Speaker 1: Is this a great game or what with the Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer Tim Kirkschen, I'm his son, Jeff Kirkshen and Dad.
Speaker 1: We may be virtual, but we were just together for
Speaker 1: the Thanksgiving holiday. But we're now back home after spending
Speaker 1: a wonderful time in sunny Florida.
Speaker 2: Wow, it was amazing.
Speaker 3: I'm not sure I was in the same Florida as you, Jeff,
Speaker 3: because when we played golf on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving,
Speaker 3: it was about forty eight degrees and howling wind. Would
Speaker 3: hardly call that sunny Florida. But no complaints. We had
Speaker 3: a great time. We hit the ball okay, actually both
Speaker 3: of us, not to worry, and we had a great
Speaker 3: time at Uncle Andy's house and everyone had a blast.
Speaker 3: The food was so good, the kids were so good.
Speaker 3: So hugely successful Thanksgiving and you got home in one piece,
Speaker 3: connecting through Charlotte, right. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The first day we landed, we got there a day
Speaker 1: early and it was gorgeous. We had no clothes packed
Speaker 1: for the weekend for nice weather. We all had pants
Speaker 1: and sweatshirts, so we were able to go to the
Speaker 1: beach and enjoy it. And then you're right, it did
Speaker 1: get a little bit chilly from there. But then you're
Speaker 1: leaving out a crucial detail of the trip. You mentioned
Speaker 1: we played golf and I did not hear the end
Speaker 1: of it two three years ago when we were in
Speaker 1: Santa Rosa Beach and the old guys as you guys
Speaker 1: call yourselves beat the young guys by ten strokes, and
Speaker 1: now the young guys had our revenge and one were
Speaker 1: you planning on leaving that detail out.
Speaker 3: I'm really happy that you guys played way better than
Speaker 3: the last time. Okay, I still object to the fact
Speaker 3: that you had four players on your team and we
Speaker 3: only had three, and one has an artificial hip. Me
Speaker 3: Uncle Andy has a bad back. Even though he hit
Speaker 3: the ball a long way and Uncle Nico ran a
Speaker 3: ten the day before, we still only lost by one shot.
Speaker 3: You guys played well. You deserve to win. And it
Speaker 3: was dramatic, even though we didn't realize the time. But
Speaker 3: Michael Kirkchin rolled in what a twenty footer on eighteen
Speaker 3: for a part of when the whole thing, but we
Speaker 3: didn't even know how what the scores were at the time.
Speaker 3: It would have made it ten times more dramatic.
Speaker 1: Agreed, Yeah, absolutely more dramatic. And it was not an
Speaker 1: easy putt.
Speaker 3: Dad.
Speaker 1: You're right, you did have three players. But to defend
Speaker 1: the decision, we did allow you guys to play the
Speaker 1: different tea boxes, which you're entitled to as seniors. And
Speaker 1: I think every senior should play the senior teas because
Speaker 1: you just can't hit it as far.
Speaker 3: In That's Life, we used the senior tees six times
Speaker 3: out of eighteen holes. Okay, wasn't every hole. There were
Speaker 3: six select holes where we played the gray tees. Look,
Speaker 3: you're burying the lead from the whole weekend, jeff A.
Speaker 3: First off, I got on an airplane without a printed
Speaker 3: boarding pass. I got it on my phone. I presented
Speaker 3: it to the guy at the counter. I did it
Speaker 3: all by myself. Lane showed me how to do a screenshot,
Speaker 3: so the QR code wasn't just on my phone, it
Speaker 3: was on the photos in my phone, so just in
Speaker 3: case anything went wrong with the Internet, I still had
Speaker 3: my photos. This was a big moment for poor pop Pop.
Speaker 3: I got on an airplane without a printed boarding pass.
Speaker 3: Eduardo Perez needs to hear about this.
Speaker 1: He does, because this has been a very big hurdle
Speaker 1: for you to get over. In the technology of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five, and you say, what.
Speaker 2: If there's no internet? What if my phone dies? What if?
Speaker 1: This all understandable concern in stead absolutely, but if you
Speaker 1: put it in your Apple wallet, it will be there
Speaker 1: waiting for you internet or not. And I'm so glad
Speaker 1: you made it and you were able to get where
Speaker 1: you needed to go without having to get a printer
Speaker 1: at the air Airbnb we were staying at, or have
Speaker 1: to go to a I don't even know where you
Speaker 1: would go if you don't have a printer.
Speaker 2: I'm proud of you.
Speaker 1: You've grown up quite a bit here on this podcast
Speaker 1: in two and a half years.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you, Jeff. Also, another great takeaway was that
Speaker 3: McKinley hope, you're a beautiful two year old. My granddaughter
Speaker 3: she got Santa a picture taken was Santa Claus. Now
Speaker 3: what I found How long do you think you waited
Speaker 3: in line in relatively cold weather to get a picture
Speaker 3: with Santa Claus? At least forty five minutes?
Speaker 2: I think it was between forty five and an hour
Speaker 2: for sure.
Speaker 3: Okay, Well, the part that I found amusing was that
Speaker 3: Santa had to go to the bathroom, so he left
Speaker 3: his post while people were waiting, And I'm not faulting
Speaker 3: him for doing this, but he came and waited in
Speaker 3: line in the little restaurant that we were all waiting
Speaker 3: in to eat and everything else, and there's Santa in
Speaker 3: line and there were only two bathrooms open. Don't you
Speaker 3: think that would have been a good moment for someone
Speaker 3: to say, Hey, Santa, people are waiting on you. You can
Speaker 3: go ahead of us first. Instead, he patiently waited.
Speaker 1: His churn agreed, Well, I think he marked everybody who
Speaker 1: didn't let him pass on the naughty list, So I
Speaker 1: think it was a test of anybody who didn't let
Speaker 1: Santa go there. And poor guy unbuckle that big belt
Speaker 1: and everything, but Santa made it out. Our cousins got
Speaker 1: some photos with Santa in line for the bathroom, but
Speaker 1: we got it with the big tree. And McKinley has
Speaker 1: not stopped talking about it. In fact, that yesterday was
Speaker 1: the first day of McKinley's Advent calendar, you know you
Speaker 1: get those little calendars right the doors. And also our
Speaker 1: Elf on the Shelf arrived.
Speaker 2: Are you familiar he came from the North Pole?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, well aware of Elf on the Shelf.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so he has arrived in our home, and he's
Speaker 1: gonna get himself into very precarious situations. I will be
Speaker 1: sure to have some Elf on the shelf highlights for
Speaker 1: you come next week on the podcast. We're going once
Speaker 1: a week now in the off season, every single Tuesday
Speaker 1: you can hear. So I'll pull together some of the
Speaker 1: best locations where the elf got on the shelf. It's
Speaker 1: better than Jeff on a deck, right, I mean I
Speaker 1: offered to sit on people's deck and drink a cocktail
Speaker 1: and we could celebrate that way.
Speaker 2: That's not bad. What would you be?
Speaker 1: You would be Tim on the rim. You'll go dunk
Speaker 1: on people's basketball rims. We'll have to bring up a
Speaker 1: foot ladder, but we could get it happening, all right.
Speaker 3: We'd have to be a five foot hoop six foot
Speaker 3: hoop for me to dunk it. But that's another story
Speaker 3: for another day.
Speaker 1: Well, it was a great trip, Dad, such a great
Speaker 1: time had.
Speaker 2: I'm just glad to be back home.
Speaker 1: And we can't ignore what's going on in baseball right now, Dad.
Speaker 2: On Sunday, it's the start of the Winter.
Speaker 3: Meetings, right, and the Winter meetings are crazy three four
Speaker 3: days and this year they'll be in Orlando. Every executive
Speaker 3: in the world is there, and there are a million
Speaker 3: more executives than when I first went to my first
Speaker 3: Winter Meetings in nineteen eighty two, which, by the way,
Speaker 3: things have changed so much, Jeff. With the Winter Meetings
Speaker 3: in nineteen eighty in Hollywood, Florida, Roland Heman, the mischievous
Speaker 3: general manager of the White Sox at the time, put
Speaker 3: a sign up in front in the lobby that said
Speaker 3: open for business, and then he said, the White Sox
Speaker 3: made four trades on that first day. That's how things
Speaker 3: used to work. Guys would put a side open for business.
Speaker 3: And Jeff, back then, like in eighty two, when I
Speaker 3: first started covering, you go into the hotel lobby and
Speaker 3: all the general managers are there because nobody has a
Speaker 3: cell phone back in nineteen eighty two, so you just
Speaker 3: went up to gms everywhere and said, what's going on
Speaker 3: with the trade or whatever. Now you can't even find
Speaker 3: the general managers anywhere because they all have their cell phones.
Speaker 3: They all have, you know, their army of people next
Speaker 3: to them in their suites and they're looking up a
Speaker 3: million different things. Like in eighty two, though, Jeff, when
Speaker 3: everyone was in the lobby. It was my first full
Speaker 3: year covering the Winter meetings. I was scared to death
Speaker 3: to leave the lobby. So the Winter meetings were in Hawaii,
Speaker 3: and I am not kidding you, Jeff. I never left
Speaker 3: the hotel, meaning I did not go out on the beach,
Speaker 3: We didn't go out to eat, because I was so afraid,
Speaker 3: as a really young writer that I was going to
Speaker 3: miss something at my first Winter Meetings that I stayed
Speaker 3: inside the entire time. It could have been held in
Speaker 3: whatever Iowa, Idaho, it could have been held in North Dakota,
Speaker 3: wouldn't have mattered was it was in Hawaii, and I
Speaker 3: never left the hotel because I was so afraid that
Speaker 3: I was going to miss them. Can you imagine that?
Speaker 1: I can imagine you doing that, yes, and knowing you know, Dad,
Speaker 1: and knowing your commitment to the job. Actually, we had
Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal on a couple of weeks ago at the
Speaker 1: end of the baseball season, So make sure to go
Speaker 1: listen to that if you missed it.
Speaker 2: It was fantastic, Dad.
Speaker 1: He talked about your work ethic in those early days,
Speaker 1: not that you don't have it now. You absolutely do,
Speaker 1: but in a different way. But I'm not surprised at
Speaker 1: all at anything you did in those years pre kids,
Speaker 1: early in your career, hungry as all, and I'm just
Speaker 1: shocked you didn't play pickup ball?
Speaker 2: Was there a court in the lobby?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, we played a lot. We played pickup quite
Speaker 3: a bit during the winter meetings. Once I established myself
Speaker 3: and understood how to do the job, I didn't have
Speaker 3: to stick in the lobby the whole time. Again, Jeff,
Speaker 3: things have changed so much. When I first started covering,
Speaker 3: there was this rule, or there was this kind of philosophy.
Speaker 3: The general manager with the largest bar wins the winter
Speaker 3: meetings every year, meaning they stay out late, all the
Speaker 3: general managers drinking together, and that's how a trade ended
Speaker 3: up happening. Paul Owens, nicknamed the Pope, was the Phillies manager,
Speaker 3: but also at one point the Phillies general manager. And
Speaker 3: I'll never forget one night, really late, he's out with
Speaker 3: a bunch of other general managers, and he's in a
Speaker 3: coat and tie, and pretty late at night, he shows
Speaker 3: everyone at the bar how to do a hook slide.
Speaker 3: A hook slide, of course, Jeff, you do with your
Speaker 3: baseball pants and spikes. He did it with a coat
Speaker 3: and tie on to show everyone. Look, our guys today
Speaker 3: don't know how to do a hook slide. Let me
Speaker 3: show you how to do it. He did it in
Speaker 3: the bar at one thirty in the morning. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3: He was such a piece of work. And there was
Speaker 3: a He called the writers once at two o'clock in
Speaker 3: the morning, the Phillies writers. He called him at two
Speaker 3: o'clock in the morning to announce that we just got
Speaker 3: Suitor in a trade. Now, back then, Jeff Bruce Suiter
Speaker 3: was the premier closer in the game, future Hall of Famer. Well,
Speaker 3: he didn't indeed acquire a guy named Suitor, but I
Speaker 3: believe the guy's name was Burke Suitor, not Bruce Suitor.
Speaker 3: And he woke up all the writers just to tell
Speaker 3: him we got Burke Suitor in a deal. They didn't
Speaker 3: think it was very amusing because Burke Suitter didn't turn
Speaker 3: out to be a massively important player. That's how the
Speaker 3: that's how the Winter Meetings used to operate, Jem. And
Speaker 3: then years later guys stopped hanging out at the bar,
Speaker 3: and they all hung out in the uh in the
Speaker 3: weight room in the morning, doing their their running and
Speaker 3: they're walking and they're all that. I mean play. The
Speaker 3: young gms are in incredible shape now. I think most
Speaker 3: of them played pick a ball. So they'll find a
Speaker 3: pick a ball court somewhere in Orlando, and I'll bet
Speaker 3: there are a bunch of spirited games going on between
Speaker 3: the gms.
Speaker 1: We need to get you on a pickleball court that
Speaker 1: have you ever played?
Speaker 3: I played once, but it was briefly and I didn't
Speaker 3: even know the rules, and I wasn't with a group.
Speaker 3: I just kind of joined in. It was bad. I know,
Speaker 3: it was a long time ago. I don't know if
Speaker 3: I'd be any good at it with an artificial hip.
Speaker 3: I can't move side aside very well anymore. But I
Speaker 3: need to take it up. It's an old man's game
Speaker 3: to some degree, although some young guys really play well,
Speaker 3: and Karl Ravits is really good at it. So I
Speaker 3: would like to start to play. Yet. That might be
Speaker 3: something I do for my New Year's resolution. Play pick
Speaker 3: a ball.
Speaker 2: Really, that's a good idea.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, you're right, Rabi is a big pickleballer,
Speaker 1: So maybe next time you see him you will have
Speaker 1: a couple games under your belt.
Speaker 2: You can have that taken care of.
Speaker 1: So that's for the Winter Meeting Sunday that all kicks off. Dad,
Speaker 1: You're going to be covering all the action from Bristol,
Speaker 1: Connecticut on ESPN, So make sure that you're covering or
Speaker 1: following along on ESPN to se Dad's coverage of that. Also, Dad,
Speaker 1: the big news that we're going to be covering more
Speaker 1: after the vote is had next week is this very
Speaker 1: big ballot, the Contemporary base Era Committee ballot, which is
Speaker 1: going to be announced on December seventh, the voting results.
Speaker 1: And this is a big, big vote that a lot
Speaker 1: of big names.
Speaker 2: Explain what it is first off.
Speaker 3: Well, first off, this is a special committee. There are
Speaker 3: sixteen people on the committee. I have been on four
Speaker 3: of these special committees in my career. It is a
Speaker 3: tremendous privilege. You sit in a room with three other
Speaker 3: writers slash historians, four executives from baseball retired and current,
Speaker 3: and eight former players, a total of sixteen people. That's
Speaker 3: usually how the committee is made up, and you go
Speaker 3: back and forth on all the candidates and it is
Speaker 3: a fascinating process. It is really emotional because there are
Speaker 3: players in there who are trying to get a teammate
Speaker 3: or a former teammate in. It's all very fair, it's
Speaker 3: very democratic. But like you have to get seventy five
Speaker 3: percent to get in on the Writer's ballot, you have
Speaker 3: to get seventy five percent to get in on this
Speaker 3: ballot also, so you have to get twelve out of sixteen.
Speaker 3: And Jeff, here are the Here are the players from
Speaker 3: the contemporary baseball era, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly,
Speaker 3: Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Dale Murphy, Gary Sheffield, Fernando Belenzuela.
Speaker 3: Now I can make a pretty darn good case for
Speaker 3: all eight of them. Certainly the first seven that I
Speaker 3: mentioned would be a little harder for me to make
Speaker 3: it a Hall of compelling Hall of Fame case for
Speaker 3: Fernando Velezuela, even though he was amazingly good. But you know,
Speaker 3: Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens had ten years on the
Speaker 3: Writer's ballot and the most they got to was sixty
Speaker 3: four percent after ten years, got to get to seventy
Speaker 3: five percent their first year on a special committee ballot
Speaker 3: Like this was a couple of years ago, and I
Speaker 3: believe each guy only got two out of sixteen votes,
Speaker 3: got to get twow So this thought that Bond's and
Speaker 3: Clemens are just gonna cruise in on a special ballot.
Speaker 3: All I can say is it didn't happen the first time,
Speaker 3: and I don't expect any cruising in on any ballot
Speaker 3: this time either. We'll see, but you know, for what
Speaker 3: it's worth, Jeff, if you erase everything else, Roger Clemens
Speaker 3: for career value might be the best picture we've ever seen,
Speaker 3: and Barry Bonds for career career value might be the
Speaker 3: best hitter we've ever seen. And that we didn't see
Speaker 3: Ted Williams, we didn't see Babe Ruth. But it's hard
Speaker 3: to argue that when you're just looking at the raw numbers.
Speaker 3: But of course there will be an argument no matter
Speaker 3: what with Bonds and Clements.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Dad, you know, I'm a child of the steroid era,
Speaker 1: and by that I mean I grew up my years
Speaker 1: of first remembering baseball was the early or the late nineties.
Speaker 2: Excuse me, and that for me, they have to be
Speaker 2: in the hall.
Speaker 1: I understand the steroid aspect of it, trust me, I know,
Speaker 1: but to ignore the heroes of so many people's childhood
Speaker 1: and of such an era of how big it was,
Speaker 1: We're not going to get into this now, but I
Speaker 1: am pro and I know I'm probably make an enemy
Speaker 1: here on the podcast, and that's not what we're out
Speaker 1: to do on this show. But it's just kind of
Speaker 1: the way I feel growing up in that generation, all
Speaker 1: of these guys that I watched so many of them
Speaker 1: on the outside of the hall. It just it's just said,
Speaker 1: that's all I'm going to say.
Speaker 3: There, I understand. And I voted for Bond to Clemens
Speaker 3: every year they were eligible, and I wasn't particularly proud
Speaker 3: of that. I just thought there was a tacit agreement
Speaker 3: out there that all sorts of guys are using this.
Speaker 3: Nobody is testing, nobody's getting in trouble, They're being encouraged
Speaker 3: to do it. And that's why I voted for bond
Speaker 3: to Clements. And yet anyone who doesn't vote for them,
Speaker 3: I totally understand. Let's just run through a few more.
Speaker 3: I mean, Don Mattingly was certainly the best player. I
Speaker 3: think he was the best player in the American League
Speaker 3: from nineteen eighty fourth or eighty nine, so for a
Speaker 3: six year period, he was the best player in the
Speaker 3: league after Keith o nandis he's the best defensive, third,
Speaker 3: first baseman I've ever seen, and won a batting title,
Speaker 3: won an MVP, and nobody conducted himself more professionally as
Speaker 3: a Major leaguer than Don Mattingley. Carlos Delgado, jeff Man.
Speaker 3: His numbers are amazing. You know, he had four hundred
Speaker 3: and seventy three homers, fifteen hundred and twelve RBIs nine
Speaker 3: to twenty nine ops. He's one of only fourteen players
Speaker 3: all time with those numbers. You look at the other thirteen,
Speaker 3: they're like the thirteen greatest hitters ever. So I think
Speaker 3: Carlos Delgado has a real shot to get in this time.
Speaker 3: You know, the first time on the ballot didn't go well.
Speaker 3: But I think this is why these committees are formed,
Speaker 3: so we can take another look at somebody who may
Speaker 3: have been left out of the equation. And I think
Speaker 3: del Got was one of those.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Dad, and it's worth noting too, if I'm
Speaker 1: not mistaken. Didn't he win Roberto Clemente Awards?
Speaker 2: He was so active, so much philanthropy.
Speaker 1: This is so important when it comes to our league
Speaker 1: that I know we don't necessarily exclude people if they
Speaker 1: weren't good guys, but I think it should be considered
Speaker 1: if they were a good guy. I mean, in my opinion, right,
Speaker 1: I think that should be considered right.
Speaker 3: And that, of course speaks directly to Dale Murphy, who's
Speaker 3: one of the nicest people who's ever played Major League Baseball,
Speaker 3: but also would compete to the end to beat you.
Speaker 3: I'll never forget Tom Glavin, who was a teammate of
Speaker 3: Dale Murphy, had to throw at Dale Murphy in a
Speaker 3: game against the Phillies when Murphy had gone to the Phillies.
Speaker 3: All right, there was a beanball thing going on, and
Speaker 3: baseball etiquette was Tom Glavin had to hit Dale Murphy
Speaker 3: with a pitch. Okay, that's just the way it worked
Speaker 3: back then. Okay, this is early nineties or so. So
Speaker 3: Tom Glavin threw it over Dale Murphy's head, way over
Speaker 3: his head, and did not hit him, and then walked
Speaker 3: off the mound, knowing he would be ejected for throwing
Speaker 3: at a hitter intentionally. But he couldn't hit Dale Murphy
Speaker 3: because he was Dale Murphy. But Dale Murphy was who
Speaker 3: never got angry. I never heard him say a swear word.
Speaker 3: One of the kindest people ever to play in the
Speaker 3: big leagues. He was really upset because it was Tom
Speaker 3: Glavin's job to hit him with a pitch as retaliation
Speaker 3: for what was going on on the other side, and
Speaker 3: he was upset at his former teammate. You should have
Speaker 3: hit me with that ball instead, he threw it over
Speaker 3: his head. Tells you a little bit about Dale Murphy, who,
Speaker 3: by the way, jeff three hundred ninety eight homers, stole
Speaker 3: one hundred and sixty eight bases, knocked in a thousand runs,
Speaker 3: and won five goal gloves. Only seven players of all
Speaker 3: time can connect all four of those docs. That's how
Speaker 3: good he was. And you know, eighty two through eighty seven,
Speaker 3: six year period, you know, he Mike Schmid were the
Speaker 3: two best players in the National League, and he won
Speaker 3: back to back MVPs in eighty two eighty three. So
Speaker 3: Dale Murphy makes a compelling case, and a lot of
Speaker 3: people think he's got a shot this year, even though
Speaker 3: he never made it on the writer's ballot. So Jeff
Speaker 3: and then Jeff Kent is on the ballot. I voted
Speaker 3: for Jeff Kent every year. You know, hit more home
Speaker 3: runs than any second basement in history, won an MVP,
Speaker 3: was a better defensive player than people think, wasn't the
Speaker 3: most popular guy in the world, which did not help
Speaker 3: him in the voting. That doesn't matter to me. I
Speaker 3: voted for him every year, and I voted for Gary
Speaker 3: Sheffield every year. Five hundred and nine homers and an
Speaker 3: ops of nine oh seven. Willie McCovey, who I worshiped
Speaker 3: growing up, one of the great first baseman ever, first
Speaker 3: ballot Hall of Famer, he didn't have a nine oh
Speaker 3: seven ops. And so Gary Sheffield, I think you know. Granted,
Speaker 3: he's got some extra curricular stuff there which no need
Speaker 3: to go into here. But the point is, Jeff, you
Speaker 3: can make a case, a really compelling case for seven
Speaker 3: of these guys being Hall of Famers. This is gonna
Speaker 3: be a fascinating vote, and we'll.
Speaker 1: Keep you updated on that next week onnes This a
Speaker 1: great game or what. But coming up next, Dad, we're
Speaker 1: gonna jump into one trade in this offseason thus far
Speaker 1: that actually inspired a team. Tim, We're gonna go on
Speaker 1: this state in baseball history. But I'm actually gonna take
Speaker 1: this one by the helm a little bit. Dad, I've
Speaker 1: got some to throw your way, and then we've got
Speaker 1: three cards in the bathroom. It's all coming up next,
Speaker 1: all right, Dad, tell us about the one trade that's
Speaker 1: happened this offseason thus far that totally just had you
Speaker 1: writing down another team tim, because these team tims have
Speaker 1: become the most popular thing on this podcast, and it
Speaker 1: isn't close.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Cardinals traded Sunny Gray to the Red Sox,
Speaker 3: and the Red Sox are an up and coming team
Speaker 3: made the playoffs last year. At Garrett Crochet at the top,
Speaker 3: I think Sonny Gray is going to be a really
Speaker 3: excellent number two starter for the Red Sox. I think
Speaker 3: they really upgraded their starting rotation by getting him. I
Speaker 3: know he didn't pitch particularly well when he went to
Speaker 3: New York. I don't think that's a problem. I think
Speaker 3: he'll pitch exceptionally well in Boston. He had a good
Speaker 3: year with the Cardinals, and it's just another reminder of
Speaker 3: the Red Sox are in it to win it. They're
Speaker 3: going for it. They need another pitcher. They got a
Speaker 3: really good one in Sonny Gray. The problem for them
Speaker 3: is that Dylan Cees signed seven years, two hundred and
Speaker 3: ten million as a free agent with the Blue Jays,
Speaker 3: the defending American League champions, and he's got an electric arm.
Speaker 3: As we all know, he has some of the best
Speaker 3: stuff in baseball, you know, just a real plus arm
Speaker 3: out there. Now, he's just got to find himself completely
Speaker 3: because it's only a matter of time before he wins
Speaker 3: twenty games or wins the SCIO. That's how good. Dylan
Speaker 3: Ceaeses and the Oreel same division got Ryan Helsley to
Speaker 3: be their closer. So Alast really ramping it up because
Speaker 3: they pretty much have to. You have to stay current
Speaker 3: in that division because there's so many, so many good teams.
Speaker 1: Out there, and you know the Yankees, they never stay
Speaker 1: quiet during the offseason. They're gonna do something. They're gonna
Speaker 1: pull something together to keep that team rolling. So with
Speaker 1: Sonny Gray, Dad, let me guess, I got two opportunities
Speaker 1: here to guess for Team Tim. Are you doing all
Speaker 1: weather or all colors?
Speaker 3: Okay, We're doing the all weather team because of Sonny
Speaker 3: Gray because he kind of represents two forms of weather.
Speaker 3: Sonny Gray. Okay, right, So our first baseman is JT. Snow.
Speaker 3: Chip Hale is our second baseman. David Freeze is our
Speaker 3: third baseman. Sonny Jackson different than different. Sonny Jackson is
Speaker 3: our shortstop. Tim Rains is one outfielder. Kurt Flood is
Speaker 3: another Pete Gray. We're gonna Sunny Gray here twice, but
Speaker 3: we needed Pete Gray in the outfield. He's the one
Speaker 3: armed outfielder who played all those years. And our pitching
Speaker 3: staff is led by Sunny Gray. Chuck Rainey, who we
Speaker 3: mentioned remember two weeks ago, and he was teammates with
Speaker 3: Mark clear Yeah, Rainy and clear right. Ryan Weathers, of course,
Speaker 3: whose dad, David Weathers, also played in the Big League.
Speaker 3: So we have two Weathers on the All Weather team,
Speaker 3: Steve rain Wendy McCall. These are all pitchers, Jeff Storm,
Speaker 3: Davis who I covered with the Orioles, Ken Cloud, Josh Fogg, Rich, Gaylee,
Speaker 3: David Frat, Dave Frost, and our catcher is Fernando Lunar
Speaker 3: because that is moon related and the moon kind of
Speaker 3: controls the weather on Earth. I still don't know how
Speaker 3: that works, Jeff, I was never any good at that
Speaker 3: stuff college or in high school. But that's the All
Speaker 3: Weather team. What do you think?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I only learned about the moon affecting the waves
Speaker 1: from that great movie Bruce Almighty.
Speaker 2: You remember when he.
Speaker 1: Pulled the moon in to be romantic, and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden there was a tsunami across the world
Speaker 1: or something like that. Yeah, that's how I made that connection. Well,
Speaker 1: the All Weather Team Dad is fantastic. And we have
Speaker 1: to give a shout out to our friends at Billy
Speaker 1: Ball who shared our all Thanksgiving Team Dad on their
Speaker 1: They have an email that goes out, billy Ball is
Speaker 1: so fantastic, and Bill Chuck puts it together and he
Speaker 1: shared Dad our Thanksgiving or your Thanksgiving team Tim, which
Speaker 1: was really cool. So Bill Chuck fan of the show
Speaker 1: but also a huge baseball fan, and Billy Ball Dad
Speaker 1: is right up your alley.
Speaker 3: Right, Absolutely, Billy Ball is great. You should subscribe. Bill
Speaker 3: Chuck knows more about baseball than almost anyone I've ever met,
Speaker 3: and he's got a good sense of humor to go
Speaker 3: with it.
Speaker 1: All right, Dad, Well, on this state in Baseball History,
Speaker 1: I have a bunch, but I know you have one
Speaker 1: you want to start with, right.
Speaker 3: No, No, you're going to do the whole thing by yourself, Jeff,
Speaker 3: all right, I'm interested to see what you came up with.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, we're going to start.
Speaker 1: In nineteen forty one, on this State in Baseball History,
Speaker 1: New York Giants named mel Ott as player manager who
Speaker 1: replaced another future Baseball Hall of Famer. Do you remember
Speaker 1: who dad as the giant who heads the Giants farm system,
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer Bill Terry, Bill.
Speaker 3: Terry, Yes, yes, yes, Bill Terry was a great hitting
Speaker 3: first baseman and a great defensive first baseman.
Speaker 1: Did Bill Terry make it onto our two first names list?
Speaker 2: He had to?
Speaker 3: I think he did. I think mel Ott is on
Speaker 3: our all short team because he was five foot nine,
Speaker 3: so we did five to nine and under that over
Speaker 3: five hundred homers at at five to nine. Pretty darn
Speaker 3: good by Melott. Not as short as Hack Wilson five
Speaker 3: foot six, but Melott, yes, on a lot of teams. Okay,
Speaker 3: who else? You got? What else?
Speaker 1: Fernando Valenzuela became the third consecutive Dodgers pitcher to win
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year or player, I should say, because
Speaker 1: they had Rick Suttcliffe in seventy nine, Steve Howell in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty and the nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 2: Fernando Valenzuela wins.
Speaker 3: It, right, And remember it was an injury to Jerry
Speaker 3: Royce that got Fernando Valenzuela into the rotation to start
Speaker 3: the season, and the first eight starts that year, Jeff
Speaker 3: were arguably the first, the greatest eight starts that anybody
Speaker 3: has made, certainly in my lifetime. It was unbelievable what
Speaker 3: Fernando Mania became in Los Angeles. The whole Mexican community
Speaker 3: was behind him. Every Dodger loved him. He was he
Speaker 3: was charismatic, he had great stuff through a screwball. Just
Speaker 3: go back and look at those first eight or nine
Speaker 3: starts in nineteen eighty one, just unprecedent. And of course
Speaker 3: the Dodgers won the World Series that year and Lee
Speaker 3: the way it was a rookie pitcher, Fernando Valenzuale. Dad.
Speaker 1: I have a couple of non baseball related on this states.
Speaker 3: Are you ready for sure?
Speaker 1: Nineteen eighty eight The Naked Gun movie premiere.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, love the Naked Gun Movie. I told you
Speaker 3: the story our pal Steve Russian, who's been on the
Speaker 3: podcast twice, once the first year, once the second year.
Speaker 3: He was in with doing a story on Sparky Anderson
Speaker 3: when Sparky Anderson was the manager of the Tigers, and
Speaker 3: it was right about the time that The Naked Gun
Speaker 3: came out. So Steve Russian is in there talking to
Speaker 3: Sparky and Sparky starts to imitate in his office Leslie
Speaker 3: Nielsen as the home plane umpire calling a strike, and
Speaker 3: then as soon as he sees what he plays it up.
Speaker 3: People really enjoy it, so they're Sparky Anderson doing the
Speaker 3: Leslie Nielsen impersonation. Yes, that was a really fun movie.
Speaker 3: I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: Dad, I just watched on the plane ride back from
Speaker 1: our trip. I watched the new Naked Gun movie with
Speaker 1: Liam Neeson that just came out, and you have to
Speaker 1: watch it, Dad. It is so good and so stupid
Speaker 1: in the best form of that word. My favorite one,
Speaker 1: I mean, there's so many good lines, but my favorite
Speaker 1: one was when the bad guy offers Liam Neeson a
Speaker 1: cigar and he looks at him and he goes, he
Speaker 1: holds it up and he goes cigar and Liam Neeson says,
Speaker 1: yes it is, Yeah, so nice.
Speaker 3: It's all from Airplane. That's where it all came from.
Speaker 3: Spinoff from Airplane, Naked Gun all that those guys were
Speaker 3: incredibly fine.
Speaker 1: Not specific to baseball, Dad, but in the same year
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight, ESPN aired its ten thousandth edition of SportsCenter,
Speaker 1: making it the most televised cable program in history back
Speaker 1: in ninete nineteen eighty eight.
Speaker 3: Right, I started there in nineteen ninety eight, and I well,
Speaker 3: I know I had more hits than Ty Cobb in
Speaker 3: all my time at ESPN, because there was a time
Speaker 3: there Jeff one December during the winter meetings around that time,
Speaker 3: before and after I went on television. I'm not bragging
Speaker 3: about this. This was amazing. Twenty five straight days in
Speaker 3: the month of December. In December, twenty five straight days
Speaker 3: we had a baseball report of some sort on ESPN
Speaker 3: because there was so much stuff going on, trades, free
Speaker 3: agent signings. Those were the days when boy ESPN did
Speaker 3: baseball exceptionally.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, and Dad, and take us back.
Speaker 1: I know you've told us the Billy Crystal host Sports
Speaker 1: Center story before a couple times on the podcast. But
Speaker 1: take us back to those great Sports Center days with
Speaker 1: you know, with Stuart Scott, or with Scott Van Pelt,
Speaker 1: or tell us another story of those days of making
Speaker 1: an appearance at that time.
Speaker 3: Well, Jeff, show you how much ESPN has grown. When
Speaker 3: I first got there in ninety eight, we had one
Speaker 3: studio and in the same studio and a very small
Speaker 3: studio was the Dan was Sports Center with Dan Patrick
Speaker 3: and Keith Oberman and others, and like, literally ten feet
Speaker 3: away is the Baseball Tonight set with Harold Reynolds, Karl
Speaker 3: Ravitch and myself and Dan Patrick would finish Sports Center
Speaker 3: by saying, and now let's throw it over to the
Speaker 3: guys in Baseball Tonight, and we were literally ten feet away.
Speaker 2: We would roll the cameras over right, the same camera.
Speaker 3: They just same cameras, just turned around and shot us. Now,
Speaker 3: every show in the building has our own studio, including
Speaker 3: Baseball Tonight. But back then, that's how it worked. That's
Speaker 3: how small the place was when I got there in
Speaker 3: ninety eight. He would just throw it to us and
Speaker 3: they just turn the cameras around and pow. Baseball Tonight
Speaker 3: was on midnight.
Speaker 1: Incredible well and last, but certainly not at least on
Speaker 1: this state. In back to baseball history, Dad, Cincinnati Red's
Speaker 1: first baseman Joey Vado won the Tip O'Neill Award as
Speaker 1: the best Canadian MLB player for the sixth time in
Speaker 1: seven years.
Speaker 2: That's pretty incredible.
Speaker 3: Right, Joey Vado was a great Major League player. I
Speaker 3: think he's going to be a Hall of Famer. You
Speaker 3: look at that career on base percentage, it is historically high. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and I always enjoyed being around him and watching him play.
Speaker 3: And by the way, Jeff, he has the most home
Speaker 3: runs of anyone with last name starts with a V.
Speaker 3: He passed Greg Vond with his final home run that
Speaker 3: he hit in the Major League, so he and Greg
Speaker 3: Vond were tied, and then Vado hit one more and
Speaker 3: ended up with more than anyone in the history of
Speaker 3: baseball whose last name starts with the V. Of course,
Speaker 3: he didn't know that, does he care about that, But
Speaker 3: dopes like me do, so it's all good.
Speaker 1: We'll have to bring a lot of the podcasts to
Speaker 1: tell him all about it, because.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, he would be a great guest.
Speaker 1: All right, Dad, let's wrap up today's show with three
Speaker 1: cards in the bathroom. You've gone down to the basement
Speaker 1: bathroom decorated with baseball cards, not only paper macheade on
Speaker 1: the great mirror there, but also all across and baseball
Speaker 1: gloves and everything.
Speaker 2: Who did you grab?
Speaker 3: What do you got? Right? Well, first one I came
Speaker 3: up with was Floyd Banister, who was a very good
Speaker 3: major league pitcher and a great pitcher collegiately and he
Speaker 3: had a very good career. And his son, Brian Banister,
Speaker 3: pitched in the major leagues. And you know how much
Speaker 3: I love those starting pitcher matchups, you know, Mike Mason
Speaker 3: against Ken Dixon, the Mason Dixon matchup. You know, yeah,
Speaker 3: how much I love those. So Floyd Banister's son, Brian
Speaker 3: Banister was facing Gavin Floyd. So the pitching matchup was
Speaker 3: Floyd Banister and Floyd Banister's son was pitching in the games.
Speaker 3: We got such a and I told Floyd Banister that story,
Speaker 3: and he actually knew that. I had reported that thinking
Speaker 3: this is the dubbest thing I've ever heard, But he
Speaker 3: loved it just because his son was involved in the equation.
Speaker 3: So yes, Floyd Banister, that was the first one. Let's
Speaker 3: see if you could remember this one, Jeff, I know
Speaker 3: I've used this before. Vance Law. Now, Vance Law has
Speaker 3: been on the All Courtroom team, you know, with Aaron
Speaker 3: Judge and you know Al Chambers and all those guys.
Speaker 3: Johnny Bench, you've heard that one. But what is vance
Speaker 3: Law's name? We had fun with his Law and Orda, right,
Speaker 3: George Orda was the second baseman and Vance Law was
Speaker 3: the shortstop for the White Sox briefly and the double
Speaker 3: play combination was Law and Order. How about that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I just wish the baseman had a
Speaker 1: last name that could fit too. Varren Judge played then
Speaker 1: and was the first baseman. You probably would have absolutely
Speaker 1: lost your mind.
Speaker 3: Right Law Order Judge? Oh god, it would have been
Speaker 3: so good. All right, last one. Jeff is one of
Speaker 3: my favorite players. Tom Candiotti and speaking about Billy Crystal,
Speaker 3: I know I've told you this story before, but you're
Speaker 3: going to hear it again. So Tom Candiati, Billy Crystal
Speaker 3: makes a movie sixty one. It's a great movie. If
Speaker 3: you haven't seen it, I mean it's been out for years.
Speaker 3: It's great. The level of detail was amazing. So Billy Crystal,
Speaker 3: who loves the Yankees, loves baseball and really understands it,
Speaker 3: needs someone to play Hoite Wilhelm in the movie sixty one.
Speaker 3: So Tom Candiotti, knuckleball pitcher like White Wilhelm, had just
Speaker 3: been released and he was angry that he didn't get
Speaker 3: another job in the big leagues and it's like spring training.
Speaker 3: So Billy Crystal calls him and says, Tom, we need
Speaker 3: you to play Wait Wilhelm in the movie. So he says,
Speaker 3: of course, I'd love to. So they get him out
Speaker 3: there and Billy Crystal told him, now, look, Tom, this
Speaker 3: is a very authentic movie. We want you to throw
Speaker 3: your best knuckleball. Okay, no matter what, you throw your
Speaker 3: best knuckleball. So Tom Katiotti goes out there. He's only
Speaker 3: like in one scene where he's pitching to Roger Merris.
Speaker 3: All right, Tommy Jane, I think played or Barry Pepper.
Speaker 3: One of those two I should know played Roger Merris. Okay,
Speaker 3: so I think it was Barry Pepper. Okay. So he
Speaker 3: throws the pitch and of course Barry Pepper can't hit
Speaker 3: it at all. And then he throws fifty knuckleballs and
Speaker 3: Barry Pepper can't hit it because no one else could
Speaker 3: hit it either. Jeff, you couldn't hit it. I couldn't
Speaker 3: hit it. Ninety percent of the big leaguers couldn't hit it.
Speaker 3: So I'm not being critical of an actor who couldn't
Speaker 3: hit it. So finally Billy Crystal has to run out
Speaker 3: to the mound and he says, Tom, we have problem here.
Speaker 3: It's called videotape. We're gonna be here all day. Don't
Speaker 3: throw your best knuckleball down. Throw something that Barry Pepper
Speaker 3: can hit. Okay, So Tom has to slow down the knuckleball,
Speaker 3: and when he slows it down, he loses control of
Speaker 3: one and he hits Barry Pepper like in the back,
Speaker 3: and Barry Pepper goes down like a second and the
Speaker 3: entire cast and crew comes running out thinking that Tom
Speaker 3: Candiotty just killed the star of the movie. So Tom
Speaker 3: walks to home plate because the pitch had been thrown
Speaker 3: like fifty miles an hour, so and it's still hurt.
Speaker 3: Don't don't think fifty miles an hour wouldn't hurt. It hurt.
Speaker 3: But he's lying in the dirt and Barry Pepper looks
Speaker 3: up at Tom Candiotti and says, I should get up now,
Speaker 3: shouldn't I? And Tom Candiotty goes, yes, that was fifty
Speaker 3: miles an hour. You should get up now. So it's great.
Speaker 3: So Tom Candiotti Hoyt Willhelm in that movie, and he
Speaker 3: told me years ago he still gets royalty checks from
Speaker 3: the movie. And he said, I got a royalty check
Speaker 3: the other day for eighty seven cents.
Speaker 2: That's we're going shop, right.
Speaker 3: I'm sure he got a lot of much bigger royalty checks.
Speaker 3: But that's my Tom Candiotti story. Really good major league pitcher,
Speaker 3: very good knuckleball pitcher, and he appeared in sixty one
Speaker 3: as Hot Wilhelm.
Speaker 2: Do you know my fun fact about Tom Candiotti?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: Is this how you feel all the time.
Speaker 1: Knowing something about baseball that nobody else knows? I mean,
Speaker 1: can I just can I just take this moment in
Speaker 1: for a second.
Speaker 3: Riley, get to the point. What's the question?
Speaker 2: National Treasure Reference.
Speaker 1: Tom Candiotti has the highest career war for a pitcher
Speaker 1: without having an All Star selection?
Speaker 3: Is that right?
Speaker 2: It is right? It is true. I confirmed it.
Speaker 1: I knew, I knew had that factoid in there, and
Speaker 1: I just confirmed it on the internet while you were
Speaker 1: telling your Tom Candiotty story.
Speaker 2: Yes, it is true.
Speaker 3: All right, we're going to do for one of the
Speaker 3: team Tim's as we move ahead, the all team of
Speaker 3: guys who never made an All Star team and had
Speaker 3: really good career Kirk Gibson, Tim Salmon, Jan Pierre, Tom Candyaty.
Speaker 1: Tom Salmon has the third highest WAR of any player,
Speaker 1: Tom Candyotty being two. Tim Salmon has the third highest.
Speaker 1: Tom Candiotti is two. But he's the highest pitcher, number one,
Speaker 1: highest career war without an All Star selection.
Speaker 3: Kirk Gibson.
Speaker 1: Kirk Gibson is five. Tony Phillips really number.
Speaker 3: One, so interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And then rounding out the top five at four
Speaker 1: is Danny Darwin. Kirk Gibson, as you mentioned, is five.
Speaker 1: How crazy is that?
Speaker 3: Dad? That is so cool? That is so great? Yeah?
Speaker 1: All right, well, Dad, I mean, I just we have
Speaker 1: to end on a high note with me showing up
Speaker 1: one of the world's best baseball experts.
Speaker 3: Jev. I'm really proud of you. You the research you've
Speaker 3: done over the years has been very impressive. I'm really
Speaker 3: it's really good how you are. I don't want you
Speaker 3: to be like me, because this is pathetic to be
Speaker 3: like me, But you're really picking up some good stuff here, Jim.
Speaker 3: Pretty soon I'm going to be just as good at
Speaker 3: country music as I'll never be any good.
Speaker 1: I was good to say you didn't keep pumping my
Speaker 1: tires anytime you want, Dad.
Speaker 3: That felt great.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, next week we're gonna have the results
Speaker 1: from that very important Hall of Fame ballot.
Speaker 2: We'll be back with.
Speaker 1: You on Tuesday, and then at the end of this month,
Speaker 1: we have a little special surprise for everybody who has
Speaker 1: been listening for the last couple of years.
Speaker 2: Wait to share that with you as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Jeff, I have to go because I have
Speaker 3: to put a car seat back in my car to
Speaker 3: go pick up Emma and Carson at preschool. Do you
Speaker 3: know how hard it is to put a car seat
Speaker 3: in a car? I mean, seriously, I know it has
Speaker 3: to be secure, but does it have to be that difficult?
Speaker 3: I have ten minutes to figure out how to get
Speaker 3: this thing in there. I don't think I'm going to
Speaker 3: make it, and I don't have anyone to help me.
Speaker 2: Definitely not going to make it.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you right now, hell on earth is
Speaker 1: putting a car seat in a car, or taking one
Speaker 1: out in the summer.
Speaker 2: That is hell on Earth.
Speaker 1: I had to take one out of my car Dad,
Speaker 1: before our Florida trip, because we took that one with
Speaker 1: us and it was.
Speaker 2: Thirty five degrees outside.
Speaker 1: Dad, and I was sweating perfusely because I couldn't get
Speaker 1: it out.
Speaker 3: Jeff, stop talking. I have to go do this now.
Speaker 3: I am in charge of picking up the children at preschool,
Speaker 3: and I got to I gotta get a car seat
Speaker 3: in right now.
Speaker 1: Wish me luck, good luck, Thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 1: As always, thanks for being a part of our family.
Speaker 2: Go Pop Pop, Go Go