Speaker 1: Is this a great game or what with the Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer Tim Kirkchen I'm his son, Jeff Kirkchhon and Dad,
Speaker 1: We're not gonna go poor me, poor Jeff, poor Popop
Speaker 1: or anything like that. But this has been by far
Speaker 1: the hardest organization in order in our company's history in
Speaker 1: order to get this podcast rolling today. You are in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, obviously a three hour time change from where
Speaker 1: I am in Florida, our final day at disney World.
Speaker 1: So you're saying, Jeff, you can't sacrifice a day at
Speaker 1: Disney World for your baby girl McKinley and your wife Emily.
Speaker 1: But I'm saying, Dad, you can't stay up all day
Speaker 1: and do a record in the morning. And so we
Speaker 1: landed on because we're both nuts. I said, I was
Speaker 1: willing to get up after last night's Dodgers game at
Speaker 1: two in the morning to record with you, and you
Speaker 1: said no. So you were four o'clock. I am seven am.
Speaker 1: You are in your hotel lobby, and I am outside
Speaker 1: of some unfortunate people's rooms here at a Disney World resort.
Speaker 1: It's the only way we can make it happen.
Speaker 2: Right, and we're gonna make it happen, Jeff, because Buster
Speaker 2: only taught me a good rule. When you're doing a podcast,
Speaker 2: you can't do it from your hotel room because you
Speaker 2: wake up the entire floor. So we're going to try
Speaker 2: to be more considerate and do this from the lobby
Speaker 2: of my hotel. Here in Santa Monica. The Pacific Ocean
Speaker 2: is like twenty feet away. It's unbelievable where we're staying,
Speaker 2: just so we can call. Of course, ESPN is doing
Speaker 2: the Met's Dodgers game and most important Jack Jeff. It's
Speaker 2: Jackie Robinsonday, and it's April to fifteenth. This is the
Speaker 2: date of when he broke the color barrier in nineteen
Speaker 2: forty seven and changed the game. So needless to say,
Speaker 2: he is the most important player in Major League history.
Speaker 2: He's one of the greatest players in Major League history.
Speaker 2: And Wednesday night, it'll be so cool at Dodger Stadium,
Speaker 2: especially at every player on the field, just like every
Speaker 2: player on the field in every game will be wearing
Speaker 2: number forty two. It's just an amazing tribute.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Dad, it's really really special. And obviously we're recording
Speaker 1: on the fifteenth and we will be doing this show.
Speaker 1: The show will be released to you on the sixteenth,
Speaker 1: so you will have seen the presentations at ballparks across
Speaker 1: the country and how special that is. And I think
Speaker 1: it's important, and I'm just gonna lay it out there, Dad,
Speaker 1: I think it's important for two white guys like us, right,
Speaker 1: who white guys have been playing baseball for one hundreds
Speaker 1: and hundreds of years at this point. I think it's
Speaker 1: so amazing to recognize so many players of color who
Speaker 1: attribute their careers to Jackie Robinson, who grew up and
Speaker 1: saw Jackie Robinson on a field and said, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I can do that because I see a black man
Speaker 1: on the field, right, that makes a big difference. I
Speaker 1: like in that. And this is just a brief aside.
Speaker 1: Now that I'm a girl, Dad and I have a daughter,
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's amazing when we have, you know,
Speaker 1: females in power, or a female doctor or a female
Speaker 1: astronaut on Artemis too, right. It makes me think, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, my daughter's going to grow up watching this
Speaker 1: thinking I can do anything I want. These players, Dad,
Speaker 1: were inspired by Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, right.
Speaker 2: And I'll never forget talking to Hank Aaron in that
Speaker 2: famous night where he did the game in the booth
Speaker 2: with us from Atlanta, the greatest night of my professional life.
Speaker 2: And that's what he talked about. He said, if it
Speaker 2: weren't for Jackie Robinson, I would have never even thought
Speaker 2: that I could have a chance to play in the
Speaker 2: major leagues. And he went on to become, of course,
Speaker 2: one of the greatest players of all time. But Jeff,
Speaker 2: it's not just players of color. I talked to Bobashet
Speaker 2: yesterday of the Mets, and I said, Bo, when did
Speaker 2: you first hear about? When did you first know who
Speaker 2: Jackie Robinson was? And he basically said, well, really from
Speaker 2: the as far back as I can remember, because my dad,
Speaker 2: Dante bushit really good major leaguer. He told me all
Speaker 2: about him when I was just a little kid. So
Speaker 2: we'll get more into it later. So let's just say
Speaker 2: this is a great, great celebration night and the game
Speaker 2: that we're doing, the Dodgers and the Mets, both teams
Speaker 2: were planning to go out and see the Jackie Robinson
Speaker 2: statue at Dodgers Stadium as teams and Carlos Mendoza, the
Speaker 2: manager of the Mets, was going to speak and Dave Roberts,
Speaker 2: the manager of the Dodgers, was going to speak, so
Speaker 2: the whole team was getting in on what this lesson
Speaker 2: is today about Jackie Robinson. I love that.
Speaker 1: I love that for Major League Baseball today. I love
Speaker 1: it for the young players. I love it for the kids.
Speaker 1: I love that kids are going to go to a
Speaker 1: baseball game on a Wednesday afternoon in April and learn
Speaker 1: something in addition to have so much fun, right, And
Speaker 1: that's what baseball is all.
Speaker 2: So Joe Ostermeier is one of our really good listeners
Speaker 2: and viewers. What a smart guy. He's an old guy
Speaker 2: like me, but he knows a lot of stuff. So
Speaker 2: he listened to the All Disney team last week and
Speaker 2: thought it was great. Although instead of having Orlando Hernandez
Speaker 2: as one of our pictures, he thought Orlando Sepaida should
Speaker 2: have been our first baseman. But Joe's from Saint Louis
Speaker 2: and that's where Orlando Cipaida was great, among other places.
Speaker 2: But he told me something about Walt Disney that I
Speaker 2: didn't know. You know what, Walt Disney. The Walt Disney's
Speaker 2: middle name is his middle name is Elias E. L Ias,
Speaker 2: so his oh yeah, he was named after his father.
Speaker 2: So Walt Disney's middle name is Elias, and we we
Speaker 2: used the Elias portion of Frank from The Elias all
Speaker 2: the time. Did you not find this hysterically funny?
Speaker 1: That this is spectacular? The only the only thing that
Speaker 1: could have been better if his name was Walter Johnson Disney,
Speaker 1: And that would be pretty amazing. Did I ever tell
Speaker 1: you I went to Quin's Order and High school.
Speaker 2: Walter Frank from the Elias Disney. It was great. So
Speaker 2: I really got to kick out of that. Our our
Speaker 2: listeners and our viewers are just sending along stuff every
Speaker 2: single day that we're using now because this is an
Speaker 2: interactive show and we just love to hear what others
Speaker 2: have to say about all of this stuff. So that's great.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, speaking of an interactive show, unfortunately, the Wheel
Speaker 1: of Kirkhin could not fit on my carry on baggage
Speaker 1: going to Disney World. It's a pretty big wheel. So
Speaker 1: I want to ask our listeners to send us suggestions
Speaker 1: for the Wheel of Kirkchen. So that's a wheel we
Speaker 1: have back at the studio and we write it could
Speaker 1: be anything from ground out right, just like a simple
Speaker 1: base to the seventy three mets right like, you send
Speaker 1: us and we'll spin the wheel and whatever it lands on,
Speaker 1: Dad has to riff on it for a couple minutes
Speaker 1: and we write it down on our board. So we're
Speaker 1: low on suggestions because I asked like weeks ago. So
Speaker 1: you can message us great gamer dot com, super easy
Speaker 1: to do that. And yeah, get on there and send
Speaker 1: us some suggestions for the Wheel of Kirksham when we
Speaker 1: started up again next week.
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Speaker 3: This is so nice, which is great for me. If
Speaker 3: I'm at there, I'm watching a game, I can charge
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Speaker 1: All right, dak Takeaways, What do you have for us?
Speaker 2: Well, I'm here in La and I just can't help
Speaker 2: but just be amazed watching show hey Otani play, and
Speaker 2: we've all been amazed by him. So he's reached based
Speaker 2: now in forty eight consecutive games, which is the most
Speaker 2: by any Japanese born player in the history of baseball.
Speaker 2: So even each road never reached in forty eight straight games.
Speaker 2: And I'm not trying to diminish what he did, but
Speaker 2: Ted Williams reach base in eighty four straight games forty
Speaker 2: eight to eighty four. I mean, that's how great Ted
Speaker 2: Williams was. And show hey, this is remarkable that he
Speaker 2: hasn't had it oh for four and oh for five
Speaker 2: forty eight straight games. Ted Williams holds the record at
Speaker 2: eighty four straight games reaching base safety.
Speaker 1: Wow, And I mean you just think of each ei
Speaker 1: Ro hit machine, right, Dad, What did you tell us
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago that like in his third
Speaker 1: game his batting average went above three hundred and for
Speaker 1: the rest of his career it never sunk below three hundreds.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: Well, that's Etroo all right. So Jordan Walker of the Cardinals,
Speaker 2: they've been waiting and waiting and waiting for him to
Speaker 2: find it, for the light to go on, and it has.
Speaker 2: Jordan Walker has eight home runs. By the way, the
Speaker 2: Giants just hit their ninth homer on Tuesday, so now
Speaker 2: they have out homer Jordan Walker this year. Giants is
Speaker 2: not being critical, still don't have anyone with eight RBIs,
Speaker 2: but Jordan Walker has eight home runs. Just shows you
Speaker 2: how difficult to start it's been offensively for the Giants.
Speaker 2: But the point is Jordan Walker, who's so big, so
Speaker 2: strong and such a great kid, maybe he's maybe he's founded,
Speaker 2: And that doesn't mean he's going to keep finding it
Speaker 2: because as we talk about all the time, Jeff, the
Speaker 2: light goes on and off so quickly in this sport,
Speaker 2: usually without any sort of explanation, and that's what we
Speaker 2: love so much. Speaking which, Jose Soriano of the Angels
Speaker 2: has been arguably the best pitcher in the game so far,
Speaker 2: zero point three to three ERA through four starts. He's
Speaker 2: allowed one n run and struck out thirty one. So
Speaker 2: the Angels are a very interesting team. We'll get to
Speaker 2: them in a minute. In the Quirk Chins, speaking of
Speaker 2: you know, comeback pictures, Jeffrey Springs has a one forty
Speaker 2: seven ERA for the A's. And keep in mind, in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two he was so good and then he
Speaker 2: got hurt. And Pete Fairbanks, who was on the podcast
Speaker 2: few years ago, told me, he said, I am positive
Speaker 2: if he hadn't gotten hurt, he would have won the
Speaker 2: cy Young in twenty twenty three. And Jeffrey Springs throws
Speaker 2: like ninety two miles an hour, Jeff not ninety nine miles.
Speaker 2: Now there's a big difference there. He's been really, really good.
Speaker 2: Speaking of really good, Brandon Lao has been great for
Speaker 2: the Pirates. Jeffrey, Jeff Suddenly the Pirates are an interesting team.
Speaker 2: You know, they don't just have they just don't have
Speaker 2: Connor Griffin and Paul Skeins. They have some other interesting
Speaker 2: players and they brought Brandon law In just to drive
Speaker 2: in runs and hit home run. So, Jeff, he knocked
Speaker 2: in five runs in consecutive games, and I was shocked
Speaker 2: to hear he's the first Pirate ever to have five
Speaker 2: RBI games back to back. Do you find that surprising
Speaker 2: the Pirates.
Speaker 1: With the long history of great players to go through
Speaker 1: that organization, right, that does really surprise me.
Speaker 2: Britian Clemente, Willie Start, Joel, Ralph Kiner, Barry Bonds, That's
Speaker 2: that's pretty amazing. But Jeff, this is why base this
Speaker 2: is why baseball is so great, is that I checked
Speaker 2: with Frank from the Elias Disney and I said, who's
Speaker 2: the last player to drive in five runs in back
Speaker 2: to back games? And it was Kyle Stowers last year. Now,
Speaker 2: Kyle Stowers is a really good young player, but I
Speaker 2: was not expecting him. And before that was the year
Speaker 2: before Luis Matos. So the last three guys to drive
Speaker 2: in five runs in back to back games, you know,
Speaker 2: I have not been Aaron Judge or Shoe Otani. This
Speaker 2: is why baseball is so beautiful, Jeff, is that guys
Speaker 2: just emerge and suddenly do stuff that no one's done
Speaker 2: in a long time, and we love that kind of part. Also, Jeff,
Speaker 2: we've had our first Carson Kelly moment of the year.
Speaker 2: Carson Kelly, catcher for the Cubs, had a walk off
Speaker 2: hit this week, and I want you to explain to
Speaker 2: our listeners why we bring this up.
Speaker 1: Your oldest grandchild is Carson, and Carson's mom who is
Speaker 1: your oldest child is Kelly, So Carson Kelly, and Kelly
Speaker 1: is the mom of Carson.
Speaker 2: It's so perfect right well, as you know, I just.
Speaker 1: Can't believe there's not a McKinley Jeffrey in the league
Speaker 1: this year.
Speaker 2: That would really be good. I went to Carson Kelly
Speaker 2: with this last year, and you know, I was a
Speaker 2: little embarrassed to bring it up to him, but he
Speaker 2: thought it was pretty cool. So he's one of our
Speaker 2: guys just because of the names. So that did for
Speaker 2: the takeaways, Jeff. But obviously, Jeff, the game changer of
Speaker 2: the week is Jackie Robinson because he didn't just change
Speaker 2: the game, he helped change the world with what he did.
Speaker 2: Again nineteen forty seven, the Dodgers took a chance and
Speaker 2: signed him, played in the minor leagues for a couple
Speaker 2: of years and then comes to the big leagues, and
Speaker 2: when's the Rookie of the year nineteen forty seven as
Speaker 2: a first baseman and later went on to become one
Speaker 2: of the great second basement ever. But what I was
Speaker 2: struck by yesterday, this would be Tuesday, when I went
Speaker 2: to see the Mets and the Dodgers, is just how
Speaker 2: engaged some of the players are with Jackie Robinson. Day like.
Speaker 2: I talked to him to Marcus Simeon, who's a very
Speaker 2: thoughtful guy, played second base now for the Mets, and
Speaker 2: I said, when was the first time you had heard
Speaker 2: about Jackie Robbinson. He goes, well, my parents and my
Speaker 2: grandparents would read me books at night talking about Jackie
Speaker 2: Robinson when I was seven, eight, nine years old. And
Speaker 2: I was touched by this, Jeff. And then he said,
Speaker 2: our kids. He's got two kids, nine, He's got more
Speaker 2: than two children, but his oldest nine and seven. He
Speaker 2: reads books to them at night about Jackie Robinson, just
Speaker 2: so they understand exactly how much of an impact, how
Speaker 2: much he is a game changer in every way for
Speaker 2: everyone in the sport. That touched you, Jeff, that this
Speaker 2: is what you know. I was reading you man in
Speaker 2: the Rock Monkey on the what was I reading you
Speaker 2: when you were a kid.
Speaker 1: You were reading me quite a bit. The Series of
Speaker 1: Unfortunate Events, I remember, but I also remember the Dan
Speaker 1: Gutman series, which is the baseball card Adventure's. Dad, you
Speaker 1: might remember these books. I would bring them home from
Speaker 1: the library. They were like Jackie and Me, Babe and Me.
Speaker 1: And it's this twelve year old boy who when he
Speaker 1: holds vintage baseball cards, he travels back in time to
Speaker 1: meet these players. And I so distinctly remember reading Jackie
Speaker 1: and Me, and I just googled it. It came out
Speaker 1: when I was like six years old, so I was
Speaker 1: in elementary school age during this, and I remember reading
Speaker 1: it and learning about history through baseball was so so special.
Speaker 1: And Dad, I think there's a lesson for our kids
Speaker 1: out there, and our kids need to remember that when
Speaker 1: you're out there playing Little league, or in school or
Speaker 1: wherever you might be, and you're faced with adversity, you're
Speaker 1: faced with I mean, Jackie had fans yelling at him,
Speaker 1: had teammates who didn't like him, had opponents who definitely
Speaker 1: didn't like him for multiple reasons. Yet he persevered. He
Speaker 1: was courageous, and he was strong in adversity to be
Speaker 1: able to become a Hall of Fame baseball exactly.
Speaker 2: And Frank Robinson told me. I said, Frank, what were
Speaker 2: the lessons you learned from Jackie Robinson? And he said,
Speaker 2: the number one lesson that we learned that through all
Speaker 2: the hate, through all the terrible things we heard, the
Speaker 2: way we were treated, the only way to win was
Speaker 2: to beat them on the field. And that's what Jackie
Speaker 2: Robinson instilled in so many young black players that if
Speaker 2: you want to win, if you want to beat them,
Speaker 2: go out and beat him on the field. That'll shut
Speaker 2: him up faster than anything. And the last little takeaway
Speaker 2: from the Mets and Dodgers game that I did was
Speaker 2: I talked to Tommy fam who was very funny and
Speaker 2: a very thoughtful guy also. So I said, Tommy Whins,
Speaker 2: when did you first hear about Jackie Robinson. His eyes
Speaker 2: got big as silver dollars and he said, third grade,
Speaker 2: he said, we had to do a report on somebody
Speaker 2: really famous. So he said, we made I made a
Speaker 2: balloon with his face on it and covered it with
Speaker 2: paper mache, and that was the famous person that I
Speaker 2: did was Jackie Robinson. In the third grade, he said,
Speaker 2: I couldn't think of anybody more famous at the time,
Speaker 2: And he said, and all these years later, I'm not
Speaker 2: sure there's anyone more famous than Jackie Robinson for what
Speaker 2: Tommy fam and others are doing in baseball. So he
Speaker 2: remembered to the moment he had made this paper mache
Speaker 2: balloon with Jackie Robinson's likeness on it.
Speaker 1: Dad, I think everybody is transported right now to that
Speaker 1: time in their life when they had to do that
Speaker 1: same project. You pick somebody famous. I picked Babe Ruth,
Speaker 1: no joke, seven hundred and fourteen home runs. I remember
Speaker 1: it like it was yesterday. I almost remember the opening speech,
Speaker 1: and we had to pretend to be that person. And
Speaker 1: what I didn't realize was, obviously I was in the
Speaker 1: second grade at the time, but I would never grow
Speaker 1: up to be even half the size or strength that paper.
Speaker 1: To me, pretending to.
Speaker 2: Be paper, that's quite a feat. Yeah, that is. That
Speaker 2: is quite a feed. So that's our game changer of
Speaker 2: the week, Jackie Robinson, who changed the game more than
Speaker 2: anyone in the history of the sport and also changed
Speaker 2: the country. Because there will people, there will be people
Speaker 2: who tell you after Martin Luther King, he did more
Speaker 2: for civil rights than certainly anyone in this country at
Speaker 2: that time. So God blessed Jackie Robinson and just a
Speaker 2: it's a great celebratory day in Major League Baseball when
Speaker 2: everyone is wearing number forty two and.
Speaker 1: The game Changer of the week is presented by Game Changer,
Speaker 1: the number one youth sports app that helps you coach smarter,
Speaker 1: connect live and replay the action. You can learn more
Speaker 1: at GC dot com.
Speaker 2: And again, Jeff, Jackie Robinson isn't just the game changer
Speaker 2: of this week. He is the game changer in the
Speaker 2: history of Major League Baseball. There's no way around that.
Speaker 1: All right, Dad, let's jump right in. Quark gins.
Speaker 2: What do you have now? Yeah, the quark gins. I
Speaker 2: didn't have as many this week, Jeff. But on on Monday,
Speaker 2: six got There were ten games on Monday and six
Speaker 2: guys drove in five or more runs in one day.
Speaker 2: That's a lot of RBIs for one game. It is
Speaker 2: And it was Brandon Las, Trent Grisham, Mike Trout, Nolan Aernando,
Speaker 2: Josh Naylor, and Jeremiah Jackson. The last time, only once
Speaker 2: in the last fifteen years, and we had a day
Speaker 2: where six players drove in five or more runs on
Speaker 2: the same day, and that was a twenty twenty and
Speaker 2: the Giants had three guys knock in six runs in
Speaker 2: the same game. I remember that game, so it just
Speaker 2: shows you how rare that was. There were also nine
Speaker 2: multi homer games that day, so yes, nine guys in
Speaker 2: one and in total of ten games, nine guys had
Speaker 2: a multi homer game. So the in the history of baseball,
Speaker 2: it's only happened five other times where there have been
Speaker 2: nine or more multi homer games, and only once and
Speaker 2: that was September tenth, twenty nineteen, which is the year
Speaker 2: of the Homer, where there are ten multi homer games
Speaker 2: in one day and we had nine the other day.
Speaker 2: So just another reminder, Jeff, as much as we talk
Speaker 2: about how does anyone get a hit anymore? And I
Speaker 2: firmly believe that when you miss location with today's hitters,
Speaker 2: they don't just hit a line drive single to the
Speaker 2: left field, they hit thirty rows up. You see that
Speaker 2: all the time.
Speaker 1: Agreed that it's unbelievable that the swing and mis rate
Speaker 1: and I feel like we're seeing guys whiff at pitches
Speaker 1: because they're swinging for the fences and you're right if
Speaker 1: you mislocate that. The pitchers are so they must be
Speaker 1: so nervous because they know if I throw this right,
Speaker 1: he's not hitting it.
Speaker 2: But if I throw it.
Speaker 1: Wrong, it's upper deck, it's a souvenir.
Speaker 2: It's gone, Jeff. And again that's what we worry about.
Speaker 2: Too many walks because pictures are sometimes afraid to throw
Speaker 2: it over the plate or don't know how to throw
Speaker 2: it over the plate. Too many strikeouts and too many
Speaker 2: home runs. And of course there's Ernie Clement, one of
Speaker 2: my favorite new players because he's just so funny and
Speaker 2: he's just so interesting. His first sixty six at bats
Speaker 2: this year, Jeff, he has one walk and three strikeouts
Speaker 2: in sixty six at bats, which is insane. I mean,
Speaker 2: last week we gave you an entire team tim of
Speaker 2: guys who struck out four or more times in a game,
Speaker 2: and through Tuesday, Ernie Clement had one walk and only
Speaker 2: three strikeouts the whole year. So I remember talking to
Speaker 2: him in the World Series about like, where does this
Speaker 2: first pitch swinging come from. Let's put the ball in play,
Speaker 2: and he goes first pitch of coach, first year of
Speaker 2: coach pitch. When I was a little kid. You get
Speaker 2: three pitches, and my dad said, you better go up
Speaker 2: there swinging. So Ernie Clement is not up there to
Speaker 2: walk and he's not up there to strike out. He's
Speaker 2: up there to put it in play. And boy, has
Speaker 2: he done that really well this year.
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine Dad, when I get old enough
Speaker 1: to be to have kids in coach pitch? Was it nervous?
Speaker 1: Is it nerve wrapping for whoever's coach pitching the adult
Speaker 1: to throw the ball over the plate, because you're right,
Speaker 1: you only get three pitches. And if you're starting to
Speaker 1: throw balls and your arm gets tired.
Speaker 2: Right, Jeff, You know, I'm not boastful about anything, but
Speaker 2: when I was in high school, I threw VP exceptionally well.
Speaker 2: I could throw strikes all day long, and when I
Speaker 2: had to throw to the kids, there's a method to
Speaker 2: doing that. And you don't throw from the top of
Speaker 2: the rubber. You move closer, you throw it at a
Speaker 2: speed that they might be able to handle it. Yes,
Speaker 2: coach pitch is an acquired taste. Fortunately, thanks to my
Speaker 2: father and my two brothers, we threw so much as
Speaker 2: kids to each other that we were able to throw
Speaker 2: strikes none of that matters today.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I've reached space safely in a coach
Speaker 1: pitch game three times, hit by pitch. Unbelievable. He was
Speaker 1: wild on that mount.
Speaker 2: All right. Jeff Bill Chuck, our good friend from Billy
Speaker 2: Ball who just comes up with so many great things
Speaker 2: he is. He alerted me early on in the season,
Speaker 2: and I've been following this that the Angels this year
Speaker 2: were two and two, they were three and three, they
Speaker 2: were five and five, six and six, seven and seven,
Speaker 2: eight and eight, nine and nine, So this is every
Speaker 2: time they play. So they're gonna lose game number nineteen,
Speaker 2: they're gonna go to or win. They're gonna be ten
Speaker 2: and nine, but after twenty games they're gonna be ten
Speaker 2: and ten because that's the way the Angels have played
Speaker 2: this year. So thank you Bill Chuck for alerting me
Speaker 2: to this, because you know how much I love stuff
Speaker 2: like that. We also had a Zach Gallon against Zach
Speaker 2: Pop starting rotation, and we had those two starting pitchers
Speaker 2: in the same game, Zach Pop and Zach Gallon. So
Speaker 2: I think I might have a gallon of pop this morning,
Speaker 2: since I woke up at three in order to do this.
Speaker 2: By the way, Jeff, what did what did we call
Speaker 2: it when we had a soft drink when we were
Speaker 2: when you were a kid? What did I Because I
Speaker 2: know what I used to call it. I mean, this
Speaker 2: is just this is semantics. It doesn't really matter. Some
Speaker 2: people call it a soda, right, yeah.
Speaker 1: Some people call it a soda. Call it some people
Speaker 1: call it a coke.
Speaker 2: I called it when I was a kid. I would say,
Speaker 2: could we have a coke? Even though it wasn't a coke.
Speaker 2: It might have been a sprite or a ginger ale,
Speaker 2: we always it was a generic coke. And is that
Speaker 2: what you called it growing up? No?
Speaker 1: And you really ruined me because remember when we would
Speaker 1: do any trip that was longer than like twenty minutes,
Speaker 1: twenty minutes, we would go to a gas station and
Speaker 1: we would get a dwink, a dwink. So now with
Speaker 1: my daughter, if I'm going anywhere farther than twenty minutes,
Speaker 1: I want to go get a dwink at the gas station.
Speaker 1: You would say all the time, you want to get
Speaker 1: a dwink, and we would get a drink right at
Speaker 1: the gas station. So I thought, that's what you say.
Speaker 1: And I remember meeting my wife and I would. We
Speaker 1: went on a long trip and we were together long
Speaker 1: enough to be comfortable with each other. And said, I'm
Speaker 1: going to go inside and get a drink and she said,
Speaker 1: oh what, all right?
Speaker 2: Last quirks and Jeff and I love this. And I'll
Speaker 2: share credit here with Sarah Langs, the great Sarah Langs,
Speaker 2: who sees and notices stuff that very few others do.
Speaker 2: Mike Trout, who we know, loves the weather. He is
Speaker 2: he should be a weatherman after he retires from baseball meteorology,
Speaker 2: loves all of it. Hit a homer off of David Webb,
Speaker 2: off of Ryan Weathers the other night, Like how great
Speaker 2: is that? As soon does it happen? I went, oh
Speaker 2: my gosh, look at this, and then Sarah put it
Speaker 2: out on the internet. It was just fabulous. So Mike
Speaker 2: Trout hit a homer off of Ryan Weathers when he
Speaker 2: just loves the weather.
Speaker 1: Do we think Mike Trout loves the weather more than
Speaker 1: he likes pitbull?
Speaker 2: Don't ask me to tell that story again. I'm just
Speaker 2: going to tell you one more time, Jeff. When Mike
Speaker 2: Trout in twenty sixteen recognized that I met Pitt Poll,
Speaker 2: he was absolutely fascinated like, tell me what it was like?
Speaker 2: How tall was he woke and he was so amazed
Speaker 2: that I got to meet Pitt Pull and I didn't
Speaker 2: even know who Pittpull was.
Speaker 1: So well, Donnie, let's go on to our next segment.
Speaker 2: Okay, chesstage baseball history Jeff April the sixteenth, nineteen forty.
Speaker 2: Bob Feller did what on opening Day?
Speaker 1: Through a no hitter?
Speaker 2: Right? Is he the only one no hitter on opening Day?
Speaker 2: And remember the discussion we had. I never brought this
Speaker 2: up with you about you know, everyone in the lineup
Speaker 2: had the same average after the game, zero zero zero
Speaker 2: as he did before the game. Now it's a debate.
Speaker 2: Maybe you shouldn't even have an average if you don't
Speaker 2: get in at bad it should just be three little
Speaker 2: hyphens like he hasn't bad it yet. And then you said, well,
Speaker 2: you know you can't. I mean, anything divided by zero
Speaker 2: is zero. And then did you notice that we got
Speaker 2: a letter from got an email.
Speaker 1: A slam and that, And then I realized that probably
Speaker 1: my grandfather, the mathematics PhD. Is turning over in his
Speaker 1: grave because anything divided by zero is it's like no,
Speaker 1: it's like nothing. It's not even a number. It's not.
Speaker 2: You's embarrassing that the son of a grand the grandson
Speaker 2: of a of a PhD and Mit from MIT undergrad
Speaker 2: and the son didn't. We just forgot all about you
Speaker 2: can't divide by zero, So sorry about that. Right.
Speaker 1: We also think that four plus three equals two thanks
Speaker 1: to our friends and baseball is but that's when you
Speaker 1: turn a double play. And nobody, and I mean nobody
Speaker 1: would have liked that joke more than Pop right, more
Speaker 1: than your dad because he's a mathematics guy, but he
Speaker 1: was a base ball guy, and nobody would have liked
Speaker 1: that more than him, that's for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I wore that six four three two shirt
Speaker 2: to bed last night and then I took it off
Speaker 2: to three o'clock in the morning. Come do the podcast,
Speaker 2: all right, no worries. I also Jeff this date in
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy two, Bird Hooton pitched a no hitter. It
Speaker 2: was in his fourth major league game he threw a
Speaker 2: no hitter. I covered Bird Hooton for the Texas Rangers
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty two. Big big guy from Texas. Loved him.
Speaker 2: He was great to be around. And also on this
Speaker 2: date in nineteen seventy eight, Bob Forsche pitched a no hitter,
Speaker 2: and a year later, his brother Ken Forche pitched a
Speaker 2: no hitter, so they became the first brothers ever to
Speaker 2: throw no hitters in a Major League game. That you
Speaker 2: find that interesting?
Speaker 1: How many siblings are there? Are there only two? Or
Speaker 1: are there? Forsche?
Speaker 2: May? The four should be with you, Jeff? Pretty good? Okay? Better?
Speaker 2: That was better. Happy birthday to Bruce Bochi born on
Speaker 2: this date in nineteen five fifty five, and both Bruce
Speaker 2: Bochi is a Hall of Fame will be a Hall
Speaker 2: of Fame manager won over two hundred games, two thousand games, sorry,
Speaker 2: and three World Championships with the Giants and one with
Speaker 2: the Rangers. I'm not sure I ever met anybody who
Speaker 2: ran a bullpen better than Bruce Bochie, which is maybe
Speaker 2: the most important thing that a manager does. So we
Speaker 2: also know, and I'm going to tell this story for
Speaker 2: the tenth time. Also, Bruce Boach is the only player
Speaker 2: to hit a walk off homer against Nolan Ryan. And
Speaker 2: Bruce Bochie also had the biggest head in baseball, over
Speaker 2: an eight. It's like an eight and a quarter, as
Speaker 2: he told me, he said when he got traded twice
Speaker 2: he had to bring his helmet with him so the
Speaker 2: new team could spray pay at their colors because no
Speaker 2: one had a helbot that could fit him and its
Speaker 2: giant head. So after he hits the home run off
Speaker 2: of Nolan Ryan, the Padres want to run a red
Speaker 2: carpet from the beginning of the clubhouse right to Boachi's locker,
Speaker 2: and in his locker they have a six pack of
Speaker 2: beer with ice in Bochie's helmet as a celebration. So
Speaker 2: Terry Kennedy, who was the primary catcher on that team,
Speaker 2: told me, said, you know, you can get a six
Speaker 2: pack of beer in a lot of guys helmets, but
Speaker 2: only in Bochie's helmet can you get a six pack
Speaker 2: of beer with ice. And when I had lunch with
Speaker 2: Nolan Ryan, I talked, I told him that story, and
Speaker 2: instead of being upset that he gave up a homer
Speaker 2: to Bruce Bochie, he remembered it well, and so does
Speaker 2: Bruce Bochie. So happy birthday to Boach, one of the
Speaker 2: best guys the game has ever seen. And last one, Jeff,
Speaker 2: for the third week in a row that we have
Speaker 2: a birthday. Today it's Antonio Alfonseka. So three weeks in
Speaker 2: a row. We have mentioned him, and I told you
Speaker 2: he's he's the guy with six fingers and six toes
Speaker 2: on both hands and both feet. And you know what
Speaker 2: his nickname is. I don't think I've used this, but
Speaker 2: you look on Baseball Reference for his nickname, He's called
Speaker 2: the Octopus. So goodt What are the chanits? Though? In
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six that Antonio Alfonseeka makes it into three
Speaker 2: straight weeks on the same podcast, Jeff, this is just
Speaker 2: another reminder for good or bad, we are doing a
Speaker 2: different podcast than everyone else to get that guy in
Speaker 2: three weeks in a row. But it's he was he
Speaker 2: was a good pitcher, and he was a good guy.
Speaker 2: And today's birthdays born in nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 1: You know, Dad, we joined the Foul Territory Network. Those
Speaker 1: guys are so fantastic. They've got a ton of podcasts
Speaker 1: from local shows to like meaning like local teams and
Speaker 1: then obviously Foul Territory, and those guys are great. They
Speaker 1: cover the game so differently than we do. Then there's
Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal with Fair Territory covering the game differently than
Speaker 1: we do. But yeah, he's not coming up in either
Speaker 1: of those shows.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and just like Steve Russian conversation that's not happening
Speaker 2: on anybody else's podcast, right, yeah, we love that.
Speaker 1: If you miss that. By the way, that was our
Speaker 1: most recent episode, our most recent interview. So go back.
Speaker 1: If you're listening right now, go back. Take the time.
Speaker 1: You're gonna laugh. You might cry from the laughter. It's
Speaker 1: so fun. Follow and subscribe wherever you're listening, right, make.
Speaker 2: Sure you stay till the end. When Steve Russian describes
Speaker 2: the back of lou Brock's baseball card and what that
Speaker 2: means to him fifty years later, it's just hilarious.
Speaker 1: Okay, Jeff, all right, Dad, next week, have alpha alphabet.
Speaker 2: Right, So, what we're doing this year is we're taking
Speaker 2: every letter of the alphabet and we are picking my choice,
Speaker 2: not the right choice, not the correct choice, the best
Speaker 2: players of all time, best picture, and the best hitter
Speaker 2: of all time for each letter at D SO, I
Speaker 2: think this was relatively easy. Joe DiMaggio is the greatest
Speaker 2: d ever, So, Jeff. He won three MVPs, finished second
Speaker 2: twice and third once. He played thirteen years. He made
Speaker 2: the All Star team every year and received votes for
Speaker 2: the MVP, not first place votes. Necessarily, but he received
Speaker 2: votes from the MVP in twelve of his thirteen seasons.
Speaker 2: I mean, he never really had a bad season. Three
Speaker 2: twenty five lifetime, nine seventy seven ops career. And let's
Speaker 2: see how well you remember Jeff three hundred and sixty
Speaker 2: one homers and how many strikeouts career for Joe Demaggio.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, I've done this. Three hundred and sixty one homers,
Speaker 2: three hundred and sixty nine strikeout, Jeff, you have a
Speaker 2: three to one ratio. If you hit fifty homers today
Speaker 2: and only strike out one hundred and fifty times, you
Speaker 2: are considered amazing. He almost had a one to one
Speaker 2: home run to strike out ratio. And during of course,
Speaker 2: his fifty six game Hitting Street, he struck out five
Speaker 2: times in the entire Hitting Street, and no times Jeff
Speaker 2: in the final thirty two games of that street. So
Speaker 2: and during the forty one season when he hit in
Speaker 2: fifty six straight games, he struck out a total of
Speaker 2: thirteen times. So he hit thirty homers, wow, and struck
Speaker 2: out thirteen times. So I wrote this in one of
Speaker 2: my columns, I mean, forty five years ago for the
Speaker 2: Dallas Morning News. I used that note, and somebody got it.
Speaker 2: A broadcaster, I'm not sure who it was, got a
Speaker 2: little bit confused, and he said, I just saw a
Speaker 2: great note the other day in the Dallas Morning News.
Speaker 2: The year that Babe Ruth hit sixty home runs, he
Speaker 2: only struck out ten times, which was he got the
Speaker 2: sixty homers and fifty six straight games. A little bit
Speaker 2: mixed up. So again, Jeff, a different time, different era.
Speaker 2: But if people don't appreciate how great Joe Demagio was,
Speaker 2: just go back and look at the numbers and look
Speaker 2: how many times he won nine rings? Jeff, I mean, go,
Speaker 2: you won ted, but Joe Demaggio won nine times. I
Speaker 2: mean you grew up to stories of him from pop
Speaker 2: and from me.
Speaker 1: Right, Joe DiMaggio a fierce competitor thirteen seasons. I mean,
Speaker 1: just a Hall of Famer through and through. It's crazy.
Speaker 1: He's the perfect choice for d And there's no debate.
Speaker 2: Right, And Jeff, we used to go when we used
Speaker 2: to go to Williamsport together, they have a little hamburger
Speaker 2: stand there called DiMaggio's Grill, and we stopped there once
Speaker 2: just to say we ate at Demaggio's.
Speaker 1: At Demaggio's grill.
Speaker 2: Okay, so our greatest dep I was gonna thought about
Speaker 2: Dizzy Dean, but I ended up with Don Drysdale because
Speaker 2: there's a double D there and he's a Dodger pitcher,
Speaker 2: and we're doing this from LA to Don Drysdale also
Speaker 2: the greatest number fifty three of all time, won two
Speaker 2: hundred and nine games, had a two point nine to
Speaker 2: five era, He won a cy Young, he won three
Speaker 2: World Series. He threw forty nine shutouts. Jeff, I just
Speaker 2: think about this for a second, forty nine shutouts and
Speaker 2: he I don't want to say he only won two
Speaker 2: hundred and nine games, but almost one out of every
Speaker 2: four shutout at four wins he had was a shutout.
Speaker 2: Was showing you then in those days, Jeff, guys went
Speaker 2: out there. When they started something, they finished it. And
Speaker 2: of course he held the record for years for most
Speaker 2: consecutive scoreless innings at fifty eight and two thirds, and
Speaker 2: it was broken by another Dodger, oral Herscheiser, and oral
Speaker 2: To told me the story that that Don Drivesdale was
Speaker 2: one of the broadcasters with the Dodgers in nineteen eighty
Speaker 2: eight when Orl Hirsheiser broke Don Durysdale's record and Don
Speaker 2: Drivesdale interviewed Oral Hirsheiser on the field after Oral Hirsheiser, Wow,
Speaker 2: Don Drysdale's record. I mean, do you find that really cool?
Speaker 2: Because I do. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Could you imagine, hey, guys, it's Babe Ruth here on
Speaker 1: the field with Hank Aaron Hank. How did you feel
Speaker 1: out there when you hit that ball? Totally different world.
Speaker 1: But by the way, Dad, you brought up something that
Speaker 1: I think is interesting real fast. Is you know earlier
Speaker 1: the note about Nolan Ryan and Bruce Bochie, right, and
Speaker 1: you said Nolan Ryan gave up a walk off home run.
Speaker 1: We aren't going to hear that. We don't hear that
Speaker 1: about a starting pitcher giving up a walk off home run.
Speaker 1: I mean pitchers today, Dad, will go their whole career
Speaker 1: without ever giving a walk off, giving up a walk
Speaker 1: off hit or home run. Right, It'll be a zero,
Speaker 1: and it'll seem impressive. It'll seem impressive, but it won't
Speaker 1: be because they never made it to even the seventh inn.
Speaker 2: And to that end, Jeff, next Tuesday, we are going
Speaker 2: to have Max Scherzer on the air. Max Schurzer is
Speaker 2: a future Hall of famer, and I've talked to him
Speaker 2: many times about how we've lost the value of the
Speaker 2: starting pitcher, and Max Scherzer has some ways to fix that,
Speaker 2: to get the starting pitcher back into being a more
Speaker 2: important person in the game. So I can't I know
Speaker 2: what he's going to say, but I want everyone to
Speaker 2: hear it because Max schus is a very smart guy.
Speaker 1: Well, let's wrap up today's show. You did pack in
Speaker 1: your carry on a little bit more manageable than a wheel.
Speaker 1: Three cars, three cars, you've got.
Speaker 2: The first one is Max Freed, of course, who's one
Speaker 2: of the better pitchers in the game. And you know
Speaker 2: how much I love anagrams, Jeff, So Max Freed. The
Speaker 2: anagram for mac x Freed is dream fix, and I
Speaker 2: think he's been kind of a dream fix for that
Speaker 2: Yankees rotation because all sorts of pictures have been hurt
Speaker 2: in the last couple of years. And when they get
Speaker 2: Garrett coleback and they get Carlos Rodon back, they're going
Speaker 2: to have a really nice rotation. I found this interesting, Jeff,
Speaker 2: since we're in southern California, that Max Freed grew up
Speaker 2: like hearing stories of Sandy Kofax and I'm quoting here.
Speaker 2: He said, Well, anyone would love Sandy Kofax as a
Speaker 2: Jewish guy with a great curveball, and that's who Max
Speaker 2: Freed is. So but he said, but Sandy's too old
Speaker 2: for me, of course, So my guy growing up was
Speaker 2: really Clayton Kershaw. So only I would think of something
Speaker 2: as stupid. So Max Fried wears number fifty four. So
Speaker 2: that's a combination of Sandy Kofax's thirty two and Clayton
Speaker 2: Kershaw's twenty two. Thirty two plus twenty two equals fifty four.
Speaker 2: So I present this to Max f Reid. Is that
Speaker 2: why you wear number fifty four? He's a really smart guy.
Speaker 2: He just looked at me like I never even thought
Speaker 2: about that, Like, only I would think about something stupid
Speaker 2: like that, because it is stupid and it's not the
Speaker 2: way that people think. But unfortunately, or fortunately it's.
Speaker 1: I feel like that happens to you a lot, Dad,
Speaker 1: where you ask a player or something that you have
Speaker 1: recognized and they look at you like, do you have
Speaker 1: any other free time or do you just think about
Speaker 1: this stuff?
Speaker 2: Well, I'll never forget. When John Cruck came to work
Speaker 2: for us at ESPN, we had a guy named jud
Speaker 2: Birch who used to work at ESPN, one of my
Speaker 2: favorite people ever. Great producer, great guy, great baseball man,
Speaker 2: and knows everything about the Phillies. It's just scary how
Speaker 2: much he knows. So John Cruck meets John John Cruck
Speaker 2: meets jud Birch for the first time, and jud Birch
Speaker 2: just like reels off all of these things about John
Speaker 2: Cruck's career that John Cruck doesn't even remember. So Krucky
Speaker 2: looks at jedd Burg and goes, you're not married, are you? No? No,
Speaker 2: I'm not. At his point was if you were married,
Speaker 2: you would have other things to think about in the
Speaker 2: world other than my arcade statistics. So we loved we
Speaker 2: loved jud Birch, We loved John Crux, so that was great.
Speaker 2: So second guy up is Placido Polonko, which would, of
Speaker 2: course is a great Scott van pel Plasiday Polonko I
Speaker 2: can't do that very well, but he was a really
Speaker 2: good infielder. Played second base and third base and played
Speaker 2: what they played them equally well. Not many guys played
Speaker 2: second base and third base equally well. Ernie Clement can
Speaker 2: do that, but Placido Planco did but he told me
Speaker 2: once that he never wore a cup when he played
Speaker 2: second base because he felt like like the protective cup
Speaker 2: like cut down on his range when he's trying to
Speaker 2: make a double play. He can't have anything affecting his
Speaker 2: range or anything else. But when he played third base,
Speaker 2: he wore a cup for obvious reasons. He looked at
Speaker 2: me and just smiled. But you gotta wear a cup
Speaker 2: at third. But let's see if you can remember Jeff
Speaker 2: the Hall of Fame third baseman who never wore a cup.
Speaker 2: He just went in recently, Dominican Adrian.
Speaker 1: Oh Adrian Beltray never wore a cup.
Speaker 2: Never wore a cup, right, And I asked him, Adrian,
Speaker 2: you played third base, how could you never wear a cup?
Speaker 2: And then he showed me his hands and he goes,
Speaker 2: that's what these are for. I'm thinking you got great hands, man,
Speaker 2: but I'm not sure playing third base without a cup
Speaker 2: on the major league level is a great idea. And
Speaker 2: our last one is Jared Washburn, former Angels pitcher. Really
Speaker 2: funny guy and he grew up on like a dairy
Speaker 2: farmer something in Wisconsin. So years ago when Mike Soosha
Speaker 2: in spring training would do these little things in spring
Speaker 2: training to get to know everybody, your teammates a little
Speaker 2: bit better. So you have to get up in front
Speaker 2: of the team and show them something. You get assigned
Speaker 2: a task like they used to have a picture named
Speaker 2: Chris boots Check, one of my favorite names ever. Chris
Speaker 2: Bootcheck was a golfer and he knew how to build
Speaker 2: a golf club. So he came into spring training but
Speaker 2: you know, before the workout started and showed the whole
Speaker 2: team how to build a golf club. And this was
Speaker 2: Mike Soshia's way. Joe Madden was there for all this too,
Speaker 2: of getting everybody kind of more acclimated to their team.
Speaker 2: So Mike Sosha sent Jared Washburn, grew up on a
Speaker 2: dairy farm, to bring something back from the county fair
Speaker 2: in like in the Arizona area. So the next morning,
Speaker 2: Jared Washburn an ostrich into the clubhouse, like a real
Speaker 2: Ostriche into the clubhouse because he was comfortable handling animals
Speaker 2: and everything else. So as I heard soon after that
Speaker 2: this was you know, four thirty five years ago, Ramon Ortez,
Speaker 2: one of the relievers, was so petrified that there was
Speaker 2: an ostrich. He leaped into his locker and like covered
Speaker 2: himself up and said in Spanish, get that big chicken
Speaker 2: away from me, because to him, an Ostrich looked like
Speaker 2: a giant chicken. So yeah, so that was our three
Speaker 2: cards in the bathroom, Max Free, the Dream Fixed Placid,
Speaker 2: Old Planco, the Coupless Wonder and mister Ostrich himself Jared.
Speaker 1: Washburn absolutely incredible. Well, Dad, we did it from Disney
Speaker 1: World to Los Angeles, across the country podcasting. We made
Speaker 1: it happen and you mentioned it. Max sures Er next
Speaker 1: week on the podcast Cannot Wait. If you have any
Speaker 1: questions you want us to ask him? Great game or
Speaker 1: what dot com? Message us on our website And Dad,
Speaker 1: are you going back to bed?
Speaker 2: What's your plan on I'm going back to bed. That's okay.
Speaker 2: I got up extra early. I have the gift of
Speaker 2: sleep occasionally, so I'm drinking a dia amount do it
Speaker 2: four in the morning did not help things. But I
Speaker 2: will go back to bed. And I just want everyone
Speaker 2: to remember never forget Jackie Robinson day and the impact
Speaker 2: that he had on the game and on our country.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening, and as always, thanks
Speaker 1: for being a part of our family.