Latest / Sports History Network / The 1990 Oakland A's with Jeff from Two Strike Noise

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The 1990 Oakland A's with Jeff from Two Strike Noise · Sports History Network

• 0:00
  Foreign.
• 0:17
  Welcome to, I believe, episode 12, Derek.
• 0:21
  Is that right?
• 0:21
  I think this is episode 12 of Mixtape or 13.
• 0:25
  Yeah, 12 or 13.
• 0:27
  Either way, we've made it beyond that episode seven point where everybody quits.
• 0:32
  So we are a fully functioning adult podcast now, Derek.
• 0:38
  So sounds.
• 0:39
  That sounds inappropriate.
• 0:41
  It is.
• 0:41
  It's inappropriate.
• 0:43
  But.
• 0:43
  So we've got a really good episode for everybody today.
• 0:47
  We are going to be talking about, as we've hinted at over the last few episodes, we're finally at the 1990 World Series.
• 0:56
  I grew up as a Cincinnati Reds fan, so this is one I have been literally waiting for as we've just been marching through all the other amazing sports history events from 1990.
• 1:07
  But this is one I've definitely been looking forward to.
• 1:10
  And we have a special guest with us today, Derek, and it is Jeff from two Strike Noise.
• 1:15
  Jeff, how you doing today?
• 1:17
  It's special.
• 1:19
  I don't think anybody's ever said that about me in a, you know, a nice way.
• 1:24
  So I'm, I'm happy to be here.
• 1:25
  Thanks for having me.
• 1:26
  Awesome.
• 1:27
  I'll give a little bit of background on why Jeff is joining us today and kind of how I found Jeff.
• 1:32
  So I feel like it's been at least a few months now, probably when Derek and I were in the, in the early first few episodes of this podcast that I stumbled upon your podcast two Strike Noise, that you
• 1:46
  do with your co host Mark, and you guys do an outstanding job.
• 1:50
  I'm a sports history junkie and baseball is my main drug.
• 1:56
  And so I felt like when I found two Strike Noise, I was.
• 2:00
  And as I told Jeff before we started, they were already 300 and something episodes in.
• 2:06
  It just felt like a dream come true to have basically about 300 and something hours of fun baseball history content waiting for me there.
• 2:15
  We were kind of talking about, I think one of the reasons I did find you guys was very much to do with the Cincinnati Reds and that you guys did an episode about the Reds hot musical endeavor of
• 2:29
  that great 1990 Cincinnati Redstein.
• 2:31
  We'll talk some more, a little bit about that as well.
• 2:33
  But again, found to Strike Noise.
• 2:36
  I can't recommend it enough if you love baseball history.
• 2:41
  And I think you guys just do such an amazing job with some of the really fun, deep statistical stuff, but then also a lot of like the quirky characters and stories from the great.
• 2:54
  The history of this great game.
• 2:55
  And I just, every episode has just been so much fun and so I can't again encourage all of our listeners enough to go listen to it.
• 3:03
  I applaud you Jeff, for all the hard work you've done and your co host Mark.
• 3:08
  It's really a great job.
• 3:10
  But first I thought if you could just tell us a little bit more about yourself and maybe how two strike noise came to be sure.
• 3:18
  So I am a Bay Area native, grew up through elementary school in the Bay Area, then moved to the bustling metropolis of Salt Lake City where I went to high school and went to Washington State for university.
• 3:36
  And I've been a lifelong, I gotta say I was a lifelong Oakland Athletics fan.
• 3:41
  I'll say Oakland Athletics season ticket holder, went to fantasy camp a couple of times.
• 3:48
  Just my entire, I hate to say it, but my entire personality was kind of based around the Oakland A's and Ricky Henderson in particular, my all time favorite player.
• 3:59
  And I've had to in the last year and a half change my entire wardrobe because it's all green and gold.
• 4:05
  So now I'm trying to dress like a normal, you know, adult male and it's been a little hard.
• 4:14
  I'm not going to lie.
• 4:15
  I'm no longer an A's fan this year.
• 4:18
  Last year didn't watch a single game except for when they played the Mets, who are my new team because they will leave me feel pretty safe about that.
• 4:28
  But yeah, I've been.
• 4:30
  Baseball has been my passion for the last 40 years and I mean it's, it's really a passion.
• 4:36
  Fortunately, I got to work in sports and baseball for over 25 years doing LED screens, advertising, scorekeeping in major stadiums and arenas.
• 4:48
  That's where I met my co host Mark.
• 4:51
  My wife and I moved to Seattle.
• 4:53
  We lived there for about 10 years.
• 4:55
  I was very familiar with Seattle.
• 4:56
  I went to Washington State, which is on the other side of the state, but you know, came over.
• 5:01
  I used to drive over for the weekends when the A's would be in town at the Kingdome and go to games there with some friends.
• 5:07
  But Mark and I would be working in the production video production room at T Mobile park and we'd be keeping score, you know, in stadium and we would sit there.
• 5:17
  Basically our podcast is what we would do during games.
• 5:20
  We'd be talking about what's going on at the game, talking about, hey, let's name best, you know, left handed hitting catchers today.
• 5:28
  And then that would be our topic for the day as well as discussing what was going on in the game and talking about the game and stuff.
• 5:34
  So Mark and I also love pop culture so we try to weave that in as much as we can.
• 5:39
  Red's hot, you know, get Mets marathon.
• 5:42
  Those kind of things are right up our alley.
• 5:44
  We've done an episode on both of them, so, I mean, that's the kind of stuff we love.
• 5:49
  But we also love learning about players that we hadn't heard about and, you know, teams that we might not be that familiar with and players like that.
• 5:59
  So it's fun for us to do it.
• 6:01
  I'm glad people enjoy it.
• 6:03
  I can see you're probably right about our demographic as a lot of.
• 6:08
  A lot of, you know, guys that grew up watching baseball in the 80s and 90s.
• 6:12
  Yes.
• 6:13
  Yeah.
• 6:13
  And.
• 6:14
  And I think that's why I was going to ask you your.
• 6:18
  Your peak Ace fandom.
• 6:19
  I mean, would you say that this time frame right here was kind of it like that we're about to talk about now is that late 80s Bash Brothers into the 90s.
• 6:29
  It would.
• 6:30
  First of all, the 1990 athletics team is my favorite A's team of all time.
• 6:34
  Oh, great.
• 6:36
  I mentioned I grew up in Salt Lake City, you know, junior high and high school, and for some reason the.
• 6:42
  An independent TV channel there carried the A's network.
• 6:46
  So I got to watch the A's every night, which I don't know how that happened, but I'm not gonna, you know, I'm not gonna question it.
• 6:54
  Yes.
• 6:54
  And I remember, you know, 89, once he got traded, there's no Internet.
• 6:59
  Right.
• 6:59
  Once Ricky Henderson, I should say, got traded from the Yankees.
• 7:02
  Today there's no Internet, there's no social media.
• 7:05
  I pulled up to one of my friends houses just randomly, as you did in at that time, and somehow he had heard this news and he's like, did you.
• 7:17
  How.
• 7:17
  What are you doing?
• 7:18
  And I'm like, what?
• 7:18
  And he's like, ricky Henderson got traded to the A's and I just lost it.
• 7:22
  I ran out, went back, I went down to the mall, bought a new A's hat because my.
• 7:28
  I was a Yankees fan for a little bit when he was there, but I still followed the A's every day.
• 7:33
  And I just felt in 1990, watching those games, no matter what the score was, I knew that the A's would come back and either win or at least make it close, which they did until the World Series.
• 7:47
  So.
• 7:48
  Yeah.
• 7:48
  Yeah.
• 7:49
  Which is.
• 7:49
  And it really was a wild year for Oakland in 1990.
• 7:53
  And I mean, this just for it to end like that even being so.
• 7:57
  So a little.
• 7:58
  My background, born and raised in Texas, but my parents were from Cincinnati and my dad and my grandfather on my mother's side really shaped my sports fandom because they just fed it like mad because they loved watching it.
• 8:14
  So anytime they could probably say, well, we're going to sit down and watch a game with Scott, even though it was just.
• 8:19
  They wanted to watch it themselves or whatever, they would.
• 8:22
  And this was really, like, I tell people all the time, like, when the ball.
• 8:28
  In 1986, the ball went between Bill Buckner's legs and I fell in love with baseball that night, I can tell you.
• 8:34
  That was the night I fell in love with baseball.
• 8:36
  I can tell you that that is almost the exact same origin story for me.
• 8:41
  Oh, wow.
• 8:42
  I had watched, you know, the.
• 8:43
  The 85 series, the.
• 8:45
  The Red, the Reds.
• 8:47
  I'm looking at your hat, the Cardinals and the Royals, and really enjoyed that.
• 8:52
  And then the next year, I watched a lot of baseball.
• 8:55
  But, yeah, that World Series, the next year in 87, I was baseball crazy.
• 9:02
  And then from there until this very day, that is exactly what did it for me as well.
• 9:08
  Yeah.
• 9:08
  Yeah.
• 9:09
  And I think that was that season.
• 9:11
  It's really weird, too, because I just attached myself to the Mets from the beginning, and which, again, how I ended up with the Mets is a kind of silly story.
• 9:21
  I won't even get into that.
• 9:22
  But the other side of that was my brother, seven years older than me, and I essentially rooted against him in anything I could.
• 9:32
  And he was.
• 9:33
  And we.
• 9:33
  We lived just about an hour and a half, two hours north of Houston, and he was a big Astros fan.
• 9:40
  And so I had rooted for the Mets all year.
• 9:42
  And then, of course, you get to this nlcs, which was an amazing series in itself, which, with possibly one of the greatest games ever played, my opinion.
• 9:51
  And it.
• 9:52
  And so now I'm at this, you know, peak rivalry time, too.
• 9:56
  I was 10 years old at the time.
• 9:58
  He would have been 17.
• 9:59
  But we were very much, you know, at each other's throat over stuff like this or whatever.
• 10:05
  And then so that wins and goes on to, you know.
• 10:10
  And again, I was loving it at that point, but I'll just never forget game six of that World Series and literally feeling like this is something I never want to stop watching again after.
• 10:24
  Which again, is kind of crazy after that Game six because there was such a.
• 10:29
  Like, I think I got a lot of enjoyment.
• 10:33
  Enjoyment.
• 10:34
  Such a bad way to put it.
• 10:35
  But I really love watching both sides of a big game like that and watching the look in Clemens's eyes as he's sitting there afterwards, just watching the Mets celebrate on the field, watching a hobbled Bill Buckner Walk off
• 10:49
  the field.
• 10:49
  I know that sounds like I'm horrible or sadistic.
• 10:52
  It's not.
• 10:52
  It's just like I want to see both sides of the competitive pay, you know, ending there or whatever.
• 10:59
  It's never, never feel bad about seeing Roger Clemens look Sad.
• 11:03
  Yeah, that's 100% the truth.
• 11:05
  That's when I, I, I, I did learn to have a.
• 11:09
  And, and really, I mean, you know, the Bill Buckner thing was just a lesson on a young man and empathy too.
• 11:15
  Just because I can remember my dad having this talk with me afterwards and kind of explaining Bill Buckner and like, kind of the side of it, like maybe he shouldn't have been in the game, but this is why
• 11:28
  he was.
• 11:28
  And just having this conversation.
• 11:30
  And then I'll, I will still cry if I see a video of when they finally welcomed Bill Buckner back after they broke the curse in 04 and he came in oh five and threw out the first pitch.
• 11:43
  Oh my gosh.
• 11:45
  That like, that's just immediate waterworks for me because I did, I grew to just kind of love Bill Buckner out that whole thing too.
• 11:53
  And he handled it so well with such a class too.
• 11:56
  He was a great guy.
• 11:58
  Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.
• 11:59
  Mookie was too.
• 12:00
  And there were a lot of guys on, on that Mets team that weren't great or at least kind of facing demons and would later maybe, but they were, they were kind of my first love in baseball.
• 12:13
  And even though I always this Reds fandom because of my family, that's really where it began for me.
• 12:20
  But 1990 was so special because of the Reds and getting to go through all that with my dad and grandfather and was just a awesome experience for sure.
• 12:32
  So give me an idea.
• 12:34
  I, I have a couple questions.
• 12:36
  Just about 2 strike noise before we jump too much into Oakland.
• 12:40
  Just kind of, I feel like you guys are so like we're polished from the beginning, you know what I mean?
• 12:48
  Like, it was just so like you had this rhythm, you had this format and how did that come to be and was that just the history of the two of you spending time together or did you kind of
• 12:59
  sit down and actually have a plan for how you wanted each episode to look and feel?
• 13:04
  Well, thank you.
• 13:05
  First of all, that's very nice.
• 13:07
  So I have a background in broadcasting.
• 13:09
  I've done a lot of radio, did a lot of play by play actually, which I really enjoyed, especially baseball.
• 13:17
  Mark likewise has been an actor and done, you know, radio and stuff like that.
• 13:22
  So we both had some background to that.
• 13:25
  I Take entirely too long to edit each episode.
• 13:29
  I'm, you know, kind of a perfectionist when it comes to that.
• 13:33
  So, you know, I.
• 13:34
  That was one thing I wanted to do for sure, was just make sure it sounded like I wanted it to sound like.
• 13:39
  But then also we just wanted to make a podcast for what we wanted to listen to, talking about baseball history and pop culture.
• 13:45
  So again, like I said, this is what we would do while we were watching Mariner games.
• 13:50
  Some really bad Mariner games, until Felix Hernandez spot came around in the rotation.
• 13:56
  So, you know, talking about Star wars, which we both enjoy or something like that.
• 14:01
  I mean, we spent a whole homestand coming up with Star wars related player names.
• 14:06
  Like.
• 14:09
  Give me a minute now.
• 14:10
  Now, see, this is where you.
• 14:11
  You need to edit because I can't remember.
• 14:13
  No, I was gonna say.
• 14:14
  I mean, does any Luke work, I'm assuming, or any.
• 14:19
  Remember, there was a.
• 14:21
  There was a Japanese player, Aoki.
• 14:24
  Yeah.
• 14:25
  And so we came up with like, BB8 ioki.
• 14:28
  Somehow we tied it all in.
• 14:30
  But we had literally 30 names of really good Star wars baseball names that, like Bo Bichette.
• 14:39
  I mean, that one just does.
• 14:41
  That's.
• 14:42
  You know, you say Boba Shet fast enough and it sounds like Boba Fett.
• 14:45
  So that's along the lines of what we would do.
• 14:48
  So.
• 14:48
  Yeah.
• 14:48
  And I've heard an episode or two where y' all have done that around holiday.
• 14:53
  So Christmas probably as well as.
• 14:55
  I can't think of the other one,.
• 14:56
  But I think we did Thanksgiving, so we had some birds in there and.
• 15:00
  Okay, that's awesome, Mark.
• 15:03
  The one that cracks me up is we did.
• 15:04
  We did Holiday, you know, Christmas and.
• 15:07
  And Mark came up with Johann Santa.
• 15:10
  Nuh.
• 15:11
  And that one always cracks me up.
• 15:12
  I do remember that.
• 15:14
  I feel like you wouldn't give him credit for that one.
• 15:15
  Or maybe it was another one.
• 15:17
  There was one where you said, I'm not gonna quite let you have that, or something like that, but I don't know.
• 15:23
  Yeah, that's.
• 15:24
  That's great.
• 15:25
  It's really enjoyable.
• 15:26
  Y' all do a great job.
• 15:27
  So keep it coming.
• 15:29
  Keep it coming.
• 15:30
  All right, so let's jump into the 1990 Oakland A.
• 15:33
  So this is your favorite team of all time?
• 15:37
  Yeah.
• 15:38
  I mean, Ricky, first of all, I.
• 15:43
  It's hard because also my kind of.
• 15:45
  My whole office decor is just all Ricky stuff, which kind of is hard because it reminds me of the A's, you know, Although he's played for many.
• 15:56
  He did play for many teams, but that was my guy.
• 15:59
  Growing up, I led off in Little League.
• 16:01
  I was always the fastest guy on the team.
• 16:03
  I played the outfield.
• 16:04
  I did none of it well, but I envisioned myself as Ricky Henderson.
• 16:09
  At home.
• 16:10
  I would put on my Little League jersey and just build piles of dirt, loose dirt, and run and slide head first into it so I could stand up and kind of dust myself off like he did.
• 16:21
  I just, I thought he was the coolest and I mean, he was long before it was like kind of acceptable to be as cool as he was on the, on the field.
• 16:31
  He did it and he didn't care.
• 16:32
  And I just loved that about him.
• 16:35
  So him being in Oakland was just a dream come true to have him come back.
• 16:41
  Maguire, Canseco, I can take your leave.
• 16:43
  I really have no allegiance to either of them.
• 16:48
  My guys were Terry Steinbach, I've got to meet him several times at Fantasy Camp and play golf with him.
• 16:54
  And he is just a great guy.
• 16:56
  Carney Lansford, same thing.
• 16:58
  He and Terry Steinbach are just best friends.
• 17:00
  They go on vacation together.
• 17:02
  Their families, they are at Fantasy Camp.
• 17:05
  You never see one without the other.
• 17:07
  I mean, they're just attached at the hip.
• 17:10
  I've gotten to know Dave Stewart pretty well.
• 17:13
  He's drafted me a couple of times at Fantasy Camp and I see him when he's in town and so forth.
• 17:19
  And he's my favorite pitcher of all time.
• 17:22
  So I love getting to run stuff past him.
• 17:25
  Asking him, you know, when, when Cecil Fielder hit that ball off you that left Tiger Stadium, what happened there?
• 17:32
  And he just goes, go talk to Steiny.
• 17:35
  Yeah, it's always Steinbach's fault.
• 17:38
  That's awesome.
• 17:40
  So you know those guys.
• 17:41
  And then on that 90 team, they traded for Harold Baines and Willie McGee, which are just two play.
• 17:46
  Willie McGee is a Bay Area guy.
• 17:48
  He still lives here, still lives in the East Bay.
• 17:51
  I enjoyed those guys on the team a lot.
• 17:54
  Scott Sanderson, you know, just some of these players that.
• 17:57
  I mean, Baines is obviously a Hall of Famer, but some of these guys that were on the team that year that weren't the prior couple of years, I really enjoyed and I loved getting them on that team.
• 18:07
  And of course Bob Welch, you know, had a year there in 1990.
• 18:14
  Stu should have won the Cy Young and he'll tell you, but Stu should have won the Cy Young.
• 18:19
  He was definitely a better pitcher than Bob Welch ever was, but especially that year.
• 18:24
  And I just.
• 18:25
  Gene Nelson, probably my all time favorite reliever, kind of rogue just to have a Gene Nelson stand, but.
• 18:32
  And then EK was just unbeatable at that point.
• 18:35
  So it was just such a fun team to watch.
• 18:38
  I really, really enjoyed that team.
• 18:40
  Yeah, I mean, just talk about just a loaded team.
• 18:42
  And one of the names that.
• 18:44
  One of my favorite guys is I've gone back and watched, you know, more from that year of the A's and especially the ALCs with the red Sox and the World Series with the Reds.
• 18:54
  Is man, and I.
• 18:55
  And I loved him in 86, even though he was a Red Sox.
• 18:57
  But it's Dave Henderson.
• 18:59
  And like, I could watch Dave Henderson catch fly balls for hours.
• 19:03
  If that's all I do.
• 19:04
  I could just sit there and watch him catch fly balls in his very animated way.
• 19:08
  Ricky's got too, but there is something different.
• 19:12
  Like Ricky just looks like he's being Ricky when he does it.
• 19:16
  Dave Henderson looks cool when he's doing it.
• 19:18
  You know what I mean?
• 19:19
  Not that Ricky doesn't look cool, but Dave looks cool.
• 19:22
  Hendu looks like he is just having the time of his life at any point.
• 19:26
  I shot.
• 19:27
  I remember is when he was with the Red Sox in 86 and hit the home run to beat the Angels.
• 19:33
  And.
• 19:34
  Well, he didn't beat him, but put him ahead.
• 19:37
  And he must have been like 30ft off the ground when he jumped after that.
• 19:40
  Yes.
• 19:41
  And when he catches things, he's got his feet going.
• 19:44
  And I love Hendu.
• 19:46
  His.
• 19:47
  His widow actually is a wazoo grad like I am, and I've met her several times, and she's fun to talk to.
• 19:54
  Just remembering the joy that Hendu played with.
• 19:58
  And it's so obvious when you watch it.
• 20:00
  And he was in some big games and, man, that guy hit some big home runs.
• 20:05
  Yeah, no doubt.
• 20:07
  He.
• 20:07
  I mean, just talk about a clutch player.
• 20:09
  For sure.
• 20:10
  I have a quick Terry sandbox story.
• 20:14
  So I got to work for four days for the Rangers as a clubhouse attendant.
• 20:18
  My.
• 20:18
  One of my best friends was a clubhouse attendant, and they needed somebody to pinch in.
• 20:22
  So it was like 2001, and it was the Twins, and Lee Stevens was the first baseman for the Rangers.
• 20:29
  And Lee Stevens had mini helmets, like the small mini helmets that are the size of the softball.
• 20:35
  And he had them in his locker.
• 20:36
  And whoever showed up, whatever team showed up, he would have one of the clubbies take the helmet over and get an autograph.
• 20:44
  Like, he had Sharpies.
• 20:45
  He had the whole deal.
• 20:45
  He was a grapher probably before it became like he had paint pens and Sharpies and.
• 20:51
  And the.
• 20:52
  And the like.
• 20:52
  Well, Steinbach was on the Twins at this time.
• 20:56
  So he handed me, because I was just passing by, and he goes, hey, take this over and get an autograph.
• 21:02
  And I looked at him, and I was like, who do you want?
• 21:05
  He looked at me like I was an idiot.
• 21:07
  And he was like, terry Steinbach.
• 21:08
  Of course I want Terry.
• 21:09
  Of course I want the catcher of the 1990 Oakland Athletics.
• 21:13
  So it was literally like my first or second day.
• 21:15
  I walk into the Twins clubhouse, and I just look at Mr.
• 21:19
  Steinbach, and I was like, sir Lee Stevens would like your autograph on this.
• 21:25
  And he signed the bill, handed it back, never exchanged a word.
• 21:28
  And I just turned around, and I was like, I got to meet Terry.
• 21:31
  That's.
• 21:31
  I went home, and I was like, I got to meet Terry Steinbach today, Guys.
• 21:34
  Never said a word to me, never acknowledged me.
• 21:36
  He was just in the process of getting ready for the game for the day, and he.
• 21:42
  He.
• 21:42
  I was like, you know, I.
• 21:44
  Because of my love of this era of the A's, I got to meet Terry Steinbach is probably the coolest thing that I got to do associated with the team.
• 21:51
  But I did have a question, though.
• 21:53
  Before we get completely started, your hat has got Oakland Coliseum on it.
• 21:58
  I'd like to know your relationship with the Coliseum.
• 22:01
  I love it.
• 22:03
  I was.
• 22:04
  I know.
• 22:05
  I know.
• 22:06
  I think it was.
• 22:07
  I think it's right now during the alcs, and you know that the Trop, it's.
• 22:11
  It is what it is.
• 22:12
  I love the Trop.
• 22:13
  I've been there.
• 22:14
  I really like it.
• 22:16
  I would.
• 22:17
  I'd much rather watch a game at the Trop than Three Rivers, you know, with the turf.
• 22:22
  I just don't like that.
• 22:23
  The.
• 22:24
  The old cookie cutter, which is what the Coliseum is, but it's grass.
• 22:28
  And when I.
• 22:28
  When I grew up going to games, there was no Mount Davis, thankfully.
• 22:33
  You know, there was a beautiful.
• 22:34
  Two scoreboards, there was some bleachers, there were plants.
• 22:39
  And then you're looking out at the Oakland Hills.
• 22:43
  It used to be a really nice stadium until Al Davis decided he was going to come back and ruin it.
• 22:49
  And the way that they talk about the Trop is kind of how I feel about the Coliseum.
• 22:55
  I know.
• 22:56
  I know it's not good, but it's my stadium.
• 23:00
  It's called around here.
• 23:01
  It's called the Last Dive Bar and is a real.
• 23:04
  You know, we say that with heart, with love.
• 23:08
  And I know how.
• 23:09
  I love it, because I know how to get around.
• 23:11
  I can get anywhere quick.
• 23:12
  I know that place like the back of my hand.
• 23:14
  I've been to such great games there.
• 23:16
  And I have so many great memories there.
• 23:19
  There might also be a seat there that somebody has written in Sharpie two Strike Noise baseball history podcast.
• 23:27
  But that.
• 23:28
  And that was also the last place I saw Rickey Henderson.
• 23:30
  He played in a celebrity softball.
• 23:33
  He didn't play, but he was there.
• 23:35
  A celebrity softball tournament after the A's had just moved out.
• 23:40
  And it was just a couple of months, like two months before he passed away.
• 23:45
  And I wondered why he didn't play and he wasn't moving very quickly.
• 23:49
  And, you know, now I look back at it and I was.
• 23:52
  I've got so many things that I'm like, oh, I'm going to get Ricky to sign that next time I see him.
• 23:56
  And now that's kind of gone.
• 23:58
  So that's hard.
• 23:59
  And then to lose my favorite team of all time was really hard.
• 24:04
  It still is really hard.
• 24:06
  And I have lost another team.
• 24:08
  I'm.
• 24:09
  I'm a baseball guy, but hockey is my second favorite sport.
• 24:12
  I love hockey.
• 24:13
  And while living in Atlanta, I worked for the Atlanta Thrashers, Hawks and the Braves while I was there.
• 24:19
  But the Thrashers was great.
• 24:20
  I loved hockey.
• 24:22
  I went, you know, every game I'm there and then they move.
• 24:25
  So I've been through this before and it hurts a lot.
• 24:29
  I hope nobody ever has to go through it, but I.
• 24:33
  It.
• 24:33
  This one really, really hurt, though, because I had invested so much time.
• 24:38
  I traveled to games.
• 24:39
  I went to the hall of Fame when Ricky went in.
• 24:42
  We went to Japan when the A's played there.
• 24:45
  Like, I loved that team.
• 24:47
  And to have it torn away the way that it was, too.
• 24:50
  John Fisher is trash.
• 24:52
  And if I ever see him in person, I will probably go to jail because I'm gonna.
• 24:57
  I'd probably punch him right in the nose.
• 24:59
  That guy just.
• 25:00
  I hate him.
• 25:02
  And.
• 25:03
  But I love the Coliseum, and I think the final ever event is going to happen there very shortly, and then they're going to start converting it into whatever they're going to convert it into.
• 25:14
  But it's sad every time I drive past it still.
• 25:17
  I love that place.
• 25:19
  I believe the owner's meeting where they voted for the move was here in Dallas Fort Worth.
• 25:26
  And I remember reading an article about people showing up and confronting him and him just being very smug and very John Fisher.
• 25:35
  But I got lucky to go to the Coliseum one time.
• 25:37
  It was like 2018, they're playing the Red Sox, got seats very low.
• 25:42
  And I just remember being appalled that each section had an usher that would check your ticket every time you left.
• 25:50
  And Every time you went back.
• 25:52
  And I was like, obviously, you know, Fisher, I'm like, who puts this into place when you're getting.
• 25:59
  When it's, you know, it's the.
• 26:01
  We're in the death rattle.
• 26:02
  You know, you get 1500 people a night.
• 26:04
  There wasn't anybody there that night.
• 26:06
  But I had the best night.
• 26:08
  Just because of the romanticism of watching.
• 26:11
  Staying up on the west coast, watching those games at night, loving those teams, loving watching, you know, getting a chance to watch those.
• 26:19
  The only chance we got was when the Rangers went out, you know, and you had to stay up.
• 26:23
  It's 9:30 here when they started.
• 26:25
  So it was like you had to, you know, you constantly wake up with the TV at 5:30 in the morning, you know, being snow, because that was the only way we could watch, you know, Oakland games.
• 26:34
  But I just remember being kind of like, why is there an usher at every section?
• 26:40
  Why is there not a feeling of, you know, why are we protecting $80 seats this.
• 26:46
  This badly by paying somebody for five hours to be at each entrance?
• 26:51
  It was really.
• 26:52
  It was.
• 26:52
  It didn't ruin the night, but I was just like, I feel so bad for the, for the fans of this.
• 26:57
  This franchise that this is the way that they're being treated.
• 27:01
  Yeah, I totally get that.
• 27:03
  And I've dealt with it a little bit.
• 27:07
  After 2018, when they did the season tickets, where you essentially got a pass and you could kind of sit anywhere in certain sections, it got a little bit better.
• 27:19
  But, yeah, I feel you.
• 27:23
  I've been to a lot of stadiums and I've never been hassled as much as you would be there, you know, late in a blowout game or a game that's just not attended very well.
• 27:32
  You know, try and just get a little bit closer near the end.
• 27:35
  And yeah, they were.
• 27:36
  I'm assuming that was on order, but,.
• 27:39
  Yeah, no, 100%, I fully believe, because it was robotic.
• 27:43
  You know, you're.
• 27:44
  You're.
• 27:44
  I'm holding a bowl of.
• 27:45
  Or a batting helmet of nachos.
• 27:48
  And, you know, because I wanted the green.
• 27:50
  Green helmet and, you know, you're getting checked in the seventh inning, you know, for your ticket.
• 27:55
  And it was just like, seriously, like, what are we doing now?
• 27:59
  I feel your pain.
• 28:01
  I think the thing.
• 28:02
  And I can remember, I have.
• 28:05
  I feel like I kind of stumbled upon.
• 28:07
  I don't know what podcast number it would have been for you guys, but shortly after they wrapped up their.
• 28:13
  Their.
• 28:14
  The end of their time there, and I really could feel the emotion from you, Jeff, and And that how bad it hurt.
• 28:22
  Almost like you just didn't even want to be sitting there talking with Mark about baseball in that moment.
• 28:27
  And.
• 28:27
  And it really made me kind of think, you know, I was like, man, I don't know that I have that relationship with any team.
• 28:36
  You know, I mean, the Rangers would be the closest thing, but it also, I mean, and I guess anything can happen, but at the same time, it kind of feels like that seems like it's a.
• 28:48
  A very, very long shot that they would.
• 28:50
  They would go away like that.
• 28:52
  So I could.
• 28:53
  I.
• 28:53
  I did spend some time kind of reflecting on that.
• 28:55
  And it really, like, the thing that gets me is like, Oakland is such a storied franchise too.
• 29:01
  I mean, they have such high moments in those teams of.
• 29:06
  Of the early 70s where dominant.
• 29:10
  Then you get into the 80s and they have their.
• 29:13
  Obviously what we're talking about here with the Bash Brothers, Dave Stewart, Bob Welsh's amazing team, Eckersley, all of them.
• 29:20
  And they've had all that.
• 29:21
  And then they even have a.
• 29:23
  One of the best baseball movies ever, in my opinion.
• 29:26
  The A's are kind of the backdrop of it.
• 29:29
  And I just remember really thinking about it after you after listening to that episode, which again would have just been the last couple months of like, man, this is a really big mistake.
• 29:38
  I feel like for baseball, for this franchise to go through this change and leave the Bay Area, leave Oakland.
• 29:47
  And so, I mean, from just another baseball fan, I feel the pain.
• 29:52
  I'm sorry you're, as a big Oakland fan, that you had to go through that and continue to go through it, because that.
• 29:58
  That does just really suck.
• 29:59
  And it's not like it's.
• 30:01
  Again, I don't want to pick on Tampa maybe, or I don't know who we'd pick on here or whatever.
• 30:08
  You know, maybe Montreal felt picked on at one point, but like those.
• 30:12
  At least there, you could argue there's not the same level of history in the game.
• 30:17
  You know what I mean?
• 30:18
  To where, hey, it's just not working out in Tampa.
• 30:21
  Let's move this team to Nashville or whatever.
• 30:23
  But for Oakland, it really does.
• 30:25
  Does feel like all of baseball should kind of feel like there's a hole there now.
• 30:30
  Like there's an absence that won't be backfilled.
• 30:33
  And it's.
• 30:35
  I don't know if.
• 30:36
  Because it's the A's, if people just thought it was, you know, this team was in Philadelphia, this team was in Kansas City, then they were in Oakland, and now they're going to move again.
• 30:44
  I don't know if it was, you know, hey, this team's been plenty of places.
• 30:48
  They're going to just go another one.
• 30:51
  But, you know, what I really enjoyed was the empathy that as an A's fan, I got from every other baseball fan.
• 30:59
  You know, everybody enjoyed the sell the team chance, the reverse boycott.
• 31:04
  I was at that game.
• 31:06
  That was.
• 31:07
  That was.
• 31:07
  I.
• 31:08
  I'm glad I was there.
• 31:08
  I.
• 31:09
  I purposely did not go to the final home game because I knew I wasn't going to be able to handle that.
• 31:17
  But just the empathy and still people.
• 31:21
  People will talk to me about it.
• 31:23
  I actually, I do still live here in the.
• 31:25
  I back here in the Bay Area, and I see more people wearing A's fan Ace hats and A shirts and gear now than I ever have before, which kind of sucks.
• 31:35
  But it's good because we can just, you know, kind of nod at each other and go, you know, f John Fisher and sure and so forth.
• 31:43
  But it's.
• 31:43
  I do appreciate everybody that I had people reaching out to me.
• 31:47
  Just when I'm on the street.
• 31:49
  If I had an Ace thing on, people would.
• 31:51
  Would reach out and talk to me and really have that camaraderie of a baseball fan and knowing how awful the situation was.
• 31:59
  So I appreciated that.
• 32:01
  I mean, it kind of made me feel like maybe Oakland can be the Cleveland Browns of this thing someday where it does get brought back.
• 32:10
  I mean, obviously as a new franchise.
• 32:12
  I mean, the Browns history, obviously in Baltimore, I guess.
• 32:16
  But at the same time, it's not really.
• 32:19
  I mean, they're back and it's there.
• 32:21
  And I.
• 32:21
  That.
• 32:22
  That was really what I thought about was when I thought, you know, Maybe we get five, 10 years down the road and baseball's kind of like, you know what?
• 32:30
  There should be baseball in Oakland.
• 32:32
  Let's, you know, when they're expanding up to 34 or whatever they might do.
• 32:36
  36.
• 32:37
  At that point, it's like, let's get a team back in Oakland.
• 32:40
  Giants.
• 32:41
  I would hope Giants never allow it.
• 32:44
  I mean, it.
• 32:44
  Of course, there's the story of, you know, when the Giants wanted to leave right around this time, right in the night, you know, early 1990, they were planning on leaving San Francisco and going to Florida.
• 32:56
  Trop was right there.
• 32:58
  And the A's, the Haas family were the owner of the A's.
• 33:01
  At that point, San Jose was A's territory.
• 33:05
  How they cut it up for Major League Baseball.
• 33:07
  And the Hosses said, listen, we will give you that territory to keep you here because the Bay Area is Better with two teams than one.
• 33:17
  And it was a handshake agreement.
• 33:19
  They got it kept him in San Francisco.
• 33:23
  And now, you know, the A's want to build a new stadium.
• 33:26
  The Giants say, nope, we're not going to help you out.
• 33:29
  We're not giving you anything that.
• 33:30
  That we have.
• 33:32
  And of course, owners are all going to back themselves, you know, back other owners.
• 33:38
  So when they want to do some stupid thing, they know that every owner's got their back and we'll vote it through.
• 33:43
  So the Giants have no interest in keeping the A's here.
• 33:47
  And, you know, they just see A's fans becoming Giants fans and more money in their pockets.
• 33:52
  So it's just a business and it's.
• 33:55
  It's a sad part of it, but, yeah, definitely just did not reciprocate at all any of that goodwill that the A's showed to them around 1990.
• 34:06
  Yeah, that's.
• 34:06
  I.
• 34:07
  I did not know that.
• 34:07
  I don't think I'd ever heard that the Giants were considering that, especially.
• 34:11
  You think about it, that's just on the heels of the 89 World Series, where, you know, they were basically on the precipice of.
• 34:17
  Of being world champions as well, and.
• 34:20
  Their stadium was falling apart, one, because of the earthquake, two, because Candlestick was old.
• 34:25
  And again, there's.
• 34:26
  There's the trop.
• 34:27
  I.
• 34:27
  I don't.
• 34:28
  I think it was built at that point, not being built or planned, but I think it was built at that point because I know it sat there unoccupied for a while, but, yeah, they were.
• 34:36
  They were ready to pack the bags.
• 34:38
  Yeah, no doubt.
• 34:41
  Well, as we look at, like, this 1990 A's team, you know, you've talked about Ricky and his coming over from New York, but really, I start looking at how this team came together.
• 34:53
  And for me, I always felt like in my fandom of baseball, LaRusso was such a legend always.
• 35:01
  And so this was his fifth season in Oakland.
• 35:05
  He.
• 35:05
  His first being in 86, which I believe he came over in the middle of the year or whatever, but.
• 35:11
  Or start it in the middle of the year.
• 35:13
  But what do you like?
• 35:15
  What is your thought on the role LaRussa played in the success that the team experienced in 1990?
• 35:24
  So are you familiar with the book Men at Work by George Will?
• 35:28
  Yes, I have that book.
• 35:30
  Yes.
• 35:30
  Yeah.
• 35:30
  So that is a good.
• 35:32
  It's kind of Moneyball.
• 35:33
  Before Moneyball, it was a look behind the scenes of the A's.
• 35:37
  I think there were two teams.
• 35:40
  Excuse me.
• 35:41
  I think there were two Teams that it kind of looked at and.
• 35:44
  And the A's were one of it.
• 35:45
  And LaRusso was one of the first guys that started using, you know, the Tandy computers that you could get at Radio Shack at that point.
• 35:52
  Not a lot of computer stuff going on, but, you know, he was.
• 35:57
  He was a great manager at that point.
• 36:00
  I have a real love hate relationship with Tony La Russa.
• 36:05
  Never a huge Ricky fan.
• 36:07
  He was glad to have him, but didn't speak highly of him a lot of times, especially later.
• 36:14
  You know, LaRussa's got enough problems staying awake, you know, while he's driving home drunk these days, so I'm not going to get into that stuff.
• 36:23
  But again, Tony La Russa, much like Marge Schott, who is.
• 36:27
  All I'm talking about are people I just can't stand.
• 36:30
  But, you know, Marge Schott is trash.
• 36:34
  I'm saying that word a lot.
• 36:35
  But her one redeeming quality was she was a big animal lover.
• 36:39
  You know, obviously Shotzi, taking dumps on the field, all that kind of stuff.
• 36:43
  But she was also a huge contributor to the Cincinnati Zoo and to other animal rescues and so forth.
• 36:51
  And that's a big thing for me.
• 36:52
  My wife's a veterinarian.
• 36:54
  We have a ton of dogs and cats.
• 36:55
  We love pets and.
• 36:57
  And that's a big thing.
• 36:58
  And Tony larousse is the same way.
• 37:00
  My wife actually works for his former rescue here in the Bay Area.
• 37:05
  Now it's changed names and ownership.
• 37:09
  They kind of voted him out after all of his legal problems.
• 37:12
  But, you know, he's a big animal guy, so I appreciate that.
• 37:16
  I mean, obviously he's a Hall of Famer, the Cardinals, the A's, the White Sox, you know, all these teams that he managed for I, you know, like in 1990.
• 37:25
  How much managing did you need to do, though, with that team?
• 37:29
  Exactly.
• 37:29
  And that's kind of what I was getting at, is like, could this just have been anyone?
• 37:34
  Could this, you know, could I have managed this team to this, to the same level of success?
• 37:39
  And I'm not.
• 37:40
  I don't want to belittle the position, nor larussa like that.
• 37:43
  I'm joking, obviously, but it does seem like this was such a machine.
• 37:49
  But you also have LaRusso, who is.
• 37:52
  I feel like he's kind of got this ultimate strategist, chess player mind when it comes to baseball, or at least that's our perception.
• 38:02
  But I wasn't sure from a fan's perspective, like, how much of the team success do you really put on Tony La Russo from really not 1990, but this era of A's baseball.
• 38:13
  Again, I kind of look at him as the, like the den mother of the boy.
• 38:17
  I can't say Boy Scouts with the A's, especially not this team.
• 38:20
  But it was, you know, I, I at that point, I was young.
• 38:25
  There was no social media.
• 38:26
  You know, all I know is from what I'm hearing on the local A's broadcast and the occasional ESPN broadcast, so as far as I knew, he was a genius.
• 38:38
  I think we know not quite as much now, but again, I mean, this team was.
• 38:43
  Except for the fact that he loved to bring Rick Honeycutt in, who I hated and still do.
• 38:50
  I, I just again, I think you could have put the Rally Monkey from, you know, like the Angels, I think, at the head of this and drawn lineups from a hat or darts or something.
• 39:01
  You know, you might get a Lance Blankenship leading off one day.
• 39:04
  But then this team was just so good.
• 39:08
  Yeah, well, that was one of my things.
• 39:10
  We did the Nolan Ryan six no hitter.
• 39:14
  Well four or five episodes ago.
• 39:15
  But one of the things that was hilarious to me was the lineup that night because McGuire sat out, Lansford was kind of hurt, Canseco had just gone on the DL.
• 39:25
  And so the lineup that night was Ricky leading off, Willie Randolph hitting second, then for McGuire, Doug Jennings hitting third.
• 39:35
  And then for Conseco at the DH, Ron Hasse hitting fourth.
• 39:39
  It was just like he took.
• 39:41
  And it wasn't like, it was like, it wasn't like these injuries happened like during warm ups.
• 39:46
  He had plenty of time to prep a new lineup.
• 39:48
  And then it was Felix Jose hitting fifth, Dave Henderson hitting sixth.
• 39:52
  And it was just like he just took Doug Jennings and Ron Hassey and jammed.
• 39:56
  I mean, just like took the eraser and wrote those both in.
• 39:59
  And we both got a huge kick out of the fact that Nolan, you know, his six no hitter was helped in large part because of what LaRussa threw out there that night at him.
• 40:08
  So I always enjoyed that about LaRussa, but I hate LaRussa just because of the 2011 World Series, you know, just guilt by association.
• 40:17
  We will always hate him here.
• 40:18
  So.
• 40:18
  Yes.
• 40:19
  Yeah.
• 40:19
  And that, that's kind of what I was trying to get to with all this is that he's just worthless.
• 40:25
  I just wanted an ace and to say it, but yeah, so he did,.
• 40:29
  He did have one of the best computer baseball games there for a little bit.
• 40:32
  Oh, that's right.
• 40:33
  Yeah.
• 40:33
  With one of, I swear, I know I'm exaggerating.
• 40:37
  This, but I swear to you, There were like 27 three and a half inch discs that you had to upload or download to the computer to fully get the Tony LaRussa experience.
• 40:47
  And then I think there are expansion packs.
• 40:49
  I think there were like four and five disc expansion packs along the way for rosters.
• 40:54
  I could be making all that up.
• 40:55
  I just remember there constantly being a stack of Tony La Russa three and a halfs sitting on my desk that I never.
• 41:03
  Oh, yeah, like, I just remember the rattle of the box, you know, when you were taking it from Walmart or what have you.
• 41:10
  But I just remember his baseball game being one of the first that you could actually do some, some.
• 41:15
  Some deeper stuff.
• 41:16
  At least you own the physical media at that point.
• 41:19
  Right?
• 41:19
  You're not.
• 41:20
  Boy, that's renting it.
• 41:21
  I don't know.
• 41:22
  My.
• 41:23
  I just moved three tubs of Criterion Blu Rays into storage containers.
• 41:28
  So it hasn't died yet, begrudgingly to my better half.
• 41:32
  So I'm still very much a physical media guy.
• 41:37
  Yeah.
• 41:37
  You know, when I think about too like with that team, you know, sometimes I think, well, sometimes the greatest coaches, managers, whatever, they're not necessarily.
• 41:47
  It's not the strategy, but sometimes it's just like, how well do they manage the egos and the players?
• 41:52
  I always think like, that's Phil Jackson, for instance.
• 41:55
  I mean, for what he had to deal with.
• 41:57
  I mean, again, it wasn't like Jordan was this insane.
• 42:03
  He wasn't.
• 42:04
  He wasn't doing bad things, but his ego was so large that obviously if you watch the Last Dance, you kind of can see that he may have not been the best teammate at times and stuff like that.
• 42:14
  But when you look at this team, I think the, the ones I would think of like, well, was Canseco trouble at this point, but he was only 25 years old.
• 42:23
  1990.
• 42:24
  I don't think we'd quite get.
• 42:26
  Gotten to maybe peak Crazy Jose, at least at that point.
• 42:33
  Maybe we were though, and we just didn't know it because there was no social media and no news outlets covering it as much.
• 42:39
  But again, and I'm not trying to.
• 42:42
  I was kidding.
• 42:43
  I'm not really trying to drag larussa through the mud here, but that's kind of the point I was getting to was like from an Ace fan's perspective, he, you know, does he get a lot of respect and ownership
• 42:58
  over that success or is it just seemed like he was kind of just the guiding.
• 43:02
  The guiding light there to get everyone pointed in the right direction at Least.
• 43:07
  Well, it's.
• 43:07
  It's funny because watching the 1990 series again, in.
• 43:12
  In preparation for this talk, I.
• 43:15
  There was.
• 43:16
  They did a segment about how when Ricky was traded back to the A's in 89, some of the media thought it was a bad move, that Ricky, you know, is a selfish player and he's going to ruin this
• 43:28
  team's chemistry and be a bad teammate.
• 43:32
  And he came in and, you know, he famously went into LaRussa's office and said, hey, I'm.
• 43:37
  Ricky is here to play.
• 43:38
  Ricky's here to be a good teammate, you know, blah, blah, blah.
• 43:41
  And even wanted signs to keep him from running, even though he had the green light.
• 43:46
  And I know Harold Reynolds tells the story a lot.
• 43:49
  It seems to get bigger every time Harold Reynolds tells the story.
• 43:53
  More details and more stuff, but they're essentially all right, you know, hat is steel.
• 44:00
  Swipe the chest is hit and run, and swipe the arms is take off.
• 44:06
  You know, I'm taking nothing.
• 44:08
  Take off.
• 44:09
  And so Ricky got on base that first game, and he's at first, and he looks over, and Rene Lashman, the third base coach, goes through assigns, and he finishes with the wipe off.
• 44:18
  You know, the.
• 44:19
  The takeoff.
• 44:20
  And so first pitch, Ricky goes, steals second base.
• 44:23
  And LaRousse is pissed now because he didn't want him to run there.
• 44:28
  And.
• 44:29
  But the last sign was take off.
• 44:30
  And so he's yelling at Lachman at third, and Lastman's like, I took off.
• 44:34
  So go through the exact same signs.
• 44:36
  And Lachemann, this.
• 44:38
  The last time I heard it, Harold Reynolds is like.
• 44:40
  Lachemann looks over at LaRussa and takes off.
• 44:42
  The.
• 44:42
  He didn't do that, obviously, I'm sure.
• 44:44
  But LaRussa was watching.
• 44:46
  And again, first pitch, bam.
• 44:48
  Ricky goes, steals third base and gets in the dugout after scoring on, like, a Lanceford Sac fly or something.
• 44:55
  Ricky run.
• 44:56
  You know, get on first steal, steal.
• 44:58
  Come in on a sac fly, a ground out, whatever.
• 45:01
  And larussa's chewing him out, and he goes, why are you.
• 45:04
  Why are you running?
• 45:04
  I didn't want you to go.
• 45:06
  Well, the la.
• 45:07
  He gave me the takeoff sign, so I took off.
• 45:09
  Ricky took off.
• 45:11
  And, you know, I don't know.
• 45:13
  I know generally which stories are true or not.
• 45:16
  I'm not sure about that one, but Harold gets a lot of.
• 45:19
  A lot of play out of that one.
• 45:21
  But, you know, even in when Jose's books came out, first thing I did was went to the index in the back and looked up Ricky so I could read all the stuff I was like, oh, God, what's he
• 45:31
  going to say about, you know, my favorite player?
• 45:34
  But the worst thing he had to say about him is that he owed him some money for a card show that he filled in for him and I guess hadn't been paid for yet.
• 45:42
  That was it.
• 45:43
  So, I mean, I don't know.
• 45:46
  I've, I've.
• 45:46
  Tony, Gwen called Ricky the best teammate he ever had.
• 45:49
  So I think, you know, New York, New York, I think the rest of it, I mean, I guess you got the cards with Bobby Bonilla against the Braves in, in the early 2000s.
• 46:00
  I've heard nothing but good things about Ricky except for, you know, kind of some of those things.
• 46:06
  And, you know, I've talked to Stu.
• 46:07
  He's.
• 46:08
  They were best friends, so I got a lot of good stories from him, and Terry Steinbach has a lot of good stories.
• 46:15
  And I.
• 46:17
  I'm just happy that he ended up being loved as much as you.
• 46:21
  And I'm happy now that everybody loves Ricky.
• 46:24
  You know, after he retired, I spent his whole career defending him.
• 46:29
  And then after he retired, everyone loves him.
• 46:31
  And then, of course, after he passed, now he's a saint, which I'm all for.
• 46:35
  But.
• 46:36
  Yeah.
• 46:36
  Have you read Howard Bryant's book?
• 46:39
  Obviously.
• 46:40
  How'd you feel about Bryant's book?
• 46:42
  So I talked to Howard and I said, you know, the.
• 46:45
  You've got some things here from Ricky, but there's not a lot of quotes from Ricky in this book.
• 46:51
  And he told me, he said, well, Ricky was all about this book.
• 46:55
  First of all, his wife Pam wanted this book.
• 46:57
  She had read Howard's other work, which is great, and she wanted something like that for Ricky.
• 47:03
  So she contacted Howard about it, and Howard was all about it.
• 47:06
  I mean, obviously, it's a great subject.
• 47:08
  He's a great subject.
• 47:10
  Bay Area baseball, especially Bay Area African American baseball here.
• 47:15
  It's just incredible the names that have.
• 47:17
  That have grew up and played here.
• 47:19
  And he said, Howard said, I think his quote was, Ricky was all about this book until he found out he wasn't getting paid for it.
• 47:27
  And then I never heard from him again, which sounds like Ricky.
• 47:33
  I mean, the good thing about that is Ricky always had money.
• 47:36
  He never wasted his money.
• 47:38
  We all know he framed his million dollar check and you know, those kind of stories.
• 47:43
  But Ricky was a property owner.
• 47:45
  He kept his money very well handled, and I was always happy, you know, Jose Canseco, not so much.
• 47:56
  You know, he's got a car wash that goes.
• 47:59
  Is kind of sketchy, and he's out selling Bigfoot and UFO trips.
• 48:04
  I mean, the guy obviously needs a lot of money, but Ricky.
• 48:08
  Ricky was a smart guy.
• 48:09
  And Ricky earned a lot of money from gambling, too.
• 48:13
  He was very good with math, and he would take, just without shame, anybody's money in a clubhouse or on a flight.
• 48:23
  He didn't care who you were.
• 48:25
  You're in the game, and he's going to take your money.
• 48:27
  He was a brilliant, like, card and like, dominoes.
• 48:32
  Any kind of game where you had to count or kind of think of odds, he was really good at.
• 48:37
  So I loved the book.
• 48:39
  It was.
• 48:40
  It was a great history book.
• 48:42
  Yeah, I.
• 48:42
  I felt the same.
• 48:43
  I felt like when I was.
• 48:45
  When I was done with it, one, I didn't want to stop reading it.
• 48:48
  Like, I didn't want to not spend time with Ricky.
• 48:51
  Like, I had gotten a good two weeks with him, and it was just like, I had such a.
• 48:55
  I mean, I've always loved him, always had a deep respect for him, but I just felt like, you know, as an adult, being able to fully appreciate where he came from, what he had to deal with, obstacles he
• 49:07
  had to overcome.
• 49:08
  But also, it was just kind of like what you said, the fact that he was very intelligent in a lot of different ways.
• 49:15
  And, you know, there was.
• 49:16
  There was on the field, Ricky.
• 49:18
  There was off the field, Ricky.
• 49:20
  And I just.
• 49:20
  I felt like a deep affection, a deeper affection for the man based on his book.
• 49:26
  So.
• 49:26
  I'm glad to hear you say that.
• 49:28
  So I.
• 49:30
  I mentioned.
• 49:30
  I went to the.
• 49:31
  My wife and I went to Cooperstown when Ricky was inducted in 2009, and it was the first time I'd been there.
• 49:36
  I'd always said, I'm not going to Cooperstown until Ricky does, so Ricky's going in.
• 49:41
  We happen to know some people that had an Airbnb, like, right next to where the ceremony happens.
• 49:48
  So we had an in there.
• 49:49
  It was an incredible weekend.
• 49:52
  I just.
• 49:52
  It was.
• 49:53
  Cooperstown is just the best on hall of Fame induction weekend.
• 49:57
  And I was worried, though, about the speech.
• 50:00
  I mean, you know, everybody's thinking, am I going to get another I am the greatest speech?
• 50:04
  Which, you know, certainly wasn't taken in the.
• 50:08
  I know how it was taken.
• 50:10
  I can see how it was taken.
• 50:11
  It's not what he meant.
• 50:13
  Muhammad Ali's his hero, and he kind of was paying homage to his hero at that point, but it came off completely wrong, and I can admit that.
• 50:22
  So I was worried about that speech for the hall of Fame, but it was so incredible.
• 50:27
  I was.
• 50:28
  I Did well up there.
• 50:30
  I know he spent time Laney College, which is right by the Oakland Coliseum, actually the site that they were thinking about building one of the stadiums was a plan to be there.
• 50:43
  He took public speaking courses there and workshopped this whole speech there in preparation for this, which I think is just so great.
• 50:52
  It was such a great speech.
• 50:53
  And then the next weekend, the A's retired his number.
• 50:57
  We were living in Phoenix at that point, but we flew out to Oakland for that, and he gave another speech that was equally.
• 51:04
  Made me tear up.
• 51:05
  And, yeah, I mean, he was really intelligent in some things.
• 51:09
  And just the fact that he spoke in, you know, third person and kind of was aloof, talking to his bat and snatch catches and all that.
• 51:18
  And these stories that, you know, half of them are true.
• 51:21
  Half of them are nowhere near true.
• 51:24
  People get the wrong idea.
• 51:25
  But, yeah, he was.
• 51:26
  He was a smart guy.
• 51:28
  Yeah.
• 51:29
  You know, I.
• 51:30
  In researching this, I went and listened to Barry Larkin and Jose Rio, went onto the Jim Day podcast, which is a Reds podcast.
• 51:39
  And Larkin and I just love it because I just feel like.
• 51:45
  And you've seen this since Ricky's past, but everyone's got a Ricky story, right?
• 51:50
  And I think I heard you guys talk about Will Clark sharing his story, maybe.
• 51:56
  And I.
• 51:57
  And I feel like I've heard others from y'.
• 51:58
  All.
• 51:59
  Obviously, Clark went on or seems to be growing a bigger presence, like on Instagram and stuff now.
• 52:05
  So I saw him telling someone else that same story, very animated.
• 52:09
  And I.
• 52:10
  The comment that stuck with me from when y' all talked about someone telling a Ricky story is, why do other players feel like they have to try and mimic Ricky's voice?
• 52:20
  And they.
• 52:21
  They kind of 10x it as far as, like, the.
• 52:25
  The animation of it or whatever.
• 52:26
  But Larkins was really good, but it was almost just like Clark's in that.
• 52:32
  It was something like in that World Series, I'm assuming, although he didn't really set the stage if this was spring training or in the World Series.
• 52:40
  But how Henderson got on to first.
• 52:44
  And I feel like he said Scott Scudder may have been the pitcher.
• 52:47
  It could have been Jack Armstrong, whoever threw over nine times in a row, and he just would waltz back every time, waltz back.
• 52:55
  And then on the 10th pitch, he was gone.
• 52:58
  And he calls Larkin over, and he.
• 53:00
  He goes into second.
• 53:02
  The way Larkin tells it, standing up, like he didn't even.
• 53:05
  Like there was not even Joe Oliver, whoever didn't even attempt.
• 53:09
  And he calls Barry over and he said, Barry, Barry.
• 53:12
  Like that.
• 53:12
  And he's like, don't they know Ricky's gonna run?
• 53:15
  They can't catch Ricky when he runs or whatever, you know.
• 53:18
  And it was just.
• 53:19
  But Larkin was getting such, you, the joy in his voice and getting to share this story about one of the all time greats and you know, again, the quirkiness that was there with him.
• 53:30
  But those were the things that made him special too.
• 53:33
  I mean, I mean, obviously his play on the field is what trumps all, but I mean, I think all the stories these guys have and the third person, all that stuff really kind of builds this legendary figure.
• 53:47
  And I mean, just outstanding.
• 53:50
  And I mean to think here you've got the greatest leadoff hitter of all time, you know, leading the way.
• 53:58
  You've got the first 40, 40 guy you've got at that time, the guy who owned the.
• 54:05
  I don't, I don't think he does anymore.
• 54:06
  But home runs for a rookie in McGuire, you just had this stacked, stacked lineup.
• 54:13
  And so, you know, looking at that season, 103 games, one, I believe is where they ended up.
• 54:18
  They just blow the Red Sox doors off in the alcs.
• 54:22
  What was the mentality, you know, for yourself?
• 54:26
  And I'm gonna let you speak for all A's fans because that's what I, I feel like you've earned that right heading into that World Series in 1990.
• 54:36
  So I am a pessimist by nature, okay?
• 54:40
  Always half empty kind of guy.
• 54:44
  And yeah, they ran the table that year and I mean, the team was incredible.
• 54:49
  I was not so confident going into that World Series.
• 54:53
  And I don't think I can speak for all A's fans because I was living in Salt Lake at this point, so I have no idea.
• 54:59
  Again, no social media, anything like that.
• 55:01
  I have no idea what the temperature was like here in the Bay Area, but I was anxious.
• 55:09
  I didn't expect a sweep by any means, but I was anxious.
• 55:13
  And what really struck me rewatching the series was game one.
• 55:18
  The entire broadcast was like, why are we even playing the series?
• 55:22
  This should be a cakewalk.
• 55:23
  The whole pre game was about that.
• 55:25
  Even four or five innings into the game, Tim McCarver and Jack Buck are like, oh, this ace team, they've just done X, Y and Z and it's all about that.
• 55:37
  And then they just absolutely got their lunch handed to him in that first game.
• 55:42
  And then the pre game of the second game was like, okay, well maybe this will wake the A's up, blah, blah, blah.
• 55:47
  And it was a great game.
• 55:48
  First inning, you know, Ricky gets on Steals second, they score a run.
• 55:53
  I'm like, all right, this is, this is, this is my A's team.
• 55:56
  And you know, until the seventh or eighth inning when, when it gets tied up eventually and then, you know, extra innings and good old Billy Bates gets on.
• 56:09
  His only hit as a Red, his last hit in the major leagues against Dennis Eckersley gets on and then comes around to score the walk off, you know, run in game two.
• 56:20
  And then from there it was even more downhill back in Oakland.
• 56:24
  So I was, I was anxious because I never expect anything to be when it, when it's one of those, why are we even playing this?
• 56:32
  You know, there's going to be a fly in the ointment somewhere.
• 56:37
  There were a lot of flies and very little ointment for that World Series.
• 56:41
  To back it up, back this up.
• 56:44
  I looked since 1990 at the World Series odds going into the World Series and the Reds since 1990.
• 56:52
  So the last 35 years of world Series, they had the longest odds going into the World Series to win.
• 56:58
  So they biggest long shot to win the World Series at +260 was the Reds.
• 57:03
  Nobody else was over +200 since.
• 57:05
  And you know, history may have, you know, having the Reds win, that may have made Vegas bump that down a little bit because I'm sure there was some after that Reds tickets cast.
• 57:16
  But you know, the fact that The Reds were plus 260 going into a World Series, you know, that's why that conversation was having.
• 57:25
  And then obviously Oakland just brutalizing the Red Sox and the alcs.
• 57:29
  But it, it just goes to show you how, you know, well thought of this 90s A's team was, I think they had six members in the top 12 of MVP voting.
• 57:41
  Yes.
• 57:41
  Yeah, half of the top 12.
• 57:43
  And then Welch was third on the staff like he wins the Cy Young.
• 57:48
  But then he did not get.
• 57:50
  Eckersley had more MVP votes.
• 57:52
  Stewart had more MVP votes than Welch did.
• 57:55
  Yeah, I'd be curious too, what it would have been an 88 even for the A's.
• 58:00
  Because I just remember the same feeling being there watching that World Series and like, I mean I, you know, and being a fan at that time, but still being like the Dodgers, I mean, besides Kirk Gibson and Hershiser
• 58:14
  and they had players, but it was like nothing like the star power that Oakland already had in 88.
• 58:20
  The Dodgers were plus 170 going into that World Series.
• 58:23
  The following year, the giants were plus 180.
• 58:27
  Wow.
• 58:27
  A's were minus 220.
• 58:29
  And then I think they were minus 288.
• 58:33
  Interesting.
• 58:33
  The.
• 58:34
  The 88 series.
• 58:35
  You mentioned that that was the last time when Willie.
• 58:40
  So Willie Davis.
• 58:41
  Not Willie Davis right in front of Gibson.
• 58:48
  I know who you're talking about.
• 58:49
  Yes.
• 58:50
  Yeah.
• 58:50
  Mike Davis.
• 58:53
  He was the last person that Eckersley let on base in the postseason until Billy Bates in the.
• 59:00
  In the 10th inning of game two.
• 59:02
  Interesting.
• 59:03
  Interesting.
• 59:04
  I think I read that he had gone basically was it 41 games without a walk from the 89 into the 90 season.
• 59:12
  I think he also had a streak of 40 something consecutive saves without blowing one.
• 59:19
  Yeah.
• 59:19
  Just phenomenal.
• 59:21
  The.
• 59:22
  And Scott and I have talked about this before, but the Kirk Gibson Every father and dad will at times pit against each other and I we grew up close to Dallas Fort Worth.
• 59:32
  The Dodgers used to come when there were.
• 59:34
  The Brooklyn Dodgers would come and play preseason games in Fort Worth.
• 59:39
  So my dad grew up going to these games and becoming Brooklyn Dodgers fan.
• 59:43
  So when they moved to la, his.
• 59:45
  His fandom.
• 59:46
  But I remember the first sports hurt was the Eckersley Kirk Gibson homer because my dad came up to let me know that these vaunted A's were nothing compared to these Dodgers.
• 59:58
  And I remember being.
• 59:59
  That was my first.
• 1:00:00
  I feel like that was my first true sports pain.
• 1:00:02
  Was that Eckersley homer or the Gibson homer off Eckersley?
• 1:00:06
  Yeah, we don't talk about 88 or 90 on our podcast.
• 1:00:10
  We're gonna skip over those years.
• 1:00:11
  It's been banned.
• 1:00:12
  So you had to come to ours to.
• 1:00:15
  Yeah.
• 1:00:15
  I feel like we've just done an hour of punishment for Jeff.
• 1:00:18
  I know, I'm sorry.
• 1:00:20
  This is very sadistic.
• 1:00:21
  And I, and I've kind of told Derek this story, but I'll tell you just real quick too Jeff.
• 1:00:26
  So my, my Kirk Gibson moment story in 1988 was that I was in the.
• 1:00:32
  I think.
• 1:00:33
  I don't.
• 1:00:33
  I don't know if that have been sixth grade, seventh grade, but I failed my first class ever.
• 1:00:38
  And I guess probably what would have been the second six weeks of school or whatever.
• 1:00:44
  And my.
• 1:00:45
  So my mom grounds me and so it's no TV whatever else, no outside, no friends, stuff like that.
• 1:00:52
  Whatever you.
• 1:00:53
  Our parents did to us back then.
• 1:00:55
  But my dad who huge baseball fan I was like I said I was two years separated from the ball going between Buckner's legs and I was just high on baseball all the time.
• 1:01:06
  He said, Scott, I'm gonna let you watch the World Series and we'll see how it goes.
• 1:01:12
  Come out watch game one.
• 1:01:15
  And we didn't have a rooting interest.
• 1:01:17
  If anything, my dad didn't really like the Dodgers, just being a big Reds fan.
• 1:01:21
  The Dodgers were obviously, you know, the bigger enemy there or whatever.
• 1:01:26
  And he had this really high level of love for Eckersley and just thought Eckersley was the greatest thing ever and.
• 1:01:34
  But he wasn't heartbroken at all.
• 1:01:36
  But we stayed up, we watched that whole game.
• 1:01:38
  Here's whatever, 12, 11, 12 year old Scott or whatever was just smiling ear to ear because I was, you know, had failed a class, gotten grounded, but my dad ungrounded me for the World Series.
• 1:01:51
  And that's one of those moments.
• 1:01:52
  Like my dad and I still will talk about that, that moment as being like one of our favorite sports memories that we shared together.
• 1:02:01
  And again, I hate talking to an A's fan, that it came at the expense of you guys because we really didn't have a huge interest either way.
• 1:02:08
  But it was just kind of like, you know, it's storybook.
• 1:02:12
  That whole thing is storybook because it's very much David Goliath.
• 1:02:15
  Even though Gibson was MVP and was an amazing player, I mean, he's hobbled and then you've just got Eckersley out there, just with this amazing hair and mustache and this delivery that was so unique and just dominance.
• 1:02:31
  But man, yeah, what a.
• 1:02:32
  And again, we're not here to talk about 88.
• 1:02:34
  Sorry, Jeff.
• 1:02:35
  I just wanted to share that my.
• 1:02:37
  Dad, I remember every game of that series exactly where I was.
• 1:02:41
  Because I was just in my room watching the game because I didn't want any distractions.
• 1:02:47
  I was just in my room watching that game.
• 1:02:49
  I remember at one point my friends came over, it was on a Friday night, and they're banging on the windows of my, my room because I used to sneak out that way because I was a kid and I
• 1:03:02
  was just like.
• 1:03:03
  I closed the drapes and pretended like I wasn't there because I just wanted to watch this, you know, this World Series.
• 1:03:09
  And I think wasn't 88.
• 1:03:11
  Didn't the OJ chase go on during one of those games?
• 1:03:14
  I'm pretty sure it was.
• 1:03:16
  That was 94.
• 1:03:17
  Yeah, 94 was the O.J.
• 1:03:19
  Chase.
• 1:03:19
  Yeah, that was during the Knicks Rockets game.
• 1:03:22
  Maybe that was it.
• 1:03:24
  There was something.
• 1:03:24
  It was 94 also flipping.
• 1:03:27
  There was something.
• 1:03:28
  I was flipping back and forth to, pop culture wise, that I also remember those times.
• 1:03:34
  But I was wearing an A's jersey.
• 1:03:36
  Like I dressed up for those.
• 1:03:38
  I had pants, stirrups, I had the whole thing.
• 1:03:41
  And so when my friends are coming, I'm Like, I don't want you to see me like this.
• 1:03:45
  It was embarrassing, but I definitely.
• 1:03:47
  I remember every bit of that.
• 1:03:50
  Yeah.
• 1:03:50
  That's awesome.
• 1:03:51
  Yeah.
• 1:03:51
  And again, I don't mean to rehash all these.
• 1:03:55
  And we invite you on to talk about getting better time by the Reds, but we find a way to slide in this talk of the better times.
• 1:04:02
  They were my team at that point, so.
• 1:04:04
  Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.
• 1:04:07
  You go ahead.
• 1:04:08
  No, I was just.
• 1:04:10
  I.
• 1:04:10
  No, I don't.
• 1:04:11
  No, let's move on.
• 1:04:12
  I was about to ask another misery question.
• 1:04:15
  Let's keep it light.
• 1:04:16
  No, but I did want to talk about Marge shot real quick.
• 1:04:20
  Game 4.
• 1:04:20
  Eric Davis dives for a ball and gets hit.
• 1:04:23
  Hurts his ribs, hurts his kidneys, has to spend a week in the hospital.
• 1:04:27
  She refuses.
• 1:04:28
  That's it.
• 1:04:29
  She refuses to pay for the medical jet to take him back to Cincy.
• 1:04:33
  Yeah.
• 1:04:34
  Until, like, word gets out.
• 1:04:38
  But she also didn't buy.
• 1:04:41
  She refused to buy dinner for the team after they won so they could not Burger King after winning the World Series.
• 1:04:50
  And of course, she was famously upset that they swept because she wanted the gate from at least one more home game in Cincinnati.
• 1:04:57
  But let's be honest, there is nothing that would make you feel like a champion than.
• 1:05:01
  More than Whopper induced diarrhea at like 4 in the morning.
• 1:05:05
  Yeah.
• 1:05:06
  Well, I mean, she also famously called Eric Davis and the other African American players on that team a word.
• 1:05:16
  She also had an affection, I guess would be for Nazi memorabilia.
• 1:05:21
  Is that.
• 1:05:21
  I believe that's accurate.
• 1:05:23
  Yeah.
• 1:05:23
  I think at some point she said Hitler was misunderstood.
• 1:05:26
  Yeah.
• 1:05:27
  Right.
• 1:05:28
  It was something to that.
• 1:05:29
  Like, I just.
• 1:05:30
  Like something like he started with good intentions or it was something where it's just like, what.
• 1:05:34
  Why are you even speaking?
• 1:05:36
  Heard a lot of people say those exact words recently before they're canceled, and I just wish it happened then.
• 1:05:42
  Well, and.
• 1:05:42
  And, you know, you.
• 1:05:44
  You brought up the dog lovers and, you know, again, I.
• 1:05:48
  I was actually at a game at Riverfront where Shotzi came out and took a.
• 1:05:52
  On the turf as a kid, when we would.
• 1:05:55
  We would go up to Cincinnati and visit my grandparents.
• 1:05:58
  You would always go to a couple games.
• 1:06:00
  There should have been some giveaway they gave you as you left.
• 1:06:04
  Well, if he did that, there had to be something lucky.
• 1:06:07
  Yeah.
• 1:06:08
  Some type of giveaway that was a missed opportunity.
• 1:06:11
  The Mariners had a.
• 1:06:13
  One time they had a soil night where you got manure that had been composted into soil, and as you left, you got a bag of that.
• 1:06:22
  If you wanted it.
• 1:06:23
  That seems like that could have been something they worked in there.
• 1:06:26
  Yeah, that would have been.
• 1:06:27
  I can't even.
• 1:06:28
  I mean, that's like getting peanut butter out of shag carpeting for that groundskeeper.
• 1:06:32
  Yeah, I.
• 1:06:33
  I remember at one point hearing.
• 1:06:35
  And I can't.
• 1:06:35
  It was one of the more B level playing like Herm Winningham.
• 1:06:38
  Someone like that Reds team that I think years later said had like when they were talking about her not flying Davis back or taking care of her star player and making sure that he was at the parade and
• 1:06:53
  all the things that should be done by a great owner that.
• 1:06:56
  And they said, you can bet had it been a Saint Bernard, it would have been handled differently.
• 1:07:02
  And again, though, I mean, just like, you know, the deeper you dive into these little things about her, just, oh, gosh, it's almost is like the cringe of that team that makes me kind of think I probably would
• 1:07:16
  have been all right with Oakland winning just to not have March Shot get a World Series championship.
• 1:07:22
  So I'm a big Billy Bates fan as I've rewatched this World Series.
• 1:07:26
  And do you guys know about the Billy Bates racing a cheetah?
• 1:07:30
  I do not.
• 1:07:31
  I don't either.
• 1:07:32
  I.
• 1:07:33
  So this, this is gonna be on our next episode too.
• 1:07:35
  So you get a little preview.
• 1:07:38
  You know, Marge Shot was a big animal lover and donated to the Cincinnati Zoo a lot.
• 1:07:44
  So somebody come up with an idea because Billy Bates was the fastest guy on the team.
• 1:07:47
  He was 5 foot 7, but he was the fastest guy on the team.
• 1:07:51
  And so somebody came up with this idea because somebody at the zoo had taught the cheetah how to chase a lure.
• 1:08:00
  Just, you know, something on a string that you pull and it will chase that.
• 1:08:03
  So they're like, why don't we have Billy Bates race a cheetah before a game?
• 1:08:10
  Great idea.
• 1:08:11
  Because, you know, cheetahs are typically very snuggly animals that aren't dangerous at all.
• 1:08:17
  Thusly why so many people have them as pets.
• 1:08:19
  But they're like, okay, let's do this.
• 1:08:22
  Let's run it by Marge.
• 1:08:23
  She knows everybody there, so she's like, yeah, let's do it.
• 1:08:26
  So they set this up before a game out in center field.
• 1:08:29
  They give Billy Bates a five second head start.
• 1:08:33
  And this, this cheetah is in this bot, you know, this cage.
• 1:08:37
  And they've got a lure out there.
• 1:08:39
  And so Billy Bates takes off, give him a five second head start.
• 1:08:43
  They let the cheetah go.
• 1:08:44
  The lure is going.
• 1:08:45
  The cheetah, you know, obviously just Takes off.
• 1:08:47
  It's going to overtake Billy in like 10 strides.
• 1:08:51
  But Billy is running and his hat falls off and it falls off behind him.
• 1:08:57
  And the cheetah sees this and.
• 1:08:59
  And so its natural instinct is there's the weaker prey because it's slow.
• 1:09:04
  So it stopped and went after his hat.
• 1:09:07
  And then Billy kept going.
• 1:09:08
  And the cheetah eventually finished, but it was.
• 1:09:10
  Oh, gosh.
• 1:09:11
  Essentially they marketed it as our guy outran a cheetah.
• 1:09:16
  Yeah.
• 1:09:16
  There is a phenomenal 48 second video of this on YouTube.
• 1:09:22
  I feel like we should somehow like, Photoshop or video Photoshop a cheetah into that.
• 1:09:28
  You know, when Bates comes around and scores at the end of game two and there's like, already streamers going everywhere, you know, it's like.
• 1:09:35
  Like there should be a cheetah rounding third as well, or just the cheetah.
• 1:09:39
  Jumping on him as soon as he gets.
• 1:09:42
  There is.
• 1:09:43
  There is definitely a long beat of confusion from the cheetah when the hat falls off.
• 1:09:48
  Yeah.
• 1:09:49
  To where all four legs.
• 1:09:50
  You know how, like when they gallop or when any animal gallops, there's like the four legs kind of get caught.
• 1:09:56
  Like, there's a.
• 1:09:57
  There's a good long kind of.
• 1:09:58
  What am I supposed to do?
• 1:09:59
  Oh, wait, there's the lure.
• 1:10:01
  Let me keep going.
• 1:10:03
  It's phenomenal.
• 1:10:04
  I had.
• 1:10:04
  I not known that at all.
• 1:10:07
  I'm so all about bringing back things pre game like that.
• 1:10:10
  Oh, yeah.
• 1:10:11
  Like we're having this conversation.
• 1:10:14
  Oh, please, give me one.
• 1:10:16
  The first time I got to watch the A's in person, they had a home run contest pre game, home run contest on Bat Nite.
• 1:10:24
  And it was Larry Parrish, Ruben Sierra versus Dave Kingman and Jose Canseco, 86.
• 1:10:32
  And they let.
• 1:10:33
  I mean, it was like 20 minutes of them just exhausting themselves pre game on bat night.
• 1:10:40
  And it was magical.
• 1:10:42
  We got seats in left field and old Arlington Stadium was all.
• 1:10:47
  It was all metal bleachers, and it was in the middle of the summer, so, like, people are bursting into flames.
• 1:10:53
  There is a sun sitting on top of Arlington Stadium, directly into our eyes in left field.
• 1:10:58
  If anybody had sent, you know, if Dave Kingman had sent, you know, something off the bat at 110, one of us was dying.
• 1:11:07
  You never see it.
• 1:11:07
  Yeah.
• 1:11:08
  And.
• 1:11:09
  But I.
• 1:11:09
  I told Scott this story the other day because I got the bat home and broke it on, like, the third BP pitch from my brother.
• 1:11:19
  Like, I just shattered because it was made out of just the cheapest of cheapest.
• 1:11:23
  They're not giving You Major league quality bats.
• 1:11:26
  Louisville Slugger did not, did not approve of the, the quality of these bats.
• 1:11:32
  Yeah, I'm sure they were sponsored by Tom Thumb or Kroger.
• 1:11:35
  And it was, it was completely painted red, you know, like, I'm sure with lead paint from China.
• 1:11:40
  And I remember, like, I am about to destroy this baseball and my brother throws one and it just splintered worse than the bat in the naturals.
• 1:11:50
  I mean, just disintegrated.
• 1:11:52
  And I was just heartbroken.
• 1:11:54
  Just absolutely heartbroken.
• 1:11:56
  I, I am fascinated by the cow milking contests that they used to have.
• 1:12:00
  I know Rex Hudler has a baseball card.
• 1:12:03
  I think it's on the back of, like an upper deck of him sitting by a cow in his jersey.
• 1:12:08
  You know, pregame, when they used to do that.
• 1:12:10
  And when I worked for the Braves in Atlanta, I sat right behind home plate.
• 1:12:15
  I, I love to say I'm in the hall of Fame because I was in that camera while right behind home plate when Randy Johnson threw the perfect game against Atlanta.
• 1:12:24
  And I, I got a lot of crap for it.
• 1:12:26
  But as soon as he got that final out, I jumped up and like, pumped my fist.
• 1:12:30
  I'm like, I am 10ft behind, you know, Kelly Stinnett or whoever was his catcher that day.
• 1:12:36
  And I just saw my first perfect game and I was exc.
• 1:12:40
  Opened the door so that Wayne the TBS guy could get out there and that.
• 1:12:44
  But one of the one pregame, you know, this is prime Maddox Smoltz glavin territory.
• 1:12:53
  It was a glavin start, so he didn't do this.
• 1:12:56
  But Maddox and Smoltz came out and had a long.
• 1:13:01
  No, it was a.
• 1:13:01
  It was a chipping contest from home plate.
• 1:13:04
  They put out, you know, the, the turf there, and they put a flag in center field.
• 1:13:08
  And for like 10 minutes, they just went back and forth to the hole.
• 1:13:12
  It's as close as I could get to a pregame thing, but I.
• 1:13:15
  They need to bring those things back.
• 1:13:17
  Those are.
• 1:13:17
  No doubt.
• 1:13:18
  I would go to a game just for that 100%.
• 1:13:21
  I still think they should do the homer derbies.
• 1:13:24
  I think they.
• 1:13:24
  That should be worse Teams should ask better teams, try to convince them, get their best players out there.
• 1:13:31
  Yeah, just exhaust them.
• 1:13:33
  I think that's what the Rangers did with the A's, because I think they won like 32 games that year.
• 1:13:37
  That's what it felt like at the Ranger fans.
• 1:13:40
  They did not win many games that year.
• 1:13:44
  I know we're jumping all around, Jeff, and I'm sorry, we're not Following a little bit more closely to the, to the World Series or whatever.
• 1:13:51
  But I had a thought too.
• 1:13:52
  Did you by chance listen to Jose Canseco go on with up in Smoke recently?
• 1:13:58
  Are you familiar.
• 1:14:01
  Okay, you're familiar with the podcast.
• 1:14:03
  Yeah, because they've been having a lot of really good baseball players from the 80s.
• 1:14:07
  Yeah, they really have.
• 1:14:08
  They, they, you know, Swisher, Nick Swisher jumped on and kind of co hosts with them every once in a while.
• 1:14:14
  That's part of the reason I don't listen to all of them.
• 1:14:16
  Well, and he, he is a little much.
• 1:14:18
  And he's not on the Conseco one though.
• 1:14:20
  And the Conseco one though is so, I mean, it's just everything you think it will be.
• 1:14:26
  It is so perfect, Jose.
• 1:14:29
  But getting back to Ricky, when they asked him and, and they've been doing this with almost everyone, if there's any tied at any point in their career to.
• 1:14:39
  They will always say, do you have any Ricky stories?
• 1:14:41
  And Jose's of course, is more about Jose than it is about Ricky.
• 1:14:46
  And he basically says, well, he just hated it that I was faster than him.
• 1:14:52
  But then he quickly will say, yeah, I would be him in a foot race.
• 1:14:55
  Now the trainer can, the team trainer can vouch for that, but that's the basically like he's the only person that witnessed it.
• 1:15:03
  And Ricky's, you know, no longer able to, you know, disagree or agree with this.
• 1:15:08
  My girlfriend who goes to another school, you, you wouldn't know.
• 1:15:11
  That's exactly what it felt like.
• 1:15:13
  Hold on.
• 1:15:13
  I have a picture of her in my wallet.
• 1:15:15
  Let me unfold it.
• 1:15:17
  Velcro open and then it's some cut out from the newspaper.
• 1:15:23
  It was always the JCPenney catalog at our school.
• 1:15:25
  Like they had just ripped out the bra section.
• 1:15:29
  A picture out of the bra section.
• 1:15:31
  And what's so great too is, you know, Barnes and Jackson, the hosts of that, two former NBA players, but at least, you know, high level professional athletes.
• 1:15:40
  So they, they, they get it and they do really good job of not.
• 1:15:45
  I felt like there were a couple times they could have like called Jose out on a couple things, but that's not really what it's about or whatever.
• 1:15:52
  I get that.
• 1:15:54
  But the, they kind of stop.
• 1:15:56
  They, they definitely kind of look at him funny in the video because, you know, they video all theirs too.
• 1:16:03
  And Joseph then goes on further to explain it.
• 1:16:07
  As you see, what I've got is.
• 1:16:12
  And he basically was.
• 1:16:13
  I can't remember the terminology used exactly, but I don't look that fast.
• 1:16:19
  Perception isn't reality with me because I take these long strides.
• 1:16:25
  So Ricky looks fast, but I was actually beating him with far less strides and less work or whatever, you know?
• 1:16:31
  But it was just so.
• 1:16:33
  And it kind of made me think, like, I really wish I could hear Ricky talk more about Jose.
• 1:16:40
  I think is what I really wanted out of that.
• 1:16:42
  But, you know, one of the things.
• 1:16:44
  About Ricky, though, he never spoke bad about anybody.
• 1:16:47
  No, he didn't.
• 1:16:49
  He would always be, you know, he would never take a shot at that.
• 1:16:54
  And I.
• 1:16:54
  I don't think I've ever.
• 1:16:55
  I, I.
• 1:16:56
  I have seen the reel of that.
• 1:16:58
  I actually.
• 1:16:59
  As you were saying that.
• 1:17:00
  I remember seeing that.
• 1:17:01
  Okay.
• 1:17:02
  Yeah.
• 1:17:02
  And I didn't.
• 1:17:03
  I didn't listen to it because I knew the story, but it didn't come out until Ricky had passed.
• 1:17:10
  And I think that's quintessential Jose Canseco, because no doubt he knows there's no way anybody can call him on it.
• 1:17:17
  Well, except for this trainer.
• 1:17:19
  Wherever this trainer is, whoever they might be, they've apparently got the key to if we can prove this or not.
• 1:17:26
  He just so happens to not be with us anymore as well.
• 1:17:29
  So it's just.
• 1:17:31
  Take my word for it.
• 1:17:32
  Yeah.
• 1:17:33
  They didn't get into it.
• 1:17:34
  They didn't get into it.
• 1:17:35
  And like I said that I think part of it is that they don't, you know, they kind of will respect guys with egos, I think, just because it's kind of maybe that professional athlete fraternity or whatever, you know,
• 1:17:49
  where they're not gonna sit there.
• 1:17:50
  But you could see both of them kind of have this doubt in their face just like, what now?
• 1:17:55
  Are you sure about this?
• 1:17:56
  But.
• 1:17:57
  But yeah, the two that made the reels from that were Jose talking about Ricky and Jose talking about Madonna.
• 1:18:04
  And that was pretty much the only two things I saw pushed out from that.
• 1:18:08
  But it's a pretty good one.
• 1:18:10
  It's one worth listening to for sure, just for the Jose experience as it is.
• 1:18:16
  Yeah.
• 1:18:17
  I was never a big Jose guy.
• 1:18:18
  I do love that he had his own.
• 1:18:21
  I think it was a 999 number at that point.
• 1:18:24
  Then.
• 1:18:24
  It used to be, like, 976, but this was even before that, where he would give you updates on his latest speeding ticket or, you know, just weird stuff.
• 1:18:35
  But I have the actual commercial.
• 1:18:37
  I found it on the Internet somewhere.
• 1:18:39
  Oh, wow.
• 1:18:40
  Of the.
• 1:18:42
  You know, of him asking you to call this number if you want to learn more about what I'm doing, and he's still doing the same thing.
• 1:18:48
  He had like five podcasts within a year, all with different people.
• 1:18:53
  And I would listen to them because I was fascinated, because the person that was with him is always just somebody like me.
• 1:18:59
  Just somebody that got a hold of him is like, hey, I'm doing a podcast.
• 1:19:03
  I'll do everything.
• 1:19:03
  You just show up and talk.
• 1:19:05
  And he would do one or two episodes with him and then he'd ghost them and then he'd end up on this other one.
• 1:19:10
  But he's talking about how he's seen Bigfoot, how he talks to aliens.
• 1:19:16
  Come get your car washed at my car wash in Las Vegas.
• 1:19:20
  I mean, he is a snake oil salesman.
• 1:19:23
  No doubt.
• 1:19:25
  No doubt.
• 1:19:26
  So, you know, in 1990, with the absence of all this that we see now, he's not on reels, there's no social media.
• 1:19:32
  We're not getting to see the real life behind the scenes as much.
• 1:19:36
  He may have been bleeding into the tabloids a little bit, but what was the, what was the viewpoint of Jose then, though, you know, because I feel like it now.
• 1:19:46
  It's just this narcissistic ego, right?
• 1:19:49
  But was it already there in 1990 at the age of 25?
• 1:19:53
  So for me, seeing again, just the games, I'm not getting.
• 1:19:56
  I'm not getting able to read the Sporting Green from San Francisco or anything at this point because I'm in Salt Lake.
• 1:20:02
  But for me, I thought he was kind of what people thought about Rickey Henderson.
• 1:20:07
  He would miss games because he has a headache.
• 1:20:10
  He would, you know, always had a back or something, you know, and especially when Ozzy, his twin, was on the team with him, they.
• 1:20:19
  Those two were just like, what are they getting into now?
• 1:20:22
  And will Jose even show up for the game?
• 1:20:25
  Like, I.
• 1:20:26
  I liked him because he was on my team, but I never trusted him, I guess is the way I would describe.
• 1:20:34
  I could see that he wouldn't be a great teammate.
• 1:20:38
  And what was the, what was it like for with McGuire?
• 1:20:41
  I mean, obviously the other really large profile player from that team.
• 1:20:45
  I liked him.
• 1:20:46
  I liked him a lot.
• 1:20:48
  Especially before, you know, he started getting super big.
• 1:20:51
  He's naturally just a big guy.
• 1:20:54
  And I liked him.
• 1:20:57
  He was a good defensive first baseman, which I love defense at the corner positions.
• 1:21:02
  I absolutely love watching people play defense at first and third.
• 1:21:07
  Obviously he's got the big home runs.
• 1:21:09
  He hits him, just puts his head down and circles the bases.
• 1:21:12
  I love bat flips.
• 1:21:14
  I love all that stuff.
• 1:21:15
  But I also love the guys that just act like they've done it before.
• 1:21:18
  And that was him he was the quiet guy on that team, and I loved it.
• 1:21:24
  His brother Dan, quarterback, went San Diego State and then quarterback for the Seahawks.
• 1:21:31
  The interesting story there is, you know, Terry Steinbach always wore that.
• 1:21:34
  The, the J, whatever they call it.
• 1:21:38
  That's because of Dan McGuire.
• 1:21:40
  Oh, I did not know that.
• 1:21:42
  During batting practice, Dan McGuire was taking batting practice with the A's because Mark was his brother and Steiny was just doing some work, you know, in the field.
• 1:21:54
  And Dan McGuire hit one and it hit Steiny right in the jaw, and that's why he wore that.
• 1:22:00
  And then, of course, Jack McDowell started aiming at his head every time the White Sox played the A's.
• 1:22:05
  Yeah, that's a whole other thing.
• 1:22:07
  But it was, it was Dan McGuire that first broke Terry Steinbach's jaw somewhere in a box.
• 1:22:14
  I have at least 12 Dan McGuire pro set rookies that I'm waiting to mature.
• 1:22:20
  You were setting.
• 1:22:20
  You.
• 1:22:21
  That was your, your retirement fund, just like Sam Horn and the Kevin Elster cards.
• 1:22:26
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:22:28
  We do a quick aside.
• 1:22:30
  We do have a friend, though.
• 1:22:32
  Every time he comes on the podcast, he asks us this question.
• 1:22:34
  So I'm posing it to you real quick.
• 1:22:36
  Jeff.
• 1:22:37
  Is Felix Jose the best Latin player with two first names?
• 1:22:41
  I love Felix Jose.
• 1:22:43
  We.
• 1:22:43
  Felix Jose comes up more often in our podcast than.
• 1:22:48
  Well, I would say, I dare to say, but I love Felix Jose.
• 1:22:54
  Next to Dan McGuire, there is probably another dozen Felix Jose rated rookies somewhere along the way, or upper decks, whichever one were the, the, the hot commodity at the time.
• 1:23:06
  They showed.
• 1:23:07
  Re watching the 90 series, they showed Felix Jose in the dugout one time.
• 1:23:11
  I got all excited about that.
• 1:23:12
  Well, he was something to see, you know, and that's what that.
• 1:23:15
  When we pulled that card with our buddy Allen and we started reminiscing about him, I was like, I think all you need to see was a picture of the card.
• 1:23:25
  And you were like, this is basically Jose Canseco Jr.
• 1:23:29
  Coming.
• 1:23:29
  He had a picture too, right?
• 1:23:32
  Yes, he did.
• 1:23:33
  He's.
• 1:23:33
  He was a switch hitter too, right?
• 1:23:35
  I believe so.
• 1:23:36
  But don't get me lying.
• 1:23:37
  I'm not sure.
• 1:23:38
  I think he was a switch hitter.
• 1:23:40
  I loved switch hitters back then.
• 1:23:42
  Yeah, but he, he just had this physique.
• 1:23:44
  He just looked like a stud, you know, but, yeah, it never quite played out for sure.
• 1:23:49
  Now, I loved.
• 1:23:51
  I, I always used to say, Felix Jose Jr.
• 1:23:54
  No, Felix Jose Canseca Jr.
• 1:23:58
  Felix Jose Canseco.
• 1:24:00
  I would mix three or four players and I could get them in a, get them in a long thing There.
• 1:24:06
  I've since found out that there's one with, like, 30 players names that you can do that.
• 1:24:11
  But.
• 1:24:11
  Yeah, he was a switch hitter, and he.
• 1:24:14
  With the trade from St.
• 1:24:16
  Louis for Greg.
• 1:24:18
  Oh, not.
• 1:24:19
  That's the different trade.
• 1:24:20
  He came over in the Willie McGee.
• 1:24:22
  Yeah, St.
• 1:24:24
  Louis for Willie McGee.
• 1:24:25
  And then he was traded from St.
• 1:24:27
  Louis to Kansas City for another show favorite, Greg Jeffries.
• 1:24:31
  Oh, gosh.
• 1:24:32
  Another boy.
• 1:24:33
  Another one.
• 1:24:33
  We have a lot of rookie cards.
• 1:24:35
  Yeah, I was gonna say right behind.
• 1:24:37
  Right behind Felix Jose in that box is Greg Jeffries.
• 1:24:40
  And then right after that is Scott Erickson.
• 1:24:43
  Oh, boy.
• 1:24:43
  He's on the do not talk about list.
• 1:24:45
  Yeah, he is.
• 1:24:47
  He is.
• 1:24:48
  But boy, there for a spell.
• 1:24:51
  You know, it's sad because we do.
• 1:24:53
  Our last segment on our show is called Wax Packs Heroes, where we open up some old baseball cards and we take war and we kind of compare each other to that, but we have a lot of different things
• 1:25:03
  that we also can add or subtract points for.
• 1:25:06
  One is the do not talk about list for players like Scott Erickson or Roger Clemens and stuff like that.
• 1:25:13
  And it's so hard now because again, social media, the Internet, Wikipedia, we poll these guys and we're like, oh, I remember this guy.
• 1:25:22
  He was.
• 1:25:22
  He did X, Y and Z, blah, blah.
• 1:25:24
  And then we get to the end of their Wikipedia page and, you know, we're like, oh, okay, well, we don't want to talk about this guy anymore.
• 1:25:34
  Yes.
• 1:25:35
  Yeah, those are my favorite ones.
• 1:25:36
  Jeff, is the ones where y' all have looked them up, and then as you're kind of doing the points, and maybe they have facial hair or sunglasses, and.
• 1:25:44
  And you're kind of already into it.
• 1:25:46
  And then it's like, oh, but they've had, like, seven DUIs or whatever, you know, or whatever it might be.
• 1:25:52
  Abuse is a big one.
• 1:25:54
  Yeah.
• 1:25:54
  Oh, no doubt, no doubt.
• 1:25:56
  To clarify on Scott Erickson was his.
• 1:25:59
  They were at lunch drinking, and then they decided to drag race.
• 1:26:04
  And then his girlfriend.
• 1:26:06
  Wife at the time.
• 1:26:07
  Girlfriend, I think, is.
• 1:26:09
  She hit somebody with.
• 1:26:10
  With the car.
• 1:26:11
  Correct.
• 1:26:12
  I don't.
• 1:26:13
  I thought.
• 1:26:14
  I think that was in dispute as to who was driving.
• 1:26:17
  I thought.
• 1:26:17
  That's right.
• 1:26:18
  That's right.
• 1:26:19
  And I think Erickson is free and clear.
• 1:26:22
  He did not get charged, did he?
• 1:26:24
  I thought he got charged at some point, but maybe.
• 1:26:27
  Maybe it got dropped.
• 1:26:29
  I.
• 1:26:29
  I lost interest in it because I'm like, I don't.
• 1:26:32
  I don't.
• 1:26:32
  This is why you don't talk about it?
• 1:26:34
  Because this is why you're the smart one.
• 1:26:37
  And I'm like, wait, who was in the driver's seat?
• 1:26:40
  Yeah, probably Scott Erickson.
• 1:26:42
  And he.
• 1:26:43
  They were trying to coax his girlfriend into taking the fall to save his face a little.
• 1:26:47
  Right, because he's so famous.
• 1:26:50
  Yeah, exactly.
• 1:26:53
  Yeah.
• 1:26:54
  I don't know.
• 1:26:54
  I.
• 1:26:55
  Yeah.
• 1:26:55
  And so a little, you know, I 100 intended to do a wax pack hero with you on this episode, and I even have them, but I feel like we're already.
• 1:27:09
  We're hour and a half into this.
• 1:27:11
  I feel like I could do this all day.
• 1:27:13
  Jeff, you've been outstanding guests.
• 1:27:14
  And I mean, I just love talking baseball.
• 1:27:16
  But I tell you what, and not that we necessarily have to wrap this up immediately, but I would love to have you on again sometime in the future, because baseball is always going to be there.
• 1:27:27
  It won't have to be an Oakland one.
• 1:27:28
  So it won't maybe feel as torturous if we're talking about, you know, the 91 Braves or something like that.
• 1:27:34
  Maybe that'll be a little.
• 1:27:35
  Maybe we can.
• 1:27:36
  We can have you back and talk about something joyous.
• 1:27:39
  Yeah, exactly.
• 1:27:40
  Where it's.
• 1:27:41
  Yeah.
• 1:27:41
  I mean, I.
• 1:27:42
  This has been great.
• 1:27:43
  I've.
• 1:27:43
  I've really enjoy, you know, it just talking baseball.
• 1:27:46
  This is exactly what we would do during all those Mariner games is.
• 1:27:50
  And Braves games.
• 1:27:51
  When I had somebody to talk to, this would be it.
• 1:27:54
  So.
• 1:27:55
  And now Mark has a tie to Oakland, too.
• 1:27:57
  Right.
• 1:27:57
  Or he was an Oakland fan and has since kind of become more of a Mariner fan.
• 1:28:02
  So Mark was a clubhouse attendant for the Tacoma Rainiers when they were the A's AAA farm club.
• 1:28:09
  So he has a lot of connections with A's players that we've been talking about that I bring up, you know, that spent time.
• 1:28:15
  Jose Rijo was a guy that was with Oakland before he went to Cincinnati.
• 1:28:21
  And when he got called up to the A's, he had Mark look after his car in Tacoma.
• 1:28:29
  And he also gave him a flat screen.
• 1:28:31
  Not a flat screen TV, but, you know, at that point, those TVs, that if you walked in, you assumed that the family was rich.
• 1:28:38
  They were big, and they had the big console underneath them.
• 1:28:41
  And they were, you know, it wasn't like a little four by three thing with a dial.
• 1:28:47
  They had wheels on the bottom, too.
• 1:28:48
  Yeah.
• 1:28:48
  And they could actually push it around.
• 1:28:50
  They had the red, green and blue or whatever, you know, lights in front that would project up.
• 1:28:57
  Just gave him that because he was like, I'm out of here.
• 1:29:00
  You know, just did that.
• 1:29:02
  So he worked as on the field, in the clubhouse with that.
• 1:29:05
  Then he moved up to video production, and then they.
• 1:29:08
  He got the call to the big leagues, up to the Mariners, and then that's where I met him there when my, the company I was working for at that point did all the led, so I was in there
• 1:29:18
  all the time and running the scoring machines.
• 1:29:20
  So we would just babble all day.
• 1:29:23
  Awesome.
• 1:29:24
  That's great.
• 1:29:24
  Well, we'd love to have him on at some time as well and maybe even both of you in the future.
• 1:29:29
  I don't know if four is too many, but.
• 1:29:31
  Well, it's just I feel like all.
• 1:29:33
  Everybody our age, because we've talked to three authors now that are all kind of in their early 50s, and anytime you bring up mid-90s baseball to them, they all three of them have lit up like it was just,
• 1:29:46
  like that was the best time of their lives covering those sports because baseball was king and just, it was just such a rich environment for the things that they loved doing, which was telling stories.
• 1:29:56
  So anytime we have somebody like that on, anytime we bring up Griffey or, you know, anybody, they just, they just light up like Christmas trees.
• 1:30:03
  So it's always fun to get to chat about that.
• 1:30:07
  Yeah, Mark's got some.
• 1:30:08
  Mark's got some great stories, especially minor league stories.
• 1:30:11
  And I have been lucky enough to be at a lot of venues during big games.
• 1:30:17
  Between Mark and I, we have been to three perfect games together.
• 1:30:23
  Combined with somebody at the Philip Humber one.
• 1:30:26
  Mark.
• 1:30:27
  That's Marks.
• 1:30:27
  Yeah, I was supposed to be there, and I ended up.
• 1:30:31
  I had to babysit the Miami Heat during LeBron's entire playoff there.
• 1:30:37
  So I was supposed to be at that one.
• 1:30:39
  I was at the Randy Johnson and I was at the Felix Hernandez is as well.
• 1:30:45
  But, I mean, what are there.
• 1:30:46
  There's like 30 perfect games or something.
• 1:30:49
  Oh, no, no, it's much.
• 1:30:50
  I don't even know if we're to 20 yet.
• 1:30:51
  Right.
• 1:30:52
  We're definitely north of 27.
• 1:30:55
  Was the last hour.
• 1:30:56
  My bad, my bad.
• 1:30:57
  But yeah, I mean, we've been to like 10 of every perfect game that's been thrown.
• 1:31:02
  Mark and I.
• 1:31:03
  Freaking awesome represented there.
• 1:31:05
  So I, I, it's 24 right now.
• 1:31:08
  Domingo Hermont was the 24th.
• 1:31:10
  Oh, really?
• 1:31:10
  I thought it was.
• 1:31:11
  I thought 27ish.
• 1:31:13
  But yeah, I mean, y' all have been to an eighth of them.
• 1:31:15
  That's.
• 1:31:17
  Yeah.
• 1:31:18
  What?
• 1:31:18
  We don't have anything cool like that, Derek.
• 1:31:20
  We start going to more perfect games.
• 1:31:22
  Well, we had the Kenny Rogers perfect game, but that Was like the middle of August and nobody's going to baseball in Texas in 19 or.
• 1:31:30
  When was.
• 1:31:31
  When was Kenny Rogers 94?
• 1:31:32
  That sounds.
• 1:31:33
  It was 94.
• 1:31:34
  Something like that.
• 1:31:35
  Nobody was going.
• 1:31:36
  Was Kenny Rogers at the old stadium or was he at Arlington?
• 1:31:40
  He was at.
• 1:31:41
  He was at the.
• 1:31:42
  The ballpark.
• 1:31:43
  The second ballpark that we had.
• 1:31:45
  Now the third.
• 1:31:46
  I did.
• 1:31:46
  I don't know if it was a video or what, but I.
• 1:31:48
  I worked in the video of the footage from the old ballpark at Arlington.
• 1:31:53
  You know, the minor league park that was built up of when there was a snake in center field slithering towards.
• 1:32:00
  Yeah.
• 1:32:01
  The center fielder.
• 1:32:02
  They had no idea.
• 1:32:03
  I mean, that was that place.
• 1:32:06
  Crazy.
• 1:32:06
  SMU has a vault of old, like, 16 and 8 millimeter videos from promotions that the Rangers ran in the 70s when they showed up.
• 1:32:16
  And it is.
• 1:32:17
  You want to talk about the best rabbit hole.
• 1:32:20
  Like, they had a best legs contest at one point that one of the Rangers.
• 1:32:24
  Speaking of pregame activities, that one of the Rangers judged, and it was like, like 20 women along the first baseline, and they were all dressed very provocatively for a Major League baseball game.
• 1:32:39
  And he went down and basically looked them up one after the other.
• 1:32:44
  And then they gave best legs to this one gal in the middle.
• 1:32:47
  But I just remember, like, it's just all 16 millimeter.
• 1:32:50
  It's just the best.
• 1:32:51
  Like, you just can get lost in all of that.
• 1:32:53
  But they just.
• 1:32:54
  The Rangers were doing anything at that time to get people to come out to the park.
• 1:32:58
  Yeah.
• 1:33:00
  Yep.
• 1:33:01
  So that's just.
• 1:33:01
  There's just.
• 1:33:02
  It's such an embarrassment of riches from all that time.
• 1:33:05
  70S and 80s Arlington baseball.
• 1:33:08
  Because it was just.
• 1:33:09
  It's.
• 1:33:09
  It was such a pit.
• 1:33:11
  God, it was such a pit.
• 1:33:15
  That's awesome.
• 1:33:17
  Let's see.
• 1:33:17
  Well, I don't know.
• 1:33:18
  Do we have it?
• 1:33:19
  I feel like we didn't jump into the World Series, but I feel like we've done enough.
• 1:33:23
  But I mean, you got.
• 1:33:25
  I got one thing for the World Series.
• 1:33:26
  Yeah.
• 1:33:27
  World Series parade.
• 1:33:28
  And I use this clip quite a bit during our podcast.
• 1:33:33
  Players are coming up and giving speeches.
• 1:33:35
  Chris Sabo, the Greatest had his first couple of beers in his entire life, clearly before he gave his speech.
• 1:33:44
  Voice is breaking.
• 1:33:45
  I don't want to say anything.
• 1:33:46
  But then he goes off for two minutes just like cutting a WWE promo on how all the A's did was talk.
• 1:33:55
  And we came out here and.
• 1:33:56
  And just.
• 1:33:58
  I love it.
• 1:33:59
  I'm not a big Spuds fan, but I loved that clip.
• 1:34:02
  It was.
• 1:34:03
  Yeah.
• 1:34:04
  I think he went nine for 16, two homers and five ribs.
• 1:34:07
  He was in the World Series.
• 1:34:09
  Yeah.
• 1:34:11
  Phenomenal.
• 1:34:12
  Phenomenal in the World Series.
• 1:34:14
  Yeah.
• 1:34:15
  My Sabo story was I, I joined his fan club in like 19, you know, he was 1, 900 number.
• 1:34:22
  No, he was 88, rookie of the year, so I'm pretty sure in 89.
• 1:34:27
  And he had a fan club that I joined.
• 1:34:29
  And then I can remember during that 89 off season, or between 89 and 90, my dad taking me down to a.
• 1:34:38
  A baseball card show in Houston, probably somewhere in like February, January even, or something like that.
• 1:34:45
  And they didn't like Sabo.
• 1:34:47
  And I mean, the Astros fans didn't really like the Reds, even though it wasn't like we were real imminent threats to each other at that point.
• 1:34:54
  But they came over the big speaker.
• 1:34:59
  This is like in whatever.
• 1:35:00
  They used to have the big, big card show, like a really big convention center in Houston, and said that if you have an autograph ticket for Sabo, go here, they will be refunded.
• 1:35:12
  He's not coming because he's having a vasectomy.
• 1:35:16
  And they said that over this, over the whole, you know, whatever.
• 1:35:21
  And I can remember looking at my dad and being like, what's a vasectomy?
• 1:35:33
  Such great shade.
• 1:35:35
  Yeah.
• 1:35:35
  God, yeah.
• 1:35:37
  It really was.
• 1:35:38
  He had heard about Paul Molotor, so he's like, I don't want to be that guy.
• 1:35:42
  Yeah.
• 1:35:43
  Can you imagine, though, the booking agent having to field the.
• 1:35:46
  That call.
• 1:35:46
  Hey, I gotta, like, I'm having too many damn kids.
• 1:35:49
  Like, I gotta, I gotta nip this in the bud.
• 1:35:51
  So I can't come on the.
• 1:35:52
  To the Cincinnati Regional Mall.
• 1:35:56
  It was flying.
• 1:35:57
  Right, right, right.
• 1:35:58
  It was a really.
• 1:35:59
  You know, Houston used to have these gigantic card shows.
• 1:36:02
  Similar now.
• 1:36:04
  Yeah.
• 1:36:04
  And they would have all these great players come and Sabo was coming and we would always go down if there was a red.
• 1:36:10
  And so we went down there, we bought the ticket ahead of time, you know, like you used to have to do.
• 1:36:15
  And then I can just remember looking at my dad and just being like, what's a vasectomy?
• 1:36:21
  And him happy to explain it.
• 1:36:23
  And I just always think, like, what a great bit.
• 1:36:25
  Because how many little 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 year old kids looked up at their dad or mom right then and said, what the hell's a vasectomy?
• 1:36:33
  I really wish the coda to that story was that he took you to Burger King and taught you the birds and the bees, that that is where Chris Sabo's vasectomy me was why where you learned that sex.
• 1:36:44
  Where sex came from over.
• 1:36:47
  Over a Marge shot.
• 1:36:48
  Whopper.
• 1:36:48
  Yeah.
• 1:36:49
  Shot paid.
• 1:36:50
  Whopper.
• 1:36:51
  I'm wondering if.
• 1:36:52
  If he just didn't show up.
• 1:36:55
  And so they were mad.
• 1:36:56
  So they're like, what can we say to embarrass him like that?
• 1:36:59
  Yeah, he's getting something.
• 1:37:00
  He might be chlamydia that he's looking at.
• 1:37:02
  He's at the doctor.
• 1:37:03
  We're not sure.
• 1:37:04
  You know, I can remember my dad very much feeling that that was the case.
• 1:37:09
  And.
• 1:37:09
  And like, even years later talking to him about.
• 1:37:12
  Not a whole lot of years later, but over the next 10 years.
• 1:37:15
  And he would always say, like, it was delivered in such a sarcastic manner, like, with perfect pauses and just like this level of disgust when they said, you know, he wasn't able to make it because he's having to
• 1:37:29
  have a vasectomy or whatever, you know, and just no sabo at that.
• 1:37:33
  But I love.
• 1:37:34
  I do love that parade speech.
• 1:37:36
  We didn't get that much into Red's Hot, but I would definitely say, go find the first strike Nose Noise episode on that and listen to it.
• 1:37:45
  I would encourage anyone.
• 1:37:46
  I will say it was watching this series back after game one.
• 1:37:51
  You know, Ed had that great series or great game.
• 1:37:53
  He had a great series, but they interviewed him on CBS after the game down on the field.
• 1:37:58
  And it was so meta because in the background in the stadium, they were playing Red's Hot while he's being interviewed.
• 1:38:06
  And I.
• 1:38:07
  I thought that because I love Red's Hot.
• 1:38:09
  Again, it's no.
• 1:38:10
  It's no get mesmerized.
• 1:38:12
  But yeah, some, like Herm Winningham and some of those guys and the Nat.
• 1:38:17
  Oh, God, the Nasty Boys with the oh, so great in that video.
• 1:38:23
  It's perfect.
• 1:38:23
  I.
• 1:38:24
  I really love it too.
• 1:38:25
  And I agree.
• 1:38:25
  100.
• 1:38:26
  I've.
• 1:38:27
  I've got over on my mantle, My mantle, that my wife tries to display pictures of our children and.
• 1:38:33
  And.
• 1:38:34
  And grandparents.
• 1:38:36
  Jeff will appreciate this.
• 1:38:37
  Yeah.
• 1:38:38
  So I've taken.
• 1:38:38
  We've taken it upon ourselves to give each other gifts and just to clutter our own houses with each other's gifts.
• 1:38:48
  So is that what you're about to.
• 1:38:49
  Okay, go ahead.
• 1:38:51
  I was just gonna say over on that mantle is an autographed album of one of the original records of Get Mesmerized.
• 1:39:00
  It's signed by Dykstra.
• 1:39:02
  And the Gooden one is real smudged.
• 1:39:05
  It has no authentication.
• 1:39:07
  Authentication with it or anything like that.
• 1:39:09
  I literally snagged it on ebay.
• 1:39:11
  It looks great, but at the same time, My wife is always just like, why.
• 1:39:15
  Why is this right in the centerpiece of our entire being here in our home?
• 1:39:21
  Every time someone comes over, I have to explain to them who this is.
• 1:39:26
  I thought you were about to tell him the Pete Rose story.
• 1:39:28
  Do we two.
• 1:39:29
  Can we.
• 1:39:29
  Readers.
• 1:39:30
  Readers digest that real quick?
• 1:39:31
  Yes, do it.
• 1:39:34
  So one of the gifts I got Scott was Scott will tell this story about being in the basement in Cincinnati.
• 1:39:40
  And I don't want to step on that story, but the.
• 1:39:42
  Basically the story is.
• 1:39:43
  Yeah.
• 1:39:44
  So I basically, you know, my grandfather was my.
• 1:39:47
  One of my best friends ever.
• 1:39:48
  We.
• 1:39:49
  He was my best baseball friend, everything.
• 1:39:51
  And so I'm sitting there at their house and we would just watch Reds games the whole time I was there or do Red stuff or go see Red's things, whatever.
• 1:39:59
  We'd go try and find Pete Rose at the.
• 1:40:02
  At the Gold Stars that he would hang out at or whatever, you know, and.
• 1:40:06
  And anyways, we're.
• 1:40:11
  My grandmother, like all grandmothers do, would just feed me like 12 times a day, you know, I mean, it was just constant food from grandmother.
• 1:40:19
  So at one point, I am my grandma.
• 1:40:22
  I've already had like seven meals.
• 1:40:24
  But the Reds game and started.
• 1:40:25
  And she said, go down the kitchen, there's a sandwich in the fridge already fixed for you and a bag of chips and a Snicker bar and some Dr.
• 1:40:34
  Pepper or Coke or whatever.
• 1:40:36
  And of course, it's like a king size Snicker or a full family bag of chips, and I'm just eating it all.
• 1:40:41
  And at some point, my grandfather follows me into the other room and he said, your grandma thinks you eat too much.
• 1:40:50
  Which I really.
• 1:40:51
  It was my grandfather's visions of his grandson becoming an athlete, but just turning into a pudgy, you know, whatever.
• 1:40:59
  I was at that point fading away, I think.
• 1:41:01
  But he just 100 threw her under the bus.
• 1:41:04
  He wasn't going to tarnish his own image.
• 1:41:07
  It's literally my favorite Scott story because people are horrified when he tells this at parties.
• 1:41:12
  So what I did is I had an artist basically recreate the basement.
• 1:41:16
  And he's got a Pete Rose jersey hanging in there and he's got all this stuff.
• 1:41:20
  And I had met Pete Rose in Vegas when he was signing baseballs.
• 1:41:25
  And one of the things that they gave you with the baseball was a Pete Rose certificate of authenticity that he also signed.
• 1:41:32
  And then you got five minutes with Pete Rose at a iPad, you know, where he's watching Pac 10 football that he's wagered on.
• 1:41:43
  And.
• 1:41:43
  And listen, you know, Pete Rose is definitely on the do not talk about list.
• 1:41:48
  But I just.
• 1:41:49
  I was in Vegas.
• 1:41:50
  I wanted to have this experience just to be able to tell Scott, oh,.
• 1:41:53
  I would have done it a hundred percent.
• 1:41:55
  Yeah.
• 1:41:55
  So, like, literally, I wanted to talk to him about baseball.
• 1:41:59
  And the thing was that he wanted to talk about this PAC 10 game.
• 1:42:05
  It was a bowl game.
• 1:42:06
  It was Iowa and Washington State, anyway.
• 1:42:09
  Yeah, exactly.
• 1:42:10
  So I had bet on Washington State.
• 1:42:12
  He had bet on Iowa.
• 1:42:13
  So it.
• 1:42:13
  I wanted to talk about the Red Sox ability to repeat, and he wanted to talk about the reason he bet Iowa.
• 1:42:20
  And.
• 1:42:21
  And I was like, well, I kind of went on this other side, Pete.
• 1:42:23
  So we ended up.
• 1:42:23
  We ended up arguing for five minutes over PAC 10 football.
• 1:42:26
  It was great anyway.
• 1:42:28
  But on this certificate authenticity, I had.
• 1:42:30
  I basically cut out Pete's signature and made it big.
• 1:42:34
  It, like, it's like a vinyl size, and basically it is sitting.
• 1:42:38
  It's been sitting in Scott's living room for, like, two years, much to the chagrin of his wife.
• 1:42:42
  Life.
• 1:42:42
  But that's.
• 1:42:44
  That's my 100, my favorite.
• 1:42:46
  I need to see a picture.
• 1:42:47
  Somebody needs to snap a picture of this.
• 1:42:50
  Yeah, 100.
• 1:42:51
  But it's everywhere.
• 1:42:52
  Like, we'll.
• 1:42:52
  We'll buy each other's stuff, and it's just.
• 1:42:54
  It's all over the place right now.
• 1:42:56
  But anyway, I digress.
• 1:42:58
  Well, it's interesting because Pete Rose would have been managing the Reds in 90 had he not true 100.
• 1:43:06
  So.
• 1:43:07
  And would they.
• 1:43:08
  Would they have.
• 1:43:09
  Would they have gotten to the World Series if he would have?
• 1:43:12
  Well, think about the payday you'd get from throwing a World Series, Pete.
• 1:43:15
  Right.
• 1:43:16
  Well, I mean, on the Reds last.
• 1:43:20
  I.
• 1:43:21
  I believe the last World Series the Reds won before that was in 1919 against the Chicago White Sox.
• 1:43:28
  So before 90.
• 1:43:30
  No, they would have had the.
• 1:43:31
  The machine.
• 1:43:32
  The Big Red machine.
• 1:43:33
  Yeah, you're right.
• 1:43:33
  The Big Red machine.
• 1:43:35
  Maybe it was the first.
• 1:43:36
  Maybe it was the first World Series.
• 1:43:39
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:43:42
  That's.
• 1:43:42
  Not to dive back into minutia or.
• 1:43:45
  But the.
• 1:43:45
  Like, the.
• 1:43:46
  The A's have so many things go wrong, everything that can go wrong will go wrong.
• 1:43:50
  And if they somehow squeak by in game two and game four, who knows what's happening in.
• 1:43:56
  In this series?
• 1:43:56
  Like, I know it goes down as a sweep.
• 1:43:58
  I know that there's a large run differential, but they somehow can somehow eke out two and four.
• 1:44:04
  Like, who knows what this conversation is Right now?
• 1:44:06
  We might be talking about one of the greatest World Series of all times that goes seven you know, I know.
• 1:44:11
  That there was a.
• 1:44:14
  Trying to find it.
• 1:44:15
  I thought I had it saved right here.
• 1:44:17
  I know that there was something that the.
• 1:44:20
  I think the Yankees got close to it in the divisions or the wild card.
• 1:44:27
  No, the division series against the Rays where they went like, oh, for 24 or something in their last.
• 1:44:32
  In the last game.
• 1:44:34
  The record is actually the A's in game four of that World Series they went like over more than that.
• 1:44:42
  I don't remember where it went.
• 1:44:45
  Yeah, I don't have it right here in front of me.
• 1:44:47
  But they have the record for the longest over to end a playoff series.
• 1:44:51
  And the majority of that was Riho, right in game four.
• 1:44:55
  Game four was.
• 1:44:55
  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:44:58
  Wouldn't have hurt himself in the ALCS.
• 1:45:01
  I think that was the key.
• 1:45:02
  Yeah.
• 1:45:03
  Also 88 rookie of the Year winner.
• 1:45:06
  I was like.
• 1:45:06
  That was when I was going and looking at the war of that season.
• 1:45:09
  I was like, God, that's a low key because he was like a four and a half guy.
• 1:45:13
  I was like, ah, Walt Weiss, four and a half WAR that season.
• 1:45:17
  And he was still like fifth or sixth on that team.
• 1:45:20
  Yeah, I mean just as.
• 1:45:22
  As Jeff talked about earlier, Gene Nelson I think was a three war setup guy.
• 1:45:26
  More or less insane.
• 1:45:29
  Loved that lettuce.
• 1:45:30
  And he had a great mustache.
• 1:45:32
  Oh yeah.
• 1:45:33
  He finished, finished out the Nolan Ryan no hitter.
• 1:45:37
  That was my.
• 1:45:38
  One of my first Gene Nelson re watches in probably 36 years was getting to see him finish that no.
• 1:45:45
  1 ride no hitter.
• 1:45:47
  So I'm full of facts here.
• 1:45:49
  Not dates, but facts that Nolan Ryan no hitter against the A's was the last no hitter against the A's until Herman did it for the Yankees just a year or two ago.
• 1:45:59
  They had gone a long time without.
• 1:46:01
  Being no hit Herman on the do not talk about list too.
• 1:46:06
  Oh, he's too current for us.
• 1:46:08
  I don't know what he's done, but I don't.
• 1:46:09
  I don't want to Little dv.
• 1:46:11
  I mean he does obviously does not play an MLB anymore for a reason.
• 1:46:14
  Ah, there we go.
• 1:46:17
  Well, they can't all be perfect, dude.
• 1:46:19
  We can't all be.
• 1:46:20
  We can't all be perfect.
• 1:46:21
  There's got to be March shots and Pete Roses in the world.
• 1:46:23
  I guess they all end up in baseball though, which is that is that way sometimes.
• 1:46:28
  Well, no, I guess I guess I can't say that anymore.
• 1:46:32
  I don't pay attention to anything other than hockey and baseball, but I do.
• 1:46:36
  Yeah, I, I rescind that comment.
• 1:46:39
  Yeah, they're Everywhere.
• 1:46:42
  Well, Jeff, we've kept you almost two hours here, man.
• 1:46:44
  This has been what a good time, though.
• 1:46:46
  Yeah, man.
• 1:46:46
  I enjoy just talking baseball.
• 1:46:48
  Yes.
• 1:46:49
  I loved it.
• 1:46:49
  We would love to have you and Mark on again sometime in the future.
• 1:46:54
  We'll definitely be keeping in touch.
• 1:46:56
  I literally when you were gonna say Mark, I thought you were about to say March shot.
• 1:47:01
  I was like, scott, I don't think she can join us.
• 1:47:03
  Well, at the Ouija hologram.
• 1:47:04
  Yeah, exactly.
• 1:47:06
  Something tells me exactly what letters those would go to.
• 1:47:09
  I don't.
• 1:47:09
  That Ouija board.
• 1:47:10
  I don't think the Ouija board works when you're that direction, though.
• 1:47:14
  Is it only supposed to be that?
• 1:47:16
  I'm not sure.
• 1:47:16
  I don't know.
• 1:47:17
  I don't know.
• 1:47:18
  Does Starlink get down there?
• 1:47:20
  Yeah, she'd use that.
• 1:47:23
  Yeah, that's about on par.
• 1:47:26
  That's awesome.
• 1:47:27
  Well, Mark, I'll give you.
• 1:47:29
  Or.
• 1:47:29
  I'm sorry, Jeff, I'll give you a quick second.
• 1:47:31
  If you want to plug anything other than podcasts, anything you've got going.
• 1:47:35
  Sure, yeah.
• 1:47:36
  Two Strike Noise.
• 1:47:38
  Tw.
• 1:47:39
  O Strike Noise.
• 1:47:40
  Just Google it.
• 1:47:41
  We're on all the social media.
• 1:47:44
  Well, we're not on X.
• 1:47:45
  We are a blue sky kind of podcast, if that tells you anything.
• 1:47:50
  We do YouTube videos as well.
• 1:47:52
  Two strike noise.
• 1:47:54
  I do stream on YouTube Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9 o' clock Pacific time, just for an hour, just playing some baseball dailies, doing the grid.
• 1:48:02
  I love that those kind of things with.
• 1:48:04
  With some listeners, you know, help a lot of pop culture talk there as well.
• 1:48:10
  That's literally Scott's morning.
• 1:48:12
  You just do that with your morning.
• 1:48:14
  Well, I've watched.
• 1:48:15
  I've watched Jeff do it several times, and I'm just like, God, this is so much fun too.
• 1:48:20
  It's.
• 1:48:21
  It's a lot of fun when you got.
• 1:48:23
  It's just like this.
• 1:48:24
  Like if we were playing the grid here, we, you know, do we do feud Friday on Friday, so we try to get the number one answer minimum.
• 1:48:31
  Monday, so we try and get the low answer.
• 1:48:33
  And then Wednesday.
• 1:48:35
  This is wild card Wednesday.
• 1:48:37
  Today we did had to have played in a World Series.
• 1:48:39
  We've done.
• 1:48:40
  Had to have first and last name start with vowels.
• 1:48:44
  You know, just kind of different things to.
• 1:48:46
  To make it a little bit more difficult and fun.
• 1:48:49
  Love it, Love it.
• 1:48:50
  So check them out on YouTube.
• 1:48:51
  Make sure you go find two strike noise.
• 1:48:53
  As tw.
• 1:48:55
  Oh, as Jeff said.
• 1:48:56
  You got anything else going, Jeff?
• 1:48:59
  Not that anybody's gonna see here, unfortunately.
• 1:49:05
  Awesome.
• 1:49:06
  Well, like I said, you guys do an Outstanding job.
• 1:49:09
  I love it.
• 1:49:10
  You've won over a addicted listener for sure with me.
• 1:49:15
  And now I think I've got Derek plugged into it too.
• 1:49:18
  Just love what you guys do.
• 1:49:20
  Again.
• 1:49:21
  Had an absolute blast today.
• 1:49:23
  Sorry we didn't really talk about how long do you have to give to us.
• 1:49:26
  We've just taken almost two hours of your time.
• 1:49:29
  But it is very much appreciated and I really am thankful you gave us the time for this.
• 1:49:35
  As a thank you, we will send all of our Felix Jose rookies to your to your mailbox.
• 1:49:41
  And a picture of the art artwork done of me with my grandpa.
• 1:49:45
  My disappointed grandpa.
• 1:49:46
  We'll send you a picture of that too.
• 1:49:49
  Awesome.
• 1:49:50
  Well, it was great guys.
• 1:49:51
  I really appreciate it.
• 1:49:52
  This was a lot of fun.
• 1:49:53
  Glad we got to talk.
• 1:49:54
  Some Ricky, some old Oakland A's baseball and even some just random baseball stuff is great.
• 1:50:01
  That was a lot of fun.
• 1:50:02
  Awesome.
• 1:50:03
  Well, Derek, I think that's going to wrap it up for us.
• 1:50:06
  Do we need Jeff to hang for just a few minutes at the end of this?
• 1:50:09
  More than likely?
• 1:50:09
  Yes sir.
• 1:50:10
  To upload.
• 1:50:10
  We'll wrap it up, Jeff, if you'll hang tight there for us.
• 1:50:13
  But we want to thank everyone for listening.
• 1:50:15
  Again, we are part of the Sports History Network and so you can go check out all the different podcasts that are available on the network.
• 1:50:23
  They're covering a vast array of different sports history topics and I want to thank everyone for listening.
• 1:50:29
  We'll be back with maybe a part two of this World Series as well as our kind of 1990 wrap up here over the next couple weeks.
• 1:50:38
  But thank everyone for listening.
• 1:50:39
  We'll talk to you soon.
• 1:50:43
  Sam.