Latest / Your Dark Companion Podcast / Losing Glove Battles, Five AL West Teams & Life After Baseball | Mark McLemore | Ep 258

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Losing Glove Battles, Five AL West Teams & Life After Baseball | Mark McLemore | Ep 258 · Your Dark Companion Podcast

• Nobody would have thought that I would be the one. Ryder, sports talk. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. With the big mic. Oh, okay. Alright. Yeah. Okay. Now I get it. We've had a lightning strike, boys. What happened over there, Grego? We had a little lightning strike right outside the window. Alright. Alright. Here's a tip for all these Americano League teams. Don't what? You said tip? Yeah. Tip. Okay. With a p. Keep jamming. The the ticket colon, nothing but a big Gen X jerk off set. This is a cool night or what? I know somebody would hear that go bullshit. I'm back, bitches. This is episode number 258. Eight. Mhmm. Excellent. Well, it's Labor Day today. And maybe you're laboring. Maybe you're not. Hopefully, you're not. The idea for you is to not be on Labor Day, and I hope you're executing that plan as well as you possibly can. Seems like an ironic name. You know? Very ironic. What are we gonna do about it? Yeah. No. I don't know what I'm what do you want me to do about it? Change. Change it? I can't do nothing about it. You're Mike Reiner. Nobody cares. I can't do nothing about it. Okay. Well, look who we have with us today. Alright. I like it when we have former Ranger greats in here, and we have one today. He was a fan favorite. He was part of the core of some really, really good, really, really fun, really, really interesting ranger clubs. And, yeah, he's one of those guys that's stayed around here after the game was over for him, and and he is still very closely associated with rangers baseball. He is the great Mark McLemore. Alright. Hello. Hello. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I need to take you around with me everywhere I go, man. I like that intro. My hype man. Yes. That's right. Hey. I'm a great hype man. I'm a hype artist. How are you? I'm great, man. I am absolutely great. Life is good? Life is extremely good. I cannot complain one bit. Excellent. Yeah. Well, we're glad to have you with us today. Are you following the Rangers closely these days or Absolutely not. I'm not. And it's not that they're, you know, wherever they are on the standings, I just I have other things to do and a lot of that is spend time with my granddaughter and that's pretty much it. So when it was time to disengage, you did just that. I absolutely did. And it was very easy for me to do. Was it really? Yeah, it really was. You know, for me, one of the things that I always was able to do during my career, I always knew there was going to be after baseball. And then, you know, another career ended up coming up, broadcasting. I did that for twenty years. But I know I always knew there was going to be an after. So, I always prepared myself for that and I'm in that after now. So, not making baseball or broadcasting my entire life and that was all that I focused on. I was never really able to do that. Didn't want to do that. So, I adjusted extremely well to doing nothing. I've gotten I've gotten very good at it. Uh-oh. What? Nothing. Oh, okay. Oh my goodness. We're just here. That's that's good because when I stepped away from radio, I did okay at it. But soon enough, there was the idea that neither there's something out there left for you. Mhmm. And so I started doing a podcast. That podcast became this podcast. And here I am. I haven't been able to give it up quite that easily. Hey, and there's nothing wrong with it at all. I I did have a little bit, you know, my first couple years out of the game, I was in broadcasting Yeah. And still feeling like I could be out there on the field even though I was, you know, early forties. But then I realized I went down to the field one time and I realized, no, you can't do this anymore because my body started laughing uncontrollably because my feet I had grass underneath my feet and whenever that happens, you know, it tells my body that I'm about to play baseball. And my body responded like, no, you're not. Not with this body. So, know, so those first couple of years after that first career, you know, pulling away from, you know, playing, that was a little bit more difficult. But, once broadcasting was over, no, I had no no problem at all. Just sliding into doing nothing. Well, let's talk a little bit about that first career that you had. Alright. Because that first career was was very, very interesting to say the least. And one of the real one of the really cool bullet points on the great Mark McLemore is that you had to swim through all five teams in which we now know as the American League West. Yes. I did. And I I don't think people realize that. And I you know, it wasn't something that was intentional. It was just something that happened. And I guess since I played against the AL West the majority of the time, all those other teams saw what I could do. I had opportunities to go to other teams. I won't mention one of those teams. Let's just say I played them a lot in the playoffs Mhmm. Over my career. But I just ended up being in the AOS all the time. So I I loved it. There wasn't anything it wasn't anything that was planned. Obviously, I started with the Angels in California. They were the California Angels then. Yes. And I'm you know, was born and raised in San Diego, so being there, that was great. And then let's see, what was the next one? Like a year with Cleveland? A year with Cleveland. Mhmm. Unforgettable. I'm sorry. Very forgettable. Actually, it was less than a year. It was more like a few months and then a few months with another forgettable time in Houston Mhmm. When they were in the National League. Mhmm. And then the National League East, I went to Baltimore and then here to Texas and then Seattle and then Oakland. So, yeah, I made the rounds in that ALS pretty pretty quickly. It was good. It was fun. How many of those were trades versus signings? Got traded from the Angels to Cleveland. Right. That's the only time I've been traded. Every other time signed. Yeah. Yeah. Every other place I I signed when I left Cleveland. Wasn't my doing. They released me. They were the second worst team in baseball, by the way. Then I signed with the Houston Astros. Mhmm. Three months later, they released me. They were the worst team in baseball. So, I had kind of a decision to make here. Feeling great about yourself, Exactly. The last six months, you've been released by the two worst teams in baseball. They're telling you that you cannot play here. You don't belong here. So, I had to make a decision and that decision was, I don't believe you. So, I mean, that's basically what it boiled down to. So I was able to sign with Baltimore and then things got rolling back on track again from there. What did it take to get things back on track for you? An opportunity, number one, and then confidence. You know, I got to the big leagues, I was 21 years old. So I was kind of rushed to the big leagues and I wasn't really prepared to fail as often or as much as I did. In the minor leagues, I I played well all through the minor leagues. That's how you get to the big leagues, but then when you get to the big leagues, you're facing a big league pitcher every single day. Even that number five starter is a big league pitcher. So you can he can hand you an o for four or o for five with three punch outs just as easily as that number one guy in the rotation. So there was a lot of that for me early on in my career. So the confidence, you know, that confidence level for me just dropped. And once I got released from Houston, you know, I called some some people in the game that I knew. Dusty Baker was one, Cito Gaston was another one, and to say, you guys have seen me play. What do you what do you see from me? You know, what do I need to change, in order to get back to the big leagues and and get out there and play every day? Because my goal was to play every day. It wasn't to, you know, just sit on the bench. I wanted to be, my exact words at the time were, I wanna be a main cog in the wheel. Yeah. And so they gave me their advice. They said, go out there and be you. Stop trying to be somebody else, which was basically saying to me I was listening to either my manager or a coach that I shouldn't have been listening to, and they were trying to make me do things a certain way, and I wouldn't do it that way and didn't work for me. Yeah. So I had to find me, who I was as a big leaguer. Now you mentioned Dusty Baker and Ceto Gaston. Those are two guys who were known as guys who were pretty much straight shooters. Absolutely. And guys who if somebody, no matter who it is, asked them a question like that, you're gonna get a real answer. Oh, no question That answer may not be what you wanna hear, but you were gonna get a real answer. You were gonna get the truth. They were known for that. No question about it. And Seto, I've known Seto since I was a kid. Seto and my oldest brother were good friends. They still talk to this day. So, getting to him and him, he was the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays at the time as well. So, he had seen a lot of me, so he knew exactly what I needed to do. So, I, you know, reached out, got that advice and I followed it. So from that point, I was able to play another what? Oh, god. Twelve or thirteen years. That's pretty good. Yeah. It's pretty good. That's pretty good. Let me ask you this. This is something I've always wondered about. What's it like when a guy gets traded? Wow. It just depends on what the situation is. If it's at, you know Yeah. I'm sure there are there are all kinds of, you know circumstances and situations. At the trading deadline, that's one thing because, you know, if you're being traded, you're probably going somewhere, they really need you and they want you because they're trying to get, you know, get over that hump or it could be you could be the other guy. That team doesn't need you because and you're going to a team that's not in the race. So it all depends on what the situation is. If you're you're you're not playing well, you haven't been playing well, you know. Okay. They're trying to get rid of you. They wanna get somebody in here who can get the job done. So it's either that or get released. So there's a lot of different things that run through your mind. For me, getting traded from the Angels, I absolutely loved it because and even though it was to Cleveland and this was the old stadium in Cleveland, the mistake by the lake, leaving Southern California and going to Cleveland, I loved it because I needed to get out of California. It wasn't, you know, out out of, you know, from that the Angels organization. It wasn't I wasn't being productive, they weren't helping, so it was just time to move on. And sometimes it just works out that way, you're not, you know there's a place, it just doesn't fit. You go somewhere else and it's better fit. And that's what that's what the situation was with me. So when I got traded from Southern California to dreary old stadium, Cleveland, mistake by the lake, I was ecstatic. You could destroy what about 6,000 fans a night there? I wish. Oh, no. Yeah. If that I wanna say 60 and about 58 of those were the employees. Yeah. So, no, that was not the case. So do you did you know ahead of time that you were gonna be traded or did you was was it there any buzz about it or Oh, absolutely not. I was actually on a rehab assignment at the time when they traded me. Yes. They did not want me back in California and I felt the same way, didn't wanna go back. So somebody called and just told you, hey, man, you better talk to the general manager today. Something like that? Actually, my agent called me and told me. The general manager didn't even call me and tell me you've been traded. It was my agent who called me and told me I was traded. I was like, where? He said, Cleveland. Great. When do I need to be there? So, yeah, I loved it. I I didn't I didn't ever wanna talk to them again, and that's how it ended up. But, yeah, it was great for me. I needed out of there. But it took me a couple of years to really find myself again and that was in Baltimore. Yeah. And that led to where after that? Here? Here. So in Baltimore, Johnny Oates was the manager in Baltimore. Yeah. And Doug Melvin was the assistant general manager. So, I got there in the first and I had never met Johnny or Doug at that point. And when I got to Baltimore, got spring training, Johnny came up to me and said, hey, Mac, I've seen you play. I know who you are. I know what you can do. And you're gonna need to play some other positions for me in order to make the team. And I was like, okay. That's fine. And so that's when, you know, the whole third base and, right field at that time started. So who was at second? Well, Billy Ripken was at at second initially. And then Harold Reynolds came the next year, but I was in right field. So it was and then my last year there in '94, was back at second base. But that was really the the resurgence of my career. Johnny gave me that opportunity to go out there and play every day. And that was really where it started for me again, just having the opportunity. But I had I had to get that confidence back because for five or six years, I had beat myself up. Everybody else had beat me up. So I was not feeling the best. But Johnny gave me that opportunity and that room to go out there and play and so I took advantage of it. What was Cal Ripken like as a teammate? Awesome. He's awesome. He's one of my favorite people. I think one of the one of the things that people don't realize about Cal Ripken is he is hilarious. Yeah. I've I read I remember his book came out back in the day and he was a prankster. Oh my god. Yes. If there was something going on, Cal was usually in the middle of it. And, you know, when you see him on the field and when he does interviews, he's this serious He's stoic guy. Absolutely not. About him. No. No. He is hilarious. Now, I will say this, his brother Billy is even funnier. He seems like the life of the party. And he is absolutely the life of the party. He's he's the one yes. He will let you know that he's funny, you know, just by doing the things that he does. And yeah, so playing with with those guys, that was an absolute blast. But definitely playing with Cal. I learned a lot from him even though I was, you know, by the time I got to Baltimore, was a five or six year vet. So I had been around. I played with some greats earlier in my career with the Angels. But I I definitely learned a lot from Cal as well. When the trade deadline rolls around and guys are about to be traded, is there a lot of buzz about it in the room before games or after games or anything or You know, the players don't really talk about it. The media does a really good job of that And they, you know, they take it all and they run with it. But we don't, as players, we don't really talk about it. Hey, you think you're gonna get traded? I don't know. I'm really worried. I'm gonna have to sell my house on this. No. We we don't really do that. It it just you just go out there and you just do your job every night. And if you get traded, you've just got to go with it. Because by then, by that point, you've been in the game long enough to know that it's a business and players come and go, you get released, you get, you know, traded or whatever. So I think everybody knows it by that time, but it can still affect guys in different ways. Yeah. Younger guys that they they tend to if that's the organization they came up with, they tend to take it harder because they they don't know any other place and now all of a sudden, they're going somewhere else and they don't understand the fact that number one, it's a business and number two, that means somebody wants you. So It's a positive thing. It's not a bad thing. Trust me, I've been on that bad thing twice where nobody wants you. So you're having to call around saying, hey, do you have any a place for for me? So, yeah, that that that it can be that way. So but once they get, you know, once it happens to them, think they're pretty much immune to it after the first time. Off the field, what's it like for, you know, like you kinda mentioned the house or stuff like that? I'm guessing one team or the other helps take care of that in some way or at least assists or is that just you're on your own and That's a myth. Okay. They may give you some areas that, you know, other players live in and that are nice. And they may even set, you know, set you up with a realtor. But as far as, you know, moving They're not helping pack? No. Okay. That is on you or your wife and that's typically what it is on your wife and it was on mine. Pretty much every time we went somewhere else, but They probably tend to remember that a little bit too, don't they? Oh, yeah. I hear about one of one of the moves in particular from my wife and that was actually when we came here. But one of the things I had always wanted to do and and I did was we always had a home base. So no matter who I played for, we it was initially, it was Arizona for our first eight years and then here. So, I always wanted, you know, our kids to know this is home. So, we may go somewhere for, you know, three, four, five or six months, but you know this is home. So, we were able to do that. When we moved from Arizona and made this home, we listed our house in Arizona and it sold within like thirty days and of course, I was I was gone. I was playing. So the only one left to pack up the house was Oh, no. My wife and our kids were small. We had two at the time. So, yes. So she reminds me of that occasionally. Yeah. Anytime you mess up around the house. Try not to do that. Just like 1995, Mark. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. So, yeah. That's but other than that, yeah. And, you know, I think wives get overlooked a lot because the things that they do, that they take care of, which was everything. The only thing I took care of was going to play. And my wife took care of everything else, kids, school, travel, traveling with them. You name it, the only thing I did was play baseball, which was great. But that's the deal. That's what everybody signs up for. Not always. Because how You'd be surprised. In theory, yes. You'd be surprised how sometimes that doesn't work out so well. It worked out great for me. How far along into your career were you when you met your wife or did you all know each other before? It was my let's see. My second year in the Big Leaks. Okay. 1988. So that's yeah. That's that's when we met 04/05/1988 in Chicago. Mhmm. Yeah. I won't forget that day. Well, it changed my life. Worked out pretty well. Yeah. Yeah. You do it again? Would I what? Would you marry again? Her. Her? Yes. Wait. You think he's gonna come on to a podcast and say no to that? I think it'd be kind of funny if he did. Absolutely He's smart. He's smart. I know he is. Guys may. He's smart. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. I appreciate your help. Yes. Yeah. No. No. I'm just having fun. Trying to get You might not be, but I am. Hurts what you're trying to do. But yeah. So finding that right one, it it it it can be difficult. It can be difficult. So fortunately for me. Yeah. Indeed. Fortunately for me, I I was blessed and I did. So did you wind up here exactly? Were you a free agent or yeah. You you came from a free agency. Right? I was a free agent. So And this is Doug Melvin and Johnny Oates? Doug Melvin and Johnny Oates. They were fired from Baltimore, Baltimore Orioles. They got new ownership. I think it was the Peter Angelo's group at the time. And fired Doug, fired Johnny and they ended up coming here. Doug got the general manager's job here and he hired Johnny and Johnny called me. And I'm like, yes, of course, I'm gonna follow you. Let's do it. So, that's how I got here. Did you but you came in as a left fielder or was that I actually came in to play second base. Okay. But Juan got hurt in spring training. That's right. Okay. So Johnny knew because he had been moving me around in Baltimore, right field, a little bit of left field, couple times in center, some third base. He knew I could play multiple positions. Yeah. So put me out in left. Are you cool with that? Absolutely. I was I was by the time I got here. Yeah. With the when I you know, when Johnny first, you know, brought it up to me, I didn't really like the idea. I didn't tell him that. But at the time, a utility player was different back then. A utility player back then, we actually called him an NFL player because you played once a week. That was on Sunday to give the guy that it was that it was to give that I haven't heard that. It was to give the guy, that regular guy, shortstop, second baseman, third baseman, day off and that was usually Sunday day game. So we I've never heard that. I was gonna say, that's that's amazing. Absolutely. I mean, you said NFL, I thought you were going not for long. I was too. But And it can mean that as well because Yeah. And and it actually does mean that because if you're a utility guy, you might be in the league maybe three or four years and you're gone. They're gonna find somebody else. So I was trying to stay away from that as much as possible because I felt that, hey, I can play this game for, you know, a long time if I get my stuff together. And so I didn't wanna have that label because labels were really hard to get rid of. And so when he suggested that, I said, okay, well, it's gonna be better than not playing or not being in the big leagues. And so I did it, and I didn't adjust to third base very well. I remember what I wanna say maybe the first week. The first week I played third base, some big oaf hit a one hopper to my left. And I stuck my hand out, and I think I'm getting ready to bring my hand back in and make the transfer and throw to first. And my glove was in left field. Now, you talk about a guy being hot, because for me, my game, especially at that time early in my career, was my glove. Yeah. If you if you hit the ball near me, I you were out. I caught it through wherever I needed to, you were out. So for somebody that knocked the glove off of my hand, that had never been done to me in my life, not even as a kid. You know, they didn't call you the doctor of defense for nothing. Well, I didn't I didn't have that one yet. Yeah. I know you didn't have that That's why I got it. Absolutely. So seeing my glove in left field and the guy safe at first, I mean, I I was literally I had steam coming off my head. I I know I did because that was just unheard of for me. And the reason why, I didn't have a third baseman's glove. It wasn't a third baseman's glove is bigger. So I was playing third base with my second baseman glove. That's all I had. I didn't have a short studs Yeah. So and my second baseman's glove was a lot smaller than most second baseman. So Was that by design or Yes. By design. Because second base, you want to get it because back then, we played real baseball where you can take the second baseman out, not like now where you So can't even blow wind on so I had to get it get it in and out of my glove quickly, so I wanted a small glove for that. So it's, you know, it would hang halfway off my hand. Literally halfway. The bottom of the glove is right here. So when he when that ball hit my my net, my webbing, right off my hand. Hot. So I had to borrow a glove from that point on until I until I finally got one. Did you have to run out to left field to get the glove or to The umpire, whoever the umpire was, was very nice and he knew exactly how embarrassed I was and he actually got my gloves. God bless them because I could just imagine you having to sulk out there, bend over, get your glove, go I had gone to get it, I probably would have kicked it or thrown it in the stand. Yeah. Just walk off the field. What kind of betrayal is this? Yeah. That's what I was Yeah. I thought we were friends. Yeah. So yeah. Not one of my it it I can laugh about it now, but trust me, it took me years to laugh about that. Did you play much third base before playing in the Good playing it in the lord. Only place I played the only place I played before I got to the big leagues was second base. I was drafted as a shortstop. So I might have played a couple of games at shortstop in the minor leagues. But other than that, I was second base every day, day in and day out, no matter what. Because that that's a hell of a quick spot at third base. That's why they call it the hot corner. Indeed. And I figured out exactly why. Yeah. Yeah. So once I got a bigger glove, then it was it was It stayed on. It it stayed on and I made those plays. Yes. It made things a lot easier. Nice. Did. And that was, you know, I just had to get used to it. I had to get comfortable. But of all the positions that I played, that's the one that I'm least comfortable at. Did you ever try to insinuate that maybe to a manager or were you just like, look, I'll play there? It wasn't it wasn't that I couldn't play it or I I didn't have confidence to play it. Just not your favorite? It would be the last one that I would pick to go and play. I had, you know, if I got my brothers to pick which, you know, where I was gonna start at that particular night, third would always be last. Fair enough. So so Doug Melvin and Johnny Oates wind up here. And they bring you in as a free agent. Is that how you got here? Yes. I was a free agent. Okay. Yeah. I was I thought I was gonna go back to Baltimore, but when they fired everybody and didn't return my agent's calls, I know I wasn't going back that year. What'd you think about this place? I mean, I know you're glad just to be in the major leagues and everything like that. Mhmm. But did you ever look around and go, Texas, No. Because I I I in double a, I played Midland. So I I enjoyed playing in Midland. I enjoyed playing around, you know, in in Texas. And I at that time, California was still home. Southern California was still home for me. So I had said, if I ever left California, I could probably live in Texas. Not knowing that I was going to. Yeah. I ended up going to Arizona first, but, you know, we had spring we were having spring training there. My best friend was living there at the time, so that's how I chose Arizona. But then, once I signed here, my agent told me, my agent Tony Atanasio, he said, okay, I'm I'm a let you know now. Guys that the guys that I have and most guys that I know that end up playing for Texas, they end up living there. I said, Tee, I'm not going to Texas. I'm not moving to Texas. I just, you know, I'm gearing to build another house in in Arizona. I'm not going to Texas. It took me about three months. Sold our house in Arizona. We had bought some more property to build another house. Sold that too, and moved here to Texas. Man, I hear it from so many guys. Yeah. It's And not just in baseball. Mhmm. In all the other sports, guys come here. They think they're not gonna like it or they think they're gonna like they they got some place that that they look think they're gonna like better and everything. And they come here and in almost no time at all, their jobs going, okay, this is where I wanna be. Never leave. Yeah. Never leave. So and, know, for me it was, you know, number one, it was the middle of the country, so being able to go East Coast, West Coast didn't take very long. The cost of living, no state tax. Cannot forget that played a huge part. Lot to like. Yes. So Does that really make does that really make much of a difference for an athlete? Absolutely. You hear about it on online. 13 and half percent in California? That'll do it. That'll do it in heartbeat. Okay. So, yes. But you still pay taxes in each state that you play, right? Yes. Not as a but not the 13 and a half in Arizona. I mean, in in California that you would pay all the time. So that was huge. What did you think about the baseball scene here? So playing having played against the Rangers all these years, they've always had guys that can hit. Always had great hitting teams. They just never had any pitching. So I was like, okay, we need to get some pitching. I know we can hit, we're gonna be able to hit, let's get some pitching. But knowing Doug Doug and Johnny, Johnny stressed defense. So that's what, you know, we had great fielding teams when I was in Baltimore with him and the same thing followed when we came here. So we I was just hoping, hey, let's get some pitching. It was gonna be hard because a lot of a lot of pitchers and even players didn't wanna come here because of the heat. That was the thing. Yeah. I mean, that was that was one of the reasons I was so hard to get quality free agents at the time. Yeah. You know, the heat. Okay. They're they're scared of playing in the heat and especially pitchers being out there every, you know, every fifth day. It just yes. That's exactly well, that's not really the word we used, but Started with the same letter? It was there there you go. Appreciate you, Bruce. Appreciate you. Trying to help you. Thank you. That's my last thing. So Get back on your good side. Somebody did a comment on YouTube. I probably deserved it. You know, think of my wife. Yeah. I was gonna say, I think yeah. He asked for a link for a where his family can watch. Oh. Sorry, Macklemores. Yeah. Yeah. So I hear lots and lots of people complaining about Globe Life Field. Now I, for one, love it because I spent many, many, many summer nights just soaked in ball sweat and who knows what all else out there. Baseball sweat. Baseball sweat. Yeah. Baseball sweat. You know, for me, I did not mind playing in the heat at all. I'd much rather play in the heat than cold. Yeah. And that might be why I was always in the AL West, but just not I can't I can't really function in cold weather. That's just not my thing. But playing in the heat, it was great, it was fun. You had to take care of yourself, but Johnny also took care of us as well. Summertime, we had the option well, first of all, we were only out on the field every other day. Yeah. And we had the option of whether we wanted to hit on the field or not. If we didn't want to hit on the field, we get hit inside of the cage. Yeah. He was cool. So, yes. He was and he he understood. He knew exactly what we needed to do. We could be out there every day in this 100 degree degree weather and be expected to last all year long. Yeah. It may work for two or three months, but over the long haul, it's just not possible. So we all took care of ourselves. Most of the team, we were, you know, we had a veteran team. We had some young guys mixed in there, Rusty Greer, Darren Oliver, you know, Pudge was even a young player at the time. So we knew how to take care of ourselves and they followed suit and and figured it out. Alright. I wanna talk to you about the nineteen ninety six team here in just a bit. But first, by the way, this is the great Mark McLemore, you know. Yeah. Right now, we'll have more with him momentarily. You can just kinda chill back, drink a little water. Alright. Shout out more. Yeah. Hydrate. Because right now, it is time for that dreaded and feared mid show read. Alright. What do we got here today? I don't remember what was her day. Oh, there it is. Alright. The Sunset Lounge in YDC are gonna be running a new football centric show. Three wide. This will be at Scout. Three wide at Scout live at the Stadler. It begins Tuesday, September 15 at 05:30. And we would love it if you'd drop by. During the NFL season, football will be a talking sport, so come join us every Tuesday evening at Scout inside the Stadler for the next twenty three weeks starting September 15 and running through February. February 16, it'll be at 05:30. So come join us there. Gonna be mixing it up with the host from the Sunset Lounge and, of course, we here on YDC. Week one is gonna feature Norm, the great Victor Viava and me. So come kick off three wide at Scout live at the Stadler with a September 15 at 05:30. Is that it? No. You got more. Oh, we got much more. Okay. I Take so many things on here. Take two in three, two, one. Change things up this year. Let Dudley's Sports Grill host your draft party. Get your own reserved space in the lounge and a great selection of food units and beverages. They can't be beat at Dudley's. Call and order your package today, the WAP package, two buckets of domestic beer, two flatbreads, two pounds of wings and chips and salsa. That will run you only a $150. Or if you don't like that, the Trophy Chaser, three buckets of beer, one nachos, two flatbreads, one pound of wings, one order of chicken tendies and chips and salsa. That feeds eight to 12 people just $200 tax and gratuity not included in this. So don't forget to tip that waitstaff called Dudley Sports Grill. (469) 250-8810. They're at 2927 North Henderson Avenue here in Dallas, just right off of Central Expressway. And while you're making changes, don't sit at home every Saturday and Sunday watching ball alone or worse inviting friends over to grill. No. No. Call your friends. Call your family. Get to Dudley's while they're going where they're going to make way better food. Plus, they have a bar. So what are you gonna do about that? Dudley's is your football headquarters. Either location, 2927NorthHenderson in Dallas or 2975 Highway 66 in Rockwall. It is Dudley's, a cool, comfortable place. Shupi and I both go go there a lot. We dig it. We bet you will too. Mhmm. That's for the end. That's for the Oh. Okay. Well, that's for later. So As you were reading that, I couldn't help but think, you know, we could totally make this a twelve days of Christmas type read, where it's like, oh, twelve never mind. You're doing great. You know what? Happy Monday, y'all. Oh, Mark Macklemore wants you to sing in front of him. Keep thinking, just go down a different thread. You know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna go to LGBT and get him to write it for me and then you'll There you go. There you go. In the prop. We'll love it. Put in the prop. Yes. I will. At the end of this show, I should have listened to you. We'll do a Christmas carol. Just for Dudley's. Yes. Alright. The great Mark McLemore Yay. With us today. We are having fun with him. Time to wake up again. Yes. It is. Chilling time is over. Yeah. Talk about 1996. Alright. Mhmm. Now you guys had that event the other day out there. Yes. And, man, I gotta tell you. I'm an old guy and it takes a lot to get to me. But seeing everybody up there and remembering 1996, that Ranger year, that was the first really good year the Rangers had ever had. And look, I've been with them since 1972. Bless your heart. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there are there are some times in there in the late seventies where they had good teams, but they just came up short or something went wrong. There was this. There was that. The franchise just didn't have any kind of real direction or anything like that until Doug Melvin and Johnny Oates got there. In '19 and then 1996 rolled around. They'd been there for a year or two, worked a little bit of wizardry. Doug Melvin had done that thing that he does so well. And the next thing you knew, we had a really, really good team on our hands. Yeah, we did. Doug and Johnny put together a tremendous group of guys. We had some veteran players. We had some young players that they developed in the organization, brought them up, and they knew exactly what to do and how to do it. And the mix of that, I think, really was the answer. It was the key to it. We all knew exactly what we needed to do to be ready, you know, be ready to go out there at game time. Like I was saying earlier, we didn't we weren't always on the field every day, but we knew we had to get our work in and be ready to go. And Johnny trusted us with that. So we were just able to put everything together. I think in '95, you know, we were a good team and we were still trying to jail and figure things out. We had some pieces that were missing and I think they were able to bring those pieces in for the '96 run and it was it was great. We had a great group of guys. It was had an absolute blast seeing them a couple of weeks ago. It just takes you right back to like you were, you know, we were back in the clubhouse. Boy, it did. I mean Yeah. It just hit me smack dab in my feels seeing those guys there together. Same jokes, same saying, same everything. The one thing that did change, which it usually does as time goes on, the stories got bigger. Bigger and bigger. Exaggerated. Yes. Yeah. Better too, maybe. Yeah. I don't know about better. Some of them not better. Some of them absolutely not better. Some of them were. But, yes, the stories get bigger. The longer the more the more the further away you get from it, the bigger the stories get. So but it's fun hearing them and you're thinking, I don't quite remember it that way, but okay. Go ahead. Keep going. Yeah. So yeah. It was a lot of fun catching up with a lot of guys. Now, what story did you tell? I don't tell any, I just listen. See, he's smart. Yes, I just listen. All the stories come to me and people will ask me to cosign and I'll just say yes because I don't wanna stop the conversation. Just keep it up keep it going. Totally remember that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. Boy, the thing I remember most about it is it really did seem to me, and I don't know if I'd ever said anything about this on the air or what, but it really did seem to me like that team was just really like that, just all together. Yeah. And, man, I don't know how long it'd been since you guys had been together, seen each other, but it seemed like the other day you just snapped right back into that And that's that's when you know you have a a good group of guys. That's exactly what it what it was. I mean, had been thirty years. Now granted, a lot of the guys still live here in the Metroplex. So we we still see each other. But when you're apart from a lot of guys and you come back together after years of of not being there, I mean, were a few guys that I hadn't seen probably since '96. It's like you're right back in the clubhouse again and that's what you want. We were a really close knit group of guys. We did everything together, on the field, off the field. We'd go out and eat. We would just hang out. It was just a lot of fun. There are very few teams that I've been on, you know, in my nineteen year playing career where it was that way. And the teams that that I was a part of here in Texas definitely are are right there on that list. Who do you think the guys were that were mostly, I I guess, the catalysts for that. The guys who brought all the other guys together and sort of forged that unique chemistry. You know Or what other particular guys? It's we were a bunch of veteran players. So you had me, you had Mickey, you had Mickey Tullison, you had Will Clark. Kevin Gross was a veteran player. You know, so everybody knew what they needed to do. So having that one rah rah guy, if there was a rah rah guy, it was absolutely Will. I was a little bit loud and boisterous at times as well, but I think it was a combination. So there wasn't just one person that did it. Yeah. And I think that's what that was intentional from Doug and Johnny. It's very tough in baseball. Well, it's very rare in baseball. Let me back that up. I don't know of any baseball team ever that has had one leader. It is not like basketball. It's not like football. Football is the quarterback. Basketball is whoever that superstar is. Baseball is not like that. It's typically a guy that's not the superstar. Because in baseball, that superstar has to take all of his energy, all of his mental energy to be the superstar. Yeah. There's nothing wrong with that. That's just how it's, you know, typically happened in baseball. Now, there might be a couple of guys, a few guys in baseball. Cal Ripken was one. He was that he was no question the leader in Baltimore's Yeah. You know, I won't say his entire career, but definitely, you know, after four or five years, he became that leader of the Orioles. But it's much harder in baseball to have that one leader. So, with our team, we always had multiple guys that the younger guys would follow. Guys like who? Okay. Myself being one. Will Clark, you know, definitely Will because I I remember well, Rusty Greer was his locker mate. He was right there. Yes. He was. Anything and everything that Will said, Rusty was right there listening and learning. He was great at it. And, you know, Will enjoyed that. I just tried to lead by example. And if anything, if anybody saw or took something from that, that's great. I was really good at, you know, at at recognizing when a teammate or two or any one of my teammates wasn't quite mentally there that particular day. As soon as they walked in the clubhouse, I could see it. And, excuse me, I was pretty good at figuring out what they needed for that day and helping them get there. Whatever that took, if I had to, you know, pat them on the back or kick them in the butt, whatever that was, I pretty much figured out what to do with that just to get them to go, hey, go out there and give it give everything you got everything you have that night because that's all you can do. Doug Melvin was the kind of guy who paid attention to that sort of thing too. He did. And he that's probably one of the big reasons he wanted you here. Yeah. I think so because there were a couple of times he called me, during the day. Can you come in early today? I I need, you know, I need you to do something for me. So there were a few calls like that and I didn't mind it because, I mean, I knew I knew how to push those buttons with guys. And it doesn't all it it can't always come from the manager or the general manager. Sometimes it has to be, you know, from your teammates. And I was able to do that because I've seen other guys do it and how they did it, you know, as when I was a young player and I just learned from that and then when it became my time, I just tried to pass that on and all I ever wanted to do was win. That's it. Just win. And I know, you know, nobody's gonna come to the ballpark or most players don't come to the ballpark every single day at their best. Just like everybody else in life, no matter what your job is, you're not gonna always be there a 100% of the time ready to go. And it's the same way in sports. Absolutely. It's just a real bummer that it just so happened that at that time when you guys were making the playoffs, you ran into the team that they weren't there yet, but they were becoming the team of that time. You're not gonna say the name, are you? No. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm not gonna I appreciate that. I'm not gonna say it. Thank you. I know better than that. Okay. Alright. I won't say it either. Please. What they were talking about. Oh. Well We're all good then. We're all good. Yeah. Because that I don't know if you guys know it, but let's see. I was in the playoffs five times and I lost to them five times. So no, I'm not happy about Yeah. The And the other part is, in that time, I had three chances to go. I had three chances to go there. And I said no every time. Had three had three chances to go there? Yes. And you said no. And I said Yeah. Out of principle? Just didn't like the way they did things? Didn't like No, no, no, not that at all. They are a first class organization top to bottom. Number one thing that they want to do is win and they will do absolutely whatever it takes to do that. So you cannot blame that blame them for that at all. I I absolutely don't. There were other factors involved for me. It wasn't about money. It was what it really boiled down to me was where I wanted to raise my kids. And that was here. Yeah. Darn right. Yeah. So and then I went to Seattle. Anyway, we'll leave that alone. Not a bad place. I wanted to stay here. Let's just say that. But Seattle ended up being great for me. It it ended up being great for me though. That's where it became the super sub. For the two weeks of summer? Yes, it is. Absolutely. For two weeks. Two weeks at sunshine? Pretty much. Yeah. Golly. Yeah. No. It's it's it is a beautiful place. It is a beautiful place. I love Seattle. I actually just got back from Seattle this past week. I've been there twice in the last month so, yes. I I absolutely love Seattle. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world. I've been all around the world. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world when the sun is out. Yeah. I like it right now. And I like it because it's not far away from what I think is the finest city on the North American Continent, that being Vancouver. Mhmm. Wow. Vancouver is beautiful as well. I played there too. So yes, Vancouver is a beautiful place. It reminds me a lot of San Diego because it's the only place or only well, a couple of places in the world where you can be at the beach in the morning and skiing in the afternoon. Yeah. That that's it. You're a couple hours away from the mountains, snow capped mountains, and those are the only two places that I know of that can do that. What led you into thinking you wanted to make your home here? Number one, being in the middle of the country. I love playing here. I came once I signed, I came down in the winter to do some to do some appearances and and stuff like that, and I I enjoyed it. Now, I'd been coming here as a visitor, but that's different because I I I was a guy that didn't really adventure out into the city much whatever city it is. Right. Because I always was trying to, you know, conserve my energy for, you know, playing, playing the game that night because you're playing every day. So I really hadn't been around Arlington all that much, but it was just laid back, which I like. I don't like being in the hustle and bustle all the time. I I like being close to it. So if I want to be in it, I can get there rather quickly and then get back out. And just being in the middle of the country made it easy to go East Coast, West Coast because at the time, my family was still in California. You know, my mom, dad, and brothers and sisters, they were all in still in San Diego. So I want I didn't want it to be go I didn't wanna be going from the East Coast or anywhere else. So being in the middle of the country and just an easy place to get to and even during the season, the travel wasn't going be as bad. Not as bad as it was in Seattle. Seattle, travel was pretty hard, especially for me at the time because I was at the end of my career and older. So that made it a little bit tough. But it was an easy choice for me, really, once I got here and really spent some time other than just, you know, two or three days at a time. Yeah. It's I hear a lot of guys say that, you know. They Yeah. They may have a certain idea about the place when they're playing somewhere else, but then they get here and somewhere along the line that golden light bulb of enlightenment goes on over their heads and they're just going, oh, okay. Yeah. I mean, there there's so many things to do here. I think there were twelve, thirteen colleges in the just in the DFW area. You know, all the sports things. You've got movies, you've got plays, you've got concerts, all all those things that that are going on and we just absolutely loved it. So jumped into that. Great place to raise our kids. A lot of diversity here. We were looking for that and it's it's been great for us. What was the last concert you went to? Actually, it was in it was maybe three months ago. It was Stephanie Mills, Plattice Knight, Patty LaBelle, and Chaka Khan. So it about two months ago. Yeah. Alright. Yeah. Yeah. It was a it was was yeah. It was a fabulous time. So, yes. We yeah. We were we we we really used to go out a lot to concerts and plays and had a great time. Fort Worth has a has a jazz place that we we go to occasionally now. It's gas. Yes. Yes. Nice. That's it. We don't get there often now because I don't like leaving home because my granddaughter's there so Aw. I like staying there. So, yeah. But, yeah, that was the last concert we went to a couple of months ago. Like having grandkids? Just the one right now. Absolutely love it. I heard all the great things about it before, but it it pales in comparison to reality for me. Yeah. I've got two new fairly new ones myself. And I'd heard those same things. Yeah. And guys would tell me about it and I'd say, well, okay. But, you know, I've got a daughter of my own. I how how could this be that different? It is. And yeah. And then the it happens and probably within the first two or three weeks of it, you just go, oh, okay. Yeah. I see. Yeah. Yeah. It it You can't tell them why. It just is. You know, and I've struggled with trying to figure or put words to what it is, what it feels like. And I've really been trying to explain it to my daughter that's, you know, she's the one who gave us this gift. Mhmm. And she's and she's my oldest. So trying to find the right words so she doesn't feel misplaced. And I think the first thing I said was, okay, there's one a and one b, the two of you fight it out. Figure out who that is. Just know it's one a and one b. Alright. What can I say? But it's really just an extension of her, you know? And and now Well, they live with us, so yes. So it's and I don't mind. But it's different in the fact that, okay, when we were raising the three of our kids, I was playing. My wife was in the middle of handling everything else. So it was always somewhere to be, somewhere to go, something a deadline for something. The kids have a project. They've got to be at school. They've got this lesson, that lesson, this recital, this rehearsal. I've got to be in this city, that city, spring training, playoffs. So our life was a thousand miles an hour. Now it's not. I'm really retired now, retired after the second career. So if I'm not flying my drone, which I haven't done a lot of, I have the last couple of days, but if I'm not doing that, I'm right there with her. So it's You got no desire to get back into broadcasting. None. None. Alright. None. I'm done with broadcasting, definitely done with playing. I I think the the only thing that I that I get into or would get into is my drones. That's that keeps me going. Before I came here, well, I was trying to fix a flat, but that didn't work out so well. So Is that an eventful day? Yes, I have. Yes. Yeah. So but that's fine. You know, fortunately, son, he'll he handles he'll handle that since he says I'm a liability. Aw. He doesn't want me to hurt myself. Sit down. I got it. Okay. Great. Appreciate you, Dee. But, you know, other than that, I was, you know, editing my videos this morning, setting up a new a new computer system, trying to get everything lined up so I can get all my videos edited. That seems to be the toughest part of my drone flying. I'll fly in a hard I'm using Resolve. I'm learning how to use Resolve. Yeah. Resolve and Lightroom Classic is what I'm what I'm, you know, and I I had been using CapCut but I'm trying to get a little bit I need to be a little bit more serious and get, you know, even better with my editing. So those are the programs I'm using now. So setting that up and, you know, getting all that right on on the computer because with the drone that I have, I I mean, it does six k video. So I wanna make sure everything is yeah. Not at all. My my last computer wasn't either. So Well, you know what? Ashley was just telling me before the show how much she needed more work. She's so she'd love to edit your videos. Oh god. Did it Well I gotta find somebody how to who can teach me how to edit video. Oh, well, edit. Ashley will teach you. Yeah. What? For what? I because it's something I need to know. I can't get you to edit on I can't get you to get on TikTok and watch. But I think I'm ready to edit. Because TikTok is for kids. I'm not a kid. But you're loved on TikTok. I mean, look at all these people watching on TikTok right now. Hello, TikTok. I love you. We love you. We don't understand you. We don't don't understand you. I don't know what you're doing there. I'm Watching doing you. Yeah. Watching you. That's what they're doing. Alright. You keep doing that. We'll keep doing this. This has been the great Mark McLemore with us today. Thank you so much for doing this, man. Oh, thank you guys for having me, man. This is this is a lot of fun. I I enjoy it. Alright. Uh-oh. Got stuff to read. Oh, I got stuff to read? Okay. Let's see. Two more. Alright. More stuff here for you. You can catch us on the podcast 25 degrees or you can catch me on the podcast 25 degrees I'm not part of this. With Alex Posani this Friday, September 11, seven at night, 07:00 central. You can find it on YouTube at at alexposani.com. That's alexpos a n I, all one word, and follow the podcast on Instagram at 25. We'll be doing that with him this Friday night. Also, the fifth annual Giving Moss golf tournament is coming September 24 at Tennyson Park Golf Course, 7AM for breakfast. Eight AM shotgun start. The guest player will be Eddie Belfour, the great Eddie Belfour, the former Starz goalie. Uh-oh. I don't know what that is. So I don't either, but I don't But Something about Dinghy's part? This year, there are Oh, boy. From upside down. He wasn't he wasn't quite that far yet. But that's alright. And you, YDC, will be Yes. We'll be the out there. So I don't know when I told you to be there, but be there. Okay. Thank They can go to givingmoss.org and sign up, and they'll know when to be Yeah. Go to givingmoss.org and sign up, and you can find all about the golf tournament there. So come see us out there. It's on the twenty fourth Yeah. Of this month. Alright. There you September 24. Mark, thanks, man. Anytime, But thanks, man. You got it. You got it. Thanks to Shoopy. Thanks to Ashley. Thanks to Becca. Thank you for watching. And if you like what we're doing here, tell your friends about us. Get us out there on your social media and we'll keep this thing going. Mhmm. Yes. Write and re rate and review. Rate us and review us. That's what we want you to do. Rate us. Debate us. Yeah. Alright. Till next time. Bye. Alright. I'm gonna go take my pants off. You're Dark Companion is a stolen water media presentation.