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Acts of Kindness · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

0:00
SPEAKER_01: Hi, everybody.
0:01
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
0:04
SPEAKER_01: My name is Tim Hannon, and I am joined by happy co-host Steve Wirt.
0:10
SPEAKER_01: And this is this is going to be a happy episode because we're going to talk about acts of kindness involving Pittsburgh sports figures.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: So so I Steve, you and I have lived in Pittsburgh our whole lives.
0:37
SPEAKER_01: I I kinda feel like it's a town where people generally have each other's backs.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: I mean, for a big city, it's got that small more of a small town feel.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: Would you agree with that?
0:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I always thought it was like, you know, very Midwest that way.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: Like it's it's got its East Coast like kind of like busyness, but at the same time there's like a Midwest kind of like neighborly thing to it.
1:01
SPEAKER_02: I I I don't know.
1:02
SPEAKER_02: That's the best way.
1:03
SPEAKER_02: It's like a combination of the two.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: That's a good way to describe it.
1:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: And uh and I think a lot of that personality does tend to rub off on the people who have played here or or have been involved with sports here, uh, or or even sometimes with uh some of the opposing players or or management.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna talk about some incidents where uh people just showed some genuine acts of kindness.
1:31
SPEAKER_01: So let's start with actually something that's not so kind.
1:34
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it's arguably one of the darkest on-field moments in Pittsburgh sports history, and it's this one.
1:43
SPEAKER_06: On second and five, 25 times Dawson, and a score to the first down on the catch by the rookie.
1:49
SPEAKER_06: Josh Malone, fourth round pick out of Tennessee, and Ryan Caesier, the leader of this Pittsburgh defense, is not getting up.
1:58
SPEAKER_06: And not to be an alarmist, John, but I don't think anybody has seen his legs move at all since the hit.
2:06
SPEAKER_06: He immediately grabbed for his middle of his back, was able to roll over onto his back, but his legs really have not moved from that position since he's been on the ground.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, that was, of course, uh Ryan Shazier injuring his spine in a 2017 game in Cincinnati against the Bengals.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh just a really terrible moment.
2:34
SPEAKER_01: And Shazier's father, who is a minister, he's a church in Florida when this happens.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: And the Steelers call him and say, hey, this looks pretty serious.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: You need to get here right away.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: So Shazier's father, mother, and brother all board a plane to Cincinnati ASAP.
2:51
SPEAKER_01: Probably, I'm guessing, don't even really have anything packed, right?
2:54
SPEAKER_01: They're just trying to get to their son.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: And they get to the Cincinnati airport, and now Shazier's parents and brother are talking to each other, trying to figure out, okay, how do we get from here to the hospital?
3:06
SPEAKER_01: Well, a man in the airport overhears them talking, and he walks up to them and he's like, Hey, are you Ryan Shazer's parents?
3:13
SPEAKER_01: And the guy says he had been watching the game and he saw what happened.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, You know what?
3:18
SPEAKER_01: I'm flying out of town for a few days.
3:20
SPEAKER_01: Here, take my truck to go see your son.
3:22
SPEAKER_01: And he gives him the keys to his truck.
3:24
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
3:25
SPEAKER_01: And and Shazer's dad is like, Well, you know, we can't do that, but the man insists.
3:29
SPEAKER_01: So Shazer's family takes this complete stranger's car.
3:33
SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: And now they they, you know, can not only drive to the hospital, but they have transportation while they're in Cincinnati.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: And Steve, here's another great aspect of that story.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: The guy who gave over his truck, it's Alex Salfstead, who played for the Bengals back in the early 2000s when they had those big rivalries with the Steelers.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's wild.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: And he's the one that gave gave Shazier's parents the keys to his truck.
3:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh so that was pretty cool.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: Shazier uh later says, quote, my mom liked to say that there was always something to find hope in, even in the worst situation, you just had to look hard enough.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: And what a perfect example this was of that.
4:15
SPEAKER_02: What a nice gesture by Mr.
4:17
SPEAKER_02: Sol said there or whatever his name is.
4:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
4:20
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, that's amazing.
4:22
SPEAKER_02: That that's you know, you don't don't believe in uh, you know, God, uh boy, my goodness.
4:27
SPEAKER_02: That what what a what a very generous act by that that person.
4:32
SPEAKER_02: So and a Bengals fan to boot.
4:34
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, Bengals player, Bengals fan guy still lived in Cincinnati.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh and you know, but none of that matters in a moment like that, and that's that's it was really cool.
4:47
SPEAKER_01: So let's talk here about Sidney Crosby.
4:50
SPEAKER_01: I think we could probably do an entire episode on the kindness of Sidney Crosby, but let's I'm gonna just pick out two stories here.
4:57
SPEAKER_01: The first one is March 25th, 2013, and what's happening at that time is the penguins are thinking about making a trade and they're eyeing a future Hall of Famer named Jerome Ginla.
5:10
SPEAKER_01: So after practice that day, there's a meeting, general manager Ray Shiro is there, head coach Dan Biosma is there, and this meeting is to decide are we gonna go get Jerome Ginla or are we not gonna get Jerome Ginla?
5:23
SPEAKER_01: And the powers that be, they want Sidney Crosby at this meeting because the the whole point of this trade was to acquire a Ginla uh as a wing for Crosby at one point.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh but Crosby is nowhere to be found.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: He's usually in his locker room after practice, but he's not there.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: So where is Sidney Crosby?
5:44
SPEAKER_01: Well, when they finally find him, he's on his hands and knees, his skates are still on, having a conversation with a boy in a wheelchair that they said span at least 30 minutes.
5:53
SPEAKER_01: And and Josh Yowie, who's written about the penguins for years, really good local sports writer, he said that that's a common sight.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: He said Crosby always goes out of his way not only to greet people who deal with health struggles, but to actually listen to them and spend time with them.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: Josh Ye says, I see it all the time.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: You never stop appreciating it.
6:13
SPEAKER_01: It's not for show, it's totally genuine.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: Jerome McGinla meetings be damned.
6:19
SPEAKER_02: Well, we don't need that trade.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: Don't worry, we're gonna play about the wrong wing anyway.
6:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: Crosby was gonna waste his time being at that meeting anyway.
6:29
SPEAKER_02: So that's amazing.
6:32
SPEAKER_02: And it's like a regular, this isn't like a one-off, it's like it's just something he always does, and that's wild.
6:38
SPEAKER_02: That's wild.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that that's you know, a lot of it it's tough with like a lot of the like let's send the pro athletes to the hospital to visit to children's hospital to visit the kids with cancer, because that's a really nice thing, especially for those kids.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: At the same time, they bring cameras and they put it on the the Steelers or the Penguins or Pirates website.
7:01
SPEAKER_02: And so it's it's it it's like doing this, yeah, uh for a PR or you're doing this because you actually care.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: Yes, exactly.
7:11
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
7:12
SPEAKER_02: Kind of reminds remember that did you say that Steinbrenner quote in a previous podcast?
7:18
SPEAKER_02: Remember that?
7:18
SPEAKER_02: If you're if you're doing something, it should just be between the two people, no one else should know about it, and if someone else knows about it, you're doing it for the wrong reason.
7:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
7:28
SPEAKER_02: That's always that's always stuck with me.
7:30
SPEAKER_02: That quote's always stuck with me.
7:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
7:32
SPEAKER_01: The the context there was this writer, this sports illustrated writer had dug up all these things that George Steinbrenner had done, paid for this kid's really expensive surgery, stuff like that.
7:44
SPEAKER_01: And uh nobody knew about it, and and the guy, the writer was kind of like, you know, hey, George Steinbrenner, I don't know if you knew this, but you don't have the best reputation.
7:53
SPEAKER_01: You know, people think you're kind of a a jerk.
7:56
SPEAKER_01: If they knew about this stuff, they might think kinder of you.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: And he was very adamant, like you said, Steve, that if you're doing something so that everybody knows about it, then it's really not kindness or or giving.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: And so, yeah, you're right.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: That that was that always stuck with me too.
8:13
SPEAKER_01: So so here's another Sidney Crosby story.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: In 2019, the penguins are playing the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, and New York sports fans are are well known to be uh colorful, I guess we'll say.
8:27
SPEAKER_02: Well, they're not exactly Philadelphia, so I mean they got they got that going for them.
8:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're not like Boo Santa and throw up on little kids on purpose, kind of Philadelphia level, but but they're colorful.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: We'll just leave it at that.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's a Rangers fan named Nick Lapica sitting right by the penalty box, and this guy really hates Sidney Crosby.
8:50
SPEAKER_01: So sure enough, Crosby gets called for tripping in the first period, heads to the box, and this guy just starts throwing everything in the kitchen sink at him.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: He says, uh, if Genny Mulgin uh would have won a few more cops if he had a better supporting cast.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: Uh he says when Gatorade was looking for endorsements, they were looking for a tough guy and Justin Bieber wasn't available, so they used you.
9:15
SPEAKER_02: It just sounds like just good-natured, it's just kind of good-natured trash talk.
9:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, nothing too, nothing too serious there.
9:22
SPEAKER_01: Nothing, yeah, nothing like necessarily too below the belt.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but this guy just continues to sort of like the hammer crosby all game.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: But it doesn't work, so it has a goal and a couple of assists, and the penguins win.
9:35
SPEAKER_01: And after the game, uh there's an assistant equipment manager for the penguins that comes over to the stands and finds this guy, Nick Lapica.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: And at first he's probably thinking, like, uh-oh, what's this all about?
9:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh but the guy from the Penguins actually has something for the fan.
9:51
SPEAKER_01: It's a stick autographed by Crosby, and it says, it says, good chirps, take it easy on me next time.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: And the guy can't believe it.
9:59
SPEAKER_01: He says, quote, now things look a little different in my eyes.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: You really can't hate someone who does a power move like that.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: You have to respect it.
10:07
SPEAKER_01: So City even able to win over New York fans.
10:10
SPEAKER_02: Classy.
10:11
SPEAKER_02: It was classy.
10:12
SPEAKER_02: It was that's classy.
10:13
SPEAKER_02: Nice, nice.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's that's just Crosby.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: Just all class all the way.
10:18
SPEAKER_02: He he even complimented, like it's the most kidding, oh, good way to, you know, rip me.
10:22
SPEAKER_02: You know, and it wasn't, yeah.
10:24
SPEAKER_02: I don't think the guy was saying, like, oh, you know, something about his family or you know, something totally out of line.
10:30
SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
10:31
SPEAKER_02: Just good natured, yeah.
10:32
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
10:33
SPEAKER_02: That's sports, yeah.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: It is, and and again, Crosby, again, all class.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: I I it it you know, I I when Ben Rothesberger retired a couple years ago, I it was such a big, heavy thing, and the city really felt it.
10:47
SPEAKER_01: I think when Crosby retires, it's gonna be even more magnified.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: So all right, we've we've talked a lot on this show about acts of kindness from the chief, Art Rooney, right?
10:59
SPEAKER_01: We've told a lot of Art Rooney stories.
11:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but what about the rest of his family?
11:03
SPEAKER_01: Well, here's a here's a good story about Dan Rooney's kindness.
11:07
SPEAKER_01: Steve, do you remember an offensive lineman for the Steelers named Will Wolford?
11:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, I remember him.
11:14
SPEAKER_02: He was solid.
11:14
SPEAKER_02: He was a solid, good player.
11:16
SPEAKER_01: He was, yeah.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: He he's actually a three-time Pro Bowler with the Bills and Colts.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: And the Steelers signed him as a free agent in 1996, kind of later in his career.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: And and like you said, Steve, he ends up being a pretty good player for them.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: And Wolford had been a tackle in the NFL for a decade.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: But when he signs with the Steelers, it's because they're going to convert him to a guard.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: And that's actually what Wolford wants at this late stage of his career is to move inside the guard, even though guards make traditionally less money than the tackles, probably a little less physically demanding when you're a 10-year veteran, I would imagine, right?
11:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're not taking on the team's best pass rusher either.
11:54
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, and you're not, you're you're probably moving a little bit less, you know.
11:58
SPEAKER_01: It's just just so that's what Wolford wanted.
12:01
SPEAKER_01: That's one of the reasons he wanted to sign here, is because they were gonna move him to guard.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: But Wolford also has been in the NFL for a long time, and he's like, look, I I know how this works.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: I I'm gonna play guard until one of the tackles gets injured, and then you're gonna you guys will move me back to tackle.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: So Dan Rooney says, Okay, here's the deal.
12:19
SPEAKER_01: If we have to move you back to tackle, we will pay you a bonus of$500,000, which is about equivalent to about a million dollars today.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: So Wolford says, okay, he signs, he signs his contract, he plays the 1996 season at guard, plays the 1997 season at guard, but in 1998, the Steelers have injuries and they have no one to play left tackle, so guess what they do, Steve?
12:43
SPEAKER_01: They move over Wolford to left tackle that season.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: So not ideal for Wolford, but hey, at least he gets his$500,000 bonus, right?
12:53
SPEAKER_01: Well, somehow that clause never makes its way into his actual contract.
12:58
SPEAKER_02: Oh, geez.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: Either there's a miscommunication or someone forgot to put it in.
13:03
SPEAKER_01: So there's literally no evidence of this bonus to put it in.
13:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's literally there's literally no evidence of this bonus in writing.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: It was just a verbal agreement between Dan Rooney and Will Wolford.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: And and like to be fair, I mean, Wolford signed the contract and had I'm assuming had an agent.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: Right?
13:21
SPEAKER_01: Shouldn't they?
13:21
SPEAKER_02: I think you would have read that, yeah.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: So I mean, really, kind of a miss on their part.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh so at this point, does Dan Rooney owe him$500,000 or not?
13:35
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's a lot of money to sell out, especially when you don't have to.
13:38
SPEAKER_01: And and there's another wrinkle to this too, Steve, because in the NFL, you can't just pay a player more money because you feel like it.
13:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's salary cap, isn't it?
13:49
SPEAKER_01: Well, salary cap and and that's why they have written and signed contracts, because what's to stop you from well, yeah, salary cap, and then also what's to stop you from just saying, like, hey, here's some here's some extra money on the side, quarterback, for playing a good season, so that you'll be happy and stay here, right?
14:07
SPEAKER_01: You can't do stuff like that.
14:08
SPEAKER_01: And I see why.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: I see why the NFL has it set up that way.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: Right?
14:12
SPEAKER_01: Everything has to be within the structure of a contract within the structure of the salary cap.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: So if Dan Rooney pays Wolford this money, the league's gonna punish the Steelers.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: They can't they're not allowed to do that.
14:25
SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
14:28
SPEAKER_02: So I mean, I guess maybe you could like sign him to like just a fake contract the next season or something, or yeah, you could probably there's probably a more neat way around this.
14:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there may have been, but uh as you can probably guess, Rooney does just pay him the$500,000 because he had given him his word.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: And he does the Steelers do pay for that.
14:52
SPEAKER_01: The NFL strips them of their third round draft pick in the 2001 draft.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: And that's a significant third round pick's very significant.
15:00
SPEAKER_01: That's a day two pick now.
15:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: Um but in the end, you know, doing the right thing mattered more to Dan Rooney than than losing a high draft pick.
15:10
SPEAKER_02: That's wild.
15:11
SPEAKER_02: Well, that's Dan for you.
15:12
SPEAKER_02: He's a legend.
15:14
SPEAKER_02: I mean yikes.
15:16
SPEAKER_02: I I wish I mean there seemed to be like, you know, maybe they could have done like some contract stuff or something, you know, just really renegotiated at the end of the season and included it there instead of having to totally, you know, screw themselves over out of a draft pick, but hey, it is what it is.
15:34
SPEAKER_01: I think 98 ended up being Will Wolfers last season in the NFL.
15:38
SPEAKER_02: Well then like sign them to one of those like one-day contracts.
15:41
SPEAKER_02: You get one day and you get paid five hundred thousand dollars for this one day, you know.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they needed Omar Con back then.
15:47
SPEAKER_02: He would have figured out a way to Yeah, like that's what I would have done.
15:50
SPEAKER_02: I'd be like, okay, dude, I I can't because I'll lose a but I promise you we're gonna sign you in training camp.
15:56
SPEAKER_02: You'll be part of the first cuts.
15:58
SPEAKER_02: You don't even have to come to camp if you don't want to.
16:00
SPEAKER_02: If you want to come and hang out and like hang out with the coaches and your friends, I'm not gonna be I'll tell the coaches not make you run.
16:06
SPEAKER_02: You'll take up a roster spot for a day or two, big deal.
16:09
SPEAKER_02: And you know.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: But but even that might have you know, it I think it was just for Rooney.
16:15
SPEAKER_01: It was like, no, this is the agreement we made.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, doesn't matter whose fault it was it didn't end up in the contract.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: It's just I said I would give him that money, I'm just gonna give it to him.
16:24
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna make him like wait till next year or you know, any of that stuff.
16:28
SPEAKER_01: He's just like, I'm just gonna do it, and whatever the consequences are, I'll accept them.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: So I just think that was a pretty cool story that people really probably don't know happened.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we lost a third round pick.
16:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
16:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he put his money where his mouth is, that's for sure.
16:43
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's pivot here to talk about a guy named Lee Hanley.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: Steve, I'll be really impressed if you if you know who Lee Hanley was.
16:51
SPEAKER_02: Oh, me and Lee, we went back way.
16:53
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we went to high school together.
16:57
SPEAKER_02: Doubtful.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh he played for the Pirates between 1937 and 1947.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: Nice.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: Pretty solid player, not a superstar, but a decent infielder.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: Actually, he goes on to host a sports talk show on KDK radio after he retires.
17:13
SPEAKER_02: Oh, the Lee Hanley Hour.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: You spent many an evening smoking your pipe in the in the parlor room listening to the uh the Lee Hanley Hour.
17:27
SPEAKER_02: On the KDK radio at 10 20 a.m.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh well in 1947, uh Lee Hanley, he's at the tail line of his career, and the Pirates actually release him at the end of spring training.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but he thinks I can probably still play, and sure enough, he's picked up by the Philadelphia Phillies.
17:47
SPEAKER_01: Also in 1947, something something pretty significant is going on in baseball.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: Jackie Robinson breaks the color line and becomes the first African-American player of the modern era, and not everyone is happy about that, especially the manager of the Phillies.
18:03
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that was in the movie.
18:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was if you watch the movie, yeah.
18:07
SPEAKER_01: A guy named Ben Chapman, and yeah.
18:09
SPEAKER_02: And that's that's like that's so uncomfortable and like just infuriating.
18:17
SPEAKER_02: Like, oh my gosh.
18:18
SPEAKER_02: And then like he justifies his like, oh, when Harmon, uh, what was it?
18:22
SPEAKER_02: Hank Greenberg comes, we call him or all this other racial stuff.
18:25
SPEAKER_02: It's like, how does it make it better, dude?
18:29
SPEAKER_02: I think Harman Killibrew, too.
18:31
SPEAKER_02: Like, he said a bunch of German slurs and like Jewish slurs.
18:34
SPEAKER_02: It's like, dude, I I mean, I guess you're equally a racist to everybody?
18:40
SPEAKER_02: I guess.
18:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: So so what she's referring to, if you haven't seen that movie, is that and this and this is all portraying stuff that really happened, Philadelphia becomes sort of the racist epicenter of baseball.
18:55
SPEAKER_02: Outfitting.
18:56
SPEAKER_02: The city of brotherly love.
18:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: And then whenever Jackie Robinson plays there, uh the Phillies, led by their manager Ben Chapman, they just yell all these horrific insults at him the entire game.
19:09
SPEAKER_01: So that's where Lee Hanley finds himself in 1947.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: He has his long career in Pittsburgh, and now in his final season, he's suddenly in Philadelphia amidst all this racial unrest.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: So, how does Lee Hanley deal with that?
19:23
SPEAKER_01: Let's actually hear directly from Jackie Robinson himself years later when he was a guest on the Dick Cavit show.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: Well, you name them and turn to race when they were yellow, but everything.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: it was quite vicious.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: I think it's Philadelphia Phillies.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: With Ben Chapman, was perhaps the most vicious of any of the people in terms of name calling.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: The team members?
19:46
SPEAKER_00: Some members of the team.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: But there is a fellow by the name of Lee Hanley on that ball club that came down to first base when I was there and apologized for the Phillies.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: He just says, I just want you to know all of us don't feel that way.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: But it's been led by the manager, and many of the guys are doing it simply because of instructions, I would have to imagine.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: But it did give me a good feeling to know that in spite of what was coming out of the Philly dugout, one guy would come down and say he's awfully sorry.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: And actually what they did was to sort of solidify, they broke the ball club.
20:16
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I think that's that's pretty courageous there because you know, Lee Hanley's the new guy, right?
20:24
SPEAKER_01: The Phillies had just signed him, and and Ben Chabin could have easily cut him.
20:29
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the Pirates had just cut him that year, so it wasn't like he was in high demand or anything.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh so pretty brave of him to go up to Jackie Robbins and and and say that.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: And then Jackie Robinson, you know, uh 20 years later still remembered that.
20:44
SPEAKER_02: And then they ended up uh, I think after that, didn't they make him take a picture with Chapman and all that?
20:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's a famous picture.
20:51
SPEAKER_02: In like Life magazine, yeah.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, which Ben Chapman did not want to do.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that was all for PR.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: And like, oh look, we're just it's just good old baseball.
21:00
SPEAKER_02: See, that's totally different than the New York fan is just like, you know, messing with on the field stuff.
21:06
SPEAKER_02: This is, you know, obviously Jackie Robinson couldn't help the way he was born, and it's just ridiculous.
21:13
SPEAKER_01: You're right, Steve.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: That's exactly what they were trying to do with that photo off was make it look like the Rangers fan.
21:19
SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, you know, good-natured ribbing, the the the boys just being the boys, and yeah, and that was not not at all what that was.
21:27
SPEAKER_02: Well, he called Hank Greenberg and you know what a kilbrew, the same thing.
21:31
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, it all makes it all right, Tim.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: Yep, equal opportunity offender, that Ben Chatman.
21:38
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, pretty cool, pretty cool move there by Lee Hanley.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh, here's another Steeler name from the past, Steve.
21:45
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember a guy named Ziggy Hood?
21:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I remember Ziggy Hood.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: He is the Steelers' first round jazz choice in 2009.
21:53
SPEAKER_01: He's defensive lineman.
21:55
SPEAKER_02: He was okay.
21:56
SPEAKER_02: He was he wasn't terrible.
21:58
SPEAKER_02: He wasn't like a Hall of Famer or nothing.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: But solid.
22:02
SPEAKER_01: He was fine.
22:02
SPEAKER_01: He plays for the Steelers for five seasons.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: He's like a Larry Oak and Joby.
22:07
SPEAKER_02: Like he's a solid player, but you know.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but probably didn't live up to that number one draft pick status.
22:13
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
22:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: So after his playing career ends, uh Ziggy Hood becomes a biology teacher and an assistant football coach at Palo Douro High School in Texas.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: And one day he notices that there's this kid struggling.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: So he takes the time and pulls him aside to talk to him and says, Hey, this this looks like you're you're you're you're you're struggling.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: What's going on?
22:37
SPEAKER_01: Do you want to talk about it?
22:39
SPEAKER_01: It turns out that this kid was being bullied, and the kid starts opening up about it.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: And in fact, this kid had brought a weapon to school that day and apparently had plans to start shooting people.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: Oh goodness.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: So Ziggy Hood's credited with preventing a mass tragedy.
22:54
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
22:54
SPEAKER_01: He deflects all the credit.
22:55
SPEAKER_01: He says it's really the Pete Easy liaison officers who stepped in to handle the situation.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: But sounds like that never happens if Ziggy Hood doesn't show some kindness to this kid who is being marginalized by everybody else.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, good for him.
23:10
SPEAKER_02: Boy, he yeah, you don't know how many people he saved, or including the kid's own life.
23:14
SPEAKER_02: Boy, that kid wouldn't have had a life if you know he'd done something like that.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:21
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
23:21
SPEAKER_01: Um Hood says that he has a message for young people.
23:25
SPEAKER_01: He says, quote, the pressures of social media and trying to live up to a certain standard, that ain't the way to do it.
23:30
SPEAKER_01: Talk to somebody if it's not the teacher, if it's not the counselor, if it's not the principal, go to a coach or somebody.
23:38
SPEAKER_01: You don't want to make a permanent decision based off of a temporary emotion.
23:43
SPEAKER_02: Uh wise advice for any point in your life, that's for sure.
23:47
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
23:49
SPEAKER_02: Number reason that social media sucks.
23:52
SPEAKER_02: Except for podcasts.
23:53
SPEAKER_02: Podcasts are good.
23:55
SPEAKER_01: Or our Facebook page, which you can find on Facebook.
23:59
SPEAKER_02: But we're not presenting a standard that you can't live up to.
24:02
SPEAKER_02: I mean, look at this.
24:03
SPEAKER_02: I mean, if you can't live up to this standard, I mean, come on.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: All right.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: Let's uh let's continue with the common theme for this episode, which is do you remember this guy?
24:14
SPEAKER_01: And let's do obscure pit quarterbacks for 600, Alex.
24:18
SPEAKER_01: Oh God.
24:19
SPEAKER_01: John John Terman?
24:21
SPEAKER_01: And the answer is he was a pit quarterback in the 1980s.
24:24
SPEAKER_01: He saw most of his action in 1984 splitting time with John King.
24:29
SPEAKER_02: Ugh.
24:30
SPEAKER_02: Ugh.
24:30
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
24:31
SPEAKER_02: I probably should know this.
24:33
SPEAKER_01: Who is Chris Gellick?
24:36
SPEAKER_01: Ooh, yeah.
24:37
SPEAKER_01: I didn't remember him either.
24:39
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: So Chris Gellick grows up, he actually grows up in Mount Lebanon.
24:43
SPEAKER_01: Becomes a huge.
24:44
SPEAKER_01: There's no Matt Lytle, that's for sure.
24:48
SPEAKER_02: Matt Lytle actually played in the NFL for a while.
24:51
SPEAKER_02: Or Sean.
24:52
SPEAKER_02: There was a guy named Sean Fitzgerald who played in the early 90s.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, I remember him.
24:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we could that would be a great episode of Skewer Pick quarterbacks.
25:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: Well, anyway, Chris Chris Kellick uh yeah, grows up in grows up in town.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: His dad actually was a running back at Pitt, who was a draft pick of the Steelers back in the 50s.
25:14
SPEAKER_01: Chris Kellick's football career never amounts to much, but fortunately, he's also a baseball player, so he tries to make a go of it in baseball instead.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: He bounces around the minors for a while.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: He ends up in the New York Mets farm system.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: Finally, in the final week of the 1990 season, he gets called up to the majors.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: And if you remember in 1990, that was the year that the Mets and Pirates had battled all season for the National League East title.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: But by this point, the final week of the season, the Pirates have already clinched.
25:44
SPEAKER_01: So the Mets decide they're just going to call up guys like Jellick, you know, just to see how they can play, because why not?
25:50
SPEAKER_01: You know, season's pretty much over at that point.
25:53
SPEAKER_01: So Jellick finds himself in his hometown of Pittsburgh at Three Rivers Stadium on October 3rd, 1990, facing Pirates pitcher Doug Bear.
26:02
SPEAKER_01: Doug Bear, another guy who probably few people will remember, he actually starts his career with the Pirates way back in 1976, goes and plays for a bunch of different teams and makes his way back to Pittsburgh here in 1990 as a relief pitcher.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: And he's actually pitching in what will be his final ever Major League game because he's not on the postseason roster, and then he ends up retiring after the year is over.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: Jellick connects on a fastball from Bear in the eighth inning, drives it over the left field wall at the River Stadium for a home run.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: And it ends up being the only hit of Chris Jellick's career because the season ends that day, and then Jellick has to have shoulder surgery, and the Mets are kind of done with them.
26:41
SPEAKER_01: So that's the end of his baseball career.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: So Doug Bear, the Pirates pitcher, who, as we said, also playing in what will be his final ever game, he hears the story of this kid from Pittsburgh, you know, hitting getting his first hit at the River Stadium.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: And so Bear not only makes sure someone gets the ball back for Jellick, he even signs it for him.
27:02
SPEAKER_01: And Jellick says, quote, that last game, my last hit bat in my hometown, you couldn't write a better script, and he was really thankful to Doug Bear for getting him that ball.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: So that was a nice act of kindness there, you know, for an opposing player.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: Kind of moonlight gram-ish.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: Kind of, kind of moonlight gram-ish, yeah.
27:22
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if he has like a you know, some sort of practice in Pittsburgh where he helps little kids and such, but yep.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: So I just thought that was a nice.
27:32
SPEAKER_02: He got his one shining moment there.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: He did.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: He did.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: And he had like family at the game and everything else, because again, he's from Mount Lebanon.
27:40
SPEAKER_02: I'm sure if that was today, that would have been a lot more well covered than maybe it was at the time.
27:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's actually probably true.
27:49
SPEAKER_02: That would have been more of a story with with the internet and everything.
27:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
27:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, good point.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: All right, here's a guy I think people will remember because it's a guy who played against Pitt for years when he was at Rutgers, and it's a guy who played the st against the Steelers for years when he was a member of the Baltimore Ravens.
28:06
SPEAKER_01: It's running back Ray Rice.
28:09
SPEAKER_02: Oh boy.
28:11
SPEAKER_02: He's not a very kind person from what I remember, Tim.
28:14
SPEAKER_02: Well, let's get into that.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh Ray Rice is a three-time Pro Bowler.
28:19
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he was a really good running back, Steve.
28:21
SPEAKER_02: He was, he was.
28:22
SPEAKER_02: He was really good.
28:23
SPEAKER_02: He just made a portable decision.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:27
SPEAKER_01: So so what happens is in the spring of 2014, Rice is arrested in Las Vegas after a pretty ugly incident in which he punches his fiance in an elevator and knocks her unconscious.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: Fast forward to September of that year, when TMZ releases footage of the incident.
28:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that that's what got him suspended.
28:45
SPEAKER_02: Like if he just would have done that, nobody he probably would have had another couple years in the NFL.
28:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
28:52
SPEAKER_01: Well, and and it's amazing the hypocrisy because at that point, you know, this this incident happened in the spring.
29:01
SPEAKER_01: At that point, the NFL had done very little to discipline Ray Rice.
29:04
SPEAKER_01: They'd only given him a two-game suspension.
29:06
SPEAKER_01: And the Ravens, meanwhile, they were like solidly in his corner.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: In fact, team owner Steve Biscotti and head coach John Harbaugh had both come out publicly with statements saying what a great guy that Ray Rice was and how they were totally supportive of him.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: And this whole time, like the league and the Ravens knew what happened.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's clearly there in the police report.
29:27
SPEAKER_01: Every fans, everyone else, like it's no secret.
29:30
SPEAKER_01: He punched her, he knocked her unconscious, a defenseless woman in an elevator.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: But now that there's video of it, apparently that makes it worse.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: And so now the league and the Ravens are both like, oh, this is oh my, how horrific.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: We can't have this.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: And the Ravens cut rice, and the rest of the league blackballs him and he never plays again.
29:51
SPEAKER_01: And and and I, okay, I want to be very clear here.
29:55
SPEAKER_01: A man who punches a woman in the face and knocks her unconscious is not a victim, right?
30:00
SPEAKER_01: All I'm saying is that no one seemed to care a whole lot about it until the video came out, and then all of a sudden, that's when severe action had to be taken.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: That just shows zero integrity.
30:11
SPEAKER_02: The act was still was bad either way.
30:14
SPEAKER_02: It's just Nothing was done until public opinion turned against it.
30:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:18
SPEAKER_02: Until the league was like, oh no, this is going to cost us money.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: Right.
30:22
SPEAKER_02: That's kind of how corporations work.
30:23
SPEAKER_02: As long as it's not going to cost us them money, they they're not very morality-centered.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: No.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: And and there's there's just no integrity there.
30:32
SPEAKER_01: And and and like it's easy to beat up on the Ravens because you know we hate the Ravens, but the Steelers really aren't any better.
30:37
SPEAKER_01: Well, the Steelers had their share of idiots too.
30:39
SPEAKER_01: So plenty of guys on the Steelers who have been charged with domestic violence.
30:43
SPEAKER_02: James Harrison.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back with open arms.
30:46
SPEAKER_01: Yep, absolutely.
30:47
SPEAKER_02: What was the dispute over a baptism?
30:49
unknown: Yes.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: Right.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: So anyway, in the midst of the league pivoting and in the midst of all these, you know, uh Twitter warriors out there condemning Ray Rice, and and again, rightly so, uh, a guy on the Steelers has a very different take.
31:05
SPEAKER_01: And it's defensive back William Gay.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: And if there's anybody who had the right to condemn Ray Rice, it would have been Willie Gay.
31:13
SPEAKER_01: Because when he was seven years old, his mother was murdered by an abusive boyfriend.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: So William Gay is literally a direct victim of domestic assault.
31:23
SPEAKER_01: So what does he have to say about Ray Rice?
31:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh he Gay actually shows remarkable compassion.
31:29
SPEAKER_01: He says that rather than run away from Rice and say he's evil, people should be doing everything they can to help Ray Rice.
31:36
SPEAKER_01: And then William Gay said he actually was going to reach out to him himself.
31:41
SPEAKER_01: So I thought that was pretty kind in the midst of all that.
31:45
SPEAKER_02: I wonder if William Gay ever reached out.
31:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
31:49
SPEAKER_02: He left me with so many unanswered questions.
31:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I don't know.
31:56
SPEAKER_02: Maybe I hope Ray Rice turned it around.
31:58
SPEAKER_02: And uh kudos for William Gay, at least being, you know, able to, you know, have some empathy or you know, see see the other side there for a minute.
32:10
SPEAKER_02: It's an odd you would suspect that somebody like that would be very angry and have more of that reaction, but to actually be able to forgive and um you know, let you actually want to talk to a person like that is very I guess maybe that's part of his way of you know moving on and dealing with that in his own way.
32:32
SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: No, I again a lot of compassion and kindness there.
32:36
SPEAKER_01: You know, because a lot of us can again, a lot of us can go on the social media and say, this guy's scum and what a what an awful person.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: And you know, maybe, he may be, but he may be, or he may have made a mistake, like we all have.
32:51
SPEAKER_02: May have turned it around, yeah.
32:53
SPEAKER_02: Right.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it it was a bad mistake for sure.
32:55
SPEAKER_02: We'll never we'll never know because we don't know what I wonder if anybody like has ever thought to like go back and interview Ray Rice.
33:02
SPEAKER_01: So so this is actually in our in our Stewards Ravens book.
33:06
SPEAKER_01: His fiance he who they eventually did get married.
33:09
SPEAKER_01: Oh goodness.
33:10
SPEAKER_01: He was actually pretty Yeah, well he was actually pretty upset whenever he got blackballed by the league, and she put a a real long Instagram post out there saying, you know, you're ruining our family and and all these other things.
33:21
SPEAKER_02: Well, because they the money, yeah.
33:23
SPEAKER_01: Well, and and again, is that better is that like a better woman thing, or is that just literally like he made a mistake, we got through it, we worked through it.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, uh I I don't know.
33:35
SPEAKER_02: It's it's like you don't know those things until unless you it's yeah, unless you're personally involved, and that's between Ray Rice and his wife.
33:43
SPEAKER_02: I I do hope that he's made amends and you know that's all you can do is you can't change the past.
33:49
SPEAKER_02: You can only go back and you know try and uh ask forgiveness and do it better the next time.
33:54
SPEAKER_02: So yes.
33:56
SPEAKER_02: Well he hasn't been in the news since, so I guess you know, I assume he's doing it better next time.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: So I hope so.
34:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: All right, just uh let me pause here as an aside.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh like we said, that Ray Rice story is one of many Steelers Raven stories covered in our new book, Pittsburgh vs.
34:13
SPEAKER_01: Baltimore, the unofficial history, which is available now exclusively on Amazon.
34:18
SPEAKER_01: So if you enjoy the show, if you enjoy reliving Pittsburgh sports history, we really think you'll enjoy that book.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: Also, with the holidays coming up, it would make a great present for a friend or family member who's a Steelers fan.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: We even think, honestly, Baltimore fans would like it too.
34:33
SPEAKER_01: So please check that out.
34:34
SPEAKER_01: There's a link for that in the show description, and you'll be doing us an act of kindness supporting the show.
34:41
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's talk about another Steeler who people will remember, linebacker Greg Lloyd.
34:47
SPEAKER_01: And that's probably not the person you think of immediately when you think of kindness, because Greg Lloyd probably still one of the fiercest defenders ever.
34:57
SPEAKER_01: Then he used to wear a shirt or something that said, like, not known for my disposition, or something like that.
35:03
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
35:04
SPEAKER_02: I don't remember that, but he was not a uh very nice guy.
35:09
SPEAKER_01: Jim Harbaugh says that in 15 years of playing in the NFL, Greg Lloyd was the only player who ever scared him.
35:16
SPEAKER_02: That's Jim Harbaugh.
35:17
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
35:18
SPEAKER_02: He made him soil his khaki pants.
35:24
SPEAKER_01: You just imagine Jim Harbaugh wearing khaki pants when he was playing for the Colts.
35:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
35:29
SPEAKER_02: I can't imagine him in anything else.
35:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh Greg Lloyd wasn't always the scary dominant force, though, that he became because uh back in 1987, he's a six-round draft pick out of tiny Fort Valley State, and he threads his knee in training camp that year, and he's gonna miss his entire rookie season.
35:49
SPEAKER_01: And at this point, he's lying in a hospital bed, he knows he has tons of rehab ahead of him, and he figures the Steelers probably are done with him because he's a liability, and and really, you know, you don't make roster room for late-round picks who played at small-time college football programs, right?
36:10
SPEAKER_01: So as Greg Lloyd is lying there pretty depressed, uh, here's what happens next.
36:15
SPEAKER_04: I was at Divine Providence Hospital.
36:18
SPEAKER_04: I don't even think Divine Providence probably even exists anymore in Pittsburgh, but it's right there on the north side.
36:24
SPEAKER_04: I was at Divine Providence Hospital.
36:27
SPEAKER_04: I was laying up there, they don't cut my knee open and did whatever they're gonna do to it.
36:32
SPEAKER_04: Nobody came to see me, nobody was gonna see me.
36:35
SPEAKER_04: First person to come in my room to see me was and he came over, and I didn't think the chief knew me, or the chief came in my room, called me by my name, and said, you know what, Laura, you're gonna be okay.
36:51
SPEAKER_04: He said, Guess what will you be okay?
36:53
SPEAKER_04: And he turned around and walks up, and I was just like, that was the chief.
36:58
SPEAKER_04: Nobody else came.
36:59
SPEAKER_04: The only other people that came to see me were doctors, and you know, that was it.
37:04
SPEAKER_02: That's wild.
37:05
SPEAKER_02: That is so the chief, too.
37:07
SPEAKER_02: And he's right, Divine Providence doesn't exist anywhere.
37:10
SPEAKER_02: I don't even know if the building's still there.
37:12
SPEAKER_02: It was over there by the aviary.
37:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
37:14
SPEAKER_01: Oh, is that where that was?
37:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
37:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
37:18
SPEAKER_02: It was like it was like the little hospital next to Allegheny General.
37:22
unknown: Okay.
37:26
SPEAKER_02: It's right across the street.
37:28
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, wow, that's crazy.
37:31
SPEAKER_02: I mean, wow, the chief.
37:33
SPEAKER_02: You go, Chief.
37:34
SPEAKER_02: See, the chief's a class act, man.
37:36
SPEAKER_02: Talk about like we've we've told so many chief stories, it's unbelievable.
37:41
SPEAKER_02: What a what a life.
37:42
SPEAKER_02: What a what a legacy.
37:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
37:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
37:46
SPEAKER_01: I mean, at this point, he was at the very end of his life there, 1987.
37:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he died in 88, right?
37:52
SPEAKER_02: Right.
37:53
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he he would have been, you know, uh at that point in his life, you know, just just doing stuff like that probably wasn't as easy as it would have been, you know, 10, 20 years before that.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: And uh he made it a point to do.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: And and again, like that that's a guy that six-round draft pick, right?
38:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean it's not like a key member of the team.
38:16
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he would become one later, but yeah, he didn't know that.
38:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
38:20
SPEAKER_01: So pretty cool.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: Like I said, we could do a whole episode on just Art Rooney kindness stories.
38:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:26
SPEAKER_01: But I wanted to at least get one in there.
38:29
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we we keep talking about guys that people may not remember.
38:33
SPEAKER_01: I here's a guy I know that at least Steve will remember.
38:36
SPEAKER_01: Oh cool.
38:37
SPEAKER_01: Former Pirates closer Jim Gott.
38:39
SPEAKER_02: Nah I love Jim Gott.
38:40
SPEAKER_02: He was one of my favorite pirate players growing up.
38:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, mine too.
38:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
38:48
SPEAKER_02: I remember they couldn't throw a strike one year, like we lost like the opener in Montreal because like he just kept walking everybody.
38:56
SPEAKER_02: It's like, oops.
38:57
SPEAKER_02: But I I think he hurt his arm or something.
38:59
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't right.
39:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when he was when he was good, he was really good.
39:04
SPEAKER_02: He actually played a couple more years after that.
39:06
SPEAKER_02: I I know he played for the Dodgers, I'm pretty sure.
39:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he did.
39:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, and before he played for the Pirates, he actually pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays.
39:16
SPEAKER_01: And on May 30th, 1982, Jim Gott has a milestone moment in his career.
39:22
SPEAKER_01: He gets his first ever big league win when Toronto beats Baltimore six to nothing.
39:27
SPEAKER_01: And it's a big deal for Gott.
39:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh he beats Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer.
39:32
SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow.
39:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh, plus his dad had flown into Baltimore to watch him pitch that day.
39:37
SPEAKER_01: And he gets a shutout win.
39:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh got Gott probably keeps the ball from that game as a memento.
39:43
SPEAKER_01: I mean, right, that's pretty special.
39:45
SPEAKER_01: Your first ever winning dad's in the stands watching you, you're pitching against an all-time legend, you win 6-0.
39:52
SPEAKER_01: That's that's probably one of those things you'll keep for life, you'll hand down to your grandkids.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: So while that game was special for Gott, it was also special for another reason.
40:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh a reason that no one would realize until years later.
40:06
SPEAKER_01: Steve, any guesses what that was?
40:08
SPEAKER_01: May 30th, 1982, Toronto, Baltimore, why that game was significant.
40:13
SPEAKER_02: 30th, 1982, Toronto and Baltimore.
40:17
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
40:19
SPEAKER_01: Well, that day the Orioles are starting a new infielder.
40:22
SPEAKER_02: Oh, Cal Ripkin's first game, huh?
40:25
SPEAKER_02: His name is Cal Ripkin Jr.
40:27
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
40:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
40:28
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
40:29
SPEAKER_01: And and Cal Ripkin plays in Baltimore's next game, too.
40:32
SPEAKER_01: And then he plays in the game after that.
40:34
SPEAKER_02: He plays in a lot of games after that.
40:35
SPEAKER_02: The game after that.
40:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
40:38
SPEAKER_01: In fact, starting on that day in 1982, Ripken plays in every single Orioles game for the next 17 seasons.
40:46
SPEAKER_01: It's it's an it's a really remarkable record because that Lou Gehrig had that consecutive game streak.
40:53
SPEAKER_01: And that was just one of those things, if you remember, just people are like, well, well, that just can't be broken.
40:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
40:59
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's it's like Cy Young winning 511 games.
41:01
SPEAKER_01: Like, you just can't do that in this day and age.
41:04
SPEAKER_01: It's not possible.
41:05
SPEAKER_01: And Cal Ripkin does it on his way to a very legendary Hall of Fame career.
41:11
SPEAKER_01: So fast forward to September of 1995.
41:14
SPEAKER_01: That's when Ripkin's about to break the record.
41:17
SPEAKER_01: And the Orioles call Jim Gott and his wife and ask if he'd be willing to give Cal Ripkin the ball from that game.
41:23
SPEAKER_02: And he tells them to go to hell.
41:25
SPEAKER_02: I ain't giving you nothing.
41:27
SPEAKER_02: I'm keeping this ball forever.
41:31
SPEAKER_01: If he did, that would probably go into a different episode.
41:35
SPEAKER_01: I mean, but but I mean, like, all joking aside, uh, he didn't have to tell him to go to hell, but he could have said, like, you know, hey, no, I mean, that was my first win.
41:46
SPEAKER_01: I'm not giving up that ball.
41:47
SPEAKER_01: That's very personal and meaningful to me.
41:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but Gott says that with no trepidation whatsoever, he not only agrees to give him the ball, but he's really excited to actually go there and present Ripkin the ball of himself.
42:00
SPEAKER_01: And at first, Cal Ripkin is a bit overwhelmed.
42:03
SPEAKER_01: He actually like says, No, I can't I can't take your first win ball.
42:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
42:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh but Jim Gott insists.
42:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh Ripkin later says, quote, that was really special, knowing that it was Jim's first win and him coming to the record-breaking game to present it to me meant a great deal.
42:18
SPEAKER_01: I don't have anything else from that first game, so I'm really grateful for it.
42:22
SPEAKER_02: Well, who knew at the time it would be so historic?
42:27
SPEAKER_01: For sure.
42:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
42:29
SPEAKER_02: Maybe if Cal Ripkin would have got ahead, he would have kept the ball instead of getting shut out.
42:36
SPEAKER_01: Good point.
42:37
SPEAKER_01: Good point.
42:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh for his part, God says he thanked Ripkin for being such a great example to other ball players and said he was really honored to even be part of such a historical moment in baseball.
42:49
SPEAKER_01: He says, quote, I felt like to give up the ball, it was like the little drummer boy boy playing the drums for baby Jesus.
42:57
SPEAKER_02: Okay, that's a little much.
42:59
SPEAKER_02: I appreciate I appreciate the sentiment.
43:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
43:03
SPEAKER_01: I think the the the point there just that you know he didn't feel like anybody was, you know, bending his arm to give up the ball or or that he was guilt-tripped into giving it up.
43:13
SPEAKER_01: He was just happy to be part of the moment.
43:15
SPEAKER_02: So it's a historic moment.
43:18
SPEAKER_01: It was.
43:19
SPEAKER_02: Probably more historic than his personal moment, but you know, somebody like you know, realizing that maybe his per that the history of baseball was a little bit more important than his own personal achievements.
43:33
SPEAKER_01: Which is really an unselfish thing to do there from Jimmy Hott.
43:37
SPEAKER_01: Again, very kind, very nice.
43:40
SPEAKER_01: He was a good person.
43:41
SPEAKER_02: I think he's still alive, yeah.
43:44
SPEAKER_01: All right, I think we've talked about this on the show before, but here's a fun fact that you may or may not have known.
43:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh, actor Ed O'Neill, who's famous for his roles in the TV shows Married with Children and Modern Family, once played for your Pittsburgh Steelers.
43:58
SPEAKER_01: He signed as an understanding.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: Drafted free agent linebacker by the Steelers in 1969.
44:04
SPEAKER_01: And 1969's a landmark year for the Steelers because they have a new head coach.
44:08
SPEAKER_01: It's a guy named Chuck Knoll.
44:10
SPEAKER_02: He's going to turn things right around that season, Tim.
44:13
SPEAKER_02: They're going to win a lot of games in 1969, let me tell you.
44:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it takes him a few years.
44:19
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what his problem was.
44:22
SPEAKER_01: If that were today's, people would have wanted him fired in 1969 on Twitter, I guarantee it.
44:28
SPEAKER_02: But he had one win.
44:29
SPEAKER_02: He had one win.
44:30
SPEAKER_02: I think they won the first thing.
44:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
44:34
SPEAKER_01: When Chuck Noel comes in, he famously declares that most of the guys who aren't very good are not going to last very long.
44:42
SPEAKER_01: And unfortunately for Ed O'Neill, he's one of those borderline players, and at some point during training camp, the Steelers release him.
44:49
SPEAKER_01: And that's pretty standard, right?
44:51
SPEAKER_01: I mean, every year in Steelers training camp, there's dozens of borderline guys who get cut.
44:58
SPEAKER_01: So where's the act of kindness here, Steve?
45:00
SPEAKER_01: Let's hear directly from Ed O'Neill.
45:03
SPEAKER_05: The day I got cut, Noel was very nice to me.
45:06
SPEAKER_05: He said, Look, uh, you know, all the bird seed, you know, you're a tough kid.
45:10
SPEAKER_05: I like you, but you don't know this position.
45:12
SPEAKER_05: But the Eagles need linebackers.
45:14
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
45:15
SPEAKER_05: I talked to Coach Kulherick.
45:17
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
45:18
SPEAKER_05: And if you want, but I have to know right away, we'll rent you a car.
45:22
SPEAKER_05: You can drive down the Pennsylvania Turnpike to Philly, and they'll give you a good look at linebacker.
45:28
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
45:28
SPEAKER_05: You're desperate for linebackers.
45:30
SPEAKER_05: What do you know?
45:31
SPEAKER_05: What do you want to do?
45:32
SPEAKER_05: And I said, uh, I'm done.
45:34
SPEAKER_05: And so I told him, and he said, he looked at me and he said, I uh it surprises me.
45:39
SPEAKER_05: And I said, surprises me.
45:41
SPEAKER_05: I said, but I'm finished.
45:42
SPEAKER_05: He said, well, what do you want to do?
45:43
SPEAKER_05: I said, I don't know.
45:45
SPEAKER_05: But not this.
45:46
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
45:48
SPEAKER_02: Fair enough.
45:49
SPEAKER_02: And yet we're blessed with a television legend because of that.
45:55
SPEAKER_01: Because he said no.
45:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
45:58
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you figured that was 1969.
46:00
SPEAKER_02: It took Ed O'Neill what?
46:02
SPEAKER_02: When did Married with Children start?
46:03
SPEAKER_02: 87?
46:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, something like that.
46:06
SPEAKER_02: So I mean it was gonna be another 17 years till Ed O'Neill.
46:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
46:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
46:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
46:14
SPEAKER_02: He's from Youngstown.
46:15
SPEAKER_02: He played for Youngstown State, by the way.
46:17
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
46:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
46:18
SPEAKER_01: He he uh I I think I in that same interview he talked about being from Youngstown and it was kind of like a rough and tumble town, and that was Oh yeah, it still is, but yes, it always has been.
46:30
SPEAKER_02: Steel, steel mill kind of town.
46:32
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
46:32
SPEAKER_01: But I mean Chuck Knoll, I mean that's again an undrafted free agent that you cut, and he's he's literally bringing you a car to go to at least Philadelphia and have a chance to continue your career.
46:43
SPEAKER_02: So he must have thought enough of them that he thought he was still good enough to play, just they didn't have room for him at the Steelers.
46:50
SPEAKER_01: So and even coordinating with the Philadelphia coach to say, hey, I have this guy, he's not gonna work here because it doesn't fit in our scheme, but he might work for you guys.
47:00
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's a really kind gesture.
47:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, kudos for Ed O'Neill for hanging with acting too for seven nights.
47:07
SPEAKER_02: That's I couldn't imagine.
47:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
47:11
SPEAKER_01: Okay, uh I'm I'm gonna get a little personal for this last one.
47:15
SPEAKER_01: So this is a this is a Tim story uh that involves a Pittsburgh sports figure.
47:20
SPEAKER_01: So back in 2013, I wanted to launch a men's group at my church to help guys who are struggling with pornography and other sexual temptation, which is an issue that I had struggled with myself for many years.
47:33
SPEAKER_01: And so the church set me up with some resources, they like put an announcement in the church Bolton, and that was that was kind of all the support I got.
47:42
SPEAKER_01: And on the first night of this group, no one showed up.
47:45
SPEAKER_01: And I got like real bitter and self-important.
47:49
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, they don't care about what I'm trying to do here.
47:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to do something good, and they won't even try and help me get this started.
47:56
SPEAKER_02: I think that's a subject that like most people don't want to talk about.
48:00
SPEAKER_02: So I think that's that's because I've seen that happen before.
48:05
SPEAKER_01: It it it for sure is.
48:07
SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, I think too, like you have to offer people some anonymity.
48:11
SPEAKER_02: Like they know that like it's almost like a therapy session where like when people go in, like it's not going to go beyond that those walls.
48:18
SPEAKER_02: And if people don't trust you or know you, like you it's probably something you would have to work up to, Tim.
48:24
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, you putting that in the bulletin was probably the wrong it a great idea, like, but poorly executed.
48:33
SPEAKER_01: Spot on, you couldn't just like say you couldn't put something like that in the church bulletin.
48:37
SPEAKER_01: You had to you had to give it a little more finesse than that.
48:40
SPEAKER_01: And so a couple of days later, uh the head of the men's ministry at at the church heard what happened, and he asked if he could have a meeting with me about this.
48:49
SPEAKER_01: And the head of the men's ministry was a guy named Tunch Elkin.
48:53
SPEAKER_01: What a great guy.
48:54
SPEAKER_01: And and of course, we all know who Tunch was.
48:56
SPEAKER_01: The Steelers great both on the field and in the booth, and a guy that I would say is universally beloved in this town.
49:04
SPEAKER_02: Even even went, oh no, somebody's gonna tackle him.
49:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
49:09
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
49:10
SPEAKER_02: Should have said that.
49:10
SPEAKER_02: Oh no, that was before.
49:12
SPEAKER_02: Was that before or after?
49:13
SPEAKER_02: That was before this.
49:14
SPEAKER_02: That was after 2013.
49:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
49:15
SPEAKER_02: They said, Oh no, then somebody's gonna tackle him.
49:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh so I I had known Tunch.
49:22
SPEAKER_01: I knew he was a good guy, but going into that meeting with him, I like none of that mattered to me.
49:27
SPEAKER_01: I was just gonna nail him with all my grievances about how the church let me down and you know, and and all this stuff.
49:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh, because I was just like I said, I was I was very self-important at that point in my head.
49:40
SPEAKER_01: And as soon as I get in there, Tunch, like as was his norm, was totally calm, totally kind.
49:47
SPEAKER_01: He's like, hey man, sorry this didn't work out.
49:49
SPEAKER_01: I know it's important to you.
49:51
SPEAKER_01: You know, let's figure out a way to retool this.
49:53
SPEAKER_01: And and this time I'm gonna work directly with you to do that.
49:57
SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow.
49:58
SPEAKER_01: And it just it just completely disarmed me.
50:01
SPEAKER_01: And I was just kind of like, oh yeah, sure, that would be great.
50:05
SPEAKER_01: I I I like immediately forgot about all the vindictive stuff I was ready to throw at him, and I just realized what an over-reactionary buffoon I was being.
50:14
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
50:15
SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, yeah, you tried something, it didn't work out, let's let's figure out a different way to do it, rather than you know, taking your ball and going home, which is what I wanted to do.
50:25
SPEAKER_01: And and sure enough, Tunch helped me get a new group started and helped promote it for years after that.
50:30
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Tunch used to have these um fall kickoff events at our church where he would get a steeler to come in.
50:37
SPEAKER_01: One year he got James Conner, one year he got Ryan Shazier.
50:40
SPEAKER_01: But but yeah, so we would have these events with with guys like that, and and we'd get hundreds of people to show up.
50:46
SPEAKER_01: And and every time that we had one of those events, Tunch would promote this group that we had.
50:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh and and you know, through that group, uh, I met a couple of guys who helped mentor me and really transformed my life.
50:58
SPEAKER_01: And that group spun off into some other groups which are still going today and have have helped dozens of men who struggle with sex sexual addiction.
51:05
SPEAKER_01: And really that was all because of the kindness of Tunch Yolkin.
51:09
SPEAKER_01: So I wanted to share that story to wrap things up.
51:13
SPEAKER_02: Tunch was a you know a man of faith and a man of God.
51:16
SPEAKER_02: I don't think Tunch would shy away from that.
51:19
SPEAKER_02: And I think we can speak speak like that of Tunch, and that just shows you know what he believed in, and you know, that really shined through there and it influenced your lives, and like you said, many others in a very positive way.
51:31
SPEAKER_02: So probably more than almost more than he a lot than he ever did on the football field, you know.
51:38
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
51:39
SPEAKER_01: And I think one thing about um people that have faith and and are trying to trying to influence others, uh Atkins matter so much more than words.
51:50
SPEAKER_01: You know, so many people can can stand on some kind of a pedestal and say things, and that that's with anything, I guess.
51:57
SPEAKER_01: And he was definitely one of those walk-the-walk kind of people and and is definitely sorely missed.
52:04
SPEAKER_01: All right, folks, that's our episode.
52:06
SPEAKER_01: I hope uh everybody feels nice and warm after that episode, hearing some nice acts of Pittsburgh Sports kindness.
52:14
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for your kindness, listening to our podcast and supporting it.
52:19
SPEAKER_01: Please check us out on Facebook or Twitter, and we will catch you next time.