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Speaker 1: Is this a great game or what?

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Speaker 2: Welcome to another episode with the Hall of Famer Tim Kirkshon.

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Speaker 2: I'm Jeff Kirkshon, and today our guest is Steve Sparks.

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Speaker 2: Steve Sparks is a broadcaster for the Houston Astros, but

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Speaker 2: he's a former major leaguer, spent quite a bit of

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Speaker 2: time in the minor leagues.

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Speaker 1: And he tells us stories.

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Speaker 2: About Bob Gibson, Bob Feller, and Bob Eucher Dad. Some

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Speaker 2: of these stories even you have never heard before.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 3: He made us laugh out loud a dozen times. Oh,

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Speaker 3: he even brought a tear to our eyes. Yes, that's

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Speaker 3: what great storytellers can do. And I knew about Steve

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Speaker 3: Sparks long before all this. But I told you the story,

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Speaker 3: Jeff in nineteen eighty two on Opening Day. George Wright,

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Speaker 3: I've told you the story many times. Got three hits

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Speaker 3: on opening Day and he told me it was the

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Speaker 3: first major league game he'd ever attended. So I told

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Speaker 3: that story to Steve Sparks a few years ago, and

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Speaker 3: he told me a story.

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Speaker 1: That I didn't know. And I was the beat guy

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Speaker 1: for the Rangers at the time.

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Speaker 3: He told me the reason George Wright was even on

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Speaker 3: the team on opening day that year. Was that Mickey Rivers,

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Speaker 3: the primary center fielder, faked a hamstring injury so he

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Speaker 3: would start on the disabled list and George Wright would

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Speaker 3: make the team.

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Speaker 1: So I had never.

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Speaker 3: Heard that story before until Steve Sparks told me that,

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Speaker 3: And it was almost forty years after the fact.

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Speaker 1: And I repeat, I was the beat guy. I'm supposed

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Speaker 1: to know this stuff.

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Speaker 3: And forty years later a former pitcher told me a

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Speaker 3: story that I didn't know.

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Speaker 1: It was just great.

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Speaker 3: And ever since then, Steve Sparks has told me three

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Speaker 3: dozen stories that I'd never heard before.

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Speaker 2: And many of those you're gonna hear. Steve Sparks joins,

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Speaker 2: is this a great game?

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Speaker 1: Or what coming up next?

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Speaker 3: Her special day this week is Steve Sparks, former Major

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Speaker 3: league pitcher and a broadcaster doing games for the Houston Astro.

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Speaker 1: Steve, thank you so much for joining us. This is

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Speaker 1: my son, Jeff.

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Speaker 4: Hey, Jeff, how you doing? Man?

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Speaker 1: Hey?

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Speaker 2: Steve, Well, you opened up by saying you haven't missed

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Speaker 2: a single episode of the podcast, which I am just

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Speaker 2: so flattered. We are so flattered. It's our little family

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Speaker 2: run side.

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Speaker 1: Gig that we love to do so much.

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Speaker 4: Ye, I feel like even before today I was part

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Speaker 4: of the family. I felt like I already knew you, Jeff,

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Speaker 4: before we even started today, Right.

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Speaker 2: So we end every episode with thank you for being

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Speaker 2: a part of the family. And I came up with

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Speaker 2: that after our second episode. And I had a buddy

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Speaker 2: of mine who consults podcasts, and he called me and said,

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Speaker 2: did you come up with that? I thought I was

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Speaker 2: consulting your podcast? That's the best close.

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Speaker 1: I said, no, I got nervous.

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Speaker 2: I didn't know what else to call him. So you're

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Speaker 2: part of the family. Steve Sparks, thank you for being

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Speaker 2: our guest today.

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Speaker 4: Love to be here.

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Speaker 3: We were just talking about how little Steve sleeps because

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Speaker 3: he's coming back from knee replacement surgery.

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Speaker 1: So, Jeff, this was a month ago.

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Speaker 3: I get a text in the middle of the night

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Speaker 3: from Steve Sparks and here's what it said. Jose Al

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Speaker 3: Twovey's height is the same as his birthday. He's five

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Speaker 3: foot six and he's born on May sixth. And I'm thinking, Steve,

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Speaker 3: you are the weirdest man in the world that you

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Speaker 3: would come up without.

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Speaker 1: Where did you see that? How did you put that? Together.

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Speaker 3: That's what I do for a living. You're not supposed

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Speaker 3: to steal good stuff like that.

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Speaker 4: I would only text that to somebody at four thirty

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Speaker 4: in the morning, to the weirdest person I know. Now,

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Speaker 4: you sent me a couple of your books last year,

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Speaker 4: and I know how your mind works, and to be

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Speaker 4: honest with you. Because of that, I started to look

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Speaker 4: at things a little different differently from time to time

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Speaker 4: as a broadcaster and things like that. I remember when

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Speaker 4: I saw al two Vay's birthday, I said, oh my gosh,

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Speaker 4: that's the same as this listed hype, right, So you know,

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Speaker 4: I did run through a couple of other dates. You know,

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Speaker 4: some guys five feet ten, right, five feet eleven, and

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Speaker 4: there's a couple. But it's a very small club.

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Speaker 1: Right, Dad.

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Speaker 2: Thankfully you're not born in April, or else you would

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Speaker 2: have been able to possibly say your height was the

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Speaker 2: same as your Well.

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Speaker 3: That's really funny. Jeff really tall. Jeff Jeffery's born on

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Speaker 3: August to ninth. So, as it turns out, this is perfect.

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Speaker 3: He and I together are eight foot nine, he's four

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Speaker 3: six and I'm four three.

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Speaker 1: It's it's absolutely perfect.

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Speaker 2: It looks like Dad, you and I both had hype

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Speaker 2: jokes loaded up for this, didn't well?

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Speaker 1: Not the point, Steve.

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Speaker 3: My favorite thing about uniform numbers and names on the

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Speaker 3: back and all that Carlos May well before your time.

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Speaker 3: Carlos May used to wear number seventeen, so the back

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Speaker 3: of his jersey said May his name seventeen.

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Speaker 1: And that was his birthday.

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Speaker 4: You're a kidding.

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Speaker 3: So not only he got his name and number on

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Speaker 3: the back, that's got his birthday on the back.

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Speaker 4: I mean, at one point I couldn't wait when Tyler

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Speaker 4: Clifford was playing for the Twins to say that he's

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Speaker 4: the only guy that had his monogram on his cap

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Speaker 4: TC Twin Cities.

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Speaker 3: Wow, Steve, Steve again, where does this analytical, observant curiosity

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Speaker 3: come from?

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Speaker 1: Have you always been like this as a kid?

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Speaker 3: Were you figuring out weird stuff as a kid, because

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Speaker 3: not many former players look at things the way that

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Speaker 3: you do.

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Speaker 4: Hey, I've been married for thirty six years and I

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Speaker 4: don't think there's two days that go by where my

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Speaker 4: wife doesn't tell me how weird I am. So I've

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Speaker 4: been like this my whole life. My parents know it,

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Speaker 4: you know. My mom and dad listen to every game

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Speaker 4: my broadcast. Still my mom will text ten seconds after

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Speaker 4: every game from Tulus, Oklahoma. But it's just been a

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Speaker 4: lifelong passion of mind and to be able to play

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Speaker 4: the game and now broadcast and being this game for

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Speaker 4: almost forty years has been a dream come true.

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Speaker 1: Well, Steve, let's start with you. Let's start with your career.

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Speaker 3: Tell us how you ended up going to sam Houston State.

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Speaker 3: Sam State where Randy Galloway, one of my all time

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Speaker 3: mentors in the business former columns of the Dallas Morning News, That's.

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Speaker 1: Where he went.

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Speaker 3: How did you end up becoming a pitcher in college?

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Speaker 4: Well, I mentioned I'm from Oklahoma, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and

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Speaker 4: the weather wasn't particularly good for baseball, especially early in

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Speaker 4: the season. And in junior college. I went to junior

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Speaker 4: college at Eastern Oklahoma State College, and the weather was

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Speaker 4: even worse because you played in the fall and you

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Speaker 4: played in the spring and it was even worse. And

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Speaker 4: at one point, as an infielder in junior college, I

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Speaker 4: bit down to field the ground ball and actually cracked

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Speaker 4: a vertebrae in my back because I was so stiff.

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Speaker 4: You know, even if you stretched out there in that cold,

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Speaker 4: windy weather, you still still weren't able to get very

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Speaker 4: flexible or appliable to be able to do your job.

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Speaker 4: So I remember after my sophomore year, I didn't have

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Speaker 4: a lot of offers, you know, to go play further.

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Speaker 4: So I knew if I walked on somewhere, I wanted

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Speaker 4: to go somewhere warmer. And I'd never heard of sam

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Speaker 4: Houston State, even you, Tim, you just said Sam State.

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Speaker 4: I mean, who knows sam Houston State. But one thing

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Speaker 4: I read in the in the library at my junior

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Speaker 4: college about sam Houston State was that the winter temperature

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Speaker 4: was fifty one degrees. I said, fifty one, I'm in.

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Speaker 4: So I decided to further my my academic career at

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Speaker 4: sam Houston State because of the weather in the winter.

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Speaker 4: So I went there and I walked on. There was

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Speaker 4: almost one hundred guys walking on. And as an infielder, Jeff,

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Speaker 4: you can probably relate to this. You got to be

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Speaker 4: pretty fast, and I remember running a sixty yard dash

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Speaker 4: time as one of those walk ons. And when I

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Speaker 4: heard the guy with the stopwatch say seven, I didn't

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Speaker 4: hear what he said after that, but as soon as

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Speaker 4: he said seven, it wasn't in the sixes I caan

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Speaker 4: it and I'd gone about twenty feet past him, and

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Speaker 4: by the time I walked back to the guy with

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Speaker 4: the stopwatch, I formulated did something in my mind. I

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Speaker 4: don't know how, but I came up with these words.

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Speaker 4: I said, hey, man, what are the pictures doing running?

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Speaker 4: They go, hey man, you're in the wrong spot. And

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Speaker 4: that's the day I started pitching. It changed my life forever,

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Speaker 4: that one little lie, the ten seconds I was able

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Speaker 4: to formulate, that one little lie changed my life forever.

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Speaker 2: You know, see, my mom taught me one thing growing up,

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Speaker 2: which was, you know, hey, just say yes, right, just

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Speaker 2: say yes, and we'll try to figure it out later.

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Speaker 1: And I was.

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Speaker 2: I had a very small, minimal acting career as a kid.

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Speaker 2: And I'll never forget. They were considering me for this

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Speaker 2: role in Washington, DC and the Shakespeare Theater Company and

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Speaker 2: they go, do you happen to play the trombone? And

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Speaker 2: through my head with my mom saying just say yes,

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Speaker 2: so I said yeah, I mean I'm musical. I played

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Speaker 2: the piano I could, so I didn't want to lie.

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Speaker 2: But for you to think on your feet that quickly,

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Speaker 2: it's kind of that same instinct of just say yes,

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Speaker 2: figure out a way to get there.

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Speaker 1: I'll figure it out when we get there.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. Absolutely, So Steve, how.

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Speaker 3: Did you go from all right, now I'm a pitcher

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Speaker 3: because I ran over seven in the sixty sixty yard

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Speaker 3: dash to becoming a pitcher?

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Speaker 1: How long did that take and what did you do

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Speaker 1: to get there?

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Speaker 4: Well, Tim, I had two years to figure it out.

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Speaker 4: I was a junior by then, but I had a

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Speaker 4: pretty good arm, and I just I threw a lot

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Speaker 4: of fastballs. I was a reliever, and I remember going

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Speaker 4: home my Christmas break when we kind of had an

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Speaker 4: exit meeting with our head coach my senior year, and

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Speaker 4: he just told me, hey, I've got you pretty low

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Speaker 4: down on the depth chart, you know. And I told him, man,

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Speaker 4: I want to be a pro baseball player, and he

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Speaker 4: just didn't think it was going to be possible. But

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Speaker 4: we had a couple of guys ended up failing some classes,

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Speaker 4: not being eligible to start the spring season, had one

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Speaker 4: guy get hurt, and I got a spot start and

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Speaker 4: I ended up pitching pretty well that year and got

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Speaker 4: drafted in the fifth round by the Brewers. So by

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Speaker 4: my senior year, I figured out enough of a breaking

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Speaker 4: ball to kind of get to go along with that fastball,

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Speaker 4: and I learned the in the minor leagues. And it

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Speaker 4: wasn't a short stint in the minor leagues. They ended

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Speaker 4: up pitting ten years in the minor league. But I

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Speaker 4: turned thirty one my rookie year. But it was a

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Speaker 4: long curve. But I kind of changed my career as

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Speaker 4: a knuckleballer halfway through it. And that's probably the biggest

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Speaker 4: reason why I was so old when I got there.

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Speaker 3: All right, Well, yeah, to the knuckleball in a minute, Steve,

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Speaker 3: But tell us about Brewer time and how you knew

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Speaker 3: Bob Yucker. Tell us about Bob Yucker in the time

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Speaker 3: that you knew him.

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Speaker 4: Well, we got pretty close, you know, just the times

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Speaker 4: that I got to spring training, you know. And he

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Speaker 4: had caught Phil Nakro when he was a catcher in

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Speaker 4: the Braves organization. Got to know Phil pretty well, so

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Speaker 4: I knew that, and I would go to Bob on

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Speaker 4: occasion to talk about, you know, some different things that

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Speaker 4: he would notice with Phil. And of course he had

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Speaker 4: the most famous line of all time on how to

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Speaker 4: actually catch the knuckleball, which they pretty much every broadcaster

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Speaker 4: would say every time I pissed my mom was about

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Speaker 4: to throw up by the end of my career, but

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Speaker 4: he would say, you know, wait till the ball quit

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Speaker 4: rolling and pick it up. So he was unbelievable to me.

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Speaker 4: He was you know, we all knew how funny he

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Speaker 4: was and how affable he was, but he was very

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Speaker 4: caring and generous with his time, and we just kind

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Speaker 4: of hit it off. You know, I'd go fishing with

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Speaker 4: him whenever we'd go back me as a broadcaster. You know,

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Speaker 4: in the last few years we had some really deep conversations.

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Speaker 4: And I remember the last time I had a conversation

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Speaker 4: with Uker as a matter of fact, him he told

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Speaker 4: me that within the last year he had had conversations

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Speaker 4: with Bob Gibson and Hank Aaron real late in their lives,

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Speaker 4: as a matter of fact, and they told them at

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Speaker 4: the end of a thirty minute conversation that they really

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Speaker 4: wanted to call him just to have a couple of laughs,

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Speaker 4: and they wanted to hear his voice one last time

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Speaker 4: because they were probably not going to make it very long.

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Speaker 4: And those two guys in particular, and Bob was telling

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Speaker 4: me this with tears in his eyes, that they both

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Speaker 4: passed away that day.

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Speaker 1: Jeff the Great.

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Speaker 4: Is that story.

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Speaker 3: Two of the greatest players ever made sure they called

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Speaker 3: Bob Yucker before they died so they could hear his voice.

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Speaker 3: So we talk about mister funny. He's the funniest man

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Speaker 3: I've ever seen in a major league uniform. But there

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Speaker 3: was another side to him that was just as deep.

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Speaker 1: And profound, really impressive.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so, Steve, you had mentioned, you know, ten years

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Speaker 2: in the minor leagues. I actually had the opportunity to

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Speaker 2: work at the Frederick Keyes, which was the greatest job,

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Speaker 2: greatest internship I ever had. If anybody listening right now

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Speaker 2: is in college or in high school, I advise you

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Speaker 2: to go get an internship with your local minor league

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Speaker 2: team or summer ball team or even something in the

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Speaker 2: Cape Cod League, because it'll be the best time of

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Speaker 2: your life as a young person in a minor league

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Speaker 2: stadium for multiple days a week for you. The thing

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Speaker 2: I love about minor league baseball is I feel like

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Speaker 2: it's baseball and it's purest it's also entertainment. It's fun.

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Speaker 2: In those years, did you ever have a run in

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Speaker 2: with a giveaway or a mascot or something you know

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Speaker 2: that just only happens in minor league games. Were you

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Speaker 2: ever dressing up and helping out with a bit or

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Speaker 2: doing something that these crazy minor league stadiums love to do,

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Speaker 2: or an experience of your time in the miners.

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Speaker 3: See if you got to remember Jeffrey dressed up as

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Speaker 3: a taco package more than once in a race around

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Speaker 3: the basis, So he knows a little bit about this.

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Speaker 1: Well, let's let's not get too hot, take you. It

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Speaker 1: was just the mild.

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Speaker 2: Somebody else was the hot, and somebody else was spicy.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 4: I actually put on the taco costume in San Antonio

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Speaker 4: one day. I stole it out of the mascot's little

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Speaker 4: locker room there in fielded batting practice in the outfield

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Speaker 4: one day, and that guy was so mad at me.

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Speaker 4: I mean, it was unbelievable and it stunk unbelievably. I

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Speaker 4: can't believe he was mad, like I was going to

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Speaker 4: taint it or something. But we had a great time. Man,

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Speaker 4: My teammates loved me just running around with that. Let

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Speaker 4: us flying out everywhere. There's a couple of stories about

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Speaker 4: the minor leagues. In the minor leagues, you're talking about

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Speaker 4: a family with this podcast. Man, the minor league's become family,

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Speaker 4: lifelong friends for me. A lot of guys I still,

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Speaker 4: you know, consider some of my best friends. But one

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Speaker 4: Bob Feller was going to promote a book that he

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Speaker 4: had written. I was in Salinas, California. I was pitching

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Speaker 4: for the Stockton Ports in the California League and Bob

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Speaker 4: Feller was there to promote the book. He was going

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Speaker 4: to throw out the first pitch and he was in

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Speaker 4: the locker room on a day I was starting, so

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Speaker 4: I didn't have to go out for batting practice. I

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Speaker 4: was the only one in the clubhouse, so I went

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Speaker 4: up to Bob Feller and I just wanted to say hello,

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Speaker 4: and of course meet him. I'm such a big fan

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Speaker 4: of baseball and I told him so, and he said, well, Steve,

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Speaker 4: he goes, you're pitching today. Huh? I said, yes, sir.

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Speaker 4: He goes, how old are you? I said, well, I'm

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Speaker 4: twenty seven years old. He said, excuse me, said, I'm

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Speaker 4: twenty seven years old. He goes, christ Son, what are

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Speaker 4: you doing with your I'd won one hundred and fifty

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Speaker 4: games and served two terms in the war by the

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Speaker 4: time I was forty seven. You need to rethink this.

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Speaker 4: And I think I gave up five runs in the

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Speaker 4: first n.

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Speaker 1: That that is so classic.

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Speaker 3: Bob Feller, who Jeff, by the way, struck out his

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Speaker 3: age in the game.

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Speaker 1: He was eighteen. He struck out eighteen batters. He was

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Speaker 1: eighteen years.

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Speaker 3: Old, so he was right, but he blasted a twenty

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Speaker 3: seven year old for still trying.

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Speaker 4: Yep, he was not wrong. He wasn't wrong, and I

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Speaker 4: wish more people had heard it, but it was classic.

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Speaker 3: Well, Steve, I don't know if I've told you this,

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Speaker 3: but I batted against Bob Feller in the minor leagues

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Speaker 3: when he did his tour of minor league ballparks, and

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Speaker 3: I covered the Alexandria Dukes and a ball team, and

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Speaker 3: he came and threw to the writers who covered the team. Now, granted,

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Speaker 3: this is like three years out of high school for me.

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Speaker 3: I played in high school. I could swing a bat

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Speaker 3: a little bit, and he's strolling like sixty miles an hour.

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Speaker 3: So I had a couple of balls hard that he

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Speaker 3: wouldn't throw any more strikes.

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Speaker 1: Not the point. When I was done, Steve, he gives

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Speaker 1: us a certificate that's about this big, and it says

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Speaker 1: I batted against Bob Feller with my name on it,

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Speaker 1: and in gigantic print at the bottom, it says the

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Speaker 1: aforementioned slugger realizes if he had faced mister.

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Speaker 3: Feller in his prime, the results would have been different. Like, no,

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Speaker 3: I would have lit him up in nineteen forty What

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Speaker 3: are you crazy?

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Speaker 4: He wanted to remind you.

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Speaker 1: Yes, make sure that.

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Speaker 3: I knew I would not put the ball, I would

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Speaker 3: not make contact against him, you know, fifty years earlier.

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Speaker 1: Of course I knew that it was wonderful.

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Speaker 4: That's awesome. Hey, I had a manager that same year.

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Speaker 4: It pitched or it caught in the major leagues and

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Speaker 4: had five kids. We were in the California League, And

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Speaker 4: at the end of the season, with three weeks left,

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Speaker 4: his wife ended up picking his four youngest kids back

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Speaker 4: to Arizona to get ready for the off season. So

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Speaker 4: for the rest of the season, the last three weeks,

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Speaker 4: his nine year old son ended up staying with his dad.

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Speaker 4: He would come to the ballpark, he would hang out

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Speaker 4: in the clubhouse and just basically became part of the team.

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Speaker 4: And he would also be in the hotel rooms with

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Speaker 4: his dad. And back in those days, of course, you know,

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Speaker 4: you had your phones in the hotel room, so he

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Speaker 4: would call the front office and his son would hear

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Speaker 4: those things and things of that nature. So Ben, his son,

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Speaker 4: was at the ballpark one day in Bakersfield. We were

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Speaker 4: stretching before batting practice, and we were all just kind

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Speaker 4: of laying there doing our hamstring stretches and such, and

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Speaker 4: Ben was weaving around and we were tackling him and

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Speaker 4: punching him and doing all these things, and he was

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Speaker 4: having a great time. Then he went went up to

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Speaker 4: this one guy and goes, hey, John, Hey, I'm gonna

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Speaker 4: miss you. He goes, oh, Ben, are you going home

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Speaker 4: with your brothers and sisters? He goes, no, I'm not

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Speaker 4: going anywhere you are, And we all poked our heads up.

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Speaker 4: We'll go what. He goes, yeah, I heard my dad

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Speaker 4: talking on the phone. You're getting released right after.

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Speaker 1: The game stuff.

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Speaker 4: And we are just silent. He goes, yeah, you and

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Speaker 4: Scott both, and then we all love to Scott. He goes, yeah,

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Speaker 4: you guys are getting released right after the game.

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Speaker 1: I heard my dad.

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Speaker 4: So they both got up. We're in shock, and they

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Speaker 4: both go inside. We never saw them again. That's how

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Speaker 4: they got released from Old Oh, that's how they got released.

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Speaker 4: That's their story for the rest of their lives. How

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Speaker 4: humiliating is that.

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Speaker 2: Is the I mean, penn ultimate one of my favorite

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Speaker 2: stories we've ever heard on.

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Speaker 3: The podcast right there, Steve, that is that is hilarious.

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Speaker 1: You tell so many great stories.

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Speaker 3: So we asked about the knuckleball tell us because I

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Speaker 3: love the knuckleball. I've written all sorts of stories about

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Speaker 3: the knuckleball. I met Phil, I met Well, I knew

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Speaker 3: Phil nicro Well, I met Hoe Wilhelm a bunch of times.

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Speaker 3: I batted against Charlie Huff in a simulated game.

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Speaker 1: We'll go over that some other times.

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Speaker 3: How did you become a knuckleball pitcher? And how long

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Speaker 3: did it take for you to be really good at it?

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Speaker 4: You know, it's pretty interesting. And I've had this conversation

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Speaker 4: with a lot of guys since then that have asked

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Speaker 4: me for advice. And I'm sure that if as a

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Speaker 4: lot of the other knuckleballers, there's not many left by

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Speaker 4: the way after the passing at Tim Wakefield. But what

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Speaker 4: I what the Brewers did? They realized I was having

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Speaker 4: a hard time getting out of double A part of

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Speaker 4: it was I had marginal stuff. If my command wasn't

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Speaker 4: really good, I was going to have a hard time

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Speaker 4: getting by, and the other part. We were playing at

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Speaker 4: the old Dudley Dome in downtown. I'll passa where the

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Speaker 4: ball flew out of there and just made matters worse.

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Speaker 4: But they thought I might be a good candidate for

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Speaker 4: the knuckleball because I had pretty simple mechanics. It's helpful

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Speaker 4: to be a little shorter. I'm only six foot tall,

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Speaker 4: sorry guys. But then you know, they felt like I

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Speaker 4: might have the temperament for that pitch too, so they

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Speaker 4: gave me a three year plan. They came up to

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Speaker 4: me toward the end of one seat. They said, hey,

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Speaker 4: we want to bring you to an instructional league and

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Speaker 4: see if you might be able to throw a knuckleball,

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Speaker 4: and we'll give you a three year plan to throw

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Speaker 4: it thirty percent the first year, fifty percent the second year,

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Speaker 4: and seventy percent the third year, and we'll kind of

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Speaker 4: see where we're at after that. So the first two

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Speaker 4: years I got worse and what I had done, and

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Speaker 4: I know you guys like to rip packs. I went

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Speaker 4: to all my baseball cards to see how guys held it.

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Speaker 4: I'd never thrown one before, so I was looking for

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Speaker 4: knuckleballs I was looking at Charlie Huff, all the guys

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Speaker 4: that you just mentioned, at how they held it, and

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Speaker 4: it was all trial and error. We had Bob Humphrey,

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Speaker 4: who threw the knuckleball a little bit as a big

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Speaker 4: leaguer with the Saint Louis Cardinals. He was on that

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Speaker 4: sixty four World Series champion team, and he was our

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Speaker 4: minor league coordinator. But it just asked questions. And I

439
00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:48,720
Speaker 4: finally got a hold of Candiotti after a minor league

440
00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:52,840
Speaker 4: season and I asked him probably two two to three

441
00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:55,320
Speaker 4: pages worth of questions that I had one day at

442
00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:59,080
Speaker 4: the Astronome after my minor league season, and I wrote

443
00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:01,280
Speaker 4: him down after he and I went to winter ball

444
00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:03,080
Speaker 4: that year, and I threw it one hundred percent of

445
00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:06,040
Speaker 4: the time in Los Mochi's That's when I got better.

446
00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:08,000
Speaker 4: When I tried to throw it thirty percent, and when

447
00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:10,000
Speaker 4: I tried to throw it fifty percent, I got worse.

448
00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:12,040
Speaker 4: But once I committed to it and threw it in

449
00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:14,600
Speaker 4: tough counts, that's when I got a lot better. So

450
00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:17,040
Speaker 4: never really, you know, I never became one of the

451
00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:19,840
Speaker 4: better knuckleballers, but I carved out a nine year career

452
00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:23,320
Speaker 4: as a big leaguer, which I'm very proud of. But man,

453
00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:25,359
Speaker 4: if it wasn't for the knuckleball, I never would have

454
00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:26,160
Speaker 4: been able to do that.

455
00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:29,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, Jeff, I covered a guy named Daniel Boone who

456
00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:32,760
Speaker 3: played in the major leagues. He made a comeback a

457
00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:35,280
Speaker 3: second time. He played a little bit, then he made

458
00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:38,320
Speaker 3: a comeback, and he weighed literally one hundred and forty pounds.

459
00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:40,960
Speaker 3: Even I weigh a little bit more than that. So

460
00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:44,840
Speaker 3: Daniel Boone comes back as a knuckleball.

461
00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:46,600
Speaker 1: Pitcher, and he is a direct.

462
00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:49,160
Speaker 3: Descendant of the Daniel Boone.

463
00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:51,280
Speaker 1: So I got to talk to him about the.

464
00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:55,680
Speaker 3: Daniel Boone, like how courageous and brave he must have been.

465
00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,639
Speaker 3: And Daniel Boone the pitcher looks at me and he goes,

466
00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:01,800
Speaker 3: I promise you he didn't have the courage to throw

467
00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:05,240
Speaker 3: a knuckleball with three two cout with the bases loaded

468
00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:08,960
Speaker 3: in the ninth Inna, Steve, that's true, right, you don't

469
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:13,320
Speaker 3: have to have unbelievable courage to throw that pitch, right.

470
00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:16,600
Speaker 4: I used to joke about this, but it was kind

471
00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:18,720
Speaker 4: of a joke, and it kind of wasn't to throw

472
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:22,440
Speaker 4: that pitch to guys like Dave Winfield and Frank Thomas

473
00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:25,000
Speaker 4: and some of these guys that were just hitting absolute

474
00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,680
Speaker 4: screamers up the middle. You did, And I used to

475
00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:30,480
Speaker 4: joke to reporters every once in a while, I would

476
00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:31,760
Speaker 4: just throw it as slow as I could so I

477
00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:36,000
Speaker 4: could back up a little bit. It was brutal. I mean,

478
00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:37,600
Speaker 4: it was tough, like when you didn't have a good

479
00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:39,320
Speaker 4: one and you weren't taking the spin off the ball.

480
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:41,399
Speaker 4: And there's gonna be days like this, Phil Nieker. I

481
00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:44,760
Speaker 4: remember telling Wakefield in myself. He said, you know what,

482
00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:46,720
Speaker 4: just change speeds as much as you can. If you

483
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:48,159
Speaker 4: don't have a good one that day, at least you

484
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:50,439
Speaker 4: can get them off stride a little bit. So you

485
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:52,800
Speaker 4: learn that as you go. You know, it's not that easy,

486
00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,240
Speaker 4: but there's a lot of nuance to that pitch. I'm

487
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:57,960
Speaker 4: not sure if it's ever going to make a really

488
00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:01,360
Speaker 4: true comeback, but I'd love to see somebody zig when

489
00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:04,720
Speaker 4: everybody else is zagging. When you look at spin rate, right,

490
00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:09,920
Speaker 4: it's the ultimate non spin rate and velocity. Everybody's chasing velocity.

491
00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:11,680
Speaker 4: It's anti velocity too.

492
00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, Charlie Houff got mad at me one time.

493
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:16,880
Speaker 3: Love Charlie Hoff still do, I said Charlie, why don't

494
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:18,560
Speaker 3: more guys throw the knuckleball?

495
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:20,200
Speaker 1: This is forty years ago, I asked him.

496
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,400
Speaker 3: He goes, well, what'le more guys throw one hundred miles

497
00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:25,960
Speaker 3: an hour. It's really hard to do. So that's when

498
00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,240
Speaker 3: I learned, and anyone who thinks em way bombs. I

499
00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:32,040
Speaker 3: could throw a great knuckleball, it's not the same when

500
00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:33,720
Speaker 3: you have to go out throw it in a major

501
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:35,560
Speaker 3: league game and get big league hitters out.

502
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,280
Speaker 4: It is. It's tough. And I would say that the

503
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,160
Speaker 4: Astros have had me look at guys on the minor

504
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:44,119
Speaker 4: league side and spring trainings over the years, and I

505
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,960
Speaker 4: could tell within maybe Jeff three minutes whether or not

506
00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:51,119
Speaker 4: a guy could actually make the transition. And it's usually

507
00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:54,960
Speaker 4: because they're tightly wound. I just know you've got to

508
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,040
Speaker 4: be super relaxed to be able to throw that bitch

509
00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,920
Speaker 4: and have a very low heart rate when it matters most.

510
00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:03,160
Speaker 4: And that's the guys who end up pitching well. In Tim,

511
00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:05,840
Speaker 4: you know this from getting to know Huff and the

512
00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:09,880
Speaker 4: Negro brothers and Tom Candiotti and Tim Wakefield, all those

513
00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:12,240
Speaker 4: guys have a pretty even keel temperament.

514
00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:16,120
Speaker 3: Right absolutely, And as you know, Steve, you love this stuff.

515
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:19,679
Speaker 1: Joe nicro batted twelve hundred times in the big leagues.

516
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:20,960
Speaker 1: He hit one home run.

517
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,679
Speaker 3: In his career, and he hit it off his brother Phil,

518
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:29,119
Speaker 3: again the beauty of baseball? How can that possibly happen?

519
00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,200
Speaker 3: But these things happened in baseball all the time.

520
00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:34,840
Speaker 4: Which is about howat Wilhelm's homer, right.

521
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:35,680
Speaker 1: Hoyt Wilhelm.

522
00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,119
Speaker 3: Jeff hit a home run in the first major league

523
00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:40,760
Speaker 3: game he ever played, and it was the only home

524
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,639
Speaker 3: run that he ever hit. And then like three games

525
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,280
Speaker 3: later he hit a triple, and then he never hit

526
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:51,879
Speaker 3: another triple for his entire career, and he played like

527
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:52,919
Speaker 3: a hundred years.

528
00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:56,679
Speaker 1: It was unbelievable, so funny, so good.

529
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:05,960
Speaker 2: So, Steve, I want to ask and pivot here just

530
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:08,800
Speaker 2: a little bit, because there's I love baseball so much

531
00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,400
Speaker 2: as you can tell. And there's one thing that that

532
00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:14,879
Speaker 2: is so true, and that's the nicknames people are given.

533
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:19,800
Speaker 2: You were given a nickname in baseball. You were given

534
00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:24,880
Speaker 2: phone book as your nickname. Can you explain the origin

535
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:25,240
Speaker 2: of that?

536
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,440
Speaker 4: Yeah, I can explain the origin of that. Now, nobody's

537
00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:31,199
Speaker 4: ever called me phone book, but I have seen that

538
00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:34,840
Speaker 4: in baseball references but there's a reason why it's there,

539
00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,480
Speaker 4: and it's a pretty crazy story. I was in spring

540
00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,000
Speaker 4: training for the first time in big Lee camp after

541
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:44,240
Speaker 4: eight years in the minors nineteen ninety four in the

542
00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:46,800
Speaker 4: camp with Milwaukee Brewers and South Bando was the general

543
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:49,520
Speaker 4: manager of that team, and he decided to bring a guy,

544
00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:55,080
Speaker 4: a group of guys for a chapel service that were

545
00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 4: like the Strength Team, that the Power Team. If you've

546
00:25:58,040 --> 00:25:59,960
Speaker 4: seen these guys, they blow up the hot water bottle

547
00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:03,679
Speaker 4: and they explode, They bend bars with their with their teeth,

548
00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:05,960
Speaker 4: and the other thing they do is they tear phone

549
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:08,600
Speaker 4: books and have but they put on a great spectacle

550
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:10,800
Speaker 4: and it was a lot of fun and we enjoyed it,

551
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:13,040
Speaker 4: and we were talking about it the next day during

552
00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:16,800
Speaker 4: the rain delay, and I remember Jesse E Rosco, Mike Fetters, myself,

553
00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:20,080
Speaker 4: we're talking about it and back them Tim there were

554
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:23,000
Speaker 4: yellow pages. There was actually a payphone in our stupid

555
00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,760
Speaker 4: locker room and spring training and camera Arizona. So we

556
00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:28,520
Speaker 4: get them and we're gonna see there's got to be

557
00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:30,320
Speaker 4: a trick to it. So we're all trying and none

558
00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:32,879
Speaker 4: of us can even make it. Budge couldn't figure it

559
00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:35,240
Speaker 4: out at all. So we're still talking, you know, and

560
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:36,720
Speaker 4: we're just hanging out in the locker room. So I

561
00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:38,879
Speaker 4: start peeling off a few of the pages just to

562
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:40,920
Speaker 4: cheat a little bit and try to get a head start.

563
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:43,280
Speaker 4: And sure enough, once I got enough of them a

564
00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,280
Speaker 4: little bit torn, I could make a little headway. So

565
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:48,960
Speaker 4: I stood up and I started acting like I'm tearing

566
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,240
Speaker 4: this thing, and I'm making some headway. I'm about halfway through,

567
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:57,920
Speaker 4: and everybody's starting to crowd around, and there's they're chanting Sparky, sparky.

568
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:00,920
Speaker 4: So I start whiggling my head and then all of

569
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:05,679
Speaker 4: a sudden, I dislocate my left shoulder dislocate and some

570
00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 4: of the guys weren't sure if I was faking it

571
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:10,520
Speaker 4: or what, but it it did. That's exactly what I did.

572
00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:14,399
Speaker 4: And I go to the hospital they put it back in,

573
00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:16,280
Speaker 4: and of course I end up going back down to

574
00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:19,360
Speaker 4: minor league camp. Don't get back up at the big

575
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:22,280
Speaker 4: leagues that year, so it pushes my career back a year.

576
00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:24,240
Speaker 4: I was supposed to make the team that year. And

577
00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:27,320
Speaker 4: I'll never forget sal Bando and Phil Garner calling me

578
00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:29,600
Speaker 4: into the office today that they sent me down to

579
00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 4: minor league camp. I was sitting on a chair and

580
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:35,360
Speaker 4: they were standing on top of me, and Garner had

581
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:38,280
Speaker 4: spit flying off of his mum's sash into my face.

582
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:42,320
Speaker 4: And this is no joke. My dad was a very calm,

583
00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:45,960
Speaker 4: you know, disciplinarian. When somebody would yell at me in

584
00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:48,680
Speaker 4: football practice, it just didn't have the same effect as

585
00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:50,920
Speaker 4: it did when somebody would talk a little bit more logical.

586
00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,359
Speaker 4: But when those guys, when Garner especially, it just seems

587
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,639
Speaker 4: so ludicrous. I felt like I was about to start laughing.

588
00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:00,359
Speaker 4: So I had to start thinking about relatives, dying, my

589
00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:03,199
Speaker 4: dog dies, whatever I could just to get through that

590
00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:07,320
Speaker 4: meeting so I wouldn't get relieved. But so the story

591
00:28:07,359 --> 00:28:09,720
Speaker 4: came out, Jeff. The story came out that this is

592
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:12,439
Speaker 4: this longtime minor league guy that jumped up on stage

593
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 4: with those guys and dislocated my throwing shoulder, whether or

594
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:20,800
Speaker 4: not my you know right, And in reality it was

595
00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:22,639
Speaker 4: my non throwing shoulder. It is the sixth time I

596
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:25,719
Speaker 4: dislocated it, ended up dislocating it fifteen times and had

597
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:29,199
Speaker 4: three reconstructions on it. But the story came out, and

598
00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:33,880
Speaker 4: it still vacillates. Every year. Somebody will do something stupid

599
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:36,440
Speaker 4: and they'll come up with a new list one through

600
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:40,160
Speaker 4: ten stupidest sports injuries of all time, and Steve Sparks

601
00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,680
Speaker 4: is anywhere from number four to seven dis vacillates every

602
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:46,400
Speaker 4: single time. And I got guys from you know, Sam,

603
00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:49,000
Speaker 4: Houston State and the minor leagues are always text me

604
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,040
Speaker 4: there's a new list, you know, and I'm always in

605
00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 4: there stupidest sports injuries. I'm not saying it wasn't stupid,

606
00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,920
Speaker 4: but it was a little bit overblown. You know.

607
00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:01,320
Speaker 2: See my dad all he said, hey, you can hurt

608
00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:04,240
Speaker 2: you can break your foot playing basketball, playing baseball, but

609
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:06,640
Speaker 2: don't break it doing something stupid. In my first year

610
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:07,160
Speaker 2: out of college.

611
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:08,400
Speaker 1: I don't even think my dad knows this.

612
00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:11,880
Speaker 2: We were drinking beers in a buddy's apartment and nobody

613
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,520
Speaker 2: had a bottle opener, so I said, yeah, here we go,

614
00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:18,160
Speaker 2: I'll do it. Tried to do it with my teeth successfully,

615
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:22,400
Speaker 2: mind you, totally chipped my back tooth. Just had gotten

616
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:24,760
Speaker 2: my own health insurance, and here I am in the

617
00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:27,040
Speaker 2: dents office a couple of days later saying, I don't

618
00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:27,720
Speaker 2: know what happened.

619
00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:31,000
Speaker 1: It just kind of came off.

620
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:32,960
Speaker 4: Right, Tim, You're gonna tell him he's grounded or me.

621
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:39,280
Speaker 3: Uh, look, Jeff's twenty first birthday, I said to him,

622
00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 3: I said, Jeff, let me go buy you a beer.

623
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:43,720
Speaker 1: Okay, this is like official.

624
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:46,000
Speaker 3: It was midnight the night he was turned in, twenty

625
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:51,600
Speaker 3: one years old. Yeah, and I said, he knows the

626
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:52,880
Speaker 3: natural light story.

627
00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.

628
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:56,360
Speaker 3: So I said, Jeff, let me buy you a beer.

629
00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:58,760
Speaker 3: And my twenty one year old son says, why do

630
00:29:58,880 --> 00:29:59,240
Speaker 3: we have a.

631
00:29:59,160 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: Couple of shots for?

632
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:03,840
Speaker 3: And I think, oh my god, I have had two

633
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:05,680
Speaker 3: shots in my entire life.

634
00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:06,880
Speaker 1: And that is the truth.

635
00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:10,760
Speaker 3: As it turns out, he's had more shots than Carmelo Anthony.

636
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:14,360
Speaker 1: It's unbelievable. Yeah, he's only twenty one years old. He

637
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,360
Speaker 1: was four years in Yeah, no doubt.

638
00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:20,440
Speaker 2: And two months a couple months after that, Steve was

639
00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:24,160
Speaker 2: my graduation at Syracuse and my parents went to Chucks,

640
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:27,720
Speaker 2: which is like the bar for seniors, right, and my

641
00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:30,120
Speaker 2: parents came from the beginning of the evening. My dad

642
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:32,680
Speaker 2: put his card down and said, hey, order some drinks.

643
00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:34,400
Speaker 2: And then they were like, hey, we're heading home after

644
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:36,280
Speaker 2: about an hour, and he said, but I left the

645
00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:41,160
Speaker 2: card with a tab open. You just have fun be responsible,

646
00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:43,680
Speaker 2: but have fun now, Steve, I love my dad, he's

647
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:44,480
Speaker 2: my best friend.

648
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:47,840
Speaker 1: I genuinely never would take advantage of him.

649
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:49,360
Speaker 2: So I got another friend of mine and I said,

650
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:51,040
Speaker 2: we need to be careful because we're going to get

651
00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:51,760
Speaker 2: out of hand tonight.

652
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:52,920
Speaker 1: We got to make sure.

653
00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 2: So we're throughout the night, we're like kind of keeping

654
00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:57,480
Speaker 2: track of our mind. We're trying to figure it out here.

655
00:30:57,520 --> 00:30:59,720
Speaker 2: I am scared for the next four hours at this bar.

656
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:02,239
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I'm gonna I'm gonna rack up one

657
00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 2: thousand dollars bill. Well, I wasn't thinking that this place

658
00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:10,720
Speaker 2: has concrete floors, three dollars, pitchers, plastic cups, two dollars

659
00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:12,920
Speaker 2: mixed drinks. And I got the bill at the end

660
00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:14,040
Speaker 2: of the night and me and my buddy are there

661
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:16,120
Speaker 2: and I said, I'm so scared. I'm so scared, eighty

662
00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:17,520
Speaker 2: six dollars and ten cents.

663
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:20,400
Speaker 1: So I give the card.

664
00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:22,080
Speaker 4: Still got mad, right.

665
00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:24,200
Speaker 2: I gave the card to him the next day and

666
00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:26,240
Speaker 2: he go, I don't care, but tell me how much

667
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 2: you spent. And I said, with or without tip. He

668
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,320
Speaker 2: said with tip tip as it was like one hundred

669
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:32,080
Speaker 2: and ten dollars.

670
00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:35,320
Speaker 1: And He's like Wow, I'm actually kind of impressed.

671
00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:38,440
Speaker 4: All Right, all right, sorry, no.

672
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:42,320
Speaker 3: More, no more drinking, Steve, You're the best storyteller in

673
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:44,680
Speaker 3: the world. Tell us the story which I had never

674
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:48,400
Speaker 3: heard about Cliff Lee going to a World Series game

675
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:50,560
Speaker 3: and getting tell us that story.

676
00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:54,280
Speaker 4: Okay, two thousand and nine, Cliff Lee's gonna pitch Game

677
00:31:54,360 --> 00:31:56,960
Speaker 4: one of the World Series in New York. He's pitching

678
00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:01,520
Speaker 4: for the Philadelphia Phillies, and he just saw to not

679
00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:03,760
Speaker 4: go on the team buses and stay in the hotel

680
00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:05,440
Speaker 4: a little bit longer so he doesn't have to hang

681
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:10,040
Speaker 4: out in the clubhouse where it's chaotic. Right, So what

682
00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:12,680
Speaker 4: he doesn't plan on that it's a Monday or Tuesday night.

683
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:14,560
Speaker 4: I can't remember which one, but it's middle of the

684
00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:19,560
Speaker 4: week in New York Rush Hour Game one of the

685
00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:21,800
Speaker 4: World Series. He doesn't plan on the traffic, so he

686
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:25,280
Speaker 4: gets in a taxi and he's not moving, and he's

687
00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:28,000
Speaker 4: not moving for thirty minutes, so he starts to panic.

688
00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:32,560
Speaker 4: Still enough time where he doesn't have to full blown panic,

689
00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:34,800
Speaker 4: but he starts to panic. So he calls his agent,

690
00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 4: and then he calls the clubhouse manager of the Phillies,

691
00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:40,360
Speaker 4: who's in the clubhouse at Yankee Stadium and tells him

692
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:45,560
Speaker 4: about his predicament, and then he goes, hey, tell Charlie

693
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,960
Speaker 4: Manuel that you know I'm in trouble. You know I

694
00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:51,640
Speaker 4: might be late. I'm not sure what's going on. He goes,

695
00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:54,120
Speaker 4: I'm not telling Charlie anything. I'll have a heart attack

696
00:32:54,880 --> 00:32:57,520
Speaker 4: to tell you. What you do, find a policeman telling

697
00:32:57,640 --> 00:32:59,959
Speaker 4: what's going on, and maybe they can help you get here.

698
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:01,800
Speaker 4: He said, okay, that's what my agent told me to.

699
00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:04,800
Speaker 4: So he goes outside for fifteen minutes, he can't find

700
00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:07,400
Speaker 4: a cop so he finally bites the bullet and goes

701
00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:09,840
Speaker 4: to the subway and it is pat He doesn't even

702
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:13,040
Speaker 4: get on a train for thirty minutes, and he finally

703
00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:16,600
Speaker 4: gets on a train and slow as can be, finally

704
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:19,520
Speaker 4: gets to the stadium and it's thirty five minutes before

705
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:22,440
Speaker 4: first pitch and he gets outside a Yankee Stadium and

706
00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:25,160
Speaker 4: he realizes, oh my gosh, I've never been here. It's

707
00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:27,240
Speaker 4: the first year of the new Yankee Stadium. He'd been

708
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:29,360
Speaker 4: to the old one, but not the new one, and

709
00:33:29,440 --> 00:33:32,280
Speaker 4: he doesn't know how to get in, so he calls

710
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:34,920
Speaker 4: the clubhouse manager again. He said, Hey, how do I

711
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,160
Speaker 4: get in, he goes, what does it look like where

712
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:39,719
Speaker 4: you are? So he tells him something that's big out there,

713
00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:43,000
Speaker 4: and he sends a clubhouse kid outside, gets Cliff Lee.

714
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:46,240
Speaker 4: They race downstairs. He gets his uniform on, runs out

715
00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:49,760
Speaker 4: to the outfield, runs a couple of sprints, gets ready

716
00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:54,800
Speaker 4: for the game, and throws a CG one run, no walks,

717
00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:58,080
Speaker 4: ten strikeouts and beats CC Sabbati I think five to

718
00:33:58,160 --> 00:33:59,960
Speaker 4: one in Game one of that World Series, and Charlie

719
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:01,280
Speaker 4: Manual never found out.

720
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:07,200
Speaker 1: Wow, that is unbelievable. Offshoot to that, the New Yankee Stadium.

721
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:10,000
Speaker 3: The first time I ever went, Kevin Cash was on

722
00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:13,120
Speaker 3: the Yankees and we arrived at the stadium at.

723
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:16,120
Speaker 1: The same time, and they wouldn't let me in because

724
00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:19,000
Speaker 1: they didn't know who I was. And then they wouldn't

725
00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:22,439
Speaker 1: let Kevin Cash in. He had to tell him I'm

726
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:25,440
Speaker 1: a player on the team. I played for the Yankees,

727
00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:27,960
Speaker 1: and the security guy goes, no, you don't play for

728
00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:28,560
Speaker 1: the Yankees.

729
00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:32,759
Speaker 3: Kevin Cash had to beg his way into opening day

730
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:36,360
Speaker 3: at the new Stadium because they didn't believe that he

731
00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:37,080
Speaker 3: was a player.

732
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:40,560
Speaker 1: H Baseball stories are so good.

733
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:43,359
Speaker 3: So again Steve tell us the one that you told

734
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:47,719
Speaker 3: me about Alex Bregman, former Astro, now tearing it up

735
00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:51,600
Speaker 3: for the Red Sox tell us that story that you

736
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,640
Speaker 3: told me about how smart a player he is.

737
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:57,440
Speaker 4: Yeah. I think it was twenty eighteen, and it was

738
00:34:57,480 --> 00:34:59,879
Speaker 4: our last series of the year. I'm a radio brought

739
00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:03,120
Speaker 4: for the Astros last series of the year against the

740
00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:05,640
Speaker 4: Baltimore Orioles. And my wife meets me on the road

741
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:10,399
Speaker 4: and it's the day before the series begins, and Jet,

742
00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:11,880
Speaker 4: my wife and I just went down to the bar

743
00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:13,680
Speaker 4: just to have a drink and Alex was down there,

744
00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:15,719
Speaker 4: and Alex and I were talking for a little bit

745
00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:18,600
Speaker 4: and Bregman tells me, Hey, what would I do during

746
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:22,200
Speaker 4: this series? I go why? He goes, I'm gonna break up.

747
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,600
Speaker 4: I'm gonna break as many bats as I can. I

748
00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:28,400
Speaker 4: go what he goes, I'm gonna just I'm gonna let

749
00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:31,719
Speaker 4: everybody jam me. I'm gonna break bats. And I know

750
00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:36,520
Speaker 4: that the Cleveland Advanced Scout will be in the stands

751
00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:38,279
Speaker 4: and they're gonna think that they can get inside on

752
00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:41,000
Speaker 4: me in the first round of the playoffs. I go,

753
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:45,239
Speaker 4: what And sure enough, and I'm calling these games. Bregman goes,

754
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:47,480
Speaker 4: I think one for eleven or one for twelve in

755
00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:51,480
Speaker 4: this series has an infield, slow rolling, swinging bunt hit

756
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:55,600
Speaker 4: off of a broken bat, and true to form, I mean,

757
00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:59,239
Speaker 4: he was brutal, just got blown up inside. Then the

758
00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:02,840
Speaker 4: first two games of the series against Cleveland, I'll be

759
00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:05,480
Speaker 4: darned if they don't try to get outside on him twice,

760
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:07,879
Speaker 4: and I think he took Cloever deep. Then he took

761
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:10,920
Speaker 4: Trevor Bauer deep in each of those games. And he

762
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,360
Speaker 4: hit like five hundred in that series, and the Astros

763
00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:17,319
Speaker 4: rolled on and he was by far the best hitter

764
00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:19,880
Speaker 4: on the team, you know, even at a young age.

765
00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:23,160
Speaker 4: But he set up their advanced scalp, you know, just

766
00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:25,040
Speaker 4: with that last series of the season. That's the way

767
00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:25,439
Speaker 4: he thought.

768
00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:28,239
Speaker 1: But Steve isn't.

769
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:32,279
Speaker 3: Doesn't that personify what a great baseball player does, not

770
00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:37,319
Speaker 3: only of their skills ridiculously high, but they outthink everybody too.

771
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:40,360
Speaker 3: Isn't that what you've gathered all your years when you

772
00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:42,800
Speaker 3: played the guys you played with, the guys who played

773
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:47,160
Speaker 3: against they all outperformed, but they also out prepared everybody.

774
00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:50,399
Speaker 4: It's a good point, and I think it's a big

775
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:53,240
Speaker 4: reason why you could probably pull a lot of players

776
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:56,680
Speaker 4: throughout time, and a lot of these really good players

777
00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:59,440
Speaker 4: had bigger brothers, and they're always trying to figure out

778
00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:02,040
Speaker 4: a way to stay with their big brothers, figure out

779
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:04,919
Speaker 4: little nuanced things to try to get better. I played

780
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:07,160
Speaker 4: with the guy. I grew up with a guy. Remember

781
00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:07,840
Speaker 4: Rick Rona.

782
00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:13,400
Speaker 3: Yes, of course, he was a catcher for the r RNA, right.

783
00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:15,440
Speaker 4: That's right, Yeah, And he had two older brothers that

784
00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:17,759
Speaker 4: play pro ball. His dad got to Triple A with

785
00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:20,520
Speaker 4: the Tulsa Oilers, but we grew up together and he

786
00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:23,640
Speaker 4: was heady man. He was way above everybody else. And

787
00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:25,360
Speaker 4: I actually got to play with him when he was

788
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:28,000
Speaker 4: in Triple A at the end of his career. He's

789
00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:30,640
Speaker 4: thirty years old. He's our catcher, and he's trying to

790
00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:32,920
Speaker 4: get to the big leagues and understands he's not a

791
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:35,480
Speaker 4: good hitter, but understands if he's going to get back

792
00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:38,160
Speaker 4: up to the Milwaukee Brewers and the big leagues, he's

793
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:39,840
Speaker 4: going to have to throw out runners. But he was

794
00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:42,560
Speaker 4: getting very frustrated because our pitchers weren't helping him out.

795
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:46,360
Speaker 4: So he devises the plan with our shortstop and the

796
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:51,239
Speaker 4: next game, this is what happened. Rona is behind home plate.

797
00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:53,319
Speaker 4: He catches the ball, and of course the guy gets

798
00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:55,440
Speaker 4: a five step head start because the pitcher's got a

799
00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:57,520
Speaker 4: big leg kick and he knows he's got no shot.

800
00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:02,040
Speaker 4: So Rona throws a pop fly to the shortstop and

801
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:04,360
Speaker 4: the short stop starts waving his hands up in the

802
00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:06,520
Speaker 4: air like it's a pop fly, and the runner looks

803
00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:09,919
Speaker 4: up and Rona's back at home plate yelling back back back.

804
00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:12,520
Speaker 4: The runner looks up and runs back to first base.

805
00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:13,600
Speaker 4: No stolen base.

806
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:21,600
Speaker 1: That is brilliant, brilliant, Steve. I've heard of similar things.

807
00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:25,320
Speaker 3: I've never seen the catcher throw a pop up to

808
00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:27,800
Speaker 3: the shortstop to deceive the runner.

809
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:30,239
Speaker 1: That is that is tremendous.

810
00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:35,320
Speaker 4: That's what younger brothers do. That's what younger brothers have

811
00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:38,120
Speaker 4: two older siblings do to stay stay in the game.

812
00:38:38,239 --> 00:38:40,480
Speaker 4: And that's what that's what Rona did. And of course

813
00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:42,319
Speaker 4: he got he got drilled in the ribs his next

814
00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:43,960
Speaker 4: day b but it was worth it for him.

815
00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:47,160
Speaker 3: Well, Steve, did you have an older brother, did you

816
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:50,080
Speaker 3: have someone that would would taught taught you all of

817
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:50,760
Speaker 3: these things?

818
00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:53,640
Speaker 4: He didn't. You know, they usually don't teach you. You know,

819
00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:55,880
Speaker 4: you're just in there fending for yourself. But yeah, I

820
00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:58,320
Speaker 4: played with my brother. He's five years older than me,

821
00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:00,440
Speaker 4: and I just I wanted to be He was my

822
00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:03,120
Speaker 4: idol and I wanted to be with him and his friends.

823
00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:06,080
Speaker 4: So yeah, I just tried to try to hang with

824
00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:08,480
Speaker 4: those guys. And you did whatever it took, and if

825
00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:10,600
Speaker 4: it was to cheap shot somebody when you had to,

826
00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:14,359
Speaker 4: or whatever it was, to deal with the consequences later. Yeah.

827
00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:17,439
Speaker 2: We had coach Jim Beheim of Syracuse on a couple

828
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:20,880
Speaker 2: of weeks ago, Steve, and he said the younger siblings

829
00:39:20,960 --> 00:39:25,320
Speaker 2: were always the better basketball players because they had to

830
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,839
Speaker 2: outsmart their older, bigger brothers. They had to be better

831
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:32,000
Speaker 2: ball handlers when they were younger and growing up and smaller.

832
00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:35,880
Speaker 2: In that story, Steve just reminds me of what we

833
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:38,200
Speaker 2: would do in little league. I was a little league

834
00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:40,680
Speaker 2: umpire and I had a team. They must have done

835
00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:45,200
Speaker 2: this every other weekend, because I had umpired and seen

836
00:39:45,239 --> 00:39:47,840
Speaker 2: it twice from the same team. Where the catcher throws

837
00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:51,040
Speaker 2: down the second back clearly not even close to catching

838
00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:53,799
Speaker 2: the runner, but the center fielder the second base from

839
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:54,880
Speaker 2: the shortstop.

840
00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:56,719
Speaker 1: All sell that the ball is now in the outfield.

841
00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:00,400
Speaker 2: The kid takes a step off, the guy grabs the ball, tag.

842
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:01,160
Speaker 1: Him, boom out.

843
00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:03,840
Speaker 2: And they did that twice just in games I umpired.

844
00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:07,439
Speaker 2: And it was expertly crafted for little league kids.

845
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:12,840
Speaker 4: So that that coach was a younger brother, right, Absolutely

846
00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:13,840
Speaker 4: certain he was. So.

847
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:18,360
Speaker 3: So Steve is a big digger, Jeff, he digs for information,

848
00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:21,280
Speaker 3: which again is unusual for a former player.

849
00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:23,040
Speaker 1: Tell us what you dug up.

850
00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:25,840
Speaker 3: The other day about Kelvin Sampson and some other some

851
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:27,240
Speaker 3: people that he coached.

852
00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:31,799
Speaker 4: Okay, So, Kelvin Sampson, of course, University of Houston basketball coach.

853
00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:34,560
Speaker 4: And they go to the final, the championship game this year,

854
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:38,440
Speaker 4: and they were celebrated at diyk in Park, the Astros

855
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:41,120
Speaker 4: ballpark last night. So he comes in the booth with us.

856
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:43,560
Speaker 4: So I was digging up on some information about Calvin

857
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:46,959
Speaker 4: and I realized, I think I've heard Jeff or Tim

858
00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:50,879
Speaker 4: mentioned this before, that there's twelve guys that have played

859
00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:53,680
Speaker 4: in both the major leagues in the NBA. Weren't you

860
00:40:53,719 --> 00:40:55,160
Speaker 4: talking with Beheim about that?

861
00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:59,960
Speaker 3: Yes, I had then all major league team of player

862
00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:03,800
Speaker 3: who played either at a really high level collegiately or

863
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:07,319
Speaker 3: played in the NBA. Daved Busher and others, and Jim

864
00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:08,680
Speaker 3: Beheim of course knew them all.

865
00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:09,600
Speaker 1: So go ahead.

866
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:13,319
Speaker 4: So NBA, Major League Baseball, there's twelve I found out,

867
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:16,919
Speaker 4: but there's one only one that had played at least

868
00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:21,160
Speaker 4: four years in each, and that's Mark Hendrickson, left handed pitcher.

869
00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:24,000
Speaker 4: Started his career with Toronto, pitch with Tampa and a

870
00:41:24,040 --> 00:41:25,120
Speaker 4: couple of other teams.

871
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 1: Baltimore, right yeah.

872
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:30,640
Speaker 4: But the kicker to that was his His head coach

873
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:34,560
Speaker 4: in college basketball was Calvin Sampson. Then I started to

874
00:41:34,760 --> 00:41:37,920
Speaker 4: dig a little bit more and I saw where Hendrickson

875
00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:42,400
Speaker 4: was drafted, and he was drafted thirty first, I believe,

876
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:44,600
Speaker 4: in the nineteen ninety six draft, and the pick right

877
00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:47,760
Speaker 4: after him and Jeff I think you know Ryan Minor,

878
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:52,960
Speaker 4: And of course he played in the NBA and in

879
00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:55,760
Speaker 4: the Major League Baseball with the Baltimore Orioles. You probably

880
00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:57,879
Speaker 4: ran into him in the minor leagues, right yeah.

881
00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:00,600
Speaker 2: He was the Frederick Crees manager when I was little

882
00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:01,240
Speaker 2: old intern.

883
00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:05,480
Speaker 4: There you know who is head coach was in college basketball? No,

884
00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:07,960
Speaker 4: Calvin Sampson at Oklahoma.

885
00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:11,879
Speaker 1: Wow, that is that is so great.

886
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:15,359
Speaker 3: Of course, Ryan Minor was the third baseman the night

887
00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:20,520
Speaker 3: that Cal Ripkin's consecutive game streak ended on a Sunday

888
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:22,520
Speaker 3: night when Ripkin took himself out.

889
00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:25,719
Speaker 1: He wasn't injured, he just thought it was time. But

890
00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:27,240
Speaker 1: that was Ryan Minor and Jeff.

891
00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:30,720
Speaker 3: You had the time of your life that summer in Frederick,

892
00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:33,640
Speaker 3: working with Ryan Minor and the others, running around as

893
00:42:33,719 --> 00:42:35,480
Speaker 3: a taco package and everything.

894
00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:35,839
Speaker 4: Right.

895
00:42:36,080 --> 00:42:39,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ryan Minor, May he rest in peace, taken away

896
00:42:39,239 --> 00:42:41,640
Speaker 2: from us way too soon. On the night that I

897
00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:44,680
Speaker 2: ran as one of the taco bell sauce packets at

898
00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:49,120
Speaker 2: the Frederick Keyes game, I went in to my postgame

899
00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:52,399
Speaker 2: interviews and I wanted to talk to some players. Wanted

900
00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:55,440
Speaker 2: to talk to Ryan Minor. I said, you know, they

901
00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:58,480
Speaker 2: didn't win that game. And I said, all right, uh

902
00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:01,560
Speaker 2: so what you know, what do you feel like went

903
00:43:01,640 --> 00:43:04,000
Speaker 2: wrong out there? And he said, well, besides your form

904
00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:09,959
Speaker 2: running and then the interview is done. At that point,

905
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:13,640
Speaker 2: he said, I couldn't get another question out. He was

906
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:16,320
Speaker 2: such a great manager and such a great guy and

907
00:43:16,520 --> 00:43:19,799
Speaker 2: was my introduction into covering a baseball team. So big

908
00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:21,719
Speaker 2: shout out to Ryan Minor. I'm so glad you brought

909
00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:22,760
Speaker 2: him up on this episode.

910
00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:23,080
Speaker 4: Steve.

911
00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:26,200
Speaker 1: This is great, so good so Steve, we have to

912
00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:27,840
Speaker 1: let you go, even though we would keep you for

913
00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:29,000
Speaker 1: hours if we could.

914
00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:30,319
Speaker 2: But just I.

915
00:43:32,080 --> 00:43:34,080
Speaker 3: Just tell me what you told me that your wife

916
00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:36,359
Speaker 3: you've been married for thirty six years, and every other

917
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:38,960
Speaker 3: day she reminds you of how weird that you are.

918
00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:40,880
Speaker 1: Give us something else.

919
00:43:40,719 --> 00:43:44,640
Speaker 3: That you are weird at, other than finding that Jose

920
00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:48,879
Speaker 3: Altuve is born on May the sixth and he's five

921
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:49,439
Speaker 3: foot six.

922
00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:50,440
Speaker 1: Is there any other.

923
00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:54,400
Speaker 3: Odd things that you do you collect, you think about

924
00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:58,560
Speaker 3: anything that makes you unusual? Because poor Jeff lives with

925
00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:03,880
Speaker 3: poor pop Pop Pier, and he's got some strange idiosyncrasies himself.

926
00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:09,319
Speaker 4: My condolence is Jeff. So yes, I collected baseball cards

927
00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:11,759
Speaker 4: my whole life, still have them all, and my son

928
00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:14,279
Speaker 4: and I he's twenty nine years old. Now we'll go

929
00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:15,719
Speaker 4: through him every once in a while. We have a

930
00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:18,440
Speaker 4: great time with that. But I will become a seamhead

931
00:44:19,040 --> 00:44:21,200
Speaker 4: the day that this happens. And I look for it

932
00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:23,239
Speaker 4: every day, and I have for the last three or

933
00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:27,520
Speaker 4: four years. I always look at the number on Baseball

934
00:44:27,640 --> 00:44:30,840
Speaker 4: Reference of all time baseball players, and it's in the

935
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:34,000
Speaker 4: twenty three thousands right now. All time there's been that

936
00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:37,480
Speaker 4: many players in baseball, and I cannot wait for the

937
00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:41,760
Speaker 4: day that it matches up perfectly with that night's attendance

938
00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:43,960
Speaker 4: at the ballpark that I am. And I always look

939
00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:45,680
Speaker 4: around before the game, and I can tell that it's

940
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:47,840
Speaker 4: going to be somewhere in between twenty and thirty thousand,

941
00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:49,920
Speaker 4: or if it's going to be more than thirty thousand,

942
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:53,319
Speaker 4: I won't pay as closely as close attention. But if

943
00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:55,239
Speaker 4: it's close, and last night he was kind of close.

944
00:44:55,320 --> 00:44:57,920
Speaker 4: It was within a thousand. But if it ends up

945
00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:01,040
Speaker 4: being twenty three, nine and eighty six the exact number,

946
00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:03,279
Speaker 4: I will become a seam head because I am going

947
00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:06,719
Speaker 4: to take a panoramic picture of exactly how many guys

948
00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:09,120
Speaker 4: have ever played in the Major League since since the

949
00:45:09,200 --> 00:45:11,440
Speaker 4: inception of baseball, and I'll have it. I don't think

950
00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:12,359
Speaker 4: anybody else will.

951
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,560
Speaker 1: And you think that will make you a seam head,

952
00:45:15,640 --> 00:45:17,200
Speaker 1: You are a seam head.

953
00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:17,840
Speaker 4: You're one of the.

954
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:19,400
Speaker 1: Great seam heads I've ever seen.

955
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,239
Speaker 3: The point is, you don't find many seam heads who

956
00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:25,440
Speaker 3: actually played in the big leagues led the league in

957
00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:28,479
Speaker 3: complete games one year. It stopes like me and Jeff

958
00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:30,759
Speaker 3: who have nothing else to do with our lives you

959
00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:33,520
Speaker 3: have something else and you're still observing like that.

960
00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:34,120
Speaker 2: I love it.

961
00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:36,160
Speaker 4: Well, I can't believe I got to play. You know,

962
00:45:36,239 --> 00:45:38,160
Speaker 4: it still seems like a dream that I got to play.

963
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:41,200
Speaker 4: So you know, I was a fan, and I'm a

964
00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:44,320
Speaker 4: fan now and lucky that I get to broadcast and

965
00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:45,680
Speaker 4: go to baseball games every night.

966
00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:48,440
Speaker 1: Still, well, Steve, you don't need to hear it from me.

967
00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:50,800
Speaker 2: I had mentioned the amount of players that played in

968
00:45:50,920 --> 00:45:54,080
Speaker 2: Major League history, right, And if you took that video,

969
00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:57,319
Speaker 2: if you took that picture, everybody who sees it would

970
00:45:57,360 --> 00:46:02,400
Speaker 2: be shocked at how few people that really is. You

971
00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:06,440
Speaker 2: really think about the history of our game. That stadium,

972
00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:09,399
Speaker 2: I mean, it's not even filling the smallest Major League

973
00:46:09,400 --> 00:46:11,880
Speaker 2: baseball ballpark, well at least not this season, but you

974
00:46:11,960 --> 00:46:15,759
Speaker 2: get what I'm saying, Progressive Field. It would be a

975
00:46:15,840 --> 00:46:18,560
Speaker 2: small crowd in a lot of ballparks. It wouldn't even

976
00:46:18,560 --> 00:46:21,360
Speaker 2: fill the smallest Major League ballpark in Progressive Field. And

977
00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:23,680
Speaker 2: you're one of those guys. And to have you as

978
00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:27,440
Speaker 2: one of our guests was so great, so special, so

979
00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:30,279
Speaker 2: many laughs. Thank you Steve for joining us.

980
00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:32,040
Speaker 1: And Steve, we have to leave with this.

981
00:46:32,360 --> 00:46:36,080
Speaker 3: You became one of those because you ran the sixty

982
00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:40,200
Speaker 3: and with seven something, and then in ten seconds you said,

983
00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:44,360
Speaker 3: wait a second, where the pictures running. I can't believe you.

984
00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:48,520
Speaker 4: Came up with that that quickly because I'm slow. Hey,

985
00:46:48,560 --> 00:46:50,359
Speaker 4: I kind of slipped at the beginning, by the way,

986
00:46:51,120 --> 00:46:52,480
Speaker 4: I didn't get a great jump right.

987
00:46:54,239 --> 00:46:56,160
Speaker 2: Well, thank god you slipped, because it led to a

988
00:46:56,239 --> 00:46:57,120
Speaker 2: major league career.

989
00:46:57,560 --> 00:46:59,799
Speaker 1: A slip got you to the big leagues. You spent

990
00:46:59,840 --> 00:47:00,560
Speaker 1: all that time.

991
00:47:00,680 --> 00:47:02,920
Speaker 3: It's so good, Steve. It's been so much fun to

992
00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:05,240
Speaker 3: having you, Jeff. I don't care how corny this sounds.

993
00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:07,440
Speaker 3: When I do an Astros game and I get to

994
00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:10,560
Speaker 3: talk to Steve before or after the game, it's it's

995
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:13,200
Speaker 3: just an absolute delight because.

996
00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:14,920
Speaker 1: He always, always always.

997
00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:17,560
Speaker 3: Sees something, tells me something that I would have never

998
00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:19,160
Speaker 3: thought about in my life.

999
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:21,680
Speaker 1: And that's what I'm here for, is to learn more

1000
00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:24,160
Speaker 1: about the game every day, and he has taught me

1001
00:47:24,400 --> 00:47:24,879
Speaker 1: so much.

1002
00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:28,000
Speaker 4: Yeah. Likewise, thank you, thank.

1003
00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:28,439
Speaker 1: You to Steve.

1004
00:47:28,600 --> 00:47:34,920
Speaker 2: Spark so many laughs, Dad, Every minute of that was fantastic.

1005
00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:36,840
Speaker 3: Right, And I told you, Jeff, when you find someone

1006
00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:41,080
Speaker 3: who's as observant and as curious as he is, those

1007
00:47:41,160 --> 00:47:44,400
Speaker 3: are the people that you latch onto so after we

1008
00:47:44,719 --> 00:47:48,520
Speaker 3: taped that interview, he sent me a text and he said,

1009
00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:53,560
Speaker 3: I found somebody else whose height is the same as

1010
00:47:53,680 --> 00:47:57,200
Speaker 3: his birthday, just like jose L two, a five.

1011
00:47:57,040 --> 00:47:58,600
Speaker 1: To six born on made the six.

1012
00:47:58,960 --> 00:48:02,840
Speaker 3: He said, Tommy, pretty hot player for the Dodgers, is

1013
00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:06,000
Speaker 3: five foot nine and he's born on May the ninth.

1014
00:48:06,239 --> 00:48:10,080
Speaker 3: And Steve Sparks sent me a text saying the Astros

1015
00:48:10,239 --> 00:48:14,080
Speaker 3: played the Dodgers in July, and he said, so Tommy

1016
00:48:14,360 --> 00:48:17,320
Speaker 3: Edmund will be going up against jose L TV and

1017
00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:19,480
Speaker 3: he said, and I'll be ready for it.

1018
00:48:19,760 --> 00:48:21,960
Speaker 1: So this is so great.

1019
00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:26,359
Speaker 3: For three months in anticipation of a series in July,

1020
00:48:26,920 --> 00:48:28,480
Speaker 3: he's going to have a five to six five to

1021
00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:32,000
Speaker 3: nine note that nobody else is going to have. That's

1022
00:48:32,040 --> 00:48:34,759
Speaker 3: why we love Steve Sparks more.

1023
00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:37,200
Speaker 2: Is this a great game or what tomorrow? Make sure

1024
00:48:37,239 --> 00:48:40,200
Speaker 2: to subscribe wherever you're listening right now, Share the podcast

1025
00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:42,239
Speaker 2: with a friend, and it's always thank you for being

1026
00:48:42,280 --> 00:48:43,240
Speaker 2: a part of our family.