Latest / The Favorites Sports Betting Podcast / The Buffet with Chad and Scooch, Episode 28 - Featuring Paul Lo Duca

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The Buffet with Chad and Scooch, Episode 28 - Featuring Paul Lo Duca · The Favorites Sports Betting Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Coming to you from fabulous Las Vegas. The right side
0:07
Speaker 1: is the winning side. The late move is the correct move.
0:10
Speaker 1: Sports betting capital of the world. We all know when
0:14
Speaker 1: a sharp like me weighs in the lines move, it's
0:17
Speaker 1: a party for your ears. This is the buffet with
0:26
Speaker 1: Chad and Scooch. I want to buy that guy at buffet. Hello,
0:32
Speaker 1: Welcome to the buffet with Chad and Scooch. We are
0:37
Speaker 1: recording from our brand new Action Network studios at Action
0:43
Speaker 1: Network HQ here in Manhattan Street between Madison and Park
0:50
Speaker 1: Um superside Grenelle sitting next to me. We've got professional microphones.
0:54
Speaker 1: Hopefully it sounds better for people. You might hear something
0:57
Speaker 1: in the background because we've got nine TVs were putting
1:00
Speaker 1: up all over the office. Um. Later on in the show,
1:06
Speaker 1: we have Paul Laduca on and we had a massive
1:09
Speaker 1: all hands content summit yesterday for the Action Network, the
1:13
Speaker 1: first one where all of us were getting together and
1:15
Speaker 1: we were all in the new space. Luduca killed it.
1:18
Speaker 1: Um in the meeting, had so many good ideas. But
1:20
Speaker 1: he came in the podcast today. We literally talked about
1:23
Speaker 1: everything from him getting arrested at a race track when
1:26
Speaker 1: he was twelve years old for making a bet that
1:28
Speaker 1: one in fifteen thousand dollars, to being asked to be
1:32
Speaker 1: on the Bachelor and what happened with that after he
1:35
Speaker 1: was divorced in two thousand six, to like the most
1:37
Speaker 1: in depth conversation about baseball and why the Phillies are
1:41
Speaker 1: winning and if there's value on the Phillies and why
1:44
Speaker 1: he would take like ninety players with a man on
1:48
Speaker 1: third and the game on the line before he would
1:50
Speaker 1: take gian Carglo stant It was a great in depth
1:53
Speaker 1: conversation with Luduca, who's awesome. First up, we're back with
1:57
Speaker 1: Bob Scooci from New Orleans representing the Boyd Gaming Books
2:01
Speaker 1: in the state of Nevada. Mr Bookmaker Extraordinaire. My friend,
2:06
Speaker 1: Bob Scucci, it's been too long, Hey, it really has. Chad.
2:09
Speaker 1: Nice to be back on the show with you. That
2:13
Speaker 1: was that was like an official Nice to be back
2:17
Speaker 1: on the show with you, Chad, that was like, you know,
2:22
Speaker 1: you sounded like Bill O'Reilly coming on, Thanks for having
2:28
Speaker 1: me today, and uh, honest to god, well listen, we
2:32
Speaker 1: missed a couple of weeks because I went on vacation.
2:35
Speaker 1: I did my annual r V trip. This one was
2:37
Speaker 1: to Oregon, where my best friend Matt convinced me and
2:40
Speaker 1: my family to go and said the weather would beautiful
2:42
Speaker 1: and it rained. Um, no joke, it rained every day. Uh.
2:47
Speaker 1: We were in the RV basically driving to look for
2:50
Speaker 1: sunny places and found um. One place on the coast
2:54
Speaker 1: of Oregon. We got six hours of sun that happened
2:56
Speaker 1: to be the afternoon. We rented a t V S
3:00
Speaker 1: that was it. That's all. That's all you did. Oregon
3:04
Speaker 1: is one of the most beautiful, untamed wild coasts I've
3:08
Speaker 1: ever seen in my entire life. Like, it is stunning
3:10
Speaker 1: to look at. Um. It's sad that we only looked
3:13
Speaker 1: at it in three minute increments from the side of
3:15
Speaker 1: rest stops when it seemed like the wind was not
3:19
Speaker 1: blowing in fifty and it was only raining straight down
3:21
Speaker 1: instead of sideways. But definitely beautiful. I was actually looking
3:27
Speaker 1: at some houses uh in Bandon, Oregon and outside of
3:33
Speaker 1: Lincoln Lincoln City, Oregon. Uh, it's so nice up there.
3:37
Speaker 1: I thought the same thing, and I thought, what a
3:39
Speaker 1: great like retirement house to have up there. So Uh,
3:44
Speaker 1: I didn't realize it rained as much as you say
3:46
Speaker 1: it does, but I know it rains quite a bit.
3:48
Speaker 1: But that's good to know. I might reconsider looking at
3:51
Speaker 1: looking at those properties. So I'm glad the subject of
3:55
Speaker 1: your retirement second home came up because the last week
4:00
Speaker 1: we missed the podcast because I had to go to
4:03
Speaker 1: l A. And I was in l A. You know,
4:06
Speaker 1: I flew out on Tuesday. I was there all afternoon
4:09
Speaker 1: Tuesday and meetings and stuff, and then I had to
4:11
Speaker 1: fly back on a Wednesday afternoon and I was in
4:13
Speaker 1: meetings all Wednesday morning. Was a very quick trip. I
4:16
Speaker 1: was also at a conference and I spoke in a panel,
4:18
Speaker 1: and when the panel was over, someone came up to me, Uh,
4:22
Speaker 1: this guy presumably does very well. Um. He's a banker
4:28
Speaker 1: at like a really well known firm and prestigious firm,
4:30
Speaker 1: and he's a partner there and so smart guy. Um.
4:34
Speaker 1: And he was we were talking about Scooch and we
4:37
Speaker 1: were talking about his Italian villa. Um, and we were
4:41
Speaker 1: talking about God Scooches, you know, living a nice life.
4:44
Speaker 1: And here you are talking about your second home. Oh yeah,
4:51
Speaker 1: I know. I feel guilty sometimes now. He also told
4:54
Speaker 1: me that he had met the CEO of Boyd Gaming
4:57
Speaker 1: uh and asked him about you and like the CEO.
5:00
Speaker 1: I just thought it was great and love that you
5:02
Speaker 1: were doing the podcast and thought it was really fun.
5:04
Speaker 1: Oh you met that guy. Huh I met well, I
5:06
Speaker 1: met the banker who met the CEO. Okay, I don't
5:09
Speaker 1: get to meet CEOs. I mean, you know, yeah, No,
5:15
Speaker 1: it's it's great to know that the show's just getting
5:17
Speaker 1: so much traction. I mean, it's it's unbelievable how many
5:20
Speaker 1: people still come into The Orleans and uh, you know
5:24
Speaker 1: they miss it when we're not on. You know, they'll
5:26
Speaker 1: come in on those couple of weeks that we take
5:28
Speaker 1: a break and they tell me how much uh they
5:31
Speaker 1: missed us being being together. And I guess, you know,
5:35
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks off when we lose our timing.
5:37
Speaker 1: You know, that's why I've had that that awkward opening.
5:40
Speaker 1: You know, we we've got to get back into a
5:42
Speaker 1: rhythm or something. I agree. Here's some other things that
5:44
Speaker 1: people should do it They should go review the podcast. Uh,
5:48
Speaker 1: they should rate the podcast. Also, if you're inclined, throw
5:52
Speaker 1: some questions into the Apple reviews and we'll answer him
5:57
Speaker 1: on the podcast. That is what we'll do. We're going
5:59
Speaker 1: to use sort of the Apple platform as our new
6:02
Speaker 1: way to communicate with users, basically because that's the only
6:05
Speaker 1: way to move up the itune rankings other than that
6:07
Speaker 1: like telling telling people to unsubscribe and then resubscribe, which
6:11
Speaker 1: maybe we should do that to everyone, go unsubscribe and
6:13
Speaker 1: then resubscribe. Um, but this will help boost our gifts,
6:17
Speaker 1: give some juice to our rankings, scooch. Uh. And then
6:20
Speaker 1: I know you're like, I know you'd like to be
6:22
Speaker 1: ranked high. Listen. So later on in the show, Luduke
6:26
Speaker 1: is on, and he's amazing and funny and like brings
6:28
Speaker 1: a lot of just energy. But like, I'm sorry that
6:32
Speaker 1: our first podcast back is generally going to be about
6:37
Speaker 1: um Dave Malinsky, who you and I both knew very well,
6:42
Speaker 1: uh and who tragically passed away U recently while in
6:46
Speaker 1: a hike in Nevada. Um, this is one of the
6:50
Speaker 1: most interesting guys. And this is like really affected the
6:53
Speaker 1: betting community in Las Vegas. Like Malinsky had been in
6:57
Speaker 1: Vegas probably for thirty years, and was beloved and was
7:02
Speaker 1: thoughtful and creative, and um, he wasn't your typical professional
7:11
Speaker 1: wise guy. UM. And so people, I'm certainly crushed. I
7:16
Speaker 1: know you were very close with him. I had the
7:17
Speaker 1: last time I actually saw him was at your wedding. UM.
7:20
Speaker 1: Night emailed a bunch in the last six or eight months,
7:22
Speaker 1: especially about Action, UM, but I hadn't seen him since
7:26
Speaker 1: your wedding. Uh, tell me your thoughts about him. I
7:30
Speaker 1: have a lot, but I want to hear you first. Yeah,
7:32
Speaker 1: I have so many, and I've been talking about him
7:35
Speaker 1: so much lately. But you know, having met him twenty
7:38
Speaker 1: five years ago on the old Stardust Line, I mean
7:41
Speaker 1: that at that time, that radio show used to reach
7:43
Speaker 1: the entire West Coast and every Sunday night, Dave would
7:46
Speaker 1: break down all the games. My first week on the job,
7:51
Speaker 1: listening to Dave, I hadn't even met him yet, but
7:55
Speaker 1: listening to him breakdown a football game, I was so
7:58
Speaker 1: struck by it because he compared it to a horse race.
8:02
Speaker 1: And I never heard this kind of analysis where he
8:05
Speaker 1: started talking about the pace of the football game the
8:08
Speaker 1: way he would the pace of a horse race, where
8:11
Speaker 1: this horse would get out to the lead. He would say,
8:13
Speaker 1: this team is going to get out to an early
8:15
Speaker 1: lead and and and start off fast, and the defense
8:18
Speaker 1: is going to start to uh to crack down, and
8:22
Speaker 1: the slow the pace of the game down a little
8:24
Speaker 1: bit and then this is here's the closer, And so
8:27
Speaker 1: that was my initial introduction to him before actually having
8:31
Speaker 1: met him. Then I started actually doing some shows with him.
8:34
Speaker 1: So my early years with Dave were basically on the
8:36
Speaker 1: professional level. It wasn't until the last five ten years
8:41
Speaker 1: that I realized just the depth of the man, because
8:45
Speaker 1: he told me so often that as much as he's
8:48
Speaker 1: recognized for sports handicapper and that's provided his lifestyle, it
8:54
Speaker 1: was merely a vehicle to get to his true passions
8:57
Speaker 1: in life. And that's what we always talk about. More recently,
9:01
Speaker 1: in the last few years, he was one of the
9:03
Speaker 1: few people in the sports industry that I could get
9:06
Speaker 1: together with for hours and never even talk about sports,
9:10
Speaker 1: and that was rare and and that something that we
9:13
Speaker 1: both kind of appreciated every time we got together because
9:15
Speaker 1: it was kind of like a little hiatus from what
9:18
Speaker 1: we are normally known for, and let's talk about the
9:21
Speaker 1: things that that that truly kind of drive our desires
9:25
Speaker 1: and things that kind of uh make life worth living
9:29
Speaker 1: and uh, and he described his really true passion were
9:35
Speaker 1: these bristle cone pine trees up in Mount Charleston here
9:39
Speaker 1: outside Las Vegas, which I didn't even know about until
9:43
Speaker 1: and I've lived here most of my life, and he
9:46
Speaker 1: introduced me to these trees, which are actually the the
9:50
Speaker 1: longest living things on the planet. I mean, these trees
9:53
Speaker 1: are like three thousand years old. And he would go
9:56
Speaker 1: up there every week and he would catalog these trees
9:59
Speaker 1: and he look at them and try to you know
10:03
Speaker 1: that you could see all the twists and turns of
10:05
Speaker 1: three thousand years of these trees growing, and he would
10:08
Speaker 1: compare them to things, uh in everyday life, that the
10:12
Speaker 1: human condition, and each tree would represent a different story.
10:16
Speaker 1: And that's what I always found fascinating with him, besides
10:19
Speaker 1: the fact that he was a brilliant handicapper. So you know,
10:22
Speaker 1: that's why you know, there's so many people that he's
10:27
Speaker 1: touched over the years that are are kind of coming
10:31
Speaker 1: out now and talking about their experiences with him, because
10:34
Speaker 1: he was a fascinating man. You'll remember this place. Excuse
10:39
Speaker 1: it wasn't the pepper Mill. It was this place like
10:41
Speaker 1: across the street. You could sit at patio, sit in
10:44
Speaker 1: a patio and some chairs outside. I had like sandwiches,
10:47
Speaker 1: And it wasn't like the hotel that was across from
10:50
Speaker 1: the Stardust to either. It was like some random coffee
10:54
Speaker 1: shop almost that was on Las Vegas, Bolivard and I
10:57
Speaker 1: went out there and like, I spoke go Tomlinsky before
11:01
Speaker 1: and we had set up this day and now that's
11:04
Speaker 1: when I was gonna start doing the book. And I
11:06
Speaker 1: was so excited. It was going to be you know,
11:08
Speaker 1: you guys in Boston and him, and we sit down
11:12
Speaker 1: and he's like, I can't do the book with you.
11:15
Speaker 1: He's like, I'll talk to you as much as you want,
11:16
Speaker 1: and I will give you details and I will share
11:19
Speaker 1: some ideas, but I have partners. They don't want me
11:23
Speaker 1: to do it. I don't want to do the book.
11:25
Speaker 1: It's too revealing. So we ended up just sitting there
11:27
Speaker 1: talking for like two hours. We talked about how much
11:29
Speaker 1: he likes to make chilly on the weekends for his
11:31
Speaker 1: college football in the NFL betting and does not leave
11:33
Speaker 1: the house. And it was clear to me that this
11:35
Speaker 1: guy was so so creative um and that he was
11:41
Speaker 1: so smart about seeing the game. He like saw it
11:45
Speaker 1: in a way that was like a heat map almost,
11:49
Speaker 1: and he talked about efficiency and pace in a way
11:53
Speaker 1: that nobody was doing at that point, so incredibly thoughtful.
11:57
Speaker 1: I was totally bummed he wasn't going to do the
11:59
Speaker 1: book because Alan Boston sort of became this breakout character
12:02
Speaker 1: in the gambling community because of what what happened in
12:05
Speaker 1: that book, and Malinsky, to me, it was going to
12:07
Speaker 1: be the same way. But it was also indicative of
12:10
Speaker 1: like he liked his privacy, he liked his solitude. Um
12:14
Speaker 1: that came through and shining colors and sort of over
12:17
Speaker 1: the years and the way he got into nature and
12:20
Speaker 1: got into conservation and sort of became something that was
12:23
Speaker 1: so different than what you would expect from you know,
12:27
Speaker 1: from what you would think a regular hardcore gambler would be.
12:31
Speaker 1: I mean it was a rough week. I mean, you know,
12:33
Speaker 1: he was missing for five six days and we were
12:37
Speaker 1: you know, working with a lot of the friends in
12:39
Speaker 1: the family or you know, organizing search teams, and it
12:43
Speaker 1: was super windy, so nobody could get up that high
12:46
Speaker 1: and it was it was a tough week, all right, scooge, Well, listen,
12:50
Speaker 1: we love Dave Mlinsky. May he rest in peace. I
12:54
Speaker 1: know we're both sorry and many people in the Las
12:57
Speaker 1: Vegas community are sorry that he's no longer with us.
13:01
Speaker 1: And Scoot, you and I are gonna catch up next
13:03
Speaker 1: week together face to face in New York. Uh. Next
13:08
Speaker 1: up on the podcasts, we're switching gears a little bit,
13:12
Speaker 1: going to Paula Duca, who tells us some of the
13:14
Speaker 1: craziest stories about betting on the horses when he was
13:19
Speaker 1: twelve and winning fifteen thousand dollars and getting arrested about
13:23
Speaker 1: why he thinks John Carlos Stanton, isn't that the nine
13:26
Speaker 1: best player to have a home plate when you've got
13:29
Speaker 1: a man on third, two outs in the game on
13:31
Speaker 1: the line, and his time when he was almost a
13:35
Speaker 1: contestant on The Bachelor. Alright, as promised to my next
13:38
Speaker 1: guest on the podcast, maybe one of the best new
13:45
Speaker 1: editions we've made of the Action Network. Four time MLB
13:48
Speaker 1: All Star catcher, longtime Major League Baseball veteran, now my
13:53
Speaker 1: best friend in the world, Paula Duca. What's going on?
13:56
Speaker 1: Paul's Uh, good man, Just try to say a little
14:02
Speaker 1: dry here in New York and a little rain. It
14:04
Speaker 1: seems like we're not gonna get a break down and
14:07
Speaker 1: get me any good weather. But I am feeling good though,
14:10
Speaker 1: feeling good about some games to night too as well. Listen,
14:12
Speaker 1: we had as you as you were aware because you
14:15
Speaker 1: were with us. Yesterday we had our first Action Network
14:18
Speaker 1: content summit in our brand new office space where we
14:21
Speaker 1: are recording the podcast today. Um And what was amazing
14:27
Speaker 1: was how many people. There was one guy who came
14:30
Speaker 1: into the office wearing a Mets hat uh in honor
14:34
Speaker 1: of you. There's one guy from l A who stood
14:37
Speaker 1: up and said, you are my favorite Dodger. And then
14:39
Speaker 1: there was another guy who came out and said, I played, Uh,
14:43
Speaker 1: Paul Duca was the most valuable player I had in
14:45
Speaker 1: my two thousand two video game. Did you expect that
14:49
Speaker 1: kind of response? Is that what it's like going through
14:52
Speaker 1: life as Paul Duca? No, here's the deal, Like I
14:58
Speaker 1: go around being a normal per sit and what did
15:01
Speaker 1: I stand up and say? I said, if y'all tell
15:04
Speaker 1: me I look small in person, I'm a nuck ye out,
15:07
Speaker 1: but I'm a regular guy. So for me, you know,
15:11
Speaker 1: my father told me a long time ago that they're gonna,
15:14
Speaker 1: you know, always sign autographs, always take pictures, always that
15:17
Speaker 1: because one day they'll forget about you. And you know what,
15:20
Speaker 1: I've almost feeling forgotten until I joined the Action Network.
15:25
Speaker 1: And yesterday was was a proud moment. For me, I
15:29
Speaker 1: had four guys hugged me and it sort of had
15:32
Speaker 1: man crushes on me yesterday. It was it was a
15:34
Speaker 1: little scary. Oh my god, I had no idea it
15:37
Speaker 1: was like that. I figured like, because I will tell
15:39
Speaker 1: you every single time people talk to me about like
15:43
Speaker 1: the people we've hired, um, and I say, you know,
15:46
Speaker 1: we we brought in Paul Ladouca, people are like the
15:50
Speaker 1: catcher Paul Duca. I'm like yeah, and they're like, oh
15:53
Speaker 1: my god, I love that guy. I think that was
15:56
Speaker 1: like a m I think it's because you're so small.
15:59
Speaker 1: And um, I will say that when I walked off
16:02
Speaker 1: the elevator into the office yesterday, you were trying to
16:05
Speaker 1: figure out where the office was, and UM, I saw
16:09
Speaker 1: you and I'm like, holy funk, this guy is a
16:12
Speaker 1: lot smaller than I thought he was. And no, so
16:15
Speaker 1: like then I walk in right. So we walk in
16:19
Speaker 1: with everybody and a lot of people know Jeff Schwartz's
16:22
Speaker 1: he's an offensive lineman for the Giants, uh and in
16:26
Speaker 1: one of our own and actions Action Network and he's
16:30
Speaker 1: a clown too. And he looks right at me he goes, wow,
16:33
Speaker 1: you're sure, and I'm like, dude, You're like, like, of course,
16:40
Speaker 1: and then I'm like we look like Schwarzenegger and de
16:43
Speaker 1: Vito and quinns. Oh my god, that's so good. I
16:46
Speaker 1: love that. That's what. You know what, We've been trying
16:49
Speaker 1: to figure out what to call the podcast you guys
16:52
Speaker 1: are gonna do, and maybe we should call it Twins.
16:57
Speaker 1: That's actually not a bad idea. I mean, think on it.
17:00
Speaker 1: And like I come up to what like, I don't
17:03
Speaker 1: come up to nipples. Sorry to get a little bit.
17:06
Speaker 1: People are a little bit like I don't. He's a
17:08
Speaker 1: big human being's sting my face all day during the meeting.
17:15
Speaker 1: You know what, I noticed that he like was stretching
17:18
Speaker 1: out and he had his feet on the desk and
17:19
Speaker 1: you were right in front of him, and I'm like, wow, yeah,
17:22
Speaker 1: he is, like off, he is really invading Laduca's space
17:26
Speaker 1: right there. And he was wearing some A six. Did
17:28
Speaker 1: they even make a six anymore? That might be the
17:31
Speaker 1: only shoe that fits Jeff Schwartz. One of my favorite
17:36
Speaker 1: things yesterday was, you know, we spent the whole day
17:38
Speaker 1: and so people know, like we were all sort of
17:40
Speaker 1: the entire team was here in the office and we
17:42
Speaker 1: were just throwing ideas against the boards, like the first
17:44
Speaker 1: time that the entire action team has gotten together and
17:49
Speaker 1: sort of throwing ideas together because we're a didn't have
17:51
Speaker 1: the office in New York yet and be UM everyone
17:54
Speaker 1: lives every so so many of the places. So my
17:57
Speaker 1: favorite story that you throw on the board yesterday we
17:59
Speaker 1: were talking about like odds on the Bachelor, and you
18:03
Speaker 1: throughout that you had been invited. H called about being
18:06
Speaker 1: a bachelor one year. Tell the story of what happened. Yeah,
18:11
Speaker 1: so I had it was going through a divorce and uh,
18:15
Speaker 1: I was uh in UM now getting traded UM and
18:19
Speaker 1: min New York, and I got approached to be the bachelor,
18:23
Speaker 1: approached by UM ABC and then the lady called me
18:28
Speaker 1: and it was really weird because she asked for pictures.
18:31
Speaker 1: So now I'm like, okay, wait, like you know, I
18:35
Speaker 1: know Google wasn't as you know, I guess relevant then
18:41
Speaker 1: as it was now, and this wasn't. This was like
18:43
Speaker 1: twelve years ago somewhere in that area. And then Jesse
18:45
Speaker 1: Palmer was one of the first ones, so they had
18:47
Speaker 1: had an athlete and then uh, she asked for some pictures.
18:51
Speaker 1: I sent some pictures and then and then the next
18:54
Speaker 1: question was how tall are you? And I'm like, in
18:58
Speaker 1: your program or in your heart and she goes and
19:02
Speaker 1: started laughing. And then I go, um, you know, I'm
19:05
Speaker 1: five ft ten in the program, but I'm five ft
19:08
Speaker 1: eight in your heart, and she just goes, okay, well here,
19:13
Speaker 1: you know, we'll get back to you soon. And it
19:16
Speaker 1: was like, I mean, the phone call couldn't have ended
19:18
Speaker 1: in like more than in a second and a half
19:19
Speaker 1: after that, and then and then I was obviously informed
19:23
Speaker 1: and in the email that I wasn't picked and it
19:26
Speaker 1: was because of my height. Because it is true. If
19:29
Speaker 1: you watched The Bachelor now, which I am, it's probably
19:33
Speaker 1: my favorite show because the comedy part of it, it
19:36
Speaker 1: really makes me laugh. It's great. Uh, but they're really
19:40
Speaker 1: you'd never see a girl towering over a guy, so
19:43
Speaker 1: and that would have happened with me. So yeah, that
19:46
Speaker 1: that went away very quickly. Chad. When um, when they
19:50
Speaker 1: called you, what year was this? It was like two
19:53
Speaker 1: thousand six, right when I was with the men, And
19:55
Speaker 1: so when were you on the cover of sports Dowis
19:58
Speaker 1: Fan Because I'm thinking, like, all right, so that's probably
20:02
Speaker 1: when she saw you. So I can't even believe that
20:04
Speaker 1: she needed to see more images of you to decide
20:06
Speaker 1: if you were sort of bachelor worthy. Yeah, it is,
20:10
Speaker 1: I'm like up to bike. It's yeah, I am pretty
20:14
Speaker 1: small compared to everybody else in there. Oh no, no, no, no,
20:16
Speaker 1: no no. I was actually saying you're so handsome on
20:19
Speaker 1: the cover of the issue that I can't believe. She
20:22
Speaker 1: needs to know what the key was that I do
20:24
Speaker 1: my own eyebrows. What did you like? Tweetum? Yeah, you
20:29
Speaker 1: gotta you gotta shape them, shape them? Wax. Um no,
20:33
Speaker 1: well I can't go wax. I had a bad reaction
20:35
Speaker 1: before with that I shape them. I mean you were
20:39
Speaker 1: such a I get compliments. Key, think about it, old
20:43
Speaker 1: man hairs everywhere. You got to clean it up? So true?
20:47
Speaker 1: Is that? Is that part of your charm? Is that
20:48
Speaker 1: how you score is like you're just your eyebrowser perfect.
20:54
Speaker 1: Well now it's the salt and pepper beard. It's just
20:56
Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a it's it's an attraction. Yeah. Um,
21:04
Speaker 1: all right, here's my next question. We always play a
21:06
Speaker 1: game in the podcast, and we didn't play it with you.
21:08
Speaker 1: The first time you and Jeff Schwartz did a podcast
21:10
Speaker 1: together called You Bet Your Life and I can't think
21:12
Speaker 1: of many people like you had a great career in
21:14
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball. We've established you're not that tall of
21:18
Speaker 1: a guy. Um. You got through your life on just
21:21
Speaker 1: grit and determination. And so, UM, tell me about the
21:27
Speaker 1: biggest risk you've taken in your life. This is the
21:30
Speaker 1: theme of you bet your life, the biggest risk you've taken,
21:32
Speaker 1: and how it played out. Well, the biggest risk guy
21:36
Speaker 1: were taking. And that is that true story. And I
21:41
Speaker 1: told it to many people. I was twelve years old, um,
21:47
Speaker 1: and uh, my father and I used to go to
21:50
Speaker 1: Turf Paradise. I grew up in Arizona. Uh. I was
21:54
Speaker 1: born in New York, Arizona. When I was young. So
21:57
Speaker 1: we scor to the turf Paradise, which was a race track, um,
22:00
Speaker 1: where the horses run. And there was a jockey that
22:04
Speaker 1: owed my father money. Um. My father had a bar
22:08
Speaker 1: called the NFL Sports Pub, that was the name of
22:10
Speaker 1: the bar was at nineteenth Avenue in Peoria, and this
22:12
Speaker 1: jockey used to sit there and get drunk every night.
22:15
Speaker 1: My dad used to keep tabs for people. It was
22:17
Speaker 1: like in the old school days. Well, one day, you know,
22:19
Speaker 1: and my dad finally approached him I'll never forget. I
22:21
Speaker 1: was just got back from school and he pross like, hey,
22:24
Speaker 1: you got to start giving me a little bit of money.
22:26
Speaker 1: On the money. He's like, I got a horse for you.
22:30
Speaker 1: I got a horse for you. Next week, I'll pay
22:32
Speaker 1: you back with this horse. He's gonna run. And I'll
22:34
Speaker 1: never forget the name of the horse. And name of
22:35
Speaker 1: the horse was Sweeter Day. So it was like on
22:39
Speaker 1: a Thursday, the horse is gonna run. So my dad
22:44
Speaker 1: had bad stomach problems, real bad stomach problems, and he
22:48
Speaker 1: struggled with ulcers and before tag ements were actually over
22:51
Speaker 1: the counter and over the counter or vice versa. I mean,
22:53
Speaker 1: he eat him like tick tacks. So we're going on
22:56
Speaker 1: in the race track. My mother is listening to this
22:58
Speaker 1: in heaven. Sorry Mom, he cuts me out of school.
23:01
Speaker 1: We get out of school and we're going to the
23:04
Speaker 1: racetrack to go bet this horse. Um, so we get
23:07
Speaker 1: into the track. Now a lot of people don't realize
23:10
Speaker 1: back in the day, there used to be a line
23:12
Speaker 1: into the racetrack that said you had to be eighteen
23:16
Speaker 1: stand behind this line. Now you can go to a
23:18
Speaker 1: racetrack and bring your son or daughter up to the
23:20
Speaker 1: window and they don't pay attention. There's no security guards.
23:23
Speaker 1: There's security guards, but there used to be heavily. It
23:26
Speaker 1: would be more secured, like the windows. So my dad
23:29
Speaker 1: starts having this attack where his stomach starts bothering him
23:34
Speaker 1: in the bathroom. That's her paradise. Now he's going there
23:36
Speaker 1: to bet a thousand dollars to win on this horse.
23:38
Speaker 1: And this is back in somewhere in that area. UM,
23:45
Speaker 1: a lot of money. Then the horse is seventeen and
23:47
Speaker 1: one on the board in the eleven hole. So he's
23:51
Speaker 1: literally in the bathroom throwing up. And I now am
23:57
Speaker 1: looking at the post three I suppose to mis post.
24:01
Speaker 1: I'm yelling at my father. My dad, he can't move,
24:03
Speaker 1: he's he'sn't mobilized at this point. Now he's like he's out.
24:07
Speaker 1: So I reached his pocket and I take the money.
24:10
Speaker 1: He's like, what are you doing? He and I said
24:13
Speaker 1: to stay down, don't worry about it. So I can
24:15
Speaker 1: see the horses are rolling to the gate, so they
24:18
Speaker 1: start loading, no horses loading the horses, um, And I'm
24:22
Speaker 1: looking at the security guard, looking at the security guard.
24:24
Speaker 1: And I rolled up to the window right when they
24:26
Speaker 1: put the ten in, and I said give me this
24:28
Speaker 1: al he went on the love it. She punched the
24:30
Speaker 1: ticket and says, wait a second, you're way too young.
24:33
Speaker 1: She goes to hit back me button and boom, the
24:38
Speaker 1: bell went off. Now the tickets live, security card gardens over.
24:43
Speaker 1: I get and cuffed. The horse wins by five and
24:49
Speaker 1: now I'm downstairs. My dad's obviously his ulcers are way better,
24:55
Speaker 1: and I'm handcuffed. But now it's a fifteen thousand dollar
24:59
Speaker 1: bet it that that teller is now responsible for. So
25:05
Speaker 1: my dad is obviously growing nuts, like you gotta give
25:08
Speaker 1: me the money. She punched the ticket. Uh, long story short.
25:13
Speaker 1: I was banned for Turf Paradise a while um um,
25:19
Speaker 1: and I'll never forget this, you know. The Obviously the
25:23
Speaker 1: woman got fired, but my father waited outside and gave
25:27
Speaker 1: that woman five thousand dollars and it was probably more
25:29
Speaker 1: than she made for the year punching tickets at Turf Paradise. Um.
25:33
Speaker 1: Because she couldn't she would she didn't have to punch
25:35
Speaker 1: the ticket. Will happened while she was in such a
25:37
Speaker 1: hurry because they were ready to go off. She didn't
25:40
Speaker 1: look up and see me, so she wasn't even paying attention.
25:43
Speaker 1: She like someone. She just heard a voice that said,
25:46
Speaker 1: give me, you know, a thousand bucks on this horse
25:50
Speaker 1: at you know it was a thousand and win on
25:54
Speaker 1: the eleven. You know, back in those days, had you
25:56
Speaker 1: really didn't have the co mingling, you didn't have uh
26:00
Speaker 1: you didn't have to explain what track because you weren't
26:03
Speaker 1: betting Santa Anita or the other race tracks. You didn't
26:06
Speaker 1: have all that you had. You were just betting one track.
26:08
Speaker 1: That's when people went. That's when fans went, because you
26:11
Speaker 1: had to go to the race track. You couldn't sound
26:13
Speaker 1: the cast. So yeah, like, uh, we were. It seemed
26:18
Speaker 1: like he turned and we were downstairs for like, I
26:22
Speaker 1: don't know, an hour, hour and a half, and and
26:24
Speaker 1: then I had to go home, go home late, keep
26:27
Speaker 1: my mouth shut, not telling my mom what's going on, um,
26:31
Speaker 1: you know, but always behind the lines, my mom always
26:34
Speaker 1: knew because whatever my dad would go outside and go
26:37
Speaker 1: buy some stuff or buy my mom address, he would
26:40
Speaker 1: always whisper to me, must have been a good day
26:41
Speaker 1: at the track. So your mom never know your dad
26:44
Speaker 1: won the grand. He very kindly gave the ticket writer
26:48
Speaker 1: five grand of that. How much did the guy at
26:51
Speaker 1: the bar actually owe him? On the tab. You know,
26:56
Speaker 1: I never knew that. I never knew that. Um, it
27:01
Speaker 1: had to be up there for my dad to be
27:03
Speaker 1: like that. Anybody that knows my dad, he was owned
27:07
Speaker 1: restaurants for a zillion years UM in Arizona, and you
27:12
Speaker 1: know a kind of guy that would let the tab go.
27:14
Speaker 1: So maybe it was up there. But he was a
27:17
Speaker 1: guy who always I remember you always used to sit
27:18
Speaker 1: at the corner of the bar drink, have some drinks, um,
27:23
Speaker 1: and he would leave and he would stiff the bar
27:27
Speaker 1: center all the time. And then I remember my dad
27:29
Speaker 1: asked him. And I remember my dad specifically asking him.
27:32
Speaker 1: I freely left this point out, saying, okay, if you're
27:35
Speaker 1: not gonna pay him to give me a horse, because
27:37
Speaker 1: the guy didn't ride that many horses. To be honest
27:39
Speaker 1: with you, but that's the biggest risk I ever took,
27:43
Speaker 1: because I I'll never forget. Because you gotta understand, when
27:47
Speaker 1: you're twelve or thirteen, you hear I heard it, so yeah,
27:52
Speaker 1: I it's it was different from me. I was sitting
27:56
Speaker 1: there and I heard him telling my father the horse
27:58
Speaker 1: was only so now when you're twelve, you really believe it,
28:00
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? My My thing was. My
28:03
Speaker 1: thing was, oh my god, this horse is gonna win
28:05
Speaker 1: and we're gonna lose that on fifteen. Now, I would
28:07
Speaker 1: have never made the beat. I would have been like, yeah,
28:10
Speaker 1: we're probably gonna say a thousand, you know you So
28:15
Speaker 1: it was just because I was twelve or thirty, you know,
28:16
Speaker 1: I didn't. I I went in the panic mode. You know,
28:19
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's insane. So your dad, I bet
28:21
Speaker 1: that the tab had to be more than had to
28:23
Speaker 1: be less than fifteen, but also less than ten because
28:26
Speaker 1: otherwise she's given away his profit there, right, So, uh,
28:31
Speaker 1: you never told your mom on that story. She has
28:33
Speaker 1: no idea that you went to the track, made the
28:37
Speaker 1: bat got arrested. No, there's there's no way. You know
28:41
Speaker 1: why I didn't go back until I was like, I
28:46
Speaker 1: don't know, fifteen or sixteen, And one of the guys
28:49
Speaker 1: there said there was a picture of my face on
28:53
Speaker 1: the boat and board in the security office. If you
28:55
Speaker 1: ever seen this kid, you gotta get him. You're like
28:58
Speaker 1: on the blacklist. But by the time you were fifteen,
29:00
Speaker 1: I was on the black list of Paradise. And it's
29:03
Speaker 1: like it doesn't getting much lowers, Like it's almost like
29:08
Speaker 1: a badge of shame to be on the blacklist of
29:11
Speaker 1: Turf Paradise. How bad you have to be to be
29:13
Speaker 1: on the blacklist of turf Paradise. Yeah, you know what
29:16
Speaker 1: it's like. I always felt like that security guard had
29:19
Speaker 1: it out for me, because I'll be honest, Like when
29:22
Speaker 1: I was about thirteen fourteen, if I had five, six, seven,
29:25
Speaker 1: eight dollars, I was always like trying to get a
29:27
Speaker 1: guy to, you know, bet for me. If I was going,
29:30
Speaker 1: you know, we'd go with our we'd go with our buddies.
29:32
Speaker 1: We'd cut class, go to the dogs, go to the horses.
29:35
Speaker 1: Dogs were way easier because you can get guys to
29:37
Speaker 1: bed for you. If we you win, you give them
29:41
Speaker 1: a little bit here and there. Um. But it sucks
29:44
Speaker 1: because we were sharp. But a couple of us were sharp,
29:47
Speaker 1: So if we hit for a thousand dollars, you'd be like,
29:49
Speaker 1: oh man, we'd wait and then I'd have to give
29:52
Speaker 1: it to my dad, and then my dad would cash in,
29:54
Speaker 1: and then of course my dad would take the big
29:56
Speaker 1: on me where to get this from? So you don't
29:59
Speaker 1: want to trust the guy to cash it because he
30:03
Speaker 1: had I mean, there's no I R S problems anymore.
30:05
Speaker 1: At the UH at the horses. Now they had that soul,
30:08
Speaker 1: but you ustart to sign anything over six hundred dollars,
30:11
Speaker 1: so you didn't want that guy signing the ticket and
30:13
Speaker 1: taking the money under his name. You were getting that
30:15
Speaker 1: money back. You know how much juice was your dad
30:17
Speaker 1: charging you? At least two hundreds? He was the worst.
30:21
Speaker 1: He was the worst, my dad. I love him the death.
30:23
Speaker 1: He's the best, but he was the worst for the
30:25
Speaker 1: game to that. He used to take the big off
30:27
Speaker 1: the top all the time. He was charging on a
30:30
Speaker 1: thousand dollar cash. Yeah, because he knows I was cutting class.
30:34
Speaker 1: Because he was getting the heat from my mom. So
30:37
Speaker 1: he used to say, from the heat from my mom,
30:39
Speaker 1: he your mother's given me because I know you're cutting class.
30:42
Speaker 1: Because at that time when I was cutting class, I
30:45
Speaker 1: was a freshman software I was nobody. I couldn't cut
30:48
Speaker 1: classes as senior because I was starting to blossom as
30:52
Speaker 1: a player. I grew to all five ft eight. I
30:54
Speaker 1: was five foot two my first free year in high school,
30:56
Speaker 1: and then I blossom to all fo five eight senior year.
31:00
Speaker 1: So I couldn't cut class my senior year because I
31:02
Speaker 1: was actually becoming a decent baseball player. Oh my god,
31:06
Speaker 1: that is classic. That is too funny. Um, I need
31:10
Speaker 1: to transition you because, uh, we we actually do have
31:13
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit of baseball, Like we're a
31:15
Speaker 1: month in the season. I don't think anyone saw like
31:18
Speaker 1: the Phillies and Diamondbacks being a preview of the NLCS.
31:21
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone like expected Otani to be to
31:24
Speaker 1: what he's doing. I thought what you talked about yesterday
31:28
Speaker 1: in our meeting, just about the way sort of the
31:32
Speaker 1: strikeout per at bat ratio matters. Like when you look
31:36
Speaker 1: back on the first month of the season from a
31:39
Speaker 1: betting perspective, who's been the biggest surprise, who's been more effective?
31:43
Speaker 1: Who have you looked at and said, Wow, these guys
31:45
Speaker 1: are crap and I should not be playing them until
31:48
Speaker 1: I get a better sense of who they are met
31:49
Speaker 1: with through the year. Well, obviously, the Phillies have been dynamite,
31:54
Speaker 1: and so the Braids, I mean the Braids at least early.
31:56
Speaker 1: I mean the nl East in general has been has
32:01
Speaker 1: been great. Um, whether you're a fan of the team
32:04
Speaker 1: or whether you've been been in the teams and Mets
32:05
Speaker 1: have been great against the spread and the Philly You're right,
32:08
Speaker 1: the Phillies. You know, the Phillies did it the right way.
32:11
Speaker 1: They sort and and this is something that I've always
32:15
Speaker 1: tried to tell the Met fan and and it's working
32:19
Speaker 1: so far this year, but it hasn't worked. The Phillies
32:22
Speaker 1: built through the farm system through pitching. Now they did
32:25
Speaker 1: get Jake Arietta off off of free agency, but it's
32:32
Speaker 1: hard to sign people or pictures that to go into
32:35
Speaker 1: a pictures or hitter's ballpark. So the Phillies have a
32:39
Speaker 1: tough time signing guys that want to come there to pitch.
32:42
Speaker 1: So what did they do? They dumped everybody built through
32:46
Speaker 1: the farm system through pitching, and now they're starting to
32:49
Speaker 1: see the success. And then they went out and got
32:52
Speaker 1: our Arietta to be somewhat of the father figure of
32:55
Speaker 1: that staff to help those kids out, and it's paying
32:58
Speaker 1: off now. The Mets, I'll we thought they should go
33:01
Speaker 1: more of the other route because they play in a
33:04
Speaker 1: bigger ballpark. Pictures are gonna want to come pitch in
33:08
Speaker 1: at City Field. They could get free agents to come
33:10
Speaker 1: pitching um there, but through trades and through other stuff.
33:14
Speaker 1: Obviously the pitching has carried him. But now look what's
33:17
Speaker 1: got them to the record. They've gotten quality at bats
33:20
Speaker 1: from uh Todd Frasier, quality of brats from Adrian Gonzalts
33:25
Speaker 1: had a key Grand Slam. They've gotten some big hits
33:27
Speaker 1: from bettering guys that they signed. You know, Assessment Sessors
33:31
Speaker 1: is not hitting a ton, but he hit a hit
33:33
Speaker 1: big Grand Plam the other night. The thing that I've
33:36
Speaker 1: always stressed is that you need to get quality at
33:39
Speaker 1: bats to succeed, and you need pitching, and you need bullpen.
33:44
Speaker 1: And still when you look at the top of the
33:46
Speaker 1: list when it comes to pitching, the astros is there
33:49
Speaker 1: are are right at the top and they're not a surprise. Um.
33:54
Speaker 1: When it comes to disappointments, it's the Dodgers. But I
33:57
Speaker 1: predicted and I thought that they would back up at
34:00
Speaker 1: And the reason why was it was gonna be the
34:02
Speaker 1: second year for Bellinger that had a tough, uh you know,
34:07
Speaker 1: weird start times to begin the year. They had four
34:10
Speaker 1: left handed starters in a rotation. Um. When you have
34:13
Speaker 1: that many left handed starters inter rotation, it can sear
34:17
Speaker 1: the lineup and it can it can get another team hot. Um.
34:21
Speaker 1: I can explain that in an article, explain that to
34:23
Speaker 1: you in a certain way, like when you get a
34:26
Speaker 1: lefty out there, certain teams kill lefties, and when you
34:29
Speaker 1: get to stay three in a row, it makes Kershawn
34:33
Speaker 1: not as nasty sometimes, and he struggled a little bit,
34:36
Speaker 1: So there has been some surprises. But I do really,
34:39
Speaker 1: do truly feel that Dodgers are in deep trouble. And
34:41
Speaker 1: you mentioned the Diamondbacks, they're for real. Let's go back
34:46
Speaker 1: to the Phillies for one second, because um, Gabe Kapler
34:51
Speaker 1: was the joke of the league that first, that first
34:55
Speaker 1: that opening day, like those first few days, the way
34:57
Speaker 1: he was using his bullpen. So what has changed, Like
35:01
Speaker 1: has he changed his approaches, he thinking differently about the
35:04
Speaker 1: way he uses pictures or is he just a genius?
35:08
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's a good question. It's something that
35:13
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what it might. Maybe it's fool's goal
35:16
Speaker 1: earlier in the season, because as a hitter earlier in
35:18
Speaker 1: the season, it's it's it's really you want to face
35:23
Speaker 1: the guy as many times as you want. It's like
35:26
Speaker 1: when you face the guy's third time around, he's obviously
35:29
Speaker 1: gonna be easier to hit because you've seen him. I
35:31
Speaker 1: wrote an article, um and actually caught a game over
35:34
Speaker 1: I bet a game over of the Yankees and the
35:37
Speaker 1: Blue Jays because the Yankees had faced Marcus Dostrata already,
35:42
Speaker 1: and I think the Blue Jays already face Sonny Gray
35:46
Speaker 1: who was struggling, so to me, second time around, there
35:49
Speaker 1: was gonna be run. They're already seen each other. So
35:53
Speaker 1: maybe that's what's helped the Phillies is that he's taking
35:55
Speaker 1: the guys out so early. They're not seeing there. The
35:58
Speaker 1: rest of these teams are seeing example sizes um and
36:02
Speaker 1: maybe it's gonna catch up later in the year. But
36:05
Speaker 1: they do got a ton of talent, and do got
36:07
Speaker 1: a ton of young arms that are are really good,
36:10
Speaker 1: and they got some some baths. Here's the thing. You
36:12
Speaker 1: don't need to stick a ton of baths into that
36:15
Speaker 1: ballpark because that Paul Parker is gonna elevate your your
36:19
Speaker 1: batting average already. With with as Di mentioned, do you
36:21
Speaker 1: think is it better? Are the Phillies over valued now
36:24
Speaker 1: or is there still value in the Phillies every night?
36:27
Speaker 1: I think there's still value in the Phillies as of
36:29
Speaker 1: right now, as long as this weather keeps staying up.
36:31
Speaker 1: I mean, uh, it's still a little chilly out here
36:34
Speaker 1: in the East I do think the numbers are gonna
36:37
Speaker 1: start going through the roof. I'm still convinced the ball's juice. Um. Listen,
36:42
Speaker 1: I played in two thousand two, I mean in two
36:46
Speaker 1: thousand two, and those guys were on rocket fuel. Um,
36:50
Speaker 1: and they broke all those records last year, and the
36:52
Speaker 1: commissioner won't admit it. He caused his own collusion. When
36:56
Speaker 1: my daughter can hit fifteen home runs, every agent that
37:00
Speaker 1: thinks for the same amount of money, and then you've
37:01
Speaker 1: got the mlp A going back and forth. Well, you guys,
37:05
Speaker 1: everybody's getting fifteen home runs and it wasn't that way.
37:09
Speaker 1: So you cause your own collusion. So you have to
37:12
Speaker 1: win this with pitching now even more. And you look
37:16
Speaker 1: at look at the strikeout. Jean carl santon Is struck
37:20
Speaker 1: out thirty five times. I struck out thirty times one year,
37:24
Speaker 1: one year. This is what But they don't care because
37:29
Speaker 1: the teams don't care anymore about the strikeout. They value
37:33
Speaker 1: the three Every team is an Earl Weaver American League
37:37
Speaker 1: team pitching and let's wait for the three run homer. Chad, Well,
37:42
Speaker 1: you were talking about that yesterday. Like the Yankees are
37:44
Speaker 1: a team that has a ton of strikeouts. They're they're
37:47
Speaker 1: all or nothing. They're the Dave Kingman of the modern era, right,
37:50
Speaker 1: and so what does that do? Does that make them
37:54
Speaker 1: from a betting perspective? How do you look at them
37:56
Speaker 1: that way? Yeah? But okay, now go look at the Yankees.
38:00
Speaker 1: Would you be surprised if they're the They're number one
38:02
Speaker 1: in all at baseball and ops, I couldn't believe it,
38:07
Speaker 1: but they are. And so something is working. Okay, they
38:12
Speaker 1: had a fourteen run game. They lead all of baseball
38:15
Speaker 1: and run scored. If you look at their offensive stats,
38:20
Speaker 1: they've been giants. So the system is working because all
38:24
Speaker 1: of baseball has gone to this where they don't care
38:29
Speaker 1: about the strikeout. They think the strikeouts just as good
38:32
Speaker 1: as a ground out the second, which I get it
38:34
Speaker 1: it is, but they're looking at strikeout. They've gone to
38:40
Speaker 1: guys that used to wear jock straps, the guys that
38:42
Speaker 1: don't wear jock straps. In the front office, I mean
38:45
Speaker 1: almost of the teams, you have a guy that did
38:49
Speaker 1: play and a lot of guys that didn't play in
38:53
Speaker 1: and they're just looking at the saber metrics. They're looking
38:55
Speaker 1: at this and that. When I'm looking at something, I
38:58
Speaker 1: look at a high strikeout rate on a I in
39:00
Speaker 1: a high strike out rate in the picture. It's it's relevant.
39:06
Speaker 1: It's very relevant because to me as an MLB catcher,
39:10
Speaker 1: I'll put it this way, UM, I would rather face
39:15
Speaker 1: like guys used to say, they they why was Ryan
39:19
Speaker 1: Samberg in the Hall of Fame before Andre Dawson? And
39:22
Speaker 1: I used to ask that question. And I remember asking
39:25
Speaker 1: Andre Dawson because he used to work for Florida And
39:29
Speaker 1: I'm gonna turn around to this and get to this
39:31
Speaker 1: and and and sort of makes sense here and and
39:36
Speaker 1: they said they used to walk Dawson to get to Samberg.
39:41
Speaker 1: And there's just certain guys that you don't want to
39:43
Speaker 1: face in certain situations. Um, and certain guys that you
39:47
Speaker 1: don't mind facing a certain situations. And Jim carl Stan
39:50
Speaker 1: is one of those guys. Yeah, the stats say that
39:54
Speaker 1: he hit fifty summer at home runs. He's this kind
39:57
Speaker 1: of monster. But now put him in New York arc
40:01
Speaker 1: and he's facing Chris Sale or he's facing a giant picture.
40:05
Speaker 1: He's an out. He is an out every time. Now.
40:09
Speaker 1: Albert Pools at forty years old is not an ounce.
40:14
Speaker 1: If there's a man on third and the game is
40:18
Speaker 1: on the line, who do you want at home plate?
40:21
Speaker 1: Jim Carlos Stanton is like number ninety, he was number ninety.
40:24
Speaker 1: I'll give you eighty nine guys that I'd want Brett
40:27
Speaker 1: Gardner on his team because I know he's gonna put
40:29
Speaker 1: it in play. There are certain guys you stay away
40:31
Speaker 1: from as a catcher, and there's certain guys you don't mind.
40:35
Speaker 1: Now when it's eight one if we're winning. When I
40:41
Speaker 1: was catching, I would give gm Carlo Stanton whatever he
40:45
Speaker 1: loves when we're winning eight one, But when it's one one,
40:48
Speaker 1: he's gonna get whatever he doesn't love. And and whatever
40:52
Speaker 1: he doesn't love is a fastball belt high. He can't
40:55
Speaker 1: hit it if you throw it belt high every time
40:57
Speaker 1: it's an ounce. So that's my relevant where where I
41:01
Speaker 1: where I try to tell people is like there's certain
41:04
Speaker 1: guys in certain stats. When you look at guys, you
41:07
Speaker 1: gotta look at certain things, and I think that's one
41:11
Speaker 1: of them. Is a big thing. So that's interesting. Gian
41:16
Speaker 1: Carlo Stanton ninety guy you'd have at home plate when
41:21
Speaker 1: there's a man on third and the game is on
41:23
Speaker 1: the line. Brent, you need a hit, Chat, you need
41:26
Speaker 1: a hit. You you tell me you can't name twenty
41:28
Speaker 1: guys you'd rather have than gian Carlo Stanton. You need
41:31
Speaker 1: a hit, you'd rather have Albert Pujols, whose bad speed
41:34
Speaker 1: is about half of what it was fifteen years ago. Yes,
41:38
Speaker 1: then then gian Carlo Stanton, because I know that Albert
41:43
Speaker 1: has done this before, uh and is in this situation now?
41:48
Speaker 1: Am I piling on on gian Carlo Santon a little bit?
41:50
Speaker 1: I get it his his stats are gonna skew. But
41:53
Speaker 1: what I'm trying to explain to people is that there's
41:57
Speaker 1: certain guys that have stats, and there's certain guys that
42:01
Speaker 1: have real stats. Like you know, Mike Trout is a
42:04
Speaker 1: right handed hitter. Miguel Cabret. These are two guys that
42:07
Speaker 1: can go down as some of the best, two of
42:10
Speaker 1: the best right hand hitters of all time. I mean
42:13
Speaker 1: what Miguel Cabrera has done. And I had a fortunate
42:16
Speaker 1: to play with them, like and you didn't want. I
42:21
Speaker 1: used to laugh when guys when the bases were loaded,
42:24
Speaker 1: because I knew he was going to hit a rocket somewhere.
42:27
Speaker 1: You just knew. There was just certain guys you wanted
42:30
Speaker 1: to stay away from. Um Tony Gwynn, I remember I remember,
42:35
Speaker 1: uh Andy Ashby. I went out to the mountain one
42:38
Speaker 1: day and asked him. I'm like, what do we do
42:40
Speaker 1: with Gwinn? And he goes, I'm done. I'm throwing it
42:41
Speaker 1: down the middle and just hope he pumps pops it up.
42:44
Speaker 1: He goes, the only thing we the only thing we
42:46
Speaker 1: should do is don't throw him in. And I'm like,
42:48
Speaker 1: why he goes, because then he can hit a home run.
42:50
Speaker 1: If we throw him away, he'll just get his base hit.
42:53
Speaker 1: And there was the truth. So I never set up
42:57
Speaker 1: in the Tony Gwynn ever. Even Kevin Brown told me
43:00
Speaker 1: that too. Don't set up to Gwen in Sincide. That's
43:03
Speaker 1: why Tony gwyn didn't their home runs. Tony gwyn could
43:05
Speaker 1: hit twenty if you wanted to hit the quickest bat ever,
43:09
Speaker 1: but he just took his hits whenever he wanted to.
43:11
Speaker 1: So now those were the certain guys. And now I'm
43:15
Speaker 1: mentioning some of the best hitters ever. Now Albert Pools
43:17
Speaker 1: is a great hitter, but I would take D D
43:20
Speaker 1: D H the girl uh sarah dd. I mean, he's
43:24
Speaker 1: been having an unbelieable year, but his at bat that
43:26
Speaker 1: you gave him Gardner. There's like five guys on the Yankees.
43:29
Speaker 1: I take before gen Carlos Stanton right now. Okay, so
43:32
Speaker 1: you can't say his name, but you still take him
43:33
Speaker 1: before gian Carloston. But what about what about the guy
43:36
Speaker 1: who just had that at bat that it was the
43:39
Speaker 1: most pitches ever internet bat? How hard is that? Brandon belt? Uh,
43:45
Speaker 1: it's impossible, It's very tough. I was, actually, I want
43:51
Speaker 1: to say, I I know the listeners will know this.
43:54
Speaker 1: Alex Cora hadn't at bat and I was on the bench.
43:57
Speaker 1: I want to say, seventeen pitch and he hit a
44:01
Speaker 1: homer um and I'll it seemed like an attorney. We
44:06
Speaker 1: were laughing. And when when he hit the home run,
44:09
Speaker 1: it a we I was. I think they paid to
44:12
Speaker 1: the dugout. We were in shock. And and then I
44:15
Speaker 1: think it was Brandon beat hit. I think Brandon might
44:19
Speaker 1: have beat either Alex's or somebody else's. But that's insane.
44:22
Speaker 1: I think the most I ever had was in eleven,
44:24
Speaker 1: but twenty one pitches is like, I mean, that's the
44:27
Speaker 1: fifth of a guy's discount. Thinking about it, it's unbelievable.
44:30
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you're so right. That is such great context,
44:33
Speaker 1: Like how hard is it to concentrate pitches in one
44:38
Speaker 1: at bat? It's very hard. And as a catcher too,
44:43
Speaker 1: you get to a point even when you're eight nine,
44:45
Speaker 1: ten pitches in where you're like and you'll go to
44:49
Speaker 1: the mound. And sometimes I've had the pitchers go like,
44:52
Speaker 1: should just roll it up there? And I throw the
44:54
Speaker 1: rosin valley and you almost try to change strategies. And
44:59
Speaker 1: to the point where the older I got as a catcher,
45:02
Speaker 1: and he kept filling it off and filing off the fastball. Um,
45:05
Speaker 1: I was just like, you know, unless you stick with
45:07
Speaker 1: the fastball, because I have a feeling that he keeps
45:09
Speaker 1: filling off. We told him something else he might run
45:11
Speaker 1: into something. And because I learned that one time from
45:14
Speaker 1: Manny Ramirez, I was kept throwing Manny Ramirez fastballs inside.
45:19
Speaker 1: He fouled off like seventh straight to the right, to
45:23
Speaker 1: the right, to the right, to the I'm like, God,
45:25
Speaker 1: he keeps getting beat. Should I throw him something else?
45:28
Speaker 1: As to him a slider? He hit an eight hundred
45:31
Speaker 1: feet chat and I remember I remember telling somebody, I'm like,
45:35
Speaker 1: what did I to do? I went to the mountain
45:38
Speaker 1: and I told the picture that was my fault because
45:41
Speaker 1: you know, some pictures will listen to yourself won't. But
45:45
Speaker 1: Manny Ramirez was so talented that he was able to
45:47
Speaker 1: fight off seven straight fastballs. He says he was sitting
45:50
Speaker 1: on that sliders the whole time, and he when he
45:53
Speaker 1: got it, he hit it eight under feet. So I
45:55
Speaker 1: learned that one lesson right there was like, you know what,
45:59
Speaker 1: I'm sticking with the bastball until he puts it in play,
46:02
Speaker 1: until he does something with it. And you know, if
46:05
Speaker 1: you look at it at that with Brandon that towards
46:07
Speaker 1: the end of it, he just kept throwing the fastball
46:08
Speaker 1: after fastball. You know, Oh my god, Paully, that is
46:12
Speaker 1: so that's so good. Um, oh my god. All right,
46:17
Speaker 1: I got like eight ideas I needed to start thinking
46:19
Speaker 1: about to write that we can talk about after the podcast. Um,
46:22
Speaker 1: everyone go follow at Paul la Duke is sixteen. His
46:25
Speaker 1: stuff on the Action Network is insanely insightful and as colorful. Paul,
46:33
Speaker 1: you write the way you speak, like every story I
46:36
Speaker 1: read of yours feels like I'm talking to you, which
46:39
Speaker 1: is like, which is as good as a guest. You
46:41
Speaker 1: can't ask for anything else. Um, keep killing her brother.
46:46
Speaker 1: Appreciate man I I told you I wanna. I'm gonna
46:48
Speaker 1: start breaking out some stories for the people too, So
46:51
Speaker 1: tomorrow League Stories, I got one for you. The next
46:54
Speaker 1: firm I'm on. We took over an eye Op and
46:58
Speaker 1: Al Paso when I was in double A. We got
47:01
Speaker 1: thrown out though, but my buddy was cooking moons over
47:03
Speaker 1: Miami by the end of that night. All right, listen,
47:06
Speaker 1: we'll do it next week. Bounds, good brother. Thanks h