Latest / Foul Territory / Kurkjian’s “Is This a Great Game or What" on Brewers historic run, White Sox walk-offs, Red Sox remix

Transcript

Kurkjian’s “Is This a Great Game or What" on Brewers historic run, White Sox walk-offs, Red Sox remix · Foul Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: And welcome back to another edition of Is This a
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Great Game or What? with the Hall of Famer Tim Kirkson.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: I'm his son, Jeff Kirkson. And Dad, I know it's
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: been a busy week before we get into baseball.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: You have been dealing with grandkids back to school and Carson,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: your oldest grandchild's first day of kindergarten.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: How old does that make you feel?
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: It was so good, Jeff. Carson is five. He got
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: on the bus on Monday for a practice day to
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: make sure all the kindergartners knew how to get on
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: the bus, how to get to school, what to do
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: when they get off. Yesterday, Tuesday, we're taping this on Wednesday,
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: was his first day on the real bus. And all
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: the other kids from the neighborhood, fifth graders included, were
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: on the bus. It was just priceless. He had the
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: best time. And it just warms my heart to see
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: him on the bus like that. Jeff, I'm sorry I
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: wasn't there for you getting on the bus the first time.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Of course I was. It was so great. Do you
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: remember those days?
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes. And it's so funny. There's a picture of me,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Zha Zha Zhang.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: And Kara Langston on the curb waiting for our first
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: day of kindergarten. And then the three of us took
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: a picture at high school graduation.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Gosh, you know, 13 years later, there's a picture of that.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: So we've got our little lunch boxes and then we're
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: in our graduation robes, which is so crazy, Dad. And
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: I know you're joking, but you also need to realize
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: that Tim Kirkson, Hall of Fame baseball writer, would pick
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: me up from the school bus on a ride-on mower
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: and would mow me.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Back to our house. This is not one time. This
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: is multiple times Adam Sandler-esque.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: Jeff.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: The water boy style picking me up.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Jeff, I went to the bus stop and picked you
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: up every day that I was home when you were
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: a kid. I packed your lunch every day from kindergarten
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: all the way through high school. Every day. That's what
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: I love to do. And now I get to do
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: the same thing with my grandson, Carson. And at the
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: same time, Emma, his little sister, our granddaughter, who's three,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: same age as McKinley Hope, Emma had to go to
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: a different class now in the same school. She's in pre,
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: you know, she's in pre-K. And so it was an
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: adjustment for her. And then today, Wednesday, we're taping on Wednesday.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: We realized she forgot her lunchbox at school yesterday. So
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: for the second time in her life, she brought a
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Get Smart lunchbox into the kitchen. In the preschool, it
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: was just priceless. I showed Carson and Emma the whole
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: story of Get Smart. He's talking on his shoe phone.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: She's three years old. It was so funny.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I know that when she brought that lunchbox
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: to lunch and people were like, Emma, what.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: Do you have? She said, would you believe a banana?
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: It's too good. It was right there for me. It
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: was right there for me.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: Right there, Jeff.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I want to, I want to take a second to
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: thank everybody who, uh, went and subscribed.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: We had a big kick in YouTube subscribers.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Dad, uh, after our live event with Michael Brown, a
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: lot of people who were there that were introduced to
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the show for the first time. But if you're listening
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: right now, go on YouTube and subscribe to us there.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: If you're watching on YouTube, make sure you find us
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: on the podcast too. So you can take us with you,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: whether you're driving, mowing the lawn, whatever it might be, uh,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: so many different ways to, uh, Be in touch with
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: our show. Every episode since the dawn of this podcast
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: back in 2024 have been videoed. So we want you
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: to take a minute, subscribe, like, leave us a comment
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: here on YouTube or follow if you're listening on the
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: audio stream as well. Really trying to up those YouTube
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: numbers and we're having a lot of fun doing this.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: So glad we survived the first couple days of school, Dad.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: It's never easy.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: My daughter, McKinley Hope, will go to her first day
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: of pre-pre-K on September 8th. So I'm just holding back
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: the tears for now. until we get to that day.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: Jeff, there were many, many tears on the bus stop
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: the other day, including from Papa. But I'll never forget
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: when Kelly went 30 years ago to kindergarten for the
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: first time, she was weeping as she walked to the bus.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: And I almost just pulled her off the bus and said,
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: it's OK, you can stay home today. So she went
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: around the corner and she's absolutely in tears as she leaves.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: But the next the first stop on the bus stop,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: she picks up her cousin Lane and they come right
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: back through. And Kelly is having the greatest time. So
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: the weeping only lasted about 90 seconds and everything is OK.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: So that's the lesson for our little kids. They have
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: a little bit of trouble early and then they recover.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: McKinley Hope will be the same way. And but you
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: will still cry no matter what. I promise you that.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: No doubt about it. Dad, in honor of Cal Ripken Jr.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: 's birthday last week, I believe it was, you did,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: or was that earlier this week?
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Was that the first?
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: But we left it open to our really, really clever
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: listeners and followers about what should we do about the pitcher?
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: Because there's so many ways you could go like consecutive
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: complete games or consecutive starts without missing a start, which
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: was hard to check. But more than I would say
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: several people wrote in and said, it's got to be
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: A reliever pitching 13 games in a row, which is
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: the record. Mike Marshall in 1974 and then Dale Mahorsik
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: in 1986. They both pitched in 13 games in a row.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: So we've decided that was the best choice. We left
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: it open on purpose. Of course, I remember Mike Marshall well.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: He was at the top of my list. But I
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: wanted our guests to come up and our listeners to
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: come up with the best choice of pitcher. You agree
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: with that one?
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: No doubt, Dad.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: And this is what makes our listeners so incredible that
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: they were able to find this and jump right on it, Dad.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: They're the best. Members of the family are a special
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: group of people. That's what we call people who listen
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: to the show, by the way.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Members of the family.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: And unlike the actual Kirkshin family, members of this family
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: are more than welcome to be over six feet tall.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: Right. Bill Flanagan, who's one of our real best contributors,
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: Bill also wrote to me that Dale Mahorsik who didn't
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: pitch in the big leagues, I think, until he was
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: like 33. He was like a 33-year-old rookie. So he
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: banged around pretty good. I didn't know this, but Bill
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: said that Dale Mahorsik once got caught with sandpaper in
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: his glove. And in order to hide it, he ate it.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: So he ate a piece of sandpaper so the umpires
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: wouldn't see him. And he swallowed it. And then he
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: had to go to the hospital. He had internal bleeding. Understandably. Oh, boy.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: So thanks to all of our listeners and our viewers
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: and everything for contributing. It was really fun. And again,
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: when they're involved, it makes them feel even more a
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: part of our family. So very good.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: And a lot of people have been asking about our
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: hats that I've been wearing the great gamer.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: What caps here? I have one here.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: Hold on.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: And we're going to be working on getting these sold
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: on the foul territory shop. So dad, these are exclusive
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: to our great event. We just have, I ordered a
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: whole bunch of them. So I have some leftover from
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: our event. So we're going to do an exclusive sale
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: of these online. And I cannot wait to make this
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: happen for you. So, Make sure that you're subscribed right
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: now so you don't miss it. Follow wherever you're listening,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: and I'll make sure when that link goes live, the
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: very first people to hear about it are going to
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: be members of the family. You have to make sure
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: to be following or subscribing for your chance, and maybe
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: I'll even do a giveaway for new subscribers and new
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: followers if you want to be a part of that.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: It's going to be a great time selling those hats.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Our first merch drop, Dad. It's going to be really exciting.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: Great. Jeff, you're really good at explaining these things. You
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: must be on the radio or something, because I'm sure
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: you do this every day, but you're way better at
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: that than I am, that's for sure.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Well, Dad, I mean, I have had quite the ringer
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: of a day, speaking of radio. Country music star Dolly
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Parton died. I'm a country music morning show host, so
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: I have been on the radio, on local TV, explaining
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: the importance of Dolly Parton's legacy, and we just found out.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Moments before hitting record here, Tim Curry also died, and
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: they say these celebrities come in threes. Yeah, Dad, I
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: didn't want to make you really sad about that, but
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: mere moments before hitting record on this August the 26th,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Wednesday afternoon, Tim Curry passed away.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Also at the age of 80.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: So it's really sad, and he was so essential, Dad,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: to so many great shows and movies that you grew
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: up watching.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Jeff, seriously, Part of our job, especially my job as
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: an old man, is to make sure when somebody dies
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: that everyone remembers who that person was. Because a lot
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: of young people didn't know who Tommy John was. You know,
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, when these people die, I feel
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: responsible to make sure that they are sent off properly.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: And everybody just knows how great a player, how great
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: a person, whatever they are. I really think it's important
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: to do that. And you did it today with Dolly Parton.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: I'm proud of you for that.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so important, Dad, and I've seen you do
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: it a number of times with incredible Major League Baseball players,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Hall of Famers at that. You are etching in history
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: to make sure people realize the legacy that they left.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: All right, Dad, let's go to the takeaways across Major
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: League Baseball.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: What do you got for us?
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: Well, I got a good look at the Brewers on
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: Sunday in Williamsport, and we talked a lot about the
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: Brewers because they have the best record in baseball. They're
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: the best team in baseball. They're the most fundamentally sound
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: team in baseball. They play the game more correctly, I believe,
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: than any team in baseball. That's why they win. As
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: you know, Jeff, best record and fewest home runs. So
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: that just doesn't line up in this environment. But the
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: Brewers are doing that. The last team to finish a
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: regular season with the most wins and the fewest homers
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: was the 1959 White Sox. So that's where the Brewers
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: are potentially headed. And does it encourage you like it
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: does me, Jeff, that they've gone a different route? They
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: don't have to hit the ball out of the ballpark
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: to beat you? Is that not good to see?
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Who would have thought that just swinging for the fences
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: wasn't the only way to win baseball games?
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, for years, baseball's been around forever. Small ball
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: can win.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Pitching and getting on base is the way to win championships.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: Am I wrong? No, I think you're right.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: That's how you score runs.
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: I think you're right, Jeff. All right, and the other
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: thing that happened with the Brewers, and I've got to
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: be careful with this, but Pat Murphy, their manager, who's
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: two-time manager of the year, last two years, has done
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: an absolutely fantastic job with that team. He's 67 years old,
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: but his wisdom is absolutely everywhere. So the other day...
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: Cooper Pratt, one of his young players, 22 years old,
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: a big time prospect, a major leaguer who's going to
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: be really, really good one day. He did not run
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: out a pop up, not knowing if it was going
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: to be fair or foul. He didn't run it out properly.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: And Pat Murphy benched him, took him out of the
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: game and showed everyone this is unacceptable behavior for any player,
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: but especially for a 22 year old. And I remember
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: when I covered the Orioles millions of years ago, Earl Weaver,
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: one of the great managers of all time, once told me,
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: and I've used this before, baseball is the hardest game
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: in the world to play, he told me. Everything you
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: have to do on the field is hard, except running
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: as hard as you can every time you're asked to
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: or you're supposed to. And you don't even have to
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: run fast. You just have to run as fast as
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: you can. And Cooper Pratt did not. And I'm not
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: picking on him. I'm trying to make a point, Jeff,
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: that if you set an example, the manager says, no,
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: you're not doing this. The manager sends the right message
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: and everyone gets it after that. Agreed? Yeah.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Got to set the example on the field there. I
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: think it's so important. And on a note, Dad, I
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: saw your interviews with both managers while you were in Williamsport,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: and I just love the look on both of their
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: faces when you asked them both, what was it like
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: when you saw your players going down the big hill?
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Because you got two very interesting answers.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: One was, go ahead and do it, and the other
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: one was, don't tell me I don't want to see it.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: And I'll let anybody decide which manager said which.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: I thought they were very interesting perspective on both managers.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: Same question, very different answers.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: Right. Walt Weiss said, look, I don't want to know.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: And Pat Murphy said, whatever you want to do, go ahead. Again,
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: different ways of managing everything. Those guys are both really good.
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: Speaking of those Braves, I had a long talk with
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: Walt Weiss. Jeff, I had almost forgotten. how many injuries
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: that team has had this year, especially to their starting rotation,
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: Spencer Strider and others. I didn't forget. It just reminded
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: me again that it's an amazing thing that the Braves
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: are in first place in their division over your Phillies
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: with everything that's gone wrong. And I don't know if,
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: you know, if Spencer Strider is going to come back
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: this year. I know that's a long shot, but we'll
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: see about that. But Walt Weiss and the Braves deserve
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: a lot of credit for hanging in there and being
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: where they are based on everything that they've been through.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: So good for the Braves. And, you know, them and
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: the Brewers at Williamsport was really fun teams to watch.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: And speaking of fun teams, Jeff, the White Sox have
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: now won 11 games by a walk-off, okay? The Cubs
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: with 13 are the only ones with more. The White
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Sox have five walk-off home runs so far. This year,
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: that ties the club record for the most in any
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: season in White Sox history. And I'm sure they're going
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: to get another one because they are a young, hungry,
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: exciting team. And they are really fun to watch. And
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: don't forget, Jeff, two years ago, they were 80 games
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: under 500. 80. And now they have a real shot
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: to win the division. The beauty of baseball, though, right, Jeff?
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: It just, things can shift and change just so, so easily. Agreed?
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: It's the craziest part.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, and you never know who's going to have
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: those records, right? It's crazy to me to think the
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: amount of runs the Nationals have scored this year and
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: their run differential. And you would never have predicted that
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: given their current record. You know, they're scoring a lot
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: of runs. It just means that not always is it
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: about who has the most X, Y, and Z that
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: leads to the most wins.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Not all the time.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: Right. And speaking of turnarounds, the Red Sox went from
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: 14 games under. 500 to 14 games over. 500 in
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: only 62 days. And that is the second fewest days
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: any team has ever taken to go from 14 under
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: to 14 over. The 1914 Boston Braves, known as the
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Miracle Braves, Went from 14 under to 14 over in
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: only 59 days. That is the record. And the Braves
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: won the World Series that year. And the Red Sox,
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: who knows? I think a winnable American League, why can't
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: they go to the World Series with this team? It
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: looks like Roman Anthony is going to come back in September.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: We'll see how that goes. But just another amazing story
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: coming out of the Red Sox.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Dad, have you seen the records of the teams in
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: the AL Central? Have you seen the records of the
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: teams in the AL Central?
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: I have.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: What is going on with the American League?
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: Nothing makes any sense in the American League. For instance,
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: the Royals at this taping had won nine games in
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: a row. They started their nine-game-in-a-row streak like 20 games under. 500.
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: So the last team to win nine games in a
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: row or more Having started that streak at 20 games under.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: 500 was the 2003 Brewers, who won 10 in a row.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: So it's been 23 years since any team has been
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: this bad for this long in a season and then
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: rips off nine wins in a row. It just speaks
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: to the unpredictable nature of this game, which is what
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: makes it so beautiful. And speaking of unpredictable, Jeff, Mason Miller,
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: the unhittable, closer for the Padres, the Red Hot Padres,
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: gave up a homer the other day to O'Neal Cruz
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: in the ninth inning, and they lost the game one
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: to nothing. And it ended a streak of Mason Miller's
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: 76 and two-thirds innings without a home run allowed, which
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: is just remarkable in this day and age where the
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: ball flies out of the ballpark when it's not being,
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: you know, it's not strike three. So, Mason Miller finally
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: gave up a homer. I didn't think that was possible
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: with as hard as he probed.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: And we never thought it was going to happen at
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: this point with how great he's been.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: It's been insane.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: So good.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: All right, dad, what are today's portions here on the podcast?
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: Well, we have to go to bat to Williamsport on
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: Sunday night. Matt Olson, really, really good player had a
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: difficult night. He struck out three times. He grounded into
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: two double plays and he made an error. So the
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: last player to have three punch outs, two GIDPs and
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: an error was Travis Fryman, another really good player in 1999. And,
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: you know, it came in the little league ballpark where
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: Matt Olsen had such a great time talking to the kids.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: And then he had a difficult night. Again, great player,
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: bad night. Doesn't happen like this in other sports. But
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: it also reminded me, Jeff, of one thing that I
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: check in the box scores every day. And this is
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: religiously every day. And when I find the next time
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: it happens or the only other time it happens, I'm
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: just going to celebrate at 5 o'clock in the morning.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: It's called the reverse triple-double. And that's someone who has
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: two strikeouts. two grounded at a double plays, and two
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: errors in the same game.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: The reverse triple-double is what you're getting?
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Call it? Yes, that's what I've called it this for years.
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: Kurt Babacqua, 1978 with the Rangers, is the only player
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: in Major League history to have one of those, of course,
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: since GIDPs became official. So I check for that. Every
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: time I see somebody who has two GIDPs, I checked
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: to see if he's got two strikeouts and two errors,
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: which is obviously really hard to do. But Matt Olson
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: came pretty close. Three strikeouts, two GIDPs, and an error.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: It's just a statistical quirky thing, and Matt Olson will
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: be a great player the next day. That's how it works.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: All right, so Cal Raleigh, Jeff, who was hitting 159
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: at the time, had a three-homer game the other night.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: So the Elias looked up, Elias looked up that it
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: was the seventh, seventh lowest batting average ever by someone
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: who had a three homer game. So Kirk Neuenheist for
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: the 2015 Mets was batting 106 when he had a
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: three homer game. Is that amazing to you?
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: 106 are you kidding.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah you would think someone hitting 106 is not capable
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: of getting three hits let alone it's.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Not capable of being in the lineup.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: Lineup right and i was amazed by this in 1935
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: babe ruth was hitting 153 when he had his final
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: three homer game of his career yeah now it's the
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: end of his career he was done all that still
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: but Babe Ruth, who knew he would ever hit 153
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: during any, even as a, as an old man playing
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: in another league, but that's, that's what he did. So,
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: and Jeff, I was really taken by what, you know,
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: the Mariners, the Mariners lost 22 to nothing the other day,
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: as you know, and then the Phillies, and then they
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: lost by 17 runs soon after that. So they, they
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: became the first team since the 1933 Phillies. to lose
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: two games by at least 17 runs in a six-game span.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: You know, most people don't, most teams don't lose by
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: 17 for years and years. The Mariners did it twice
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: in a six-day span. And they're somehow still in the
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: playoff race. It's just unbelievable. Baseball is so beautiful. And
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: speaking of that, Jeff, so Randy Rosarena hit a leadoff
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: homer again the other day. So that gave him, in
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: a two-game span, two leadoff homers and one walkoff homer.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: And he's the second player in Major League history, during
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: a two-game stretch, to have two leadoff homers and a
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: walkoff homer. And it was five days earlier, Pete Crow
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: Armstrong became the first player ever to do that. And
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: then Randy Orozarena became the second player ever to do that,
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: and they did it in the same week. Jeff, what
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: are we doing here?
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was watching you on baseball tonight, Dad, and
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: you had a little bit of a.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: Voice crack there.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: You were saying, Pete Crow Armstrong was the first, and
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: now we're doing it again. Like, I know you got
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: really excited about that, but, I mean.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: It's true.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: We can wait hundreds of years for something to happen,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: and that can happen twice in a week.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: What?
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: Right. Only in baseball can that happen. Okay. Uh, Taj
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: Bradley had an immaculate inning for the twins and we're
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: told it's, uh, at least the last 25 years, it's
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: the first immaculate inning by any twins pitcher. Cause after,
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: you know, 25 years ago, it was really hard to
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: check this and the Elias and others. are not checking
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: something that they can't confirm 100%. But immaculate inning, Jeff,
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: we're clear on what an immaculate inning is, and we're
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: clear that it's okay. Nine pitches, three strikes per batter,
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: three strikeouts, right? That's it, right?
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: That's it. There's no debate here. That's it. I like
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: the thing. I think we're landing the plane.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: Right. Contact is allowed. You could hit four 440-foot foul balls,
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: but as long as three batters strike out on a
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: total of nine pitches, we're all good with that, right?
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: A thousand percent. Yep, absolutely.
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: We don't need to get the commissioner, Mike Schor, on this.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: I think it's agreed.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: Yes, totally.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: You know how much I love names, Jeff. This is
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: a real stretch, but Jansen Junk faced Jacob Young the
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: other day. In Marlins Nationals game. So we had young
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: junk against each other. What do we have at our house, Jeff?
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: We have a lot of old junk, right? Right. We, yeah.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: I had no idea where you were going with this.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: We don't need any more young junk.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Young junk sounds like a rapper in this day and age.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Young junk's going on tour with Jay-Z.
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: Hova. Well, I love that. I also love that the
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: Rockies on consecutive days, they made a roster move and
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: Mason Adams was called up and Blake Adams was sent down.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: So Blake Adams made his major league debut. Didn't go
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: very well. He was optioned back to the minor leagues
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: and they recalled Mason Adams who made his major league debut.
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: So two pitchers with the same last name, appeared in
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: back-to-back days making their major league debut. Do you find
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: that interesting?
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: I find it very, very fascinating. And nobody loves names
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: more than Tim Kirkson.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: That's for sure. And I've already mentioned it.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: I got a text from both of my in-laws, the
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: grandparents on the other side, talking.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: About Kinley pitching in the Little League World Series. And
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: McKinley was.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Very confused and unimpressed. She thinks she's the only one
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: named Kinley or McKinley on.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: The face of the earth. I was like, she's not understanding, folks.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: Don't go there.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: And speaking of names, Jeff, Amy Green, who's one of
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: our real good contributors and listeners and followers, she wrote
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: the nicest note to us, the nicest email that Merrill
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: Kelly of the Diamondbacks face wrote. Carson Kelly of the Cubs.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: And she said, and this is just for Kelly Kirkjian,
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: your sister. How nice is that?
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: I loved that matchup because usually we're looking for young junk.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: And in this case, she was looking out for something else,
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: which is so great.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: I love that she found that because it definitely made
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: every single Kirkjian smile that she was thinking of, the
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Wally Pip of, is this a great game or what?
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Wait, am I? She's Wally Pip, right? I'm Lou Gehrig
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: in this hypothetical, right? Because I'm the one getting replaced?
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you are Wally Pip, Jeff, all right? She is
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: Lou Gehrig.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Oh, yes, Wally Pip was replaced by Lou Gehrig. She's
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Lou Gehrig.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: So, I mean- You haven't been Wally pipped because even
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: though Kelly was great in her one turn on the air,
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: she hasn't made a return until, you know, you have
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: another baby. So I don't think that's going to happen
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: anytime soon.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: No, no, not according to my wife. That's for sure.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: But we also have to keep in mind that she
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: was texting saying she had an idea for a, for
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: a segment she wants to do. And if I ever
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: wanted to take a day off, I could, but, And
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: I'm like, whoa, slow your roll.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: Okay. I'm not calling you saying I'm going to design
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: some wedding invites for you. Don't worry. You can take
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: the day off, Kel.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: She has, you know, on a side note, and obviously
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: we do not, we do not gain financial advantage on this,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: but my sister Kelly is an incredible designer.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: And I think, I think one regret I had was
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: not taking the.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Minute to to promote her business, Kelly Joyce design in
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: the DC area. She can do it anywhere for anybody
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: across the country, design wedding invites, things for day of
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: right table numbers, save the dates, all that stuff.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: She's a super talented, uh, designer.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: And so if you're looking for something, Kelly Joyce design, just,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: just Google it. And maybe she can handle your wedding stuff. Um,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: she did mine and it was, Oh, incredible. She does
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: all of her friends. It's, So amazing what she's done
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: with that business.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: I'm done praising Kelly.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: And we'll finish with Kelly. Kelly's a great artist. Her
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: dad is not fill in the joke, fill in the blank.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: He used to put my art on the inside of
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: the refrigerator.
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: You could have sold it a little better than that.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: My mom, my mom hung my artwork on the inside
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: of the refrigerator. Okay. That's enough. We move on.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: On this date in baseball history, Dad, what do you
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: got for us?
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: Take it away. Well, on this date in 1978, Joe
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: Morgan hit his 200th home run to become the first
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: player ever to have 200 homers and 500 stolen bases.
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: Joe Morgan is one of the three greatest second basemen
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: of all time. As Jim Palmer once told me, the
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: Big Red Machine didn't become the Big Red Machine until
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: Joe Morgan showed up. That's how good Joe Morgan was.
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: He's about 5'7, tremendous power, tremendous base runner, great defensive
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: second baseman. We lost Joe too young, but again, I
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: wrote his obituary, and that's what we need to do
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: when our great players pass. On this date in 2005,
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: Jeff Kent became the first Hall of Famer. Jeff Kent
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: became the first player to hit 300 home runs, as
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: a second baseman. He's got the most homers ever by
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: a second baseman. On this date in 1961, Mike Maddox
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: was born. I've told a couple of Mike Maddox stories.
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: Do you remember either one of them about Greg Maddox's
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: older brother?
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: I can't remember.
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: He did something in golf, Jeff. He did something in
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: golf one day that was.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Two hole-in-ones in a day?
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: In one round.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: In one round, that's right. That's what I thought.
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: I was there when he showed his scorecard like other
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: guys on the team. Like, oh my gosh. Mike Maddox also,
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: when he was the Brewers pitching coach, They had one
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: of these like Rorschach tests. I told you this story, Jeff,
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: where you look at a picture that's got, it's just,
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: there's jumbled stuff all over the place. And you have
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: to tell what you see within all of these shapes
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: and everything in the picture. And I guess the really clever,
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: really observant people who have a different lens than the
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: rest of us could see a gorilla in the picture.
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: And like the only guy who saw it was Mike Maddox.
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: So they show him this picture and they said, what
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: do you see? And he goes, well, what's that giant
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: gorilla doing there? It was the first thing he saw.
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: He saw it immediately. So I don't know what that means.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: I just know that those Maddox boys, Greg and Mike,
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: are just wired differently and frankly better than most people
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: because of the things that they see, the things that
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: they can process. It's pretty impressive. Mike wasn't the pitcher
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: that Greg was, but Mike Maddox was one of the
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: best pitching coaches I know that I've ever been around.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: Have you ever had to do one of those tests?
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: Because I did one, Dad, and I couldn't see the gorilla.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: It was driving me bananas. I could not figure it out.
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: There was a big aping hole in the middle, and
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: I couldn't see it.
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: All right, Jeff. On this date in 1970, Jim Tomey
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: was born. Jim Tomey. Former Philly, former many teams, of course,
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: Cleveland Indians at the time. Let's see if you know
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: what record he holds when it comes to home runs, Jeff.
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: He hit over 600 homers. What distinction does he have
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: over everyone else in Major League history, including Ryan Zimmerman
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: and Stan Musial?
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: I know this. I know this. He has the most
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: walk-off home runs in history, right?
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: Right. How many for Jim Tomey? 13.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: Yes! Yes!
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: Way to go, Jeff. I am so proud of you.
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: That was very good.
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Now, Jeff, also,
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: Jim told me the story when he was growing up
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: in Chicago. I know I've told you this story. But
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: Dave Kingman was like his guy. He loved Dave Kingman.
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: And he went to a Cubs game at Wrigley. And somehow,
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: Jim told me, like, got into the Cubs dugout. Like
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: five minutes before the game starts, there's like an eight,
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: ten-year-old kid in the dugout. And he goes up and
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: just shakes like meets Dave Kingman. And Kingman had to say, look,
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: that's great, kid, but you got to get out of here.
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: The game's going to start in five minutes. Did I
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: ever tell you that story? I can just see Jim
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: Tomey doing that when he was eight years old. Just
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: absolutely priceless. One of my favorite people to ever play
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: the game.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: All right, Dad, the alpha best is a difficult one.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: And let me just say, there isn't a conversation with
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: my dad that doesn't involve the podcast at some point.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: We'll be talking about McKinley, how she did at swim lessons,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: and then he'll say, I can't even do alpha best
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: for W best position player.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: It's going to drive me nuts. And then all of
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: a sudden we're talking about the podcast, but.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: Here we are letter W let's start with our best
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: position player to have the last name.
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: Starting with W.
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: All right. I'm going with Ted Williams, but I do
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: need to acknowledge and I'm comfortable with Ted Williams, but
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: Hannes Wagner deserves a shout out here. He was the
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: first great, superstar position player of the 20th century. He
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: was a great defensive shortstop. He could fly. He got
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: well over 3,000 hits. He hit with great power. He
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: was the Flying Dutchman was his nickname, Jeff. And, you know,
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: he weighed 190 pounds about 125 years ago. And he
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: even has a higher war, which I don't usually reference,
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: than Ted Williams. So Anyone who votes here for Hannes Wagner,
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: I'm going to say, go ahead. It's not a bad choice.
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: But I'm going with Ted Williams because Ted Williams, for me,
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: is the greatest left fielder ever. After Babe Ruth, he's
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: the greatest hitter ever for me. And Jeff, never forget,
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: his career OPS is 1.116. So the only active player
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: that has had even one season to match Ted Williams'
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: career OPS is Aaron Judge. So Shohei Ohtani, who's an
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: amazing player, an amazing hitter, has never had a single
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: season OPS that can match Ted Williams' career OPS. Does
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: that make sense to you? No. It doesn't.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: I mean, I understand what you're saying, but it doesn't
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: make sense to think about just how.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: Legendary of a hitter he was. It's incredible.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: And, Dad, I want you, in spirit of Ted Williams,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: to tell the story with Pedro Martinez. I think that's
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: one of my favorite stories. Or is it the All-Star
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: game when he was talking to all the pitchers in
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: batter and they were— Well, it was.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: The same day. It was the same day. Good point, right?
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: Jeff. They honored him at Fenway 1999 All-Star Game as
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: the greatest hitter of all time. And Ted is wheeled
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: out to the mound in a wheelchair and the players
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: huddle around him and they're like afraid to talk to
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: him because it's Ted Williams. But it was Tony Gwynn
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: and Cal Ripken that said, we got to go talk
• 36:02
  Speaker 3: to Ted. So he talked to all these players. Then,
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: of course, Pedro and all those players knew this, Jeff,
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: that if Ted Williams were playing in that All-Star Game
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: in his prime, he would have been the best hitter
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: on the field. And that's for me, for me, that's
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: a fact. And I don't think you can say that
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: about other sports, but the point is in that game,
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: Pedro Martinez went out and pitched two innings, struck out
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: five of the six batters he faced. Nobody had a chance.
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: He went into the clubhouse after his two innings and
• 36:35
  Speaker 3: Ted Williams was in there. And he looked at Pedro
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: Martinez and said, that is some of the greatest pitching
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: I have ever seen in my life. And Ted, hated
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: pitchers for obvious reasons. And Pedro still calls that like
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: the highlight of his career, that this amazing man, this
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: incredible hitter would say something like that to him after
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: his all-star appearance. That's Ted Williams for you. And I'm
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: going to tell you one more story, which I'm sure
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: I told you Jeff, but uncle Andy, your uncle Andy,
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: who's now 73 years old, great college baseball player in
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: his day was the, the ball boy down one of the,
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: left a right field line for more than a few
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: Washington Senators games. And he actually took batting practice. He
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: didn't hit, but he was in the field shagging balls.
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: And Ted Williams, as the manager of the Senators in 1969,
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: steps into the cage and hits a rocket line drive.
• 37:32
  Speaker 3: And Andy leaps up, my brother, and catches it. And
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: Ted Williams screams out, we got to sign that kid.
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: You know what Uncle Andy told me that story, Jeff?
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: Two years ago, he waited 71 years before he told
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: his dopey little brother who cares about one thing in
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: the world, baseball. I said, Panda, how could you bury
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: the lead after all those years? How could you not
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: tell me that? And he just said, I didn't think
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: it was important. So, well, it was to me. So
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: there we go.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: All right, Dad, W for Alpha Best Pitcher.
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: Pitcher, there's Big Ed Walsh, there's Rube Waddell, there's Mickey Wright,
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: there are a few other Hall of Famers, but I'm
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: going with Early Win. Early Win is a Hall of Famer,
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: of course, made the All-Star team nine times, won a
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: Cy Young, won an ERA title, won 20 games, five
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: different times. He won exactly 300 games. So I'm going
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: with Early Win. So our Ws are... Ted Williams and
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: early win next week. Jeff, remember we have X and
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: we're only going to go with first names on X
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: because no one with a last name of X has
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: ever played in the major leagues. And when we're done
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: after X, Y, and Z, we're going to continue the
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: competition and come up with which letter was the best
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: letter of combination of pitcher and hitter. Like again, Hank
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: Aaron and, and Grover Cleveland Alexander, right? Willie Mays and
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: Greg Maddox, Babe Ruth and Nolan Ryan. I mean, these
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: are the dangerous letters. We're going to have our really
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: clever and really observant listeners and friends vote on this
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: and see, because we're going to have like a, we're
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: going to have like a little final four kind of
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: thing and go through the matchups and see who wins
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: in the end. It will be so subjective, but it'll
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: be fine. So those are the Ws.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: All right, Dad, I see you grabbing the cards for
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: three cards in the bathroom. This is where my dad
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: goes down to the basement bathroom that's decorated with baseball attire.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: It's the only thing that survived my mom's takeover of
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: the basement after the kids left. The bathroom is still baseball.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: Which cards do you have?
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: Okay, we're going to start with Dante Bichette. Of course,
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: he is the father of Beau Bichette, the third baseman
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: for the New York Mets. Dante Bichette in his prime
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: with the Rockies was a great hitter. And I'll never
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: forget this, Jeff. I wrote a story on him for
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: Sports Illustrated. And he told me during that story, in
• 40:20
  Speaker 3: the prime of his career, he said, every day I
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: come to the ballpark, I wonder, is today the last
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: day that I'll be able to hit in the big leagues?
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: He really believed that. And he was in the prime
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: of his career. That's how hard this game is to play.
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: And maybe it was just his defense mechanism that to
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: make sure he showed up and did his work properly
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: and was prepared and everything else. But that's what actually
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: went through his mind. Is today the day that I
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: can't hit anymore? I just don't think a great NBA
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: jump shooter goes to the arena and wonders, God, I
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: wonder if I'll be able to make a three today.
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: Never enters his mind. Never enters the quarterback's mind. Do
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: you think I can throw the out route today? I
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: don't think so. But only in baseball.
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: Agreed?
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think it just goes to show there
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: are probably more players, respectfully to the game, that are
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: thinking that every day nowadays because of how hard the
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: pitching is to hit. I can't imagine how these players
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: are feeling.
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: Right. All right, number two is Doug DeCenso, another one
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: of my favorite guys, really short. Doug is probably 5'7,
• 41:27
  Speaker 3: maybe even shorter, and he was a good little outfielder.
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: He could run Cubs and others, and he... Back in
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: the day, Jeff, when we would have a position player
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: pitch like twice a year, now we have like seven
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: times a week, and I'm not exaggerating. It's just ridiculous
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: how many position players pitch these days. Well, Doug DeCenso pitched,
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: and I asked him, like, tell me about pitching, and
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: he goes, well, I really was the short reliever tonight.
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: That's how he presented it. Yeah.
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: That's amazing.
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: Very healthy that he would think that way.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: If there's one family that understands and loves short humor
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: more than any, it's the Kirkson family.
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: So I'm here for that.
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: And another one of my favorites, the late Joaquin Andujar, who,
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: how many times do we talk today about the unpredictable
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: nature of baseball, Jeff? Like half a dozen times at least.
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: And Joaquin understood that better than most. And he once
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: famously said, you can sum up baseball in one word.
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: You never know. So he took three words and turned
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: it into one word.
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: You never know.
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: And we all understood exactly what that meant. Joaquin Andujar
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: and Gary Peters, by the way, two guys who pitched,
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: I don't know, almost around 2000 innings in their major
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: league career, never gave up a grand slam. Of course,
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: neither did Jim Palmer. But Andrew Hart and Gary Peters
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: hit a grand slam, but never gave up one. How
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: cool is that, Jeff? That is very cool.
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: That is really neat.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: So that's the three cards in the bathroom for today. Well,
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: before we wrap up today's episode with a great Team
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: Tim in celebration of back to school for our kids,
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: the only people celebrating are mom and dad right now. But,
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: you know, we can celebrate nonetheless. Trust me, this is
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: the first time I've been in a neighborhood with a
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: lot of kids. I've talked to a couple parents whose
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: kids go to school, and they're looking at me like, I.
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: Can't wait for them to go back. It's been a
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: long summer.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: But nonetheless, make sure you subscribe, you like, you comment,
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: wherever you're listening or watching right now to help us
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: out with the podcast.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: Okay, Dad, Team Tim, back to school.
• 43:46
  Speaker 3: All right, well, I had to come up with the
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: back-to-school edition since it completely dominated our week. There are
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: a bunch of stretches in here, Jeff, but come on.
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: It's the first week of school for.
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: Kindergartner Carson Keenahan. All right. Our catcher is Jeff Reed,
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: spelled R-E-E-D. But do I have to explain? You have
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: to read and write, okay?
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: No, no.
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: So David Wright is our third baseman.
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: Right, write and read.
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: W-R-I-G-H-T. Josh Bell is our first baseman. Very good. Carson
• 44:21
  Speaker 3: School at 930. Shannon Penn. is our second baseman. I'm
• 44:29
  Speaker 3: not going to explain every one of these.
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: Please don't. They're softballs, Dad. We got them. We all
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: went to school.
• 44:36
  Speaker 3: I'm sure you do. Our shortstop is Dave Chalk, which
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: we all know about. I forgot all about this guy,
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: but Nick Buss is one of our outfielders, B-U-S-S. And
• 44:48
  Speaker 3: the Buss was like the highlight of the opening week.
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: A kid gets on the Buss for the first time.
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: It's great. Jimmy Hall. Of course, there's a hall monitor
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: when you go to school, even when you're a kindergartner.
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: And Roland Office, one of my all-time favorite baseball player names. Jeff,
• 45:07
  Speaker 3: did you ever go to the office when you were
• 45:09
  Speaker 3: a kid? Did you ever get called in the office
• 45:11
  Speaker 3: for doing something wrong?
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: I confessed this on the radio show just a couple
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: of weeks ago. And The big thing that happened to
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: me was I was called into the principal's office in
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: high school because I was asked to help plan the
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: rest of the pep rally. And the principal brought lunch
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: in for me and her.
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: So she's like, it's fine. I'm in charge. You can
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: miss the next two classes.
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: And so I skipped class in the principal's office to
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: talk about great things as the class president.
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: So the only time I was really called down there
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: was for that. So I'll take it.
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: Well, the only time I went, Jeff, I was in,
• 45:48
  Speaker 3: I think, the third, fourth grade, maybe, in cafeteria. And Mr. Collins,
• 45:52
  Speaker 3: the principal at Ashburton Elementary, came in, and he was
• 45:56
  Speaker 3: very upset with how loud it was in the cafeteria
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: and how many kids were acting up. And I'm not
• 46:02
  Speaker 3: proud of this, Jeff, but it happened. When everything got
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: really quiet, I burped an absolutely epic burp. And Mr.
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: Collins thought I had done it on purpose to like
• 46:16
  Speaker 3: mock him. And get this, I got called to the
• 46:19
  Speaker 3: principal's office and I got suspended, suspended from the cafeteria
• 46:26
  Speaker 3: for three days for burping out loud in front of Mr. Collins.
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: How did I not know this story that you got suspended?
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: I got suspended. I had to go home to eat
• 46:37
  Speaker 3: lunch three days in a row. And my mother, God
• 46:40
  Speaker 3: bless her, was, furious that i would be suspended for
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: an accidental burp and the kicker is she ended up
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: going to work as the secretary at ashburton elementary worked
• 46:52
  Speaker 3: very closely with mr collins and she once reminded him
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: i can't believe you were suspended my son from the
• 46:58
  Speaker 3: cafeteria well he forgot all about it but i didn't
• 47:02
  Speaker 3: so uh so yeah so that's roland office is one
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: of our outfielders um School Boy Roe is one of
• 47:09
  Speaker 3: our pitchers. A bit of a twist. Mike Schooler is
• 47:13
  Speaker 3: one of the pitchers. He was a reliever. And Bob
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: Locker was a reliever for several teams. I remember him well. And,
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: you know, you got to have a locker, Jeff, for lunch,
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: after lunch, whatever it is. So that's the all, Tim,
• 47:31
  Speaker 3: for going back to school.
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: Well, excited to tell you that next week on the podcast, Mr.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: Collins to go through and explain exactly what happened in
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: the school cafeteria back in 1967.
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: All right, Dad. Let's get wrapped up here. Thank you
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: again for listening and watching. And as always, thanks for
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: being a part of our family.