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Baseball Conversations with Ricky Bottalico & Andre "The Hawk" Dawson · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:25
Speaker 1: What's going on everybody? Hope you are doing well. Welcome
0:28
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1:17
Speaker 1: mostly Philly sports, but not all. We dive into a
1:21
Speaker 1: lot here at the PSD podcast show. So if you
1:24
Speaker 1: are listening to this the first week of February, I
1:27
Speaker 1: am on vacation with my family, Len and Eric, they
1:30
Speaker 1: have some time off as well, but we're getting ready
1:33
Speaker 1: for the baseball season. I mean, I am so pumped
1:36
Speaker 1: for what the Phillies are gonna possibly do this year. Yes,
1:38
Speaker 1: i am. If you've heard recent podcast shows, I'm optimistic
1:41
Speaker 1: about this Philly season. Twenty twenty six. I think is
1:45
Speaker 1: gonna be good for this Phillies team. How far can
1:46
Speaker 1: they go? Of course we don't have a crystal ball.
1:49
Speaker 1: We don't know, but I'm getting ready for this upcoming season.
1:53
Speaker 1: So what we wanted to do this week, we're dropping
1:55
Speaker 1: two podcasts. This is the first of two where we
1:59
Speaker 1: go back into our archives and we've talked to former
2:03
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Phillies players who really left their mark on the game,
2:07
Speaker 1: left their mark on the organization, and we wanted to
2:11
Speaker 1: bring those stories back to life. So we hope you
2:15
Speaker 1: enjoy these podcast shows this week that specifically have come
2:19
Speaker 1: from our good friends at the Redding Hot Stovers that
2:23
Speaker 1: were allowing us to interview these players over the years,
2:26
Speaker 1: and again we wanted to share these as we are
2:28
Speaker 1: getting ready for this upcoming baseball season. So that being said,
2:33
Speaker 1: enjoy these interviews and we will catch you on the
2:36
Speaker 1: next one. We'll get started here, Eric Man. It's great.
2:40
Speaker 1: We've got Ricky Batalico here in front of us. And
2:45
Speaker 1: for me, Ricky like a couple questions here for you,
2:48
Speaker 1: and first and foremost, I love stories like yours. I
2:50
Speaker 1: love stories like yours. Where As an athlete that goes undrafted,
2:56
Speaker 1: you had something special, something special that somebody ended up
2:59
Speaker 1: seeing your ging me be a smirk right now and
3:01
Speaker 1: a smile. You get signed by the Phillies. Somebody saw
3:05
Speaker 1: that something special in you. But I was wondering back
3:07
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety one, during that time where there was
3:10
Speaker 1: probably some uncertainty for you, did you have a passion
3:12
Speaker 1: about something else, you know, other than baseball that you
3:15
Speaker 1: were thinking to yourself, you know, if baseball didn't work out,
3:18
Speaker 1: maybe something else would be there to kind of I
3:21
Speaker 1: don't want to necessarily say fall back on, but did
3:23
Speaker 1: you have any other passion or any other avenues that
3:26
Speaker 1: you may wanted to embark on back then?
3:28
Speaker 2: It's funny because broadcasting was one.
3:30
Speaker 1: Of them, nice, very nice, and you kind of laugh
3:32
Speaker 1: at it.
3:32
Speaker 3: But I mean I was taking communications courses in college,
3:35
Speaker 3: so it was something that I was interested in. But
3:38
Speaker 3: I mean, the one thing I could tell you this much.
3:42
Speaker 3: My mother that summer said, why don't you give it
3:44
Speaker 3: one more shot. I wasn't gonna play baseball in the summer.
3:46
Speaker 3: I was just gonna shut it down and you know,
3:49
Speaker 3: worry about what I'm gonna do next type thing, and
3:51
Speaker 3: which would have been probably communications. But I mean, my
3:54
Speaker 3: mother's like, give it one more shot. I know you
3:56
Speaker 3: have it in you, just you need to just be
3:58
Speaker 3: seen by the right person. And it just kind of happened.
4:02
Speaker 3: I mean it was odd because that year was my
4:04
Speaker 3: junior year of college and late in that season, one
4:07
Speaker 3: of our I was catching a game and one of
4:10
Speaker 3: our catchers, one of our pitchers got injured. And it
4:13
Speaker 3: was a local game, so it was kind of I
4:15
Speaker 3: went to Central Connecticut. We were playing like Fairfield midweek.
4:18
Speaker 3: You don't bring many all the players with you, so
4:20
Speaker 3: we had limited amount of pitchers.
4:22
Speaker 2: I was like, I'll pitch. What the heck struck out
4:24
Speaker 2: twelve in a.
4:25
Speaker 3: Row, So now I knew my days were kind of
4:28
Speaker 3: limited behind the plate. So I mean my main focus
4:30
Speaker 3: became pitching, and I threw a one hitter against Northeastern
4:34
Speaker 3: later on the year, and then in the summer, I mean,
4:37
Speaker 3: you'd be lucky to get a run off me, which
4:40
Speaker 3: which was really helpful. But the thing that kind of
4:42
Speaker 3: kicked me into gear was that I knew I was
4:45
Speaker 3: getting signed by the Oakland A's. On a Thursday, Phillies said,
4:49
Speaker 3: we need to see you one more time.
4:50
Speaker 2: Pitch Tuesday night.
4:51
Speaker 3: I had just pitched Sunday, so I pitched in that game,
4:54
Speaker 3: didn't give up a run, ended up getting signed by
4:56
Speaker 3: the Phillies. And after the first game I pitched, which
5:00
Speaker 3: which was the first night I was there, he my
5:03
Speaker 3: rolely the armist, the manager looked at me, said You're
5:05
Speaker 3: going to the big leagues. So, I mean it was
5:07
Speaker 3: five days later I was pitching in a Beer league.
5:10
Speaker 3: Next thing I know, five days later, I'm being told
5:12
Speaker 3: I'm going to be in the big league.
5:13
Speaker 2: So yeah, it was. It was overwhelming, to say the least.
5:17
Speaker 1: It may sound like a general question, but it's a
5:19
Speaker 1: sense of just working at it, working at it, and
5:21
Speaker 1: working at it until you got there.
5:22
Speaker 4: Right.
5:23
Speaker 3: I knew I was. You know, It's funny, I knew
5:25
Speaker 3: I was good enough. I never wanted to be a pitcher.
5:27
Speaker 3: That was my fault, right, and I always wanted to
5:30
Speaker 3: be a catcher. I was an All State catcher in
5:32
Speaker 3: high school, and I just didn't have the size. I mean,
5:35
Speaker 3: you look at me now, I'm six foot two fifteen
5:37
Speaker 3: whatever I am, And back then I was a rail
5:41
Speaker 3: coming out of high school. I was literally a rail.
5:43
Speaker 3: I mean you could see my bones in my ribs.
5:46
Speaker 3: So it was one of those things where all right,
5:48
Speaker 3: you know, maybe I should just focus on my arm.
5:50
Speaker 3: Everybody knows I have a good arm, and you know,
5:53
Speaker 3: once you get seen, it's like, all right, this is
5:55
Speaker 3: the way I'm going now. I mean, it was odd
5:59
Speaker 3: because I first get to the marrow in Ville, Virginia,
6:00
Speaker 3: and I'm watching these other guys pitch where number one picks,
6:03
Speaker 3: and being from Connecticut, you knew it was hard to
6:05
Speaker 3: get drafted as it was at that time. It's not
6:08
Speaker 3: so much anymore. But it was like, wow, wait a minute.
6:12
Speaker 3: I mean, I might be able to do something immediately.
6:15
Speaker 3: And the cards just fell in the right direction for me.
6:18
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
6:19
Speaker 1: Well, you talked about I'll let you go in a second, Eric,
6:21
Speaker 1: but I want to I want to keep talking to him.
6:23
Speaker 1: I want to keep talking to Ricky bow here. But really,
6:27
Speaker 1: I mean, well you talked about communications. You really wanted
6:29
Speaker 1: to get in communications. Of course, working for NBC Philly.
6:34
Speaker 1: You know now he's sitting next to Mike Barkan. You know,
6:36
Speaker 1: so many games these past few seasons. You just the
6:40
Speaker 1: frustration level for you, it's just absolutely off the charts.
6:44
Speaker 1: But I do want to ask you about new media.
6:47
Speaker 1: You know, whether it's podcast like us, whether it's video
6:51
Speaker 1: shows on YouTube, or just you know, bloggers who have
6:54
Speaker 1: a really good reputation for what they do. Wanted to
6:57
Speaker 1: get your thoughts on the positives and negatives of new
7:01
Speaker 1: media like us, or quite frankly, or just anybody out
7:04
Speaker 1: there in terms of new media being within the broadcast field.
7:07
Speaker 1: What are your overall thoughts on it from a negative
7:09
Speaker 1: standpoint and a positive standpoint as well.
7:11
Speaker 3: I mean positive. I think it's a way for everybody
7:13
Speaker 3: to get their opinions out. I don't have I don't
7:15
Speaker 3: have a problem with that. I just gotta I got
7:17
Speaker 3: a big stage to do it on, so I don't
7:18
Speaker 3: have a problem with that. And then you know, when
7:21
Speaker 3: you look at the whole picture of it, though, there
7:23
Speaker 3: are certain podcasts where you'll listen to and go, these
7:26
Speaker 3: guys have no clue what they're talking about. And I
7:29
Speaker 3: think those are the ones where kind of bring some
7:31
Speaker 3: people down. But then I mean, I I'm on Twitter.
7:35
Speaker 3: I see all these things come up. I see I
7:36
Speaker 3: see everybody come up, and you know, you read their
7:38
Speaker 3: comments and if you if you find them interesting, you
7:41
Speaker 3: go you go to them. But I mean, it's a
7:43
Speaker 3: choice now that people have, so I don't I don't
7:46
Speaker 3: look at it as really a negative in any factor,
7:49
Speaker 3: because you look at what I do, I could be
7:51
Speaker 3: as negative as they come at times. So I mean,
7:53
Speaker 3: you know, if somebody else wants to wants to get
7:55
Speaker 3: up there and be angry too, go ahead. I just
7:59
Speaker 3: I just feel like freedom of speech. You know what
8:01
Speaker 3: you have, the microphone, you have, you have a platform
8:03
Speaker 3: to do it on do it.
8:05
Speaker 2: I don't have a problem with it.
8:06
Speaker 1: Sounds good, Eric, I know you got some questions here
8:08
Speaker 1: for Ricky Bow.
8:10
Speaker 5: Ricky, I want to go back to, uh, the end
8:12
Speaker 5: of the baseball career and then how you transition into
8:16
Speaker 5: the media credit. Does someone take you aside? Did you
8:19
Speaker 5: were you were you pursued by anybody, approach by anybody
8:22
Speaker 5: within the Phillies or just in generate or did you
8:24
Speaker 5: pursue that.
8:25
Speaker 3: It's it was a little odd because it actually started
8:29
Speaker 3: when I was in on a rehab assignment down in
8:31
Speaker 3: Triple A. Our radio guy was sick and I wasn't pitching.
8:36
Speaker 3: You know, you go down to rehab assignment, you have
8:38
Speaker 3: a certain amount of days you're pitching, and then days
8:39
Speaker 3: are off. So we took over to radio broadcast. So
8:42
Speaker 3: I learned kind of right on the spot. Here you go,
8:45
Speaker 3: Johnny on the spot, go do it. See I see
8:47
Speaker 3: how you like it? And I did it with Craig Holman.
8:49
Speaker 3: I don't know if you know Craig. He played, he
8:51
Speaker 3: lives here in Reading, he played in Reading, and we
8:54
Speaker 3: did it for three nights and we you know, hey,
8:56
Speaker 3: that was pretty cool.
8:57
Speaker 2: You know, that wasn't bad at all.
8:59
Speaker 3: So once I finished playing, I took a year off
9:02
Speaker 3: and didn't realize that doing nothing isn't for me. So
9:07
Speaker 3: Chuck Domino, who is I guess he's part owner now
9:10
Speaker 3: of a bunch of minor league teams. He was involved
9:13
Speaker 3: with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and brought me in for
9:16
Speaker 3: an interview to do color commentary in the games.
9:18
Speaker 2: I went and took that job.
9:20
Speaker 3: It was limited, I mean it was only their home game,
9:22
Speaker 3: so it was what seventy seventy one home games? Did
9:26
Speaker 3: those had a great time doing it. Right after that
9:28
Speaker 3: season was ending, I got a call from NBC, come on, Doubt,
9:31
Speaker 3: we want you to try out some postgame shows. And
9:33
Speaker 3: the strangest thing was first day I got on, I
9:36
Speaker 3: mean literally put me in a seat in the studio,
9:39
Speaker 3: never done studio work before, put an earpiece in my ear,
9:42
Speaker 3: and said.
9:43
Speaker 2: Go, just go, just answer the questions.
9:46
Speaker 3: And from day one I was very much into it.
9:51
Speaker 2: I loved it. I liked what I did.
9:52
Speaker 3: I wasn't a lot of people, you know, get in
9:54
Speaker 3: front of a camera and the first thing they are
9:56
Speaker 3: is intimidated.
9:57
Speaker 2: Who's watching? How many people are? What?
9:59
Speaker 3: That's what goes through their I didn't care. I looked
10:01
Speaker 3: at it like I was just talking to my next
10:03
Speaker 3: door neighbor.
10:04
Speaker 5: So did you did you kind of take the closure
10:06
Speaker 5: mentality into that position where it just it doesn't interesting
10:10
Speaker 5: matter too? Yeah, what doesn't matter, what happened, just happened.
10:13
Speaker 5: It just next next move.
10:15
Speaker 2: Yeah.
10:15
Speaker 3: I mean my whole thing was, you know, my job's
10:18
Speaker 3: a little different than most people because I'm a one
10:21
Speaker 3: day guy. Whatever's happening in front of me, that's what
10:23
Speaker 3: you go after. The shows aren't scripted. After the game,
10:26
Speaker 3: So it's basically see to your pants, go with it.
10:29
Speaker 3: That's kind of like what a closer does, right, I mean,
10:31
Speaker 3: you're coming in, see to your pants, going after it.
10:33
Speaker 3: And for me, it was easy because I could pick
10:36
Speaker 3: out certain things in a game that I want to
10:38
Speaker 3: talk about and it could take me forever to talk
10:39
Speaker 3: about them.
10:40
Speaker 2: So, I mean it was.
10:42
Speaker 3: Kind of a natural fit and it and it just
10:44
Speaker 3: it works for me. You know, when when you guys
10:47
Speaker 3: do this podcast, I'm sure it's very normal for you guys. Now,
10:50
Speaker 3: right when you first started, it probably wasn't wasn't.
10:53
Speaker 1: Wasn't as normal, It wasn't as normal.
10:55
Speaker 2: It probably wasn't exactly what you want it.
10:56
Speaker 3: But it evolves, right, And my job is really kind
10:59
Speaker 3: of involved into I mean, I know a lot of
11:02
Speaker 3: people say I'm angry, Ricky, but I'm not like that
11:04
Speaker 3: all the time.
11:04
Speaker 2: Amy I went through five years, you.
11:06
Speaker 1: Were realistic, Ricky. That's what I like to.
11:09
Speaker 3: Say, or what I look at like. I look at
11:11
Speaker 3: it like, well, I'm just telling you what I see it.
11:14
Speaker 3: I mean, I could I be wrong at I'm sure,
11:16
Speaker 3: but I will tell you this much.
11:17
Speaker 2: I don't think I'm wrong.
11:18
Speaker 3: And that's part of the battle when you're when you're
11:20
Speaker 3: speaking about it, you have to be very straight to
11:23
Speaker 3: the point and know that what you're saying is the
11:26
Speaker 3: truth out of your mouth, and I think that helps me.
11:29
Speaker 1: And it's some more follow ups.
11:31
Speaker 5: So you you were managed in baseball in the broadcasting world, like,
11:35
Speaker 5: do you have people behind the scenes in your ear
11:37
Speaker 5: coaching you to become.
11:39
Speaker 1: More angry ricky or it.
11:42
Speaker 5: Just came natural. I'm just I'm wondering if, like it
11:45
Speaker 5: was it just kind of be yourself, be more that
11:47
Speaker 5: kind of thing.
11:48
Speaker 2: You know.
11:48
Speaker 3: What's funny, that's kind of odd because I was always
11:51
Speaker 3: myself and I was always loud. I've always been like
11:54
Speaker 3: this outgo, you know, very outgoing with my mouth. I'll
11:57
Speaker 3: say whatever is on my mind and they enjoy that.
12:00
Speaker 3: There were times before social media got so big that
12:04
Speaker 3: it was like, hey, come down to decibels and we'll
12:06
Speaker 3: kind of smooth it out. But once all this social
12:09
Speaker 3: media came out and Twitter is big now for baseball especially,
12:12
Speaker 3: it's big that now you say whatever you want because
12:16
Speaker 3: that's what they want to hear.
12:17
Speaker 2: Now on to right, So I was kind of doing.
12:20
Speaker 3: It before that all started, So I just look at
12:22
Speaker 3: it like makes it easier for me when when other
12:26
Speaker 3: people are going off right right at the exact moment,
12:28
Speaker 3: then it makes it easier for me to say whatever
12:30
Speaker 3: I want. So no, I really haven't had that many
12:32
Speaker 3: complaints from work at least.
12:35
Speaker 1: That's good. That's great, that's good. That's good to know.
12:37
Speaker 1: Ricky Man, thank you so much for taking the time
12:39
Speaker 1: to talk to us. We appreciate it.
12:40
Speaker 2: My pleasure anytime.
12:41
Speaker 1: Guys, it is great to be talking to Andre Dawson
12:47
Speaker 1: Hawk Hawk. We are from the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show.
12:52
Speaker 1: We're actually the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
12:55
Speaker 1: that there is out there. Just so you know, and
12:58
Speaker 1: of course you don't care, and you should so of
13:01
Speaker 1: course I'm kidding there too. However, just want it. Asked
13:05
Speaker 1: you a couple questions, and I guess the first one
13:07
Speaker 1: for me would be, you know, looking back to when
13:10
Speaker 1: you really started the game. You know, you first played
13:13
Speaker 1: little league back in nineteen sixty three, when you were
13:17
Speaker 1: really able to just like show off your athleticism back
13:20
Speaker 1: then as a kid, and you were playing against kids
13:23
Speaker 1: that were just years and years older than you. And
13:26
Speaker 1: I know you played football as well until you severely
13:29
Speaker 1: injured your knee back in nineteen seventy one. So I
13:32
Speaker 1: was wondering if you could kind of take us back
13:33
Speaker 1: to that moment and talk about, you know why it
13:35
Speaker 1: was baseball itself that you really wanted to concentrate on
13:39
Speaker 1: after that injury, and it really kind of think helped
13:42
Speaker 1: propel where you wanted to go from a baseball perspective.
13:44
Speaker 1: From all that I know about you, I don't know,
13:47
Speaker 1: can you take us back to that time?
13:49
Speaker 4: Well.
13:49
Speaker 6: I got my start in baseball when I was about
13:52
Speaker 6: seven years old, and my uncle, who was a parks
13:56
Speaker 6: and recreation director, bought me my very first fieldos glove,
14:00
Speaker 6: and I developed a love for the game. I had
14:02
Speaker 6: another uncle who played in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league organization,
14:07
Speaker 6: but I just was fascinated by going out there swinging
14:13
Speaker 6: and hitting the baseball with a bat in your hands,
14:16
Speaker 6: and I just from there. I played every year in
14:21
Speaker 6: a sense, and I just developed a love for the game.
14:24
Speaker 6: I became a fan of the game. I would watch
14:27
Speaker 6: the game of the week on television on Saturdays. I
14:30
Speaker 6: grew up a La Dodger fan and just had a
14:34
Speaker 6: you know, this love for the game played up through
14:38
Speaker 6: middle school, high school, I can recall in high school.
14:41
Speaker 6: In middle school, we fill out vocational interests forms and
14:46
Speaker 6: I would say professional, aspiring to be a professional baseball player,
14:49
Speaker 6: and my counselor would say, okay, what's your next choice?
14:54
Speaker 6: And I didn't have a secondary plan or a second choice.
14:57
Speaker 6: I said, this is all I want to do. This
14:58
Speaker 6: is what I want to be. I see people on
15:00
Speaker 6: television and that's their job. I said, this is what
15:04
Speaker 6: I want my job to be. And I got hurt.
15:06
Speaker 6: In high school, I played football, and at that point
15:12
Speaker 6: there were scouts. The scouts disappeared. There were no scholarship offers.
15:17
Speaker 6: This was my senior year and I just felt that, well,
15:23
Speaker 6: so much for that, because it was a pretty excruciating
15:28
Speaker 6: injury where I had to go through extensive rehab. I
15:33
Speaker 6: had a cast on for six weeks and it was
15:36
Speaker 6: an incisure mate. Back then, they didn't do arthrooscopies. They
15:39
Speaker 6: cut you open and repair whatever needed to be done.
15:44
Speaker 6: So I kind of felt that, well, this is going
15:49
Speaker 6: to go in a different direction now there were no
15:51
Speaker 6: scholarship offers. I went to Florida and Um University as
15:55
Speaker 6: a walk on.
15:57
Speaker 4: And I made the team. As a freshman.
16:00
Speaker 6: I made the starting lineup as a freshman, and I
16:03
Speaker 6: was given a scholarship. I played there for three years
16:08
Speaker 6: and I got drafted by the Expos in the June
16:11
Speaker 6: draft of nineteen seventy five, and I looked back at
16:15
Speaker 6: it all. I just never really gave up or doubted
16:19
Speaker 6: my ability. It was just that one blip that I
16:21
Speaker 6: had to get through in my life and to get
16:24
Speaker 6: back on track.
16:26
Speaker 4: And I just wanted an opportunity.
16:29
Speaker 6: I just you know, grew up seeing just you know,
16:32
Speaker 6: God willing give me a chance and we'll see what
16:35
Speaker 6: happens from there. And once I got drafted, I just
16:39
Speaker 6: wanted to surround myself with the right people, the right
16:42
Speaker 6: people who will pat you on the back if it's warranted,
16:47
Speaker 6: and you know, give you a boot in the rear
16:48
Speaker 6: end if it's necessary. And going forward, I just knew
16:53
Speaker 6: my work ethic had to be impeccable. I was told,
16:55
Speaker 6: you'll be lucky if you play four years. That's the
16:58
Speaker 6: average lifespan of a baseball player. I set a goal
17:00
Speaker 6: to play fifteen, So I just I just knewed that
17:05
Speaker 6: you had to work and work extra hard just to
17:08
Speaker 6: be consistent and be competitive. And I didn't set any
17:13
Speaker 6: goals other than to play fifteen years, and I was
17:17
Speaker 6: able to play twenty.
17:19
Speaker 1: Twenty very very great years, and in that time too
17:23
Speaker 1: being in the outfield. And I guess, I guess my
17:25
Speaker 1: final question for you would be, you know, playing center field,
17:29
Speaker 1: playing right field, you probably heard a lot of incredible
17:32
Speaker 1: things from baseball fans over the years being shouted down
17:35
Speaker 1: onto the field. I'm wondering, like, what are some of
17:37
Speaker 1: the craziest things that you heard being shouted down to
17:40
Speaker 1: the field during the course of your illustrious career.
17:44
Speaker 6: Well, let me say, first, my favorite center field that
17:48
Speaker 6: I played against, and he was, you know, right here
17:53
Speaker 6: in Philadelphia, was Gary Maddox. I know he wasn't the
17:59
Speaker 6: greatest hit her, but he was exciting and he was
18:04
Speaker 6: a good ball player. He had power, he could hit
18:09
Speaker 6: a home run on occasions. I just liked the fact
18:13
Speaker 6: that that was a saying how much water cover the earth?
18:18
Speaker 6: And well, you know the saying, and you know, just
18:22
Speaker 6: to be at a distance and see him go out
18:26
Speaker 6: and play the game, it was amazing. And I talked
18:29
Speaker 6: to him about, you know, his work ethic and how
18:33
Speaker 6: he prepared. Of course, you got to have the foot
18:36
Speaker 6: speed and he had those long strides, which helped benefit
18:41
Speaker 6: his play. But I just I admired him from a distance.
18:45
Speaker 6: And you know, I said to myself, if you're going
18:48
Speaker 6: to be a four to five to two player, that's
18:50
Speaker 6: how you're going to have to play out there defensively.
18:52
Speaker 2: So I.
18:54
Speaker 6: Say that first and foremost. But yeah, you hear a
18:58
Speaker 6: lot of things from from fans. It's it's okay when
19:04
Speaker 6: they're the opposition, you know, you know, because you know
19:08
Speaker 6: by right they they want to rib you, and you
19:12
Speaker 6: laugh at it, you chuckle at it. For the most part,
19:14
Speaker 6: when it's your hometown fans, that it bites at you
19:18
Speaker 6: a little bit, you know, because these are the people
19:21
Speaker 6: you're trying to come out and make sure that they
19:24
Speaker 6: enjoy the time that they're there. But I was in
19:29
Speaker 6: Chicago and one thing that really uh sat with me
19:35
Speaker 6: very well was it was my free agent year and
19:41
Speaker 6: a female stood up behind me and right field in
19:44
Speaker 6: the bleachers, and I was bent over and she started
19:48
Speaker 6: talking about my rear end. Now not now, I'm embarrassed
19:54
Speaker 6: because because I'm getting a lot of cat calls. And
20:01
Speaker 6: she ended it by saying, we'd love to have you
20:06
Speaker 6: here as a cub. We know that were you are
20:08
Speaker 6: a free agent, please consider Chicago, and that.
20:13
Speaker 4: Went of the long ways. At that point, you know
20:15
Speaker 4: I was able.
20:16
Speaker 6: I was able to shrug the shyness and turn around
20:19
Speaker 6: and tip my cap to her. But no, you hear
20:23
Speaker 6: a lot of crazy things and those stands, and some
20:26
Speaker 6: of it you can repeat, but some of it you
20:28
Speaker 6: can't repeat exactly exactly.
20:30
Speaker 1: Well, I know Eric's got some questions.
20:33
Speaker 5: Mister Dawson, Hi, real quick. I was looking at your
20:37
Speaker 5: baseball reference and I'm always intrigued by hearing the stories
20:41
Speaker 5: of athletes when they say the year that it clicked
20:44
Speaker 5: or the moment that it kind of clicked for them professionally.
20:48
Speaker 5: I was looking nineteen eighty three, incredible season, second in
20:52
Speaker 5: the second MVP MVP voting.
20:55
Speaker 1: What year would you.
20:56
Speaker 5: Say it clicked for you as a baseball player? And
21:00
Speaker 5: did did the game slowed down for you?
21:01
Speaker 4: Did?
21:02
Speaker 5: Did did anything change in that year when it and
21:04
Speaker 5: when it really clicked with you?
21:07
Speaker 4: Believe it or not.
21:08
Speaker 6: It clicked for me in year one, my rookie year,
21:14
Speaker 6: I was being platooned at the outset. I'd always been
21:18
Speaker 6: an everyday player, starting every day, a lot of success
21:24
Speaker 6: playing in the minor leagues was easier than college.
21:26
Speaker 4: I was a Pioneer League Player of the Year.
21:28
Speaker 6: The first month of the year in Quebec City, I
21:33
Speaker 6: was leading the league in three four different categories. I
21:36
Speaker 6: got the call up to Denver as a result of
21:39
Speaker 6: some injuries at the big league level, and in Denver,
21:42
Speaker 6: I hit twelve home runs in the first fourteen games,
21:45
Speaker 6: so that I said to myself, it can't be this easy.
21:52
Speaker 6: I got the call up at the end of the year.
21:55
Speaker 6: In Denver, we won the American Association and I was
21:57
Speaker 6: one of about five players that got called up and
22:01
Speaker 6: I was able to go out and they put me
22:02
Speaker 6: in the lineup every day. Now fast forward to our
22:07
Speaker 6: spring training. The team is pretty set, but I find
22:11
Speaker 6: that I'm being platooned with Dale Unser, who was left
22:16
Speaker 6: handed hit. He may have played here in Philly, i think,
22:19
Speaker 6: and it was sort of a new role for me.
22:22
Speaker 4: And of course, playing up.
22:24
Speaker 6: There as damp as cold, you don't really establish rhythm,
22:28
Speaker 6: so it was difficult for me. I was hitting around
22:31
Speaker 6: two forty two fifty maybe the first month and a
22:35
Speaker 6: half two months of the season, and there were a
22:38
Speaker 6: lot of rumors circulating in the media that we are
22:41
Speaker 6: not gonna allow him to sit idle and not play
22:45
Speaker 6: every day. We're gonna send him back to the minor leagues.
22:49
Speaker 6: So I didn't know, you know, how to really respond
22:54
Speaker 6: to that, other than just make preparations to go back
22:58
Speaker 6: to Denver. Well, I got a start and I hit
23:04
Speaker 6: my first home run off of a right hander in Atlanta,
23:08
Speaker 6: off of Buzz Capra, and I think I got a
23:12
Speaker 6: couple of hits that game. So they started me the
23:14
Speaker 6: next day against another right hander, and I got two
23:18
Speaker 6: more hits, and I got a third start, and I
23:23
Speaker 6: saw the process unfold and where Okay, They're going to
23:27
Speaker 6: give me an opportunity. And sure enough, I was going out.
23:32
Speaker 6: Now I'm playing on an everyday basis, And I went
23:35
Speaker 6: a hit and I had a pretty productive season and
23:39
Speaker 6: I won the National League Rookie of the Year.
23:42
Speaker 2: I would say it clicked.
23:43
Speaker 5: Yeah, And just one more follow up. Based on the nickname,
23:49
Speaker 5: I coach youth sports, basketball and baseball, and I tell
23:52
Speaker 5: my kids all the time, talent level is one thing,
23:55
Speaker 5: but at this level, if you're aggressive, you can succeed
23:58
Speaker 5: on a certain level. Now, your nickname the Hawk, I
24:02
Speaker 5: know you got it from childhood because you went after
24:04
Speaker 5: the ball kind of. I mean, that's that's what's online.
24:06
Speaker 5: I'm not sure that's true. I'm assuming it is. And
24:09
Speaker 5: you were definitely known as having aggressive style of play
24:12
Speaker 5: in the major leagues. What would you say, how important
24:15
Speaker 5: is being aggressive as well as talent? Obviously you're extremely
24:19
Speaker 5: talented at the sport, but it is how much of
24:23
Speaker 5: a percentage is aggressiveness to becoming successful?
24:28
Speaker 6: You want to be aggressive, but without reckless abandon When
24:33
Speaker 6: I first saw Bryce Harper play in Washington, the first.
24:39
Speaker 4: Thing that came to mind was.
24:40
Speaker 6: That this this guy's gonna he's going to be pretty
24:43
Speaker 6: good out there, but he's going to have to tone
24:46
Speaker 6: it down just a hair, you know, and not go
24:49
Speaker 6: out and try to be Superman because you know your
24:53
Speaker 6: body on one hundred and sixty two game schedule, your
24:56
Speaker 6: body is going to break down at some point.
24:59
Speaker 4: But kids always, UH like to get them to to understand.
25:07
Speaker 6: That you gotta be confident and your ability okay, and
25:12
Speaker 6: and play the game hard, of course, but don't get
25:17
Speaker 6: consumed by the game because it's a game of failure
25:20
Speaker 6: and you're gonna learn from your mistakes.
25:23
Speaker 4: That's what you wanna do.
25:24
Speaker 6: You wanna learn so that you don't repeat your mistakes,
25:27
Speaker 6: and during that entire process you play with confidence a
25:32
Speaker 6: little bit more and always play the game.
25:37
Speaker 4: To the best of your ability, not to.
25:39
Speaker 6: The expectations of someone else. Look yourself in the mirror
25:42
Speaker 6: and know that you're giving it, you're all lot honest effort.
25:46
Speaker 6: By that, you're being truthful with yourself. So you're you're
25:49
Speaker 6: you're not satisfied always with the results, but the results
25:55
Speaker 6: are gonna get better because your attitude is gonna change.
25:59
Speaker 6: Your approach is gonna change. So you want to just
26:01
Speaker 6: be confident first and foremost and play the game, play
26:05
Speaker 6: the game hard, but just try not to be reckless.
26:08
Speaker 4: Thank you very much.
26:09
Speaker 1: That's great and thanks so much, HALK appreciate it.