Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / ASKED & ANSWERED: Does $3.9-billion sale of Padres increase chances Angels will be sold?

Transcript

ASKED & ANSWERED: Does $3.9-billion sale of Padres increase chances Angels will be sold? · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Play Angel fans and welcome back to Halo Territory. I
0:12
Speaker 1: am Mike D. Giovanna, former RelA Times Baseball writer and
0:15
Speaker 1: host of the show, and joined by my regular co
0:17
Speaker 1: host Mark Trumbo with the former Angel slugger Mark. Welcome
0:21
Speaker 1: back to the show and today it's been too long,
0:24
Speaker 1: We're gonna go to the Angels mail bag. We always
0:28
Speaker 1: enjoy these episodes, and as always, the first question involves
0:32
Speaker 1: our hero Arti Marino, the Angel's owner from biff Ball,
0:37
Speaker 1: with the Padres sale to another mammoth venture, Capitol guy
0:41
Speaker 1: for a three point nine billion. In case anybody hadn't heard,
0:45
Speaker 1: it seems like being a Billboard billionaire might not be enough.
0:48
Speaker 1: What are the chances already sells before the lockout or after?
0:53
Speaker 2: What do you got Mark, biff Ball coming through for us?
0:58
Speaker 2: Thank you?
0:59
Speaker 3: Billboard billionaire is an interesting one. I think that iff
1:04
Speaker 3: is like everyone else, seeing that enormous dollar figure that Padres,
1:12
Speaker 3: and from what I understand, there were many interested parties
1:16
Speaker 3: and somewhat of a bidding war. So there's obviously, you know,
1:21
Speaker 3: people see the value in at least that club in particular,
1:25
Speaker 3: but probably any club, even even those that might be
1:29
Speaker 3: valued a little bit less. As I'm not a business person,
1:34
Speaker 3: I don't know how you would compare maybe that their
1:37
Speaker 3: sale price to the potential sale price here if that
1:40
Speaker 3: was on the table. It seems like those that are,
1:45
Speaker 3: you know, in line to purchase very deep pockets usually
1:49
Speaker 3: own a lot of times now that they own clubs
1:53
Speaker 3: in other sports football were as we call it, soccer,
1:58
Speaker 3: and you know, kind of a versus portfolio. I you know,
2:02
Speaker 3: I guess if I were at some point even had
2:05
Speaker 3: considered selling a team or any kind of good and saw,
2:08
Speaker 3: you know, something relatively comparable in a similarist location, that's
2:14
Speaker 3: a big, big number.
2:16
Speaker 2: What do you think?
2:17
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, when you have these bidding wars
2:21
Speaker 1: for a team like the Padres, there's a winner obviously,
2:24
Speaker 1: and then there's a couple of bridesmaids, and those bridesmaids there.
2:30
Speaker 1: I've heard there were at least four to five serious
2:33
Speaker 1: bidders for the Padres. That means, okay, they're selling for
2:36
Speaker 1: three point nine billion. I'm guessing those other three to
2:39
Speaker 1: four were in the you know, three billion plus three
2:42
Speaker 1: to zero point five billion plus range. So often what
2:46
Speaker 1: happens in these situations is those guys who lost out
2:49
Speaker 1: on the bidding for the Padres will go to the
2:51
Speaker 1: next team on the market, and they're gonna look at
2:53
Speaker 1: the Angels for sure. Now, does that increases the chances
2:58
Speaker 1: that Already sells. I still think Already is going to
3:00
Speaker 1: wait till after the new CBA agreement is in place
3:03
Speaker 1: for some reason. I'm not sure why. It's just a hunch,
3:06
Speaker 1: But the question is whether you know when Artie put
3:11
Speaker 1: the team up for sale in twenty twenty two, what
3:14
Speaker 1: I heard is he took it off the market because
3:17
Speaker 1: he wasn't getting the price he was looking for. Now,
3:19
Speaker 1: I'm assuming I had heard the offers were in the
3:22
Speaker 1: two point five billion range. I'm assuming he wonted three
3:25
Speaker 1: billion plus. Now the Padre sell for three point nine
3:29
Speaker 1: billion and the Angels. You know, are these three or
3:33
Speaker 1: four other guys going to start bidding three and a
3:35
Speaker 1: half to four billion for the Angels? But you can't.
3:38
Speaker 1: It's hard to really compare the Padres to the Angels
3:41
Speaker 1: right now. And I'm going to refer to a column
3:42
Speaker 1: that my former colleague and good friend Bill Shakan wrote
3:46
Speaker 1: in the La Times the other day. The Padres playing
3:49
Speaker 1: Southern California's best ballpark they are pretty much in a
3:55
Speaker 1: market where they're the only team, you know, in the market.
3:58
Speaker 1: They're the only game in town, so they sort of
4:01
Speaker 1: have a monopoly on that market. And then you have
4:04
Speaker 1: an Angel stadium that is in desperate need of repair
4:08
Speaker 1: or replacement and bill shaking wrights. A buyer likely would
4:13
Speaker 1: have to account for the billion dollar cost of a
4:16
Speaker 1: new ballpark and might ask for a credit against the
4:19
Speaker 1: purchase price, effectively lowering how much profit Marino could make
4:24
Speaker 1: on a sale. So that's a big question to me.
4:27
Speaker 1: You know, how much of a ding is this stadium
4:30
Speaker 1: going to be, how much of a weight on a
4:32
Speaker 1: sale price is this stadium going to be in any
4:35
Speaker 1: kind of negotiation to buy the Angels, because otherwise, you know,
4:40
Speaker 1: they're in the number two market in the country. They
4:42
Speaker 1: still drawing, you know, two and a half to three
4:44
Speaker 1: million fans a year. Their payroll, unlike the Padres, is
4:48
Speaker 1: not going to be as unattractive because you know, the
4:51
Speaker 1: rendown contract's going to be done. You still have Mike
4:54
Speaker 1: Trout on the books. But really, their long term commitments
4:57
Speaker 1: pale in comparison to the Padres. Right now, with the
5:00
Speaker 1: tattoo steal, the Machado deal, there's some big weights on
5:04
Speaker 1: their payroll. So the big question as any owner who
5:09
Speaker 1: comes in here is gonna have to resolve the stadium issue.
5:11
Speaker 1: He's going to have to either build a new stadium
5:14
Speaker 1: or figure it out with the city of Anaheim. You know,
5:17
Speaker 1: not many municipalities are paid for stadiums anymore. So how
5:22
Speaker 1: much does a new stadium cost? You know, at least
5:24
Speaker 1: a billion dollars, so already may not get a four billion,
5:27
Speaker 1: but in light of everything going on with the stadium
5:30
Speaker 1: right now, and that's not a stadium that's you can
5:33
Speaker 1: renovate like the Dodgers. Did you know the Dodgers have
5:36
Speaker 1: put hundreds of millions of dollars into their stadium to
5:39
Speaker 1: update it and to you know, increase all the luxury
5:43
Speaker 1: suites and the clubs and everything about that stadium right
5:47
Speaker 1: now is up to date pretty much except for the parking.
5:50
Speaker 1: As anybody knows, you cannot really do that to the
5:53
Speaker 1: Angel Stadium right now. I think you need to start
5:55
Speaker 1: from scratch. You can either build on that site or
5:57
Speaker 1: find another site to build a new stadium, as you're
6:01
Speaker 1: just not going to renovate that stadium. So that's the
6:03
Speaker 1: biggest issue for me, and that's going to take some time,
6:06
Speaker 1: but I do think you know already definitely saw that
6:09
Speaker 1: three point nine billion, and I'd be very surprised if
6:11
Speaker 1: his eyes didn't light up.
6:14
Speaker 3: Was that an opinion, sorry, Shakes? Was that his opinion
6:17
Speaker 3: that when the best ballpark in Southern California?
6:20
Speaker 1: Or was that a bowl or that part was probably?
6:24
Speaker 1: But if you look at most you do see occasional polls.
6:28
Speaker 1: I think I saw one over the weekend on X
6:31
Speaker 1: Best Stadiums in America, and I don't know what the
6:33
Speaker 1: criterion is, but yeah, San Diego is a beautiful ballpark.
6:37
Speaker 1: It's modern, it's got all the bills and whistles. The
6:40
Speaker 1: fans seem to love it. It's got that the building
6:43
Speaker 1: in left field that kind of gives you that Canden
6:46
Speaker 1: yards Field. I think is a great atmosphere and it's
6:50
Speaker 1: an asset, whereas the Angel Stadium is a drain right
6:54
Speaker 1: now right next question from Ronnie Woolder we heard from
6:58
Speaker 1: him in our first mail bag. If you were the manager,
7:01
Speaker 1: what would your rotation and lineup be? And why art.
7:08
Speaker 2: Ronnie? Uh?
7:10
Speaker 3: Well, the lineup has has come up a lot, and
7:16
Speaker 3: I'm not the manager, so this is kind of one
7:19
Speaker 3: of those that I think that I don't have a
7:22
Speaker 3: huge problem with with anything in particular.
7:25
Speaker 2: I know that.
7:27
Speaker 3: You know, early on Mancota, for example, was not contributing
7:31
Speaker 3: all that much. He's really picked it up. He's driving
7:34
Speaker 3: the ball, he's taking his walks, and his effort level
7:37
Speaker 3: looks better. So you know that that that is really good.
7:40
Speaker 3: I think for most people it's it's Nolan hitting behind
7:47
Speaker 3: Trout right now and then Netto at the top, which
7:50
Speaker 3: I think is you know, Zach being the top of
7:53
Speaker 3: the order is fine for me. He's drawn an absolute
7:55
Speaker 3: ton of walks to to be able to improve his
7:57
Speaker 3: part of the You know that part of the game
8:00
Speaker 3: in short order is phenomenal, and he's really makes him
8:03
Speaker 3: a much more well rounded player with his on base
8:05
Speaker 3: percentage growing up. Is Nolan the best protection for Mike?
8:11
Speaker 2: No, I don't think he is.
8:13
Speaker 3: I think uh and I'm not sure what he was
8:15
Speaker 3: doing on the basis yesterday either put his invisible cape
8:19
Speaker 3: on and took off. But you know that tight ballgame
8:22
Speaker 3: unfortunately didn't help the cause. As far as you kind
8:27
Speaker 3: of get down to Joeydell is this last series wasn't
8:30
Speaker 3: his best, but he has become a more accomplished hitter.
8:35
Speaker 2: Solaire, We really haven't.
8:36
Speaker 3: I haven't given enough credit to He is absolutely tearing
8:40
Speaker 3: the cover off the ball and he's been, you know,
8:42
Speaker 3: a guy coming into the year, I didn't really see
8:44
Speaker 3: a place for him. Some things have changed and he's
8:47
Speaker 3: he's one of their best bets. And you know, he
8:49
Speaker 3: looks like he's in looks lighter to me, looks like
8:52
Speaker 3: he's moving around better, and they've done a good job
8:55
Speaker 3: managing his workload. Lowe has struggled heavily. So once you
9:00
Speaker 3: get to that bottom of the order, Now a guy
9:01
Speaker 3: that two guys that have played well, and I believe
9:04
Speaker 3: there's questions about him, but Perrazza and Fraser could easily
9:09
Speaker 3: I think Fraser is a guy you should consider putting
9:12
Speaker 3: higher in the lineup. I don't think he has you know,
9:16
Speaker 3: I don't where is a good question. You could put
9:19
Speaker 3: him at one, and then you could have Zach giving
9:22
Speaker 3: Mike protection. Maybe that's something to consider. As far as
9:25
Speaker 3: the rotation I have, you know, it's the bullpen that's
9:30
Speaker 3: that's been probably the bigger issue. Kakuchi seems to have
9:35
Speaker 3: He made some comments about his armslought getting back to
9:38
Speaker 3: where he was previously. I think we touched on it
9:41
Speaker 3: a little bit, and I believe I lifted that from
9:45
Speaker 3: locked on. I think covered that more extensively, but he
9:47
Speaker 3: had tried to alter his arm angle. It seems to
9:50
Speaker 3: had a much better outing. Urania looked excellent yesterday. We
9:55
Speaker 3: were taping today on Monday. But as far as the rotation,
10:01
Speaker 3: I think it's been pretty pretty darn good.
10:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't. I don't think there's a lot you can
10:06
Speaker 1: do with a rotation right now. I mean it is
10:07
Speaker 1: what it is. Getting Grace and Rodriguez back would definitely help.
10:12
Speaker 1: As far as the lineup, and this probably comes from
10:14
Speaker 1: all the years I was covering the Dodgers in the
10:16
Speaker 1: last eight ten years of my career, one thing I
10:18
Speaker 1: always liked that Dave Roberts did is he he made
10:23
Speaker 1: a point of alternating left right, left right in his lineup,
10:27
Speaker 1: and that's ultimately I think why sho Hey Otani ended
10:30
Speaker 1: up in the leadoff spot for them. Now. The problem
10:33
Speaker 1: is for the Angels, they don't have the left handed
10:35
Speaker 1: bats to do that. But one move I would make
10:38
Speaker 1: is I would put Nolan Shanwell in the two hole,
10:41
Speaker 1: Trout back in the three hole. I think eventually, when
10:45
Speaker 1: Adele finds his stride, I think he might be a
10:48
Speaker 1: better cleanup hitter in terms of consistent production and contact
10:53
Speaker 1: and at bats and so there. And that allows you
10:56
Speaker 1: to maybe put Adele, I mean, Mancata, who's a switch hitter,
11:00
Speaker 1: in the five hole. At least you get that left
11:01
Speaker 1: handed bat against the right handed pitcher. Then you go
11:04
Speaker 1: Solaire after him and the left handed Josh Lowe in
11:09
Speaker 1: the seventh spots. So you're not quite going left right
11:12
Speaker 1: the way Dave Roberts has with the Dodgers for these
11:16
Speaker 1: last few years. But it gives you a little more balance,
11:18
Speaker 1: may you know, may defend a little bit against those
11:22
Speaker 1: left handed relievers late in the game. But once again,
11:25
Speaker 1: there's just such a lack of left handed power in
11:29
Speaker 1: this lineup. It makes it very difficult. We're going to
11:32
Speaker 1: take a quick break for a word from our sponsors,
11:34
Speaker 1: and I'll be right back with more Angels.
11:36
Speaker 4: Mail bag support for today's episode comes from Square, and
11:41
Speaker 4: they've got big news. During Squar's bi annual Releases event,
11:44
Speaker 4: they launched a wave of innovative new tools to help
11:46
Speaker 4: local businesses run faster, smarter, and more profitably. Square is awesome.
11:50
Speaker 4: Around Orlando, where AJ and I live, we go to
11:53
Speaker 4: the farmers' markets around town. I go to the one
11:55
Speaker 4: near Lake Iola. It's awesome. I use Square to pay
11:58
Speaker 4: with my phone. I get the receiver right away.
12:00
Speaker 1: It's great.
12:01
Speaker 5: And so many businesses, not just small businesses, uses. So
12:03
Speaker 5: many restaurants and businesses I walk into, not only in Orlando,
12:06
Speaker 5: but all over the country have these and you just
12:10
Speaker 5: use your credit card, pops out or receivet emails it
12:13
Speaker 5: right to you. It's so fast, it's so efficient, it's
12:15
Speaker 5: so hassle free. It's one of the great things that
12:17
Speaker 5: you have going.
12:18
Speaker 4: Square launched its most powerful tools yet, designed to give
12:21
Speaker 4: local businesses a competitive edge without the complexity. If you're
12:24
Speaker 4: ready to sell smarter, run faster and stress less right now,
12:27
Speaker 4: you can get up to two hundred dollars off Square
12:29
Speaker 4: hardware at Square dot com slash go slash foul. That's
12:32
Speaker 4: Square dot com slash Go, slash foul. Run your business
12:36
Speaker 4: smarter with Square. Get started today.
12:40
Speaker 1: All right, Welcome back to Hahlo Territory with Mike Dgievanna
12:43
Speaker 1: and Mark Trumbo. Next question is from Robin Gunningham, and
12:46
Speaker 1: it's for me you've won Associated Press Sports Editors Awards
12:50
Speaker 1: for game stories, feature writing, and breaking news. What's one
12:54
Speaker 1: assignment or deadline that tested your skills the most and
12:58
Speaker 1: how did you pull it off? Wow, that's a great question, Robin.
13:02
Speaker 1: Probably two of the most challenging days I ever had
13:05
Speaker 1: in the Angels beat were the day the days Nick
13:10
Speaker 1: Aidenhart and Tyler Skaggs died. I covered both of those stories.
13:16
Speaker 1: The weird thing about the one with Tyler Skaggs we
13:19
Speaker 1: were in Texas. We had just gotten there for the
13:21
Speaker 1: first day afore game set, and we knew something was
13:25
Speaker 1: going on because the game. There was rumblings that the
13:27
Speaker 1: game was going to be postponed or canceled. And when
13:32
Speaker 1: I found out Tyler Skaggs had died, my first reaction
13:36
Speaker 1: was to take a deep breath, and then I just thought,
13:40
Speaker 1: and it's sad to even say this. I've been here,
13:43
Speaker 1: I've done this before. I know what to do because I,
13:47
Speaker 1: you know, covered the whole Nick Aidenheart's stories out unfolded
13:50
Speaker 1: in two thousand and nine. The biggest challenge of covering
13:54
Speaker 1: a story like that is, you know this is early afternoon,
13:56
Speaker 1: Texas time, and you know it's still well for our
14:00
Speaker 1: newspaper deadlines. But you're trying to report a story, uh,
14:05
Speaker 1: get the facts, sort out rumors. You're already starting to
14:08
Speaker 1: hear from from the facts, and you know, write stories
14:13
Speaker 1: and update stories for the website. You know, the internet
14:16
Speaker 1: is where it's all happening in the newspaper business right now.
14:19
Speaker 1: So trying to gather information and write and work with
14:24
Speaker 1: the editors and then all the other reporters at the
14:26
Speaker 1: staff were working on a story. It's a mammoth job.
14:29
Speaker 1: It's a lot to process, a lot of stress. And
14:33
Speaker 1: you know, meanwhile, we interviewed, you know, we got Billy
14:36
Speaker 1: Eppler of the GM at the time on the phone.
14:39
Speaker 1: The players weren't available that first day. But it's just
14:42
Speaker 1: a mammoth undertaking and it's a lot to process all
14:48
Speaker 1: at once. But then at the end of the night
14:50
Speaker 1: you just kind of take a deep breath, wonder how
14:53
Speaker 1: you did it, And then there's a story from that
14:56
Speaker 1: day on. And I think having covered the Nick Adenhart
15:00
Speaker 1: story in two thousand and nine, you learned how to
15:02
Speaker 1: be to ask difficult questions of these players in a
15:05
Speaker 1: very sensitive way, to be very mindful the emotions they're
15:08
Speaker 1: going through. You know, these guys just lost a teammate,
15:11
Speaker 1: a great friend, a young man you know in the
15:15
Speaker 1: big leagues has lost his life, and it's just it's
15:19
Speaker 1: really challenging. In that twenty nineteen you know, they use
15:24
Speaker 1: that as a rallying cry. They came within two wins
15:26
Speaker 1: of the World Series. That year is an incredibly emotional year.
15:30
Speaker 1: The twenty nineteen team kind of fell apart after Tyler died,
15:34
Speaker 1: and that was an extremely difficult year as well. And
15:37
Speaker 1: then as we come to find out, you know, a
15:40
Speaker 1: couple months later, how he died, and that became a
15:43
Speaker 1: whole nother story. So not what you want to be
15:46
Speaker 1: covering when you're a baseball writer, but it happens. Next
15:51
Speaker 1: question from Steven C. Smith From Mark and Mike, I'd
15:55
Speaker 1: like to hear your perspectives on player media relations good
15:59
Speaker 1: and bad. Mark. Any issues with certain journalists who didn't
16:02
Speaker 1: treat you with respect? Mike, how did you handle players
16:06
Speaker 1: who wouldn't talk to you?
16:07
Speaker 3: Go ahead, Mark, Steven a bit of a hot Tomali
16:14
Speaker 3: would say, yes, Yes, I think I had good relationships.
16:22
Speaker 2: With almost every.
16:25
Speaker 3: Writer that I came across, some better than others, got
16:30
Speaker 3: to know some pretty well and there were always a
16:32
Speaker 3: few that in every city, maybe not as much in Seattle.
16:36
Speaker 3: And it's nothing against anyone there. I was just wasn't
16:39
Speaker 3: there for long enough. But you just it some of
16:44
Speaker 3: the time, you know, when they're writing the stories, some
16:46
Speaker 3: of them are as flattering. But I always was fine
16:49
Speaker 3: with as long as it was fair. I mean, if
16:51
Speaker 3: I wasn't producing, I wasn't surprised that eventually it would
16:56
Speaker 3: be covered. It needed to be covered, you know. The
17:01
Speaker 3: other day, I think it was the misplayed pop up
17:05
Speaker 3: and they made I think, you know, Wayne said Zach
17:10
Speaker 3: took accountability and and was you know, available post game
17:14
Speaker 3: in front of his locker to talk about it. And
17:17
Speaker 3: I said, oh, that's great. And it just caught me
17:21
Speaker 3: a little off guard that was being commended because you
17:23
Speaker 3: know that that was an absolute and I don't know
17:27
Speaker 3: if I mean, you're still in there, but I would
17:29
Speaker 3: hope that guys still understand that that is part of
17:32
Speaker 3: the deal.
17:34
Speaker 2: There was only one time I did have a few words.
17:39
Speaker 3: It was in Baltimore and I was dealing with injury
17:41
Speaker 3: and a young writer at the time, and I don't
17:44
Speaker 3: think any meant anything by it, but it had to
17:46
Speaker 3: do with the timeline, and timelines with injuries are I
17:50
Speaker 3: think that they're just you know, they don't do any good,
17:53
Speaker 3: they're rough. They you know, you put it on a
17:56
Speaker 3: player and now there's pressure to try and right and
18:01
Speaker 3: you know it's and especially I've always had a thing
18:04
Speaker 3: too with players having to describe injuries on their own.
18:07
Speaker 3: And I've tried to a few times, and you're not
18:09
Speaker 3: a doctor. You don't know what you're talking about. For
18:11
Speaker 3: the most part, you try it, you know, but it
18:13
Speaker 3: doesn't always get accurately conveyed. So that was the one thing.
18:16
Speaker 3: But I'd like to think that maybe some writers didn't
18:21
Speaker 3: think I. I don't know, kind of we talked about
18:24
Speaker 3: Garrett Anderson being playing things close to the best, and
18:28
Speaker 3: I think I did at times.
18:30
Speaker 2: But I also was always available, I mean every day.
18:33
Speaker 2: I don't think I never had I was.
18:35
Speaker 3: I tried to even if there was nothing for you know,
18:39
Speaker 3: anyone to talk to me about. It just kind of
18:41
Speaker 3: was available if needed for comment on somebody else. And
18:46
Speaker 3: you know, Mike, you had a very different perspective. You
18:48
Speaker 3: had to ask the tough questions you had to. I'm
18:51
Speaker 3: sure there were a few times where you know, maybe
18:53
Speaker 3: you can talk about that.
18:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sure there are plenty of times when players
18:57
Speaker 1: wanted to do some damage to me. You know, the
19:03
Speaker 1: beauty Steven of baseball is there's twenty five or there's
19:06
Speaker 1: twenty five guys in that clubhouse, at least when I
19:08
Speaker 1: was covering most of the time, twenty six now a
19:11
Speaker 1: full coaching staff, eight ten, twelve guys. Every year, guys
19:16
Speaker 1: would get pissed at me and not talk to me
19:18
Speaker 1: for a long time, sometimes a short time. Shroy Percival
19:22
Speaker 1: and I, my goodness, in the nineties, it was such
19:27
Speaker 1: a love hate and relationship. Every season it seemed I
19:30
Speaker 1: would write something that would piss him off, and for
19:32
Speaker 1: two or three weeks he wouldn't talk to me, and
19:34
Speaker 1: then we'd make up and everything was fine, and we
19:36
Speaker 1: had we've had a great relationship to this very day.
19:39
Speaker 1: Tony Phillips a guy who was ready to slug me.
19:42
Speaker 1: When he came back from a drug arrest in Chicago
19:46
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety seven, the locker room was the clubhouse
19:51
Speaker 1: was filled with about thirty or forty reporters, and I
19:55
Speaker 1: had done a big piece on Tony that season going
19:59
Speaker 1: into the season, so I had his home phone number
20:01
Speaker 1: when he was suspended. I tried calling him at home,
20:04
Speaker 1: and so Tony comes into the locker room. He's finally
20:08
Speaker 1: back with the team. I you know, I often in
20:11
Speaker 1: those situations, one, you know, one reporter will go up
20:15
Speaker 1: to the player everybody needs to talk to, and the
20:17
Speaker 1: group will follow. Well. Me being the La Times guy,
20:20
Speaker 1: tried to be the paper record. I approached Tony as
20:24
Speaker 1: I wasn't afraid. I knew I was going to take
20:26
Speaker 1: my medicine, and nobody followed. It was kissed me and Tony,
20:30
Speaker 1: and he chewed my ass up for about Let's just
20:33
Speaker 1: put it this way. He chewed my butt out so
20:36
Speaker 1: loudly and you know, aggressively that the AP writer in
20:42
Speaker 1: Chicago mentioned me by name in the story. My sports
20:47
Speaker 1: editor at the time, Bill Dwyer, he sent me an email.
20:50
Speaker 1: I was like, way to go, DIGI, because you know,
20:52
Speaker 1: you can't be you can't be afraid to approach these
20:54
Speaker 1: guys in very difficult situations. That all said Tony Phillips.
20:59
Speaker 1: You know I I saw him. We had a great relationship.
21:02
Speaker 1: I saw him a couple of years after he retired
21:04
Speaker 1: in spring training. He gave me a hug and a
21:06
Speaker 1: kiss on the cheek, you know. So it's just you
21:09
Speaker 1: never know with some of these guys. Rod Crue a
21:12
Speaker 1: guy who I got as close to as any coach ever.
21:17
Speaker 1: He let me drive back with him five hours from
21:20
Speaker 1: Phoenix to Orange County when his daughter, an eighteen year
21:23
Speaker 1: old daughter, was suffering from leukemi and she ended up
21:26
Speaker 1: passing away a couple months later. Bared his life story
21:29
Speaker 1: to me in twenty sixteen. He allowed me to tell
21:34
Speaker 1: the story of his heart transplant, life saving hearts and
21:37
Speaker 1: kidney transplant. It's amazing story. But after his daughter, Michelle died,
21:43
Speaker 1: I think it was ninety seven or ninety eight, there
21:45
Speaker 1: was We were talking to Tony Terry Collins in the
21:49
Speaker 1: Camden Yards clubhouse after game. We hear this big ruckus
21:53
Speaker 1: in the shower and two guys are yelling at each other.
21:56
Speaker 1: And I found out the next day that Rod had
21:59
Speaker 1: gotten into a fight with Hojra Fabergas about some at
22:02
Speaker 1: bad or pitch selection or something. And I wrote it
22:05
Speaker 1: and Rod chewed me out, and he for a year
22:07
Speaker 1: and a half, he did not talk to me a
22:10
Speaker 1: full year and a half. Then one day I'm I'm
22:13
Speaker 1: waiting outside the manager's office after the game, just standing
22:17
Speaker 1: by the wall. Rod walks by, sticks his hands out,
22:20
Speaker 1: hand out and he goes, let's bury the hatchet. I'm like, well,
22:24
Speaker 1: I never had a hatchet, but that sounds great and
22:26
Speaker 1: from that point on we had a great relationship. So
22:29
Speaker 1: you never know. But thanks for the question, Steven. We
22:32
Speaker 1: do need to take one more break for a word
22:34
Speaker 1: from our sponsors, and we'll be right back with more
22:37
Speaker 1: Angels mailbag.
22:39
Speaker 4: With over thirty five million downloads. What is the number
22:43
Speaker 4: one rated ticketing app?
22:44
Speaker 6: Todd Father, It's simple man Seat geek as wait, no man.
22:47
Speaker 6: They have a lot of things that helps you out
22:50
Speaker 6: along the way. They have green dots meaning good and
22:52
Speaker 6: red dots meaning bad, and it's on a scale of
22:54
Speaker 6: one to ten, showing you, Scott, how good the seats are.
22:58
Speaker 6: And sometimes you want to sit in the nosebleather, sometimes
23:00
Speaker 6: you want to sit in really good seats and Scott,
23:02
Speaker 6: you know the code.
23:03
Speaker 2: Right, yeah? I do.
23:03
Speaker 4: And also I know that you always like a good deal. Oh,
23:06
Speaker 4: so Seek helps you out all the time with that.
23:08
Speaker 4: They also help you out with the exclusive FT code
23:12
Speaker 4: which is Territory ten for ten percent off your next
23:14
Speaker 4: set of tickets at Sea Geek. That's ten percent off
23:18
Speaker 4: any tickets with promo code tr r R Y one zero.
23:22
Speaker 4: Make sure you click the link in the description to
23:24
Speaker 4: download the app and you can have that code automatically
23:27
Speaker 4: added to your account so that you can use it later.
23:29
Speaker 4: There are regular season MLB games going on right now.
23:32
Speaker 4: There are hot tickets across the country, so make sure
23:36
Speaker 4: you go to Sea Geek. They will take care of you.
23:40
Speaker 1: And welcome back to Halo Territory. We're doing an angel's
23:42
Speaker 1: mail bag today. Next question from Brian Martin. I think
23:46
Speaker 1: this one's for you Mark. On a recent episode, you
23:49
Speaker 1: guys were talking about George Klassen's pitches as a batter.
23:53
Speaker 1: Is there a noticeable or significant difference when the fastball
23:57
Speaker 1: sits ten miles an hour higher than the change up?
24:01
Speaker 2: No doubt, no doubt.
24:04
Speaker 3: And if you can get that gap even further, it
24:08
Speaker 3: becomes way more noticeable. Fernando Rodney comes to mind. He
24:11
Speaker 3: had one of the hardest fastballs, at least visually and
24:16
Speaker 3: audibly too. You could actually some of the guys. Felix
24:19
Speaker 3: Frnandez was another one. You could hear the seams way
24:22
Speaker 3: more than most and I always kind of laughed at it,
24:25
Speaker 3: but it was also an indication that you know that
24:28
Speaker 3: you know this guy, how they're doing it or what
24:31
Speaker 3: they're just it was unique. And then Fernando had any
24:35
Speaker 3: you know what, had the probably the most obvious pitch
24:39
Speaker 3: tipping tell known to man, and he didn't care because
24:44
Speaker 3: you know, he literally if you mean he's not playing anymore,
24:47
Speaker 3: it's not a big secret. But his set point was
24:50
Speaker 3: way lower. I can't remember which was which, but you know,
24:53
Speaker 3: it was a difference of like eight inches, so you know,
24:55
Speaker 3: even the most and some people don't want to know
24:59
Speaker 3: what pitches come, well that I mean you might as
25:00
Speaker 3: well just you know, it was essentially telling you what
25:04
Speaker 3: was coming. But it was good enough that he didn't
25:06
Speaker 3: care and he got you know, he had a fantastic career.
25:08
Speaker 3: So a change up like that, especially with some sort
25:12
Speaker 3: of movement that falls off the table.
25:14
Speaker 2: Eric Ganya had a good one.
25:15
Speaker 3: You might remember him like a nasty change up. Trevor Hoffman,
25:20
Speaker 3: I mean, it's pretty Yeah. I don't know if it's
25:22
Speaker 3: my favorite pitch, but I love seeing when guys have
25:25
Speaker 3: a good one. A lot more split fingers today, but
25:29
Speaker 3: I think any any pitcher should try to incorporate that
25:32
Speaker 3: a lot of relievers usually do the fastball slider and
25:35
Speaker 3: the third pitch is not as much. But for starters especially,
25:40
Speaker 3: you know, traditionally right handed pitchers to left handed hitters,
25:44
Speaker 3: and and if George can continue to refine that a
25:46
Speaker 3: little bit, it'll make him really good because you can't
25:50
Speaker 3: hit both. I think to answer the question is very
25:52
Speaker 3: tough to cover a speed gap like that.
25:57
Speaker 1: Next question from Colin Blicka, loving the podcast guys, Thank you, Colin.
26:03
Speaker 1: What is the most memorable game you have been a
26:06
Speaker 1: part of? You want to start mark.
26:10
Speaker 3: I think there's a couple of ways I could answer that.
26:13
Speaker 3: The loan Playoff appearance this is an Angel show but
26:16
Speaker 3: with the Orioles was well my loan Playoff experience and
26:20
Speaker 3: we lost to the Blue Jays and what is it
26:24
Speaker 3: the you know for the wild card spot.
26:28
Speaker 2: So that was in twenty.
26:30
Speaker 3: Sixteen, and I went to the World Series this year
26:34
Speaker 3: in Toronto. We were just kind of worked out and
26:37
Speaker 3: there is not a louder stadium on that I have
26:40
Speaker 3: ever seen with that roof closed and the fans doing
26:45
Speaker 3: their thing. Brings some ear plugs. I think my you know,
26:48
Speaker 3: still suffering from the effects.
26:50
Speaker 2: But as far as with the Angels. Can't say my.
26:54
Speaker 3: Debut because that was pretty pathetic at that it was
26:58
Speaker 3: my first, but you know, my first big league hit.
27:01
Speaker 3: I was in Texas the last game of the season,
27:04
Speaker 3: at the very end of the game, and I could
27:05
Speaker 3: have been pulled for a pinch hitter, but I really
27:08
Speaker 3: am thankful that so she kept me in there to
27:10
Speaker 3: get get an RBI line drive up the middle after fifteen.
27:15
Speaker 3: Either it was one for fifteen or one for sixteen,
27:17
Speaker 3: So you don't know if you're gonna get another chance.
27:20
Speaker 3: And you know, some guys, you know, unfortunately or not
27:23
Speaker 3: like enough to get their first hit. Some guys get
27:25
Speaker 3: four hits in their first four bats. I had to
27:28
Speaker 3: wait it out a little bit. I think Robin Ventura
27:30
Speaker 3: really had to wait it out, if I'm not mistaken.
27:34
Speaker 3: But some walk off home runs too. It was kind
27:37
Speaker 3: of answer was all over the place, but that's right.
27:41
Speaker 1: Well, thanks for the question, Colin. I've been lucky enough
27:46
Speaker 1: in my career to have covered two game seven World
27:50
Speaker 1: Series walk off hits Edgar Nteria in ninety seven from
27:54
Speaker 1: the Marlins and the Diamondbacks in two thousand and one
28:00
Speaker 1: Castillo and that was you know, as we know, such
28:03
Speaker 1: an emotional series in the wake of nine to eleven.
28:08
Speaker 1: I was in Milwaukee in two thousand and two for
28:11
Speaker 1: Sean Green's four homer, nineteen total base game, which was unbelievable.
28:17
Speaker 1: And I was in Seattle when the Mariners came back
28:20
Speaker 1: from two games to none deficit to win a best
28:23
Speaker 1: of five series against the New York Yankees and Edgar
28:28
Speaker 1: Edgar Martinez's walk off I think it was a double
28:31
Speaker 1: down the left field line, and Mark, I'm sure the
28:35
Speaker 1: Toronto stadium was loud, but the Seattle Kingdom in ninety
28:39
Speaker 1: five was louder than any stadium I've ever experienced. My
28:44
Speaker 1: ears are ringing for days after that, so and that
28:48
Speaker 1: kind of saves baseball in Seattle. So that was all.
28:51
Speaker 1: Those are all really memorable, But probably the most memorable
28:55
Speaker 1: game for me was the Cal Ripken breaking Lou Garrigg's
28:59
Speaker 1: record in ninety five. Remember that was the year the
29:02
Speaker 1: season started a little late because of the strike. Serendipity
29:06
Speaker 1: being what it is, it put the Angels in Baltimore
29:09
Speaker 1: for the Knights. Cal tied and broke Lou Garrig's record,
29:14
Speaker 1: And the night he broke the record, it was interesting
29:17
Speaker 1: because you wouldn't think there'd be a spontaneous that'd be
29:22
Speaker 1: a spontaneous record to break, because I think I wrote
29:25
Speaker 1: in my game story, you could see that one coming
29:27
Speaker 1: twenty one hundred and thirty one miles away. You knew
29:30
Speaker 1: he was going to break the record on that night.
29:32
Speaker 1: You know, once the fifth inning, in the middle of
29:34
Speaker 1: the fifth inning came that was it. But what unfolded
29:37
Speaker 1: in Camden yards after, you know, with his teammates pushing
29:42
Speaker 1: him out for that victory lap, he went around the
29:45
Speaker 1: entire stadium. I think it took like delayed the game
29:48
Speaker 1: for twenty two minutes, you know, high five fans, police
29:53
Speaker 1: officers by the bullpen. He hugged and shaked the hands
29:57
Speaker 1: of many of the Angel players as he got to
29:59
Speaker 1: their dugout, and you just it was unscripted. It was beautiful,
30:05
Speaker 1: and you know, that was one of the games I
30:06
Speaker 1: kind of saved baseball in the wake of the strike
30:08
Speaker 1: that year. So and uh, you know a lot of
30:13
Speaker 1: celebrities there that night. President Clinton was in the house,
30:15
Speaker 1: Joe DiMaggio was sitting in the dugout with Joe DiMaggio,
30:19
Speaker 1: Corbin Burnson. I remember that the actor from La Law
30:22
Speaker 1: was sitting right in the seats in front of the
30:24
Speaker 1: press box, and he ends up buying beers for the
30:26
Speaker 1: entire press row. And I actually caught a foul ball
30:29
Speaker 1: off the bat of Rafael Palmerrow that night in the
30:33
Speaker 1: press box. So that was probably the most memorable game
30:37
Speaker 1: for me. And once again, thank you for the question, Colin.
30:43
Speaker 1: All right, for the record, that was Luis Gonzalez with
30:45
Speaker 1: that big hit in two thousand and one for the Diamondbacks.
30:47
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Luis. Next question from Hugh Janice in Laguna Beach.
30:52
Speaker 1: How refreshing is it to see a couple of free
30:55
Speaker 1: agent signings like Peraza and Fraser really contributing after many
30:59
Speaker 1: years of mediocre production from similar profile guys.
31:03
Speaker 3: What do you think, mart I think it's it's been huge.
31:06
Speaker 3: We haven't covered the on field play, at least in
31:10
Speaker 3: the last week quite as much, but these two guys
31:12
Speaker 3: have been.
31:14
Speaker 2: Great additions.
31:15
Speaker 3: I think you have to give credit to Perry for finding,
31:18
Speaker 3: you know, especially well both of them. I can't say
31:22
Speaker 3: that one is you know, Fraser's statistics might be in
31:26
Speaker 3: some ways a little bit stronger, but Parraz's defense is
31:29
Speaker 3: much needed. I think second base defense and well, no
31:35
Speaker 3: dig against Rangifo. But Praz is a betterfielder and it's
31:39
Speaker 3: pretty clear he's saved a number of runs. He made
31:42
Speaker 3: a really acrobatic throw to complete a double play yesterday.
31:47
Speaker 3: And I think that these when they got him, I
31:50
Speaker 3: didn't think much of them. I didn't see anything with
31:52
Speaker 3: the bat, and he didn't get a lot of plays
31:55
Speaker 3: at third. But you know, he's really blossoming. And I
31:58
Speaker 3: you know it's early, but I know one thing too,
32:01
Speaker 3: and I didn't touch on it, but his hitting he made.
32:04
Speaker 3: He gave a brief interview, but he talked about some
32:07
Speaker 3: changes where his head had a lot of movement prior
32:11
Speaker 3: to Brady and and Maybury getting with him. Brady Anderson.
32:15
Speaker 3: Uh and then that to me for somebody who works
32:18
Speaker 3: with hitters and you know, is passionate about hitting, I said,
32:21
Speaker 3: that's a huge deal. I think before he probably drifted
32:24
Speaker 3: and you know, you call it a lunge for younger players.
32:27
Speaker 3: And he was talking about how he has a better
32:29
Speaker 3: base and these things could could literally change the whole
32:34
Speaker 3: DNA of a hitter. Fraser is versatile in left field.
32:40
Speaker 3: You know his arm is fringy and you know there's
32:43
Speaker 3: a play, but he's an infielder that's you know, he
32:46
Speaker 3: hopefully can stay but but he's probably going to have
32:49
Speaker 3: to play more outfield. But he gives great at bats,
32:51
Speaker 3: very professional hitter, and both those guys have really been
32:55
Speaker 3: able to pick up some of the slack maybe on
32:57
Speaker 3: guys that haven't produced as much.
32:59
Speaker 1: All right, next question from Wayne Kerr is for me,
33:03
Speaker 1: who were your early mentors or influences at the paper
33:06
Speaker 1: and how do they shape your approach to beat reporting
33:08
Speaker 1: versus feature writing. I started the La Times as a
33:11
Speaker 1: nineteen year old in nineteen eighty one, so I was
33:15
Speaker 1: I used to joke I didn't start on the lowest
33:19
Speaker 1: rung of the ladder, but I could see it from
33:20
Speaker 1: where I was. I was basically a copyboy and answering
33:23
Speaker 1: the phones and you know, writing roundups. But within six
33:28
Speaker 1: to eight months of my hiring in the Times Orange
33:31
Speaker 1: County edition, a guy named Mike Penner and another guy
33:34
Speaker 1: named Chris Dufrain were also hired, and those were two
33:37
Speaker 1: of my early writing mentors. We had a very collaborative
33:43
Speaker 1: staff back then. There's a lot of competition for assignments
33:46
Speaker 1: and getting promotions, but we all helped each other out.
33:50
Speaker 1: So most stories I would write, I would run them
33:52
Speaker 1: by pan Ter Duke and they'd give me tips. And
33:55
Speaker 1: these were two of my best friends, you know, as
33:59
Speaker 1: an adult, lifelong friends, and unfortunately neither is with us anymore.
34:05
Speaker 1: They both passed away and I miss him dearly. Uh
34:08
Speaker 1: So they really helped me out, and just with my
34:10
Speaker 1: writing in general, and then from a beat writing perspective,
34:13
Speaker 1: I was lucky enough to come up at the paper
34:16
Speaker 1: and as a young Angels writer with Ross Newhan, a
34:19
Speaker 1: Hall of famer, our Hall of Fame National Baseball writer
34:22
Speaker 1: who was a longtime Angels beat writer. He took me
34:25
Speaker 1: under his wing, taught me the ropes. I work with
34:28
Speaker 1: the you know, Bob Nightingale is now at USA today.
34:31
Speaker 1: Jason Reid covered the Dodgers back when I was covering
34:34
Speaker 1: the Angels all those years. He was a bulldog reporter.
34:38
Speaker 1: So Ross pretty much provided the guidance. There's a lot
34:42
Speaker 1: of you know, we had a lot of stories back then.
34:44
Speaker 1: You know, the Angels were sold, the autry is sold
34:46
Speaker 1: to to the Disney Company. The Disney Company sold the
34:49
Speaker 1: already there's a lot of big stories going on on
34:52
Speaker 1: and off the field. And to have a resource like
34:55
Speaker 1: Ross Newhan, who could get the commissioner on the phone
34:57
Speaker 1: right when you know, when you needed them, get big
35:00
Speaker 1: time agents. And I eventually evolved into that kind of
35:03
Speaker 1: writer too, but it takes a while, and to be
35:05
Speaker 1: able to have those resources at your disposal as a
35:08
Speaker 1: young baseball writer was really great from Doctor Tyrone. This
35:14
Speaker 1: is for you, Mark, How did you feel when the
35:16
Speaker 1: Angel signed Albert Poolholz? To me the roster was awkward
35:20
Speaker 1: with three first basement?
35:23
Speaker 3: Well, Doctor Tyrone, I honestly, I think the perception is
35:28
Speaker 3: I was probably throwing everything in my house, but I
35:32
Speaker 3: was pretty I was pretty fired up right for whatever reason,
35:36
Speaker 3: it didn't really compute that I might have lost my
35:39
Speaker 3: gig immediately. I think it was just such a blockbuster
35:44
Speaker 3: and CJ, I'm sure you were writing about it. I
35:47
Speaker 3: mean that was the same day, same hour, whatever, same morning,
35:50
Speaker 3: same hour. Yeah, okay, so a lot to process. I
35:55
Speaker 3: think shortly after I probably realized oh boy. And then
36:01
Speaker 3: really I think that the biggest issue kend Reese was
36:03
Speaker 3: also Morales was was in the fold too, so I
36:08
Speaker 3: was saying, we all pretty big dudes.
36:12
Speaker 2: So I ended up being the one to find a
36:16
Speaker 2: new position.
36:17
Speaker 3: Kendries was a bit limited still from the injury, but
36:21
Speaker 3: still had an excellent career. I played some third and
36:26
Speaker 3: then I ended up playing a lot of left field.
36:29
Speaker 3: And you know, the funny thing is Albert was a
36:31
Speaker 3: far better fielder at third than I was, so we
36:33
Speaker 3: kind of both had to.
36:35
Speaker 2: Fill in at times. And I don't know if either
36:37
Speaker 2: of us.
36:37
Speaker 3: I know I rated terribly, but he probably would have
36:40
Speaker 3: been below average too. But he was capable of making,
36:44
Speaker 3: you know, the routine plays, and I gave him a
36:46
Speaker 3: lot of credit because sometimes you know, that's not a
36:48
Speaker 3: position you really want to have to man with somebody
36:52
Speaker 3: that isn't you know great that you can look foolish
36:56
Speaker 3: pretty quickly. So I but yeah, I knew that Bat
36:59
Speaker 3: was going to make the team better. And Albert was
37:02
Speaker 3: always great to me, great teammates. So thank you for
37:05
Speaker 3: the question, doctor.
37:06
Speaker 1: All right, question from that wimpy deer, interesting name. If
37:12
Speaker 1: the Angels are Angeling toward the trade deadline, who would
37:16
Speaker 1: you consider moving to bolster their youth movement. You can't
37:19
Speaker 1: move people without value. I want to hear some tough choices.
37:22
Speaker 1: That is a very tough question, and we're not at
37:25
Speaker 1: that point yet. But Mark, I mean to me you're
37:28
Speaker 1: not gonna trade Jose Soriano as much value as he has.
37:31
Speaker 1: You're not going to trade Zach Netto so and if
37:34
Speaker 1: Mike Trout's not going to wave his no trade clause,
37:36
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not sure you're gonna trade him. Joe
37:40
Speaker 1: Adell is the interesting one for me. He's I think
37:43
Speaker 1: a year away from free agency, if not too so.
37:47
Speaker 1: He saw some club control. He's very attractive to a
37:50
Speaker 1: potential trade partner, and along those lines. That's a tough
37:55
Speaker 1: one though, you know, you have to kind of see
37:56
Speaker 1: where he is at, what kind of year he's having.
37:59
Speaker 1: Outside of those guys, I'm not sure there's anyone on
38:03
Speaker 1: the roster I would not move, you know, if they
38:07
Speaker 1: have valued some of the young relievers, if they're excelling,
38:10
Speaker 1: I would trade them. Any of these guys. If Josh
38:13
Speaker 1: Lowe is raking for some reason, if Moncata is raking,
38:17
Speaker 1: if Jorges Solaire is raking, I would trade those guys
38:20
Speaker 1: on a heartbeat. If he can get something for him
38:23
Speaker 1: and starting pitcher wise, that's a good one. You know,
38:28
Speaker 1: I'd have to see how he's doing at the time.
38:31
Speaker 1: That's a that's a that's a tough one is that
38:33
Speaker 1: your choice. Is he your guy who might have the
38:35
Speaker 1: most value?
38:37
Speaker 2: Him?
38:37
Speaker 3: And him and Joe come to mind? For uh, you
38:43
Speaker 3: could say, well, I don't know. Nolan is another guy
38:47
Speaker 3: that for the same reasons we've talked about earlier a team.
38:52
Speaker 3: Unfortunately it's the defense that's so limited her first base.
38:57
Speaker 3: There's no I don't really think he you know, I
39:00
Speaker 3: know how the outfield would work out. Maybe it'd be
39:01
Speaker 3: better than I think. But as far as value, I
39:04
Speaker 3: think Joe makes the most sense.
39:06
Speaker 2: Sory Ono.
39:06
Speaker 3: I think it should be the opposite of a trade,
39:11
Speaker 3: as we've touched on. I'm not sure, you know, not
39:14
Speaker 3: privy to any of that, but there might be some
39:17
Speaker 3: mutual interest.
39:17
Speaker 2: And he is.
39:19
Speaker 3: Despite being ranked the thirty seventh best starter so far Inenosaurus.
39:26
Speaker 3: Maybe I need to dig in a little more how
39:28
Speaker 3: he came up with that, because I've also seen Jose's
39:32
Speaker 3: name on top of virtually every other list, so maybe
39:35
Speaker 3: it has to do with the stuff. But even then
39:37
Speaker 3: that stuff is disgusting, So not sure. But yeah, he
39:41
Speaker 3: untouchable would be the term i'd applied to him.
39:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to be very interesting this year to
39:46
Speaker 1: see where the Angels are and how much. That's when
39:50
Speaker 1: you find out how much value your players really do hold.
39:53
Speaker 1: Last question from Gene pol a thief, what was it
39:57
Speaker 1: like being in a major league locker room for the
39:59
Speaker 1: first time. I have a basketball background and once got
40:02
Speaker 1: the train with Shaquille O'Neal talk about being starstruck. Hasaid
40:06
Speaker 1: it ever happened to either of you. I'm going to
40:09
Speaker 1: answer this question very briefly because I was trying to think.
40:12
Speaker 1: I don't even remember the first time was in a
40:13
Speaker 1: major league locker room. It was either in nineteen eighty
40:16
Speaker 1: two when the Yankees, when I was back there for
40:19
Speaker 1: a trip and was interviewing Matt keo Oras in the
40:23
Speaker 1: Angels clubhouse in eighty two eighty you know, right around
40:26
Speaker 1: that time. I don't remember being intimidated. I just remember
40:30
Speaker 1: feeling like, what am I doing here? Am I lost?
40:32
Speaker 1: What do I do? But once again, I think the
40:36
Speaker 1: first in depth interview I ever had with a major
40:38
Speaker 1: leaguer was with Burt Blyleven. I think it was eighty
40:40
Speaker 1: two or eighty three, and Ross Newhan basically held my
40:43
Speaker 1: hand through the entire interview. So you get real, you
40:46
Speaker 1: get more comfortable as you go in this business, but
40:49
Speaker 1: I'm sure it pales in comparison to maybe what your
40:51
Speaker 1: experience was as a player.
40:53
Speaker 3: Mark, I don't know if it does. Burt Blyleven's dugout Diner?
40:58
Speaker 2: Did you ever eat there?
40:58
Speaker 3: Am I in Ville Bar and restaurant?
41:02
Speaker 2: Okay? All right, local too? Uh? I think that uh
41:08
Speaker 2: starstruck Derek Jeter.
41:11
Speaker 3: I mean the first time I was in you know,
41:14
Speaker 3: the Angels big league locker room. Well that when I
41:17
Speaker 3: was drafted personal give me a warm welcome, and I
41:20
Speaker 3: touched on that before asking who the belief I was
41:23
Speaker 3: and what I was, what I was doing there, and
41:25
Speaker 3: I was still hadn't signed yet. So you know, a
41:28
Speaker 3: guy that I was a huge fan of was you
41:30
Speaker 3: know it is. I don't think underwear, uh reading the
41:34
Speaker 3: maybe the La Times, maybe reading your column. But so yeah,
41:38
Speaker 3: and then, uh, you know Derek Cheeter, I think when I, uh,
41:42
Speaker 3: for whatever reason, I didn't expect that, but he was
41:45
Speaker 3: taller than I. We're almost eye to eye, and I said, yeah,
41:48
Speaker 3: I thought he was closer to six one, but he
41:50
Speaker 3: was a lot closer to my height. Uh, but that
41:52
Speaker 3: was pretty surreal. Beyond that, I'm sure there were some
41:55
Speaker 3: other ones, but those stick out.
41:57
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think the other now that I think about it,
41:59
Speaker 1: there was was one time in my career where I
42:01
Speaker 1: was I guess you consider starstruck walking into a clubhouse,
42:04
Speaker 1: and you don't want to you don't want that to
42:06
Speaker 1: show too much because you'll get you'll get exposed really quickly.
42:10
Speaker 1: But I think it was an eighty three ish when
42:13
Speaker 1: Tom Seaver was finishing his career with the White Sox.
42:16
Speaker 1: I was a huge Mets fan as a kid. You know,
42:18
Speaker 1: the Mets won the nineteen sixty nine World Series when
42:20
Speaker 1: I was in second grade. Tom Seaver was my favorite player.
42:24
Speaker 1: I swear I wrote at least three book reports on
42:27
Speaker 1: Tom Seaver's Baseball As My Life Autobiography, And as we know,
42:31
Speaker 1: he's a Hall of Famer and just one of the
42:33
Speaker 1: best pitchers of all time. So I just I didn't
42:36
Speaker 1: really have a reason to go up to him. I
42:37
Speaker 1: wasn't doing a story on Tom sever or anyone else
42:40
Speaker 1: with the White Sox. I just wanted to introduce myself
42:43
Speaker 1: and say, hey, you were my favorite player, and god
42:46
Speaker 1: how many times these guys heard that, and he just
42:49
Speaker 1: kind of blew me off. It wasn't bad or negative
42:51
Speaker 1: in any way. But you know they always say, don't
42:54
Speaker 1: meet your heroes. It wasn't really you know, altering career
42:58
Speaker 1: wise in any way. I didn't didn't make it, didn't
43:01
Speaker 1: lessen my opinion to Tom Seaver, but I guess I
43:03
Speaker 1: wish that one would have gone a little better. All Right,
43:06
Speaker 1: that's gonna do it for Angels Mailbag today. Thanks for
43:11
Speaker 1: tuning in, Please like and subscribe, and we'll see you
43:13
Speaker 1: next time on Halo Territory M