Latest / Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast / Former Angels SS Gary DiSarcina reflects on eventful career and how he became a busy bee in retirement

Transcript

Former Angels SS Gary DiSarcina reflects on eventful career and how he became a busy bee in retirement · Halo Territory: A Los Angeles Angels Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Well, hey angel fans, and welcome back to Helo Territory.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I'm Mike di Giovanna, former La Times Baseball writer and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: host of the show, and joining me today is a
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: very special guest, one of my all time favorite guys
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: that cover. Gary Disar, seeing a form Rangels shortstop and
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: third base coach. Gary, Welcome to the show. How you
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: doing today? Doing well?
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Mike? How are you doing? You look great? You haven't
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: changed at all.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Well, I appreciate that. I'm not sure if the mirror
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: would agree with you, but you're looking pretty good too.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: For what are you fifty eight? Now? Fifty eight years old?
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: I can't believe it's sixty three here. I can't believe
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: it is. It's crazy.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: So we got a lot to discuss today, including the
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: unique and extremely sweet hobby that DSAR has taken up
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: in retirement. But it is opening day, so we want
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: to open the show a little bit baseball. Gary, you
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: played twelve years in the big leagues. What was opening
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: day like for a player? You know, you spent six
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: weeks in that growing spring training and then all of
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: a sudden the lights come on. I assume it's a
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: little different feeling for you. It's it's definitely an adjustment.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Number one. You're you're getting up early in spring training
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: and you go into the ballpark early, and the games
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: are usually in the afternoon, so usually Opening Night or
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Opening Day, whichever one it is, is the start of
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: the season, obviously, and it's a change in your routine.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: And there is nothing like Opening Day. You know, everyone's
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: oh and oh, everyone has an opportunity to, you know,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: get started on the right foot. You want to get
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: your first things out of the way. You want to
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: get your first hit, your first RBI, your first run,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: you first assist, all those types of things. So it's
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: it's the start of a new season. It's it's like
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: no other Probably similar to being in the playoffs is
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: what it's like. But it's a day you never forget,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: whether you're a player or a coach standing on that line,
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: being announced on opening Day is really really special.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: You're joining us from Cape Cudd you grew up in Massachusetts.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: I assume it's a little special in Fenway Park as well.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Do you, at age fifty eight, still get a little
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: bit of an a drone rush this time of year
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: when Opening Day rolls around?
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: I do you know now you know, not being removed
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: for the last two years, not really paying close attention
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: to it on a daily basis. I think Opening Day
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: the last two years, I'll have the TV on in
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: the house and have you know, Nessen's on or you
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: know whatever the opening days games are being played, and
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: just to have it in the background. You do get
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: you do get excited for it. I'm excited for the guys,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: especially for the guys you know. You know, I know
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Mike Trout well, so I want him to do well,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: you know, as well as possible. So it's more now
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: after you've been on a couple of teams, it's more
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: like you're rooting for certain guys, players, coaches, managers, things
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: like that. But it's usually here it's still kind of cold,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: so you hope that the guys can and their well
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: tanned bodies come up here and get some hits when
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: it's freezing cold out. Hopefully it's no snow in the
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: field anymore, but it's tough. It's tough up here for
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: to day. I remember playing UH in Anaheim and always
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: being curious why I would start on the road in
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: a in a cold area, cold place, but there's nothing
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: like it getting your first hit, you know, going to
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Fenway Park for me as a big league player as
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: always special. I don't know if you remember shurm Feller.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: You remember sharm Feller. Yeah, he would always announce, Yeah,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: he would always announce the local players. Now abouting ninth
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: wearing number eleven from Bill Ricker, Massachusetts, Gary Dee seen it,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: so it do it one time as you came up
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: your first time as a big leaguer, and it was
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: really really special to hear him say that, that is
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: so cool.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: You're native New England or as you say, grew up
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: in bill Rica, played college ball at UMass. I know
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: it was an opening day, but take us back to
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: that first game in Fenway Park. Did that have a
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: familiar feeling as opening day? What do you sort of
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: recall that day? I think it was May of nineteen
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: ninety two.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think number one. Getting tickets for everybody was
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: a bitch. I mean back then, not too many players
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: from Massachusetts are playing in the big leagues. You know,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: you had, you know, Tommy glab and Greg Gagney, a
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: couple of other guys from the from the area. But
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: getting tickets and being from a big family and having
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: a lot of friends, especially in the area where you know,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: growing up literally nineteen miles north of the city. I
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: remember Frank Sims was our travel and secretary, and I
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: just went to Frank and I said, I don't know
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: what to do. He's like, well, you got to go
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: swap tickets with the other guys, and you got to
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: you gotta do this, and you gotta do that. And
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: I was like, God, don't mind it. I think I
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: might have left forty tickets. I was overwhelmed at during
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: batting practice they opened the gates up early. This is
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: before they let people on the on the on the
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: field with those special tickets in the passes and the
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: field passes. You know, just being overwhelmed seeing them come
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: to the game early, people I hadn't seen in so long.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: And I just remember walking after batting practice, going into
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: the clubhouse, taking a deep breath and just going, man,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: I hope I don't screw up. There's so many people
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: out here.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Did you go into the green during VP or had
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: you been in there before I did?
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: I would No, I had not been in there, and
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: I didn't know anything about signing your name in there either,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: So I did go in there. And try to find
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: a place assignment. I sign it way down the end.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: That was really special because if you walk through there,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: do you have the opportunity to go in there and
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: in there twice and sign my name in there as well. Yeah. Yeah,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: it's so cool seeing the legends that have been in there,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: and you just feel, you know, playing there as a visitor,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: working there in twenty seventeen as a bench as a
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: bench coach, it was it was an honor to go
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: there and work. It was like you're in a museum
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: and it was really really special to have my parents.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: I did hit one home run off Tom Gordon. I
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: can't remember the year. I think it was an O
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: two pitch, hit it up. Remember the nets they used
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: to have the net up. There was the monster, Yeah, yeah,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: the monster. So I hit one up in the net.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: And Joe Mooney was the old grounds keep head grounds
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: keep a guy, and he was a son of a gun,
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: you know, as far as yelling at players to get
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: off the field after batting practice back when we took
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: infield outfield we had to get off. He was just
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: a scruffy older guy and I was scared shitless of
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: him anytime I saw him. I was just scared to
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: death of him that night hit the ball up in
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: the net. And after the game we won, and we
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: was sitting there eating the spread, and he looked like
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Fisherman Gordon. He was an older guy. He looked like
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Einstein a little bit. And he tapped me on my
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: shoulder and I was eating the spread and I turned
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: around and he was standing right above me. And I
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: was like, oh, my god, than I do. I felt
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: like a twelve year old get in trouble. And he
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: handed me the ball and he said, kid, every time
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: a local boy hits a home run in the net,
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: I personally go up and get it, and I'm gonna
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: and hand it to him. So he handed it Tommy,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: and I was just stunned, so thankful, appreciative of him.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: Got up in my underwear and my t shirt, went outside.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: My father was waiting out in front of the door,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: and I handed him the ball and my dad had
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: a tear in his eyes. So I just thought it
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: was one of the nicest things someone could have done.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: And you know, after that day. The next day during
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Benton practice, he was still yelling at people. He was
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: still bitch, pruffy and a little salty out there, but
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: I let him have it. Do whatever you want to me.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: He really created a memory for me, and I'm raver grateful. Nice.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Well, let's turn our attention to the current state of
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: affairs in Anaheim, which is not good. It's been ten
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: years since he coached for the Angels, Gary, what's it
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: then like sort of watching.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: From afar as this team has struggled through straight losing seasons.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: It's been disappointing and confusing at some points, you know,
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: as a as a staff member, with the Nationals and
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: the Mets playing them, as well as with with the
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: you know, with the Red Sox in twenty seventeen. More
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: it's twenty seventeen, they still had that little it was.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: They were tough to prepare for. You talk to your
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: infielders about like, listen, guys, don't mess around out here.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Pick the ball up, throw it the first. These guys
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: run hard when they when there's a double in the gap.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Make sure you get out there be on your game,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: because you know, the Angels were always known for running
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: the bases under Mike Soosha and all those and all
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: those great coaches that they've had, Ron Renicky Dino those
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: guys are very aggressive and they and they really put
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: the pressure on you. So the first couple of times
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: playing them as a coach, they reac havoc. They just
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: they steal third, They did a lot of things that
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: you had to be on your toes. As as I
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: went on, as I went to the Mets and then
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: the Nationals, they got easier and easier to play against.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: And it was evident why. It was just a combination
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: of injuries players. They you know, you're only as good
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: as your players. It always comes down to how good
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: the players are. And when they started scuffling, and the
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: last couple of years, you could see they were much
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: easier play play against. You get them down on the
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: first or second in and and you had them, you know,
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: their pitching just didn't have the depth they had. Shohe
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: and Mike Trout, Anthony came on board a little bit,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: but they just lost that pressure they used to put
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: on teams. And I just remember playing again, you know,
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: trying to prepare the guys against them, and sitting on
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: the sidelines watching from the dugout and just hoping that
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: these guys pay attention to what we talked about because
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: they could embarrash you. When the Angels were at their height,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: they could embarrass it. As the slow decline started to
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: happen in the last ten year years, obviously they just
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: haven't performed well. It comes down to players and making
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: good decisions. I felt, you know, disappointed for all the
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: turnover they had. There's no way players can be consistent
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: if they have so much turnover, from from the general
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: manager spot all the way down to coaches. I think
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: you're trying to preach a program to a player. You're
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: trying to get him to understand how how to run
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: the base is, how to take turns, angles, when to
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: go first and third, when not to go first, all
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: those things. And you have one coach telling you one year,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: and then two years later you have another base running
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: coach telling you another thing with new language, and there's
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: just that lost in translation feeling, and you could see
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: it playing against them. They just didn't have that threat
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: of being on the game and playing free, as Mike
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: used to always say. That was Mike's big mantra, play free,
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: be aggressive, play free, and they just seem to be
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: on their heels a lot. You could take advantage of
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: them certain situations, you know, especially like when the second
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: group of guys would come in, or if this somebody
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: hurt and somebody else was playing. You know, you could
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: take advantage of them in certain instances, but to me,
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: it's been disappointing. That's the biggest word I can think of.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: We take a.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Quick break for a word from our sponsors, and we'll
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: be right back with more Halo Territory.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: AJ.
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• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Now Welcome back, to Halo territory. Our guest is former
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Angels shortstop Gary D. Sarcina, who spent nineteen years in
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: the Angels organization as a player, coach and in player development. Gary,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: you said you made one last attempt to return to
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Anaheim in twenty twenty four. I believe before deciding to retire.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: What happened with that?
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: It was the last year with the Nationals. It was
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: just I was burnt out in the sense of, you know,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: the grind, being away from two grandkids, being away from
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: all of my family, not spending a lot of time
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: with my wife and my and my brother and my
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: sister and all that stuff. So it came to just
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: the crossroads of even if the Nationals wanted me back,
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: I didn't want to go back. I just wanted to
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: go home and settle into a retired life. And before
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: I did that, I just wanted to cross that one
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: ex that one box about the Angels, because they've all
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: I grew up there, they were my team. They you know,
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: I go on and on and on with all my
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: platitudes for them. But I wanted to see if if
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: there was any way I could get back into the
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: organization to help I really believe Artie is always trying
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: to do the right things. He's spending money, he's, you know,
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: a personal guy to be around. So I just kind
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: of offered up my services. I called John Carpeno a
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: couple of times, had some good conversations with him. He
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: was waiting for I think it was Ron Washington that
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: got hired, and then he was going to connect me
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: with Perry and Ron, and it just never happened, never
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: heard from them. A couple of weeks went by, and
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: I said to myself, I'm not going to be pimping
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: myself out to go work for anybody. I've done it,
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: been in the game thirty years. I've offered my help.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: If they don't want it, that's great, but let's move on.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: So just decided to move on. And after two or
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: three weeks of just reflecting on my baseball career and
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: feeling that if the Angels don't want me as part
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: of the organization right now, it's time to take it
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: to the ranch and go home and be with my family.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: And and you know, I thank the Players Association every
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: day for that pension check that comes in. My wife
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: has a great job, so everything's all good, really, looking
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: back on that, it was the best thing that they
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: never called me, because I got to become a normal
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: person and being with my grandkids and being with my
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: daughter and being my son. My son was playing independent
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: ball at the time in Brockton, Massachusetts, so I got
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: to see two summers of him playing, which I hadn't
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: seen him play since Little League, and I was blessed
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: for that.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: So for the Angels not to call it was a
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: blessing in disguise. Mark Trumbull, my co host on the show,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: has brought this up a couple of times. He gets
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: the sense that the Angels don't. I certainly want too
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: many former players around, former Angel players around. Did you
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: get any of that sense over the years, and maybe
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: that last experience.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: I actually enjoy having the older players around, but I
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: didn't get the sense from them. I know Mike liked
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: when Mike was running the ship, he loved to have
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: everybody around. He'd bring all the guys back in spring training,
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: and he really believed that that was kind of how
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: you connect the present to the past. And it was
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: the same way with the Red Sox. Mike, it was
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: the parent they were parallel. The Red Sox always had
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Yestrensky or Evans or Louis Tian around Varitec around Big Poppy,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: but I didn't get I don't know, man, I just
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: I feel like sometimes different places you go, they have
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: different feelings for that, and maybe they feel threatened a
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: little bit that you know, Mark Blankson is going to
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: start to try to teach somebody how he threw his
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: change up, or Chuck Finley's going to try to teach
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: how he threw his split and it doesn't match up
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: with the cart pitching coach or things like that. I
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: just feel that nothing but good comes out of having
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: older players around. I mean, I look up, I have
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: a gene Autry picture, mister Autrey's up in my wall,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: and I think of all the great times with him
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: and that thread that connects me back all the way
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: to gene Autry, and I just feel that it gets lost.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: And also feel that not blaming the players, but you know,
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: my last year with the Nationals, I asked a couple
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: of guys who Weighe Bogs and Tony Gwynn were, and
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: they had no idea who he was, who either one were,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: And I just shook my head, and I feel that
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: I agree with Mike, and I agree with John Farrell
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: and the Red Sox and having older players around and
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: they have experience different experiences. I can't relate to what
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Tim Salmon used to go through as a hitter, but
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: I'm sure Rod Carew or Bobby Gritch or Doug Desense's
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: you can name a million guys could could relate. Davis
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: could relate to Tim Salmon. You know, maybe the hitting
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: coach who's there can't relate to him, or you could
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: use could use some more experience and more stories or
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: more what did you do? How did you approach someone?
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: I don't know everything in the game. You know, nobody
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: knows everything in the game. There's people who have different
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: experiences and I learned real quickly. One quick lesson I
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: learned with the Red Sox as a player development person
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: is do not become territorial. Once you become territorial, the
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: player is going to feel it and they're going to
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: turn you off. So keep your mind open to other
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: people the way the other people teach. And again, like
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: being in player development or being at the major league level,
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: it's not about us, it's about the players. And if
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: I can't make a player better, or I'm missing making
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: a player better, and Dick Scholfield comes into camp and
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: he has one little nugget to offer one of these
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: players and it helps. That's what therefore went out there.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, I have my time as a player, and
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: it's great to be a big league coach, but when
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: you step between those lines, it's just you and I think.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: I guess that's a long way to say. I have
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: no freaking idea what they think, but I liked having
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: them around myself personally. You did spend three Maybe they
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: feel threatened, who knows, or maybe they don't want to
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: see a Darren Urstad who caught the last out in
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: the World Series. Maybe that kind of puts them on notice.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: You know, I don't know who knows. Man.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: You spent three years as a Mets coach from two
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen to twenty and two years with the Nats
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: after that. I understand you gained a little insight on
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Anthony Rendon, the former Nets third baseman who was a
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: total bust after signing a seven year, two hundred and
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: forty five million dollars deal with the Angels before twenty twenty.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my time with the Mets, I got to coach
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: third base my last three years there, and I got
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: to know Anthony and we played them, what sixteen seventeen
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: times a year, and he never missed any games and
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: he was always out there. I had a good relationship
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: with him, talked to him about pretty much everything but baseball.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: I'd ask him about, you know, how can you rate
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Jacob deGrom. Nobody hits him? Well, how do you do it?
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: And he wouldn't. He'd just kind of have the self
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: deprecating humor, and he was just like I just always
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: had this respect for him as a person. I could
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: tell like, I'm like, God, this guy's so successful, and
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: I could see the reason he's successful is because he
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: has other things going on in his life. And when
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: he went to the Angels, at first I thought he
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: was going to do really really well. It'd fit well
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: out there. I think he's from Texas, be close to
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: her home. And then I got like, go by the
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Mets and I went to the Nationals and I started
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: asking around about Anthony. I started asking, like the people
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: in our world who really matter at work, the trainers,
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: the travel and secretary, the clubbies, the weight room guys,
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: and I just started asking like you know what the
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: hell happened to Anthony? How come he he left here?
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: I just couldn't. He's this quality, quality player. He was
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: a World Series champion, and to a t everyone, no
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: matter who I asked at that level, was like, Anthony's
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: a great guy. We all loved him, but we all
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: knew baseball wasn't his top priority. He wanted to be
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: with his family. And they would say to me, the
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: Angels are going to regret it because that's not his thing. Man,
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: He's good at baseball, but it's not his love. It's
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: not his passion. His family and friends is his passion.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: So I just started wondering, like, did somebody with the
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: Angels not do their homework, did somebody do their homework
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: and voice their opinion and get shut down, or did
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: somebody not even care what somebody's opinion was, Because if
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: you're going to invest that much money in a player
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: for that long of a time, I'm sorry. I'm asking
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: the clubbies. Is this guy a good guy? Does he
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: tip you well? I'm asking the trainer, is he on
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: time for his treatments? I'm asking the weight room guys.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: He committed? Is he through my through through my other
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: channels through whomever. I mean, if you're in the game
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: for five ten years, you start to have connections and
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: you can ask agents or somebody, what's this guy really like?
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: Does he treat people well? You know, things like that.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: And I just feel you that somebody was negligent on
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: their on their on their work, somebody was lazy with
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: their work, or somebody just didn't give a shit and
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: they just said we want this guy and that's it
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: and they signed him. And Uh, I've always thought, do
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: your homework, pay attention to detail. And if you gotta
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: be a championship organization invest that much money in someone,
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: you better have some from some intel on that person.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: We take another quick break for a word from our sponsors.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: When we come back, we'll talk a little bit about
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Gary Disarcina's playing career.
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• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Halo Territory with Gary DiSarcina. Gary played
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: twelve years with the Angels from nineteen eighty nine to
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: two thousand, but I want to focus on two of
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: the more eventful years of his career, nineteen ninety five
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: and nineteen ninety nine. As we all know, in nineteen
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: ninety five that was actually my first year on the
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Angels beat, and what a year it was. The Angels
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: had an eleven game lead in early August, and Gary,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: do you star Seene of the number nine hitter in
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: that team, slides into second base, grabs a bag, tears
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: a ligament in his thumb and is out for six
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: or seven weeks. I think the Angels were fifty six
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: and thirty four when he got hurt, and they went
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: sixteen and twenty seven in his absence, and their lead
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: dwindled to two games by the time he got back
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: on September eighteenth, Gary, do you ever think about what
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: might have been had you stayed healthy that whole year?
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: That was year the only year he made the All
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Star team? Yeah, obviously, yes.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: I think. You know, back in those days, when you
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: slid the second base, you had to be an arm's
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: length away from the base, And I just remember a
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: sticking my own out harmlessly and hearing like a pencil snap,
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: and then looking down and going, oh shit. I went
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: over into the dugout, sat next to Rick Smith, trainer,
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: and said I have a problem. He said, what's the problem.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: I lifted up my hand and my thumb was down
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: by my elbow, and he said, yeah, you have a problem.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: You're out. Let's go. We can have surgery tomorrow. But yeah,
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: obviously do. But that actually, that was one of the
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: more satisfying teams I've ever played on, because everybody talks
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: about the collapse and everybody talks about how we blew
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: the division, and I don't think of it like that.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: I think Seattle played their asses off and Seattle did
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: everything where right and they caught us. We struggled. The
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: one thing I could say about the injury is like
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: we struggled filling that gap. It kind of threw everybody
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: out of their roles, you know, Damien easily and Spike going.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: I think we grabbed Dick Scholfield back from retirement. I
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: think he was building a porch in Missouri, threw him
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: in there. It just kind of it shows you what
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: depth matters on teams. It really does. Triple A players matter.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: And I think if you spend well and you you
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: stockpile triple A, you have these players that can command
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: and fill in and not so much. You don't have
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: to come up and exceed expectation, but just hold the
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: fork down. And we didn't have that. And at the
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: same time, Seattle played really, really good baseball. But my
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: proudest moment was the last five days of that season.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: When I think of the Angels, I think of those
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: last five days and how we had to win five
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: games in a row. We're playing on the West coast.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: Seattle was in Texas. They had to lose. I think
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: they were therefore they might have lost their last game
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: in Seattle. Yeah, they had to get swept. We had
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: the luxury of knowing they lost that last game, and
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: we were going against Todd Stalemeyer of the A's and
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: we had problems against Todd. Todd stuffed it big time
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: against us. We knew we had our work cutout for us,
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: and we beat We beat them that last day in Anaheim.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: And I'll never forget the fans that waited for us
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: outside of the stadium because we were packed and ready
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: to go to Seattle for that one game playoff, and
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: just the fans were tremendous and I just really feel
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: so blessed and so happy to go through. They wined
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: up around the buses. It was just awesome. Yeah. So
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: I remember, I knew we yeah, and I knew we
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: had Everyone knew we had to go face Randy Johnson,
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: and god, he was a bear. It was kind of
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: a game for like three or four innings and then
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: the wheels so off. I think there was a throw
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: down the right field line, Louis.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Soho base hit, Yeah, under JT's glove and a broken
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: bed and yeah, Basis it was a little league home run.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: And of course I'm not sure, boy, you run into
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: the big unit.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: In nineteen ninety.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Five, I'm not sure the current Dodger team would have
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: won a game up there and the Kingdom.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: Remember how loud that place was and how well Yeah,
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: and I hit second, I think I I'm pretty sure
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: I hit second behind Tony Phillips. Tony went up there
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: as usual, Tony ran up to three to two. I
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: think he struck out looking and he was walking back.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: We're go. It was like, God, dang man, you better
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: get it. Call that boy's throwing that ball hard, man like.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: He was on and on as we passed each other.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: It was so loud. And the first I knew we
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: were in trouble that first pitch. And I know Mark
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: knows about it. Mark Trumble must know when you can
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: hear a ball go by you, that first fastball that
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: went by, maybe it went by me in a heart.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: It was a dark it looked like a p and
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: I said, we are in trouble. But anyway, I go
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: back to those last five games with Troy personal pitch
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: in and that I'll never forget the fans waiting for
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: us after the game and giving us that big send off.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: That was incredible, But there was no hint of the playoffs.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety nine, when the Angels, a team many
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: some predicted to win the division, went seventy and ninety
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: two and finished twenty five games back in the division.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: It was a brutal year when everything that could go
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: wrong did, starting in spring training with one Gary DiSarcina.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: I think it was you were out there early and
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: I think you hadn't even had your official first work
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: out yet, and here you know the Angels, you know,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: fluke injuries.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: Take us back to that day in Tempe by helmet
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: On Tooeah. Yeah, we were hit hitting on the field,
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: and I'll never forget Matt Luke was taking ground balls
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: at first base right after we signed Mo Vaughn, which
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: you know mo Vaughn is gonna play every day there,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: so I remember thinking, why is Matt Luke taking ground balls?
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Took seven swings in the cage. I came out and
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: George Hendrick, who's the outfield coach, was hitting ground balls
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: to the infielders, which I thought was weird, and he
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: just hey, he threw the ball up too far out
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: in front. He reached out and he whacked my arm
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: and I knew right away it was broken and fell
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: down and sat down in the cage. George Hendrick is
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: one of the most respected guys in the game. Everybody
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: loved him. It was an accident and I knew right
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: you know, pain when you get pain. I was like,
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: I'm in trouble with went and was gone. I think, man,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: I'm gon gone for three months, three and a half,
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: four months. Was that the year Mo fell down the
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: dugout too first game? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, ninety nine. Yeah,
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: that was a season, Mike. Going into the nineteen ninety
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: eight we had a pretty good year. We played well,
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: and I think that's where the expectations came from. And
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: we made some signings and Moe was the big signing.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: And it's amazing what expectations do to you. You know,
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: when you have high expectations and you're no longer that
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: young core team that's trying to get their footing in
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: the big leagues. Now You're a team that's supposed to win,
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: and so our expectations to what were to win started
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: off tough. But it starts off tough for all teams,
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: many teams, and I think everyone on that team felt
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: frustration and anger. And as the season wore on, it
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: just piled on and the dog days hit and it wasn't.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: It wasn't a pretty sight, I'll tell you that much.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: I came back, I think maybe shoot in the season. Yeah,
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: in June and I walked into a clubhouse. I was like, oh, whoa,
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: I need to reassess some things. It was wasn't Disneyland,
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: wasn't happy thir So it kind of boiled over in Cleveland.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to get to that. That team
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: is actually only six and a half back at the
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: All Star break, but they lost fourteen to fifteen to
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: in July. Then in early August, I remember we're in
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: old Jacobs Field, well the old name, and I think
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: you blew an eight run lead, seventh inning, gave up
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: five and the seventh five in the eighth lost a game,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: big brawl and during the brawl.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Move on standing in the dugout.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: And the next day I walked into that clubhouse, and
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: it was I've been in clubhouses for thirty five forty years.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever felt more tense clubhouse before
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: or after a game, and you could just feel it.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: And there were some issues that day. And from what
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: I've been told, some guy marched into Terry Collins office
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: with a little demand.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: Is that true? Yeah? I wouldn't. Yeah, I mean, I
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: like memory doesn't isn't crystal clear, but I wouldn't doubt it.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: I might have been one of them.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: If Mo's in the lineup, we're not playing the next thing.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: I think resigned, Yeah, I think the culmination when he
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: came back home, and I think Terry resigned. But it
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: was a culmination of things that had gone on all
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: year long, and it was just losing is a bitch losing.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Losing can do crazy things to people. You know, when
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: you're winning, you know little things can be overlooked, but
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: when you're when you're losing. I think the biggest thing
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: reflecting on that, I give Mo a little bit of
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: bete for the doubt. He might have been dh and
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: he might have been up in the clubhouse. He might
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: have got ejected or he was dhing. I can't remember who. Yeah, yeah,
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: And it was a really good brawl. I mean it
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: was knuckles were being thrown, Troy thick of it. I
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: got stepped on and all that's the Troy drilled. I
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: think it was David Justice, and I remember being on
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: the bottom of pile with Troy Glous just going holy shit.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: I just covering up and just hoping that I come
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: out of it with my you know, not too many stitches.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: And then we all kind of stood up and looked
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: and Mo is in the dugout, Our biggest, strongest, meanest
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: guy was in the dugout, and I think that was
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: the tipping point, you know, everybody, it was the awful
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: one one for all. Slogan was not there, that model
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: was gone, and I think guys really and that might
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: have been Mo's first year, I believe, and the guys were,
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: you know, again going back to if you're going to
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: sign somebody long term for a lot of money, you
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: got to know an awful lot about him. And that
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: was to me, that was a shining example of whether
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: whether Moe was just late getting down, whether Moe didn't
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: know what was going on. But you know, I don't
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: know what happened, but I do know he wasn't out
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: there with us, and I think a lot of people
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: included myself, took exception to it, you know, until finding
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: out what was really going on. Yeah, you know, I'm
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: not going to go out and get my ass beat
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: while you sit in the dugout and just look and watch.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: It wasn't fun.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: We did get back to Anaheim the next day and
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: Terry Collins did step down as man. It's down as manager.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: And I went back and looked at the story I
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: wrote that day, and I wrote the players had quote
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: taking turns pointing fingers at one another for being soft,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: for not taking losing heart enough, for having a lackadaisic latitude,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: for being unprofessional, and for putting individual goals above team goals.
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: And when they ran out of those complaints, they ripped
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: one another for airing their beefs.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: In the media. Was that fair? Fair? I think? Well
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: that's good to know, you know, Mike. You know, Mike,
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: I've always respected you as a as a writer and
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: as a beat writer, especially because you're with us all
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: the time, and you know, you got to take the
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: good with the bad, like you didn't always rip us.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: You didn't always be hard. You were always hard on
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: us when we were When we did good things, you
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: wrote good things. It's just the way of the world.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: It's our business. This. If you're gonna have thin skin
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: and worry about what the beat writers talking to you
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: about or writing about you, then you got issues. You know,
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: you gonna worry about what you gotta do on the field.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: And that's how you saw it. I was in the
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: middle of it. Yeah, correct, like you should write those things.
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: It was a year at the at the end of
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: the year where you just go, I want to go home,
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: you know, I just want to go.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: I remember Dave Hollins, the first guy who ever heard
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: this term. It'd be like the last week of a
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: brutal season. He'd give me that side eye and he's like,
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: six days till we can choose our own friends.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: Yea, unless have been with that year was like it was.
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: It was like that. It was difficult because you're with
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: a lot of your core guys and you're just thinking,
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: you know, how are we going to turn this around?
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: We have to somehow turn around the culture because the
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: culture was just deteriorate in front of our eyes. And
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: what you wrote is correct one correct when we had
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: to turn it around and going into that offseason, I
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: think you have to reflect, you really do. You have
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: to reflect what's important to you? You know, team about
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: self is that important to you. We're going to take
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: the next step. I feel like ninety eight, ninety nine
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: we were ready to take the next step to be
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: playoff contenders, to win a division, but we just didn't
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: know how to win. We just didn't know how to
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: do it. And you know, Mike Sosha came on board.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: I can't remember it was two thousand and two thousand
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: and one, and he brought two thousand. He brought immediate legitimacy,
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: and he brought championship. Like when I think of Mike Sosher,
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: I think of a champion. And he came in and
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: instilled a different way of playing the game. He basically said,
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: everyone has a new slate. I don't give a shit
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: what happened last year. We're playing the game free. We're
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: going to play exciting ball, a style of ball. I
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: can't remember a quick story, quick story on Mike the
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: first his first camp with us. We're probably a week
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: into games, and I believe Tim Salmon took a three
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: to zero pitch and I was in the dugout and
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: Mike said, does anybody fucking swing three oh? On this club?
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: Is anybody swing three oh? And I just remember hearing.
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: I'm thinking, like, no, we're not supposed to, like we
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: were never given that freedom. And so Mike opened us up.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: He opened up to play free. He ran a great camp,
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: and that kind of like for the core of the guys.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: I know, my career was kind of winding down through injuries,
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: but I was still around and I'm still watching Buddy Black,
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: Joe Men, Ron Rennicky Alfredo, all these guys were champions
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: and they came in and what coaches can do is
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: they can calm things down. They can just you know,
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: show up. We're playing today. We're going to win today's game,
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: and then we'll show up tomorrow. We're gonna win when
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: tomorrow's game. They didn't come in talking about winning a championship.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: They just came in about let's win today's game. It's
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: a baseball game, let's win it. They just had to.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: That crew that came in with Mike just had had
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: the touch, you know, And I think everybody, the core
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: young guys, Gary Anders and myself firstee, all those guys
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: took notice, like, all right, we want to be champions.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: This is how you have to do it. These guys
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: have proven even though we hated the Dodgers and we
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: didn't like where he came from, he brought that mentality
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: and he freed everyone up. That's the best way to
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: describe it.
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: We're going to now change gears completely and talk about
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: what disa are a grandfather of how many?
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: Now? Three? Three? My wife has a granddaughter and tremendous were.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: Talking about what he's been doing in retirement. And for
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: those watching on YouTube, this picture will tell a story. Gary,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: Why don't you tell us what we're looking at right here?
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: That's bee keeping? Bee keeping one on one.
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: Be keeping one on one? How did you get into
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: be that's your wife? I assume, yeah, that's Julie? Yeah,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: all right, how did I get into it?
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: I was coaching third base, I believe in Tempe, Arizona
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: in twenty fifteen. I might have been the first or
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: second game against the Royals and Mike Mustakas was playing third,
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: and all of a sudden, Alex Gordon, their left field
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: or Lorenzo came and their center fielder was sprinting at us,
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: and then Mike started coming near me, and I'm like,
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: why are these guys sprinting over here? I don't even think.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: I think it was when the picture was warming up
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: for the inning and looked up above him and I
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: saw that. We saw this dark cloud and everybody scattered.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: It was a swarm of bees. And I didn't know
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: a damn thing about bees. I just was scared of him.
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: I didn't want to get strong, went into the dugout.
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: We kind of separate everybody. I don't know how long
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: at the time of the break was, but the swarm
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: settled on the microphone behind home plate, huge swarm. They
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: called the Phoenix Fire Department. They came down and they'd
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: killed them all. They smoke, They put that foamy stuff
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: on him and killed them all. I come back out
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: to coach third base and Ned Yost is going ballistic
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: at the fire department, screaming and yelling from the dugout,
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: going off, you should have got a bee keeper. You
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: didn't have to kill. That's sixty thousand bees. Do you
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: know what those bees? Could?
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: You know?
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: They're so important to our agriculture. And he was red
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: like a tomato screaming. So I went over to Moose
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: and I said, Moose, what is going on with your manager?
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: And he goes d Sun Man. He's an outdoorsman. He
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: loves it. He has big acreages. He has three over
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: four five hundred acres in Georgia. He hunts, he has farms,
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: he has bee hives. And he said that all they
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: need to do is call it a beekeeper, grab one bee,
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: the queen bee, and then they all would have left.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: So I was like, wow, that's his passion for it
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: just got me. I was like, what the hell, man,
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: this guy's really passionate about bees, which I thought was hilarious.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: So the next day I just started researching him. I
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: got on the internet a little bit, started researching them,
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: and I just started. I got hooked. I started learning
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: about him. I was curious. I wanted to learn more.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: But you can't you can't have bees. You can't be
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: a beekeeper if you're working in your way unless you
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: have somebody do the hives for you. So coincide with
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: the angels not calling me back, I said, this is
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: a perfect time to get to the bees. So I
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: was joined. I was, actually, I do want to go back.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: I was in Tempe that day and I looked up
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: the story and I wrote that a massive swarm of
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: bees send players running for cover and fans in a
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: section near the first base Dugout made a bee line
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: for the concourse just before first pitch, delaying the game
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: for ten minutes. And here was a ned ghost quote
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: after the game, he said, I've never seen mass b
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: genocide like that. All you have to do is get
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: some smoke. Trust me, I live in the country. You
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: take some smoke out there because the queen is in
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: there somewhere. You get a shop back and you suck
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: them all in and take them out to the parking lot.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: Let them go. They're just honey bees. Man, there's a
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: decline in honeybees. We need them. It was sad to see,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: but they had to do what they had to do.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember reading that quote, but
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: I assume that just his reaction on the field kind
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: of inspired you for this whole thing.
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: Huh yeah. I mean, I'm curious by nature, and I
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: think not knowing anything about him, and then hearing the
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: passion coming out of them and the Dugout. I can't
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: remember if I read that, but I do remember thinking
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: to myself, this must be worth looking into. So getting
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: into it, working into it. You know, it coincided with
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: the angels not calling back. I came home joined the
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: local bee club, which is hilarious. I just think it's
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: the most funniest thing. Like here I end at a
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: B club and taking a B class. We took a
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: six week B class. The whole time, I'm laughing. This
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: is crazy, sitting with like farmers from Cape Cotton a
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: B class, just swapping stories and learning. And then we
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: got three hives up and going and I actually asked
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: tim Me to get me Ned Yost his number connected
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: with Ned and mentioned to him, took some pictures and
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: some videos and mentioned to him how his passion helped
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: me get into it. I think we're going into year three.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: We had some honey. We pulled our first honey last
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: year and we decided to just give it to family
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: and friends. We're not going to sell it. It's been
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: quite the adventure. It's a little bit's a hobby, but
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: a little bit more than a hobby. It's not fun
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: getting stung, But every time you get stung, it's usually
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: your fault because you're an idiot. I went out there
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: with flip flops one day and putting the water in
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: the bird bass because they drank water, which I never
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: knew bees drink a ton of water. And I had
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: flip flops of tank and shorts on it like a
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: dumb ass putting water in the bird And I looked
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: down and I had fifty bees on my feet. So
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: you got to be somewhat responsible. And I'll tell you
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: it gets get stung a couple of times. You learn,
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: you learn your lesson quick. But it's been awesome. It's
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: been it's been such a good thing for me.
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: We do have a little time less video of you
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: in action once you sort of tell us what the
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: process that you're doing. In this video, that is, we're
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: inspecting the hive. We're going we're I think on the
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: bottom box. There's two boxes, and the bottom boxes usually
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: where the queen is, so we're doing a little bit
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: of inspection.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: That's my niece and my wife and myself. That can
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: be that can be fun, and it can get your
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: heart rate going up pretty quick when you start popping
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: open boxes. Because that that specific little time last video.
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: It was kind of a full inspection and you had
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: to go deep down into the into the hives, and
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: they have their own personalities. And in certain days, if
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: it's a hot day and they're not happy and you
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: start going through their their frames and start pulling pulling
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: frames out and they're having a bad day, they can
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: be riled up quickly. And a lot of times you
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: just say, you know what, I'll get you another day,
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: close it up, and not deal with them. Because the
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: crazy thing is is one of the things I didn't
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: know is the sound like the sound of a bunch
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: of bees in a hive that gets your heart rate
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: up quick because it sounds nasty, It sounds like you
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: would imagine. But when you're fully when when you have
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: the full uniform on like we had right there, the
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: only way they're really going to get you is if
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: you forget to zip up something or velcrow something, which
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: I've done, which I've got them in like I've got
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: stung like three or four times in my face just
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: forgetting to zip it up. Because again I'm part idiot,
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: So part idiot that happens to you.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: Do you know how many bees? Do you know how
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: many bees per hive? There is roughly Well, it starts
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: out when you get them at the like. We'll get
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: them at April fifteenth. If your hives don't make it
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: through the win, which we lost two out of three,
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: so we'll get two hives. You'll get one queen and
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: ten thousand bees come with them. Come with her.
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: At the heat of the summer, roughly around August, you'll
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: probably have sixty five seventy thousand bees per hive. So
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: you can imagine our backyard was filled up with some signs,
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: some bes how much how much honey do they produce?
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: We pulled five frames from one box. A box has
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: ten frames. We pulled five frames last year. We got
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: forty eight pounds of honey on the frames and that's
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: probably about twenty eight twenty nine pounds of honey right there.
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: And two different types of jars. One jar is the
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: friend and is the friend and family jar, the big jar.
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: The smaller jar is the in law out law jars
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: that we used to give it we give away, but
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: now we give them the family and frames. It's all good,
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: it's fun. That was that was a very exciting day.
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: That was the first time we pulled it. And uh,
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: that's only half of one box. So you can imagine
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: if you have another box and a half. I mean,
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: you basically gotta start becoming a factory out there, and
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: we don't when I want that. How do you manage
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: the bee population? I assume you there's ways to monitor
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: their health and everything. Yeah, you got to monitor their health.
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: Their biggest nemesis that it's called the varomite, which is
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: a mite that was brought over from Europe a long
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: time ago.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: You could tell I took B class, right, Oh yeah, sorry.
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: I gotta B minus. That's a good one min. There's
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: the drums, the drum roll. There's the drum roll. That
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: was actually pretty good mite. If you if you think
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: of a varamite as a tick. So the bees go
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: to the flowers, the veramites jump on the back of
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: the bee, and the bee takes the veramite back to
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: the hive. She doesn't know it, and varamites are extremely smart.
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: They'll jump off the back and they wait. They wait
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: until the queen lays an egg, and they'll find the
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: chamber where the queen lays an egg, and then they'll
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: jump in that chamber right before it's sealed off. And
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: then they eat the eat, the the baby, the baby egg,
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: the egg and these things, these things will destroy you know,
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: ned Yost was talking about the bee population getting crushed.
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: That's one of the biggest reasons they get crushed is
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: because every time you every time you treat them with
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: a chemical that's safe, safe for everybody. So the bees
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: can walk on it and it won't affect them. You eat,
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: they can touch their honey, it won't affect us. But
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: the veroa mighte has, you know, got used to a
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: lot of the chemicals and just keeps changing and just
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: keeps morphing, and it just destroys highs left and right.
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: Like it's pretty it's pretty disappointing. You go out there
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: in January or end of end of December to insulate
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: your hide and get them ready for the winter, and
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: you pop it open and there's you know, sixty thousand
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: bees down dead and that's could be the depress and
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: it's that arrowa might gets them, just kills them. Well,
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: what's end the show.
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: On an educational note, just remind all our listeners, our
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: viewers how important our honeybees to the environment.
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: Super important. You know, for all you people who live
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: in California who have almond trees, you know, they'll the
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: almond companies will it's a million dollar business. They'll ship
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: honeybees from Georgia up during the pollinate and season and
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: they will just you know, feed those trees and pollinate.
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: And I'm pretty sure two thirds of our agriculture depend
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: on them. So things you eat that you don't even
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: know that's been cross pollinated or helped out by the bees. Again,
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: it's a little bit more than a hobby. When you retire,
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: you have to or when you get close to retiring,
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: you have to get some things in your mind that
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: you want to do, because you just can't sit around
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: and do nothing all day. So find something that you're
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: interested in, get after it, enjoy it. And the best
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: part about this is the liquid gold at the end
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: taste so good, you know, and it's it's from your backyard,
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: so it's fresh as a daisy.
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: All right, we'll close the show with that. Gary Di Sarsena,
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: always a pleasure to catch you up with you. Thanks
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: for joining us today, Thanks for your time. Halo fans,
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: please like and subscribe where Halo territory. Hope you all
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: enjoy opening Day and Opening Day weekend, and we'll see
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: you next time on Halo territory