Latest / Foul Territory / Tim Kurkjian joins Fair Territory: Cal Raleigh's roll, Soaring Brewers, Padres STRONG pen

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Tim Kurkjian joins Fair Territory: Cal Raleigh's roll, Soaring Brewers, Padres STRONG pen · Foul Territory

0:01
Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal.
0:05
Speaker 1: I am your host, Alana Rizzo, and we are pleased
0:09
Speaker 1: and privileged to be joined by Tim Kirchin, twenty twenty
0:12
Speaker 1: two BBWAA Career Excellence Award winner, writer of course, analyst
0:18
Speaker 1: with ESPN, also the host of Is This Game?
0:22
Speaker 2: Is This Great Game?
0:23
Speaker 3: Is this Great Game? Or What?
0:24
Speaker 1: Podcast with his son Jeff Kirchin. I did not say that, well,
0:28
Speaker 1: Tim Kirchin, but this game is great and it's so
0:30
Speaker 1: great to have you on the podcast.
0:33
Speaker 4: How are you.
0:34
Speaker 3: I'm really well, and I'm replacing Ken Rosenthal today and
0:38
Speaker 3: we are We're the same height.
0:41
Speaker 2: Which is just ridiculous.
0:42
Speaker 3: And we used to cover the Orioles together in the
0:46
Speaker 3: eighties on the Beat in Baltimore, and it was right
0:50
Speaker 3: about the time that Ralph Sampson and Akiem Lajauan were together,
0:54
Speaker 3: so they used to call us the twin Towers, even
0:57
Speaker 3: though we were both five ft five. It was embarrassing,
1:00
Speaker 3: but it was great fun and quite a challenge going
1:03
Speaker 3: up against Ken Rosenthal.
1:05
Speaker 1: Well, I tell you, it's great to have you. Ken
1:07
Speaker 1: Rosenthal will be back with us on Thursday. He's finally
1:10
Speaker 1: taken some vacation, So Tim, let's get right into it.
1:13
Speaker 1: We'll start with the lead, and let's talk about those
1:16
Speaker 1: Milwaukee Brewers coming off a sweep of the New York Mets.
1:19
Speaker 1: They came back from being down five to nothing, they
1:22
Speaker 1: walked it off on Sunday, and they have won nine straight.
1:25
Speaker 3: What do you make of them? They're the best team
1:29
Speaker 3: in baseball, Alana, I'm not sure there's a question about
1:32
Speaker 3: that at this point. Now that could change because everything
1:35
Speaker 3: changes in baseball, especially during this crazy twenty twenty five.
1:39
Speaker 3: But they've won nine in a row. They have three
1:42
Speaker 3: winning streaks of at least eight games this year. No
1:45
Speaker 3: one else has more than one. They have three. They
1:48
Speaker 3: just finished and are continuing the greatest sixty game streak
1:52
Speaker 3: in the history of the Milwaukee Brewers. They have four
1:56
Speaker 3: really good starting pitchers, They have a very good bullpen.
2:01
Speaker 3: They are lead the Nation League and with stolen bases
2:04
Speaker 3: with one hundred and twenty nine. They just run at
2:07
Speaker 3: you until you can't stop them. They have elite defenders
2:11
Speaker 3: at several different positions, and they have a lot of
2:14
Speaker 3: what we call the in factor, and it is real.
2:17
Speaker 3: Every time you walk into their clubhouse, you can feel
2:21
Speaker 3: that this is a close knit team. I did that
2:24
Speaker 3: second game of the season this year on the radio
2:27
Speaker 3: when they got absolutely clobbered by the Yankees, and yet
2:31
Speaker 3: they didn't show mean anything to them that they had
2:35
Speaker 3: just been crushed by the Yankees and then crushed again.
2:38
Speaker 3: They have great spirit in there, and it comes from
2:40
Speaker 3: their manager, Pat Murphy, who we now find out keeps
2:43
Speaker 3: a pancake in his pocket when he gets hungry during
2:46
Speaker 3: the games. He keeps everybody lose. It's a really fun
2:49
Speaker 3: team to be around, and it shows on the field.
2:53
Speaker 1: The Brewers are five games ahead of the Phillies and
2:55
Speaker 1: the Blue Jays for Major League Baseball's best record. Tim,
2:58
Speaker 1: you know that you talked about the it factor. You
3:01
Speaker 1: also talked about how it starts with Pat Murphy. What
3:04
Speaker 1: do you think it is about him? Because he seems
3:07
Speaker 1: like the stern guy that is not the guy that's
3:09
Speaker 1: gonna yell at you, but is going to be disappointed
3:12
Speaker 1: in his kids. And that's even worse a guy that
3:14
Speaker 1: would be disappointed versus being mad. But he also is
3:18
Speaker 1: loose when he needs to be. I think it's a
3:20
Speaker 1: good combination.
3:21
Speaker 3: It's a wonderful combination. And he's as loose as it gets.
3:25
Speaker 3: He makes me laugh every single time I see him.
3:29
Speaker 3: But when time gets difficult, he isn't afraid to, you know,
3:33
Speaker 3: put his foot down. And you know, they were playing
3:36
Speaker 3: poorly at one point this year, and he said, you know,
3:38
Speaker 3: we're just not a very good offensive team right now.
3:41
Speaker 3: And since then, since Andrew Vaughn came up and others,
3:45
Speaker 3: this team has just taken off.
3:47
Speaker 2: By the way.
3:47
Speaker 3: Andrew Vaughn said, yeah, I can come up, I can
3:49
Speaker 3: steal some bases. And Pat Murphy looked at him, loves
3:52
Speaker 3: the kid and says, hey, you don't run very fast.
3:55
Speaker 2: You're slow.
3:55
Speaker 3: You're not going to steal any bases here. You're going
3:58
Speaker 3: to hit the ball out of the ballpark. Exactly what
4:00
Speaker 3: has happened. So talking to players, Alana, as you know,
4:04
Speaker 3: getting through to them is the most important thing about
4:08
Speaker 3: being a manager, and Pat Murphy does that just about
4:11
Speaker 3: as well as anyone in the game.
4:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems like he's a great communicator, from the
4:16
Speaker 1: Milwaukee Brewers to the San Diego Padres and San Diego
4:19
Speaker 1: Padres recently taking two of three from the Red Sox
4:22
Speaker 1: at Petco Park. Dylan sees Tim on Sunday was incredible.
4:27
Speaker 1: What do you make of what they're doing right now?
4:29
Speaker 2: Well, I'm not surprised at all.
4:31
Speaker 3: I saw them for three games just before the trade deadline,
4:35
Speaker 3: and I left thinking, how.
4:37
Speaker 2: Does anyone get a hit off of their bullpen?
4:39
Speaker 3: And since then they added Mason Miller from the A's
4:42
Speaker 3: who throws one hundred and three miles an hour. So
4:45
Speaker 3: their bullpen is so deep, it is so versatile. And
4:49
Speaker 3: Davey Johnson told me years ago, thirty years ago, and
4:52
Speaker 3: he's a major league manager and a really good one.
4:55
Speaker 3: You win in October with bullpen and bench, especially now
4:59
Speaker 3: and now the Padres just have this deep, versatile, loaded
5:03
Speaker 3: bullpen filled with guys who throw in the upper nineties
5:06
Speaker 3: if not one hundred, and they have their offense is
5:10
Speaker 3: really coming around now and once Manny Machado gets hot again,
5:14
Speaker 3: this is going to be a very, very dangerous team.
5:17
Speaker 3: And Dylan Cees is going to be a part of it.
5:19
Speaker 3: I still don't understand how he has struggled this badly
5:23
Speaker 3: this year, but maybe he has found something and if
5:26
Speaker 3: he finds it, they can make a real run at
5:28
Speaker 3: the Dodgers for the division title.
5:31
Speaker 2: But they're making the playoffs.
5:32
Speaker 3: And They're going to be a difficult out because of
5:35
Speaker 3: the bullpen and because of the way they're swinging the bats.
5:38
Speaker 1: Right now, ten forty percent of the innings are being
5:41
Speaker 1: thrown by relievers. Now you mentioned it. This is a
5:43
Speaker 1: bullpen that was unbelievable, and then they add Mason Miller
5:47
Speaker 1: on top of it. This is also a team that
5:49
Speaker 1: even before this year, was not afraid of the Dodgers.
5:53
Speaker 2: Tell me more about that.
5:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's absolutely true. They have had and you've seen
5:58
Speaker 3: a bunch of these games. They've had some epic games
6:02
Speaker 3: between those two teams, and not being intimidated by the
6:05
Speaker 3: Dodgers is half the battle. And the Dodgers will tell
6:09
Speaker 3: you quietly that the best team they've played in the
6:12
Speaker 3: postseason last year was the Padres. Padres looked like they
6:16
Speaker 3: were going to win that series and the Dodgers just
6:19
Speaker 3: charged back to win it. It was tremendous stuff. But
6:22
Speaker 3: everybody knows now when the Dodgers and Padres get together,
6:26
Speaker 3: there is no way San Diego is backing down of
6:28
Speaker 3: the Dodgers, who, once they get healthy, are going to
6:31
Speaker 3: be a great team again. But the Padres are really
6:34
Speaker 3: good and not fearing the Dodgers is really important.
6:38
Speaker 1: And they're right there, right on their heels in the
6:40
Speaker 1: NL West. Padres certainly thinking division versus the wild card,
6:44
Speaker 1: and I tell you what, the ALE wild card, tim
6:47
Speaker 1: and the AL in general is up for grabs. It's
6:51
Speaker 1: kind of a scratch your head type of division. How
6:54
Speaker 1: do you kind of sift through what's going on in
6:56
Speaker 1: the American League?
6:58
Speaker 3: Well, I've been wrong about the American League for the
7:00
Speaker 3: entire season. At the beginning of the year, I said,
7:03
Speaker 3: I have no feel whatsoever for this league. There are
7:06
Speaker 3: no great teams in this league, and so far that
7:09
Speaker 3: has been true. I counted the Guardians out like three
7:13
Speaker 3: times this year, saying they have no chance to make
7:15
Speaker 3: the playoffs, and now they are half a game out
7:18
Speaker 3: of the wild card. I said the same thing about
7:21
Speaker 3: the Meritors. I said, they're just not going to score
7:23
Speaker 3: enough runs to make a run at the division or
7:26
Speaker 3: the playoffs, and right now they are the number one
7:29
Speaker 3: playoff team in the American League. The Yankees were seven
7:33
Speaker 3: and a half games ahead in their division. Now there's
7:36
Speaker 3: six and a half games behind Toronto, who I also
7:39
Speaker 3: counted out at one point this year saying I think
7:41
Speaker 3: they're just a fourth place team. Now it looks like
7:44
Speaker 3: they're going to win the division. This is why the
7:47
Speaker 3: American League is so much fun this year. With no
7:50
Speaker 3: great teams and so many teams in it, this is
7:53
Speaker 3: going to be a free for all. This is going
7:55
Speaker 3: to be a fistfight right to the end, and they're
7:58
Speaker 3: going to be about six to seven eights that are
8:00
Speaker 3: gonna be going for playoff spots.
8:02
Speaker 2: It's gonna be one.
8:03
Speaker 1: You mentioned the Guardians that you had written them off.
8:05
Speaker 1: I think everybody had written them off. Now this is
8:08
Speaker 1: a team that they've won four straight series. They're seven
8:10
Speaker 1: to two in the month of August, they were sellers
8:12
Speaker 1: at the deadline. Make this make sense?
8:15
Speaker 3: Well, it doesn't make sense, Alna, But that's the beauty
8:18
Speaker 3: of it. Just like the Tigers last year didn't make
8:21
Speaker 3: any sense. We did the game in Williamsport when they
8:24
Speaker 3: came back and beat the Yankees in the ninth innings.
8:27
Speaker 3: They weren't even considered a contender. They sold at the
8:31
Speaker 3: trade deadline and they took off after beating the Yankees
8:35
Speaker 3: in that Sunday night game. Maybe the same thing is
8:38
Speaker 3: happening with the Guardians here. They're scoring a few more
8:42
Speaker 3: runs I'm not sure how, but good for them. And
8:44
Speaker 3: they're doing this without their star closer, and that's what's
8:48
Speaker 3: more impressive than anything else that manager Stephen Vote has
8:52
Speaker 3: such a good pulse of that team and he is
8:55
Speaker 3: keeping them in this thing, and it's so impressive. Instead
8:58
Speaker 3: of giving up, they are charging hard.
9:02
Speaker 1: Yankees forty four and forty three, just one game above
9:05
Speaker 1: five hundred since May first. Tim, do they make the playoffs?
9:10
Speaker 3: Ah, I'm gonna say right now, I don't think they're
9:14
Speaker 3: gonna make the playoffs. And it came to me in
9:16
Speaker 3: the night that they're playing so poorly right now, and
9:20
Speaker 3: even though Aaron Judge is back and he's going to
9:22
Speaker 3: carry them, you just look at the other teams around
9:25
Speaker 3: them that are playing so much better than they are
9:28
Speaker 3: right now.
9:29
Speaker 2: So if you're.
9:30
Speaker 3: Asking me who's gonna make the playoffs, that the Guardians
9:33
Speaker 3: or the Yankees, I may have to say the Guardians.
9:35
Speaker 3: And I can't believe I'm saying that because the Yankees
9:38
Speaker 3: always find a way to make the playoffs. But this
9:41
Speaker 3: has been almost ninety games as just a very average team. Tim.
9:46
Speaker 1: Are we living in a world where the Yankees and
9:48
Speaker 1: the Mets may miss the postseason.
9:52
Speaker 2: I can't.
9:53
Speaker 3: I can't go that far. The Mets, though, are struggling again,
9:57
Speaker 3: but never forget Alana. They had a terrible st at
10:00
Speaker 3: you earlier this year and people looked at and said, well,
10:03
Speaker 3: maybe they're not good.
10:04
Speaker 2: And then they got hot again.
10:05
Speaker 3: This is how it's worked all throughout baseball. So I'm
10:09
Speaker 3: not going to say the Mets and the Yankees are
10:11
Speaker 3: not going to make the playoffs. But you know, two
10:14
Speaker 3: and a half months ago that was inconceivable and now
10:18
Speaker 3: who knows. But I'm saying the Mets are going to
10:20
Speaker 3: find a way to make the playoffs, but they better
10:22
Speaker 3: get going and soon.
10:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's why this is the greatest game in the world.
10:26
Speaker 1: Much more to come on Fair Territory with Tim Kirchin today,
10:30
Speaker 1: coming back in just a moment with Inside Dish. Right
10:33
Speaker 1: after this.
10:33
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11:12
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11:36
Speaker 4: Well, well, all right, time now for inside Dish, where
11:45
Speaker 4: we typically go deeper on a recent story or trend
11:47
Speaker 4: in the game.
11:49
Speaker 1: Tim, let's talk about cal Rawly. Is he an MVP
11:53
Speaker 1: candidate or moreover, is he the MVP pick in the
11:56
Speaker 1: American League.
11:59
Speaker 3: I still go they aren't judges the MVP in the
12:01
Speaker 3: American League, but it is now really really close. Cal
12:05
Speaker 3: Raley is having arguably the greatest might have the greatest
12:09
Speaker 3: season a catcher has ever had. He is doing it
12:12
Speaker 3: in the middle of a pennant race. He is a
12:15
Speaker 3: switch hitter with power who hits in the middle of
12:18
Speaker 3: the order. And most important, he is not just a catcher,
12:22
Speaker 3: the most important defensive position on the field. He is
12:25
Speaker 3: an elite defensive catcher. And he is the leader of
12:29
Speaker 3: that team in every way. He's the son of a coach.
12:33
Speaker 3: He carries himself that way all the time. And the
12:37
Speaker 3: biggest reason that the Mariners are where they are right
12:40
Speaker 3: now that is a very dangerous team, is because of
12:44
Speaker 3: cal Raleigh. And he's a folk hero in Seattle, and
12:48
Speaker 3: then after the home run Derby when his brother was
12:51
Speaker 3: the catcher and his dad was the pitcher. He's a
12:54
Speaker 3: folk hero all over the country now since he won
12:58
Speaker 3: the home run Derby. So people are are going to
13:01
Speaker 3: factor all sorts of things into cal Raleigh's situation. But
13:05
Speaker 3: if he wins the MVP, I wouldn't be surprised at all,
13:09
Speaker 3: because switch hitters just don't do what cal Raley is doing,
13:13
Speaker 3: especially switch hitting catchers.
13:16
Speaker 1: Tim Isn't that the definition though, of MVP? Why do
13:19
Speaker 1: you think Aaron Judge is still the front runner?
13:21
Speaker 3: If you do, well, I do, But Alana, we've gotten
13:25
Speaker 3: away from the word valuable in the MVP. We are
13:29
Speaker 3: now awarding this to the player of the Year. And
13:33
Speaker 3: I understand how that works. But I've been voting up
13:35
Speaker 3: for these things for forty four years, and I look
13:39
Speaker 3: at a team and say, where would they be without
13:41
Speaker 3: this guy? How important is he to their team as
13:45
Speaker 3: far as winning and getting to the playoffs. That still
13:49
Speaker 3: matters to me. And you look at the Mariners without
13:52
Speaker 3: cal Raley, there's no chance they're going to make the playoffs.
13:55
Speaker 3: Of course, the exact same thing can be said about
13:58
Speaker 3: Aaron Judge. You see what happens when he comes out
14:01
Speaker 3: of the lineup. The Yankees are a completely different team.
14:04
Speaker 3: But this guy, what he's doing as a switch hitter.
14:06
Speaker 3: You know, even Mickey Mantle didn't get the forty home
14:10
Speaker 3: runs before August like cal Raley did. And he's going
14:14
Speaker 3: to break the record. Perez's record for the most home
14:17
Speaker 3: runs by a primary catcher forty eight in a season.
14:21
Speaker 3: In fact, he might obliterate it, that's how great he's been.
14:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was back in twenty twenty one with sal
14:27
Speaker 1: Perez had that forty eight home run season. I mean,
14:30
Speaker 1: what do you think he's done in terms of being
14:33
Speaker 1: able to elevate the Mariners offense, because he does it
14:37
Speaker 1: behind the plate obviously as a tremendous defensive catcher, but
14:40
Speaker 1: it almost seems like he allows the rest of the
14:43
Speaker 1: guys in that lineup to really be where they're supposed to.
14:45
Speaker 2: Be, right.
14:47
Speaker 3: I always thought that Julio Rodriguez pressed a little bit
14:50
Speaker 3: thinking I'm the best player on the team, and he
14:52
Speaker 3: has every right.
14:53
Speaker 2: To think that way.
14:54
Speaker 3: But now that they've got cal Raley and now others
14:57
Speaker 3: around him Randy Rozarena include and Uhanio Suarez, I think
15:03
Speaker 3: it's taken some pressure off Julio Rodriguez and he thinks
15:06
Speaker 3: I can just be one of the guys and go
15:08
Speaker 3: out there and mash. But it's mainly because he doesn't
15:11
Speaker 3: have to be the star on the team anymore, because
15:14
Speaker 3: they already have a star cal Raley, who's been a
15:17
Speaker 3: star there for several years. We just haven't really noticed
15:21
Speaker 3: until he started hitting home runs at a record pace
15:24
Speaker 3: and doing amazing things at the All Star Game.
15:27
Speaker 1: Tim I feel like it's finally the year where the
15:29
Speaker 1: Mariners lineup and offense catches up with their tremendous starting
15:33
Speaker 1: staff and their arms in general. How far can cal
15:37
Speaker 1: Rawly carry this team into the postseason.
15:40
Speaker 3: Well, the Mariners are certainly good enough to go to
15:43
Speaker 3: the World Series in the American League, and that's never
15:47
Speaker 3: happened before. So it would be a really big deal
15:50
Speaker 3: if the Mariners can do that. And I think given
15:54
Speaker 3: all the Dodger injuries, even though there's much, I think
15:57
Speaker 3: there's much greater strength than the National League. With the
16:00
Speaker 3: starting pitching that the Mariners have and they're one through
16:04
Speaker 3: six in the order is the best I've seen in
16:06
Speaker 3: Seattle in twenty five years. I think they are not
16:09
Speaker 3: only good enough to get to the World Series, I
16:11
Speaker 3: think they can win the World Series. That's got people
16:14
Speaker 3: in Seattle excited, and well it should, because this is
16:18
Speaker 3: a different look to the Mariners because of the corner
16:21
Speaker 3: infielders that they add at Josh Naylor and Juhanio Suarez
16:25
Speaker 3: give them a very formidable lineup.
16:27
Speaker 1: Now, my goodness, August eleven, Tim Kirchin saying that the
16:30
Speaker 1: Seattle Mariners can go to the World Series for the
16:33
Speaker 1: first time and win the whole dang thing. I tell
16:36
Speaker 1: you what. Jerry Depoto obviously constantly making moves. Do you
16:40
Speaker 1: think they won the deadline by adding Josh Naylor and
16:43
Speaker 1: eu Henio Suarez?
16:46
Speaker 3: I do they needed punch at third base? They needed
16:49
Speaker 3: punch at first base.
16:51
Speaker 2: And I asked somebody around the league.
16:53
Speaker 3: I said, look, the Mariners have let you know, let
16:56
Speaker 3: themselves down, their fans down many times. I said, do
17:00
Speaker 3: you see that happening again? And emphatically he goes, no,
17:04
Speaker 3: I love that team. That team is ready to go.
17:07
Speaker 3: And this is a very honest man that answered me
17:09
Speaker 3: that way. He would have told me something bad's gonna
17:12
Speaker 3: happen there. It always does. He doesn't think so this year.
17:16
Speaker 1: Does Calvaly get a statue?
17:19
Speaker 3: Well, when you got a nickname like Big Dumper, he's
17:22
Speaker 3: gonna get a statue. Whether he never plays a game
17:25
Speaker 3: again anyway. Again, he has charisma, he has color to him.
17:30
Speaker 3: It's just so great. And again that scene Alta at
17:33
Speaker 3: the All Star Game was one of the great things
17:35
Speaker 3: I've ever seen. Dad's throwing in your little brothers to Catcher.
17:39
Speaker 3: I asked him afterwards, where are you guys gonna go celebrate?
17:42
Speaker 3: And he said, well, my brother's only fifteen years old,
17:44
Speaker 3: so my dad and I are going to go have
17:46
Speaker 3: a beer and we'll celebrate with him from Afar.
17:50
Speaker 2: That's awesome.
17:51
Speaker 1: I heard he was supposed to buy his brother a
17:53
Speaker 1: car too. We'll see if that actually happens. I'm not
17:55
Speaker 1: even certain that he's old enough to drive yet. Maybe
17:57
Speaker 1: he just got his permit. Tim, How did he figure
18:00
Speaker 1: out how to hit at that ballpark?
18:04
Speaker 3: That's a tough place to hit, but again it really helps,
18:07
Speaker 3: as we saw on the home run derby that he
18:10
Speaker 3: hits from both sides of the plate. And the key
18:12
Speaker 3: to being a switch hitter, and it's not easy, is
18:14
Speaker 3: to try to have the same swing and the same
18:17
Speaker 3: approach from both sides. Chipper Jones was the best I've
18:21
Speaker 3: ever seen. His left handed swing and right handed swing
18:24
Speaker 3: I thought were virtually identical. And go look at those
18:27
Speaker 3: numbers lefty and righty. They're virtually identical. And this is
18:31
Speaker 3: what cal Raley does so well. Doesn't matter what side
18:35
Speaker 3: he hits from. He is a terror for pitchers in
18:38
Speaker 3: Major League Baseball.
18:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's a special player, having a special season. I
18:43
Speaker 1: don't know that he'll ever even repeat what he's doing
18:45
Speaker 1: this year. All right, coming up after the break, it
18:47
Speaker 1: is time for grilling. Tim, get your questions in. It's
18:51
Speaker 1: not often that we have an opportunity to ask Tim
18:54
Speaker 1: Kirchin some questions.
18:56
Speaker 3: Get him in.
18:56
Speaker 1: We'll be back right after this.
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20:06
Speaker 1: All right time now for Grill and Ken get those
20:08
Speaker 1: questions in for Tim Kirchin and also on your podcast
20:12
Speaker 1: is Great? Is this a great game?
20:13
Speaker 3: Or what?
20:13
Speaker 4: Tim?
20:14
Speaker 1: You guys often talk about this date in history, so
20:16
Speaker 1: that is where we're going to start our questions today.
20:18
Speaker 1: On this date, in nineteen twenty nine, Babe Ruth hit
20:21
Speaker 1: his five hundredth career home run. How do you think,
20:24
Speaker 1: and this is a conversation we've had quite some time
20:27
Speaker 1: in this industry, how do you think Tim, he would
20:30
Speaker 1: fare against today's pitching.
20:32
Speaker 3: Well, it would take him a while to figure it
20:35
Speaker 3: out because he never saw velocity like this. He never
20:38
Speaker 3: saw a split like this.
20:40
Speaker 2: But I really.
20:41
Speaker 3: Believe if you gave Babe Ruth a couple of months,
20:44
Speaker 3: he would figure it out and he would be not
20:46
Speaker 3: a good hitter, a great hitter Today, Alana, he hit
20:50
Speaker 3: tape measure home runs, you know, almost one hundred years,
20:54
Speaker 3: one hundred years ago. How do you explain that he
20:57
Speaker 3: was bigger, stronger than anyone else at that time. He
21:00
Speaker 3: was sixty two two twenty five in his prime. He
21:03
Speaker 3: could run, He was a good right fielder. He was
21:05
Speaker 3: the best left handed pitcher in the American League. When
21:08
Speaker 3: he decided to become a hitter, and then he became
21:10
Speaker 3: the greatest hitter of all time. He has one hundred
21:13
Speaker 3: and thirty six triples in his career. He could really run,
21:17
Speaker 3: and it drives me crazy. I love John Goodman, but
21:21
Speaker 3: we have these actors play Babe Ruth in the movies
21:24
Speaker 3: and they turn him into a cartoon character instead of
21:26
Speaker 3: what he is, the greatest player of all time. That's
21:30
Speaker 3: what I think. I want to ask Bert Hawkins. He
21:33
Speaker 3: was a former baseball writer who wrote one hundred years ago.
21:37
Speaker 3: And I said, Hawk, who's the greatest player you've ever seen?
21:40
Speaker 3: And he looked insulted. He looked at me and said,
21:43
Speaker 3: buddy boy, I'll take Babe Ruth and you can have
21:46
Speaker 3: the next three. That's how great Babe Ruth was Alana.
21:50
Speaker 3: When he got to seven hundred homers, nobody else had
21:54
Speaker 3: half that many. He was the first hit thirty forty,
21:57
Speaker 3: fifty and sixty in a season. My team growing up
22:01
Speaker 3: was the Washington Senators, and from nineteen twenty six to
22:04
Speaker 3: nineteen thirty two, Babe Ruth out homered the Washington Senators
22:09
Speaker 3: for a seven year period. That's how dominant he was
22:14
Speaker 3: in his era. And I am in the vast minority
22:18
Speaker 3: on this. But I think if we dropped him into
22:20
Speaker 3: today's game gave him an opportunity to figure out how
22:23
Speaker 3: to hit this, he would have figured it out. That's
22:26
Speaker 3: how great a hitter he was and how great an
22:28
Speaker 3: athlete he was.
22:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, you said that you're taking Babe Ruth. Everybody else
22:32
Speaker 1: can have the entire field. But you just mentioned a
22:35
Speaker 1: word that I don't think a lot of people would
22:37
Speaker 1: associate with Babe Ruth, and you said athlete. I think
22:40
Speaker 1: he's a lot more athletic t him than people gave
22:42
Speaker 1: him credit for.
22:44
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
22:45
Speaker 3: You know, he was a great basketball player, and you know, Alana,
22:48
Speaker 3: he threw, of course with his left hand, and he
22:50
Speaker 3: batted left handed, but he wrote and ate with his
22:53
Speaker 3: right hand, which I've always been fascinated Brooks Robinson is
22:57
Speaker 3: like that the other way around. But both adexterus, which
23:01
Speaker 3: allowed him to be an even better athlete than people understand.
23:05
Speaker 3: I repeat, he could run, He stole over one hundred bases.
23:09
Speaker 3: He was a great pitcher, He was a good right fielder,
23:13
Speaker 3: and again we've made him out to be this big,
23:15
Speaker 3: fat guy who runs around the bases backwards and he
23:17
Speaker 3: eats twelve hot dogs during a game. Yes, he was
23:20
Speaker 3: a carouser, but he was also a great player and
23:24
Speaker 3: a great athlete.
23:25
Speaker 1: What do you think he would have been like on
23:27
Speaker 1: a daily in conversations in the clubhouse? Tim, do you
23:30
Speaker 1: think you could have walked into that Yankee clubhouse back
23:32
Speaker 1: in the day or the Red Sox clubhouse before he
23:35
Speaker 1: was traded to the Yankees and have quite the conversation
23:38
Speaker 1: with him. What do you think he was like?
23:39
Speaker 3: Well, if I could go back in time and speak
23:42
Speaker 3: to one player or one person, most people want to
23:46
Speaker 3: talk to Abraham Lincoln. I would want to go back
23:49
Speaker 3: and talk to Babe Ruth and just figure out who
23:52
Speaker 3: the heck are you. I had a friend of mine
23:54
Speaker 3: who does these things for a living, and he says,
23:57
Speaker 3: the fast twitch muscles inside Babe Ruth were unexplainable. We
24:01
Speaker 3: need to cut his body open to see how he
24:05
Speaker 3: was able to hit the ball that far. But I
24:07
Speaker 3: would just love to ask him all the baseball stories.
24:11
Speaker 2: I want to know what it was like to face.
24:13
Speaker 3: Walter Johnson because I went to Walter Johnson High School.
24:16
Speaker 3: Right here on my shirt named after the greatest pitcher
24:18
Speaker 3: of all time. I would love to sit with Babe
24:21
Speaker 3: Ruth on a train ride and just pick his brain
24:24
Speaker 3: about how he became this good and how he stayed
24:27
Speaker 3: this good when sometimes he didn't exactly follow the rules.
24:31
Speaker 1: All right, Tam, we have about a minute left in
24:33
Speaker 1: the show. If you had a dinner party, Babe, Ruth
24:35
Speaker 1: is your head guest. Who are the other two people
24:37
Speaker 1: that you're inviting besides your lovely wife, dead or alive?
24:42
Speaker 3: Well, I think Walter Johnson has to be there, because again,
24:46
Speaker 3: I went to school named after the greatest pitcher of
24:49
Speaker 3: all time. So I'd love to go back one hundred
24:51
Speaker 3: and twenty years and talk to the best pitcher and
24:53
Speaker 3: the best hitter that we've ever seen. And then, since
24:56
Speaker 3: we already mentioned him, I think Abraham Lincoln should be
24:59
Speaker 3: there because he was doing some important things before they
25:02
Speaker 3: came along. And by the way, Alana, if you don't know,
25:06
Speaker 3: you know who shares a birthday with Abraham Lincoln. I
25:09
Speaker 3: don't know why I get such a kick out of
25:11
Speaker 3: Todd Frasier has the same birthday as Abraham four score
25:19
Speaker 3: and twenty sixty years ago. Oh my god, Todd Frasy
25:22
Speaker 3: makes me laugh worse.
25:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, Ago and the Tod Father at this at the
25:29
Speaker 1: same dinner. Tim Kirchen, I appreciate you so much. I
25:32
Speaker 1: can talk to you for hours and hours and hours.
25:35
Speaker 1: Say you for taking the tide to be with us
25:36
Speaker 1: on Fair Territory, filling in for your good friend Ken Rosenthal.
25:40
Speaker 2: Have a great day.
25:41
Speaker 3: We appreciate it.
25:42
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you soon, my friend.
25:43
Speaker 2: Thank you. Alana, enjoyed and see you.
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