Latest / Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast / Catching up with Robby Incmikoski!

Transcript

Catching up with Robby Incmikoski! · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody.
0:10
Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Buco Territory, presented to
0:13
Speaker 2: you by the Foul Territory Network.
0:14
Speaker 1: I'm Noah Hiles. Joining me as always are my lovely
0:17
Speaker 1: co host Platinum.
0:19
Speaker 2: Key aka Mark and ja Hey aka Josh Harrison Fellas.
0:23
Speaker 1: Happy Holidays.
0:24
Speaker 2: This is the Holidays special here on Buco Territory and
0:28
Speaker 2: full disclosure, not gonna talk any breaking news. If there
0:31
Speaker 2: was some breaking news for the Pirates, we will have
0:34
Speaker 2: handled that in a separate episode. We're pre recording this
0:36
Speaker 2: because we have our first ever full episode guest on
0:40
Speaker 2: Buco Territory and it's none other than our our friend
0:45
Speaker 2: Robbie Iakowski. He joins us here on Bucko Territory, a
0:50
Speaker 2: very familiar face to Pirates fans. I'm sure he was
0:52
Speaker 2: on your television screen for years covering the Buckos. We're
0:56
Speaker 2: gonna talk about some of the memories there. We're also
0:58
Speaker 2: going to talk about his new book book that he's
1:01
Speaker 2: been working on, and you can all you all can
1:04
Speaker 2: go out and purchase Sacred Grounds. So Robbie, let's start here.
1:10
Speaker 2: First off, welcome to the show. Second off, you wrote
1:14
Speaker 2: a book. Why'd you want to do that?
1:16
Speaker 3: Oh?
1:17
Speaker 4: Man, Noah, Mark, Jay, you know it's crazy. First of all,
1:23
Speaker 4: the most unique thing is I spent sixteen years of
1:27
Speaker 4: my life bothering baseball players to get them to talk
1:31
Speaker 4: to me. And this is the first time in my
1:33
Speaker 4: life I had a ba A baseball player asked me
1:36
Speaker 4: to go on his podcast. So I'm fluttered to be
1:39
Speaker 4: here with my man, Jay Hay, who is one of
1:41
Speaker 4: my best friends in the game of baseball, and the guy'
1:43
Speaker 4: been get a chance to get really close with. And
1:46
Speaker 4: I had a chance to put Jay Hey in this book,
1:47
Speaker 4: which was really cool, and I'm sure we'll get into
1:50
Speaker 4: that in a little bit, Noah. But to answer your question,
1:53
Speaker 4: why did I do the book, Essentially, a lot of
1:58
Speaker 4: fans don't realize that there's so much that goes on
2:02
Speaker 4: around the game of baseball that ends up on the
2:05
Speaker 4: quote unquote cutting room floor. And what I mean by
2:08
Speaker 4: that is there's so many stories that are behind the
2:11
Speaker 4: story in our game, and there are so many cool
2:16
Speaker 4: human interest stories to be told out there that I
2:19
Speaker 4: couldn't pass up an opportunity to gain sixteen years of
2:22
Speaker 4: relationship capital and not tell these stories. I've been very
2:26
Speaker 4: fortunate to develop a lot of relationships on my time
2:29
Speaker 4: with players, coaches, family members, stadium employees, ticket sales reps,
2:35
Speaker 4: clubhouse guys, everybody, you name it. There's so many people
2:39
Speaker 4: that make the game of baseball go on a daily basis.
2:42
Speaker 4: And I know Josh can attest to this from a
2:44
Speaker 4: player's standpoint, the people that he sees going in and
2:47
Speaker 4: out of the ballpark every day, the faces that he
2:49
Speaker 4: sees every day of the consistency, right, And then you
2:52
Speaker 4: look at you, Noah, the people that you come across
2:54
Speaker 4: every day in the ballpark. You know, the people that
2:57
Speaker 4: you see that make the business go. So So many
3:01
Speaker 4: people have a story. Not only did I write a
3:03
Speaker 4: book that talks about the story behind the story in baseball,
3:06
Speaker 4: but I have a press dining attendant in there from Cincinnati.
3:10
Speaker 4: I have a clubhouse guy from Arizona and Philadelphia. In
3:13
Speaker 4: the book, I have Luis Gonzalez, who won the World
3:16
Speaker 4: Series in two thousand and one with the Arizona Diamondbacks,
3:20
Speaker 4: going on the record talking about changing the culture and baseball.
3:23
Speaker 3: There are just so many.
3:24
Speaker 4: Different stories to be told in the game of baseball
3:27
Speaker 4: that fans would love. Because I spent sixteen years doing it,
3:31
Speaker 4: so I just wanted to share it in book form,
3:33
Speaker 4: and that's why we're here.
3:35
Speaker 2: And I totally agree with your concept on this Robleby
3:38
Speaker 2: having traveled, I mean not as long as you obviously,
3:41
Speaker 2: I've only done it for a couple of years. But
3:43
Speaker 2: you come across so many interesting people, so many interesting ballplayers,
3:48
Speaker 2: people with backstories. Everyone has their own unique story in
3:53
Speaker 2: the game, and you develop these relationships with people on
3:56
Speaker 2: teams you cover, but also places that you frequently go
4:00
Speaker 2: to when you're covering a team in the NL Central.
4:03
Speaker 2: You know, you have those clubhouse attendants that you always
4:06
Speaker 2: see at Wrigley Field or a great American ballpark, and
4:09
Speaker 2: you have those those restaurants, those those people who work
4:13
Speaker 2: in the concession stands.
4:14
Speaker 1: You might not even remember, they might not remember your name.
4:17
Speaker 2: But you just kind of remember, Okay, yeah, there's that
4:20
Speaker 2: one story with them, that one time. And I can
4:22
Speaker 2: only imagine the unique experiences that this book shares, and
4:27
Speaker 2: I'm excited to dive into them. So I'll pass the
4:30
Speaker 2: baton now to one of my co hosts. Guys, I'll
4:32
Speaker 2: let you ask the next question, what do you want
4:34
Speaker 2: to know about this book?
4:38
Speaker 5: Going mere or you take away? Josh, I think I
4:42
Speaker 5: know Josh might have a little bit more knowledge right
4:46
Speaker 5: now with the book too, So.
4:47
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, as as you mentioned, I'm actually featured in
4:52
Speaker 6: you know the book. But my question to Robbie, obviously,
4:57
Speaker 6: working you know, around a game for sixteen years, got
5:00
Speaker 6: all these unique stories and in this book, how hard
5:03
Speaker 6: was it to narrow it down to so many stories?
5:05
Speaker 6: Because I'm sure there are so many stories that you
5:07
Speaker 6: still haven't got a chance to two. So like, how
5:10
Speaker 6: hard was it deciding which ones to go with?
5:13
Speaker 3: You know what it was.
5:15
Speaker 4: I'll be completely honest with you, Jay, just like you
5:18
Speaker 4: were with me for so many years. When I would
5:19
Speaker 4: ask you questions, is I looked at each big moment
5:25
Speaker 4: that happened at each place, right, and then I said, okay,
5:29
Speaker 4: let me look at the box score, let me look
5:31
Speaker 4: at the coaching staff, let me see who worked there
5:33
Speaker 4: at that time, who's connected to a big game. I'll
5:36
Speaker 4: give you a primo example, and this is a moment.
5:38
Speaker 4: You were open and honest about this, right, and one
5:41
Speaker 4: at bat clearly is that does not define anywhere near
5:45
Speaker 4: a guy's career. But it was a big moment and
5:47
Speaker 4: that was when you were facing Max Scherzer in National's
5:51
Speaker 4: Park in twenty fifteen, and he had a perfect game
5:53
Speaker 4: going right, and you happened to just be the guy
5:56
Speaker 4: that made the last out and a no hitter behind
5:59
Speaker 4: Jose Tabata, which was one strike away from being a
6:02
Speaker 4: perfect game. So people see, okay, Josh Harrison had a
6:05
Speaker 4: flyout to left field to end the game. But a
6:09
Speaker 4: lot of people remember the perfect game, or excuse me,
6:13
Speaker 4: remember the no hitter, remember it being a near perfect game, right,
6:16
Speaker 4: But what is it like feeling the pressure of being
6:21
Speaker 4: that guy? Do you feel pressure to get a hit?
6:23
Speaker 4: Are you approaching this like any other at bat like?
6:26
Speaker 4: There are so many questions to ask a guy that's
6:28
Speaker 4: in the box in that particular moment, and you happen
6:30
Speaker 4: to be that guy, and I happen to have a
6:32
Speaker 4: relationship with you, so I knew I had access to
6:35
Speaker 4: you to get this story and talk about a big
6:37
Speaker 4: moment that happened in both Pirates history and also Washington
6:41
Speaker 4: National's history, of course. So that's kind of how we
6:44
Speaker 4: developed the concept of it. And I'll use you as
6:46
Speaker 4: one more example. You're born and raised in Cincinnati. Everybody
6:49
Speaker 4: knows that, right. You got a brother that is a
6:52
Speaker 4: manager in the Reds organization. You have another brother that
6:55
Speaker 4: has his own barber business that he's been running for decades.
6:59
Speaker 3: I assume in city of Cincinnati.
7:01
Speaker 4: You signed with the Reds in your last year in
7:04
Speaker 4: the league and went to spring training with them, you know,
7:06
Speaker 4: had a chance to do it. So Cincinnati has the
7:10
Speaker 4: best opening day in all baseball and that is really
7:13
Speaker 4: not to be debated with how special it is. And
7:15
Speaker 4: you know that from as a kid growing up, that
7:17
Speaker 4: they shut down the entire city.
7:19
Speaker 3: So we looked at all these big moments.
7:22
Speaker 4: And it was just a matter of who I had
7:23
Speaker 4: access to, Who could I reach, who would talk to me,
7:26
Speaker 4: who trust me with their story. You know, I obviously
7:29
Speaker 4: have your trust because you know how I roll, but
7:32
Speaker 4: talking to somebody who's a friend of a friend doesn't
7:34
Speaker 4: know me, and they have to trust that I'm going
7:36
Speaker 4: to do them right, you know, and tell the story
7:38
Speaker 4: in a way that's going to make it interesting for fans.
7:40
Speaker 3: So it was. It was a collaboration of so.
7:43
Speaker 4: Many things, and we ended up putting one hundred and
7:45
Speaker 4: twenty people in this book connected to the game of baseball,
7:48
Speaker 4: from famous baseball players to press dining attendance that nobody's
7:52
Speaker 4: going to know their name.
7:54
Speaker 6: Shout out to those one hundred and twenty people, because
7:56
Speaker 6: that's what helps make these stories and like that, that's
7:59
Speaker 6: a lot of work behind it. That's why I was
8:01
Speaker 6: curious because obviously I knew how you got obviously to
8:04
Speaker 6: me because we have the relationship. But I'm thinking, you know,
8:08
Speaker 6: just like you said, you got a dining room attendant, Like,
8:12
Speaker 6: I'm sure that that right there. I know that'll blow
8:15
Speaker 6: somebody's mind because that's probably one of the last people
8:17
Speaker 6: that you would expect to hear a story from, because
8:18
Speaker 6: most people think it's all baseball. But that's why I
8:21
Speaker 6: wanted to know, how would you go about it? But
8:22
Speaker 6: that's pretty cool, right?
8:24
Speaker 3: And where else can.
8:25
Speaker 4: I put a line that says I used to put
8:27
Speaker 4: nuts on his ice cream?
8:32
Speaker 3: That wasn't me, Noah was no that was ja. I promise.
8:39
Speaker 5: Robbie, just to jump in here real quick. I just
8:41
Speaker 5: want to say thank you for hopping on and thank
8:44
Speaker 5: you for all the work you did for the Pirates.
8:47
Speaker 5: I only started watching the Pirates every game in twenty
8:50
Speaker 5: twenty one. I wasn't really a big baseball fan, and
8:54
Speaker 5: your impact on the broadcast as a fan, like a
8:57
Speaker 5: new fan. You helped me get into baseball, So from
9:00
Speaker 5: by my heart, I just want to say thank you.
9:02
Speaker 5: I mean a lot of those memories were really special
9:04
Speaker 5: to mean, like a couple of stand out like the
9:07
Speaker 5: interviewing Drew Magi's parents, after that moment you gave his
9:11
Speaker 5: mom like a foul ball that from his at back.
9:13
Speaker 5: We did that Like that, You just had such a class,
9:17
Speaker 5: a touch, a way of communicating and connecting with all
9:21
Speaker 5: the people that you interviewed, and it really can like
9:25
Speaker 5: maybe become an addicted baseball fan. So I just wanted
9:29
Speaker 5: to preface any questions just by saying thank you. Really
9:33
Speaker 5: really value your work. The fact that I'm talking to
9:36
Speaker 5: you right now is kind of freaking me out, geeking
9:38
Speaker 5: me out, definitely fan boying a little bit. So I'm
9:41
Speaker 5: a big, big fan and just wanted to say thank
9:44
Speaker 5: you for everything you did for us Pirates fans, because
9:46
Speaker 5: you really gave us those stories that are now in
9:49
Speaker 5: this book, you know, throughout your career and highlighted the
9:53
Speaker 5: human element behind the game, which I really wanted to
9:57
Speaker 5: just say, I thank you, And how does the book
9:59
Speaker 5: died to that?
10:01
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, I'm really thankful for your words Mark,
10:04
Speaker 4: and that's fantastic. And really, if you really want to
10:07
Speaker 4: look at it, you could be a subject in a
10:09
Speaker 4: story in my next book or a book down the road,
10:12
Speaker 4: because I want to release one every day with these stories.
10:15
Speaker 4: But you're connected to the game of baseball. So you
10:17
Speaker 4: look at Platinum Key has how many followers roughly.
10:20
Speaker 5: I don't know right now, like nine thousand something or
10:23
Speaker 5: something around there.
10:24
Speaker 3: But that's my point.
10:25
Speaker 4: Your guy that just got into baseball a handful of
10:28
Speaker 4: years ago, right, Yeah, you're talking to a guy who's
10:31
Speaker 4: played baseball since he was you know, just above diapers
10:33
Speaker 4: and Josh Right who played forever and had a career.
10:37
Speaker 4: So you were three right made two All Star teams,
10:40
Speaker 4: you know, And how does a guy like that end
10:44
Speaker 4: up there? So let's dig into your story a little bit,
10:46
Speaker 4: not on the podcast, Yes, yeah, generous of the book,
10:49
Speaker 4: you know what I mean?
10:49
Speaker 1: I love it.
10:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, how you got into it?
10:51
Speaker 4: That's another interesting story. How many people want to be
10:54
Speaker 4: a Platinum Key because they have a passion for something.
11:00
Speaker 5: Like Chris Miller's in there. I heard that yeah in.
11:03
Speaker 3: My book as well. Yeah, yeah, I just had it.
11:05
Speaker 3: I'm on a group text with those guys and they're
11:07
Speaker 3: a great fan group. Man, A lot of people don't realize.
11:09
Speaker 3: And let me tell you another little secret.
11:11
Speaker 5: That was the Pirate right, yeah, yeah.
11:15
Speaker 4: Renegade's the Rotundant all the way up on the top
11:17
Speaker 4: of the rotundant, top of left field and and and Jay, Hey,
11:21
Speaker 4: I don't know if you know this, but the last
11:23
Speaker 4: ever hit I did as a Pirates announcer, there's a
11:27
Speaker 4: guy named Kyle who was a renegade Rotunda lost his
11:32
Speaker 4: life suddenly, okay, and it devastated, devastated that group.
11:37
Speaker 3: Right.
11:38
Speaker 4: And I went to our producer before that last game,
11:40
Speaker 4: knowing it could be my last game, and I said,
11:43
Speaker 4: if this is it for me, I want the final
11:46
Speaker 4: story that I do on the air for the Pirates
11:48
Speaker 4: is to pay a tribute to Kyle. Because Kyle didn't
11:52
Speaker 4: love baseball, and he was very honest about that, but
11:55
Speaker 4: he loved being part of the Renegades of the Rotunda.
11:57
Speaker 3: Okay.
11:57
Speaker 4: Now, people could look at them and say, oh, they're weird,
12:00
Speaker 4: they're this or that, but get to know them. They're
12:02
Speaker 4: just a bunch of guys who love baseball and they
12:04
Speaker 4: love to drink beers.
12:05
Speaker 5: Guy, Right, So.
12:08
Speaker 4: Josh Harrison could sit with those guys all night, and
12:11
Speaker 4: like they would enjoy spending time with Josh Harrison. Like
12:15
Speaker 4: they don't want like autographs or pictures, even though I'm
12:17
Speaker 4: sure they would ask for both, but like they would
12:20
Speaker 4: be guys that would love to just talk to people.
12:22
Speaker 4: And Josh, a two time All Star, would love to
12:25
Speaker 4: hear their story. I guarantee you, and I guarantee you
12:28
Speaker 4: there are a ton of other players who would love
12:30
Speaker 4: to hear their story. And I'm serious, you know, like,
12:32
Speaker 4: like I promise you, Jay, Hey, you would love to
12:34
Speaker 4: get to know these guys if you had to. I'm
12:35
Speaker 4: sure you know you've met them here and there, but
12:38
Speaker 4: to really dig deep and get to know those guys
12:40
Speaker 4: is pretty cool, man.
12:41
Speaker 3: And the thing you've got to.
12:42
Speaker 4: Realize where our job comes from as reporters is two things.
12:48
Speaker 4: Number One, we're broadcasting the Pirates fans. Okay, so what
12:52
Speaker 4: am I gonna do? Deal in gossip, deal in rumor?
12:55
Speaker 3: Are we gonna burny these guys when they're struggling? Of
12:57
Speaker 3: course not. We are broadcasting the fans. Number one.
13:01
Speaker 4: Number two is people root for who they like. So
13:06
Speaker 4: my job was to make people like these people. Right.
13:09
Speaker 4: You got a play by play guy, and you have
13:12
Speaker 4: an analyst in the booth who has played the game, okay,
13:15
Speaker 4: who has forgotten more about baseball than Mark, Noah and
13:18
Speaker 4: me have ever forgotten. I promise you Josh Harrison has
13:22
Speaker 4: forgotten more about baseball.
13:23
Speaker 3: I'm not saying it the kiss his ass. I'm just
13:24
Speaker 3: saying this.
13:25
Speaker 4: Is true, right, Like, Josh Harrison has forgotten more about
13:28
Speaker 4: the game of baseball than the three of us know,
13:30
Speaker 4: combine and don't ever lose sight of that, right. So, like, yeah,
13:33
Speaker 4: you can host a podcast, but there's just so many
13:35
Speaker 4: stories and there's so much to be broken down in
13:37
Speaker 4: the game. My job was not to talk about what
13:40
Speaker 4: pitches Josh Canner can't hit, what balls he Canner can't
13:45
Speaker 4: get to in the field. But I will tell you
13:47
Speaker 4: about Vince Senior and Benita and Sean.
13:52
Speaker 3: And Vin shut and.
13:55
Speaker 4: I'll tell you about Mia Kinsley and Brittany his entire family.
13:58
Speaker 4: So you're sitting at home, watch him make a diving catch,
14:01
Speaker 4: you watch him play his ass off on the field.
14:03
Speaker 4: If you watch him laughing joke and doing the meat hook,
14:05
Speaker 4: having a good time him and cut your buddies him
14:08
Speaker 4: and cooler buddy, you know, like all his buddies are
14:10
Speaker 4: the team. I've never met a guy that Josh Harrison
14:12
Speaker 4: didn't get along with in that clubhouse, or it didn't
14:15
Speaker 4: like Josh. But the point is, if you have a
14:19
Speaker 4: chance to get to know him, that is how people
14:21
Speaker 4: become fans of a certain player. Now I'm just using
14:23
Speaker 4: Josh as an example, but I did the same for everybody.
14:26
Speaker 4: You look at Richard Williams, Trevor Williams's dad, how many
14:30
Speaker 4: people know and you play with Trevor, Josh, you have
14:33
Speaker 4: I'm sure without even put you on the spot, I
14:36
Speaker 4: know you had to have a.
14:36
Speaker 3: Good relationship with Trevor because he's a good guy in
14:39
Speaker 3: your guy, That's what I'm saying.
14:41
Speaker 4: So people may not realize that that man in December
14:45
Speaker 4: of twenty fifteen was given sixty to ninety days to
14:48
Speaker 4: live unless he underwent aggressive chemotherapy. And we had that
14:53
Speaker 4: viral moment of when Trevor made his major league debut
14:56
Speaker 4: in September twenty sixteen, Why would you not dig deeper
14:59
Speaker 4: into that? So that was our job and that's why
15:01
Speaker 4: we do what we did. So I apologize for having
15:03
Speaker 4: diarya of the mouth right there, and I enjoy getting
15:05
Speaker 4: a chance to explain that on this platform, you know,
15:09
Speaker 4: to baseball fans out there, and what we tried to
15:12
Speaker 4: do night in and night out.
15:14
Speaker 2: Robbie As a storyteller myself, I mean, I feel like
15:18
Speaker 2: one of the hardest things I find myself doing when
15:21
Speaker 2: I have a wide plethora of information is organizing it
15:26
Speaker 2: in a way that's easiest to read. Right, and you
15:28
Speaker 2: have sixteen years worth of stories and one hundred and
15:32
Speaker 2: twenty people's personal accounts on all of these things, how
15:37
Speaker 2: in the world do you get and this is probably
15:39
Speaker 2: a little inside baseball question one reporter or to another,
15:42
Speaker 2: but how how in the world do you go about
15:45
Speaker 2: organizing this so you're not you know, getting too off
15:48
Speaker 2: topic or diving too deep into one thing to make
15:51
Speaker 2: sure this thing flows and is an easy, informative, enjoyable
15:55
Speaker 2: read for everyone who's willing to pay their hard earned
15:58
Speaker 2: money to read it.
16:00
Speaker 4: Yeah, So part of that is look at the big
16:03
Speaker 4: moments that have happened in the history of baseball. Barry
16:06
Speaker 4: Bonds hit his seven hundred and sixty third homer August seventh,
16:09
Speaker 4: two thousand and seven. Okay, everybody's heard from Barry. Everybody
16:13
Speaker 4: knows what Barry thinks, of the record. Everybody has an
16:15
Speaker 4: opinion of Barry Bonds. It's been discussed for decades and
16:18
Speaker 4: decades and decades. But what about the guy that gave
16:21
Speaker 4: up that Homer? There's another side to that story. Mike Bassett,
16:26
Speaker 4: he is in I'm like, yeah, so he was my
16:31
Speaker 4: broadcast partner with the Texas Rangers in twenty twenty four,
16:35
Speaker 4: and he essentially says, and I have the transcript of
16:38
Speaker 4: our conversation on our site. It's not as much in
16:41
Speaker 4: the book. We didn't dig as deep in the book
16:43
Speaker 4: about how that moment pretty much opened up his broadcast
16:47
Speaker 4: career for being on the wrong end of history. I mean,
16:50
Speaker 4: how many guys can say that? Not a lot, you know.
16:53
Speaker 4: And then you look at so that's a big moment, Noah, Right,
16:55
Speaker 4: And then you look at say, the night Cal Ripken
16:58
Speaker 4: broke the consecutives streak, and I looked at the box
17:02
Speaker 4: score that night and realized a buddy of mine, Jeff Houston,
17:06
Speaker 4: former infielder calls himself the Forest Gump of baseball, played
17:11
Speaker 4: third base next to Cal the night he set the record.
17:14
Speaker 4: So what the hell was that like? What was it
17:17
Speaker 4: like in the clubhouse, What was it like standing there
17:21
Speaker 4: in the fifth inning when he breaks the record, there's
17:24
Speaker 4: only one guy standing thirty forty feet away from him
17:26
Speaker 4: at third base, and we had a chance to talk
17:28
Speaker 4: to him. And then once you ask somebody a question,
17:31
Speaker 4: you'd never know what you're gonna get. As it turns out,
17:33
Speaker 4: he played in three and old Ryan snow Hitters played
17:35
Speaker 4: the day Ricky Henderson set the Steels record, and that's
17:38
Speaker 4: why he calls himself the Forest Gump of baseball. So
17:41
Speaker 4: you look at the biggest moments and you think, how
17:42
Speaker 4: is this going to resonate with people?
17:44
Speaker 3: And you try to find a way to connect with
17:46
Speaker 3: the fans and.
17:46
Speaker 4: The people who love the game of baseball.
17:50
Speaker 1: Robbie, I'll ask another one here and again.
17:54
Speaker 2: As a as a writer, I it's so rewarding when
17:58
Speaker 2: you finish putting some thing together, right, I've worked on
18:01
Speaker 2: stories for months, and when you hit that published button,
18:05
Speaker 2: it just feels like the weight of the world is
18:07
Speaker 2: off your shoulders. How rewarding was it to kind of
18:10
Speaker 2: see this ink on the paper, to see it, you know,
18:13
Speaker 2: those you said you had a big shipment of the
18:16
Speaker 2: books arrived at your house today, and that doesn't seem
18:19
Speaker 2: rewarding because it seems like it caused them quite a mess.
18:22
Speaker 1: But overall, how rewarding is.
18:24
Speaker 2: It to know that this story is completed and it's
18:26
Speaker 2: ready to be read by the world.
18:29
Speaker 4: You know, it's very interesting that you phrase the question
18:33
Speaker 4: the way you did, Noah, and people don't really give
18:37
Speaker 4: a shit about like your personal story, but when people
18:40
Speaker 4: pick up this book, they're going to know that we
18:42
Speaker 4: worked our tails off on this book and we did
18:45
Speaker 4: not cut any corners. We did this with the utmost
18:48
Speaker 4: respect and dignity we possibly could, and that's all of
18:52
Speaker 4: our interview subjects. We didn't care whether you played, whether
18:55
Speaker 4: you coached, whether you were broadcaster, or whether you were
18:58
Speaker 4: a server in the press dining room. You all got
19:00
Speaker 4: treated the exact same way. So everything that went into this,
19:07
Speaker 4: which I took a year and a half of my
19:08
Speaker 4: life off from working and earning money to put this
19:11
Speaker 4: together because that's how much passion I had for the project.
19:14
Speaker 4: So to see the shipment arrived today was definitely an
19:18
Speaker 4: oh shit moment. Am I allowed to say that?
19:20
Speaker 1: By the way, Yeah you're fine, Yeah, okay.
19:23
Speaker 3: I don't want to get you guys in trouble with
19:25
Speaker 3: your bosses.
19:25
Speaker 1: Don't go any further than that one, we'll cut it
19:28
Speaker 1: off there.
19:28
Speaker 5: But yeah, otherwise I have to bust out the bee button.
19:31
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, sorry, guys, I won't do that.
19:34
Speaker 4: Yeah, but to see it there and to see this
19:37
Speaker 4: whole thing come.
19:38
Speaker 3: To life was actually crazy.
19:40
Speaker 4: And what's crazier is I got an email last night
19:43
Speaker 4: at five point thirty saying that they were going to
19:44
Speaker 4: check where the vessel was that was getting these books
19:47
Speaker 4: in from overseas, only to get a call an hour
19:50
Speaker 4: later saying the books were thirty minutes from my house.
19:52
Speaker 4: So they showed up today and I had twenty six
19:54
Speaker 4: hundred books. They're in my garage right now and we've
19:57
Speaker 4: been hustling to get those out. So I've been grinding
20:00
Speaker 4: seven thirty am and this is the slowest part of
20:02
Speaker 4: my day and I'm going to go until about three
20:04
Speaker 4: or four am tonight. So yes, it's busy, it's crazy.
20:08
Speaker 4: But I don't know if Josh can kind of relate
20:11
Speaker 4: to this. You know, when you're a player, you ask
20:13
Speaker 4: what does this accomplishment mean? And they say, I'll look
20:15
Speaker 4: at this down the road when it's said and done.
20:17
Speaker 4: You know, maybe that's going to be my moment, not
20:20
Speaker 4: as a player, but as a guy who produced something
20:22
Speaker 4: he's pretty proud of in this book, and that's kind
20:25
Speaker 4: of how this whole thing has gone. And it's amazingly cool,
20:29
Speaker 4: and it's amazingly surreal to pick something up like this
20:31
Speaker 4: and know that we worked as hard as we did
20:34
Speaker 4: to put this together. And I think anybody that really
20:37
Speaker 4: likes the game of baseball will love the product.
20:40
Speaker 1: Awesome, fellas.
20:42
Speaker 2: Do you have any other final questions here? I have
20:44
Speaker 2: some rapid fire ones before we wrap.
20:46
Speaker 1: Up the show.
20:47
Speaker 5: Yeah, I just have one that's been I've been wondering
20:50
Speaker 5: about and excited to open up the book and see
20:54
Speaker 5: in my answer my question, But what are some of
20:56
Speaker 5: the weird quirks across the league? They are like maybe
20:59
Speaker 5: something that's unique to just one stadium or a former
21:02
Speaker 5: stadium or something of that name.
21:04
Speaker 3: Oh there's a ton you got the pool in Arizona.
21:08
Speaker 4: Uh, you got you know, the notches at P and
21:12
Speaker 4: C Park. Uh, you've got the ivy at Wrigley. I
21:17
Speaker 4: interviewed the guy Rick Fuse, They call him quick Rick.
21:19
Speaker 4: Not a lot of people realize that the guy that
21:22
Speaker 4: cured that handles the ivy at Wrigley Field is the
21:24
Speaker 4: guy that does the balls and strikes on the scoreboard,
21:28
Speaker 4: and he's the quickest.
21:29
Speaker 3: And he's the quickest guy in the league. Yeah, that's
21:31
Speaker 3: what I'm saying.
21:32
Speaker 4: With this quick Rick Rick fuse man, Dude, if you ever,
21:37
Speaker 4: if you're ever at Wrigley Field, you will see something
21:40
Speaker 4: like this.
21:41
Speaker 3: And I promise.
21:42
Speaker 4: You, like, he's the quickest guy on planet Earth that
21:46
Speaker 4: does this stuff.
21:47
Speaker 3: But like you got the pull, what other stuff?
21:49
Speaker 1: You know?
21:50
Speaker 4: You got Pesky's Poll, you get the Green Monster. Obviously
21:52
Speaker 4: at Wrigley Field. There are just so many things that
21:56
Speaker 4: are unique to baseball that you try to grab stories
22:00
Speaker 4: that are associated with it. What's it like being a
22:02
Speaker 4: degree monster? So we put pictures of what it's like
22:04
Speaker 4: inside the Green Monster. My buddy Paul Hogan, the guy
22:07
Speaker 4: who named my book, we were at Mario's on September third,
22:12
Speaker 4: twenty twenty four, when Skeens was pitching at Wrigley and
22:15
Speaker 4: we had had a bunch of drinks and about one am,
22:18
Speaker 4: he goes, I got the name for your book, and
22:20
Speaker 4: he writes it on a napkin and he goes Sacred
22:22
Speaker 4: Grounds and I'm like, dude, your hammered. Let's talk about this.
22:26
Speaker 4: And I pitched it. I pitched it to my team
22:28
Speaker 4: and they loved it. So my buddy was at about
22:31
Speaker 4: a point too when he named my book here. I
22:36
Speaker 4: love it so but one of the stories is him
22:39
Speaker 4: getting uninvited.
22:41
Speaker 3: He invited.
22:41
Speaker 4: Josh, you might remember this twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen. I
22:44
Speaker 4: maybe you will, maybe you won't. But you guys were
22:47
Speaker 4: playing in Arizona and they were doing cannibals every time
22:51
Speaker 4: the Pirates scored a run.
22:52
Speaker 3: Well, you guys scored five runs.
22:54
Speaker 4: In the final two innings of the game, and they
22:56
Speaker 4: were doing cannibals left and right.
22:57
Speaker 3: In a blowout. They end up getting uninvited.
22:59
Speaker 4: To the They're like, you can come again, but just
23:05
Speaker 4: come when we play the Cubs. He's like, you think
23:07
Speaker 4: we're gonna fly cross country twenty five Pirate fans who
23:10
Speaker 4: spent over five thousand dollars hip like twenty five hundred
23:14
Speaker 4: and to go.
23:15
Speaker 3: Watch like the Detroit Tigers play out there. This is crazy.
23:18
Speaker 4: So they basically got a shadow band from the pool
23:21
Speaker 4: when I just tried to reach for stuff like that.
23:25
Speaker 5: I love it.
23:26
Speaker 1: That's incredible, Josh.
23:27
Speaker 6: Any final questions, I don't know if I necessarily have
23:31
Speaker 6: you know, as far as you know me and me
23:33
Speaker 6: and Robbie talk, the questions that I would have, you know,
23:35
Speaker 6: have been pretty much answered. That was my question that
23:38
Speaker 6: I asked about how to choose the stories for me
23:41
Speaker 6: was probably the biggest one because you know, he's got
23:44
Speaker 6: sixteen years bouncing around. I'm like, man, I just know
23:47
Speaker 6: the stories that he and I have just together obviously
23:50
Speaker 6: are not all in there. But I'm just like, man,
23:52
Speaker 6: how do you pick and choose which one to use
23:54
Speaker 6: at each stadium? So that that was why I asked
23:57
Speaker 6: that question, because you know, I get asked a lot
23:59
Speaker 6: of questions about, oh, what's your favorite stadium?
24:01
Speaker 3: What's this?
24:02
Speaker 6: That's why I asked him, like, how did you go
24:04
Speaker 6: about choosing which ones to do? Because I know there
24:06
Speaker 6: are multiple stories at you know, multiple stadiums.
24:10
Speaker 5: All right, Rapid Flyers.
24:12
Speaker 1: Oh sorry, you know, go ahead, Robbie, what's up?
24:15
Speaker 4: Can I do you have time for a quick human
24:17
Speaker 4: interest story?
24:17
Speaker 3: Because I want to highlight one thing.
24:19
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's for sure?
24:20
Speaker 3: Is that all right? Can you guys spare it as
24:22
Speaker 3: quick as I can?
24:23
Speaker 4: So so back in the day, and I think Pirates
24:25
Speaker 4: fans will really appreciate this, and this isn't to kiss
24:28
Speaker 4: up the Josh because this is a god's honest truth.
24:30
Speaker 3: Right.
24:30
Speaker 4: So here's Josh Harrison right signed a contract that that
24:34
Speaker 4: millions of kids dream is signing in Cincinnati. He goes
24:37
Speaker 4: on and makes two All Star teams. But in the process,
24:40
Speaker 4: when we would travel, I would grab toiletries from every
24:44
Speaker 4: hotel we stayed at and I would save them up,
24:46
Speaker 4: and I would ask certain players, coaches, my coworkers, if
24:49
Speaker 4: you have them given to me, and I'll save them.
24:52
Speaker 4: And I donated them to the Light of Life Shelter
24:54
Speaker 4: on the North Side here in the city of Pittsburgh.
24:56
Speaker 3: So I remember when Josh.
24:57
Speaker 4: I don't want to say too much inside info, but
25:00
Speaker 4: Josh kind of had a clue he wasn't coming back
25:01
Speaker 4: to the Pirates at the end of the year. And
25:03
Speaker 4: I'll never forget Josh called me over to his locker
25:07
Speaker 4: one day in September. He goes, hey, man, come here
25:09
Speaker 4: when you get a second. And the way he looked
25:11
Speaker 4: at me, he was like I knew, like it was
25:13
Speaker 4: something he had on his mind. And he goes, look, man,
25:16
Speaker 4: He's like, Brittany and I rent this house. We have
25:19
Speaker 4: a bunch of furniture. Some of that we're going to
25:21
Speaker 4: take that means something to us, but we have a
25:23
Speaker 4: bunch that we are not going to keep. And this
25:28
Speaker 4: is how you humanize athletes. Right you can look at
25:30
Speaker 4: Josh Harrison's career earnings and realize he doesn't have to
25:33
Speaker 4: work another day in his life, and neither would.
25:35
Speaker 3: His kids if that were the case.
25:38
Speaker 4: But Josh, out of nowhere called me to his locker
25:41
Speaker 4: and said, hey, if you want to range a truck,
25:44
Speaker 4: why don't if you're interested, I would like to donate Brittany,
25:47
Speaker 4: and I would like to donate the rest of the
25:48
Speaker 4: furniture we have to the shelter that you're working with.
25:51
Speaker 4: And we ended up filling two apartments full of furniture
25:55
Speaker 4: for people dealing with homelessness in the.
25:58
Speaker 3: North side of Pittsburgh. So that is how you humanize people.
26:01
Speaker 4: And we had a story written Thanksgiving that year for
26:05
Speaker 4: what Josh did for those guys.
26:06
Speaker 2: You know.
26:07
Speaker 4: And and we went to Josh's house and moved the
26:11
Speaker 4: stuff out of his house and they just had certain,
26:14
Speaker 4: you know, certain things that meant something sentimentally to Josh
26:17
Speaker 4: and his wife. But all the stuff that was furniture,
26:19
Speaker 4: and we're talking couches, beds. I mean expensive stuff right,
26:23
Speaker 4: that filled two apartments worth and that was pretty cool man.
26:28
Speaker 4: So like that's kind of how you humanize people by
26:30
Speaker 4: getting to know.
26:30
Speaker 3: The story behind the story.
26:31
Speaker 4: So sorry to take time, but I don't know how
26:34
Speaker 4: much you guys realize what kind of.
26:35
Speaker 3: Person that you're working with.
26:37
Speaker 4: On this podcast, they see two all star teams diving catches.
26:40
Speaker 4: But that's kind of dude that Jay hay is.
26:43
Speaker 1: Robbie hangs out. He really willingly hangs out with us.
26:46
Speaker 1: So yeah, he's.
26:50
Speaker 3: Interviews.
26:51
Speaker 5: I just you still have the touch.
26:52
Speaker 2: Man.
26:53
Speaker 5: It's it's so good, Like I got goosebumps right now,
26:56
Speaker 5: Like I love it. You're you're so talented what you
26:59
Speaker 5: do well.
27:00
Speaker 3: I don't shut up. That's the problem.
27:02
Speaker 5: Hey, that's a talent. That's it talent.
27:06
Speaker 2: So a quick wrap, sorry, guys, you're rapid fire before
27:09
Speaker 2: we wrap it up. Here your favorite road bar ballpark
27:14
Speaker 2: that produced the best stories for this book?
27:19
Speaker 3: Who baby? Oh man?
27:21
Speaker 4: That is a great question. I have not been asked
27:25
Speaker 4: for a couple of reasons. Number one for a baseball reason.
27:29
Speaker 4: And I just got a text from quick Rick right now.
27:31
Speaker 4: How crazy is that?
27:33
Speaker 3: How about?
27:34
Speaker 4: How about uh Arizona? Is one because my buddy getting
27:38
Speaker 4: kicked out of the pool. But I also had a
27:40
Speaker 4: chance to interview a World Series hero. Okay, that's first
27:43
Speaker 4: thing you got at and T Park in San Francisco.
27:47
Speaker 4: For the Bonds Homer, I got Cleveland. Larry Dobie, Larry
27:53
Speaker 4: Adobie Junior is a friend of mine. His father broke
27:57
Speaker 4: the americanly color barrier but had to deal with all
27:59
Speaker 4: the same stuff that Jackie dealt with but didn't get
28:02
Speaker 4: the recognition or the publicity that Jackie got, And Larry
28:06
Speaker 4: had to deal with all the same crap, right, And
28:09
Speaker 4: Larry was a great player just like Jackie was. So
28:12
Speaker 4: when Larry Senior got his statue, I had a chance
28:15
Speaker 4: to talk to Larry Jr. About what it was like
28:18
Speaker 4: being Larry Dobe Jr. And that was pretty cool. So
28:21
Speaker 4: Cleveland for that reason, Arizona for that, and obviously P
28:24
Speaker 4: and C Park is the most beautiful park in.
28:27
Speaker 3: Baseball.
28:28
Speaker 4: And then Baltimore stood the test of time, and any
28:30
Speaker 4: story that comes out of Baltimore's a great story.
28:34
Speaker 2: Most meaningful player interview that went into this book.
28:39
Speaker 4: I'm gonna say Luis Gonzalez, and here's why. Think of
28:44
Speaker 4: how many people have been asked about a big moment
28:49
Speaker 4: for twenty four years. How many times can you answer
28:53
Speaker 4: the same question over and over and over and over. Right,
28:59
Speaker 4: we talked for thirty seven minutes on the record about
29:03
Speaker 4: what it was like changing the culture of baseball in
29:06
Speaker 4: the state of Arizona, and I'm really proud of what
29:08
Speaker 4: we got. Another one, sorry to bring up bad memories
29:11
Speaker 4: and pirate fans. Michael Levalier and Sid Breen talking about
29:14
Speaker 4: the slide. Yeah, Sid's knee brace is on display at
29:18
Speaker 4: Truest Park in Atlanta, so we dove back into it again.
29:21
Speaker 4: Two classy guys who have been asked about that slide
29:24
Speaker 4: thousands of times and they're still classy every time they
29:27
Speaker 4: answer it.
29:29
Speaker 2: Since you brought up the employee, I have to just
29:33
Speaker 2: ask your favorite press dining in Major League Baseball?
29:37
Speaker 4: Well, Philadelphia, Yeah, the food is always good. They have
29:41
Speaker 4: an ice cream bar.
29:42
Speaker 5: Yep, they got Yeah, I would say ya.
29:47
Speaker 1: The stadium Houston very slept on.
29:51
Speaker 3: Houston's good too, Yep.
29:52
Speaker 4: Absolutely, Josh, don't sleep on that meal room at Philly.
29:56
Speaker 6: J Hey, No, I said, Hey, the visitors side in
29:59
Speaker 6: Philly for the players is everybody's favorite. They keep they
30:02
Speaker 6: keep itally of how many cheese steaks each team each
30:05
Speaker 6: for the series.
30:05
Speaker 5: I kid you not. Oh yeah, I've heard that, so
30:08
Speaker 5: I can believe it. They know. Do you remember was
30:12
Speaker 5: the bullpen catcher for the Brewers he ate eight.
30:16
Speaker 4: He had eight in a date that record just went down.
30:19
Speaker 4: Somebody ate nine. I think it was this year or
30:21
Speaker 4: the year before. I can't remember who it was. You
30:22
Speaker 4: could probably search it and find out. But his record
30:25
Speaker 4: is not down like I think last season.
30:27
Speaker 6: I think his record actually got broke during COVID. Just
30:30
Speaker 6: a little side story when when I was with the Nationals,
30:33
Speaker 6: Adrian Sanchez eighteen. Adrian Sanchez he eight ten. He was
30:36
Speaker 6: on the uh you know you got the extras list.
30:39
Speaker 6: He ate it during the day game. We had a
30:42
Speaker 6: forty five minute delay with the net malfunction, which his
30:46
Speaker 6: rule was he had to finish ten before the game
30:47
Speaker 6: was over, so that like net malfunction actually helped him finish.
30:50
Speaker 5: He ate ten half ate sushi.
30:54
Speaker 6: With his wife when we got the Florida Oh my gosh, kid,
30:57
Speaker 6: you know, I can't make it up.
31:00
Speaker 5: Some guys are just eagers.
31:04
Speaker 4: Stadium to best Philly Yankee Stadum two best press dinings
31:07
Speaker 4: in baseball.
31:09
Speaker 1: I totally agree.
31:10
Speaker 2: And then final rapid fire question, favorite Uber driver you
31:13
Speaker 2: had in the year twenty eighteen.
31:16
Speaker 4: Oh, Noah, flipping piles, baby what I was going to
31:23
Speaker 4: spring training because I'm not leaving my car at the
31:26
Speaker 4: airport for six weeks, so I would just take an
31:30
Speaker 4: uber to the airport if my people can't take me.
31:33
Speaker 4: And that day I couldn't, and I'm like no, I'm like,
31:37
Speaker 4: wait a minute, no, the writer, I'm like, what's up, man,
31:41
Speaker 4: dude took me the air eighteen.
31:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember that.
31:47
Speaker 2: That was that was early in the career days, when
31:49
Speaker 2: you know, I had to do a little something something
31:51
Speaker 2: on the side to get by, and I remember picking
31:54
Speaker 2: you up, thinking like, oh man, I don't want to
31:56
Speaker 2: see another writer reporter kind of seeing me doing this.
31:59
Speaker 3: But it was kind of cool.
32:00
Speaker 1: I got.
32:00
Speaker 2: I got like my first exclusive Robbie experience in that
32:04
Speaker 2: car ride from your house down to the airport and everything,
32:07
Speaker 2: and that's, you know, gave.
32:09
Speaker 1: Me some career vite career advice.
32:11
Speaker 2: And it's kind of surreal now to to have you
32:13
Speaker 2: on the show and see how things come full circle, right, crazy.
32:17
Speaker 3: Isn't it?
32:18
Speaker 2: Real?
32:18
Speaker 3: Question?
32:19
Speaker 6: Did he give you five stars?
32:22
Speaker 3: He tipped too. I remember when I dropped him off.
32:26
Speaker 2: When I dropped him off at the airport, he goes
32:28
Speaker 2: he said something like, well, I now I have to
32:30
Speaker 2: tip you well because you know everyone I know.
32:34
Speaker 1: So that was pretty good.
32:37
Speaker 4: Just remember it's advice for everybody watching, and extra five
32:40
Speaker 4: dollars get you five stars.
32:42
Speaker 1: Yes, it does.
32:45
Speaker 5: All right.
32:46
Speaker 2: Well, Robbie, we really appreciate you coming on and uh
32:49
Speaker 2: chatting it up with us. Everyone should absolutely check out
32:53
Speaker 2: his new book, Sacred Grounds.
32:55
Speaker 1: It's it's a.
32:56
Speaker 2: Time of the year where we're getting each other gifts, right,
32:58
Speaker 2: and maybe you have some extra stocking money laying around.
33:01
Speaker 1: This is a perfect thing to spend it on.
33:03
Speaker 2: Seems like a really good opportunity to learn more about
33:06
Speaker 2: the game. Here's some one of a kind storytelling from
33:09
Speaker 2: a guy who we've all enjoyed his storytelling on our
33:12
Speaker 2: television screens.
33:13
Speaker 5: And Robbie, where can people get grounds?
33:17
Speaker 4: Yeah, so this is a project I did on my own,
33:19
Speaker 4: So it's only available on my website, and only on
33:22
Speaker 4: my website for this first book. It's my name, Robbie
33:25
Speaker 4: antrobb Y I NC dot com. Uh, and that's the
33:28
Speaker 4: only place that that can be purchased. So I really
33:33
Speaker 4: appreciate you guys having me on here man and I
33:35
Speaker 4: cannot thank the three of you enough. And it's great
33:38
Speaker 4: see you guys. And by the way, I love cjy
33:41
Speaker 4: do a podcast.
33:42
Speaker 1: This is pretty cool, right right, It's so cool.
33:46
Speaker 5: So many people, so many people. They make it easy.
33:49
Speaker 5: They make it easy for me.
33:51
Speaker 4: He landed where he should land in his post playing
33:53
Speaker 4: career in the game and I'm here for it.
33:56
Speaker 1: Awesome, Robbie, thank you for for coming on and joining us.
33:59
Speaker 2: Big thanks to my co host as always, Josh Harrison
34:04
Speaker 2: and Mark A k A Platinum Key. I am Noah
34:06
Speaker 2: Jyles and we will see you next time here on
34:08
Speaker 2: Bucco Territory, a show presented by the Foul Territory Network