Speaker 1: Is this a great game or what with the Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer Tim Kirkshin. I'm his son, Jeff Kirkshon and Dad.
Speaker 1: It is Super Bowl week. It's an exciting time. I'm
Speaker 1: already dusting off my Buffalo chicken dip recipe for a
Speaker 1: party I'm going to this Sunday.
Speaker 2: I cannot wait. Hopefully snow gets clear.
Speaker 1: It's still freezing over here on the East Coast for
Speaker 1: people to get around safely. It's unbelievable how much snow
Speaker 1: and how cold it still is.
Speaker 3: Right Jeff, I had someone at a birthday party tell
Speaker 3: me the other day that he thinks the snow will
Speaker 3: be here until the start of the Olympics, which is
Speaker 3: February the sixth.
Speaker 4: Jeff I told him it's going to.
Speaker 3: Be here to the start of the baseball season, which
Speaker 3: is March twenty seventh. I mean, there is no end
Speaker 3: in sight here. The high school, the public school kids
Speaker 3: in our neighborhood where you went to school, we're out
Speaker 3: of school for six straight days. They might go back
Speaker 3: today Tuesday, but on Monday they made six straight school
Speaker 3: days out and the roads are clear, but there's so
Speaker 3: much ice and snow built up that entire lanes have
Speaker 3: not been completely shoveled off.
Speaker 4: And I guess it makes it dangerous.
Speaker 3: I don't think we're going to see grass in the
Speaker 3: state of Maryland until March. I really believe that. That's
Speaker 3: how cold it still is.
Speaker 1: And it's so bad, Dad, that my wife Emily just
Speaker 1: instructed me to shovel our grass so that the dog
Speaker 1: has a place to go pee.
Speaker 2: I'm not kidding.
Speaker 1: She was like, can you shovel a strip of grass
Speaker 1: out so he can go pea somewhere? Because he's been
Speaker 1: peeing on concrete and asphalt for the last week and
Speaker 1: a half and it's getting to the point where it
Speaker 1: rolls down the asphalt onto his paws, and the kind
Speaker 1: of clean his paws. He's pooping in the middle of
Speaker 1: the road, Dad, I mean, dog owners out there are
Speaker 1: going nuts.
Speaker 4: Me as well, Jeff.
Speaker 3: I have a dog also, Rex. He's pooping all over
Speaker 3: the place, but not at least not in the house.
Speaker 3: But you know, these are desperate times. They call for
Speaker 3: desperate measures. If you have to poop on the top
Speaker 3: of some snow, that's sorry. Just the way it works.
Speaker 1: It's just the way I mean. He doesn't even want
Speaker 1: to go in the snow. And my male dog, Ranger
Speaker 1: pee is like a girl dog, so he doesn't lift
Speaker 1: a leg, so he could pee on a little snow mountain,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't know how to. I think he was
Speaker 1: raised by female dogs and so he has to pee
Speaker 1: like a girl dog. And then he doesn't like his
Speaker 1: you know what, touching the snow. It's a whole thing, right,
Speaker 1: it's driving me nuts. So I'm gonna go after this
Speaker 1: podcast shovel snow off of a grass yard, right, but
Speaker 1: I'm trying to tear up all the grass.
Speaker 3: Sure I've ever heard that sentence before, go shovel the grass?
Speaker 2: Right, shovel? Can you shovel your front yard for me?
Speaker 1: So that's what's going on in our Kirkston household, Dad.
Speaker 1: And it was funny because just the other day we
Speaker 1: were on a phone call with the incredible gentleman of
Speaker 1: the Saber chapter in Las Vegas, that of which we
Speaker 1: could not at all talk about the snow because they
Speaker 1: have no relation because the storm that's hit the east coast.
Speaker 1: How great was that time with them.
Speaker 3: Right, and remember the name of the chapter, Jeff the
Speaker 3: Maddox brothers, Right.
Speaker 4: It was so good. We talked about Mike Maddox.
Speaker 3: We talked about Greg Mannox, baseball in Las Vegas and
Speaker 3: baseball all over the place. Jeff, you were the youngest
Speaker 3: guy there for sure. By how many years would you say?
Speaker 1: I don't know. There was a gentleman, if I caught
Speaker 1: his name properly, I think it was Brody sitting in
Speaker 1: the front right. He didn't ask any questions, but he
Speaker 1: seemed he seemed right around my age. But yes, a
Speaker 1: majority of the gentlemen were a little closer to your generation.
Speaker 2: I'm might say. Let's let's just say there was a
Speaker 2: lot of four oh.
Speaker 1: One k money probably in this in this meeting, but
Speaker 1: they were all really great guys, right.
Speaker 3: There was a lot of talk about Ted Williams and
Speaker 3: Babe Ruth agreed.
Speaker 1: Well, there is a couple of jokes that that you
Speaker 1: landed really great with the crowd that I mean went
Speaker 1: way over my already really low to the ground head,
Speaker 1: I mean five foot six, but they were they were
Speaker 1: flying right over me. I had some references to players, and.
Speaker 4: Well, they got it. That's all that mattered.
Speaker 2: They got it.
Speaker 4: There was SABER.
Speaker 3: SABER is a society of American Baseball Research, and you know,
Speaker 3: I pop your grandfather.
Speaker 4: My dad was a proud member, you know. Big.
Speaker 3: My dad was a PhD in mathematics, loved baseball, so
Speaker 3: he combined the two. So he got me involved. I've
Speaker 3: been a member for years and years. Those people are
Speaker 3: out of their minds, Jeff, and that is a compliment
Speaker 3: because they love the game that much. So when you
Speaker 3: you really need to know the deep inside story about
Speaker 3: the history of the game, you should read things that
Speaker 3: are on Saber because it's just amazing.
Speaker 1: Well, Dad, before we get into baseball, the Grammys were
Speaker 1: this past Sunday night, and as a morning show host
Speaker 1: for a country music station in Philadelphia ninety two five XCU,
Speaker 1: I watch the Grammys, right, I have to. It's part
Speaker 1: of my job because we're going to talk about it now.
Speaker 1: Country music isn't necessarily the biggest thing at the Grammys, right.
Speaker 1: There's plenty of other country music specific award shows that
Speaker 1: obviously are a little bit more up my alley. But nonetheless,
Speaker 1: I came up with a game to play with you
Speaker 1: called Grammy Artist or Farce. Okay, So, Dad, the way
Speaker 1: it works is I'm gonna name something.
Speaker 2: You have to tell me whether it's a Grammy nominated
Speaker 2: or Grammy winning.
Speaker 1: Artist, or if it's if it's if it's farce, if
Speaker 1: it's a fake that I'm trying to trick you with.
Speaker 3: Guys, I saw one of the the other day and
Speaker 3: it was is this a prescription medicine or is it
Speaker 3: a Pokemon character? That was an interesting juxtaposition, those two
Speaker 3: right next to each other. By the way, Carson, your
Speaker 3: godson just turned five. He loves Pokemon. So we were
Speaker 3: over there for a party the other day and the
Speaker 3: hour half an hour before the party was watching Pokemon.
Speaker 3: You love that too, when you've grown up, right, If.
Speaker 1: You or mom find my Pokemon cards, do not give them.
Speaker 2: To my nephew, Do not open them.
Speaker 1: Do not do anything with them, Dad, because if there
Speaker 1: are cards in there that, by the way, are worth
Speaker 1: a lot of money, because that generation of me growing
Speaker 1: up collecting cards, those cards now are selling for I'm
Speaker 1: not kidding, thousands and thousands of dollars.
Speaker 2: Do not give them to Carson to play with. Give
Speaker 2: them to me.
Speaker 1: I will shop them and I will set that kit
Speaker 1: up for life. I'll buy his first house with those
Speaker 1: Pokemon cards. But seemingly we can't seem to find my
Speaker 1: binder of Pokemon cards.
Speaker 3: Well you don't know this yet, Jeff, but I found
Speaker 3: them and I've already turned him in. I got one
Speaker 3: point two million dollars for those cards.
Speaker 2: Oh, I would be so upset.
Speaker 3: Right, there's a giant box in your closet here at home, Jeff.
Speaker 3: It says baseball cards on it. It could be Pokemon.
Speaker 1: Cards, it could be. But right next to it is
Speaker 1: my karate belts. And I'll tell you those are worth nothing.
Speaker 3: They weren't worth anything at the time, Jeff.
Speaker 2: Right, Jeff, No, they weren't.
Speaker 3: Jeff famously broke a board there without hitting it. The
Speaker 3: instructor broke the board when Jeffrey was about eight.
Speaker 4: Great job.
Speaker 3: The guy broke the board for you so you would
Speaker 3: join up for the next year, so we could spend
Speaker 3: some more money on you, being one of the worst
Speaker 3: martial artists I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and yet we still went out for ice scream
Speaker 1: to celebrate my board breaking.
Speaker 2: And you never told me to teenage.
Speaker 3: Right next to basket robins. What a great idea, Yeah.
Speaker 2: What a great idea. Okay, well let's get back to
Speaker 2: my grammy game. Are ready?
Speaker 4: Yes, I'm gonna give you. I don't know anything about music.
Speaker 2: You know that you're gonna do fine where you're gonna
Speaker 2: do fine.
Speaker 1: Okay, So these are Grammy nominated artists. Okay, you tell
Speaker 1: me if they if it's right or wrong. Okay, well
Speaker 1: we'll start easy, all right, let's go with Kendrick Lamar.
Speaker 4: All right, Definitely a singer is.
Speaker 2: A Grammy nominated artist?
Speaker 1: Ding?
Speaker 2: That is correct? Okay, Next one, Patagonia.
Speaker 4: Definitely not a singer. That is stepped.
Speaker 3: What was the alternative singer or what it was?
Speaker 1: Just artists or farce to rhyme. Yeah, it's a farce. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's correct. Okay, funko pop.
Speaker 4: That's a farce.
Speaker 3: You can't have a name of funk o pop.
Speaker 1: Pop is a collectible toy. It's a far sure, right,
Speaker 1: you're thank you, right, Okay, what about let's see I
Speaker 1: have it down here?
Speaker 2: Okay. What what about the Thundercat.
Speaker 4: Uh, that's a farce.
Speaker 2: Grammy nominated artist Thundercat.
Speaker 4: Wow?
Speaker 1: What about King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard fars Nope,
Speaker 1: also a Grammy nominated artist. Yes, we're going back in
Speaker 1: time here to find the best ones. All right, next
Speaker 1: one for you five guys, uh Grammys, No, that's the
Speaker 1: restaurant chain you're thinking of, Dad, fars okay ours?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And then what about Minecraft?
Speaker 4: That is a farce.
Speaker 2: That is a farce. It is a video game. Dad,
Speaker 2: you did better than I expected.
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm surprised you didn't bring up Pitbull. I would
Speaker 3: have gotten that one right.
Speaker 2: What about Doci?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 4: Doci is a Grammy nominated artist, Grammy winner.
Speaker 1: You're absolutely right, Dad, way to go. I know you're
Speaker 1: a big fan of her album.
Speaker 3: That one, Oh God, so bad, Jeff. That time I
Speaker 3: met Pitbull at the All Star Game was one of
Speaker 3: the worst things ever.
Speaker 4: Ad Nan Burk. I'm going to tell the story again.
Speaker 3: Ad Nan Urke brings Pitbull over to me and says,
Speaker 3: it says to pit Bull, before you bring your biggest
Speaker 3: fan ever is right over here.
Speaker 4: You got to go meet him.
Speaker 3: And overcomes Pitbull and I have no idea who he is,
Speaker 3: and he gives me this complicated handshake which I couldn't
Speaker 3: even figure out. And uh, the next day because it
Speaker 3: went out there because ad Nan sent it out. Me
Speaker 3: meeting Pitbull. Thank god he didn't ask me, what's your
Speaker 3: favorite song? The next day I told you this jet
Speaker 3: Mike Trout, who at the time, was the best player
Speaker 3: in baseball? Saw me on the field and said, and
Speaker 3: with such reverence, it was unbelievable. He said, I can't
Speaker 3: believe you met Pitbull.
Speaker 4: Tell me what it was like.
Speaker 3: Tell me what was like to stand right next to him, thinking,
Speaker 3: this is Mike Trout. He's the Beatles come back to life. Here,
Speaker 3: he's Elvis come back to life. And he's asking about
Speaker 3: my encounter with Pitbull.
Speaker 4: Was he that big at the time?
Speaker 1: Oh, Dad, Yes, I mean he's massive, and you were
Speaker 1: talking to mister three oh five.
Speaker 2: Okay, and three oh five. I mean that would be
Speaker 2: a good batting.
Speaker 1: Average for a season, right, mister three oh five, don't
Speaker 1: you think right?
Speaker 3: I nicknamed myself mister three oh one after that day
Speaker 3: because I figured it was very symmetrical. Never mind Pitbull,
Speaker 3: ad Nan, that was so bad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you could call Mike Trout mister three
Speaker 1: twenty six when he won Rookie of the Year batting
Speaker 1: three twenty five.
Speaker 2: That's really what you gotta be calling.
Speaker 3: Mike Drout was great, but he was truly truly impressed
Speaker 3: that I had met Pitbull.
Speaker 1: Wow, all right, Dad, takeaways?
Speaker 2: What do you have for us?
Speaker 3: Well as we get closer to spring training, we had
Speaker 3: a couple of one year signings. Haanio Suarez, who hit
Speaker 3: forty nine home runs last year with the Diamondbacks and
Speaker 3: Mariners combined, has signed with the Reds. Of course, he
Speaker 3: used to play for the Reds. Reds were a playoff
Speaker 3: team last year. He definitely needed some punch somewhere in
Speaker 3: that order, and he's going to provide it. He's going
Speaker 3: to strike out a lot, low batting average, but a
Speaker 3: great teammate, a bet he's gotten much better defensively. And
Speaker 3: Jeff forty nine homers, three hundred and twenty five homers
Speaker 3: in his career.
Speaker 4: He's thirty four years old.
Speaker 3: He's gonna hit forty more this year, especially playing in
Speaker 3: that ballpark. And the other is Willis Arise, a lifetime
Speaker 3: Jeff three seventeen hitter, got a one year deal from
Speaker 3: the Giant. So here's a guy with a three seventeen
Speaker 3: average and another with forty nine homers. Luise Rise won
Speaker 3: three batting titles and just got a one year deal
Speaker 3: from the Giant.
Speaker 4: So just shows you it's tough some days.
Speaker 3: It's tough being a free agent if you're not the
Speaker 3: biggest name out there or at the perfect age.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Dad, Luisa, rise to me is such a question mark.
Speaker 2: I mean, the guy gets on base.
Speaker 1: He batted three point fifty four in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: How is he only knocking out these one year deals?
Speaker 1: Like why is nobody locking him down?
Speaker 3: Well again, in today's day and age, Jeff, he just
Speaker 3: doesn't have the same value. He doesn't hit home runs,
Speaker 3: he's not a plus defender, he doesn't run particularly well.
Speaker 3: His on base percentage is good, but it's not great
Speaker 3: for a three seventeen, and he doesn't walk very often.
Speaker 3: But I can tell you when he went to the padres,
Speaker 3: every one of those guys.
Speaker 4: Just war By, you know what.
Speaker 3: He brought just an attack mode to the plate, like
Speaker 3: I'm going to get hits today, We're going to put
Speaker 3: the ball in play. They followed him and it really worked.
Speaker 4: But in this day and.
Speaker 3: Age, it doesn't work nearly as much as it did, say,
Speaker 3: thirty years ago. Now, obviously the job is to hit.
Speaker 4: The ball out of the ballpark. Right.
Speaker 1: Well, those are some big, big signings, Dad, and I
Speaker 1: know there's still a couple free agents to fall, But
Speaker 1: do you have a countdown of when do pitchers and
Speaker 1: catchers report because everybody.
Speaker 2: I mean February, Dad.
Speaker 1: We have we have baseball this month. Shout out Bill
Speaker 1: Chuck sending out his email for Billy Ball, he said, February,
Speaker 1: we have baseball this month. I mean it's February third
Speaker 1: on the release state, Dad, are we you know?
Speaker 2: February tenth, eleventh, twelfth? Is that one catch a week?
Speaker 4: Roughly a week away.
Speaker 3: We're going to get rid of the super Bowl first,
Speaker 3: then everything changes after that. It's just hard to consider
Speaker 3: the spring training, JEF. When it's it was four degrees
Speaker 3: outside this morning when I walked the dog.
Speaker 4: Boy, that was bad.
Speaker 3: And yesterday I was outside in the wind for about
Speaker 3: two hours. I'm not sure I've been that cold anytime recently.
Speaker 4: It was really bad. But we're all good now.
Speaker 1: On this date in baseball history, Dad, February the third,
Speaker 1: what do you have?
Speaker 3: Well, one of my favorite baseball names of all time
Speaker 3: is Bake McBride. Bake McBride was a really good hitter
Speaker 3: for the Phillies and the.
Speaker 4: Cardinals and some others. He could really fly.
Speaker 3: He was born on this date in nineteen forty nine.
Speaker 3: And you have something to tee up.
Speaker 1: For us, right, Dad, Aaron Boone, the manager of the
Speaker 1: New York Yankees. Obviously you two worked together at ESPN
Speaker 1: for years, and in that time you were very very
Speaker 1: close to each other. Now, obviously given his position and
Speaker 1: your job as a journalist, not saying you guys aren't friends,
Speaker 1: You're still friendly, absolutely, But years ago he sent you
Speaker 1: a me moji which we used when we interviewed him
Speaker 1: back in twenty twenty. Was that twenty twenty four of
Speaker 1: him doing an impression of a of Dan.
Speaker 3: Baker, who does Dan Baker, the PA at the Phillies
Speaker 3: games and has for fifty years. Dan Baker has some
Speaker 3: very recognizable boys. Boonie can do anybody, So play Aaron
Speaker 3: Boone doing Dan Baker for the Phillies. Did Baseman, Mike Schmidt,
Speaker 3: catcher ball Boone.
Speaker 4: Right fielder Baker mecbride.
Speaker 2: Dad.
Speaker 1: This clip has made us laugh so many times.
Speaker 4: It's it's perfect.
Speaker 3: As we know, Boonie can do like any accent, any dialect.
Speaker 3: He can imitate people so well, and he does voices
Speaker 3: and everything else as well as anyone. So I just
Speaker 3: love the bake McBride MacBride right.
Speaker 2: And it's his birthday.
Speaker 4: Dad.
Speaker 1: The first thing you told me was we got to
Speaker 1: play the clip from Boonie and then you had to
Speaker 1: It took us a while to get it sent over
Speaker 1: to me, but we figured it out eventually. And I
Speaker 1: gotta say, his little memoji looks really good. I'll put
Speaker 1: it up on the stream on the YouTube. So if
Speaker 1: you don't follow us on YouTube, great game or what,
Speaker 1: you can actually see Aaron Boone's memoji.
Speaker 3: It's great, right, okay. Also on this date, in nineteen
Speaker 3: fifty two, Freddy Linn was born. Freddy Lynn was the
Speaker 3: rookie of the Year and the MVP in nineteen seventy
Speaker 3: five for the Red Sox. Just came out of USC
Speaker 3: and just took the world by storm, helped get the
Speaker 3: Red Sox to the World Series that year. One of
Speaker 3: my favorite players that I ever covered now when I
Speaker 3: got to cover him every day. He was with the Orioles,
Speaker 3: and he still had those great hands and he could
Speaker 3: still run the ball down in the outfield. But he
Speaker 3: clearly was not the same player in the mid eighties
Speaker 3: as he was in the mid seventies.
Speaker 4: Let's put it that way. But I'll never.
Speaker 3: Forget this, Jeff, I you shouldn't share this, But he
Speaker 3: yelled at me once in the press in the clubhouse,
Speaker 3: he yelled at me over asking him about, you know,
Speaker 3: being injured, and when when do you think we're going
Speaker 3: to be back?
Speaker 4: And I guess I asked.
Speaker 3: Him one too many times and he screamed at me
Speaker 3: and said I'm tired of you asking me when I'm
Speaker 3: going to get back. And it's not like I apologize,
Speaker 3: but I looked at him and then he said, sorry, you.
Speaker 4: Didn't deserve that. You didn't deserve that.
Speaker 3: It just doesn't happen very often that a writer gets
Speaker 3: yelled at by a player, and sometimes deservedly. So I'm
Speaker 3: not saying I didn't deserve that, but he apologized to
Speaker 3: me for yelling at me in the clubhouse in at
Speaker 3: Memorial Stadium, you know, forty years ago almost.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's that was Freddy Lynn for you.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Do I have this right?
Speaker 1: That he's only one of two players to win the
Speaker 1: MVP and the Rookie of the Year in the same
Speaker 1: season him and each year.
Speaker 4: Right, I believe that's true. Yes.
Speaker 1: I just did a quick fact check because I thought
Speaker 1: that was the case, and I did a quick fact
Speaker 1: check and it came up clean.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Echiro Suzuki and fred Land are the only two players
Speaker 1: both did it in the American League, mind you, to
Speaker 1: win the MVP and the Rookie of the Year in
Speaker 1: the same seaies so Freddy Lynn.
Speaker 3: The reason I because Freddy got hurt quite a bit
Speaker 3: and he was a little sensitive to that. But I
Speaker 3: went to him once and I said, Freddie, you know
Speaker 3: you at eighty percent is better than so and so
Speaker 3: we won't use the name here at one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: And he looked at me and he's as humble as
Speaker 3: to get and he goes, yes, I know, but you
Speaker 3: don't understand, and please, He's very humble.
Speaker 4: He said, you don't understand what it's like to be
Speaker 4: like me.
Speaker 3: That if I can't get to that ball on the
Speaker 3: inside part of the plate because my wrist is killing me,
Speaker 3: then it it's hard for me to play when I
Speaker 3: can't do the things that I'm used to doing really
Speaker 3: well because I have a slight hamstring pull. If I
Speaker 3: can't get to that ball in left center field that
Speaker 3: I would normally get to with my eyes closed, he said,
Speaker 3: I just I have a hard time playing when I
Speaker 3: can't be as good as I can be. Do you
Speaker 3: do you understand I understood that. Do you understand that?
Speaker 1: I understand it, but I've never been good enough at
Speaker 1: anything to feel that way.
Speaker 2: But listen, I mean.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty good editing a podcast or editing audio. So
Speaker 1: if you told me there was something hindering me from
Speaker 1: being as fast as I possibly can, Like, remember when
Speaker 1: I needed to buy a brand new laptop in order
Speaker 1: to do my job properly when going to Nashville for
Speaker 1: an award show Dad, that laptop was hindering me from
Speaker 1: doing my work quickly and efficiently. And uh, yeah, so
Speaker 1: I guess I guess as nerdy as that sounds. Yes,
Speaker 1: I can relate to MVP and Rookie of the Year
Speaker 1: Fred Lynn.
Speaker 4: Right, well, very interesting. Okay.
Speaker 3: Also on this date, Jeff in nineteen sixty two. I
Speaker 3: always got a kick out of this. Joe Klink was
Speaker 3: born k L I N K.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 3: When I was growing up, Hogan's Heroes was one of
Speaker 3: my favorite sitcoms, not my all time favorite sitcom.
Speaker 4: But one of my favorites.
Speaker 3: And of course, Colonel Klink was the guy that ran
Speaker 3: the Stalogs Dollarg thirteen. That was where, you know, where
Speaker 3: Hogan's Heroes all operated out of. And I still know
Speaker 3: most of the names of all the people in the show,
Speaker 3: like Richard Dawson, who went on to host you Know,
Speaker 3: Family Feud. He played a guy named Newkirk, and I'd
Speaker 3: be interested to see how many people know what his
Speaker 3: name is. First name is in the show because his
Speaker 3: name is Peter Newkirk. I don't think too many people
Speaker 3: knew that because he goes by Newkirk only in the
Speaker 3: show Carter. Another guy, Larry Hovis played him. His name
Speaker 3: in the show was Andrew Carter.
Speaker 4: So there you go.
Speaker 3: These are little things that dopey me remembers from sixty
Speaker 3: years ago. Does me absolutely no good?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean we could change our names. Dad, I'll
Speaker 1: be new Kirk. You can be old Kirkin.
Speaker 2: What do you think?
Speaker 4: Pretty good, Jeff? Pretty good?
Speaker 3: Boy?
Speaker 4: Pop up is old these days.
Speaker 3: Last week I have been moving furniture, huge boxes of
Speaker 3: stuff and we won't get into that, and shoveling snow
Speaker 3: for the last week. I am absolutely exhausted, but none
Speaker 3: of that matters.
Speaker 4: We got it done. No worries.
Speaker 3: I'd last think, Jeff in this is sad. On this
Speaker 3: date in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: Rich Dower died.
Speaker 3: I covered rich Dower with the Orioles. Rich Dower was
Speaker 3: a great defensive second basement, had a tremendous understanding of
Speaker 3: the game, and he got very sick and died.
Speaker 4: Way ahead of time.
Speaker 3: But I always loved talking baseball with rich Dower. I
Speaker 3: really enjoyed watching him play. And he was also a
Speaker 3: great basketball player, Jeff. Back in the days when teams
Speaker 3: would have like a basketball team for the for the winter,
Speaker 3: you know, Jim Palmer would score thirty eight boys Cal
Speaker 3: Rippins dunk it on people. Rich Daut and Mike Flanniano.
Speaker 3: I told you a million times about rich Dauer was
Speaker 3: one of the best players on those teams. He could
Speaker 3: really really shoot it. So rest in peace. A year
Speaker 3: ago rich.
Speaker 1: Dower, all right, Dad, from Burley to Behemoth. We did
Speaker 1: one through fifty five, and see in last season. Now
Speaker 1: we're doing fifty six through ninety nine. We're on to
Speaker 1: number sixty of the best players to wear each number.
Speaker 2: Who do you got?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 3: And Jeff, I'm going to warrant everyone that once we
Speaker 3: get to the red season, we may have to suspend
Speaker 3: this and go with some more understandable people, because I'm
Speaker 3: not sure I'm up for the greatest. You know, number
Speaker 3: sixty seven of all time, So but at sixty we
Speaker 3: still have a good picture, a very good pitcher. Dallas
Speaker 3: Kikel won one hundred and three games when the cy
Speaker 3: young for the Astros in twenty fifteen and one of
Speaker 3: the best fielding pictures that I've ever seen. So for me,
Speaker 3: the greatest number sixty of all time, Dallas Kikeel and
Speaker 3: Jeff Dallas Kikel leads to.
Speaker 4: Our team, Tim, Do you know what that is?
Speaker 1: I have a very good feeling it has something to
Speaker 1: do with his first name.
Speaker 2: Are we doing American cities?
Speaker 3: Yes, American cities and everyone I'm using here, Jeff is
Speaker 3: a top one hundred at least from Google on American
Speaker 3: cities in population. So I didn't just pick tiny cities.
Speaker 3: These are among every name on here is a top
Speaker 3: one hundred name in baseball, I mean in population in
Speaker 3: the United States. So our catcher, let's see if you
Speaker 3: see how well you do with our catcher, Jeffy had
Speaker 3: a pretty good year last year.
Speaker 4: It's sixty home runs.
Speaker 3: Cal Raley, there you go, okay, very good. Tyler Austin
Speaker 3: at first base, Ray Durham at second base, Scottie Madison
Speaker 3: at third base, Houston, Amenez at shortstop, Darryl Boston in
Speaker 3: the outfield, Claudell.
Speaker 4: Washington's since Washington, d C. Still obviously is the city.
Speaker 3: And David Henderson Henderson, Nevada, right, you lived here there.
Speaker 3: I was surprised to hear there that many people. Henderson,
Speaker 3: Nevada is one of the one hundred biggest cities population
Speaker 3: in the United States.
Speaker 4: Should I not be surprised by that? You should not.
Speaker 1: Be surprised because Las Vegas is like one giant city
Speaker 1: and Henderson is like its own city. Think about how
Speaker 1: big Las Vegas the valley is.
Speaker 2: It's pretty large.
Speaker 1: I'm a little surprised it made top one hundred. I
Speaker 1: bet it's in the eighties or nineties, but it's in there.
Speaker 4: Right, really good. So Dallas Kikeel is one of our pictures.
Speaker 3: And it was painful to leave Dallas Braden off of
Speaker 3: this list. But Dallas Braden isn't the greatest number sixty
Speaker 3: of all time.
Speaker 4: We needed a jumping off point.
Speaker 3: Orlando Hernandez, of course, John Garland, Reggie Cleveland, Brad Lincoln,
Speaker 3: one of the newest pirate pitchers, Bubba Chandler, and Lee Richmond,
Speaker 3: who I did not know this was one of his
Speaker 3: distinctions is he's apparently pitched in the eighteen hundreds. Of course,
Speaker 3: the first left handed pitcher in major league history.
Speaker 4: I hope I have that right.
Speaker 3: I read it on Saber, so he was like the
Speaker 3: first guy who really was a very good pitcher and
Speaker 3: being left handed. You also pitched the first perfect game
Speaker 3: in major league history, Lee Richmond.
Speaker 1: Wow, all right, well, hey, you learned something new every
Speaker 1: day on a disagree.
Speaker 3: Game, and I learned it from Saber, who we again.
Speaker 3: We talked to the guys at the you know, Las Vegas, Saber.
Speaker 3: Those guys were great. We had the best time with
Speaker 3: them talking baseball on a cold Saturday afternoon, and marriage.
Speaker 2: That was so beautiful for them. I'm sure of it.
Speaker 1: All right, Dad, let's wrap up with three cards. In
Speaker 1: the bathroom. This is where you go down to your
Speaker 1: basement bathroom, which is currently quite a treacherous journey to
Speaker 1: get to there. I'm sure, because there's a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff between you and the bathroom.
Speaker 3: Thank you for bringing up such an unpleasant subject. Why
Speaker 3: didn't you give me a good and c and.
Speaker 1: Then that bathroom is decorated all in baseball. I'm shocked
Speaker 1: that hasn't been changed to a decorated in cross stitch
Speaker 1: by now, but none of the you grab some cards
Speaker 1: at random?
Speaker 2: Who are we looking at?
Speaker 1: To right?
Speaker 3: And Jeff, we're going to change this up once the
Speaker 3: regular season begins. We're gonna have uh, We're gonna have
Speaker 3: a new We're gonna have a new feature. It's gonna
Speaker 3: be called Wheel of Kirkchin, not Wheel of Fortune. But
Speaker 3: we're gonna spin a wheel. And however, whoever ends up
Speaker 3: on that wheel, that's who I'm gonna tell a story about.
Speaker 4: Does that makes sense?
Speaker 1: The Wheel of Kirkchin. I'm a big fan of that,
Speaker 1: all right? Can I Can I make a wheel?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 3: I'm counting on you to make it, because you can
Speaker 3: make You could build anything.
Speaker 4: The only thing I could build is a pined with
Speaker 4: Derby car. So you know that.
Speaker 1: Wait, you said the only thing you can build is
Speaker 1: a pine with Derby car.
Speaker 2: That it defied physics.
Speaker 1: It didn't even make it to it slowed down on
Speaker 1: a downhill.
Speaker 3: Right, there were one hundred You know how you remember, Jeff,
Speaker 3: where you were when you get really bad news?
Speaker 4: Get this.
Speaker 3: I was at the a's spring training facility in the
Speaker 3: parking lot in Phoenix. This is how many years ago?
Speaker 3: This is twenty five years ago something like that. Yeah, said,
Speaker 3: we just got the results from the Pinewood Derby. I said,
Speaker 3: how did he do? Because I built the Pinewood Derby car.
Speaker 3: She said he finished one hundred and forty second, I
Speaker 3: said how many kids were in it? She said one
Speaker 3: hundred and forty two. You finished last out of the
Speaker 3: entire Dad.
Speaker 4: So bad, pack.
Speaker 2: That is why.
Speaker 1: That is why Uncle Matt, your amazing brother, the late
Speaker 1: Uncle Matt, then took over after that year.
Speaker 2: So because he had all.
Speaker 4: The toes and everything.
Speaker 1: Next year, you like finished really well, right, we did
Speaker 1: really well when Uncle Matt took over. Dad, You know
Speaker 1: your strengths, Okay, like when you gave that great lesson
Speaker 1: to my cub Scout troop on bird migration.
Speaker 2: Right, know your strengths. That's your speed, right boy?
Speaker 3: That after that speech, you came up to me and said, Dad, God,
Speaker 3: I had no idea you had.
Speaker 4: Knew that much of a migration.
Speaker 3: And I said, Jeffrey, as of this morning, I didn't
Speaker 3: know any of this stuff.
Speaker 4: But I looked it all up and I presented it properly.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 3: Three cards in the bathroom Number one, oh an all
Speaker 3: time favorite, Tim Stoddard. So, Tim Stoddard played for the
Speaker 3: North Carolina State national championship basketball team, and he pitched
Speaker 3: for the Orioles, and I covered him when he pitched
Speaker 3: for the Orioles. So he was like six seven to sixty.
Speaker 3: And I was just telling you, Jeff that, you know,
Speaker 3: the basketball teams that.
Speaker 4: Were there were really good, Like I told you.
Speaker 3: Jim Palmer, Rich Dower, Mike Flanagan, Cal Rippen, those guys
Speaker 3: were really good. But when Tim Stoddard, who played at
Speaker 3: NC State, showed up, it was like a man among boys,
Speaker 3: because not only was he bigger than everyone else, but
Speaker 3: he was a polished college basketball player on a championship
Speaker 3: collegiate team, the NC State Wolfpack.
Speaker 4: Tim Stoddard love It.
Speaker 3: Number two, a personal favorite. I can't believe I have
Speaker 3: this card. This is Jack Lozorko. Now, if anyone remembers
Speaker 3: Jack Lozorko, tip of the cap. But Jack Lozorko was
Speaker 3: very good friends with a buddy of mine, Doug Tornese,
Speaker 3: now the late Doug Tornes. And in spring training of
Speaker 3: eighty two, I'm covering the Rangers and I meet Jack
Speaker 3: Lozorko and Doug calls me to say, Hey, my boy,
Speaker 3: Jake is going to be there. You gotta go say
Speaker 3: hi to him. So I got to know Jack Lozorko
Speaker 3: pretty well. And he's one of the great He didn't
Speaker 3: end up having a very long major league career, but
Speaker 3: he's one of the greatest fielding pitchers I've ever seen,
Speaker 3: even better than Dallas Kichel, who was great. And you
Speaker 3: know why, Jeff, he was a hockey goalie in high
Speaker 3: school and and you know, balls would come shooting up
Speaker 3: the middle against him and he would, you know, kick it,
Speaker 3: he would knock it down with his glove. He would
Speaker 3: catch it because he was a hockey goalie. And then
Speaker 3: he became a major league baseball pitcher.
Speaker 4: Does that Does that add up to you? Well?
Speaker 1: I would think, I mean, obviously, I think he'd be
Speaker 1: a better catcher at that point, being able to block
Speaker 1: the plate and move like that.
Speaker 2: Then to become a pitcher.
Speaker 1: Dad, I looked up Jack Lozorko on Baseball Reference. I
Speaker 1: don't know if this is obscure, but you know, he
Speaker 1: was drafted five times.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he was a great high school player, and this happens, Jeff.
Speaker 3: Guys get drafted and they don't get drafted high enough,
Speaker 3: or they want to go to college, so they go
Speaker 3: to college. I did not know he had been drafted
Speaker 3: five different times, but.
Speaker 1: Yeah, nineteen seventy five in the regular phase of the draft,
Speaker 1: seventy six twice in the regular phase, secondary phase, seventy
Speaker 1: seven in the secondary phase, and then seventy.
Speaker 2: Eight in the amateur draft.
Speaker 1: So I mean he went eighth round, first, first, second, eleventh. Oh,
Speaker 1: I mean kind of crazy when you really think about it.
Speaker 2: Drafted five times.
Speaker 1: He finally said, all right, I'm coming, don't worry about it.
Speaker 3: So good and speaking a good third one Will Clark
Speaker 3: borderline Hall of Famer Will Clark. Will Clark's first major
Speaker 3: league get bat he hit a home run off Nolan Ryan.
Speaker 4: How about that?
Speaker 3: And he's one of the greatest hitters in the history
Speaker 3: of college baseball, at absolute star at Mississippi State. And Jeff,
Speaker 3: that swing that he had, it looked like somebody opening
Speaker 3: up a cape because he had such a high swing
Speaker 3: and a high finish, it looked like someone opening a cape.
Speaker 3: So when he would hit us a home run off
Speaker 3: of somebody with more colorful leg whige, he would say,
Speaker 3: I caped that guy. You know, because that's what he
Speaker 3: used for. I got that guy hit a home run
Speaker 3: off that guy. I took that guy deep. He would say,
Speaker 3: I caped that guy. He was he played with, of course,
Speaker 3: for the Giants and the Orioles and the Rangers and
Speaker 3: a bunch of teams Cardinals.
Speaker 4: He was a really good hitter.
Speaker 3: And I did a game at Candlestick Park where they're
Speaker 3: playing the Cubs, Giants and Cubs in the playoffs, and
Speaker 3: the Cubs brought Mitch Williams into pitch and Kevin Mitchell
Speaker 3: walks to the on deck circle because Will Clark is
Speaker 3: coming to the plate and he says to him, you
Speaker 3: know what you have to do, meaning you got to
Speaker 3: get a hit here, And will Clark just looks at
Speaker 3: Kevin Mitchell and says it's done, and he had a
Speaker 3: line drive up the middle, and the Giants end up
Speaker 3: winning that game. Nobody had more confidence as a hitter
Speaker 3: than Will Clark. And I'm going to try to tell
Speaker 3: this story, even though it's a powerful correctly. Okay, My
Speaker 3: buddy Mike Toomey, one of the great scouts ever, one
Speaker 3: of the great baseball men ever, told me one that
Speaker 3: he went to the movie theater with Will Clark.
Speaker 4: In like rural Virginia ones.
Speaker 3: And they walked in.
Speaker 4: They walked in the movie theater.
Speaker 3: And as soon as Mike and Will Clark walked in,
Speaker 3: Will Clark walked in second.
Speaker 4: He got a standing ovation.
Speaker 3: And Mike Tooby says, look, Will, everybody knows who you are.
Speaker 3: You walk into a movie theater and you got a
Speaker 3: standing ovation. And one of the guys in the movie
Speaker 3: theater said, I don't know who your buddy is, but
Speaker 3: he's the tenth guy who's in the movie theater. And
Speaker 3: we're not allowed to start the movie until ten people's
Speaker 3: So he got a standing ovation, not because he was
Speaker 3: Will Clark, but because he was the tenth guy. And
Speaker 3: now we can start the movie. I don't know who
Speaker 3: your buddy is, but we can start the movie now.
Speaker 4: I hope that story is true.
Speaker 3: I think it's apocryphal, but either way, it's gonna be true.
Speaker 4: It's a great urban legend no matter what.
Speaker 2: That's Will Clark, the tenth Man, the tenth man. There
Speaker 2: we go, good right, all right, dad?
Speaker 1: Well, and next week we're going to be past the
Speaker 1: super Bowl, which is incredible, and we're going to be
Speaker 1: looking at pictures and catchers reporting.
Speaker 2: Within days of next week's episodes.
Speaker 1: So if you haven't done so already, do us the
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Speaker 1: game or what dad? Are you gonna go take the
Speaker 1: dog for a walk.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes I am.
Speaker 3: It's still freezing cold outside, but I gotta do my
Speaker 3: job and I just hope the snow goes away by
Speaker 3: opening day. I'm telling you, Jeff, it's not going to
Speaker 3: be done by gone by March the first.
Speaker 4: I'm sure.
Speaker 2: Well listen before we know it.
Speaker 1: I only live forty five minutes from the Philadelphia Phillies
Speaker 1: Citizens Bank Park. After I shovel my grass, maybe they'll
Speaker 1: ask me to shovel their grass. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening, and as always, thanks for being a part
Speaker 1: of our family.