manager
Speaker 3: of the Cincinnati Reds. Do you remember any great stories
Speaker 3: from Tito a year ago.
Speaker 1: Well, my favorite story is the fact that when I
Speaker 1: had the opportunity to sing the national anthem in Cleveland
Speaker 1: before a then Indians game, he looked at me and
Speaker 1: Dad you introduced us. I had met him before, but
Speaker 1: reintroduced us, and he had said, you know, you said,
Speaker 1: Jeffson in the national anthem, you know this is going
Speaker 1: to be great. And he says, Oh, way to go, Jeff,
Speaker 1: don't f it up. And it totally loosened me. And
Speaker 1: we talked to him about that because it was one
Speaker 1: that I will always remember as a longtime performer. That's
Speaker 1: one thing that was really awesome.
Speaker 3: Terry Francona offering that, of course my favorite Tito story,
Speaker 3: and I'm gonna.
Speaker 2: Tell it again because it's my favorite.
Speaker 3: His first year, his only year at ESPN, they put
Speaker 3: me in charge of him for some reason because his
Speaker 3: sense of direction is so bad he needed someone to
Speaker 3: get him around. So I'm covering spring training with Tito Francona.
Speaker 3: And the first place they put us on our spring
Speaker 3: training tour was a place called Camp Wilderness.
Speaker 2: In a It was a Disney property, Jeff. It was
Speaker 2: not a hotel.
Speaker 3: It was a series, a set of cabins set in
Speaker 3: the woods.
Speaker 2: You got your own little cabin. So I can't believe
Speaker 2: what we're looking at. And Tito checks into.
Speaker 3: His cabin and he calls me like five minutes later
Speaker 3: because they're like, Jeff, it was like there were bunk
Speaker 3: beds in there.
Speaker 2: It was like we were in the cubs gouts and
Speaker 2: we're both grown men.
Speaker 3: And he had won two World Series as a member
Speaker 3: as the manager of the Boston Red Sox. So after
Speaker 3: about five minutes he called to see if I have
Speaker 3: the same setup there, because he thought it was a joke.
Speaker 2: He thought like people were.
Speaker 3: Gonna jump out and say, no, no, no, you're not
Speaker 3: really staying here. So five minutes later he calls me
Speaker 3: back in my cabin and says, hey, do you want
Speaker 3: to come over to my cabin. We can go out
Speaker 3: in the backyard and make some snores. That's what it
Speaker 3: was like being with Tito.
Speaker 1: He is the man. He is the absolute best. So
Speaker 1: a happy birthday to Terry Frankcona, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for being a guest last year. You know, you can
Speaker 1: always go back. All the episodes are archived wherever you're
Speaker 1: listening right now, so go back if you miss that interview,
Speaker 1: especially keeping in mind that we interviewed him while he
Speaker 1: was on the beach so to speak. You know, he
Speaker 1: wasn't managing at the time and he was just playing
Speaker 1: golf a lot so for Cincinnati Reds fans. If we
Speaker 1: want to get to know Terry Francona even better, maybe
Speaker 1: go back to season one of Is this a Great Game?
Speaker 2: Or what?
Speaker 1: Scroll around find Terry Francona because he was a heck
Speaker 1: of a fun interview.
Speaker 3: Right now, Jeff, I need to clarify something from last
Speaker 3: week's podcast where we talked about, because you know your
Speaker 3: former umpire little level, I'm a former umpire equally small level.
Speaker 3: But remember we said last week that any runner who
Speaker 3: intentionally gets hit by a ground ball and therefore the
Speaker 3: ball is dead batter gets a hit. The umpire has
Speaker 3: the discretion to say no, no, you can't do that. You
Speaker 3: can't step in front of a double play ball get
Speaker 3: hit on purpose, so you only get one out on
Speaker 3: the play. What I learned from Rich Mazzati, who's our
Speaker 3: base is my umpire expert out there. Rich told me
Speaker 3: a story on why that rule was changed. And in
Speaker 3: nineteen fifty seven, Don Hokee, a very good third baseman
Speaker 3: for the Pirates during his day, a very good defender
Speaker 3: is in that spot as a base runner first and
Speaker 3: second and he's running to third on this okay ground
Speaker 3: ball to the shortstop that he knows is going to
Speaker 3: be a routine double play. John Hoak not only intentionally
Speaker 3: let it hit him. He caught the ball, he fielded
Speaker 3: the ball, and it was that play, according to Rich Mazzati,
Speaker 3: that that's when baseball changed the rule that you cannot
Speaker 3: do anything like that, because a really clever guy like
Speaker 3: Don Hoak says, if I get hit by this, there's
Speaker 3: only one out, and they said no, no, no. He
Speaker 3: not only got hit by it, Jeff, he fielded a
Speaker 3: ground ball, just amazing.
Speaker 1: And that was all the jumping off point from the
Speaker 1: almost no hitter from the unc pitcher in which the
Speaker 1: final out was made because a runner on first who
Speaker 1: reached not from a hit but reached otherwise, was hit
Speaker 1: by a batted ball and the game was over and
Speaker 1: everybody celebrated like it was a no hitter, but technically
Speaker 1: not technically by the rules, that's a hit for the
Speaker 1: batter and an out on the base pass because he
Speaker 1: was hit by a batted ball, and so and that's
Speaker 1: it stood. And the point of that was Dad, even
Speaker 1: though we're saying the same thing, it's different. There was,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, no chance for that first base or
Speaker 1: second baseman to field that ball. It would have been
Speaker 1: in right field, it would have been a hit.
Speaker 2: So it's just the correct call.
Speaker 3: Jet again, the official scorer has he made the right
Speaker 3: call because you can't punish a hitter just because it
Speaker 3: had hit a batter when that ball clearly would have
Speaker 3: gone in. So a pitcher lost a no hitter on
Speaker 3: the final play of the game, and the final play
Speaker 3: of the game was a hit, which is just incredible.
Speaker 1: And we have a little bit of time on today's podcast.
Speaker 1: Can we rip them really fast and do it's.
Speaker 2: In the cards? Of course.
Speaker 1: I've had this pack next to me for like months
Speaker 1: and we need to rip them. It's been a while, Dad.
Speaker 1: We did not find the Paul Skins rookie card, by
Speaker 1: the way, Yes, well it wasn't us, so we can't
Speaker 1: retire early. Trey Cabbage of the Angels is our first
Speaker 1: poll out of this deck of cards.
Speaker 3: I believe he was on our All Irish team, right,
Speaker 3: all Saint Patrick's Day team. All right, we couldn't find
Speaker 3: anyone named Bob corn Beef, but we had Trey Cabbage
Speaker 3: on our All Saint Patrick's Day team.
Speaker 1: We go into Anthony Rizzo of the New York Yankees
Speaker 1: is our next poll.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I love Anthony Rizzo not playing this year. His career
Speaker 3: might be over.
Speaker 2: Who knows. I just know Anthony Rizzo was one of
Speaker 2: my favorite guys to cover.
Speaker 3: He used to tell me every spring training. He would
Speaker 3: go there to spring training, even in the prime of
Speaker 3: his career, and he would struggle so badly as all
Speaker 3: hitters do.
Speaker 2: At the beginning of spring training.
Speaker 3: He would always ask himself, can I still do this?
Speaker 3: Can I still hit in the major leagues? That's how
Speaker 3: difficult that skill is, especially today.
Speaker 1: One of your favorites, Jackson Merrill, is our next call
Speaker 1: card from the podject.
Speaker 3: Jackson Merril on the disabled list hamstring injury, signed a
Speaker 3: huge contract. Just had a birthday the other day. Maryland guy,
Speaker 3: really really good player.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 1: I didn't realize he was a Baltimore, Maryland guy.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, I know friends of mine who played
Speaker 3: against him, saw him in high school all that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and his birthday was this past Saturday from Run
Speaker 1: of Park, Maryland.
Speaker 2: Wow, twenty two years old, now, I believe.
Speaker 1: And then last, certainly not least Brian Reynolds of.
Speaker 2: The Pirates whoops, that dropped it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Brian Reynolds can really hit switch hitter boy. The
Speaker 3: Pirates got to score some more runs though, for Paul
Speaker 3: Skiings and for everyone else.
Speaker 1: I know that can be the most frustrated. I'd never
Speaker 1: ever want to be in a dugout when you know
Speaker 1: a pitcher gets up one run and they lose one
Speaker 1: to zero.
Speaker 2: Started a pitcher, It happens. Yeah, all right, Jeff, before
Speaker 2: we go.
Speaker 3: Easter weekend just to recap, was absolutely great. Had such
Speaker 3: a good time, even though we missed you and McKinley
Speaker 3: and Emily because of sicknesses and everything else. But I
Speaker 3: did have one poor pop pop moment over the weekend,
Speaker 3: and I think it's I need to share it. The
Speaker 3: snake is back at our house?
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: Now, Famously, five years ago, two snakes showed up at
Speaker 3: our house, both in the garage, both on our doorstep
Speaker 3: like wanting to get into the house. Scared the life
Speaker 3: out of me and Uncle Matt of course took care
Speaker 3: of the snakes. We sent them down to the river
Speaker 3: and gave them a nice home somewhere away from our house. Well,
Speaker 3: it was a snake that came back the other day
Speaker 3: that Jeff. Again, I'm sure it's just a black snake, okay,
Speaker 3: but it was. It was five feet long, and it
Speaker 3: scared the life out of me because as far as
Speaker 3: I'm concerned, it's an anaconda out on our front driveway
Speaker 3: and it was close to the house. So I panicked
Speaker 3: because I'm afraid of everything, and I couldn't and Uncle
Speaker 3: Mac isn't here anymore to.
Speaker 2: Help me, so all I could do.
Speaker 3: All I could do was go in the house and
Speaker 3: get an umbrella, and I launched the umbrella. I threw
Speaker 3: the umbrella at the snake. I startled him like a javelin.
Speaker 3: I threw it like Mary Poppins.
Speaker 2: Let's put it that way. It was so bad, and.
Speaker 3: I didn't hit him, so I didn't hurt anybody. I
Speaker 3: didn't hurt a snake, a harmless black snake. Your cousin
Speaker 3: Christopher would have been there. He would have just gone
Speaker 3: out and picked up the snake and put him, you know,
Speaker 3: in the grass somewhere. But that's Christopher, not me. I'm
Speaker 3: the opposite. I'm scared to death of snakes. I can't
Speaker 3: even get so I threw an umbrella like Julie andrews
Speaker 3: at him. It was so bad, but he disappeared, but
Speaker 3: the point is he's still around the house.
Speaker 2: Something to keep in mind for Poor Pop Pop.
Speaker 1: Let's just say, in retrospect, Dad, you are closer to
Speaker 1: Julie Andrews than you are to Dick Van Dyke in
Speaker 1: that movie. Can you just establish.
Speaker 2: That that is absolutely clear?
Speaker 3: Dick Vandyke one of the great comedic actors of all time.
Speaker 3: Dick Van Dyke Show, third greatest sitcom in history to
Speaker 3: me behind Get Smart and on the family. As long
Speaker 3: as we're making a list here and I have a
Speaker 3: list for everything, as you know.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad you had a Poor Pop Pop because
Speaker 1: I have about ten in the bank that I was
Speaker 1: going to use today, So I'm glad you had that one.
Speaker 3: Well, we'll use another one on Thursday for our third
Speaker 3: episode of the week. And let's not forget what do
Speaker 3: we have tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Jeff mel Kiper will join us tomorrow Wednesday wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your podcast, And of course the NFL draft
Speaker 1: ad starts on Thursday, so what perfect timing to have
Speaker 1: him a full episode just that great interview with is
Speaker 1: this a great gameer?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 1: Mel Kiper joins us, and.
Speaker 3: There's gonna be a lot of football there of course,
Speaker 3: but it's mostly a baseball discussion, including the day that
Speaker 3: he met Brooks Robinson and Joseph Abank. I got such
Speaker 3: a kick out of that. Usually you meet Brooks Robinson,
Speaker 3: you meet him at the ballpark or a hall of fame,
Speaker 3: or he met him at a men's clothing store.
Speaker 2: I'm I can't. I just love that story.
Speaker 1: That mel Is gonna tell join us tomorrow on is
Speaker 1: this a great game or what? Thanks for listening and
Speaker 1: as always, thank you for being a part of our family.