Latest / The Brewery Underground Podcast | Craft Beer Interviews, Reviews and Beer Travel / 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings: Vintage Baseball, Beer & Baseball Movies | Episode 84 Part 2

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1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings: Vintage Baseball, Beer & Baseball Movies | Episode 84 Part 2 · The Brewery Underground Podcast | Craft Beer Interviews, Reviews and Beer Travel

0:32
You had the list like the top five of your favorite baseball
0:36
movies. What would they be?
0:40
Yeah, Field of Dreams, Major League, for the love of the
0:45
game, believe it or not, I like the one with the I can't think
0:50
it was Gary Cooper played. He was a Yankee, the pride of
0:53
the Yankees. Pride of the Yankees.
0:54
Yeah, great movie. And.
0:57
He was Lou Gehrig, I think, right?
0:58
Yes. It was the and, and in the
1:01
league of their own. I, I, you know, even though, but
1:04
did you hear next year they're going to have women's
1:06
professional baseball again? Oh wow.
1:09
Yeah, it's coming again next year.
1:11
I heard that so. I'll I'll go with some of his,
1:14
but you got to throw Sandlot in there.
1:16
You're killing me. Smalls and the Natural was a
1:20
great movie. And then also to Kevin Costner,
1:23
Bull Durham. Oh, I love Bull Durham.
1:25
Yeah, that. Dynamic in that movie is
1:29
amazing. There was a you you talked about
1:33
Major League. There was a line from Major
1:35
League that I swear to God, I want to meet the person that
1:38
wrote this line because to to this day, I think it's one of
1:41
the funniest ever. And he said it was.
1:45
He runs like Maze. No, he runs like Hayes now.
1:51
He runs like Maze. He hits like Hayes.
1:54
Yeah. And I just thought that was the
1:55
funniest thing. To this day, I'm like, who wrote
1:58
that line? It's hilarious.
1:59
Yeah. Well, all we can do is hit pop
2:01
ups well. So the other part was Scott and
2:05
I back in May when we went to Cincinnati, we hit some
2:09
breweries and hit some Reds games.
2:11
We also went to Cleveland and we went to some breweries up there.
2:14
We were, we were right by Progressive Field.
2:17
And every time we go past Progressive Field, I kept
2:20
acting, you know, I kept doing like the Bob Euchre, you know.
2:24
Let me hear you, Cleveland. I I was going to mention that
2:27
which you know, unfortunately. Wasn't he amazing?
2:30
Oh yes, original and it just won a great game Pass.
2:34
Yeah, well, we always at some point in time like just a bit
2:37
outside. Just a bit outside.
2:40
You know, if I need something to make me laugh, watch his
2:43
induction speech to the Hall of Fame.
2:44
And hilarious. He is hilarious.
2:49
He had all the Hall of Famers dying.
2:53
He reminds me like when he spoke later in his career, when it
2:56
like after his career was over, a lot of like Yogi, like he had
2:59
just these always had funny stories, always something witty
3:02
to say. And a lot of people know him
3:04
from after his career, like, you know, he was a Mr. Belvedere and
3:07
all that stuff. So, you know, people didn't know
3:09
that he played baseball a lot of case.
3:11
So they just know him from this other thing, the second-half of
3:13
his life. Oh my God again either.
3:17
Yeah, I remember Euchre saying one time he said, yeah, the
3:22
coach, he said we were winning the game pretty good, We were
3:25
thumping the team pretty good. And coach told him, hey, you
3:28
grab a bat and stop this inning, would you?
3:34
Well, we, there's a guy that in British baseball, his nicknamed
3:36
a school teacher, colorful character, funny as a whip, just
3:41
unbelievable. So he had one of my favorite
3:45
lines ever. We're playing baseball and their
3:47
feel out there. There's not an ounce of shade
3:49
and it's along the river and you get that humidity and just
3:52
hotter, hotter than hinges. The hell, just brutal.
3:55
And we're just hitting that day. We just, you know, I still
3:58
thinks hitting is contagious. So yeah, we're just hitting and
4:02
hitting and hitting. And he's a school teacher.
4:05
And this is about the 8th inning or so.
4:07
And he goes, for God's sakes, will somebody make it out?
4:10
I got to teach school on Monday. But I mean, you know, again,
4:16
baseball by far the funniest guys you know.
4:20
And of course, you know, pranks and, you know, hot foots and and
4:24
you know different things throughout the time, but that's
4:26
what you get. Well, and you know, a lot of
4:28
guys like from when they retire, Danny and I just retired, you
4:32
know, it's everything advertises better.
4:33
It's fantastic. But it's like, what do you miss?
4:36
And it's the people, you know, it's that camaraderie, you know,
4:39
that's what you miss and and stuff.
4:41
And you know, the camaraderie and especially like, you know,
4:43
there's a event called the Ohio Cup.
4:46
It's held in Columbus. It's right off 71 right by the
4:49
Crew stadium. But we get team 5 cross country,
4:53
I don't know, 25 S states, you know, maybe 30 ball clubs and
4:58
year after year, seeing some of these guys you've seen forever
5:01
and just, you know, swapping stories and and and telling lies
5:04
and just like the you know, like how big was the fish you caught
5:07
or how you know, you hit or whatever.
5:09
But you know, again, it's just such a camaraderie of, of guys
5:13
you just, you want to be around. Yes, yes.
5:19
And we, we just enjoy going out. And I know sometimes you, you
5:25
got to prioritize things in your life, getting stuff done around
5:30
your house and everything. But I I got to admit, I get
5:33
behind on it because baseball was.
5:36
When I was coaching my boy, he's a pro thought to be playing
5:38
baseball. I still my 8 neighbors.
5:41
I live on the corner and I try to take pride and you know,
5:43
yeah, property, land, everything.
5:45
But I said hey, a baseball coach, his yard should look like
5:48
hell. It can be look like hell in the
5:49
summer for a while. Season's over, get right back to
5:52
it. That's, you know, that's what
5:54
the all. Seasons for.
5:55
Yeah, you got, you got to give props when it when it's where
5:58
it's due. And and the wives that put up
6:01
with us, they're pretty amazing. They're pretty amazing.
6:07
Guys, when, when, when guys not necessarily retire from your
6:10
team but can't play any longer or whatever, do you still find
6:14
them still being around the team, kind of what you were
6:18
talking about earlier, just kind of being around baseball, Do you
6:20
find a lot of those guys still do that?
6:21
Oh yeah, we got, we got guys that are retired, but they still
6:24
come to our home games and they sit there and watch and, and,
6:29
and yeah, they still pay their we have, we pay dues each each
6:32
year and they still pay their non active dues to and they come
6:37
out and there's they still have a say in the club and and
6:41
they're very educated as far as finished baseball goes.
6:45
And they're just great people. And they come out and they set
6:49
and they cheers on and, and it's just fun to have them.
6:52
It's still, it's still a joy. And someday, you know, I'll be
6:58
in their position and Dave will be out there too, and we'll just
7:02
be sitting and having a good time and.
7:05
There's a there's a cry for, there's a cry for old timers Day
7:11
at the yard. We'll be there.
7:14
Are there any former players or guys that you know almost made
7:19
it to the major leagues that are playing in like on your team or
7:22
in your league that you do? No, I, I mean, I had two Reds
7:26
tryouts. I don't know of anybody else on
7:30
the team that did that, but but I I would think throughout
7:34
vintage baseball that there are some good ball players.
7:36
I would think that yeah, I would think, I don't know if they made
7:40
the bigs, but I would think that they were looked at at one time
7:44
and maybe play college ball. Some of them.
7:47
It's a good mix because you have some that are pretty good and
7:50
they have some that are not so good, you know, and so it's kind
7:55
of a good mix, but. Yeah, I talked to some guys, you
7:58
know, being down at first and a couple guys got pretty far.
8:01
And I think he's right. I don't think anybody made the
8:03
show, but, you know, a little bit of a cup of coffee and
8:06
maybe, you know, AA AAA and, you know, but you know, it's funny.
8:09
We've we've done charity games, we've done games like to people
8:14
like for civic or, or a town celebrating something kind of
8:17
their their days. And they'll get some, you know,
8:19
guys, you know, softball players, guys that play and, and
8:23
they're such a disadvantage. I mean, it's not, it's not even
8:25
a fair fight because I have some young studs.
8:27
I remember we played some firefighters down one time and
8:30
great guys. But you know, I mean, how do you
8:32
how do you walk out there without a glove?
8:34
We're used to it. You know, especially they get to
8:39
the point where like where they think all these old guys and
8:41
this is it. It's it's not easy.
8:44
I'll tell you a quick story. We're we're playing the game and
8:47
Dave and I rotate each inning at first base.
8:51
Well, he happened to be out there and we had a guy on our
8:53
team that had a pretty good arm. He used to play at third base.
8:56
I mean, he threw a missile and they caught it.
8:59
He caught it, but it had to bruise her.
9:01
It had to bruise his hand. He could be a little bit
9:05
difficult as a, as a player, a little bit of that old angry
9:08
softball guys. And, and you know, my brother's
9:11
not shy about calling somebody out or, you know, doing
9:14
whatever. And you know, this guy, he
9:17
happened to be complaining a little bit.
9:19
And it's like, oh God, So my brother's pitching, he leans
9:21
over, he goes, is this going to be like this all day?
9:23
You know? So he he was he was mad.
9:26
He was mad. He was hotter in the match and
9:28
pretty fiery guy and the play of mothers talk about, I mean, it
9:32
was a shot and this guy had a cannon.
9:34
He had a cannon. And you remember that scene in
9:38
Sherlock Holmes when Robert Downey Junior's like doing all
9:41
the calculations? I'm like, ball approaching very
9:46
rapidly, must catch. Don't be a wuss.
9:49
Must you know, like all these calculations like, like bam.
9:53
And I act like it was just like a catch a marshmallow that
9:56
didn't great play everything. And I turn around here.
9:59
I'm like it hurts so bad. I said to him, I go, man, you
10:06
fired that ball over there first.
10:07
He goes. I thought you were playing
10:09
first. You know, the, the, these games
10:14
that you guys have been doing have been going on for a while
10:17
now. Why do you think it continues to
10:19
be popular with you all and with people that want to come out and
10:24
see you? What's the what's the special
10:26
ingredients here? I, I think it's, it's being this
10:30
part of history. They get to see the game in a
10:34
different way and, and how we play it and how we represent the
10:38
game. I think that some of that's
10:40
appealing to, I mean, we played up in Detroit, I'm not lying too
10:43
much. There was 4 or 500 people there
10:47
and it drew a good crowd. Now I hear that it draws a crowd
10:51
like that all the time up there. But, you know, I think part of
10:56
it is it's because it's different and people would enjoy
10:59
seeing that, especially if things are not going so well
11:04
here down the ballpark. You know my butt.
11:09
You know Mr. Castellini, what'd you say to him, Dave, that time?
11:13
You know, we, we've been fortunate to do a lot with them.
11:16
And, and every time he's, he gets a kick out of us.
11:19
And, and I said, Mr. Castellini, I said, we're not as good as
11:23
your, you know, current crop or 160 years old or whatever.
11:26
And I said, but we're a hell of a lot cheaper.
11:30
Oh, holy, always gets a kick out of, you know, because, you know,
11:33
and I, I do think he really does want to win.
11:36
I really do. And you know, it's like, you
11:39
know, you have this argument too, small market and big
11:41
market. And a buddy of mine is saying he
11:43
goes, I'm not buying that. He goes, you know, all these
11:45
owners are billionaires. Some decide to put all their
11:48
money in and some don't. And the Reds, you know, they're
11:50
what they're part of their strategy is they just at least
11:52
want to break even. They don't have to make money on
11:54
that, you know, part of their business, but.
11:57
You know, with the Reds now, you know as well as I do, those guys
12:04
are not trying to lose games, They're trying to win every game
12:06
they can, right? For a fan to want to bash them
12:10
and, and get on, come on. These guys are out there 162
12:14
games and, and most of the time 90 plus temperature and they're
12:19
trying to battle and win the game as hard as they can for
12:22
their fans. So I say, instead of doing that,
12:26
let's support them the best we can.
12:28
I agree. I look at it.
12:30
And part of it, too. And, you know, Scott, you know,
12:32
like this that, you know, they'd asked Joe DiMaggio at one time,
12:34
why do you play so hard every time he goes, you know, there
12:37
may be somebody can't afford it. That's the only game they're
12:39
going to go to. And I just, they deserve the
12:41
best of my, you know, abilities every time to go out like that.
12:44
You know, and I think too, to get back to your your question
12:47
about why vintage, a different time, a different place.
12:51
You see some older guys and you talk about, you know, a nice
12:53
play. You're shocked sometimes.
12:55
Like how did he make that play? You know, or you know, I mean,
12:59
there there's some good baseball and now we've been known to have
13:02
a couple of bad innings, you know, a couple of Sam odd
13:06
innings ourselves and, you know, blow up.
13:08
It's part of the game. And you know, I think, you know,
13:11
it can get pretty exciting. And we always felt if you had if
13:15
you got the last about your home team, I think the pressure's
13:18
more on the defense. I always said, look, guys, we
13:20
got it right where we want them. Only if you, especially if
13:22
you're only down one or two, now you're down 4-5 or six, that's a
13:25
different story. You know, we've had some
13:27
miraculous comebacks, you know, which is part of it too.
13:29
But, you know, because, you know, it's, it's not easy
13:32
catching that ball on the fly in the outfield.
13:34
It's not easy, you know, turning to and, and getting that ball
13:36
and just jumping all over the field because these fields are
13:39
all grass, by the way. Almost always their fields are
13:41
kind of like how it kind of started from the Civil War guys,
13:44
You know, are there any kind of field where if there's a law or
13:47
time, they can, you know, break out a game by playing in a field
13:50
and it's lumpy and bumpy and, you know, you're it's just not,
13:53
you know, purely you're going to make automatic 643 and it's just
13:56
not that way, you know. So I think they can appreciate,
13:59
you know, both sides of some some great ball and yet some,
14:02
you know, kind of old guys playing a kids game.
14:04
So it it it really does have an appeal to people.
14:06
So I saw that that was so neat. And we always try to get, you
14:09
know, people talk and say you bring your kids out, you know,
14:11
let me see a little bit how, how it is, you know?
14:15
I want to, I want to, if I can't, I want to show you I met,
14:17
I met you were some guys from your team last fall.
14:20
It's kind of how you got on my radar.
14:22
I was in Columbus and we were headed to 7th Sun Brewery and we
14:26
were driving by a park. I wasn't driving, so I'm not
14:29
familiar with Columbus, but somebody say, hey, look, there's
14:31
like a vintage baseball team over there and goes, oh, that's
14:33
pretty cool. So we drove by and we get to 7th
14:36
Sun Brewing and lo and behold, a little bit later, several of the
14:40
players came in there and I want to, I just want, and I talked to
14:44
him for about an hour and I wanted to see if I could share
14:46
my screen real quick if this works.
14:49
If not, we'll edit. We'll edit it.
14:51
Out she's on Scott Technology. I know you.
14:54
Set yourself up now. I found the share button
14:58
earlier, let's see. Gotta love it.
15:03
You know, during COVID, we had all these Zoom meetings and
15:05
yeah, we start playing bingo. It's like you're on mute, you're
15:09
not on camera. You know, all these things are
15:11
what happened with these. Did you guys see that?
15:15
Yep, that's that's kind of the cast I figured it might be.
15:18
So the guy with the the black shirt on his his nickname is
15:21
Speedy. Yeah, he's our current captain.
15:24
He was previously for like 12. So the guy I.
15:30
Believe that's Robert in the middle.
15:31
He he took a job in Los Angeles and he he, he played some this
15:35
year, but then he left. Yeah, and then the guy with the
15:39
black shorts and Red Hat, his nickname was One Sock because
15:43
it's just one of those things, you know, you go to the yard and
15:46
you think you got everything, you have a checklist.
15:47
Well, he only had one sock that day and so hence he became one.
15:50
Sock, and that's funny. Well, yeah, so those, you know
15:55
those guys and all you know with.
15:58
Guys are great. Not surprised they're they're,
16:00
you know, quenching their thirst after.
16:01
But but yeah, I've been hold this one back pocket because,
16:06
you know, there's the two other nicknames that come to wine and
16:09
I think mutters his first time out and it was early spring and
16:11
it had rained like crazy. And so he gets out there and I
16:16
think it was a game and you know it, it was a sloppy track from
16:21
home to 1st And he you know, he's he's busting butt down
16:24
there. And we kept on saying, don't
16:26
forget we you can't overrun the bag.
16:27
It's one of our rules. So he was trying to make an
16:30
adjustment. He's going down and he went down
16:33
and there's down goes Frazier, down goes Mutter.
16:36
And then it happened again and it's like later I was like, who
16:40
is this new guy? I don't know.
16:41
But like an old racer, he's a mutter, he's like a mutterer.
16:45
So that's how he got his nickname.
16:47
And then we were having, we have AVP one day.
16:50
We don't practice much. We was just big before game
16:52
where we're doing some BP and mutters pitching and this guy a
16:56
new guy again and he just it's a shot right up the middle.
17:01
Oh my gosh. And, and mother's like, Oh my
17:04
God, you know, you know that you go down instantly, like, Oh my
17:07
God, you know, and then of course I'm like, OK, new
17:12
nickname. That guy's a ball breaker and
17:14
that fuck with him. And I tell you what, he he hit
17:20
that ball. That was hard.
17:21
It got you. You were only 45 feet away.
17:24
Yeah, I picked this ball. And these young kids, like I
17:26
say, they're a lot younger and stronger.
17:28
And this kid had not a clue where he's hitting the boy.
17:31
He just hit the heart. And boy, come back up the
17:33
middle. And I, I'll tell you, he rattled
17:36
the old boys for a while there. They they put a little sting in
17:40
me, but. I'm fine over here to get.
17:43
A nickname, right? Oh my gosh.
17:48
Does every nickname come from something like that?
17:50
Does anybody bring that earn or is it from OK?
17:52
You've got to earn it, OK? We had a, we had a guy, a new
17:55
guy again, it's, it's, it's hard to make that adjustment, I'm
17:58
telling you, because you want to overrun first and do different
18:00
things. So the guy, you know, he was,
18:04
you know, pretty quick, had some pretty quick hops and he he
18:08
overran first and by that time he thought he was going to do so
18:11
he got into a rundown. This is very first game, very
18:15
first at bat. He comes back and said, is it
18:17
too soon? Your nickname is now rundown.
18:22
You're going to get it. Like I say, you're going to be
18:23
on that hot seat and you've got thin skin.
18:25
It's not the place to be. But most of them are earned.
18:28
And Danny talked about that George Wright, his I think it's
18:34
his great, great grandson. He's come around.
18:37
He's got to be a real good friend of his of the club.
18:38
And he decided to play and big boy, you know, and and he was
18:43
playing iron where he was playing, but he he kind of like
18:45
dancing and you kind of get that ball and kind of push it, you
18:48
know, and I said, well, he went in the old bread basket and that
18:51
name stuck. You know, you kind of earn him.
18:56
But you know, it's just like you don't want to make that error
18:59
because you whatever, whatever, you made a mistake.
19:04
It's the one thing. We had a guy on the team, I
19:07
think Dave nicknamed him. He looked just like Jesse
19:10
Winker. Oh yeah.
19:12
And Jeff and and Dave named him Wink.
19:16
Hey, don't wink, kid. Kid winked at me, you know,
19:19
Well, I, I dropped not monikers on about half dozen guys, you
19:22
know, it's just, that's one of the fun, you know, it's just,
19:26
yeah, we just, you know, we laugh and.
19:29
But again, you know, we, we want, we like to win, you know,
19:32
and we're hot and cold and we're in Detroit years years ago.
19:36
And we were playing this team and it was a time, you know,
19:39
because he had tons of team, tons of time.
19:41
And this team they're, they're pretty good.
19:43
And they said, well, we were I think the last game of the night
19:47
and they said, well, you want to go on, you know, play a little
19:49
more. And we're like, sure, play all
19:51
night. And then more or less, well, we
19:52
came back and beat them and these guys, they they got a case
19:57
in the ass. They were not happy with us.
19:59
Like, would you offered it? You know, I think the name of
20:03
the mules. Remember the mules?
20:05
Just a rallying cry. You know, it's better and
20:08
better, of course, you know, But you know, it's just, you know,
20:10
stuff like that that, you know, you sit there and talk about
20:14
after the game and then stories get richer and more so.
20:17
And, you know, except the guy I met you earlier, school teacher,
20:19
kind of like the euchre of ours. I always said look, put a corner
20:23
in. The whole spot and just let him
20:24
go. Nothing but gold.
20:32
How do you guys mention players kind of coming and going or at
20:35
least coming in sometimes? How does someone get to join
20:38
your team if they can? Do you guys have tryouts at the
20:40
beginning of the season? You just are you looking for new
20:42
people all the time? Yeah, they, they do at the
20:45
beginning of the season that we, we do have a a tryout and people
20:50
come out there interested. They might see us playing and
20:52
say, hey, we're interested in and maybe become a part of that.
20:57
And, and, and we'll let him know we're going to have a try out of
21:00
some of the look online. They'll see, you know, when I
21:03
open the try out, when we're having a practice or something.
21:05
And they'll come out some of them.
21:07
But usually it was word of mouth through a player, through
21:10
another player. Like I got on a team from my
21:13
buddy who was the president of the club, Bill Digman, and him,
21:17
me and Brian Bertram, we just call him what was his.
21:22
Name Bird. Dog.
21:23
Yeah, bird dog. And he, we got on and he played
21:27
for years until his knees gave out on him.
21:29
So I can still hit and I can still catch and throw.
21:34
It's that running part. And those bases seem to get
21:36
farther apart every year. Yeah, Bird Dog.
21:40
He's pretty good outfielder. It's kind of like that's where
21:43
balls, that's where balls go to die.
21:45
And if he'd make a a nice catch, I'd be I'd say that dog will
21:48
hunt. You know, it's just, you know,
21:50
the nicknames are playing on that type of stuff.
21:52
And then, you know, he's referring to Bill or, or pick
21:57
because I, I hope you guys don't mind, but I'm bringing two guys
22:00
on and I I saw the guys and played ball with him in the past
22:03
and I think I like him. Well, it's it's it's modern bird
22:06
dog and two of the finest guys and you know, we just had so
22:09
much fun and we'll do, you know, at least once in the offseason
22:13
all try to get together or celebrate a birthday or
22:14
something and and do and it was probably nice having the old
22:17
guys back. As a matter of fact picks
22:19
grandson just graduate from high school and had you know, there's
22:21
six or eight of us and you know, we were just out there.
22:24
You know, they're just, you know, again, telling stories and
22:26
having some fun and, you know, but, but that part of the event,
22:30
which is neat. Yeah, we always try to have fun.
22:32
I remember we was at Oscars for the silent auction for Joe
22:36
Knuckle Fun and Marty Brennan. I've stand there and Marty came
22:41
up. I was talking with him a little
22:42
bit. I don't know, David, it might
22:44
have been you. I, I told him, I said, well, if
22:46
you want to meet us for spring training, we usually start off
22:49
at the Frisch's breakfast bar. If you want to come and join the
22:54
last thing you need. Well, I was going to say that,
22:59
you know, with those guys, so Danny and I both lost weight.
23:03
Danny's lost a little bit more and I have and, but prior to
23:06
that we were known as Jolly first baseman, you know, the
23:11
typical, you know, so you talk about guys come in and I'd say
23:15
like speakers say we might have somebody said how old and this I
23:18
said, how much do you weigh? And you know this, I'm like the
23:21
last thing we need is a damn old jolly first baseman.
23:24
We don't need any more. We got plenty of.
23:27
Them Hey, the first year we played at Great American
23:30
Ballpark that let us play. I believe it was after the game
23:34
and we were playing and I heard one of those fans in the stands
23:38
stuck around for our game. I come around third base, they
23:41
go. It's a great Bambino, but it's
23:49
fun. It's just.
23:50
So great. Being able to play it, and we
23:54
played a few times, a Great American ballpark and that was a
23:57
black so. But you know, talk about Bambino
24:00
and again, this has been a real nice mix bounce off between, you
24:03
know, current baseball and baseball, you know, throughout
24:05
the ages and then our stuff. But to me, I don't, you know, if
24:08
you're asking of that argument, greatest player ever, to me,
24:11
it's Babe Ruth bar none. You know, his pitching was
24:15
unbelievable how that that guy could pitch.
24:17
Of course, he hit so well. They had to have him in the
24:18
lineup every day. And it was, you know, when DH
24:21
and then Fast forward now to Shohei Otani.
24:23
I mean, what that guy's doing is is unbelievable, but you know,
24:27
and sure, hey, may, you know, eclipse the babe and and
24:30
pitching and and hits and what have you.
24:32
I don't think in homers. I think that's records going to
24:35
stay in a while. And but you know, you you you
24:38
marvel at the town and you know, talking about, you know, earlier
24:41
asked about you guys with golfers.
24:43
I mean, again, it's the two sports I really do like.
24:46
I picked the two daggone hardest ones, you know.
24:48
Yeah, it's, it's got to be somebody.
24:51
Hitting the ball right. Well, and it, and it's
24:53
interesting we talk about Babe Ruth.
24:55
I'm not Even so sure a lot of times when history is talked
25:01
about with Babe Ruth that he gets enough credit for his
25:04
pitching because it's all about his hitting.
25:07
He was a great. Pitch short period, kind of a
25:09
short period. You just think about the like
25:11
you talked about earlier, like the nutrition and like the air,
25:13
the air and that's, you know, 100 hours ago, like the
25:16
nutrition in the, in the, the working out and all that stuff
25:18
compared to now and it could do that then.
25:21
Well, so if my brother and I, if we've had a long night the night
25:25
before on a Saturday night or whatever and you kind of like,
25:27
Yep, just be like the babe, roll out, give me a hot dog and beer
25:30
and I'm good to go the next day. I think they started his teasing
25:34
with about I want a dozen hot dogs and about a cake and beer.
25:39
This guy's the guy to talk because you come and you see us
25:43
and you get between mud and a piece of fried chicken.
25:45
You better run for your life. You ain't making it out of
25:48
there. I got.
25:50
You know. I got this thing for fried
25:53
chicken when it's there and I'm there and that's one of the
25:57
things too. We got teams that come from out
25:59
of town to play us. After, we'll feed them.
26:02
After the game we'll sit around too and we'll feed them.
26:05
So not many teams do that, no. That's pretty cool.
26:09
So but a. Quick sidebar because you've
26:11
been in Nashville for hot chicken, have you had have you
26:14
done some hot chicken in Nashville?
26:16
No, we went to we went to a place it was down close to the
26:20
river because you can see the Titan Stadium on the other side
26:23
of the river and it was on the corner and it was like 3 stories
26:26
high. OK, yeah.
26:28
And there we ate there that night.
26:30
But first I got a video on my phone.
26:32
I don't know how to pull it off. God, mess everything up.
26:36
Dave. I I was filming Dave while he's
26:39
he's he's in his all you know, he's had a few and he's he thing
26:43
and walking down the Main Street and in Nashville and I was
26:48
filming him and some guy come up behind him and gave him the you
26:50
know, behind the rabbit ears behind him, but.
26:54
I thought maybe, maybe I'd get discovered, you know, and.
26:58
And like he said, Nashville and Steve, you know how hot it gets
27:02
there. And we were playing.
27:04
It was a plantation, wasn't it? We played that because they had
27:07
a cemetery out in center field. It was was that Bellevue was so
27:11
hot and one of the teams they did kind of like the farmers bib
27:15
overhauls. Yeah.
27:16
And he's out there and all of a sudden he's got the dry heaves,
27:21
you know, and he's just he's bending over just going at it
27:24
for everything he's worth and finally got a little up.
27:26
I'm like, is ever playing center?
27:27
Watch out. But yeah, what a fun town.
27:32
I I love Nashville. We like to your original
27:34
question, I was a meat potatoes guys raised, you know, Midwest
27:38
here. And my dad got somewhat
27:40
sensitive stomachs and we weren't much spices and I'm
27:42
still not today. I'm not not a spice guy.
27:45
But with the food down there, the entertainment, the we walked
27:49
by one place and hopped in and they're kind of like a Charlie
27:52
Daniels like cover band, tribute band.
27:54
And I closed my eyes and the guy in the fiddle, you thought it
27:56
was Charlie right then and there.
27:57
You know, I the talent in that town and I always say, you know,
28:01
shows like American Idol and America's Got Talent stuff, I
28:04
think odd for them because, you know, Carrie Underwood would be
28:06
singing on the bar in Oklahoma if she wasn't discovered.
28:09
You know, I mean, you know, and then I've never been to a place
28:13
like that. So like, hey, band's going to
28:15
take a break. We'll be back in 15.
28:17
Not down there. They keep on playing.
28:19
They. Just keep going, keep on going.
28:21
You who's going to discover us? You know, And yeah, just a.
28:25
Rooftop bar, I believe it was at George Jones Place.
28:29
I think it was. George Jones had a rooftop bar
28:32
up there. Yeah.
28:33
And that place? If you don't have a rooftop bar
28:37
downtown town, you're yeah, it won't last long.
28:41
It's got a couple now. They're on top of the hotels
28:43
down there. Yep.
28:45
I haven't been yet, but I hear they're pretty nice.
28:47
Hey, we're going to get back to the podcast episode in just a
28:50
minute, but Scott, right now, we want to talk about our proud
28:55
sponsor, Nashville Brew Pass. We love them, don't we?
28:57
We do, we do. And tell everybody what
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Nashville Brew Pass is. Nashville Brew Pass and if you
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haven't seen us hold this booklet up 100 times, here's
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101. That's what it is.
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It's a passport. It's got multiple breweries in
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here. I think we counted 40 plus or
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something at one time, Steve. There are many, many breweries
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in here. There is even AQR code in this
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book that shows you a map and lifts of all the breweries that
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are in Nashville. Brew Pass.
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Yeah, and it's great. It's got over 60 bucks worth of
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beer and whiskey discounts in this thing alone.
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So in that $60 worth of discounts, that includes like
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one of the local tap rooms. Yes.
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Pays for itself twice over. That is a great thing, man.
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All right, that is awesome. The other things you get too,
30:00
Steve, is when you go to one of the events, you don't even have
30:04
to register, you just show up with it.
30:06
It's like you're AVIP. You just show up with your brew
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pass, you're already on the guest list.
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And boom, you know what they're going to do?
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They are going to give you a stamp.
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Bam, a stamp. Well, I'll tell you this much
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right now, my friend. I love the savings.
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I love the fact that Nashville Brew Pass is very involved in
30:25
the beer community in Nashville. Also, as you said, they're also
30:28
involved in distilleries in Nashville and a couple of
30:32
cideries as well. So we love.
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I thought of something cool today, Steve.
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If someone were new to Nashville and didn't know where to go,
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this would be something great for them to pick up or be gifted
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so that they would know all the best places to go in town.
30:46
That's right. Fantastic resource.
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So if you're coming into Nashville, go online and get
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It takes the guesswork out of it.
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You don't have to get online and say, where are all the breweries
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You just get your booklet and like you said earlier, there's a
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exactly where everybody is. That's our proud sponsor,
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Nashville Brew Pass. Now back to the show.
31:10
Now back to the show. You guys mentioned in the
31:12
beginning of the podcast about some of the beer, you know, you
31:14
mentioned some old style beers. Do you guys get in the craft
31:17
beer at all? Are you craft beer guys or just
31:19
more of the old school? Beer.
31:20
We got a place called the Dead Low, Yes, which is down Pellog
31:25
Ave. and my wife and I go there sometimes and she gets there.
31:29
It's called American Lager because they don't have your
31:31
typical, you know, Miller Lite or whatever.
31:34
They have their own they make. And she likes their American
31:37
lager a lot. Yeah, so we do that, but she's
31:41
not like the beer drinker than I am, so.
31:44
Yeah. And yeah, I again what we're
31:46
kind of race on, but as you know how many German festivals there
31:49
are here. Oh yeah.
31:51
And I'll go and I'll get like a like a pale ale or you know,
31:54
some of the different ones and kind of get out of my comfort
31:56
zone. But going back to the story with
31:59
Pic, so we go to Saint Louis and go to this new bar and you've
32:03
got, you know, 48,000 beers to choose from all this.
32:06
And what do you have here is Bud Light.
32:10
The man is as loyal as could be. And we'll sit, sit around
32:14
drinking, you know, and my brother and I used to have
32:16
Miller Lite, you know, and do all this and next thing you
32:19
know, like, Oh my God, my cooler's out.
32:22
And look at Pic and he's got the endless and guess what?
32:25
He's got Bud Light. Like damn greatest beer ever.
32:28
Mind if I have one of those? Yeah.
32:31
When it, when the goal gets tough, that's the only thing
32:32
left. Is the best beer gone?
32:34
But yeah. And it, and it's so funny when
32:36
you mentioned, when you mentioned in the beginning of
32:39
some of the beer that we grew up on in Cincinnati, you talked
32:43
about Wiedemann and I always remember Hudepol like, you know,
32:46
you would go to the Reds game and you hear the vendor ice cold
32:49
Hudepol. And then and then I always
32:52
remember the Stroh's commercial and it it kind of went like
32:56
this. Stroh's.
32:57
Something like Stroh's is for the real beer lover.
33:00
There ain't right something like no other I.
33:03
Remember that? Yeah, we were.
33:04
Isn't that the way it went? Yeah, there was a huge Reds
33:07
advertiser and, you know, so funny.
33:09
So my uncle who's from Cincinnati, he end up going to
33:13
Detroit for a job. Yeah, and, and my dad was a
33:18
milkman. So you get together, Uncle Jack
33:22
didn't drink beer and my dad didn't drink milk, you know.
33:25
So right guys, you kind of got got your wires crossed here, you
33:28
know. But you know the the Strohs and
33:30
again the PBRS and then the Hut of all get Moody with Hootie.
33:35
You know. Just some of the the beer.
33:37
So there's another guy in our ball club.
33:39
He works for Sam Adams Brewery. Oh, yeah, Yeah.
33:42
So, you know, he, I still think he'd get some, some free product
33:45
here and then and he'll bring some stuff to the game and I'll
33:47
try it, you know. But my brother had this pickle
33:51
beer. Like I'm looking at Steve right
33:55
now when you say it. Go ahead.
33:57
I'm like, son, what's what's wrong with you?
33:58
That was the worst. And I've never turned out a free
34:00
beer. One of, you know, beer I didn't
34:02
like, you know, but yeah, I I kind of get boring in my, you
34:06
know, I should probably expand my horizons a little bit.
34:08
But when I do, you know, I'm more of the, you know, kind of
34:11
the, the the pale ales or the weeds are kind of those things,
34:14
you know, I should try. But God, there's so many
34:16
microbreweries in here anymore. And the Over The Rhine section
34:21
and some of that great German architecture, they've got some
34:23
really good stuff up and down there.
34:24
Yeah, the good stuff. The good thing, Dave, is if you
34:26
walk into a place and you don't like OK much Ipas or whatever,
34:29
they're probably something in there that you'll like.
34:32
Even if you ask them, they're gonna have something on the
34:34
lighter side or a pale ale or something.
34:36
They usually try to have something for everyone.
34:38
Which is neat to they'll give you a little sampler which is
34:40
great instead of the whole being, I don't like it going to
34:44
waste it, you know? We did the Bourbon tour and you
34:48
know, in the beginning they give it to you in this purest form.
34:52
And I mean, you take that and you're like whistling Dixie, you
34:55
know, it's just strong. But when?
34:58
It's nice and clear, that white lightning.
35:01
But you, you were talking Steve earlier about, you know, back in
35:05
Cincinnati, back in the day, all the different beers.
35:07
My father used to own a little grocery store in Northside where
35:10
I grew up. And we would always go to who to
35:13
pull down on Central Parkway. OK.
35:17
And get it to get the stuff there and bring it back to the
35:19
store. But until they he didn't have a
35:21
delivery guy. But there's a still bars in that
35:25
neighborhood that some of the older guys, they should take the
35:29
five gallon clear jug to the bar and they would fill it up for
35:34
him and they take and that's what they drank on through the
35:37
week while they were working and then and then they'd come back
35:41
in and fill it up again. Why not?
35:44
There was a term for that. I don't know if it was, that's
35:46
probably, but it was called a growler.
35:48
Yeah. Yeah.
35:50
And there was a bar when I lived up at Columbus, they named the
35:52
Crowlers. And it's kind of neat, but,
35:54
yeah, stories like that. And my grandfather, Cincinnati
35:56
native, he worked for Western Union.
35:58
He was a telegrapher. And, you know, he would, you
36:01
know, he would, you know, talk. He taught me growler and just
36:04
different things how things were back in the day.
36:06
But back in the day, you know, the, like, the Reds go to
36:08
Chicago, like in the 30s, whatever.
36:10
There was no radio to radio or, you know, TV type of thing.
36:13
So it was all by, you know, Western Union by Telegraph.
36:16
And, you know, my grandpa's claim to fame was he was because
36:20
of the Reds in Chicago. And Johnny Van der Meer threw
36:23
his consecutive no hitter. Yeah.
36:26
I was the first guy in Cincinnati that knew about it.
36:28
Yeah. Because he.
36:29
Wow. And he would type it out.
36:30
And then I don't know if you remember the name Red Barber.
36:33
Barbara would do the announcing after whatever my grandpa typed
36:36
out. And they got so good.
36:38
They knew baseball so much that they'd have like 2 wooden slats,
36:41
whatever and and they crack and they put those together like the
36:43
crack of the game. And you would never know it was
36:46
that that's how it was being done.
36:47
Yeah, I for my 50th birthday, my father-in-law gave me a ball
36:54
that his father gave him. And if signed twice by Johnny
36:58
van der Meer, I'll never let I'll never let it go.
37:01
It was only it only means something to the Reds fans.
37:05
Other sure and, and but I couldn't let it go no matter
37:09
what. It's something for life.
37:12
You just keep. You just.
37:13
Same thing. My grandfather gave me a program
37:16
for the first night game in Cincinnati.
37:18
Yeah, May 25th, 3rd, 24th of 35. And, you know, just it's just
37:23
stuff like that, it's in your blood.
37:24
And you know, you spoke of opening day.
37:27
You're right. There's no other city does
37:28
opening day like Cincinnati and none they've told, told you what
37:32
they're trying to make it, you know, the citywide or whatever,
37:34
you know, holiday, whatever. Hard to do, you know, to get
37:37
that done. But I remember it was my senior
37:39
year in high school and somebody, I don't know how, but
37:44
we got tickets to opening day. I'll never forget the English
37:46
teacher who'd love my sisters and they were good.
37:49
And you know, why can't you be like your sisters and you know,
37:52
whatever. So she and then she's not
37:54
tomorrow and, you know, and she did it on purpose.
37:56
She there's we're having a test and I don't want any
37:59
grandmothers dying tomorrow because of, you know, it's
38:01
opening day for four tickets and it's, you know, I'm like, yeah,
38:06
we're going and we went to opening day.
38:08
She had that test and you know it's like you'll regret this
38:12
like many years later. I don't regret code opening
38:15
days. Test doesn't even matter as much
38:18
but. Well, the, the, I think the joke
38:20
has always been, and I could say this as a lifelong Reds fan,
38:23
well, especially in recent years, that you get excited for
38:26
opening day, you go to the game and then after the the game is
38:29
over, going, all right, what's next?
38:31
Because you know, it's kind of like you just don't know.
38:33
You don't know, you know, it's are you already going to utter
38:36
the words? There's always next year.
38:40
Well, the other thing with opening day two my.
38:42
You know opening day in Cincinnati is like a national
38:45
holiday. Businesses close half day
38:48
whatever and and you. Remember, we were the only team
38:53
that opened that the only game in in baseball.
38:56
That got back in the day, you know, and.
38:59
My kids in their school, they, we had to call if they were
39:01
going to, you know, be absent, you know, just to make sure and
39:04
everything. And this is my third year in a
39:06
row. And I knew the secretary pretty
39:08
well, and she was all day. And she goes, do the boys have
39:11
Reds fever again today? Yeah, that fever's high.
39:14
Fever. Reds Fever.
39:18
You guys remember when that bat day was a full size bat?
39:21
Oh. My.
39:22
Gosh, yeah, you got the big bat. Yeah.
39:24
Oh yeah. I think that went away after
39:27
somebody got clunk of a few of them.
39:29
Or something, you imagine that riverfront stadium and it was a
39:32
nice bat and then, you know, pounding on that cement, you
39:34
know, it drove the other team crazy, you know, and they
39:38
finally, you know, like I said, mother said they quit doing
39:40
that. But I just, it came across, I
39:42
think it was the anniversary just the other day of the $0.10
39:44
beer night in Cleveland. Clevelanders and cheap beer.
39:49
What could go wrong there? Possibly?
39:51
Yeah, exactly. Crossley Field, they had some
39:54
wooden bleachers and man, when they start pounding on that, it
39:58
got up. But to me, Crossley Field was
40:01
was a a great baseball part. It was.
40:05
It was just, you know, you go to the game, stop and get peanuts
40:09
from Peanut Gym. Yeah, peanuts.
40:13
I mean, he was part of history. You know, our team, Greg Rhodes,
40:17
he from he, from what I hear, he started our team.
40:21
And he's a baseball historian. I mean, you know, he was in
40:23
charge of the Hall of Fame for a lot of time, for a while there,
40:27
wasn't he? Yeah.
40:29
And he's still, you'll still come out to our games and
40:32
officiate a game for us. Great guy.
40:34
So one of my Crossy field stories was was a friend of
40:37
mine. We had summer camp and they took
40:39
the bus down. The kids.
40:40
We get to go and maybe we had 30, forty, $0.50, whatever.
40:44
And we're in a sun sundeck, the bleachers in right field.
40:47
And you know, Pete was my guy from the minute I watched first
40:50
baseball. Please, Pete's playing right?
40:53
And I'm like, wow. So he turns around and, you
40:57
know, he throws it and here I am probably 10 and it's coming at
41:00
me. It's coming.
41:01
I'm like, my God, I'm here. Both my hair.
41:03
It's big fat guy kind of gets in front of gets and gets the pop.
41:06
I'm like, I'll dejected. I'm like, all right, so let's go
41:11
down and we'll get a pop, you know, and I got my $0.10
41:14
whatever and I come back, I have the same fact, I or not, but
41:17
we're going, we're getting sloshed.
41:18
I lose half my cup. I'm like.
41:20
This sucks. I.
41:21
Was like, I didn't get a ball, my pop's gone, you know?
41:23
I was like I'm not having any fun here.
41:26
That's funny. Miserable experience.
41:31
You guys, if you you get back in Cincinnati during the season,
41:35
check look at our our website and come out to the game man.
41:38
I know it would be great to have you.
41:40
The guys would love to meet you. Yeah.
41:42
And you know what, let's talk about your website for people
41:45
that you know they're interested in going to some of your games.
41:49
Can you talk about how direct them there?
41:51
Yeah, 1869 reds.com and get on there and it got our schedule
41:58
pictures of don't look at my picture too much, it looks like
42:01
a material, but. Well, now we're going to seek it
42:04
out. But yeah, it's a great website
42:08
and it's got our schedule on there, where we're playing at
42:12
and who we're playing times and everything.
42:15
And we'd love, we'd love for everybody to come out and watch
42:19
us. I say that.
42:22
Yeah, so come out, man. When you come in town, come out
42:26
get hold of. Us would love to. 1000% and and
42:30
guys, I hope we we stay in touch because you guys are freaking
42:33
fantastic. Again, we appreciate it.
42:35
We could do a whole night on Pete.
42:37
We could do a whole night on stories, you know, I mean, you
42:40
know, it's, it's just, you know, when Speedy told us about it's
42:42
like, and this is coming off our local, you know, Channel 12
42:45
appearance. And you know, like, I'm like, oh
42:48
God, the paparazzi. It's just, you know, it's like,
42:51
will they ever stop? You know, we can't get our heads
42:55
through the doors anymore. But just, you know, so gracious
42:59
to have us on. And again, we could go all
43:00
night, but we anytime you want, dial us up, we're here.
43:04
Wait, what the dude, I've never guys, I've never had so many
43:08
goosebumps on an on an interview that I had in this one.
43:11
I'm not kidding with the baseball stories and just
43:13
talking baseball. And I mean, I've got them right
43:15
now. I mean, it's just, it's
43:17
wonderful just talking baseball and beer.
43:18
It's just I'm in my element. Well, and listen, and I have to
43:23
say as a as a Cincinnati and listen to you guys reminds me so
43:27
much of, you know, what I grew up with.
43:30
You know, I mean it, it it does. So it takes it takes me back to,
43:35
you know, the good old days of of of all of that.
43:37
And I can tell you I've been I've been the more Major League
43:41
Baseball games or Reds games than any other sport.
43:44
I mean, and you can tell I'm, I'm, I'm a, I'm a Reds fan
43:47
throwing through it for life. Keep driving.
43:49
Your phone brother to keep you going but baseball just I always
43:54
I tell my grandson it's the best, best game in the world,
43:57
but. Well, again, it started.
43:59
We were 10 years old, we had the transistor.
44:01
I go to bed and you get that transistor on that, you know,
44:03
enlist that Reds game and then you couldn't get sleep.
44:06
And especially if they were out West, they're playing Odgers,
44:10
you know, it's like you, you, you had to hide that, you know,
44:13
so mom can check on you and say, oh, you seem to be asleep.
44:16
And then she'd go ahead and turn that up.
44:18
And, you know, just, you know, like, say, we were again so
44:21
fortunate of Marty and Joe's baseball, you know?
44:25
It's awesome. One of the greatest memories is
44:27
that for me was I had my son Josh and we were at Riverfront
44:33
Stadium and we had a transistor radio sitting between us, empty
44:37
seat and we're sitting there listening to to Marty and Joe
44:41
and watching the game. I'll never forget that.
44:45
I'll never that was that was like one of the best days of my
44:47
life. Just that was great.
44:50
We get back to one of the ball games.
44:52
We could keep you guys all night.
44:53
We don't want to do that. But my dad, my brother and I and
44:56
my brother-in-law, we used to go and we'd stay at a hotel a night
44:59
before the opener and go to the parade just before we were
45:01
playing ball on marching in the parade, which we have got for 25
45:04
years or so. But we would, you know, go down
45:07
there and, you know, we, we, you know, the tickets, you know, we,
45:13
we nosebleeds, we're way up top. You know, it's just you're,
45:16
you're so up there and, and we see my brother-in-law, he's down
45:20
there. He's talking this usher, not the
45:21
usher, one of the vendors. And you know, hopefully he's not
45:25
going to cause any problems, you know, because they're never had
45:27
it for a while. Finally, you know, next thing
45:30
you know, he he literally he talked that into a somehow he
45:33
had the whole case of beer and he brings it up and he's up to
45:37
see if people like they're looking at him like, how'd you
45:40
do this, Joe? It's great.
45:41
You know, just pass him out. You know, I said, how in the
45:44
hell did you do it? He goes he's he's he's like, I
45:47
remember him pointing up there and he goes, look up there,
45:49
there's brave men dying up here. They need this beer.
45:53
The only guy I've ever seen there.
45:55
You get a, you get a case of beer that I'd pay for it and,
45:58
you know, brought it up to us. You know, it was like it was
46:01
just, you know, my God, you know, from that day on, he was a
46:04
hero. For life, I tell you, if you
46:07
guys get the different ballparks, strike up a
46:10
conversation with with an usher. Somebody has been working there
46:13
for a while because the story you can hear are amazing.
46:17
I was at I was at Fenway, and the usher are standing on the
46:21
first field level and he says, see this last row of seats?
46:25
These seats were here when the stadium opened in 1912.
46:29
And I was like, wow, that's really cool.
46:31
And then of course, you know, when the Reds played there, they
46:34
show them in behind the wall, signing the wall.
46:37
Wouldn't you like to have a piece of that wall?
46:40
How stork is that? That's amazing.
46:42
But Fenway is a great place to see a ball game, and I was
46:46
fortunate enough to go to the House that Ruth built before
46:49
they tore it down. And what a place to see a ball
46:52
game that that's a ball stadium right there.
46:54
That's yeah, I like crossing the field.
46:57
That was a ball save to me. And you got to throw Wrigley in
46:59
there. Oh, yeah.
47:01
I took my boys and we did, we stayed way out of town.
47:04
Hotels are too, too much downtown.
47:06
And we did the whole subway, did the thing and went in there and
47:09
walk up the concourse, walking up.
47:11
And you know, my son, he might have been 10-12 at the time,
47:14
whatever it was. And he gets out there and it was
47:17
a beautiful day, you know, not a cloud in the sky, not hot, you
47:21
know, the, the flags going. And he just stood there like he
47:24
was in awe. It was like, you know, he had
47:26
seen something that he was just it was it was unbelievable how
47:30
just beautiful it was, you know, and and that's again, you know,
47:33
with baseball. I I know we keep on talking, but
47:36
it's that, you know, the father, the son, your grandfather,
47:39
whoever that that handed down to the generational thing of it.
47:43
And that's for me. Go back to your question about
47:45
movies. That's why you feel the dreams
47:46
just struck such a chord. There's nothing like watching.
47:49
There's nothing like watching a baseball game with your dad.
47:52
Yep, Yep, Yep. Yeah, absolutely.
47:57
Yeah, and and just to your point again, when you walk out onto a
48:00
baseball, not onto a baseball field, to walk out to see a
48:02
baseball field in New Park, it's just I could stay in there for
48:05
hours too. And it doesn't matter what the
48:06
park is. It's just like man here.
48:08
It's magical. Yeah, it is magical.
48:11
It's it's a, it's a very special thing.
48:15
I always say every time I walk into a Great American ballpark
48:18
and I'm sitting there, it's just my happy place.
48:20
You know, it's like, yeah, it's like, yes, baseball season is
48:25
it's around again and just go relax, have a beer and have a
48:27
good time. Yeah, it's.
48:29
A speak of a happy place. I'm a little nervous because
48:33
Happy Gilmore twos come out here, you know, towards the end
48:36
of the month and how do you replace that movie?
48:38
I mean, you know, I know Happy's happy place was pretty happy,
48:41
you know, and I'm thinking, my gosh, you know, it's like it's
48:47
very few movies can hit the home run again like they like he did
48:50
with, you know, I'm a little concerned it's it might be a
48:55
little a little cheesy. They've done that with part with
48:59
the second, you know, the sequel of a lot of movies lately, the
49:02
Beetlejuice in in coming to America.
49:04
And it's it's, it's almost not that they ruined them, but it's
49:07
almost the second movie again or the 1st movie again, you know.
49:11
So how do you? Duplicate a masterpiece like
49:14
that I know. I think it's time for another
49:18
good baseball movie. And there you go.
49:22
You got to admit. I mean, let's be honest, when it
49:24
comes to baseball, moving Kevin Costner, Sakane and No.
49:30
Sport does their history of past like baseball.
49:33
Nobody can hold a candle. And there's a million ways you
49:35
can come out of you can talk about a team or you can just
49:38
from an angle or something. Like I like the movie 61.
49:40
Obviously it was about the Yankees, but it was.
49:43
Billy Crystal, Yeah. It was just about one season and
49:46
two players, you know. Do you all know you guys watch
49:49
it when the with the Field of Dreams?
49:52
When Major League had their first game there, the Reds
49:54
played Chicago White Sox. Am I right?
49:59
Or was it the Cubs? I think was it the white types
50:01
of the? Cubs, OK, but they had a little,
50:03
little skit there where it had Johnny, Johnny Bench Stallman
50:07
for a ride on the road, right? Yeah.
50:10
And that and they picked up and goes, yeah, I'm a catcher.
50:14
And I'm like, my God, it's just watching that.
50:19
It was just the greatest. It was, it was great.
50:22
Everything about that was, it was perfect.
50:24
You know, Ken Griffey, junior and senior coming up and they're
50:27
tossing ball in the first throw. I think we're the junior that
50:31
dropped it. I mean those guys, you know that
50:37
that's homegrown. Ken Griffey junior lived in
50:39
Mount Airy when he was in Cincinnati.
50:41
He lived around the street from my wife and I used to see him
50:45
all the time riding his bike up there and everything.
50:47
And my God, it made so much talent.
50:50
That's cool. I actually have a Ken Griffey
50:53
junior story. I wish I could verify or
50:56
somebody was with me that could could back up this story.
50:59
But when I was a kid, a buddy of mine that we lived on the same
51:04
St. together, He played Little League ball with Ken Griffey
51:07
Junior. And and so we're since I grew up
51:12
over on the West side. We were actually at Little
51:15
Flower Church over by Mount Airy.
51:17
Yes. White wood right down from
51:20
Little Flower. Yes, so the so the little
51:23
flowers. So, so the Griffey's lived in
51:25
that area, Yes. And, and we're sled riding,
51:28
we're going down on an inner tube and we're going down to the
51:32
center tube. It was me and the, the guy that
51:34
lived on my street at the time. We were probably maybe 10-11
51:38
years old. And there may have been one or
51:40
two other people on the inner tube.
51:42
And Ken Griffey Junior jumped on the inner tube really.
51:46
And, and, and I didn't know it was him at the at the time, but
51:49
my friends like, yeah, it's Ken Griffey junior.
51:51
And we go down the, the end of the, the hill and he hopped on
51:56
midway and then he ran out. He ran away and went, I don't
52:00
know. And that's the last time I saw
52:01
him. And I'm like, I wish, I wish I,
52:03
I wish there was somebody with me today that I could go.
52:07
Man, you know, I work with a guy named Ron Jorger and he, yeah,
52:12
he used to coach Ken Griffey in nine football and they played
52:16
their game, the Little Flower, He said Griffey was in the
52:19
center field for him, and if the ball was hit the left, he'd run
52:22
over and catch it. The balls hit the right, he
52:24
said. He didn't.
52:25
Those other kids, he didn't want to take a chance on missing it.
52:28
So Griffey just appeared a whole outfield.
52:30
Right. And, you know, I mean, you watch
52:33
as many games as you can. You can't, you know, do all the
52:35
time. But what's happened is you'd be
52:37
watching a couple and then when a senior and junior went
52:40
back-to-back the home runs. Yeah.
52:43
Again, how do you script that? You don't.
52:45
It just happens to be more baseball than any other sport,
52:48
you know. Yep, you just see such neat
52:52
stuff like that. But I get back to Pete, of
52:55
course, my obsession. But I have talked about because
52:56
I was thinking about, you know, being starstruck.
52:58
I thought that's what you were going to say, you know, and met
53:01
him somewhere. But so I was living in Columbus
53:03
and, and when 4192 was coming up, I was living up there and I
53:08
sat down and I'm not that smart of a guy.
53:09
I looked at Pete. I knew all his stats and I were
53:12
just and I said to myself, I think it's going to happen.
53:15
You know, you know that right around 911 at home and I bought
53:19
tickets for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, drive down Monday
53:21
didn't play. But hey, you know, he might
53:24
sweat, you know, he might pinch, hit, whatever.
53:26
Go down, you know, go down. I'm driving, I'm past myself on
53:29
71. You know, I'm so tired.
53:30
I couldn't see straight and and you know, would go so I could
53:32
see 4192. So in person.
53:35
So back here. Fast forward a couple years
53:37
later in Columbus and Pete's doing a book signing and I'm
53:40
like, you know, again, don't make a fool of yourself.
53:42
What are you going to say? You know, it's Pete, it's the
53:45
Hickey and my turn in line for next thing I know and I'm
53:47
looking at Pete and I got, I got, I got.
53:49
I said he said, hey, Peter. I said, yeah.
53:52
I said what? Dutch.
53:52
No, it was great. I was at 4192.
53:54
And he looked, he looked up, because so was I.
53:58
Hey, hey, Dave. Hey, Dave.
54:01
I was at, I was at that Monday game.
54:04
Oh, OK, yeah. When when Pete tied the record
54:08
in Chicago and when he came back, my dad said we got to go.
54:14
And so he we got tickets and was at the old Riverfront and we
54:17
were sitting like Nosebleed out of the outfield.
54:21
And you, I mean, from way out there back at that time, I mean,
54:25
you know, you're lucky you could even see home plate.
54:27
And of course, as you said it, he didn't play that night.
54:31
Now, I wasn't there for 4192. We were only able to get tickets
54:34
for that game. But the thing I I remember that
54:37
night was Pete came out to argue a call and everybody gave him a
54:42
standing ovation. So I wasn't there for 4192.
54:47
But you know, even even for that, that was that was a pretty
54:50
big deal, so. Well, yeah.
54:51
And when that happened and we talked about, you know, catching
54:55
balls at first, our hands, when he did, it was an 11 minute
54:59
standing ovation, hands hurting because I think I clapped all 11
55:03
minutes. Yeah.
55:05
God, I need to use one hand. This is cooling down, you know?
55:09
Yeah. I get that.
55:12
Yep. Yep.
55:15
Oh my gosh. Guys, I know we're probably
55:17
winding down here, but I do have, I do have a question.
55:20
Are Cubs or Cardinals fans allowed to join your team?
55:25
No, we we've had them all and we're currently putting up with
55:32
our Yankee. Daddy, you know, I got to say
55:36
about Cubs fans. You go to Reds game, I swear,
55:40
it's almost like there's more Cubs fans there than Reds.
55:43
They got a following and they got a heck of a team this year.
55:47
Yeah, they do. Yeah, so, but it it's good.
55:50
I went to Chicago last year to watch the game, took my
55:53
grandkids with me and they, it was their first time riding on
55:57
the subway. And man, we had, it wasn't a
56:00
good experience for him, but we still have fun, you know, But
56:04
Chicago's a great place. Chicago's a great place to watch
56:07
baseball. We had a, a guy who's a dear,
56:10
dear friend of ours and he big, big Cubbies fan.
56:14
And ironically, his dad's a South Side guy.
56:16
He's a White Sox guy. And we've become very close to
56:18
their family and we see him and he comes back for our golf out
56:21
and both of them, you know, for the, for the golf out again, you
56:24
know, he's just, he's just died in the wall.
56:26
And then so we have a text chain going was like, you know, if we
56:30
if we, we get him, it's like we'll text it.
56:33
Anybody see the game last night and that got a result.
56:34
What happened last night? Or if we sweep him or whatever.
56:37
And we're always, you know, just, you know, back and forth,
56:40
just busting balls with it constantly with him all the
56:42
time. But you know, I look at this
56:43
team this year, I'm like, where did that come from?
56:46
And then I, I text him after, you know, PCA just, you know,
56:49
ran roughshod on. So I said give me PCA, please.
56:52
Come on. I'm sorry about all the stuff
56:53
before. He's my Bob and I ain't getting
56:55
PCA. I mean, that kids lit it up.
56:57
That's unbelievable what he's doing, you know, Right.
57:01
Yeah, it's a. We we let him on.
57:07
We just hope they'll kill each other.
57:08
That's a big rivalry. Cubs guard girls.
57:09
You know, he's like, right. We can take each other out, you
57:12
know? Yeah.
57:12
Oh my God, what? The hell?
57:14
What's the new Yankee Stadium like?
57:16
Is it pretty cool? It's it's amazing, man.
57:18
I call it like, I mean partial, but man, I call it Mecca.
57:21
When I walk in there, it is that.
57:23
It's just like it's glorious on the outside.
57:26
It's glorious on the inside. And it's, you know, the ghosts
57:30
are still there. What's that?
57:32
Yeah, I'll get there someday. I'm I'm actually going to Kansas
57:36
City this year. That's the place I.
57:38
Like the games? We've been around.
57:40
We we played ball in Milwaukee. We went to the game there.
57:43
That was a lot of fun. St.
57:46
We did a tour of the old. I saw a game at the old Saint
57:49
Louis Stadium and the new and we did a tour of it and we played
57:53
ball there and yeah, it's just going to different baseball.
57:59
It's a lot of fun. It's.
58:01
Nothing like it. I'm trying to get something, be
58:06
a little selfish here. Somehow, someway, you're the
58:09
Yankee guy. You got to get me the George
58:11
Costanza sleeping on the sofa bobblehead.
58:17
Is it coming out? Yeah, and people are already
58:20
trying to get their, you know, their trying to bid like, you
58:23
know, crazy dollars for it already.
58:25
That's hilarious. I mean, those, those episodes
58:28
when he was, you know, working for the Yankees guys, they were.
58:31
So they'd have Yankee players. And of course, Steinbrenner was
58:35
never on, but it was always Larry David doing his voice,
58:38
which was always. I love the one scene where they
58:41
come in and they're at George's home.
58:43
You know, he's in the back of his head.
58:44
You know, Steinbrenner is going on and then, you know, something
58:47
like this, that or George and something and all of a sudden I
58:52
think it's so is Jerry Stiller or he's Ben Stiller's dad.
58:56
He was graved by roles as the father.
58:58
He goes, he's saying something is all about George and and his
59:03
mom, what Georgie and his and whatever.
59:05
And then the next thing you know, he goes.
59:07
Why in the hell did you trade Jay Bruner?
59:10
Yeah, he was giving Steinbrenner shit.
59:14
Dude, you know, just typical the way he was.
59:16
Just lighten him up. Yeah, when they when they had
59:21
the when they had the episode of like the cotton uniforms and
59:25
cheater was in it and everything else.
59:27
And he's he's like, you know, they're like, aren't you?
59:30
Weren't you the guy that put us in that Ramada?
59:32
Yeah. We're fortunate I work for in a
59:37
pharmaceuticals, my major, my career.
59:39
And we had a, we, we always had like nice big events and, and
59:42
Derek Cheeter was a a, the keynote speaker for us, which is
59:45
great. And our guy did a good job
59:47
interviewing. And, you know, he had said that,
59:50
you know, you know, being from Michigan, he, he had nowhere
59:53
near the number of reps or games, you know, and when he
59:55
signed, you know, with the Yankees, he's called his
59:58
parents. He'd be like, I, I can't cut it
1:00:01
here. I mean, I'm not as good as these
1:00:02
guys. They've played way more than I
1:00:03
have and. Experiences that just stick with
1:00:06
it, stick with it, stick, stick it out, you know, and you know,
1:00:10
end up being one of the all time greats.
1:00:11
And you know, the Reds could have had him.
1:00:14
We picked this guy named Chad Mottola, his five tool player
1:00:17
RGM Jim Bowden, which the pokey Reese had the greatest line
1:00:21
ever. He said.
1:00:21
How do you know? In Jim Bowden's line, he was
1:00:23
when his lips were moving. Yeah.
1:00:26
We could have had Jeter in the draft, and we did.
1:00:28
And I'm like I. Don't mind, How funny is that?
1:00:31
Oh, it's unbelievable. Aren't you the guy that put us
1:00:34
in the Ramada? Yeah, but, you know, it's like,
1:00:40
it's such a funny thing. But yeah, that's how you know,
1:00:43
And I always say because Barry Larkin played for Michigan, you
1:00:45
know, if I'm a stud, you know, a player coming out of high school
1:00:48
and I'm going to go to the college route, why would you not
1:00:50
go SE Southwest, you know, in a warm climate?
1:00:53
I don't, I don't get it. Because, you know, baseball and
1:00:55
cold weather's hard. It is not fun.
1:00:57
You get that sting. And, you know, it's just I, you
1:01:01
know, some of these SEC's or Southwest schools, I'm like, why
1:01:04
would you ever, you know, play up north of baseball?
1:01:05
I don't get it. But to us, crazy you can play.
1:01:07
Longer too. Facilities are better.
1:01:09
You can play longer, you know, throughout the year.
1:01:11
Play all year, really. Yeah.
1:01:14
Yeah, you know, talk about Cincinnati had a lot of
1:01:17
homegrown talent. And another one that we we
1:01:19
didn't mention was Tommy Helms. Yep, Yep.
1:01:23
And he? Recent recently died too, right?
1:01:25
Yeah, he did. Yep.
1:01:27
Well, it was, I don't know, I think it was back in the 80s.
1:01:28
We had an all since the infield, you know, Larkin, Billy Doran,
1:01:32
Ron Oster. Yeah, and I didn't forget the
1:01:35
other one, but. He had Scott Jervis made it.
1:01:37
He he paid for the Kansas City. Philly, how do you have he
1:01:41
played in? Japan a year, the giant.
1:01:45
The whole and oh Buddy Bell, that was the other one.
1:01:47
Yeah, my, I had AI, had a great uncle who knew Buddy Bell pretty
1:01:51
well. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:01:55
But I'm afraid, Scott, that I don't know how he's surviving,
1:01:59
but I guess Aaron Boone's on the hot seat.
1:02:02
Yeah, I know he. Getting to the World Series got
1:02:04
him another year. But man, I, I don't know.
1:02:06
I don't know. Look, everybody's got injuries.
1:02:11
We've had injuries, man. You got to be, I don't know.
1:02:15
Thanks again for it. It's.
1:02:17
Yeah, they're spending a lot of money for Mediata career right
1:02:21
now. Well, we had Bob Boone as a
1:02:23
manager for a while and it drove me insane.
1:02:28
We didn't say something as well. We didn't get enough points.
1:02:31
I'm like points. You're not playing hoops here,
1:02:33
pal. These are runs and I it drove
1:02:34
me. Yeah, really.
1:02:36
I know points. I'm like.
1:02:37
You're a baseball life or what the hell you.
1:02:39
Called it points what? Yeah.
1:02:42
I think our front office is really, they're really hand tied
1:02:47
to analytics. Like it's not all they do, but
1:02:49
they're that's kind of their focus.
1:02:51
And I think, I think it needs to be part of the equation, but not
1:02:54
all the equations. So, I mean, we got to, you know,
1:02:56
we got to bang her up like Aaron's, you know, Aaron's
1:02:59
judge. But the rest of the guys have to
1:03:01
fill in too. You got some good ball players
1:03:05
there. Now you got good team in New
1:03:07
York. I know the one guy, he's a left
1:03:10
hand hitter, got a real thick mustache.
1:03:14
He always mind here, one of the guys from back in the 70s in
1:03:17
those funny kind of movies, you know?
1:03:20
He's 25 years old. He looks like he's 40 with that
1:03:23
mustache. Yeah, and you know, he's
1:03:27
Cashman's been a long time too. And I, I wonder if he's a little
1:03:30
bit on the hot seat too, because Lord notice if the old man
1:03:33
Steinbrenner was around, they wouldn't be around, you know,
1:03:35
Right. He'd.
1:03:36
Have made some changes somewhere, right?
1:03:39
It's I mean, it's, it's not for lack of spending.
1:03:41
I mean, so it would have helped, but you know, we getting this
1:03:45
free was probably better. Yeah, this is a Yankee story,
1:03:49
which you may or may not have heard, and I'm pretty sure it's
1:03:50
true. But it was, it was Billy Martin,
1:03:54
Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle. And, you know, Mickey's from
1:03:56
Oklahoma and they go out and, you know, Nick said we're at my
1:04:00
buddies, you know, farm. And, you know, we're, you know,
1:04:04
we can hunt on the property. So he goes up, talks to farmer
1:04:08
chefs and says, yeah, he goes, He goes, Mickey goes, you guys
1:04:11
can hunt, you know, everything. But you got to do me a favor
1:04:13
because I got a cow. It's just been with me a long
1:04:15
time. I love this cow, but it's bad.
1:04:17
You got to put him down because you guys, you know, go ahead and
1:04:20
do that for me. So they come back and it's you
1:04:23
know why and this and and Mick goes, I can't believe you
1:04:26
because that son of a bitch not going to let us hunt today.
1:04:27
He goes, you know what? I'll fix his wagon.
1:04:30
So he shoots the cow, and Billy Martin gets crazy.
1:04:32
He starts shooting like there's no tomorrow.
1:04:34
He starts shooting some of the cows, the good ones.
1:04:37
I just thought it's just such a funny story because Billy
1:04:39
Martin's such a hot head, you know?
1:04:41
And you can only imagine that. Yeah.
1:04:45
He was a character too. Billy Martin was my my favorite
1:04:49
thing when we played him in 76. He, you know, he had that temper
1:04:53
and and of course we, we kicked our butts in four straight, but
1:04:57
he got, he got mad. I forget whatever, but he was
1:04:59
throwing bats out on the field and, and bought them and
1:05:03
everything. He was just going crazy.
1:05:05
That's typical Billy Morton. That was Hammer Steinbrenner.
1:05:08
It was like mostly TV, that relationship.
1:05:10
Higher fire, higher fire, you know, five times.
1:05:14
Yeah. And then Speaking of that, I, I
1:05:16
still think about it was such a shame with Thurman Munson.
1:05:19
You know, you talk about a town and God life and a way too
1:05:22
short. You know, that was, that was
1:05:23
tragic. You know, you know, he could be
1:05:26
up there because he didn't, he didn't play long enough, but he
1:05:28
could have been up there with one of the all time catchers
1:05:30
too. Ultimately, if he played, you
1:05:33
know, if it died early. But yeah, I mean, and New York
1:05:37
managers, I'll never forget when Bobby Valentine was with the
1:05:42
Mets and he got tossed and he comes back and he's got to
1:05:46
fight. Mustache.
1:05:47
It's like trying to. Leave the dugout like only New
1:05:50
York, you know? Yeah, exactly.
1:05:54
That was pretty hilarious. That was a classic.
1:05:58
Guys, thank you so much for being on here.
1:06:00
It's been, it's been a great time.
1:06:02
We really. Appreciate it.
1:06:04
I got a powerful Thursday. I'm going to have a cold 1 so.