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Memorable Moments by Former Pittsburgh Athletes · Pittsburgh Sports Memories

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Hi, everybody.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the Pittsburgh Sports Memories Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_03: I am your co-host.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: My name is Tim Hannon, and with me as always is uh Steve Ward.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_03: Hi, Steve.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_05: Hey Tim.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_03: In this episode, we will look at guys who played for a Pittsburgh Pro Sports team, left Pittsburgh, and then had a memorable moment somewhere else.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_03: Steve, did you ever leave a job and uh had a memorable moment somewhere else?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: And then the people at the old job are like, wow, Steve used to work here.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_05: Um, no, my memorable moment was leaving the job.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_05: And mostly the job saying, Don't let the door hit you where the good lord splits you.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: Well, then I guess you don't have anything in common with the guys on this list.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I'm good at burning a bridge.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_05: I I found that skill I have, apparently.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_03: Well, to be fair, some of the guys on this list are good at that too.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: So um the the the the first guy we're gonna talk about on this list is a gentleman named Plexico Burris.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_03: And and for each of these, we'll we'll talk about the person's time in Pittsburgh and then obviously the the memorable moment after they left Pittsburgh.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: So let's talk about Plex's time in Pittsburgh.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: He's drafted eighth overall by the Steelers in the 2000 draft.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_03: And here's a fun fact, Steve.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_03: To this day, that's the highest draft pick the Steelers have had this century.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: Did you know that?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_05: What?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, oh, okay.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_05: All right, now that makes a lot more sense.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_05: All right, okay.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_05: I'm thinking higher than Terry Bradshaw.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_03: That's not uh Yeah, this century.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's we're in a 21st century.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: Right, and we're a quarter of the way through it, believe it or not.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, Buck Rogers.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: Uh in Pittsburgh, Plex is um I I don't know, Steve, what would you say?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like maybe a good receiver, but not a great receiver.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_05: Solid.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I mean, he had his moments, that's for sure.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_05: Like spiking the ball when the play was still going on.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: So so yes, he he has his he has his good moments.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he sets the franchise record for receiving yards in a 2002 game against the Falcons.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_03: He's he's really instrumental in that Halloween win over the Patriots in 2004 when we ended their streak.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_05: That Falcons game is the impass where he catches the Hail Mary, but he's not in the end zone.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_03: He's not in the end zone.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_05: And that kind of like yeah, that defines his career in Pittsburgh.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_05: He makes a great play, but just needed one more one more yard, by the way.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so so uh what Steve alluded to, he has his not so great moments as well.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_03: The the spiking the ball in Jacksonville before the play was over.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he causes a stir when he holds out a mini camp in 2004.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: Then he drops a touchdown pass in the AFC Championship game that year.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh ultimately the Steelers choose to give Heinz Ward a big contract, and they let Plex go in free agency.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: So what happens after he leaves Pittsburgh?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: Plex Goburr signs with the Giants, and in 2007, New York is playing the undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: They trail 14-10 in the game's final minute when this happens.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_06: 39 seconds left.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_06: Manning lobs it boris alone to the star of New York
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_05: Hey, that seems like a big moment.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: The Giants pull off one of the great upsets of all time.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_05: The Giants win the pennant.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_05: Oh no, the Giants win the Super Bowl.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we'll get to the Giants winning the pennant later, actually.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: But yes, they win the Super Bowl thanks to that catch by Burris.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_03: And that was that was shocking at the time.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, New England was so dominant that year.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_05: I was not surprised at all.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_05: I I I I I I thought the Giants could pull it off just because they had played them tough the first time, although New England pulled away.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_05: And like, I don't know, in Super Bowls, things seem to even out.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_05: So I don't know.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and the team with the defense usually can withstand the team with the dominant offense.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_03: So but but I I just I don't know.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: They they they hadn't lost all season, and they were they would win these games by a million points.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: So it it was still pretty surprising.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: Uh fun fact, Plex ultimately makes his way back to Pittsburgh at the very end of his career.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: Do you remember that?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_05: I remember that.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_05: He didn't do much.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_05: He was just kind of like a cage veteran at that point.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: He was, but it was kind of nice to to welcome him back.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: And um that's where he ended his career was with the Steelers.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_05: Nice.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_05: Nice.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: The next guy on our list is Travis Ishikawa.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: Steve, do you remember Travis Ishikawa?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_05: I I think uh he played for the Giants eventually, didn't he, or something like that?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_03: He he he did.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_05: Not not that this that would be the San Francisco baseball Giants.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_05: Right, yes.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_03: This is a base this is yes.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: Travis Ishikawa was a journeyman first baseman, played for quite a few different teams who uh signs with the pirates in 2014.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_05: Are you just starting off the podcast with teams named Giants?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, yes, it's it's are we gonna show the annexation of Puerto Rico play next from the little giants movie?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so so he signs with the pirates in 2014.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_03: The guy who the pirates want to play first base is prospect Andrew Lambeau.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: But he kind of sucks.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_05: Uh yeah, you think so?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_03: Ishikawa ends up being the opening day starter for the Buccos.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he platoons for a while with Gabby Sanchez, but in late April, the Pirates make a trade for a first baseman, and that makes Ishikawa expendable after only 15 games with the team.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: And here's a great trivia question for you, Steve.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_03: Who is the guy the Pirates traded for who ended up being their starting first baseman for the rest of that season?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my gosh.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_05: I don't even know.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: It's the immortal Ike Davis.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_05: Uh-huh.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, he was great.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he was great.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: He bats 235 and didn't have a lot of power, which is kind of what you want out of that position.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_05: I I I just it's the most pirates.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_05: I it is it even a salary dump at that point?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_05: Like how much was this Ishikarwa guy costing?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_05: He wasn't like a superstar.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_03: No, it well, it wasn't a salary dump.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: It was just the they they wanted they wanted Lambeau to be the first baseman.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: And Ishikawa was too good, they're like, oh no.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_03: Well, to be fair, uh again, I I am the first person to jump on the criticize the Baku bandwagon.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: But Ishikawa was a journeyman.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_03: It wasn't like he was he was this great player, he had bounced around to a bunch of different teams.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_03: He was platooning with Gabby Sanchez.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_03: So they thought they could upgrade with Ike Davis.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: They miscalculated, it didn't work out, but it wasn't like, you know, it wasn't that big of a miss.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um it looks like a bigger miss because of what happens later that season.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so let's talk about that.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, because after the Pirates dump Ishikawa, he goes back to San Francisco.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's actually where he had played four years earlier, so so he goes back to the Giants.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: The Giants end up making the playoffs that year, and in National League wildcard game, they defeat the Pirates.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_05: Ah, there you go.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_05: So that's a is it is it 2015?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_05: 14.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_05: 14.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_05: Uh yeah.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_05: The Giants only win the uh World Series in I forget if it's odd or even years.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_05: It's it's it's something like that.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and they they beat the Pirates in the wildcard game, and then they end up making it to the NLCS against the Cardinals.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_03: And then in the bottom of the ninth inning of game five, this happens.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_06: Rabbit.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_06: Ishikawa hits one in the right.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_06: The Giants win the pennant.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, there you go.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_05: You got to say the Giants win the pennant.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_05: He didn't say it as excitedly, though.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_05: The Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_05: And in my might I comment, that was at um whatever stadium, whatever they're calling that stadium this week in San Francisco.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_05: That is a I have been to that stadium worth the trip, Tim.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_05: Just don't go at night because it's like don't go at night unless you're gonna wear a winter coat because it's like an October football game.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_05: But absolutely second, maybe solidly 1B to PNC Park.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow, okay.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_05: And I've been to like five or six baseball stadiums now.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_05: That's outside of PNC Park, the second best stadium I've been to.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_03: It it it gets hype sometimes, but you know, you never know if it's real.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_05: Minute made in Houston is cool too, but it's just so unique, you can't really like pigeonhole it, which I guess makes it really cool in its own way.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_05: But that's that's if I wish I would have gone to a day game because it was really cold, because I didn't realize different things was cold, but that's a beautiful stadium.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, I digress.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_05: I'm sorry.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, no, no, I didn't mean to detract from Terra Susan Carwell.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_05: He did hit a he hit a home run at a beautiful stadium.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_05: He really did.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_03: And and as Steve Steve kind of mentioned there, that call by Joe Buck, that was an homage to Bobby Thompson because Bobby Thompson had hit a famous home run to send the New York Giants to the World Series 63 years earlier.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: New York baseball Giants, too.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: And and the yes.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: And the call on that play by announcer Russ Hodges was the Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_03: So so Buck used the same call here in 2014, which I thought was kind of cool.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it is neat, yeah.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_03: And and another fun fact, there were only two times in the history of the National League where a walk-off home run sent a team to the World Series, and it was the 1951 Giants with Bobby Thompson and the 2014 Giants with Travis Ishikawa.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_05: So if you're playing for the Giants, there's a good chance you hit a walk-off home run in the NLCS.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the Giants do go on to win the World Series because that was an even numbered year.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, it's even though I know it's one of the other.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_05: Even numbered years always bet the Giants.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_05: What is it?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_05: 2025 bet against the Giants.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh all right.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: The next guy on the list is a guy that I remember.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_03: It's Dave Hannon.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, what's your brother doing on this list?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, Dave Hannon, a winger for the Penguins in the 1980s.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: Uh pretty solid player on some bad Pens teams.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_03: He's unfortunately not still around when the Pens start winning Stanley Cups in the early 90s.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, what I always loved about Dave Hannon uh was that he had the same last name as I do.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_03: And as Steve already mentioned, I even have a brother named Dave Hannon.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_03: And and Hannon is not a super, super, I don't know, common surname.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_03: But typically when you do see that name, it's spelled H-K A N N O N.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but my name and Dave Hannon, the hockey player's name, is spelled A-K-N-N-A-N.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_03: And literally, Steve, my entire life people have been spelling it wrong.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: Even when I was in kindergarten, kindergarten, the teacher kept telling me that I was spelling it wrong all year.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_05: I think I've heard that I think I've heard this before, too.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yes, but the people haven't, so I need to do a little therapy session here.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_03: And and I'm like, no, I know how to spell my own name.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: And and one of the greatest moments of satisfaction I ever had as a kid was the day she called me up to her desk to actually apologize to me because she realized that it was indeed spelled with an A.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_05: Well Tim, tell me how the teacher hurt you.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm clearly over that.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_03: All these years later.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_03: Something that happened in 1982.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_05: Let's explore this trauma.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_05: That's it.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_03: To be fair, it O N makes more sense.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_03: Like think of any other word like Canon or or the name Shannon, or you know what I mean?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: Like it it it Han Yan doesn't make a lot of sense, but that is how it's spelled for for my name.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: So not only having an NHL hockey player with that same name, but one that played for for a Pittsburgh team.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: I just that was kind of cool when I was a kid.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_05: Well, at least we got the name spelled right eventually by the end of the year.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_03: So what happens to Dave Hannon after he leaves Pittsburgh?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he ends up in Buffalo, and in 1994, the Sabres are battling the Devils in the playoffs.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_03: It's game six, and Buffalo is on the verge of elimination, but fortunately they have a pretty good goaltender.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_03: Remember his name, Steve?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_05: Dominic Hossack.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_05: One of my favorites.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: He shuts out the Devils for three periods.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately for the Sabres, New Jersey has a pretty good goaltender, too.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_05: Martin Brodeur.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: Who shuts out Buffalo for three periods.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_03: So the game goes into overtime tied at zero.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_03: And Hawshick and Brodeur continue to stop everything.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_03: Then it goes into a second overtime.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_03: Then a third overtime.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_03: Then a fourth overtime.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_03: So literally.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_05: I didn't realize this is a four overtime game.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_05: Jeez.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_03: Seven periods of hockey, and no one can get a puck past Hawkick or Brodeur.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_03: Can anyone score, Steve?
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: Well, let's find out.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_06: Daw charging after it, clear right out in front, backhand by Hannon, he's gonna
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_08: Dave Hammond is off by his teammates!
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_06: Dave Hannon finally put away the backhand and this series is going back to where Jimmy Hoffa is.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_05: I love it.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_05: I love the call.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_05: You've got to send that to your brother.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_05: Have you ever sent that to your brother?
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: No, I said I should just do that after he does something good.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_05: Dave, he's going back to where Jimmy Hoffa is.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a great call.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_03: Going back to where Jimmy Hoffa is, referring to the Meadowlands.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, when we post this, if people can click on this link, look at the the boards and the hockey rink, the advertisements.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_05: They're classic.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_05: There's a blockbuster video advertisement.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_05: It's the most 90s advertisement.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_05: There was a Mac too.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_05: Me too, yeah.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_03: So there you go.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's Dave Hannum with the big goal, getting it past Marty Brodor, sending the series to a game seven in New Jersey, where the devils went anyway.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I had a feeling that was going to happen.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: But that's, you know, that's the joys of being a Buffalo sports fan.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_03: Gotta celebrate the moments that you can get.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_03: All right, let's talk about uh Bobby Bonilla.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_05: No, it's Bobby Bonilla.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_05: That's a reference to the Pirates uh PA announcer way back when.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_05: He used to say Bobby Bonilla.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know why they announced the emphasis on the LA, but it was.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Bobby Bonilla is one of the Pirates' best players in the late 80s, early 90s when they have those division-winning teams.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_03: He makes four All-Star games.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_03: He finishes in the top three for the National League MVP voting in both 1990 and 1991.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_03: Just a really great player for the Buckos.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_03: He then gets a huge free agent contract from the Mets, and just really not quite as great as he was in Pittsburgh.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_05: What year is it?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_05: Oh no, that's not that's not the contract yet.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_05: I think that's later, isn't it?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: They actually, yeah, he actually had a second statement with the Mets, and that's the contract.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah, that's coming up.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_05: That's he's still getting paid.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_05: Make fun of it all you want.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_05: He still, man still gets paid.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_03: So what's Bobby Bo's memorable moment after he left Pittsburgh?
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_03: And no, it's not the stupid contract that the Mets gave him for 30 years.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it's actually a moment with a really good story behind it.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, in fact, Steve, this is not only one of my favorite sports stories, but it's kind of one of my favorite like life lesson stories, too.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_03: So before we get to Bobby Bonilla, let's let's go back a ways, back before Bonia was even born, back to the 1952 World Series.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yankees versus Dodgers, and it comes down to game seven in Brooklyn for all the marbles.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_03: The Dodgers are starting Joe Black on the mound.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: Joe Black is a 28-year-old rookie pitcher.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: He's having a really stower season.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_03: He's actually the National League Rookie of the Year that season.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: And here he is.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_03: This guy was in the Negro Leagues just a few years earlier, facing the mighty Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: In the top of the sixth inning, the game's tied at two.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_03: Joe Black faces Yankees legend Mickey Mantle, whom Black had retired twice already by pitching him mostly inside.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_03: But this time, Mantle has a plan.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_03: He backs up a step without Black noticing.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_03: And then when Joe Black throws his pitch inside, this happens.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_06: There's a five ball out the right field.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_06: That ball is rolling, going.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_06: And the Yankees are back out of front, three to two in the battle of the home run.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_06: This series will go down as one of the greatest of all time.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: And that ends up being the difference.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: The Yankees win the game and the series, and Joe Black is the one who loses it for the Dodgers by giving up that home run because he kind of got outsmarted by Mickey Mannell.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so now, fast forward about 50 years later to 1997, and once again, we're in game seven of the World Series.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_03: This time it's Cleveland versus Florida.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: The Indians are shutting out the Marlins, and the first batter due up in the bottom of the seventh inning is Bobby Bonilla, who's playing for Florida at this point.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_03: Remember, that was the Jim Leland.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that was speaking of Blockbuster Video.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_05: That was the Blockbuster Video guy.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, Florida's down 2-0.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: Bonilla is 0 for 2 against Cleveland pitcher Jarrett Wright, who's just crushing the Marlins at this point.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_03: And right before Bonilla leaves the Hondek circle, he hears this old white-haired man who's sitting in the front row of the crowd call for him to come over.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_03: And the man tells Bobby Bonilla that he noticed that Jarrett Wright had been pitching him inside.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_03: And the guy says, Hey, back up a like, just take a little step backwards.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_03: The pitcher won't notice the change in position.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_03: And when he throws the inside pitch, you can get the barrel head of the bat around and on the ball.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_03: And Bonilla kind of says, Okay, I guess I'll give that a shot.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_03: And on the first pitch of the inning, this happens.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_06: The fans settle back in after the seventh inning stretch, and Bobby Bonilla launches one to deep right.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_06: Bonilla sends one out of here.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_03: That gets Florida back into the game, and they win the game and the World Series in extra innings.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_03: And at the end of that that um clip there that you just heard, when Bonilla's coming back to home plate after rounding the bases, you can actually see him pointing to the white-haired man in the stands, kind of like acknowledging him.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_03: And the white-haired man in the stands, it was Joe Black.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_03: The Dodgers pitcher from the 1952 World Series.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_03: Sweet.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_03: So I I just I love that story because I think it teaches a good life lesson about mistakes.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like we're all gonna make mistakes.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_03: And I think you can either recoil in shame from those mistakes or you can use them to help other people.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_03: And that's exactly what Joe Black did.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_05: That's a cool story.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_05: I've never heard that one before, yeah.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_05: Joe Black uh gave him a tip and he hit a home run.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_05: And that that went to extra innings.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_05: They got they got hits off the Indians closer or something, didn't they?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it won.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: I think they won that in like the 11th inning or something.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: But that home run got them back.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_03: It was 2-0, and that made it 2-1, and then they were able to, I think, tie it in the bottom of the ninth.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but that that home run was huge.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_05: Wait, that that's how many game sevens have the Indians Buffalo?
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_05: That's that's bad.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we talked about being a Buffalo sports fan.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_03: Being a Cleveland sports fan is even worse.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: So unfortunately, Joe Black not helping the Cleveland team.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_03: All right, well, um, you know, we've had some pretty great moments on here, right?
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_03: Super Bowl winning touchdowns and playoff overtime goals and big time home runs.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_03: But the name of this episode isn't Greatest Moments by Pittsburg by former Pittsburgh athlete Steve, it's memorable moments by former Pittsburgh athlete.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_03: So that may include some not so great moments too.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: And then this guy on our list falls solidly into that category.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_03: His name is Antonio Brown.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_05: Oh boy.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_05: There's a lot that you got a lot to choose from here, Tim.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's just just gonna be the rest of the podcast now, or well, we'll we'll hone in on one because it's it's kind of the uh the be all and end all.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: But uh I I will say this, you know, say what you want about A B, and we can all say a lot of really negative things.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: I I've been following Pittsburgh sports for almost fifty years, and for my money, the three most exciting athletes I've ever seen play for a Pittsburgh team are Mario Lemieux, Larry Fitzgerald, and Antonio Brown.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: I I just he was so fun to watch.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_03: He holds all kinds of C-World receiving records.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_03: He made huge plays over the years.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um I I I know it didn't end well.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_03: I know he, you know, even when he was here, there was just so much unnecessary drama.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_03: But I think it I think that makes people forget how really, really good he was.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_05: Uh one of the best receivers to ever play the game, unfortunately.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_05: He probably probably could have I mean challenged Jerry Rice and them if he just kept together a little bit longer.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_03: That's the sad thing.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_03: It really is.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: So um the Steelers kind of finally have enough and trade him away after the 2018 season.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_03: So what happens after he leaves Pittsburgh?
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_03: Well, what doesn't happen?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he gets himself run out of Oakland, he gets himself run out of New England, and then finally, after like Tom Brady what, like personally vouches for him and has him move in into his house with him, he rejoins his old offensive coordinator, Bruce Arians, in Tampa.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_03: And it it goes okay there for a while.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_03: A B even wins a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_05: Then he just can't help himself.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then in a 2021 game in New York, A B is upset on the sidelines, and then guys, very odd situation.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: Antonio Brown boiled over, very upset on the sideline, took off his shoulder pads.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Mike Evans, O.J.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Howard, trying to convince him to keep them on.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, they were unable to do so.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: He tossed his shoulder pads, tripped off his shirt and glove, threw those into the crowd, then ran across the field while the teams were still on the field, giving the crowd a peace out sign.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: I've never seen anything like that.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: I've been affiliated with the NFL for over thirty years, and I have never seen anything like that in those thirty years.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_05: Did he ever play in the
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: NFL after that?
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_05: I don't think so.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's I mean, I don't see how the league how the league could ever let him back.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, they they would probably indefinitely did he get any I don't know if he got suspended or I I think it was like one of those unofficial black ball things like Ray Rice.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, where like you could you can't sign somebody after that.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_03: You just can't.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like somebody that literally walks out on their team in in in especially in that kind of fashion.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like I know you had like um what's his face for the Steelers?
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like Garrett Blunt like left the sidelines early.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_03: You have stuff like that that's I think that's overcomable or another team can rationalize.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_03: But this was like a spectacle where he ran across the field during the play, took his clothes off, threw him into the crowd.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was just that was it.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: He could never play in the week again after that.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I I don't know what his issue is.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_05: It's just that he has one, and hey, good for him.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, you know, I he's made a lot of money, and um sure he'll he'll be in the news again.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I don't know what else to say about him.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_05: Like it's ridiculous.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_05: It's just ridiculous.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_05: And you know, big behavior that you know, look, he you showing the score.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_05: It was 24 to 17 at that point, like they're within a touchdown.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_05: Like, don't don't you think they might need like a good receiver in the fourth quarter to maybe catch a pass?
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, you embarrass Tom Brady, if nothing else.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, if you don't care about Bruce Arians or your team or yourself, you embarrass Tom Brady, but I I don't I I don't know what to what to say of uh that hasn't been said, and you know, rightfully so, but uh nobody signed him after that, thank goodness.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_05: I mean I can't believe they got him to behave for one season, but remember he wasn't he wasn't always this wild.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_05: Like it just towards the end, once he got that second contract, that's when he really like people always say, Oh, it's the hit by um what's his name?
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_03: Perfect, yeah.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_03: It was before that.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_05: I I I think once he got his second contract and he got paid, he just you know, the he kind of decided, well, I'm just gonna be wild.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I don't know if that's a calculated I don't think it's a calculated move.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_05: I think this is just you know, what's it once is a mistake, twice is a trend, three times a habit.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_03: So he he's he's a very broken person, you know, as we all are to some degree.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_05: But he just when he doesn't get what he wants, he tr acts like a petulant child.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and that's that's probably there's probably some trauma in his childhood.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure there's some deep, heavy stuff that he's dealing with there.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like I do empathize with that, and it's sad that like you said, instead of him getting whatever help he needed, it was like, let's just throw millions of dollars at this, and that's never just that's never gonna end well, and it didn't.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_05: So well, you're uh you know, at the end of the day, the only one responsible for himself is himself.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, 100%.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_03: Next on our list is Joey Bats, Jose Batista.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_05: Oh man.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_05: Uh yeah, this this is this one hurts.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_05: This one hurts.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_03: It does.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: So so he actually has two stints with the pirates.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_03: They draft him in 2000, but he never makes it to the big league club.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_03: He then bounces around to four different teams before finally making his way back to Pittsburgh in 2008.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_05: You see, that first one you can almost forgive because he burned through four other teams.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_05: The second time, that that was just bob nutting.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_05: That's the only word I can say.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_03: Well, he he does eventually become the starting third baseman.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but to be fair, he doesn't play super well.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_03: He loses his job to the immortal Andy LaRoche.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_05: Who hasn't lost his job to that guy, you know?
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, come on.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: You can't not play Andy LaRoche.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: Uh in 2008, the Pirates give up on Batista.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_03: They trade him to the Blue Jays for a minor league catcher named Robinson Diaz.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, that guy was awesome too.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Pirates knew what they were doing, as usual.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_03: So what happens after he leaves Pittsburgh?
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Batista becomes one of the most feared power hitters in baseball.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_03: He makes six consecutive All-Star games, and he leads the entire majors and home runs twice.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_03: As for his memorable moment, it's the deciding game five of the 2015 ALDS.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_03: Texas leads Toronto in the seventh inning, but the Rangers are starting to fall apart.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_03: They make three errors, which allowed the Blue Jays to tie the game.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_03: And now Jose Batista is at the plate.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_06: Are we tied?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_06: Oh my goodness.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_06: Oh, what a game, huh?
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_06: What an inning.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_06: The seventh inning to this point has taken 40 minutes.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_06: Runners on the corner is two outs.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_06: 1 1 from Thompson.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_06: Batista with a cry.
• 29:17
  unknown: Deep left field.
• 29:18
  unknown: No doubt about it.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_05: I think it took another forty minutes for Jose Batista around the bases.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_05: Come on.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the the the Blue Jays win the game and with it the series.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, yeah, the most infamous part of that play is the fact that after Batista hits the ball, he flips his bat, and that rankles a lot of people because that's just not something you do in this gentleman game of baseball, good sir.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_05: Well, now that's like, oh my goodness, have you seen the bat flips now?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_05: Like there was some guy in the Dominican that hit like a home run in the ninth, and like he threw his bat like up and then like literally like walked background backwards around the bases and high-fived everybody.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it was nuts.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah, in 2015, that was that was shocking good, sir.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_03: Shocking behavior.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_05: I'm shocked at your behavior, sir.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the the New York Times describes it as, quote, the most ostentatious bat flip in MLB history.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_03: People say it's disrespectful, people question his leadership, all that, all that kind of like social media grandstanding stuff.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Bautista writes a lengthy article in the Players Tribune.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_05: Justifying it.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and he and he says, number one, he says, you know, it's interesting, no one criticized Babe Ruth for literally calling his shot and saying I'm gonna hit a home run over there.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_03: But he also says this quote, I flip my bet, I'm human, the emotion got to me.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_03: If you think that makes me a jerk, fine.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_03: But let's call it what it is.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_03: Let's not have these loaded conversations about character and the integrity of the game every time certain players show emotion in a big moment.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_03: That kind of thinking is not just old school, it's ignorant.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_05: I think this is, you know, it's borderline.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_05: Like, at least, you know, he's happy, it's a big moment, but like what that guy did in the Dominican, that Dominican World Series was ridiculous.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_05: Come on, man.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_05: Just just make your way around the bases.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_05: I'm not saying you have to run full speed, but you know, to that that's just too much.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_05: That that's I I don't know where the line is.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_05: It's kind of like holding.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_05: I I don't know where the line is, but I know at some point it gets to be too much.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_03: There's a difference between taunting and and showing off versus just like I'm happy, so I just like threw my bet.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, oh my gosh, we we were down.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_05: I didn't think he was taunting the pitcher.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_05: Like if he would have been sitting there like jawing at the pitcher or something, yeah.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I I I I think he should have ran.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_05: I would have ran just in case.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I guess he was sure it was going out of the ballpark, but I mean that's the reason why you run on hits like that, because you know, what if it doesn't go out of the ballpark?
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_03: Sure, sure.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_05: But I mean, gosh, like that one was about ten rows back.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_03: It was, and he was he was just if you it was the emotion of the moment like this they were down their season, had two and a half innings left in it if he doesn't make a play there, and he made a play there.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_03: I I don't know.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_03: I just stuff like that, just man, the stuff we care about and harp on.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's a little yeah, harping on it is a little bit like yeah.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, maybe some mild criticism, fine.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_03: And he even kind of owned up to it.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, hey, you know, I'm human, the emotion got to me.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_03: He we you know, he said that.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_03: So like give him some grace.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_03: I I was fine with that.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_05: It wasn't that bad.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_05: It wasn't that bad.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Steve, by the way, Robinson Diaz, the guy that they traded Batista for, he does play in 43 games for the Pirates, and he does hit one home run.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, there's Did he have a bat flip though?
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_05: See, that's the key when he hit his one home run.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_03: Good question.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_03: Good question.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_03: But I mean, great, great trade regardless, right?
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_03: Just typical of the Pirates, always always knowing how to evaluate talent.
• 33:13
  unknown: Yeah.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, speaking of not knowing how to evaluate talent, the next guy on our list is a guy named Johnny Unitis.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_03: Not a whole lot to say about his time in Pittsburgh because it was pretty short-lived.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he's drafted by the Steelers in 1955, but head coach Walt Keisling decides this guy just isn't an NFL quarterback.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe he's not a regular NFL starting quarterback.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe he's an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_03: No, I'm pretty sure he doesn't make that determination either.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he doesn't even really give him any reps in training camp.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_03: Art Rooney's son, Tim, is a ball boy on that team.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_03: And he writes his dad an 11-page letter, Steve.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_03: 11 pages on how great of a player Unitis is going to be and how stupid the coaches are because they were going to cut him.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_03: And sure enough, that's what happens.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_03: Unitus doesn't make the team.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_03: Tim Rooney's 11-page letter goes unheeded by his dad or anyone else.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_05: Was it Walt Key?
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_05: It was Walt Keysling, right?
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_05: I do believe.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_03: It was Walt Keysling.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_03: So what happens after Unidas leaves Pittsburgh?
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_05: Well, not much.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he's like a backup.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_03: No, he becomes one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the NFL.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_03: And his memorable moment comes in 1958 when he leads the Baltimore Colts to the NFL Championship game against the aforementioned New York Giants.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_03: And that game is widely known as the greatest game ever played.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: And if you're not familiar with that game, and I think most people, Tim.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I think I think at this point, though, like most people probably aren't familiar with that because it was just so long ago.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_05: It's pre-Super Bowl.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_03: It's pre-Super Bowl.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_03: But it's really significant because it's it's credited with putting the NFL on the map.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_03: Before then, baseball was America's number one sport, and the NFL was an afterthought.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_05: I think even it was behind college football, even.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_03: And college football, yeah.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_03: And and really after that 1958 championship game, everything changed, and and the popularity popularity of the NFL today, uh, it's it's unparalleled.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, the NFL's just monstrous.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_03: And Johnny Unitis is monstrous in that game.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_03: He throws for 361 yards.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_05: In 1958.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_03: In 1958.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my god.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_03: All while calling his own plays.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_03: He also engineers a last-minute drive to kick the game-tying field goal.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_03: And that was a big deal because the two-minute drill was not a thing up until that point.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_03: Unitis basically invents the two-minute drill in that game.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_05: And in Ray Barry, yeah.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_03: The field goal sends the game into overtime, which is also not a thing up until that point.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_03: This is the first time that there'd ever been an sudden death overtime in the NFL.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_03: And in overtime, United leads the Colton.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_03: An 80-yard drive all the way down to the Giants one-yard line.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_05: It's kind of anticlimatic, you know, what happens.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_05: Are you really going to show him handing the ball off?
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_03: I am going to play that, yes.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_07: Unidas has been sensational here this afternoon.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_07: He is now connected on 27 out of 40.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_07: The coach at the line of scrimmage.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_07: Blanker to the right, the ends are tight.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_07: Unitis takes.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_07: He gives to Amichi, and the ball game is over.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_07: Alan Amichi has third the touchdown, and the ball of her coach are the professional football champions of the world.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: It's kind of like when Kansas City beat San Francisco in the overtime in the Super Bowl a few years ago, Where, you know, the the last play was like a little one-yard out pass.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it wasn't like a like a great all-time, you know, memorable play, but it was the one that won the championship, and that was kind of similar to this.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, the Colts win, United becomes a legend.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_03: Uh one footnote to that game, Steve.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_03: We did talk about it before in our buddy Parker episode.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_03: The Steelers get really hot that season after trading for Bobby Lane, and they actually go on a seven-game unbeaten streak to end the season.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_03: But unfortunately, it just wasn't quite enough to catch the Giants in the standings because they had lost a handful of games earlier.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_05: So that could have been the Steelers losing the Johnny Unitis in the championship game.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_05: And it would have been at Pittsburgh.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, interesting.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_05: In Forbes Field.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_05: Or would that have been Pitts Stadium?
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_03: Oh gosh.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_03: 58.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I could I'm not sure.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_03: I think it would have been Pitts Stadium by that point, but I don't remember.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, it would have been at Pittsburgh.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_03: Wouldn't that have been something?
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_05: That would have been a heck of a story.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_03: So I I just think people always think the Steelers were stunked back then, which they mostly did, but they had a couple years there with Buddy Parker.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_03: Again, we did a whole episode on that where they actually didn't.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_03: And if they had made that trade for Bobby Lane like at the beginning of the season instead of three or four games in, it's probably them playing the Colts instead of the Giants playing the Colts.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_03: Alright, fast forwarding a few decades for our next guy, it's Jay Bell.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_03: Steve, remember Jay Bell?
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, I know what you're going to show, Jay Bell.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_03: Do you?
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_03: I I think you might be surprised, but we'll find out.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, Jay Bell had like a big hit in the World Series, I'm pretty sure, if I remember correctly.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_03: That's not what I'm gonna show.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_05: Oh no, you maybe you're gonna show Tony Womack then.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_05: There's another pirate who had play in that same World Series.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_03: So so Jay Bell was the Pirates Shortstop from 1989 to 1996.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_03: Really solid contributor on those early 90s division winners.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_05: He's a building, he's like a building block guy.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_05: He's a solid player.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_05: He's not a superstar.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and and you know what else it did, Steve?
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_03: It really solidified a position that the Pirates just could not get right through like the entire 1980s.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, remember how many shortstops they went through?
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_03: Sammy Khalifa.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_03: Felix Feramine, Sammy Khalifa, Al Pedrique.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was just they couldn't get Raphael Belliard.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_03: They just couldn't get like a shortstop.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_05: Belliard wasn't terrible.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_05: He just couldn't hit.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_03: But but but that's what I mean.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_03: They just couldn't get like their long-term shortstop in place.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_03: They just kept cycling through guys, and and Bell solidifies that position, you know, and he he does it for uh eight seasons.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh after Pittsburgh, Gabe Bell ends up in Arizona.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, like Steve said, eventually is part of that 2001 World Series, that great World Series against the Yankees, but that's actually not what we're gonna talk about for his memorable moment.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_03: In 1999, the Diamondbacks have a promotion called Grand Slam Sunday, where every Sunday home game a fan would be selected from the crowd, and that fan would have the opportunity to win one million dollars, Steve.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta say that like Doctor Evil.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_03: One million?
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_03: I can't do the Dr.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_03: Evil voice.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_03: So how do you win a million dollars?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, get this.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_05: You pick a player and they hit a hit a grand slam.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_05: Is that that?
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's part of it, okay?
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_03: So yes, you have to pick a diamondbacks player who would hit a grand slam that day, which is pretty hard.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: You also have to correctly guess the inning in which they would do it.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_05: Wow, they didn't make it easy, did they?
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it's a great promotion because there's like zero chance of that happening.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, except there was.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_03: Grand slams, how often do you see a grand slam in the beginning of the day?
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_05: It's it's not super rare, but it happens.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_03: It happens, but I mean it's it's not like it happens every game.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_05: Now, does it have to be like an over-the-fence one, or could it be an inside the park one?
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_05: That's a good question.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know what the fine prints said.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, but yeah, trying to guess.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_05: I'm saying the sixth, the top, uh, the bottom of the sixth innings, since it's in Arizona.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_05: And apparently J Bell.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that would have been a good guess because on July 11th of that year, a woman named Gileen Hoyle is at the Diamondbacks game against the A's with her husband and her two kids.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_03: Uh she says, you know, she doesn't really know a lot about baseball, but she was excited to be there because she had won the four tickets from a radio contest.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my gosh.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_05: This is this is destiny.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_05: This is destiny.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, she said she and her husband were actually living paycheck to paycheck.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_03: So taking the whole family to a ball game was something they normally wouldn't have been able to afford.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_03: So they're just happy to be there.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_03: And sure enough, Gylene selected as the Grand Slam Sunday contestant, and kind of at random, she chooses Jay Bell in the sixth inning.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_08: Nice.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_03: And if you remember from Jay Bell's time in Pittsburgh, I mean he was certainly not a power hitter.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean he hit home runs, but he wasn't like Barry Bonds or Martin McGuire or somebody, right?
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh also Bell flies out in the fifth inning.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_05: How does he get up again in the sixth?
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, I guess the bases are loaded.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_03: So his spot probably isn't going to even come up in the sixth inning.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, much less with the bases loaded.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_03: Well, as luck would have it, the Diamondbacks get some hits, they get a walk in the sixth inning, and now Jay Bell is up with, you guessed it, the base is loaded.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_05: She had to be going nuts.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_05: She had to be, oh my gosh.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_05: I couldn't imagine, like, when he's coming up the bat, what you're thinking.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_05: I couldn't imagine that.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_03: And and not just her.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_05: Uh her whole family's there.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_03: And not just her family.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_03: The whole stadium knew it.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, they told, yeah.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_03: All the diamondbacks knew it, and Jay Bell knows it.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, oh, that's rough.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_05: That's rough.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_03: He said he his legs, he couldn't stop his legs from shaking when he came up to the plate.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_03: He was that nervous just because of that.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_05: Why did they tell the whole stadium stuff?
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_03: So here's what happens.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_06: Runners go.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_06: Deep drive, left field, right back, won't he track, low! You can touch him on Jack Bow.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_06: That's a grand slam and he does it again.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, Bell says repeatedly, actually, that it was by far the highlight of his entire career.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_03: And as Steve alluded to earlier, Kay Bell scored the game winning walk-off run of Game Seven of the 2001 World Series.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_03: But he still says this was his career highlight.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_05: So that's a really cool story.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_05: That is that that's that's a great what a great promotion.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_05: Great story.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_05: And they never did it after that.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_05: And they only did it, and they too, they only did it on Sundays, I imagine, right?
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_03: That's what I mean.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_03: The odds of that.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so it has to be on a Sunday, home game, inning, and player.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_03: And it happened, believe it or not.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_03: You want to you want to hear some audio of the lady talking about it?
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, sure.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_04: What was the first thing you purchased?
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_04: Do you remember?
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was the tourist because I didn't have a vehicle at the time.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_02: We had one vehicle.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_02: And because we lived in the neighborhood where the kids went to school, the kids and I would walk back and forth to school.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_02: I would take the kids and we would walk.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_04: After the Taurus, the foils bought 200 acres of land, took their kids to Disneyland.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_04: And most importantly, the money did not change their relationship.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_02: I think it actually bought it to the colour.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_05: 200 acres?
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_05: That sounds like a way too much land.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I know it's Arizona and you probably get scrub grass for cheap, but that just sounds like way too much land to be paying poverty tax on.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, let them enjoy their million dollars.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_05: I'm not saying they can't enjoy it.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_05: I just say maybe 50 acres.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_03: And they did buy a Ford Taurus.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_03: Like they were they were pretty good.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, they weren't like they weren't like going nuts, like, oh, I'm buying a Lambeau, man.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, what a cool story.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_03: I just think that's a really cool story.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_03: All right, next on our list is Hall of Fame hockey player Marion Hosa.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_03: His time in Pittsburgh was also short, but it was memorable.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_05: He was a good player for the Penguins.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_05: People like to criticize that, but like he he was really good that half a season he was here.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_03: He was.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_03: He was.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_03: The Penguins acquire Hosa at the 2008 trade deadline.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_03: And he really is instrumental in the playoff run in which the Penguins just storm through the Eastern Conference side of the playoffs.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_03: He's really great too playing on the line with Sidney Crosby.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_03: He has some huge goals.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like the one he scores in overtime to eliminate the Rangers.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_05: I remember that was the one I was thinking of.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_05: And they had that little song, like Pennsogg used to play that Hosa song.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_05: And then that was fun.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_03: The Pens make it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals, but they lose to the Detroit Red Wings.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_03: And after the season, Hosa's a free agent.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_03: The Pens want him back.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_03: But in one of the most infamous decisions in Pittsburgh sports history, Hosa instead opts to join the team.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_03: He just beat the Pens for the Stan and he goes to Detroit.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_05: And he loses.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_05: That was the best part of that.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_03: So what happens after he leaves Pittsburgh?
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_03: Well, as we all remember, like Steve said, he does lose when the Penguins and Red Wings meet again in the 2009 Stanley Cup finals.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_03: This time the Penguins win and Detroit and Josa lose.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_03: The next season, Josa signs with the Chicago Blackhawks, really hoping that third time is the charm for this whole winning the Stan Cup thing.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_03: And in the playoffs that season, the Blackhawks are facing the Nashville Predators.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_03: The series is tied at two games apiece for the pivotal Game 5 in Chicago, and Nashville has a four-three lead in the final minute of the game.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_03: So Nashville's up one, final minute.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_03: Hosa shoves Dan Haim, who's from behind into the boards, and he's assessed a five-minute major penalty.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_08: Oh no.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_03: So that's game, right?
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_03: Blackhawks are already down a goal.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_03: Now they're going to be short-handed for the final minutes.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_03: But amazingly, Chicago pulls their goalie and Patrick Kane scores with 13 seconds left to send the game into overtime, which is really cool for the Blackhawks, but guess what?
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_05: He's still in the penalty box for another like four minutes.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_05: Because it was a major penalty.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_05: Correct.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_03: Hosa later says he feels so much shame and he just kind of like six sits quietly in the dressing room in between the third period and overtime, just hoping that his teammates could kill off four minutes of penalty time to open the overtime.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Chicago does kill off the four minutes of penalty time, and when Josa comes out of the box, this happens.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_06: Galloping off the last bit of time they've killed off the penalty.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_06: Bowling back, Sopola drive, skipped in Drumska
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_05: You know, he really wasn't a bad guy.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_05: He just made some furious career choices.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_05: He's like the opposite of Antonio Brown.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_05: Like he's a talented player and just yeah, I don't know what he was chasing.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe he was just chasing a cop.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_03: He wanted to win a championship.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like we said this in a previous episode.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_03: Any other player that would have made that decision to go to the place he thought he could best win, we'd applaud that.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, he didn't care about the money.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_03: He didn't because the Penguins, I think, were offering him like the same amount of money or positive.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_03: But I don't know.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_05: He had so much success with Sid.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_05: I I don't yeah.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but he just again, he surmised.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and Detroit had just beat us, so maybe that was fresh in his mind.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_03: Like, and and and and again, if he would have gone to the Minnesota Wild, nobody would have held it against him.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_03: Like, whatever, he was a rental player.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_03: I wish we could have had him back, but you know, he's a free agent.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_05: I think because it was Detroit, then that's why.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_03: No, he was a great player, a good dude.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so he wins the game with that goal, and then the Blackhawks do go on to win that series and ultimately defeat the disgusting Slime of the Earth Flyers in the Stanley Cup finals.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_05: Was that the game where nobody knows that Patrick Kane scored a goal?
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_05: It was it's like, hey, did we win?
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_03: I I wish I could have found a way to incorporate that into this episode just because it's one of my favorite non-Pittsburgh sports moments.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like the Flyers and their fans, because that was in Philadelphia.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_03: They just lost the Stanley Cup and they didn't realize it.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_03: That was beautiful.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, good, good for Hosa.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_03: I like Hosa.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_03: I I I was kind of rooting for him.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_03: I know everybody was mad at him.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_05: He's key in my keeping, you know, my Czechs and my Slovaks, right?
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_05: You know, because Hov uh Hosa is a Slovak and Yager's a Czech, and that's how you know how to keep the two countries apart.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_03: Nice.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_05: Just helpful in your Eastern European geography and ethnicity there.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_05: All right.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_05: For those keeping keeping score at home.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yager, Czech, HOSA, Slovak.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_05: Never the Twain shall meet.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_03: Last but not least, we're gonna talk about Moise Salu.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_03: His time in Pittsburgh was also short.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_05: Please don't talk about his uh bathroom etiquette.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_03: His bathroom etiquette?
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know about that.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_05: Wasn't he one that would urinate on his own hands?
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, I vaguely remember that.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_03: Well, no, we won't talk about that.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_05: Just don't shake his hand.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_05: That's all.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_05: Wave.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_03: Fist bump?
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_05: Could you fist fist bump, but I'd keep the hand sanitizer handy.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_03: Uh well, a lose time in Pittsburgh was also short, but this wasn't this wasn't really like a Joey Bat situation.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_03: He he was a good prospect for the Pirates.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and he had quite the pedigree.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_03: His father, Felipe, played in the majors, and his uncle, Maddie, played for the Pirates.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, his uncle is one of only 12 pirates to ever win a batting title.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_03: Fun fact.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_03: So the Pirates knew he had potential to be a good player, but in 1990, they're competing with the Mets for a playoff spot.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_03: They need guys who can help them win now.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_03: So they trade Moises Alou to the Expos for pitcher Zane Smith.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_05: It was a good trade.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_03: It was one of those worked out for both teams kind of trades.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_03: So after leaving Pittsburgh, Alu develops into a really solid baseball player.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_03: He makes six All-Star games.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_03: He wins two Silver Slugger Awards.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_03: He's on that 97 Marlins team with Kim Lee and Leland and Bobby Bonilla that wins the World Series.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_03: But for Alu's memorable moment, we're going to go to game six.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_05: Oh no.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_05: Why?
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_05: Why, Tim?
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_05: Why?
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_03: I'll tell you why.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_03: Don't worry, I'm getting to that.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_03: We'll go to game six of the 2003 National League Championship Series.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_05: Do we have to say this poor man's name?
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, he did nothing wrong.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_03: We'll get there.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_03: So Alu is now playing for the Chicago Cubs against his old team, the Marlins.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_05: Who do you hate?
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_05: Who do you hate more, the Cubs or the Flyers?
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_05: That's the question.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_03: Alou is about to play in another World Series because the Cubs have a comfortable three-to-nothing lead over Florida in the eighth inning.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_03: So five more outs and Chicago's going to win the pennant, right?
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_03: Pretty easy.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_03: Well, not so much.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_06: Again in the air down the left field line.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_06: A little reaching into the stands and couldn't get it.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_06: He's ripped it with a fan.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_06: That's awfully close to fan interference right there.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_06: The umpires all over it.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_03: So a fan named Steve Bartman reaches out and interferes with the Lou's ability to catch a ball, but whatever.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_03: It was a foul ball.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_03: So no real harm.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_03: But hold everything, because after that, the Marlins score eight runs and win game six, then they win game seven, and it's Florida who goes to the World Series instead of Chicago.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_03: And Steve, I wanted to cover this incident because for my money, it's the most unfair, croll instance of scapegoating, I think, in the history of sports.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_05: Do you realize the succession of events you just had to say after this happened?
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_05: Like, didn't one of the shortstop made an error?
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_05: They had a whole freaking game seven.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_05: They had another inning or two of baseball after this.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, whatever.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_05: And they pitched Terry Wood in game seven, who was their ace that year.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_05: So don't I don't even want to hear it.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and this guy, this poor guy, really loyal Cubs fan, gets in the way of a foul ball.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_03: Should he have moved?
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_03: Probably.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_03: But he was trying to catch a foul ball just like every fan does when that happens.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_05: He didn't reach into the field.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_05: He just Yeah.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_03: Here's a question.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_03: Does Moises Alou even catch the ball if Bartman gets out of the way?
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_03: Alu at one point says he doesn't think so.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_03: He th he says it still would have been a pretty tough catch.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_03: So it might not, it might have not even mattered.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_03: And again, it was a foul ball.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_03: Like I could see, Steve, if like if he interfered with like a ball in play and it led to like a run.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_05: Like that rule where if there was a guy on third and they they just guy gets to come home because he interferes.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_03: That the and then and then that kicks off kind of like the the whole collapse.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_03: But this was a foul ball.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_03: It just it just okay, now it's strike two, right?
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_03: Like and again, you know, the Cubs could have just not collapsed after that.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, they could have not given up eight freaking runs.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_05: It's just it's just another reason to hate the Cubs.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_05: I I can't stand the Cubs.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_05: I'm sorry.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_05: I used to be like indifferent, but just ever since they heard you know Chung Ho Gong with that cheap shot and then this crap, the way they treat their own people, and Wab wow wab hoo-hoo.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_05: I don't care.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_05: Reguly Field looks nice.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_05: I gotta get there.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_05: I haven't been to regular field yet.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it it makes me it's it makes me hate the Cubs too.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like like they ruined this poor guy's life.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_03: The media and the Cubs fans, and I put fans in air quotes.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_05: They put the they bought the ball and blew it up.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_03: Like like they were mad that the Cubs choked.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_05: They took it out on this guy.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they made him the Patsy.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like instead of being mad at the players that blew that gave up eight runs and then blew game seven, it's all this guy's fault.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it it just it made no logical sense.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_05: Being a fan is a fanatic, and you know, gotta make the sense, I guess.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_05: And so you blame Moises Allu.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_05: If he wouldn't have reacted, maybe people don't blame him.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_03: No, I don't blame Moises Alu.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_03: I he just was involved in this.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_03: And it was it was it was just his it was definitely his most memorable moment.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, if he doesn't react, do you think that guy still gets blamed?
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_03: Uh probably not.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_03: Probably not.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_03: But I don't I don't necessarily blame him for reacting.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_03: He was he was also probably trying to get the umpire to call fan interference and give him the out.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_03: Just like a wide receiver like jumps up and down because he got interfered with.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_03: So I I don't blame Moises alu, but yes, you're right.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_03: If Moises alu just like, oh, uh almost caught it, didn't catch it, and walks back into left field, probably it's not as big a deal as it became, unfortunately.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_05: And he didn't even react that much.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_05: He just kind of like gets mad for a second and then like it's literally like 10 seconds at most.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_05: It's not like he just keeps going on and on about it.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_05: He just kind of like throws his glove down, not even throws it, just kind of motions with his glove like frustratingly, and then he walks back to left field.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_05: So it's not like he even made that big of a deal out of it.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_03: No, he didn't.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_03: It it's it's again, it's it just I I I don't I don't there uh to me there's never been anything more than that.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_05: He had to leave the stance too.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_05: Like people are throwing, like they had to call in security to walk him out of the stadium and like ESPN too, like they hound this guy constantly, like to get interviews and stuff.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_05: Like, just leave the man alone.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_05: Like he's not like like if he was out doing podcasts and YouTube and like okay, he asked for it, but no, the man wants to be left alone, leave the man alone.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, again, like you said, really good reason to hate the Cubs and their fans.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_03: One one semi-happy footnote to the story, though.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_03: I will say this when the Cubs win the World Series in 2016, they gave Steve Bartman a World Series ring.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_03: So that was Are you serious?
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_03: Well, okay, are you that was classy?
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_03: I got it.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_05: I guess that's all right.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_05: I guess I can't hit the can't hate the Cubs too much.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_03: Uh you can still hate the Cubs, but they they they did do one classy thing.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah, there you go.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_03: All right, that's our episode.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_03: Hopefully everybody enjoyed that.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um, thank you everybody so much for supporting our show.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, if you want to connect with us on Facebook uh or uh if you want to text the show or connect with us on Twitter, all those links are in the show description.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_03: Please give us a rating on your podcast service if your podcast service allows that, and we will catch you next time.