Latest / Foul Territory / Legendary Game Show Host Pat Sajak joins Tim Kurkjian's “Is This A Great Game, Or What?”

Transcript

Legendary Game Show Host Pat Sajak joins Tim Kurkjian's “Is This A Great Game, Or What?” · Foul Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: And welcome to Is This a Great Game or What?
0:08
Speaker 1: And our very, very special guest today is Pat Sajak,
0:13
Speaker 1: who hosted Wheel of Fortune for 41 years. Pat, this
0:17
Speaker 1: is my son, Jeff. And if it weren't for his
0:20
Speaker 1: technical expertise, this thing would have never gotten off the ground.
0:24
Speaker 1: Do you have some of the same issues that I do?
0:28
Speaker 2: Well, we had a little trouble getting started here tonight,
0:31
Speaker 2: and Jeff actually had to turn to his technical guru
0:34
Speaker 2: to get it all figured out.
0:35
Speaker 3: That's right.
0:37
Speaker 2: It took me back to the early 2000s because I
0:40
Speaker 2: used to, I was sort of a precursor to MLB Network.
0:45
Speaker 2: I did a weekly baseball show on MLBRadio.com. It was
0:49
Speaker 2: only online. I did on Friday afternoons, and we would
0:53
Speaker 2: go through this every week, and you know, Back then,
0:55
Speaker 2: 20 plus years ago, the technology was even shakier. And,
1:00
Speaker 2: you know, you always held your breath. Is the guest
1:02
Speaker 2: going to be there? Are we going to be able
1:03
Speaker 2: to hear them? But, you know, I dragged out my
1:06
Speaker 2: calendar and I was looking back. We had some really
1:10
Speaker 2: terrific people. You know, I was looking at names, you know, with.
1:15
Speaker 2: Gary Carter was on and, and Jim Leland and, you know,
1:20
Speaker 2: people from that era. And I had a, I had
1:22
Speaker 2: a great time with it. In fact, if MLB needs
1:25
Speaker 2: a show about old people talking about baseball, I am available.
1:29
Speaker 1: My dad might be available too. So you guys, you
1:32
Speaker 1: know what?
1:33
Speaker 2: Just get a couple of rocking chairs. We'll sit there.
1:36
Speaker 2: I used to be so much better. Right.
1:41
Speaker 1: That's incredible.
1:43
Speaker 2: Right.
1:43
Speaker 1: Now, Pat, you grew up in Chicago. Speaking of old guys,
1:47
Speaker 1: when you were growing up, first off, your interest in baseball,
1:52
Speaker 1: which is exceptionally high, your love for the game is tremendous.
1:57
Speaker 1: Where did that come from in your family? And who
2:01
Speaker 1: were the Cubs guys that you had to know when
2:04
Speaker 1: you were a little kid?
2:06
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, it was interesting. I, by the way,
2:09
Speaker 2: was a rare– it turns out a rare breed for
2:11
Speaker 2: a Chicagoan in that I was a fan of both
2:14
Speaker 2: the Cubs and the White Sox. And I never understood
2:16
Speaker 2: why you had to hate one. They were in different
2:18
Speaker 2: leagues at the time. There was no interleague play. I mean,
2:21
Speaker 2: the Cubs-White Sox World Series, while it wouldn't happen in
2:24
Speaker 2: a thousand years, was something to be– but I lived within–
2:31
Speaker 2: Exploding scoreboard distance of Comiskey Park. I could hear when
2:35
Speaker 2: someone hit a home run, I could hear it go up.
2:38
Speaker 2: But here's something from Chicagoans and why they became lifelong
2:42
Speaker 2: Cub fans was WGN, they were the only station in
2:47
Speaker 2: the country, it's hard for people to believe now with
2:49
Speaker 2: ESPN and MLB and all that stuff, that carried home games.
2:55
Speaker 2: Nobody carried home games on television. And they were the
2:58
Speaker 2: only ones to do it. And they were all day games.
3:01
Speaker 2: So I would come home from school, and rather than
3:04
Speaker 2: turn on cartoons, turn on the Cub games. So it
3:07
Speaker 2: sort of got ingrained in you. But then a funny
3:10
Speaker 2: thing happened to me, which didn't happen to most Cub fans.
3:14
Speaker 2: As we got closer to 100 years without a World Series,
3:17
Speaker 2: I began to get annoyed with them. I thought, you know,
3:20
Speaker 2: I've given them my whole life, and they've given me nothing.
3:24
Speaker 2: And for most of those years, there were no playoffs.
3:27
Speaker 2: There were eight teams in your league. You won the league,
3:29
Speaker 2: you went to the World Series. They couldn't even do that.
3:31
Speaker 2: You'd think by accident one year they would have done.
3:33
Speaker 2: They were horrid. There was a few years, you may
3:37
Speaker 2: remember this, in the late 50s, early 60s, they had
3:40
Speaker 2: no manager at all. They had the college of coaches.
3:43
Speaker 2: Every month they would have a new coach. Who would
3:45
Speaker 2: come up with that? They once traded their radio color
3:49
Speaker 2: man for their manager. They switched places. It wasn't even
3:54
Speaker 2: a real baseball team. So as we got closer to
3:57
Speaker 2: the 100-year mark, I said, you know what? If they
4:00
Speaker 2: don't make it in 100 years, I'm through with them.
4:02
Speaker 2: And true to my word, I'm done. I adopted new teams.
4:05
Speaker 2: We live in Maryland where I am now. I got
4:08
Speaker 2: the Orioles. I got the Dodgers out west. I'm also
4:11
Speaker 2: kind of a closet Rays fan, to tell you the truth.
4:14
Speaker 2: And that's it. The Cubs, they're on their own. I'm sorry. Wow.
4:19
Speaker 4: I feel like you're a lot of fans in Chicago. Now,
4:22
Speaker 4: I was at the 2016 World Series. I was a
4:26
Speaker 4: morning radio host in Cleveland, Ohio, my first job out
4:29
Speaker 4: of college. And I told my dad, I said, Dad,
4:32
Speaker 4: Game 7, I have to be there because no matter what,
4:36
Speaker 4: we are going to see history in the making, whether
4:40
Speaker 4: it's the Cubs or the then Indians because they were
4:43
Speaker 4: both dealing with these droughts. So when that World Series
4:46
Speaker 4: was captured after all those years, You know, after the
4:50
Speaker 4: 100 year, you said, I'm done. But did it kind
4:52
Speaker 4: of bring you back in the fold a little bit?
4:54
Speaker 1: Were there tears?
4:55
Speaker 2: Cub fans are going to hate me because they're so low.
4:58
Speaker 2: But I have to tell you something. They made it
5:00
Speaker 2: to all, you know, now by that time, it was
5:03
Speaker 2: well over 100 years. And I thought, you know, what
5:06
Speaker 2: other streaks do you have like that? I was kind
5:09
Speaker 2: of rooting for the Indians because they needed to break
5:12
Speaker 2: their streak too. And I figure... you know, then it
5:15
Speaker 2: would be 120. They could make 200 years if they
5:17
Speaker 2: really worked on it. So I have to admit, that's
5:21
Speaker 2: really a perverse thing for a Chicagoan to say. And
5:24
Speaker 2: I apologize to all your Cub fans. And I understand
5:27
Speaker 2: your loyalty, and I appreciate it. But I moved on.
5:31
Speaker 1: So, Pat, when you moved on to the Orioles, what
5:35
Speaker 1: was the reasoning there besides living in Maryland? And who
5:38
Speaker 1: did you hook with with the Orioles. Who did you
5:41
Speaker 1: look at on that team pre or post or whatever
5:44
Speaker 1: saying the Orioles are my team. And this is one
5:46
Speaker 1: of the guys I got to get to know.
5:48
Speaker 2: Well, the, the, a great deal of it had to
5:51
Speaker 2: do with living in the area and we live 20
5:53
Speaker 2: minutes from the ballpark. So we've had a seat ever
5:57
Speaker 2: since Camden yards opened in 1993. So just by being
6:01
Speaker 2: there so many days, that kind of, it, it makes
6:04
Speaker 2: you a fan. And, and, you know, in the, in the,
6:07
Speaker 2: obviously it was Cal Ripken who was the guy. It
6:10
Speaker 2: was a very good team, by the way, when, when,
6:14
Speaker 2: when they're, they started a new stadium back in 93.
6:18
Speaker 2: And even though they haven't won anything there, they, they
6:21
Speaker 2: really filled up the place. So it's very exciting. And
6:24
Speaker 2: there were some great names and, you know, there was
6:27
Speaker 2: Cal and there was Palmeiro. And there were, I mean,
6:30
Speaker 2: it was just, you went around the infield. It was great.
6:32
Speaker 2: They're all terrific players. Cal, by the way, has become
6:34
Speaker 2: a very good friend. I'm happy to say. And so we,
6:37
Speaker 2: To sit around and watch a game with a guy
6:40
Speaker 2: like Ripken is amazing because he'll point out that the guy,
6:44
Speaker 2: you know, that the shortstop is two feet to the
6:49
Speaker 2: left where he should be for this batter and the
6:51
Speaker 2: way this pitcher is throwing. And I'm going, and of course,
6:54
Speaker 2: and sure enough, the ball, you know, the player can't
6:57
Speaker 2: get the ball because it went two feet to his right.
7:00
Speaker 2: It's really an amazing thing to see.
7:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, Pat, I did a game at the Rays years ago.
7:11
Speaker 1: It was a playoff game in Tampa Bay. And after
7:15
Speaker 1: the game, Ripken came up to me and said, did
7:18
Speaker 1: you see what happened in the sixth inning? And, of course,
7:21
Speaker 1: I didn't see it because nobody could see this stuff
7:24
Speaker 1: except for him. So his point was Jason Veritech, the
7:28
Speaker 1: Red Sox catcher, had gone to the mound to talk
7:32
Speaker 1: to Josh Beckett. They changed the sign on the mound,
7:36
Speaker 1: and none of the infielders– were told that the sign
7:40
Speaker 1: had been changed. So now none of the infielders knew
7:43
Speaker 1: what pitch was coming or what location. And Ripken was
7:47
Speaker 1: astounded because he told me not one pitch was ever
7:50
Speaker 1: thrown when I played defense for the Orioles, that I
7:53
Speaker 1: didn't know what was coming and where the location of
7:56
Speaker 1: that pitch. Does this sound like Cal Ripken to you?
8:00
Speaker 2: It sounds exactly like him. And the other thing is, um,
8:03
Speaker 2: Cal is, I mean, look, major leaguers are great. And, and, uh,
8:09
Speaker 2: you know, to sit at home and, you know, say
8:11
Speaker 2: this guy stinks. No, he doesn't. He's pretty good. They're
8:14
Speaker 2: all good. But, but he just, he, he takes it
8:16
Speaker 2: to another level. Uh, and the other thing about him
8:20
Speaker 2: is he has no patience for players who aren't all in.
8:25
Speaker 2: And he sees that in a moment. Um, and he,
8:29
Speaker 2: he would, Can't stand that. And we were at, as
8:32
Speaker 2: you know, because I saw you up there at Cooperstown.
8:34
Speaker 2: It was my first visit there, Tim. And it was
8:37
Speaker 2: great to sit around with these guys and just listen
8:40
Speaker 2: to them. We had a little dinner, like a dozen
8:44
Speaker 2: of us, and Cal and Mike Messina, the former great
8:46
Speaker 2: pitcher for the Orioles and the Yankees, were there talking.
8:50
Speaker 2: And to hear their passion about the game and to
8:52
Speaker 2: hear their... I don't think I'm talking out of school.
8:55
Speaker 2: Mike Moose, as they call him, was talking about one
8:59
Speaker 2: of the reasons he got out of the game, he
9:00
Speaker 2: could have pitched another couple of years if he wanted to,
9:02
Speaker 2: even though he's 40, he went out on a 20
9:04
Speaker 2: game season, I believe 20 win season. But he was saying,
9:08
Speaker 2: you know, I'd be at, I'd be at my locker
9:09
Speaker 2: and I, and the starting pit, he didn't name the guys,
9:12
Speaker 2: but a starting pitcher would be there talking to the press.
9:15
Speaker 2: He'd go, Oh, my curve ball doesn't work. And then
9:17
Speaker 2: there's a guy and he hit this and he'd make
9:19
Speaker 2: them kind of excuse it. And he said, I wanted
9:21
Speaker 2: to scream out. Well, then make it work. You got
9:24
Speaker 2: 25 guys out there busting their butts and you're pitching
9:27
Speaker 2: every fifth day. find an answer, make it work. And
9:32
Speaker 2: he and Cal had that same passion about it. And
9:35
Speaker 2: that's their job. And they take it very, very seriously.
9:38
Speaker 2: I know they all do, but they really take it
9:40
Speaker 2: to another level. Right.
9:41
Speaker 1: That sounds like Mike Messina to me. I know him
9:44
Speaker 1: very well. So, Pat, that first trip to Cooperstown, I mean,
9:48
Speaker 1: you love baseball and you really understand baseball. What was
9:53
Speaker 1: it like for you to go to Cooperstown?
9:55
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, to go with Cal and Laura
9:59
Speaker 2: Ripken was, fabulous because, you know, talk about entree. And
10:02
Speaker 2: the other thing is every now and then quasi-celebrityhood comes
10:07
Speaker 2: in handy. And so it's nice that you're excited about
10:10
Speaker 2: these guys, but they know you as well. So it
10:12
Speaker 2: kind of, it gets rid of that awkwardness of, oh,
10:15
Speaker 2: I'm a big fan. You know, they could ask me questions,
10:17
Speaker 2: I can ask them. And And that was, that made
10:20
Speaker 2: it a lot easier, but it was, it was a thrill.
10:22
Speaker 2: I mean, as a guy who, you know, grew up
10:25
Speaker 2: around the Cubs to see Ferguson Jenkins and, you know, and,
10:28
Speaker 2: and people like that and, and everyone talking about Ryan
10:31
Speaker 2: Sandberg and how he was and, and, and, you know,
10:33
Speaker 2: Rick Monday and that whole flag thing that we, that
10:37
Speaker 2: they honored for 50 years. It was, it was, it
10:41
Speaker 2: was all more touching and bigger and more wonderful than
10:45
Speaker 2: I even imagined. It was just, It was just magical.
10:49
Speaker 2: And as you know, I think they had the biggest
10:51
Speaker 2: turnout of Hall of Famers there. They had like 60
10:54
Speaker 2: of them. And it was just to see them. It
11:00
Speaker 2: had a Field of Dreams kind of feel to it. Yeah.
11:04
Speaker 1: So, Pat, I don't know anything about hockey, but you do.
11:07
Speaker 1: You know a lot about hockey. And you took Cal Jr.
11:11
Speaker 1: to a hockey game and he was wearing like a
11:14
Speaker 1: Capitals jersey. Do I have this right? And what was
11:17
Speaker 1: it like sitting next to him at a hockey game?
11:20
Speaker 1: He knows everything about baseball. I played basketball with him.
11:23
Speaker 1: He knows everything about that. He was a great soccer player.
11:27
Speaker 1: But what was it like sitting next to him at
11:30
Speaker 1: a hockey game?
11:31
Speaker 2: Well, I'm happy to say he knows less about hockey
11:33
Speaker 2: because he's not much of a skater. But, you know,
11:38
Speaker 2: he wasn't saying, look at that centerman. He should be
11:40
Speaker 2: two feet over. He wasn't doing that. But we see
11:43
Speaker 2: the rip-ins a lot. And, you know, we go out
11:46
Speaker 2: as couples. And I've had these seats in Washington for
11:51
Speaker 2: a long time. And we've been talking about going. Finally,
11:54
Speaker 2: we found a day. And he came on. He was
11:56
Speaker 2: very gracious. And, of course, people were excited to see him.
11:58
Speaker 2: And they brought him a jersey. which is number eight,
12:01
Speaker 2: which happens to be the number of the great Alex Ovechkin,
12:04
Speaker 2: who now holds the all-time goal-scoring record in the NHL.
12:10
Speaker 2: By the way, my daughter, Maggie, is dating a man
12:13
Speaker 2: named Jackson Olsen, who is on the Savannah Bananas and
12:17
Speaker 2: is also on Dancing with the Stars this season. He's
12:21
Speaker 2: a great young man. He wears number eight, so I'm
12:26
Speaker 2: surrounded by great ladies. But it was terrific. And Cal,
12:30
Speaker 2: although he was not unknowledgeable about hockey, but he didn't
12:34
Speaker 2: pretend to know everything about it. But he was very
12:37
Speaker 2: interested in it. And he asked a lot of questions.
12:39
Speaker 2: And he noticed what things, you know, if you're great
12:43
Speaker 2: at what you do in sports, you can transfer your
12:46
Speaker 2: knowledge to another sport. You still get a sense. You know,
12:49
Speaker 2: there's a hockey is not unlike, say, soccer, except you're
12:53
Speaker 2: on skates in terms of the rules. And so he
12:56
Speaker 2: picked up on that pretty quick and was able to
13:00
Speaker 2: enjoy the game again on another level, as he does.
13:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Pat, that's why I asked, because he's the
13:07
Speaker 1: most curious man I've ever met. He's asked me questions
13:10
Speaker 1: that I did not see coming because he's so interesting,
13:14
Speaker 1: interested in so many things and so observant. But let's
13:16
Speaker 1: get back to your daughter for a minute. You've been
13:19
Speaker 1: to a Savannah Bananas game, correct?
13:22
Speaker 2: I have to tell you, a while back, So we
13:25
Speaker 2: have some seats at Camden Yards and had them all
13:30
Speaker 2: the time since it's been open, as I mentioned. So
13:32
Speaker 2: it turns out the Bananas were coming to Camden Yards.
13:35
Speaker 2: You know, they sell out all these baseball suits. Coming
13:37
Speaker 2: to Camden Yards and they said, do you want to–
13:40
Speaker 2: and our seats were not included in that package. Do
13:43
Speaker 2: you want to buy them? I had no idea who
13:45
Speaker 2: these people were. And I said, no, I don't want
13:47
Speaker 2: to see a Bananas. And so we passed on it. Now,
13:51
Speaker 2: a few months later, my daughter meets the guy and
13:53
Speaker 2: now they're going out. And now we go to Anaheim
13:57
Speaker 2: to the, to Angel Stadium to see two nights of
14:00
Speaker 2: the bananas and meet Jackson. Well, I was, and I know,
14:06
Speaker 2: and I know there's, there are differing opinions on them and,
14:09
Speaker 2: you know, purists hate them and all that, but they
14:11
Speaker 2: don't claim to be baseball. They call themselves banana ball.
14:14
Speaker 2: They don't, you know, they don't have practice. They have rehearsals.
14:17
Speaker 2: I mean, they, They know who they are. But I
14:20
Speaker 2: want to tell you, I was stunned. That stadium, there
14:23
Speaker 2: was not an empty seat in the place either day
14:26
Speaker 2: from 3 o'clock in the afternoon until 10 o'clock at night.
14:30
Speaker 2: At the end of the game, there was not an
14:32
Speaker 2: empty seat. The fans were engaged the entire time. The
14:35
Speaker 2: rules are kind of clunky, but once you know them,
14:37
Speaker 2: they're kind of fun. And I'm telling you, it's not
14:40
Speaker 2: easy to catch a fly ball behind your back as
14:43
Speaker 2: you're doing a flip. So it's a little silly, and
14:48
Speaker 2: they know it is, and that's the charm of it.
14:50
Speaker 2: But the fans are nuts about it. I had no
14:53
Speaker 2: idea there was such a big deal. You cannot get
14:55
Speaker 2: a ticket to these games. I've had friends ask me, well,
14:58
Speaker 2: now that your daughter's dating, you can get– I can't.
15:01
Speaker 2: He can't. So they're a big deal, and they're selling
15:05
Speaker 2: out 100,000-seat football stadiums. It's incredible to see.
15:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, Pat, I went here in Philadelphia. I
15:14
Speaker 4: live outside in the Philly suburbs. And I went and
15:17
Speaker 4: I looked at my wife and I just said, I can't.
15:21
Speaker 4: stop watching like there was not a down moment i
15:25
Speaker 4: mean it just felt like you were like doom scrolling
15:28
Speaker 4: on your phone there was always something to look at
15:30
Speaker 4: at any minute and i thought that was so neat
15:33
Speaker 4: and my dad was invited dad you have to tell
15:36
Speaker 4: pat the story the first time you saw them you
15:38
Speaker 4: also had no idea what you were getting yourself into
15:42
Speaker 4: you didn't want to see a banana but it was
15:44
Speaker 4: amazing I saw.
15:45
Speaker 1: Them in spring training five years ago. They were staying
15:48
Speaker 1: in the same hotel as me, and I didn't know
15:50
Speaker 1: who any of them are. So I just asked them
15:51
Speaker 1: on the elevator, who are you guys? And they said,
15:54
Speaker 1: we're the Savannah Bananas. You've got to come to our game.
15:57
Speaker 1: So I went that night, and it was in a
15:59
Speaker 1: minor league ballpark, and they sold it out, but it
16:01
Speaker 1: wasn't anything like it is today. And I actually... I
16:05
Speaker 1: actually did color for one inning. I was the color
16:08
Speaker 1: commentator and Pat, I didn't know the rules of the game.
16:13
Speaker 1: So like in the body, as you know, you can
16:15
Speaker 1: win an inning. As soon as you win the inning,
16:17
Speaker 1: the inning's over. So in the bottom of the third,
16:20
Speaker 1: the lead off hitter in the bottom of the third
16:24
Speaker 1: hit a home run and they all walked off the field.
16:27
Speaker 2: And I had to ask, where.
16:29
Speaker 1: Is everyone going? So I didn't know anything about it. And,
16:33
Speaker 1: I said at the end of the night, I said,
16:35
Speaker 1: that was the stupidest thing I've ever seen that game.
16:38
Speaker 1: And I loved it. That's the point is it's so entertaining.
16:42
Speaker 1: And Jeremy Schaap, Dick Schaap's son, told me that he,
16:45
Speaker 1: you know how many games Jeremy Schaap has been to
16:48
Speaker 1: at Yankee Stadium, hundreds and hundreds. He said when he
16:51
Speaker 1: went to see the bananas there at Yankee Stadium with
16:55
Speaker 1: his daughter, he said, I've never seen that place as
16:58
Speaker 1: electric as it was as when the Savannah bananas showed up.
17:06
Speaker 3: Crouchy, just because the website says the tickets are sold
17:09
Speaker 3: out doesn't mean you can't go see the Brewers in Milwaukee,
17:11
Speaker 3: see the Dodgers in L.A., see the Rays in Tampa Bay.
17:15
Speaker 3: You can go to SeatGeek and find the best seat available.
17:17
Speaker 3: Pick wherever you want to sit and buy one. There's
17:21
Speaker 3: no bad seats in Milwaukee because the stadium is right
17:25
Speaker 3: on top of the field. It feels like you're in
17:27
Speaker 3: the grass. L.A., just don't get a seat near the speakers.
17:31
Speaker 3: But you can find out where the best seats in
17:33
Speaker 3: each stadium are on SeatGeek. And of course I have
17:36
Speaker 3: a code for you guys. You can use code TERRITORY10
17:39
Speaker 3: for 10% off your next set of tickets at SeatGeek.
17:42
Speaker 3: That's 10% off any tickets with promo code TERRITORY10. Make
17:48
Speaker 3: sure you click the link in the description to download
17:50
Speaker 3: the app and have the code automatically added to your
17:52
Speaker 3: account so you can use it later.
17:54
Speaker 2: And you know what?
17:55
Speaker 3: If your team's not in the playoffs, it's no big
17:57
Speaker 3: deal because SeatGeek's got you for tickets for NFL, for concerts,
18:02
Speaker 3: anything that you want.
18:09
Speaker 2: Unless you're there, you can't. And I understand if you're
18:12
Speaker 2: a baseball fan and you've been a lifelong fan and
18:15
Speaker 2: you take the game seriously and then you see clips
18:18
Speaker 2: of these guys running around and singing on the mound,
18:22
Speaker 2: you go, I hate this. I hate this. But I'm
18:25
Speaker 2: telling you, if you go to a game, you will
18:27
Speaker 2: be hooked. And the rules are fun. You know, the
18:30
Speaker 2: walk-off inning is fun. You don't win it. You win
18:33
Speaker 2: an inning. You get a point for winning an inning.
18:35
Speaker 1: Right.
18:36
Speaker 2: And then in the ninth inning or the last inning,
18:39
Speaker 2: because they have a two-hour time limit, so it could
18:40
Speaker 2: be the eighth inning. In the last inning, every run
18:45
Speaker 2: you get is worth a point. So you could be
18:47
Speaker 2: down five points and still win the game because you
18:51
Speaker 2: can do it in the ninth inning. That's the way
18:52
Speaker 2: they have it. But they have– I don't know if–
18:54
Speaker 2: you didn't get to– what are they called? Showdown. So
18:57
Speaker 2: if they've played the full game and everything's tied, they–
19:03
Speaker 2: They don't do it. Here's what they do. They do
19:05
Speaker 2: a showdown. You familiar with this? They have a pitcher,
19:09
Speaker 2: a batter, one fielder, and that's it. And so, boom,
19:18
Speaker 2: the guy hits the ball to the gap. The fielder
19:21
Speaker 2: has to run out and try to find. He circles
19:23
Speaker 2: the bases. Boom, they win. The other team comes up.
19:26
Speaker 2: They get a chance to do that. If they don't,
19:29
Speaker 2: the visiting team would win. If they do... Then they
19:32
Speaker 2: have to do another showdown. And in that one, there's
19:36
Speaker 2: a pitcher and a batter, but no field. It's just,
19:43
Speaker 2: it doesn't happen very often, but it's really kind of funny.
19:45
Speaker 2: If you hit a foul ball, I'm a banana ball
19:48
Speaker 2: spokesman here. If you hit a foul ball in the
19:51
Speaker 2: stands and a fan catches it cleanly, no carom, no
19:54
Speaker 2: bouncing off anyone else, it's an out.
19:57
Speaker 4: That's my favorite rule, by the way, Pat.
19:59
Speaker 2: I love that. The fans are into it. That is,
20:03
Speaker 2: I think it's great. And, you know, they don't have walks.
20:07
Speaker 2: If you get a ball four, You sprint. You can
20:11
Speaker 2: go as far as you want. You can get the
20:12
Speaker 2: third base if you want. You can't realistically do it.
20:15
Speaker 2: But you run fast, and every player except the pitcher
20:20
Speaker 2: and the catcher have to touch the ball. And if
20:23
Speaker 2: they don't get that accomplished before you get to second base,
20:26
Speaker 2: you're at second. Wow. It's really goofy. But it sounds
20:32
Speaker 2: silly talking about it. But I must tell you, and Tim,
20:34
Speaker 2: you know this now, if you go, you'll be hooked. Right.
20:39
Speaker 1: And, Pat, speaking of goofy, you were at the Rangers'
20:45
Speaker 1: 30-3 victory over the Orioles in 2007. And when you
20:50
Speaker 1: were at Cooperstown, and then when we played at a
20:53
Speaker 1: golf tournament the other day, you were talking about this.
20:56
Speaker 1: I know you have season tickets, Pat, but how did
20:59
Speaker 1: you and your son or your wife, whatever, end up
21:03
Speaker 1: at the 30-3 game? And tell us what that was like.
21:06
Speaker 1: sitting in the stands, watching that.
21:09
Speaker 2: Well, I've always admired you, Tim, and I think you're terrific,
21:14
Speaker 2: but I really fell for you when you went on
21:18
Speaker 2: the air to talk about this game, because the joy
21:20
Speaker 2: in your voice was palpable. Because you may be a
21:26
Speaker 2: fan of this, but you're a fan of baseball, and
21:28
Speaker 2: when something that goofy happens, you're like a kid, and
21:32
Speaker 2: that So what happened was there was a fairly meaningless
21:38
Speaker 2: weekday series against the Rangers in Baltimore, and it was
21:43
Speaker 2: a rainout. So they had a doubleheader schedule, one that
21:47
Speaker 2: began late in the afternoon, a true doubleheader, not split,
21:49
Speaker 2: back-to-back games, starting, I don't remember, it was 4 or
21:52
Speaker 2: 5 o'clock. And my son and I went, as we
21:56
Speaker 2: often did. He was off, and I wasn't working that day.
22:00
Speaker 2: And so we go to the ballpark. get there, and
22:03
Speaker 2: it happened to be the day when poor Dave Tremblay,
22:06
Speaker 2: who was the interim manager of the Orioles, that day,
22:10
Speaker 2: they said, Dave, you are now the permanent manager. Go
22:13
Speaker 2: out and get him. And they lose 30-3 and 9-7
22:18
Speaker 2: in a doubleheader. So 33, you know all this, but
22:20
Speaker 2: it was the oddest game ever. First of all, it
22:23
Speaker 2: was a comeback win because at one point, the Orioles
22:28
Speaker 2: were up 3-0. In other words, there were 30 unanswered
22:32
Speaker 2: unanswered runs the game only lasted uh three hours and
22:36
Speaker 2: 20 minutes because texas only scored in four innings the
22:40
Speaker 2: other innings were clean so it wasn't it wasn't a
22:42
Speaker 2: five-hour game you would think with that score and it
22:46
Speaker 2: was 27 to 3 in the last inning and someone
22:49
Speaker 2: hit a three-run homer and the place went crazy they
22:51
Speaker 2: wanted to see that that 30 even though they they
22:54
Speaker 2: had lost somebody got a save in that game In
22:57
Speaker 2: a 30-run, a 27-run win, they got a save because
23:01
Speaker 2: they pitched the last three innings. There were just so
23:05
Speaker 2: many oddities in that game. It was just fun to
23:08
Speaker 2: watch and fun to be a part of. And I
23:11
Speaker 2: didn't realize that it had never happened. I mean, there
23:14
Speaker 2: were a couple of 30-run games like in the 1890s,
23:18
Speaker 2: which don't count. In modern baseball, even in semi-modern from
23:23
Speaker 2: 1900 on, that's the only game that's ever... I didn't
23:26
Speaker 2: realize that I'd really seen history in addition to seeing
23:29
Speaker 2: a very perversely entertaining game.
23:32
Speaker 4: Right.
23:33
Speaker 1: And Pat, as I told you, it was Jeffrey's ninth
23:37
Speaker 1: grade orientation in high school that day. So I'm watching
23:42
Speaker 1: the game. It's literally three to nothing when I leave
23:45
Speaker 1: the house. And then when I get to school, I
23:48
Speaker 1: have to turn off my cell phone because I can't
23:51
Speaker 1: interrupt ninth grade orientation. So I don't even turn it
23:55
Speaker 1: back on until I get home and I have literally
23:58
Speaker 1: 50 phone calls from ESPN. And they were all like
24:02
Speaker 1: desperation in their voice. Did you see what happened in Baltimore?
24:06
Speaker 1: I thought people had died. Instead, I finally get my
24:10
Speaker 1: editor on, my producer, and he said, the Rangers scored
24:13
Speaker 1: 30 runs. And then the next... 20 minutes, all I
24:17
Speaker 1: could do was look at that box score, and as
24:20
Speaker 1: you're right, Wes Littleton got the save in a game
24:24
Speaker 1: in which they won by 27 runs. I didn't even
24:28
Speaker 1: know what to do, and Carl Ravitch and John Kruk
24:32
Speaker 1: were on the air that day, and they interviewed me
24:34
Speaker 1: from home, and they only asked me one question. And
24:37
Speaker 1: I went through all the craziness. And then I had
24:40
Speaker 1: to say, is that the only question you're going to
24:42
Speaker 1: ask me? Because there were 100 questions to ask from
24:45
Speaker 1: that game. It's still known at ESPN as the stupidest
24:49
Speaker 1: live shot in the history of phone interviews at ESPN. Mine.
24:54
Speaker 1: Because of that crazy game.
24:56
Speaker 4: You brought up the fact that that's when you fell
24:59
Speaker 4: for my dad. I found that to be my dad's,
25:02
Speaker 4: and he doesn't like talking about this, but my dad's
25:04
Speaker 4: like first real like viral moment where people were like,
25:08
Speaker 4: listen to this guy.
25:09
Speaker 1: He's losing his mind.
25:10
Speaker 4: And he said at the end, is that all you're
25:12
Speaker 4: going to ask me?
25:13
Speaker 1: In his typical Tim Kirkson.
25:15
Speaker 4: And the second aspect.
25:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, go ahead.
25:18
Speaker 2: It was like a kid coming back from Disney World
25:21
Speaker 2: trying to explain it to people. And then Dumbo! He
25:25
Speaker 2: just was going on. By the way, Jeff, you made
25:28
Speaker 2: it past the ninth grade though, right?
25:29
Speaker 1: I did.
25:36
Speaker 2: I can't talk about, as obviously neither of you can,
25:39
Speaker 2: can't talk about that game without just getting giddy about it.
25:42
Speaker 2: And then a footnote, now they do the poor guy, manager, right?
25:47
Speaker 2: And he's now the full-time manager, loses 33. They got
25:50
Speaker 2: to wait a half hour and play another game, which
25:52
Speaker 2: they lost 9-7. And by the way, that game took
25:57
Speaker 2: 20 minutes longer than the 33 game. It was a
26:00
Speaker 2: very long night.
26:02
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Ramon Vasquez and Jared Saltolamaki in that game,
26:06
Speaker 1: they were the eight and nine hitters. They got eight
26:09
Speaker 1: hits and drove in 14 runs in that game, and
26:11
Speaker 1: they were hitting eighth and ninth in the order. That's
26:14
Speaker 1: just one of about a thousand stats from that game
26:17
Speaker 1: that I will never forget for the rest of my life.
26:20
Speaker 4: And one thing worth noting, too, is in my dad's office,
26:24
Speaker 4: unfortunately out of camera shop, is a metal, I would
26:29
Speaker 4: say it's what, Dad, four feet by three feet box
26:32
Speaker 4: score of the game. Somebody had sent it to him, Pat,
26:37
Speaker 4: because he loved it so much. He has a replica
26:41
Speaker 4: of the box score in like a display.
26:44
Speaker 2: Well, I'm going to tell you something. I know that,
26:46
Speaker 2: and your dad showed me a photo of him with it.
26:50
Speaker 2: And I called the guy who sent it to him,
26:53
Speaker 2: and I've ordered one. No, really? You found my friend.
27:00
Speaker 2: I'm not going to get the giant one because I'm
27:02
Speaker 2: not an idiot. But I'm going to get, you know,
27:07
Speaker 2: like a two by two or something in plexiglass. He's
27:09
Speaker 2: got this giant metal thing that takes up half of
27:14
Speaker 2: a wall. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen. It's
27:16
Speaker 2: like it's bigger than the scoreboard in Boston.
27:19
Speaker 1: Well, keep in mind, too, he has two of these.
27:22
Speaker 4: So he has one from the 30-3 game, and then
27:25
Speaker 4: he has one from my sister's best high school basketball game.
27:28
Speaker 4: Jokes aside, my sister was a great basketball player.
27:32
Speaker 1: But it's one-tenth of the size.
27:36
Speaker 4: Of his daughter's best game versus the 30-3 game.
27:42
Speaker 2: He's going to say we're in the process of negotiating this.
27:46
Speaker 2: He's going to send me some options on size and
27:50
Speaker 2: the material. But again, it's going to be a little
27:52
Speaker 2: smaller and a little lighter than yours. But I was
27:56
Speaker 2: jealous when I saw yours, so I've got one too.
27:57
Speaker 2: So we'll have that in common, Jim.
28:05
Speaker 1: So, Pat, when we played golf at Crofton Country Club
28:09
Speaker 1: in that amazing Scramble Tournament, it was so good, Jeff.
28:13
Speaker 1: It was so good. I was talking to your son.
28:16
Speaker 1: because you were in the group behind us. So you
28:19
Speaker 1: just said, I'm not an idiot. But your son essentially said,
28:22
Speaker 1: when it comes to baseball, you are an idiot. You
28:25
Speaker 1: love it so much. I said, do you love baseball
28:28
Speaker 1: like your dad does? And he just kind of rolled
28:30
Speaker 1: his eyes like, I love baseball, but I don't love
28:33
Speaker 1: it like he does. so you kind of corrupted him
28:38
Speaker 1: with the game correct a little.
28:39
Speaker 2: Bit and although i must admit and he he like
28:42
Speaker 2: i are also a big hockey fan and i have
28:45
Speaker 2: to admit if i said to him patrick you absolutely
28:48
Speaker 2: can never see another base by the way he's dr
28:50
Speaker 2: patrick he's a sports guy anyway he um i'm bragging
28:54
Speaker 2: a little bit he said uh uh i forgot where
28:59
Speaker 2: i was going with that um Oh, I know. If
29:01
Speaker 2: I said, if you, you can never see another baseball
29:04
Speaker 2: game or you can never see another hockey game, he
29:07
Speaker 2: would have a real trouble with that. And he might
29:10
Speaker 2: as much, he knows a lot about baseball and more
29:13
Speaker 2: than I do, but he knows even more about hockey.
29:17
Speaker 2: He's really into hockey as well. So I don't know
29:19
Speaker 2: what you would choose, but he loves them both. And that's,
29:21
Speaker 2: those are our sports of the choice around the Sajak.
29:24
Speaker 1: Right. And now Pat, you know, you have a house
29:27
Speaker 1: in LA. We see you at Dodger games all the time.
29:31
Speaker 1: What's it been like being around the Dodgers, especially the
29:34
Speaker 1: last few years, more than few, when they've been stunningly good?
29:38
Speaker 1: What's that been like for you? as a fan to
29:40
Speaker 1: be at Dodger Stadium for so many games?
29:43
Speaker 2: It's interesting. I remember hating the Yankees when they were
29:47
Speaker 2: spending so much more than everybody else and winning every year.
29:49
Speaker 2: I thought, ah, they're buying championships. Now I think it's great.
29:55
Speaker 2: But I will tell you this, and I think you
29:57
Speaker 2: would agree with this, that the spending a lot of
30:00
Speaker 2: dough is not going to necessarily buy you championships. What
30:05
Speaker 2: it will do is buy you an opportunity to play
30:09
Speaker 2: for a championship. You're going to make the playoffs. The
30:12
Speaker 2: Dodgers are going to make the playoffs. They're also in
30:14
Speaker 2: a division that's had some problems over the years. And
30:17
Speaker 2: so the regular season for them is just sort of
30:20
Speaker 2: a tune-up for the playoffs. But people forget. So they
30:24
Speaker 2: won two years ago. They came this close to losing
30:27
Speaker 2: to the Padres. In that series early on, they could
30:31
Speaker 2: easily win. Last year, they came within an inch three
30:35
Speaker 2: times of not winning the World Series. So there's no guarantee,
30:38
Speaker 2: and things have to go right for that to happen.
30:41
Speaker 2: Three in a row, I don't care if you have
30:42
Speaker 2: $ 8 billion to spend, three in a row would be
30:45
Speaker 2: quite an accomplishment. It's baseball. Anybody can beat anybody in
30:50
Speaker 2: a short series. But again, what money gives you is,
30:55
Speaker 2: and what teams with a lower payroll don't have, is
30:58
Speaker 2: the flexibility. Somebody drops out in August, gets hurt, you
31:02
Speaker 2: can get someone else, another quality player in there, that
31:05
Speaker 2: kind of thing. But money doesn't do it. You look
31:11
Speaker 2: at the American League East this year, look at the
31:13
Speaker 2: Rays and the Yankees as a good example of that.
31:16
Speaker 2: By the way, we went to, Patrick and I, he
31:18
Speaker 2: visited us down in Florida, and we took a ride
31:22
Speaker 2: over to Tampa to see Tampa. And who did they play?
31:25
Speaker 2: They played the A's on Thursday afternoon. It was fun
31:29
Speaker 2: to be there at the Trop, which I think is
31:32
Speaker 2: a great home field advantage for them. And they're having
31:34
Speaker 2: a great year.
31:36
Speaker 1: Pat, they have the best home record in the American
31:40
Speaker 1: League this year. I was just at their game last
31:42
Speaker 1: Saturday against the Red Sox. And, you know, they've redone
31:46
Speaker 1: the ballpark. It's much brighter and it's much lighter in there.
31:49
Speaker 2: It looks nice.
31:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, it used to be like walking into a dungeon,
31:52
Speaker 1: into a cave, but they've really fixed it up. So
31:55
Speaker 1: how did you become a Rays fan, even from a distance?
31:59
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, it's kind of that underdog thing.
32:03
Speaker 2: I remember when they first started and they were losing
32:05
Speaker 2: 105 games every year, and the Red Sox and Yankees
32:08
Speaker 2: would beat up on them. Remember when the Red Sox
32:10
Speaker 2: and Yankees were winning 100 games every year because they
32:12
Speaker 2: beat up on Tampa, they beat up on the Orioles,
32:15
Speaker 2: who were bad during that period, and they beat up
32:17
Speaker 2: on Toronto, which wasn't very good during that period. And
32:19
Speaker 2: back then you were playing 19 games against division opponents.
32:24
Speaker 2: That's 57 games, more than a third of their schedule
32:29
Speaker 2: against three teams. And they were killing them. But anyway,
32:34
Speaker 2: they were so bad in the early years. Like they'd
32:38
Speaker 2: be leading 8-1 with two outs in the eighth, and
32:41
Speaker 2: you wondered if the bullpen could hold it. It was
32:43
Speaker 2: that kind of thing. And they were just dreadful. And
32:49
Speaker 2: so there was that kind of thing. And then we
32:52
Speaker 2: spent a lot of time in Florida now in the
32:54
Speaker 2: Orlando area and Tampa's, you know, not that far from it.
32:57
Speaker 2: And so we get over there occasionally to see wherever
33:00
Speaker 2: I am. I like to see a game. So that's
33:01
Speaker 2: the closest major league game. So we we see them
33:04
Speaker 2: and I just admire what they do. And I admire
33:06
Speaker 2: the way they play. They're really talking about the bananas
33:09
Speaker 2: earlier on a different kind of level. They're really fun
33:12
Speaker 2: to watch. I mean, you never know. I think they
33:16
Speaker 2: lead the league in infield hits. They lead the league
33:18
Speaker 2: in bunt singles. They move runners. They'll string together four, five,
33:24
Speaker 2: six hits. They have some power, too. But there's a
33:27
Speaker 2: lot of what we old guys like to say, how
33:31
Speaker 2: baseball used to be in the way they play. It's
33:35
Speaker 2: not all strikeout or home run. They do a lot
33:37
Speaker 2: of things. If you're defending them, they're tough to defend against.
33:41
Speaker 2: And the other thing is, there's a joke in baseball circles.
33:45
Speaker 2: If someone from the Rays calls you to inquire about
33:49
Speaker 2: getting one of your pitchers, you better figure out what
33:52
Speaker 2: they know that you don't. Because it's amazing. They bring
33:57
Speaker 2: these guys, look, look Peralta. I mean, he's the last,
34:01
Speaker 2: what seven starts were, you know, quality starts. He's pitching
34:04
Speaker 2: really well. And they do that a lot. These, these,
34:08
Speaker 2: relievers come over from other teams who weren't doing much
34:10
Speaker 2: at baker you know we had a tough time with
34:12
Speaker 2: the orioles and he's just killing it with them i
34:15
Speaker 2: don't know what i don't know what they see how
34:17
Speaker 2: they figure it out but i i think cash is
34:19
Speaker 2: a really good manager and he's got a really good
34:22
Speaker 2: staff and um there you go that's how i that's
34:25
Speaker 2: that's my race story.
34:27
Speaker 1: Pat you're right on all fronts here back to the
34:29
Speaker 1: dodgers for one second though you had a celebrity wheel
34:32
Speaker 1: of fortune with freddie freeman and Kike Hernandez and Miguel Rojas.
34:38
Speaker 1: Do I have that right? And what was it like?
34:41
Speaker 2: Well, you do. The only wrong part of that was
34:44
Speaker 2: I was long gone from the show by then. But
34:47
Speaker 2: my daughter, Maggie, she does these interviews with the celebrities
34:51
Speaker 2: and she got to be with them. And she got
34:52
Speaker 2: to do goofy things. I mean, Freddie's not the most
34:54
Speaker 2: demonstrative guy. But she got all three of them dancing
34:57
Speaker 2: and singing and making jokes. And they had a great time.
35:01
Speaker 2: And they were really, really good. Maggie fell in love
35:05
Speaker 2: with all of them. They were really funny and kind.
35:07
Speaker 2: And now they always give her, when she's in the
35:10
Speaker 2: stands there, they give her a high when they come
35:13
Speaker 2: out on deck. It was a great time. She said
35:16
Speaker 2: they were really, really fun. I have not met any
35:19
Speaker 2: of those guys. My daughter's meeting them. I'm not meeting them.
35:23
Speaker 2: But she said they were great. And by the way, Freeman,
35:29
Speaker 2: who was a Kike, who's kind of a character, said,
35:32
Speaker 2: Maggie asked, you know, who's going to win the game?
35:34
Speaker 2: And he said, first of all, Freeman better win because
35:37
Speaker 2: he's the only one whose English is his first language. Oh,
35:41
Speaker 2: that's so good.
35:46
Speaker 1: So, Pat, just going to one other thing I was
35:49
Speaker 1: curious about. Airplane is my favorite comedic movie, favorite comedy
35:54
Speaker 1: movie of all time. The original Airplane is just indescribably great.
35:59
Speaker 1: You were in Airplane, the sequel. And I'm trying to remember,
36:06
Speaker 1: didn't you play like a Anchorman or something in that.
36:10
Speaker 1: Explain your role in Airplane, the sequel, because I loved it.
36:16
Speaker 1: One was unbelievably good. Two, I liked, but it wasn't
36:18
Speaker 1: as good as one because one was the funniest movie
36:21
Speaker 1: I've ever seen to this day.
36:23
Speaker 2: It's funny how our tastes are very similar. We talked
36:26
Speaker 2: about the Men and Annas. We talked about the 30
36:29
Speaker 2: to 3 game, and I loved Airplane because it was
36:32
Speaker 2: so Unexpected. It's an older movie now. And all those
36:36
Speaker 2: jokes have been done a thousand times. It doesn't seem
36:38
Speaker 2: as funny as it was. It was so groundbreaking. And
36:41
Speaker 2: all these actors who were in it, they were working...
36:45
Speaker 2: I mean, Leslie Nielsen was in every TV show you
36:47
Speaker 2: ever saw, usually playing a bad guy or a love
36:51
Speaker 2: interest or something. And Peter Graves and Lloyd Bridges, these
36:55
Speaker 2: are all good, solid working actors, not not comedic actors.
36:59
Speaker 2: But they they took a chance in doing that because
37:02
Speaker 2: that could derail their careers doing these silly jokes. And
37:05
Speaker 2: instead for Leslie Nielsen, it made a whole new career.
37:08
Speaker 2: So it was fabulously funny and funnier comedy. At the time,
37:13
Speaker 2: because we hadn't heard all those jokes a thousand times.
37:16
Speaker 2: Those parody movies weren't being made. But also, when people say,
37:20
Speaker 2: were you in Airplane? I go, no, I was in
37:22
Speaker 2: the unfunny one. It had its moments, but you're right.
37:29
Speaker 2: It was not nearly. And by the way, I became
37:31
Speaker 2: friends with one of the Zucker brothers who did the
37:34
Speaker 2: original movie. We were having dinner one night and we
37:36
Speaker 2: were talking about Airplane 2. And what happened was, it
37:41
Speaker 2: was Paramount who did it, and it was a really unexpected,
37:44
Speaker 2: huge hit for them. So immediately, they wanted to do
37:47
Speaker 2: a sequel, and Zucker says to them, how do you
37:49
Speaker 2: do a sequel to a parody? So we've done the jokes.
37:54
Speaker 2: So they didn't do it. They didn't do the second one,
37:56
Speaker 2: which is another reason why it wasn't as good. But
37:59
Speaker 2: he had a good point. I mean, we've done the jokes.
38:02
Speaker 2: How many times can you say, you know, don't call
38:05
Speaker 2: me Shirley, and you get a laugh. But the first time,
38:08
Speaker 2: But the first time you do it, it's pretty darn.
38:11
Speaker 2: Someone clocked it once. I think they never went more
38:14
Speaker 2: than 20 seconds without a joke in that movie. It
38:18
Speaker 2: was just one after another. But I did. I played
38:21
Speaker 2: a Buffalo news anchor. And I remember the plot exactly.
38:26
Speaker 2: I think they went to outer space or something weird.
38:29
Speaker 2: I don't know what the even. And it looked like
38:31
Speaker 2: they were going to crash. They were going to come through.
38:33
Speaker 2: And I'm screaming. I was mainly screaming. That was my job.
38:37
Speaker 2: And I did it funny enough. And that was my
38:39
Speaker 2: movie career.
38:46
Speaker 4: I am very honored because I am in the presence
38:50
Speaker 4: of two men who have been memorialized by the Frederick
38:54
Speaker 4: Keys with their own bobblehead night.
38:59
Speaker 2: I didn't know that.
38:59
Speaker 4: This is pretty cool.
39:01
Speaker 1: Yeah.
39:01
Speaker 4: My dad has a bobblehead and Pat, I know I
39:03
Speaker 4: used to intern at the Frederick Keys.
39:07
Speaker 1: And that was a summer job for me.
39:08
Speaker 4: I used to go to those games and I'd see
39:10
Speaker 4: the interns in their orange shirts, you know, giving away stuff.
39:13
Speaker 4: And I always look at my dad and I said,
39:14
Speaker 4: this is baseball. Like, this is the coolest thing ever.
39:18
Speaker 4: You had a bobblehead night, which is so neat.
39:22
Speaker 2: I've had a couple. My first one actually was, not
39:24
Speaker 2: to try to top Tim's bobblehead, but I was part owner.
39:30
Speaker 2: of an independent league called the Golden Baseball League some
39:33
Speaker 2: years ago. And it had about a six-year run, which
39:37
Speaker 2: isn't bad for an independent league. In fact, the big
39:39
Speaker 2: claim to fame was the last team that Ricky Henderson
39:44
Speaker 2: played for. He played for the San Diego franchise.
39:47
Speaker 1: Yeah.
39:47
Speaker 2: But anyway, so I had a couple of bobbleheads with them,
39:50
Speaker 2: and I think I've had three or four bobbleheads. We
39:53
Speaker 2: were cleaning out a closet the other day, and I
39:55
Speaker 2: fell out of one of them. So my head was
39:58
Speaker 2: still doing it.
40:01
Speaker 1: Pat, I, too, have two bobbleheads. One was from the
40:05
Speaker 1: big train. Not the point. Both of them, of course,
40:09
Speaker 1: are actual size for me, which is not a good
40:11
Speaker 1: thing for me. But, yes, the Frederick Keyes thing was
40:16
Speaker 1: absolutely hilarious. And so did you throw out the first
40:20
Speaker 1: ball at the Keyes game on Pat Sajak bobblehead night?
40:24
Speaker 2: I've thrown out a half a dozen first balls. First
40:26
Speaker 2: one I did. First one I did, it was at
40:32
Speaker 2: Minnesota at the old dome. And who, I'm trying to
40:37
Speaker 2: think who the player was, but it was very funny.
40:40
Speaker 2: He dressed up as Vanna. What the heck was that?
40:42
Speaker 2: Why did that happen? It might have been Herbeck, if
40:46
Speaker 2: I'm not mistaken.
40:46
Speaker 1: Oh, well, I was going to say, it has to
40:49
Speaker 1: be Herbeck. He's the funniest guy that I got to
40:52
Speaker 1: know him really well. He's made me laugh a thousand times.
40:56
Speaker 1: He gets a lot of mentions on our show. I
40:57
Speaker 1: can just see him dressed as Vanna White.
40:59
Speaker 2: Check that out, but I think that's the truth. So
41:01
Speaker 2: I also have the distinction. So I only, as long
41:04
Speaker 2: as I've been going to Camden Yards, I've only thrown
41:07
Speaker 2: out the ball once. Those were some years ago. And
41:09
Speaker 2: I had the distinction of, at the time... throwing out
41:14
Speaker 2: a ball at the lowest attendance at the parks history.
41:17
Speaker 2: So I was very proud of that.
41:21
Speaker 1: Really?
41:22
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, well, yeah, I, I'm, it's, it's not my,
41:26
Speaker 2: I was, I wasn't much of an athlete to tell
41:29
Speaker 2: you the truth. I mean, you know, I know how
41:30
Speaker 2: to throw a ball and catch a ball and occasionally
41:33
Speaker 2: I can hit a ball, but I never played organized
41:36
Speaker 2: any sport and it was just neighborhood stuff. And I
41:41
Speaker 2: kind of always regretted that. And our kids have done
41:44
Speaker 2: a lot of that. Patrick was a good ball player.
41:47
Speaker 2: But I never did that. And so it was sort
41:50
Speaker 2: of daunting. That 60 feet, six inches is a long
41:52
Speaker 2: way off.
41:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is. It's a long throw. Right.
41:57
Speaker 2: And that's why, you know, it's like you're on top
41:59
Speaker 2: of Mount Everest trying to throw. And as you get older,
42:03
Speaker 2: it gets tougher. It is, you know, television... It does
42:09
Speaker 2: a great job of covering baseball. But in a way,
42:12
Speaker 2: it minimizes the skill. There's something about the picture that
42:17
Speaker 2: does it. I mean, that throw from third base to
42:19
Speaker 2: first base, which they make routinely with a flick of
42:22
Speaker 2: the arm, that is a very long throw. I mean,
42:25
Speaker 2: most humans couldn't reach it, much less get it there
42:29
Speaker 2: with such accuracy and such timing. And, yeah, they make errors.
42:33
Speaker 2: But I'm telling you, you look at highlights almost every
42:37
Speaker 2: day there are a half a dozen plays at least
42:41
Speaker 2: that just knock your socks off.
42:43
Speaker 1: Right, right. I get mocked all the time on baseball
42:46
Speaker 1: tonight for saying exactly that. If you haven't been out
42:49
Speaker 1: to a major league field anytime soon and you see
42:52
Speaker 1: how far a throw it is from deep third base,
42:56
Speaker 1: you don't understand the game until you understand how long
42:59
Speaker 1: a throw that is. Jeff, before we finish here, sorry, Pat,
43:04
Speaker 1: go ahead.
43:04
Speaker 2: No, no, no, that's all right. I was just going
43:05
Speaker 2: to make another stupid joke. Go ahead.
43:07
Speaker 1: No, please. That's why we're here.
43:09
Speaker 2: I was going to say I could get it from
43:12
Speaker 2: third to first, but I would need a golf cart.
43:15
Speaker 2: Was that worth it?
43:19
Speaker 1: So, Jeff, totally. So, Jeff, tell Pat what we do
43:23
Speaker 1: every Monday now on our podcast, Is This a Great
43:28
Speaker 1: Game or What?, as kind of a tribute to Pat
43:31
Speaker 1: Sajak and his Great show for 41 years. So we
43:35
Speaker 1: do what's called. Hold on.
43:37
Speaker 2: Let me grab it.
43:39
Speaker 1: The Wheel of Kirkjian.
43:42
Speaker 4: And we put topics for my dad to people write
43:45
Speaker 4: in at greatgamerwhat.com. And I spin the wheel and we
43:48
Speaker 4: stop it. And then he's got a riff on whatever's
43:51
Speaker 4: going on.
43:51
Speaker 1: And, I mean, just right out of the gate. We
43:54
Speaker 1: have dogs.
43:55
Speaker 4: Obviously, it has to be baseball-related stories about dogs.
43:59
Speaker 1: Switch hitters.
44:00
Speaker 2: Do you change the categories every time?
44:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, so when we use them, we delete them, and
44:05
Speaker 4: we go to our listeners. We call them members of
44:07
Speaker 4: the family.
44:08
Speaker 2: By the way, this is really fun, and I can't
44:09
Speaker 2: wait to hear more about it, but you do owe
44:11
Speaker 2: us $ 40, 000.
44:12
Speaker 4: Hey, listen, I don't think our podcast is quite making–
44:19
Speaker 4: you could come for the whole podcast for $ 40, 000.
44:21
Speaker 1: I'll tell you. Right, right. And, Pat, yesterday's podcast we
44:28
Speaker 1: had on, or today, we taped it on Sunday. I
44:32
Speaker 1: have a Team Tim every week, and it's indescribably stupid,
44:35
Speaker 1: but I have a player at each position, the all-color team,
44:40
Speaker 1: the all-food team, the all-fish team, whatever it is. So
44:44
Speaker 1: this time I came up with the all-game show host
44:48
Speaker 1: team of baseball players, one at each major league position
44:52
Speaker 1: with several pitchers, who were first or last name of
44:56
Speaker 1: famous game show hosts. This was in honor of you also.
45:01
Speaker 1: So like Len Barker is one of our pitchers. Okay. And, and,
45:07
Speaker 1: but we started with our catcher because our catcher was
45:10
Speaker 1: Pat borders. And that was a tribute to Pat Sajak.
45:14
Speaker 1: So are you, are you like honored beyond words that
45:17
Speaker 1: we'd come up with a ridiculous team, Tim, like this?
45:23
Speaker 2: I'm going to cry. Yeah, Sajak would be hard to find.
45:30
Speaker 2: It would be like finding a Kirkjian. Right.
45:34
Speaker 1: No, it's impossible to find that. But I did find
45:37
Speaker 1: a game show host. You know him, Jim Perry. And
45:42
Speaker 1: that's his real name, Jim Perry. And Jim Perry is
45:46
Speaker 1: also the brother of Gaylord Perry and Jim Perry is
45:50
Speaker 1: shared the 1970 Cy Young Award with Mike Cuellar of
45:54
Speaker 1: the Orioles. So I actually found a game show host
45:57
Speaker 1: who had the exact same name as a baseball player,
46:01
Speaker 1: Jim Perry. Believe me, I looked for Pat Sajak. I
46:04
Speaker 1: couldn't find one anywhere close.
46:07
Speaker 2: Jim Perry. Am I okay babbling a little bit here?
46:12
Speaker 1: Please. Yes, please.
46:14
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know what pressures you're under. You probably
46:18
Speaker 2: have another interview to do. So Jim Perry was on NBC.
46:24
Speaker 2: Back when I first started on Wheel, NBC was all
46:27
Speaker 2: game shows in the morning. It was Hollywood Squares. I
46:29
Speaker 2: forgot which show Jim did, but he did one. Bill
46:34
Speaker 2: Cullen did one. There was the original Jeopardy was on, Concentration.
46:39
Speaker 2: Back to back to back to back. So I start
46:41
Speaker 2: on the air and I'm fairly new. And I started
46:44
Speaker 2: in December. The following October, I haven't been there a
46:48
Speaker 2: year yet. I'm working for NBC. It was just not
46:50
Speaker 2: a nighttime show. It was a daytime network show. And
46:54
Speaker 2: the edict goes down from one of the goofy vice
46:57
Speaker 2: presidents there saying, you know, Halloween week, I want all
47:01
Speaker 2: the hosts to dress in a costume. And Jim Perry
47:05
Speaker 2: was one of them. He was Dracula. I remember that.
47:07
Speaker 2: And I thought, I'm not going to do that. And
47:10
Speaker 2: because that's, I'm just not going to go out in
47:13
Speaker 2: a costume. So they said, you got to, it's NBC.
47:16
Speaker 2: They're going to be mad and you're new and I
47:18
Speaker 2: don't care. So I'm not going to go in a costume,
47:20
Speaker 2: but I compromised. So what I would do, I would
47:22
Speaker 2: go out like on Monday and I had my normal
47:24
Speaker 2: suit on and said, hey, it's Halloween week. And today
47:27
Speaker 2: I'm dressed as a bank vice president. And the next
47:30
Speaker 2: day I would be dressed as an insurance agent. Right.
47:34
Speaker 2: That's all I That's all I did. So I've been
47:36
Speaker 2: making trouble from the beginning. That's my point. Jim Carrey
47:40
Speaker 2: got me there. I don't know how.
47:43
Speaker 1: And by the way, Jeff, I forgot to put Peter
47:46
Speaker 1: Marshall on the list because I grew up watching Hollywood Squares.
47:50
Speaker 1: But Peter Marshall actually had a son. who played in
47:54
Speaker 1: the major leagues, but he didn't go. His real name
47:57
Speaker 1: is Pete Lecoq is the guy who played in the
48:02
Speaker 1: major leagues. He was a pretty good hitter. But as
48:04
Speaker 1: you can imagine, Pat, we're not going to go. We're
48:08
Speaker 1: going to go with Peter Marshall there, right? Isn't that
48:10
Speaker 1: what we're going to do on national TV?
48:12
Speaker 2: I think that would be good. Peter Marshall would be good.
48:16
Speaker 2: It's a good game, and I'm going to watch now
48:18
Speaker 2: just so I can see your wheel of, what do
48:20
Speaker 2: we call it?
48:20
Speaker 1: Wheel of The Wheel of Kirkchen! No relation to the
48:25
Speaker 1: Wheel of Fortune.
48:32
Speaker 2: By the way, you do a nice job announcing.
48:34
Speaker 1: Thank you.
48:34
Speaker 4: You know, if there's one thing I can say, my
48:36
Speaker 4: mom has always said from the beginning of dawn of time,
48:41
Speaker 4: when I was in college, right, I told her I
48:42
Speaker 4: wanted to be, I'm a country music morning show host
48:45
Speaker 4: in Philadelphia. And I started a radio show with a
48:48
Speaker 4: buddy of mine, and I said, Mom, this is what
48:50
Speaker 4: I want to do.
48:50
Speaker 1: I went to Syracuse.
48:51
Speaker 4: She was thinking I was going to be a news reporter,
48:53
Speaker 4: the next Anderson Cooper, Capitol Hill reporter. I grew up
48:56
Speaker 4: outside D.C. That's kind of what I always was fascinated with.
49:00
Speaker 4: And I said, I want to do– I want to
49:02
Speaker 4: be a morning radio host. My mom looks at me
49:05
Speaker 4: and goes.
49:07
Speaker 1: Do people do that for a living? Is that like
49:09
Speaker 1: a real job?
49:10
Speaker 4: And I kind of didn't really realize it was or
49:12
Speaker 4: it wasn't, but she had always said, Jeff, just, just
49:15
Speaker 4: go to LA and try to be a game show host.
49:18
Speaker 4: And now I do it every morning on the radio.
49:19
Speaker 4: We play games and we give away tickets and all
49:23
Speaker 4: this stuff. It's a little bit different, but I mean,
49:25
Speaker 4: that's a dream. That would be an absolute dream to
49:27
Speaker 4: do something like that.
49:28
Speaker 2: I was like you when I, when I, I started
49:31
Speaker 2: radio and did a lot of radio and, uh, and
49:33
Speaker 2: liked it very much. And I didn't, If you if
49:36
Speaker 2: I were to make a list of the of the
49:40
Speaker 2: 35 things I was going to do to make my
49:41
Speaker 2: mark in show business, game shows would have been 34.
49:44
Speaker 2: I just never saw myself in that role because back
49:48
Speaker 2: then and kind of getting back to that now and
49:50
Speaker 2: I think about it. But back then, the the typical
49:54
Speaker 2: game show thing was that sort of over the. Hey,
49:57
Speaker 2: you want 10,000? And I don't do that. I'm pretty
50:00
Speaker 2: low key. And so I just didn't see me doing that.
50:04
Speaker 2: But Merv Griffin, who hired me, said to me, I
50:08
Speaker 2: said to him, you know, I can't, I don't do that.
50:10
Speaker 2: He said, I like what you do because he saw
50:12
Speaker 2: me doing the weather in Los Angeles. That's how, that's
50:15
Speaker 2: what I was doing. And so I was in local
50:17
Speaker 2: TV there. And when you're in local TV in LA,
50:20
Speaker 2: you're auditioning every night because the producers are at home watching.
50:23
Speaker 2: So Merv asked me to do it. He said, just
50:27
Speaker 2: do it the way you do it. And I will say,
50:29
Speaker 2: if anyone had the right to come in and you know,
50:32
Speaker 2: lecture me on how to do it, it would be Merv.
50:34
Speaker 2: Never once in the years he owned the show, did
50:37
Speaker 2: he make any suggestions other than, Hey, you're doing a
50:39
Speaker 2: great job. So he was a great, a great boss
50:42
Speaker 2: and let me, and let me do my thing, which
50:45
Speaker 2: was again, not a little atypical at the time for
50:48
Speaker 2: game shows.
50:49
Speaker 1: Yeah.
50:49
Speaker 4: Well, Pat, I think it's similar to that of play-by-play broadcasters.
50:52
Speaker 4: I have a lot of friends who, you know, are now,
50:55
Speaker 4: you know, cutting their teeth in the minors or even,
50:57
Speaker 4: you know, popping in on some national games and they're,
51:00
Speaker 4: they're in their low thirties and people are saying, Hey,
51:03
Speaker 4: just be yourself. We don't need the swing and a mouth.
51:06
Speaker 4: You know, we don't need some big booming voice or
51:09
Speaker 4: some bit all the time. You just be yourself.
51:11
Speaker 1: That's what people want to see. And you're a prime
51:14
Speaker 1: example of that.
51:15
Speaker 2: It's the, it's the easiest advice to give in, in
51:18
Speaker 2: my business and yours and the hardest to understand and take.
51:22
Speaker 2: And that is be yourself. I had a, I had a,
51:25
Speaker 2: I was in my dressing room getting ready for a
51:27
Speaker 2: wheel one time and there was a knock on the
51:28
Speaker 2: door and it was like, young man who was doing
51:30
Speaker 2: a soap opera down the hall, and he was offered
51:33
Speaker 2: a pilot, a game show pilot, and he came to
51:35
Speaker 2: me for advice. He was very nervous. And I said, well,
51:38
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not good at giving advice, but I
51:41
Speaker 2: said what you said. I said, you know, the important
51:44
Speaker 2: thing is don't be a game show host. Be yourself.
51:46
Speaker 2: So he's processing this as an actor. He's going... be myself.
51:51
Speaker 2: So you mean I should act like, no, no, no,
51:53
Speaker 2: you don't. I could not get the concept over to him.
51:59
Speaker 2: And by the way, he never got the job.
52:01
Speaker 1: Right. Well, Pat, we'll leave with this. Jason Bonetti is
52:06
Speaker 1: a dear friend of ours. He does the Tigers game
52:08
Speaker 1: on TV. He's one of the great baseball– and he
52:11
Speaker 1: does basketball and football. He does NBC baseball now. He's
52:15
Speaker 1: absolutely brilliant beyond words. And he told us on our
52:18
Speaker 1: podcast earlier this year that his mother claims that he
52:22
Speaker 1: learned how to read and write watching Wheel of Fortune.
52:27
Speaker 1: So that's how– So when you hear something, and he's
52:31
Speaker 1: dead serious, when you hear something like that, a guy
52:34
Speaker 1: who's going to end up in the Hall of Fame
52:36
Speaker 1: one day as a broadcaster, that he learned to read
52:40
Speaker 1: and write watching your show, well, how does that make
52:43
Speaker 1: you feel?
52:44
Speaker 2: I'll tell you something, and to end on a semi-serious note,
52:51
Speaker 2: especially as you get older and you've done it a
52:52
Speaker 2: long time, you hear more and more of that kind
52:55
Speaker 2: of stuff and appreciate it more and more. I can't
52:57
Speaker 2: tell you How many times someone has come up to
53:00
Speaker 2: me in a parking lot of a grocery store or
53:02
Speaker 2: wherever I am, teary-eyed, saying, you know, I grew up
53:08
Speaker 2: watching this with my grandma, you know, and we just
53:11
Speaker 2: lost her and she loved you. Or, you know, we
53:16
Speaker 2: came here from another country and this is how I learned,
53:20
Speaker 2: it helped me learn English. I learned the slang and
53:24
Speaker 2: the idiom, you know. Or what you just said, my
53:27
Speaker 2: kid learned to... to read, learn his letters. We didn't
53:31
Speaker 2: intend any of that. We just wanted to have a
53:33
Speaker 2: good time and make a lot of money. But you
53:36
Speaker 2: come to really appreciate that. Again, I think as you
53:38
Speaker 2: get older, this show is more than, I don't want
53:41
Speaker 2: to make too much of it. It's more than a
53:43
Speaker 2: game show. It really is a touchstone in people's lives.
53:47
Speaker 2: And they appreciate it and honor it. And I'm honored
53:53
Speaker 2: by that. And it's a touching thing and it's a
53:57
Speaker 2: gratifying thing. And, you know, I was very lucky to
54:01
Speaker 2: be there that long and have to be welcomed into
54:04
Speaker 2: homes for four decades. To me, that's the accomplishment I'm
54:08
Speaker 2: proudest of. But what you said is true. I hear
54:14
Speaker 2: that kind of thing a lot. And it's very meaningful
54:17
Speaker 2: to me. Wow.
54:19
Speaker 1: Well, Pat, we've had a blast. We could have taken
54:21
Speaker 1: a lot more than an hour here, but since we
54:23
Speaker 1: had trouble getting on because of the technology, again, if
54:27
Speaker 1: I'm involved in the process, the technology is going to
54:30
Speaker 1: go wrong for sure. But seriously, thank you so much
54:33
Speaker 1: for joining us. Thank you for loving this beautiful game
54:36
Speaker 1: as much as you do. And the next time we
54:39
Speaker 1: play in a charity golf tournament, we're going to be
54:42
Speaker 1: in the same foursome as opposed to one cart apart.
54:47
Speaker 4: Okay?
54:47
Speaker 1: Okay.
54:48
Speaker 2: I hope so. I look forward to that. And it's
54:50
Speaker 2: good to be with you both. Thank you, Jeff. Thank you, Jeff.