Latest / Then and Now with Coach Z / Ep. 013 | Art Shamsky | Then & Now

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Ep. 013 | Art Shamsky | Then & Now · Then and Now with Coach Z

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Well, hello, this is a Coach Z with the then and now and today
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we're going to be doing the then, but he's still now my
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very, very good lifetime friend, Art Shamsky and a Mr. Shamsky, a
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great former Cincinnati Red and and a New York Met and New York
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Met by World Series champion. He will be on the show today.
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And also Mr. Shamsky. We will talk about his feet of
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hitting four home runs in a row, which it's a very interesting
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way he got those four home runs in a row.
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But we'll talk about that. But anyway, today we're going to
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have a have a wonderful podcast with our Shamsky.
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Before we get started, I always have a shout out each week.
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And first of all, I just mentioned to Art that I had
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lunch yesterday with a couple of his 58 U City classmates, Dave
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and LAX and Sandy Pomerantz and Steve Wasserman.
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And also I have some shout outs here.
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I want to shout out to my grandson, of course, Jake Brown,
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who's made this podcast available.
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I always shout out to Jake and also Jake, his mom, not his
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mother, but his sister Dylan and his dad.
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They happen to be at Wrigley Field to see those 3 consecutive
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home runs, which we'll talk about later in the show.
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And then my daughter Jennifer had a birthday yesterday, August
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18th. And August 18th is a beautiful
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day because that's when she was born.
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And also in the 1957. I didn't know what the hell I
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was doing with my life. So what happened on that
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particular day? I left for Cape May, NJ as a
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Coast Guard reservist for six months.
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I was 17 years old then. Anyway, I want to have a shout
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out to all the little turtles who are going to be starting
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Spady Elementary School next Monday.
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They'll be going back to school and they got great teachers over
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there and everything there will go well.
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Let's see, my grandson, Leo's here with me and his sister, and
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he left for Arizona. She's going to be a freshman
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this year at the University of Arizona.
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And then the last thing I'm going to say, and I remind
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people everyday, support mental health, OK?
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People who have mental health issues, they need your support
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and support them and, and understand that you can help
2:33
them and they can help themselves.
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So that's a big issue. And now if if my friends ready,
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we want to introduce the great university city icon Art
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Shamsky. How you doing today Shamsky?
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That's good to be beyond with you, Z man.
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We go back a long way, you know, A lot of memories, a lot of good
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stuff. A lot of great memories, my
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friend. We good and Lord, you know, I
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remember back in 1956, Shamsky, I was at your house and I don't
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know if you remember this, but we were watching the great
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football game of all time back in those days, the Giants and
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the Colts when Amici scored in overtime that that playoff game.
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Do you remember that or not, Shamsky?
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I do. I do.
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Yeah. It was a great game.
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And you know, we were big sports fans, all of us.
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So, yeah, we love the game of baseball, but we and we played
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it, but we we loved every sport, you know.
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And I remember those great days and I remember that game in
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particular. And then when I got to New York
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eventually and met some of the guys who who probably not on a
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round now, but met some of the guys who were involved in that
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game, was a big thrill for me because it was a a very special,
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important game in the NFL history.
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Oh, yes, it was. And you know, I want to go back
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to you're you're very interesting guy in in a lot of
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ways. But for you to make it to the
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big league shams, can you know, we can go through the whole
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history. You played one year of high
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school baseball. Am I correct when I say that?
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Yeah, that, that was a strange thing.
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I, you know, I was basically very shy, but we had moved my
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parents and my sister and I had moved from the city out to
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university city. And there was some confusion
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about, you know, where I would be placed in graduating in
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January or graduating in June. And so that that became a little
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bit. Then again, I guess go back to
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me being not the most confident person and not knowing really
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anybody when I got there, I think that was the, the factors.
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And then I was lucky enough to to be on that team that lost in
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the Champions of the state championship in 1958.
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But you know, I, I, I blame it on myself because I was really
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shy and, and, and for me, I guess just the, the thought of
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trying to go out and maybe not making it at the, at U City was
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more scary than even then going out and doing it, you know?
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Well, you know what, Champs guy, I, I, I won't, I'll forgive you
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today, but see, if you had played when you were a junior,
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we could have played together, you know, and we would have
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probably been a hell of a lot better than we were when I was a
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senior. But you know, Art, you, you went
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down to Missouri and I think we were both in the Sammy House
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down there. We won't even talk about what
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went on in that house, but we were down there and then, hey,
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you know who? Listen, do you remember one
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night when a guy by the name of Skinny Gallant was, was used in
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a restroom and it's it sounded like he was unloading for about
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30 minutes. I don't know if you remember.
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Yeah, I do that. That was the longest, longest
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bathroom thing I've ever heard in my life.
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And really, it sounded like somebody was really taking a
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like a big gallon of of water and just kept dumping it into
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the urinal. But anyway, Skinny was a great
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guy, wasn't he? Oh yeah, all those guys we grew
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up with were, were fun guys and great memories.
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You know, you talk about things that happened before.
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I'm right now I'm lucky to remember what I did yesterday.
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But but you bring back such great memories a man and and you
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were you were such a big part of my life.
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You know, I, I tell kids all the time about about when I do a lot
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of these clinics and I do talk about baseball.
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It really starts when you're young and you, and if you have
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good friends that want to play the game and love the game, then
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you're halfway there. You're not so much there to the
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big leagues, but halfway with understanding that baseball's
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the greatest sport in the world. It, it teaches you teamwork, it
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teaches you humility, it teaches you how to deal with failure.
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And I was lucky enough to have friends like you who all we
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wanted to do was play ball. We could go to Bohemian Park
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there and make up games and we didn't need, we didn't need 18
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guys who were two teams of nine. We could have four or five guys
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and draw lines and make up games.
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And that was really where you learn the game and you learned
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about all the things that it took to to get better.
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And you know what, what I, what I tell kids when I talk to them
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now, not everybody's going to make the big leagues.
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It's it's so difficult. But there is now more teams.
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So the opportunities are much greater now than when I started
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and played. But I tell kids, just remember
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one thing along with some some tidbits that I think about about
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not hitting. But I tell them you when you go
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out to play, you never know who's watching you.
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There could be 5 people in the stands.
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It could be raining. It'd be, you might not see one
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person might be way out in center field, but that one
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person might know somebody who knows somebody who knows
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somebody and can mention your name.
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And it leads to all sorts of things.
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So I tell these kids that once you put that uniform on and go
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between those wide lines, you never know who's watching you
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and always remember that. And, and, and I think that's a,
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a, for me, it's a good philosophy to tell these kids
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because I think there's a lackadaisical attitude sometimes
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where kids think it's, it's all going to be easy and this and
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that, but it's not that way. You know, you have to work hard
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at it and, and be lucky and stay healthy.
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There's a lot of factors involved, but I think that's
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really one aspect of it that I enjoy talking to kids about,
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about how to how to, how to get out there and, and give it your
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best. And I tell kids, everybody's
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going to strike out. Everybody's going to have bad
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games. It's really how you bounce back.
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And that's the difference in players who see succeed.
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It's the players who can bounce back from those O for fours and
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O for threes and, and understand it.
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There's a game of percentages. You're going to fail a lot more
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than you succeed. And that's the way I look at it.
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So you're a great role model champs for young kids because
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here's a guy who played one year of high school baseball, went
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down to Missouri for one year. And you know, in those days you
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could play freshman baseball or whatever you have, but you
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couldn't even play on the varsity as a freshman.
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The NCAA didn't allow it then. And then you go up to
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Cincinnati, if I remember the story correctly, didn't you go
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up there with Bill Shamsky and and you took batting practice at
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the old Crosley Field Champs and.
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Brandon, they worked me out in in at Busch Stadium.
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I'm not even sure if it was Busch Stadium back then.
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It was 1958. I was, you know, just 17 at the
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time. It was a thrill for me.
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They, you know, I got a chance to meet Fred Hutchinson and then
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the Wally Moses who was then the hitting coach.
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And, and it turned out that over the years that I played really
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didn't have many hitting coaches.
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And Wally Moses took me aside and started talking about
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hitting. I'm 17 years old.
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I weigh about £150 wet. And they had me in batting
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practice there with all these extra men for the Cincinnati
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Reds. And, you know, we idolize these
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guys that played the big leagues.
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And I'm looking at them and they're looking at me and what
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the heck is this this kid doing here?
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And I got a chance to take batting practice with these,
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with this then the big leagues. And and you know, that's when
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they had the big the bed, the vest uniforms and and, you know,
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my skinny arms were sticking out of these uniforms.
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And but it was such a thrill for me and and they treated me so
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nice. And, you know, and then a few
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weeks later there was a few other scouts that talk to me,
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but I really had this great experience with Cincinnati and,
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and, and, you know, working my way up in the minor leagues with
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them. And those years in the minors
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were great because I met so many great players like Pete Rose and
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Tony Perez and Johnny Bench and all those guys we played
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together. But but that workout with
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Cincinnati was really the turning point for me and having
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those conversations with the Fred Hutchinson, then the
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manager, Wally Moses, who was a hitting coach back then.
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It's yeah, like I said it, it really turned out as I went
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through the minor leagues and got to the big leagues with the
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Reds and then eventually with the Mets, I never had a hitting
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coach. We always just had to do it on
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our own. And now it's it's different.
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Everybody, every team is 3 or 4, five hitting coaches.
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But that one experience in that, that, that batting experience
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when they worked me out at the in Saint Louis was really the,
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the, the key moment for me and turn my, my life around.
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Because I, I signed relatively soon after that with the Reds
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and didn't get a lot of money. But it was the beginning of me
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being able to go to the minor leagues and spend five years in
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the minor leagues with all those great players who, who
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eventually were part of that big red machine in the 70s.
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But, but I was able to work and, and play with those great
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players. Like I said, Pete Rose and Bench
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and Tommy Harper and Tommy Helms and Tony Perez and Lee May and
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all these guys that went on to have great careers.
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Well, you had a great career too and and the minor leagues just
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real quick, good heck, you know, it doesn't happen so easily.
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You would you what you want to make.
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And then you went to Geneva and then in San Diego.
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You had really some great success of San Diego at the time
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was a AAA club ride champs and you you hit Gee whiz, you hit in
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in two years there. I think you hit close to 5045
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home runs in San Diego and then then then up to the big leagues.
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Tell me something about Pete Rose.
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Let's talk about him for a minute.
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Do you mind? Well, no, no problem.
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When I first sat with the Reds, went to spring training in 1960,
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I didn't know anything. I was just this naive kid and
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was really overwhelmed by by being in that position and and
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all of the guys. Back in those days the Reds had
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about 8 minor league teams and we trained in Tampa, FL.
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You know I'm on I'm on my own and just meeting all these guys
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and they sent me up after spring training to Geneva in New York,
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which was the their team in the then called the New York Penn
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League. It was Geneva, Auburn,
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Wellsville, Corning, Elmira and Erie, PA 11 team.
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You stayed overnight and that was Erie.
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The rest you came back after the game.
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There's Class D and I believe we were all making around $400.00 a
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month, $100 a $100 a week to play baseball, but we didn't
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care. We were getting a buck and a
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half, $2.00 meal money when we went on the road, although we
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would come right back after the games, except for for Erie and
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we, I think we got 250 a day for meal money when we stayed
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overnight. But that's when I met Pete and
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he came in June. He wasn't there for spring
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training. He graduated in June of that
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year. But Tony was on the team, Tony
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Perez, who was in the Hall of Fame now, and myself and couple
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other good players. But we were a bad team.
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We were we were the worst of their two Class D teams.
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In fact, we were so bad we got the manager fired during the
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middle of the year, which is kind of uncalled for.
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I'll never forget his name was Reno Di Benedetto.
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You know, it's funny, right? I don't remember what I did
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yesterday, but I can remember the manager's name in 1960 that
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I played for. And we got hit and he got fired
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and we they brought in a guy named Jack Cassini.
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And right around that time Pete joined the club in June in
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Geneva and what became friends right away.
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But if you would have seen him play, you would have said the
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only reason they sign him is because he was from Cincinnati.
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He couldn't really do anything. The only thing he really did
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well was run hard to first base after a walk.
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Was he a good hitter, Wasn't a good fielder?
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They didn't know whether he should play second base or third
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base or the outfield. So the next year people don't
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realize this. They both Tony Perez and Pete
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played another year of Class D ball.
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Pete went to Tampa, FL and played for a guy named Johnny
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Van der Meer who was famous pitching to back-to-back no
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hitters. And, and Tony stayed in Geneva
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for another year and they moved me to Topeka, KS, Class B, where
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I played with another terrific bunch of guys.
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But they stayed two years in, in Class D And ironically, Tony's
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in the Hall of Fame. And Pete, of course, went on to
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have the careers, an unbelievable career.
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And I eventually think he'll be in the Hall of Fame.
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I think he's eligible next year. 27.
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So, so, but but it's ironic, but both those guys had to play two
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years in Class D baseball and they moved me up and then we
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were all together the next year in Macon, GA, of all places in
14:48
the Sally League. And again, we all had really
14:50
good years. And then I went to San Diego,
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but from that, a ball team where Pete and I were together in
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Macon, GA Pete went to spring training in 1963 as a nun.
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It wasn't on the roster with the big leagues and he beat out
15:06
remember Don blasting game. Sure.
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Don played for the Cardinals and was with Cincinnati at the time.
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Pete went to spring training. They called him Charlie Hustle,
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made the team, came Rookie of the Year and the rest is
15:18
history. And then we were together with
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the Reds when I made it to the big leagues.
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But those, those years in the minors for me were wonderful.
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I got to play with some great players.
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You know back then, Ronnie, that the game was different.
15:31
There was less teams. It was much harder to make it to
15:34
the big leagues than it is now. We I, I signed, there was only
15:37
16 teams. And then when I got the big
15:39
leagues, there was only 20. Now there's 30 and there and
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that's another story we could talk about.
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They're they're going to expand to two more teams in a few
15:47
years, they'll be 32 teams and the, the, the make the big
15:50
leagues back in those days was very, very difficult.
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If I would give you a list of players I played against in the
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minors and particularly in that Coast league you mentioned, all
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the players that I played against for the most part were
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players who were in my position who couldn't make it to big
16:05
leagues because there was no room.
16:06
I, I had good years in AAA and I remember Fred Hutchinson in
16:10
spring training with the very last day in 63 said to me, you
16:15
know, you had a great spring, you had a great year.
16:18
Where am I going to play? I got Frank Robinson in right
16:21
field. I got Veda Pinson in center.
16:22
I got Pete Rose playing some left field and I got Tommy
16:25
Harper was going to turn out to be was going to be turn out to
16:28
be a great player playing left. There's no room.
16:30
So you got to go back to AAA. So I spent five years in in the
16:34
minor leagues trying to make it the big leagues.
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But the good thing about all that is I played against guys
16:40
who were in the same position as me who couldn't make it to the
16:43
big leagues because there was no room.
16:45
And if I went around that Pacific Coast League and gave
16:47
you names of players I played against pitchers and or some of
16:51
them are in the Hall of Fame, they couldn't make it because
16:54
they were just, there was just no room.
16:56
And so in some ways I was down about it, but in many ways it
17:00
was good for me to play against all these guys because it got me
17:04
ready for the big leagues. Not that I had that many great
17:07
years, but the fact is I was much better prepared for the big
17:10
leagues then if I would have gone right from 9:00 to from
17:13
1963, say right into the big leagues or 1962 like Pete did.
17:18
But but you know, nowadays, like I said, it's much easier to make
17:23
it to the big leagues. So they need players, they have
17:26
one Goodyear in the minors and they get to the big leagues and
17:28
some of them are not some guys are not prepared.
17:30
They just don't play against that good competition.
17:33
And that's a that's a conversation for maybe another
17:36
time. But the reality of it is back in
17:38
those days, it was so much harder to make it to the big
17:40
leagues. And and you know, I look back on
17:42
on, on I was relatively healthy then.
17:45
Unfortunately, I I got hurt a lot when I got to the big
17:48
leagues and, but to be out, it was I was in decent shape and
17:52
was real relatively healthy. And I tell people, the fact
17:55
remains it if I didn't have friends like you who went out
17:59
with me and we played ball made-up games and in those early
18:03
years in our early teens and and things would have never fallen
18:07
into place for me. All those wonderful times we
18:09
spent practicing and playing really led to groundwork for me
18:13
to be able to develop my skills. And I tell that to people all
18:16
the time. It wasn't just signing a
18:18
contract and making it in the minor leagues.
18:20
It was really those early years with my friends who, who, who
18:24
shared those moments with me and, and in some ways I feel bad
18:28
like yourself, you were a great athlete.
18:29
You, you know, luckily somebody could have looked at you and
18:32
said, Hey, I'm going to sign this guy as a pitcher or a field
18:36
or whatever it might be. And it would have been totally
18:38
different. But, but I was very lucky and,
18:40
and again, because I had good friends like you that that we,
18:44
we, we formed, we formed relationships and we formed our
18:48
basis for playing the game in our early years.
18:50
Let me tell you something that I remember vividly.
18:53
You got hurt and you had a hand injury.
18:58
I don't remember what year you were in the minor leagues and
19:00
you had surgery and you came home and then.
19:02
You. That was the first one.
19:02
That was Macon, GA. I came home.
19:05
Doctor Middleman operated on me for the first time.
19:07
Then you called me. He was a he was a Cardinal Dr.
19:10
at the time. Right.
19:11
And you, you called me and you said, hey, I'm, you know, I want
19:15
to see if I how I feel it. And I went down to Heman Park
19:18
with you. I don't know if you remember or
19:19
not. And I always thought, you know,
19:22
how the hell does Shamsky, that's a big deal.
19:27
You know how the hell he gets in a minor league?
19:29
He played one year of high school.
19:31
And, you know, and I'm like, I'm pretty cocky.
19:33
I don't think I was any more than 19 years old then.
19:36
How old were you then at Macon? I was either just at 18 or just
19:43
turned 19. So I might have been a year or
19:44
two older than you. So you called me and said, would
19:46
you throw some batting practice to me down?
19:48
And I want to see how I feel. And I think, yeah, I, you're
19:50
darn right. I want to throw some batting
19:52
practice. And I'm, we went down there and
19:54
I, I think I'm, I'm going to show him.
19:58
And you hit one so freaking far off of me over that over that
20:05
Creek. And I said.
20:06
I think you're. Exaggerating.
20:07
No, no, no, no, no, I'm not. I really, I remembered, you
20:10
know, I said it's pretty good any Ron, you know, but we have
20:17
some great times. And by the way, speaking about
20:20
the guys that we played with, you know, we'll go back on some
20:22
serious stuff. But some of the guys that we
20:25
played down there at the park with, with Melvin Rodney stuff.
20:28
You remember that guy, don't you?
20:31
I do. I do very well.
20:33
How could you? How could you even think that I
20:35
wouldn't remember that the name and the person?
20:37
And how about the Joe and Helen stuff?
20:41
Yeah, yeah, Mother. And father, mom and dad, stop.
20:44
Yeah, we had some fun with those folks.
20:48
There were some good people. There were some great people.
20:53
As I said, they they shaped our lives and, and I'm so grateful
20:58
for the friends that I had that that I don't.
21:01
Unfortunately, I don't get back to Saint Louis as much as I
21:03
would like because, you know, my mom and dad are gone and my
21:06
sister's gone. But you know, I, I think about
21:09
those times and, and the good things and, and, and you know,
21:12
why the reality, it was all we wanted to do is play ball.
21:14
We, we, you know, we, we, we didn't get in trouble.
21:17
We just wanted to go out and play ball, make up games.
21:20
And, and you know, I was saddened when the coach
21:23
Greenblatt passed away of the coach at U City when I played
21:26
there. And, and he, he was he, he was a
21:32
a great guy. And I wish we would have won one
21:35
more games that year and and won that championship, I believe it
21:39
was against Cleveland High School, if I'm not mistaken.
21:41
Two to nothing. Champs 2 nothing.
21:43
Bruce Mills, who's a very, very good pitcher, pitch against you
21:46
guys that day. Yeah.
21:47
Who threw for you? Guys, you know, you know, you
21:50
know, I think about the about the years.
21:53
I what reminded me about it when I, when I found out about a good
21:57
friend, Ron Hunt passing away a few weeks ago.
22:00
And I remember that, that, that we were lucky all the leagues we
22:04
played in and baseball we played in against competition.
22:07
The baseball in Saint Louis was so good and so competitive.
22:12
And if you look back in in the history of the game, especially
22:16
in the 60s and 70s, there was so many players from the Saint
22:19
Louis area and in the suburbs that went on to the play in the
22:22
big leagues that it was just amazing.
22:25
And it all had to do was the Corey League, where we started
22:28
in the Little League and then went on to into American Legion
22:32
ball and high high school ball. American Legion.
22:34
It was so well organized and so well put together.
22:38
And I met, I ran into a lot of guys that that I had either
22:42
played against or knew and then met again, either in the minor
22:46
leagues or the big leagues who would gone through the the
22:49
baseball in the Saint Louis area.
22:50
And they were all very high, gave a high praise to all, all
22:54
the, the baseball that that's played in the area.
22:57
And I, I don't know if it's still that way, but I know when,
23:00
when, when I was younger, the game was really, really, really
23:04
important to everybody in the, in the area and then really put
23:06
together well. Well, Champs, while you now you
23:11
make it to the big leagues and of course, we just had a
23:14
tremendous thing with his Baez kid who his first three times at
23:18
bat in the big leagues, he hit the three home runs and
23:22
everybody was ranting and raving and and hey, they should be
23:25
ranting and raving. That's a hell of an
23:26
accomplishment, you know. But then I started thinking
23:28
about you and I remember vividly.
23:33
I mean, then when you you came in to bat, I know you came in to
23:36
pinch hit in the 8th inning, Champs, and you're homered.
23:40
And then what? What?
23:41
What was the next inning? The 11th?
23:43
Yeah, it it was a game on August 12th in Cincinnati at Crosley
23:47
Field. I wasn't in the starting lineup
23:51
and I actually wasn't pinch hitting.
23:53
I came in, they took Dave Bristol was the manager and he
23:57
made a pitching change and he put me in right field.
24:00
And so I hit in the pitcher spot the bottom of the inning.
24:04
And we were playing the Pirates, who had a great team with
24:06
Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargel, all these really
24:10
terrific players. I forget who was pitching,
24:12
starting pitching in the game. But anyway, I batted in the
24:15
bottom of the eighth and we were losing and I hit a home run to
24:18
to tie up the game, but it wasn't a pinch at home run
24:21
because I had changed. I was hitting in the pitcher
24:23
spot. Then we went into extra innings
24:25
and we got behind in two, two times.
24:28
And both those things we got behind.
24:30
I hit home runs to tie up the game and then we eventually lost
24:34
in the 14th inning. So I ended up three hitting
24:37
three home runs 2IN extra innings, which is almost
24:40
uncalled for. You either win the game when you
24:42
hit two home runs in extra innings.
24:44
But as I I just do believe, and I don't say this egotistically,
24:50
I just know that nobody's ever done it, is that I think I'm the
24:53
only player to ever hit three home runs in the game in a row
24:56
that wasn't in the starting lineup.
24:57
Absolutely nobody. Nobody ever will.
24:59
Yeah, so we lost that game and on the next day we were rained
25:03
out and that was Saturday and then Sunday for another reason,
25:07
strange reason. I'm not in the starting lineup.
25:09
Dave Bristol. And Dave Bristol, yeah, I think
25:13
it's the story gets even stranger.
25:16
I I, he sent me off to pinch it in the 5th or 6th inning, I
25:19
forget who I pinch hit for. And I did another home run, this
25:23
one off Vernon Law, who was a pretty good pitcher in Crosley
25:27
Field, put us ahead in the game. And of course, we ended up
25:30
losing that game. So I hit four home runs in a row
25:32
in two games, and we lost both those games.
25:34
But here is that. Here's the crazy part of it.
25:36
After that game, we flew to Los Angeles.
25:40
And in the paper that next day, there's some articles and some
25:44
things about me hitting four home runs in a row.
25:47
And we get to the ballpark and Dave Bristol again is the
25:50
manager and I'm not in the starting lineup.
25:52
I've hit four home runs in a row.
25:54
And this is that. I tell people this jokingly that
25:57
this is the reason I decided that after this conversation I
26:01
had with Dave Bristol that I would possibly never talk to
26:04
another manager again about playing or not playing because
26:07
it was just really bizarre. So I'm not in the starting
26:10
lineup and I walk up to Dave Bristol and I'm, you know,
26:13
again, I'm really shy. I'm not, I'm not somebody's
26:16
going to make a big deal out of something.
26:17
But I figured, you know, you hit four runs in a row, you got to
26:20
be in the starting lineup. And I said to him, Dave, I'm
26:23
just curious. I I forgot who was pitching for
26:26
the Dodgers. It could have been Colfax.
26:27
I still should have been in the starting lineup.
26:29
I said to him, Dave, I'm just curious, you know, I hit four
26:33
home runs in a row. How come not in the start of
26:34
money without blinking. I said, well, we're just looking
26:36
for some more power. And I said to him, more power.
26:40
I just hit four home runs in a row.
26:41
And so I vowed I would never talk to another manager.
26:44
But I did pinch in that game, hit a line drive single to right
26:47
field. So I mean, I was I was in a
26:49
groove and anyway, but that was that was a big part of my life.
26:52
The bat that I hit the four in a row is on display in the Hall of
26:56
Fame. And, and I get a lot of people
26:58
going up there and, and seeing it as in that special feats and,
27:02
and if it's, they rotate these, these kind of things.
27:05
And if you don't see it, you can ask somebody there and I'll
27:07
bring it out. And I donated it to Hall of Fame
27:10
because it was such a special feat for me.
27:12
But, but thank you for bringing it up.
27:14
But I, I, I tell that story and people just scratched their head
27:17
and say, you know, hit four home runs in a row, but not play the
27:21
next day. It's it's it's very strange, but
27:22
I did see where this younger player hit three home runs in a
27:25
row. Yeah, that's incredible that
27:27
that's, I think it was his first game in the big leagues, right?
27:30
First game in the big leagues, first pitch, home run.
27:33
I saw it. My wife Sue, you know, she's not
27:39
a real big baseball fans. But all of a sudden I said, you
27:41
know, this kid just hit, just hit a home run.
27:43
It was the first pitch. So we start watching and second
27:49
time up, home run, third time up, third time up, home run.
27:54
You can't make it up shams. But you know what?
27:57
What, what? What will go down in history for
27:59
him, Probably that'll never happen again.
28:01
What you did will never happen again either.
28:04
In fact, what you did, the fact that you were not a starter in
28:08
that game, well, it'll never happen again.
28:10
Because with the stupid rule they have now, you put a guy on
28:13
second base to get the game over with.
28:16
Come on. Ronnie we we can talk forever
28:20
about the game and how it's changed.
28:21
It's still the greatest game in the world.
28:23
But you know, I have problems with some of the things they do.
28:26
I I mean, if you want to talk about it, we can.
28:28
I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm just, I'm not big on all these guys just
28:33
swinging for the fences every time they go up.
28:35
Strikeouts. If you check the box scores,
28:38
look at walks and strikeouts and number of pitchers and you'll
28:41
see every game has got anywhere from 17 to 2122 strikeouts, you
28:46
know, 7-8 walks, 8 or 9 pitchers that then maybe more.
28:52
I, it's just not the game that I, that I, I grew up with and
28:56
love. I know people like it, they want
28:58
the, the big innings, but there's, I think what that does
29:01
is it it takes the fans out of the game.
29:04
You don't second guess the manager anymore.
29:06
It's pre, it's pre determined who's going to come in the
29:09
pitch. You know who's going to start.
29:12
And I think that I, I played for managers who I think would have
29:15
trouble with the front office telling them who to start, who
29:18
should be in starting lineup. And I, I think that I think for
29:22
me, the game, while I still love it and follow it, it's just not
29:25
the same game. And, and I think the strikeouts
29:27
is really one of the things that that I, I really not crazy
29:31
about. Guys strike out, they walk back
29:32
to the dugout like nothing happened.
29:34
They don't care. They don't care if you see a
29:36
runner on second, you're very rarely going to see a right hand
29:39
batter try to move that runner to 3rd with less than two outs
29:43
because his agent is saying to look, if you hit 1015 more runs,
29:47
I'm going to get you that money that the guy, look at the guy on
29:50
the other side of the locker room, he's he's making 20
29:52
million. You're making ten.
29:53
You hit 1015 more runs. I'm going to get you his money.
29:56
And that guy said, why should I give up that at bat?
29:59
And and the other thing I think for me is that I think the fans
30:03
are taking out of the game. They don't second guess this hit
30:06
and run. There's no very little stealing.
30:08
There is stealing, but not so much and there's no, you know,
30:11
it's just kind of programmed and you know, fans used to be able
30:14
to, I used to like the bunt. You know, I could hit home runs,
30:17
but I, I used to like that bunt play where the third baseman is
30:20
breaking in short steps going to third or second second baseman
30:24
is going, the first pitcher might hit away or whoever is
30:26
bunting might hit away. It gave you a little bit of
30:29
leeway to to second guess the manager and get the best fans
30:32
involved. You don't see that anymore.
30:34
And so they don't even teach bunting anymore in the minor
30:38
leagues, right. They just you just throw hard
30:41
and swing up. That's really the the mantra now
30:45
in in baseball And and you know, there are some great athletes.
30:49
There's no doubt about that. We there are great that are
30:51
taken care of much better than we were there.
30:54
They're they're fed better. The meal money is unbelievable.
30:57
The payroll is so much greater. But but the game itself to me is
31:02
it, it's, I think the other thing, I hope I'm not talking
31:05
too much here. I hope I'm but you got me going
31:08
here. And I think the other thing that
31:09
I I'm missing the game is that they've lost the tradition of
31:12
the game. Very few teams have tradition.
31:15
The Cardinals, I think have some Yankees, of course, LA, the
31:19
Dodgers, the Giants a little bit to maybe Boston, the Cubs.
31:23
But there's no more tradition there.
31:25
There's just you know what's that's what's find ways to make
31:28
money. You know, you're the with the
31:30
gambling. Now everybody's on their phone
31:32
betting every pitch, every, every play there.
31:35
There's just, there's just, you're going to see on uniform
31:39
pretty soon DraftKings, Caesar's Palace, all the hotels, you
31:45
know, all the things that, that, that spend money, You're going
31:47
to see that on the uniforms. And we've lost that center to
31:51
the tradition. And then I'm sad about that
31:53
because you as kids growing up, we felt that we knew about it.
31:57
We knew, yeah. Look there, here's a perfect
31:59
example. When I was at Cincinnati, we
32:01
always played the first game of the season, first day of the of
32:04
the on a on a Monday. We played and the rest of the
32:07
baseball played that night or next day.
32:10
And now it's wherever they can get the game of the week and
32:13
then the most money from ESPN or NBC.
32:16
And so that that's the way it's gone.
32:18
And, and, and, you know, we, we, we either deal with it or we
32:22
just forget about the game. And most of us really love the
32:25
game, so we stick with it. But but on a personal level, I
32:28
think the game has changed a lot since since we played as kids
32:31
and certainly as I played in the big leagues.
32:33
You know champs because not just the hitters, I, you know, I was
32:37
a pitcher my whole life. I pitched into high school and
32:39
then I pitched it washing you. And you know when I pitched it
32:43
washing you, we, we play 9 inning games.
32:46
And when my coach over there, Irvutz gave me the baseball, if
32:50
I'd have said to him, AI can give you 5 good innings today,
32:53
or if you know what he would have said to me, get your ass
32:55
over and sit down. I'm giving you a baseball.
32:58
You finish the game, finish it. If if you can't finish it, fine,
33:02
we'll bring somebody in. But you know, you go out there
33:03
to pitch 9 innings or in high school, high school kids got to
33:07
be able to. High school kids are pitching 7
33:09
inning champs. Yeah, they're pitching 7 every
33:12
time they go out there. And they and these kids, they
33:15
want to start and finish the baseball game.
33:17
In the big leagues, if you get 5 innings, you're a big timer.
33:20
Are you kidding me? Yeah, You know, it's, it's,
33:22
it's, you're exactly right, Z man.
33:24
It's, you know, I had because of my Met connection, I've had
33:27
people always come up to me and say they had this kid Jacob
33:30
degrom was still pitching really great arm.
33:33
He was a shortstop. They made a pitcher out of him
33:35
and he's had really one. I think he won the Cy Young two
33:38
years or two years or two out of three years.
33:39
And the people would come up to me and say, Hey, is he as good
33:42
as Tom Seaver? And of course I played with
33:45
Seaver and, and, and all those great pitchers with the Mets.
33:48
But, but I would say to him, you know, tell me, how many complete
33:52
games did Jacob degrom have in his career?
33:54
And you know how many Tom Seaver had?
33:56
And they didn't know. And I, I, I remember I looked it
33:59
up and I had some, some idea of a round figure.
34:02
I know that Seaver pitched like 235 complete games and Jacob
34:07
degrom had five. So how do you measure that that
34:11
compared to somebody who had all these complete games and you
34:13
know, as I do, you follow the game Guys I played with, for
34:17
example, Seaver and Jerry Koosman and Fergie Jenkins and
34:21
and and Gibson and Carlton and Colfax, Drysdale, Marichal.
34:26
If you went out to the mound and the 5th, 6th inning and they're
34:29
in A1 game, one run game, either winning or losing, they're not
34:32
coming out of that game. They're not coming out of their
34:35
game and that manager is going to leave them in there.
34:37
And and that's why there's so many great pitchers in that era
34:40
pitch so many complete games because they were able to
34:43
compete all the way to the to the the 7th, 8th and 9th inning.
34:47
And and now you know, a guys who are 45 inning pitchers, they
34:51
come to the ballpark and they know they're going to face 15
34:54
batters. That's it.
34:56
Whether they've been giving up a hit or not.
34:58
If they're pitching a no perfect game, they're coming out of that
35:00
game and they, they're going to face 151617 batters at most.
35:06
And that's the way the game is programmed and, and the lineups
35:09
are made-up by the front office. The schedule of pitchers that
35:12
come in is made-up and you'll, you'll see some changes due to
35:16
what's going on in the game. But for the most part, these
35:18
managers are really tied to the front office about who's playing
35:22
and who's not playing. And you know, there's a lot of
35:25
guys I played for managers that would not tolerate that.
35:27
But then again, the the game is different and in the way it is.
35:31
And so if you want a job, maybe you have to do that.
35:33
But but we know that the game has changed a lot and it's
35:37
still, you still have to run, throw, hit field and pitch.
35:41
But the game itself is played different.
35:43
And like you said, that runner on second base is just
35:46
ridiculous. Now they're there.
35:48
You can argue the caught ball and strike.
35:49
You can. Yeah.
35:51
I don't even know how it works anymore.
35:52
You know, you can't throw over the first base, but twice.
35:55
I I don't know. I just it's, you know, I just, I
35:58
just checked the box scores now it's what I do.
36:00
Hey, Shams, you just mentioned Seaver and I, I remember you and
36:05
I having a conversation that you and I guess you had three or
36:10
four or five of your teammates when when Tom was so struggling
36:14
and you guys took a road trip. You want to talk about that?
36:18
Is it OK to talk about that? Yeah, I was writing a book.
36:21
I was writing a book for our 50th anniversary of the 69 met
36:25
team and and you know, we're I still do personal appearances
36:28
because of it. It was such a incredible team
36:31
where we came from, what was going on in the world and city,
36:34
New York in the late 60s. And we were doing a 50th
36:37
anniversary book that I wrote was a real good, a terrific
36:41
writer with called Eric Sherman. And we, we, we were doing
36:45
interviews and I said to Eric, I, I just don't want to do an
36:48
interview over the phone with Tommy.
36:50
He just announced that he was in early stages of, of dementia
36:54
and, and we decided to take a trip out there.
36:59
And I took Bud Harrelson, who had just announced that he was
37:02
in early stages of Alzheimer's and they were roommates and
37:05
friends. And so we took him and, and Ron
37:08
Saboda, who made a great catch in game four in the series when
37:11
Sieber was pitching, and Jerry Koosman, who was the second best
37:14
pitcher. So we all coordinated from
37:16
different places. Buddy and I went together with
37:20
Eric because I had to kind of hand hold him because he was
37:23
struggling to get through, you know, through the airport and
37:26
everything. So we went out together and then
37:28
Koosman met us and, and, and so Ebola met us out in San
37:32
Francisco and we went to see Tom, who lived up in Napa
37:36
Valley, was in the wine business, but he was starting to
37:39
really not be well. And when I talked to him, he
37:42
said, ask my wife about coming out.
37:44
And he said, so I'm great. I I love to see you.
37:46
So when I called her, she said you might come out here.
37:48
He might not feel good. So it might be a wasted trip.
37:51
I said, let's just take a chance.
37:52
And we took a flying. We got out to San Francisco.
37:55
I called her. He was about 30 miles north of
37:59
of San Francisco. Well, maybe a little further up
38:01
in Napa Calistoga. And she said, well, don't come
38:04
today because he's not feeling good.
38:06
So the problem we had was the only day we could come was
38:09
Saturday because we all had to leave early Sunday to catch
38:13
flights to get back. So the next morning we stayed in
38:16
a small town not far from where he lived.
38:18
And I called her. She said get over here as soon
38:21
as you can. He's feeling pretty good and he
38:23
wants to see you guys and and whatever you do, just be sure
38:26
and tell him that his coffee tastes good, no matter how bad
38:29
it tastes. So that was it.
38:30
That was a qualification we got there and we spent 67 hours of
38:35
glorious time with him and he was OK to talk with and, and we
38:40
could see there was some trouble brewing there.
38:42
But we spent this time on on a we had his beautiful home
38:47
talking and reminiscing about stuff that for all of us, our
38:51
lives changed at October Day when we won the World Series,
38:54
October 16th. I'm still in New York, between
38:57
New York and Florida and doing personal appearances because of
39:00
it. You know how 111 day changes
39:04
your life? And, and we were so happy to do
39:06
it. But it was a sad moment because
39:08
when we left, I said to him, like, we'll we'll see you soon.
39:12
And we didn't make any plans for that night.
39:14
And he understood that. And I got back, got back to the
39:17
hotel. We were leaving the next morning
39:18
and there was a message from him, Hey, what time we going out
39:22
to dinner? I thought we were going out to
39:23
dinner. So you knew that he was not
39:25
really all there and then what, 5-6 months later he was gone.
39:29
So it was sad moment for all of us because we, you could feel
39:33
that that this could be the last time all of us were together.
39:36
And subsequently, Buddy has since passed away.
39:39
Tom has passed away. Thankfully, A Koosman who's been
39:42
ill is still around. And so Boda is going strong.
39:45
He's down in New Orleans. So it was a wonderful time and
39:48
the book was very successful, would turn out to be a New York
39:52
Times bestseller. But it was a sentimental journey
39:55
and and a little bit of a tearjerker because we reminisced
39:57
about the friendships that you develop, especially on a team
40:01
like we were, because we were a bad team.
40:02
The Mets were always bad up to that point, finishing last
40:06
place. And we we, we won the World
40:08
Series and all of a sudden our lives change and, and so we all
40:13
became stronger because of that. It's one thing to have a good
40:16
team then win it all the next year.
40:17
But when you're a bad team, finishing ninth, a half a game
40:21
out of last place that you think would beat Houston, Houston was
40:23
in the last place. The win it all was very, very
40:26
special and so so the ties we had together were very, very
40:31
important to me and that's why we went made the trip out there.
40:33
Well, Shamsky, you know, I'm going to go back a little bit
40:36
now, and I mentioned a couple people, you know, who I was very
40:39
close to when I was in a high school.
40:42
I was very close to your cousin Nancy Yaffe, and she was a great
40:47
gal. And then she married a guy who
40:50
was probably one of the best running backs at you said he
40:53
ever had Jack Holzberg and I went to visit Jack some years
40:57
ago. He was and he was, he was OK.
41:00
He was kind of struggling. And Jack passed away not too
41:03
long ago. So, you know, we're we're we're
41:05
losing friends, champs. But you know what?
41:08
We're still here and we're still bullshitting people and.
41:13
We have memories, you know, it's Nancy was a Nancy was a
41:16
sweetheart and her dad, my uncle Max really was a guy, really a
41:21
wonderful guy. He would soft toss with me and
41:25
and we would play catch and and he he loved the horses too.
41:32
He was a horse guy and and I introduced him to Pete Rose.
41:35
I think him and Pete hit it off pretty good.
41:37
He might have been the person that the Pete out the Cahokia
41:40
Downs or whatever they were racing a horse And so who knows?
41:43
But yeah, he was a wonderful guy.
41:45
And Jack was a Jack Holzberg was a terrific athlete, good, great
41:49
football player, like you said. And you know, you know, we, we,
41:53
you're right. We, we keep losing friends.
41:55
We cherish these moments like I cherish this time.
41:58
We can talk and reminisce and, and bring back these wonderful
42:01
memories because we got we, we have memories.
42:04
That's what keep us going. And we laugh about some of the
42:06
things and some of the friends we grew up with.
42:09
And I think it's great you're doing this program and, and, and
42:12
I follow you and I, I listen to some of the things.
42:15
You're doing a great job. And and to me, being able to
42:17
share these moments with you is very, very special.
42:20
Well, you know, I remember, I do have a good memory, you know,
42:23
from years ago. I, I might have forgotten what I
42:26
was supposed to do yesterday at home.
42:27
But you know, I remember your mom and dad, Bill and Sadie.
42:31
Am I right that I hit it? Bill and Sadie and then Art
42:35
sister for everybody was listening.
42:37
What, what a great, great gal she was.
42:39
I mean, AD at, at, at, not at the old age, but certainly not
42:44
at a young age. Became an attorney and and did
42:47
very well. Right when she something, yeah.
42:49
She was a public defender. She, she would, she would defend
42:54
anybody's right for a trial, even if they're standing there
42:57
with a gun smoking in their hand.
42:59
She was, she was terrific. I miss her.
43:01
I bet I, I, you know, I, I look forward to seeing her and, and
43:06
coming back and get hooking up with you and seeing some folk
43:09
friends and she's gone now. But, but I've got great memories
43:13
of my, my dad was, my dad was, he was, he was good.
43:18
He was, he got me started with as soon as I could walk with a
43:21
ball of bat and a glove in my hand.
43:23
But he he would get to that ballpark at 4:30 when the gates
43:27
open and. I remember a funny.
43:29
Story I'm going to tell you a really quick funny story and he
43:32
he was one of these guys that didn't say much when the game
43:36
was going on and after the game and say, oh, you got a couple
43:39
hits that's great or you got an important hit that's great.
43:41
But what did you do those other two times when you made outs?
43:44
What happened those two times? I had to defend those those
43:47
outs. But what really came was really
43:50
funny one day I was I was we were I was with the Reds and we
43:54
were in Crosley Field and no, I was with the Mets.
43:57
I'm sorry. We were in New York and we, we
43:59
were up in New York and, and Tommy Helms was with the second
44:03
baseman with the Reds had just come from Saint Louis.
44:06
And you'll get a kick out of this story.
44:09
And, you know, back in those days, it was Fred hanging rules.
44:12
Fred hanging rules. So we could kind of yell at each
44:14
other for a little bit of distance.
44:16
And Tommy said, Hey, I, I talked to your dad the other night in
44:19
Saint Louis. I said, Oh my God, what do you
44:21
do? Call you for tickets, you know,
44:22
to see you play the, the, the, the, the Cardinals.
44:26
He said no, no, he called and wanted to know why you went over
44:28
4 the other night against somebody and he wasn't.
44:33
Tommy wasn't even there. I know my dad was thinking maybe
44:35
Tommy knew I went over 4 in a game.
44:37
So I mean, that's what you know, You just laugh at some of those
44:40
things that happened. I got a memory Shams and I don't
44:44
know if you remember this, but I was teaching in a small town in
44:46
Illinois and buddy of mine, we decided we were going to come up
44:51
to Chicago because the Cubs were playing Cincinnati and we
44:54
figured Holtzman and Shamsky. I kept telling my buddy there
44:57
and we we lied at school and told him we were sick.
45:00
You know, they thought we got in trouble.
45:02
But anyway, we were teaching school.
45:03
So I remember after the game. Did you have a picture by the
45:06
name of Ellis? Wait, say it again.
45:10
The pitcher, Ellis, Ellis, he was one of your pitchers on
45:14
Cincinnati. Sammy Ellis.
45:18
Sammy Ellis OK, he had a bad he had a bad day.
45:20
Shamsk OK, listen, OK. And afterwards we went to some I
45:24
know there was a local bar some all you guys were in there and
45:26
I'm in there and you know, you and I are in this guy says to me
45:29
says, hey, what do you think was wrong with me today?
45:32
Or you know something I said, hey, man, I said I pitched it
45:37
washing you. You're in a big what are you
45:40
asking me? But are you kidding me?
45:42
But I remember and and Kenny was there with the Cubs and I never
45:48
really knew how good Kenny was. You know what I mean?
45:50
And it was a end of the season art.
45:52
It was in some real cold kind of a cold day in in Chicago.
45:57
And Kenny pitch that day and I watch him warm up and he warmed
46:00
up on a right by the dugout in those days.
46:03
Remember how they didn't have any of the bull?
46:05
And I went down there to watch him warm up because there was
46:07
maybe 5000 people at Wrigley Field.
46:10
And I saw him throwing and I thought, oh, oh, once again,
46:14
Ron, you don't get it. This guy can throw.
46:16
He's pretty. Damn.
46:18
Yeah, he had a great career. He you know, he, I think he
46:21
threw 2 no hitters. He he won five World
46:26
Championships. A lot of people forget that he
46:27
won three with Oakland and two with the Yankees.
46:30
So five world championship. He you know, I was sad when he
46:33
passed away. He was a tribal.
46:35
We, we got to know each other really well.
46:36
We both managed in Israel 2007 the Israel Baseball League,
46:40
which was the beginning of baseball on Israel was a great
46:43
experience for for us and my and the other third big league
46:46
player was Ron Bloomberg. We managed over there and it
46:49
wasn't really good baseball was it was really kind of a start of
46:53
trying to get the game developed over there.
46:56
The fields were not really good, equipment was bad.
46:58
The players were OK, but but from that year, 2007, Israel
47:03
decided to to develop the game and be a factor in international
47:08
baseball and going on to play really well in the world in the
47:11
in the Olympics and and in the Bay World Baseball Classic.
47:15
And so Kenny and I became very good friends.
47:17
I was saddened when he when he passed away.
47:20
It's another too young, too young when he passed away, but.
47:24
Well, Shams, can we tell you? I was shocked.
47:27
Bobby, his brother, Bobby Holtzman, he called me when Art
47:32
passed away and he asked me if I would do a eulogy farm at his
47:37
funeral. And so I went there and I, you
47:42
know, I, I, I did the best I could do, you know, And I'll
47:45
tell you who was there. Eddie Mickelson, you know, him
47:50
and Kenny were really close and you know, you know, one of the
47:53
last living brownies and Ed, Ed was about 96 or 97 then.
47:58
And I'll tell you a cute story that I'm going to have to get
48:00
off here. We're getting late.
48:02
Listen, so anyway, Mick, Mick and I are talking before the
48:06
funeral, you know, you know, and we're we're standing around
48:10
outside the grave site and all this business and and Mick and I
48:14
are talking. So Pomeran shows up, see and
48:18
Nicholson, he still was sharp. So Pomeran says hi, hi, hi, Mr.
48:22
Mickelson. So Mickelson looks at him.
48:24
He says I don't think I know you so.
48:28
So Sandy says I'm Sandy Pomeranz.
48:32
So Nick says who Sandy who? I'm sorry, I was.
48:39
And then then of course, Mick went on and said, I know you
48:41
Sandy, you know, he gave me a hug and shook his hand.
48:44
But Mick was this. He was messing with them and oh,
48:47
my gosh, Oh yeah, he was really messing with them.
48:50
But, you know, Kenny's farmer wife was there.
48:54
She was very gracious. And both his daughters were
48:58
there. And it was it was it was a nice
49:00
affair. You know, it's it's nice as
49:01
funerals can be right Champs. Yeah, yeah, Kenny was a terrific
49:06
pitcher and, you know, had great years and, you know, I'm I got
49:11
to know him really well and and he was a little behind me and
49:15
you and in the university city, but I would like to play high
49:18
school ball with him. But he was, he was a really
49:21
great Major League pitcher. He was.
49:23
And listen, by the way, art what you want to talk to the audience
49:28
that's listening and viewing us today about how they can get in
49:31
touch with you if they want to get in touch with the art.
49:33
Shamsky. Yeah.
49:34
Thanks, Susie. I I do a lot of personal
49:36
parents. I've written three books.
49:38
I'm on the process of trying to develop another one.
49:41
You know, time is the enemy, but I do a lot of personal
49:43
appearances. I'm down in Florida now, but
49:45
back in New York in the tri-state area and down in
49:48
Florida I do. I talked to a lot of mostly the
49:51
Mets fans, believe it or not. But if somebody's interested in
49:54
in me speaking with them and talking to all my stories, they
49:57
can just go to arshamsky.com, www.arshamsky.com.
50:02
They can e-mail me and and you know, and get in touch with me.
50:06
That would be great. I appreciate you letting me make
50:08
a a plug for that, But I am still enjoy meeting seeing
50:13
people and talking about I I've very quickly, I've run into
50:17
probably over the years 100,000 people who told me they were the
50:20
last game we won the World Series in 1969.
50:23
And I say to myself, well, ballpark held 53,000 but 100,000
50:27
people have said they were there.
50:28
So I didn't make any difference. As long as they think they were
50:30
there, that's fine with me. But you know that that team
50:33
lives on forever, particularly with Mets fans.
50:36
It's 57 years now and the fact is it's still one of the most
50:39
talked about teams in the history of baseball.
50:41
And I still still enjoy talking to him.
50:45
And when I talk to people who usually in their sixties, 70s
50:48
and 80s, they they get their youth comes back for a short
50:52
period of time. They remember when their parents
50:54
took them and then now they take their grandkids.
50:57
So it makes me feel younger and and I really enjoy talking about
51:00
it. But there's so many things that
51:02
I'm so lucky Ronnie very quickly to have been part of that team
51:05
because so many things in my life happened because I was part
51:08
of it. They named the dog after me on.
51:10
Oh yeah, we talked about that real quick about Raymond.
51:13
Yeah, they named it this ugly bulldog.
51:15
I wish it was a beautiful lab, but it's an ugly bulldog.
51:17
But I get people talking about it and I watch that program all
51:20
the time. And it took seven of us to Vegas
51:22
singing in the show after we won And and I was able to broadcast
51:26
for so many years and then do things.
51:29
And it will only because I was part of that 69 met team.
51:32
So I'm very grateful. I've got no complaints.
51:34
People always say, don't you wish you were there making the
51:36
money that they're making Now? My question is, all you crazy?
51:39
Of course. But I wouldn't trade it for the
51:40
players I played with. You know, very quickly that era
51:43
I played in 60s and 70s Maze, Aaron Clemente, Stargel Mccovey,
51:48
Rose Bench, all those great pitchers, Colfax, Dreisel in the
51:52
National League. I mean, Gibson called, I mean,
51:55
see, right. I would never had a chance to
51:57
play with them if I didn't come up in that era.
52:00
And so me to be able to, for me to be able to do that was very
52:02
special. And I owe it all to you and the
52:05
friends we had growing up who kind of got me in this and in
52:09
the sphere of things to be able to to make it to the big we.
52:12
So I thank you for that. Well, Shams going to tell you
52:15
something. All those players that you just
52:17
mentioned and you and you were right with them, buddy.
52:19
You were playing with them, you were competing against them.
52:23
They can talk about the modern baseball players all they want.
52:26
And I, you know, I'm listening to them.
52:28
But the guys you just mentioned that era and then even going
52:31
back a little further with Stanley Museum and Ted Williams.
52:34
Hey, you know what? I'll take those guys and I'll
52:36
take you, OK. It's great talking to you, my
52:39
friend. And I'll, I'll call you in the
52:40
next couple days. We can talk about this and this
52:43
show will be a Matt back here. He'll probably have this thing
52:49
out in a couple days and it'll it'll go to my grandson.
52:52
He likes to edit it, but when when it goes to my grandson
52:56
it'll I'll send it to you also and then.
52:58
OK, I'll try and post it. Try and post it on Facebook.
53:01
If anybody wants to, they can contact me on Facebook too.
53:04
Yeah, and next? RX but I'll try and post it on
53:06
Facebook when you. Great.
53:07
Yeah. When you get the first one
53:08
champs, you just look at it and see what you like, OK.
53:11
And then tell me and then and then that Thursday, which would
53:14
be next week from tomorrow, it'll be out for everybody.
53:17
And you can post it whatever you want, buddy.
53:19
OK. Sounds great.
53:20
See man. OK, how's your wife?
53:22
Good. You're getting along good with
53:23
her. Everything is good, all good.
53:25
You keep doing what you're doing.
53:26
You look great. Tribute to Saint Louis Sports
53:30
and and I'm really happy that we go back so many years because we
53:35
have cherished memories, that's for sure.
53:37
Well, we met in 1956, buddy. That's a long time.
53:40
It's a great, it's a big, great many.
53:41
I don't know, I, I don't even want to do the math now, but all
53:44
those years have been great years knowing you and every time
53:46
you came to Saint Louis and we got together, it's great.
53:48
And next time you get back here, we'll do the same thing.
53:52
Yeah, well, when I want to try to, if I can't remember
53:54
something, I'm going to call you because you got a great memory.
53:56
Thanks, chefs, You're a great man.
53:58
Love you all right buddy. See you soon.
54:01
Thank you. Thanks.
54:03
Well, it's been great having art on the show today.
54:06
It's great to be with a lifetime friend, a guy that I've been
54:10
very, very good friends with since 1956, if you can believe
54:13
that. So all of you who are watching
54:16
this, if you like it hit a like and then most of you, I think do
54:22
have friends, then you can send it to a friend and share it with
54:28
a friend. And I will remind you of one
54:31
thing that I remind you every week.
54:33
And my grandson sitting right next to me, this will go for him
54:36
too. Today is the youngest you'll
54:40
ever be. Have a great day.
54:42
And TuneIn, we're having fun with this.