Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Cubs Hall of Famer Jon Lester explains how to deal with umpires and sign stealing

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Cubs Hall of Famer Jon Lester explains how to deal with umpires and sign stealing · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into north side territory foul territory networks cubs podcast
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: i'm sahadev sharma with my partner patrick mooney we are
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: your cubs beat writers over at the athletic and we
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: have john lester joining us uh john thanks as always
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: appreciate your time uh patrick you were out there in
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: arizona and we have questions for john like kind of
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Going over what was a very weird road trip and
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: ended up the last game. Of course, we had PCA
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: going off about, you know, a balk rule that is
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: not enforced exactly how the Cubs wanted it to be or,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: you know, how it should be.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Go ahead.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Talk to ask John what you saw. And like, I'm curious,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: John's thoughts here.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I would just start with the basics, John. Did
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Eduardo Rodriguez commit a balk on that play?
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: I mean, yes. Short answer of it. I mean, I
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: can see how in the moment, in the game speed,
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: that you could get it wrong. But at the end
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: of the day, you've got to figure out a way
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: I mean, you've got enough people on the field that
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: you should be able to get that thing right. I
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: know the home plate umpire, he's got the catcher standing
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: up and moving and doing all that stuff. So I
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: would imagine it's a little harder for him. But the
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: second base umpire, I didn't see.
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: Where he was standing. He might have been further away.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: But you've got three guys out there that should be
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: able to see uh, you know, what, what's going on and, and,
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: and get it right. I mean, at the end of
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: the day, that's what we're, you know, with all these
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: new rules and, and, and, you know, replays and ABS and,
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: and all this stuff at the end of the day,
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: we're just trying to get everything right. And, you know,
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: it's a big part of the game, close game. And
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: that would put a, you know, put the Cubs up early, which,
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: you know, changes the momentum a little bit for you, um,
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: you know, going forward in the game.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: John, uh, uh, I think you may have seen Pete's reaction,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: immediate reaction. I'm curious, like, your experience in those moments,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: how difficult is it to control your emotions when you
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: know you saw something, when you're right and the umps
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: missed a call and you're in the heat of competition,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: it's a tie game, you know, you're in a playoff race, like.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Every win matters, every run matters in these moments.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: And it turned out to be a pretty key moment
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: in the game Uh, how, how do you, how do
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: you like put yourself in that situation?
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: How do you react?
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: And, and what did you see from PCA? Like as
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: far as like, that's, I assume a pretty normal reaction
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: for a passionate player.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: I mean, you guys saw me long enough to know
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: that I probably would have reacted similarly to PCA, um,
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: when it came to umpires, um, But, I mean, you're right.
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: I mean, you hit the nail on the head. I mean,
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: he's an emotional, passionate player. You know, he definitely doesn't,
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: you know, sugarcoat anything when he's out there. And, you know,
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: he's a player that makes impacts not only, you know,
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: offensively swinging the bat. He makes impacts on the bases.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: And so he thought he made an impact right there
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: and got them a free run without a guy having
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: to drive him in or do anything like that. So that,
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: that's a huge momentum change for him and the team
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: and it gets denied. I mean, that's, you know, I don't,
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: I don't expect anything less really from, from anybody other,
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: you know, especially PCA with how emotional he is and
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: how he wears his, wears all that stuff on his sleeve. So, um,
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: you know, like I said, I think the frustrating part
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: for him and the team, is you're trying to make
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: sure everything gets, all the decisions are right.
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: And when you're not able.
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: To get the right call and you feel like you
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: changed the game, the momentum of the game right there,
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: it's definitely disappointment.
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: And obviously he showed that.
• 4:23
  Speaker 6: Pete mentioned something that I've heard before.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: I can't remember if it was, maybe it was David
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: Ross or something like that. But just the idea of
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: like the umpire's, they're out there every day too. Like
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: they have a job to do as well. Like, how
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: did you, and this is the pre, you know, challenge
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: system era, John, but like, how did you develop relationships
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: with umpires? Like knowing that there are times where you
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: guys are just going to flat out disagree, but like,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: you're going to have to see them a lot over
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: the course of, you know, a long career, like the
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: one you put together. Yeah.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's hard when you're young, you, you kind of, well,
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: And also too, you know, coming from the American league
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: as a pitcher, you don't, you don't get to interact
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: with umpires as much.
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: And when you do, it's usually not good, right?
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: Like you're yelling at him about a ball or a
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: strike or, you know, a whatever, whatever call that a
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: check swing that they get wrong. Most of the conversations
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: you have in the American league are not conversations. They're, they're,
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: you're pissed at something and he's mad at you for
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: showing them up or whatever it is. Um, I, I
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: learned early from Schilling and he would keep a notebook
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: of umpire strike zones. And, you know, this is before
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: all the data you could just go and print it out.
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: And he would be like, you know, Hey, such and
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: such gives me the inside corner to righties or such
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: and such gives me up in a way to, to
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: righty or whatever it is. And he would have that notebook.
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: And so before he'd start, he would look and see, okay,
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: who's the umpire. And he'd go through his notebook and
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: then he'd have an idea of what their strike zone was.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: I started trying to pay attention to that when I
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: was younger, but really not until you get to the
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: National League where you can walk up. When you're hitting
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: and if there's a play or a pitch or whatever
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: the inning or two before, you have a chance to
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: come up there where really nobody's looking at you having
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: a conversation. Another big thing I learned early is you
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: can't call them blue.
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: You've got to know their names. I made that mistake
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: my rookie year.
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: Um, but yeah, I mean, you, you know, their names
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: and you address them in a professional way, you usually
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: get an answer. Um, and then you start learning as
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: you go guys that you talk to guys that, you know,
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: you ask about, Hey, where'd you have that pitch?
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: Was it down? Was it out? Whatever.
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: And, you know, when you start building those where it's
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: not always yelling at the guy relationships. Um, you know,
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: you start getting honest answers from guys. Like I've, I've
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: heard guys, they've said, Hey man, I just flat out
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: missed it. You know, I got you next time or,
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: you know, Hey, it's a, it's a good pitch, but I've,
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: I've got it down or whatever. So you get, you
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: start getting those, those answers in those conversations, you know,
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: and two, as you get older, you're around more, uh,
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: you know, you build, um, I guess you build your
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: credentials and, you know, especially when I was younger, the
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: veteran umpires wouldn't give you the time of day if
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: you were, you know, a rookie or whatever, like a
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: Joe West. He flat out laughed at me one time
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: when I asked him.
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: About a pitch.
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: So, you know, I mean, I think you just, you
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: have to, you have to, and pitchers, like I said,
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: it's harder, and especially now too, they got the D8.
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: So every time you're talking to an umpire, everybody's looking
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: at you. So I think that puts them on edge
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: to begin with. And so you just got to try,
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: you know, and obviously you're not seeing as much because
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: of the ABS, you know, so you're not seeing the
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: back and forth of the stairs or the yelling or the,
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: you know, the showing up of the umpires anymore.
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: It's, hey, that's a close pitch. I want to challenge
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: it and let's see who's right.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: John, you got me thinking about your interactions with umps
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: and maybe the angriest you've been.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: I'm curious, A, I want to hear this. blue story?
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Like what, what, what happened there?
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: And then like, what's the, what is a moment of, uh, that,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: that led you to like still being like fuming when,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: when we're talking to you in post game, like, is
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: there a moment that you, that you still remember? It's like,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: I'm still upset about this call or whatever it may be.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: Um, well, the, the blue story, it was, it was like,
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: Oh six, I think. And it was one of my
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: first starts. And there was a, there was a, close
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: pitch or, or whatever. And I'm walking off the, the
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: mound and, you know, Boston, it's the first base side
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: and the umpire was standing on that side. And I
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: didn't know, I didn't, this is before Shill and I
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: had this conversation. I didn't know anybody's name. I didn't
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: know how to address them. I didn't know if it
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: was served, how you went about it. So I did
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: the old minor league walk up and said, Hey blue,
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: where'd you have that pitch? And he goes, first of all,
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: don't call me blue. Second of all, don't worry about it.
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: And just walked away.
• 9:19
  Speaker 5: I forgot who it was.
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: Um, So from that day forward, every time I walked
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: in the clubhouse, I made sure I knew who the
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: home plate, what the home plate umpire's name was. And
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: as far as like the maddest, I, I get mad
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: in them.
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: I learned or tried to learn.
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: I don't feel like I did a great job, but
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: I did an okay job at it.
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: Working with Bob Tewksbury when I was in the minor leagues.
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: And you can, Probably, if you guys ever saw my parents,
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: you could probably ask them.
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: I was the same way as a kid.
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: Um, many a car rides home from my, you know, getting,
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: getting a stern talking to from, from my dad about,
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: you know, stop worrying about the umpire, stop worrying about
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: the ref, stop worrying about all this other stuff and
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: just play. Um, but like Tukes always told me, he's like,
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: everybody works differently. And, and, you know, I was an
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: emotional guy when I pitched and, um, so I had
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: these cues where if I felt like the guy missed
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: the pitch, you know, I'd get back on the rubber,
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: I'd wipe the rubber clean, whether I was in the
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: stretch or the, or the windup, you know, kind of
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: like wiping that call away and move and trying to
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: move on to the next one. Um, so I, I,
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think the weirdest moment was, um, God has,
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: when you said this, I had his name, Andy Fletcher, uh,
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: came running out or charging out to the mound against
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: the Dodgers. Um, I think that was 2000 and had
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: it been 15 or 16, it.
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: Was at Wrigley.
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: Um, we had had a little miss, not, not misunderstanding
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: a little, um, argument probably in the first or second. And, uh, Andy,
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: Andy and I would always go back and forth and, uh,
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: you know, I'd always question his outside corner to righties
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: and he didn't like it. And I ended up, it
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: was actually the batter after the I thought he missed
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: the call and I ended up walking that guy as well.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: And I was pissed about that. Not necessarily his call. Well,
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: he thought I was pissed about the call still. And
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: I turn around and he's halfway to the mound with
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: Joe and when Rossi in his face and I'm like,
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: what in the world's going on? Uh, that, that was
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: probably the, the one that stands out the most.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Uh, yeah, that's, that's, Those are always entertaining for us.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: I'm sure emotional for you guys. But to look back on,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: we always get a kick out of that. All right,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: let's take a quick break. There was more drama between
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: the Cubs and Diamondbacks that we can touch on.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: I'm curious your thoughts. Bella.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: Bella.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Bella, where? I don't know where Bella is, but I
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: know how to take care of my pup.
• 12:06
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• 12:59
  Speaker 1: John, obviously sign stealing and everything like that has completely
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: changed since when you were playing just in the last
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: couple of years. Pitchcom, all this stuff, it changes the
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: way it works. This was the incident that happened on...
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Was it Tuesday, Patrick?
• 13:20
  Speaker 6: It was Monday night.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: Okay, Monday night.
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: I think.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: this is like we've, we've talked about it.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: It's been written about, but I think it still gets overlooked.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Like this is what, something that coaching staffs work so
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: hard on looking for pitch tips, both for their staff,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: like making sure that their pitches aren't tipping and, and
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: like trying to find an edge with, with their, like
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: when they are scouting an opponent, clearly couldn't bury it,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: pick something up on Merrill Kelly and, The Diamondbacks weren't pleased,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: but everything he did was legal and within the rules,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: and this is part of the game now.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: I guess my question, first of all, what's.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Your experience with that, with pitch tipping, with coaches picking
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: it up, and how do you kind of view that
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: as far as fair game or not?
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: I mean– there's always been in different places that we
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: would play. There's always been the conspiracies of, you know,
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: the guy in center field with binoculars or the.
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: You know, whatever it is.
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: And then, you know, obviously all this stuff with Houston
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: and my, my take on it is if it's, if
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: it's happening in real time on the field, I have
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: no problem with it. Now, with that being said, I agree. I, I, I,
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: I think they did the right move by making sure
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: the coaches have to stay in their box, right? I mean,
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: I'm sure you guys have seen it in years past where,
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: you know, not to name teams or whatever, but there's
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: coaches that are 30 feet either in front or behind
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: these coaches' boxes, and you're like, you don't need to
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: be there.
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: There's nobody on. Like, why are you there?
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: So, you know, there's always been stuff, but I've always
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: been a believer that if you're on second base– and
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: you can pick my signs and you have a system
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: to relay my signs from second base, that's fair game.
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: And then now you've got, you know, coaches looking in
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: pitcher's gloves, you know, and trying to relay those signs.
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: To me, that's baseball.
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: To me, that's been going on for a hundred years, right?
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: I feel like it's gotten a little more blown up
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: than what it should be because of you know, the
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: last however many years with the electronic sign stealing.
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: To me, that's cheating.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: To me, that's not the way the game's supposed to
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: be played. But if you're in real time and you
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: have a system in place to where you're like, hey, dude,
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: if I have, if I can see this guy holding
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: a change up from second base, I'm going to drop
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: my glove or my hand or whatever it is to
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: relay that. You know, I'm sure they're more sophisticated in that.
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: But to me, that's fair game. I have no problem
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: with that. that's on me, that's on the catcher. So
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: that's where I have to be better. They're finding their
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: competitive edge and they're using it to their advantage, and
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: that's part of the game.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: You guys will be shocked to find out that Craig
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: Council did not want to talk about this at all
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: in Arizona. But kind of what we gathered was– the
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: one that you did say was nothing is a one
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: man operation.
• 16:44
  Speaker 6: Cause I'd asked him about Quinton Berry specifically.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: And I guess to rewind, I mean, you'd know Tory
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: Lavelle as well and Quinton Berry. I want to ask
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: you about those guys, John, but essentially, you know, the
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: Diamondbacks dugout is yelling at Berry. He yells right back
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: at them. You have Ryan Flaherty and the Cubs dugout
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: F bombing them the other way. And so Lavelle winds up,
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: the council the next day after talking to Michael Hill
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: in the league office. And so I think it was
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: some sort of like the Cubs do their video study.
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: They have players who are very perceptive. And then there
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: was some sort of legal way that they were kind
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: of relaying stuff.
• 17:32
  Speaker 6: We didn't talk a lot about.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: You know, Pete having to be restrained in the first segment.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: And that was Quentin Barry just like, driving Pete like
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: he was a blocking sled at football two-a-days. You played
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: with Quinton, I believe, in 2013 and obviously 2015. Could
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: you just describe his personality? Because this week really brought about–
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: he has a lot of presence to him, and I
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: think as a third base coach, I think he has
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: a really nice feature in the game. What was your
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: interaction with him? What kind of guy is he?
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: He's one of the best, one of the most professional
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: guys I've ever been around. In 2013, we essentially got
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: him to steal bases, be a pinch runner for guys,
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: run the bases later in the game, whatever that entailed.
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: Almost like a Dave Roberts in 2004 type thing for
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: the Red Sox. The preparation that he would put in
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: video-wise on you know, he would watch depending on the
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: game and, and, and all that stuff, but he would
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: watch the starter. He'd watch all the relievers, all the
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: bullpen guys and try to pick up tails. You know,
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: this is back when you could pick over 20 times
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: in a row and, and, you know, not get a
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: ball or a strike or a ball put on you
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: or whatever it is. Um, so he would look for,
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: you know, what are their, whatever their tails are. You know,
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: if the guy is a chin guy where he puts
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: his chin down before he pitches, he would know. So
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: he'd get that jump. Um, you know, just, just uber prepared, um,
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: professional knows, uh, knows what his role is, what his
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: job is, and then tries to do that as best
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: as he can and be prepared for that. So I
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: would imagine that that is definitely carried over into the
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: coaching world for him. Um, and it doesn't surprise me
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: that he, you know, has a tell, like, I do
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: love what council said about it. It's not a one
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: man show. I mean, it's a, It's a coaching staff
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: that is preparing the offense for a pitcher or pitchers
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: that night, and they're watching hours of video and they
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: pick up something. that's a we're talking about competitive advantage
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: that's a competitive advantage for the Cubs so if I
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: know that Merrill when he throws a slider his glove
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: is tilted 45 degrees instead of being flat on his
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: belt I'm going to try to get you that information
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: from wherever wherever I can see that from and that's
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: obviously going to be Q because you got a right-handed
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: pitcher so I mean I Like I said, it doesn't
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: surprise me that he's in on that and finding tells
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: on pitchers and just trying to make the Cubs be
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: successful day in and day out. And like I said
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: earlier about the sign ceiling, I don't.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: Nope.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: All right. We've lost John temporarily here, hopefully temporarily.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: I'm going to pause this.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: All right, we're back here with John Lester. He got
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: a spam call there and then broke up the show
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: for a quick moment. John, you were just talking about
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Quinton Berry and how you're not surprised that he's doing
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: what he's doing and part of a strong coaching staff.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: I guess.
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, like Council said, he's not alone in it.
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: I know all the coaches are preparing for the game
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: and preparing who they're facing and trying to find those
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: little cues. um, to make them have that competitive advantage.
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: And if they're doing it in a legal way, then
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: I got no problem with how they're doing it. And
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: I'm sure they're not the only team, um, you know,
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: trying to figure out ways to, to give their offense
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: an advantage.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Uh, yeah, I think, I mean, Patrick said it perfectly.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: I think, uh, Quinn Barry kind of stood out this
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: week and, and we've heard good things about him from
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: the moment he was hired. Like there's a reason Craig
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: council targeted him to bring him over.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: From the brewers. I think he's got a bright future here.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: And I think we just saw a little bit more
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: of his personality this weekend and his leadership skills and
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: both his leadership ship skills and his preparation, how he
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: prepares for the game and gives his team an advantage.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: That's it's hugely important. And you don't, it's hard to
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: identify these like guys that are, these young coaches who
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: has a chance to be a future manager. But I'm
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: not saying he's definitely a manager, but it seems like.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: He's got a bright future there.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: All right, let's take a quick break and come back
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: and talk about some stuff going on this weekend.
• 22:10
  Speaker 7: It's time to remind everyone why baseball is glorious, especially
• 22:14
  Speaker 7: nowadays where you could think your team is out of it,
• 22:16
  Speaker 7: but they might be back in it again. Let me
• 22:18
  Speaker 7: introduce you to the American League wildcard, KP, and let's
• 22:22
  Speaker 7: tell everyone why they might need to head back to
• 22:24
  Speaker 7: SeatGeek Grab some more tickets for what is a playoff
• 22:28
  Speaker 7: race before the playoffs actually begin.
• 22:32
  Speaker 8: Speaking about being out of it, I'm an American League
• 22:34
  Speaker 8: East guy, and I'm talking to you Toronto fans. I'm
• 22:37
  Speaker 8: talking to you Baltimore fans. A couple weeks ago, probably
• 22:40
  Speaker 8: not a reason to come out to the games. Look
• 22:42
  Speaker 8: at the standings right now. Both of you teams are
• 22:44
  Speaker 8: right back in this wildcard race.
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: Rangers fans.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: We can go on and on.
• 22:49
  Speaker 7: Mariners fans, you might be feeling a little queasy, but
• 22:51
  Speaker 7: you're still in this thing too. So all of you
• 22:54
  Speaker 7: should head to SeatGeek and get yourself 10% off your
• 22:58
  Speaker 7: next set of MLB tickets. 10% off MLB tickets with
• 23:01
  Speaker 7: the promo code TERRITORY10. Make sure you click the link
• 23:04
  Speaker 7: in the description to download the app and have the
• 23:06
  Speaker 7: code automatically added to your account so that you can
• 23:09
  Speaker 7: use it later.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: All right, John, we got a weekend here that includes
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: your induction into the Cubs Hall of Fame. along with
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: a couple other people, and then it's the 150th anniversary
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: celebration of the Cubs, and you are on that 150th
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: anniversary team.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about both these things. When did you hear
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: about the 150th anniversary.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Team, and what does that mean to you, and to
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: be a part of it with a lot of other
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: 2016 to you know even after 2016 cubs there's quite
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: a few uh modern day cubs on that team.
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah uh i found out about it gosh i don't
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: when was the reunion was that a month ago something
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: like that somewhere somewhere around yeah yeah somewhere somewhere around
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: there talking a big gym um trying to figure out
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: you know kind of this this weekend coming up with
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: just you know school and football and scheduling and all
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: that stuff. And so Jim was kind enough to, uh,
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: to make it a double whammy for me this weekend, uh,
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: instead of having, having to plan another, another trip up there. Um,
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: so it was good, good for that. I'm excited for it. Um,
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: I'm excited that, uh, you know, like the, like you
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: were saying, the older guys that, you know, we were
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: never really around, um, you know, especially like me, even
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: in the early, early times, I didn't get to play against,
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: you know, some of these guys just being ALNL or,
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: but they're obviously, you know, Cubs lore and, you know,
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: hopefully everybody gets the opportunity to come back so we
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: can kind of, kind of hang out, get to see
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: my boy Damp. I talked to him the other day after, after,
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: you know, seeing the full list.
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: But yeah, man, it'll be fun. It's exciting.
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: And like you said, it's cool to see you know,
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: the guys that I played with with the Cubs on there,
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: some of those guys.
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: So it's a cool thing.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: Obviously very honored to be voted in there and recognized
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: on it, and it'll be a fun weekend.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: I'm looking at this media release that was sent out
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: this morning, John, and it says that you'll be part
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: of doing the seventh inning stretch on Sunday night.
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: You've done that before, right?
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: No.
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: Oh, you haven't? We did it.
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we did it at the reunion thing out in
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: the bleachers. Oh.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: Oh, okay.
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 25:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I haven't done it.
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: I would just say that sounds like my worst nightmare.
• 25:54
  Speaker 6: I was just curious your.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Thoughts on this.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: And having to do that.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: I guess the goal is to, like, not have it
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: be forgettable that you don't, like, go viral and people
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: are talking about, like, John Lester's seven-inning stretch, like, ten
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: years from now.
• 26:07
  Speaker 6: But I guess there's a possibility you could mess it
• 26:10
  Speaker 6: up that bad and, you know.
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: Well, I appreciate your positivity.
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: I'm hoping that it's a, it's a, it's a larger
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: crowd than just myself. You know, I'm going to make,
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: make sure my kids are involved with it. Everybody that's
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: involved this weekend will be, will be standing there. Hopefully
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: I'm not holding a mic. Hopefully I'm leaning over somebody's
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: shoulder that has a mic. I might, you know, just, just, just,
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: to be safe. And, you know, we're talking about being prepared.
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: I might print out the lyrics just so we have
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: it up there. So you don't forget any words in
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: the moment, get, get a little stage fright and forget.
• 26:53
  Speaker 5: Um, no, it'll be cool.
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think obviously it's, it's going to be,
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: it's going to be fun. It's going to be low key. Um,
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: you know, I know, like I said, I keep mentioning
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: his name, but big Jim is prepping us on all
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: this stuff. And I know the families will be involved in,
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: in all that.
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: So it'll be cool. Um, We'll just try to make
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: it fun.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: It looks like Jody Davis will be with you too.
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, and his family.
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: So I'm hoping that they take the reins and we're
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: in the background where we can but can't be heard.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: John, part of what you did, I believe you broke
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: the news to Ian Happ and Nico Horner that they'd
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: be on this 150th anniversary team. So me thinking of
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: you as like this veteran guy– giving wisdom to, to
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: the younger players throws me off because I clearly remember
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: you as a, as a youngster in Boston. And it
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: just like shows how old I've gotten because like, yeah, it.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: Just throws me off.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: I clearly remember you as a prospect and coming up
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: with Boston and now, and now you're retired and giving
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: everyone advice on how to play the game and, and
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: do it right.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: I'm curious.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: What you remember about happen and Nico, because there are
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: two guys that kind of exemplify what this team is about,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: about hard work and talking ball. And I distinctly remember,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: I think it was the spring training of 2017. I
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: could be often when it was, when, uh, it seemed
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: like Jake Arrieta was really high on Ian Happ and
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: kept talking about like that spring. He was just talking about,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: he's like, he'll be up here soon. He'll be helping
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: this team win games. Uh, what do you remember about Ian?
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: What do you remember about Nico coming up and kind
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: of what stood out that you, you believe that, okay,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: these are the types of guys that could have long
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: MLB careers.
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: Uh, I, I think, and this is probably why they're
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: really good friends. Um, is they're very similar. They're, they're quiet. Um,
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: kind of like the quiet assassins. You don't really know
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: they're there. And next thing you know, you know, Nico's
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: making a dive and play at second or short or
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: wherever position he's playing. And Happer's hitting a homer. And
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: you're like, oh, yeah, that's right. They're part of this
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: team because they don't really talk much. They go to
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: their lockers. They do their work. They're prepared for the day,
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: day in and day out. You know, like when you're young,
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: you hear from the veterans like, hey, be seen, not
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: heard type deal. Well, I feel like Happ and Nico
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: took that to the extreme. Like half the time you
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: didn't even know they were in the same room as you.
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: And then, like I said, they go out and do
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: something spectacular. They just go about it the right way.
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: And it's I know. that term gets thrown around and,
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: and I'm sure there's people that listen to people say
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: that and they're like, what the hell does that even mean?
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: And I can't, and, and the, and the kind of
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: the cool part about it is you can't really describe it, right?
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: Like it's a, it's just kind of a known when
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: you're in the clubhouse and you see young guys come
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: in and they know how to do their job, they
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: know what they're supposed to do, they know their role,
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: they know everything, and they're prepared for it. And they
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: go out in there and perform. And when they do well,
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: they're not standing in front of the veterans going, look
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: at me, look at me. They're just day in and
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: day out, keep rolling out there, keep playing the game.
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: And those two exemplify that.
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: And, you know, I.
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: Can't, in the message, they, they kind of caught me
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: off guard. We were at lunch and, and, uh, running
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: some errands for the day or whatever. And Nick from
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: marquee is like, Hey dude, I need this done in
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: like the next 20 minutes. And we were actually at
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: the Sitka store up here in Atlanta. And I was like, damn, okay,
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: let me figure this out real quick. Um, but like,
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: there's not enough words to describe them as, as human beings.
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: I think that needs to be talked about more than
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: just the baseball player. Uh, they're great dudes. They do
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: a lot of work in the community. Um, they care
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: about their teammates. They care about treating everybody with respect
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: and treating them. Doesn't matter how, where you are in
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: the totem pole. They treat you the same as if
• 31:06
  Speaker 4: you're the superstar or if you're the, you know, the
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: bottom in the clubhouse. And, um, so yeah, like I said,
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: I don't think there's enough words to speak highly enough
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: of them and how they go about it.
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: Uh, yeah.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: Go ahead, Patrick.
• 31:23
  Speaker 6: No, I was just an observation.
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: I think like, it's cool how, you know, Nico and Hap, obviously,
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: you know, Hap's in a contract year, but Nico has
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: the extension of just how, how they still talk about
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: like you, John.
• 31:38
  Speaker 6: And that group and like having that link to the past.
• 31:43
  Speaker 6: And it's, it's helpful for us.
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: Um, cause they have really good perspectives and trying to
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: explain what's going on, uh, at Wrigley field. And like,
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: that's just kind of a, I guess eventually that chain
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: will kind of break, but it is cool to see
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: or hear when you kind of bring up, you know,
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: your name, Jason Hayward's name, Ross's name, I guess Rizzo
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: will be around this weekend too.
• 32:11
  Speaker 6: I think he's doing TV, just kind of how stuff
• 32:14
  Speaker 6: like that is passed on is really cool to see.
• 32:18
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: And it's cool.
• 32:19
  Speaker 4: I mean, And that's kind of the cool part about baseball, right,
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: is when I was young, you know, you had the
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: guys that helped me along the way, the Becketts, the Shillings,
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: the Mike Timlins, the Tim Wakefields, the David Ortiz's. You know, Pedroi,
• 32:36
  Speaker 4: even though we were the same age, was very beneficial
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: for me. You know, so when, like, the Davids and
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: the Becketts and the Shillings, those guys retire, you know,
• 32:48
  Speaker 4: it's like their legacy lives on, not just on the
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: baseball field.
• 32:51
  Speaker 7: Right.
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: And I think that's all as players, you know, we
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: want to be, remember what we did on the field, right.
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: We want to have an impact and, and win and,
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: and be good ball players. But at the end of
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: the day, I think it means more to a lot
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: of us. And it's definitely to myself when I hear
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: Ian Haps or Nikos or the Schwarbers or, you know,
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: Riz when he was still playing them, say, hey, you
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: taught me this or, hey, you know, I learned this
• 33:21
  Speaker 4: from watching you and lack or whatever it is. I
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: think that puts more of an impact on me for
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: my career that, hey, maybe I did do something right
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: in the clubhouse with these guys. Like maybe I did
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: lead by example or maybe I, you know, just those
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: little things that at the end of the day, when
• 33:38
  Speaker 4: you look back at your career, it's not just about
• 33:40
  Speaker 4: the numbers and teams and all that. It's about the
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: people and what you're able to to maybe help them
• 33:47
  Speaker 4: do going forward in their career.
• 33:50
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much, John. Always appreciate you being on the show, man.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: This is Northside territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel and subscribe to the athletic
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: That's it for Northside territory. Thanks for listening and watching everyone.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: Take care.