Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Tony Parks on the Salt Lake Bees, Did MLB nail the All Star festivities (?), Is the game going in the right direction (?) + more

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Tony Parks on the Salt Lake Bees, Did MLB nail the All Star festivities (?), Is the game going in the right direction (?) + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

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  Speaker 1: No, you're tuned to The Shan O'Connell Show for the
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  Speaker 1: Murdoch Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred at ninety two
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  Speaker 1: one af A MS.
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  Speaker 2: Kids.
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  Speaker 3: Welcome back to the Shan O'Connell Show for hour number three.
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  Speaker 3: Welcome in our good friend, the voice of the Salt
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  Speaker 3: Lake Bees, the voice of a lot of other things
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  Speaker 3: around the state as well. Tony Parks. Welcome to the
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  Speaker 3: show again, sir, how are you.
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  Speaker 2: I'm I'm a proud alum of the Hillside Hawks. By
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  Speaker 2: the way, I was not the same Hillside Hawks, but
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  Speaker 2: you and I both went to Hillside, just at different
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  Speaker 2: parts of the globe.
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  Speaker 4: What I did not know that that's really.
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  Speaker 2: Interesting strange things that you brought up. I was like,
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  Speaker 2: wait what. I was like, well, that that is really rare.
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  Speaker 2: The fact that they even changed it to that name
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  Speaker 2: makes it even crazy. But hey, you know, I always
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  Speaker 2: do always do. We have a great teacher?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah? Was that a Was that an elementary school thing
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  Speaker 4: for you?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, wow yeah yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So it totally blew my mind when you said that.
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  Speaker 2: I'm like, wait what And then I realized, yeah, you
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  Speaker 2: were in a great state of Minnesota, so not the
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  Speaker 2: same place.
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  Speaker 4: Not quite not quite the same, all right, wow? Wild?
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  Speaker 3: The world is small, even when it's not small, there's
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  Speaker 3: strange little connections everywhere.
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  Speaker 4: How goes the B season, sir? I mean we're in
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  Speaker 4: the thick of it. This is summertime baseball.
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  Speaker 3: This is like the good feeling, the nostalgia that all
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  Speaker 3: of it rolled up in one You got good weather
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  Speaker 3: although last night wild.
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  Speaker 4: So yeah, how's it going.
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  Speaker 2: It's been great, man. I mean this team offensively, I
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  Speaker 2: think it's been it's ton of fun to watch lately.
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  Speaker 2: Four games in a row now they've had a double
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  Speaker 2: digit number of hits. You know, all different parts of
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  Speaker 2: the lineup are now a serious threat to do something.
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  Speaker 2: The bottom third of the lineup has had some really
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  Speaker 2: petic performances since coming off of the All Star break,
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  Speaker 2: and so it's been fun, man. I mean, George Clawson
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  Speaker 2: is a dynamic riding star as a pitcher. We've always
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  Speaker 2: known that he has electric stuff, but the big question was,
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  Speaker 2: you know, can he put it together and locate more consistently,
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  Speaker 2: And well he's been able to do that, and he's
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  Speaker 2: taking no hitters into the seventh and he's you know,
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  Speaker 2: had five quality starts in his last sixth and eleven
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  Speaker 2: strikeouts in his last start. So like now you're starting
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  Speaker 2: to see some of these guys that you know when
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  Speaker 2: you were hopeful for them early in the year, they're
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  Speaker 2: starting to flex in a really big way. And so
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  Speaker 2: a guy like Clauth and a guy like Kyron Paris,
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  Speaker 2: and then Pablo Reyes, the guy who you're familiar with
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  Speaker 2: obviously having been there. He was with the Yankees and
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  Speaker 2: the Mets, and now he's with us. So right now,
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  Speaker 2: it's they're a really fun team to watch. And so
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  Speaker 2: as far as player development, so many guys got called up,
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  Speaker 2: you were wondering, you know, Okay, what's this next group
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  Speaker 2: going to look like? And one good thing for the
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  Speaker 2: Angels is they've started to produce a little more organizational
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  Speaker 2: depth than what they've had in the past, and that's
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  Speaker 2: been a good thing for the Beast.
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  Speaker 3: I don't mean to jump around too much, but I'm
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  Speaker 3: gonna go kind of all over the place with you
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  Speaker 3: on on baseball because we don't have it. We don't
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  Speaker 3: have a ton of baseball people to talk to. We're
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  Speaker 3: coming off of a Major League Baseball All Star Break
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  Speaker 3: where I thought they did a really good job with
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  Speaker 3: the home Run Derby. I thought that game the All
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  Speaker 3: Star Game itself, throwing in like the Sandlot nostalgia thing
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  Speaker 3: for another Utah connection it was.
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  Speaker 4: I thought they did a really good job with it.
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  Speaker 3: And all these professional leagues, as you're well aware, are
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  Speaker 3: trying to make sure that their All Star showcases are
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  Speaker 3: still appealing to the fans, our television friendly, but also
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  Speaker 3: you know, a reason to get yourself out to the ballpark.
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  Speaker 3: And I felt like Major League Baseball really hit on
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  Speaker 3: something with a modified home run Derby formats, beating that
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  Speaker 3: thing up a little bit, and you know, the drama
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  Speaker 3: that it came down to the final swing doesn't hurt.
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  Speaker 4: But what were your thoughts on All Star Weekend?
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  Speaker 2: I think All Star Weekend was really fun. And you
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  Speaker 2: know a lot of times people would like or hate
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  Speaker 2: Home Run Derby or the game in and of itself,
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  Speaker 2: but I'm with you. I think one thing Baseball has
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  Speaker 2: done a great job of really over the last seven
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  Speaker 2: or eight years or so, is they started to wake
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  Speaker 2: up to the fact that, look, we've got to find
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  Speaker 2: unique ways to bring in the audience. Now. We don't
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  Speaker 2: need to make it small time, we don't need to
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  Speaker 2: yuck it up and do something really crazy and bizarre
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  Speaker 2: to kind of make it look like a laughing stock,
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  Speaker 2: but to find something how do we make sure that
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  Speaker 2: this is as entertaining as possible while it also makes
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  Speaker 2: it the best for competition. And so while they're tweaking
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  Speaker 2: with things, it's been good because for a little while
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  Speaker 2: there you could sense a shift that needed to take place.
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  Speaker 2: Oh see, and you can feel it. I know you're
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  Speaker 2: a baseball guy. You could kind of feel it where
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  Speaker 2: you had the purest standing there going just leave the
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  Speaker 2: game alone. The game's fine, and everybody else it's actually
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  Speaker 2: not like there's some advance here. There's some improvement needed.
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  Speaker 2: And while you didn't need to somehow, you know, turn
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  Speaker 2: it into a circus show, you could make improvements like
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  Speaker 2: they've made. Like you can't just hold the ball for
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  Speaker 2: you know, twenty minutes. As a pitcher, you can't take forever.
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  Speaker 2: You have to throw. Now you have like there's different
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  Speaker 2: parts of the game now moving it in a good way.
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  Speaker 2: And obviously ABS has been a good thing, and so
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  Speaker 2: replay has been a good thing. But now to have
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  Speaker 2: something like that happen too, I sat back thinking, you
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  Speaker 2: know what, they're always finding ways to evolve in advance,
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  Speaker 2: and that's nothing but a good thing for a league.
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  Speaker 2: It was really starting to lose some attention from a
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  Speaker 2: number of different fans of different eras. So when you
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  Speaker 2: said I liked that you asked me about that, because
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  Speaker 2: that was the first thing I thought of. It was
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  Speaker 2: great that it was dramatic and fun in terms of
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  Speaker 2: how it turned out, and obviously I was rooting for Schwarber,
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  Speaker 2: but it was just cool to see, you know, unique
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  Speaker 2: advancements to try and make this fun but also to
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  Speaker 2: make it great for competition.
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  Speaker 3: It's interesting because I think that American sport, when base has,
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  Speaker 3: you know it, it's stars and it's prominent place, and
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  Speaker 3: I think it's important that some of those stars be Americans.
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  Speaker 3: Like I'm glad it's a very international game now. I
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  Speaker 3: love that the Caribbean nations have really populated a lot
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  Speaker 3: of these rosters, obviously Sho Heeo Tani and these other
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  Speaker 3: Japanese stars.
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  Speaker 4: I like that global feel to the game.
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  Speaker 3: That's unique and something that wasn't as prevalent when you
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  Speaker 3: and I were kids coming up with baseball. But I
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  Speaker 3: do think that I do think that it's important that
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  Speaker 3: you know, in this new era, as we swing into
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  Speaker 3: it that there are American stars as well that they
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  Speaker 3: are like, you know, that representation matters for everybody, including
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  Speaker 3: the including the kids that you know, we're at one
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  Speaker 3: point like guaranteed that they were going to tune in
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  Speaker 3: and see someone that looks and sounds and acts like
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  Speaker 3: them and from a culture that they're familiar with. American
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  Speaker 3: stars have kind of fell behind the pace in recent years.
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  Speaker 4: Do you think.
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  Speaker 3: That that's gonna that pendulum swings back at a little
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  Speaker 3: bit with some of the young talent in the league
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  Speaker 3: right now.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think it's great to have America stars.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think that that hurts the game in any way.
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  Speaker 2: And I think the game has really started to flex
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  Speaker 2: in a good way in terms of some more youth
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  Speaker 2: now getting involved, and that's been positive to me. While
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  Speaker 2: I think what you say is valuable, I think it's
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  Speaker 2: every bit is important that authenticity exists with the smart players,
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  Speaker 2: and I think we're watching that in some other sports leagues.
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  Speaker 2: You know, when it always looks like it's a show,
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  Speaker 2: when the show is always getting in the way of
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  Speaker 2: the game, when you know there's so much more to
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  Speaker 2: what you're doing than going out and competing, that's fine,
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  Speaker 2: But when it turns into a circus that everything you
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  Speaker 2: do has to be a screaming match on ESPN, I
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  Speaker 2: think people are starting to turn away from that. Honestly,
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  Speaker 2: I think, at least for me as a fan, it's like, Man,
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  Speaker 2: can we just talk about the forty five and ten?
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  Speaker 2: Do we have to talk about everything else? No, let's
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  Speaker 2: talk about the forty five and cent and why it's historic,
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  Speaker 2: why it's cool, why it's great, and so. One thing
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  Speaker 2: that is starting to happen I think it's been a
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  Speaker 2: positive for the game is the authenticity and the stars.
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  Speaker 2: One of the biggest reasons why you love Pedro Martinez.
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  Speaker 2: It wasn't he wasn't an American. He was authentic and
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  Speaker 2: one of the reasons why you engage to watch him,
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  Speaker 2: whether you liked him or hated him, he was authentic everything,
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  Speaker 2: a big poppy David Ortiz who was authenticity to him
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  Speaker 2: and it made it so great. That's what made it
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  Speaker 2: so fun. That's what made the rivalry is good, is
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  Speaker 2: because Pedro would say something and he meant it, and
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  Speaker 2: he was such a competitor and you couldn't wait to
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  Speaker 2: tune in to watch him. Whether you liked him or
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  Speaker 2: hated him. Authenticity is something that I think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: especially in this new era that we're moving into with
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  Speaker 2: pro sports, college sports, all of that. I think the
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  Speaker 2: college fan, the pro sports fans, the biggest thing they
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  Speaker 2: want to know, am I watching something that's real in
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  Speaker 2: terms of who they are as a competitor, what they
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  Speaker 2: think could feel, and how they want to go out
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  Speaker 2: and win for my team or even if I don't
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  Speaker 2: like him. Part of what made I thought the NBA
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  Speaker 2: in the nineties so great was the authenticity Charles Barkley.
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  Speaker 2: I hated him, but man, I love how real he
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  Speaker 2: was and you couldn't hate. You couldn't help but to
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  Speaker 2: watch and root against him or for him or whatever
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  Speaker 2: it was, and you liked or hated different athletes. I
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  Speaker 2: think that's now going to be a really big help
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  Speaker 2: up at the game of baseball going forward, is they
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  Speaker 2: kind of have this next echelon of stars, and I
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  Speaker 2: think it can make it for, you know, a really
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  Speaker 2: exciting future.
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  Speaker 4: Tody Parks is our guest here on the show on
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  Speaker 4: Candle Show.
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  Speaker 3: He's the voice of the Salt Lake Bees, who tonight
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  Speaker 3: are the Dirty Sodas because it's dirty soda night at
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  Speaker 3: the ballpark. Three dollars, three dollars swig drinks. Do you
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  Speaker 3: how hard is it to call them the dirty Sodas
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  Speaker 3: when you're used to calling them the bees and vice versa.
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  Speaker 2: If you get to do dirty very hard, it's very hard.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm like, guys, when I say the bees, you
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  Speaker 2: know what I mean. We know everybody knows, right, and
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  Speaker 2: so we'll have some fun with it. And then when
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  Speaker 2: I say the dirty you know. But I don't think
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  Speaker 2: the dirty soda things as hard as it is saying
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  Speaker 2: Utah because I've been following this team Salt Late.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's Utah.
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  Speaker 2: That's actually the harder part is because I'll look up
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  Speaker 2: at the scoreboard as I'm doing it, and I don't
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  Speaker 2: see Salt Lake. I see Utah, and so then I
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  Speaker 2: have to like revert my mind and it starts twisting.
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  Speaker 2: And yeah, that first game, i'd maybe say the first
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  Speaker 2: two games I ever had with the dirty Sodas, that
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  Speaker 2: was actually the challenging adjustment for me. That's interesting, but
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  Speaker 2: I've met it's been easier, but it's been fun. Man Like.
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  Speaker 2: Thing I like about the dirty Soda is one original two.
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  Speaker 2: It connects to the State three. It's got the touch
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  Speaker 2: of minor league without moving into small time. Right, We're
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  Speaker 2: not going to be the Dirty Sodas forever, like No,
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  Speaker 2: that's just a one night thing with a funny mascot,
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  Speaker 2: a really cool, family friendly promotion, and it just kind
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  Speaker 2: of lightens things up a bit. The players actually liked it.
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  Speaker 2: It's a bit of a change up from what they're
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  Speaker 2: normally doing, so they get a kick out of it.
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  Speaker 2: When the Dirty Sodas win, I like to give the
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  Speaker 2: victory a dirty Soda name, right, and so we all
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  Speaker 2: come in with that and it just kind of personalizes
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  Speaker 2: and humanizes a little more of what we're doing. So
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  Speaker 2: for the fans to come out on Wednesday nights, it
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  Speaker 2: is a different it's a different sort of feel in
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  Speaker 2: a fun way, and your family is gonna love it.
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  Speaker 4: I need to bring the girls out there.
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  Speaker 3: I need to come to a Dirty Soda live because
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  Speaker 3: we consume a lot of dirty Soda in the O'Connell household.
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  Speaker 4: And I actually I'm with you.
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  Speaker 3: I love the I love the branding, I love the
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  Speaker 3: it is minor league baseball in a not like campy way.
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  Speaker 4: For me, it's like, yeah, this is what it's supposed
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  Speaker 4: to be.
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  Speaker 3: It's supposed to be connected to something unique about your community.
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  Speaker 3: So maybe I'm just a fool for branding, but I'm
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  Speaker 3: into it.
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  Speaker 4: And this is a random aside.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know if you you and I have really
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: talked about this yet, but banana ball. You're a baseball purist, right,
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  Speaker 3: You're you're a hardcore sports fan.
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  Speaker 4: Uh.
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  Speaker 3: And banana ball is not a Major League Baseball product.
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  Speaker 3: It's I don't even think it's a competitor.
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  Speaker 4: Of Major League Baseball.
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  Speaker 3: It's a complete showcase, random, family friendly, crazy thing. And
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  Speaker 3: I just you know, your your dad, and you got
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  Speaker 3: the young kids who are into stuff like this, and
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  Speaker 3: it is a sports at least adjacent form of entertainment.
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  Speaker 4: What are your thoughts on banana ball?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? I think it's cool that they have something unique
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  Speaker 2: and different, right, I mean, if you go into it
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  Speaker 2: expecting the normal baseball game, you're going to be disappointed.
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  Speaker 2: If you go into an understanding it's there's the unique differences.
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  Speaker 2: You're talking about it. You Burger appreciate it, right. They're
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  Speaker 2: excellent with their marketing, they're excellent with what their fan connection,
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: and now they really just go deep into how do
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: we make sure there's fan engagement, fan connection, all of that,
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: and clearly it's yeah, it's a totally different thing from
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  Speaker 2: the game that you know, we like to just watch
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: in a competitive sense. Once you enjoy that, you understand
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  Speaker 2: what it is, then you can appreciate why it's unique
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  Speaker 2: and different. And I'm telling you, yeah, if any of
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  Speaker 2: the family was like, I really want to go to that,
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  Speaker 2: I would do what it takes to go and enjoy
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: it and actually appreciate a different style of entertainment. There's
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  Speaker 2: nothing wrong with that at all. And so while some
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: people have been hating on that early, I think maybe
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: can come around to be like, Okay, it is what
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  Speaker 2: it is. I can appreciate, so entertainment's entertainment and you
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: can just sit back with a smile and have a
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: good time.
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  Speaker 3: At the opposite end of the spectrum, when we're talking
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  Speaker 3: about the pure entertainment, fun, low stakes, et cetera. Is
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: something that may or may not be looming for Major
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: League Baseball that I know you're aware of, with you know,
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  Speaker 3: an anticipated lockout potentially with the you know, a collective
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: bargaining agreement coming where the two sides are separated by
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: just a vast gulf of difference of opinion here on
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: everything from you know, a hard salary cap potentially to
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: contract lengked maximums, all these things. It feels like while
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: baseball is I think, winning some goodwill with the things
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: we already talked about with adjusting the timing and adjusting
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: the clocks and you know, and leaning into some of
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: the fun stuff and pace of play and whatnot. Now
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: you're getting into the business of baseball potentially halting some
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: of that momentum, and you're you're, you know, daily in
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  Speaker 3: the mix with a bunch of guys who are climbing
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: this ladder and hope to be part of Major league
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: baseball rosters sooner than later, and as affected or more
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  Speaker 3: affected by these rule changes than the people who are
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: already in the league and have already made their big
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: money and things like that. So two part question, I
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: suppose what is the conversation like right now around minor
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  Speaker 3: league baseball pertaining to, you know, the looming work stoppage
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  Speaker 3: potentially and how affected are these guys by it?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean you can be very affected by it.
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  Speaker 2: You know, workstoppages are never a good thing. The one
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  Speaker 2: thing I think about too, is we were you know you,
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: and I obviously remember the strike in ninety four.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: I think unfortunately we lost Tony's phone. Big thanks to
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: Tony for hopping on Love Ourselves from Tony Parks here